The Jester
"The razzle-dazzle! The razzmatazz! The Carney sideshow experience of life! Come one, come all! Tell me...are you having fun yet?"Concept: Anarchist Prankster with Oracular Visions, PL10, 150 pp
The Jester - PL 10
Abilities: Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 5, Dexterity 4, Fighting 6/9/14, Intellect 2, Awareness 6/9/14, Presence 4
(See Eyes of the Oracle power)
DefenseDodge 14, Parry 14/9*/6**
Fortitude 6, Will 14/9*/6**
Toughness 6***/1
(* See Eyes of the Oracle Power; **When Eyes of the Oracle is not active on either enhanced trait; ***without Defensive Roll bonus)
OffenseInitiative +9
52 Card Pickup: Affliction 10, +2 (DC Dog/Fort 20)
52 Card Slice: Strength-based Damage 1, +6 (DC 21)
Acid-Spraying Anarchy Button: Damage 3 and Weaken 3, +6/+9/+14 (DC Fort 18 and 13)
Colored Smoke Bomb: Burst Area Dazzle 6 (DC Dog/Fort 16)
Eyes of Soul's Truth: Cumulative Mind Reading 10 (DC Will 20)
Grab, +6/+9/+14 (DC Spec 11)
Happy Fun Ball: Strength-based Ranged Damage 3, +16 (DC 19)
Laughing Gas Sprayer: Cloud Area Affliction 6 (DC Fort 16)
Pistols: Blast 4, +14 (DC 19)
Spiked Chain Garrote: Concentration Progressive Affliction 6, +6/+9/+14 (DC Fort 16)
Spiked Chain Slap: Strength-based Damage 5, +6/+9/+14 (DC 21)
Spiked Chain Whip: Snare 6, +4 (DC Dog 16)
Thrill Kill Joybuzzer: Damage 6 and Affliction 6, +6/+9/+14 (DC Fort 21 and 16)
Unarmed, +6/+9/+14 (DC 16 or 20)
SkillsAcrobatics 5 (+10), Athletics 5 (+6), Deception 11 (+15), Expertise (Streetwise) 5 (+7), Insight 6 (+12/+15/+20), Investigation 5 (+7), Perception 6 (+12/+15/+20), Persuasion 1 (+5), Ranged Combat (Pistols) 10 (+14), Sleight of Hand 5 (+9), Stealth 4 (+9)
AdvantagesAssessment, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll 5, Equipment 9, Evasion, Fascinate (Deception), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Inspire 2, Precise Attack (Close, Cover), Redirect, Second Chance (Resisting Deception), Set-up, Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Deception), Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed
PowersEyes of the Oracle (Array)
- . . Eyes of Soul's Truth: Cumulative Mind Reading 10 (DC 20; Cumulative, Subtle (subtle), Insidious; Check Required 10 (DC 20 - Insight))
- . . Eyes of the Fighter
. . . . Enhanced Awareness: Enhanced Awareness 3 (Linked; +3 AWE)
. . . . Enhanced Fighting: Enhanced Fighting 8 (Linked; +8 FGT) - . . Eyes of the Sage
. . . . Enhanced Awareness: Enhanced Awareness 8 (Linked; +8 AWE)
. . . . Enhanced Fighting: Enhanced Fighting 3 (Linked; +3 FGT) - . . Eyes of the Truth Seeker: Senses 21 (Accurate (Type): Mental, Acute (Type): Mental, Awareness: Psychic, Counters Illusion: Mental, Detect: Psychic 2 (ranged), Postcognition, Precognition, Radius (Type): Mental; Sustained)
Freerunning: Movement 2 [Safe Fall (Limited (Must be near a surface)), Wall-crawling 1 (-1 speed rank, Limited (Only while moving))]
Jacket of Tricks (array)
- . . Acid-Spraying Anarchy Button
. . . . Linked Damage: Damage 3 (Linked; DC 18; Affects Objects, Alternate Resistance (Fortitude), Reach (melee) (5 ft.), Penetrating)
. . . . Linked Weaken Toughness: Weaken 3 (Linked; Affects: Toughness, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 13; Affects Objects, Reach (melee) (5 ft.)) - . . Buff-Out Pills: Enhanced Strength 5 (+5 STR; Fades, Side Effect 2 (always - Affliction 10 (Fort-Resisted, Fatgiued/Exhausted/Incapacitated) on self when Fades duration ends))
- . . Colored Smoke Bomb: Burst Area Dazzle 6 (Affects Sense: Visual, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 16; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Burst Area (30 feet radius sphere); Limited Degree)
