Why do I think this? Well in PHOENIX...
- You can create your own original superpowered character. After spending an entire month reading through PHOENIX, I've been unable to discover a concept that doesn't work with the system.
- You can destroy buildings. Missed attacks also have a chance of hitting objects (not characters) nearby, which makes for some interesting combat, as a fight really will destroy a room.
- You can hit someone so hard, that they get knocked back. The rules include some beautiful stuff on knockback, allowing you to punch your foes through buildings. Heck yes. There are also rules for picking up and THROWING people.
- You can staple people to walls/objects through their clothes with arrows and similar ranged attacks.
- Swinging attacks, 'nough said. You can be like Batman or Spiderman.
- Super Strength rules for lifting and throwing everyday objects, including cars; slowing moving objects, like trains and other runaway vehicles; Super Speed chases, Zero-G Combat, and much more...
You, and several others, are a part of the BPD's (Bayfield Police Department, the local police) Special Investigation Division. Publicly, you're just a bunch of detectives sent to investigate unusual cases, but in reality, you're among one of the first "capes" to be hired by the government. To those in the know, you're Team Bravo, a small force of super-powered men and women who are put on the scene when the job gets too big for your normal police officer. Today will be your first assignment...
- This is a standard PbP game, we will not be using roll20 or anything similar.
- We will be using rules from PHOENIX, D20 3.5, and D20 Modern. Meaning that rulings from 3.5 and PHOENIX trump rules from D20 Modern, with PHOENIX taking precedence. This also means you can use material from any three games (as long as it's available on the SRD or you can link to it), though I do suggest with sticking to PHOENIX as much as you can.
- The only two confirmed adventures that I'll be running, is Team Bravo: The First Assignment, and Team Bravo: Flames of Wrath. These will have some modifications to make them suitable for superhero play.
- The campaign will be using maps (square grid) for combat.
- I am currently looking for three players only, other players might be able to join as the game progresses however.
- Finally, due to the nature of the Team Bravo adventures, sillier heroes are discouraged. As for the level of dark these adventures have... I'd say we're looking at PG-13 level material, stuff that could even have been shown on Batman: TAS. This is, of course, not counting the last two adventures in the Team Bravo series, which we will not be playing.
- If you need help with character creation, or have any questions. I'll be more than happy to answer them~
You can find a character sheet at the bottom of this post~
As a quick note, Characters should be Heroic. Certain Anti-Hero characters may be allowed, as long as they're willing to work with the police force and others. But outright Villainous characters won't be considered.
All characters start at 4th-Level with 80 CP to spend between Ability Scores, Powers, etc. You cannot spend more than 40 CP on your Ability Scores. Also, remember, that by starting as a 4th-Level Character, you get both a 1st and 3rd-Level Feat and the 4th-Level Ability Score.
There are no races, unlike most RPGs. Rather, you create your own species, which is defined by what you spend your CPs on. For example, you don't get +2 Strength, but you can spend the necessary CP to get 2 extra points of Strength. You don't get Darkvision, but you can spend the necessary CP to get Darkvision, and say it's a trait of your species, etc.
Remember, you can create any sort of hero you want. At character creation, you can easily create a character similar to The Flash, Iron Man, Superman, Spiderman, and so on. If you need help realizing your concept, feel free to ask for my assistance.
Species:
Ethnicity:
Occupation: See here
Gender:
Age:
Hair:
Eyes:
Height:
Weight:
Class Levels:
Current XP/Next Level:
Banked CPs:
Reputation Bonus: Place any bonus to this here, otherwise it's zero
Allegiance: A character may have up to three allegiances, listed in order from most improtant to least important. These allegiances are indications of what the character values in life, and may encompass people, organizations, or ideals. A character may have no allegiances (being either a free spirit or a lone wolf) or may change allegiances as he or she goes through life. Also, just because the character fits into a certain category of people doesn’t mean the character has to have that category as an allegiance.
Speed: 30 ft.
