Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons: Guardian Angel (Physical Training)

Alexander Angel wanted to be Guardian City’s top police officer, as his twin had done in London. But in a city of mutants and super humans being a police constable wasn’t enough. Only through pushing himself beyond all human limitations was he able to become Guardian’s Angel.

This is the second character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is here. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, here.

The Physical Training class is a relatively easy one to generate with only a few fairly simple steps. My immediate thought is to create a super cop. Looking for a gif of a “badass police officer” for inspiration brings me one Nicholas Angel; Simon Pegg in possibly his most magnificent role. Although the image of a Russian dude in uniform stopping a car by leaping feet first through its windscreen is a close second.

Alexander Angel doesn’t leap fully formed into my head, but it doesn’t take more than a little brainstorming to come up with a few options. He doesn’t really cement until I reach alignments.

Step One: The Usual.

All 11’s, with the exception of P.P. It doesn’t say it but an above average prowess is sort of important for this class. Otherwise, as one of the few classes that actually boosts P.P. you can still end up with a attribute too low to gain any bonuses. So P.P. is 20.

We are given a note not to calculate hit points and S.D.C. because later steps will change things. Yeah. We know.

Step Two: Education and Skill Modification.

We get the normal options regarding education, although with a minimum of High School, and then we deduct one scholastic program. We’re told not to select any physical skills as they come at the next step. I go for a bachelor’s in criminology; doubling down on the cop package and adding investigation to broaden things. Technically that's not by the rules. Cops are "trade school" only . That might be the case in the US but here in the UK we like our coppers with a bit more grey matter. Some of them have degrees!
So ignoring the basic package we get;

W.P. Pistol. I almost replace pistol with baton because not all British coppers have firearms training. But in the end I put baton in as a secondary skill as it doesn’t matter, system-wise.

Radio: Basic.

Criminal Science.

Law (General).

Intelligence.

W.P. Rifle.

Interrogation.

Prowl.

Detect Concealment.

From investigation we get:

Computer Ops.

Research.

Surveillance Systems. This is not just using cameras and the like but also stalking. Which is an interestingly broad skill.

Writing (Reports). Yes , reports not journalism.

Our secondary skills are:

Pick Locks.

W.P. Throwing.

Land Navigation.

Wilderness Survival.

First Aid.

Pilot Motorcycle.

Streetwise.

Swimming.

SCUBA.

W.P. Blunt.

Step Three: Determining Abilities - Physical Area of Expertise.

Here we get a lot of waffle about how the hero trains themselves to physical perfection, eschewing other routes to power, and developing their own style of fighting. Which is nice and all but the way I see it, in a world of super humans and mutants unless you’re born with it, or can buy it, you have to make your own powers. If you’re not a technological whizzkid then martial arts and pushing your body to, and beyond, its limits is probably the ‘easiest’ method out there.

Anyway we get to pick 6 physical skills (excluding Hand to Hand and Boxing) and 4 espionage skills (or Rogue if having a selfish or evil alignment; but not having decided on an alignment yet I go with espionage). This gets us:

Gymnastics. +2 roll with punch, +2 PS, +1 PP, +2 PE, +7 SDC.

Athletics. +1 parry & dodge, +1 roll with punch, +1 PS, +3 Spd, +7 SDC.

Acrobatics. +2 roll with punch, +1 PS, +1 PP, +1 PE, +3 SDC.

Running. +1 PE, +10 SDC, +3 SDC.

Climbing.

Wrestling. +1 roll with punch, +2 PS, +1PE, +14 SDC.

Escape Artist.

Sniper.

Tracking.

Detect Ambush.

Then we get to choose between focusing on Endurance and Strength or Agility and Speed. With my head full of images of an otherwise ordinary looking copper punching out a Hulk-like foe I decide to go for Endurance and Strength, giving me +7 P.E., +3 Spd, +2 P.B., +20 HP, +90 S.D.C, +20% save vs. coma, +2 save vs. disease, toxins and poisons, +1 attack per round, +1 pull punch, +1 initiative, and best of all the Superhuman Strength minor power.

There are four grades of strength in Heroes Unlimited. Ordinary strength, Extraordinary strength, Superhuman strength and Supernatural strength. Each type of strength works slightly differently, usually in how much a character can carry. Ordinary strength characters can carry 10 to 20 times their P.S. attribute in lbs, depending on how high the attribute score is. Extraordinary strength characters can carry 100 times their attribute in lbs. Superhuman strength characters can carry 200 times their attribute score. Supernatural strength characters can carry 300 times their attribute score. This is irrespective of said score.

So a hypothetical character with P.S. 20 would be able to carry 400 lbs with high ordinary strength, 2000 lbs with extraordinary strength, 4000 lbs with superhuman strength and 6000 lbs with supernatural strength. All of these characters would be doing +5 damage but while all except the supernatural strength character would be rolling 1d4+5 for a bare handed attack. The supernatural strength character would be rolling 2d6+5 damage. They would also be hurting characters who are immune to anything but supernatural damage and doing Mega Damage in a setting that uses it. This becomes relevant later.

Superhuman strength adds 25 (20+2d4) to our PS, means we can carry 200lbs times our P.S. and lift 300lbs times our PS. It also halves the rate that we fatigue.

Step Four: Special Hand To Hand Combat.

We get to ‘choose’ between Aggressive and Deadly or Defensive and Fast styles. It’s a false choice as if you went with endurance and strength before and you go with defensive and fast now you get penalised. And vice-versa. The penalties are listed in the prior section in way of a warning. So if you went for endurance and strength you’re best taking aggressive and deadly. Which is what I do.

