Jab's He-Builds: She-Ra, Tri-Klops, Mer-Man, Orko, Glimmer

[Jabroniville]

WORM
Created By: Chris Claremont & Marc Silvestri
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #250 (Oct. 1989)
Role: Jobber Villain, Mind Controller
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Mutates
PL 10 (113)
STRENGTH -1 STAMINA 0 AGILITY -1
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+7)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+6)
Insight 5 (+7)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 5 (+4)

Advantages:
Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutate Nature: Mind-Controlling Mucous"
Affliction 13 (Will; Dazed/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Cumulative, Contagious, Progressive +2) [65]
Features 1: Can Bestow "Ownership" of Thralls to Another [1]

"Worm-Like Body" Movement 1 (Slithering) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Mucus +7 (+13 Affliction, DC 23)
Initiative -1

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +0, Fortitude +3, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Leader's)- All the Mutates will readily follow the most dominant personality, and do whatever they say.
Motivation (Control)- Worm loves watching his thralls dance like puppets, drawing a perverse pleasure from it.
Power Loss- If the mucus Worm distributes is washed off or chemically neutralized, his victims are freed from his control.

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 68 / Defenses: 19 (113)

-Okay, this isn't even funny anymore. ANOTHER Mind Controller? Talk about a limited gimmick. Worm is rather a lot like Masque, another diminutive guy with weird gross powers, but with a close-range Mind Control attack. He squeezes mucous from suction-cup thingies on his palms, which then covers targets and forces them to do his bidding. This mucous can then come off onto OTHER subjects, meaning he can gather an entire army of thralls in a short time- just about the only character I can think of to actually use the "Contagious" Extra. It's also Progressive (needs no extra input from him, and gets worse as the guys miss saves) and Cumulative, making it extremely expensive and powerful. But again, like his buddies, he's one-note, and pretty much unable to hurt anyone unless he's controlling them.

[Jabroniville]

Hah, nice Eighties Hair there, lady.

ZALADANE (Zala Dane)
Created By: Gerry Conway & Barry Windsor-Smith
First Appearance: Astonishing Tales #3 (Dec. 1970)
Role: Wannabe Mega-Villain
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Mutates, The Sun People
PL 10 (160)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+5)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Magic) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+7)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 3 (+7)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Artificer, Equipment 8 (Base, Scienc-y Stuff), Minions 17 (Sun People, Assorted Slaves), Ranged Attack 8, Ritualist

Powers:
"Trained Sorceress/Priestess"
Mind Control 10 (40) -- [42]

AE: Blast 10 (20)
AE: "Magnetic Control" Move Object 10 (Extras: Perception Range) (30)

Equipment:
"Exploding Fire-Bomb" Blast 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (21) -- (22)

AE: "Flaming Spear" Strength-Damage +3 (Extras: Ranged 5) (8)

"Armour" Protection 2 (2)
Base & Stuff (17 points worth)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Flaming Spear +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Fire-Bomb +7 Area (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Magic Blast +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Mind Control +10 (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 19), Toughness +2 (+4 Armour), Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- Zaladane is a power-hungry witch, and wants to control the entire Savage Land.
Power Loss (Bound)- Zaladane cannot cast spells if her hands or mouth are bound.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 35 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 14 (160)

-Zaladane is a brief leader of the Mutates, debuting in Ka-Zar-based Savage Land tales, and eventually taking command of the jobbers themselves. She claimed a familial relationship with Polaris (who knows where THAT lies these days), stole Magneto's powers for a bit, and did some stuff, but she ultimately was fatally wounded because she, you know, SCREWED WITH MAGNETO, and you sure as hell don't want to be a fourth-tier villain when doing crap like THAT. Nobody's touched her in years, mainly because Evil Sorceresses are a dime a dozen, Polaris is too low-tier to make their blood relationship worth much (though I guess Zala is now a Magneto relation as well), and she was never that great to begin with.

-Zaladane's a standard PL 10 Wizard-type character, but with a Minion/Overlord-type template added onto it. She's not THAT bad in a fight, but prefers to have her minions do most of the leg-work, and her Magic is comparatively limited to three things. She's been shown as having magnetic powers several times, mostly after stealing them from Magneto and stuff, but I threw them on there for the heck of it.

[Jabroniville]

OK, I posted this in the "General" forum, but things get buried fast there, so I was hoping my build-watchers could help me out a bit with some House Rules I've come up with.


