A Higher Calling - LHAC

The city: Daleburg, located in the Southeastern USA.

The problem: crime. Of course.

The solution: you. According to you, anyway...superhero. Whether through training or powers, you have access to skills and abilities that could be put to use fighting crime and helping people. So that's what you've decided to do.

Test yourself. Prove yourself. Become a legend...but be careful. The villains are relentless, you're not the only superheroes in town, and the government isn't likely to appreciate you making it look bad. Embrace your higher calling, and you may find yourself living up to all your childish dreams of heroism...but remember what they say about those who fight with monsters.

Power corrupts.
**

Welcome to A Higher Calling, which is not about receiving calls from drug dealers but rather is about being a superhero and all that fun stuff. Fight villains! Save girls! Get cats out of trees! Have your back broken and get thrown in foreign prisons! Snap alien necks! Find out the government organization you've been working for is actually infested with neo-Nazis! Help old ladies cross the street! Punch elder gods from alternate dimensions until they cry for mommy!

The usual chat, the usual people, the usual stuff. Anyone who isn't an ACing regular who wants to join, just post and I'll fill you in on the busywork details, but forgive me for assuming that's unlikely

You play college kids living in a dorm on campus in Daleburg. You all know each other at the start of the game, in the sense that you're classmates, but that doesn't make you friends, and whether you share secret identities is up to you. Age category is 18-26 without a fantastically good reason.

Character Creation:

Name: Your name.
Alias: Your superhero name.
Trait:

XP: 5000. XP is used to purchase Feats and Statuses, and awarded at the end of missions.
HP: You gain 2HP for each point of STR, and 1HP for each point of CON. You start with a base of 10HP in addition to this. Additional HP can be purchased at a rate of 400XP for 1HP, but only if you cannot improve your STR or CON any further.
Stats: You start with 5 points in each stat, and 12 additional points to customize. You cannot raise a stat above 10 pre-Feats. Spoiler contains a detailed breakdown of all stats. For a simple run-through, just look below.

-STR: Strength represents physical power. It improves health, melee damage, and saves against poisons and similar effects.
-DEX: Dexterity represents speed and agility. It improves melee hit and dodge chance and reaction speed.
-CON: Concentration represents focus and willpower. It improves power hit chance, some HP, and saves against disorientation effects.
-INT: Intelligence represents brainpower. It improves power damage, ranged defense, and computer/technology use.
-WIS: Wisdom represents street smarts and people sense. It improves ranged damage, psychic and power defense, and charisma.
-AIM: Aim represents ocular prowess. It improves ranged hit chance, perception and defense against vision impairments such as smoke.
Feats: Feats are your powers, your talents, and your skills. You start the game with two Feats for free. Stat-boosting Feats(the first six) cost 1000XP, whereas all other Feats cost 2000. Custom Feats are allowed, pending GM approval and a discussion on cost.

Statuses: Statuses are temporary benefits cheaper than Feats, but ones that can only be used for one mission or even shorter periods. They can be extremely useful, but you can only have two types at a time. However, you can have as many of each of those as you want, and they can be saved until used later.

Gadgets:(If applicable) Gadgets can take many forms. Run them by me if you'd like to run with them, and I'll veto or approve them.

That's base character creation. Next, we have the biographical and supplementary information segment!

Bio: Provide your character's story, in however much or little detail you want. I suggest talking about how they got what powers they have, why they chose to become a superhero, and what their general outlook on life is.
Description: What do you look like, in and out of costume?
Roommate(s): Being a college student like you are, you don't have the luxury of living on your own. List your roommate(s) here! Make them yourself, or partner with another PC, or pick from the list below.

Characters: If you want to supply NPCs, be they heroes, villains, or just people to populate the world, here's the place to do it. I will be taking all the player suggestions that I can get, so let your imagination run wild!
Other: If there's anything else you want to add, this is the place to do it.


My personal timing preference would be Thursday nights at 5EST. However, if people can't do that, I'm willing to talk and find alternate times. I'll reserve one post, and then I'll see you guys in Daleburg.

Character List:

STARRING:


Allies:


Enemies:


Neither:


Organizations:


Episode List:

Season One:(Airing)
-Pilot: Sending a Message
-Episode Two: The Mask
-Episode Three: Smoke and Mirrors
-Episode Four: Vaneer
-Episode Five: RP Interlude Partners
-Episode Six: Lord Enki
-Episode Seven: Shade
-Episode Eight: Mind Games
-Episode Nine: RP Interlude Friends
-Episode Ten: The Grey Witch
-Episode Eleven: The Peacekeepers
-Episode Twelve: RP Interlude Changes

Season Two:(Outline complete, finishing new stats)
-Episode One: Larceni
-Episode Two: Scorpion
-Episode Three: Iron Men
-Episode Four: RP Interlude Family
-Episode Five: [Ye of Little Faith]
-Episode Six: [Hellfire]
-Episode Seven: RP Interlude Little Sisters
-Episode Eight: [Old Friends]
-Episode Nine: [Ancient Hate]
-Episode Ten: [Become Something Greater]
-Episode Eleven: RP Interlude Angel
-Episode Twelve: Unholy Alliance
-Episode Thirteen: Why Do You Fight?
-Episode Fourteen: RP Interlude United We Stand

Season Three:(In development)
TBA

*"[]" denotes temporary/spoilered name

Click to expand...

