@Uiop If you can't find a pic you're happy with, you can just describe the outfit in text.
Aince I dunno what your character's powers or personality is, giving suggestions for specific images is a bit hard.
But when I was looking for my won hero costume, I just went to my local anime-art website and typed in some tags I wanted, like "bodysuit" and "blonde_hair". And then i got some pics of Sue Storm from Fantastic Four, but in anime-form. So, yay?
Another question just came to mind and I figured I should probably ask it as I wrap up my dude's sheet. Is it okay for the superhero costume to have some minor combat-relevant modifications made to it? I'm thinking it's made of a thermally non-conductive material to keep its wearer cold and may possibly be lightly armoured in a few places if you're okay with that.
Managed to finish my character sheet! LMK if there's anything missing or anything I should change!
Alain Floe
Description: Standing at about 5'7", the most notable part of Alain is his long hair. While it is naturally black in colour, the manifestation of his mutant heritage causes some of it to gradually pale to an unnatural white, with a glacial texture. His eyes are also a stark white, for the same reasons. Alain usually tends to dress in white or other pale colours to match with the theme of his hair, as well as to reduce the amount of heat he'd receive. It's also quite common to see him wearing summer clothes during the winter months.
Age 19 | Gender: Male | College Student
Personality:
Alain is the type of person who would have a caustic or sarcastic response for every situation, but holds it back to avoid hurting people. He is a weary and bitter individual, who holds a nigh-certainty that life is not fair. But, he is also a kind individual, one who believes life's unfairness is yet another reason to aid those in need and be a good person. Almost the embodiment of the phrase "Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best". This dichotomy can make it a tad difficult for one to get a grip on his personality; he could claim it pointless to perform a temporary fix as the problem would remain unsolved, and then do it anyway under the belief that someone should do so as it would still help people.
As a hero, Alain attempts to replicate some of his father's approachable cape demeanor, along with his mother's propensity for ice puns; but with his own spin on it. He comes off as a bit of the silent, stoic type of superhero; but one more approachable than most, with quips and one-liners that do come relatively often.
As a person, Alain is a friendly and polite individual. The kind who'd hold the door open for people without being asked to do so. He has a knack for social interaction and can get along well with a variety of people. This makes him tend to come off as a nice young lad. He does however reserve his more bitter or rude commentary for the presence of people he gets along with or feels more comfortable with. Though rarely he may make such a comment publicly.
Background:
Grandson of the (deceased) famous ice-themed superhero Madam Frost, middle child of Lady Hailstorm and The Iceberg, and related to many more ice-themed heroes; Alain always felt as though there was a legacy he should live up to. It wasn't ever forced upon him, nor did anyone ever imply anything to that nature. However, one did not simply grow up, in Paragon City, surrounded by a family of heroes, without developing a dream to do the same. A dream, to help those in need, be a voice for the voiceless and maybe even save the day.
Unfortunately, Alain did not inherit his famous grandmother's knack for ice tech, nor did he possess the gift of magic like his younger sibling or any other such talent. His only claim to superpowers, as it were, was inheriting a form of his father's mutant powers. Doubly-breaking his dream was that the powers in question were seemingly very weak. Being able to throw a handful of snow at someone or make a few icicles did not make one a superhero after all. With the drawbacks of extreme heat vulnerability limiting his ability to go outside in the summer months and his usually coloured eyes and hair marking him as an obvious mutant, his opinion was that his powers were more trouble than they were worth.
The final death knell to his dream, as it were, was that he did not have quite the level of drive or unhealthy determination to make it as a power-less hero. No matter how hard he tried, Alain was simply unable to keep up with the physical requirements to swing from rooftops, beat up a room full of gangsters or pinpoint a bullseye from 1200 meters. He couldn't quite make the cut.
So instead, Alain resolved himself to a comparatively mundane life. He got enrolled in a local college, joined a debate team, volunteered at a few charitable organizations and even managed to score himself a position at PROC. ...as an administrative assistant, on a part-time basis. It was not the most glamourous position in the world, but the pay was good and he felt as though it was the closest he could get to heroics. Alain was mildly satisfied with his life as it was; good friends, a cherished family and a decent job. But, deep down inside, he still wanted to do more, to be a hero, like the rest of his family was.
