#HERO System | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

archivistgamemaster · 6 months ago

Text

AVAILABLE FOR HIRE: APEX TACTICAL SOLUTIONS

:dart: [AVAILABLE FOR HIRE: APEX TACTICAL SOLUTIONS] :dart:

When superhuman problems require human solutions

Standard Threat Response Element (4-6 Operators) Rate: [CONTACT FOR PRICING] Duration: Mission-dependent Availability: Global deployment capable

Equipment Profile Per Operator:

Arachnofiber tactical armor with enhanced ceramic plating

HK416 w/KAC suppressor + M203 launcher capability

FN FNX-45 Tactical (suppressed)

XM-78 Advanced Combat Goggles (thermal/NV/limited X-ray)

Multi-spectrum tactical grenades

Full breaching and demo kit

Operational Capabilities: ✓ Superhuman threat neutralization ✓ High-value target extraction/elimination ✓ Asset denial operations ✓ Perimeter security and counter-infiltration ✓ Urban warfare specialists ✓ Advanced electronic warfare suite

Why Choose ATS:

Ex-Tier 1 SOF operators

Proven track record vs powered threats

Strict operational security

Full logistics and intelligence support

No questions asked, no traces left

"Powers don't make them bulletproof. Training makes you bulletproof."

Booking Process:

Initial consultation required

50% deposit on contract acceptance

Full operational discretion guaranteed

Multiple payment methods accepted

:lock: Contact [REDACTED] for rates and availability :warning: All communications strictly confidential :globe_with_meridians: Global deployment within 24 hours

Note: ATS reserves the right to refuse contracts that conflict with existing operational parameters. No refunds on deployment.

#TacticalSolutions #PrivateContractor #Professionals

ATS Tactical Operator

Alternate Identity: Apex Tactical Solutions Mercenary

Character Information

Height: 1.89 m

Weight: 100.00 kg

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Experience Points

Total Points: 200

Experience Earned: 0

Experience Spent: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

CHARACTERISTICS

Primary Characteristics

STR: 15 (5 points) [Roll: 12-]

DEX: 12 (4 points) [Roll: 11-]

CON: 15 (5 points) [Roll: 12-]

INT: 11 (1 point) [Roll: 11-]

EGO: 11 (1 point) [Roll: 11-]

PRE: 12 (2 points) [Roll: 11-]

OCV: 5 (10 points)

DCV: 4 (5 points)

OMCV: 3 (0 points)

DMCV: 3 (0 points)

SPD: 3 (10 points)

Secondary Characteristics

PD: 4/22 (2 points)

ED: 5/23 (3 points)

REC: 6 (2 points)

END: 28 (2 points)

BODY: 12 (2 points)

STUN: 28 (4 points)

Total Characteristics Cost: 58 points

COMBAT DATA

HTH Damage: 3d6

Presence Attack: 2d6

Lift: 200kg (END Cost: 1)

Base OCV: 5

Base DCV: 4

Base OMCV: 3

Base DMCV: 3

Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

MOVEMENT

Running: 16m (Combat) / 32m (Noncombat)

Swimming: 4m (Combat) / 8m (Noncombat)

Horizontal Leap: 4m (Combat) / 8m (Noncombat)

Vertical Leap: 2m (Combat) / 4m (Noncombat)

COMBAT MANEUVERS

Basic Maneuvers

Block: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, Block, abort

Brace: 0 Phase, +2 OCV, ½ DCV, +2 OCV vs R. Mod.

Disarm: ½ Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, Disarm, STR v. STR

Dodge: ½ Phase, — OCV, +3 DCV, Abort, vs. all attacks

Grab: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, -2 DCV, Grab 2 limbs

Grab By: ½ Phase†, -3 OCV, -4 DCV, Move & Grab; +(v/10) to STR

Haymaker: ½ Phase*, +0 OCV, -5 DCV, +4 DCs to attack

Move By: ½ Phase†, -2 OCV, -2 DCV, STR/2 + v/10; you take 1/3

Move Through: ½ Phase†, -v/10 OCV, -3 DCV, STR + v/6; you take ½ or full

Multiple Attack: 1 Phase, var OCV, ½ DCV, Attack multiple times

Set: 1 Phase, +1 OCV, +0 DCV, Ranged attacks only

Shove: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Push 1m per 5 STR

Strike: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, STR or weapon

Throw: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, Throw w/ STR dmg

Trip: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, -2 DCV, Knock target Prone

Special Maneuvers

Akido Throw: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 3d6 +v/5, Target Falls

Boxing Cross: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 5d6 Strike

Choke: ½ Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, Grab One Limb; 2d6 NND

Escape: ½ Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 30 STR vs. Grabs

Hold: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Three Limbs, 10 STR for holding on

Judo Disarm: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 25 STR to Disarm roll

Karate "Chop": ½ Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, HKA 2d6 +1

Kung Fu Block: ½ Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort

Disarm: ½ Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 25 STR to Disarm roll

DEFENSES

Normal PD: 4/22

Resistant PD: 0/18

Normal ED: 5/23

Resistant ED: 0/18

Mental Defense: 0

Power Defense: 0

Flash Defense: 16

SKILLS, PERKS, & TALENTS (142 Total Cost)

General Everyman Skills (Generous)

Acrobatics (8-)

Acting (8-)

Bribery (8-)

Charm (8-)

Climbing (11-) [3 points]

Concealment (8-)

Conversation (8-)

Disguise (8-)

CK: Home Town (8-)

CuK: Home Culture (8-)

Paramedics (11-) [3 points]

Persuasion (8-)

Shadowing (11-) [3 points]

Stealth (11-) [3 points]

Trading (8-)

Military Skills

Infantry Training [6 points]: WF: Small Arms, General Purpose/Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers, Shoulder-Fired Weapons, Vehicle Weapons

Soldier: PS (10-) [2 points]

KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World (11-) [2 points]

Infantry Tactics: Tactics (11-) [3 points]

Security Systems (11-) [3 points]

Demolitions (11-) [3 points]

Fast Draw (11-) [3 points]

Teamwork (11-) [3 points]

Systems Operation (11-) [3 points]

TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles [2 points]

Tracking (11-) [3 points]

Survival (11-) [3 points]

Navigation (Land, Marine) (11-) [3 points]

Languages

English (idiomatic) [0 points]

Russian (fluent conversation) [2 points]

Computer Programming (11-) [3 points]

Martial Arts: Commando Training

1) Akido Throw (Martial Throw) [3 points] 2) Boxing Cross (Martial Strike) [4 points] 3) Choke (Choke Hold) [4 points] 4) Escape (Martial Escape) [4 points] 5) Hold [4 points] 6) Judo Disarm (Martial Disarm) [4 points] 7) Karate "Chop" (Killing Strike) [4 points] 8) Kung Fu Block (Martial Block) [4 points] 9) Disarm (Martial Disarm) [4 points] 10) Weapon Element: Clubs [1 point] 11) Weapon Element: Knives [1 point]

Special Benefits

Fringe Benefit (Mercenary License) [24 points]

Weapon Permit (where appropriate)

Concealed Weapon Permit (where appropriate)

License to practice a profession

License to Kill

Security Clearance

Business Rank

Heavy Weapon Permit

Improved Equipment Availability

Contacts

Contact: Apex Tactical Solutions (11-) [21 points]

Access to major institutions

Significant Contacts

Extremely useful Skills or resources

Access [3 points]

Resistance (+1 to roll) [1 point]

POWERS AND EQUIPMENT

Armor and Protection

Arachnofiber Weave Body Armor ($8000)

Resistant Protection (9 PD/9 ED) (27 APs)

Hit Locations Protected 7-16 (-¾)

OIF (-½)

Half Mass (-½)

Plus Resistant Protection (3 PD/3 ED), Hardened (+¼) (11 APs)

Hit Locations Protected 7-8,9,10-12,24 (-¾)

OIF (-½)

Half Mass (-½)

Plus Resistant Protection (8 PD/8 ED) (Impermeable) (24 APs)

OIF (-½)

Half Mass (-½)

Hit Locations Protected 3-4 (Head and Face) (-½)

Combat Holster

+1 with Fast Draw: Small Arms (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus +1 with Concealment (2 APs)

Only For Hiding A Particular Handgun (-2)

IIF (-¼)

Rifle Sling

+1 with Fast Draw: Small Arms (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus +15 STR, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (22 APs)

Only To Help Vs Disarm (-2)

Side Effects (If character is disarmed then sling breaks; -½)

IIF (-¼)

Unified Power (-¼)

Sap Gloves

Hand-To-Hand Attack +2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (15 APs)

OIF (-½)

Hand-To-Hand Attack (-¼)

Plus Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED) (18 APs)

Hit Location 6 (-2)

OIF (-½)

Requires A Roll (11- roll; -½)

Plus +1 with Climbing (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Combat Boots

+1 with Climbing (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus +1 with Acrobatics (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus Running +4m (16m total) (4 APs)

Side Effects (Distinct Sole Marks - Lets Users Be Tracked Easier Where Marks Can Be Left +2 Tracking; -1)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus +2 with Stealth (4 APs)

IIF (-¼)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus Hand-To-Hand Attack +3d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (22 APs)

OIF (-½)

Hand-To-Hand Attack (-¼)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus Knockback Resistance -2m (2 APs)

OIF (-½)

Unified Power (-¼)

Weapons

HK416 w/ Suppressor ($875)

RKA 2d6

+1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼)

Autofire (3 shots; +¼)

OAF (-1)

STR Minimum 7 (STR Min. Cannot Add/Subtract Damage; -¾)

Required Hands Two-Handed (-½)

Beam (-¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

4 clips of 31 Charges (+½)

Plus +1 with any single attack

Plus +1 with any single attack; Only Works If User can see Infrared (-1)

Plus +1 to offset Range Modifier

Plus +2 versus Range Modifier for Sight Group (3 APs) [31 charges]

Heckler & Koch MP7A1 ($31)

RKA 1d6

+2 Increased STUN Multiplier (+½)

Autofire (10 shots; +1)

OAF (-1)

Beam (-¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

Required Hands One-And-A-Half-Handed (-¼)