Initiative: +0
Action Points:
Power Points:
Mass Damage Threshold: (50 or Your Constitution score multiplied by your total character levels, whichever is lower)
Knockback Threshold: (10+Strength modifier+Fortitude save+size modifier)
Defence Score: (10+Dexterity modifier+class bonus+equipment bonus+size modifier)
Hit Points Total:
Lethal Damage:
Non-Lethal Damage:
Damage Reduction:
Abilities:
Strength Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Dexterity Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Constitution Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Intelligence Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Wisdom Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Charisma Super Score (Super Modifier) Enhancement [Natural Score (Natural Modifier)]
Saving Throws:
Fortitude +X (Constitution modifier+class bonus)
Reflex +X (Dexterity modifier+class bonus)
Will +X (Wisdom modifier+class bonus)
Base Attack Bonus:
Melee Attack: (Size+Strength modifier+Power+misc)
Ranged Attack: (Size+Dexterity modiffier+Power+misc)
Weapons and Attacks:
Weapon/Attack Name [Range/Reach] +Hit [Damage Die+Damage Bonuses, Critical Range/Critical Multiplier]
Origin:
Powers:
Power Name (CP Cost)
[Power, Trait, etc.]
Activate: PP cost; Action, Sustain: PP cost; Action
Save: Fortitude/Reflex/Will X, Range: X
Enhancements:
Description:
Flavour Text
Skills:
Skill (Ability) Ranks (Total; Bonus+Synergy+Etc.)
Feats:
Class Features:
Advantages:
Complications:
Equipment:
Wealth: 2d4+Occupation Bonus+1 for each Profession rank
Wealth does not indicate how much money you have. It isn't notes in your pocket, or gold pieces in your backpack. Instead, it symbolically represents how much buying power you have access to at a moment's notice. It's designed to replicate the modern world; whether you have a certain amount of money in a bank has relatively little to do with what you can go out and purchase right now. Thus, Wealth is an abstract number measured as a bonus, just like BA or Saves, and it is fluid; it decreases when you buy expensive things and increases when you level up or come into money.
Wealth is a combination of liquid capital (money), credit (credit cards, credit rating, lines of credit, IOU's), investments, and your debts (i.e., car payments, student loans, etc.). The amount you can buy at a moment's notice is almost undoubtedly very different than the amount of actual capital you own. You can be broke, but have a dozen credit cards in your pocket. Such is the mystery of modern finance. Being in debt is already factored into your Wealth score. In fact, making large purchases on credit is the most common way to reduce your Wealth. Climbing out of that debt takes time; hence, you don't regain that Wealth until you come into money or level up.
Background:
I just realized that Bayfield is a real place xD Curse you random name generators!
Bonus points to anyone who gives me a completely original city name I can use.
Hm. Tentative interest, as I've also been looking for a good superhero RPG (and M&M, while interesting, didn't quite fit it for me). I'll take a look through the book...
It is nice that you're including 3.5 material, since I'm more familiar with that than straight-up d20 modern, though I've played both games. Anyway, I'll look through Phoenix and see what there is to see, and post back in with a more definitive interest/concept.
A lot of names are taken somewhere or other for cities, but it'll make it a little easier if you put it in a state (assuming U.S.) and then find a name that isn't used. For example, in a short story I recently wrote, I set it in Wallaceville, New York (there isn't one from what I could find). There are Wallacevilles elsewhere, but none where I put mine.
EDIT: Still going through the book, and not entirely sure this concept will work exactly as I want it to, but I'm thinking of going with an idea I've had rolling around for a while. Basically, (in this context anyway) he'll be a good cop who's also the toughest sonuvab@*#* known to man. Whether or not he's unkillable, we'll see, but he takes a lot more punishment than any human being should be able to stand. Trick is, I've got specific ideas on just how he works through the pain... I'll come back with more on that once I figure out what'll work and what I want to do. In any case, color me interested.
SECOND EDIT: Just found a passage that's sort of like what I want this guy to be like.
If you were plunged into a pool of molten steel...you could burst from the side of the vat... unharmed but really, really pissed off.
Heh, that's from the Action Point section, Death Retcon specifically. There are actually quite a few powers that can give you that sort of invulnerability.