Aggressive and deadly style at first level gives +2 attacks per round, paired weapons (all), entangle, body flip/throw, body block/tackle, a 2d4 damage karate punch, a 2d6 damage karate kick, and the three special abilities that the Physical Training class has access to.

Power Punch, which allows the character to hurt foes who are usually only vulnerable to supernatural strength, doing double damage, but at the cost of two actions per power punch.

Power Kick, which is the same as a power punch in every way, but a kick.

Force of Will, essentially allows the character to survive up to -60 hit points, for up to 24 hours. They will require professional medical attention to recover, but they can do it. They can’t do much else though.

Step Five: Everything Else.

Alignment: I rolled up the alignment using the 10 options I have and get a 9, Conformist. Conformist is one of the alignments I came up with. I should do a post about that. But in essence a conformist doesn't seek out adventure but often finds it thrust upon them. A conformist also doesn't challenge society's expectations of them. So in many ways spending a life as an exact double of one's twin is the ultimate in conformity.

Base S.D.C. and P.P.E.: 30 SDC and 6d6, so 20, PPE.

Resources: $1,700 in cash, a 3 year old car, and $10,000 in savings.

Everything else is fairly standard.

So putting it all together:

Name: Alexander “Alex” Angel

Super Identity: Guardian Angel

Height: 5’10”, Weight: 150 lbs.

Alignment: Conformist.
Disposition: By-the-book police sergeant. Everything in order and order in everything. Brooks no nonsense on the job.

Team: The P.R.A.T.  Squad

IQ 11, ME 11, MA 11, PS 42, PP 22, PE 23, PB 13, Spd 27

Hit Points 46, S.D.C. 154, P.P.E. 20 

Superpowers:

Endurance and Strength:

Superhuman Strength:  Fatigue at half rate 

Power Punch:

Power Kick:

Force of Will:

Skills:

Scholastic Skills:

Basic Maths, Computer Ops, Criminal Science, Detect Concealment, Intelligence, Interrogation, Law (General), Pilot Automobile, Prowl, Radio: Basic, Read/Write English, Research, Speak English, W.P. Pistol, W.P. Rifle, Writing (Reports).

Physical Training:

Acrobatics, Aggressive & Deadly HTH, Athletics, Climbing, Detect Ambush, Escape Artist, Gymnastics, Paired Weapons (All), Running, Sniping, Tracking, Wrestling.

Secondary Skills:

First Aid, Land Navigation, Pick Locks, Pilot Motorcycle, S.C.U.B.A,, Streetwise, Swimming, Wilderness Survival, W.P Blunt, W.P. Throwing.

Saves: 

Coma/Death: +36%

Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+): +6

Horror Factor: +0

Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+): +4

Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+): +6

Psionics (15+): +0

Possession: +0

Combat:

Initiative: +1

Attacks per Round: 2+3

Strike: +6; +7 Blunt, +7 thrown.

Damage: +27

1d4+27 Punch

1d6+27 Body Flip/Throw

1d4+27 Body Block/Tackle

Entangle

2d4+27 Karate Punch

2d6+27 Karate Kick

Pin 18+

x2 Power Punch (x2 atk)

x2 Power Kick (x2 atk)

Parry: +5; +6 Blunt,

Dodge: +5; 

Roll with Punch: +6

Pull Punch: +1

Disarm: +#

Benchmarks:

Carry Capacity: 8,400lbs; Lifting: 12,600lbs

Stamina: Carry Max 184 minutes, 92 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 46 rounds (690 seconds; 11.5 minutes)

Ground Speed: 18.9 mph for 46 minutes

Swimming Speed: 84yrds (252ft.) per round for 23 minutes.

Leaping Distance: 42 ft. high; 84 ft. broad from a running start. 25.2 ft. high; 50.4 ft. broad from a standing start.

Background: 

Alex Angel was born 7 minutes after his brother, Nicholas and has been running to catch up ever since. Where Nick led Alex followed. So when Nick decided to be a police officer Alex did too.

It was a girl who inspired Alex to find his own path. Stung by the insinuation that he was just a poor copy of Nicholas, when they both graduated Alex didn’t follow him into the Met, but instead chose a more difficult route. Guardian City, on the island of Ennor. Ennor, a land populated since ancient times by “mutants and monsters”; super freaks and trouble magnets.

Things didn't go well for Alex, now Alexander. 72 hours after arriving he and his new partner, Jade Justice had been flattened by a rampaging monstrosity. Most people would have given up there. But not Alexander. While Nicholas swanned around London getting his 400% collar rate, Alexander was recuperating. Pushing his recovery harder than anyone else. He was walking within a month. He took up martial arts, turning the self defence he learned at the academy into something more powerful. Somehow he compressed a lifetime's worth of training into a single year. When Nicholas was getting transferred into a cushy sergeant’s position out in the country Alex found himself and the recently recuperated officer Justice facing down the same mutant on the same street. Only this time it was the law that won. 

The press dubbed him “Guardian’s Angel” and Jade “Swift Justice” the nicknames stuck. A promotion to sergeant swiftly followed.

Chief Constable Justice, Jade’s mother, then approached them to lead a new unit she was putting together; they’re calling it the Paranormal Resources And Tactics Squad. It’s like S.W.A.T. only for dealing with super humans. They just needed to work on improving the name.

