Aberrant RPG - Creating T2M

[Nyxx]

Ok, I'm running a game set very early in the timeline (my favorite place to start), so as to distort canon to the max, and I need T2M!

Early Pax is just a scaled down version of "TK juggernaught"

We have stats for Splash, there has been enough random speculation on Slider for me to fill that in. but there are some others I have questions on.

Does anyone have any ideas/info on Slag, Ragnarockette or Ana Gracia Texeria?

Slag must have something to do with molten metal, maybe? I also think I read something about Ragnarockette having TK? Ana Gracia is a complete cipher to me...

Any thoughts?

Edit: Quick thought on Slag: EA: Metal, EM: Fire/Heat, not much defense...

[metaphysician]

Well, Slag probably has *some* defense. Just not enough to keep him from being skewered by Totentanz from surprise. What he probably lacks, comparatively, is skill and experience. So, little or now Awareness or Tactics or such.

As for Ragnarockette, I got the impression she is a fast, strong TK, sort of a mini-Pax, but I have no clue whether its based in canon or not.

[Nyxx]

Now that I'm not at work, I've got more of my stuff handy and this is what I have so far on the ones that have ot been officially statted or seen extensive discussion already:

Allison "Psyche" Pfaltzgraff: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Mental Blast, Flight, Domination, Psi Shield (the Jean Grey assortment + tattoos)

XAnthony "Lightning" Chang: EA or EM; Electricity, maybe a Q-Bolt too, Q-Conversion (Electricity), Absorption: Energy, maybe Hyperrunning? (I might just be thinking of Surge from X-Men)

XGriffin Armstrong: Gravity Control, Big M-Strength and M-Stamina, Armor or Invulnerability

XEwen "the Apollo Kid" Banks: Flight, EM: Fire, M-Intelligence, wears a diaper of some kind according to the cover of Project Utopia...

XHiram "Slag" Goldberg: EA: Metal and EM: Fire/Heat? or maybe EM: Molten metal? maybe just some kind of molten metal Q-Bolt? Ugh...

XGvuthbjorg "Guggie" or "The Ragnarockette" Danielsdottir: TK, Flight, Armor, M-Strength

Christoph "Shadow Artist" Yannik: Bodymorph: Shadow, EA: Shadow

XFigment (real name unknown): Density Decrease, Invisibility, Silence

XPualani "Pele" Kapunani: EM: Earth/Stone and something with lava, a Q-Bolt?

XAna Gracia Texeria: Mega-Physicals, some Mega-Social, Armor, Flight (Hancock! not too sure on this one at all)

XMakara (Real name unknown): Big Mega Physicals, Invulnerability or Armor? (not much on him either)

XFirefox (real name unknown): Another fire manipulator... ::yawn

I know there has to be more, but I can't find them right now? I think I read something somewhere that said "Lightning" could read minds? Either way, any further thoughts or info are welcome.

[Sprocket]

Re: Slag's powers-

Going by the picture on p. 61 of Aberrant: Project Utopia, AFAICT it's safe to say that Slag had some level of Bodymorph: Molten Metal.

[Nyxx]

Re: Slag's powers-

Going by the picture on p. 61 of Aberrant: Project Utopia, AFAICT it's safe to say that Slag had some level of Bodymorph: Molten Metal.

oooohhhh, Good catch! I had not noticed that! I had though he had some kind of funky Anima Banner or something.

So, I'd write that as a hard/solid that at five dots would be Density Increase 1, Armor 2, Immolate(lethal/heat) 2.

Ok, so Slag is taking shape now. The molten thing will have to be a special effect b/c there is no good way to represent "liquid metal" that I've seen and if he were liquid metal he might have been harder to kill with spears.

Unless... is it possible to have 1 dot of Increase and 2 of Decrease to represent "heavy liquid"?

[metaphysician]

I don't think so. I'm inclined to say SFX.

Note that, IIRC, Slag got two spears through the chest, so Totentanz didn't have to one punch him.

