Friv makes twenty superheroes!

[FrivYeti]

Nope, I started right away. When I started this project, I ran into choice paralysis almost instantly when trying to decide what qualities to take, so I started trying to create character outlines right off the bat based on the qualities that I picked.

I’m not married to whatever idea I come up with in the first step; there are a few characters coming up where I made either slight or substantial revisions to a person’s story based on what I rolled up for their Power Source. But in general I found it gave me a bit of guidance for the “pick a Power Source” step that would have overwhelmed me otherwise.

[FrivYeti]

Step 1: Background

Our two dice for Background this time around give me 2 and 7. That means Blank Slate, Academic, and Performer. Two of those are taken, which means my choices are Performer or Military, but I’ll stick with Performer. I am required to take Finesse, since I’m almost out of Qualities, so what kind of performer…

Mike Wu is a professional stage magician! He uses his Finesse (d10) for his tricks, and his Banter (d8) to hold the rapt attention of his audience. He has a decent following and a few tricks of his own. For his Principle, the Principle of the Detective is why he got into stage magic; he loves seeing how things fit together.

Step 2: Power Source

Performer gives d10, d8, and d6 for Power Source, and my roll gives me 5, 5, and 1. That’s Accident, Mystical, Nature, and Tech Upgrades. Is it weird that I don’t want the magician to be Mystical? That feels too stereotypical. Instead, I’m going to do something ridiculous and give him Nature.

Mike was looking for a new white rabbit for his act, and found a sickly and exhausted rabbit in a mysterious pet shop. He took her home, and nursed her back to health, at which point she revealed that she was a magical rabbit on a quest to find a champion for the world; she gifted him with powers because of his good heart. This power has given Mike the ability to command the weather, speak with animals, and withstand terrible blows. It’s weird, and he’s not sure what to do with it, but apparently he’s a defender of the Earth now? Plus, being able to talk to the rabbits and doves really helps with his act, as does his ability to make thunderclaps happen for dramatic effect and stir a breeze to ruffle his cape.

For Abilities, Call to the Wild is a pretty reasonable way of grabbing animal minions, and Predator’s Eye creates weather that attacks enemies, but also empowers them. In Green, he uses his weather control to Hinder large groups.

Step 3: Archetype

We have a d10 and two d8s for selecting Archetypes, and rolling them gives me access to 7, 7, and 2. This means Shadow, Armored, Elemental Manipulator, and Minion-Maker, which means that I’ve actually got Minion-Maker and… Wild Card. Yes, let’s do that. Wild Card it is.

Awareness d10 gives our magician a good view of the world, and Acrobatics and Insight give him a solid range of Qualities. For Green Abilities, Unknown Results is very funny but also very bad, so I’m going to take Gimmick and Multitask. At Green, Mike uses his Awareness of the situation to Boost or Hinder, and maybe exploit an opportunity, and can use his Finesse to do a couple of things at once.

Yellow is much harder. I definitely want a Reaction. Break the 4th seems like the most powerful thing ever, but I love the idea of waiting to apply bonuses until after you roll and see how you did… no, I need to give him Break the 4th, it’s just too much better than the other Yellow options.

Wild Card also hands us our second-ever Ideals Principle. (For those keeping track, we’re at seven Expertise, five Responsibility, four Esoteric, two Identity, and now two Ideals.) I’m going to give Mike the Principle of Liberty. He believes in freedom and choice, and hates to be restrained.

Step 4: Personality

Two d10s gives me double 6s, which opens up Distant and Nurturing. Since those are both gone, we get Fast-Talking and Analytical instead. Those both work, but I’m going to take Analytical. Mike can do the fast-talking thing, but his impulse is to figure out what’s going on and take advantage of the situation. This makes him best in Green.

For our roleplaying quality, I’m giving Mike Coco the Rabbit. Coco is a sentient rabbit who may or may not be a nature spirit, and is Mike’s animal companion.

Step 5: Red Abilities

In Red, Mike is starting to get worse at doing things, so I want a pair of Abilities to offset that. Summon Allies lets him create a whole host of animal friends, through psychic powers this time, and a Finishing Blow lets him turn the penalties he creates into a single, powerful hit (which with a horde of Hindering doves can be really strong.)

Step 6: Retcon

I don’t really need a new Power or Quality, and I am keenly aware that I keep just boosting everyone with a d6 Red die to d8, so I’m going to deliberately duck the trend and give Mike a new Red Ability instead. Impossible Knowledge lets him just turn penalties into bonuses, which will do well.

Step 7: Health

Oh, hey. (8 + Vitality 6 + Red 6 + 4) gives us a mere 24 Health, by far the lowest we’ve seen to date. We now officially have an example of the weird semi-failure state – with Physical Qualities at d10 and Intellectual Powers at d10, Mike’s stuck with a d6, and since he’s not great in Red he ends up in Red faster, which is sort of an interesting effect.

Step 8: Alias

I really want to call this guy Magic Mike, but I’m not going to. Instead, he is Ilamar the Inscrutable, Master of Mystery! Ilamar doesn’t actually mean anything, he just liked the sound.

Character Sheet

Ilamar the Inscrutable

Alias: Mike Wu

Background: Performer, Power Source: Nature, Archetype: Wild Card, Personality: Analytical

Principles: The Detective, Liberty

• Roleplaying: You can always tell when an important piece of information is being left out or
• obscured, though you might not know exactly what it is. You believe strongly in liberty and side with the oppressed. You can never truly be mentally restrained.
• Minor Twists: What important clue did you miss? How do you become temporarily trapped?
• Major Twists: What major information was revealed that you wish had stayed hidden? How have you become a prisoner yourself?