Name: Tory Lynn Piper
Alias: Lady Vesta
Trait: Many Talents
XP: 100
HP: 45
Stats:
-STR: 5
-DEX: 5
-CON: 11
-INT: 11
-WIS: 12
-AIM: 4
Feats:
Phlebotinum Projectile: Tory can shoot fire-based projectiles to burn and produce concussive blasts.
Heartache: For every ally below half health, you gain +1 to all to-hit and damage rolls. KO'd allies do not count towards this bonus.
Thermodynamic: Tory can add or remove the heat from objects in her vicinity, enough to melt metal or freeze liquids.
Beyond Human: Hit Chance
Healing
Telepathy
The Wise One
Hyper Focus
The Smart One
Dual Team Takedown: Tesla

Statuses: (None yet)
Bio: Tory's tale begins with her mother, Evangeline. Born out on the West Coast, Evangeline Thorn was the youngest daughter of a family of five, with deeply religious parents who did their best to raise her with good morals. However, things took a darker turn when Evangeline began to develop superpowers due to a fluke in her genetics, giving her psychokinetic abilities. With this unpleasant discovery Evangeline's home life became worse and worse until her parents became convinced that their daughter's powers were the work of the Devil and sought to drive it out by any means necessary. Thankfully, Evangeline had grown up fast and slowly came to master her new powers, so that the first time her parents considered violence she was able to wipe their memories of her existence and flee to a distant relative in Washington DC. By the time she was a teenager she had started working as a superhero under the code name Princess Hyperion, and by the time she was an adult and changed her name to Queen Hyperion she had established herself as one of the more notable of the first superheroes to emerge. She worked out of Washington DC alongside her fellow superheroes for several years until she eventually decided to retire from full-time superhero work, choosing to bow out and pass the torch to a new generation while she was still in her prime. Marrying her longtime friend and supporter Truman Piper, she moved to Daleburg to live someplace quieter and raise a family of her own. This included her eldest daughter, Tory Lynn Piper.

Tory was her parent's second child, coming after her older brother Miles and before her younger siblings Rachel and Colin. All four Piper children inherited their mother's powers, which first manifested as control over one of the four classical elements, with Tory being able to produce and control fire. Despite the inherent weirdness of her home life Tory had a happy childhood, doing well in school and making a lot of friends thanks to her kind and gentle personality, including her best friend growing up Samuel Monroe. Tory began to develop her powers in high school, but unlike her older brother she had no serious aspirations to be a superhero, and decided that she wanted to study medicine and started working towards a doctorate at Daleburg University. It was here that she met and reconnected with her old friend Samuel and discovered that he had developed superpowers like she did. Aware that he had no one to help him learn his new powers like she had and wanting to help him utilize his full potential, she decided to take on the mantle of a superhero as well to serve as his mentor and partner.

Description: Relatively tall and blessed with classical features like her mother, Tory has shoulder length light red hair and purple eyes, which tend to look blue when seen through her brown-framed academic-looking glasses. She has a very empathetic, modest, and nurturing personality, which can tend to come off as clingy and overprotective at times, but it would be a mistake to confuse her kindness with weakness, or to threaten anyone she considers friends or family.

Tory's hero outfit primarily consists of an armored purple tunic reaching down to her knees with a distinctly Roman look to it. The tunic has long white sleeves, and comes with a purple face mask covering her features from the nose down and a hooded purple cloak. She also wears fingerless gloves, white protective leggings for warmth, and purple boots, and naturally her entire outfit is fireproofed. She wears contacts to appear with her natural eye color when in costume and she uses a handy little device, a gift from her older brother, to make her hair appear white when in costume.

Roommate(s): Samuel Monroe
Characters:

• Truman Piper: Tory's father, a professional architect and perfectly normal human. Gregarious and supportive, he works hard to support his loving family and despite his modest upbringing and profession is well-versed in the strangeness that comes with being in a family of superheroes.
• Evangeline Piper: Tory's mother, formerly the famous psionic superheroine Queen Hyperion. Deeply intelligent and quite powerful in her own right, she chose to retire from full-time superhero work to raise her children, who all developed powers of their own, though she still reemerges to help with major threats and occasionally speak on behalf of civil rights. She has a very regal personality and enjoys intellectual pursuits and philosophical debates.
• Rachel Piper: Tory's younger sister, a fifteen year old with burgeoning earth-based super powers. A creative thinker and a straight-A student, she's a hard worker who loves to show off, and while she can be a little air-headed and vain on occasion, she's still very close to her big sister and secretly wants to be like her one day, though she'll never admit it publicly.
• Colin Piper: Tory's youngest brother, twelve years old and learning to master his wind and air-based powers. Unlike his sister Rachel, Colin has a very laid-back and cool personality, and has a well-established reputation for being a slacker. He likes to take things slow and as they come, and while he can be stubborn he's not afraid to move to defend his family when the time comes.
• Miles Piper: Tory's elder brother, only a few years older then her and already a full-time superhero with water-based powers operating under the name Lord Enki. A natural born leader, he's well-known for his valiance and bravery on the field of battle, as well as his temperament and hot-hotheadedness. He's since moved to a place of his own away from the rest of the family, but he still keeps in touch with Tory and is incredibly pleased to know she changed her mind and decided to become a superhero as well.