You could take Ability Enhancement to get SUPER CONSTITUTION (25+), in which case you could have nearly twice as much more health than normal, and an absolutely superb Fortitude Save; there's also Amazing Defense and Amazing Deflection, to up your defense score; then there's good old fashioned Damage Reduction, but you'll still be vulnerable to Super Attacks unless you take the Super DR enhancement; there's Fast Healing, ala Wolverine, with the necessary enhancements; Natural Armour, which is an obvious choice; and finally there's Thick Skinned, which is pretty awesome in its own right.
As for the city, in that case, I'll keep it as Bayfield, in an unspecified State in the United States~
Hmm I am interested as either a Mystic or a martial artist
Mystics are allowed~ You can also take spellcasting as a power without being a Mystic.
Continuing through the manual, I'm seeing a lot of stuff I like and getting a better feel for the hero I want to create.
It's too bad you said this was a serious game--I've discovered that I could perfectly embody my parody hero Napkin Man using this system.
Hmm Might do something different now
Nope Dilettante Mistress of the mystic arts!
By the by, I expect everyone to roll for HP, PP, and Wealth (the initial wealth roll, and the three profession checks after it, one for each level above first). So make sure to roll for those when you present your character.
You do get max HP and PP for the first level though~
How would you do a doctor strange?
Still working on my build. I'm wondering, GM--how do you consider Brawl and Combat Martial Arts to interact, especially with regards to my taking Improved Brawl?
Ideally, I think it'd work something like this... I count as armed even while unarmed, thus being able to make AoOs and not provoking them. I can deal 1d4+Str lethal damage, OR 1d8+Str nonlethal damage.
If this doesn't work for you, that's fine, I'll figure it out, but I'm looking at using both feats (or at least, mainly CMA).
+1+1=7.
Sorry for taking a while to respond, someone thought it'd be a good idea to disconnect the house's internet
@Lady Zaldane Doctor Strange? I'd imagine by taking a non-Mystic class, and instead taking Spellcasting as a Power, so you can also take Longevity and Flight Powers, and perhaps Ability Enhancement: Intelligence also, for SUPER INTELLIGENCE.
Dilettante
Dilettantes usually get their wealth from family holdings and trust funds. The typical dilettante has no job, few responsibilities, and at least one driving passion that occupies his or her day. That passion might be a charity or philanthropic foundation, an ideal or cause worth fighting for, or a lust for living a fun and carefree existence.
Prerequisite: Age 18+.
Skills: Choose one of the following skills as permanent class skills. If a skill the character selects is already a class skill, he or she receives a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill. Gamble, Intimidate, Knowledge (current events or popular culture), Ride, or add a new Speak Language.
Reputation Bonus Increase: +1.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +6.
Wealth should be 4 (d4)+2 (d4)+6 Occupation+2 Profession Ranks+2 Wisdom (because this is the 1st-Level check, and your max cross class skill ranks at this point is 2), which brings the total to 16. Now, you can look at the Profession section in the PHOENIX pdf for how to do Wealth increases for each level, which I'll do for you.
At 2nd-Level, as a Thinker, Profession becomes a class skill, which raises the max ranks to 5. So for your second check... 16+7=23 vs 16 DC (your current wealth bonus), giving you a +2 bonus for beating the check and exceeding it by 5. Then you get +2 for having 5 ranks in Profession. This brings your Wealth to 20.
At 3rd-Level, your max skill ranks is 6. So... 5+8=13 vs 20 DC. You don't get an increase, but you still get +2 for having over 5 ranks in Profession, bringing your Wealth to 22.
Finally, at 4-th Level, your max skill ranks is 7. 17+9=26 vs 22 DC. You get +1 for beating the DC, and +2 for having over 5 ranks in Profession. This brings your Wealth to a total of 25, making you a very rich person.
Make these changes, and I'll look over your character again~
@Loup Blanc Yeah, you've got it right. That's how it's supposed to work, in theory. However, I hate the idea that your lethal damage would be lower, and thus less effective than, your non-lethal damage. So you can treat it like this instead.
You count as armed. You can switch between Lethal and Non-Lethal when making an Unarmed Attack (defaulting to Lethal if you don't specify). You always use the highest unarmed damage die you have access to (you'd use the 1d8 or the highest for all your unarmed attacks).
I don't know if all available seats are taken, but if not I would like to pitch a defender/supporter able to raise an energy shield, improve others ability etc. It would be a man descending from a family sworn to protect some sort of entity possible fairy in nature.
