Jab's Builds: Cassidy, Herr Starr, The Saint of Killers

[cassius335]

I've said it once before and it worked, so I'll say it again: presumably it's only a short step to go from SS to Xavin...

Sorry, not a "Runaways" fan. I couldn't begin to write up the stats for any of those characters.

Eh, worth a try...

[badpenny]

Muscrat love? Oh, wait, that's a different totem....

[Jabroniville]

Just read another of my ComicCon-bought books, this one featuring The Avengers & The Puma teaming up against The U-Foes. It's apparently a filler issue by Danny Fingeroth, as it's during the John Byrne years.

It's Captain America, Thor & Gilgamesh at Ellis Island, and they fight Puma for a bit (nobody manages to land a hit on anybody else) until The U-Foes show up and soon the Avengers are teaming up with ol' Firehart against Utrecht's gang. It effectively shows the odd power levels at play here- Vector at one point hits the Avengers with a blast powerful enough to send Thor & Co. right through the wall, with the Asgardian crying out in pain. Next, he puts another blast right into Captain America's unprotected side, not even KO-ing him. Odd- must've been using Accurate Attack .

Ironclad (who's below Thing's strength level) actually manages to stagger Gilgamesh with a punch, but Gilgamesh later hands him his ass in one hit. Thor is put on the ropes by both X-Ray AND Vector teaming up, but he pulls out one of those rarely-seen Power Stunts (Energy Absorption/Drain, in this case), quickly sucking X-Ray dry and using the Energy to wipe out Vector. Then Thor whips out a whirlwind and disperses Vapor. Yeah, Thor beat THREE of the U-Foes by himself. Is it any wonder why I hate having Thor around in Avengers stories?

Kind of a fun issue, if just for the U-Foes (of whom I've actually read VERY few appearances), yet it seems to make Thor both vulnerable (not that hard to hurt) but overwhelmingly powerful (Stunts like crazy, never gets KO'd, and beats villains solo). I might have to push Vector as a PL 11 after reading this, but I'm not sure how well he's done at other times.

Funny notes in the letters columns: these are always a really good indicator of fan opinion, and often quite interesting. Fans seem to like the new Avengers line-up, but beg the writers for a better name for The Forgotten One, because "I can't take a guy named 'Gilgamesh' seriously". The best letter was during the "Olympus" arc, when a fan basically outlines all of the reasons he doesn't like Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel... it's funny because everything the writer mentions (she's too capable, too smart, too good at everything, and too much has happened for her too quickly), would eventually be known in the popular lexicon under one heading: she was a Mary Sue.

[The One Phil]

It's Captain America, Thor & Gilgamesh at Ellis Island, and they fight Puma for a bit (nobody manages to land a hit on anybody else) until The U-Foes show up and soon the Avengers are teaming up with ol' Firehart against Utrecht's gang. It effectively shows the odd power levels at play here- Vector at one point hits the Avengers with a blast powerful enough to send Thor & Co. right through the wall, with the Asgardian crying out in pain. Next, he puts another blast right into Captain America's unprotected side, not even KO-ing him. Odd- must've been using Accurate Attack .

Ironclad (who's below Thing's strength level) actually manages to stagger Gilgamesh with a punch, but Gilgamesh later hands him his ass in one hit. Thor is put on the ropes by both X-Ray AND Vector teaming up, but he pulls out one of those rarely-seen Power Stunts (Energy Absorption/Drain, in this case), quickly sucking X-Ray dry and using the Energy to wipe out Vector. Then Thor whips out a whirlwind and disperses Vapor. Yeah, Thor beat THREE of the U-Foes by himself. Is it any wonder why I hate having Thor around in Avengers stories?

Remember, Thor and Gilgamesh may just have rolled sucky on their damage saves...

[kenseido]

It's Captain America, Thor & Gilgamesh at Ellis Island, and they fight Puma for a bit (nobody manages to land a hit on anybody else) until The U-Foes show up and soon the Avengers are teaming up with ol' Firehart against Utrecht's gang.

Heh. I remember that issue. It was my first exposure to The Forgotten One.