Other: Nothin yet

Name: Joris Jonckheer
Alias: Big Fun
Trait: Many Talents
XP: 0950
HP: 74
Pie à la Mode HP: 83
Stats:

• STR: 12
• DEX: 12
• CON: 10
• INT: 1
• WIS: 5
• AIM: 6

Feats:

• Super Strength: Years of football and hauling his ridiculous mass around.
• Super Speed: Many football players take ballet, & Joris has been interested in parkour for a while. He didn't have much time for either when he first moved to Daleburg, but he's gotten better at time management and had worked them back into his schedule.
• Determinator: He always gives 110%.
• Having 23rds: Grants an additional +1 HP per point of STR
• Give me Plenty Space: Shifts the INT ranged combat dodge to STR
• Pie à la Mode: When Big Fun feels intense fear, he enters Pie à la Mode, giving +3 to STR & DEX and +551.2 lbs. to weight (+250 kg to mass).
• Ham on Whole Wheat: Increased potency of all healing effects received. Does not work unless in Pie à la Mode.
• Taking up Seven Rows: Whenever a ranged or melee attack is made against an allied character within a small radius of Big Fun, roll the attackers AIM vs. Big Fun's STR; if Big Fun wins, the attacker attacks him instead of their original target. Redirected attacks have +2 to hit and -2 to damage. Does not work unless in Pie à la Mode.
• All by Myself I'm a Crowd: Big Fun gets a free action whenever he KO's an enemy when in Pie à la Mode.
• More Chins than Chinatown: Can make a STR check to force one enemy/turn to attack Big Fun. A close success takes an action, it is free otherwise.

Statuses:

• N/A

Gadgets:

• N/A

Description: Has a smooth, full face, thick, curly blond hair & myrtle eyes. He weighs in at 1066 lbs. (483.5 kg), making him the 11th fattest person since records of the fattest people on Earth started being kept. He's a bit on the slow side, but a stellar work ethic and great ability to focus allowed him to keep up in school, and, in combination with his football skills, got him a scholarship to Daleburg University. He loves tinkering with machinery and building clockwork gadgets, which is what led to his rooming with the Byrnes twins. He usually wears extremely stretchy, loose-fitting clothing. Super suit consists of a violet Phrygian cap and Colombina mask, as well as a scarlet & byzantine robe pulled over his normal clothing. He is majoring in Early Medieval Germanic Mythology. Harbors a slight fear of ghosts.
Roommates: Justin Sobieski & The Byrnes Sisters (Bindi and Brandi)
Characters:

• Karl Jonckheer: Joris's father; he left home shortly after he turned 18 and started his own restaurant with the blessing of his parents, which was very successful. Has the power to duplicate himself an unknown number of times, which comes in handy when his employees get sick or his wife wants to experiment.
• Roosje Jonckheer: Joris's mother & his father's fourth cousin (the Jonckheers prefer to marry within the family to minimize the chances of a spouse spilling the family secret), she's a socialite with no powers of her own, which is a good thing, as (secret sessions with her husband excepted), she has a crippling fear of superpowers and those who wield them. Is a skilled pianist.
• Ursula Jonckheer: Joris's eldest sister, she is currently attending her final year of medical school. She was far more understanding and sympathetic of Joris growing up than his mother or his other sister were. She has powers herself, and knows what it's like to grow up without a mother's love. She can transform into an enormous bear at will, and can command bears of all kinds.
• Lijsbeth Jonckheer: Joris's other older sister, she took after her mother and was terrified of Joris, Ursula, & Karl growing up. She mellowed out during high school and is closer with the three of them now, but she still feels a tingle of anxiety whenever she is around them. Works in PR at a weapon manufacturing firm.
• Maximilian Jonckheer: Joris's younger brother, he is only 9 years old and doesn't appear to have any powers. Unlike the other nonpowered members of his immediate family, he thinks superpowers are 'cool' and was very upset when Ursula, and later Joris, left for college. Wants to be an astronaut.