STR Minimum 4-8 (-¼)

40 Charges (+¼)

Plus targeting modifiers [40 charges]

FN FNX-45 Tactical .45 cal Semi-Auto Pistol ($1400)

Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6-1

+1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼)

OAF (-1)

Beam (-¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

STR Minimum 4-8 (-¼)

4 clips of 16 Charges (+¼)

Plus range and targeting modifiers [16 charges]

Apex Tac Knife

Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6 (1½d6 w/STR)

Armor Piercing (+¼)

OAF (-1)

Grenades and Launchers

M67 Fragmentation Grenade ($180)

Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6

Area Of Effect (15m Radius Explosion; +¼)

+1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼)

1 Charge (Recovers Under Limited Circumstances; -2)

OAF (-1)

Range Based On Strength (-¼) [1 charge]

Smoke Grenade

Change Environment (-10 to Sight Group PER Rolls)

Area Of Effect (12m Radius; +¾)

OAF (-1)

Can be blown away by strong winds or range (-1)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 5 Minutes (-½) [1 continuing charge]

[Continued from previous section…]

M15 White Phosphorous Grenade ($200) [continued]

Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1¼)

No Knockback (-¼)

Range Based On STR (-¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

Unified Power (-¼)

Plus Change Environment (-6 to Sight Group PER Rolls)

Area Of Effect (16m Radius; +¾)

Plus additional effects [1 charge]

M203 Grenade Launcher ($700)

Multipower, 70-point reserve (70 APs)

OAF (-1)

Extra Time (Extra Segment, Takes a segment to reload; -½)

STR Minimum 8 (-¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

All slots 12 Charges (total grenades divided among different types; -¼)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

1) M406 Fragmentation Grenade ($50f)

Killing Attack - Ranged 2½d6

Area Of Effect (8m Radius Explosion; +¼)

+1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼)

Limited Range (150 meters; -¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

2) M433 HEDP Anti-Vehicle Grenade ($60f)

Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6

Armor Piercing (+¼)

Limited Range (150 meters; -¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

3) M576 Buckshot Round ($40f)

Killing Attack - Ranged 3d6-1

Area Of Effect (2m Cone; +¼)

Reduced By Range (-¼)

Reduced Penetration (-¼)

Limited Range (40 meters; -¼)

Real Weapon (-¼)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

4) M651 CS/Smoke Round ($70f)

Darkness to Sight Group 6m radius (30 APs)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

Plus Blast 1d6, STUN Only

Area Of Effect (8m Radius)

Constant, Reduced Endurance (0 END)

Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Life Support)

Damage Over Time (32 damage increments, every other Segment)

3 Charges, OAF Durable

5) M583A1 Star Parachute Illumination Grenade ($50f)

Sight Group Images

Time Limit (1 Minute, last for 3 turns; +½)

Area Of Effect (24m Radius; +1)

Can only be fired if attached to a rifle or carbine (-¼)

Advanced Equipment

XM-78 Advanced Combat Goggles ($2500)

Infrared Perception (Sight Group)

Discriminatory, Analyze, Partially Penetrative, Tracking (25 APs)

OAF (-1)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day

Plus Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group)

+3 to PER Roll

Discriminatory, Partially Penetrative, Tracking (23 APs)

OAF (-1)

Unified Power (-¼)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day

Plus Partially Penetrative with Normal Sight (5 APs)

OAF (-1)

Unified Power (-¼)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day

Plus +1 with a large group of attacks (5 APs)

OAF (-1)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day [1 continuing charge]

Detect Power Signatures ($15000)

Detect A Class Of Things 15- (Unusual Group)

Concealed (-6 with Detect PER Rolls)

Discriminatory, Analyze

Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees)

Microscopic: x10

Range, Sense, Targeting, Tracking, Transmit (59 APs)

OAF (-1)

Sense Affected As More Than One Sense very common Sense

Requires A Roll (System Operation roll; -½)

1 Continuing Fuel Charge lasting 1 Day [1 continuing charge]

COMPLICATIONS (50 Total Points)

Distinctive Features: Uniform [5 points]

Easily Concealed

Noticed and Recognizable

Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses

Hunted: military forces character fights [10 points]

Infrequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Watching)

Social Limitation: Subject to Orders [20 points]

Very Frequently; Major

Social Limitation: Mercenaries Code of Conduct [15 points]

Frequently; Severe

Not Limiting In Some Cultures

Height: 6'2ft (1.89 m) Weight: 220.46lbs (100 kg) Background:

Apex Tactical Solutions emerged in the post-superhuman world as an elite private military company, explicitly marketing themselves as "the human solution to superhuman problems." Their operators are drawn primarily from Tier 1 special operations units worldwide - Navy SEALs, Delta Force, SAS, Spetsnaz - who see ATS as a way to level the playing field against powered threats.

The company maintains rigorous selection standards, with only 2% of applicants making it through their brutal 6-month training program. This includes advanced small unit tactics, superhuman threat response protocols, and extensive training with their cutting-edge equipment suite. Each operator must demonstrate mastery of both individual skills and seamless team integration.

Personality/Motivation:

The typical ATS operator is:

Highly professional but morally flexible

Confident bordering on arrogant

Deeply cynical about powered individuals

Fiercely loyal to their team

Motivated by both money and proving human superiority

Common saying among operators: "Powers don't make you bulletproof. Training makes you bulletproof."

ATS presents itself as a professional high-end security service, but operators have no illusions about their true role. They are precision instruments of violence for hire, deployed against the most dangerous threats money can buy.

While they maintain strict operational discipline and rules of engagement, ATS teams are known for ruthless efficiency once committed to action. Their reputation for getting results, no matter the opposition, keeps them in high demand among both legitimate clients and those requiring more discreet services.

Quote:

"Standby for breach. Remember - powers don't make them smart."

"Target's throwing lightning? Great. Lightning's never stopped a bullet."

"We're not here to fight fair. We're here to win."

"Your fancy powers mean nothing against good old-fashioned teamwork and superior firepower."

Powers/Tactics:

ATS operators work in 4-6 person cells designated as "Tactical Response Elements" (TREs). Their doctrine emphasizes:

Overwhelming synchronized fire superiority

Exploitation of advanced sensor capabilities

Precise application of specialized ammunition types

Strict fire discipline and communications protocols

Leveraging urban terrain for tactical advantage

"Powers don't make you bulletproof. Training makes you bulletproof." These small units are designed to take down targets many times more powerful than any individual operator through coordinated action and superior equipment.

Campaign Use:

ATS teams make excellent recurring antagonists as:

Elite mooks for superhuman villains

Corporate enforcers

Rival operators to player heroes

Wild cards in larger conflicts

Their tactical sophistication and advanced gear let them credibly threaten even powerful heroes through superior coordination and specialized countermeasures.

Appearance:

ATS operators are imposing figures, standing out even among military contractors. Their appearance is deliberately engineered to project both professional precision and intimidating presence.

Standard Physical Profile:

Height Range: 5'10" - 6'4"

Weight Range: 180-220 lbs

Physically fit with emphasis on functional strength

Movement reflects military bearing and tactical awareness

Standard Field Loadout Appearance:

Matte black and urban gray Arachnofiber combat suit with carbon-fiber reinforced plates

Distinctive skull-faced tactical mask with integrated rebreather

XM-78 Advanced Combat Goggles mounted on modular helmet

Cross-draw tactical vest with custom magazine placement

Modified drop-leg holster for FNX-45

Combat boots with enhanced grip pattern

Low-profile communications gear integrated into collar

IR strobes and IFF markers on shoulders and back

The overall silhouette is sleek but threatening - more predator than soldier. The mask design particularly has become something of a trademark, with its aggressive angles and respirator integration creating an inhuman appearance that deliberately plays into their reputation.

Color Scheme:

Primary: Tactical black

Secondary: Urban grey

Accent: Muted gold on equipment attachments

Subdued unit markings in dark grey

Equipment Arrangement:

Primary weapon held at high ready

Magazines arranged for tactical reloads

Grenades positioned for quick access

Medical kit on lower back

Emergency breaching tools on rear waist

Combat knife mounted on chest

Movement Profile: Their training creates a distinctive way of moving - economical but predatory. Every motion is purposeful, maintaining tactical spacing and angles of coverage even during routine movement.

Group Appearance: In teams, they maintain precise spacing and complementary fields of fire. Their coordinated movement creates an intimidating display of professional violence capacity, with each operator covering specific sectors while moving as a single integrated unit.

From the perspective of an observer, the most unnerving aspect is their absolute silence during operations. Unlike many military contractors who rely on constant verbal communication, ATS teams operate with minimal voice traffic, using hand signals and their integrated comms for coordination.

#TacticalSolutions #PrivateContractor #ATS #ttrpg #ttrpg community #hero system 6th edition #HS6 #hero system #gamemaster #game master #mook #minon #merc #mercenary

0 notes

filipfatalattractionrblog · 2 years ago

Text

At the risk of taking shitpost seriously, let kme get in my combat pajamas:

RE: D&D: You’\re not supposed to have a gun in Skyrim or fight Macho Man Randy Savage in Skyrim or play a whole ass spiritual successor to the Gothic trilogy in Skyrim either. Doesn’t give you the right to imply there is something wrong with skilled and talented people who put their hard work into making those. Hacking D&D to do what you want with it is a tradition as old as og Tunnels & Trolls. Talk with game development veterans and a lot of them started by modding DOOM to do things DOOM was never meant to do. This whole attitude is basically shaming beginner ttrpg designers for experimenting and testing the limits of a system and their creativity, nothing more.

RE: Pathfinder: As someone who loves Cthulhu Mythos, fuck ‘em. Like seriously, Lovecraft’s work has already been mangled, transformed, salvaged and butchered by dozens of creators. Also, he’;s been a racist shit, so fuck ‘im. You know who wrote stories about his self-insert slaughtering cosmic beings beyond human understanding? Lovecraft’s best friend Robert E. Howard. Maybe we need to punch a quasi-dimensional space god from time to time in order to challenge and deconstruct some of underlying assumptions of the Cosmic Horror genre? Also, I have been on Giant in the Playground Forums and I assure you, 90% of people there want to murder Cthulhu with a musical halfling from fantasy land.