[metaphysician]

*looks it up* Yeah, even if you assume the picture is literal, and Slag 'only' took two spears to the back from perfect health, Totentanz throws something like 28 lethal per individual spear attack. Slag could have 20 lethal soak, which is better than a tank, and he'd still probably die from that attack.

[Nyxx]

So, powers for Slag:

-------------------------------------

Mega-Strength: 1 (Lifter)

Mega-Stamina: 2 (Adaptability, Resiliency)

Mega-Appearance: 1 (Friendly Face)

Mega-Charisma: 2 (Natural Agitator, Amiable)

Quantum: 5 Node 3 Taint 1

Bodymorph: Molten Metal 5 (Hard/Solid) [Density Increase 1, Armor 2, Immolate (Lethal Heat) 2]

Elemental Mastery: Metal 4 [Enhance/Diminish*, Metallokinesis**, Lethal Blast, Crush]

Invulnerability: Fire/Heat 3

*Slag may use Enhance/Diminish to alter temperature as well as the quantity/quality of metal

**This is effectively the same as Magnetokinesis

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Look good? Too strong or weak?

[Sprocket]

It looks fine to me. Slag never seemed to be one of those novas who really pushed their power development, which is probably a factor in why Totentanz was able to gank him so easily.

[Nyxx]

Next up: Anthony "Lightning" Chang

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Mega Dexterity 3: Enhanced Movement, Fast Tasks, Rapid Strike

Mega Stamina 3: Durability, Regeneration

Mega Perception 4: Electromagnetic Vision, Hyperenhanced Hearing, High-End Electromagnetic Scan, Quantum Attunement

Mega Intelligence 2: Taint Resistance, Speed Reading

Mega Wits 2: Quickness, Multi-Tasking, Hypercognition

Quantum 5, Node 5, Taint 3

Elemental Mastery Electricity 5: (EMP, Blast, Enhance/Diminish, Storm, Sphere)

Quantum Bolt (Lightning, Lethal) 4

Quantum Conversion (Electricity): 4

Invulnerability (Electricity): 4

Force Field (St Elmo's Fire) 3

Flight 3

*Telepathy 3 (Weaknesses: Line of Sight only, May only read minds, not alter them or transmit thoughts. Strength: Extra - Surreptitious)

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* I read somewhere that Lightning could read the electrical signals of the brain like Telepathy, I think this represents that well.

[metaphysician]

"Lightning" Chang looks good. I've always figured he was supposed to be one of the big guns of T2m, relatively speaking.

( outside of Pax, natch )

[BlueNinja]

IIRC, Ragnarockette is also supposed to have Mega-App 1, or at least App 5. She's one of the bright and shiny faces in the Queer Nova Alliance.

As for "Ugh, another Fire manipulator" it's supposed to be a fairly common power/theme, along with Mega-Strength/Flight combos.

[Alex Green]

Something else to consider is what *year* are you doing all of them.

T's stats are from 2008 or 2010 or something. Ditto Splash.

Slag was killed a lot earlier than that.

Oh and Rag has adaptability. She did a one chick mission to the moon without a space suit. I think it's assumed that she flew, so basically IMHO she's Pax (very) lite. Flight, Hyperflight... and she got one punched by... was it Ironskin or was it Dragon?

[metaphysician]

If its Andy, then she must have had her force field down for some reason. Because he doesn't exactly hit that hard.

[Nyxx]

Something else to consider is what *year* are you doing all of them.

T's stats are from 2008 or 2010 or something. Ditto Splash.

For the most part, my goal is to make the stats useful in a wide variety of games, scaling one way or another shouldn't be too hard.

Also, Totentanz is like the Shaolin monk of Elites, apparently taking no shortcuts in his pursuit of power, practicing discipline and asceticism. He has a bare minimum of Taint and spends all his time either training to kick ass, getting ready to kick ass, and going out and kicking ass. I expect he's been pretty nasty from day one, as Montressor (page 139-140 Project Utopia) shows, some people erupt as badasses without heavy Taint.