- . . Happy Fun Ball: Strength-based Damage 3 (DC 19; Increased Range (ranged), Accurate 6 (+12), Ricochet 3 (3 bounces), Homing 3 (3 extra attempts))
- . . Laughing Gas Sprayer: Cloud Area Affliction 6 (1st degree: Vulnerable, Dazed, 2nd degree: Defenseless, Stunned, 3rd degree: Paralyzed, Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 16; Extra Condition, Cloud Area (15 feet radius sphere))
- . . Razor-Edged Cards
. . . . 52 Card Pickup: Affliction 10 (1st degree: Vulnerable, 2nd degree: Defenseless, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 20; Alternate Resistance (Dodge), Multiattack; Instant Recovery, Limited Degree, Inaccurate 2 (-4))
. . . . 52 Card Slice: Strength-based Damage 1 (DC 17, Advantages: Throwing Mastery 4) - . . Spiked Chain Garrote: Concentration Progressive Affliction 6 (1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 16; Concentration, Progressive; Grab-based)
- . . Spiked Chain Slap: Strength-based Damage 5 (DC 21, Advantages: Improved Hold, Improved Trip, Precise Attack (Close, Cover); Reach (melee) 2 (10 ft.))
- . . Spiked Chain Whip: Snare 6 (DC 16)
- . . Thrill-Kill Joy Buzzer
. . . . Linked Affliction: Affliction 6 (Linked; 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Asleep, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 16)
. . . . Linked Damage: Damage 6 (Linked; DC 21; Alternate Resistance (Fortitude), Sleep)
Pistols: Blast 4 (DC 19; Multiattack, Split (2 targets), Penetrating 2)
Spring-Heeled Boots (Removable)
. .
Leaping: Leaping 3 (Leap 60 feet at 16 miles/hour)
EquipmentCell Phone (Smartphone), Jacket Full Of Tricks [Jacket of Tricks Array], Multi-tool, Pair of Custom Pistols [Pistols: Blast 4, DC 19; Multiattack, Split (2 targets), Penetrating 2]
Complications:- Addiction: Jester is addicted to hallucinogens, which he believes helps him maintain his psychic powers.
- Enemy: Jester formed the Jokerz to protect Hillside against the encroachment of the other gangs of Drake city, and they really dislike him. He also has to deal with The Joker, who dislikes him because they're so alike (and yet so different).
- Thrills: Jester is in the hero business Partly to do good, but mostly because it's a thrilling mental challenge to take down
- Quirk: Jester likes to leave little obscure clues and hints when he's visited places, such as tagging meme graffiti on walls. He's very fond of leaving [url=Genius Bonus]Genius Bonus[/url] clues to his activities around places.
- Reputation: Jester is the leader of a gang, and is known as a vandal (some use the words "terrorist"), a degenerate, and a hedonist.
- Responsibility: Jester is devoted to watching out for his half-sister, Cassandra Sykes (AKA Dolli the Dancer).
Power PointsAbilities 58 + Powers 29 + Advantages 28 + Skills 21 (63 ranks) + Defenses 14 = 150
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PROFILE Alternate Identity: Jack Melinko
Identity: Public
Occupation: Anarchist Gang leader
Group Affiliation: The Jokerz, The Merry Pranksters
Base of Operations: Old Hillside Asylum
First Appearance: Tales of a Dark City #5
Sex: Male
Age: 28
Height: 6’ 2”
Weight: 178 Lbs.
Eyes: Brown/Red when using Eyes of The Oracle
Hair: Brown
Abnormal Type: Nova Psychic (with a bit of Tech Junkie mixed in)
Virtue: Charity, Faith. Jester is always looking for a good time, but he's willing, even eager, to share. His ability to see archetypes and patterns has encouraged a belief that there is some sort of meaning in the apparent randomness that is existence.