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d6

Health: 24 (Green 24-19, Yellow 18-10, Red 9-1)

Qualities:

• Finesse (Physical) d10
• Acrobatics (Physical) d8
• Banter (Social) d8
• Insight (Social) d8
• Coco The Rabbit (RP) d8

Powers:

• Weather (Element) d10
• Awareness (Intellectual) d10
• Animal Control (Psychic) d8
• Vitality (Athletic) d6

Green Abilities:

• Principle of the Detective (A): Overcome to learn hidden information and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Liberty (A): Overcome in a situation in which you are restricted or bound and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Blasting Winds (A): Hinder using Weather. Use your Max die. You may split that penalty across multiple nearby targets.
• Quicker than the Eye (A): Take two basic actions using Finesse. Use your Min die for each.
• Set The Stage (A): Boost or Hinder using Awareness. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, you may also Attack with your Mid die.

Yellow Abilities:

• Hat Trick (A): Gain a d8 animal minion. It acts on your turn, and goes away at the end of the scene. You may only have one such minion at a time.
• The Storm’s Eye (A): Attack an enemy with Weather. Use your Max + Min die. Then gain a Boost using your Mid die. The target of the Attack gains a Boost of the same size.
• Callbacks ®: Uncheck one of your Collections.

Red Abilities:

• Summon Nature’s Allies (A): Use Animal Control 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.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve (A): Attack using Finesse. Use your Max die. Remove any number of penalties from the target, and add your Min die once for each penalty removed.
• The Old Switcheroo (I): At the start of your turn, change any penalty into a bonus.

Out Ability: Remove a bonus or penalty of your choice.

Aftermath: Boy, I changed the rules just in time. Ilamar the Inscrutable had to use my new rule set twice. The next ten heroes I make are going to be real restrictive.

With that said, this quick-talking magician who has actual powers that are not in any direct way related to stage magic is pretty great, and I could see him becoming a fun part of the team. There’s also some dangling story threads about his literal magic rabbit – where is she from, what is she after, how is this going to go down, can anyone but him hear her, or do they all just think he’s talking to a rabbit (or even better, anyone could hear her, but she’s shy and doesn’t like to talk…)

Now that we’re ten heroes down, I thought that I would also quickly take stock of how they handled the options:

For Backgrounds, I only have three of the first ten unlocked, so we’re likely to see a lot more of “pick from two high-end choices” popping up going forward. This is also true to exactly the same degree for Power Source; I didn’t get a lot of high numbers rolling previously. This is even worse for Archetypes; only two of the first ten are around, and one of them is Speedster, which requires a 1 to be rolled. Oddly, Personalities aren’t nearly as tilted, with seven of the first ten still available.

My requirement to include every Quality is just about over; Medicine is the only one left, so someone’s going to get that soon (probably Medical, if they’re drawn before I get “any Info”). I have 18 Powers that I haven’t included, and thus would like to have in my last ten characters, but they’re quite spread out; half of them are Energy or Materials, with the other half spread out across five categories and every Athletic power picked (Hallmark too, but there are only two Hallmark powers so that’s different.) Materials in particular seems uncommon; I hadn’t noticed that there were only five Power Sources and four Archetypes that use them, and didn’t take them a couple times early on, so I’ll have to focus in on that when possible.

For Principles, I still have nine Esoteric options, seven Expertise, eleven Ideals, ten Identity, and seven Responsibility to choose from. I hadn’t run through all twenty of my remaining options to see how many I’d have left when I was picking. (Spoiler alert: Expertise is… a thing.)

And finally, I still have 43 Red Abilities to pick from, and will be picking 20-30. I’m going to have to keep an eye on some of the categories to try and pull from them to keep my options open overall, but I haven’t accidentally picked an entire category clean yet.

[fjur]

Huh, I just realised that, because of your rules, it is more likely that your Heroes will be built with mostly common parts or mostly rare parts, but not both, because you’ll roll all the common results first, then add and get the rarer ones later on.

Hmm, there could be some connection betwixt Covenant’s Mantle and Coco the Rabbit . . . Also, Deep Freeze is animalistic and Ilamar* can talk to animals, so, teammates, maybe.

*In “Step 8” you call him Illamar (with two L’s), but in his character sheet he’s Ilamar (with only one L).

[FrivYeti]

Whoops! One ‘l’ is the correct spelling, inasmuch as it’s the one I used everywhere else.

My little hint about team formation is as follows, because I like to drive speculation: Of the five teams, one has not had a single member appear yet! The other four teams have each had at least two members appear, and no team has had every member appear.

[FrivYeti]

Step 1: Background

As we round the second half, our 2d10 gives us the choices of Adventurer, Performer, and Medical. That technically also gives me access to Anachronistic, but I do need to give someone Medicine so let’s do it!

We get extra Qualities for our Medical professional, so let’s make them a first responder in disaster situations. We’ll give them Medical d10, Conviction d8, and Finesse d6 to cover their general skills. Medical also gives… another Expertise Principle, huh? Huh. Well, let’s take the Principle of Speed. Juanita works in a field where time is of the essence, and that leaks into his civilian life as well.

Step 2: Power Source

Medical inexplicably gives d10, d8, d8 for Power Source in addition to having the extra Quality, so let’s roll it. 6, 5, and 8 gives us Mystical, Nature, Power Suit, Supernatural, Cursed, and Alien.

An alien doctor, you say? Played by Alan Tudyk, perhaps?

Just kidding, but I do want an alien. Sorry, Juanita, you are being renamed. J’nyta is a Maerynian disaster responder now! She has seen devastation firsthand, and wants to bring peace to the world that sheltered her people when they were nearly wiped out by Grand Warlord Voss.

J’nyta is a natural weather-worker, as are many Maerynians, so Weather d10. She’s also a bit of a genius with a lot of medical Inventions (d8) that she makes significant use of, and she has tremendous personal Presence (d8) to direct people in emergencies.

For Abilities, she can use her Inventions to give people boosts, but doing so distracts and Hinders her. She can also use her Weather for a wide array of effects, which also heal people who are running low on energy. Finally, her Finesse upgrades to d8.

