Step 1: Background
We begin, as usual, with our classic 2d10 roll. This time I rolled 5 and 4, which gives me access to Adventurer, Unremarkable (or not) and Performer. I just did a creative sort, so let’s make an Adventurer!
This adventurer is going to have Leadership d8 and Fitness d10 as his two traits. Archibald Harsbury is the son of a wealthy family and easy-going explorer, who spends his time going to remote places, funding archeological digs, and generally making a nuisance of himself around the people who actually live or work there. He’s very good-natured, but maybe not that bright.
Being an Adventurer also gives Archibald an Expertise Principle. He picks the Principle of Mastery; he’s proud of his abilities, and is always looking for new ways to apply them.
Step 2: Power Source
Sadly, Adventurer only gives us three d8s for Power Source. My roll nets me 4, 4, and 2, giving me access to Training, Experimentation, Nature, and Powered Suit. Nature would make a certain amount of sense, but I’ve just had a brainstorm so I’m going with…. Powered Suit.
Archibald doesn’t just explore. His team has built a suit that he uses to explore places that humans straight-up can’t go. In the process, he’s begun to encounter the stranger, more malicious aspects of the Sentinels universe, who want to use those places as remote lairs, as well as the innocent and reclusive folk who live there, and he can’t just leave them in danger.
For dice, Archie has Powered Suit d8, Strength d8, and Wall-Crawling d8. It’s a classic strong, maneuverable suit that’s built for versatility over power.
For Yellow Abilities, Archie doesn’t have an element (which it has been pointed out to me doesn’t actually prevent taking Abilities that do things for elements, but I hadn’t thought of that when I was designing Archie), so he’s got to take the other two, boosting himself with his Power Suit and attacking enemies with his impressive Strength.
Step 3: Archetype
Powered Suit gives a d10 and two d6s to determine Archetype, driving the numbers down. I rolled 6, 4, and 5, which opens up Marksman (nope!), Blaster, Close Quarters Combatant, Elemental Manipulator, Robot/Cyborg, and Sorcerer. This is a bit rough. Robot/Cyborg overlaps a lot mechanically, Blaster and Elemental Manipulator require re-shifting to elemental powers, and Sorcerer, I think not. So I guess he’s a Close Quarters Combatant.
He gets a d10 for Close Combat, a d6 for Leaping for some extra mobility, and he puts his last d6 into Gadgets; the team makes a lot of neat little gizmos for Archie.
This Archetype gives a lot of Green Abilities, but they’re mostly direct combat. Flexible Stance seems like a given, especially with the power suit, letting Archie do a couple of things at once. Precise Strike lets him hit hard even when there’s a lot of problems in the way, and Defensive Strike lets him use his Fitness for protection. For his Yellow, he adds Throw Minion using Strength, because who doesn’t want to throw a minion?
Close Quarters Combatant gives a Responsibility Principle, and I’m going to stretch a touch to give Archie the Principle of the Team. His conservation team/media crew is well-known, and gives him both official permissions and a lot of flexibility with authorities and locals.
Step 4: Personality
I rolled a 2 and a 10 for Personality, which gives us access to Natural Leader, Alluring, and Nurturing. This actually kind of sucks, because most of Archie’s stuff unlocks early, and he has strong defenses to avoid getting sucked into Red early. But I’ll go ahead and make him Alluring, because of course he’s a sexy mess.
For his backstory, Archie gets “Media Conservationist d8”, which represents his performances and also his familiarity with the natural world.
Step 5: Red Abilities
Archie doesn’t have any Reactions right now, so a good one seems like a solid bet. A Reactive Defense lets him get into the fray and use his Close Combat to redirect damage to himself, and his Push Your Limits lets him do this repeatedly to just generally sacrifice himself to keep everyone alive.
