Jab's Builds: Tulip, Cassidy, Jody, The Grail, Herr Starr

[FuzzyBoots]

On a side note, I was wrong. Doc Sampson is a psychiatrist, not a psychologist.

Quick reference to comic book doctors and what their titles mean and a follow-up.

[Ares]

Regarding Arcade, isn't it kind of silly to complain that he's never killed a superhero on panel? I mean, he's a B or C-list supervillain with maybe a dozen or so appearances in 30 years. The Joker's had over twice that time and he managed to kill exactly 1 superhero and cripple 1 other accidentally, and both of those instances have been retconned away. So yeah, a villain appearing in a hero's book and not managing to kill said hero? Shocker.

Secondly, regarding his outfit, Arcade is suppose to resemble an even more outlandish carnival barker, due to his whole 'old school arcade' theme.

Regarding Ultra, I think the purpose of the guns the aliens hit him with was to transform the victim into the species of the alien firing the weapon, and that the new alien would be under the mental control of the person that had shot him. When four aliens shot one guy simultaneously, none of them got control over the guy. Still a goofy premise tho, but hey, it was the Silver Age.

[Kreuzritter]

Arcade's success rate was actually a plot point in his recent Avengers Academy appearance, where his client list is getting less than satisfied with how he handles supers

[Jabroniville]

Plus, Arcade's job is that of an assassin-for-hire, and his entire schtick is killing superheroes. The Joker's "job" is just "criminal", and occasionally "serial killer", and in those things he's very successful- Arcade's killed about one guy in his entire history, and that was in his debut.

Yeah, that's a good point about psychia/ologists in comics. Comic book medicine is funny.

[Ares]

Actually, they brought up that Arcades' record of killing normal people is just fine, it's when it comes to superheroes that he has a problem, much like every other supervillain. And he isn't someone that specializes in killing heroes, he kills anyone if the price is right. I just don't see how Arcade not killing superheroes is an issue given his whole point is to provide an entertaining fight for the heroes with gimick death traps.

[Arkrite]

Maybe the problem is that he needs to work for somebody like Mojo where the presentation is more important than the body count.

[Kreuzritter]

or shift gears from straight up murder to "the heroes escape my traps inevitably these days. however, in doing so, i take them off the board for a few hours. So, who wants a Spider-man free afternoon?"

[Jabroniville]

JONNY DOUBLE
Created By: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman & Jack Sparling
First Appearance: Showcase #78 (Nov. 1968)
Role: Private Investigator, Beatnik Anachronism
PL 7 (96)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 5 (+7)
Expertise (Private Investigator) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Police Officer) 2 (+5)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 4 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Pistol) 2 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 ('57 Thunderbird with Wedge-Head 427 Engine, Magnum Pistol), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Pistol), Improved Disarm, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 3, Tracking

Equipment:
".38 Magnum" Blast 5 (10)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Pistol +9 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (A White Knight in Rusty Armor)- Double feels like the world has left him behind, but he's still hopeful for the future. He also talks like a guy years behind the times- with beatnik phrasing.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (96)

-Jonny Double is the forgotten creation of a very young (20 and 22!) duo of Len Wein & Marv Wolfman, back at the start of their bromance (Jim Shooter describes how the Marvel staffers even by the late 1970s were referring to them as "LenMarv"), he was a beatnik detective who I first mistook for a James Bond-alike given his "Who's Who" "Pistol Pose" and target logo, but apparently he's just a riff on the gritty P.I.s of a prior era. He's described as a "Downbeat Don Quixote in a society that frowns on windmills" alongside other waxing-poetic tales. He (along with similar detective Tim Trench, who was a Sam Spade rip-off who was killed in "52" by Felix Faust) is a PL 7 character who's good with his fists and with a gun (though "Who's Who" calls him merely "average"), and is pretty tough to PL 4-5 Mooks, but well below your typical super-hero.

[Jabroniville]

THE NIGHT-SLAYER (Anton Knight, aka The Night-Thief)
Created By: Doug Moench & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Detective Comics #529 (Aug. 1983)
Role: Nearly-Nude Martial Artist, Born Romantic/Murderer
PL 9 (125)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+14)
Athletics 11 (+14)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+14)
Expertise (Cat Burglar) 8 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 5 (+8)
Sleight of Hand 2 (+7)
Stealth 8 (+14)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Chokehold, Equipment (Knife, Suit), Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge

Equipment:
"Stiletto Knife" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Improved Critical) (2)
"Nudie Night-Suit" Concealment (Visuals) 2 (Flaws: Limited to Within Darkness) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knife +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Romanticism)- Anton is a natural romantic, having fallen in love with his stepsister without ever meeting her, simply through his father's descriptions. He does a lot of things on these impulses.
Relationship (Nocturna)- Anton is head-over-heels for Nocturna, and murdered a guy just for coming on to her. When she betrays him because of this (and switches her love to Batman), he swears revenge.