Next time I’ll be creating a ...38...

Super Invention!

So meet me down at the lab where we’ll get our mad science on! Don’t forget your lab coats, safety goggles, and your gloves.

Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons - The Haunter (The Immortal)

George Stewart is the senior custodian of the Woodward Campus of Ennor University. Which is impressive, not only because he looks like he could easily be a student. But more so because George Stuart Woodward has been dead for 359 years.

This is the first character in my Phenomenal Paragons series. The introduction to which is here. It is inspired by Jacob Pisson's World's Strongest series, here.

The Immortal class for Heroes Unlimited is a varied one. It’s filled with angels and demons; dragons, monsters, deities and demigods. And there down at the bottom is “Astral Being or Ghostly Spirit”. It’s the only class where you can roll up Mega Hero template character without the GM giving you the option.

Mega Heroes are an optional template for some of the other classes that boost a character from the normal power level up to something closer to, say, Superman. In settings such as Rifts a Mega Hero would be a Mega Damage creature (one point of Mega Damage being equal to 100 points of regular damage), as well as the bonuses from the Mega Hero template. Normally a GM would have decided to run a mega hero game but if you’re rolling up an immortal one can just appear.

Thankfully the ghostly spirit isn’t one of them.

Step One: The Usual.

All attributes at 11 as there is nothing about the immortal that requires any special attribute
scores.

Step Two: Hit Points and S.D.C.

I’m going to echo a sentiment made by others. Putting this step here makes no goddamn sense. Hit points are based on a character’s Physical Endurance attribute. All attributes can be changed by later steps. The same goes with S.D.C. Which is defined by later steps. You literally can’t define S.D.C. yet.

S.D.C. stands for “Structural Damage Capacity”. They’re like hit points but also armour. When a character runs out of S.D.C. they start taking real damage, represented by the loss of hit points. When an inanimate object runs out if S.D.C. it breaks.

Step Three: Super Abilities and Immortality.

First we learn that because we are immortal we don’t start at 1st level with everyone else. No we start at 1d4+1 levels. So in our case level 3.
There’s a note that villains can be level 1d6+4 so I roll for alignment and get Anarchist. I decide he's not a villain.

1: Nature of Immortal.

Overwhelmed by the options, I rolled on a chart and got “Astral Being or Ghostly Spirit” as I mentioned above. We get a mortal physical form that we can manifest for 1d6 hours a day with an additional hour per level. So 6 hours for us but I give into temptation and raise it to 8 so that the character can do an 8 hour work day.
We get IQ +1, ME +1d4 (+2), Spd +1d4 (+3).
We get 3d6+PE Hit Points (which is 10+PE) and an additional +1d6 per level (+11).
Our starting S.D.C. is 4d6 (+14)+16.
We get +10% to the Prowl skill (which I shall stat up at the end).
We have +1 to save versus magic, +3 versus Possession. We’re also immune to disease, cold, poisons and drugs. We also get +3 versus Horror.

There’s a note that ghostly spirits don’t get attribute bonuses from skills and apparently powers, but that’s no fun. It makes sense that a being that is entirely astral wouldn’t have any physical attributes, But we do. So I’m going to say that these skills were learnt when the character was alive and thus do count. So Nya!

When in spirit form we are intangible to physical damage, except from magic or psionics. We also leave no footprints nor fingerprints and move silently.
On the down side we can’t use any physical attacks or super powers while in spirit form. But can use our psionic abilities. We thus get to choose between 2 minor or 1 major super power and 1d6+6 psionic powers from any list but super psionics. This gives us 9 psi powers.
I pick the major power of Inhabitation from Powers Unlimited volume 3. This unusual power allows a character to essentially possess any building or structure they’re in. They get a mental map of the building’s layout, but not contents. They can control parts of the structure, doors, windows, security cameras and the like. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they have an intuitive understanding of the structure’s condition. Making repairs easy.

For the 9 psionic powers I choose:
Bio-Regeneration (Self) from the Healing list
Ectoplasm, Telekinesis, Telekinetic Punch, Telekinetic Push, and Teleport Object from the
Physical list.
Clairvoyance, Sixth Sense, and Telepathy from the Sensitive list.
There’s no I.S.P. value listed to power those psionic abilities so I’m going to go with 1d6x10+50 base and an additional +10 per level. I didn’t pull this out of thin air; other immortals with psionic powers have this much I.S.P. too. This gives me 100 I.S.P.
The ghost doesn’t roll for any further their powers so let's skip 2 and go straight on to...

3. The Reason for Being On Earth.

This is easy; they’ve always been here. Likewise with their familiarity with Earth. Being local they can speak 5 additional languages with 90% skill.

This brings us to:

Step Four: Education & Skills.

For locals we use the regular education chart in the main rules and then modify the result depending upon the immortal’s age. This means that we need to get a feel for character’s background.
I’ll be honest with you. At this point I felt rather unhappy with the character. They felt a bit boring. So I rolled on the background tables to get a better feel for them.
They’re second born of their siblings. Their family were wealthy and based in the country. They gained their powers, which is to say that they died, in their late teens. Their weight is “husky” and their height is “tall”.
He’s a bit of a tough guy, reliant, cocky and a lone wolf.
I settled on 300 to 399 years. Rolling d100 I get 77. So he’s 377 years old.
So presuming that the campaign is set in 2019, then he was born in 1642, the start of the English Civil War. He died when he was, let’s say, 18. So 1660.
They’re an Anarchist so they didn’t exactly have a legitimate upbringing. I see his family as playing both sides of the civil war. Perhaps they were engaged in banditry, piracy, profiteering or other criminality.
I decide that after their death they had the opportunity to educate themselves and decide that they eventually had the opportunity to earn what would be the equivalent of a Ph.D. He doesn’t actually have a doctorate. But he does get the 4 scholastic skill programs with +30% and the 10 secondary skills. Being 377 years old he also gets +3 scholastic programs and +3 secondary skills.