RE: World of Darkness: Loooooooooooooooooool. “90′s called” so did your mom, she tells you to pick toys from the playground and go home. Are you whining and crying when you see a goth or punk in public too? It’s fucking immature to just dismiss something as old and therefore withotu value. This is literally on level of fucking TikTok’s war on classical literature just because it is old. Cringe mate, cringe to the max.

RE: Mutants and Masterminds/HERO System: Tell me you don’t get how marketing works without saying you don’t get how marketing works. Should we remove Barbarian class from D&D and Pathfinder because “we need only one Conan clone”? Also, this criticism undermines your entry on PbtA because it also applies to MASKS: The Next Generation.

THINGS I AM UNREASONABLY ANNOYED ABOUT BY GAME SYSTEM

D&D: Please put a disclaimer that you are not a universal system. Every time I see someone try to do a political mystery game in D&D, I take 3d10 psychic damage and have to make a death saving throw.

Pathfinder: Look. If i wanted to play a game about fighting Cthulhu there is an extremely famous game specifically designed around doing that. Literally no-one is ever going to say "Wow, I want to play a Cthulhu themed game! Time to stat up a musical halfling from a magical fantasy land!".

Chronicles Of Darkness: Just admit no-one uses any of your rules. You have Social Door Rules and Integrity Conditions and Corruption Levels and I bet at most 50% of COD players could tell me which of those I made up. Just admit people aren't dressing up as Alucard The Bringer Of Shadows because they want to sit down and do calculus.

World Of Darkness: You know that old guy who's still doing his job even though he is way too old to do it any more, but he's now an institution so you can't get rid of him? Like that. The 90s called and they want literally everything about this back.

Call Of Cthulhu: I appreciate the commitment to authenticity, but maybe stop hiring actual disgraced mental asylum directors from the 1920s to design your sanity system?

GURPS: Look. Look. Listen. We both know that you just want to write history textbooks. These are history textbooks with a few stat blocks begrudgingly put in. If you just give me a book on early Chinese history I will read it and go "ah, very interesting!". You don't need to put in a list of character choices. We're all nerds. We'll read them. Live your best life.

Powered By The Apocalypse: I actually can't think of anything wrong with PBTA. That's not a bit, this is literally the perfect system. Take notes everyone else.

Mutants and Masterminds/Heroes System: Your systems have probably the most customizable character creation in the world and you both just make reskins of the Justice League over and over again. Maybe we only need one "thinly veiled copyrighted characters" setting? You can fight over it once you decipher your combat mechanics.

FATE: Ok I won't lie, I have no idea how the fuck FATE works. I have read the rules repeatedly and played three games and I still have no idea what invoking an aspect means. I don't know why. I grasped the rules of fucking Nobilis but this one just psychologically eludes me. This is more a problem with me I guess, but I'm still annoyed.

Warhammer 40k: Have you considered spending less on avocado toast? Then you might be able to afford to charge less for things?

Exalted: Apart from the lore, the setting, the mechanics, the metaplot, the character creation and the dodgy narrative implications, I can't think of anything to improve here.

#rpgs #dungeons & dragons #pathfinder #world of darkness #Call of Cthulhu #GURPS #Powered by the Apocalypse #FATE #Mutants & Masterminds #HERO System #Warhammer 40k #Exalted #Damn I woke up cranky

3K notes · View notes

niksrpgs · 1 year ago

Text

Brand new #HeroSystemVehicleSourcebook for #HeroSystem #fifthedition (#5e), now available with FREE SHIPPING! #ttrpg #originalprint #outofprint #NiksRPGs

#out of print #ttrpg #niksrpgs #original print #hero system #hero system vehicle sourcebook #fifth edition #5e

0 notes

oldschoolfrp · 1 year ago

Text

A ride in the snow (Larry Elmore cover for Fantasy Hero 4th ed, Hero Games, 1990)

#Larry Elmore #Fantasy Hero #fantasy #Hero System #Hero Games #fantasy art #fantasy RPG #Rob Bell #mounted combat #minotaur #fighter #winter scene #snow #mountains #1990s

161 notes · View notes

gorgonarcher · 1 year ago

Text

Game 3 - Hero System

Champions is the first game I actually played a session of and that character was basically a blend of Wolverine and the protagonist to the 1980s TV show werewolf.

To this date Hero System remains probably the most well-thought and designed pure-point-based character creation system. However, this comes with a caveat that it expects you to do that work for every NPC using the same system as PCs use. And, well, it's a lot of burden on the GM.

I've also heard recently that the developers (Steven Long et al) have gone the way of Kevin Siembada in terms of "my way or the highway" to the point of banning people from the Hero forums that even mildly question recent decisions.

So, to start, in the old days a superhero character would get 250 points to build a character, 150 for free, and 100 with a set of disadvantages (now called complications).

As the game started adding things like perks, more skills, talents, and other such things, they realized they needed to expand the point pool to account for all the different ways they gave to fill out characters. Also, it was proving difficult to make all the disadvantages relevant to a game. There were a lot of characters that were bloated with "just for the points" complications that just bogged down games. Eventually the devs made the decision for the proportion matched with disadvantages to also be reduced.

In the most recent edition, 6th, the standard superhero is built with 400 pts, 75 of which were paid for by complications. With a maximum value to each complication of 40. But I think, instead, I'm going to go with a Powerful Heroic character at 225 points. This will put the character on level with pulp and fantasy characters.

I'm also going to use the "Normal Characteristic Maxima" limits for characters, meaning that she will be limited to "human" limits. (You can tell be the quotes that the upper limits of these are still a bit beyond what you can expect from a human being).

I'm going to follow some of the considerations here:

And some of the budgeting suggestions here, though I make break these, especially since these are for Standard Heroic and I'm doing Powerful Heroic and I'm not entirely sure I'll be sticking specifically to one of the three recommendations or not.

So, when doing Hero System, I prioritize the elements I want first and spend on those, then I spiral out to get the other elements to fill in the story of the character. Sometimes I start with Disadvantages, and I think I'll do that here.

Complications

Note, I find it more interesting to have a number of smaller complications usually, because having one or two big ones means that you have fewer story beats to work with. Yes these are treated as disadvantages and they will create legitimate obstacles or problems for in game, but also these are storyline elements. You are allowed to have more complications than the point limit for your power level, but anything over the limit will be for 0 points, so you take those purely for the story.

So, 50 points of Disadvantages

I'm going to go with the assumption that gorgons are rare, potentially unique in most people's experiences. This justifies taking a Distinctive Feature.

An important thing to consider with Hero System and similar games is to buy your disadvantages according to how you want them to impact the game.

If I want just to be a unique individual, for example. Someone easily pointed out and identified. Then I'd take the +0 option for reaction. In this case most NPCs will treat her as just any other person though the snakes for hair are a thing.

Likewise there's the extent of how distinct I want them to be and this is also relative and sort of asking "how much trouble do you want this to be".

For example, let's consider these pictures of Cael:

Some of these are more human looking than others, but any one of them could be considered "easily concealed" dependent on the other entities present in the world.

If there are snake-beings like lamia or naga in the setting then all four might fall under "noticed and recognized" and "easily concealable". If the setting is almost entirely human, then all four might be "Major Reaction/Prejudice" with the first two pictures being "Easily Concealable", the third being "Concealable" and the last being "Not Concealable". At least under normal circumstances.

In this case, I want a human-shaped gorgon, maybe slight scaling and I'm going to say "Concealable" since she'll have to cover most of her skin and conceal her hissy hair with some effort.

I'm also going to say "Major Reaction or Prejudice" but not extreme. Let's say that while gorgons specifically are rare or even unique, that there are other people touched by spirits who have odd physical features like this. So while they might not know exactly what she can do, they recognize her as spirit touched.

The major reaction is not necessarily good or bad and will vary from place to place. The feature is detectable by common senses like sight and hearing so no points are taken off for that. An example of this would be like how mutants in X-Men can be detected with special gear but most can pass for human. I am going to lean into the variation by culture though and say that some cultures just accept spirit-touched people with a shrug.

So the final complication looks like this:

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

For the next part, I'm going to lean in on the idea that there are spirit-touched people who have expectations of them and I'm going with a Psychological Limitation.

In this case, we're going to say that she has an urge to always prove her worth or match up to the expectation of her. Perfectionism isn't quite the right idea so let's phrase it "Living up to Expectations".

Once again, model this by how often you want to deal with it. The book has some suggestions for what the different frequencies mean.

The intensity of the urge is also something to choose to your taste. I don't want it to be obnoxious and for some psych lims, "Total" is going to be obnoxious if it is all the time. There are psych lims that can be Total and still fun however: A "Code vs Killing" in superhero games is considered "Very Common Total" because it is something some heroes won't do for any reason and if they kill someone accidentally, then they have a breakdown. It's a thing that's always a factor.

Meanwhile, an uncommon phobia might totally shut you down and force you to avoid something but due to being uncommon, it's not common enough to be obnoxious. Plus, you don't shut down completely, as with the Code vs Killing, you just go out of your way to avoid it. For example, a person with a total phobia for wolves would refuse to go into the Wolf Woods.

Also, a reminder, the frequency is not about how common the situation is in the world but rather how common the situation will be in the game. Wolves might be a very common animal in the world but they won't often appear in the game, or rather won't often share a screen with the person who has the phobia due to them requesting the phobia be uncommon. At least if the GM is reading properly.

In this case, I think the urge to perform is going near constant, so I'm taking Very Common for frequency, but I'm going to make it a Moderate urge, so that it is something she can shake off with a pretty easy EGO check. This causes the disadvantage to look like this.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

That's 25 of our 50 points.

I want to do a vulnerability or other physical limitation just for the differing structure, but I also want to build up to the psych lim with a social limitation. Which works in very much the same way as a Psych Lim.

Secret Identities and Public Identities are a subset of Social Limitations and they used to be their own unique complications before they were folded in under the general umbrella of social limitations.

