Statting the golden age Superman

[Curmudgeon]

ISTR that there have been occasional requests for what would Superman look like in GURPS and how much would a reasonably accurate portrayal of his powers cost. Here's one take with some notes about the choices made.

Superman
[30,160] ST 60,000
[20] DX 12
[10] IQ 11
[30] HT 13
0 Appearance: Average
0 Wealth: Average
0 Status: Average
Speed 7.25

[4] Breath Holding 2
[12] Clairaudience: Pow 6 [36 yd. range, area = 18 yd.]
[66] Clairvoyance: Pow 33 [1089” (30 yd.) range, area = 544” (15 yd.)]
[25] Increased Speed: +1
[15] Very Rapid Healing
[10] Recovery
[3] Reputation: +2, “champion of the oppressed”, large group, 10-
[100] Super Running: 5 (Running Move: 224)
[1,264] DR (Hardened) 324


[-5] Code of Honor: Journalist’s
[-3] Reputation: -2, “dangerous troublemaker”, large group, 10-
[-20] Secret Identity: Superman
[-15] Sense of Duty: toward all humanity

[1] Brawling (P/E) 12-
[14] Clairaudience (M/H) 16-
[14] Clairvoyance (M/H) 16-
[1] Intimidation (M/A) 10- [note: can fall back on his default from ST: 59,995-]
[4] PS: Journalist (M/A) 12-
[0.5] Typing (P/E) 11-
[2] Writing (M/A) 11-
[1] Language: English (native) 12-

Summary:
30,220 Attributes
1,495 Advantages
-43 Disadvantages
0 Quirks
37.5 Skills
31,709.5 Total

Statting Notes:

This is the golden age Superman, roughly as he appears in Action Comics #1 and translated into GURPS, 3rd Ed.. He is faster than a speeding bullet; more powerful than a locomotive; able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, known to be invulnerable to anything less than a 4” shell (the panel showing that shows a 4” shell bursting harmlessly against him, so I statted it as up to and including a 4” shell).

For faster than a speeding bullet, a .38 Special has a speed of 600 fps [409+ mph] and a rifle bullet could achieve a speed of 5,000 fps [3,409+ mph]. Since the panel showing the bullet being fired portrayed a revolver and most of the time he encountered pistol and SMG-toting crooks, rather than riflemen, I thought it fair to use the pistol rather than rifle speed for comparison, so this version is faster than a pistol bullet but not necessarily a rifle round.

For more powerful than a locomotive, I used the benchmarks from GURPS Vehicles, 2nd Edition and used a TL6 1,200 kW locomotive rather than a TL7 5,000 kW modern diesel locomotive for the comparison. To make him as strong as a modern diesel, increase his ST to 250,000 and increase his cost by 95,000.

I planned to use the Empire State Building at 1,250’ as the basis for his leaping tall buildings in a single bound since that seemed to be the tall building in the panel (and he just cleared it), but since his ST 60,000 lets him do a standing high jump that’s 10” short of 15,000’, I let it go at that. Incidentally, he can lift 180 short tons with one hand and jump a bit over 11 and 1/3 miles with a standing broad jump.

For the 4” shell, I used 9x6d as the damage done by a TL6 105mm shell and gave him DR 324 and one level of Hardened to stop every point of damage, rather than just the average damage, even from a nominally armour-piercing shell. He’s invulnerable, according to the text, so no lucky shots doing more damage and getting through. If you want to hurt him, go get a bigger gun.

Superman’s ST is the only Attribute that has canonical support. The other stats are somewhat optimized and partially found by working back from other abilities. I initially worked with a final Super Running Move of 408 (which was slightly slower than a .38 Special) and worked out to Basic Move of 6.25 with five levels of Super Running. Giving him 1 level of Increased Speed made him a bit better for scenes where he wasn’t using his Super Running and brought his Super Running up to faster than a .38 Special. Keeping his Basic Speed at 6.25 gave a combined HT and DX of 25, so after deducting 20 for average, I had five Attribute levels to distribute and optimized them as 2 to DX and 3 to HT. Although not canonically supported, a 13 HT let me give him Very Rapid Healing, which seemed reasonable, if not strictly canonical. Recovery seemed appropriate as Superman rarely stayed unconscious as long as villains expected. (This mostly came up with kryptonite.) Superman got an 11 for IQ mostly because I tend to think of him as a bit smarter than average but it’s justified less by the way Superman is portrayed and more by Clark Kent’s abilities as an investigative reporter (and he has been shown to be good at that, even when he’s lost his super-powers, so it isn’t a case of his riding on the coattails of his abilities as Superman to get a scoop. Which isn’t to say that he won’t take advantage of something he did as Superman to get a scoop.)

As initially drawn, Superman isn’t even particularly attractive, that came later with Boring and Swan, so I’ve given him average appearance. I’ve given him Average Wealth but you could probably give him Comfortable (he is an “ace” reporter, and later a “star” reporter), without too much argument. Depending on your view of depression-era newspapers, you might even get away with Struggling for Wealth. As a reporter, he’s status 0, just another average citizen and while Clark Kent’s press pass would let him in to some places that the general public wouldn’t be allowed, it’s not even worth a perk as it comes with the job and it leaves with the job.

Breath Holding isn't something that came up very often but two levels seem appropriate since he did seem to last longer than expected but seemed to struggle with not being able to get a fresh breath of air.

