Thorpocalypse wrote: ↑Sun Dec 25, 2016 7:52 pm
We've got another item from our X-Verse line hitting the Aisle 2 shelves!
I dare say...I was born for this. Raise the flag, X-Men. And let's go be amazing. - Nightcrawler
NIGHTCRAWLER
PL9
OPL: 9;
SPL: 8;
DPL: 9;
FWPL: 7;
HP: 1
Real Name: Kurt Wagner
Age: 33
Height: 5-9
Weight: 161
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: Blue
Skin: Blue
Race: Mutant
Identity: Secret
Alignment: Hero
Status: Active
Occupation: Teacher; Adventurer
Base of Operations: Westchester County, NY, USA
Team Affiliations: X-Men; Outsiders; JLAXI
ABILITIES: STRENGTH 2, STAMINA 3, AGILITY 9, DEXTERITY 4, FIGHTING 11, INTELLECT 2, AWARENESS 3, PRESENCE 2
SKILLS: Acrobatics 9 (+18) [
Agile Feint, Skill Mastery], Athletics 8 (+10), Deception (+2), Expertise [Theology and Philosophy] 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+7), Intimidation (+2), Investigation 3 (+5), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 6 (+8), Sleight of Hand 5 (+9), Stealth 4 (+13), Technology 3 (+5), Vehicles 2 (+6)
ADVANTAGES: Agile Feint, Close Attack (1), Defensive Roll (2), Equipment (2), Evasion (1), Grabbing Finesse, Improved Disarm, Languages (1) (English, Latin, Base: German), Move-by Action, Set-Up (2), Skill Mastery (1) (Acrobatics), Takedown (1), Teamwork, Weapon Bind
POWERS:
Shadow Blending: Concealment 2 (Visual, Flaw: Blending, Limited [to Shadows]); 1 pt
Wall Crawling: Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling [Normal Speed]); 4 pts
Night Vision: Senses 2 (Darkvision); 2 pts
Mutant Physique: Extra Limbs 1 (Prehensile Tail), Speed 1 (4 mph/60 fpr), Leaping 1 (15 ft); 3 pts
BAMF!: 24 pt Array; 26 pts
Bamfing: Teleport 9 (2 Miles; Extras: Turnabout, Increased Mass 3 [400 lbs]); 22 pts
Rapid Attack Bamfs: Burst Area Bludgeoning Strength-based Damage 5 (Extra: Burst Area 2 [60 ft radius], Selective); 1 pt
Sickening Bamfs: Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Fortitude; 1st: Dazed, 2nd: Stunned, 3rd: Incapacitated, Flaw: Grab-based, Inaccurate); 1 pt
EQUIPMENT:
(10 pts)
Twin Rapiers: Piercing Strength-Based Damage 4, Dangerous 2, Split; 7 pts
OFFENSE:
Initiative +10
Close Attack +12 [Unarmed +2; Twin Rapiers +6, Critical 19-20]
Sickening Bamf +10 [Sickening Bamf Affliction +8]
Ranged Attack +4
Special Attack [Rapid Attack +4,
Burst Area]
DEFENSES:
Dodge +13 [DC23] Parry +13 [DC23]
Toughness +5 (+3 without Defensive Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +8
COMPLICATIONS:
Honor: Kurt is a very religious man and tries to live his life in a Christian manner.
Monstrous Appearance: Kurt's demonic appearance can be unsettling for people and make it difficult for him blend into normal society.
Prejudice: Mutant.
Relationships: He is close to Colossus, Wolverine and Storm, is Rogue's half-brother and has a complicated relationship with his mother, Mystique, as well as with his half-brothers Kiwi Black and Abyss.
Responsibility: Xavier's Dream.
Abilities 72 + Skills 26 (52 ranks) + Advantages 17 + Powers 34 + Defenses 14 = 163 / 163
Build Comments: This take on Kurt was really easy. He goes to PL9 with a couple of attacks and defenses and pretty much everything else was set because I was pretty happy with my last review of him. I need to test him or another teleporter because I haven’t used the power much at all in either 2E or 3E but from what I have seen, it's not as bad to GM as I thought initially.
Secret Origins: Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty. Margali Szardos, a sorceress and gypsy queen, allegedly found Kurt an hour after his birth, in a small roadside shelter in the Black Forest with his father lying dead on the road outside. However, this claim was later called into question, and it was subsequently proven that Kurt's mother is Mystique, also known as Raven Darkholme, and his father is the demonic warlord Azazel. Mystique revealed that she threw him into a well after a large mob found out about Nightcrawler's existence, and Azazel admitted that he secretly saved his son from the fall, giving him to his lover and crony, Margali Szardos, to raise him. Margali took the baby to the small Bavarian circus where she worked as a fortuneteller, as a cover for her activities as a sorceress. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone, but was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against mutants. Margali acted as Kurt's unofficial foster mother.
Kurt grew up happily in the circus, and his two closest friends were Margali's natural children, Stefan and Jimaine. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility, and by his adolescence he had become the circus' star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human wearing a devil-like costume.
Years later, the Texas millionaire Arnos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus for which Wagner works and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus; however, he demands that Wagner be placed in the circus' freak show. Jardine drugs him to prevent escape but a young mutant child with the ability to sense other mutants helps Kurt escape. Appalled, Wagner leaves and makes his way toward Winzeldorf, Germany, where his foster brother Stefan is. He discovers that Stefan has gone mad and had brutally slain several children. When they were younger, Stefan made Kurt promise to kill him if he ever took an innocent life. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner finds Stefan and fights him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Stefan is killed.