[BARON]

more importantly; who talks like this? I'm going to try it...

"-- I need the PRACTICE removing BODY PARTS!"

[Jabroniville]

THE RED SKULL (Johann Schmidt)
Created By: Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Captain America #7 (Oct. 1941)
Role: The Big Bad, The Nazi
Group Affiliations: The National Socialist Party of Germany, The Skeleton Crew, A.I.M., HYDRA, ULTIMATUM
PL 10 (198)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+14)
Deception 8 (+13)
Expertise (Business) 4 (+8)
Expertise (Nazi Party Leader) 6 (+10)
Expertise (History) 7 (+11)
Expertise (Criminal) 7 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+6)
Insight 4 (+9)
Intimidation 8 (+13)
Invsetigation 2 (+7)
Perception 6 (+11)
Persuasion 5 (+10)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Benefit 4 (Reputation & Wealth 3), Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Chokehold, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 5 (Guns, etc.), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Leadership, Ranged Attack 9, Taunt

Powers:
"Dust of Death Poison Cigarette" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [24]
Weaken Stamina 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cloud, Progressive +2) (40 points)

"The Cloned Body of Steve Rogers- Absolute Peak Human"
Strength-Damage +1 [1]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Immunity 2 (Poison, Disease) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [1]
Regeneration 2 [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Guns +12 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Dust of Death +10 Area (+10 Weaken, DC 20)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +5 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +10

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- The Skull desires power over anything else- be it via Nazism, criminal empires or the Cosmic Cube.
Enemy (Captain America)- For decades, the Skull's key nemesis has been Captain America- the symbol of freedom itself.

Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 68--34 / Advantages: 31 / Powers: 31 / Defenses: 16 (198)

-The Red Skull's got a permanent place as one of comics' greatest villains by the simple virtue of being a real damned Nazi when most villains are just vague 'evil' people, no matter their origins or motivations. I mean, he WAS FRIENDS WITH HITLER. That's the kind of REAL legit evil that people can actually grasp and understand. That he's the recurring arch-nemesis of one of Marvel's top heroes doesn't hurt- as that's basically a permanent sort of A-list ranking for any villain. He was such a good villain that during the 90s, a recurring theme in the Captain America comics by Mark Gruenwald saw the Red Skull's day-to-day operations with his Skeleton Crew, which is extremely unusual for comics. Because really, most villains just pop in, fail, and then vanish for a while to recover their reputation for a big return. THIS GUY was scheming and plotting for years at a time, in the same book as his arch-enemy!

-The Red Skull's a dangerous combatant, especially in this body. A cloned body of Cap's with his own memories, meant to give the Skull a more threatening physical presence, pays off in spades here, as he casually hits 88 points worth of Abilities, which is crazy. He's good enough in combat to do some damage to Wilson Fisk of all people, though Kingpin ended up winning that fight handily (Skull is more accurate, but Fisk is stronger and tougher). He's also extremely skilled, a great manipulator, good at hand-to-hand combat (though he lacks most of Cap's martial arts Advantages) or at shooting (+12 to hit with firearms), and has some moderate Super-Powers from the Serum flowing through his veins. But make no mistake- you're probably not going to be fighting Schmidt in hand-to-hand: you'll be fighting his Minions, his Skeleton Crew, fighting through the deathtraps in his maze, and trying to expose him as the REAL identity of a beloved politician that seems to be the perfect candidate for President. He's very much a "Labyrinthine Plot" kind of villain.

-The "Dust of Death" has been used often enough to be a worthy addition to a Skull build, costing 24 points and being extremely lethal as a last resort, should you actually engage him.