So the current Growth is a bit cheaper, but drops some of the old effects, meaning you no longer seem to have the boosts to Reach or the Area Effects when you use your giant-sized fists and feet to attack. The rulebook doesn't seem to include anything about this, but I think it's acceptable to put some options (much like the Alt.Effects for Strength to include the old "Groundstrike" and other Strength APs) onto things.

I think these would be optional for higher-levels of Growth-based characters, giving them some extra boosts for some more cost, at the base cost of the point.

Possible Boosts:
"Reach" (The Reach +1 Flat Extra to "unarmed attack"): +1 (Growth 2), +2 (Growth 5), +3 (Growth 9), +4 (Growth 12), +5 (Growth 14), +6 (Growth 16), +7 (Growth 17), +8 (Growth 18), +9 (Growth 19), +10 (Growth 20)
"Area Effects" (For the melee attacks of huge people) Burst Damage- Diminished Range -3 (3 feet, Growth 9), Dim.Range -2 (6 feet, Growth 12), Dim.Range -1 (15 feet, Growth 15), Normal Burst (30 feet, Growth 17), Burst +2 (60 feet, Growth 20)

The latter would be ranked at the damage output of the character at their size level (a Complication maybe to limit their damage to those size levels, for if they were smaller?). What does everyone think of these? The size of the Burst grows as the character's size does.

There's already been a handful of builds going around that created "Groundstrike" for 3rd Edition. Here's mine:
Groundstrike (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery, Limited to Grounded Targets) Linked to Damage (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited to Objects)

I think this covers both the bases of guys being knocked over (a momentary inconvenience), and the effect it has on the surrounding environment (can be scaled back or just nullified if you'd rather just have that as flavor text, since many guys could do more damage just by punching stuff, but not in such a wide burst).

Also, the speed modifiers seem a little weird. Unless I got it wrong, someone like Usain Bolt has Speed 3 as a power, allowing a Hero Point spent for Extra Effort to get to Speed 4 (30 mph). But normal humans are limited to only TWO miles per hour, which seems bizarre (a REALLY good jogger can do a three-minute mile). Is this right?

[FuzzyBoots]

Someone posted an addendum, saying that in the Elongation power entry, there's a brief mention that your reach is equal to your size, so Reach from Growth may still exist, just misplaced.

[Jabroniville]

That doesn't seem to be 'paid for' in the 2 points/rank cost of Growth, though, and isn't actually stated anywhere. Now, DCA DOES have several instances of very poor writing and/or wording, but it seems like something you should have to actually buy up. But I guess the Main Rulebook's only Growth-based builds are the Animals, who don't have it, so who knows? Maybe it's just something you're supposed to hand-wave?

[Jabroniville]

BRAINCHILD
Created By: Roy Thomas & Neal Adams
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #62 (Nov. 1969)
Role: Jobber Villain, The Smart Guy
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Mutates
PL 8 (99)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+4)
Deception 6 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 10 (+18)
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+10)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 2 (+4)
Technology 10 (+18)
Treatment/Medicine 4 (+12)

Advantages:
Equipment 5 (Lab & Stuff), Inventor, Ranged Combat 8

Powers:
"Mutate Nature: Hyper-Intellect"
"Quick Thinking" Quickness 10 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Tasks) [5]

Equipment:
Lab & Stuff (25 points worth)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Power & Science)- Brainchild constantly seeks new sources of power, and loves to experiment with anything he can get his hands on.
Motivation (Leader's)- Even though he leads the Mutates more often that not, he is easily cowed by the newest, most charismatic person to come along.
Reputation (Childlike Ego)- Brainchild is a braggart, and easily convinced to talk about himself and how smart he is.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 5 / Defenses: 14 (99)

-Brainchild is one of the most recurring Mutates, and generally defaults to their leader, since most of the other leaders are random characters who fade in an out: Magneto, Sauron & Zaladane. A smart guy with the maturity of a child, he was frequently undone by bragging or going on too long, and invented tons of useful stuff for the Mutates, and enjoyed genetically experimenting on people. He's actually responsible for the creation of a handful of Mutates himself- and is probably the biggest pain of the entire team in that regard. However, he folds easily and can't take a hit, despite being an OK fighter for a huge dork (he professes talent at accuracy, not that it helps him- at PL 5 in combat, he's not taking ANYBODY out), and he makes his PL by virtue of his scientific acumen. His only power is Mental Quickness, though he's been shown using a Mental Blast one time. I choose to stat that up as a temporary device, however.

[Jabroniville]

Say what you will about John Byrne as a person, but the man could draw some FANSERVICE back in the day!