In this case, she comes from a culture where being spirit-touched is distinctive and the reputation is that they are either heroes or monsters, nothing in between. This is the source of her psych lim, so I could leave at just a psych lim, but there might be cases where she has a higher expectation of herself, or where society might have a higher expectation of her. Also, she can travel away from this society but not travel away from herself. The two are similar and overlap, but are still different.

The people of her society are going to either expect her to do dangerous tasks on demand or else label her as a thing to be actively hunted if she goes against their demands. But again, other cultures might be worse and just instantly peg her as a monster, or better and just consider her a person.

So, I'm going to put this as follows:

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

This gives us 40 out of 50 points. So, for the last thing, we're going to do something physical, and we're still going off the idea of her being Spirit-Touched.

What if she's more affected by exorcisms and similar type effects? Now, there's two ways to do this: Vulnerability and Susceptibility.

Vulnerability is when something affects you far more than it does a normal person, but it will still affect a normal person. Susceptibility is when the effect doesn't affect most people and is mostly a you problem. In this case, I'm going to take a nod from Nioh 2 where Purity effect still has a negative impact on humans, it just doesn't affect them as severely as it does a yokai.

I'd say the spirit-touched thing is probably influenced by my playing Nioh 2 a bit recently, but also I had the same terms and concepts with a gorgon back three or four years before Nioh 2 came out and I had ever heard of the series. Still, probably a mix of both to be honest, the old idea coming to the top due to recently playing a lot of Nioh 2.

Anyway, I could take that as a vulnerability, but I'm also going to note that some purification stuff does nothing perceptible to humans but will affect her. So Susceptibility is probably much more what I'm looking for. If something is severe enough to affect human, that can just be bought to that level.

This case we're going to say these are directed exorcisms and purification tools, like salt or holy water. The person saying them has to be willfully aiming these prayers or items at her. So she could stand next to an exorcist affecting a demon and be fine, but if some panicky peasant starts praying at her she'll find herself touched.

Also note that the dice assume basic damage and other types of damage would use different scaling. 3d6 normal damage (which doesn't kill as easily) is roughly the same value as 1d6 killing damage (which targets a different defense). In this case though, we're going to go with a Drain effect. So that instead of targeting either STUN or BODY like normal and killing attacks do, it'll target "Power Defense" which almost nobody has.

We're going to say that these things drain her Recovery, meaning it makes it harder for her to recover spent Endurance or heal from injuries. 1d6 of Drain = 2d6 of Normal Damage, as far as point value is concerned.

We also have to decide whether this is a harm she takes instantly on first contact or whether it continues over time while exposed. In this case, I think the idea of her trying wash off purified salt or get away from someone praying at her is a good idea. I am going to go ahead and go with per phase. Some explanation on time here:

A Turn is 12 seconds. A segment is one second. A phase is a segment on which you act. Characters have a "Speed" attribute ranging from 2 to 12 which is how many actions a character gets on each Turn. So a person with Spd 2 (average human) has two actions in a turn, Segment 6 and 12. So, per Phase would mean the damage happens every time you are exposed in a segment when you have an action.

For frequency, again, this represents with how often you want to deal with it. Not how common the actual phenomenon is, though that can play a factor. In this case, we're going to assume that while the use of prayers and purified substances is well known, most people don't know how to properly perform the prayers or purify things enough to affect spirit-touched (and only have mild impact on actual spirits) plus it's likely that our character is primarily seen as a decent person. That said, enemy mystics would use this against her.

So, with all that in mind, I'm going to mark this as "Uncommon" giving us the following. This comes to a total value of 20. However, because this goes over the 10 points we have left, we only get 10 points out of it. If I wanted I could change the "per Phase" to "Instant" instead, but I think we'll keep it for the pure drama. You're fine to do this. I do like to notate when I went over using parentheses.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

Complications Total

The complication wrap comes to the following:

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

So now we move on to abilities.

Priorities

First, let's set our priorities:

1 - Basic Characteristics 2 - Snake hair 3 - Archery 4 - Consider petrification stare 5 - fill out details.

Characteristics

I do like to start with characteristics to make sure my character's stats are at acceptable levels for me. In prior edition you would have Primary characteristics and Figured characteristics which would be dependent on the Primary characteristics but which could bought above their basic level. In 6th edition, however, everything is bought directly.

The characteristics are as follows:

And some basic comparisons can be found here:

High priority here would be:

OCV/DCV

SPD

DEX

Next would be:

INT

EGO

PRE

DMCV

STUN

Then:

REC

END

Finally:

STR

CON

BODY

OMCV

So I'll go with the following (Cost in parentheses):

STR 13 (3)

DEX 20 (20)

CON 15 (5)

INT 13 (3)

EGO 13 (3)

PRE 15 (5)

OCV 4 (5)

DCV 6 (15)

OMCV 3

DMCV 5 (6)

SPD 4 (20)

PD 7 (5)

ED 7 (5)

REC 8 (4)

END 30 (2)

BODY 12 (2)

STUN 34 (7)

Total Cost: 110

That leaves us with 115 points for the rest of the characteristic.

Snake Hair

Now, I could leave this at just the Distinctive Feature, but let's actually give it some mechanical benefit as well as a social disadvantage. I'm going to start with a sensory advantage.

I'm going to apply an increased arc of perception to vision to 240 degrees. Not quite 360 degrees, but a bit more than the usual range of senses. I could purchase it for just normal vision, but instead, I'm going to purchase it for the entire vision group on the idea of also getting thermal vision, or as the game calls it "Infrared Perception" which is one of the pre-built senses.

10 - Snake Hair, Many Eyes: Increased Arc of perception 240 degrees to the vision group.

10 - Thermal Vision: Detect Heat Patterns/Traces, Passive

And because snakes scent the air with their tongues:

19 - Snake Tongues: All For Normal Scent, Discriminatory (5), Analyze (5), Microscopic: 2x Magnification (6), Rapid x10 speed (3)

That makes for 29 points.

And now we're going to move on to Archery

Archery

All campaigns will have some weapon familiarity or skills be common to all characters, but I'm not going to spend assuming that.

First, Weapon Familiarity.

I am going to give her familiarity with all Common Ranged Weapons for 2 pts

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

Now on to other things for increased skills, we're going to start with Combat Skill Levels. Combat Skill Levels can be applied to OCV, DCV, or Damage. And we'll add some Penalty Skill Levels to counteract common penalties.

9 - CSL: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

Total so far: 19

One path would be to take the Martial Arts rules and determine specific attack styles, but instead, since this is leaning toward Fantasy, I'm going to build her archery style with powers. And sense this is a Heroic level game, I'm going to go with a Multipower.

A multipower is a pool of points that can be assigned to the powers under it. So you can't use all the powers simultaneously but if you have the points to power two powers, then you can use them together. And yes, this includes using two attacks in one combination.

We're also going to apply a limitation to this in the form of a Focus because she needs a bow to use it. A lot of heroic games wouldn't require characters to pay points for their weapons, but we're going to do so for a signature weapon. Foci modify costs dependent on how obvious they are and how easy they are to take away from the character. A bow is Obvious and Accessible so this is an OAF which is a -1 modifier... which I'll get to in a moment. As a note, being able to permanently lose the focus would reduce the cost further. We're basically buying the option where the focus would be lost temporarily for one story.

We have the further option to apply the limit of "Charges" to this, but I don't think I'll go with this, have a cinematic idea of infinite ammo.

So since all powers in the pool will need the bow, this limit applies to the base pool of points. I'm going with a 30 point pool which is then modified. So what we do is take 1 and add the total value of all limitations and divide the cost by that number. In this case 1+1=2, 30/2=15.

I have called this the game that taught me algebra for a reason. Thankfully most of the math is in character creation, not gameplay (but there is a substantial amount there as well.)

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: Multipower: 30pt pool, OAF: Blessed Bow

Now, each slot in the multipower, and there can be as many slots as you have points for, will have their cost divided by 5, if we're allowed to adjust how many points go into them, or by 10 if it is a fixed cost.

First we'll have a basic attack for up to 2d6 killing attack, each d6 of KA is 15 points so this comes to 30 pts. To look deeper, the Ranged Killing Attack typically has Ranged advantage and the limitation that it doesn't add Strength, but we typically assume that when we say RKA. Since the focus limitation applies to the whole power, we reduce it to 15 as above, and then we're going to make this variable so we're going to divide that by 5.

Killing attacks target resistant defenses and go straight to BODY and get multiplied for STUN damage where as Normal attacks do STUN damage and do a portion of that as BODY based on dice rolled. (a 1 on the die is 0 BODY, a 6 is is 2 BODY, all other results are 1 BODY)

3v - Arrows: up to 2d6 RKA, Focus: Blessed Bow

The versatile allows the damage to be any of the following:

1 point, 5 points allocated

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 10 points llocated

1d6, 15 points allocated

1d6+1, 20 points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 25 points allocated

2d6, 30 points allocated

This allows us to represent different degrees of focus on just dealing damage. Note that the focus only reduces the cost of the power in terms of character creation, not how many points it uses in the reserve. 2d6 RKA with an OAF has a "real cost" of 15 but it has "active points" of 30 and that is what matters to the Multipower reserve.

Then we'll have a Blessed Arrow for striking spirits. This will have the Advantage that it "Affects Desolidified" we're only going to affect a single special effect/version of Desolidification: spirits, not all of them (like say someone able to turn into gas or a living hologram or a swarm of nanobots). So this is a +1/4 Advantage. I'm still going to make this as a killing attack but it won't be as strong as the prior one because the Active Points can't go over 30.

So, applying an Advantage is just like applying a limitation except you multiply instead of divide. So, we can do up to 20 pts of RKA, which when modified by the 1/4 advantage becomes: 20x1.25= 25. We also want this to be variable, so we now apply the OAF mod of -1...and I'm going to look at the chart rather than look at rounding rules and it comes to 12... and because this is a variable slot... we now divide by 5 and I have to check the rounding anyway... it's mathematical rounding so 12 rounds down (13 would round up) meaning a cost of 2.

2v - Blessed Arrows: up to 1d6+1 RKA, Affects Desolidification: Spirits.