But before I get to picking skills there’s a skill program everyone gets:
Pilot Automobile ,
Basic Maths ,
Speak Native Language ,
Read and Write Native Language .
Except for this character I’ve replaced Automobile with Horsemanship .

For the first three programs I pick Physical/Athletic, Criminal and Ancient Weapons. These represent his original skills from before he died. The next four are from his later education.
Technical, Electrical, Science and Journalism/Investigation.

For the Physical/athletic program I pick:
Acrobatics, which has a bunch of sub skills I won’t bother with right now, and gives a 2d4 damage kick attack, +2 roll with punch, +1 PS, +1PP, +1PE, and +3 S.D.C.
Boxing, which gives +1 attack per round, +2 to parry and dodge, +1 roll with punch, +2 PS and +10 S.D.C.
Wrestling, which means he can pin or immobilise a foe with a d20 roll of 18+, a crush or squeeze attack which does 1d4 damage, +1 roll with punch, +2 PS, +1 PE and +14 S.D.C.
Prowl, which with all his abilities and bonuses gives in an 85% chance at success.

Next, for the Criminal program I get:
Streetwise,
Picklocks, and a pick of three from the Rogue skill list. I go with:
Concealment,
Find Contraband & Illegal Weapons, or better yet “Blackmarket”.
Computer Hacking, yes I know I said that his skills were hundreds of years old but I’m considering this a recent addition.

For the Ancient Weapons I start with:
Paired Weapons, which is specialised unless you’re 7th level with the Martial Arts hand-to-hand style. So I pencil in “Sword and Shield” and get to pick 4 weapon proficiencies (henceforth “W.P.”). I go with:
W.P. Knife, strike +2, parry +1
W.P. Shield, parry +2, strike (with shield) +1 (1d4 damage)
W.P. Sword, strike +2
W.P. Crossbow, +60’ range, +1 parry (with crossbow), strike +1, rate of fire +4.

As I said before all of these, with the single exception of computer hacking, are from his formal education when he was alive. I gave him computer hacking as he couldn't learn it from any other package available to him. I was planning it as a secondary skill but that’s apparently not possible.

Technical gives me a pick of four from a list and I go with:
Art,
Business & Finance,
General Repair/ Maintenance,
Computer Programming.

Same with Electrical:
Electrical Engineer,
Basic Mechanics,
Computer Operations,
Computer Repair,

Science gives us:
Computer Operations, It's the first repeat so +10%.
Advanced Maths,
Chemistry, and a pick of three more. So I go for:
Anthropology,
Archaeology,
Biology.

Journalism/Investigation gives us the following:
Computer Operations, second repeat so only +5%.
Research,
Surveillance Systems, which is useful for following people as well as using CCTV and illicit bugs.
Writing (Journalism).

Secondary Skills:
Martial Arts Hand-to-hand, (+2 attacks per round, +3 roll with punch, +2 initiative, +3 pull punch, +3 parry & dodge, +2 strike & disarm, Karate style kick for 2d6 damage, Roundhouse kick for 3d6 damage, leg hook/trip, axe kick for 2d6 damage, Cresent kick for 2d4+2 damage)
Running, +1 PE, +10 Spd, +3 S.D.C.
Athletics, +1 parry and dodge, +1 roll with punch, +1 PS, +3 Spd, +7 S.D.C.
Land Navigation,
W.P. Targeting/Throwing, strike +3
First Aid,
Dancing,
Sewing,
W.P. Revolver, (Aimed +4 to strike, Burst +2 to strike, Wild +1 to strike)
Pilot Automobile,
Pilot Motorcycle.

Step Two: Hit Points and S.D.C.

Oh hello again. Yes this is where you belong.
By my reckoning our Physical Endurance (PE) is around 14 which gives us 35 hit points Our S.D.C. is 53 and our P.P.E. is 61.

Step Five: Alignment.

Already done. Anarchist.

Step Six: Equipment and Rounding Out.

Firstly we use the Mega-Hero experience chart. Okay, cool. I give the character 15,000 xp,
putting them in the middle of 3rd level and move on.

As an Earth-born immortal they get $2d6x10,000 for every 50 years of life. For some reason my brain reads that as $1d6x10,000 for every 25 years and I calculate 15d6. So our immortal has $520,000 in funds.

They have a decent wardrobe of clothing, none of it particularly flashy. Usually they’re seen in boiler suits in various states of wear and tear. They’re rarely dirty as such, and when they are it is for good reason. They also apparently have 4 sets of modern/high tech body armour which they wear under their costume; a tattered loose fitting robe they covers them from head to foot. As their alter-ego as The Haunter they look like a traditional representation of a ghost.

They have an enchanted broadsword which is both a demons slayer (3d6 damage, 1d6x10 versus demons and other forms of supernatural evil) and grants flight, up to 1 hour three times out of every 24, at upto 50mph. As per the Fly as the Eagle spell.

