SLEEPWALKER (Human Host: Rick Sheridan)
Created By: Bob Budiansky
First Appearance: Sleepwalker #1 (June 1991)
Role: Forgotten '90s Hero
Group Affiliation: The Secret Defenders, The Sleepwalkers/Mindscape
PL 9 (167), PL 10 (167) to Mindscape Demons
STRENGTH 8
STAMINA 8
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 1
Skills:Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 9 (+10)
Ranged Combat (Warp Gaze) 2 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+6)
Advantages: Ranged Attack 4, Startle
Powers:"Floating" Flight 3 (16 mph) [6]
Senses 6 (Mind Control Awareness, Extended Vision, Detect Energy Trails- Tracking, Ultra-Vision, Mental Link- Rick Sheridan) [6]
"Warp Gaze"
Transform 8 (Objects to Other Objects) (32) -- [38]
AE: "Sidewalke to Snare" Snare 9 (Feats: Reversible) (27)
AE: "Painful Gaze" Affliction 9 (Fort; Dazed & Entranced/Compelled & Stunned/Incapacitated & Transformed) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (27)
AE: "Banishing Gaze" Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel- The Mindscape) (Extras: Attack 10, Ranged 10) (Flaws: Limited to Beings Not Of Earth) (12)
AE: "Crude Images" Illusion (Sight) 2 (Flaws: Limited to Things He's Seen) (2)
AE: Nullify Mind Powers 10 (Flaws: Limited to Mind Control) (10)
AE: "Increases Others' Mental Potential" Variable 2 (Boosted Powers) (Extras: Affects Others Only +0, Perception Range +2) (Flaws: Limited to Mental Powers) (16)
"Imaginator" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [15]
Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended) (Flaws: Limited to Within The Mindscape) (20 points)
Offense:Unarmed +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Snare & Painful Gaze +9 (+9 Ranged Affliction, DC 19)
Banishing Gaze +9 (+10 Teleport Attack, DC 20)
Initiative +3
Defenses:Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8, Fortitude +8, Will +8
Complications:Involuntary Transformation (Rick Sheridan)- Though the two are separate entities, Sleepwalker may only exist on the Earthly plane when Sheridan is asleep. Sheridan, a very busy Film Studies college student, building superintendent, English-As-A-Second-Language instructor, and boyfriend to Alyssa Connover, is probably awake a little too often for Sleepwalker's needs, and Sleepwalker will fade from reality the second Sheridan wakes up.
Prejudice (Alien Appearance)- Sleepwalker is a big noseless green guy, and tends to provoke fear in normal humans, even when he's clearly protecting them.
Responsibility (Will Not Use the Warp Gaze Upon Living Beings)- The Gaze is horrendously-painful to human beings, and so Sleepwalker endeavors never to use it as such.
Power Loss (Warp Gaze)- The Warp Gaze loses power over time- greater uses of it's power (Power Attack, full ranks, etc.) will use it up more quickly. It is replenished by rest.
Power Loss (Strength)- Sleepwealker's strength diminishes the further into the air he rises.
Addiction (Light)- A certain frequency of light caused Sleepwalker to undergo hallucinations that he later became addicted to in a "Drugs are BAD, M'Kay?" storyline.
Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 65 / Defenses: 14 (167)
-Sleepwalker is a character I've long avoided doing- any bios that listed his powers seemed to imply they were very complex, he was a REALLY minor character, and thus I actually skirted doing him, the same way I avoided Ghost Rider for years. I never really got into him during his run in the 1990s, as since I was only familiar with 90% of the Marvel Universe through their extremely gnarly Marvel Cards, I had to find out about him through his Series II Rookie Card. And it kind of sucked and made him look weak. The art wasn't overly great, something that extended to his Series III card, and the only real comic I have of him is the self-parodyingly guest-starry "Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six" story that Erik Larsen did (it was an AWESOME story, too). And in THAT story, Sleepwalker literally shows up to hang out with Spidey, Hulk & Ghost Rider, only to vanish halfway through the battle because his human host woke up! That was all he got to do in that story! And as a result, I had zero interest in Sleepwalker for my entire life.
-That's actually pretty common amongst comic fans, from what I discover- almost NOBODY talks about this book (which had mostly Monster Of The Week stories in addition to Cobweb fights), and this is an industry hella-prone to Red Guardian Syndrome (aka "Getting Obsessed Over a Minor Character"). However, I HAVE heard the occasional rumbling that the series was actually really good, and that it deserves more love (it's TV Tropes page was obviously written by a big fan, like a lot of TV Tropes pages- it's either big fans or total Haters on that site). One obvious big fan is Robert "Invincible" Kirkman, who not only was planned to write a new Sleepwalker series in 2004, but he named one of his multitude of background characters Rick Sheridan in homage to this character's human host! All that for a character who went over a decade between appearances from the '90s to 2000s.
-Bob Budiansky created Sleepwalker in the 1970s (he was originally called "Alien" until a certain movie came out with that title), but shelved him until Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" came out. Sleepwalker comes from The Mindscape, a dimension that borders the dreams of sentient beings- he's one of many Sleepwalkers, chosen Dream Police (now I got Cheap Trick stuck in my head), defenders of mankind from the evil creatures that inhabit the place. He was trapped within the mind of college student Rick Sheridan by his arch-nemesis Cobweb, and forced to appear on Earth only while Rick slept. He had a lot of fights with low-end characters, but primarily fought Cobweb excessively- in their final battle, Cobweb was banished, and Sleepwalker freed (though of course Back-To-Basics Syndrome put him back together with Rick).
-Sleepwalker is your standard '90s hero in Power Level, making a decent PL 9 with some Afflictions and Super-Strength. He excels at beating Demons & Mindscape Monsters and the like, however, being much stronger at fighting them.
by Ares » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:36 pm 
). And even then, Demon & God-forged weapons can still hurt you.