1 point, 6 points allocated

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 12 points llocated

1d6, 19 points allocated

1d6+1, 25 points allocated

Now, at this point the gorgon COULD fire an arrow that does 1d6 RKA and 1d6-1 RKA Affects desolidified. But there's no reason to do that here. You'd just use a 1d6+1 RKA Affects Desolidified or 2d6 RKA normal. So lets add some other options. How about a skill for nailing limbs to surfaces. That sounds like an Entangle.

So that it can pair with both our other abilities, it will have Affects Desolidified: Spirits, and I'm also going to mark it with "Cannot be Escaped with Teleportation" for +1/4.

Every 10 points of Entangle give 1d6 of BODY and 1 PD/1 ED (Physical and Energy Defense).

Affects Desolidified (+1/4) and Cannot be Escaped with Teleportation (+1/4) come to a total Advantage modifier of +1/2. So 20 points becomes 30 points. Then comes the OAF bringing the cost to 15 and divide by 5 for a variable slot and you get this:

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation, affects desolidified.

1d6 1 PD/1 ED - 15 points allocated, very fragile but forces the target to waste time breaking it.

2d6 2 PD/2 ED - 30 points allocated, not much stronger but might hold longer.

Now, we can pair 1d6 RKA with 1d6 Entangle OR 1d6-1 affects Desolidified with 1d6 Entangle, or a 2d6 RKA, or a 1d6+1 RKA affects Desolidified, or a 2d6 Entangle

Now I'm going to add four variations of a Purification arrow similar to the susceptibility our character has, but intense enough to affect humans. We're going to do a STUN only attack and an END drain (on the assumption that most spirits will have similar REC drain susceptibilities that she has).

First the STUN only, this will be a normal attack where 5 points = 1d6 of effect. STUN only is a -0 limitation because the game believes the benefits and drawbacks even out. But then I will also add "Affects Desolidified: Spirits)" for a +1/4. Which means it will be up to 4d6 and having a similar cost to the Blessed Arrows

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits.

1d6 - 6 points allocated

2d6 - 12 points allocated

3d6 - 19 points allocated

4d6 - 25 points allocated

Note that the basic arrow we started with will have better max possible stun than these, so the second version will be a version that does not affect spirits. In Nioh 2 terms. Same basic situation but up to 6d6.

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6

1d6 - 5 points allocated

2d6 - 10 points allocated

3d6 - 15 points allocated

4d6 - 20 points allocated

5d6 - 25 points allocated

6d6 - 30 points allocated.

Now the Drains. Drains, as stated earlier are 10 points per 1d6 and we're going to do that will work against insubstantial enemies and one that won't. The first one is going to be up to 2d6 and on up to 3d6. Note that this attack does not target normal defenses. And the final products will look like this.

Also note that this is END drain, so each point of drain rolled will drain 5 points of END. Because it drains character points and END is 5 points per 1 character point.

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified.

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 6 points allocated

1d6, 12 points allocated

1d6+1, 19 points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 25 points allocated

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain.

1/2d6 or 1d6-1, 5 points allocated

1d6, 10 points points allocated

1.5d6 or 2d6-1, 15 points allocated

2d6, 20 points allocated

2.5d6 or 3d6-1, 25 points allocated

3d6, 30 points allocated.

This brings the final set of archery abilities to look like this:

Archery

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

9 - CSL: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: 30 pt reserve, OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Arrow: up to 3d6 RKA, OAF: Blessed Bow

2v - Blessed Arrow: up to 1d6+1, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4), OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation (+1/4), affects desolidified (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6 OAF: Blessed Bow: (-1)

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified (-1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain. OAF: Blessed Bow

Total: 52 points

Consider Petrifying Gaze

With 27 points left, considered and put aside for now.

Fill Out Details

So now we're going to fill out details.

First, let's increase her movement.

4 - Running +4 meters, total 16m

2 - Leaping +4 meters, total 8m

And we're going to give her familiarity with some common melee weapons. Weirdly, this doesn't include Staves, but oh well.

2 - Common Melee Weapon Familiarity: Unarmed Combat; Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks; Blades; Clubs; Fist-Loads; Polearms and Spears; Two-Handed Weapons

I'm also going to give her some resistant defenses related to her scales.

9 - Resistant Protection: 3 rPD/3 rED

Then I'm going to give her some skills:

3 - Knowledge: Exorcism, INT-based

3 - Stealth, DEX-based

3 - Deduction, INT-based

This leaves one point remaining, which I am going to do as a Perk for being a trained spiritual warrior.

1 - Fringe Benefit: Official Exorcist

The Final Character looks like this:

Altogether Now

Characteristics

STR 13 (3)

DEX 20 (20)

CON 15 (5)

INT 13 (3)

EGO 13 (3)

PRE 15 (5)

OCV 4 (5)

DCV 6 (15)

OMCV 3

DMCV 5 (6)

SPD 4 (20)

PD 10/3 (5 - plus Scales)

ED 10/3 (5 - plus Scales)

REC 8 (4)

END 30 (2)

BODY 12 (2)

STUN 34 (7)

Characteristics Total: 110

Skills

3 - Knowledge: Exorcism, INT-based

3 - Stealth, DEX-based

3 - Deduction, INT-based

9 - Combat Skill Levels: All Bows 3 levels

4 - Ranged Skill Levels: 2 levels with Bows to counter ranged penalties.

4 - Targeting Skill Levels: 2 Levels with Bows to counter act penalties to target specific parts of the body

2 -Common Ranged Weapon Familiarity: Thrown Rocks; Bows; Crossbows; Javelins and Thrown Spears; Thrown Knives, Axes, and Darts.

2 - Common Melee Weapon Familiarity: Unarmed Combat; Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks; Blades; Clubs; Fist-Loads; Polearms and Spears; Two-Handed Weapons

Skills Total: 27

Perks

1 - Fringe Benefit: Official Exorcist

Perks Total: 1

Powers

9 - Scales: Resistant Defense, 3 rPD/3 rED

4 - Running +4 meters, total 16m

2 - Leaping +4 meters, total 8m

Total: 15

Senses

10 - Snake Hair, Many Eyes: Increased Arc of perception 240 degrees to the vision group.

10 - Thermal Vision: Detect Heat Patterns/Traces, Passive

19 - Snake Tongues: All For Normal Scent, Discriminatory (5), Analyze (5), Microscopic: 2x Magnification (6), Rapid x10 speed (3)

Total: 39

Bow of the Exorcist Martial Art

15 - Bow of the Exorcist: 30 pt reserve, OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Arrow: up to 2d6 RKA, OAF: Blessed Bow

2v - Blessed Arrow: up to 1d6+1, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4), OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Spiritual Pinning: Entangle, up to 2d6 BODY 2 PD/2 ED, Cannot be escaped with teleportation (+1/4), affects desolidified (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

2v - Spirit-Stunning Arrow - STUN only up to 4d6, Affects Desolidified: Spirits (+1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul-Stunning Arrow: STUN only up to 6d6 OAF: Blessed Bow: (-1)

2v - Spirit Drought Arrow: up to 2d6 END Drain, Affects Desolidified (-1/4). OAF: Blessed Bow (-1)

3v - Soul Drought Arrow: up to 3d6 END Drain. OAF: Blessed Bow

Total: 33

Powers Total: 87

Grand Total: 225

Complications

10 - Gorgon, snake-hair and slight-scales: Dist Fea, Concealable, Always Noticed and Major Reaction, Feature is not distinctive in some cultures.

15 - Living up to Expectations: Psych Lim, Very Common Moderate.

15 - Spirit-Touched, Hero or Monster: Soc Lim, Very Frequent, Major, Not Limiting in some Cultures.

10 (20) - Exorcism Sensitivity: directed prayers and purified substances. Uncommon, 1d6 Recovery Drain per Phase.

I'd probably use the first few points of XP to fill out skills with RP stuff and to give her more character. One advantage of doing a multipower like this is it is really cheap to add new powers. There is something to be said for adding some of the martial maneuvers in as well, but the Combat Skill Levels and Penalty Skill Levels cover a lot of what those would do.

This presents a fairly more fluid way to approach martial arts than using the martial arts mechanics. It works well with weapon-based and power-based martial arts, but still the martial maneuvers provide a lot of efficient and low cost prebuilt combinations.

Also note that if she has a normal bow instead of a blessed bow, hers or someone else's, she can't use her multipower at all and she would only use the bow's basic capabilities plus her combat skill levels. If I wanted to further heighten her skill with spirit arrows, I could also give her Combat Skill Levels specifically with that multipower, which would stack with those on bows in general.

#character creation #ttrpg #archer #gorgon #roleplaying games #tabletop roleplaying game #tabletop rpgs #Hero System #Champions #Point Buy #The game that taught me algebra.

0 notes

karmakaze · 2 years ago

Text

The thing that finally crystallized why the "D&D is simple" claim always annoyed me was part of the D&D 4e introduction, but it applies to 5e, and also backward to 3.x and AD&D2. The passage reads: SIMPLE RULES, MANY EXCEPTIONS Every class, race, feat, power, and monster in the D&D game lets you break the rules in some way. These can be very minor ways: Most characters don’t know how to use longbows, but every elf does. These exceptions can also appear in very significant ways: A swing with a sword normally does a few points of damage, but a high-level fighter can use a power that can fell multiple monsters in a single blow. All these game elements are little ways of breaking the rules—and most of the books published for the D&D game are full of these game elements.

What this means is that before you even hit level 1, you're modifying these "simple" rules by adding exceptions for class and race. Then every piece of equipment, feat, and class ability gained by level adds more exceptions. And then every sourcebook that comes out includes more classes/subclasses, playable races, feats, and other little rules adjustments to pick from. That's not simple. That's the tax code!!

