Scorpio, a little help with a character

[nighthunter]

For my PL 8 M&M campaign one of my players wants to be a Scorpion totem with multiple limbs.

Two Claws and a Tail. He will still have two normal arms.

The Claws will be strong enough to crush steel and tunnel through solid rock etc, while the tail will have reach and a poison if it connects.

So am I correct in assuming I will buy such powers as the following.

Claws +8 (Natural Weapon; Extras: Super Strength, Tunnelling, Tunnelling Trip* ;Flaws: No Increased Damage Bonus, No doubled carrying capacity; Cost: 5pp [40pp])
*see question 4 below.

Stinger +8 (Natural Weapon; Extras: Drain (all physical ability scores); Power Stunts: Extend Reach (1pp) Cost: 4pp (36pp +1 for Extend Reach [37 all up]).


1) Now the reason I made Extend Reach 1pp was because it worked only with the stinger, none of his other attacks increase in range, but I may be wrong about this, so any clarification would be nice.
1a) In combat if Scorpio successfully hits with his tail. Am I safe to say the opponent first makes a Damage save, and then a Fortitude save (I know the description for drain says Will, but since this is a physically draining poision I thought Fort made more sense). Also if the opponent makes the DMG save to not take any damage should they still make the Fort save for drain? In which case should I add some flaw to represent this?

2) The No Doubled Carrying Capacity for the Claws seemed to make sense because the rest of his body hasn't increased in strength (I don't see him carrying cars), but then in Spider Man 2, Doc Ock wasn't very strong yet the Octopus Arms threw taxis and held up those heavy stabilizers from the mini sun, hence my conundrum.

3) Am I correct in removing the extra damage bonus from super-strength to save on points? Since the damage bonus from Super Strength and that from Natural weapon don't stack to better than +8 anyway?

4) Tunnelling Trip: Whenever the tunnelling character moves directly beneath a character over the ground make a strength check. The above ground character must make a strength dexterity or balance check, whichever is higher against the result of your strength check, just like a trip attack. A defender who fails the check is prone just as if you've tripped him.
The problem is that this would be part of a move action as opposed to being an action on its own. Should I therefore make it more expensive? But the character isn't damaging anything so it doesn't seem to bad... In any case a little help would be appreciated.

5) It's 11:28 here, so I wouldn't mind if people checked my math.

[Dr. Nuncheon]

There's an option to make Super-Strength deal lethal damage. If you take that, then you don't need to take Natural Weapon for the claws. (If you have super-strength with the regular arms and want to be able to punch with those, take Dual Damage.)

On the other hand, your main problem seems to be that you need to define exactly what the super-strong claws can do. As it stands, you've flawed out most of what Super-Strength gives you - you can't lift any more or do any more damage, so what you're left with is a bonus to strength checks - and I can't see the claws making him harder to Bull Rush or Trip, really. If the claws need to be strong enough to shear through steel, you can get that effect with Natural Weapon alone if you don't want the lifting capacity or the strength check boost.

As for the tunnelling trip, I'd look at other movement powers - for example, how the Sonic Boom from Superspeed or Disorient from Teleport works.

J

[InnocentBystander]

I think you should drop super strength,too. I sdoubt that claws would make you better at jumping and swimming (and even climbing is doubtful)

And extended reach, as Area, works only for the power that you got it for, so it is 2 points

[Scorpion]

I don't know if you should drop super-strength, not because of the claws but because of how strong a scorpion totem would be. Now i'm not an expert on scorpions, even though my alter ego is one, but i have seen them fighting some sort of reptile that's supposed to be their natural enemy on the Discovery channel. The scorpion was moving very quickly and even though its poison was useless against its foe, and its claws were pretty much unable to penetrate the reptile's hide, it was able to quickly dart out of the way from attacks. I'd model this as super-dexterity.

If i remember right the scorpion was also able to pull off a semi-grapple with the larger reptile too. It seemed pretty strong for a little guy. I'd at least give a scorpion totem a few ranks in super-strength, you could even flaw out the damage bonus if you want so you don't have redundant melee damage bonus.

It looks like your tunneling trip is good. It has a triggered extra on it, but it is also flawed to only when triggered. This way it can be used when moving. It seems to have the same base effect as element control (air). I don't have the book with me but i think that only affects one target at a time. If i read your tunneling trip correctly though it affects an area, a straight line along the tunnel movement, so it'd only give a bonus equal to half of the tunneling power ranks.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm not an expert either, but I know a little about scorpions.

Some notable things:

They are extremely resistant to suffocation, cold & heat. I have seen a demo where a live scorpion frozen in a block of ice was then put into a pot to melt the ice, the water was brought to a boil, and the scorpion survived (temp range from 32-212 F). They are also quite resistent to radiation- they have been found alive closer to atomic bomb test sites closer than anything except cockroaches). Their armor is also among the strongest in the arthropod world. The PC in question should probably take the appropriate feats and powers to reflect this- Immunities, Durability, Armor, etc.

All known species glow under ultraviolet light. A weakness perhaps?

The smaller ones have more powerful venom than the larger ones, in general. Some are powerful paralyitics that attack the skeletal muscles that keep the victim alive, much like spider venoms. Some are just straight-up neurotoxins that kill by muscular paralyisis of the cardio-pulmonary system (you suffocate & your heart stops). This is a problematic ability to model in a hero unless you just stick to a muscular paralytic. It should also have the flaw of limited uses/day.

Like many other arthropod predators, they have a broad field of vision (270-360 degrees), and are good at sensing vibration. (All-around vision, Blindsight or Combat Sense.)

Scorpions are not strong swimmers, but some do float. None of them that I know of jump, but are VERY fast runners. Perhaps a level of Super Speed and some Lightning Reflexes?

Most can climb vertical surfaces, so at least 1 level of Clinging would be in character.

Like most arthropods, they have a limited ability to regenerate lost limbs.

They can sting for as long as 24 hours after they are dead.

A couple of levels of Super Strength would be in order- like most arthropods, they are disproportionately strong.

Your tunnelling trip is appropriate, but perhaps it should be modeled by the Feat Surprise Attack with the flaw "only after tunnelling under victim".

You should also try the feat Improved Grapple on the PC.

[nighthunter]

thanks, this has all been a big help.
I'll be sure to post the character here after he's written up just so everyone can see the results.