Thank you! It is one of my favorite little bits, although there are a few more coming up that I quite liked. And speaking of folks I quite liked:
Step 1: Background
Here we are coming up on our second quintet of heroes. We start with the classic two d10s, and roll a 5 and a 1. So… Upper Class, Unremarkable (nope!) and Law Enforcement. Let’s go ahead with Upper Class, it’s less likely to pop up a billion times in the next four draws.
We’re actually starting to run low on available Qualities already, but I will take Persuasion d10 and Investigation d8. Harrison Kent was never content to sit around and spend the family fortune; he wanted to know how and why things were happening, and spent his time learning how things actually worked with the goal of inheriting the family business.
Upper Class gives us a Responsibility Principle, and I just said that the family business was important, so Principle of Business it is!
Step 2: Power Source
Upper Class gives the beefy d10, d8, d8 for Power Source selection, so let’s roll! 9, 8, and 8 pushes us high, with access to… Powered Suit (nope), Radiation, Cosmos (noope), and Extradimensional. We thought our last friend was weird, let’s get bizarre.
Harrison’s company was working on some extremely cutting-edge stuff. In particular, they were developing a mechanism for instantaneous travel across the globe. Harrison was visiting due to some irregularities in the safety reports, and in the ensuing confrontation the device switched on, sending him cascading across several horrible sub-planes before reconstituting him in the lab.
Needless to say, the scientist responsible for lab safety was fired.
Harrison is definitely picking up Teleportation d10 to represent his experience, as well as Infernal d8 and Postcognition d8. He can feel the residue of experience around him, and channel terrible energies.
For Abilities, his Flicker Strike lets him teleport around striking a lot of people, but that comes with pain. He can also draw the pain from the people he defeats into himself, growing stronger. Finally, his Otherworldly Attunement lets him call on infernal energies to boost himself, at the cost of becoming more infernal.
Step 3: Archetype
Extradimensional gives us a d12 and a d6 to roll. Rolling gives me a 9 and a 1, for Speedster, Elemental Manipulator, and Robot/Cyborg. We’ve got the teleportation for speedster, but I’m going to lean into this Infernal situation and be a Manipulator. This allows me to boost Infernal to d12!
Now I’ve got a d8 and a d6 to play with. I’m going to go with Science d8 and Magical Lore d6, to give a strong informational backing.
Interestingly, all of my Abilities need to use Infernal. This is… well, I made this bed, I’m going to lie in it, but I feel like it may be a bit of a flaw in the system. Anyway, External Combustion lets Harrison hit a couple of people at the cost of hurting himself, and Focused Apparatus is a Hinder/Attack combo that affects multiple people if Harrison drops into the Red. Once he’s in Yellow, Energy Alignment lets Harrison recover whenever he takes Infernal damage, which means he’s probably not going to stay Yellow from health for long.
Elemental Manipulator gives an Esoteric Principle. Thanks to his wild trip, Harrison is getting the Principle of Exorcism; he can sense the manifestation of other realms, and fight back against them.
Step 4: Personality
Rolling two d10s for Personality nets 6 and 6, so my choices are… Distant and Nurturing. Let’s go with Distant. Harrison is a bit of a cold fish, probably thanks to all that trauma.
For a roleplaying quality, Harrison kind of needs something to use with his primary abilities, so I’m going to go with “Extradimensional Conduit”. It lets him fight with his extradimensional powers and sense and manipulate rips in the fabric of reality.
Step 5: Red Abilities
We’ve gone all-in on a couple of powers, here, so let’s double down and take one each for Infernal and Teleportation. When things are bad, Harrison can crack open the realms he travelled through and summon a horde of demonic spirits. Untouchable Movement is a massive boost that also gets him to safety.
Step 6: Retcon
Harrison is going to be bouncing around Zones a lot, so I’m just going to pump up his Red die by a step and call it a day.
Step 7: Health
We’ve got our lowest Health yet for Harrison, with (8 + Red 8 + Investigation 8 + 4) 28 Health. On the other hand, he can heal like nobody’s business, so probably not an issue.
Step 8: Alias
Harrison makes a big deal out of wanting to make sure that illicit science doesn’t hurt anyone the way that he was hurt, so he’s going to call himself The Regulator. He’s pretty open about his identity, and balances his time superheroing and working on his business.
Character Sheet
The Regulator
Alias: Harrison Kent
Background: Upper Class, Power Source: Extradimensional, Archetype: Elemental Manipulator, Personality: Distant
Principles: Business (Responsibility), Exorcism (Esoteric)
- Minor Twists: You’re always looking at the bigger picture. How does this cause friction with the team? What is literally or figuratively coming back to haunt you?
- Major Twists: Your business interests are in danger. Where are your true priorities? What has been allowed to enter this world?
Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d8
Health: 28 (Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1)
Qualities:
- Persuasion (Social) d10
- Investigation (Mental) d8
- Science (Info) d8
- Extradimensional Conduit (RP) d8
- Magical Lore (Info) d6
Powers:
- Infernal (Element) d12
- Teleportation (Mobility) d10
- Postcognition (Psychic) d8
Green Abilities:
- Principle of Business (A): Overcome in a situation related to the field of your business or knowing locals, and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
- Principle of Exorcism (A): Overcome entities or elements from another dimension and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Otherworldly Attunement (A): Boost yourself with Infernal. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. All damage dealt using that bonus is Infernal.
- Dark Blaze (A): Attack up to two targets with Infernal. Also take damage equal to your Mid die.
- Shatter Reason (A): Hinder with Infernal. Also Attack with your Min die. If you are in the Red Zone, you may apply the penalty to any number of nearby targets.
Yellow Abilities:
- Flicker Strike (A): Attack any number of enemies using Teleportation. Then, take irreducible damage equal to the number of targets hit.
- Absorb Pain ®: When you defeat a minion, roll that Minion’s die and Boost yourself using that roll.
- Infernal Alignment (A): If you would take Infernal damage, reduce that damage to 0 and Recover that amount instead.
Red Abilities:
- The Abyss Beckons (A): Use Infernal to create a number of d6 minions equal to your Mid die. Choose the basic action they perform. They act at the start of your turn.
- Untouchable Movement (A): Boost yourself using Teleport. Use your Max + Min die. Then you may end up anywhere else in the scene, ignoring any dangers between your starting and ending location.
Out Ability: Boost an Ally by rolling your Red Status die.
Aftermath
Harrison is definitely going to be the edgy boy on whatever team he ends up on, but with a strong feeling of responsibility and focus to help temper those impulses. He’s also one heck of a one-trick pony, since I got forced into using Infernal for almost all of his Green and Yellow Abilities, and then dialed it up into the stratosphere, while also giving him a persistent Boost that turns everything he does Infernal regardless.
When he comes up against enemies who are immune to his main shtick, Harrison isn’t totally useless; he’ll probably be good for Overcomes against most enemies like that, and in Yellow he can use his Teleportation to fight, but he’s not much of a team player and will probably need to fall back more on basic actions.
The Regulator also comes with a whole slate of possible supervillains. The scientist who was originally running dangerous experiments in his company, corporate rivals, and extradimensional threats give a wide range of foes that he’s likely to come up against, most of which can be easily integrated into other players’ stories. Overall, I like how this fellow turned out.