The Piper:PL: 10
Str 12 (+1) Dex 14 (+2) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 14 (+2)
Skills: Bluff 10 (+12), Concentration 8 (+11), Craft [Electronic] 8 (+12), Knowledge [Art] 10 (+14), Knowledge [Physical Sciences] 10 (+14), Knowledge [Pop Culture] 8 (+12), Knowledge [Technology] 10 (+14), Notice 8 (+11), Perform [Oratory] 8 (+10), Perform [Wind Instruments] 10 (+14), Profession [Composer] 8 (+12), Sense Motive 8 (+11), Sleight of Hand 8 (+10), Stealth 6 (+8.)
Feats: Attack Focus [Ranged] 5, Distract [Bluff], Fascinate [Perform], Improved Initiative, Inventor, Luck, Skill Mastery [Knowledge (Art), Knowledge (Physical Sciences), Knowledge (Pop Culture), Knowledge (Technology)]
Powers: Super-Senses 3 [Acute Hearing; Extended Hearing; Radius Hearing]
Sensory Shield 10 [auditory]
Device [
Tech Flute] 7 [easy to lose]
--Sonic Control 12
-Alt. Power: Blast 12
-Alt. Power: Blast 8 (Extra: Area [Burst])
-Alt. Power: Blast 8 (Extra: Area [Cone])
-Alt. Power: Disintegrate 8 (Flaw: Limited [Crystalline/Glass objects only])
-Alt. Power: Stun 8 (Extra: Ranged)
-Alt. Power: Mind Control 10 (Extra: Area [Burst]); (Flaw: Hearing Dependent)
-Alt. Power: Animal Control 12 (Flaw: Limited [Rats only])
Device [
White Noise Belt] 2 [hard to lose]
--Force Field 10
Saves: Toughness +12*/+2 [*Impervious Force Field]
Fort +7
Ref +8
Will +9
Combat: Attack +3/+8 (ranged)
Damage +12 (tech pipe)
Defense +8 (+4 flat-footed)
Initiative +6
Costs: Attributes 28+ Skills 30+ Feats 11+ Powers 42+ Saves 17+ Combat 22= 150 pts.Real Name: Hartley Rathaway
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 153 lbs
Hair: Red
Eye Color: Green
Complications:Don't judge me: Piper is angry about how he was treated after the death of his father, having his own name and reputation tarnished simply because his foster-father had been a super-criminal. His following after his father's example into a life of crime was just the only available option Piper saw for himself after months of being denied the chance to support himself legally.
Honorable Crook: Piper believes that there is honor among thieves to the point that if he makes an agreement with a hero, or even the victims of his crimes, he should do everything he can to stick to it. Piper will even punish his henchmen for violating the terms of any agreement he makes.
Make them pay for what they did....: When it's all said and done, Hartley is just a lonely boy who'd finally found a father figure in his life only to lose him after a short of amount of years together. He's an angry child lashing out at the world that hurt him but if someone were to praise his foster-father's musical works then there is a chance that Piper might surrender without a fight. Otherwise he's all about pulling thefts that allow him to show off how advanced his music based technology is.
Background: Hartley Rathaway was born deaf to a young, poor couple who gave him up for adoption. At the adoption home Hartley couldn't get the needed procedure to cure his condition and as a result he spent the early years of his life at the home until one day he discovered music, or more accurately the feel of music. Hartley became almost obsessed with music, reading anything & everything he could lay his hands on, in time he began to learn the basics of being a musical conductor. This led to Hartley reading about the criminal known as the Maestro who was reformed at the time. Hartley wrote to the man, explaining his life and his interest in music asking if Basil Fatherton would possibly like to at least share his knowledge of music with him.