That’s it for character creation. Let’s see what have.:

Name: George Stuart Westward
Super Identity: The Haunter
Level 3 Immortal
Height: 1.90m (6’2”), Weight: 90kg (200lbs) when solid.
Alignment: Anarchist.
Disposition: Although he and his family have been dead for centuries he sees the university as his home; the staff and students his guests. He is protective of both people and infrastructure.
IQ 12, ME 13, MA 11, PS 15, PP 12, PE 14, PB 11, Spd 27
Hit Points 35, S.D.C. 53, P.P.E. 61 I.S.P. 100
Superpowers:
Immaterial (Ghostly Body)
Immune to all physical damage except for magic and psionics. Leave no fingerprints nor footprints but can’t use their other superpower while immaterial. Psionic powers are unaffected.
They can assume a physical “mortal” body for up to 8 hours out of every 24.
There’s no rules about how much they can carry while ghostly so I’m going with their normal limits based on PS.
Inhabitation
Complete mental map of any building they’re in, including anything that would appear on a blueprint including alarms, cameras and wall safes, but not things such as furniture. Ranges up to 300,000 sq.ft. Lasts for as long as they’re in the building but ends a minute after they’ve left. Control building features. See through CCTV, hit people with doors (for 2d6), & etc. Range up to 500 ft.
Repair buildings with a +30% to any relevant skills to repair an inhabited structure

Psionic Powers:
Bio-Regeneration (Self) (6, Healing)
Ectoplasm (varies, Physical)
Telekinesis (varies, Physical)
Telekinetic Punch (6, Physical)
Telekinetic Push (4, Physical)
Teleport Object (10, Physical)

Skills:
Acrobatics, Advanced Maths, Athletics, Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Automobile, Basic Maths, Basic Mechanics, Biology, Boxing, Business & Finance, Computer Hacking, Computer Operations, Computer Programming, Computer Repair, Concealment, Cooking, Electrical Engineer, Find Contraband and Illegal Weapons, First Aid, General Repairs & Maintenance, Horsemanship, Land Navigation, Martial Arts hand-to-hand, Motorcycle, Paired Weapons: Sword and Shield, Prowl, Read & Write English, Research, Running, Sewing, Speak English, Streetwise, Surveillance Systems, W.P. Crossbow, W.P. Knife, W.P. Revolver, W.P. Shield, W.P. Sword, W.P. Targeting - Throwing, Wrestling, Writing (Journalism)
Also those five languages I haven’t decided on yet.

Saves:
Coma/Death: +0
Harmful Drugs/Toxins (15+): Immune
Horror Factor: +2
Magic (Spells 12+, Circles/Wards 13+, Ritual 16+): +1
Poison (Lethal 14+, Non-Lethal 16+): Immune
Psionics (10+): +0
Possession: +3

Combat:
Initiative: +2
Attacks per Round: 5
Strike: +2; +4 knife, +3 shield, +4 sword, +4 crossbow, +5 thrown weapon
Damage: (+2 diving or swooping)
1d4 shield bash
2d4 kick
1d4 crush/squeeze
2d6 “karate” kick
2d6 axe kick
2d4+2 crescent kick
3d6 Sword
1d6x10 Sword versus "demons" and "evil gods".
Parry: +6; +7 knife, +8 shield, +7 crossbow; +8 flying
Dodge: +6; +8 flying
Roll with Punch: +8
Pull Punch: +3
Disarm: +2
Pin/Immobilise: 18+

Benchmarks:
Carry Capacity: 150lbs; Lifting 300lbs
Stamina: Carry Max 56 minutes, 28 minutes while running or fighting. Lifting for 14 rounds (210
seconds; 3.5 minutes)
Ground Speed: 19 mph for 14 minutes.
Leaping Distance: 10ft. high, 11ft. broad.

Background:
Born in a time of war George Woodward was raised to fight. But he was also raised to cheat and steal. His family played both sides of the conflict, switching loyalties with the wind. When the dust settled they had made a tidy nest egg to add to their already extant fortunes. Unfortunately George wouldn’t live to enjoy it. A few weeks after his 18th birthday he was thrown from his horse, struck his head against a standing stone on his family's estate and died.

He found himself upon the astral plane, with only the clothes on his back and the ancestral sword “Angel’s Wing” at his side. It took him over a century to find his way back. To fight his way back against the things that dwell in the astral. He found his sword to be most effective at this task.

When he finally returned home he found that his family’s estate had become a place of learning. So, his true identity lost to time, he learned.

Over the years he informally picked up the equivalent of several degrees although never actually gaining a useful qualification. He found true love in the acquisition of knowledge and decided to focus his afterlife on it. As time passed he found it easier to manifest physically. He decided to use his powers to help his home. At first he did so unofficially but recently he become the campus’s head caretaker. He gets an apartment onsite which is located near to his hidden base in forgotten and sealed off chambers within the campus.

He feels protective of the campus and anyone who inhabits it. There have been a number of instances where he has intervened to protect students and faculty alike from attackers or disaster.

Rumours of the ghost that haunts the campus have circulated essentially forever. Some have even attached the name of George Woodward to the spirit; his tombstone is displayed in the university’s chapel. George uses people’s expectations of what a ghost looks like when he patrols the campus and dresses in a costume that looks like a stereotypical man-under-a-sheet ghost costume over modern body armour that is covered with wisps of cloth to break up their form. Only George is actually immaterial while patrolling. Thus if any pictures are taken, and there have been a number over the years, it looks like someone in a cheap ghost costume or a cheap special effect. So the Haunter has become something of an urban legend.