Step 6: Retcon
While I was looking at the Athletic powers I saw an extremely funny combination, so I’m just going to go ahead and do it. I’m taking Reactive Strike. When Archie is the target of an attack, he can Attack his attacker by rolling his Strength die, plus any damage that he takes. The result of this is that Archie can take 2 irreducible damage every time someone nearby is attacked to redirect the attack to him, then Defend himself with d10+3, then Attack his attacker with d8+(damage taken).
This is not sustainable unless someone is really helping Archie recover, but that’s half the fun!
Step 7: Health
Archie’s health is a moderate 30 (8 + Red Die 10 + Strength 8 + 4). It’s not as big as it could be, but it’s solid.
Step 8: Alias
We still need a name for Archie, and it’s got to be tied to his media persona. He’s pretty open about who he is, but he travels the world as Archie The Adventurer!
Character Sheet
Archie The Adventurer
Alias: Archibald Harsbury
Background: Adventurer, Power Source: Powered Suit, Archetype: Close-Quarters Combatant, Personality: Alluring
Principles: Mastery (Expertise), Team (Responsibility)
- Minor Twists: How did your powers fail you in the moment? What embarrassment did you just cause as a member of your team?
- Major Twists: What side effects are you suffering from your powers? What major sanctions will you suffer as a result of your actions?
Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d10
Health: 30 (Green 30-23, Yellow 22-12, Red 11-1)
Qualities:
- Fitness (Physical) d10
- Close Combat (Physical) d10
- Leadership (Social) d8
- Media Conservationist d8
Powers:
- Powered Suit (Technology) d8
- Strength (Athletic) d8
- Wall-Crawling (Mobility) d8
- Leaping (Mobility) d6
- Gadgets (Technology) d6
Green Abilities:
- Principle of Mastery (A): Overcome in a situation that uses your powers in a new way and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
- Principle of the Team (A): Overcome by using your status as an official representative and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
- Dual-Systems Mode (A): Take any two basic actions using Power Suit, each using your Min die.
- Turtle Up (A): Defend using Fitness. Attack with your Min die.
- One-Hit Punch (A): Attack using Close Combat. Ignore all penalties on this attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.
- Damage Reduction (I): Reduce physical damage you take by 1 in Green, 2 in Yellow, and 3 in Red.
Yellow Abilities:
- Adaptation (A): Boost yourself using Power Suit. That boost is persistent and exclusive.
- All-Out Attack (A): Attack up to three different targets using Strength. Apply your Max to one, your Mid to a second, and your Min to the third. If you roll doubles, take a minor twist or irreducible damage equal to that die.
- Toss-up (A): Attack a minion using Strength. Whatever that minion rolls as defense Attacks another target of your choice.
Red Abilities:
- Take The Hit ®: When a nearby ally is attack, you may become the target of the Attack and roll your single Close Combat die to defend yourself.
- Fight Back ®: When you are Attacked and dealt damage, you may Attack your attacker by rolling your single Strength die and adding the damage that you took.
- Burning Bright (I): You may take 1 irreducible damage to take an extra Reaction, any number of times per turn.
Out Ability: Boost an Ally by rolling your Power Suit die.
Aftermath
I think it’s interesting that both our second and third heroes have already had options closed off by prior heroes. Those low numbers show up a lot! I’m going to have to lean in on the over-10s when I get them.
Archie is an interesting one, but not the most mechanically sound. In Green, he’s really going to need some boosts from his team to get things done; he’s got a d6 status and a d8 maximum for his Powers, no strong way to Boost himself, and two of his three core Abilities use his Min die.
Once he hits Yellow, things start looking up; his status die improves, he can give himself a long-term Boost that will be very useful with all those Min effects, and he gets a pretty good crowd-clearing attack. And of course, in Red he can just absolutely burn himself out to tank and counter-attack an absurd number of hits, especially physical ones. He can’t take his main action to recover during all of this, though, so it’s a short-term plan.
Personality-wise, he seems fun! Just a fun-loving rich boy who gradually realizes that things are a bigger deal than he was originally imagining. Depending on how our teams shake out, other heroes could be part of his media crew, or just friends that work alongside it.