I say this as someone who cut their teeth on HERO system, which famously had a rulebook that could stop a bullet and requires an extensive use of multiplying and dividing with fractions during character creation. I started with that and the original Ars Magica, which had a magic system that involved working out subject-verb combinations from a list of a dozen subjects and half a dozen verbs for each spell (actually very cool - it won awards, but nobody pretended it was simple.) Neither of those gave me a fraction of the headaches that running D&D has. D&D just happens to be the game most people encounter first and the learning curve of the game gets absorbed into the learning curve of learning to play a TTRPG at all, so the complexity isn't as apparent. This is not to say that D&D5e is a bad system, but it is firmly in the camp of old-school rules-heavy combat simulation with a side of roleplaying.

people are often surprised when i say that dnd 5e is not by any measure 'rules-light' and to illustrate what i mean, here's the spell 'sleep' in dnd 5th edition:

and the spell 'sleep' in trophy gold

dnd 5th edition, across the three core sourcebooks (not including the many supplements that are hundreds of pages long!) is 960 pages long. trophy gold was originally released as 23 pages of a 46-page zine. it recently got a full release as its own book which is still only 250 pages long, of which 200 are devoted to prebuilt incursions (trophy's analogue to dnd campaign modules)

and trophy gold isn't even the simplest rpg out there -- i just picked it because it's playing in a similar genre space to 5e and so the point of comparisons are very direct and obvious. single-page rpgs are basically their own genre! there are tabletop rpgs you can learn in ten minutes or less! never let anyone tell you that dnd 5th edition is 'streamlined' or 'simple!' it's not even the simplest dungeons and dragons!

#D&D #dnd 5e #game system mechanics #HERO System #Champions #Ars Magica #rules light

2K notes · View notes

floofyflooftheallmighty · 5 months ago

Text

Made a plural version of that one meme

#fennfloofyfloof doodles #digital art #Plurality #Plural system #plural community #plural #pluralgang #pro endo #Endo safe #Endo friendly #Pluralpunk #Plural memes #sona art #credit to the-hero-system for the image id in alt

2K notes · View notes

inbabylontheywept · 11 months ago

Text

Soviet Birds.

The secret facility that I work in has holes in the ceiling. We don't know how to get them fixed.

We tried asking the government to fix it, once. We told them that the holes in the older parts of the facility had gotten large enough to fit birds through, and that birds were getting through, and that, perhaps, a Soviet Spy could fit through as well.

After all, it is well known that Soviet Spies and pigeons are approximately the same diameter.

Our hope was that that this vague and nonsensical threat would put a little fire under Uncle Sam's feet. If the fed couldn't be bothered to give a shit about the giant gaping holes in the roof of our facility, perhaps they could be persuaded to give a shit about... Soviet Spies.

This attempt at manipulation 100% blew up in our faces.

See, the government does not need to be persuaded to give a shit about Soviet Spies. It still wakes up most nights, drenched in cold sweat, terrified and confident that a Soviet Spy is hiding in their nightstand. If it sees a rock on the ground, it flips it over, pistol drawn, ready to shoot the Soviet Spy it fully expects to slither out from underneath. Which is to say: The government is crazy. So when we dropped those two words - inflitration risk - in the repair request, they came in guns-a-blazin'.

Does that mean that they fixed the roof? Of course not. Don't be stupid. No, instead of performing basic maintenance, they installed a state of the art alarm system throughout the facility - lasers, sonar, the works - and told us to always be on the guard. Because of the roof holes.

Then they left.

So now we had an extremely good alarm system... and birds. Which have combined in incredibly obvious and predictable ways to produce an unending fountain of problems.

For Example: About once a month, someone gets called in by the local airforce dispatch because AAAAAAAAAAA a Spy is in the Rad Lab! We're all gonna die! Except every time, it's a bird. And I get why we have to check, but every time, the dispatcher is panicked and the person going out has to be like listen, listen: It's a bird. It's always a bird. It's been a bird every month for the last fifteen years. It will be a bird next month. All this stress? Bad for your heart.

Second Example: Sometimes, birds get in while we're actually working. And when it's in the morning, you know, it's a nuisance, and it stops testing (we are not going to risk irradiating a bird) but it's not an all-hands-on-deck situation because it doesn't take ten hours to get a bird out. But surprisingly often, the bird gets in riiiiight at closing time, and in that situation, everyone goes feral because nobody can leave until the alarm is set, and we cannot set the alarm while the bird is there, because the bird would immediately trigger it and then we'd have to stay another 4 hours to confirm that it was not a Soviet Bird.

So in order to go home, everyone's top priority is Get That Bird. And we have a system for it.

Step 1: The test stands tend to be located in rooms with 30+ foot ceilings. We can't catch birds in places like that - so we have to lure the bird into the relatively low ceilinged (8 feet only) upper offices.

We do this by turning all the lights off in the test rooms, then putting floodlights by the exits. I don't know why this works - some kind of evolutionary brain fragment shared by both Bugs and Birds - but work it does. The birds almost always follow after the lights. From there, it’s just two guys moving the floodlight and a third guy to turn off the lights.

Step 2: Everyone else has been waiting for this step. There is this long stairway up from the basement level into the offices, and in the final stage, the floodlights are brought to the base of the stairwell to bring the bird up. At the top of the steps there will be a group of tennish people, waiting for the signal. The light guys will set up the final transfer, everyone will tense, and then, swish...a bird will flit up the stairs and into the offices.

It's like watching werewolves on a full moon. Before the bird cometh, we are engineers. Nerds. Pale and skinny things, trembling under the fluorescent lights. After the bird, we are beasts. Feral, gnawing things, glowing under the orange sunrise of the 70's halogen floodlights.

And like all beasts, we cannot help but give chase.

Step 3: The were-engineers begin the hunt. The goal at the start is not really to catch the bird - just exhaust it. So the pack simply does not relent. Because the stakes are going home on time, the group is basically given free reign to go anywhere in the building. If someone's door is open, and the bird goes inside, they're going to have to deal with ten sweaty panting maniacs leaping around their office. They don't get to say that they're busy, or remark on how all this movement is a terrible distraction. They are allowed to sit in silence during the chaos, and perhaps thank the war party for chasing the bird while they sat comfortably on their ass. This has been explained several times, and it will continue to be explained until cooperation is achieved.

Anyway.

The chase can go on for quite some time. Sometimes, the bird will get tired and find a crevice to hide in, where it can then be reached through standard cornered-bird catching techniques.

Other times, it will slow down enough that someone can actually yoink it out of the air. But this will go on until someone catches the bird and triggers Step 4.

Step 4: The Finale. This is the get-the-bird-out-of-the-building stage, and it requires someone to adopt a specific role: To Become the Sacrificial Vessel of Bird Removal.

This job is both coveted and feared. It's coveted, because holding a wild bird in one's hands is a precious thing. To feel how small, and fragile, and scared it is, only to free it from the building? That is what it's like to be a benevolent God. But the cost! Oh, the cost. The entire time the Vessel is in motion, the bird will be biting the hell out of their fingers. And I cannot emphasize enough just how painful bird bites are. Their entire face is a set of needle posed pliers, and they know tricks the even the cartels haven't figured out yet. So there's always a little hubbub about who shall be The Vessel while onlookers, stranded outside The Office of Bird Capture, can only look on. Quiet arguments and pleas are heard, little fragments of fear and pride and glory trickling out of room like the silver dust left behind in a bag of well shook quarters. The sound of concensus is silence, and the argument will go on until that's all that's left. And then, from the darkness of the final office, the chosen sacrifice will step forward: Hands gently cupped, tears streaming down their face, fingers trembling from the pain of the ongoing bird chomps.

And this scene is what organizes people. Not leadership, not truly. No one can think and coordinate a crowd while their fingers are being attacked with a combination nutcracker/ear piercer. But the crowd sees the suffering of their annointed, and it is driven to do everything poossible to make the process flow. People instinctively flair out, finding the fastest path outside. Doors are held open. Paths are cleared. Someone, somehow, always knows the way forward and can describe it to the sufferer. Left, left, forward. Corner closet. Yep, there's a hall in there. Forward. Two-hundred more feet man, you're doing great. Just hold it together a little longer. You're killing it.

Then the final door swings open, and the bird flees out into what remains of daylight. And yet, even here, the deed is not yet done. I cannot explain it in words, but the crowd that helped is never content until they can see and speak on the Bird Vessel's wounds. They all have to pull the fingers back and see what was given. Estimate the price: One day to get better - No, three - No, a week! Are you blind? Do you see that blood blister? -Yeah, that's not going away anytime soon - Damn, can you believe how feisty those things are? Like wolves without teeth.

(They cannot help but touch as they go. It has always been this way. Even Thomas was not content until he felt the wounds in Christ's hands.)

Only when the last of the helpers has seen, and commented, and commended, will the engineers scatter. It is their return from the underworld that announces to the sun living surface dwellers that they too can go home. (@somerunner tolja it needed to be a post.)

#DoD work #lab nonsense #soviet birds #i really like being the bird guy if you cant tell #i just like birds in general #i think this was an essay?#dont really know how to cover the ending for this thing #one part explanation of insane government inefficiency #one part explanation of the kind of joyful humanity that only *comes* from interacting with hilariously inefficient systems #like a full on defense of the beauty that only comes from poor uses of resources #and one part poetic exploration of the sacrificial hero archetype as a bird catcher #i spent so much fuckin time make this guys you have no idea #maximum effort post #effort post

3K notes · View notes

thisdudedoesntexist · 7 months ago

Text

Danny has been out of the hero game for a while now.

You see, when clockwork reset the timeline to one where the disastroid didn't happen Danny made it his mission to quit the job for good. This involved forming an actual defense from Ghost invasions (though he's sure his parents loved testing out what the magic community likes to call "An awful combination of sentience and technology.") and also giving rights to ghosts. Hell, even Vlad's started to come around. The old fruit loop actually changed his ways and is setting him up to the heir to DALV.co while trying to fix the shit they did to the environment when doing trial runs of Val's suit.

(Mostly because sam threatened to break Vlad's knees, both of the halfas think she could do it.)

He finally do what wants with his life and satisfy his obsessions with space and protection. Danny's got all sorts of projects he's tinkering on like air purifiers and growing food in space. He's been just, doing his thing for so long that his powers had gone into a kind of reserve mode. Danny's strength and speed are back to just above average, his ice only good for ice cubes and being a human AC, can't even feel ghostly presence if it's not right on top of him.

But Danny is actually happy.