Other: N/A
Feat Ideas:

Name: Justin Sobieski
Alias: Sir Lancelot
Trait: Training Montage
XP: 1300
HP: 62
Stats:
-STR: 14
-DEX: 12
-CON: 8
-INT: 4
-WIS: 7
-AIM: 3
Feats:
Darkness' Bane - Lancelot's Chains of Ashkelon are imbued with the ability to smite evil.
Dead Speaker - Lancelot is able to see, and communicate with, the dead as if they were regular people.
Only the Worthy - Only those considered worthy by Elizabeth are capable of lifting Ashkelon
Rocinante - Lancelot's etherial steed, he is a ghostly horse that can run on air when needed to.
Super Speed - +2 DEX
Training from Hell - +4 Melee damage
Super Strength - +2 STR
Dead Warrior's March - When Justin's protective instincts take over a miasma begins to spill from his suit and he gains criticals on rolls 18-20 as well as x3 critical damage.
Glorious Battle - Every other turn Lancelot can grant an ally Guaranteed Hit, or Guaranteed Defense as an action.
Statuses: None
Bio:

Description: When out of armor Justin is a relatively tall and fit American of polish descent with short, dirty blond hair and blue eyes framed by rimless glasses. In armor Justin is the picture of a traditional knight in full plate mail polished to a sheen with a visored sallet and bevor obscuring his identity. When fighting he flails around a golden spiked chain and rides on a pitch black horse. It is said by people who have seen him in battle that he is occasionally seen with a young child in a frilly dress on his shoulders.
Roommate: Joris Jonckheer, the Brynes Sisters, and Elizabeth
Characters:
Elizabeth - The young ghost who has bonded Justin to serve as her knight in shining armor. Very young and excitable she is constantly pestering him to go and fight evil ghosts and spirits. She has a poor grasp of any technology more modern than the steam engine and seems to have come from the Victorian era.
Benjamin Sobieski - Justin's father, a hard working mechanic who, despite the lack of a formal education, knows pretty much all there is to know about everything in Justin's eyes. He raised three children by himself and despite his gruff exterior is capable of acts of great compassion, he dotes on his two younger daughters.
Sarah Sobieski - The oldest daughter (age 14~15) she's built up a tough and independent exterior as a result of having to grow up without a mother or older female figure. Going to a martial arts club and getting into sports, Sarah is a tomboy through and through. She still is very concerned about here family's well being though as can be seen through her recent suspicion of how Justin has been acting during the summer.
Mary Sobieski - Younger by one year than Sarah, Mary is basically the polar opposite of her sister. Caring and empathetic she tries to make sure that everyone is happy when she's around. Like the rest of her family she has a strong loyalty to her family and generally gets along well with everyone.
The Grey Witch - The evil sorceress that Elizabeth claims is adjitating the evil spirits to attack the ghosts of Daleburg. Justin's never seen her personally but from what Elizabeth says she's apparently a woman of considerable power.

Name: Delilah Dahlio
Alias: Flicker
Gender: Female
Trait: Many Talents
Age: 20
Description: A dark haired young woman with olive skin, Delilah hides the golden tint of her eyes behind the ever-present pair of sunglasses perched on her delicate nose. For her midnight strolls, Delilah replaces these with a pair of darkened goggles and a black catsuit. The costumes forearms are adorned with a pair of grey gauntlets, and a matching belt is dotted with small pouches for her various gadgets.
Bio: The daughter of two minor superhumans from the city of Emporia, Delilah was born with a small array of minor superpowers. This was only the beginning of an unusual childhood; along with the unusual teachings of her parents, Delilah spent long hours with her 'uncles' in the Raphina Mafia, learning a similarly questionable array of skills. Although her uncanny senses and brightly coloured eyes were at first disturbing to her early schoolmates, Delilah found that a pair of sunglasses and a quick smile transformed her into the life of every party.

Delilah arrived in Daleburg with a plan to study Biology, and no intention of ceasing the nightly jaunts across the rooftops to which her parents had treated her as she aged. Armed with her grandfathers advice on the local mob, she instantly recognized her roommates ties to the Larceini family, and the two of them bonded over stories of the shared oddities of their childhood. With the unthinking wonder-lust she had inherited from her mother, Delilah spent her first night on the rooftops using what Lilian had told her to play prank after prank on the local gangsters, amusing herself greatly at their expense. This pattern would continue for months, Delilah inadvertently stopping a number of crimes with the sudden lights and noises to which the criminals were regularly treated.

Another of the little games to which Delilah treated herself was her 'adopt-a-policeman' scheme. Picking an 'appropriate' candidate, whose only real qualifications were being young and handsome, Delilah began slipping brief summaries of what the mob was doing into the mans car every few weeks. It was on these messages to 'Skippy' that she first began to sign-off as 'Flicker', the name which she would embrace for the rest of her nighttime entertainments. And it was thus, with an angry mafia, a confused but increasingly successful police officer, and a number of corporate janitors wondering what her name meant, that Flicker would encounter not just one, but several others bearing odd powers and odder costumes...

XP: 200
HP: 44

Stats:
STR: 5
DEX: 11
CON: 8
INT: 5
WIS: 10
AIM: 11

Feats:
Super Speed: Delilah inherited her mothers unshakable sense of balance, and moves with the same lazy grace.
Hyper Focus: Although Delilah seldom grants her focus to an issue, when she does she can be surprisingly persistent.
The Wise One: Delilahs upbringing has exposed her to numerous schools of moral thought, several interesting characters, and some impeccable poker faces.
Crack Shot: Almost nothing evades Delilah's Supernatural senses.
Charismatic (Defence): Delilah enjoys trading words with her opponents, but seldom applies any particular worth to what they say.
Physical Mastery (Stealth): Delilah's odd childhood and strange powers have trained her in remaining unseen with surprising ease.
Gadgeteer: Delilah is armed with a handful of small gadgets obtained from a variety of sources.
Gadgeteer Genius: This gadget supply has grown slowly over time, as new situations force her to expand her repertoire.
Light Warrior: Delilah can create light, although this is mostly useless to her, a brief flash can blind her opponents quite effectively. (Every other turn, may attempt to stun a single enemy for a turn with a power attack)
Eyes of the Beast: Delilah's uncanny senses mean she misses little that happens around her. (+4 Perception, can see in the dark and track scents)
Playful Patter: Delilah's tendency not to take things seriously can be maddening to her those around her. (+4 to Charisma attacks)
One With the Light: Delilahs powers to manipulate light have been expanding slowly, and at times she finds herself seemingly invisible to those around her. (May become invisible as a free action with GM consent, may be upgraded if Beyond Human is taken)

Gadgets:
Gas Canister: A small thrown object that releases a cloud of what is essentially tear gas, causing incredible pain upon contact with the eyes of those in the cloud.
Grapple Gun: One of Flickers gauntlets fires an adhesive 'hook' on the end of a cord, allowing the user to pull an object to them, or, more commonly, to be pulled to the object over a long distance.
Jack-in-the-Box: A small thrown object that creates a hologram of Flicker, tricking opponents into attacking empty air.
KIRI-11 Program: A small device loaded with viruses that allows the user to hack into some secured computer systems.
Scrambler: A small EMP emitter. Originally designed to be attached to a given system and disable it quietly, it can be easily overloaded and used in a grenade-like manner.
TIGGER: A small flying drone controlled through one of Flickers gauntlets allows her to deploy her other gadgets and observe events without having to be physically present, as well as confuse her opponents with the speaker system.

Lilian Larceini: A tall, reserved young woman with blonde hair, Lilian is Delilahs roommate. As the daughter of the local mob boss, she and Delilah quickly hit it off reminiscing about the oddities of their childhood, although Delilah has noted that in other company she is far less ready to speak on that, or any, subject. A student of law, Lilian seems to be quietly separating from the family business, apparently as a result of a rather controlling father.

David 'Skippy' Watson: A lean man with dark hair and chiseled features, David is an enthusiastic young officer in the Dalburg police. Since being 'adopted' by Flicker, he has received with bemusement her somewhat unorthodox messages about the state of the Larceini Mafia, and been forced to accept that he may never know where they are coming from. This has not stopped him from investigating the reports however, and with a number of successes now under his belt, he is coming around to the merits of the arrangement.

DT

Posting here to say that there have been some scheduling conflict discussions in chat, and as a result, I will be hosting this on Wednesday nights at 5EST instead of Thursdays. This Wednesday will be the first session, although(fair warning) I might be a bit late. I doubt it but I'll put it out here just in case.

Big Fun, Sir Lancelot and Tory all added to the spreadsheet, as are the first GMPC option and the first supervillain. I will be spending tomorrow running more villains, allies and mooks through the creation system to flesh out the details of the plot and world, so if you have suggestions for any of them, make sure to PM me soon. I'll take them even if they come later, but it'll be convenient to make them tomorrow.

Name: Zisel Ariesen
Alias: Chroma
Trait: Many Talents

XP: 1000
HP: 28

Stats:

• STR: 5
• DEX: 5
• CON: 8
• INT: 6
• WIS: 12
• AIM: 10

Feats:

• Wise One:
• Crack Shot:
• Beyond Human (To hit):
• Illusions:
• Healing:

Statuses:

• Guaranteed Defense (x2): Renders an enemy attack an automatic miss.

Description: Zisel can usually be spotted in hand-me-down t-shirts with her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and a collection of writing utensils, several pencils, pens, and an antique fountain pen, stuffed in her pockets. While out doing superhero type things she dons a predominately homemade white robe with grey highlights and carries around a notebook and the earlier mentioned fountain pen.
Bio: Same as above.
Roommate(s): Iris Figg.
Other Characters: May or may not exist.

A scheduling change has come up. I am still technically free on this one Wednesday but it would be much more difficult to run mission, whereas Monday would work fine at this point. So I would much, much rather run this one first mission tomorrow at 4-5EST(I'll be available early if people are as well) and then switch to Wednesdays later. If that doesn't work, I can do Saturday over the course of the day, or next Sunday, or Tuesday if Patchy's game isn't up by then. Next week may also have some difficulty but I don't think it'll require a rescheduling.

EDIT: Patchy has a conflict with Monday, but Tuesday night should be clear. I also am available today as of the time of this edit, so if everyone gets into chat before 4/5EST and wants to, I'm willing to run. However, I'm not planning on it unless it's convenient for everyone.

Name: Samuel Monroe
Alias: Tesla
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Trait: Many Talents
XP: 1300
HP: 47
Stats:
-STR: 5
-DEX: 7
-CON: 9
-INT: 12
-WIS: 4
-AIM: 7
Feats:
-The Smart One: +2 to Intelligence
-Lightning Strike (Phlebotinum Projectile): Samuel is capable of generating and harnessing electrical energy.
-Beyond Human (2): Samuel gains +4 to power damage; +4 to power hit chance.
-Static Shock: Samuel’s suit is line with conductive materials that course with electricity. Samuel gains one free attack per turn against any enemy he is engaged in melee combat with
-Arc Lightning: Samuel digs deep into his reserves, unleashing an attack that, upon hitting its target, chains to two other targets for normal damage, with a critical chance on the first target. Has a 2 turn cooldown.
-Thunderclap: Samuel unleashes a minor bolt of lightning to create a sharp crack of thunder, disorienting and/or deafening anyone with a medium radius of the attack. Has a 1 turn cooldown.
-Magnetic Manipulation (Half Feat): Sam is able to create a crude, low level magnetic field, capable of attracting or repulsing metallic objects.
-Flash (Half Feat): Samuel gains one free Guaranteed Defense to use per encounter.
-Dual Team Takedown (Lady Vesta/Tory)
Statuses: N/A
Gadgets: N/A
Bio: Short version: raised alone by his father, his mother having presumed to have died in an accident. Was childhood friends with Tory Lynn Piper. Developed his powers during adolescence. Its uncontrollable nature forces his father to create a device that attaches to Samuel’s back, so that he can control it. Samuel becomes increasingly withdrawn from his friends, out of fear of accidentally harming someone. Upon enrolling in Daleburg University, he is reunited with Tory, who eventually find out the truth of his powers. She reveals that she and her family have powers, and encourages Sam to embrace and use his.
Description: Samuel is a tall youth with light olive skin, short black hair and grey eyes. The suit he uses when fighting as Tesla is a white suit with a darkened, visored helmet, making him resemble the Stig. The helmet is equipped with a speaker system that broadcasts a synthesized version of his voice, and displays a readout that provides him with info about the device’s status.
Roommate(s): Tory Lynn Piper
Characters:
-Isaac Monroe: Samuel’s father. Engineer and part time tinkerer. Created the device that allows Sam to control his powers.
Other:

The mission began in truth when someone detonated a large bomb in the parking lot of St. Ravus church, not far from campus. The team investigated, all but Delilah in costume, and discovered a legion of men claiming to serve "the Guiding Light" holding hostages in the church, led by a man of considerable scars and military-style armor and equipment, nicknamed "Altarguy" by the team due to his choice of cover. After a short engagement, the mooks were defeated and Altarguy got out of dodge, but a universal TV broadcast revealed the entire thing was an attempt to gather attention, and a man named Vaneer proclaimed himself the head of the Guiding Light and declared his intent to take over the city.

The team was assisted by Valkyrie, a woman in silver powered armor with flight and laser-firing capabilities. Big Fun discovered she was in fact one of the Byrnes sisters, but none of the rest of the team knows this.

Highlights of the mission include:
-Delilah using TIGGER to be the "voice of God" echoing from the church rafters and the puplit, chastising the villains and heroes alike
-Rocinante the demon horse and his constant head-spinning
-Big Fun smothering a mook with his sheer weight
-Lady Vesta's liberal use of fireballs near hostages
-Tesla missing. Like, almost everything. At all.

XP:

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 450XP
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 450XP
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 450XP
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 450XP
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 450XP

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it.

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S1E2 "The Mask" will be run Tuesday at 5EST. It is unlikely that we will see another mission afterward probably until the next Tuesday(next Monday and Wednesday are both hard for me for different reasons - meeting a friend the first and packing to go to the beach the second). However, after next Tuesday, I will certainly be shifting to a regular Wednesday schedule, and I'm open to considering how best to make next week work if Patchy's Resistance game goes up by then and he needs Tuesday.

Still soliciting villain ideas. I have plenty enough to make the game work as-is, but I feel like player investment is never a bad thing.

Summary - S1E2 "The Mask"​

This mission began with an alert of a missing child, and naturally the team suited up and shipped out to find them. A short search revealed a van matching the description of the kidnapper's, and the team intervened when they saw the missing child and a swarm of odd visual disturbances. Those disturbances turned out to be ghosts, and the kidnapper himself was a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a white mask who wouldn't stop reminding the team of that fact. A fight followed, only for a man with a bow who imaginatively called himself Longbow to appear and assist the team in fighting the ghost swarm. He has an abrasive personality from all outward appearances.

