JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Blaze! Blockbuster(s)! Lady Vic!

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JDRook
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Year 2; Still Painting it Black

Post by JDRook »

Ares wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:02 pmWhy not make it something like a two part device where they have a badge shaped like Ted's Starman symbol and a baton / nightstick that they use to direct the energy, and the can be called something like the Star Knights or the Knight Watch. Or heck, give them an arm guard and have the device also called a Knight watch.
I like where this is going. I'm drawn to the idea of Knight version of the rings being much larger, reflecting relatively lower-tech and refinement than Oan tech without overshooting into steampunk. Even so far as a full arm and half chestplate would be cool (I'm sure there's some specialized name for that), so it would literally look a bit like partial medieval armor but in a post-WWII motif.

And of course Knight Watch makes me think of Pratchett's Guards books, so now I'm wondering about a Grimes-analog character and whether they should be powered or not.
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JDRook
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Year 2; Still Painting it Black

Post by JDRook »

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Black Lightning - PL 11

Strength 3, Stamina 4, Agility 4, Dexterity 6, Fighting 5, Intellect 4, Awareness 3, Presence 5

Advantages
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Connected, Defensive Roll 4, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Critical 2: Lightning Bolt: Blast 12, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Skills
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 10 (+13), Close Combat: Short Circuit 5 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 5 (+10), Expertise: Education 12 (+16), Expertise: Politics 6 (+10), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 3 (+8), Investigation 3 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Ranged Combat: Stun Shock 3 (+9)

Powers
Electrokinesis
. . Ground Charge: Burst Area Affliction 11 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 2/r], 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 21; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 21)
. . Lightning Bolt: Blast 12 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 2/r], DC 27)
. . Ride the Lightning: Flight 4 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 1/r], Speed: 30 miles/hour, 500 feet/round; Concentration)
. . Short Circuit: Affliction 12 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 1/2r], 1st degree: Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, DC 22; Alternate Resistance (Dodge); Limited: Only effects electrical devices, robots, and cybernetics)
. . Static Shield: Protection 7 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 3/r], +7 Toughness; Affects Others, Increased Duration: continuous, Increased Range: ranged; Distracting)
. . Stun Shock: Affliction 9 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 2/r], 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 19; Increased Range: ranged)

Offense
Initiative +8
Grab, +5 (DC Spec 13)
Ground Charge: Burst Area Affliction 11 (DC Fort 21)
Lightning Bolt: Blast 12, +10 (DC 27)
Short Circuit: Affliction 12, +10 (DC Dog/Fort/Will 22)
Stun Shock: Affliction 9, +13 (DC Fort 19)
Throw, +10 (DC 18)
Unarmed, +10 (DC 18)

Complications
Social Responsibility: Black Lightning is as interested in helping society by running a food drive or teaching a civics class at an inner-city high school as he is helping society by defeating super-villains. In addition to being a super hero, he has also been a high school principal and the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Defense
Dodge 14, Parry 10, Fortitude 8, Toughness 8/4, Will 8

Power Points
Abilities 68 + Powers 35 + Advantages 16 + Skills 31 (62 ranks) + Defenses 24 = 174

Black Lightning! The only character in this list with "Black" in their name who is actually African American and always was.* Jefferson Pierce is a literal Olympic athlete, getting gold at the '76 Olympics (although this could be retconned depending on how old he needs to be for a particular writer/player). No glory hound, he's still civic-minded enough to return to his old neighborhood to become a high school principal to help clean up the streets of Southside, a suburb of Metropolis colloquially known as "Suicide Slums" which is essentially ruled over by crime lord Tobias Whale and a gang known as The 100. To fight back, Pierce creates the identity of Black Lightning, using powers that he had suppressed most of his life.**

BL makes Southside his home turf and responsibility much like Batman does for Gotham, so much so that he declines an invite to the JLA, although he does help form several separate versions of the Outsiders. His skill, reputation and sense of civic duty did get him appointed Secretary of Education under President Luthor, though.

On the mechanical side, there's nothing technically wrong with BL's build, but there are a few things worth tuning. Abilities are all in the 3-5 range, where you'd expect a well-educated and charismatic Olympic decathlete, except for DEX 6 which would be surprisingly high even if he did have DEX-based skills, which he does not. Advantages all seem good, although Connected would be more effective if he had Persuasion (the PRE 5 isn't a bad base, though) and dropping DEX while raising Ranged Attack is an obvious fix, the only question being how much. Skills are also mostly okay, but 2 separate Close Combat Skills could just as easily be Close Attack or even swap points up for FGT 10 (easily justified by training with some of the greatest melee fighters on earth).