Step 3: Archetype

Alien only gives three d8s for Archetype, but J’nyta has enough dice that I’m not too worried about that. Rolling, we come up with 3, 4, and 8 – finally getting those higher numbers! This gives us access to Physical Powerhouse, Marksman, Armored, Flyer, Sorcerer, and Psychic. Which means Sorcerer and Transporter. We’ve got a high-speed dispatch healer, so let’s go with Transporter.

One or two of our dice needs to go to a new Power, and I’m going to go with Precognition and Flight. J’nyta can harness the winds to fly through the air as needed, and she is a rare Maerynian psychic who gets flashes of where the best place to be is when there’s trouble. Her precognitive intuition is almost subconscious; she doesn’t get proper visions so much as a strong feeling that she’s needed. Finally, we will give her Fitness; she’s good at keeping going for a while without burning out.

Transporters don’t have a lot of Ability choices. At Green, we’ll let her attack targets and then either hinder or move them, using her Weather, and a Reaction to force attackers to reroll their pools. At Yellow, she gets the ability to attack with Flight, and then Defend herself for the turn.

And… Expertise Principle? Are you kidding me? We might actually run out of these. I’m going to give her the Principle of Clockwork, so that she understands how all the pieces fit together.

Step 4: Personality

Two d10s gives me 6 and 10 – J’nyta really likes rolling high! That unlocks Distant, Alluring, and Cheerful, which means Cheerful and Naïve. I’m going to take Cheerful. Naïve doesn’t seem right for someone who has seen this much tragedy, but I like the idea that she believes in keeping a pleasant face up.

For roleplaying, I’m just going to give her the Maerynian Quality, to cover her alien background.

Step 5: Red Abilities

I’m running low on Elemental choices, so I’m going to attach my Red Abilities to Medicine and Inventions. In emergencies, J’nyta’s Medicine is very Reliable, and… oh, right, all of the Tech powers are attacks. Instead, let’s use Flight to protect groups of people from danger.

Step 6: Retcon

Screw it, Red to d8.

Step 7: Health

Back into the general range, with (8 + Conviction 8 + Red 8 + 4) 28 Health.

Step 8: Alias

Well, she’s primary a rescue worker, even when she’s fighting evil, and a lot of her background is about being safe, and wanting others to feel the same, so let’s go with Refuge.

Character Sheet

Refuge

Alias: J’nyta Gnz’l

Background: Medical, Power Source: Alien, Archetype: Transporter, Personality: Cheerful

Principles: Speed [Expertise], Clockwork [Expertise].

• Roleplaying: You’re fast, and you don’t like to waste time. You are good at understanding how pieces fit together and spotting flaws in orderly systems.
• Minor Twists: What physical drawback did you suffer from going too fast?
• Major Twists: What crucial detail did you speed by earlier that’s coming back to haunt you?

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d8

Health: 28 (Green 28-22, Yellow 21-11, Red 10-1)

Qualities:

• Medical (Info) d10
• Conviction (Mental) d8
• Finesse (Physical) d8
• Fitness (Physical) d8
• Maerynian (RP) d8

Powers:

• Weather (Element) d10
• Inventions (Tech) d8
• Presence (Intellectual) d8
• Precognition (Psychic) d8
• Flight (Mobility) d8

Green Abilities:

• Principle of Speed (A): When you successfully Overcome, you may end up anywhere in the current environment. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Clockwork (A): Overcome a complex problem with a simple tool and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Gust of Wind (A): Attack an opponent using Weather. Either Hinder them with your Min die, or move them somewhere else in the scene.
• Evasive ®: When you are hit with an Attack, you may take 1 irreducible damage to force your opponent to reroll their entire die pool.

Yellow Abilities:

• Weather-Worker (A): Boost, Hinder, Attack, or Defend with Weather. You and all nearby heroes in the Yellow or Red Zone recover with your Min die.
• Fine-Tuning (A): Boost all nearby allies using Inventions. Hinder yourself with your Min die.
• Fly-By (A): Attack with Flight. Defend against all attacks with your Min die until the start of your turn.

Red Abilities:

• Take the Hits ®: When multiple nearby heroes are Attacked, you may take all of the damage instead. If you do, roll your Flight die + Red Zone die, and Defend against the Attack with the total.
• Reliable Medic (I): When you take any action with Medicine, you may reroll your Min die before determining effects.

Out Ability: Boost an Ally by rolling your single Weather die.

Aftermath: I like her!

It’s interesting that I didn’t end up having anything to do with the Precognition and Presence dice that I gave her, but they’re still valuable for general Overcomes and social interactions. J’nyta has a pretty wide range of abilities, leaning towards Boosts and Hinders but able to fight if she needs to. She’s probably going to have a lot of stories dealing with trying to help people in danger while her teammates focus on the big bad, but also about believing in the best in people and being alternately rewarded and disappointed.

Probably also some issues with people not trusting her, as an alien living shortly after a giant cosmic attack, but hopefully that won’t go too dark.

[fjur]

Alright, here are my team predictions:

Team Magic: Covenant, The Regulator, Deep Freeze, Ilamar the Inscrutable

Team Space: Montage, Synergist, Fernwick, Refuge

Team Technology: Archie The Adventurer, Atomizer, The Artificer

[FrivYeti]

Definitely some strong predictions! But here’s a newcomer to mess with it…

Step 1: Background

Starting at the very beginning gives us opening results of 6 and 10. This makes the Backgrounds of Law Enforcement, Military, and Former Villain available to us. Let’s build an ex-supervillain. They’re always fun folks. I have no idea what name to give this person, but I’ll call him Bob for now.

This one is very tricky, because I would want Bob’s qualities to be tied to his powers, and I don’t know what those are yet. Quality choices lean much more towards “former mastermind” than “former minion”, so let’s give Bob Technology d10 and Imposing d8. Your classic ranting mad scientist.

Former Villains have an… Expertise… Principle…

Seriously?? If anyone should be Ideals-driven, it would be the person who was a villain until something woke them to heroism. Fine. Whatever. I don’t even mind. Principle of the Gearhead, there.

