Woodclaw's 2E - Hercules, Iolaus, Xena, Gabrielle

[Woodclaw]

By the sword and spell goes down the sidekick route.


Well, that's it. We go down in history as the guys that ticked off ALL the gods.

Iolaus of Thebes

Power Level: 8 (120pp)

Abilities: STR: 16 (+3), DEX: 18 (+4), CON: 16 (+3), INT: 14 (+2), WIS: 14 (+2), CHA: 14 (+2)

Skills: Acrobatics 5 (+9), Bluff 4 (+6), Climb 3 (+6), Diplomacy 5 (+7), Disable Device 3 (+5), Escape Artist 4 (+8), Gather Information 3 (+5), Handle Animal 3 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 4 (+6), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Language 1 (Sumerian; native: Ancient Greek), Notice 5 (+7), Perform (dance) 3 (+5), Ride 2 (+6), Search 2 (+4), Sense Motive 4 (+6), Sleight of Hand 4 (+8), Stealth 4 (+8), Survival 7 (+9), Swim 3 (+6)

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus 2 (melee), Damaging Escape, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 3, Dodge Focus 5, Follow-Up Strike, Improved Block 1, Improved Critical 1 (unarmed), Improved Disarm 1, Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Weapons 2, Instant Up, Lionheart 1, Power Attack, Set-Up, Sneak Attack 2, Sweeping Strike, Teamwork 2, Track, Unbalancing Strike, Uncanny Dodge 1 (visual), Weapon Bind

Combat: Attack +8 (+10 unarmed); Damage +3 (unarmed), or by weapon of choice; Defense +10 (+3 Flat-footed); Initiative +8

Saves: Toughness +6 (+3 Flat-footed), Fortitude +5, Reflex +7, Will +6/+10 [Lionheart]

Abilities 32 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 35 + Powers 0 + Combat 26 + Saves 9 + Drawbacks 0 = 120

Complications:

• Am I dead yet: Iolaus died and was reborn several times.
• Mistake Identity: Iolaus is a perfect lookalike of his second cousin king Orestes of Attica, this has caused trouble on occasion.
• Reputation (sidekick): while Iolaus is an incredibly resourceful and skilled guy (enough to survive adventuring with a super-strong demigod), he tend to pale compared to his best friend.
• Rivalry (Xena): opposite to Hercules, Iolaus never forgave Xena completly for manipulating him.

Iolaus is one of those character from "The Legendary Journey" that has a weird feeling for me. on one hand I'm amazed that - given the level of mythology-rape of this show - someone actually remebered that Herc had a sidekick in the mythos, on the otheer is a constant reminder of how much this show chewed on its source material. Given that I love the character.

while it's quite easy to discount him as a sidekick I want all of you to stop and consider: this guy is tough and cunning enough to survive adventuring with a super-strong demigod, to fend off armed men with stools and fishes. While he might not be the biggest fish in the pond he's not a opponent to underestimate.

overall Iolaus looks and feel very similar to Nightwing, not that surprising consider his hyperkinetic fighting style. Usually he fight barehanded, but he can boost his damage using pretty much anything. In case of emergency he can ignore his Sneak Attack feat and use a sword or an axe to reach his damage cap.

[Woodclaw]

By the Sword and Spell minus 1.


Xena: My grandmother used to sit in this chair and rock and tell me stories of the Olympian gods.
Ares: Bet she didn't know you'd grow up to kill most of them.