Join us next time when we create a... 98... Gestalt? No, no. Urm... 64... Physical Training or Minor Super Hero... Well... Okay. Physical Training it is. I have ideas for gestalt and minor heroes. But that’ll take a while and so is best saved for later. Much later. Say the next time I roll up Gestalt.

Physical Training!

Heroes Unlimited: Phenomenal Paragons - Introduction

Inspired by Jacob Possin over at Walking In Shadows I have decided to world build a super hero setting using the Heroes Unlimited 2nd edition from Palladium Books and populate it with characters. The downside is I haven't heard back from Mr Possin from my attempts to contact him. So I'm probably commiting a terrible intellectual faux-pass just posting this.

For those of you who don’t know it Heroes Unlimited is a class and level based super heroic ruleset with more than a passing resemblance to old school D&D. In fact it uses the same system as all the other Palladium books. I talked about the system when I created a version of the Magpie for Palladium Fantasy over on the weareassassin blog here and here.

Most people are familiar with the Palladium rules (officially the Megaverse system) either through the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG, and/or Rifts; the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink post apocalyptic setting. Kevin Siembieda, the creator of Palladium Books and Games, not only managed to get licenses to create games for the TMNT and the Robotech IPs back in the 80's but kept and maintained them for years.

But from an OSR perspective it's more interesting than that. In fact I'd argue it's the original OSR game system. Scratch deeply enough and you can see AD&D 1e beneath the surface. You can tell Kev's table played with psionics and comeliness back in the day. Of course 1e psionics are a horrible, almost unplayable, unbalanced mess. I suspected that Kevin might have tried fixing that, realised he had something worth money, and built Palladium around it. File the serial numbers off AD&D enough that TSR can't sue, bolt on a percentile based skill system, replace combat with your own home-brewed thing with 15 second rounds, individual actions and this whole active defence thing going on. Suddenly you've got the core of a whole new system.

It's a system which is a mass of subsystems, not all of which mesh well with one another, but as a whole work. A system that will support any setting you might want to drop on top of it, with minimal chance of collapse. Sure you might have to get a hammer out to bash it into shape but it'll work. However we're not encouraged to do that; only licensed game designers (Kev' and his people at Palladium). There is an air of what I've read described as "Cargo-cult game design", with Kev' just following the same steps as worked before; the system as a whole hasn't really been updated since the 80's. However I think it's more of bench-thumping game design. Each subsystem works on its own and they're essentially modular, so they can work together. Right? You just have to hammer in a subsystem to get them to gear. Psionics and magic? Leylines. Giant robots and squishy normal people? Megadamage (which is normal damage x100 and you have to do at least 100 damage to do 1 point of megadamage or nothing happens; humans can take less than 100 damage before dying). Modern setting? Make skills separate from character class and base them on character education. Or on their jobs. And so on an so forth.

There's something like a dozen settings for the rules, each vaguely compatible with the rest. Heroes Unlimited doesn't have an official setting as such. But there are sourcebooks. So we're going to use the characters we generate to flesh out a setting as we go.

I’m going to follow Possin’s rules (where unchanged I’ve made them italicised), as he followed them, with a few minor changes of my own. Here they are.

1.      I will be using only the books I have: Heroes Unlimited 2e, Powers Unlimited books 1 through 3, Ninjas and Superspies and whatever else I can get my hands on. If any of you feel like treating me I have a wishlist here. Any of the Palladium Books listed there would be wonderful, thanks.

2.      All percentile rolls with mechanical benefits or downsides get chosen rather than rolled. Other percentile rolls can be rolled or chosen as needed. Although in practice I tend to roll anyway.

3.      Attributes all start at 11, unless something else is required for the power category. In which case the first boosted attribute will be 20 and all subsequent boosted attributes 15, or the minimum required; whichever is higher.

4.      When rolling for any other non-percentile roll count the first die gets the low average, the second the high average and so on. For example: If I were rolling 3D6, the total would be ten, the first die would be a 3, the second a 4, and the third a 3.

5.      Do not worry about the percentages of the non-combat oriented skills. They might be useful, but the nature of the palladium house system means they will take hours to properly fill out, and that is just a nightmare. The combat stuff will be complex enough on its own. I’ll fill them out if I need them, but not before.

6.      All budgets will be maximum, unless I feel otherwise.

7.      I’ll roll for random alignments so I can decide if this is a hero, villain or whatever. However I’ll waive this if I have a clear idea for a character.
The alignments I’m using are the main 7 from the rules: Principled, Scrupulous, Unprincipled, Anarchist, Aberrant, Miscreant and Diabolic. I’ll also use Taoist from the Mythic China source book and the two of my own creation: Conformist and Non-Conformist.
This gives me 10 alignments to play with. I’ll roll d10 and read off from the list  above so that 1 is Principled and 0 is Non-Conformist

8.      I’m using the classes chart from Powers Unlimited volume 2 to randomly pick which class I generate next. I’m aiming for a minimum of 1 of each class and subclass but I’ll happily pad things out with repeated classes, just not back to back.
Also every character has a 1 in 10 chance of being either a Crazy or a Mega Hero (1=Crazy; 0=Mega)

9.      I’ll be using the P.P.E. channeling rules from the Best of Rifter when it comes to magic. But more of that as and when.

