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Old 07-19-2020, 07:08 AM   #1
Decadence
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Default Plastic-Man builds.

So recently one of my players asked me a good question. One that left me quite stumped and something I've never considered. Said player would like to design a plastic man style ability for our Supers game and has a fair amount of four-colorness to it. Plastic man could essentially stretch and shift his body to just about any length, become any sort of shape depending on what's needed. So I was hoping to get some advice on how this ability could be best modeled.

Personally. I think it would be a combination of Morph, Stretching, Elasticity, Double-Jointed and perhaps even modular abilities with limited to body only. This seems to cover it. However it would need a good amount of points put into it. To replicate some of Plastic Man's feats. I would also throw in UltraPower [50]

Any advice is appreciated. Have any better combinations? I'd love to read them!
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Old 07-19-2020, 07:32 AM   #2
Not another shrubbery
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

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Originally Posted by Decadence View Post
So recently one of my players asked me a good question. One that left me quite stumped and something I've never considered. Said player would like to design a plastic man style ability for our Supers game and has a fair amount of four-colorness to it. Plastic man could essentially stretch and shift his body to just about any length, become any sort of shape depending on what's needed. So I was hoping to get some advice on how this ability could be best modeled.

Personally. I think it would be a combination of Morph, Stretching, Elasticity, Double-Jointed and perhaps even modular abilities with limited to body only. This seems to cover it. However it would need a good amount of points put into it. To replicate some of Plastic Man's feats. I would also throw in UltraPower [50]

Any advice is appreciated. Have any better combinations? I'd love to read them!
If you have GURPS Supers, look at the enhanced Rubberman template. That will give you a good starting point. Add as much Stretching as you're comfortable with, and probably just drop the Elastic Skin in favor of improving the Morph build (I'd say to use Unlimited).
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Old 07-19-2020, 07:43 AM   #3
Decadence
 
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Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
If you have GURPS Supers, look at the enhanced Rubberman template. That will give you a good starting point. Add as much Stretching as you're comfortable with, and probably just drop the Elastic Skin in favor of improving the Morph build (I'd say to use Unlimited).
Thank you! I'll look into that.
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Old 07-19-2020, 07:48 AM   #4
Kromm
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Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

The Body Alteration power on p. 123 of GURPS Powers might also prove useful. I'd recommend Morph (Improvised Forms, +100%; Unlimited, +50%), Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction), Stretching, and enough Modular Abilities (Focus-Limited, Body Alterations Only, -10%; Physical Only, +50%) to cover such incidentals as Chameleon, Constriction Attack, Hermaphromorph, Slippery, and extra body parts (like Extra Arms) with Switchable. I'd also toss in Double-Jointed, because it's cheap.
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Old 07-19-2020, 08:23 AM   #5
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

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Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction),
Do not overlook this! Virtual invulnerability to kinetic attack has been overwhelmingly useful to such characters as Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and Ralph Dibny from the Flash TV series.
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Old 07-19-2020, 08:47 AM   #6
Decadence
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
The Body Alteration power on p. 123 of GURPS Powers might also prove useful. I'd recommend Morph (Improvised Forms, +100%; Unlimited, +50%), Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction), Stretching, and enough Modular Abilities (Focus-Limited, Body Alterations Only, -10%; Physical Only, +50%) to cover such incidentals as Chameleon, Constriction Attack, Hermaphromorph, Slippery, and extra body parts (like Extra Arms) with Switchable. I'd also toss in Double-Jointed, because it's cheap.
Thank you, Kromm. Plus I see if I extend it's use with Godlike Extra effort, or the above UltraPower that should cover all the needs for the uber-strong feats! Much appreciated.
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Old 07-19-2020, 08:48 AM   #7
Decadence
 
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Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Do not overlook this! Virtual invulnerability to kinetic attack has been overwhelmingly useful to such characters as Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and Ralph Dibny from the Flash TV series.
You're absolutely right! I appreciate your insight immensely!
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Old 07-19-2020, 10:06 AM   #8
Refplace
 
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Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

Note that Plastic Man is an extremely powerful, if underestimated super in the DC universe. Replicating all his feats is and should be expensive.
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Old 07-19-2020, 10:34 AM   #9
transmetahuman
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
The Body Alteration power on p. 123 of GURPS Powers might also prove useful. I'd recommend Morph (Improvised Forms, +100%; Unlimited, +50%), Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction), Stretching, and enough Modular Abilities (Focus-Limited, Body Alterations Only, -10%; Physical Only, +50%) to cover such incidentals as Chameleon, Constriction Attack, Hermaphromorph, Slippery, and extra body parts (like Extra Arms) with Switchable. I'd also toss in Double-Jointed, because it's cheap.
Of course this depends on the player's concept, but the comic book Plastic Man and Reed Richards couldn't change their skin tone, mass, DNA, or internal workings. For the Ultimate Mr. Fantastic, someone finally wondered how circulatory, respiratory, digestive, etc. systems worked in a guy who could squeeze through thin cracks, and decided he had an almost homogenous (IIRC), boneless, squishy, all-purpose mass of distributed pseudo-flesh interior. In any case, rubber types [unlike unlimited improvised Morph] generally can't replicate the internal workings of toasters, refrigerators, or for that matter the venom of snakes, webbing of spiders, or even the tough hide of a lizard. I don't remember any of them having enough control to replicate fingerprints, retinas, etc. either, but that's up to you and your player.

Your player might want to add Mass Conservation, Flawed (skin tone, DNA), and maybe a higher valued variant of Unliving Forms Only (all in Powers) that prevents you from taking on the specialized organs of your improvised form, *and* prevents you from becoming different materials like the metal of that toaster.

Last edited by transmetahuman; 07-19-2020 at 10:37 AM. Reason: typo
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Old 07-19-2020, 11:18 AM   #10
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Plastic-Man builds.

An individual with Body Alteration Talent 4 [20] and Stretching 15 (Reliable, +10, +50%; Reflecive, +40%) [171] is capable of instantaneously stretching 700 yards in any direction and can do it defensively. With Double-Jointed [15], they are also capable of fitting through a hole a 1/5" of an inch wide, meaning that they are capable of going practically anywhere.
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