[Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

[Prince Charon]

Another 'street level' hero who is more expensive than expected:

Spring-heeled Jack VII (Lady Jennifer Tennyson), 1938

Age: 27

Attributes

ST 12 [20]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 11 [10]

Secondary Characteristics

HP 12; Will 12; Per 13 [5]; FP 13 [6]

Thrust: 1d-1; Swing: 1d+2

Brawling Parry: 10

Basic Speed: 6.25; Move: 6; Dodge: 11

Social Background

Languages: English (Native) [0]; French (Accented) [4].

TL: late 6^

Cultural Familiarity: Western [0].

Subtotal: 139


Advantages

Ally (Sally Addams, Maidservant; 75% of points; appears on 15 or less) [9]
Attractive [4]
Contact (Dr Albert Carstairs, Gadgeteer; Science Skill 21; Usually Reliable; 9 or less) [8]
Enhanced Dodge (Pulp, +0%) 2 [30]
Gizmo 1 [5]
Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction; Pulp, +0%) 2 [50]
Night Vision 2 [2]
Spring-heeled Boots (Super-Jumping 1; Breakable, DR5, -15%, SM-5, -10%; Can Be Stolen by force, -10%; Mechanical, -10%) [7]
Status 2 [10]
Wealthy [20]

Craftiness Talent 4 [20]
Natural Gymnast Talent 3 [15]

Perks

Dextrous Claws. [1]
High-Heeled Heroine. [1]
Honest Face. [1]
Looming Presence (in costume). [1]
Signature Gear (Spring-heeled Boots). [1]

Subtotal: 185


Disadvantages

Code of Honor (Lady P.I.) [-5]
Enemies (Hunter; Unknown - Bad guy of the week; about as powerful; 9 or less) [-15]
Overconfidence (12) [-5]
Secret (Identity) [-10]
Social Stigma (Second-class citizen) [-5]
Stubbornness [-5]

Quirks

Always wears black out of costume. [-1]
Flirts with men and women alike, but only in costume. [-1]
Leads with her knights in chess. [-1]
Trickster. [-1]
Wine snob. [-1]

Subtotal: -50


Features


Skills

Acrobatics [DX/H] [4] 16**
Acting [IQ/A] [2] 16*
Area Knowledge (London Back-alleys) [IQ/E] [2] 13
Body Language [Per/A] [1] 12
Brawling [DX/E] [2] 14
Breath Control [HT/H] [1] 12**
Camouflage [IQ/E] [1] 16*
Climbing [DX/A] [2] 16**
Connoisseur [IQ/A] [2] 12
Criminology [IQ/A] [2] 12
Detect Lies [Per/H] [4] 13
Disguise/TL6^ [IQ/A] [1] 15*
Games (Chess) [IQ/E] [1] 12
Holdout [IQ/A] [1] 15*
Intimidation [Will/A] [4] 13
Jumping [DX/E] [4] 18**
Lasso [DX/A] [2] 13
Lip-Reading [Per/A] [2] 13
Literature [IQ/H] [4] 12
Lockpicking/TL6 [IQ/A] [4] 13
Makeup/TL6^ [IQ/E] [1] 12
Mimicry (Speech) [IQ/H] [4] 12
Observation [Per/H] [4] 13
Pickpocket [DX/H] [4] 13
Running [HT/A] [4] 15**
Savoir-Faire (High Society) [IQ/E] [1] 12
Sex Appeal [HT/A] [2] 11
Shadowing [IQ/A] [4] 17*
Sleight of Hand [DX/H] [4] 13
Stealth [DX/A] [2] 17*
Streetwise [IQ/A] [4] 13
Throwing [DX/A] [2] 13
Writing [IQ/A] [2] 12

*Includes +4 from Craftiness Talent.
**Includes +3 from Natural Gymnast Talent.

Techniques

Acrobatic Stand (A) Acrobatics-6 [2] 11
Rope-Up (A) Climbing-2 [2] 17

Subtotal: 86

Total: 360


Equipment

Civilian:
Nice boots
Fashionable dress
Pretty hat
Elegant purse
- makeup kit
- miniature camera
- silver mirror
- wallet, keys, et cetra

In costume:
Spring-heeled Boots
Clawed gauntlets (+2 to Climbing, +2 cut Brawling damage)
Cowl (conceals DR2 skullcap)
Mask (devilish-looking disguised gas-mask, DR1 face and neck)
Suit (mostly soft DR2, hard DR6 over Vitals)
Utility belt
- lockpick set
- tear gas bombs
- smoke bombs
- rope w/ grappling hook
- miniature camera

Notes

'Spring-heeled Jack' is a name held by a number of masked heroes and villains in England since at least 1837. The actual number is uncertain, as not all of them wore the same costume the whole time, nor worked in the same areas, and there was some overlap between them, but the current one - a heroic prankster and vigilante of the 'Pulp' variety - is at least generally considered to be the seventh distinct individual to use the name while mostly operating in Greater London. Secretly, she is Lady Jennifer Tennyson, a younger cousin of the 3rd Baron Tennyson. Her identity is known only to her best friend and maidservant, Sally Addams, though Dr Carstairs at least knows that this Spring-heeled Jack is a lady of means.

Lady Jennifer's fiance was murdered to cover up crimes than he had discovered an alleged friend committing. She became Spring-heeled Jack to bring the killer to justice, and continues because she sees the need for someone to punish those that the law often lets go.

The Spring-heeled Boots are the various Jacks' signature gear - boots which improve the user's jumping height and distance. The versions Jennifer wears also contain lifts to increase her height slightly. As a Science Contact, Dr Carstairs is most often used for small favours or as someone to discreetly buy specialized equipment from (a common source for her Gizmos), but he a skilled scientist, and does have a lot of friends in the scientific and engineering communities, and thus can occasionally provide quite useful information when a case touches on them - or put 'Jack' onto a case which she might not have noticed, because he owes a favour to another friend and called in a favour the heroine owed him.

'Looming Presence' is the ability to be mistaken for a greater height than you currently have: Whenever it is plausible that someone might get your height wrong, they tend to misestimate upwards rather than downwards. This is in addition to the effect of lifts in one's boots and other disguise elements. 'Dexterous Claws' allows one to use fine manual skills with claws, whether natural or mounted on gloves or gauntlets.

Natural Gymnast might be called Parkour Talent in a more modern setting. The skills covered are Acrobatics, Breath Control, Climbing, Jumping, and Running. Probably has the same Reaction Bonus as Natural Athlete, and the Alternative Benefit of Superior Equilibrioception.

Sally Addams was That Darn Kid (GURPS Mysteries pp106-107) in the 1920s, and is a much more skilled detective than Lady Jennifer (has the Forensics Whiz Talent). While less athletically gifted than her Lady, she is capable of faking being Spring-heeled Jack from a distance and with some work, which has been useful on occasion (whether this makes her the eighth Jack, or seventh-and-a-half, is something the two occasionally joke about together). I may write up a sheet for her at some point.

'Code of Honor (Lady P.I.)' is very similar to the Gentleman P.I. CoH from GURPS Mysteries. In Spring-heeled Jack's case, she is more inclined to allow humiliation to occur, it's part of her basic tactics, but only if the weight of the embarrassment falls mainly on the criminal, not the family. Even then, someone about to die or already dead is likely to be spared. When she found the man who killed her fiance, she reduced him to tears with her words and the evidence of his crimes, then left him in a room with a gun and one bullet, allowing him to take his own life. A sufficiently appealing Gentleman Thief (if he's careful not to kill anyone) will also tend to receive greater mercy than is warranted.

Her Enemy is not always a single individual. On many occasions, the Enemy has been a gang, or a group of rich and/or politically connected folk.