Two weeks later Basil showed up at the adoption home asking to meet Hartley and spend the afternoon with him. The pair got along so well despite the need for an interpreter that Basil was invited back for the following weekend to visit Hartley again. For almost a year this went on until Basil made the offer to adopt Hartley, this caused some problems at first considering Basil's history but he had been technically found mentally unsound and he had been committed instead and several years later deemed to be cured. Six months later Hartley moved into his new home in Freedom City with Basil, and for the first time in his young life Hartley felt like he had everything he'd ever want for his life. Basil made a good father, sparing no cost to treat Hartley's deafness even going so far as to dabble again in sonic technologies to create custom hearing aids that were surgically implanted in Hartley that corrected his hearing problems entirely.
From then on the two lived a quite life with Hartley being home schooled and he and Basil enjoying music for hours upon hours. When Hartley was seventeen he earned a chance to study music under one of the best known instructors in Europe, he was thrilled as was Basil but Hartley would have to move overseas to be able to study. With a heavy heart Basil gave Hartley his blessings and wished him all the luck in the world, as well as making sure that Hartley was taken care of fiscally for his entire time studying.
It was during this separation that Basil began to suffer mental stress and with a few years reverted back to his old criminal ways. Hartley returned after learning of his father's relapse into crime but he learned that Basil was too set into this mindset no matter what Hartley tried. Finally the threat of the Maestro came to an end when he suffered an seizure while in the midst of committing a crime, Basil had suffered a minor injury in his brain from several years ago that was irritated by his using the Sonic Baton consistently over the years.
Hartley was crushed, the man that took him in when nobody else even wanted him had passed on. Even worse Hartley was stuck with a large amount of debts as Basil had used much of his personal finances to fund his schemes and there had been several lawsuits over the years as a result of his crime sprees. The worst of it came when Hartley attempted to get a job, his relation to Basil would always come up making people assume the wrong thing about Hartley. After being denied employment Hartley would be on his way out when his enhanced hearing would pick up parts of people's conversations about him and how "crazy" or "disturbed" his father must have been and what was he thinking anyways? Trying to get a job that dealt with priceless items or uniquely skilled people.
Soon Hartley realized some of Basil's frustrations, and he would pass time experimenting with some of the pieces of equipment Basil had left in their home. Finally Hartley snapped when the person interviewing him blatantly insulted Basil to Hartley's face, Hartley had to be pulled off of the man by three security guards and removed from the building by force.
Once he was home Hartley realized that sometimes it was impossible to fight against what society perceived you and your family to be. Therefore if all they saw him as was the son of the Maestro, then that is what Hartley would become. It took him almost a year to locate most of Basil's old bases but once he did he discovered just how well his father had understood the science of sonics. One certain item Hartley found was a flute-like device that Basil had built awhile ago but never used for whatever reason, but Hartley was instantly in tune with it as his preferred instrument was the flute. Perhaps Basil built it thinking that Hartley would one day follow him into the family business like he was doing right at that moment.
Three months later the Piper made his debut, robbing the Barnum & Bailey Circus as it came through Freedom City. Unbeknownst to Piper, Callie Summers was in the crowd and she was able to slip away during the chaos to change into her other identity of Raven and prevented Hartley from escaping with the majority of his ill-gotten gains. Piper continued with his plans of following in Basil’s footsteps, robbing various targets across the city. From jewelry stores to banks to casinos to fundraisers even, nothing was safe from Hartley’s larcenous streak, finally like his father before him Hartley ran afoul of Johnny Rocket whose speed allowed him to move faster than Hartley’s music could travel. Since that time Piper has taken over the Maestro’s spot in the Crime League as Dr. Stratos recognizes Piper’s skills and abilities.
Hartley is his father’s son and has mastered acoustics manipulating sound for various uses. Unlike the Maestro though Piper uses a tech flute which must be played for him to use it’s abilities, by playing certain notes Piper can create blasts of sonic energy that can vary in size to tunes that can make the listener follow him blindly without any mind to whatever is in their path. Piper has also devised a white noise belt that grants him a force field that is able to create a thin, yet durable wall of sound to protect himself from most forms of damage. Piper also has greater than human hearing due to his unique hearing implants that were designed by the Maestro himself. The implants replace the damaged part of Hartley’s eardrum and allow him to hear sounds more precisely and at a farther range than most people would find impossible.