Suicide Squad: Generations

Game Master LastNameOnEarth

Your Computers is a bit better than mine, but that much overlap isn't an issue.

Though I'm not actually 100% sure how much of an edge Datalink gives me there, since I can remote control machines from a mile away.

I mostly picked that because the image of a guy jacking into a security camera and sniping a man through a wall from a mile out sounded awesome.

Sorry I haven't been more present. I had some personal business come up Wednesday or so and it's been taking much of my time. I'm hoping to be back for more detailed reviews and questions shortly.

Red Anima's beast form currently has the following:
Acrobatics 15 (+17), Handle Animal 7 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+15), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 15 (+18), Stealth 13 (+15), Survival 7 (+10)

Part of me wants to give her human form a different set of skills besides handle animal.

Updated Summary of Interest:

Character Concepts:

Echos Myron: "Red Anima" - Animalistic Living Weapon
drbuzzard "Kid Alchemy" - Scientist/Transmuter
Sandukan "Gravewound" - Cybermercenary
tumbler "Roullette" - Probability Monkey
Atlas2112 "Dunwich Horror" Eldritch Nighmare/Food Critic

Still just the five. I'm a bit surprised there wasn't more interest for this game. Perhaps the superhero market has finally reached saturation, or people aren't as fond of the idea of being the bad-guys...

When you put the words Private in the title (even modified by Semi-) most people don't bother looking at it IME.

Sundukan

You have Autofire on a couple of your powers listed as "10" - that doesn't tell me much. I'm presuming it means you bought it 1x per rank of Damage.

Autofire is one of those extras that can be bought at multiple levels:

Level 1: adds +1/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every two points above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +5. On a rank 10 power it costs 10.

Level 2: adds +2/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every one point above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +5. On a rank 10 power it costs 20.

Level 3: adds +3/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every one point above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +10 (or the total power rank, whichever is lower). On a rank 10 power it costs 30.

I'm presuming you have the Autofire +1/rank version, correct?

1) I concur with Sundakan. Putting Private in the title, and repeating it in the opening would cut down on interest. Mind you, if you wanted to open a different recruit thread, I'm sure we wouldn't stop you. ^_^

2) With that said, we do have a party of Five. That seems a fine number, what with all of us being intelligent, hard-working, highly-motivated individuals. =)

Edit: 3) Yeah, I put ten points in so I could turbo-punch just with the basic attack. I hope that's okay?

When you put the words Private in the title (even modified by Semi-) most people don't bother looking at it IME.

Yes, it is a good point. But I was expecting more direct traffic from the MM2e games I listed in. Of course, most of those have the same players, so it is a small pool.

Sundukan

You have Autofire on a couple of your powers listed as "10" - that doesn't tell me much. I'm presuming it means you bought it 1x per rank of Damage.

Autofire is one of those extras that can be bought at multiple levels:

Level 1: adds +1/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every two points above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +5. On a rank 10 power it costs 10.

Level 2: adds +2/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every one point above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +5. On a rank 10 power it costs 20.

Level 3: adds +3/rank and increases the toughness save by 1 for every one point above the Defense your attack scores, to a Max of +10 (or the total power rank, whichever is lower). On a rank 10 power it costs 30.

I'm presuming you have the Autofire +1/rank version, correct?

Yes, level 1. I just wanted to be able to dual wield daggers or pistols or something (since with Auto-Fire you can target multiple guys as well). What is listed is point cost. So if it had been level 2, it would have been Autofire 20, for example.

1) I concur with Sundakan. Putting Private in the title, and repeating it in the opening would cut down on interest. Mind you, if you wanted to open a different recruit thread, I'm sure we wouldn't stop you. ^_^

2) With that said, we do have a party of Five. That seems a fine number, what with all of us being intelligent, hard-working, highly-motivated individuals. =)

I suppose that one is up to you guys. I have no reservations about any of you and I like the submissions so far (though nit-picks are likely to be coming in the future as I get a chance to examine the characters more). I had initially envisioned a larger party, like 8-10, as since this was likely to be a violent game, I was intending on killing a few of you. I would have no problem running the game with 5 players (under any other circumstances, that's pretty much the perfect size - but on PbP I often like to pad the numbers at least a little).