Oh and Rag has adaptability. She did a one chick mission to the moon without a space suit. I think it's assumed that she flew, so basically IMHO she's Pax (very) lite. Flight, Hyperflight... and she got one punched by... was it Ironskin or was it Dragon?

,,

Per Worldwide Phase II (page 112) she got put through a wall by both "Ironskin" Andy Vance and Jake "Dragon" Korelli. They apparently used teamwork to take her down. So she's not Pax, she just has some similar powers. Still, getting put out by those two hardly qualifies her as a creampuff.

[Alex Green]

Also, Totentanz is like the Shaolin monk of Elites, apparently taking no shortcuts in his pursuit of power, practicing discipline and asceticism. He has a bare minimum of Taint and spends all his time either training to kick ass, getting ready to kick ass, and going out and kicking ass. I expect he's been pretty nasty from day one, as Montressor (page 139-140 Project Utopia) shows, some people erupt as badasses without heavy Taint.

T benefits strongly from being a statistical aberration. 100 people erupt in 1999 and go into the Elite business. 99 of them die. We look at the last guy standing and are awestruck by him. If someone else had survived we'd be awestruck by him instead.

Invis

M-Dex 1 (Catfooted)

M-Str 1 (Q-Leap)

M-Stam 1 (Adapt)

Leech 1

P-Shield 5

And you're basically there as far as his eruption. What makes him nasty is he's spent a truck load of experience.

Per Worldwide Phase II (page 112) she got put through a wall by both "Ironskin" Andy Vance and Jake "Dragon" Korelli. They apparently used teamwork to take her down. So she's not Pax, she just has some similar powers. Still, getting put out by those two hardly qualifies her as a creampuff.

Presumably it was more Dragon than Andy. He's got M-str 4 compared to Andy's M-str 2.

Thus she took 7 levels from M-Str 4, or a 7[20] or so attack. That puts her soak at 15 or so. If that's what she's got then she doesn't need a FF, generic Armor would do.

5/5 Eufiber 5

1/1 M-Stam 1

4/2 Stamina 4

6/6 Armor 2

[metaphysician]

Sounds about right, given that makes her still pretty tough even when not fully prepared for combat.

[Nyxx]

Sounds about right, given that makes her still pretty tough even when not fully prepared for combat.

Of course, the real problem with trying to decipher her powers from that blurb in WWII is that it was an in character report of a few seconds of a fight between T2MEu and the entire Amp Room. She may have been actually knocked out or not, she may have been "softened up" before hand by others, she may have shook off their attack once she was through the wall and then gotten ganked by the Angel of Bones immediately. No real way to know for sure.

Her stats at the time of the Amp Room battle should reflect the fact that she has been a member of T2M since 01/01/99. That's sixteen years of experience through such things as the Equatorial Wars, Kashmir, environmental cleanups, Mexico City's earthquake, and loads of other shit. There's a temptation to make any of the 16 year vets of T2M really badass and it's difficult to think of why they wouldn't be really, all things considered.

Maybe she's just really lazy and unmotivated, also lucky to have survived this long. ::devil

Maybe just give her five dots of Luck to go along with fairly undeveloped other abilities and call it a day?

[Alex Green]

If she was softened up then her soak could be a hair higher... but as it stands she's going to ignore any damage less than Mega-Str 2 and probably only ping that. But the Amp room isn't Kashmir. The number of mega-str 4+ guys in the room should have been very limited.

Her stats at the time of the Amp Room battle should reflect the fact that she has been a member of T2M since 01/01/99. That's sixteen years of experience through such things as the Equatorial Wars, Kashmir, environmental cleanups, Mexico City's earthquake, and loads of other shit. There's a temptation to make any of the 16 year vets of T2M really badass and it's difficult to think of why they wouldn't be really, all things considered.

The vast bulk of that isn't combat, much less elite combat.

Further what T2M has learned from all that is T2M members shouldn't even consider combat with elites unless they out number them by *at* *least* 2 to 1. The expected results from anything less than that is dead T2M members.