SAURON (Dr. Karl Lykos)
Created By: Roy Thomas & Neal Adams
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #59-60 (Sept-Aug. 1969)
Role: Background Villain, Jekyll/Hyde Guy
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Mutates, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
PL 10 (180)
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 1 (+10)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Survival) 8 (+10)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+6)
Intimidation 10 (+10)
Perception 8 (+10)
Stealth 7 (+10)
Technology 2 (+6)
Treatment/Medicine 10 (+14)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Close Attack 2, Damaging Escape, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Roll, Diehard, Evasion, Fast Grab, Follow-Up Strike, Improved Critical (Natural Weapons) 2, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative 2, Improved Hold, Last Stand, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown, Tracking

Powers:
"Pteranodon Physiology"
"Wings" Flight 6 (speed: 120 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [6]
"Natural Weapons- Claws & Beak" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Animal Senses" Senses 2 (Low-Light Vision, Scent) [2]
"Mutant Detection" Senses 3 (Detect Mutants, Ranged, Acute) [3]

"Life Drain" Weaken Stamina 10 Linked to Affliction 10 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Incapacitated) (Extras: Cumulative) (30) -- [33]

AE: "Hypnosis" Affliction 10 (Will; Entranced/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Area- Visual Perception, Cumulative) (30)
AE: "Fire Breath" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cone) (Drawbacks: Diminished Range -1) (19)
AE: "Mimic Mutant Powers" Mimic 5 (Flaws: Touch Range -2, Limited to Drained Victims) (Quirk: Only Affects Mutants) (24)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Natural Weapons +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Life Drain +10 (+10 Affliction & +10 Weaken, DC 20 & 20)
Hypnosis +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Fire Breath +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +11

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8 (+9 D.Roll), Fortitude +12, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Hunger)- Sauron is obsessed with draining the life forces of mutants to gain more power, and this frequently haunts even his alter ego.
Reputation (The Beast Within)- Karl Lykos is a doctor and a good man, but is twisted by his Hyde-like other self.
Weakness (Cold)- As a cold-blooded reptile, Sauron is especially vulnerable to cold temperatures.
Power Loss- If he has not drained the energy of a mutant in some time, Sauron will revert back to Karl Lykos, who has the Abilities: STR 0, STA 0, AGI 0.
Disabled (Mental Stats)- Sauron's mental faculties are extremely variable, and some forms of the creature appear no smarter than INT 0, and sometimes he appears as a snarling beast.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 18 (180)

-Sauron's one of the lesser recurring X-foes, with a weird place in their history- he hearkens back to the time when they were regular visitors to The Savage Land, in the Thomas/Adams years of the X-books. He's never really been used THAT much, but it seems that every single long-running arc on an X-book features a short return of this Jekyll/Hyde-type of guy. He mixes unoriginality (the Hyde thing, Lycanthropy) with uniqueness (a were-pteranodon who absorbs mutants?), and most of his plotlines are the same: the good Doctor Lykos gets tempted or twisted by his dark side (pretty much like Curt Connors always does- he NEVER stays cured for more than five years), absorbs a mutant, goes nuts, and then get stomped back down. See, as the X-Men got more varied and developed over the years, as opposers of racism and fighting society as much as super-villainy, a big generic "Drain and Conquer" kind of guy just gets left behind as a thematic villain.

-Sauron could be argued as being PL 11, since he was a frequent opponent of whole TEAMS of guys, but these days he's strictly a team player and hasn't been benefitted by too much Power Creep compared to many other X-Villains. He's an extreme threat thanks to his multiple expensive powers and ferocity more than any pure power levelling, and guys like Cannonball and Spider-Man can be expected to do okay, and even defeat him these days. He's been upgraded in versatility by Weapon X to include Fire Breath and Mimicry (folded into the Array because it's a minor power he's only showed a few times, so wasn't worth a giant 24-point separate chunk), adding to his already-powerful Mass Hypnosis and his lethal Life Drain power, which can Fatigue AND Weaken people. He's fast, a solid fighter, strong, has enhanced senses, can fly, and versatile- a dangerous foe, even if he doesn't break PL 10.

[Jabroniville]

Okay, so that's it for the Savage Land Mutates, who are apparently an entire squadron of Mind Controllers and two strong guys, all in loincloths. Next up, I'm gonna toss out a bunch of Morlocks (essentially all the named ones over the years, including the named victims of the Marauders to complete my "Mutant Massacre" set), and a few more Marvel Villains. Nobody's tossed out Absorbing Man or Titania yet, as I recall. Then I'll do the Fantastic Four, mainly because I waited WAY too long to do them in 2nd Edition (like two years or something), and they're such handy benchmark guys in this game.