Or he would be if not for Lex Luthor. He hates that vindictive, capitalist egg. The male pattern baldness horror story managed to weasel his way into a partnership with Vlad when he was still trying to put the (now reformed) GIW on his leash.

The first time Danny met the man his hair nearly turned all white, literally. He's lucky Lex was more interested in Vlad, his investment partner than him otherwise he'd have seen. He wouldn't have been that mad if not for Lex's pocket full of (condensed mass of kryptoian suffering.) kryptonite, and his kryptonian clone? who kept eyeing that pocket. Kon was the kids name BTW, also he DEFINITELY saw Danny's hair change.

Now he has to deal with the pair every other week, one reason being Lex is not so subtly trying to get his hands on some ectoplasmic generator schematics. The other is that Kon is helping him catch Luthor before he does.

#dp x dc #dpxdc #danny phantom #danny is not a fan of lex luthor #kon-el is pretty cool though #kon isnt trying to recruit danny to yj #he just wants his new friend's inventions not to get stollen by an egg #danny is smart #post: A glitch in time #lex thinks he's being sneaky but Danny's security system is alive #kon watching danny mearly transform: hmm~tim did say i needed non-hero friends #danny after touching lex's kryptonite laced hands: eeewwwwwwww

1K notes · View notes

rokiyuu · 11 months ago

Text

Great in-universe explanation.

Excuse me but am I the only one who didn’t know that the day after Kamino the media started calling All Might the “Symbol of the Dead”?!!!

#all might #hero society #hero system #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

2K notes · View notes

keferon · 1 month ago

Text

I just want this fic to be here too👍 Part 1? Eh

_____________

“He's stalking his celebrity crush.”

“That's not stalking!” resents Swerve ”I'm just worried.”

Rewind makes a gesture that looks vaguely apologetic and looks at Tailgate again.

“Watching. He's watching his superhero celebrity crush who's a member of the Wreckers. And so far no one's survived long in the Wreckers, so he's shaking on every notification like a crazy mom.”

Tailgate tries to peer sideways into Swerve's phone

“That sounds stressful. Is that him? Is he dying?”

_____________

Blurr/Swerve, Superhero au, fic under the cut⤵️ Heavily inspired/based on this post

Blurr doesn't think life and death is something he can control.

He's about 99.99999% sure.

The remaining microscopic fraction of that idiotic statistic is held in place by one small but important factor that Blurr can't explain and isn't sure he even wants to explain. It's like the dream logic. The moment you realize exactly how things work is also the moment you wake up to realize it.

The very nuance understanding which destroys all magic or reveals the fact that magic never existed.

That nuance?

Blurr can't die.

And it's certainly not because he's not trying hard enough.

That last one sounds a little radical. But he has a history. His team has a history.

“Wreckers is a pretty peculiar collection of superheroes. It's easy to get into and even easier to get out of (usually feet first and in a bag). No other hero organization loses so many people so often. No other hero organization can also handle the level of threats that the Wreckers eliminate.

Their fans affectionately refer to them as the Suicide Squad. There is...a lot of black humor among the Wreckers fanbase and Blurr doesn't condemn it. Not after having to memorize new names and faces of teammates every six months.

The thing is.

He probably should have been dead a long time ago. A lot. A lot of “that was close” ago.

Just two days after joining the Wreckers, he found himself in the middle of an absolutely monstrous fire and miraculously escaped death by getting away just moments before the entire building collapsed on his head.

Only a week after that, he gets shot. Fifteen times.

And. Look.

Blurr is fast! Being fast is kind of his main thing as a speedster. He did the only logical thing and made an honest effort to dodge, but three of those fifteen bullets still ended up inside him and only miraculously didn't hit anything that couldn't be repaired.

Half a year later, a car falls on him.

Another month - some freaking supervillain decides to infect an entire country with a homemade super lethal virus and guess who becomes the only victim.

At least once a month, various psychopaths try to break his legs.

At least once every half a year he ends up being the one who “heroically saved all the hostages but didn't have time to save himself”.

It's like an endless stream of negative karma.

It's really amazing how such a small piece of civilization like Iacon can contain so many disasters. Even more amazing perhaps is how people manage to survive through all this neat smoothie of misery and violence.

Earthquakes, villains, villains, more villains, terrorists, natural disasters, monsters from outer space, and it all comes out of nowhere and it all takes a hundred percent effort to pack Blurr in a coffin.

Blurr... doesn't know why he's still alive.

He honestly has no idea how he's doing it. He may get into life-and-death situations more often than he does haircuts but every time things come within an inch of killing him. It's impossible luck. Statistically improbable chance. One-in-a-thousand odds. A fucking lightning caught in a bottle, but it happens so often it's like someone somewhere in heaven decided to open a bottled lightning factory and then reward Blurr with the title of their honorary loyal customer.

Blurr doesn't think he has power over life and death.

But here's the thing.

On some particularly violent nights, he wonders that maybe...

---------------

Sometimes Swerve thinks being a dedicated fan should be on the list of “unhealthy” high-paying jobs. One of those where they give you extra cash for the fact that you even bother to show up and then give you insurance and paid vacations.

Okay, that last one might be a bit of an overkill, but it would be nice if he at least had an endless supply of sedatives.

At least some chamomile. Preferably not from the sidewalk. He's not picky.

See, their world decided to change the rules of existence not too long ago and turned such a trivial thing as “trust” into a new in-game currency.

Simply put. If enough people believe something, it becomes true.

What has society chosen to do with that? Of course create an absolutely insane cult of celebrity worship, essentially giving a bunch of already rich and beautiful people superpowers as well.

As if they weren't already living luxuriously enough!

Swerve is not jealous. Certainly not. His first thought when he found out about the new “rules” was definitely not to tell everyone he knows that he won a million dollars and wait for the power of belief to make it true.

He surely wasn't trying to do that. Anyone who claims otherwise is either a liar or their name starts with a T and ends with Gate.

Speaking of.....

Tailgate scratches the back of his head puzzled.

“So you didn't actually win a million dollars?”

They are sitting in a small cafe, the name of which Swerve has honestly forgotten. Or rather he never memorized it, because the local owner of the place prefers to hang huge posters with superheroes right above the name. Swerve is a rather controllable customer.....

Rewind, sitting at the same cheap plastic table as them, hums.

“And here I was trying to figure out if your holey slippers were a cry for help or one of those crazy expensive 'fancy' designs.”

“Ha. ha.” says Swerve slowly and deliberately unhappily “If I get rich one day, I won't tell any of you.”

He slowly takes a sip of some obscure looking substance that Rewind ordered for them all as an experiment and turns to Tailgate.

“Look, it's a pretty fun system. Things that people believe in strongly enough - become real. So if uh, if uh, if we as a whole country believe that our government is honest - that will, in theory, make it honest. Or if a hundred thousand people genuinely believe you can fly, you will be able to fly. That's how it works now.”

Tailgate stares at him. With very large, puzzled eyes.

Swerve tries not to laugh too hard. Poor Tailgate had once gone off to explore the caves and somehow, by some incredible means, managed to get lost and stuck in them for two whole months. Then he crawled out and discovered that magic had appeared in the world while he was gone. Swerve thinks that if he were Tailgate, he'd look very stupid too, trying to realize the absurdity of the situation.

Tailgate is toying with his curled straw.

“So is the government honest now?”

Rewind makes a loud “snrk” noise into his cup.

Swerve chuckles. Not as “funny” haha but more like “we fucked it all up” haha.

It shouldn't be possible to fit all the sense of doom from the world's level of damnation into one expression, but he confidently goes for it.

“GOD NO, did you ever believe that government could be honest?”

“Well...now that's just sad...” decides Tailgate ‘Something good was supposed to come out of this, right?”

Rewind raises a finger victoriously.

“Oh! There are no more incurable diseases! The placebo effect is the new big thing now that a bunch of people have gotten the ability to cure any illness at the snap of their fingers.”

Swerve nods, dangling his drink in his hands.

“There was a guy who claimed he had magic hands that cured everything and gathered a crowd of fanatical admirers around him. So...now his hands are really magic because his followers believe it. Crazy stuff...”

Tailgate puts his elbows on the table, propping his head up with his hands.

“So if I tell everyone I won a million dollars.....”

“I recommend--” Rewind waves his cup “...first make sure you're not wearing holey slippers.”

“Аh”

“That, and you'll need at least about a million people loving and supporting you wholeheartedly if you want this to work.”

“That's...a lot of people,” Tailgate groans.

Swerve shrugs

“That's why all the really cool stuff only goes to celebrities.”

_____

Tailgate cranes his neck curiously.

“Hey Swerve, while you went to place your order your phone started buzzing.”

Swerve falls back into his seat as fast as if he'd just decided the entire floor was lava and starts scrolling through notifications, cursing at spam and useless newsletters.

“When??”

“Just a couple minutes ago” shrugs Tailgate ”Are you expecting someone?”

“I'M...OH NO NO I'M JUST. Shit, wait a minute.”

Rewind leans over to Tailgate and smiles deviously, not even trying to pretend to whisper.

“He's stalking his celebrity crush.”

“That's not stalking!” resents Swerve ”I'm just worried.”

Rewind makes a gesture that looks vaguely apologetic and looks at Tailgate again.

“' Watching. He's watching his superhero celebrity crush who's a member of the Wreckers. And so far no one's survived long in the Wreckers, so he's shaking on every notification like a crazy mom.”

Tailgate tries to peer sideways into Swerve's phone

“That sounds stressful. Is that him? Is he dying?”

Swerve slides down the back of his chair slightly and tilts the phone toward Tailgate

“No, it's not him. He's the one in the blue suit on the left. And no, he's not dying. That bastard is impossible to kill.”

Tailgate lets out an understanding “ooh.”

“Although,” Swerve admits, “ Following him was a lot easier when he was driving cars instead of saving the world.”

He's been a Blurr fan for so long that it can probably be put on his resume already. He remembers watching the Iacon 5000 race with friends with Rewind starting to joke about how they should all bet on someone brand new this year. To fuel the fun, they sat down to pick candidates to bet on based solely on the color of their cars.

Swerve then poked his finger at a random bright blue car and said he'd bet on it because “blue is a fast color.”