10.   I’m using Cameron Corniuk’s house rule for repeat skills. Namely +10% for the first repetition and +5% for each thereafter. For weapon proficiencies it’s +1 level per repetition. For hand to hand styles I can either increase their levels or add them together to get the next style up.

Okay those are the ground rules laid. I’ll see you back here next week for... 68...

The Immortal!

Orphaned Magical Research Rules

I'm still working on my homebrewed fantasy heartbreaker. Although it's gone from being a house-ruled version of B/X to something else. I might write about it, and my other projects, later.

What I want to write about today is the research system I think I developed; my memory isn't what it was. It's a d6 based system but 1d6, while I've gone onto using a 3d6 system for the bell curve. While I'm still planning on keeping the core of the system with its stages of development, the core die mechanic is going to change. This means that the old version, this version, is orphaned. So I thought I'd share.

It all starts with intelligence:

Some explanation:

Additional Languages.

This is the number of additional languages a character begins play with. It also dictates their initial literacy. See Research Roll below to discover how to learn languages in play.

• Nil language: The character lacks language and is forced to communicate through grunts and gestures.
• 0: The character can only speak fluently in their native language.
• +#: The character speaks fluently an additional language, wherein n is the number of additional languages spoken.
• Illiterate: The character is unable to read or write.
• Basic literacy: The character is able to read a few words and possibly write their own name. Their penmanship is poor though.
• Literate: The character is able to fluently read and write; they can communicate as well in written form as they can in speech.
• Literate +#: The character is able to fluently read and write an additional language, wherein n is the number of additional languages the character is literate in.

Research  Roll:

This is the chance on a d6 for a character to learn a new spell or do magical research. It can also be used to learn new languages. Among other things.
In general a roll to do research, or learn something new can happen once every set period of time, possibly with some extra cost or some-such.
If there is a research penalty applied to the roll then one starts at the intelligence score of one’s character and then counts down. So an INT 10 character with a -2 penalty would roll as if they were INT 8; which remains a 2 in 6 chance anyway. More about spell studying and research can be found in the chapter on Magic & Spells below.

Learning new languages:

There are three stages to learning a new spoken language, each of which takes a month of game time during which the character should be exposed to the language in question on a daily basis. The character is able to do other things, including adventuring, during this time. Difficult languages or writing systems should have a research penalty to learn.
After a month and a successful research roll the character achieves Basic Fluency in the new language; they can speak a few key phrases, such as “Hello little girl,” “I speak your language very well,” “Which way to your mother,” “So is your face,” and “My flying carpet is full of salmon.”
After another month and successful research roll the character achieves Conversational Fluency. They are able to hold a conversation with a native speaker of the language well enough to make themselves understood. However complex topics are still beyond them.
Finally after a third month and successful research roll the character achieves Full Fluency, where they can speak the language like a native.
Literacy follows the same procedure, but only takes a week per roll. Literacy can be gained at the same time as fluency but cannot exceed a character’s fluency in that language.

Weapon Proficiency:

All characters begin proficient in certain weapons, as by their character class description. Typically their starting weapon. When using a new weapon, in which they are not proficient, then they fight with a penalty of -3. After a week’s practice with the weapon they can make a research roll and if successful the penalty drops to -2. With each additional week’s practice and successful research roll the penalty reduces by a point until it reaches zero, at which point the character is proficient with that weapon.
Fighters and Outlanders have their own methods of developing weapon proficiencies and do not need to make research rolls to do so.

Spell Memorisation.

These are bonus spells that a character who can cast Arcane spells can add to their repertoire. These modifiers stack so a character with an INT of 15 would be able to memorise an additional three extra first level spells.

That gives a brief foundation in what's going on. The core column in this case being the research roll. Next onto the meat of the system.:

Spell Study: 

If and when a magic using character finds a new spell from some source and are able to study that source it is a relatively easy thing to learn to use the spell themselves. If the source is something like a spell book or grimoire that the character is able to readily read then they get to make a research roll every game time day of study (including a good night’s rest). If the source is a book that the character is unable to readily read, perhaps because it is in a foreign language or is in some way encoded then they must first decode or translate it into some readily readable form. This may require additional adventures.
If the spell is from esoteric source, such as a standing magical effect, an anomaly, a magic item or similar then first the character must use the Spell Research rules below to research the effect so that they can develop enough of an understanding of it to study it as a spell. Although with a bonus to the research. In the case of a standing magical effect or anomaly this will require setting up a laboratory at the site. More portable effects can be taken to previously established facilities for study.
In any regards spell study carries a research penalty equal to the level of the spell being studied. A failed roll just means that the time spent studying was wasted, or the character was distracted. There’s nothing stopping them returning to their studies tomorrow.

Spell Research: 

If a magic using character wishes to create a new spell, item or similar they must first research it. There are three stages to research: Breakthrough, Experimentation and Completion.

Breakthrough. 

The magic user must first make a number of successful breakthrough rolls equal to the level of the spell being researched. Each breakthrough takes one week of game time to research, and costs 100sp per week, outside of other costs. A failed roll for a breakthrough just wastes the time and resources put into that week’s research.

Experimentation. 

Once they have made sufficient breakthroughs the magic users moves on to experimentation. Again they must make a number of experimentation rolls equal to the level of the spell that they are researching. These each take a day of game time and cost 10sp per level of the spell being researched. A failed roll represents a setback which forces the magic user to go back and make another breakthrough to counter it. Thankfully any time spent experimenting counts towards the week making the new breakthrough.

Completion. 