You guys decide. Want me to go outside for a couple more players, or keep it to this?

FYI, I am intending to give you a Government Handler to accompany you. Captain Flagg III (Son of Colonel Flagg II, grandson of the first Colonel Flagg), carrying on the Suicide Squad tradition. He'll be straight human, but basically a top level spec-ops soldier. He'll be introduced right at the beginning. Make of him what you will. He's on your side (sort of), there to keep an eye on you (definitely), there to help you (as long as you don't compromise the mission), and will be holding onto your leash while on mission. He'll have access to whatever compliance protocols are being used to ensure your cooperation, and a failsafe should he need to terminate the mission. In other words, the G-Man has set him to watch you, you don't know what his orders are, but he's definitely there to watch you, and if he wants to, he can kill you with the push of a button. So, chances are, you'll all get along great!

Basically, he's more NPC than GMPC, as he'll be integral to the plot.

Edit: 3) Yeah, I put ten points in so I could turbo-punch just with the basic attack. I hope that's okay?

I have no problem with Autofire. It's a cool power.

8-10 players gets...unwieldy. 6 is the max I'm usually comfortable with, as a GM OR as a player.

Sundakan:

Are you using Nested Arrays?
Nested arrays are arrays that use points from one set of powers within an array to have yet another array of powers within them.

So:
Array (14+2 alts) 16 pp)
Default Power (14pp)
. . . Power (12+2 pp)
. . . Alt Power (12 pp)
. . . Alt Power 2 (12 pp)
Alt Power (14pp)
Alt Power 2 (14pp)

So while not specifically illegal, Nesting Arrays is extremely frowned upon as it is generally seen as using the word of the rules to circumvent their spirit.

Nested arrays are sometimes seen in specific circumstances, such as having an Array inside of an alternate form, which itself has an array of different available forms, but this again tends to be seen as a grey area, and generally on the slippery slope to rules abuse. It's not an automatic "NO" but if that is what you're doing, we'll have to examine it to make sure it is being done in good faith.

No, it's just my arrays are arranged by body part.

EX my head can:

-Have super senses

-Protect itself against Dazzling effects

-Pour all energy into processing power

But only one at a time.

Whereas my Legs can do 3 things, but only one at a time, and so on.

I paid for all the different Arrays (Head, Torso, Legs, and Weapon) separately.

Sundakan:

Ok, I was confused when I looked, as I thought they might all be one big array (Reroute power from head to torso, etc.).

Immunity 7: What's in here?

Regeneration: Personally, I'm fine with Regeneration in an Array, so long as it is the Default power. If you are unconscious, you cannot change your power to a non-default power, so it wouldn't really help you much.

Invisibility: Concealment is usually 2 pp per rank, so rank 10 would cost 20pp. If it had a limitation (such as Passive or Blending) it would work. Am I missing something? What is meant by Linked Danger Sense? He has Danger Sense, but only when invisible?

Super Senses: I expect you'll define these as you finish up?

Super Movement: What Kind?

Weapons: Are these devices, or just powers? If they can be taken away from you, make them devices, and save the points. If not, they are powers of yours that can't be taken away, such as blades that grow out of your hands, and a rifle out of your arm or shoulder...

Attack of 0 with everything in Accuracy is risky... Sure you want to do it that way? Means you're inept in a fight unless you can specifically use one of those weapons.

You guys are all getting in, obviously, so feel free to make up Aliases, if you like.

Dunwich Horror:

Ultimate Effort: Needs something you can use it for to be declared when chosen.

Didn't see anything else to take issue with; he's pretty straight forward. I was expecting a bit more Lovecraftian stuff, maybe Emotion Control: Fear, Drain: Wisdom, Confusion... that swallowing ability sounded cool as well...

Edit: Oh, and for weaknessess: he should totally be cripplingly ticklish...

Roulette:

Looks good. Just like Jarrod in the Dresden game, if you want to go with a 10 gauge bigger/badder shotgun or any of the specialty ammo we came up with there, feel free.

Looks like you have a lot of skills, a lot of feats, a very versatile power set, and a lot of natural luck; there is not a lot of limits on what you can do with that, so if should be interesting to see this character in action. A lot of equipment would probably be recommended, I think - not specific equipment, just lots of stuff to work with.

