[Supers] GURPS Unofficial Handbook to the Marvel Universe, Reboot Edition

[chandley]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

NIGHTSHADE


Known Superhuman Powers: None.
Other Abilities: Nightshade is extensively self-taught in genetics, biochemistry, cybernetics, robotics, and physics. She is a skilled fighter, though she remains rather inexperienced, and a decent shot with a pistol.
Weapons and Paraphernalia: Nightshade's primary weapons are a semiautomatic pistol and a bullwhip. In addition, she wears a perfume made of pheromones which will affect most men (and some women), enabling her to influence them. She has created a biochemical fluid which can imprint a lupine phenotype on its recipients, turning people into something akin to a werewolf, as well as software which can remotely hack into and control most computer systems, including advanced cybernetic prostheses.


Advantages: Mind Control (Emotion Control, -50%; Sense-Based (Smell), -20%; Chemical, -10%) [10];

Should Mind Control have a Sexual Orientation limitation on it, given your description? Powers puts "only on opposite sex" at -20% for an Accessibility. -20% is probably fine for "only for interested sex" (or some other better way of saying that :) ) too. Yeah, she's at the -80% max, but on the flip side, Pheromones in Powers adds Area Effect and Emanation, which might be appropriate here too?

Quirks: shocking Affectation (Skimpy Dresser) [-1];

Man, how skimpy do you have to go to be shocking for a female drawn in a comic book?!? Google seems to show her in a bikini top and bottom with thigh high boots. But I see you gave the same to folks like the White Queen, so it fits. Just kind of funny, given comic book dress codes :)

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Emerald Cat

Not to mention "Peeper" brings to mind "peeping tom". I can see why Marvel moved away from this name. Oracle fits well with his clairvoyance powers.

Though with his power set if he was a voyeur he'd be a really good one.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by chandley

Should Mind Control have a Sexual Orientation limitation on it, given your description? Powers puts "only on opposite sex" at -20% for an Accessibility. -20% is probably fine for "only for interested sex" (or some other better way of saying that :) ) too. Yeah, she's at the -80% max, but on the flip side, Pheromones in Powers adds Area Effect and Emanation, which might be appropriate here too?

Hmm... Yeah, adding in the Accessibility, Area Effect, and Emanation certainly seems plausible. Lemme crunch the numbers.

Edit: Numbers crunched and entry updated.

Originally Posted by chandley

Man, how skimpy do you have to go to be shocking for a female drawn in a comic book?!? Google seems to show her in a bikini top and bottom with thigh high boots. But I see you gave the same to folks like the White Queen, so it fits. Just kind of funny, given comic book dress codes :)

Heh. It also depends on whether you're showing up to court or a social function dressed in a skirt-suit or a corset-and-thong. You'll notice that out of costume most females in comics tend to dress rather appropriately, even if their costumes are "flash-the-underboob" and/or "eyes front". :) Nightshade and White Queen don't have those kinds of scruples, and dress how they please when they please. ;)

Not to mention, Nightshade is still a minor! There's gotta be laws against a teenager dressing like she's clubbing at an S&M club on the books somewhere.... :)

[MehMuffin]

Awesome stuff, just popping in for a quick question--is there any chance you wrote up the Winter Soldier in here somewhere and search is just messing with me by not showing it?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by MehMuffin

Awesome stuff, just popping in for a quick question--is there any chance you wrote up the Winter Soldier in here somewhere and search is just messing with me by not showing it?

Sorry, no Winter Soldier. He's a popular character, true, and an excellent one, but as I'm working from a "Year One reset" mindset in this project, he's not exactly the kind of character to show up in the first year; he's more of a Year Two or Year Three kind of character, y'know?

[Phantasm]

I don't know this "PJ Mask" or "Gekko" you're talking about, but I'm going to assume the character in question is a Spider-Man expy of some sort.

Originally Posted by Hellboy

I was thinking, since you can get a discount buying ST if you have the disadvantage where you can't grip anything, what if you tied these together so that you became unable to use your hands for complex task while using your lifting ST, and just relied on clinging to adhere your hands to the object you're lifting?

That would probably be a Temporary Disadvantage on your ST or Lifting ST, actually.

Does clinging also cover how a light guy can hold a huge object in front of him without falling over? Gekko does this when he's shaking a schoolbus and the only thing that makes sense is his feet adhering to the pavement stopping this.

This is more of a setting feature for worlds with comic book physics than anything else. ;) If you have superhuman strength, leverage only applies when the writer or artist considers it.

In a more realistic setting, yes, clinging - or at least the same physical properties that would give you clinging - is probably needed to pull off the stunt, not just in adhering to the pavement but also adhering to the bus to be able to lift it from a fender (from a side or underneath is probably just balancing it properly).

[Phantasm]

Hellboy, a few things:

1. Whoever this "Gekko" is, he's not a Marvel character, and

2. Any further thoughts on this in regards to this specific character - and not to Spider-Man - should probably be in its own thread, to avoid threadjacking to something out-of-universe.

So please, if you want to continue talking about Gekko instead of Spider-Man, start another thread just for him.

Thank you.

[Flyndaran]

That makes little sense as anything but a giant point crock. No one can thread a needle while performing gymnastics or punching through a brick wall.

[Infornific]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

This relates to spider-man too, since he's also a super strength + clinging combination.

The question is: to cut down on costs to design the character, isn't it possible for us to have the "No Manipulators" Disadvantage as a limitation on Spidey's strength? It can reflect being able to muscle up big things while not being able to have fine motor control. The clinging ability still allows you to affix objects to your body and affect them with your strength, just not with a huge amount of dexterity and precision.

This is especially something to consider in the case of Spider-Man because "No Manipulators" also gives a big discount on purchasing DX.

Obviously Spidey doesn't have no manipulators all the time since he's able to type and stuff, but what if during casual activiites he has a lower DX and then gets a massive DX boost when doing big explosive primal actions like dodging bullets or swinging on webs?

Basically what if you had ST and DX you could unlock at the cost of your motor control but could still affect objects you could not grip by using Clinging to affix the objects to you instead of fingers.

Have we seen Spider-Man do anything which would speak against this combination being possible? Has he exhibited any fine motor control over things whilst using super-agility or super-strength?

No fine manipulators doesn't just mean delicate work, it covers use of ST and DX with your hands. So it would affect use of weapons, throwing and catching, etc. Now I could see a limitation for Spiderman's Super DX to cover abilities like Lock picking and other Manual Dexterity related rolls, but I would think only -5% or so would be appropriate. Spiderman is pretty consistently shown as excelling at just about everything DX covers in GURPS and should pay accordingly.

[Culture20]

This speculation is moot. Spiderman has used tennis rackets, baseball bats made of webbing (normal and super-sized), and several other things requiring fine manipulators while using his proportionate strength of a spider. If you want to consider the implications of no fine manipulators, clinging, and super strength, you could start a new thread about the Power Puff Girls.