The villagers of Winzeldorf, who assume from Kurt's appearance that he is the one who killed the children, attack. They are about to kill him when they are all psychically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier, who came to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Before they leave for America, he and Xavier go to the Bavarian circus to explain to Margali about Stefan's death, but Margali was gone.
The Story so Far: Known as Nightcrawler, Wagner becomes a member of the X-Men. Jimaine holds Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan, and creates a facsimile of the hell from Dante's Inferno in which to punish him years later. Through the use of Doctor Strange's all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, she learns the truth, and she and Wagner are reconciled. Wagner is happily reunited with his foster sister Jimaine, who now lives in the United States and had changed her name to Amanda Sefton, later becoming Kurt's girlfriend.
While he recovers from injuries sustained during a Sentinel attack, his fellow X-Men are apparently killed on a mission in Dallas. Not long after, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat leave to join Captain Britain in an adventure in the UK. They fought Gatecrasher's group of inter-dimensional mercenaries known as the Technet. The heroes work together so well, they decide to form a group they name Excalibur. Captain Britain originally assumes leadership of the group, but Nightcrawler gradually takes the responsibility. While Captain Britain and Meggan's relationship goes through a rocky time Nightcrawler becomes interested in Meggan, a feeling that is reciprocated but never consummated. During his time with Excalibur, he takes charge of the Technet, renaming them his 'N-Men', and he becomes romantically involved with his teammate Cerise before she leaves to stand trial for the Shi'ar. Later, his former girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, joins the team and the two continue their previous relationship. She leaves the team to take control of Limbo, a task that keeps her away from Earth, but the two remain close friends. Fearing it would be stolen from her, Amanda magically hides the Soulsword inside Nightcrawler's body.
For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X.
Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison.
Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind.
When the first mutant since M-Day appears, Cyclops sends Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Angel, Storm, and Colossus to find former Acolytes for information on the Marauders. It was predicted by Blindfold that Kurt would be seriously injured in the upcoming events and indeed this came true when he was shot by the Marauder, Scalphunter. Kurt seems to have nearly fully recovered from his injuries since he, along with Beast, the entire New X-Men team are teleported to Muir Island by Pixie. He takes part in the final battle.
Nightcrawler briefly believes that he no longer has a role with the X-Men, especially due to Pixie's abilities in teleporting. A trip back to Germany renews his conviction through an encounter with a boy cursed by gypsies into demonic form, a brush with Mephisto, and a romantic fling before he returns to San Francisco to aid the X-Men against a foe they struggled with, lacking his help.
After several adventures with the team, Nightcrawler flies with Wolverine and the rest of the team to Westchester when Cable and Hope are detected there. When Nightcrawler finds out about X-Force's lethal methods that have been kept from the rest of the X-Men, he argues with Cyclops. Later, Rogue and Nightcrawler fight an enhanced version of Bastion. When Bastion tries to kill Hope, Nightcrawler teleports to her aid, but Bastion detects Nightcrawler's mutant powers activating and extends his arm into the space in which Nightcrawler will materialize. Nightcrawler rematerializes around Bastion's arm, fusing with it, and is mortally wounded. With Nightcrawler's last breath, he teleports the girl to Utopia. As he dies upon their arrival on the island, Nightcrawler tells Hope that he "believes in her." Bastion reboots its system shortly after, with a three-fingered appearance.
Despite his death, Nightcrawler continues to aid his friends. When Wolverine is possessed by a demon, Nightcrawler enters his friend's mind to help him drive out the invader, although the other X-Men who entered Logan's mind to help him assume that Nightcrawler was just a manifestation of Wolverine's mind rather than the real one.
In Heaven, despite enjoying paradise, Nightcrawler continues to feel as though he had unfinished business, remaining on the periphery rather than actually joining the heavenly choir. When Azazel mounts an attack on Heaven using his connection to Kurt as a door, the other X-Men are able to create a portal to Heaven via the power of the Bamfs, strange creatures that resembled miniature versions of Nightcrawler, allowing them to aid Kurt in his fight. Having gathered his friends to aid him in fighting off Azazel's forces, Kurt uses the Bamfs and his connection to Azazel to restore himself to life back on Earth, thus preventing Azazel from attacking Heaven again by tying them both together, although this results in Kurt sacrificing his own soul to ensure that Azazel will not be able to return to Heaven. His 'Welcome Back' party is subsequently attended by all the X-Men - even Cyclops' branch of the team, despite the tensions between them, Nightcrawler stating that he wants all of his family to be present - although Nightcrawler briefly leaves the party to confront Mystique when she is attempting to find Azazel.
Characterization: Among his more ironic character traits, Wagner is an extremely religious man. A devout Catholic, his demonic appearance obviously makes it very difficult to attend Mass. Despite this, as mutants in the Marvel Universe become more accepted, he even managed to almost become a Catholic priest; unfortunately his studies were interrupted by a villainous group known as "The Neo".
In contrast, Nightcrawler also has a knack for the spontaneous and exciting. He sees himself as a swashbuckler, usually comparing himself to Errol Flynn. He is, despite his looks, always charming and gallant, and several storylines contain Kurt's love life as a conflict to his religious nature. His days in the circus make him a gifted performer and showman. Kurt is also a jokester. He has a great sense of humor for someone in his situation. He always plays pranks on people; some even call him "Trickster" because his combined teleporting abilities and playful disposition enable him to play quite the joke.
Friends and Foes: Nightcrawler is close to several of the X-Men and is closest to his original teammates, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm and Banshee. He has a complicated relationship with his mother and father, both of whom have fought him on many occasions but also show signs that they love him deep down. Nightcrawler's siblings include his foster sister Rogue and half-brother Graydon Creed from Mystique; and Abyss and Kiwi Black from Azazel.