Delilah entered the van and found a pentagram drawn on the floor, and she immediately disrupted it. She at that point thought she saw a woman and heard angry breathing, but of course, there was nothing. It's completely unrelated to how Lancelot later saw a grey woman in extremely fashionable Victorian-era dress exit the van and glide away, not saying a word even when he confronted her and told her to move on. He has not mentioned this to the team and Elizabeth denied any knowledge of this grey ghost.

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 500XP
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 500XP
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 500XP
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 500XP
Zisel Arieson/Chroma: 400XP(+450 from S1E1 that was not mentioned)
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 400XP

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it.

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S1E3 "Smoke and Mirrors" is currently planned to run either Sunday, Monday, or Wednesday, and I can't honestly tell you which at this exact moment. Next week is going to be difficult for me. However, after that, we'll settle on regular Wednesday missions and then possible additional ones at convenient times like the weekend.

I'll pop back in when I know more for certain about next week.

Schedule change. Due to the rescheduling of A Spark of Hope, this will run Tuesday and not Wednesday. Also, if people are on today, I'm willing to run a mission, but just like last week, it will only go if I have every player available(or anyone unavailable has given the okay for us to run without them) by the usual time. Edit: That didn't happen.

The team wandered out on patrol in Daleburg, only to stumble by happenstance across an incident in progress at a building owned by the Van Bredas Corporation. Once inside, Flicker, Lady Vesta and Tesla confronted a thief who called himself Shadow as he attempted to steal data from the server room. They prevented him from doing so with an EMP pulse, and he paused only to flirt with the female members of the team before departing, calling a host of Guiding Light agents to cover his escape. Despite a run-in with elite Light agents calling themselves Whispers, the team was able to elude pursuit with the help of a woman with telepathic powers and melee combat skills, calling herself Blades.

Later, it was reasoned that the Guiding Light was after Van Bredas tech from a research facility not far away. The team decided to investigate further tomorrow night, and spent some valuable time building bonds of friendship...or, at least of toleration.

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 550XP
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 550XP
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 500XP
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 500XP
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 550XP(+100XP catchup bonus)

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it.

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S1E4 "Vaneer" will be run either this weekend or Wednesday night next week. Hopefully starting next week we'll be settled on our regular schedule, but we'll see. It's also not impossible that I'll run an impromptu mission over the latter half of this week or the weekend before then, but I wouldn't count on it.

Upgraded Having 23rds for 1000 XP; new normal HP total is 56, Pie à la Mode HP total is 65.

Super Strength bought

Summary - S1E4 "Vaneer"​

The team investigated the Van Bredas lab, working together with Valkyrie, Blades and Longbow together. Inside, they met Shadow, who was taking the plans for something he called the Dominator, and stalled the team once again until Jason and the White Hand appeared in force to begin an engagement...which the team won almost casually. Shadow was unable to escape before Jason and his men were pacified, and Flicker managed to take the thumb drive containing the data he was after.

At this point, Vaneer himself, leader of the Guiding Light, appeared with a trio of Whispers, a pair of men in white suits revealed to be called Illuminators, and a woman in a dark uniform lined with wires called La Tormenta. He suggested the team stand down or join him, and that ended about as well as you'd expect. The fight was vicious, even if quick, and Vaneer demonstrated powerful psychic capabilities while La Tormenta appeared to have many of the same powers Tesla does. At the end of the battle, Blades moved to execute Vaneer, and Lady Vesta stopped her.

That's when a sniper took care of the job for the team. Despite Valkyrie and Sir Lancelot pursuing her, she was able to escape, but not before she demonstrated the ability to hold Lancelot's chain.

At this point, the team escaped while the police arrived on the scene...

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 750XP
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 750XP
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 750XP(+50XP catchup bonus = 800XP)
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 750XP(+50XP catchup bonus = 800XP)
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 750XP

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it.

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New Feat Purchase Option: Dual Team Takedown

A Dual Team Takedown is a chain of moves that combine you and one or more of your allies' abilities for a single, seamless assault on one target that can only be dodged with a stat save instead of a defense roll, and inflict far more damage and effects than you could using your turns individually. The downside is that it takes both members' full rounds even if the Takedown misses. In order to acquire a Dual Team Takedown, you and your chosen partner have to both spend a half-feat to purchase the ability "Dual Team Takedown(partner's name)". At that point, you work with me to determine what abilities are used in what order for what effects. There are a few caveats and upgrade methods, which I'll break down in the spoiler below for those interested.

Also, enemies will start showing up with DTTs at their disposal, so you might want to learn how they work even if you don't want to take one yourself.



Next mission will be a purely RP mission, intended to help get the team together. I don't have much in the way of Big Important Plot to happen during it, but it will still give some(if not a lot) of XP to everyone present. I would very much like to get it done over the weekend, but I don't know that I can.

