[OOC] Heroes II Sign-Ups & Discussion
Jun 6, 2017 2:31:50 GMT -6
Post by HalfBaked, Latest of Larrys on Jun 6, 2017 2:31:50 GMT -6
Well, here goes. I'm open to suggestions. Though it might be faster to message me on Discord, because I forget to check in here first. The Discord makes noise, which forces me to listen to it once in a while.
- Secret Identity -
Name: Michael Ward
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: British
Appearance:
Personality: Michael Ward was (and to some degree, still is) a practical joker. He thrives on verbal sparring and causing a somewhat contained bit of chaos. He’s become a little more prickly of a person over the course of the last two years—as one might expect—but he’s still a self-styled agent of chaos.
Biography: Michael Ward was born in London, the second child of an upper middle-class family. Growing up in relative comfort (and with a pretty consistent rivalry with his two brothers), Ward thought his life would be a simple one. He went to school, kept going to school, changed careers, and somewhere along the line managed to become the cool uncle. (Much to the chagrin of the family in general and his elder brother in particular, as he wasn’t exactly the responsible one in the Ward clan.)
However, he now is the sole surviving member of the Ward family and a person of interest in their case. Three years ago, the rest of the family was slaughtered at the family home in London, in the middle of a family get-together following a successful business venture. It’s unclear exactly what happened—the police never gave any details to the media, which only increased the number of whispers exchanged in bars until another tragedy caught the public eye.
As such, here is what is known. In the 72 hours that Michael Ward was held for questioning, he never said a word. And he wasn’t released—somehow, he escaped from his cell, and was able to elude capture several times over the course of the next few years. Two months ago, he somehow slipped out of Britain.
Coincidentally, a certain vigilante was operating in the Greater London Area in the time after his family’s death, only to crop up in the Midwestern United States shortly after Ward made his exit from the U.K.
- Superhero Identity -
Name: Ryft
Appearance:
Reputation: A free agent of a sort. A trickster and a troublemaker in his own right. Ryft isn’t really welcomed by many (or perhaps any, for that matter) of the superhero organizations in Britain or the European Union. They take his help with a grain of salt, because his methods and behavior are fairly unorthodox. In any case, he made a point in concealing his identity for the duration of that time, because…well, he was a person of interest/prime suspect in a mass murder.
His presence in Chicago was made known when the Chicago supers caught him breaking into a crime scene. In the hopes of winning some trust, he came clean about his identity and innocence, but nevertheless kept some of his motives to himself. As such, things are…complicated. He also asked that his identity not be passed along if the U.K. asked about Ryft’s assistance.
Primary Power: Phase shifting. To put it simply, Ryft exists in two places at once. One of those places is the physical dimension in which the universe—such as it is—exists. The other, insofar as anyone can tell, is either a similar-but-distinct dimension or some space that hangs just over this one. Most of the time, he’s in this one. But with enough focus, he can cross over—his physical body becomes something more of an image or an impression, still capable of communicating with those around it, but also intangible in that it can pass through things. With enough effort, he can bring things with him just by touching, though there are limitations. For example, larger, more complicated objects take more effort to move, and organic/living material must be handled carefully to prevent killing it in the process.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. His somewhat relative existence helps him deal with the telepathic gifts of others. They can still sense him —he is here, after all—but the effects on or readings of him become garbled—because, well, he’s also not here.
Secondary Power: Illusions. As a side effect of Ryft’s ability to move through things—essentially ceasing to be a tangible being—he can also conjure similarly intangible images. The quality of the image that he creates depends on his degree of focus. At his best, he can form the image of a person that moves around and speaks.
Tertiary Power: Memory manipulation. When in his physical form, Ryft can—to a point—erase someone’s memory. He needs to physically touch them, and the closer he get to their brain, the better. Also, the duration of contact is key—if it’s only momentary, then at best they lose five minutes.
He’s pretty sure that when he does this, it’s not a matter of the memories being wiped out—they just end up going to the place where the actual matter of his body goes when he activates his abilities,
Weaknesses: Aside from the intense degree of focus needed to use his gifts, there can be other issues. For example, he discovered on a rather impressive bender that if he’s intoxicated, not only is it hard to become incorporeal, but it gets harder to come back. And using more than one of version of his powers makes it hard for him to maintain focus.
Plus, any injuries he acquires in this plane seem to carry over into the next, so it isn’t a free ticket to health. He still ages in there, too.