[Nyxx]

Further what T2M has learned from all that is T2M members shouldn't even consider combat with elites unless they out number them by *at* *least* 2 to 1. The expected results from anything less than that is dead T2M members.

Heh, one of the very early games I ran was a T2m game that went through the Equatorial Wars era, the players were sooooo offended by that pronouncement even though I had spent the previous two game sessions kicking their asses with battle-hardened elites. ::blink

[metaphysician]

Being fair, part of that is that T2M tended to recruit photogenic novas they could properly mold, whereas the elites of note generally were already trained soldiers before erupting ( exceptions like Totentanz granted ). Plus, they tended to make much higher use of weaponry.

There's no particular reason why T2M *couldn't* train up a combat capable unit that could match any group of elites out there. . . other than that it'd require spending time and resources doing so, that it would prefer to spend elsewhere. Plus, I doubt they *want* to have T2M be composed of disciplined, trained, combat-hardened badasses who are bound by comradery, even if they are still true believers and photogenic heroes. Such a group would be too big a liability.

[Alex Green]

...Plus, I doubt they *want* to have T2M be composed of disciplined, trained, combat-hardened badasses who are bound by comradery, even if they are still true believers and photogenic heroes. Such a group would be too big a liability.

Translation: Sooner or later they're going to screw up and blow up an airplane or kill a baby while on camera. They'll do it just because of the laws of probabilities.

And I agree.

[metaphysician]

Actually, no, its more "sooner or later they'll take some action we don't like, and we want to be able to *control* them." That's a lot harder if you can't readily unperson a member in the eyes of his team mates, or assassinate them without having it traced. Or worse, go rogue and independent, no longer relying on Project Utopia backing and support.

[Alex Green]

I don't know... imho that's already what blew up on them with Corbin and Slider. The only 'good' thing about that entire mess was Corbin was such a screw up before it happened that they could cover.

Speaking of which, *any* T2M guy could go all "Titan" at any time.

On the whole I'm not very happy that PU was made the fall guy for everything that went wrong. Project Pro really needed their own splat book just to explain why they were *needed* and not just "doing things because they're evil".

For example, I was in a game where all the PCs get thrown back in time to the Hammersmith experiment. Knowing everything that's going to happen (including the Ultimatum which in this universe wasn't a bluff and which was called) the PCs basically create Project Pro.

We mind controlled people. We manipulated people. We forced policies on politicians according to what we *knew* was right... mostly to avoid the Great Depression. We removed Hitler/StalinMao from power before they did their thing. Etc, etc, etc.

Or in short, we did pretty much what Project Pro did, but we the players understood why. As awful as the things we did were, the alternatives were much worse.

[metaphysician]

A good sentiment, the problem is Mercer. The more they revealed about him, the more he was revealed to be an ego at least as monstrous as Donighal would become. And I suspect the writers didn't intend that, much in the same way as they didn't intend Q6+.

[Alex Green]

A good sentiment, the problem is Mercer. The more they revealed about him, the more he was revealed to be an ego at least as monstrous as Donighal would become. And I suspect the writers didn't intend that, much in the same way as they didn't intend Q6+.

Yeah but Mercer might KNOW.

All it take in the splat book is for him to sit down and say that as awful as it is, all the other parallel time tracks he explored were much worse.

Max's Diary: "I tolerated Hitler because he literally was a product of his time. I went back in time once and stopped him. I didn't kill him of course, I just funded his art so he became a talented artist instead of a politician. The result was the holocaust was attempted in the 1970's using bio-weapons. I'm pretty sure humanity didn't survive that one, 99% of the people died and 99% of the survivors were sterile. Fixing that mess meant there was a nuclear world war in the 1990's, and literally nothing survived that. Enough of the atmosphere was destroyed that the Earth became a cold frozen hell. The bottom line is that humanity needed to burn it's fingers on that stove while we could still survive doing so. The only thing worse than letting Hitler stay in power was removing him."

[Nyxx]

So... Back on topic...