So naturally that would be the point when he got kidnapped by a shadow demon.
Well, kidnapping is perhaps not a completely accurate term. However, when a supervillain suddenly drops someone through a portal to the Arctic Circle; the act is best defined as a kidnapping. For you see, one of his sister's archnemeses, an ancient creature of darkness, evil, and other such things had been looking for ways to harm her. In this process, the fiend had discovered Alain, and through the use of magic, learned of the true scope of the lad's power. The shadow demon figured that the man's bitterness, latent envy, occasionally caustic demeanor and drive to be more than he is could make an excellent supervillain. So, the ancient horror decided to attempt to recruit Alain, dropping the lad through a portal to the arctic, and made him the offer of a lifetime.
Alain refused it immediately, for he was not that kind of person. While it is true that he was a tad bitter about his circumstances and mildly envious of his familial peers; these sentiments were born of his own desire to help people, like a hero could.
The first thing he did with this discovery was flash-freeze the villain; thanks to the frigid climate of the Arctic Circle severely amplifying his powers and the element of surprise. The second thing he did was run like hell and trigger the emergency communicator he was told to always keep with him in case of a supervillain (as some supervillains may tend to go after the family of a hero). Thanks to his quick thinking, the villain was easily apprehended without much delay.
This new realization of what he was capable of, coupled with the gentle encouragement of his family, galvanized Alain. He studied, trained and, eventually, took the S.H.E, managing to pass it and become a registered hero. Alain isn't too sure how to feel about this. He had given up on the idea of being a superhero years ago, thinking it impossible, and now he had done it. But there is one thing he does know:
At long last, he had achieved his old dream. And so far, it has been exactly what he had hoped it would be.
Civilian Skills:
- Knowledgeable about a number of heroes & villains, as well as the finer details that come with the lifestyle - Connections to others within the superhero industry - Administrative/Bureaucratic skills - People skills
----- Hero Info -----
Sleet
(Image Pending) Alain wears a gray-white costume, climate controlled to keep its wearer from heating up. It is more of a plain bodysuit in appearance, with a few intersecting geometrical lines to add some variety and to avoid any correlation or resemblance to the hero costumes used by his family. The costume also contains some light armoured plates placed in a way to avoid impeding his movement. Alain also wears a head-concealing helmet, as a safety precaution to avoid being identified and to avoid concussions.
Mutant | Controller | Level 1 | ELITE
Superpowers:
Primary Power: Escalating Cryokinesis: A form of cold/ice generation and manipulation that increases in power and control within lower temperatures and with the presence of ice & snow. On an average summer's day, Alain could only generate a small nigh-harmless puff of snow and lower the temperature of the nearby area by a few degrees; however the presence of that lower temperature and generated snow would allow him to perform a stronger use of his ice powers, which would further cool the area, and so on and so forth. Due to logistical, collateral damage and practical concerns, an upper limit to his growth has not been tested; however it is theorized that it could involve physiological changes and allow access to thematic secondary powers. As a necessary biological requirement to use his powers safely, Alain is also immune to the detrimental effects of cold.
Secondary Power: Social Knack: Not a real superpower but more of a honed and trained skill that would be relevant in the act of superheroism. Alain is very good with people, at interaction, comprehension and prediction.
Weakness: As mentioned, it takes time and good conditions for Alain's powers to do much of anything; let alone grow to his potentially monstrous heights. Attacking him fast and hard before he has the time to scale up will leave him in a mostly-defenseless position. Plus, the warmer the area he is fighting is, the more he'll need to build up before being capable of doing anything. Additionally, any way to generate heat could be used to slow, stall, or possibly even revert the growth of his winter storm. (examples of this include; the use of a flamethrower, fire powers or a large combustion engine of some kind of giant car.) Lastly, Alain is also more vulnerable to heat than the average person. While he can attempt to mitigate this with his ice powers, it remains a fairly notable weakness that can get in the way of his day-to-day activities.
Supplementary Powers:
None at the present moment.
Name: Thermal Depletion Type: Active Rank: ★ Range: Ranged Description: Alain designates an area and lowers the temperature within it. The lower the temperature of the area in question, the easier and faster it is for him to cool it further. --- Name: Frost Generation Type: Active Rank: ★ Range: Melee/Ranged Description: Alain can create ice and snow from his body or from any sufficiently cold object that he can then move around. By default, this is a hand-and-a-half-full of snow or a couple three foot icicles; but as with all of his techniques it scales up. In a sufficiently cold environment he could use it to generate and manipulate wire-like ice constructs to trap and tie up opponents. Immediately encasing someone in ice, however, would require an extremely cold environment and is not presently feasible outside of niche situations. --- Name: Cold Detection Type: Passive Rank: ★ Range: Ranged Description: Alain can sense the presence of any sufficiently cold object or person around him, in a range that grows depending on how cold the object/person is. A maximum temperature of 0 degrees Celsius is required for him to sense something. Alain primarily uses this to sense the location of his own frigid constructs, thus allowing him to use the position and movements upon his snow to detect motion and tag opponents.
I intentionally avoided specifying to leave it open to anyone; but throwing Cameron and his exuberance at Alain's "Being polite and a bit formal to not come off as the bitter and caustic ass I kind of am" is a great start to the social interaction. This is gonna be fun!
I see someone decided to change their username... Nearly gave me a heartattack when I logged on this morning and saw a post in the IC from an unfamiliar name controlling an accepted character.
"WHO DA NUCKIN' FUTS IS DIS GUI!?" Were my exact thoughts, I believe.
Glad to see people interacting though. That's great. :)
Me, starting up my latest post: "Hey it's late and I've been doing longer ones. I'll make this one a bit shorter. Just reply to what other people have added to let us continue the RP."
Me, forty five minutes later, with a longer post and a paragraph of Alain not beating the supervillain-material allegations by having the narration describe his distaste for one of the five core Paragon City Hero Organizations: "So that was apparently a fucking lie."
Description: Dermont stands at a solid six feet (183cm) and a hefty 254lbs (113kg). He is a somewhat husky young man with a paunchy gut but with an otherwise strong build, with visible muscle on his arms and legs.
His skin is pale and pocked with the occasional pimple. His hair is an auburn brown and reaches just past his shoulders. His eyes are brown and somewhat beady. His face is angular with a strong jawline, which is kept well-shaven. Unlike the rest of his body.
Age 22 | Gender: Male | Occupation unemployed nerd
Personality:
A down-to-earth young man, Dermont is generally speaking soft-spoken and shy. He thinks very little of himself, and it shows in his personality: timid around others, humble and patient in the face of adversity. He would much rather endure his issues rather than face them. He asks very little of others, which many might see as selfless, but in truth, it all goes back to his lack of confidence. He sees others as simply more important and more likely to do something with their lives. In his eyes, he is just an unemployed nobody nerd without a care in the world.
While he might be a bit rough around the edges, mostly lacking etiquette and tact, Dermont is otherwise a very kind person. He is patient with people and slow to anger, and empathetic to even those who seem actively evil. Despite putting himself into danger, he is shockingly light-hearted about things. He uses comedy as a defense mechanism and a way to cut the tension. Quips are a particular favorite of his.
Background:
A kid who grew up bullied for his name, unnoticed for his looks, and generally a complete nobody all his life. With the real world being so harsh, he turned to the fantastical, enjoying reading and movies while other kids played outside. During his first year of college, he saw a flyer for a LARP group and eagerly joined. There, he met his only true friend, a man in his late thirties who began teaching him how to play a 'Warrior'. Strange as it was, LARP became Dermont's favorite thing, and so he threw himself into the hobby. He began reading old sword-fighting manuscripts, practicing daily, and demolishing the competition.
It was during a huge LARPing event that his life changed drastically. While scouting deep into the woods to try to find a way to flank the opponents in tomorrow's 'battle', Dermont stumbled upon an enchanted grove. Sitting on a bizarre stone altar was a glowing sword. Mistaking it for the 'loot' scattered across the area, Dermont moved closer to inspect the weapon. When he touched it, the weapon spoke to him, proclaiming that Dermont was one of the greatest swordsmen of the time and the only one with a heart pure enough to be worthy. Dermont accepted the responsibility and so he was clad in new armor.
At first, Dermont was eager to accept his new weapon. He showed it to his fellow LARPers and to his surprise the weapon seemed pleased by them. These were the warriors who had trained him, and it gave thanks. Their time in the game together quickly showed Dermont that the sword meant business. When the orc cosplayers showed up it acted as though he should slaughter his friends, struggling to understand that this was all ficticous.
Once he brought the sword home, the shock hit Nothung. Dermont was content to lounge in his family home, eating pizza and watching reruns. Instead Nothung gave him an ultimatum. Do as he says or be rid of it's divine power. Dermont was put on an intensive training regiment, but his constant junk food consumption and years of doughiness did not diminish in mere months. Eventually he was instead told to go to Paragon city, expected to join the ranks. As eager as Dermont was, he had to admit that he did not feel ready. He was once again told that it was either this, or lose the sword entirely.
His family tried to stop him, but once Dermont showed them the true power of his sword, they relented. It was his responsibility to wield this great power. Dermont was an adult now, and they could not stop him from making this decision, despite how sad it made them.
Civilian Skills:
Nerdy encyclopedia: If there is a hero or villain who managed to reach stardom or infamy then chances are, Dermont knows about them
----- Hero Info -----
Valiant
Origin magical | Archetype Tanker| Level 1 | Group MAGI
Superpowers:
Primary Power: Holy Arsenal: Nothung the Dragonslayer, a magical and ancient source of power. It is a sentient weapon imbued with a purely good essence. Though its personality may have become jaded it's powers are virtually the same. Grant a user with a set of armor to defend them and a sword that can slice the flesh of the infernal. In time more items may be granted to him by MAGI, or perhaps by his weapon itself.
Secondary Power: LARP Skillz: Dermont has no real powers. What he lacks in superpowers, he makes up for with raw experience. He has spent years dodging lightning bolts and arrows, fighting off swarms of sword-wielding knaves as flail-swinging ogres. THey may not have been real but they prepared him for his time in the big show!
Weakness: Worthy of the weapon: Only those deemed worthy by Nothung may use its abilities; to anyone else, it is a regular sword. Should Dermont not be pure of heart or somehow become unworthy as a warrior, he will not be able to use it. Nothung, the sword that grants his power, requires its hero to stand tall against adversity and put the destruction of evil before anything. It expects Dermont to prioritize culling evil over saving lives and to sacrifice himself if necessary. It does not allow its wielder even to entertain thoughts deemed 'impure' either.
-The weapon makes the man: Without his magical tools, Dermont is practically defenseless. He's not a particularly strong human either. Dermont knows this, and so he ties his worth as a hero directly to his weaponry.
-Starstruck: Dermont grew up hearing about these heroes/villains all the time, they are like celebrities to him, and sometimes, when dealing with a big threat, he can't help but geek out. This can be an issue when dealing with dangerous foes, especially as he may still want their autograph.
-Just a human: No super strength, no amazing powers, no predetermined destiny or lineage of heroes. Dermont is your everyday dork, and he breaks easily. Physically or mentally.
Supplementary Powers:
N/A
Name: Holy beam Type: Active Rank: ★ Range: Ranged Description: From the tip of his sword, a beam of concentrated light blasts from his sword. This beam deals more damage to a foe based on the darkness in their heart. To a common thug, it might just feel like a punch. To a hardened merc it may feel like a sledgehammer. To a Demon, it may feel like a gunshot. --- Name: Absorbing sheild Type: Active Rank: ★ Range: Melee Description: The shield used by Valiant has the capacity to absorb certain elemental attacks and release them back at their foes. Electrical, purely magical, fire, and ice-based attacks that are successfully blocked can instead be absorbed to blast out later. Only one attack can be absorbed at a time, and only so much energy can be absorbed at once. --- Name: Sanctuary Type: Passive Rank: ★ Range: Melee Description: Valiant's body is cloaked in the magic of Nothung and the armor it creates. This helps alleviate damage from most mundane means. It is by no means a surefire way to save the vessel but most blades fail to cut through his armor. The magic helps give some minor protection from magical attacks. In similar fashion, it just slightly diminishes the damage dealt.