Additionally, the illusions he conjures have no form of their own—because it’s a thing that he creates externally rather than intruding upon someone’s mind, they can’t be touched or felt. Illusions of humans also can’t be sensed by mind readers—instead, they might hear Ward’s directions to the illusion. And lastly, their reflections look a little distorted when in front of a mirror. And, as with many abilities, the bigger the object that needs to be formed, the volume of things he tries to alter, the composition of what he’s passing through all affect the degree to which he can effectively use his powers.
Power Origin: Ryft’s powers manifested the night his parents, brothers, nieces, and nephews were killed. While he wasn’t able to save them, his newfound gifts let him escape for a little while.
Gadgets: A set of burner phones (because...bad things happen when you drop your phone in an inter-dimensional...thingy) and a 9mm Springfield handgun that he appropriated from a drug dealer. He hasn’t tested what happens when he shifts with the gun in his hand and fires—The gun will pass through things if it’s on his person, but what will the bullet do when it leaves the chamber? Will it fire at all?—but he’s curious to try it out.
Choice: Choice Three. The real killer in the Ward murders was a masked man dressed in black armor who liked to make people bleed. Michael/Ryft immediately started looking for any other strange murders in Britain, and that’s how he heard about the Chicago killer. He was discovered by the Chicago team when he slipped into the most reason crime scene, where he offered his services to them without giving all the details as to why he was there.
-Stats-
Strength: 5 – Not the strongest in the world, but not the weakest either. That’s why it’s good to let the fists pass through before hitting the opponent in the voonerables.
Dexterity: 5 – He can get by in a fistfight—he had two brothers, after all—but he’s not going to go juggle knives any time soon.
Intelligence: 7 – An avid reader—at least, before books started passing through his hands from time to time. In any case, he uses his smarts to supplement his average physicality.
Willpower: 8 – All of Ryft’s powers require a certain degree of focus, so he spends a great deal of meditating. Is it working? Well, it had better work by now, or he’ll be in a great deal of trouble when the fist not passing through him lets him know.
Perception: 5 – No more preternaturally gifted at noticing things out of place than anyone else. Thus the need to be smarter and study ahead.
Charisma: 5 – “But…wait...having an accent scores a few extra points, yes?”
Luck: 5 – He’s not going to Vegas any time soon. Unless, well, he wanted to sneak into the vault, but that would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Additional Notes/Other: He chews on free toothpicks stolen by the pocketful from restaurants. Smoking and drinking are out of the question, because both of those can scramble his abilities.
Character Theme:
- Secret Identity -
Name: Michael Ward
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: British
Appearance:
{Spoiler}
Personality: Michael Ward was (and to some degree, still is) a practical joker. He thrives on verbal sparring and causing a somewhat contained bit of chaos. He’s become a little more prickly of a person over the course of the last two years—as one might expect—but he’s still a self-styled agent of chaos.
Biography: Michael Ward was born in London, the second child of an upper middle-class family. Growing up in relative comfort (and with a pretty consistent rivalry with his two brothers), Ward thought his life would be a simple one. He went to school, kept going to school, changed careers, and somewhere along the line managed to become the cool uncle. (Much to the chagrin of the family in general and his elder brother in particular, as he wasn’t exactly the responsible one in the Ward clan.)
However, he now is the sole surviving member of the Ward family and a person of interest in their case. Three years ago, the rest of the family was slaughtered at the family home in London, in the middle of a family get-together following a successful business venture. It’s unclear exactly what happened—the police never gave any details to the media, which only increased the number of whispers exchanged in bars until another tragedy caught the public eye.
As such, here is what is known. In the 72 hours that Michael Ward was held for questioning, he never said a word. And he wasn’t released—somehow, he escaped from his cell, and was able to elude capture several times over the course of the next few years. Two months ago, he somehow slipped out of Britain.
Coincidentally, a certain vigilante was operating in the Greater London Area in the time after his family’s death, only to crop up in the Midwestern United States shortly after Ward made his exit from the U.K.
- Superhero Identity -
Name: Ryft
Appearance:
{Spoiler}
Reputation: A free agent of a sort. A trickster and a troublemaker in his own right. Ryft isn’t really welcomed by many (or perhaps any, for that matter) of the superhero organizations in Britain or the European Union. They take his help with a grain of salt, because his methods and behavior are fairly unorthodox. In any case, he made a point in concealing his identity for the duration of that time, because…well, he was a person of interest/prime suspect in a mass murder.
