World of Heroes 3 (Interest Check/Signups)

Wait, is just causing injuries to villains a problem, or is it only killing that's out? I understand our heroes not wanting to maim or kill anyone, but I think it's gonna be tough to not at least knock some people around.

Yes but that could result in long term brain damage, and we don't want that, do we?

It's specifically going out of the way to cause injuries and/or harm that's out. (Keep in mind that if you mention causing injuries in a bio, I'm going to assume we're talking major ones, not just a few cuts and bruises.) That variety of Blood Knight isn't going to fly here.

Your character may be edgy, and it may be dark, but at the end of the day they're still a hero.

It doesn't say that my character will go out to specifically injure his enemies, but he'll do what he can to stop them, and say for example one of them gets a broken limb? He won't exactly lose sleep over it.

@Helpful: That was not really how your post originally read (unless there's some different meaning of "zap the water" that I'm missing).

Either way, you are accepted. Just try not to push it too far.

@All newer players: You are free to join the RP. You can introduce your character by having them respond to the first part of this post.

Must admit that was a pretty lousy metaphor, meant it more in the terms of bad guys, not civilians :P

Well, you did immediately follow it up with your character skimming stolen money, so...

Firstly, I did make a point of saying he was younger (he was like a "Chaotic Neutral"), and I have edited to make it clearer that he may be going back in to the biz to atone for his past mistakes ("Chaotic Good" shall we say?)

But anyway, you'll see how I play him as this RP goes on

edited 8th Nov '13 9:31:23 AM by Helpful_Mint

Can new guys like me still sign up for the rp?

Of course, although the same caveat I've told other people applies: you will likely have to wait a few days before you get the chance to officially join in posting.

That's fine by me. It looks like this rp needs another pro-register hero. Would a Flying Brick work?

I'm reluctant to accept a Flying Brick, due to the twin tendencies to be almost too powerful and not having any subtlety about solving problems. I'm not saying you can't make a character sheet that has one, but unless you manage it very carefully, I'll likely reject it.

I'll make a go for it and if it doesn't work it, I'll come up with someone else.

Name: Steven "Zenith" Shepard

Gender/Sex: Male

Appearance: Steven is a reasonably attractive man in his late twenties. He stands several inches above most but isn't extremely tall. He has definite tone and muscle but isn't abnormally bulky. Steven's most noticeable features are his strong jaw, bright blonde hair, and clear blue eyes. In this way he resembles the textbook All-American.

Personality: Steven is an idealist through and through. He believes in the virtues of Truth, Justice, and the American way. He tries to see the good in everyone and always tries to do right by how he was raised. Steven believes that the superhuman community and the federal government can and should work together, and usually respects the wishes of the authorities.

Steven is reluctant to use the full extent of his powers, being afraid of causing too much destruction or hurting someone. He has a firm code against killing and the more extreme methods many other heroes employ.

Steven is intelligent, friendly, and trusting. He tries to keep his calm at all times. It hasn't happened yet but if he was pushed enough, say by hurting those close to him, his rage would be a thing of nightmares.

Steven feels a massive obligation to protect others. He feels it his is duty to save everyone, and he is always willing to make sacrifices so that the others fighting with him don't have to. The strength of his powers are only matched by his strength of will and determination.

Unfortunately, Steven is also quite stubborn and once set on a path is hard to dissuade. His compassion and idealism are also things that can be used against him by those cunning enough.

Side: Registered

Powers: Zenith is super-strong, Strong enough to pick up a tank and throw it with a lot of effort. Zenith can also fly and match the speed of a fighter jet if pushed, though such displays of strength and flight would leave him winded for a time. He can even exceed these feats with sufficient motivation, but the more he pushes and the longer he does the more fatigued he would become and without more exposure to yellow sunlight he could collapse or even die from the effort. Extreme atmospheric pressure or gravity drastically effect his strength and flight, a gravity manipulator could potentially pose a severe threat.

Zenith is incredibly durable, able to take a lot of punishment. He is resistant to extremes of hot and cold, but electric or energy attacks do affect him to various degrees. Bullets and most other things bounce off of his incredibly dense skin but with sufficient force or enough hits he feels pain and can even bleed. An extremely sharp blade, whether it were made of magical or scientific means could cut his skin. An RPG or equivalent attack, would blow him off his feet and be like a punch to the gut. A tank shooting him or similar force, would be like being stabbed in the stomach and severely wound him. Metahumans of his class pose a threat, and his hand-to-hand combat skills aren't as developed as they could be. A similarly powerful but more skilled opponent could certainly beat him.