Xena of Amphipolis

Power Level: 9 (135pp)

Abilities: STR: 20 (+5), DEX: 18 (+4), CON: 18 (+4), INT: 16 (+3), WIS: 16 (+3), CHA: 14 (+2)

Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+10), Bluff 5 (+7/+11 [Attractive]), Climb 1 (+6), Diplomacy - (+2/+6 [Attractive]), Handle Animal 3 (+5), Intimidate 8 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 3 (+6), Knowledge (tactics) 5 (+8), Language 3 (3 at Gm choice; native: Ancient Greek), Notice 4 (+7), Ride 4 (+8), Search 2 (+5), Sense Motive 4 (+7), Stealth 3 (+7), Survival 5 (+8), Swim 2 (+7)

Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus 1 (melee), Attack Specialization 1 (Chakram), Attractive 1, Bank Shot 1, Crippling Blow, Defensive Roll 2, Distract 1 (Intimidate), Dodge Focus 3, Equipment 2, Fascinate 1 (Intimidate), Improved Initiative 1, Instant Up, Light Sleeper, Lionheart 1, Monkey Climber, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot 1, Rage 1 (5 rounds), Skill Mastery 1 (Acrobatics, Intimidate, Knowledge [tactics], Ride), Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 1

Powers:

Leaping 1 (Jumping Distance x2; 1pp)
Chakram (Device 3 [easy to lose]; 9pp)

Devices:

Chakram (15pp of effects)

• Blast 2 (PF: Improved Critical 2, Improved Range 1, Incurable, Mighty 5, Ricochet 2; Extra: Area [shapeable, targeted]; Flaw: Side-Effect 1 [lost on a failed attack roll])

Equipment: Studded Leather Armor (Protection 2 [Weak Point]; 1pp)

Arsenal (array; 6pp)

• Sword (+3 slashing damage; crit 19; Mighty)
• Whip (+0 blundgeon damage; crit 19; Extended Reach 1, Mighty, Improved Disarm 1, Improved Trip)

3ep in adveturing gear

Combat: Attack +9 (+10 melee, +11 chakram); Damage +5 (unarmed), or by weapon/power of choice; Defense +10 (+4 Flat-footed); Initiative +8

Saves: Toughness +6/+8 with armor (+4/+6 Flat-footed), Fortitude +6, Reflex +7, Will +6/+10 [Lionheart]

Abilities 42 + Skills 15 (60 ranks) + Feats 28 + Powers 10 + Combat 32 + Saves 8 + Drawbacks 0 = 135

Complications:

• I'm not an amazon: Xena is often (and quite understandably) mistaken for an amazon.
• Enemy (Callisto): Xena and Callisto are mirror images of each other, which is probably why they can't stand each other.
• Honor (seek for redemption): for years Xena pillaged and destroyed everything that stood in her way, now she looks for a way to atone.
• Reputation (destroyer of nations): before switching to the side of angels, Xena was among the most feared warlords of Greece
• Stalker (Ares): Ares has been in lovw with Xena for a long time, but she didn't seem to like him - at least not anymore.

minus one to the end of my current streak of builds and this was a tough one. Over the Series Xena's PL was all over the place and she had some pretty crazy upgrades, from the double chakram to the death touch. Overall I tried to streamline the build a bit and make her easier to handle for the DM.

while PL9 suits her in universe, I think that in a shared setting I will downgrade her (and probably all the others) by 1 PL - pretty much matching Red Sonja.

the chakram is pretty much a smaller version of Cap's shield without any defensive ability

[Woodclaw]

By the Sword and Spell sidekicking part 2.


Gabrielle: You know, her boyfriend is in love with you. Guess I'll have to straighten that out too.
Xena: You? Why you?
Gabrielle: Because *I* do the sensitive chats.

Gabrielle of Potidaea

Power Level: 5 (75pp)

Abilities: STR: 12 (+1), DEX: 14 (+2), CON: 12 (+1), INT: 14 (+2), WIS: 16 (+3), CHA: 18 (+4)

Skills: Bluff 3 (+7), Climb 4 (+5), Craft (menial tasks) 3 (+5), Diplomacy 6 (+10), Gather Information 3 (+7), Handle Animal 2 (+6), Knowledge (current events) 2 (+4), Knowledge (folklore) 5 (+7), Language 1 (1 at GM choice; native: Ancient Greek), Notice 2 (+5), Perform (storyteller) 5 (+9), Ride 3 (+5), Search 3 (+5), Sense Motive 5 (+8), Stealth 3 (+5), Survival 1 (+4), Swim 4 (+5)