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (125)

-The Night-Slayer was originally The Night-Thief, a born romantic who fell in love with his step-sister Nocturna (technically not illegal, but it still feels gross somehow, despite them not growing up together), forming a criminal duo with her in his night-suit so that he could bestow upon her all the jewels she naturally deserved. I have an old Detective Comics featuring this pair, from some unknown source (I wasn't into DC as a kid, so it must've been a mystery double-pack or something), and I thought it was pretty silly. This dude had a goofy '80s bowl-haircut and moustache, and his suit was REALLY silly-looking- skin-tight and black, it was shadowed so as to make him look like a nude from a Michelangelo painting or something, so that in every panel you could see clenched fists and toes, as well as individually-sculpted butt-cheeks, though his ultra-thin costume. I wonder if that's how women feel when they see the "Nudes with Painted-On Clothing" in comics?

-In any case, this guy actually beat on Batman for a good while (Bats was drugged by Nocturna, and not himself- so Night-Thief had a ton of free hits), but Nocturna (who'd rejected him for murdering somebody in the night- "murdering the night" she called it) shot him to protect Batman, whom she was also deeply attracted to. Anton went nuts, changed his name to "Night-Slayer" and tried to murder Nocturna, but she was sent off in an air balloon and never see again. Nocturna would return Post-Crisis in a new form, but Anton was lost to the ether.

-He's a PL 8.5 Martial Artist type, enough to challenge a PL 10-11-ish Pre-Crisis '80s Batman in hand-to-hand combat (particularly if Batman is drugged). His "Who's Who" bio actually calls him an expert in many martial arts, but "not a master" in any of them. He's also ultra-agile, super-athletic (his trademark is scampering around in the dark so fast you can't really spot him) and nigh-impossible to fight in darkness. Batman once had to capture him in a bright room just to hold him down.

[Jabroniville]

Well, no man's Will Save is THAT good...

NOCTURNA (Natasha Natalia Knight)
Created By: Doug Moench & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Batman #363 (Sept. 1983)
Role: Pale Uber-Babe, Femme Fatale
PL 8 (129)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 4 (+8, +10 Attractive, +13 Uber-Attractive)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+6)
Expertise (Astronomy) 5 (+9)
Insight 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+5)
Persuasion 5 (+9, +11 Attractive, +14 Uber-Attractive)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 2 (Wealth), Equipment 4 (Revolver, K-O Pellets, Hot-Air Balloon), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Powerful Perfume" (Flaws: Limited to When Wearing Perfume) [28]
"Uber-Attractive" Enhanced Advantages 1: Attractive (1)
Affliction 8 (Will; Entranced & Vulnerable/Compelled & Defenseless) (Feats: Subtle, Insidious) (Extras: Reaction +3, Extra Condition, Area- Scent Perception) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Limited to Those Who Like the Ladies) (34)
-- (35 points)

Equipment:
"Knock-Out Pellets" Affliction 6 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Asleep) (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud) (12) -- (14)

AE: "Knife" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Improved Critical) (2)
AE: "Revolver" Blast 5 (10)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Knife +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Revolver +7 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
K-O Pellets +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Affliction
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Romanticism)- Nocturna is a natural romantic, and does a lot of things on impulse.
Relationship (The Night)- Nocturna is obsessed with night and darkness.
Relationship (The Night-Slayer)- She only rejects him when he "Murders the night" by killing someone.
Relationship (The Batman)- A fellow dweller in the darkness, The Batman intrigues and obsesses Nocturna.
Disabled (Pigment-Less Skin)- Nocturna's skin is vulnerable to the sun's rays, giving her bad sunburns and a greater chance of skin cancer.
Power Drawback (Perfume)- Nocturna's perfume will affect her own mind if she isn't already intoxicated by "the night", and so she will not wear it during the day.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 28 / Defenses: 10 (129)

-I thought Nocturna was pretty goofy as a kid, but looking back... DAMN. Pale skin, dark lips and "midnight blue" reflective hair... nice. She's pretty much a Dark Seductress, stealing for fun and to keep up a lavish lifestyle, trying to adopt Jason Todd (back when he was Robin), while also trying to get both Bruce Wayne & Batman into bed. Eventually she spends enough time with them (ie. they do it) to figure out his secret identity, but then she starts getting hunted by the Night-Slayer, and she's stabbed and put onto a Hot-Air Balloon, where she'd vanish until she returned in a Post-Crisis Robin issue as an acrobatic thief with a different real name and personality.