Sundakan:

Ok, I was confused when I looked, as I thought they might all be one big array (Reroute power from head to torso, etc.).

Immunity 7: What's in here?

Super Senses: I expect you'll define these as you finish up?

Super Movement: What Kind?

All of this info is on the character sheet proper, the Spoiler was just for point allocation so I could look at things separately.

Regeneration: Personally, I'm fine with Regeneration in an Array, so long as it is the Default power. If you are unconscious, you cannot change your power to a non-default power, so it wouldn't really help you much.

Does an Array default back to the default power if you're knocked out? If so, I would like it to be the default. Even though the Toughneess will be what it's usually on.

Invisibility: Concealment is usually 2 pp per rank, so rank 10 would cost 20pp. If it had a limitation (such as Passive or Blending) it would work. Am I missing something? What is meant by Linked Danger Sense? He has Danger Sense, but only when invisible?

Stealth Field is 6 ranks (4 for Visual immunity, 2 for Auditory immunity), 12 PP. The Danger Sense was intended to be active while invisible, yes, but on second glance looks like I don't have enough points.

Weapons: Are these devices, or just powers? If they can be taken away from you, make them devices, and save the points. If not, they are powers of yours that can't be taken away, such as blades that grow out of your hands, and a rifle out of your arm or shoulder...

Attack of 0 with everything in Accuracy is risky... Sure you want to do it that way? Means you're inept in a fight unless you can specifically use one of those weapons.

These are weapons that can be summoned at will from the nanites in my blood. They collapse back into their component matter when not in use. They're a Power, since you can't really take them away without shutting down ALL my powers somehow. At which point I'm screwed anyway, pretty much.

I figured it was fine to be limited to those, since they are effectively any weapon I want. Generally they'll be a pair of daggers or a Sniper Rifle. but nothing limits me to those forms I believe.

It's not really any different from a hero who goes all-in on his main power for fighting. That's usually what you HAVE to do in 2e from my experience, since straight up boosting attack is way too expensive. 3e is a little better about it IMO.

I couldn't fit everything I wanted with pumping 20 points into attack bonus rather than a mere FIVE. Considering Deathstroke (and by extension his apprentice) is supposed to be adept at all forms of combat, something like Attack Specialization: Swords or something wouldn't cut it either.

Ah, didn't know about the character sheet. That helps.

In regards to the weapons, the numbers can't change, but as for the descriptions (the forms you make them into), have at 'er. You want it to look like a machinegun this time? You paid for Autofire already, so go ahead. With the melee weapons, usually knives, but you want swords this time, or an axe, or a big club? Go ahead. Kinetic damage is all the same in this game, so Piercing/Slashing/Blunt is all good. If you want it to do another kind of damage, like an electric shock or a blow torch, you'd need the Variable descriptor extra.

However, if you want it to have a different effect, like build a grenade launcher, or a flame thrower, and you'd need to use a Power Stunt.

As far as the attack bonus goes, I usually try to split the difference; so in a PL 5, go Attack 5, melee/range focus 3, weapon focus 1, for instance.

You could also fold an Enhanced Trait: Combat Focus into your mental/head array. Turn on your "Combat Computer" and it helps you predict your target's movements, compensate for movement, crosswinds, etc. Only downside is that you can't use it with Enhanced Senses running, but that is likely a rare issue.

For 1 pp you could take Combat 6, or either Melee or Ranged 10. For 2 pp you could take Combat Focus: Melee 10 and Combat Focus: Ranged 10. Costs 2pp instead of 5 (for accuracy), plus you can still throw a punch, grapple, and use a stray RPG or machinegun emplacement you might find laying around.

Hm. That's a cool idea. Gives me an alternative if someone shuts down my weapons.

But also, some of my enhanced senses are important for the ranged attacks (Extended Vision and Distance Sense especially). Hrm.

Do you think it's necessary? I'd have to shuffle around a lot to make everything work that way.

I'm ok with our current numbers or maybe 1 more. You can throw in expendable NPCs to increase the feeling of mortality. Also having people ready with backup characters might be a good idea if you intend to be plenty lethal.

My current issue with Red Anima is that I know very well that I am going to get bored playing a straight melee fighter, but at the same time, I don't want to pull anything too complicated or that would require extra book keeping (Summoning, gestalting, animal mimicry or variable) so I'm going to put that idea on the shelf.

Breaking the team down, it looks like we may benefit from a support type. Personally, I'm thinking someone capable of veiling the squad, placating the masses, creating chaos and the like. (I've been reading a lot of Dresden, and a particular character sticks out)

How do you guys feel about that?

A support character would be neat.

A Mastermind sort, maybe? More of a planner and a fighter.

Red Anima

Realizing that you listed this as a "First Draft" so there are likely to be things you intend to change...

Feral Speed: is Speed 2 really enough to run up walls or over the surface of water? 25 mph is not all that fast. If she's doing it with animal powers (like gecko sticking or those water-running lizards, then it would not really be an associated effect...

Strike:

Probably what you're trying to figure out is how Damage interacts with your Strength bonus. Basically they are independent of each other until you add the Might feat. Mighty allows you to add your damage bonus (Strength) to your damage effect. For a melee attack, all you generally need is 1 rank of the feat. If it is a range attack, you need 1 rank per rank, and for Perception range attacks you need 2 ranks per rank.

So for a Damage 12 effect representing claws, what you'd probably want is:

Damage 11: (Penetrating 4; Mighty) 16pp or

Damage 9: (Penetrating 4; Accurate, Mighty) 15pp

One would give you a +6 Attack with a DC 15+14=29 save, while the other would give you a +8 Attack with a DC 15+12=27 save. I wasn't sure which one you were going for.

Ninja'd. Guess that critique was unneeded. Support characters do tend to be handy.

I think my finalized story is that Gravewound (aka Lance Harper) is/was the son of Roy Harper.

He was a sickly child, and was injected by nanites (invented by, I dunno, Cyborg maybe) to improve his health. He serves as a sidekick to his dad from the age of 13.

Because nothing good can ever happen to Roy, EVER, he is kidnapped by Deathstroke a couple of years later, and further modified and trained to be an assassin.

It's been five years since then, two of them spent in prison after Slade abandoned him on a mission gone wrong, using him as a diversion to escape himself.

Please scrutinize this character. It was all rushed and there are a few things I'm not a fan of (using equipment, not having much in the way of feats, a toughness of +6, using an Array for all her powers), but I think the concept has potential.Not too sold on the name "The Answer", but it fits for now. The premise is that she warps reality by willing her words into being. Or something like that. Haven't gotten that far yet.

Please tell me she's The Question's arch-nemesis.

Hey I was invited by Rictus and I'm just stopping in to say hey and mention how great all these character ideas are. I'll be providing mine very soon. Today if I can. I love the concept and see a lot of potential. :3

Thanks YoLlama! Look forward to seeing it.

I sent out PM's to our woolly friend here as well as the others from whom I had not heard a definite "no", from among the players in the games I already invited via their general discussion forums. A neater compromise than opening up any new recruiting.

YoLlama will make it Six, which is better, and if we get one or two more, I'm OK with that, since some of you will die anyway*.

*Of course you can make a replacement character, but there are bound to be delays.

The Answer:

Not sure what to say about this character so far... My first thought is that there doesn't seem to be any cohesive theme to her abilities, other than 'useful powers we don't have yet'.

If she was a sorceress, that would be something. If she was a Psi, that would be something. Right now, she doesn't seem to make much sense though.

Remember, these recruits have to be villains the government reasonably feels that they can control, and channel towards a specific objective. Right now, about the only theme I can see making sense for the Answer would be some sort of immortal mystical entity, and that is not who the Government is likely to recruit, since there is little or no way to control her once loosed.

Please tell me she's The Question's arch-nemesis.

Q & A would make a pretty sweet hero/villain team up one-shot comic concept...

The Answer:

Not sure what to say about this character so far... My first thought is that there doesn't seem to be any cohesive theme to her abilities, other than 'useful powers we don't have yet'.

If she was a sorceress, that would be something. If she was a Psi, that would be something. Right now, she doesn't seem to make much sense though.

Remember, these recruits have to be villains the government reasonably feels that they can control, and channel towards a specific objective. Right now, about the only theme I can see making sense for the Answer would be some sort of immortal mystical entity, and that is not who the Government is likely to recruit, since there is little or no way to control her once loosed.

As I picture her, The Answer is a less magically focused Enchantress. She doesn't know how it works or why, but when she speaks, and throws in a bit of will behind her words, her words are given power.

I'm thinking of adding a drawback that she must be able to physically speak in order for her powers to have any effect. She doesn't particularly have to be heard by anyone, but if she's gagged, or hell, finds herself missing her tongue, she would lose her ability until she can speak again. Would that be a Limited or Custom drawback?

As for her involvement:
The Answer wants to participate half out of her own volition. She's a thrill seeker that happened to get caught and taken in, and then injected with a virus that threatens to destroy her ability to speak if she doesn't comply.

Need to be able to speak is a pretty common drawback, particularly among magic users. It's a Drawback, though I don't have my books with me at the moment to check the value. It's called "Power Loss" and varies depending on how common the means of your power loss is (from -3 to -5 I think).

The powers you've selected may be an issue as well, as almost every power you have comes with a GM warning about abuse potential. That amount of concentration in problem powers is itself a concern. I don't like stifling creativity or placing arbitrary rules, and I usually go out of my way to avoid it, and that power list gives even me pause. For instance, having a mind controller in the same group as a robot controller also severely restricts what can't be controlled, as GM.

The team point was not a question of why you'd do it, but rather why they'd choose you. Mind controllers are very hard to control; one order of, "Give me the antidote." and your control is over, and you then have an angry, vindictive mind controller to deal with.

As I've said, I don't like to say "No" flat out, so if you want to stick with the concept, I'm willing to find a way to make it work within the limits of he campaign, but the scope of powers will probably have to be limited a bit. Looking at her, (area based Mind Control, Baleful Metamorph, area effect Drain, group Teleporting) I see Circe, a minor Deity (both in mythology and as a DC villain). We want Abra Kadabra.

If anyone would like to take a look at Roulette and double check my thinking, I would appreciate. I am slightly worried that she might just be a festival of mediocrity. Most of her combat abilities are below power level caps, with the ability to get to play around with the variables. She has all of the feats that let you move Attack/Damage/Defense around, so she can get to caps if she needs to. Her attacks rely primarily on using whatever she can find in the environment to attack with, with serious focus on improvised weapons.

Once per round she can make a d20 roll that is less than 10 a ten, so she won't often fail miserably. I'm just afraid she won't be able to do anything awesome.

Right now she has a shot gun, but I am considering building her a device that is more of a grenade launcher with some alternate powers for explosive damage, sleep grenades, tear gass, penetrating. I'm not sure where to get those points without compromising her melee abilities.

And she has no super movement, which she really shouldn't, but I don't want to be dragging behind the group the whole campaign.

Whatever happens, I don't want her to have any particular "powers." She is a very lucky lady, but she isn't aware of any abilities that make her special other than her training. She has always been lucky, and is now highly skilled, but has no powers.

So, she's a Domino/Longshot type. I've always liked those kind of characters. Domino always manages to keep pace just using regular weapons, but then she's a ex-spec-ops mercenary type. I suppose that leads to the question, what do you want her to be? A gladiatorial pit-fighter like her mother? A thief? A gambler? A Martial Artist? Con-woman? Gun-toting mercenary? Knife-wielding psychopath?

As for how to make things happen? All those ranks in Luck wont hurt. They can basically be used like Hero Points.

As for maintaining her normalcy, keep in mind that this is an effects based game, and you can alter the fluff as you wish. For instance, want her to have a super-human Defense Bonus of 14? Take Enhanced Trait: Defense. Is she dodging like mad? No, she's just walking, and for some reason, everyone is just getting very unlucky shots, posts and obstacles just happen to be in the way, weapons jam... for whatever reason, the attacks do not connect, and you decide why.

Right now she has a shot gun, but I am considering building her a device that is more of a grenade launcher with some alternate powers for explosive damage, sleep grenades, tear gass, penetrating. I'm not sure where to get those points without compromising her melee abilities.

That would be pretty cool. Be like Jill from Resident Evil.

Can you repost your sheet? Maybe some stuff can be trimmed to make room.

Why not, I'll jump in on this. Let me see what I can cook up and I'll get back to you with my monster.

Welcome aboard.

Thanks! Glad to be here. Upon looking over previous submissions, I'm realizing that my Cthulhu/Lovecraftian inspired villain is a concept somebody's already jumped on. That's what I get for coming into this late. Not to worry, I'll come up with something! Maybe a demon- or hell-based sort of character.

Who's the DC equivalent of Mephisto?

There are a lot of answers to that question. Satanus, Satan, Lucifer, Neron, and several others. All of those are well outside the bounds of this campaign, though. Something similar to Etrigan, but less of a hero, would probably work.

I was asking more for curiosity's sake, and potential relations, since demon-spawn tend to be relatively common.

Here is the current build. I'm working on a build for the grenade launcher. Expecting it to take 10-15 points.

Hm. Not sure what you can drop there.

Working on expanding the weapons portion of the equipment section. So many styles of weapons are left out of the basic list, and with a few folks expressing interest in using conventional firearms, it behooves me to add in the other options that occur to me.

Basically I'm just expanding the rules used to make the regular equipment to include stuff they didn't include on the list. I'm a weapons geek, so mostly it's just a matter of deciding what is similar enough for game purposes, and what is pointless levels of detail.

Updated Gear

It is a work in progress, so some details may change. Most likely is that some new stuff will be added in, and nothing existing changed, since the rules are pretty basic.

Having trouble figuring out how to make Machine guns distinct from Assault Rifles.

Headed out for the evening, but I will be adding in some info on specialty rounds and such when I get the chance.

I may just stick with unarmed, improvised, and whatever we pick up from opponents.

The lazy answer would be to take the alternate power that lets me use probability control as an attack power by causing accidents to opponents. I may do that just so it is available. Only takes 1 point.

Golden Age and Agents of Freedom has lots of options for equipment. Strangely, Iron Age doesn't seem to have much in the way of rules for guns. If you don't have access to those, I'll be happy to send you some stuff from them.

So I have several concepts I'm interested in making but I'm not sure which to focus so I thought I'd throw them out to you guys.

-Perm-Madonna: One of the stars of a Ex-Reality television show featuring irresponsible young adults with powers. She possesses nearly industructible prehensile hair.

-The Edge: 2dimensional cat burglar. Can sneak through tight spaces, mail herself to her target in an envelope, be practically invisible when turned sideways, elongation, horrible horrible paper cuts, gliding and immunity to falling damage.

I could have fun with either of these. I'm just worried that either idea is a little underpowered when compared to some of the other characters here.

I would vote for The Edge. Like the concept, like the quirk.

Hi there, 'scuse me, sorry, but did someone say they were talking about guns?

Yippee!

I'm a JA2 veteran from wayback, and those forums were filled with more ballistic data than an NRA swap-meet. I may have a few ideas, if you'd like to be entertained. =)

The easiest thing to do about machine guns is to play with the range. While many of them use the same loads, they have longer barrels and heavier weight, which makes them a more stable firing platform.

For instance, The M-16 (an assault rifle) uses the 5.56 round, has a muzzle velocity of about 3000 ft/sec (thusly a damage value of +5) and a max eff. range of 550 m. The M-249 SAW (a light machine gun) also uses 5.56 with a vel. of 3K ft/sec, but has a maximum effective range of 700-800m (depending on the barrel used).

The damage value for a heavy machinegun could very easily be the same as for a anti-material rifle(+8), since an M-2 also uses the .50. =)

I'd argue for the medium machine gun to be damage value +7, since the M-240 (the replacement of the M-60 GPMG) uses 7.62 and has a muzzel vel. of 2800 f/sec (with a max range of 1100m [tripod]), whereas the AK-47 uses 7.62 and can has a muzzle V of 715 f/sec (350m max range).

Jus' sayin'. =)

Shelling The Answer in favor of something more thematically appropriate.

My options:
John Masiatto aka Johnny Miasma. Darkness and Emotion control, power granted from an eldritch horror. Anti-villain taking one for the team.

The Bastard. Is a bastard. A devil may care explosion generating screwball looking for his next thrill.

Or, I scale The Answer down to strictly veiling and maybe one other thing, chosen by you, the participating audience.

Cast your votes!