His Powers are all bundled up in a Dynamic Array, and while I can see some justification for that based on how he occasionally needs to balance his electricity, it feels like it'd be a little clunky in play. Also I decided to read through Black Lightning Year One and not all of these powers showed up AFAIK:
Lightning Bolt - obvi.
Ground Charge - this is built as an Area Stun, but because of the name and the fact it's electricity, I'm not sure if it should have a "touching ground" limit on it or if it could be used in a 30' globe to hit targets above or below in flight. Speaking of which:
Ride the Lightning - this is built as low rank Concentration Flight, so it's relatively slow and he can't attack easily while flying. He might use this in more JLA-style books but in Year One Pierce runs. I mean he RUNS, drawn in a near-horizontal lean kind of run that reminds you he's an athlete. It's largely a street-level series, so he's fine and looking great vaulting fences and crossing rooftops; I might trade a few Athletics ranks for Spd 1 and Leaping 1 just to keep down the Ath rolls, or possibly give him Skill Mastery: Athletics. So Flight, especially such limited flight, seems kind of optional to make BL work.
Static Shield - this is definitely a thing Pierce uses a handful of times throught Year One, although it's built a little funny. Protection with Affects Others works, since it's usually to protect others besides him, but I'm not sure about Distracting. I'd be inclined to use Create instead, possibly with Proportional to keep from making the shield too big. Distracting may be a fix to keep his functional defense below PL, which again is avoided with Create.
Short Circuit - this is effectively a single target touch range EMP. There are several ways to build this, but the Power Profiles have Weaken Electronics (Broad), Affects Objects only as a base for 2p/rank. Weakened equipment can't heal over time without someone repairing it, so this would work great against most simple electronics; Devices and Constructs with Electronics could be Weakened, although you'd have to figure out what to use as a bonus on the resistance check.
Stun Shock - a single target Ranged Stun. I might be tempted to combine this with Ground Charge and make the Area Selective, but all that range might be useful.

*Black Manta (coming soon) debuted in 1967 but has only been "definitely African-American" since '93. Black Adam should arguably be some flavour of Middle Eastern, but that's a whole other discussion. Most of the others are either lily-white or alien.
**the reason for this actually varies. Early BL used a device either as a source or to regulate his innate powers, but later "internalizes" its functions.

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Black Lightning - PL 10 (Rook RTP edit)

Strength 3, Stamina 4, Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 9, Intellect 4, Awareness 3, Presence 4

Advantages
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Connected, Defensive Roll 4, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Critical 2: Lightning Bolt: Blast 11, Improved Initiative, Power Attack

Skills
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 10 (+13), Expertise: Education 6 (+10), Expertise: Politics 4 (+8), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 4 (+8), Investigation 2 (+6), Perception 5 (+8), Ranged Combat: Electrokinesis 7 (+9)

Powers

Electrokinesis - Dynamic Array - 22p pool + 3.5 DAE = 29p
. . Ground Charge: Burst Area Affliction 10 ([0 active, 0/22 PP, 2/r], 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 20; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 20) [20]
. . Lightning Bolt: Blast 11 ([0 active, 0/22 PP, 2/r], DC 26) [22]
. . Static Shield: Create 9 ([0 active, 0/22 PP, 1/r], electricity, Volume: 125 cft., DC 17; Impervious; Distracting, Reduced Range: close) [9]
. . Stun Shock: Affliction 11 ([0 active, 0/22 PP, 2/r], 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 21; Increased Range: ranged) [22]

Olympic Decathlete - 2p
. . Leaping 1 (Leap 15 feet at 4 miles/hour)
. . Speed 1 (Speed: 4 miles/hour, 60 feet/round)

Offense
Initiative +8
Grab, +9 (DC Spec 13)
Ground Charge: Burst Area Affliction 10 (DC Fort 20)
Lightning Bolt: Blast 11, +9 (DC 26)
Stun Shock: Affliction 11, +9 (DC Fort 21)
Throw, +2 (DC 18)
Unarmed, +9 (DC 18)