-Also, she was gonna be brought into "Batman: The Animated Series", as a Vampiress who was going to turn Bruce into the Undead for a while. It got kiboshed thanks to Warner Brothers being all "no, you can't have vampires", which is the greatest shame EVER, because Bruce Timm was gonna use THIS as the design: .
Up yours, Warner Brothers. UP. YOURS.

-Nocturna's no fighter, though she can semi-defend herself when it's necessary. Her key ability is her Perfume (which I statted up as a not-quite-Device that is Limited to When Wearing Perfume- it seems to be a fair thing), which buggered Batman enough that a Jobber like Night-Slayer almost easily killed him in a fight. It basically makes you more able to be seduced by her, as well as making you groggy enough to lose to Jobbers.

[Horsenhero]

I remember Nocturna and Night-Thief/Night-Slayer. A pretty big plot arc revolved around them. As I recall, Nocturna also had a jealous streak when it came to Bruce Wayne's relationship with Alfred's daughter, Julia Remarque (Not joking about this name).

I must say, I'm enjoying this stroll through the list of nearly forgotten characters Jab.

[danelsan]

Just so you know, I got to use your builds for Batroc, Spot and Rhino in a game. They performed...jobberly.

It was a game for 4 newbies at M&M, one of them playing tabletop RPGs for the first time, so I wanted an easy fight in the first session.

First two heroes arrive in the scene. One is a Ninja with ultra-super-mega-sight (she has almost every Sense effect for sight - sees the invisible, through walls and illusions, in the dark, at long, long range, in 360 degrees and so on), so they already know where the villains are.

Spot is alone while Rhino and Batroc are in the same room.
High stealth + super sense = KO'd Spot before he could even open a single portal

Then Batroc is also One-shotted due to an abysmal Toughness roll to resist damage. Too bad, as he is quite a respectable foe for a silly french stereotype. At least I got to say some funny sentences with a thick French accent

Rhino ends up, well, like usual, hard to bring down (none of the heroes have high damage and the ninja is heavily bent towards attack bonus), but never hitting anyone. Came close to hitting a hero with a car after he had his horn cut off, though.

Even after the other two heroes arrived, they had to pair up and do two combined attacks to bring Rhino Down.

Anyway, they enjoyed it, and the girl playing for the first time is hooked. One more tabletop player in the world

[scc]

Nice Nocturna. I thought about building her before but never got around to it. For some reason I really like the character.

[Jabroniville]

Nice stuff, Danelsan. I'm always curious to how my stats translate to "Actually Playing", since I hardly ever game anymore. Was it a group of PL 10s fighting? Because four Accuracy-focused guys pounding on Rhino for several rounds actually kinda fits the comics. Poor Batroc, though- you shoulda gave Frenchie a Hero Point-giving re-roll .

[Jabroniville]

THE KING (King Standish)
Created By: Gardner Fox & William Smith
First Appearance: Flash Comics #3 (March 1940)
Role: Mystery Man, Detective, Master of Disguise
PL 6 (103)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 11 (+15)
Expertise (Streetwise) 6 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 7 (+9)
Persuasion 2 (+6)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (Quick Change, Wealth 3), Daze (Deception), Equipment (Disguise Kit), Improved Disarm, Improved Pin, Luck, Ranged Combat 2, Ultimate Skill (Disguises)

Equipment:
"Pistol" Blast 5 (10)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Stopping Crime)- Despite being wealthy, The King only seeks to stop crime.
Reputation (Criminal)- Early in his career, The King was thought to be a criminal.
Relationship (The Witch)- The King was in love with The Witch, but could never convince the criminal mastermind to go straight.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (103)

-The King is a minor-league two-fisted fighter-type hero, with a focus on being a master of disguise. Not bad as far as concepts go, as it makes him easy to stat (generic Two-Fisted Guy build with lots of Deception/Disguise focused skills). There's virtually no mention of him after the '40s, save a flashback in a Star-Spangled Kid/Starman comic circa 1999, where he was retroactively added to the All-Star Squadron. HOWEVER, he was brought back to people's memories a bit by having the new character for the Bill Willingham/Matt Sturges "JSA", King Chimera, be revealed as the illusion-casting SON of this forgotten character. It was a matter of Dork Pride for me that I not only guessed Chimera's origins at his introduction (by virtue of an old "Who's Who" comic), but that most people went "WHO?" at the revelation.

-Not alot to mention here. He's better than most other generic suited guys because of his focus in one area, but he's still just a PL 6 tough-guy. There's not a whole lot a "Two-Fisted Adventurer" can do to get above PL 6/7 without having a Gun or being a Wildcat-class martial artist, because most of these guys just kinda beat on Thugs on an even keel rather that storm through dozens of Mooks like Daredevil can do.