He has a limited healing factor powered by the sun and can bounce back from a lot of punishment with sufficient time. His immune system is superior to normal humans but an engineered biological weapon could make him sick and weak like a normal human. Zenith can hold his breath quite well but he still requires at least a little oxygen to breath, suffocating or drowning him is possible and he is vulnerable to chemical weapons if they catch him off guard. He has no special defense against magic besides his own durability, and his willpower is his only defense against psychic attack.

Zenith possesses super senses. His hearing can perceive frequencies no normal human can and he could pick out a pin dropping in a crowded and noisy room. He has heightened senses of smell and taste, being able to pick up trace odors and tastes no ordinary human could detect. His sense of touch is incredibly sensitive as well and he can feel the vibrations of a train from a mile away. His eyes are his greatest sense, being able to pick up tiny specks in the air from a few hundred yards away and being able to see in multiple wavelengths. However he isn't omniscient and he has to focus on specific sensations to perceive them effectively. Managing the vast input is difficult and an overload of his senses like a sonic weapon would be extremely painful even potentially lethal. Incredibly dense materials, like lead, can block his vision and his hearing making the objects it covers undetectable unless he smashes through it.

His other offensive powers are super breath and heat vision. He could blow hard enough to fling a car across the street and even possesses limited freezing capability with it. He couldn't blow out a forest fire or freeze a massive tidal wave however. His heat vision is like a last resort. He has enough fine control to cauterize a wound or weld an object with minimal effort, but the more power he puts into it the more difficult it is to guide and control. He could potentially fire a blast with the strength of an artillery strike, but controlling the blast would be almost impossible.

The main limit to Steven's power isn't his ability, but rather his own efforts to stop himself from seriously hurting even killing anyone, the great lengths he goes to resolve problems without resorting to violence, and his efforts to protect civilians and his teammates from both villains and his own strength.

Backstory: Steven was an infant when the small ship carrying him across the stars landed on a farm in Central California. He was discovered by a young couple who took him in as their own son. Steven was raised with traditional beliefs in morality but with a new age tolerance for all people.

He discovered his fledging powers as a teenager, but there had always been signs throughout his childhood. How he could always find the television remote in a few moments, the way he would always bat a baseball out of the park, and how he could run a mile in four minutes with a light layer of sweat, among other things. He had mostly ignored these things but couldn't ignore lifting a truck off of a man or jumping clear over his house.

His parents revealed his extraterrestrial origins, and it was a secret that he kept for a long time. He was determined to live a normal life, and planned to attend college and become a writer. He did not want to become a superhero though he always felt a responsibility to use his powers. He was in his early twenties and living in the city. He saw how crime and corruption weighed down on the people around him. He saw how super-powered villains or even madmen ran amok and threatened innocent lives. Then he saw the kind of heroes he loved, that stood up for Justice. Finally, he couldn't just stand by and he exploded onto the scene, righting wrongs across the major cities and working with several other heroes.

Up to this point his relatively short career has been remarkably successful, filled with grateful citizens and humble service, as Steven wants to be something that people can believe in. He wants heroes to be the ideals for a better world. When he heard of the Mentalist's rampage he was incredibly shocked. He had always admired the man and even worked with him on a few occassions. He had publicly announced his support of the Super Card program and called for all heroes to do the same. He recently relocated to Felderton, where tensions are high and he hopes to solve the growing schism in the hero community with no violence.

Other: Steven is a writer in his off-time and his experiences as a superhero and his interactions with other heroes form the basis for a successful fiction series about a group of young superheros striving to do the right thing. He also runs an independent blog with extensive coverage of the political landscape and current events mostly relating to the superhero community.

Currently, he has no clues as to his true origins besides it being alien in nature.

If there's anything I could tweak to make it work better, please don't hesitate to say so.

edited 10th Nov '13 12:59:39 AM by Mr.Didact

Sorry, but nope. It's partly due to being too powerful (as I was worried about), and partly due to being a outright clone of Clark Kent/Superman (which I did say in the OP was not allowed).

Well, that's fair, the super senses, super breath, and heat vision could have been thrown out. And that was only because a flying brick would have to be as big a boy scout as Superman if not Captain Marvel to work in the world, he couldn't be Hancock for example.

But it's no big deal, there's always other ideas. Like this gal.

Name: Aria "Celestial" Adrasto

Gender/Sex: Female

Appearance: Aria is physically imposing, standing head and shoulders above most average people. She possesses the toned musculature of an experienced warrior. Her skin is tanned into a medium brown and her shoulder-length hair is black and glossy. Her eyes are a deep and brilliant emerald color. Off-duty she wears jeans, t-shirt, and jacket but when either of her bracelets are pressed, a suit of ancient greek armor appears but with a tiara instead of a helmet.

Personality: Aria, unlike many of her divine relatives, is calm and compassionate. She is slow to anger and friendly to all. She prefers mediation and negotiation to combat. But when it is time to fight, she fights with a ferocity and tenacity that is simultaneously beautiful and terrible.

Her main flaw is being as stubborn as a bull, being incredibly hard to dissuade from her goal no matter what it was

Side: Registered

Powers: Aria is a scion of an Olympian god and a mortal though exactly who her father is, is unclear.

Aria's physical attributes are above and beyond the realm of normal humans. She posses the reflexes and dexterity of a master martial artist, along with the speed and stamina of a gold-medal Olympic athlete, and the agility and flexibility of an expert acrobat.

Her honed senses are superior to normal mortals. Her sense of smell and taste is as keen as that of a bloodhound. Her eyes can see up to three times farther and clearer than the average person.

Her metabolism and immune system are incredibly advanced, allowing her to survive limited exposure to most toxins and diseases with no ill effect. She is also resistant to extreme heat or cold.

Aria's armor is of Olympian origin, given to her by the Queen of the Olympian gods Hera. The armor initially made Aria strong enough to throw a car and tough enough to survive a hand grenade. It also provides a healing factor that can mend broken bones in a few days. Over time however, Aria had absorbed enough of the armor's power so that she was that strong and durable even without it.

The armor comes with an enchanted shield that can stop a rocket launcher or mortar, but another blast would severely damage the shield, making it ineffective while it disappears and magically repairs itself over a span of a few hours. The shield appears as a circular brace on her gauntlet and enlarges to full-size when Aria wills it.

One of her main weapons is a magical short sword of ancient Greek make. An inset gem allows it to be switched between two functions. A normal blade that slashes and stabs normal objects, and a blade of celestial bronze that only affects magical objects. Her other weapon is chain of solid light, allowing her to grip any object or person from up to thirty feet away in a nearly unbreakable hold.

Her armor is special in that it can absorb the power of any enchantment or magical object, as long as its magic is Ancient Greek in origin. Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus all bestowed a gift upon the armor. Her Tiara is a twin to Hades' helm and when activated gives her complete invisibility. Poseidon gave her the ability to breathe underwater and swim normally if the armor is worn. Zeus made the armor allow her to fly as graceful and swift as an eagle. Only one of the three enchantments can be used at any given time, and they are too powerful to be absorbed by Aria quickly unlike her strength, durability, and healing. Without the armor she can only turn invisible for a few moments, hold her breath for ten minutes, and glide four feet off of the ground.

The armor can be severely damaged by anything more than small arms fire and grenades or such equivalent force. If damaged enough the armor disappears in a bright light and has to automatically repair itself over the course of several hours leaving Aria without the enchantments.

Backstory: Aria was raised a normal child by her mother in a large city. She had a normal life up until her powers manifested in her early adolescence. Her mother had dreaded this day and she sent Aria away to live in the mysterious realm of he Amazons, who are among the last servants of the Olympian gods.

There she was along with other demigods, amazon girls, and other chosen ones were taught the ancient skills of a warrior with training in Javelin throwing, Archery, wrestling, and of course swordsmanship among others. They also received instruction in Olympian cosmology and how to defend against the pernicious sorcerers of ancient Greek magic.

Aria severely missed her normal life and kept trying to escape. She was always caught and punished but never stopped trying. Despite this, she was one of their best fighters even besting some of her Amazon teachers. She railed against serving the capricious greek gods and maintained a New World sense of individualism and morality but tempered by teachings of responsibility and duty.

Her individualistic streak attracted the attention of Athena and Hermes, who presented her as the poster child for what the Olympians should become to be relevant to the modern world. Instead of joining service in the Olympian army she was allowed to leave and represent the Olympians to the mortal world. Aria returned in her early twenties and saw the massive strife being caused by crime and disaster, both mundane and super-powered in origin.

She swore to bring justice to the world and took up the name of Celestial, becoming a superheroine and righting wrongs. She returned to the land of the Amazons and requested armor and weapons to combat injustice. They refused, so Aria stole her equipment anyway and went right back to the modern world.

Instead of being struck down by the gods, Celestial's impressive feats convinced Hera to grant her the armor, as she was making a good image of the Olympians. This convinced the three eldest Olympians to bestow their gifts upon Celestial. When hearing of the Super Card program, Aria deemed it a necessary sacrifice that heroes had to make to ensure the safety of the people.

She recently relocated to Felderton, where the schism between the registered and unregistered is growing and she hopes to keep the controversy from exploding into full-blown conflict.

edited 10th Nov '13 1:11:20 PM by Mr.Didact

Another idea, exact same reasons for rejecting it.

Even if I allowed copies (tell me again what makes this not a Wonder Woman clone), WW's powerset would be borderline too powerful for this RP as is, so adding Captain America's shield and Invisible Woman's namesake power on top of what WW can do (even with simultaneous usage restrictions) is way too much.

And this does include backstory. Your first idea was someone of alien origins who works as an independent blogger (same as modern Clark Kent, although I could excuse the blogger part as that's not as well known). Now you give me a woman who stole sacred Greek artifacts from those who raised her, in order to fight evil (WW's backstory in a nutshell).

If you honestly cannot come up with any sort of original ideas, or tone down the powers of whatever you think of, this RP is not for you.

Interest piqued, though I'm not sure if I can sign up.

I was trying to portray most of the character's physical traits as much lower than the actual WW. She couldn't block bullets or punch out a 14-wheeler for example. And most of her power comes from weapons and gear that any sufficiently prepared opponent would have been able to get rid of (surely some of the supervillains have rocket launchers) She was also born in the normal world and came to the ancient one not the other way around. But I see your point in any case.

I'll try once more with someone completely new.

Name: Michael "Genesis" Smith

Gender/Sex: Male

Appearance: Michael is pretty unimpressive. Around average height and pretty skinny, almost no muscle to speak of. He has a shaved head and is of African-American origin. He wears casual clothes most of the time, his "working clothes" are dark jeans, jacket, and shades. But he's not to be noticeable anyway.

Personality: Michael is young and earnest. He wants to be a hero but lacks experience. He hides these kind of doubts under a facade of confidence and boisterous banter. Despite this, he has a strong sense of responsibility and a kind heart. He wants to be accepted and feels a need for a real home and family.

Side: Registered

Powers: Michael grants life to the things that can't otherwise live. He can build a figure out of dirt and clay and give it life. Stone statues, scarecrows, snowmen, mannequins, and other artificial figures in the shape of a living thing can be brought to life by him.

He can even create elementals himself. As long as the material exists within the three states of matter, he can grant it sentience and it would come alive, forming whatever shape he wished. He can create four or five such elementals or golems at any one time and they protect and serve him. They have the intelligence of animals and have the weaknesses and strengths of whatever material they were made from. There is also a definite size limit, he is only able to animate creations that are around a human's size or smaller.

He has to maintain concentration over his projections, and being confused or hurt would cause them to revert back to inanimate form. He cannot give life back to things that had been already alive. He has an emphatic connection to his creations and can "see" through whatever passes for eyes among them.

Backstory: Michael grew up in the inner city as an only child. His dad had been an ex-marine and hardass harassing and verbally abusing Michael and his mom who meant well but was never strong enough to stand up for herself. Michael spent a lot of time on his own or in a very small group of friends. He didn't much like all of the thugs around his area either.

He couldn't wait to join the Army and get away from it all entirely. Until one day right before he turned eighteen, he discovered his ability. Seeing an old action figure start moving around was unusual to say the least. He had no idea where this ability came from, as no one in his family had been a meta or a magic user. Eventually however, he thought of it as a gift from God. His dad saw it as an abomination.

His dad kicked him out of the house and Michael went his own way. His only company were his creations. Eventually he made his way across the state and into Felderton to live with his cousin. He saw how the city was, how it was both getting better and worse. His own hometown seemed like a lost cause and a bad memory but Michael wanted to make this city great and start a new life. He decided to use his powers and became Genesis.

He started going to the gym and training but he still has a long way to go. When he heard of the Super Card program he didn't want to have to hide or run away again. He registered for a card, and continued fighting the good fight.

edited 10th Nov '13 9:08:52 PM by Mr.Didact

That is much better. Thank you.

However, due to what I have planned, I'm afraid fire elementals (and other powers involving heavy usage of fire and/or heat) are out. It shouldn't be hard to work around this (explain it as him only being able to create entities out of matter, not energy), and it hardly depowers the character. (If it makes you feel better, you're the third person I had to limit in this regard, so don't feel like I'm picking on you.)

If you can make that tweak, then I can accept the character.

edited 10th Nov '13 3:53:35 PM by TotemicHero

Yeah, I can work with that the tweak has been made.

Huh, you cut your powers back further than I asked you to. <shrugs> If you're cool with that, though, then I'm cool with that. Accepted.

Wait a few days and I'll let you know when the best time to drop your character into the fun is.

edited 10th Nov '13 5:52:50 PM by TotemicHero

Actually, right after I wrote that I was debating whether it should be only solid matter and that that might limit him too much. If it's alright, I'd like to alter his powers to affecting anything within the three states of matter.

edited 10th Nov '13 8:26:37 PM by Mr.Didact

That's fine. After all, my main concern is taken care of either way.

Alright cool. I'll just wait here then.