Feats: Attack Specialization 1 (Staves), Beautiful Voice 1 (Diplomacy), Beginner's Luck, Benefit 1 (status [adopted amazon]), Defensive Roll 3, Dodge Focus 3, Equipment 1, Fascinate (Perform), Improved Defense 1, Inspire 3, Luck 1, Set-Up, Teamwork 1

Equipment: Quaterstaff (+2 blundgeon damage; crit 20; Mighty, Extended Reach 1/Split Attack 1; 5ep)

Combat: Attack +3 (+5 with staves); Damage +1 (unarmed), or by weapon of choice; Defense +6 (+2 Flat-footed); Initiative +2

Saves: Toughness +4 (+1 Flat-footed), Fortitude +4, Reflex +4, Will +5

Drawbacks: Weakness (Sea-Sickness [Common, -1 to checks attacks and defense per hour]; -2pp)

Abilities 26 + Skills 13 (52 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 0 + Combat 12 + Saves 7 - Drawbacks 2 = 75

Complications:

• Fame (the battling bard): Gabrielle chronicles of Xena's exploits made her almost as famous as her friend.
• Naive: while she learned very quickly Gabrielle remained a simple farm girl to her core for a long time.
• Responsibility (Xena's conscience): while it Hercules who put Xena on the path of redemption, it was Gabrielle who kept her there.

well, final build of my Hercules/Xena series for the moment and, once again, I tried to simply the build to the maximum. Gabrielle is, quite obviously, the bottom tier of the PL scale, which doesn't mean she's anything to sneeze at. She can hold her ground against many professional warriors, but compared to her friends she's not that spectacular.

combat-wise Gabrielle is only PL4 on the offensive, but a full PL5 on defense, that is boosted to PL8 when she execute a Full Defense action. Enough to survive, but not enough to be a significant threat to a monster or a top level warlord.

the biggest trick in her arsenal is that she's the empress of all the sweet-talkers, keep in mind, this girl actually talked a hungry cyclops into helping her instead of eating her. This is the kind of diplomacy feats that borders mind control.

on occasion she displayed some one-shot powers, in particular precognition, but since these were never consistent across the series I left the into the realm of GM fiat.

the quaterstaff follow my usual design for this kind of weapons, it can be used to fight from a distance using Extended Reach or with both end in close combat using Split Attack. The hard mechanics are as follow

Quaterstaff [reach] (Strike 2; PF: Alternate power 1, Extended Reach 1, Mighty)
AP: Quaterstaff [close combat] (Strike 2; PF: Mighty, Split Attack 1)

UPDATE: I added the Menial Tasks craft to simulate one of the running gags of the shows, that Xena and Iolaus were completly unable to cook a decent meal

[Jabroniville]

Haha, I remember these shows. They were a bit of fun when they were on- I wasn't so big a fan of their later years, but I thought they were alright. Gabrielle was cute, Callisto was one of the hottest Demonic Villainesses EVER, and most of the cast realized they were in something that wasn't uber-serious. I even liked Joxer, though I read later that a lot of too-serious fans whined about his presence.

[Woodclaw]

Haha, I remember these shows. They were a bit of fun when they were on- I wasn't so big a fan of their later years, but I thought they were alright. Gabrielle was cute, Callisto was one of the hottest Demonic Villainesses EVER, and most of the cast realized they were in something that wasn't uber-serious. I even liked Joxer, though I read later that a lot of too-serious fans whined about his presence.

All very true, some of the best episodes were those set in the present with the whole production team making fun of themselves. The late years of both shows were really hard to watch for me, pretty much they go overboard and the main characters reached absurd levels of power/ability.

[Gilliam]

I have to agree that both shows were a lot of fun to watch and I liked how minor characters would keep popping up in different episodes like the food guy in Hercules and who could forget that number 1 hit "Joxer the Mighty".

And I think that these are the first builds I have seen of Xena, Iolaus and Gabrielle here in the roll call so once again excellent builds.