[Jabroniville]

CROSSBONES (Brock Rumlow)
Created By: Mark Gruenwald & Kieron Dwyer
First Appearance: Captain America #359-360 (July & Aug. 1989)
Role: Elite Henchman, Cap's Personal Punching Bag
Group Affiliations: The Skeleton Crew, The Thunderbolts
PL 10 (142)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 13 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+8)
Expertise (Brainwashing Techniques) 8 (+8)
Insight 4 (+5)
Intimidation 7 (+9)
Investigation 6 (+7)
Notice 5 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+8)
Vehicles 5 (+8)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 5 (Guns +5 Autofire, Knives with Poison), Fast Grab, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Knife), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Ranged Attack 10, Taunt

Powers:
"Good at Fighting Patriots" (All Have Flaws: Limited to Patriots)
Enhanced Fighting 2 [2]
Enhanced Dodge & Parry 1 [1]

Equipment:
"Body Armour" Protection 1 (1)
Pair of Automatics" Blast 7 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Multiattack) (22) -- (23)

AE: "Poisoned Knives" Strength-Damage +1 (Extras: Ranged 5) (Diminished Range -2) (4)
Linked to Weaken Stamina 4 (Extras: Progressive +2, Ranged) (Diminished Range -2) (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Knife +13 (+5 Damage & +4 Weaken, DC 20 & 14)
Guns +13 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
(note: is +15 vs. Captain Americas)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +5 (+6 Armour, +7 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Violence)- Rumlow is a thug, plain and simple. He likes to hurt people, maim people and kill people, and enjoys torture.
Enemy (Captain America)
Enemy (Diamondback)- Brock brutalized the poor girl when she was younger, and continued to torment her in her adult years.

Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 56--28 / Advantages: 27 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 15 (142)

-Crossbones was a regular occurence in Cap's monthly book for years under Mark Gruenwald's pen, as he was the Red Skull's "Top Flunky" (in Hauptmann Deutschland's own words), often sent out in field missions against Cap & others, where he'd do a good job of holding the Avenger off before eventually going down, not to mention being a constant source of anguish for Diamondback (Cap's partner in more ways than one *wink wink*), since he'd brutalized and raped her (I think) in the past. He was a nasty piece of work, but I liked him as a kid because he had BY FAR the coolest costume among all the villains in the Marvel U at the time, with a bad-ass white skull motif and these giant Ron-Lim-sculpted arms. Guy LOOKED like a fighter. He's actually made a comeback in recent years as a soldier of fortune/Cap killer, helping along all of the Skull's programs, brutalizing and re-brainwashing the Skull's daughter Sin, feuding with Bucky-Cap, and he even joined The Thunderbolts (because apparently even the HEROES are idiotic enough to believe that "taking on the worst criminals ever" is a good hiring policy for government organizations).

-Crossbones is a weak, under-pointed PL 10, coming up to about 9.5, which is just enough to give Cap pause for a bit, but not enough to really every stand a chance at winning in a fair fight. He's strong as hell for a human being (Strength 4 equals 800 lbs. of lifting power), a good fighter and grappler, and has several nasty tricks (poisoned blades), but he's never been good enough to take a real hero on and win- he's PL 8.5 unarmed, and PL 9 with a Knife, with PL 9.5 Defenses. The way he's statted up, he could give Cap pause (especially with his Favoured Enemy Powers- he fights Cap so much that he's a decent PL 10-10.5 versus any of them- note that the old Feat doesn't affect attacks anymore), and give Frank Castle or Daredevil one hell of a fight (both are PL 10s), but he's WELL beneath both of them in versatility. Though he did beat up NFL Superpro once, by feigning injury and then blading him with a knife doused in cobra venom. But who COULDN'T beat up NFL Superpro?

[luketheduke86]

Kind of a fun issue, if just for the U-Foes (of whom I've actually read VERY few appearances), yet it seems to make Thor both vulnerable (not that hard to hurt) but overwhelmingly powerful (Stunts like crazy, never gets KO'd, and beats villains solo). I might have to push Vector as a PL 11 after reading this, but I'm not sure how well he's done at other times.

Vector has had some rather impressive stunts but he seems to only pull out the big guns sparingly, (probably best shown as extra effort). Though he may be a good candidate for Extraordinary Effort.

Oh and that is one extremely bad-ass Red Skull pic!

[chatty]

I've said it once before and it worked, so I'll say it again: presumably it's only a short step to go from SS to Xavin...

Sorry, not a "Runaways" fan. I couldn't begin to write up the stats for any of those characters.

Eh, worth a try...

