Apropos of nothing: I'd love to know what that Pilot skill is getting that build-from-default bonus from. I generated the character via GCA and I can't figure out why it did that.
Professor Planck [250 pt]
Attributes [160]: ST 10, DX 11 [20], IQ 17 [140], HT 10
Advantages [122]: Appearance (Beautiful) [12], Charisma (1) [5], Gadgeteer (Quick) [50], Gizmo (3) [15], Magery (3) [30], Magery 0 [5], Versatile [5]
Disadvantages [-60]: Code of Honor (Comics Code) [-15], Curious (12 or less) [-5], Honesty (12 or less) [-10], Secret Identity (Serious Embarrassment) [-5], Sense of Duty (Humanity) (Entire Race) [-15], Trademark (Uses tech gear as a prop for magic) (Simple) [-5], Truthfulness (12 or less) [-5]
Quirks [-5]: Delusion (I am doing regular science.) [-1], Distractible [-1], Imaginative [-1], Likes Fiddling with electronic and mechanical junk. [-1], Vow (Stay optimistic and friendly.) [-1]
Skills [33]: Boxing DX/A - DX+1 12 [4], Computers! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ-2 15 [1], Guns/TL8 (Pistol) DX/E - DX+1 12 [2], Inventor! IQ/WC - IQ-2 15 [6], Magic! IQ/WC - IQ+1 18 [6]*, Performance IQ/A - IQ-1 16 [1], Piloting/TL8 (Flight Pack) DX/A - DX+1 12 [3], Scholar! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Science! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Scrounging Per/E - Per+0 17 [1]
*Includes: +3 from Magery.
Stats [160] Ads [122] Disads [-60] Quirks [-5] Skills [33] = Total [250]
Professor Planck (mundane identity, Mary Pham) knows that she’s doing science, darn it. I mean, sure, she’s got super powers. That’s kind of obvious. But it’s not mad science, or anything like that! What she really has is simply the ability to manipulate forces at levels below the Planck length; down there the laws of physics are finally more or less optional, and at the command of a sufficiently determined observer. Like, say, Professor Planck.
Convincing the Professor otherwise might prove difficult, because it’s hard to say exactly where she’s wrong. Is Professor Planck an atypical telekinetic / clairvoyant with incredibly good control, or is she a wild mage operating under the delusion that she needs to focus all of her abilities through gadgets? The stats above assume the latter, but her Gadgeteer powers and Wild Card skills do still work in no-mana areas. Professor Planck’s abilities simply seem irreconcilable as a consistent power set.
But resolving that particular conundrum will likely take several years, if not a couple of decades. As for right now, Mary Pham is a college student at a major city university who is trying her best to make sure her teachers don’t notice that she’s far brighter than they are. This is proving harder than it looks, because Mary has a bad case of the four-colors; her instincts tell her to be forthright, honest, brave, and truthful -- which last can make secret identities difficult. Fortunately, Mary’s still in the stage of her college education where she can hide in big classes, but that will start changing once she hits the 300 and 400 level courses. Hopefully she can think of something else, like possibly chronic laryngitis. It kind of worked in junior high, after all.
Abilities: Professor Planck has all the advantages of a mage who has theoretical access to any spell -- and all the disadvantages of a mage who lacks Powerstones, extra FP, or even the ability to improve her mastery of any one spell. For patrols, the superheroine typically uses her Quick Gadgeteer skill to kludge together basic reflex armor, a tangler pistol, and/or a helipac, and Gizmo to make sure that she has the right gadgets for on the fly improvisation. She is absolutely not bulletproof, knows it, but if Professor Planck can get away from a fight when it’s going badly she can heal herself up fairly quickly.
Personality: as above, Mary takes the entire idea of the superhero ideal extremely seriously. Couple that with a naturally pleasant personality and outlook (not to mention a stunning personal appearance), and she’s poised for a rapid climb in superheroic status and reputation. The problems for her right now are, first, that Mary is young; and that her abilities are broad, but not deep. At the moment she’s best suited for street-level heroics, where she can easily overpower a single or pair of members of a street gang, or use her abilities to pick off larger numbers one by one. She’d also respond well to a good mentor -- but not to someone who would treat Professor Planck as a sidekick. Mary simply does not have the right mindset to be a sidekick.
300 point version: Increase FP to 15 [15], add Combat Reflexes [15], add Observation 16 [1], Search 16 [1], and increase Magic! To 20 [18]. Above this point, start adding things like Wealth, Reputation, increasing DX and HT, and increasing other wild card skill levels.
PDF found here:
http://moelane.com/2019/08/17/profes...anck-gurps-4e/