[Woodclaw]

I have to agree that both shows were a lot of fun to watch and I liked how minor characters would keep popping up in different episodes like the food guy in Hercules and who could forget that number 1 hit "Joxer the Mighty".

And I think that these are the first builds I have seen of Xena, Iolaus and Gabrielle here in the roll call so once again excellent builds.

Actually there are a couple of Xena builds on this forum and at least one Hercules build.

[HustlerOne]

Haha, I remember these shows. They were a bit of fun when they were on- I wasn't so big a fan of their later years, but I thought they were alright. Gabrielle was cute, Callisto was one of the hottest Demonic Villainesses EVER, and most of the cast realized they were in something that wasn't uber-serious. I even liked Joxer, though I read later that a lot of too-serious fans whined about his presence.

All very true, some of the best episodes were those set in the present with the whole production team making fun of themselves. The late years of both shows were really hard to watch for me, pretty much they go overboard and the main characters reached absurd levels of power/ability.

I pretty much agree with you that the later years of both shows were just awful. Especially with the whole Dark God Dahak story arc. The only exceptions were the episodes of the main cast in present times poking fun at themselves and the musical episode.

Your Hercules and Xena build turned out great. Even Iolus and Gabrielle can hold their own in your builds.
May I suggest doing Ares and Callisto just to see some villains for the heroes.

[Woodclaw]

I pretty much agree with you that the later years of both shows were just awful. Especially with the whole Dark God Dahak story arc. The only exceptions were the episodes of the main cast in present times poking fun at themselves and the musical episode.

Your Hercules and Xena build turned out great. Even Iolus and Gabrielle can hold their own in your builds.
May I suggest doing Ares and Callisto just to see some villains for the heroes.

First thanks for the compliments. As the builds I have a couple of problems. Ares is horribly difficult to build, I know that Jab built a lot of god/cosmic being character, but I've never really tried to. Although he was often outsmarted in the show, Ares is a full-on god, he can do too many things. I might try to to this, but you'll have to wait. As for Callisto... well, without any of her immortal power-ups, I think that she would be pretty much a palette swap of Xena (minus the chakram). I'll give that a shot too, but I fear it won't work very well.

Right now I'm working on something a little bit different.

[HustlerOne]

First thanks for the compliments. As the builds I have a couple of problems. Ares is horribly difficult to build, I know that Jab built a lot of god/cosmic being character, but I've never really tried to. Although he was often outsmarted in the show, Ares is a full-on god, he can do too many things. I might try to to this, but you'll have to wait. As for Callisto... well, without any of her immortal power-ups, I think that she would be pretty much a palette swap of Xena (minus the chakram). I'll give that a shot too, but I fear it won't work very well.

Right now I'm working on something a little bit different.

Your probably better off not building Callisto since your right about her being an evil doppelganger to Xena.
As for Ares I guess people could use the Ares build from DC Heroes and Villains. Although he's a bit too powerful for a PL: 10 Hercules. I guess you could always lower his power level a bit and get rid of some powers.

Thanks for all the Hercules and Xena builds since it brought back nostalgic memories of the shows. Just please don't do Joxer since he was kind irritating.

[Woodclaw]

Your probably better off not building Callisto since your right about her being an evil doppelganger to Xena.
As for Ares I guess people could use the Ares build from DC Heroes and Villains. Although he's a bit too powerful for a PL: 10 Hercules. I guess you could always lower his power level a bit and get rid of some powers.

Thanks for all the Hercules and Xena builds since it brought back nostalgic memories of the shows. Just please don't do Joxer since he was kind irritating.

As I said I have no plan to continue these builds immediatly. If I'm going to continue I might build Joxer, but he will be very low priority.

As for Ares, keep in mind that the heroes usually outsmated him, instead of beating him down.

[Aerlwyn]

Amora has to be my favorite asgardian of all times. I love your design. Hope to see more of your designs.

[Woodclaw]

Amora has to be my favorite asgardian of all times. I love your design. Hope to see more of your designs.

I hope too, right now I'm struggling with other games and my M&M fuel tank is running on fumes, but I hope to be back soon.