His presence in Chicago was made known when the Chicago supers caught him breaking into a crime scene. In the hopes of winning some trust, he came clean about his identity and innocence, but nevertheless kept some of his motives to himself. As such, things are…complicated. He also asked that his identity not be passed along if the U.K. asked about Ryft’s assistance.
Primary Power: Phase shifting. To put it simply, Ryft exists in two places at once. One of those places is the physical dimension in which the universe—such as it is—exists. The other, insofar as anyone can tell, is either a similar-but-distinct dimension or some space that hangs just over this one. Most of the time, he’s in this one. But with enough focus, he can cross over—his physical body becomes something more of an image or an impression, still capable of communicating with those around it, but also intangible in that it can pass through things. With enough effort, he can bring things with him just by touching, though there are limitations. For example, larger, more complicated objects take more effort to move, and organic/living material must be handled carefully to prevent killing it in the process.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. His somewhat relative existence helps him deal with the telepathic gifts of others. They can still sense him —he is here, after all—but the effects on or readings of him become garbled—because, well, he’s also not here.
Secondary Power: Illusions. As a side effect of Ryft’s ability to move through things—essentially ceasing to be a tangible being—he can also conjure similarly intangible images. The quality of the image that he creates depends on his degree of focus. At his best, he can form the image of a person that moves around and speaks.
Tertiary Power: Memory manipulation. When in his physical form, Ryft can—to a point—erase someone’s memory. He needs to physically touch them, and the closer he get to their brain, the better. Also, the duration of contact is key—if it’s only momentary, then at best they lose five minutes.
He’s pretty sure that when he does this, it’s not a matter of the memories being wiped out—they just end up going to the place where the actual matter of his body goes when he activates his abilities,
Weaknesses: Aside from the intense degree of focus needed to use his gifts, there can be other issues. For example, he discovered on a rather impressive bender that if he’s intoxicated, not only is it hard to become incorporeal, but it gets harder to come back. And using more than one of version of his powers makes it hard for him to maintain focus.
Plus, any injuries he acquires in this plane seem to carry over into the next, so it isn’t a free ticket to health. He still ages in there, too.
Additionally, the illusions he conjures have no form of their own—because it’s a thing that he creates externally rather than intruding upon someone’s mind, they can’t be touched or felt. Illusions of humans also can’t be sensed by mind readers—instead, they might hear Ward’s directions to the illusion. And lastly, their reflections look a little distorted when in front of a mirror. And, as with many abilities, the bigger the object that needs to be formed, the volume of things he tries to alter, the composition of what he’s passing through all affect the degree to which he can effectively use his powers.
Power Origin: Ryft’s powers manifested the night his parents, brothers, nieces, and nephews were killed. While he wasn’t able to save them, his newfound gifts let him escape for a little while.
Gadgets: A set of burner phones (because...bad things happen when you drop your phone in an inter-dimensional...thingy) and a 9mm Springfield handgun that he appropriated from a drug dealer. He hasn’t tested what happens when he shifts with the gun in his hand and fires—The gun will pass through things if it’s on his person, but what will the bullet do when it leaves the chamber? Will it fire at all?—but he’s curious to try it out.
Choice: Choice Three. The real killer in the Ward murders was a masked man dressed in black armor who liked to make people bleed. Michael/Ryft immediately started looking for any other strange murders in Britain, and that’s how he heard about the Chicago killer. He was discovered by the Chicago team when he slipped into the most reason crime scene, where he offered his services to them without giving all the details as to why he was there.
-Stats-
Strength: 5 – Not the strongest in the world, but not the weakest either. That’s why it’s good to let the fists pass through before hitting the opponent in the voonerables.
Dexterity: 5 – He can get by in a fistfight—he had two brothers, after all—but he’s not going to go juggle knives any time soon.
Intelligence: 7 – An avid reader—at least, before books started passing through his hands from time to time. In any case, he uses his smarts to supplement his average physicality.
Willpower: 8 – All of Ryft’s powers require a certain degree of focus, so he spends a great deal of meditating. Is it working? Well, it had better work by now, or he’ll be in a great deal of trouble when the fist not passing through him lets him know.
Perception: 5 – No more preternaturally gifted at noticing things out of place than anyone else. Thus the need to be smarter and study ahead.
Charisma: 5 – “But…wait...having an accent scores a few extra points, yes?”
Luck: 5 – He’s not going to Vegas any time soon. Unless, well, he wanted to sneak into the vault, but that would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Additional Notes/Other: He chews on free toothpicks stolen by the pocketful from restaurants. Smoking and drinking are out of the question, because both of those can scramble his abilities.
Character Theme:
