[SUPERS] My Unofficial Handbook to the DC Universe

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

I like what you've done here. There's 2 heroes I'd love to see:
Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) when Zeus gave her powers Early on or in Young Justice--a new hero with great powers learning the game)
The other is Wonder Woman herself, when she was working with Cassie.
Thanks for sharing this great stuff :)

Thanks!

And don't worry, I do plan to make both Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman. Certainly it couldn't be called "the DCU" without WW!

I've actually started a draft of Wonder Woman--although I'm having some trouble A: Deciding her power level--she tends to be protrayed all over the board, and B: Deciding how much of her power is shared by all Amazons.

Is there a particular run or version of Diana that resonates with you? Do you perfer her when she's Superman's equal or when she's a bit more vulnerable and has to rely more on her skills?

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by aesir23

As for adding Luck... I thought I had!

And/or Serendipity. I think I remember in Books of Magic that he called his way of travel "the serendipity express." At that point he didn't do much in the way of real magic, but he was just really lucky.

[YankeeGamer]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Thanks!

And don't worry, I do plan to make both Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman. Certainly it couldn't be called "the DCU" without WW!

I've actually started a draft of Wonder Woman--although I'm having some trouble A: Deciding her power level--she tends to be protrayed all over the board, and B: Deciding how much of her power is shared by all Amazons.

Is there a particular run or version of Diana that resonates with you? Do you perfer her when she's Superman's equal or when she's a bit more vulnerable and has to rely more on her skills?

My favorite Wonder Woman is the one from the Wonder Woman movie--seems real, and her running around in World War ONE was great. Probably not quite as powerful as superman, but at the same time, seems to have no equivalent to Kryponite. It's been a LONG time since I read the comics--back when Cassie Sandsmark was first getting her powers--but I don't recall anything sapping her powers.
She's definitely well beyond the amazons in power, but they all are pretty impressive. Amazons don't seem to have to worry about age at all.
(I also loved the Invisible Plane from the old days.)
Super leaping rather than flying, perhaps?

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

My favorite Wonder Woman is the one from the Wonder Woman movie--seems real, and her running around in World War ONE was great. Probably not quite as powerful as superman, but at the same time, seems to have no equivalent to Kryponite.

Yes, I like the movie version too. Particularly where she was at in Wonder Woman, rather than in Batman V. Superman and Justice League.

Her power level's even trickier than most comics. She can go toe to toe with superman in a lot of ways, but you can't give her as much DR as Superman, for example, or she wouldn't need to parry bullets with her Arm Bands, and that's ICONIC.

But I worry about backlash if the one premier woman superhero is significantly less powerful than her male counterparts in the Justic League...me, I greatly prefer lower power levels, anyway, so I always tend to lean that way.

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

She's definitely well beyond the amazons in power, but they all are pretty impressive. Amazons don't seem to have to worry about age at all.

Yeah the Amazons are immortal (at least while they're on Paradise Island). And they tend to range between ordinary humans and almost as powerful as Wonder Woman. I think I'll land somewhere in the middle and put them in "peak human" to "super-soldier" territory.

[Phantasm]

Did somebody ask for Wonder Woman? Right around the time the movie came out, I took a pass at her. She's a liiiiiiittle stronger than most of my characters, but aesir can scale that back as he needs.

As for the subject of why she uses bracers, well ... superdickery has the answer.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Did somebody ask for Wonder Woman? Right around the time the movie came out, I took a pass at her. She's a liiiiiiittle stronger than most of my characters, but aesir can scale that back as he needs.

Very nice. My version will be quite different, (of course) but I'll definitely reference this as I move forward.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

My favorite Wonder Woman is the one from the Wonder Woman movie--seems real, and her running around in World War ONE was great. Probably not quite as powerful as superman, but at the same time, seems to have no equivalent to Kryponite. It's been a LONG time since I read the comics--back when Cassie Sandsmark was first getting her powers--but I don't recall anything sapping her powers.
She's definitely well beyond the amazons in power, but they all are pretty impressive. Amazons don't seem to have to worry about age at all.
(I also loved the Invisible Plane from the old days.)
Super leaping rather than flying, perhaps?

re: has no kryptonite. Not quite true, but you have to go back to Golden Age/early Silver Age stories to find it. Wonder Woman loses her powers becoming no more powerful than an ordinary woman, while she is bound. This can be manacles, ropes or just welding her bracers together. It doesn't have to be her wrists that are bound, binding her upper arms works just as well, though I can't recall any instances where only her feet/legs were bound. This effect applies to all Amazons, not just Wonder Woman, and is, IIRC, a curse/warning from one of the Amazon goddesses for allowing Hercules to bind them.

This loss of powers doesn't affect powers that aren't intrinsic to the Amazons. Bracers will still deflect bullets, radio earrings will still pick up signals and the invisible plane still flies and is still invisible. The golden lasso presumably still works but is usually taken by her captor(s).