After that, it's up for grabs. Is there any set somebody wants to see done first?:
-The Avengers (whole entire roster- obviously this'll take some time to get through)
-Spider-Man's Friends & Foes (another gigantic group, but with more esoteric villains)
-Animal Builds (the DCA book promises more animal builds coming, but the ones they have up are pretty lazy, slapshod stuff- the Wolf build has a CHARISMA score, the Ape is 12 feet tall, and several animals break PL with their defenses or saves. My own list would basically include the entirety of what I did before, with a bit more tossed in. Like including various breeds of Dog, Coyote & Fox along with the Wolves, etc.)

[kenseido]

Well I still vote Avengers, but Animal builds would be great too.

[FuzzyBoots]

^_^ How about Section 8 from the Hitman books?

Sixpack
Bueno Excellente
The Defenestrator
Dogwelder
Friendly Fire
Jean de Baton-Baton
Flemgem
Shakes

I have a sneaking suspicion that Green Ronin won't remember to put them into the Heroes and Villains book...

[BlindPugh]

A vote for the Spider-verse here, I need Carrion in 3e

[luketheduke86]

Say what you will about John Byrne as a person, but the man could draw some FANSERVICE back in the day!

Wow, that he can!

Very nice jobber builds there Jab! I almost forgot that Sauron even existed to be honest lol, of course that could be because he hasn't really been anything recently besides showing up in the New Avengers when they first started off.

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, Sauron's one of those guys who just got left behind in the shuffle. Most of the other X-villains are mutants with some sort of pro-mutant goal, or a personal vendetta against one or more X-Men. Sauron's just kind of a tool.

Oh, and I figured "screw it", and decided my next builds are gonna be of the New Mutants and Hellions! Because they're some of my favourite characters ever, and they're a MAJOR test of any game system's prowess (especially lil' Illyana). The builds will represent them at various stages, including the modern day.

[FuzzyBoots]

Oh, and I figured "screw it", and decided my next builds are gonna be of the New Mutants and Hellions! Because they're some of my favourite characters ever, and they're a MAJOR test of any game system's prowess (especially lil' Illyana). The builds will represent them at various stages, including the modern day.

W00t! Are you going to include the new and improved resurrected Doug Ramsey after the Necrosha series?

[Jabroniville]

THE MORLOCKS:

The Morlocks are a great little story in X-lore. Initially debuting in X-Men #169, they came in during part of the Iron Age of Comics, when things started getting REALLY dark in the post-70s era, and you had stuff like punk music, leather, etc. all becoming fashionable, and Chris Claremont latched onto that. Using the "Mutants As Outcasts" trope, he created an entire HUGE society of hundreds of mutants, all physically deformed, to prove that not all mutants were six-pack-having gorgeous people with bulging muscles and bosoms.

They started off by kidnapping Angel (of the old team of X-Men... Claremont didn't use them a lot, but he occasionally showcased them), nearly forcing him to marry Callisto, the Morlocks' leader, because he was so pretty and they were jealous/amazed. Storm fought her way down, combatting her own Claustrophobia, and kicked Callisto's ass in solo combat, taking leadership of the entire society (what IS it with dork-based media always setting things up with "Trial by combat" being the road to political leadership? Angry memories of being beaten up by popular jocks in High School to create the pecking order?). They showed up multiple other times: Annalee kidnapped Power Pack to make them her new children, Caliban nearly forced Kitty Pryde to marry him (but let her go, realizing she was sad and didn't want it), and that Healer guy came in handy a thousand times, frequently being used as a Deus Ex Machina any time somebody got hurt.

So Claremont actually got some good play out of them. And then, when he realized the storyline was kind of drawn out, he cut a SWATH through them, wiping them out with The Marauders. Okay, so none of the major characters died. X-Factor was allied with several, all of whom survived. Callisto, Sunder and Caliban all made it out. So it was really three-hundred Mooks who died. But still.

Of course, a good idea like The Morlocks just won't die, so various other writers tried to re-create them, with varying success. The late 90s brought Gene Nation, a secret group of Morlocks saved by Colossus' brother Mikhail and doing the ever-popular "Rapid Aging" excuse that I hate so very much. They kind of sucked (they dished Marrow out on the world). A few communities showed up here and there in other cities. Then someone revealed the whole group was created by Dark Beast as "Failed Experiments", and that was the revelation as to why Mr. Sinister had them killed (as the Marauders' boss)- he saw his handiwork in them. But whatever.