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Aberrant RPG - Nova Philes for your Nova


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Stealing from an old post elsewhere on Eon. . .

Using those as guidelines, how about coming up with nova philes ratings for your PC ( presuming you hadn't already in a prior thread )?

My own first try: Hermes.

Strength: 6. An easy one, he had Mega Str 2, with no particular increasing beyond that ( the mega punch doesn't count ).

Intellect: 8. Mega Int 5, a wide array of prodigies and enhancements, and pretty much all the academic and scientific skills at 5.

Speed: 8. Another easy one, he's a speedster with maxed Mega Dex, maxed Hypermovement, and a boatload of actions.

Offense: Either an 8 or a very low 9. Normally his damage was in the 20s, and he didn't have that many ranged attack options. OTOH, his mega punch maneuver would let him hit the high 40s.

Defense: 6. His primary defense is "don't get hit", his soak requires buffs to get into the low-mid 20s, and he doesn't have noteworthy levels of most exotic defenses.

Versatility: 7. Outside of combat, he is extremely good at science, and reasonably good at stealthy recon. OTOH, his mega attributes had several notable holes in their coverage, especially in terms of mega socials, and he was relatively lacking in backgrounds. So, good for a nova, but not maxed out for his Quantum.

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My current character, Mereneptah. . .

Strength: 7. Mega Str 3, nothing notable to boost it or qualify it.

Intellect: 6. Mega Int 2, and even for that rank he's nowhere near as borged out as Hermes.

Speed: 6. Medium Mega Dex and some Flight, so he meets the 'movement power' criterion, but he's otherwise not that mobile. And agility/reflex wise, he's not really borged out enough to boost it further.

Offense: 7. His melee damage would place him at a 6, but like Skew, he has some major technique power arrays, as well as a fairly potent Poison power.

Defense: 7. His soak is in the mid 20s to low 30s, and while he has several additional defenses ( psychic shield, mega dex, mega stamina ), none of them are maxed out, so probably shouldn't go any higher.

Versatility: 8. While his potency could go up, his degree of flexibility really can't. He has potent combat abilities, including a wide array of non-damaging options; he has molecular manipulation and matter creation at high levels, both of enormous non-combat utility; a wide variety of mega attributes; a well developed array of skills covering a variety of fields.

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Well, interesting idea.

For Artemis

Strength: Is Easily 8, given her shapeshifting is usually used to pump all of her physical stats. And Strength is one of the easiest. (Her warforms tend to stuff like Dragons or huge bears.)

Intelligence: 2. While she has a three Int, she has almost no intellectual skills. There are quite a few baselines smarter then her.

Speed: Actually, likely a 7 with her shapeshifting. Without, more like a four. She can nearly keep up with Hermes when she tries.

Offense: Oh, tricky. Likely a 6, given her complete lack of any ranged options, though in straight melee combat she's likely close to an 7(10[25] lethal with her claws and strength maxed. And usually 5-10 extra dice from her attack rolls.)

Defense: 8. easily. Her base soak(without using shapeshifting) is 41 bashing/lethal(through durability). Add shapeshifting and she easily gets into the fifties, along with anywhere from 18(base) health levels up to 27. Then Regen and healing.

Versatility: Hmm...5. Mainly because when it comes to the physical side, she's anywhere from main tank to main spy to support(Healing and perception through the roof) Plus, she tends to have a lot of contacts spread across the Earth and beyond. But she sucks in direct social situations

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I think Artemis should *probably* have Versatility 6. For one, her Shapeshift is a *lot* more versatile than just in combat usage. Second, and more importantly, those 'contacts spread across the Earth and beyond' tend to be Q6 and up. ;)

( and often both friendly and on the other side of the ongoing war, to boot. . . )

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  • 1 year later...

And, just to give some traffic, and maybe the seeds of discussion, I'm going to try applying the Nova Philes benchmarking rules to some major comic book characters.

First up, Superman ( post Crisis, and mostly ignoring anything written by Jeph Loeb *cough* ).

Strength: 9, easy. He may not be the strongest individual in the DC universe, but those who are significantly stronger, I'd be comfortable calling 10 ( or beyond, in the odd case ::blink ). He does stuff like lifting mountains, throwing stuff into the sun, helping in group efforts to push around the moon, etc.

Intellect: 4. He's smart, very smart, but post Crisis, he hasn't been anything one could call a super genus, he doesn't have large arrays of mental skills, and it is only half joking to say he needs Batman to protect him from his own decision making process. *ahem* So, "notably above human average" seems about right.

Speed: 9. Matters of speed translate badly from the DC universe, because they hand out relativistic super speed like candy. Even taking conservative judgments on his movement speed, and how well his reflexes match up, Superman is still at least someone who can fly around at many hundreds of times mach, and act and react at that speed.

( the fact that even the *slow* speedsters would rank a 9, there have been more than one guy who'd warrant a 10, and Hunter Zolomon just plain breaks the Nova Philes scale entirely, is a matter for another time )

Offense: 9. Strength is 9, and I figure having ranged attacks, speed, and flight are enough to bring the Offense up to par. Given that the best single point damage feat he's had post Crisis is "smashing one of the tinier Jovian moons in half with a charge", though, I'm unwilling to bump him beyond that. After all, even on the rare occasion that he exploits his super speed in direct combat, it doesn't help if he can't otherwise hurt the target. A million times zero is still zero.

Defense: 8. This is a tough one, and I know will be controversial. In terms of raw soak, he's a 9, matching his strength. However, first, he doesn't have much in the way of exotic defenses. His willpower is strong, but hardly unbeatable for an A-list telepath, his senses have been screwed with and flashed, and his internal energy reserve has been screwed around with on several occasions. Second, he has a lot of specific weaknesses and vulnerabilities: magic, kryptonite, red sunlight, sometimes high gravity. Several of these are either pretty common, or easy to generate. So, I dock him a rank.

Versatility: 7. His array of powers is pretty broad, but not *that* versatile, though his super senses suite is really nice. His charisma and reputation are incredible, though, and he has a whole bunch of friends and allies and contacts all over. Most of these things are not especially subtle, though, and a lot of his potential contacts and allies are either through associates, or through his membership/leadership of the JLA. One could make an argument for 8, certainly.

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Versatility: 7. His array of powers is pretty broad, but not *that* versatile, though his super senses suite is really nice. His charisma and reputation are incredible, though, and he has a whole bunch of friends and allies and contacts all over. Most of these things are not especially subtle, though, and a lot of his potential contacts and allies are either through associates, or through his membership/leadership of the JLA. One could make an argument for 8, certainly.
This issue is mostly what level he is for the DC universe. Admittedly, what he can do he can do very well. But stripped of the "power of plot" I'm not sure he does nearly as well.
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I disagree, he really is supposed to be that charismatic, and the reputation and contacts are real things. I mean, he's leader of the biggest most important super team in the world, and is connected via friends and allies to almost everyone else of note. I'm just not really sure how much versatility "Knows every super hero, directly or indirectly" is worth. Especially since a large chunk of this is via Batman, who is not exactly an open and free font of assistance ( help you are sure you'll get is good, but help you get without questions asked or personal spin added is better ).

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Knowing and being friends with all of them? That's pretty huge.

Power of plot is more...

... he's going toe to toe with Metaleo (sp?) the guy with the K-heart. Having been badly beaten up and nearly killed (and Metaleo makes it very clear that he *will* kill him)... Metaleo is teleported away by Luthor (I don't think it's ever explained how Luthor can teleport a super-villain away from the middle of combat with no notice).

Compare that with "ok Slag, you just had a spear put through you, you take 10 levels of lethal damage, you're dead".

Granted, Superman is hardly the only guy to have this (how many times has Daredevil been saved by a flagpole). I'm just wondering what his Versatility would be if he were stripped of this.

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And speaking of Batman. . . I'm working mainly off the post-Crisis period, after Knightfall and before War Games. Which is to say, generally speaking, once Batman rejoined the JLA, and before DC comics as a whole fell into the crapper.

Strength: 5. Batman is pretty much peak human strength. While technically he performs beyond what five dots of strength allows in most WW systems, I don't think he's enough beyond it to justify a 6.

Intellect: 8. Another controversial one, probably. His reasoning, deductive, and perceptive powers, as well as learning ability, are well beyond anything operating on the normal scale. Also, he does deal in advanced technology, building or altering. However, his scientific ability doesn't hit the real peaks of genius ala your Reed's and Doom's, which keeps him from being a 9 in my book. The list of people in the DCU who can compete with Batman intellectually is *very* short, however, so I'm comfortable at pegging him as somewhere in the 7 range in raw intellect, bumped to 8 by having basically every skill there is.

Speed: 5. While by Aberrant standards, Batman has mega dex, he doesn't really have any extraordinary movement modes besides grapple lines. Combat reflexes are more a matter of offense and defense, IMO, and his grapple line usage doesn't really a bump from "maximum human." Nightwing, who's a better acrobat, might qualify for a 6, and Batgirl ( Cassandra Cain ) certainly would, though.

Offense: 6. Batman has access to and regularly uses gadgets that are more potent than mundane/realistic weaponry, with extremely well developed skill and reflexes. Even without weaponry, he has martial arts skills well into the cinematic, with access to a number of esoteric techniques. I think this qualifies as a full rank beyond maximum normal human. If you included vehicles and one-off specialized gadgets, he'd probably hit 7, but I think those fall elsewhere.

Defense: 6. A tough one, the Synapse precedent especially. Personally, I think being totally intangible should be worth more defense, unless you're especially lacking in any response to someone who can hit you. Anyway, a combination of peak human physique, high end cinematic martial arts skills, and beyond SOTA body armor, I think he gets a 5 base. On top of that, he has a variety of exotic defenses: both built into his costume ( versus flash, sonics, darkness, gas ), and extraordinarily powerful will.

Versatility: 9. Not a tough one. Batman has one of the broadest skill and ability sets known to man, possesses access to advanced technologies of a wide variety of types, is the proverbial "world's greatest detective" and has information resources to match, personal contacts throughout the superhuman world ( many of them personally trained and loyal ) and beyond, extreme financial resources, multiple aliases, redundant backup bases, JLA membership. . . The only reason I don't give him a 10 is that he lacks access to the true top tier of super tech, and his closest contacts are mostly street level skill people.

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RE:Bats

Strength: 5. (agreed)

Intellect: 8. (agreed)

Speed: 5. While by Aberrant standards, Batman has mega dex, he doesn't really have any extraordinary movement modes besides grapple lines. Combat reflexes are more a matter of offense and defense, IMO, and his grapple line usage doesn't really a bump from "maximum human." Nightwing, who's a better acrobat, might qualify for a 6, and Batgirl ( Cassandra Cain ) certainly would, though.

I think you have to give him a "5" because of the Bat Car/Plane/whatever and his mega-Dex. But without a movement power in a world where were there's a ton of speedsters, Nightwing probably deserves a 5 too.

Offense: 6. (agreed)

Defense: 6. A tough one, the Synapse precedent especially. Personally, I think being totally intangible should be worth more defense, unless you're especially lacking in any response to someone who can hit you. Anyway, a combination of peak human physique, high end cinematic martial arts skills, and beyond SOTA body armor, I think he gets a 5 base. On top of that, he has a variety of exotic defenses: both built into his costume ( versus flash, sonics, darkness, gas ), and extraordinarily powerful will.

A tough call... but I think I agree with the MA taking him a tick up.

Versatility: 9. Not a tough one. Batman has one of the broadest skill and ability sets known to man, possesses access to advanced technologies of a wide variety of types, is the proverbial "world's greatest detective" and has information resources to match, personal contacts throughout the superhuman world ( many of them personally trained and loyal ) and beyond, extreme financial resources, multiple aliases, redundant backup bases, JLA membership. . . The only reason I don't give him a 10 is that he lacks access to the true top tier of super tech, and his closest contacts are mostly street level skill people.

It's tough for me to judge this one since I don't follow the guy that much, but 9 seems high. 10 seems very high considering it's what Divis is walking around with (On a side note in open combat Divis kills Superman in the second round if that's what he wants to do).

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Re: Divis, well, yeah. This scale is kind of exponential, after all, with the knee kicking in between 5 and 6, and 10 being *right* next to the asymptote. And that's why I definitely don't give Batman a 10. Versatility 10, I benchmark as either Doom ( "I have multiple high end skill sets that operate at world shaking levels" ) or Silver Surfer ( "I can do anything" ). Mal has the latter, and he technically has the former, though his various overlapping taint-induced insanities keep him from actually using them.

Hmm, should I keep doing JLAers, or switch to some Marvel people?

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Oh, and Divis Mal vs Superman. . . is almost custom designed to be a bad fight for Superman. Sure, he's faster ( at least by default ), but Superman only has physical attacks that don't operate at the scale needed to hurt Divis, and it just generally sucks to have multiple notable weaknesses against what amounts to a cosmic energy controller.

That said, I could see the collected JLA winning, though it'd be a hard fight. Ironically the most useful thing, aside from "Flash lends super speed to everyone else present so they get a while to do stuff before Divis can blink", is Wonder Woman's lasso. Stick that thing around Divis, and he can't lie. . . *including to himself*. Very likely would cut through his taint insanity, at least for a while.

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Switching away from DC for a moment. . . we have the Mighty Thor. I'm mostly using his classic incarnation, after Simonson took over and before things like Lord Thor.

Strength: 9, for reasons that should be obvious. The Belt of Strength and Warrior Madness provide potential boosts that could move him to 10 if combined, but neither are regularly or readily available.

Intellect: 3. The intelligence his human identity possessed ultimately came from himself, after all, and he was a notable doctor.