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"Ragnarockette"

Strength 3 Dexterity 5 (Nimble) Stamina 5 (Tough)

Perception 3 Intelligence 3 Wits 4 (Quick Thinker)

Appearance 5(Imposing) Manipulation 3 Charisma 4 (Magnetic)

Quantum 4, Taint 2, Node 3

Mega Strength 1 (Irresistible Force, Crush)

Mega Dexterity 3 (Accuracy, Physical Prodigy, Enhanced Movement)

Mega Stamina 3 (Resiliency, Adaptability, Durability)

Mega Perception 2 (Electromagnetic Vision)

Mega Appearance 2 (Awe-Inspiring)

Mega Charisma 2 (Dreadful Mein)

Flight 5

Hyperflight 3

Telekinesis 5

Quantum Bolt 3 (Bashing, Kinetic Blast)

Boost (Strength, Telekinetic Boost) 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tough enough to be respectable as a 16 year vet of T2M and still able to be pwned by the teamwork of the Amp Room's bouncers.

[Alex Green]

With Eufiber 5/5 her soak is thus 16/11... solid array of powers too. Yep, that would do it.

[Nyxx]

Next is Ana Gracia Texeria, who has zero in the way of writeup and the only thing I could think of for her (and will be using in game) is "flying brick, Hancock-style".

-------------------------------

Ana Gracia Texeria

Quantum 4, Taint 3, Node 3

Mega Strength 4: (Lifter, Thrower, Shockwave, Thunderclap)

Mega Dexterity 2: (Avian, Enhanced Movement)

Mega Stamina 4: (Adaptability, Resilencyx2, Durability, Hardbody)

Mega Wits 2: (Enhanced Initiative, Multi-Tasking)

Mega Appearance 1: (First Impression)

Flight 5 (Extra: Underwater)

Armor 4

Invulnerability: Physical 2

Invulnerability: Energy 2

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So, super-tough and strong, not much else. Fully capable of helping rescue the space shuttle and of holding her own as a veteran T2M agent. She dosen't have any kind of ranged attack/ blasty type stuff, but she can easily throw a bus to Q-bolt ranges so that should be ok. No innate way of doing lethal damage either, but that's what hitting people with pieces of the scenery is for, right? ::biggrin

[Alex Green]

Ana Gracia Texeria... I'm drawing a blank here. (It's funny how we can have world famous media icons with their own action figures and yet have no clue what they do).

[Nyxx]

Ana Gracia Texeria... I'm drawing a blank here. (It's funny how we can have world famous media icons with their own action figures and yet have no clue what they do).

That's what I'm saying! The only info in the books about her that I can find is the following:

1) Her name

2) She can survive unaided in space

3) She can function effectively underwater

4) She can be of some kind of assistance when rescuing a distressed space shuttle

5) She is either a lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or really believes in the LGBT cause and thus hangs out with the QNA

None of that tells much about her powers, and the only hint of her personality in in the QNA bit in the player's guide. So I decided she is a flying brick. Flying bricks are handy to have around and easy to create. ::biggrin

[Alex Green]

Just like "84" in http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/com...date=2001-11-29 (their index is a bit sucky or i'd link to the exact issue). Basically it's a web comic of an elementary school filled with super beings.

One of the girls says she has super strength, flight, and invulnerability and her classmates tell her that's the most common set of powers *ever*. She's the 84th super with them.

[metaphysician]

Just like "84" in http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/com...date=2001-11-29 (their index is a bit sucky or i'd link to the exact issue). Basically it's a web comic of an elementary school filled with super beings.

One of the girls says she has super strength, flight, and invulnerability and her classmates tell her that's the most common set of powers *ever*. She's the 84th super with them.

I thought it turned out to be because someone was cloning 'Superman'?

[Nyxx]

And now... The Happy Couple!