When they have finally made all their breakthroughs and experiments the magic user can finally move onto codifying and recording their discovery. This takes one game week of time and costs 100sp per level of the spell. A successful roll leaves the magic user with a collection of their research notes, the spell memorised and copied into a format that they, or another, can use to memorise it in the future. A failed roll means that the magic user has wasted the time and money without getting anywhere.

Reconstructing a spell from a magic user’s completed research notes (their own or another’s) just requires going through the completion stage again. However a failure here means that the magic user fails to comprehend the notes and they are pushed back to the experimentation stage. A successful experimentation roll returns the magic user back to the completion stage while a failure has its normal result.
This is also the case if the research notes are incomplete and come from another magic user, or more than a year has passed since the magic user last worked on the research. But here the completion roll takes a day, cost nothing but time, and reveals where the notes end. Success permits the magic user just continue where their peer left off. Failure counts as a setback. Magic users who have taken a brief break (less than a year) from their own work don’t have to make this roll.

Peer Review. 

In some circles spell casters are expected to share their findings with their peers. Of course said peers don’t just want to see the finished product they want to see the workings too. This takes them a number of hours equal to the level of the spell and a single research roll. This roll gets a bonus to their intelligence for each level the spell is below the maximum level they can cast. It is penalised for each level above the maximum level they can cast and by each setback that was encountered during research. Failure here means that they can’t comprehend (nor learn) the spell in its current format (the fools!). This will require the researcher to make a further completion roll before they can attempt another review.

The Z.Smith Situation.

While I have written about this elsewhere I don't feel I have expressed my regrets enough.

I am deeply sorry that I ever considered myself a friend of that reprehensible sapient smegma stain. I am unequivocally sorry I ever defended him online. I regret not seeing him for what he truly was.

I hope Mandy, and everyone else he has harmed over the years, all the best. I thank them for having the strength and bravery to speak out against their abuser.

Thought for the Day, Feb 6th 2019

"Being an avowed pacifist when you can fight so naturally is like a polyglot refusing to speak their mother tongue." ~ some random neuron in my brain.

I'm a avowed pacifist, not a polyglot though. I dislike violence, but I'm one of those people who moves towards a disturbance rather than away. When threatened I find myself moving into a fighting stance. If the vast majority of people are sheep then I'm one of life's sheepdogs.

Once a mugger tried to stab me and I accidentally broke his arm. His knife and the contents of my stomach ended up in the gutter and I never let myself get that drunk again.

Violence is bad, but it is also a form of communication. This day and age has seen the return of an ideology of violence that most of us had hoped was long dead.

I'm talking, of course, of Nazism.

Just over a year ago an antifascist activist punched a Nazi ideologue in the face during a televised interview, spawning the Punching Nazi meme that continues to this day.

The Original and the best "good night alt-right"

Some people feel that punching Nazis is bad because violence is bad (duh) and resorting to violence just legitimises the violent behaviour of the Nazis.

Others feel that punching Nazis is good because Nazis are bad (duh), which makes resorting to violence a legitimate tactic to curb the violent behaviour of the Nazis.

So where do I, an avowed pacifist, stand on the whole punching Nazis issue?

Well it comes back to me not being a polyglot. Hear me out.

The nature of the Nazi ideology is violence. Its every word and deed is violent. Its long term goals are violence and its continued existence is violence. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy quoting someone else:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of violence is that pacifists do nothing."  ~ that neuron is on a roll.

Just as I wouldn't go to a foreign country and try communicating loudly and slowly in my native tongue I won't try and debate a Nazi. They don't speak debate. They speak only violence.

So to communicate with Nazis we too must lower ourselves to speak to them in violence.

So I'm all in favour of punching Nazis as it's the only language that they understand. Punching Nazis doesn't break my vow of pacifism and I'm okay with that.

The original snowflakes. Cold, wet, white and fragile; melt and run when heated or pressured. Only dangerous in large numbers

Re-Branding

I'm reinventing myself and this otherwise dead blog.

G+ is joining the dodo, Tumblr is on a shoogly hook since the smut purge, I abandoned Facebook so many years ago that I can't remember when, and Twitter leaves me quaking with rage after about five minutes.

So all my g+ gaming stuff is coming here.

I do have some blogs on Tumblr. A lot of them to be honest. There's a fairly comprehensive list here. Tumblr tends to eat far too much energy and time for me to do more than dip into it.

A lot has happened over the last 7 years.

Much of it bad. Most of it too painful to repeat here. The PTSD is strong with this one. Along with the anxiety, stress, clinical depression and suicide attempts. So sometimes I'm just going to be too ill to do stuff.

RPing online of any sort is one of them. I'm trying to organise some face-to-face gaming but adult responsibility makes scheduling difficult.

That said I'm going to keep doing the gaming prep/design/stuff that I should of been doing here for the last 7 years. Yay me!

The re-branding of this blog, the new name and url, is representative of the 'new' me. I'm non-binary, NB or "Enby". I'm also gender-fluid, which is to say that my gender identity shifts over time and not just between male and female. In exploring my gender mindscape, a sort of hexcrawl of identity, I have discovered and named aspects of myself which appear to be part of my sexuality and gender. Aside from Female and Male I've also identified Cat, Dragon, Magical, Mundane, Planet, and Space. Explaining them would take far too many words. But I'm at my best mental health when I'm magical, space, dragon and cat. Or to but it another way:

Hey! I'm Niles Calder, a Magical Space Dragon Nyanby!
Pleased to meetcha!