Complications
Social Responsibility: Black Lightning is as interested in helping society by running a food drive or teaching a civics class at an inner-city high school as he is helping society by defeating super-villains. In addition to being a super hero, he has also been a high school principal and the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Defense
Dodge 12, Parry 10, Fortitude 8, Toughness 8/4, Will 7

Power Points
Abilities 66 + Powers 31 + Advantages 12 + Skills 24 (48 ranks) + Defenses 17 = 150

Here's a cleaned up RTP PL10 version of Jefferson. In keeping with the Year One feel he's slightly less powerful and a little less skilled. I removed Short Circuit since I didn't recall that in the series and it's just as good as a Power Stunt, but kept all the Stuns and Shield because Pierce is more concerned than most heroes about collateral damage. I shaved down his Expertises since he's not US Sec of Ed yet, and dropped a rank on his PRE but bought back his Intimidation. I did cheese a bit with his range bonuses putting almost everything into Ranged Combat: Electrokinesis (Tight Group), which probably disqualifies about half of his "decathlete" cred since he can't throw as well.

I did keep the Dynamic Array. I dropped Flight as well as SC since it was kinda lame and Year One Pierce depends more on his running. The Shield sees a lot of combat use, though, so he can still throw one up and continue to blast out (weaker) shots on his attacks. For the Shield I used Create at Close Range, kept Distracting and added Impervious so it's perfect for holding back low-caliber gunfire. You could also simplify the Array by making it non-Dynamic, freeing up a handful of points to use elsewhere, but BL would be limited to hand-to-hand fighting when the Shield is up, so you might want to drop Distracting in that case since you won't need to save the points for sharing the pool.

RTP Black Lightning could be pre-JLA invite, definitely pre-Sec of Ed invite, and is probably known to a few other supers, particularly for his non-powered newsworthiness. (Clark Kent shows up early on in Year One in his reporter capacity, but Supes doesn't go to Southside, for reasons.) He's also perfectly placed to mentor teen heroes, and could play the token adult on a mostly teen team. Overall, he's a great street-level hero with enough punch to take on higher-level threats and a lot of great hooks and backstory (I almost forgot he's married with two daughters, both with different powersets) to fill out your roleplay.
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JDRook
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by JDRook »

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Black Manta - PL 10

Strength 8, Stamina 3, Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 6, Intellect 2, Awareness 2, Presence 2

Advantages
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Equipment 8, Improved Aim, Minion, Move-by Action, Precise Attack (Ranged, Cover)

Skills
Athletics 6 (+14), Close Combat: Blades 4 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+12), Ranged Combat: Weapons Array 8 (+10), Technology 8 (+10)

Powers

Diving Suit (Removable) - 22p minus 4p removable = 18p
. . Enhanced Strength 5 (+5 STR) [10]
. . Protection 5 (+5 Toughness) [5]
. . Swimming 7 (Speed: 60 miles/hour, 900 feet/round) [7]

Gill Implants
. . Immunity 2 (Environmental Condition: Pressure, COLD?, Suffocation: Drowning)
. . Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation: Aquatic)

Helmet (Removable)
. . Immunity 5 (Custom: Telepathic Powers 5)

Weapons (Removable)
. . Blades: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 25)
. . Electrical Blasters: Line Area Damage 10 (DC 25; Line Area: 5 feet wide by 30 feet long, DC 20)
. . Helmet Eye-beams: Blast 10 (DC 25)
. . Mini-Torpedoes: Damage 8 (DC 23; Homing 4: 4 extra attempts, Increased Range: ranged)

Equipment
Manta-Sub
Manta-Sub - PL 8

STR 13, Def -4, Tou 11, Size Gargantuan
Powers: Swimming 7 (Speed: 60 miles/hour, 900 feet/round), Torpedoes 8 (DC 23; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, DC 18 [5 ranks only], Increased Range: ranged). Features: Navigation System 1, Smokescreen (ink cloud), 1, Towing Cables 1. Offense: Torpedoes: Burst Area Damage 8 (DC 23). Totals: Abilities 4 + Powers 28 + Advantages 0 + Features 3 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 2 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 37
Offense
Initiative +4
Blades: Strength-based Damage 2, +10 (DC 25)
Electrical Blasters: Line Area Damage 10 (DC 25)
Grab, +6 (DC Spec 18)
Helmet Eye-beams: Blast 10, +10 (DC 25)
Mini-Torpedoes: Damage 8, +10 (DC 23)