Later, his friends would joke more than once that Swerve had the gift of prophecy that day. Because blue wasn't just fast. Oh, God. No. Blue turned out to be the absolute leader, dominating the race track from start to finish.

Swerve remembers vividly the first time he looked at a racer getting out of that car and thought “who the hell is that” and then immediately “how do I find his socials”.

The answer to the second question came quickly. The answer to the first...well. The guy, Blurr, soon turned out to be a faceless celebrity. Shining at numerous races, but never showing his face. Swerve highly doubts it's due to shyness, given...some character traits. (Swerve has a running theory, which is that ...Blurr has no shame. Even as a concept.) Probably just to keep his life anonymous and quiet, he believes.

It's understandable.

He's not judging. But he has to admit that a billion fanarts on what a face under a racing helmet could look like in theory...really...fuels his fantasy.

He's a very normal and sane fan. He tries very hard to be a normal fan and he's doing a great job at it. Maybe except for those moments when Blurr gets into another car accident. Lots of them. Lots and lots of bloody accidents actually and Swerve at first catches a micro heart attack every time he sees the news, but eventually he gets used to it. Blurr is incredibly resilient. And just as rich as well.

Swerve is used to hearing updates about another incident and then seeing Blurr back in the race a couple months later. Just as energetic, carefree, and frankly . Really handsome. As if nothing had happened. As if any danger would just bounce off him without leaving a dent.

It was familiar. It was habitual.

Until, of course, the universe started handing out faith magic to people. Until Blurr walked up to this imaginary box of lottery numbers and pulled out a ball that said “congratulations you're lucky now go and fucking die.”

Blurr is a racer. A damn good racer. Incredibly popular too. Of course his many fans who adore him beyond measure gave him a superpower.

Of course that power was speed.

Of course.

Blue is the color of speed. What else.

As a racer, Blurr is undefeatable.

As a superhero, ..

Swerve still thinks this guy is impossible to kill, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get worried every time he sees the news headlines and live feeds.

“You're alive” Springer states ”Literally how are you still alive?”

Blurr tilts his head because it's the only part of his body he can still move while trapped under ten tons of mangled steel from a Decepticon flying base falling out of the sky.

“Hello to you, too.”

Springer tentatively pulls the nearest sheet of metal and hums in satisfaction when he feels the structure is stable enough.

“Bleeding? Fractures?”

“I think my hair's ruined.”

“No one can even see your hair.”

“Doesn't mean I shouldn't care about it,” snorts Blurr

Springer tosses aside another piece of metal and reaches for his earpiece

“Smoke...? Nah...no really.....REALLY. ....No, you're not going to believe this. ......Aha, digging him out.” he looks away from the earpiece and leans over Blurr ‘Smokescreen wanted me to tell you that he's impressed and,... I quote ’personally saw that damn wagon fall right on your head'. He also wants to know if he needs to shoo away the paparazzi.”

Blurr tries to shrug but remembers in time that it's best not to fidget too much.

“Tell him I'll need a new suit. Let him keep everyone, I'm fine.”

“Literally...like...” barely audibly mutters Springer. “Like.h ow..”

Blurr smiles “My guardian angel is working overtime.”

Swerve takes a deep, nervous exhale, unhooking his fingers from the phone on which he's watching the live feed. Ah shit. Okay. Okay. Alive. Fine.

Rewind looks over his shoulder.

“Looking out for your pookie?”

“HE'S NOT MY

__________

Smokescreen stops right in the middle of an inspired argument with the advertisement agent when his side vision registers a flash of blue to the right of the entirely destroyed street.

“Blurr??”

“Oh, hey!” waves Blurr, “'Sup Smoke?”

The crumbled asphalt beneath his feet crunches softly. Just a few minutes ago, this street was a complete mayhem....

Smokescreen waves the clipboard in his direction

“I thought you had your head ripped off, you suicidal son of a bitch! Do you know how hard it was to calm your hysterical fans down??”

Blurr knows no one can see his face but rolls his eyes anyway. Almost immediately his brain tells him that this was a bad idea, sending a whole bunch of black spots in front of his eyes.

“Hey, you're getting paid for th...ugh...this.”

Blurr doesn't elaborate on the fact that he was sure he was going to be left headless today as well. One of the Overlord's freaking monster minions grabbed him and for a split second Blurr could swear he heard his own neck crunch.

He tries not to think about it.

The more he thinks about it, the less sense it will make.

The more he analyzes, the louder becomes the voice in the far corner of his head saying he should have been dead a long time ago.

A week ago when an entire air base fell on him. Three weeks ago during the battle with Menasor that practically broke his spine. Even earlier, when he was so busy evacuating hospital staff that he ended up being the only one present when that hospital exploded.

He's afraid that if he starts looking into the causes, this magical effect..this life-saving placebo will disappear.

He's convinced it's a placebo. It's the way this world works.

Someone out there must be doing some complex mental magic, keeping him more or less alive and whole and...Blurr is probably going a little crazy. Probably.

Maybe one of those many blows got him harder than he thought. Maybe it's his own self-confidence manifesting miracles of salvation one after another.

(It actually...doesn't sound that unbelievable. Blurr has a lot of belief in himself. Many people would say even too much. The question is whether it counts.)

(He prefers to think it counts.)

__________

Swerve sees red. Lots of it. LOTS of red.

More than he ever wanted to see in his life.

Uh-oh. That's not good.

His vision is blurring. His head buzzes with a nasty sharp static and his left shoulder hurts like a BITCH.

Above him is the flickering, faltering light of the bulb and below him is a growing puddle of his blood. His hair is wet and sticking to his face, making it hard to focus his already shaky gaze.

He makes an attempt to shift, but all it brings him is an explosion of pain.

Ugh.

Sirens are blaring outside, warning the public to evacuate. He's not really sure he can make out exactly what the sound is announcing. He has memorized all kinds of emergency alerts, but the thought escapes him.

What was it

Oh, yeah.

He's been shot.

He's been shot and he's probably going to die because everyone he knows is either too far away or busy evacuating. He vaguely hopes they'll remember about him.

Maybe only after getting to a safe place, but he'll take even that.

The red around him is getting bigger.

He tries to reach for his phone to...where is his phone? Did he leave it in the kitchen? He probably did. Swerve seemed to have no time to grab it when the entire building shook and ugly semi-mechanical monsters fell from the sky.

One of these monsters noticed Swerve just moments later and activated something resembling a cannon mounted in his hands. Swerve then looked at the glowing muzzle and thought that firing this thing would probably send his atoms so far away that his dna would be found on the moon. He could stick his hand down that gun barrel. And his hands are far from the smallest and most delicate hands you can find.

Why did this have to happen on a Saturday? Why not a day later or earlier? If it were any other day, Swerve would be at work right now. In a different place, with other people and probably with a much better chance of not being killed like a loser.

Not sure he wouldn't have been shot, but at least someone would have seen this and picked him up off the floor, put him in their pocket and taken him to the rescue.

Ugh.

He realizes that he closed his eyes at some point and hurriedly opens them. His expertise is by no means professional, but he is almost certain that that weapon wasn't ordinary. He has no idea what it means for him. Maybe he needs stitches, painkillers and a kiss and he'll be good as new. Or maybe it's like one of those films where you get hurt by an unknown creature and then you grab the sink in front of the mirror at midnight and watch the veins under your skin move on their own.

He doesn't feel shot, as silly as that sounds. He feels numb. Falling. Farther and farther away.

He is falling and falling as deep as he's ever fallen in his life. Maybe not as far as "got lost in the woods" far. No, more like " a coin dropped behind the fridge" far. It's not really about the distance but more about the feeling that he's never going to get out of here because no one ever looks in here.

He’s falling until the state of falling starts to register as a resting point, because that's the only variable he still feels. This corner he falls into is very deep and dark and dusty.

He doesn't remember to open his eyes again.

___________

Smokescreen sounds frankly hysterical, yelling at Blurr through his earpiece.

“I understand you like to show off, but you can't outrun a freaking tsunami?!?!”

Blurr only speeds up, “Watch."

“You cocky IDIOT this is suicide!”

“Relax Smoke” laughs Blurr ”You say that every time.”

The half-destroyed bridge shakes and sways like a wounded animal as the water from the overrunning sea crashes into it, gouging into the concrete and bending the metal.

The whole scene is...depressing. Water and debris everywhere and damn. This isn't the first time Blurr is witnessing a large-scale attack by the "forces of evil" as the hero agency likes to call them, but looking at the wrecked cars and scattered debris doesn't get any easier with time. Maybe it just hasn't been long enough. Who knows.

Springer doesn't look like he is bothered by it. But Springer also has a lot more experience being a superhero. With his skill at giving out smiles and encouragement in absolutely any situation, not many can compete.

Blurr certainly can't. In fact. He's got a face with subtitles that turn on in almost any stressful situation. Wearing a mask is probably one of the best things he can do to calm down any random civilians waiting for him to save the day. If they can't see him making panicked grimacing eyes, they'll be feeling much better.

A few more seconds and he's on the collapsing bridge. The people stuck on it look hysterical and bruised, but no one seems injured, so it shouldn't be difficult.

Blurr's plan is simple. Get all the people out of the disaster's path. Then get yourself out. Easy.

Easy?

He can pinpoint the exact moment when something goes wrong.

It's the second that a crooked, hideous-looking monster grabs his leg and pulls him underwater. The second when Blurr fights it with all his might and realizes with sudden horror that his strength isn't enough. That he is. Not enough.

His lungs burn, begging him to take a breath and he doesn't even know which way is the surface because all there is around him is the dark, black, cold pressure of water. It's clinging to him, seeping through his suit, his hair, burning his eyes and making his fingers go numb. It's pulling him somewhere, and he's obeying whether he wants to or not.

His spine prickles with panic.

His personal miracle. His damn magic or guardian angel or cursed luck or whatever the hell it was called. That thing that was always there to catch him like in that game of trust fall. He'd gotten so used to it's presence, he began to take it for granted.

Like the air you trust to be there every time you need to take your next breath.

And right now?

It's not here.

His body takes a convulsive breath and finds nothing but water.

440 notes · View notes