Unsure if the issue's on my end or not but the first image isn't loading for me. Also, not to appropriate the GM's role but I think you've put the wrong archtype? Defenders are described as being kind of a backline support role and this guy's skillset looks like that of a Scrapper IMO.
Your character seems fun! I can see potential for some entertaining contrasts in responses to things between his and that of my guy's. Looking forwards to potentially seeing him in action!
@Birdboy At the moment, there are several reasons for why I cannot accept your character.
1. Neither your civilian faceclaim/picture, nor your hero form image,are showing up - and you left the 'Description' field blank - meaning I have no idea what your character looks like.
2. As Uiop said, you've chosen the "Defender" archetype for your hero, yet you've made them appear to be more of a frontline fighter/tank. Which is what the "TAnker" archetype is. Your abilities, while not being unacceptable on their own, also does not seem to particularly favor the "buffing" or "debuffin" mechanics and style of the Defender-archertype. Now granted, archetypes are just guidelines, and people are free to slap whatever powers they want down in their list, but it seems odd to choose a class and then try to make it like another one, when that other class already exists.
3. Your supplementary power should be void of any powers, this is stated in the Example Character Sheet. Furthemore, the powers described in there should be part of your primary power, as it is the magic sword taht bestows those abilities and boons onto your character, not some random, outside, unrelated force or reason.
4. Your character's weaknesses. In particular, the one that invovles the sentient sword judging its wielder to be 'worthy'. As you've given no information on the "personaltiy" or "Ideology" of this enchante sword, there's no way for me, as a GM; to make use of this weakness and instead it is left entirely up to your discretion. While I like to give people the benefit of the doubt to not power-game or abuse trust, I do also like to have tangible ways to actually have my NPCs actually being able to impact your character negatively.
5. Civilian skills. While not an issue in any way, shape or form on its own, its the phrasing and implication of the skill. The way you've written it makes it sound like every single hero and villain in Paragon City has their own comic books, animated TV series, web-wikis, merch and social media feeds. This is not the case. There are plenty of obscure heroes and villains who the general public don't know anything about in the city. Only the "big names" make it to stardom and public recognition. For much of the rest, most superheroes are just trated as third-party police officers or rescue services, with most civilians having no idea what their hero-name is.
6. On a personal level, I feel like Dermont's reasoning and rationale for moving to Paragon City and becoming a hero is a bit lacking. He basically found a talking sentient sword during an outdoors roleplaying session, ditched the entire event mid-session and then just up and left to go be a hero in another city, without any sort of mention of his motivations or feelings or reasons for it. He just did it. Why? Because he found a magic sword that talks and gave him cool powers? Wouldn't a nerd be more inclined to keep using the blade for LARP'ing or to sit at home, in their parents' basement, and interview and try to talk and interogate their new "friend" on their past and powers and other things? It all seems so... Sudden... And forced. This last point isn't a deal breaker or anything, it just feels - to me - a bit like, other than him having admiration for heroes and villains, Dermont doesn't really have a reason for going to Paragon City, other than "I just gained magic powah! Better rool into PC I guess!".
And there you have it. While some of the above points are mere personal thoughts and opinions on the sheet, there are issues with it that, for the time being, prevents Dermont from being accpeted into the RP.
You're welcome to address or debate these concerns f course and try again if you so wish.
All fair and valid critiques. I have just gotten home from my dnd game but I will begin making some edits asap. Most if not all of these are very reasonable things to ask for.
For the weakness I am not sure where I should put this sword's personality on the character sheet itself. I am imagining it as a very hauty, dour sort that is incredibly by the books and strict. It believes a hero should always be on their best behavior, be ready to die for justice and while it is seemingly never satisfied, it's more just expecting greatness from its wielder. I would love any notes on how you would like a weapon like this to act. Imagine it refusing to let him slouch, demanding Dermont to cull evil without a second thought, if a friend of his was endangered by a villain, the sword would expect him to take out the enemy and worry about his friend second.
For his motivations, I will try to incorporate it better, but I am imagining this is like having a childhood dream come true. Imagine getting a chance to be a big pop star or a fire fighter or whatever your dream was as a kid.