Throw, +3 (DC 23)
Unarmed, +12 (DC 23)

Defense
Dodge 12, Parry 12, Fortitude 10, Toughness 8, Will 9

Power Points
Abilities 48 + Powers 44 + Advantages 14 + Skills 16 (32 ranks) + Defenses 28 = 150

Black Manta is best known as the big-headed big bad for Aquaman, but in much the same way Aquaman gets short shrift for being a fish-talker, BM gets made fun of for his Manta-Men, his big laser-eyed helmet, and the fact he arches for Aquaman. Also similar to AQ, the movie gives him more credibilty, but how much is its own debate. Also, I realized my footnote in the last post was incorrect: Black Manta was revealed to be African American in 1977, only 10 years after his first appearance instead of 26 years, so that's better I guess?

There are a few variations on his origin story (which is the thing that wasn't revealed until 1993), with the DCA Black Manta being the one where BM starts as an autistic child in Arkham Asylum who responds well in freezing water but can't stand soft warm fabric. Being Arkham, experiments were conducted that were somewhat successful, giving BM clear focus, but with side effects, like being prone to violent acts. Cue dead researcher and escape from Arkham.

Fast forward several years and Black Manta is a high-tech modern pirate, complete with manta-themed submarine and gill-modified goons. He's a terror of the seas, crosses paths several times with Aquaman and becomes obsessed with Atlantis when he finds out it actually exists. He even captures and kills Aquaman's son (in that same issue when it's revealed he's black), and even though AQ was prepared to kill Aqualad to save his Aquababy (they actually called him that), Aquaman shows mercy and doesn't kill the evil pirate who killed his son.

Black Manta is unfazed by AQ's heroic leniency and sells his soul to Neron to become The Monster of Devil's Deep (build below), but is eventually changed back by AQ during his Water-Bearer phase, even "fixing his violent tendencies" with a combination of telepathy and magic. This being comics, the fix doesn't stick and Black Manta goes back to his status quo of high seas pirate and murderer.
---
DCA Black Manta ends up being pretty close to a PL10 RTP build, even though AQ is built at PL12. There are also a few small errors in several different areas:
- Enhanced STR is calculated wrong for the diving suit
- Telepathic Immunity may be inconsistent with other Immunities
- No Immunity to Cold despite the obvious call out in his backstory AND it being included in every other aquatic build in the book
- typo in DEX and/or Ranged Combat that was easier to fix by changing both
- Manta-Sub is 37ep

End result is a kind of battlesuit with an aquatic theme, much like Aquaman is an aquatic powerhouse/warrior. Manta hits his offensive caps on all of his attacks except for the Mini-torpedoes (which get several do-overs thanks to Homing) and close grabbing and throwing (although you could redistribute his Close Combat skill points like I did with Black Lightning and get him up to FGT 10). He caps on almost all of his defenses as well, with only Will bringing his F/W PL to 9.5. Of course, it wouldn't be a fair fight for him to go againt a PL12 AQ, so he needs to soften up Arthur with the Manta Sub and Manta Men and whatever other obstacle he can concoct before facing him. Giving him Favored Environment and/or Favored Foe might also even things up.

Retooled as a good guy (which wouldn't be hard with better upbringing, or allowing AQ's mind magic to stick), or playing in a PC villain's game, Black Manta could be kind of fun to play against expectation since he's actually not as limited out of water as you might think. A good guy wouldn't have minions, but freeing those points up to improve his sub would make for a good team base.

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Black Manta -The Monster of Devil's Deep - PL 12

Strength 9, Stamina 6, Agility 4, Dexterity 3, Fighting 6, Intellect 2, Awareness 2, Presence 2

Advantages
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Improved Aim, Improved Grab, Move-by Action, Precise Attack (Ranged, Cover)

Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+12), Technology 8 (+10)

Powers
Aquatic
. . Immunity 3 (Environmental Condition: Pressure, Environmental Condition: Cold, Suffocation: Drowning)
. . Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation: Aquatic)
. . Senses 1 (Low-light Vision)
Claws & Teeth: Strength-based Damage 2 (DC 26)
Manta-Fins: Swimming 8 (Speed: 120 miles/hour, 1800 feet/round)
Tail: Extra Limbs 1 (1 extra limb, Advantages: Improved Grab)
Toughened Hide: Protection 5