Speed: 6. He's definitely at least 6, as he has superhuman movement modes, and also greater than maximum normal human reflexes ( by Aberrant baseline standards ). Beyond that is a judgment call. His flight speed is *really* good, "crossing the universe" good, and he has various dimensional travel modes. However, I'm reluctant to give a Speed rating based solely on movement rate, well in excess of actual reflexes. Even his best reflex feats wouldn't really be enough to boost him past a 7, though.

Offense: 10. Not a tough one. A full strength hammer throw that can make planets go boom. Storms that can make Ego surrender. A god-force blast that once drove away a starving Galactus. Mjolnir is a veritable swiss army knife of cosmic doom.

Defense: 9. Thor is as durable as he is strong, and has a variety of exotic defenses ( strong will, mystic protection that bounces most exotic spells, etc ). He can also parry pretty much anything with Mjolnir.

( the odd writer occasionally wants to give him a Wonder Woman style vulnerability to bullets, but this is rare. And also, something I refuse to take seriously on a character who has been nuked before without actual harm )

Versatility: 8. Mjolnir has a boatload of cosmic powers, but some of them come with special limits or drawbacks, and Thor doesn't regularly use them outside of weather control and dimensional travel, normally. Outside combat, he doesn't have many skills ( aside from medicine, oddly ), but he does have extensively familiarity with other dimensions and space, is a core Avenger, near the top in rank and position in Asgard, and reasonably well connected among the cosmic hero set. This includes occasional access to Asgardian magic and science, ranging up to and including the Destroyer armor once. If he didn't strongly prefer fighting like a brick with a hammer, I'd bump him up to 9.

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Oh, and Divis Mal vs Superman. . . is almost custom designed to be a bad fight for Superman. Sure, he's faster ( at least by default ), but Superman only has physical attacks that don't operate at the scale needed to hurt Divis, and it just generally sucks to have multiple notable weaknesses against what amounts to a cosmic energy controller.
Ya. Round one ends with Divis turning Supes costume into K.
That said, I could see the collected JLA winning, though it'd be a hard fight. Ironically the most useful thing, aside from "Flash lends super speed to everyone else present so they get a while to do stuff before Divis can blink", is...
Divis' stats are pretty sick, even by those standards. His *short* list which presumably included only powers he had Mastery or Masteryx2 on included Temporal Manip... thus potentially giving himself +40 actions. Admittedly, we might want to build Flash with Q10 so he can do the same with Masteryx3, but still.
...Wonder Woman's lasso. Stick that thing around Divis, and he can't lie. . . *including to himself*. Very likely would cut through his taint insanity, at least for a while.
Agreed... but the issue then becomes... "is it a good thing to have a sane Divis?"
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Speed: 6. He's definitely at least 6, as he has superhuman movement modes, and also greater than maximum normal human reflexes ( by Aberrant baseline standards ). Beyond that is a judgment call. His flight speed is *really* good, "crossing the universe" good, and he has various dimensional travel modes. However, I'm reluctant to give a Speed rating based solely on movement rate, well in excess of actual reflexes. Even his best reflex feats wouldn't really be enough to boost him past a 7, though.
This is a hole in the system. What do we do with Dex=4 guys who have Flight and Warp? I *think* our current system suggests giving him a 7.
Defense: 9. Thor is as durable as he is strong, and has a variety of exotic defenses ( strong will, mystic protection that bounces most exotic spells, etc ). He can also parry pretty much anything with Mjolnir.

( the odd writer occasionally wants to give him a Wonder Woman style vulnerability to bullets, but this is rare. And also, something I refuse to take seriously on a character who has been nuked before without actual harm )

Yeah, similarly we've seen the Hulk strangled into unconsciousness by a Snake, or beaten into unconsciousness by Dr. Octopus (both of those were exceptionally poorly done, the Spidey's writer was trying to get across how dangerous Dr. Oct is so he handwaved how exactly Oct beats the Hulk after he grabs him. The answer is that he can't, and he's now arm wrestling someone who doesn't give up, get tired, and who heals faster than Oct can hurt him. The fight goes on until Oct loses, and that's even ignoring this was the smart Hulk who can think of just grabbing the arms and pulling Oct to him.)
Versatility: 8. Mjolnir has a boatload of cosmic powers, but some of them come with special limits or drawbacks, and Thor doesn't regularly use them outside of weather control and dimensional travel, normally. Outside combat, he doesn't have many skills ( aside from medicine, oddly ), but he does have extensively familiarity with other dimensions and space, is a core Avenger, near the top in rank and position in Asgard, and reasonably well connected among the cosmic hero set. This includes occasional access to Asgardian magic and science, ranging up to and including the Destroyer armor once. If he didn't strongly prefer fighting like a brick with a hammer, I'd bump him up to 9.
I'm reasonably sure Thor has mega-socials (App and Chr) and he doesn't suffer from taint issues. I'm good with an 8.
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Closest to taint issues I could think of for Thor are his periods when he has a human form, as Dr Donald Blake. But really, that's more a case of "aberration without taint", if you want to try and apply Aberrant logic. And since even when he thought he was a human, way in the beginning, he had full continuity of memory and control in before forms. . .