This power loss seems to have been dropped when Wonder Woman lost her powers in the 1968 (Wonder Woman #178) and wasn't re-instated when she regained her powers (c. Wonder Woman #204) in 1973, though the stories that immediately followed were based on Golden Age stories.

As an aside, pre-1982, Wonder Woman has an eagle symbol on her costume rather than the double-W and, at least occasionally, wears a star-spangled skirt rather than star-spangled "hot pants."

Another thing to consider is whether there'll be a Donna Troy version of Wonder Girl.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Another thing to consider is whether there'll be a Donna Troy version of Wonder Girl.

The link to the Titans gdoc I gave earlier has a "short" bio for Donna Troy, "short" because it's a near-complete breakdown of the multitude of history changes she's gone through thanks to various crossovers.

Based on the intended timeframe aesir said he's shooting for, Donna would be going by "Troia" or her real name rather than "Wonder Girl", likely wearing a sleeveless black and starfield bodysuit with a plunging neckline rather than the classic red with a line of gold stars bodysuit she wore as Wonder Girl.

[aesir23]

Hero: Steel (John Henry Irons)
Aliases: John Henry Irons, Man of Steel, Henry Johnson
Allies and Affiliations: Steel (Natasha Irons), Superman Family, JLA
Area of Operations: Metropolis, Washington DC

John Henry Irons was raised in a poor, black neighborhood in DC. Nevertheless, he had a lot of advantages--he was big, very strong, and a naturally gifted athlete, enough to make him the star of any team he joined, and he was also a scientific and technical genius. These gifts combined got him a free-ride to Yale, and a lucrative job at a military industrial firm, Amertech Industries, right out of college.

At Amertech, Irons designed a hand-held energy canon, the BG-60. When prototypes of this weapon showed up in the hands of a terrorist cell, Irons quite his job in a crisis of conscious. He moved to Metropolis under the name Henry Johnson (to avoid being targeted or coerced by Amertech) and got a job as a steel worker.

While working on a high-rise, he fell after risking his life to save that of a coworker. Superman saved him. Irons told Superman he owed him his life, and Superman replied that he should "make it count for something."

That's when Irons begin working on his suit. Over the next few years, Irons, under the guise of Henry Johnson, put together a basement laboratory and designed and built a suit of armor that would amplify his strength, allow him to fly, and protect him from all but the most powerful weapons--a suit to make him more like Superman. He also built a large, nigh indestructable hammer in honor of his other hero, the legendary John Henry.

Irons eventually wore the suit for the first time because of two factors: Superman was breifly presumed dead, leaving a void in Metropolis that needed to be filled and a new, more powerful version of the BG-60 (the BG-80, "Toastmaster") started appearing in the hands of gang-members involved in a deadly turf-war.

Determined to both honor the legacy of the hero who saved his life, and prevent the weapon he helped develop from taking any more innocent lives, Irons called himself the "Man of Steel" and took to the streets in his new supersuit. There he learned that a former Amertech coworker of his, Angora, was the arms-dealer, "White Rabbit," responsible for the "Toastmasters."

Later, when Superman returned, Irons started going by simply "Steel." He has become a respected hero, a member of the Justice League, and the proprietor of his own research and engineering firm, Ironworks.

Name: Steel AKA:John Henry Irons
Race: Human

Attributes [285]
ST 17 [70]
DX 13 [60]
IQ 16 [120]
HT 13 [30]

HP 17
Will 16
Per 16
FP 13

Basic Lift 5578
Damage 17d/19d

Basic Speed 6.5
Basic Move 7 [5]

Ground Move 7
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: English (Native) [0].

Advantages [884]
Mundane:
Ally (Superman) (150% of starting points) (9 or less) [10]
Artificer (4) [40]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Fit [5]
Gadgeteer [25]
High Pain Threshold [10]
Higher Purpose (Getting dangerous weapons off the streets.) (1) [5]
Natural Athlete (2) [20]
Voice [10]
Wealth (Very Wealthy) [30]

Supersuit:
Damage Resistance (100) (Can't Wear Armor; Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Hardened (+1); Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintainance; Superscience) [100]


Flight (Boot Jets) (Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintainance; Superscience) [16]

Enhanced Move (Air) (3) (Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintainance; Superscience) [24]

Extra ST (20) (Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintanance; Superscience) [80]

Lifting ST (150) (Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintainance; Superscience) [180]

Striking ST (150) (Gadget/Breakable: DR 16-25; Gadget/Breakable: Object is complex machine; Gadget/Breakable: Size 0 or more; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Must be forcefully removed; Required Disadvantage: Weekly Maintainance; Superscience) [300]

Kinetic Hammer:

Crushing Attack (Kinetic Hammer) (1) (Double Knockback; Gadget/Can Be Stolen: Thief must win a Quick Contest of DX or ST; Melee Attack: Reach 1,2; ST-Based; Partial Dice (per die) (+2/die)) [14] (Swing +1d +2/Die, uses Two-Handed Axe/Mace skill))

Perks [2]
Classic Features (Large and muscular) [1]
Striking Surface [1]

Disadvantages [-81]
Charitable (15 or less) [-7]
Code of Honor (Super Hero) [-15]
Dependent (Natasha (Neice)) (No more than 75%) (9 or less; Loved one) [-4]
Enemy (White Rabbit (Arms Dealer)) (Less powerful than the PC) (9 or less) [-5]
Guilt Complex [-5]
Pacifism (Cannot Kill) [-15]
Secret Identity (Possible Death) [-30]

Quirks [-1]
Owes Superman his life and will do anything to help him [-1]

Skills [161]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-1 12 [2]
Administration IQ/A - IQ-1 15 [1]
Aerobatics DX/H - DX+0 13 [4]
Armed Grapple (Two-Handed Axe/Mace) Tech/H - 15 [2]
Armoury/TL8 (Battlesuits) IQ/A - IQ+8 24 [16]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Armoury/TL8 (Body Armor) IQ/A - IQ+6 22 [6]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Armoury/TL8 (Melee Weapons) IQ/A - IQ+4 20 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Battlesuit/TL8 DX/A - DX+3 16 [12]
Brawling DX/E - DX+2 15 [4]
Climbing DX/A - DX-1 12 [1]
Computer Operation/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+0 16 [1]
Computer Programming/TL8 IQ/H - IQ+0 16 [4]
Current Affairs/TL8 (Science & Technology) IQ/E - IQ+0 16 [1]
Electrician/TL8 IQ/A - IQ+3 19 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Electronics Operation/TL8 (Scientific) IQ/A - IQ+0 16 [2]
Electronics Repair/TL8 (Scientific) IQ/A - IQ+4 20 [2]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Battlesuits) IQ/H - IQ+6 22 [11]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Electronics) IQ/H - IQ+3 19 [2]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Flight Pack) IQ/H - IQ+3 19 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Materials) IQ/H - IQ+4 20 [4]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Missile Weapons) IQ/H - IQ+3 19 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Engineer/TL8 (Missile Weapons) IQ/H - IQ+3 19 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Jumping DX/E - DX+3 16 [2]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Leadership IQ/A - IQ-1 15 [1]
Lifting HT/A - HT+3 16 [4]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Mathematics/TL8 (Applied) IQ/H - IQ+0 16 [4]
Mathematics/TL8 (Pure) IQ/H - IQ-2 14 [1]
Mechanic/TL8 (Battlesuit) IQ/A - IQ+6 22 [8]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Metallurgy/TL8 IQ/H - IQ+2 18 [12]
Physics/TL8 IQ/VH - IQ+0 16 [8]
Professional Skill (Steel-Worker) DX/A - DX+1 14 [4]
Running HT/A - HT+2 15 [2]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Scrounging Per/E - Per+0 16 [1]
Smith/TL8 (Iron) IQ/A - IQ+4 20 [2]
includes: +4 from 'Artificer'
Sports (American Football) DX/A - DX+3 16 [4]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Sports (Basketball) DX/A - DX+3 16 [4]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ-1 15 [1]
Throwing DX/A - DX+3 16 [4]
includes: +2 from 'Natural Athlete'
Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace) DX/E - DX+2 15 [4]
Two-Handed Axe/Mace DX/A - DX+3 16 [12]
Uppercut (Brawling) Tech/A - 15 [1]
Weird Science IQ/VH - IQ-2 14 [2]

Stats [285] Ads [884] Disads [-81] Quirks [-1] Skills [161] = Total [1250]

Eiditor's Note: The current Kinetic Hammer can fly, obey Stee's commands, and does more damage the further it's thrown. I decided to stick with the older, hand-held version, because when Steel starts throwing his hammer it makes him feel like a Thor rip-off.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by naloth

The runs I read paint hims as a capable magician that's extremely well informed about anything occult but mostly a smooth talking con man. He's always wheeling and dealing, usually with a strong bluff and a hole card that will really suck to play.

I'd increase his Smooth Operator / con man skills, give him a bit of luck, and contacts rather than allies. You could throw in a few favors for when he gets in way over his head.

Based on your comments, I've edited John Constantine's character sheet. I've added Luck and Contact Group and changed Swampthing ally to a one time Favor. I may add another level of Smooth Operator as well, but I haven't decided yet.

I'd also like him to have Ritual Mastery in SOMETHING, and maybe some rituals and charms written up as potential examples to people who'd want to play him. So if you think of anything...