THERIANTHROPE
(Power Level 10)
Real Name: Dale Rexroth
Status: Deceased (NVAE #23)
Hair / Eyes: Black / Brown
Height / Weight: 6’4” / 182 lbs.
Place of Birth / Date of Birth: Dayton, Ohio, United States / March 9, 1970 – Unknown (Aged 39)
Home Dimension: Oubliette-137
First Appearance: New Vindicators Academy of Europe #3
Tags: #armada, #laputa, #neosapien, #oubliette137, #unitedstates
Physical Description: Dale Rexroth appears as a very physical fit man in his late 30's; he keeps his head shaven in a perpetual buzzcut and wears a goatee. The man sports a few tattoos: his first wife and son's names are inked over his heart; the words "Never Forget" followed by the dates February 16, 2007 and September 27, 2008 underneath are etched on the inside of his left arm; a nine-headed hyrda is depicted on his right arm, with the heads wrapping around the limb, dominating the appendage. On his back is his newest tattoo: a chess piece--a black king--which extends over most of his spine.
Relationships: Jack Rexroth / Greystone (son), Tabitha Lamperogue / Erudite (second wife; deceased), Jason Lamperogue / Prodigy (step-son), Elizabeth Lamperogue / Lacuna (step-daughter), Herta Elade / Tantivy (pawn)
Biography: Once upon a time, Dale Rexroth had lived a normal life. He was a Neo-Sapien—an aspect he had inherited from his father—but managed to keep such a truth hidden from his wife and son. He had no ambitions of using his ability to shift his form—adding pieces to his body—to make the world a better place or to take what he wanted. Dale was a man who believed in hard work: blood, sweat and tears were the best path to happiness. Besides, with his wife and his son at his side, he had everything he could ever want and need.
Everything changed the day of the car crash though. Dale was still at work—still at the distribution warehouse where he was employed as a maintenance man—when he got the word that his wife and son had been involved in an accident.
In the days after he put his wife in the ground, depression set in and Dale turned to drinking as a way of dealing with everything. He knew why his son had survived—he knew it was the Neo-Sapien powers he had passed onto Jack that had saved him… but Dale lamented that nothing could have been done to spare the love of his life.
In his rage, he struck his son. For a year, Jack endured his father’s abuse and kept his abilities dormant. One day though, he had had enough. His father’s rage took over and then Jack’s own rage came through: he manifested claws on his hands and fought back, coming to his senses moments before he nearly killed the man. Jack called 9-1-1 and left Dale bleeding on the floor of their home…
It is unknown what became of Dale after that night—only that he survived, met and married Tabitha Lamperogue and joined his bride in her crusade against the oppression humanity reserved for their kind.
The New Vindicators first learned of Dale Rexroth’s position within Laputa in the wake of their adventure in Kaiserslautern: while they dealt with Confectionery and Basilisk, the American laid siege to Ramstein Air Force Base, proving that the attack on the town hall was little more than misdirection. (NVAE #2)
Not long after witnessing the terrifying video of one man making short work of an entire air force base, Therianthrope descended from the skies to assault Sidra, in pursuit of the escaping Basilisk. With one swipe of his claws, Therianthrope ended the girl’s life, earning him even more hatred from the young heroes. (NVAE #4)
It was some time later that he was sent after Vestige and her parents. Along with his pawn, Tantivy, Therianthrope attacked the Liechtenstein, only to be bested by a contingent of New Vindicators consisting of Impasse, Magnitude, Prodigy and Ursa were joined by two of their classmates: Current, Sidra’s boyfriend, and Greystone, Therianthrope’s son.
Ultimately, Current elected to evacuate the injured with the help of Magnitude and Impasse—though not before Magnitude could bind Therianthrope in a shell of dust that stripped him of his movement.
While Prodigy worked to demoralize the man, Greystone and Ursa fought him and finally subdued the man before he was taken away by Crusader for an unknown location. (NVAE #7)
Laputa located Therianthrope and freed him. When they launched their final attack on the New Vindicators Academy, Therianthrope encountered his son. A brawl began, but the two soon struck a truce, with the elder Rexroth turning on Laputa in an effort to save his wife. Lacuna’s seed took hold and the battle continued—ending with the arrival of Iconoclast, who offered to telekinetically hold the possessed man while Greystone dealt with the controller.