Vice: Gluttony, Pride. Jester's tendency to look for the next high can override his common sense, and his visions encourage him to believe that he knows far more about what's really going on in the world than most people, which feeds his ego no end.
Nature: Visionary. Jester watches all the pieces of the world fit together in ways few others understand.
Demeanor: Gallant. When Jester acts, he acts with all the flair and theatrics he can muster.
Description: Jack dresses quite theatrically in an ensemble that mixes goth and gansta styles. He wears a blue-tinted leather trenchcoat festooned with buttons, buckles, and patches, many with anarchy or drug-culture themes (especially prominent is a round anarchy button on his lapel which can fire a stream of caustic acid). The coat also contains a bewildering variety of makeshift tools and gadgets. He also wears a frightful Death's Head mask topped by a jaunty blue Jester's cap. Beneath the mask he is scarred in a horrible fashion: he has a Glasgow Smile, two rips through his cheeks giving him a ghastly permanent smile.
Powers and Abilities: Jester is a psychic. He has the ability to, as he sees it, “see the truth of a person's soul.” This is a sort of mind-reading that manifests as him seeing a person with a sort of “archetype” overlay that he can interpret various ways. For instance, he might look at someone and get a succession of images (a knight, a fireman, a cop fighting drug dealers, a paragon with a flapping cape) that hint that the person sees himself as a protector and hero. This allows him to read a person's Demeanor and Virtue along with surface thoughts (one degree of success) and their Nature and Vice along with more personal thoughts (two degrees of success).
He's learned how to fine-tune his psychic abilities over the years. He can “widen” them, becoming more perceptive and intuitive and awae of his surroundings (Enhanced Awareness), or “narrow” them to gauge an opponent’s movements and react accordingly (Enhanced Fighting). He can also improve his mind's eye, allowing him to detect psychic activity around him and lean quite a lot about his surroundings. He even has the ability to perceive patterns, gaining insight into the past and the possible future by surrendering his conscious mind to open himself to hunches and impulses, though generally he has to be high on hallucinogens to pull off his future sight (which means he gets weird, cryptic visions that leave a lot open to interpretation).
His guns are a pair of World War II-era semi-automatic .45's, painted a metallic red. They belonged to his great grandfather, a mob hitman named Richard Harvey Quinn. The Jester has actually met his great-grandfather's ghost once or twice, though the specter doesn't hang around much (after all, his guns are the only thing that could kill him permanently).
He's modified a few utility belt tricks to go with his Jester gimmick, which he keeps in various pockets in his coat and on his person. He pulls these out to fit the situation.
Tactics: The Jester likes to size up his opponents before wading in to a fight, to try and gauge what they are likely to try. He typically starts a fight with an Assessment or a Mind Read. Once he's done that, he plans his strategy and goes with it. He will often try a Feint or Trick to keep his opponent off-balance, and is willing to accept the -5 penalty to try such things as move actions. He's adept at fighting at range and at close combat while using his Enhanced Fighting. He doesn't like fighting close up, though, and tries to keep opponents at a distance if he can.
Background: It's rare that a person is born with paranormal abilities in the Brave New World, and Jack Melinko is even rarer, as he was born with these abilities before the Shadow Weave changed the world. He was born with the ability to see into the truth of a person's soul (and their thoughts).
He also wound up born in a broken home, something sadly much more common. His mother was divorced and remarried by the time he was 2, with a brand new baby to take care of, and his parents argued all the time. Jack's psychic ability wasn't well appreciated by others, even though he grew up during the "Golden Age of Novas," because there are certain powers that just freak people out and the ability to listen in to other's thoughts and tell them things about themselves they might not want to hear is one of them. About the only person he got along with in his early years was his little half-sister, Cassandra Sykes.
As he grew older, Jack learned to keep most of his observations to himself, gaining friends through his natural charisma. He decided to associate only with people who were "authentic," in his view, which mostly meant hanging out with the outcasts and troublemakers. He formed a group that called itself "The Merry Pranksters" after learning about the originals in a unit on the 1960's. The kids mostly stuck to pulling pranks (switching locker locks around, coating benches in the lunch room with fresh paint, wrapping toilet bowls with Saran Wrap, and, in one memorable case, hoisting the principle's car to the top of the gym) for most of their middle school years...until they started experimenting with drugs.
This opened up a new chapter in Jack's life, as he discovered that he could expand his mental abilities while high. Not just being able to see the truth of a person's soul, he could detect cosmic patterns, learning things about the past and projecting them into the future, becoming one with the universe for brief periods of time like the oracles and shamans of old. Naturally, he was eager to share this mind-expanding experience with his friends, and soon the Merry Pranksters took on the psychedelic trappings of their hippie namesakes. The Merry Pranksters got involved in throwing parties around Hillside that involved liberal drug use and dance beats.
Jack got the "brilliant" idea to try and turn on the whole school to the wonders of being high and plotted to spike the school's water supply with LSD. A trial run involving spiking the principal's coffee landed Jack in jail. This was a second offense, so he was sentenced to the Bayview Juvenile Detention Facility for six months for his prank. This stay would change Jack's life.
Not long after he got there he managed to make an enemy fairly quickly. During an altercation between some skinheads and some Latinos Jack stepped in and verbally deconstructed the leaders of the two groups, using his psychic talents to reveal humiliating personal information about each of them to the others. This lead to the skinhead leader attacking him a few days later. The skinhead carved a Glasgow Grin into Jack's face and would have killed him if the guards hadn't pulled them apart. The State was not willing to spring for cosmetic surgery for an inmate, so Jack wound up just getting stitches and a permanent smile.
To keep himself from being a target again, Jack trained himself in various unarmed defensive techniques, and got quite good at them. He managed to barter his talents as a prognosticator to some of the other inmates in exchange for training in the arts of street fighting, which came in handy when the Latinos decided to come after him. He took on a half-dozen guys at once, blending his self-training with his psychic talents, and knocked them all out. They never bothered him again, and he managed to finish his time in the Detention facility without any more incidents.
Worse news was to come for him, though, because when he got out he discovered his sister's sad fate.
Cassie had wanted to see how he was doing and because Mommy and Daddy were having another fight she didn't tell them she was leaving. Instead, she went outside and hailed a cab. The cab didn't take her to the Bayview Juvenile Corrections facility. The driver had been paid off by the Bloodfangs to deliver "snacks" to their territory, and little Cassanda Sykes, all of 12 years old, was just the sort of fresh meat that the Bloods would pay a pretty penny for. She was taken to the heart of the Hellhole, and given over to a group of vampires who decided to take turns "having fun" with her.
They regretted their decision when Cassandra Erupted, transforming from a pretty preteen princess to a kicking, screaming whirlwind. Most of the vampires scattered, and Cassandra was left alone. Unable to cope with the violation and the sudden transformation, Cassandra ran away and hid. She was eventually found by the DCPD and returned to her parents but her trial had scarred her and things did not improve at home. Her behavior quickly spiraled out of control. She became erratic and overly theatrical, and therapy did not seem to help. Her lethal powers further separated her from her peers, and so she spiraled deeper into insanity.
When Jack found out what had happened to his beloved sister, he was livid. He stole his father's heirloom handguns and went after the gang. One by one, he used the tricks he'd learned in jail to take them down, but he stopped just short of murder for most of them.
The gang leader was another story. Jack saw something dark and evil in the man's soul, something that lived on death, and without thinking he put three bullets in the man's brain. The leader turned out to be a vampire, who pulled the bullets out and proceeded to beat Jack nearly to death.
Forced to retreat, Jack took on the mantle of the Jester, assembling a costume for himself. He called together his old friends, the Merry Pranksters, and they decided to get even with the Bloodfangs. Together, the band of friends formed their own gang, the Jokerz, to fight the growing influence of the Bloodfangs and their rivals the Cryptkickers. The group continued to pull Pranks, but now these pranks had a more cynical and political edge, promoting a decidedly militant left-wing agenda.