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Makara*

Strength:5 (Powerful) Dexterity:5 (Surprisingly Nimble) Stamina: 5 (Enduring)

Perception: 3 Intelligence: 2 Wits: 4 (Clever)

Appearance: 4 (Imposing) Manipulation: 3 Charisma: 5 (Telegenic)

Quantum: 3 Node: 1 Taint: 0

Mega Strength: 4 (Quantum Leap, Irresistible Force, Crush, Shockwave)

Mega Dexterity: 3 (Physical Prodigy, Enhanced Movement)

Mega Stamina: 4 (Resilencyx2, Regeneration, Hardbody)

Mega Appearance: 1 (Awe Inspiring)

Mega Charisma 3 (Natural Agitator)

Armor: 4 (Superheavy)

*The only things I had to go on here where the bit in the Player's Guide that showed him to be a Brick and the fact that his image was a direct port of The Rock to Aberrant ::biggrin

Firefox*

Strength:2 Dexterity:5 (Agile) Stamina: 5 (Energetic)

Perception: 3 Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3

Appearance: 5 (Photogenic) Manipulation: 4 (Persuasive) Charisma: 5 (Charming)

Quantum: 4 Node: 3 Taint: 4

Aberrations: Anima Banner (Fire, when using Hyperrunning)

Mega Dexterity: 3 (Fast Tasks, Accuracy)

Mega Stamina: 2 (Durability, Resiliency)

Mega-Wits: 1 (Natural Empath, Quickness)

Mega Appearance: 1 (First Impression)

Mega Manipulation: 2 (Persuader)

Elemental Anima: Fire 4 (Enhance/Diminish, Blast, Wall, Shaping)

Quantum Conversion: Fire 4

Hyperrunning: 2

* Not much to go on here either, just her name and the fact that her pic had an anima effect. I gave her the Mega Stamina to go with the apparently endless sexathons she and Makara have and the rest is a Fire-Manipulating speedy type, which stands out from the vast horde of fire manipulators a little.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Alex Green]

They both look good.

I tried looking up Makara and didn't get very far. It has several meanings, including the mount for the Hindu god of lust and love, but it's also a Greek surname and that's probably how it'd being used here.

[Nyxx]

They both look good.

I tried looking up Makara and didn't get very far. It has several meanings, including the mount for the Hindu god of lust and love, but it's also a Greek surname and that's probably how it'd being used here.

Heh, I didn't even try looking up his name. I keep getting stuck on "Pele" every time i try to think about statting her up, I end up thinking of this guy. ::brick

[Alex Green]

Yeah, but the second link down is at least on point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele_%28deity%29

A Greek guy calling himself Makara is like some other super calling himself "Jones" (or "Smith" before The Matrix). The name is the name.

[metaphysician]

Yeah, I always pegged Pele as being some kind of earth-controlling brick. Maybe a little like the Confederate, except less tainted and not a raging psycho bigot.

[Alex Green]

Isn't Pele a chick? If so then she probably can control Volcanoes.

[Nyxx]

Ok, after some thought I have stats for T2M's premier footballer... er volcano goddess! ::blush

--------------------------------------------------------

Pualani "Pele" Kapunani

Strength 4 (Athletic) Dexterity 5 (Graceful) Stamina 4 (Tireless)

Intelligence 3 Perception 3 Wits 3

Appearance 4 (Great Body) Manipulation 3 Charisma 4 (Magnetic)

Quantum 5 Taint 4 Node 3

Aberration: Aberrant Eyes (Molten Energy)

Mega Strength 1 (Crush)

Mega Dexterity 2 (Physical Prodigy, Accuracy)

Mega Stamina 3 (Adaptability, Regeneration, Resiliency, Durability)

Mega Wits 2 (Artistic Genius, Multitasking)

Mega Appearance 2 (Awe Inspiring, First Impression)

Mega Charisma 2 (Seductive, Natural Agitator)

Bodymorph: Volcanic Basalt 5 (Density Increase 2, Armor 2, Claws 1)

Elemental Mastery: Earth/Stone 4 (Enhance/Diminish, Shaping, Quake*, Crush)

Invulnerability: Fire/Heat 3

Quantum Bolt: Lethal/Magma 4 (Burning)

*This technique works like the Shockwave Enhancement using the Elemental Mastery rating in place of Mega Strength

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There it is, the goddess of volcanoes, dance and violence. ::biggrin