Starting next Saturday, the fiancee will be gone for most of the morning into the early afternoon teaching a new class. Ergo, it is possible that I could run missions on Saturday mornings - say, starting around 8 or 9 my time - but that would depend on what it looks like for all of you. Let me know what sounds reasonable.

After the RP mission(and so hopefully next Wednesday instead of the week after) will come our next mission, "Lord Enki". It won't be as much of a fight as this one, but it will be substantially more than an RP mission.

Feat Purchased: Playful Patter: Delilah's tendency not to take things seriously can be maddening to her those around her. (+4 to Charisma attacks)

DT

A flare shot up downtown, two nights after Vaneer's death. Those said two nights had been full of crazed spikes in criminal and ghost activity as the villains tried to fill the void left by the Guiding Light's disintegration, and it was from that mess that Valkyrie and Blades decided to forge the cluster of independent heroes in Daleburg into a cohesive team.

All secret identities are now known except:

-Justin refused to reveal his to anyone
-Big Fun's was not outright revealed to anyone
-Longbow was not present at the meeting

This means that Valkyrie has been revealed to the entire team as Bindi Byrnes, Justin and Joris' roommate, and Blades is Lillian Larceni, Delilah's. Bindi passed out communicators and contact lenses to all members of the team - the contacts contain cameras and visual projectors for video communication and/or recording, and the earpieces link the teammates to each other, to Brandi Byrnes back at DBU, and finally to the AI LEGION himself.

Ability unlocked!

LEGION can create a virtual simulation of an enemy of the team's choice, once per mission, and reveal all unknown special abilities/gadgets and their combat modifiers. He will not do this automatically, but instead wait for orders from the team.

At the end of the night, the team agreed to meet up for an assault on a Guiding Light stronghold at an abandoned mall - one of their last remaining - and dispersed.

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 350XP
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 350XP
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 350XP
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 350XP
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 350XP

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it.

Codifying here that I will provide full XP for a single missed mission, though I will not do so for the second missed one in a row.

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Recap for S1E6 "Lord Enki" to follow in a separate post.

Summary - S1E6 "Lord Enki"​

The team rallied at the abandoned shopping mall where the last of the Guiding Light's known forces were holed up. An initial stealthy approach ended badly, and the team was faced with 17 Guiding Light soldiers: 3 Whispers, 2 Illuminators, and two squads of 6 White Hand. The battle was vicious, between Big Fun trampling White Hand, Tesla blasting Illuminators with arc lightning, Flicker short-circuiting enemy helmets and tear-gassing them on her way to explore the area(and acquire coffee), but the biggest surprise was when Lady Vesta was flash-banged and reacted oddly, seeming to develop psychic powers mid-battle which she proceeded to use to great effect.

Despite the Light's obsession with flashbangs and other stun-effect weapons, the team prevailed, only for Vesta's older brother Miles, known as Lord Enki, to appear from the next best thing to nowhere and utterly demolish the final mooks in company with a woman in an all-white costume with matching eyes who identified herself as Ice Queen/Piper Grace...Miles' superheroic partner, girlfriend, and former rogue. Miles and Piper claimed they came because they were curious to see how well Tory was doing since Vaneer's death, but they had to leave quickly to deal with a situation in their hometown and meet up with two people they called "Cherno and Sarge".

It was after they left that Delilah revealed she could tell Miles had lied to Tory about his reasons for coming and for leaving. What this means is open for debate, but what isn't is that the team chose to exfiltrate as quickly as possible themselves, only pausing to grab a set of documents on the "Psychic Dominator" and "Torchbearer" on their way.

With Vaneer dead and the Guiding Light in ruins, well. It looks like the worst is over...

Delilah Dahlio/Flicker: 800XP(2400 Total)
Justin Sobieski/Sir Lancelot: 800XP(2400 Total)
Tory Lynn Piper/Lady Vesta: 800XP(1400 Total)
Samuel Monroe/Tesla: 800XP(1400 Total)
Joris Jonckheer/Big Fun: 800XP(2400 Total)

Make sure to either post an update in-thread or let me know if you make any XP purchases. If you let me know via Steam/chat, make sure I add them to the sheet then and there, because odds are I will forget if I don't get on with it. I will provide full XP for a single missed mission, though I will not do so for the second missed one in a row.

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S1E7 "Shade" will run next Wednesday UNLESS something happens and I can run Saturday morning or night. I do not consider this likely(mornings would conflict with Mech's Pathfinder game IIRC, and the evening has its own problems RL), and Sunday and Friday are both borderline impossible. Check in Saturday, but I doubt there will be a mission.

Good performance, everyone. "Shade" will begin with a lengthy pre-mission RP about analyzing the documents and discussing the events of "Lord Enki", before moving into its own plot. If that phase drags on long enough, I'm not averse to just declaring it an RP and updating the episode list accordingly. We'll see.