It might just be that Waste looked up to Haste, and patterned himself after her? I’m still mucking with it (and seeing what else matches with Haste, for that matter.)
But in the mean time…
Step 1: Background
Well, well. 10 and 9 on our first roll unlocks Performer, Military, and Otherworldy, which for us means Military and Created. Let’s do a Military person. I feel like most ex-military characters in comics are either Army or Air Force, so here is a Navy guy.
His name is Greg.
As a military officer, Greg has tremendous Fitness (d10) and Leadership skills (d8) but he doesn’t focus on in-person combat. And as a successful military officer, he follows the Principle of Order; rules exist for a reason, and you should follow the chain of command.
Step 2: Power Source
Military gives out d10, d8, and d8, which nets us 9, 7, and 5. After all the crossing-off and adding up, that leaves me with Artificial Being or Unknown. I like being wrong, so we’re going with Unknown! George has no idea why he has powers, which just absolutely drives him up the wall. It is a major source of chaos that completely upended his career goals and life plan. This is much funnier than being a robot secretly.
George can control Metal (d10), a fact that he found out during a routine training exercise. He’s also got an aura of command (Presence d8) and has tremendous Strength (d8), making him an exceptional physical specimen. It’s weird.
For abilities, our officer is a Boost factory. He can attack with his Metal and Boost, he can Boost everyone else and Hinder himself. He also picks up Imposing d8; he’s kind of a scary guy when he’s annoyed, which is always.
Step 3: Archetype
1, 8, and 2 means that we could be a Form-Changer or a Gadgeteer. Let’s go with Gadgeteer; he can already shape metal, why not let him control what’s inside it, too?
Inventions d10 lets Greg build incredible tools in any situation. Technology d8 lets him understand it, and Alertness d6 is a nice fallback. For Abilities, in Green he can make powerful Hinders or push himself for more impressive actions. In Yellow, he can turn bonuses and penalties into each other.
We get an Identity Principle as a Gadgeteer, and I’m leaning into our unofficial inspiration by giving Greg the Principle of Rage. When he gets angry, he gets toweringly angry, focused on the things that are disrupting his life and hurting others.
Step 4: Personality
Double 7s gives me Naïve and Impulsive. He’s definitely not naïve, so… well, someone had to take it.
Unfortunately, Greg isn’t the best choice for this because he’s not focused on any one Power or Quality, but he can make some use of his Metal (to d12.)
Just… d6 Yellow Status die. God.
Step 5: Red Abilities
Well, I’m definitely taking something with Metal! Powerful Strike lets him just unleash a metal death attack, and then Like the Wind lets him turn damage against him into Hinders, which is an amazing image of him pulling up metal defenses that he then has to clamber out of.
Step 6: Retcon
Oh, he’s getting a Red step-up. He’s got to be good eventually.
Step 7: Health
We’re looking at (8 + Red 10 +Athletics 8 + 4) for 30 Health, nicely in the middle.
Step 8: Alias
So, turning into a superhuman that can reflexively pull apart boats when there’s trouble is not something that the Navy wants in an officer, but they’re still using Greg as a military attaché. With that in mind, I think he’s got a fake military title that he hates, like Commodore Ironclad.
He hates that title so much.
Character Sheet
Commodore Ironclad
Alias: Greg Swann
Background: Military, Power Source: Unknown, Archetype: Gadgeteer, Personality: Impulsive
Principles: Order [Ideals], Rage [Identity]
- Roleplaying: You believe in organization and concordance. You always keep your head in the face of chaos. They don’t like you when you’re angry. Your fury is intimidating to many.
- Minor Twists: What element of disorder caused your plan to fall apart? What did your anger just mess up?
- Major Twists: How is your ordered existence ruined by chaos? Who have you thoroughly alienated with your outbursts?
Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d6, Red d10
Health: 30 (Green 30-23, Yellow 22-12, Red 11-1)
Qualities:
- Fitness (Physical) d10
- Leadership (Social) d8
- Imposing (Social) d8
- Technology (Info) d8
- Alertness (Mental) d6
Powers:
- Metal (Materials) d10
- Gadgets (Technology) d10
- Presence (Intellectual) d8
- Strength (Athletics) d8
Green Abilities:
- Principle of Order (A): Overcome a challenge where you can organize other people. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
- Principle of Rage (A): Overcome in a situation in which you can channel your rage for good and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Interference (A): Hinder using Metal. You may either use your Max die, or use your Mid die and make it persistent and exclusive.
- Clear-Headed ®: After rolling your dice pool, you can take 1 irreducible damage to reroll the entire pool.
Yellow Abilities:
- On the Edge (A): Attack using Metal. Hit one target using your Min die and a second target with your Mid die, and Boost with your Max die.
- Commander (A): Boost all nearby allies using Presence, with your Max + Mid die. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
- Tactical Analysis (A): Turn any bonus into a penalty of equal size, or vice versa.
Red Abilities:
- Razor Strike (A): Attack with Metal. Use your Max + Mid dice.
- Instinctive Armor ®: When you are attacked and dealt damage, you may ignore that damage completely. If you do, treat the result as a Hinder against you.
Out Ability: The hero who goes after you may take 1 irreducible damage to reroll their entire dice pool.
Aftermath:
So I made an Unknown Gadgeteer after all just because it made sense. There you go!
I also made Donald Duck, just a little bit, in that he is a former naval officer whose life is constantly overturned by chaos, and responds with berserk fury when he’s not tripping over himself trying to keep everything under control. You’re welcome.
Tactically, there’s some interesting uses of taking damage to reroll bad dice pools in Green and Yellow, then just shrugging damage off when you hit Red and go berserk.
Narratively, I don’t know if Greg is ever going to discover what caused his powers. Bored demigod? Magical ritual gone wrong? Isoflux Alpha? On a certain level, I don’t know if it matters – it was a cosmic coincidence that completely upset his well-maintained life and now he has to deal with that, and I think that’s more interesting than digging into why it actually happened.