Jab's done the heavy lifting. SHouldn't be too hard for YOU to make Xavin if you want...

[chatty]

Remember, Thor and Gilgamesh may just have rolled sucky on their damage saves...

Isn't the d20 system great?

[Woodclaw]

When Teddy Roosevelt is the enemy, and you're still not sure who's gonna win, you know you're a bad-ass.

YOUNG SCROOGE McDUCK

This is one of the greatest builds ever, Jab. And I'm kind of surprised you've never heard of Barks and Rosa.

[FuzzyBoots]

FWIW, Crossbones seems to have picked up a Blast power (originating from his head) in the Thunderbolts comics. Haven't seen if something has since removed the ability. Of course, it could simply be considered Extra Effort or an aspect of the world they were in at the time.

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's arc-specific or not, as it's REALLY recent, so I'm leaving it out for the time being.

[Jabroniville]

CUTTHROAT (Daniel "Danny" Leighton)
Created By: Chris Claremont, Michael Nasser & Rich Buckler
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #89 (Jan. 1980)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliations: The Skeleton Crew, The Savage Crims (street gang)
PL 8 (107)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+11)
Close Combat (Knives) 1 (+11)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Investigation 4 (+5)
Perception 6 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Knives) 4 (+12)
Stealth 5 (+11)
Vehicles 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Damaging Escape, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6 (Arsenal of Blades, Body Armour), Grappling Finesse, Improved Critical (Knife) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge

Equipment:
"Body Armour" Protection 2 (2)

"Rocket Gun"
Blast 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst on 6 Ranks) (22) -- (25)

AE: Dazzle Hearing 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (18)
AE: "Adamantium-Edged Knives" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 4) (7)
AE: "Throwing Knives" Strength-Damage +1 (Extras: Ranged 3, Multiattack 3) (Diminished Range -2) (5)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Knives +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Throwing Knives +12 (+3 Ranged Damage, DC 18)
Dazzle +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Rocket Blast +8, +6 Area (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3 (+5 Body Armour), Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Crossbones)- Crossbones is actually Brock Rumlow, the thug who brutalized Daniel & Rachel Leighton when they were younger.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 24 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (107)

-Mark Gruenwald's run on Captain America was fascinating. While not being uber-heavy on legendary storylines and events, it was one of the most in-depth looks at the world of Super-Heroes & Super-Villains I've ever seen, with unbelievable amounts of thought put in to everything. It was one of the few books that used the Avengers as an actual organization with support staff, characters & planning (like when Cap requests assistance through his Secretary, who patches him through to various other Avengers or allies), and one of the few to show the VILLAINS' side of things, as they had to plan, team up, and do things together.

-Take the Skeleton Crew. Formed by the Red Skull, he frequently had to plan, scheme, etc., using them as his flunkies. Occasionally upon losing a member, he'd go recruiting. Danny here joined up as such (killing two other low-end costumed super-villains), and THEN we got a bit on his training (via the Taskmaster), his induction into the team, etc. Then we found out he was Diamondback's brother who was previously victimized by Crossbones, but the Skull's top henchman beat & killed him savagely for an unrelated reason (he was threatened by Cutthroat's hiring). So much for HIM. Having all that backstory only for that quick ending was one of those things Gruenwald went for that few writers ever did.

-Thanks to some messed-up accidental continuity, Cutthroat turned up alive on The Raft when Electro broke out all those super-villains during the Avengers' opening run in the 2000s. Oddly, despite Cap mentioning him in the "Bios" section of a Trade, his link to Diamondback would never get brought up, and he'd just be a background villain used in group shots of The Hood's gang. That'll happen when you're a really generic guy with blades as your gimmick.

-Cutthroat is pretty bare-bones. Just a martial artist-type fighter who's really good with Blades, he makes PL 8 offensively just barely, and is fairly low-pointed, failing to make many heroes quake in their boots. It makes sense- Crossbones KILLED HIM despite their history, and he's just an un-powered human as well, so even Hero Points couldn't save his Suck Force from making him lose. I'm not even sure if he ever squared off with Captain America himself, but I don't see him ever winning that fight.