But yes, generally speaking, Thor has one of the best public reputations in the Marvel U. He generally gets less trouble from the public than the Fantastic Four do. Which, when you think about it, given this is Marvel humanity, sounds like strong evidence for mega charisma to me. . . *ahem*

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And continuing the trend, next is Captain America.

Strength: 5. Same logic as with Batman. Captain America does have a couple periods where he had explicit super strength in the 6 range, but those were explicit and finite.

Intellect: 5. Steve isn't a scientific genius or anything, but he is extremely smart, and half his contribution to the Avengers is his keen tactical mind. One could make an argument that his tactical brains warrant a 6 or 7, but I'm reluctant to give a higher rating, given he's that good *only* in one field.

Speed: 5. Same logic as Batman, and he has even fewer methods of improving his movement ( aside from the odd Avengers issue hover platform, but that's rare ).

Offense: 5. He has max normal human strength, and cinematic martial arts skills, like Batman. However, he has nothing near the same arsenal, and fewer esoteric techniques. Basically, his offensive power is "max human strength wielding a ten pound indestructible disk". That isn't as good as having explosives and gas and other such weapons.

Defense: 6. See my logic regarding Batman, as far as peak human dodginess is concerned. Cap loses the costume exotic protections, and gains an indestructible shield that can block almost any physical attack. I call it a wash.

Versatility: 7. I give him the same as Superman, for most of the same reasons- he's the Charismatic Leader connected with a wide variety of supers, and has a moderately versatile skill ( instead of power ) set. He's nowhere near Batman at this area, though; note his regular reliance on Nick Fury for intel.

For the record, if I were doing Ultimate Cap, I'd up his Strength, Speed, Offense, and Defense each by one point.

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Knowing and being friends with all of them? That's pretty huge.

Power of plot is more...

... he's going toe to toe with Metaleo (sp?) the guy with the K-heart. Having been badly beaten up and nearly killed (and Metaleo makes it very clear that he *will* kill him)... Metaleo is teleported away by Luthor (I don't think it's ever explained how Luthor can teleport a super-villain away from the middle of combat with no notice).

Compare that with "ok Slag, you just had a spear put through you, you take 10 levels of lethal damage, you're dead".

Granted, Superman is hardly the only guy to have this (how many times has Daredevil been saved by a flagpole). I'm just wondering what his Versatility would be if he were stripped of this.

I missed this post earlier, and believe it or not, I have a two word answer:

Dramatic Editing.

Basically, everyone in a mainstream super hero setting has some "heroic luck" ( or villainous luck! ). Some have more than others. Its just part of the genre.

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Speed: 5. Same logic as Batman, and he has even fewer methods of improving his movement ( aside from the odd Avengers issue hover platform, but that's rare ).
I'd drop him to 4. He has *no* movement powers, and can be out run by a normal on a motorcycle. Granted, he has mega-dex, and a motercycle (or quin jet). But any flier could and should just fly away from him.
Dramatic Editing.

Basically, everyone in a mainstream super hero setting has some "heroic luck" ( or villainous luck! ). Some have more than others. Its just part of the genre.

Well put... I tend to forget that mechanic.
But yes, generally speaking, Thor has one of the best public reputations in the Marvel U. He generally gets less trouble from the public than the Fantastic Four do. Which, when you think about it, given this is Marvel humanity, sounds like strong evidence for mega charisma to me. . . *ahem*
Yeah, mega-chr and/or mega-app. Lots of his foes have mega-manip of course.
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And speaking of the Fantastic Four, I think I'll do Reed Richards next.

Strength: 6. While not technically super strong, Reed uses his plasticity to perform strength feats of about this level regularly. Arguments could be made for even higher.

Intellect: 10. Yes, really. The only people who are definitively smarter than Reed in the whole universe are cosmic abstracts, and even they acknowledge Reed as somebody they can talk to and be understood by. He's built dimensional portals. He's built causality-manipulating devices from scratch. He's improvised cosmic scale weapons from random pieces of alien tech he's never seen before. He's built time machines, time dilators that can overcome stasis induced by cosmic beings, and devices that prevent his own past from being altered ( normally impossible in the Marvel U, but Reed kind of knows all the people who can on a first name basis ). He has returned the Thing to life, by building a portal into Heaven. He has killed Galactus once, and turned Galactus into a mortal another time. He provided the guiding will and intellect for the recreation of the universe once.

He really is that smart.

Speed: 7. While he can't fly, and he's technically not super fast, his elasticity provides a *lot* of mobility tricks, and he is quite skilled at using mobility in combat. So, I think he qualifies for two steps above normal human maximum. Especially since he probably had normal human maximum reflexes before he became superhuman.

Offense: 7, off his elasticity and combat skill. Counting technology, the dial goes to 11, but he doesn't usually run around with moon-busting weapons in his pockets.

( He keeps those in his home, instead. )

Defense: 7. It takes Hulk class strength to measurably hurt him with physical force, but he isn't as durable against energy attacks. However, he's also quite dodgy. As above, he doesn't routinely run around with particular technological defenses, though when he does haul something out, the dial goes to 11. He probably keeps enough gadgets on hand to protect against weird attacks, sufficient to avoid a reduction, though.

Versatility: 8. He can do Anything Science, but at the scale he operates on, lack of any magical resources at all is a deficit. He also has some notable holes in his skill set, as far as skulldudgery and people skills go, and doesn't really have any close contacts who can fill those in. Between that and his flexible but limited focus super power, and I peg him as an 8.

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Admittedly my familiarity with the Fab 4 only comes from the two movies and reading the Civil War arc. But my impression was that Reed was actually deficient when it comes to dealing with people - in Abby terms, I'd give him at least a +2 diff on social skills, if not +3, though without the aberrations that level of Taint would earn him. The rest of the team, even Grimm, are better at people skills than Reed. This probably only hurts his Versatility rating, but he is very unpopular, and I'd lay most of the image problems the F4 have at his bendable feet.

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Its kind of a toss-up. While he is less of a people person than anybody else on the team, he's *usually* not portrayed as pathological. And when people really start hating on the FF. . . most such occurances start out as rational as anti-mutant hate, and work their way up.

( "No, the mayor won't request your help, it'd be career suicide." Said while the city is literally being lifted into space. )

I'm generally not willing to attribute the sheer rampaging spiteful hatred that fills the general populace of Marvel Earth to aberrations or such. Its more a facet of the place being a covert hell world.

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Hmm, since I did Thor and Captain America, might as well complete the Big Three of the Avengers: Iron Man. Again, this is sort of the "classic" Iron Man, 80s-90s generally. IOW, not the Iron Fuhrer of Civil War.

( why yes, when I think of comics, I tend to cut off the past five years worth from everything? why do you ask? *ahem* )

Strength: 8. In his armor, he's extremely strong, but against genuine class 100 types ( 9s ), he gets his ass kicked unless he pulls a suicide overcharge. And even that doesn't work unless the other guy is an idiot ( *coughHulkcough* ). Out of his armor, he's probably a 3.

Intellect: 8. He's one of the preeminent scientific minds on his world, who aren't in the Reed/Doom class. However, there's a *big* gulf between the Reed/Doom class, and everyone else. He still does things like invent extremely powerful robots and powered armor, improvise weapons with more advanced ( if not cosmic ) tech, and other such feats.

Speed: 7. He can fly, so that gets a 6 automatically. He flies very fast, if not relativistic or anything, and also does have some degree of reflex enhancement/autotargeting computers in the armor, so I bump him a rank. Out of armor, again, more like a 3.

Offense: 8. His firepower is powerful and versatile, with both ranged and melee options of various types. However, they all generally benchmark at "Class 100 types can feel it, but won't be taken down particularly."

Defense: 8. Again, he has really tough defenses, of multiple types and with various exotic protections. Against Class 100 types, however, he gets pretty wrecked with every hit.

Versatility: 7. He is a scientific genius, a skilled businessman, has a lot of money, Avengers membership, and advanced powered armor. If that was the end, I'd say he's an 8. However, powered armor is something he can be caught without, his companies don't usually have the best public relations, and he pretty regularly gets lazy and loses his company and fortune to random passing events. Hence, I dock him a point.

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( "No, the mayor won't request your help, it'd be career suicide." Said while the city is literally being lifted into space. )
As opposed to literal suicide, which is the more appealing option? ::confused
Its more a facet of the place being a covert hell world.
Marvel is Hell? ::devil
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Sounds like a plan, so, Spider-man.

Strength: 6. Spider-man is usually pegged as Class 10, and towards the bottom of Marvel's class system, it tends more to be actual accurate values ( as opposed to the laughable idea that Class 100 = 100 tons ). Sure, Spidey's at the top of this range, but I don't think he deserves any higher, not when there are street level bricks measurably stronger.

Intellect: 5. Peter Parker is smart, quite smart, but he's smarts aren't really on the "comic book super genius" scale. He does some nice gadgeteering, but its not *that* good. In Aberrant terms, I'd say he's probably Mega Int 1, but without maxed normal Int, without maxed science skills, and without any relevant prodigies. One could make an argument he should be 6 or higher, but has kept from reaching those levels by an almost complete lack of real study.

Speed: 7. Spider-man's Mega Dex falls into about this range, and he also has super human leaping, climbing, and swinging ability. While not actual flight, he has competed successfully against fliers, and proven that the air is almost as much his domain as a true flier.

Offense: 6. Equal to his Strength, as he has both considerable mobility, and ranged attack options. Damage dice in the high teens / low twenties sounds about right for both Spider-man and Offense 6.

Defense: 6. His raw soak is probably more like a 5, base, but his flexibility and dodginess upgrades him ( mechanically, he probably has lowish soak for his strength, but some Invuln, only while free to dodge ). The Spider Sense is really nice, but he kind of lacks any exotic defenses worth mentioning; I call it a wash.

Versatility: 6. He's a very experienced street level hero, with a variety of odd powers. His web slinging gear is also pretty flexible. He also has contacts all over the super heroic community, better than nearly everyone else. However, a couple things really hurt him here. One, his skill set basically boils down to "general superhero adventurer skills", "combat", and "basic gadgeteering"; he has no meaningful investigative or leadership skills. Two, he almost always has no money. Three, he is hated and feared almost as much as mutants, most of the time. Four, he has truly awful luck. If he had sane luck, good PR, and an Avengers stipend, I'd call it a 7.

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That's about right... and I'll add that the character is *better* with low Versatility.

You get these really high versatilities because over time they're put into more and more diverse situations... and they still manage to win.

IMHO the heroes should lose every now and then. They especially should lose when their weaknesses are in play against someone else's strengths. Spider is more interesting for having gotten Gwen Stacy killed.

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...they just generally lose in situations involving really high stakes...
Not sure what you mean here. The higher the stakes, the more likely the heroes are of winning.
The exponential nature of the Nova-Philes scale hurts here, as most of its precision is down at the bottom.
I don't mind the exponential nature for measuring like things, without that it's very hard to put Scarlet Witch & Superman on the same strength scale. But I mind it for the unlike things, i.e. Speed is both Spiderman's reflexes (lots of Mega-Dex, Quick, & Dangersense) and a Dex=2 nova with one dot in flight and hypermovement. With Versatility it's unavoidable (although I wouldn't mind it being broken into "Social skills", "allies", etc) but "Speed" could and should have been broken up into "Reflexes" and "Movement".
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Its kind of a toss-up. While he is less of a people person than anybody else on the team, he's *usually* not portrayed as pathological. And when people really start hating on the FF. . . most such occurances start out as rational as anti-mutant hate, and work their way up.

( "No, the mayor won't request your help, it'd be career suicide." Said while the city is literally being lifted into space. )

I'm generally not willing to attribute the sheer rampaging spiteful hatred that fills the general populace of Marvel Earth to aberrations or such. Its more a facet of the place being a covert hell world.

Sue often has to literraly seduce him away from his work, but I wouldn't penalize him in the way that taint does. The man is a legend and a hero. Popularity through the roof.

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Sue often has to literally seduce him away from his work, but I wouldn't penalize him in the way that taint does. The man is a legend and a hero. Popularity through the roof.
Perhaps the guy just has a naturally-occuring case of Asperger's Syndrome? His behavior does fit some of the criteria, even in the recent pair of movies.

Agreed about Reed's popularity, although I'd imagine it's unevenly spread among the populace of Marvel Earth. He's certainly got the admiration of the scientific & intellectual communities. The common folk more likely admire him more as a source of neat stuff than for himself & his non-lab-bound deeds.

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For the record, the two live action FF movies are utter crap. I refused to even watch the first movie, because I could tell by the clkips, trailers, and reviews that they utterly dishonored the character and concept of Victor Von Doom.

You have to rmember that the FF have publicly saved the world on several occasions, and have then top ear of the U.S. military, administration, and S.H.I.E.L.D.

I would peg Mr. Fantastic as a global celebrity, Icon, and even a sex symbol. He is dating/married to one of the hottest heroines on the planet and I have one comic somewhere where Sue refers to him to one of her girlfriends as "Mr. Fucking Fantastic."

I mean with a flexible, morphable, expandable body, just imagine the tricks he could pull in bed. Just for starters I recall Jim Carrey in "Earth Girls Are Easy" when he stretches his tongue to eye-widening proportions...

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For the record, the two live action FF movies are utter crap. I refused to even watch the first movie, because I could tell by the clips, trailers, and reviews that they utterly dishonored the character and concept of Victor Von Doom.

No contest on that, which is why I said "even in the recent movies".
You have to remember that the FF have publicly saved the world on several occasions, and have then top ear of the U.S. military, administration, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
And thanks to the mentality of the public on Marvel Earth (and editorial meddling), that & $5 will get him coffee at Starbuck's. Even with Marvel Earth being a covert hell-world, the non-powered inhabitants still seem quite fickle.
I would peg Mr. Fantastic as a global celebrity, Icon, and even a sex symbol. He is dating/married to one of the hottest heroines on the planet and I have one comic somewhere where Sue refers to him to one of her girlfriends as "Mr. Fucking Fantastic."
Like that wouldn't've been obvious to anyone who hasn't been brainwashed into a 1950's Leave It To Beaver mentality? ::wink
I mean with a flexible, morphable, expandable body, just imagine the tricks he could pull in bed. Just for starters I recall Jim Carrey in "Earth Girls Are Easy" when he stretches his tongue to eye-widening proportions...
Again, that's fairly obvious.
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The first Fantastic Four movie wasn't totally bad. They nailed Johnny Storm and ( especially ) Ben Grimm, and Julian MacMahon actually gave an almost persuasive performance for Doom in the first half, despite the uphill battle of "Corporate Doom."

Things went downhill with him once he started turning into a metal statue, however, and Sue was pretty much an empty dress. The worst crime, IMO, was Reed. The actor wasn't a horrible pick, but the writing and directing. . . Mr Fantastic is not just a name. Reed and the science he performs should be a subject of constant awe and wonder. He shouldn't come off as a mediocre college professor living in an old Seinfeld set.

( as a matter of fact, I have *worked* in actual labs, that were by far more wondrous than anything shown in that movie. . . and we're not talking CERN )

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Far too many movies with established characters could/should learn from the Bond films.

They work because the author's relatives (i.e. 2 people) have kept control over the franchise, and they can and have vetoed bad ideas that various directors (etc) have come up with.

Supposedly someone wanted to film a movie where Bond had a gay affair, or did other things in the name of "character development" that would make it very hard for future movies to be made. There's a lot of directors (etc) who don't understand the characters and who just want to do their own thing.

Like that Batman movie with the Penguin... it's very clearly a remake of the Phantom of the Opera... but this is not a good thing.

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About the closest thing on that end, is how Marvel has been moving as many franchises as possible "in house" lately, giving them more creative control. Which, given how crappy Marvel *comics* are these days, is counterintuitive, but so far, its resulted in good stuff.

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What the hell, I'll write up Michal Wesson, CEO of SuperGeek Enterprises.

Strength: 2(6). Michal is barely at the human average for strength on his own. He does own a set of powered armor which can boost him up to Mega-Strength 2, but he rarely wears it anymore.

Intellect: 10. He's smart, one of if not the smarted nova on the entire planet. He developed a functional space elevator, artificial gravity, designed the new space station, lent his aid to the design of the moon base, and has a ring in his basement that sends people to parallel universes. Oh, and let's not forget his currently un-executed plans to terraform Venus and Mars once their orbits get matched to Earth's.

Speed: 5. No movement powers, but he does have a little Mega-Dex, mostly to assist him in the lab with micro-adjustments and swift construction of materials.

Offense: 4(7). Michal has very strong TK, but when he's not armed with gadgets, that's pretty much all he's got. With his powered armor and a designed blaster, he can hold his own with low-combat-powered novas and easily take out baselines like CoMA scum.

Defense: 5. Michal doesn't have much in the way of natural soak - mid Stam, a little Mega-Stam, and no powers. But he also has the worlds greatest intellect, and holographic powers that are nearly impossible to penetrate, so he can easily confuse and outwit people who come gunning for him.

Versatility: 8. He's the recognized world master when it comes to anything electronics, he runs a business that rivals ViaSoft, he's acquainted with (if not friends with) several other nova powerhouses and high-ranking government officials, and (thanks to the Trans-D team) has allies on other worlds.

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About the closest thing on that end, is how Marvel has been moving as many franchises as possible "in house" lately, giving them more creative control. Which, given how crappy Marvel *comics* are these days, is counterintuitive, but so far, its resulted in good stuff.
When making a movie the big thing to avoid is someone who has *no* idea what the character is and who really wants to make a different movie. Highlander 2 comes to mind, 'we have budget, i want to make a movie about aliens because they're popular, so i will.'
Intellect: 10. He's smart, one of if not the smarted nova on the entire planet. He developed a functional space elevator, artificial gravity, designed the new space station, lent his aid to the design of the moon base, and has a ring in his basement that sends people to parallel universes. Oh, and let's not forget his currently un-executed plans to terraform Venus and Mars once their orbits get matched to Earth's.
He's certainly more effective and productive than Divis. In theory as a Mary Sue character Divis is smarter... assuming doesn't get the reality of the chessboard confused with how it *should* be.
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