Step 2: Power Source

Former Villains get the d10, d8, d8 spread, so we roll up 9, 7, and 2. So our choices are Training, Relic, Radiation, Supernatural, and Cosmos. Of those two, I actually like the idea of a supernatural technician, someone who tried to build devices that were powered by magic. This is not a good plan in the Sentinels universe, but Bob didn’t care!

This gives us access to Transmutation d10, Electricity d8, and Vitality d8. Our good doctor can channel the lightning of the heavens to transform the nature of objects, and has turbo-charged his own body. A real self-Frankenstein of a guy.

For Abilities, our good (bad) doctor uses Transmutation to Boost or Hinder people, and Electricity to Boost allies and heal people. Then, once we’re done with those, we get a free Presence d10.

Step 3: Archetype

We’re given d10, d10, d6 for Archetype, and 5, 1, 1 gives us access to Speedster, Shadow, Blaster, and Close Quarters Combatant. We’ve got a lot of electricity, let’s be a Blaster!

This lets us boost our Electricity to d10, and then gives us Ranged Combat d10, Fire d8 (it was that or Momentum), and Inventions d6. Our Blaster has a couple of elements to blast with.

For Abilities, we’ll lean into the elements, since we can’t lean into transmutation. Electricity fires off precise hits, and Fire just rolls over everyone. In Yellow, he becomes immune to electricity, and can use his Inventions to do a lot of damage and Boost.

We get an Esoteric Principle this time around, and I’m going to go with the Principle of the Inner Demon. When Bob channels his inner supervillain, he’s always at risk of slipping back into bad habits. This isn’t quite as literal as the Principle suggests, but it still works well.

Step 4: Personality

Rolling for personality gives us 9 and 9, which lets us choose between Inquisitive and Apathetic, both of which are gone. That leaves us with Naïve or Arrogant, and I’m going to pick Arrogant. For all that he’s turned over a new leaf, there’s a lot of the old villain in Bob.

Step 5: Red Abilities

When in serious danger, sometimes you just need an Impenetrable Defense, powered by your alchemical transformations. And sometimes you just want to unload with a Final Attack, using your best Inventions.

Step 6: Retcon

So, we got a free d10, and there is something that’s really bugging me about this character. Even though it is definitely not the right move, I’m going to swap his Presence and his Inventions to let him use his cool tech for more things.

(The right move is Red to d8, but this means two heroes actually will drop to d6 in the Red Zone.)

Step 7: Health

We’re looking at (8 + Red Die 6 + Athletics 8 + 4) 26 Health this time around. I think all those big Red Dice may have tilted my thoughts about what the standard ranges look like…

Step 8: Alias

We have some extra work to do here. I’m officially naming our friend Bertram Gilles, an engineer who became obsessed with alchemy and its ability to create perfected things. After losing his job because of his ‘mad obsessions’, he undertook criminal activity to develop his alchemical devices, under the name Doctor Phlogiston.

During Oblivaeon, Doctor Phlogiston was released from prison to fight a horde of Aeon Men, saving the lives of many of his fellow prisoners and guards. In the aftermath, he was paroled and put on a work-release program as long as he followed various strict rules and also took action as a superhero, which he does under the alias of Doctor Cobalt. A lot of people don’t know that Phlogiston and Cobalt are the same person, but enough do.

Character Sheet

Doctor Cobalt

Alias: Bertram Gilles

Background: Former Villain, Power Source: Supernatural, Archetype: Blaster, Personality: Arrogant

Principles: Gearhead [Expertise], Inner Demon [Esoteric]

• Roleplaying: You always know the general state of repair or function of an item of technology, whether it’s a simple toaster or an alien orbital defense system. You have a darkness in you that you strive to keep suppressed. You can reach out to similar forces.
• Minor Twists: What mechanical device just shorted out? What sinister act comes from tapping into your dark side?
• Major Twists: What machine just went terribly off the rails? What havoc does your dark side inflict as you allow it to take control?

Status Dice: Green d10, Yellow d8, Red d6

Health: 26 (Green 26-21, Yellow 20-10, Red 9-1)

Qualities:

• Technology (Info) d10
• Ranged Combat (Physical) d10
• Imposing (Social) d8
• Paroled Supervillain (RP) d8

Powers:

• Transmutation (Materials) d10
• Inventions (Tech) d10
• Presence (Intellectual) d6
• Electricity (Element) d10
• Fire (Element) d8
• Vitality (Athletics) d8

Green Abilities:

• Principle of the Gearhead(A): Overcome a technological challenge and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Inner Darkness (A): Tap into your dark psyche and Overcome using your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Firestorm (A): Attack multiple targets with Fire. Use your Min die against each.
• Lightning Bolt (A): Attack using Lightning. Ignore all penalties on this attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by Reactions.

Yellow Abilities:

• Incredible Machines (A): Attack with Transmutation. Use your Max die. If you choose a hero to go next, also boost them with your Mid die.
• Galvanize (A): Boost an Ally using Lightning. You and nearby heroes in the Yellow or Red zones Recover health equal to your Min die.
• Mass Transmutation (A): Boost or Hinder multiple close targets with Inventions.
• Galvanic Reactor (I): When you would take Lightning damage, reduce that damage to 0 and then Recover that amount of Health.

Red Abilities:

• Unleash The Darkness (A): Attack using Inventions. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice. Take a major twist.
• The Perfected Bezoar (A): Defend using Transmutation against all attacks against you until your next turn, using your Max + Mid die.

Out Ability: Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Transmutation die.

Aftermath: So, I like Doctor Cobalt, but I think he could definitely have been stronger if I wasn’t holding to these rules. He doesn’t have a Reaction because there wasn’t one in his Archetype, I would have given him the ability to defend other people earlier if I’d know that was coming, plus if I didn’t need to give him a new trait in the Archetype phase, he’d have started with Inventions at d10 instead of Fire.