Jester also found himself in some financial trouble, as pranks got expensive, so he accepted a deal with Magadon Pharmaceuticals to test out certain drugs with combat potential for them in exchange for raw materials for his own drug lab. Jester wasn't thrilled about relying on corporate sponsorship, but in order to promote his vision of social change and his liberal agenda he needed funds. His ability to see the future is useful, but not so specific that he can pluck out winning lottery numbers from thin air. Manufacture and sale of various mind-expanding drugs (at a low price or even for free to those who want them) helps expand his influence and brings in the resources he needs to promote his other ideas.
Naturally, this has not made him any friends with the DCPD, who view him and his gang as drug-dealing junkie vandals. They have a hard time catching him in the act, of course, as he has predicted every raid they've attempted. Still, they see The jester's Jokerz as just another superpowered gang overrunning the streets, which isn't entirely fair but isn't entirely inaccurate either.
Lately Jester has been active in vigilante activities, as cleaning up the violence of the streets was his main motivation for forming the Jokerz in the first place. He's done some questionable things (such as hiding Holocaust from the authorities after his escape in order to try and rehabilitate the man) but he's been generally on the side of decency, if not law. With Dolli back in town, he's ready to act on a vision that's been troubling him for quite a while now—an apocalyptic “awakening” that he wants to prevent or divert to his own ends.
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Original Version to this one!
This was a hard and complicated build, especially trying to keep it within 135 pp. The Jester was built off a villainous archetype called "Prankster," which worked well for the concept. however, I half-wonder if I went overboard with some of the Tricks in his Jacket. I used Hero Lab to help cost-account everything, but I'm not sure if everything I did is working the way it's supposed to. If someone out there with more experience with 3e rules would come out and help me fact-check myself, I'd appreciate it!
This is a "PC-Friendly" build, trying to keep everything within the 15 pp/PL guideline. Sure, Jester is an NPC, but it's good practice in efficiency to try to keep within the guidelines. That said, I'd make quite a few changes if I weren't bound by the pp guideline, and I may post that version eventually, once I'm sure this one works as intended.
Jester only meets his caps when he's got his Enhanced Fighting active or is shooting his guns or bouncy ball. I noticed that Enhanced Traits are Sustained by default, instead of Continuous as they were in 2e, which means he could lose these traits easily if he gets stunned in combat. When he's not using his enhanced fighting, he's more of a rounded PL 6 (or PL 8 with his guns). This represents him using his psychic abilities to read his opponent and react to their attacks.
I'm really fond of that Super Bouncy Ball in his array of tricks.
It's just one of those things I added on a whim because I had Equipment Points to burn and I think came out really nice and flavorful. It can ping-pong around, acting as a nice distraction as he lines up shots with his guns, can bounce around cover, and has a total of 4 chances to hit it's target. I think that suits a bouncy ball attack just fine.
Update 1/16/11: Added Background info in conjunction with posting Dolli, his half-sister. Also changed his Mind Reading to work with a Check Required instead of Feedback, which models how I picture his power working better. He only has a +13 Insight bonus while his Mind Reading is the active power of his array, meaning he has to roll 15 or higher to have his power work at full rank (and has to roll a 6 or better for it to work at all). Also, it's now insidious—people cannot tell he's reading their minds. However, he has to interpret what he sees, which is where the Check Required flaw kicks in.
Update 1/29/11: Revision. I found a cost-accounting error and decided to fix it by making The Jester PL 10. Then I got working with things, messing with them, and found a few places that needed work or could have been stated out better. It snowballed from there. This version is still attack-shifted, though. The major change was to his Eyes of the Oracle array, specifically how I parsed his Enhanced Attributes. In the previous build when he used one enhanced ability he totally lost the other...I made the shift somewhat more even. Now when he's using his Enhanced Awareness at his PL he's not totally gimped in fighting, and vice versa (though he's gimped on both when he's reading minds, which represents a significant focus of his mental abilities to pull off). I added some Leaping in the form of spring-heeled boots (something the 2e version had) as well as Freerunning as some super movement (this change was inspired by DC Universe Online, as the Acrobatics movement power just worked for the character). I also rearranged and simplified his Jacket of Tricks array to represent some things from the Ghost/Jester match-up better.