When the battle was over, Iconoclast towed Therianthrope’s body from the island, relinquishing him to the school, where he was turned over to the World Court. (NVAE #10)
At some point, Lacuna abandoned her hold over Therianthrope and the man was sentenced to life on Pandora, along with several other members of Laputa: Erudite, Confectionery, Vociferant, and Basilisk. There, he was reunited with his son, only to learn that months had passed for the youth since Laputa’s downfall. When Argus arrives to recruit the inmates into the Armada, Greystone explains to his father, step-mother, and Confectionery what the Elpis does to worlds it leaves. Together, the four plot a rebellion to bring down the Armada and protect their home dimension. When their plot is uncovered, Therianthrope was executed. (NVAE #22 - 23)
- STR 16 (+3), DEX 10, CON 16 (+3), INT 10, WIS 15 (+2), CHA 10
SKILLS: Concentration 5 (+7), Craft (mechanical) 3, Intimidate 10, Notice 4 (+6), Profession (maintenance man) 5 (+7), Sense Motive 5 (+7)
FEATS: All-out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Die Hard, Dodge Focus 2, Equipment 10, Fearless, Interpose, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack 1, Teamwork 1
POWERS: Features 2 (Iron Stomach, Shiftable Skin), Protection 5, Shapeshift 10 (Flaws: Limited [humanoids only, -1]), Super-Strength 5
Chimera Form: Unlike many of his other forms, Therianthrope’s Chimera form has no actual theme and instead takes the most beneficial traits from various animals. Some traits he tends to adapt include a bat’s echolocation (Super-Senses 3 [Enhanced Senses: Accurate Ultrasonic Hearing]—4 points), a bird’s wings (Flight 2 [25 MPH; Drawbacks: Power Loss {when wings are bound, -1}]—3 points), a bloodhound’s nose (Super-Senses 2 [Enhanced Senses: Acute Scent, Tracking]—2 points), a chameleon’s skin (Concealment 4 [visual; Flaws: Blending {-1}—2 points), a cheetah’s legs (Speed 3 [50 MPH]—3 points), a fish’s gills (Immunity 1 [drowning]—1 point), a fly’s eyes (Super-Senses 1 [Enhanced Senses: Radius Visual]—2 points), a hawk’s eyes (Super-Senses 2 [Enhanced Senses: Extended Vision; Additional Senses: Low-Light Vision]—2 points), a spider’s legs (Super-Movement 2 [wall-crawling], Super-Senses 3 [Enhanced Senses: Accurate Ranged Touch]—7 points) and so forth. Therianthrope can become venomous by shifting various poison glands onto his being, generate electricity by mimicking attributes of an electric eel and so forth…
Dragon Form: Additional Limbs 1 (tail), Enhanced Strength 6, Flight 3 (50 MPH; Drawbacks: Power Loss [when wings are bound, -1 points]), Immunity 5 (fire damage), Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious [+1]), Strike 10 (Fire; Extras: Area [Cone, +1])—50 points
Lycanthrope Form: Enhanced Strength 4, Leaping 2, Protection 4, Speed 2, Strike 2 (Power Feats: Mighty), Super-Senses 5 (Enhanced Senses: Tracking; Additional Senses: Low-Light Vision, Scent, Ultra-Hearing)—20 points
Merrow Form: Enhanced Constitution 2, Enhanced Dexterity 4, Enhanced Feats 1 (Environmental Adaptation [aquatic]), Enhanced Strength 2, Immunity 1 (drowning), Protection 2, Super-Senses 1 (Additional Senses: Low-Light Vision), Swimming 3—16 points
Equipment: comm link, Laputa Transport (Strength 30; Speed 10 [Flight; Alternate Power: Swimming]; Defense 9; Toughness 11; Size: Large; Features: Concealment, Navigation System, Remote Control, Restricted; Cost: 36 equipment points), Scrambler (Obscure 6 [250 feet; radio; Extras: Selective {+1}])—1 free equipment point
COMBAT: Attack +4 (+8 melee), Grapple +16, Damage +3 (+12 shapeshift), Defense +6 (+2 flat-footed), Knockback -4, Initiative +0
SAVES: Toughness +8, Fortitude +10, Reflex +3, Will +5
COMPLICATIONS: Honor (Won’t harm his son), Prejudice (Neo-Sapien), Responsibility (Felsic, Rheid, Tantivy), Secret (February 16, 2007 and September 27, 2008), Temper
Abilities 17 + Skills 8 (32 ranks) + Feats 24 + Powers 87 + Combat 16 + Saves 13 = 165 points
Michuru wrote:With his run done, here be Therianthrope.
My primary goal for the first arc of the NVAE game was to utilize the parents of the PCs more than I had in the tabletop game. While the majority of them ended up as villains, others became halfway decent people. Dale was one that I wanted to have be both. I like villains with redemption stories. Tattooedman gave me a great opening with a father who turned to booze following the death of his wife. When Jack runs away from home, his father is an alcoholic and abusive. He's lost his wife and son. He has hit rock bottom. Then, along comes Tabitha and she helps him turn it around. Then something threatens to take away this new source of happiness, and he's desperate to protect it at all costs. Even if that means becoming a terrorist who kills kids. At this point, Dale is weak. He's terrified of going back to his low-point, and basically allows himself to be turned into a monster, just to avoid having to mourn again.
As far as the build, it should be fairly straight forward: Dale adds features to augment whatever situation arises. Most of the time, he'll adopt his dragon form, finding it best suited for combat, but he has virtually unlimited options.