Cool! That'll help tremendously with my build, since I'm going feat-intensive and trying to nab all the many goodies available.
EDIT: Rolling to try and buy something...
Totally pulled it off. Now I get the big rolls, of course... And my wealth goes down by 2 for that purchase.
@Big OM Recruitment will stay open until I've at least got three completed characters to choose from, so you're welcome to try and make something~
Fair warning though, I don't think the system supports 'support' characters very well, though I'd be happy if you proved me wrong :D
Currently, the only finished character is Oscar Cray III.
And with that, I (Loup Blanc) present my submission: Leon Hatcher, who moonlights as the vigilante Jet. I think that I did it all correctly, but feel free to double-check my calculations and such. Also, if you have any tips, I'm very open to those as well! He ended up changing quite a bit from my original concept, though I think I preserved some of that and I certainly like what he is now. If he can be made better, though... haha, you get the idea.
Loving Leon~ He looks fun to play! There are only a few things that need to be corrected.
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement personnel include uniformed police, state troopers, federal police, federal agents, SWAT team members, and military police.
Prerequisite: Age 20+.
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If a skill the character selects is already a class skill, he or she receives a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill. Diplomacy, Drive, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (civics, earth and life sciences, streetwise, or tactics), Listen.
Bonus Feat: Select one of the following: Combat Martial Arts, Armor Proficiency (light), or Personal Firearms Proficiency.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +1.
You need to list your proficiencies. Warriors get 6, and the list can be found in the Class chapter.
Make sure to list the +2 bonus from Defensive Martial Arts (even if it's just a side-note thing).
With your Profession skill, you need to specify the profession (I know it's kinda obvious, but still xD).
After a third character comes up, I'll leave recruitment open for one day after their post, to give those already working on characters a chance.
Alright, I think I've fixed all those. I actually forgot about the skill bonuses from my occupation... Thanks for reminding me.
I have a concept I would like to run but I figure I should ask first. Sidekick class only power is duplicate self.
hp
pp
wealth
Wealth check nope
Wealth check yes
Wealth check yes
so wealth 9 at the end.
Hah! That sounds awesome, Havocprince. Go for it, if you want to~
OK, got the crunchy bits up. Typing out backgrounds by phone right now. You know how hard it was to transfer the skeleton over on a phone. :P So much flipping to the book.
Backstory is a go. Skeleton is filled. Please let me know if I missed anything.
Cool~ There's only two things that need fixing.
1. You have a lot more skill points, as you get 5 per level. You've only assigned your 1st-Level skill points.
2. You can't take the Unity Enhancement without also taking the Empathy and Telepathy Enhancements.
Ok I can fix that pretty quickly.
Ok fixed the dupe bit. But you were off on the skills, I was actualy one rank over. my skills is 35 +4 for favored class so 39 ranks to spread out. Got it all moved around and sacked a rank of dupe so I could buy enough pp feat to power the ability properly.
Pft. I actually looked at the four and thought it was a nine xD That explains why I was off.
Well, that's 3 characters. Recruitment will end a day after this post~
Hidden power feat. Whole lots of hidden power feat. And d8 not d6.
Yep. Needed for the build. This is a expensive power.
How much is this setting an analog of the real world? I have a cypher character concept, a member of the Young Republicans of America and a government agent/ward of the state by default since the age of 12. Whether the concept works or not depends upon how closely the setting resembles our world or how much freedom we have to develop it in our character construction.
It's Superheroes, y'know? So don't worry about it, you're free to do whatever concept you want. But yeah, the setting is basically modern America, but with emerging supers.
Very good. I'll be looking over this through the day, then.
Damn I haven't made my character
I suppose I'll close recruitment now, as its been 24 hours since my notice.
The characters I'll be taking are...
Oscar Cray III,
Leon Hatcher,
and Jerehmiah Schultz
If you three are still around, please post in the Discussion Thread (which will be up shortly after this post).
As for the rest of you, thanks for taking interest in the game, and the time to build your characters. I hope that by taking part in this recruitment thread,you've read through a lot of the PHOENIX expansion and will consider running it and recommending it to others~
Its seems really cool