Offense
Initiative +4
Claws & Teeth: Strength-based Damage 2, +12 (DC 26)
Grab, +6 (DC Spec 19)
Throw, +3 (DC 24)
Unarmed, +12 (DC 24)

Defense
Dodge 12, Parry 12, Fortitude 13, Toughness 11/6, Will 9

Power Points
Abilities 68 + Powers 22 + Advantages 5 + Skills 10 (20 ranks) + Defenses 28 = 133

Demon-treated Black Manta is an underpointed PL12, a little more of a match for Aquaman one on one, with his Claws & Teeth attacks reaching PL11.5, but his defenses failing to keep up. This was probably an oversight on the build; the easiest solution is to add Protection 5 (or even 6 to max his defense) and include that as a toughened hide, or let him build or modify his diving suit armor into something for the monster form. This build actually strips away a lot of his other gear and skills, but he could continue to have access to his minions, his sub, and even newer weapons to fit his new form.

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Manta-Men PL4 - PL 4

Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect 0, Awareness 0, Presence 0

Advantages
Equipment 3

Skills
Athletics 4 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+4), Ranged Combat: Spear-gun: Blast 4 4 (+4)

Powers
Diving Suits: Protection 2 (+2 Toughness)
Flippers: Swimming 3 (Speed: 4 miles/hour, 60 feet/round)
Gill-implants
. . Immunity 1 (Suffocation: Drowning)
. . Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation: Aquatic)
Goggles: Senses 1 (Low-light Vision)
Spear-gun: Blast 4 (DC 19)

Equipment
Commlink, Diving Suits [Diving Suits: Protection 2, +2 Toughness; Flippers: Swimming 3, Speed: 4 miles/hour, 60 feet/round], Goggles [Goggles: Senses 1, Low-light Vision], Spear-gun [Spear-gun: Blast 4, DC 19]

Offense
Initiative +0
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 11)
Spear-gun: Blast 4, +4 (DC 19)
Throw, +0 (DC 16)
Unarmed, +4 (DC 16)

Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 4, Fortitude 4, Toughness 3, Will 3

Power Points
Abilities 4 + Powers 3 + Advantages 3 + Skills 6 (12 ranks) + Defenses 14 = 30
The Manta-Men are technically 2p minions that operate at PL4, although Manta isn't really charged for their use; a GM should use as many as necessary to challenge the team, even if it just means slowing them down.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Jabroniville »

Cool stuff! Black Lightning is always a hero I knew very little about- he was persona non grata for the entirety of the '90s, as the Outsiders book had long since not been a thing, and DC completely ignored his existence until he all of a sudden popped up with a daughter (then ANOTHER one), and then suddenly he's on the JLA like he's been a respected hero all this time. I got the impression they were embarrassed by his "Black ______" name and never cared about the Outsiders anyways, plus his link to his creator was an issue (as said creator was the only guy to really like him).
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JDRook
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by JDRook »

According to Wikipedia, Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and got out 11 issues before the "DC Implosion", which is an unofficial name for all the series that were cancelled after the official "DC Explosion" of new series and titles. Black Lightning also apparently leaned into black stereotypes with his appearance and speech as a kind of extra layer of disguise, on the theory that no one would suspect a highly educated black man to be sporting a full afro and talking Harlem Jive, which is . . . definitely a bold choice, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got some pushback at the editorial level.

I glanced at Isabella's page and apparently pushing envelopes is not out of character for him. He did an arc for Ghost Rider in the 70s introducing a character referred to only as "The Friend" but drawn like and absolutely intended to be Jesus Christ:
from Wikipedia wrote:link . . . It allowed me [Isabella] to address a disparity that had long bothered me about the Marvel Universe. Though we had no end of Hell(s) and Satan surrogates in our comics, we had nothing of Heaven.... [After two years] I'd written a story wherein, couched in mildly subtle terms, Blaze accepted Jesus as his savior and freed himself from Satan's power forever. Had I remained on Ghost Rider, which was my intent at the time, the title's religious elements would have faded into the background. Blaze would be a Christian, but he'd express this in the way he led his life. ... Unfortunately, an assistant editor took offense at my story. The issue was ready to go to the printer when he pulled it back and ripped it to pieces. He had some of the art redrawn and a lot of the copy rewritten to change the ending of a story two years in the making. "The Friend" was revealed to be, not Jesus, but a demon in disguise. To this day, I consider what he did to my story one of the three most arrogant and wrongheaded actions I've ever seen from an editor.
And that editor's name should be familiar since I've seen mentioned a lot in other people's posts, and never positively: Jim Shooter.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Ken »

JDRook wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:40 pmAccording to Wikipedia, Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and got out 11 issues before the "DC Implosion", which is an unofficial name for all the series that were cancelled after the official "DC Explosion" of new series and titles. Black Lightning also apparently leaned into black stereotypes with his appearance and speech as a kind of extra layer of disguise, on the theory that no one would suspect a highly educated black man to be sporting a full afro and talking Harlem Jive, which is . . . definitely a bold choice, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got some pushback at the editorial level.
In those early stories, Black Lightning was doing a Black Canary. Jefferson Pierce's hair was cut very short, it was still curly, but short. Black Lightning's mask was technically a cowl... it included a massive afro wig.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by JDRook »

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Blackfire - PL 11

Strength 10, Stamina 5, Agility 4, Dexterity 3, Fighting 10, Intellect 2, Awareness 2, Presence 4

Advantages
Benefit 5: Queen of New Tamaran, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 5, Improved Critical: Okaaran weapons, Improved Smash, Instant Up, Leadership, Power Attack, Startle

Skills
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+12), Deception 5 (+9), Expertise: Military 10 (+12), Expertise: Politics 10 (+12), Intimidation 8 (+12), Persuasion 5 (+9), Ranged Combat: Star Bolts 5 (+8), Stealth 5 (+9), Vehicles 2 (+5)

Powers
Invulnerability: Protection 5 (+5 Toughness; Impervious)
Language Absorption: Comprehend 3 (Languages - Read All, Languages - Speak All, Languages - Understand All; Quirk: Requires Physical Contact)
Solar Sustenance: Immunity 1 (Starvation & Thirst, Notes: Requires UV Radiation)
Star Bolts: Blast 14 (DC 29)
Super-Strength: Power-lifting 2 (+2 STR for lifting)

Equipment
Grav Platform

STR 0, Def 10, Tou 5, Size Medium
Powers: Flight 7 (Speed: 250 miles/hour, 0.5 miles/round). Totals: Abilities 0 + Powers 14 + Advantages 0 + Features 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Defenses 10 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 24.
Offense
Initiative +4
Grab, +10 (DC Spec 20)
Star Bolts: Blast 14, +8 (DC 29)
Throw, +3 (DC 25)
Unarmed, +12 (DC 25)

Complications
Hatred: Blackfire has an irrational hatred for her sister, Starfire.
Obsession: Blackfire is obsessed with ruling her people, so much so that she was willing to be their conqueror.
Prejudice: Blackfire cannot fly under her own power; this is considered a disability by Tamaranians and causes some discrimination.

Defense
Dodge 10, Parry 10, Fortitude 9, Toughness 12/10, Will 6

Power Points
Abilities 80 + Powers 46 + Advantages 19 + Skills 26 (52 ranks) + Defenses 14 = 185

Yet another slightly obscure character (ie I'd never heard of her before reading the H&V book) who's related to a much more popular character way down the alphabet, Komand'r (Blackfire) is the older sister of Koriand'r* (Starfire), and apparently her lifelong archrival, which given her backstory I can't say I blame her.

Komand'r was born into the royal family of planet Tamaran, the first crown princess seen in generations. Or rather, she was supposed to be. First there was an attack by the Citadel, an enemy alien race, that destroyed a city and took three thousand lives, which would be bad enough to ruin a girl's birthday, but then the Citadel claimed to do it in Komand'r's name, thereby guaranteeing she would be forever associated with the greatest massacres in her planet's history despite not being old enough to comprehend it. Then to add injury to insult, she was later diagnosed with a rare condition making her unable to turn UV radiation into flight (a ubiquitous power among Tamaraneans), so now she was a reminder of tragedy and weakness to her people. On top of all that, Komand'r had a darker view of the world than the rest of her royal family (can't imagine why), so the general populace just hated her. Rather than hand the planet over to a despised crippled symbol of woe, her parents decided to tweak the rules of lineage and make her younger sister Koriand'r the crown princess, allowing Komand'r to take all that unfocused angst about her situation and give it a single target.

This sibling rivalry had epic consequences. When both daughters were sent to train under the Warlords of Okaara (as was tradition), Komand'r attempted to kill her sister during the training, getting her banished from Okaara. From there she managed to find her way to her old frenemies, the Citadel, gaining their respect and trust until she eventually had enough influence (and inside knowledge) to lead a successful campaign against her homeworld of Tamaran. The planet surrendered and Komand'r accepted on condition that Koriand'r become her slave and never return to Tamaran.

*Those clever writers, naming their cheesecake alien character after an Earth spice and her evil sister after an Earth military rank.
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Komand'r tortured her sister for YEARS, until at one point they are captured by the Psions, who are essentially an entire race of mad scientists, and they are both experimented on to explore the limits of their UV absorption. These experiments are what give Koriand'r her "starbolts" and Komand'r her "blackbolts" (which are somewhat stronger for . . . probably very good reasons). They use their newfound powers to escape and go their separate ways, Kori to Earth and Komand'r to the Citadel.

---

Mechanically, their two builds should be quite close, but I don't get the impression the same person was assigned both of them due to their differences:

- Their Abilities are mostly similar enough for sisters, although Starfire has STA 10 while Blackfire has STA 5 backed up by 5 ranks of Impervious Toughness; it's not clear whether this is partly due to her disability or if it's just two different interpretations of Tamaranean toughness.
- Solar Sustenance only give BF Immunity to Starvation/Thirst while giving SF full Life Support and Regen 2. Again, could be the sickness or oversight.
- The Language power is the real sticker. Both are given different names (Lang "Absorption" vs "Assimilation") with BF's giving her what looks like 3 ranks Comprehend for 2 using the Touch limit as a Full Flaw, while SF's doesn't give her literacy and treats the same limit as a 1pt Quirk. I fixed it to full cost 3 ranks and the Quirk since you only need to touch a target once to have their language forever apparently.
- The Okaaran Weapons she has Improved Critical with are never defined.

Combat-wise, Blackfire is quite a monster. Her Bolts skew Damage-heavy at 14, 2 ranks over Starfire and putting her in Lantern territory, although her +8 accuracy keeps her at PL11 cap. She's still immensely strong and skilled with both STR and FGT at 10 and a few points in Close Combat to hit her cap in close strikes and Grab at PL10. Her weird Toughness also hits caps with a little bit of Impervious, although her F/W is pretty low, both at about 75% of her sister's. She also can't fly but still has a Grav Platform, some extra lifting STR and pretty high Intimidation/Startle to terrorize her opponent.

Blackfire obviously makes a great foil for Starfire, with a Shakespearean-level tragedy of a backstory giving her every reason to be a frothing vengeance demon against her while also having the skills and resources to make her life miserable in more indirect ways. If you wanted to make a nemesis for a PC, using even one or two aspects of Blackfire's history (lost royalty, favoured relative, same powers with one major difference, etc) would be enough to make a good connection.

Next up: let's get away from space sisters and move in to some manly two-fisted pulp action!
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Ken »

JDRook wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:21 am
Mechanically, their two builds should be quite close, but I don't get the impression the same person was assigned both of them due to their differences:

- Their Abilities are mostly similar enough for sisters, although Starfire has STA 10 while Blackfire has STA 5 backed up by 5 ranks of Impervious Toughness; it's not clear whether this is partly due to her disability or if it's just two different interpretations of Tamaranean toughness.
- Solar Sustenance only give BF Immunity to Starvation/Thirst while giving SF full Life Support and Regen 2. Again, could be the sickness or oversight.
- The Language power is the real sticker. Both are given different names (Lang "Absorption" vs "Assimilation") with BF's giving her what looks like 3 ranks Comprehend for 2 using the Touch limit as a Full Flaw, while SF's doesn't give her literacy and treats the same limit as a 1pt Quirk. I fixed it to full cost 3 ranks and the Quirk since you only need to touch a target once to have their language forever apparently.
- The Okaaran Weapons she has Improved Critical with are never defined.
And neither person doing the builds apparently read the stories that introduced the characters.

Komand'r as originally designed was wearing armour. And Tamaranian "super strength" was more at the level of Hank "the Beast" McCoy. After being trained by the warlords of Okaara, they would be more accuracy and defense shifted.

And they certainly weren't invulnerable.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by JDRook »

Ken wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:37 pm
Komand'r as originally designed was wearing armour. And Tamaranian "super strength" was more at the level of Hank "the Beast" McCoy. After being trained by the warlords of Okaara, they would be more accuracy and defense shifted.

And they certainly weren't invulnerable.
It looks like "Tamaranian Strength" is a highly contested topic on the internets, with examples of Kori lifting thousands of tons and indications that Tamaraneans are basically on par with Kryptonians. Personally I'm not attached to the character and if anything would probably prefer building more toward what you describe: a more nimble, martially-trained type with a surprisingly powerful ranged attack.

Maybe I'll come back to it once I reach Starfire, which at this point will probably coincide with my country meeting its climate change goals. :p
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Jabroniville »

It's weird because in Teen Titans books of the '70s & '80s, there's VERY little indication Kori is super-strong- she's able to beat Donna Troy in staff-fighting, but Donna never really appears hurt; just thrown back. But I did find ONE issue in which she throws a spear far larger than any human could handle. This is I think the only instance of super-strength in the entire Wolfman-written era. The only one I'VE seen, at least.

It's so rarely-shown that in the great Grayson/Jiminez three-parter JLA/Titans, in which robots capture all the Titans while listing their costumes, bios and super-powers, Kori's powers do NOT mention super-strength! But then suddenly a few years later writers are showing her as a power-lifter. Like at some random point they decided it was a thing and editors never caught it.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Ares »

I think Starfire being a super strong powerhouse comes from the Teen Titans animated series, where Starfire was the physically strongest person on the team, more so even than Cyborg. I think it might have been because they couldn't use Donna Troy (supposedly some rights issues prevented Donna from appearing in the show), so they just gave Kory Donna's strength.

Then the cartoon becomes popular, the Titans book gets reimagined by Geoff Johns to be more like the cartoon, and suddenly Kory is getting into fist fights with Wonder Woman.

Me personally, I'd say Kory should probably be closer to Spider-Man in terms of strength and toughness if she has super strength at all.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Davies »

If one wanted to justify that change, one could portray it that Starfire, when she first came to Earth, didn't have any super-strength, but that she gradually developed it as her ability to channel UV radiation into anti-gravity evolved into the ability to control gravity in general, allowing her to lift great weights and strike blows with increased momentum.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by JDRook »

Ares wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:40 pmI think Starfire being a super strong powerhouse comes from the Teen Titans animated series, where Starfire was the physically strongest person on the team, more so even than Cyborg. I think it might have been because they couldn't use Donna Troy (supposedly some rights issues prevented Donna from appearing in the show), so they just gave Kory Donna's strength.
I could see the reasoning for that. I just checked it out and Blackfire shows up in the second episode of animated TT with none of the baggage of her comics history, just being the "cool older sister who's also a delinquent". They made her (and therefore all Tamaranians) strong enough to warp Cyborg's hand when she shook it, and she can even fly.
Davies wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:51 pm If one wanted to justify that change, one could portray it that Starfire, when she first came to Earth, didn't have any super-strength, but that she gradually developed it as her ability to channel UV radiation into anti-gravity evolved into the ability to control gravity in general, allowing her to lift great weights and strike blows with increased momentum.
If you did that, you'd need something comparable for Blackfire to keep her a viable nemesis. Not necessarily super-strength, but maybe superior training or special weapons.

I still like the idea of lowering Tamaranian STR to the 5-8 range and giving the '-fire's high combat skills from their royal training.
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by Davies »

I'm not sure that Blackfire has kept pace with Starfire in terms of her personal capabilities, focusing on being a leader and manipulator; the only time time that I remember the two of them directly clashing, Koriand'r came out the winner. (However, according to the wiki, Blackfire sought out enhancement from the Psions and "this inadvertently also corrected her childhood illness and gave her the ability to fly"; that could pretty much justify boosting her abilities to whatever level the GM needed.)
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Re: JDRook's Revised DCA Builds - Black Lantern! -Lightning! -Manta! -Fire!

Post by RainOnTheSun »

FWIW, in DC Heroes Starfire and Blackfire have a strength of 6, which is about a 5 or a 6 in Mutants and Masterminds. 5 and a half?
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