But he still works, and he’s still fun. Not a serious loss.

[TakeWalker]

This is one of my favs already.

[fjur]

Aw, why’d you have to rename Bob?

Argh, Doctor Cobalt belongs equally on Teams Magic and Technology!

[FrivYeti]

I refuse to acknowledge a difference! Ahahahahah!

Great, now I’m sounding like a supervillain. In all seriousness, there are a few of these characters that jumped up my “the one I want to play” list, and Doctor Cobalt is near the top.

[FrivYeti]

Step 1: Background

With eight heroes left, choices are starting to slim down. Results of 5 and 7 would unlock Unremarkable, Academic, and Criminal, but with all of those gone our choices are now Retired or Anachronistic.

I’m going to start with Anachronistic. Our hero is from the distant past, and has slept through the centuries until awoken by… something. They are a skilled fighter and mage, with Close Combat d10 and History d8. Upon awakening, they’ve learned quite a bit about this new world, and non-binary genders is one of those things. It was a pretty exciting discovery.

I have a few choices for Principles, but I’m going to be honest, I like the Principle of the Undead. Sir Teylor isn’t just a time-traveler. They died in glorious battle, and have been returned to… well, not exactly life, but something disturbingly close…

Step 2: Power Source

Anachronistic provides a d10, a d8, and a d6 for Power Source. Rolling those gives me 5, 5, and 2, which opens up Training, Mystical, Relic, and Tech Upgrades, so Mystical and Artificial Being. Let’s go ahead and finally take Mystical and create a proper mage knight.

The Rune Sword d10 gives our knight the powerful magical sword that is bound to their soul, Radiant d8 gives them holy might, and Presence d6 gives them a bit of raw social animus. It’s a good spread.

Mystic doesn’t give a lot of choices for special abilities – two out of three. Mystic Redirection lets Teylor use Radiant energy to redirect attacks to themselves, and then defend against them. Sever link lets them deal with environmental challenges with their rune sword, draining energy into themselves.

Finally, I get to pick up a free d10 Information instead of getting a Green Ability. Magical Lore it is. (Mage knight!)

Step 3: Archetype

Mystical gives us d10, d8, d8 for Archetype, and 8, 2, and 4 gives us Shadow, Marksman, Closer Quarters Combatant, Armored, Elemental Manipulator, and Sorcerer. That means Sorcerer or Minion-Maker, and I’m taking Sorcerer! Mage Knight! Mage Knight! Mage Knight!

As a Sorcerer, we can give Teylor Conviction d10, plus Absorption d8 to absorb energies and Leaping d8 for cool stunts. Pretty much all the Sorcerer Greens are attacks, which is useful. Let’s go with a Radiant Hinder that sometimes attacks, and the Runesword can Attack extremely powerfully.

In Yellow, we’ll take a trick with Absorption, to draw all the bonuses and penalties off someone and then Hinder them (usually useful against an enemy, but if a player has too many big Hinders, it can be worth replacing them all with a single one.)

We get a second Esoteric Principle here, and since we’ve leaned hard into magical stuff, I’ll give our knight the Principle of Magic. Sir Teylor can sense magical energies, and knows when they’re at hand.

Step 4: Personality

Our Personality roll gives us 1 and 9, which means Teylor could be a Lone Wolf, Inquisitive, or Alluring. So Lone Wolf or Natural Leader. I’m thinking Lone Wolf right now; it’s Teylor’s nature to run off and try to resolve situations alone, in order to shoulder the burdens of combat. This may be what got them killed the first time around, and it’s possible that this Personality will shift over time.

I’m not sure what to take for a roleplaying quality; a lot of the choices I would have made are really covered already. I think I will take Courtly Training; while Teylor doesn’t have a lot of social graces, they were trained in a noble court, and can fall back on formal etiquette (even if a lot of it is out of date.)

Step 5: Red Abilities

One of our Red Abilities is going to be unlocking the full power of the Rune Sword that Teylor wields, giving them a persistent Boost while also attacking. For the second, we’re going to go for the sacrifice play, using Teylor’s full conviction to hit extremely hard, at a heavy cost.

Step 6: Retcon

This is someone who’s going to be using their Reactions to pull aggro, while building up towards massive martyrdom blows. They do not need more Red Abilities, because I don’t think they’ll be sitting there for long. Let’s go ahead and boost their Red Die.

I should track how often I use each of the Retcon choices, just for fun.

Step 7: Health

Sir Teylor is pretty buff, with (8 + Red 10 + Conviction 10 + 4) 32 Health! Top end of the range.

Step 8: Alias

I spent some time mulling over whether Sir Teylor even has a superhero alias. In the end, I think they want to fit in with the team, so they call themselves Runesword.

Character Sheet

Runesword

Alias: Sir Teylor Clarihue

Background: Anachronistic, Power Source: Mystic, Archetype: Sorcerer, Personality: Lone Wolf

Principles: Undead [Esoteric], Magic [Esoteric]

• Roleplaying: You can be hurt and damaged, but you can ignore many of the afflictions that bother the living. You are attuned to an otherworldly force, and can feel the mystical energies of
• the area.
• Minor Twists: How did your undead nature unnerve those around you? What weird curse is now following you around?
• Major Twists: How are you risking your connection to the living world? What mystical backlash has changed your life?

Status Dice: Green d8, Yellow d8, Red d8

Health: 32 (Green 32-25, Yellow 24-12, Red 11-1)

Qualities:

• Close Combat (Physical) d10
• Magical Lore (Info) d10
• Conviction (Mental) d10
• History (Info) d8
• Courtly Training (RP) d8

Powers:

• The Runesword (Hallmark) d10
• Radiant (Element) d8
• Absorption (Self-Control) d8
• Leaping (Mobility) d8
• Presence (Intellectual) d6

Green Abilities:

• Principle of the Undead (A): Overcome in a situation in which your undead nature comes in handy and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of Magic (A): Overcome a mystical force and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Light of the Heavens (A): Hinder using Radiant. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, also Attack using your Mid die.
• Blade Strike (A): Attack using the Rune Sword. Use your Max die.

Yellow Abilities

• Cut Through (A): Overcome an environmental challenge using the Rune Sword. Use your Max die. Either remove any penalty in the scene or Boost using your Mid die.
• Energy Drain (A): Remove all bonuses and penalties from a target. Then, Hinder that target using your Absorption. Use your Max die.
• Knight’s Duty ®: When another nearby hero in the Yellow or Red zone would take damage, you may redirect it to yourself and then Defend against it with your single Radiant die.

Red Abilities:

• The Final Sword (A): Boost using the Rune Sword. Use your Max die. That bonus is persistant and exclusive. Attack with your Mid die.
• Sacrifice Play (A): Attack using Conviction. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice. Take a major twist.

Out Ability: Boost an ally by rolling your single Conviction die.

Aftermath: Undead holy knight with a high power magic-absorbing sword. I am all in for Sir Teylor, folks. I think they spend a lot of time trying to pretend that they definitely understand the modern world, and maybe some time wistfully dealing with the fact that the only taste buds they still have are for spicy foods.

I suspect that in the broader publishing metaverse, if these heroes were part of it, Sir Teylor was part of some comic in the 70s where they were the token ‘girl knight’ on a team of historical magic knights that ran for about 24 issues but had a large niche following, and they made a bunch of comments that later writers used to point out that they were absolutely a trans character, and then someone brought them back into the present as an undead knight and canonized it.

[TakeWalker]

A holy undead, how cool.

[FrivYeti]

Yep. Fanatic will absolutely lose it if they ever meet.

[Godai]

Runesword: I’m not dead!

The Regulator: 'Ere, he says he’s not dead.

Fanatic: Yes he is.

Runesword: I’m not.

The Regulator: He isn’t.

Fanatic: Well, he will be soon, he’s very ill.

Runesword: I’m getting better.

Fanatic: No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.

[fjur]

Runesword obviously goes on Team Magic. Hmm, but that means that that team is at the maximum of five, so there’s no room for Doctor Cobalt. Hmm . . . I suppose I could see Doctor Cobalt and The Regulator on either Team Magic or Team Technology, and while we’re at it, Fernwick could be on Space or Technology, but it would be a shame for them to not be teammates with Synergist.

[FrivYeti]

Keep in mind that you’ve still only got three teams laid out, and there are five teams in total! You may need to add some themes…

[FrivYeti]

Step 1: Background

We roll a 7 and a 5 for our Background this time, which lets us start with Unremarkable, Academic, or Criminal. Since those are all taken we go in either direction from Criminal, resulting in a choice between Exile and Retired.

I’m thinking that Retired will be more flexible long-term, so this superhero is an exile from his home. But from where? Alien? Magic? Alternate universe? You know, let’s do an alternate universe, we don’t have one of those yet.

Our hero was a superhero in another world, who answered the call of the Mist Gates to defend the multiverse from Oblivaeon. He was badly hurt in the fight, and unable to return to his home before the Gates closed. Since his knowledge is liable to be mostly wrong, I’ll give him Conviction d10 and Insight d8.

For Ideals Principles, I’m going to take the Principle of the Defender. Victor (that’s his name now) wasn’t just hurt fighting, he was hurt saving the rest of his team, and ensuring that they could make it home.

Step 2: Power Source

Exile gives a lackadaisical three d8s for Power Source (so you can’t be an Exile powered by the Multiverse!) and our roll of 2, 8, and 4 gives us access to Training, Experimentation, Nature, Relic, Radiation, or Artificial Being. Let’s take Radiation. Our hero comes from a world bathed in radiation, where people have been transformed by the terrible energies.

I have to take a new Power, and I’ve only got two choices, so I’m going to take… both! Duplication d8 and Density Control d8, combined with Size-Changing d8, creates a hilarious array of variously-sized enemies who can also vary their mass and form.

In Yellow, our one-man army uses Size-Changing to recover and Boost, Density Control to attack and hinder, and in Green he uses his Duplication to attack anyone who gets too close.

Step 3: Archetype

Rolling a d10, a d8, and a d6 gives me 6, 1, and 1, which means that I can pick Speedster, Shadow, Close Quarters Combatant, or Armored. Since most of those are gone, I can pick Speedster or Minion Maker, and if I’m just creating all the duplicates, I am clearly making Victor a Minion-Maker.

I can bump Duplication up to d10, leaving me with a two d8s and a d6. I need a Materials under my “new Powers” rule, and I like the idea that my duplicates are kind of toxic and manipulate toxic waste. So Toxic d8, Investigation d8, and let’s say Science d6. No physical traits, so I’m only good at punching if it’s supporting my deeply-held beliefs.

For Abilities, Victor obviously makes minions with Duplication, and powers them up with Density Control. In Yellow, he can reduce damage by shucking it off towards his minions, staying alive faster.

Since Victor creates minions using his raw will, he gets ten options for what they can do. I’m going to pick the following: Autonomous, Floating, Pack, Explosive, Reinforced, Harsh, Stealth, Swift, Champion, Hive-Mind.

Minion-Makers get a… they get an Expertise Ability. Everyone gets Expertise Abilities. Well, joke’s on you, that gives me the Principle of the Indestructible. Because of his density-shifting, Victor is pretty much immune to small attacks.

Step 4: Personality

For Personality, I roll a 2 and a 6, so Victor could be a Natural Leader, Distant, or Fast-Talking. Let’s make him a Natural Leader – just generally a brick who is very impressive.

For his roleplaying Quality, I’m going to lean into that and give him Group Tactics, helping him help others, or pile on alongside his minions. He’s just very used to having to work with others, and doesn’t do as well when he’s on his own (although he has DETERMINATION to fall back on.)

Step 5: Red Abilities

Okay, let’s make this silly. Swarm Combat gives Victor a Max-die attack with a bonus equal to how many minions are out, and Summon Allies creates just so, so many minions. Combining these two should let him fill the field with copies of himself and then just jump someone.

Step 6: Retcon

I could pick up another Red Ability, or grab a Physical quality, but I like the idea of just boosting Victor’s Red. When he defends, he defends.

Step 7: Health

We’re looking at [8 + Conviction 10 + Red 12 + 4) 34 Health for Victor! Another hecking tank.

Step 8: Alias

Victor is The Line, the leader of a team of heroes in a post-apocalyptic world that was ravaged by nuclear devastation. He and his team kept his home city alive and comfortable against irradiated monsters and natural disasters, and answered the call to fight Oblivaeon. Now, stranded in this strange, lush world, he’s going to keep doing what he does best – building communities and helping people.

Character Sheet

The Line

Alias: Victor

Background: Exile, Power Source: Radiation, Archetype: Minion-Maker, Personality: Natural Leader

Principles: Defender [Ideals], Indestructible [Expertise]

• Roleplaying: You will put yourself in harm’s way to save others without a second thought. You ignore damage from unpowered close-combat weapons and attacks, such as clubs and non-powered fists, or basic ranged attacks, such as slings and arrows.
• Minor Twists: How do your actions put you in more danger than before? What goes wrong with your defenses?
• Major Twists: What great sacrifice did you just make to succeed? Who gets hurt other than you because your defenses failed?

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d12

Health: 34 (Green 34-26, Yellow 25-13, Red 12-1)

Qualities:

• Conviction (Mental) d10
• Insight (Social) d8
• Investigation (Mental) d8
• Group Tactics (RP) d8
• Science (Info) d6

Powers:

• Duplication (Self-Control) d10
• Size Control (Self-Control) d8
• Density Control (Self-Control) d8

Green Abilities:

• Principle of the Defender (A): Overcome in a situation that requires you to hold the line and use your Max Die, or use your Mid Die and Defend with your Min die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of the Indestructible (A): Overcome in a situation where you charge headlong into danger and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Double Stunt ®: When a new target enters the scene close to you, you may Attack it by rolling your single Duplication die.
• Duplicate (A): Create a minion using Duplication, with a die size based on the Minion Chart. Choose which basic action it can take. It acts at the start of your turn.
  • Minion Options: Autonomous, Floating, Pack, Explosive, Reinforced, Harsh, Stealth, Swift, Champion, Hive-Mind.
• Empower (A): Boost another hero or one of your minions using Density Control. Either use your Max die, or use your Mid die and make that bonus persistent.

Yellow Abilities:

• Shake It Off (A): Boost using Size-Changing. Then remove a penalty on you, or Recover using your Min die.
• Heavy Hitter (A): Attack using Density Control. Hinder that target using your Max die.
• Reform ®: Reduce any damage you take by the number of minions you have. Each time you do this, reduce the size of one of your minions.

Red Abilities:

• Swarm Combat (A): Attack with Duplication. Use your Max die plus a bonus equal to the number of minions you have.
• Fill The Field (A): Use Duplication to create a number of d6 minions equal to your Mid die. Choose the action they perform. They act at the start of your turn.

Out Ability: Boost an Ally by rolling your Conviction die.

If Victor has time to build up, he is going to be unstoppable. He’s less of a tank than some of our earlier friends, lacking any inherent damage reduction or turn-length Defense, but the ability to use his copies as ablative shields is pretty useful, especially once he hits Red and just generates a half-dozen buddies, and he can Defend as part of an Overcome and ignore getting punched, which is great. He has just enough Boost and Hinder tricks to fall back on if for whatever reason making minions isn’t cutting it, and he has Qualities to help him out outside of combat (not many powers, though; he can use his Size-Changing to investigate, but socially he is a bit awkward. No Intellectual Power options in either Radiation or Minion-Maker, and while I could have given him a d6, it’s not enough of a step up.)

One thing I wish he’d gotten was a way to draw fire. There weren’t any applicable Reactions in his pools, though, so he’ll have to rely on Overcomes.

[ErekLich]

I have to admit, this experiment of yours is far more interesting than I expected it to be! I may have to use this method for NPC generation at some point, just as a neat way to help fill out a setting!

[FrivYeti]

Thanks! I wasn’t sure if the system would work when I started, but it generally went well. And speaking of people doing well…

Step 1: Background

For this hero, our Background roll nets us an 8 and a 9! That gives us Tragic, Performer, and Interstellar, which means Tragic and Dynasty. I’m going with a Tragic backstory. Naomi’s parents were killed during a major supervillain attack on Megalopolis. Let’s say… oh, it was when Citizen Dawn invaded the city. She was saved by a hero, but her family was already gone. This has filled her with a need to help people, and be good enough that no one dies.

Naomi has Close Combat d10 and Alertness d8; she’s trained her whole life to fight, and she’s always aware of her surroundings. She also has the Principle of the Hero – she has to help, no matter the cost.

Step 2: Power Source

Tragic gives you d10, d10, d6 for your Power Source, which is pretty nice. 3, 1, and 6 gives us access to Accident, Genetic, Experimentation, Nature, Relic, or Radiation. That means Genetic or Artificial Being.

… oh. Oh, I think we have a new idea. Naomi’s parents weren’t civilians. They were Citizens of the Sun. And they were killed by other Citizens for having a change of heart and trying to save people. Naomi was there as a young teen, brought along to unleash her powers for the first time, but the Freedom Five showed up and fought the Citizens that killed her parents, and she pretended not to have been one. She ended up in the foster system, hiding her powers until she became an adult.

I need to take a new power if possible, and Telekinesis is the only one of the six available, so Telekinesis d10. For my other two, let’s take Presence d10, and Remote Viewing d6; Naomi has a fierce personal aura that draws people to her, and can stretch out her senses around the region.

For Abilities, I’m going to take Adaptive and Danger Sense – Naomi uses her Presence to build people up, and her Telekinesis to protect herself. In Green, she can definitely Rally, charging into the fray and inspiring everyone around her.

Step 3: Archetype

My Genetic roll gives me a 1, 5, and 3, which means that after I shear off the impossibles it’s either Speedster or Form-Changer. I think I like Speedster. Naomi uses telekinesis, but she’s also an up-close and personal fighter; she throws herself at enemies, beats them up, and moves on to the next target.

Unfortunately, my choices mean I’m doubling up a bit. Naomi has both Speed d10 and Momentum d8, because Momentum is on my list of things that need to be taken if possible and none of the other choices are available (which is a shame, because Sonic would be great!) So Naomi is not only fast, she gets faster the longer she moves, and uses that speed to shift things around her. For my last, I’m pretty short on Qualities, so let’s take Fitness. Naomi is a fighter, but she’s also good at moving around.

For Abilities, she can use her Speed to charge in and Attack while also Defending, and use her Telekinesis to create boosts and hinders by messing with the environment. In Yellow, she adds the ability to hit and hinder a lot of people with Close Combat, which she can support with her speed or telekinesis.

For Principle…

Expertise.

For the twelfth time.

Sure, why not. I have exactly three of those left, might as well toss another one on. Wonder how many more are going to show up in the last ten options.

We’re taking the Principle of the Powerless. Naomi is not actually powerless, but she uses her powers to enhance her training and skills, and she’s spent her early life around people who are even stronger. It’s partially about rejecting her Citizen upbring, and partially about having a keen eye.

Step 4: Personality

9 and 4 gives us the options (after removing used choices) of Mischievous or Jovial. The special ability of Mischievous is wildly unsuited to this character, so let’s take Jovial. Naomi forces a smile all the time.

For our RP, I’m going to go with “Former Citizen” d8, which gives her a lot of special information about villains and powers that most people don’t have.

Step 5: Red Abilities

It feels like I should lean into movement and Close Combat for my Reds, so let’s do it. Endurance Fighting lets Naomi Hinder whenever she attacks, and a Calculated Dodge lets her burn down a bit further to get out of the way of a major attack.

Step 6: Retcon

This is one time that I’m reluctantly going to take a d6. I really want Naomi to have something social, and I’m going with Persuasion. Just wish it gave you a d8 instead.

Step 7: Health

We’re looking at (8 + Red 10 + Speed 10 + 4) 32 Health for Naomi.

Step 8: Alias

As a Citizen, Naomi went by Citizen Haste. But she’s tossed that name in the trash where it belongs, and now goes by the heroic moniker of Breakguard.

Character Sheet

Breakguard

Alias: Naomi Arenson

Background: Tragic, Power Source: Genetic, Archetype: Speedster, Personality: Jovial

Principles: Hero (Ideals), Powerless (Expertise)

• Roleplaying: Because of your abilities, you have a calling to save others. You value training and work over powers, and know how to get things done without powers and how to exploit flaws in powered individuals.
• Minor Twists: Your immediate need to help someone else causes you to drop the ball in your personal life. What was it? What temporary injury did you just suffer?
• Major Twists: You’re given an ultimatum between your life as a hero and something that you value. What do you choose? What serious injury did you just suffer?

Status Dice: Green d6, Yellow d8, Red d10

Health: XX (Green X, Yellow Y, Red Z)

Qualities:

• Close Combat (Physical) d10
• Alertness (Mental) d8
• Fitness (Physical) d8
• Former Citizen (RP) d8
• Persuasion (Social) d6

Powers:

• Telekinesis (Psychic) d10
• Presence (Intellectual) d10
• Speed (Athletic) d10
• Momentum (Mobility) d8
• Remote Viewing (Psychic) d6

Green Abilities:

• Principle of the Hero (A): Overcome when innocents are in danger and use your Max die. You and your allies gain a Hero Point.
• Principle of the Powerless (A): Use your knowledge of the limitations of super powers in an Overcome and use your Max die. You and each of your allies gain a hero point.
• Rally (A): Attack using Close Combat. Other nearby heroes in the Yellow or Red Zone recover equal to your Min die.
• Charge (A): Attack using Speed. Defend yourself using your Min die.
• Subtle Control (A): Boost or Hinder using Telekinesis. Use your Max die. If you roll doubles, you may also Attack using your Mid die.

Yellow Abilities:

• Second Wind (A): Boost yourself using Presence, then either remove a penalty or Recover equal to your Min die.
• Mind Shield ®: When damaged by an environment target or a surprise Attack, Defend yourself using your Telekinesis die.
• Break the Field (A): Attack multiple targets using Close Combat. Hinder each target using your Min die.

Red Abilities:

• Endurance Fighting (I): Whenever you Attack an enemy with an action, also Hinder them with your Min die.
• Calculated Dodge ®: When you are Attacked or Hindered, you may take 1 irreducible damage to force your attacker to reroll their entire pool.

Out Ability: Defend an Ally by rolling your single Close Combat die.

Aftermath: So, I have a small confession to make: I cheated in one place with Naomi. I had given her a Yellow area attack as part of her Power Source, and when I realized the Speedster offered a phenomenally stronger one, I made a swap. And I mean just overwhelmingly stronger. It’s the difference between “attack everyone with your Min die” and “attack everyone with your Mid die and also Hinder them with your Min die and you can use a Quality instead of a Power to make it more versatile.”

I just sort of counted it as a swap, since it was the exact same concept. Sorry if this ruins anyone’s feeling of completeness. If you do, you can assume she uses Telekinesis for a very weak area attack and has a strong single-target attack instead.

Anyway, I like Naomi. She’s got skeletons in her closet, and doesn’t want to let them drag her down.

[TakeWalker]

Now that’s a backstory! Of course, it has me wondering who Citizen Waste was…

I’ve decided that once you’re done, I’m going to do a similar thread. XD