I gave Superman Clairaudience and Clairvoyance to represent his telescopic and x-ray vision as well as his super-hearing. Since the early Superman didn’t use his x-ray vision for anything more than seeing through walls, this is actually a pretty good fit. Both were bought as one-skill powers, so Superman can’t expand on them. They aren’t enhanced to be Instantaneous, since Superman typically hears a scream, says, “What was that? I’d better see.” and then uses his vision/hearing powers in the next panel, so it could be argued that he does need to Concentrate to use them.

A nice side effect (and part of the reason for setting the power levels where they are) is that it limits Superman to viewing an area about the size of a conference room and his range limit doesn’t negate the reason he took a job with the Daily Star in the first place. If he gets close enough, he can locate the source of a scream and see that it’s a wife-beater and intervene but he can’t monitor even half-way across Metropolis, so he really does need Clark Kent’s access to breaking news on the teletype.

Superman’s dual reputations ensure that most people will have heard of him, one way or the other, and their reactions will vary from good (champion of the oppressed only, to the oppressed), through ambivalent (heard both reputations), to bad (“dangerous troublemaker” only, to an oppressor).

I’ve made Superman rather than Clark Kent the secret identity as it isn’t backed up by records, false or otherwise, while Clark Kent’s identity is about as solid as could reasonably be expected of an orphan. The secret is at the imprisonment level, because even at this stage of his career, executing Superman is problematic, so it isn’t a risk he really runs. A firing squad of battleships might work, but it seems a bit over the top, even for comic books.

Sense of Duty was a real struggle to pin down. I could see arguments for it being just towards people he knows personally (eg. Lois Lane) but he doesn’t require much more than hearing about a person’s troubles to start getting involved and while an argument could be made for it being just to Americans, Superman didn’t necessarily restrict himself that way and against it being to all humanity, he really doesn’t travel out of America all that often to right a wrong. On the other hand, he has done so on occasion. I finally went with to all humanity because the big limit on Superman’s involvement seems to be: a) hearing about it, and b) getting there to be able to do something worthwhile about it in a timeframe that would actually have some meaning.

A journalist’s code of ethics really applies only to the Clark Kent identity but Clark does seem to subscribe to things like protecting the identity of his sources.
(post 1 of 2)

[Curmudgeon]

For skills, the Clairaudience and Clairvoyance are at 16- because Superman rarely fails with them. I’d take a failure as, “There’s lead blocking my view.” Brawling is more for the flavour of how Superman fights in the early comics, rather than for the extra point of damage. (Seriously, I took Brawling because Superman desperately needs an extra point of damage to account for when pulling his punches?)

Superman has Intimidation because he regularly threatens his opponents with violence, and he only has a point in it because he’s really not very good at it. Opponents regularly called his bluff, only to find that he wasn’t bluffing (and the note about his default from ST shows why the opponents give in so easily after experiencing a personal demonstration of being “gentle” with his ST from Superman.)

Journalism, Typing, Writing and Language skills all relate more to Clark Kent than Superman. While his Journalism could be higher, Clark is still fairly early in his career, so while he’s good, he’s not that good. Typing was taken because his default from Journalism of 9- felt too low. Clark would be a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter later in his career, which implies a better than average ability with words and the ability to use them to best effect, so he has those skills early for later development.

Superman doesn’t have weaknesses to: a red sun, magic or any form of kryptonite, in this write-up. That’s intentional as I’d consider them disadvantages received in play. Superman is unaware that he has any disadvantages, other than the perceived limitations of his powers. A player could increase Superman’s DR at will because it isn’t that Superman couldn’t be invulnerable to a shell from a 12” naval gun; it’s just never come up before, so Superman doesn’t know whether he could take it or not.

Superman doesn’t have any quirks listed because, offhand, I couldn’t think of anything that would qualify, not because he actually doesn’t have any.

(post 2 of 2)

[Phantasm]

For his ST, did you reverse-engineer it based on Basic Lift, Two-Handed Lift (BL * 8), or his Shove/Knock Over feat (BL * 12)? (In a game of tug-of-war against a locomotive, I'd probably use the Shove/Knock Over.)

[whswhs]

Despite the famous slogan, the original Superman of 1938 was actually faster than a locomotive and more powerful than a speeding bullet. The two-page spread that first defined his powers showed him outrunning an express train (perhaps 100 mph?), jumping vertically over a skyscraper and horizontally an eighth of a mile (660 feet horizontally and maybe 330 feet vertically), and lifting an automobile (a couple of tons?).

Of course his powers grew explosively. I've read that DC and Fawcett got into a race, with Captain Marvel being shown lifting 100 tons, after which Superman had to be even more powerful. . . .

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

For his ST, did you reverse-engineer it based on Basic Lift, Two-Handed Lift (BL * 8), or his Shove/Knock Over feat (BL * 12)? (In a game of tug-of-war against a locomotive, I'd probably use the Shove/Knock Over.)

Neither, I used GURPS Vehicles 1 kW = ST 50 from Muscle Engines as a direct conversion factor to the power given for the locomotive. Incidentally, and just to be sure everyone is aware of it, this statting is for GURPS, 3rd Ed. and BL is a 4th Ed. concept.

Originally Posted by whswhs

Despite the famous slogan, the original Superman of 1938 was actually faster than a locomotive and more powerful than a speeding bullet. The two-page spread that first defined his powers showed him outrunning an express train (perhaps 100 mph?), jumping vertically over a skyscraper and horizontally an eighth of a mile (660 feet horizontally and maybe 330 feet vertically), and lifting an automobile (a couple of tons?).

Of course his powers grew explosively. I've read that DC and Fawcett got into a race, with Captain Marvel being shown lifting 100 tons, after which Superman had to be even more powerful. . . .

Oops! It had been a while since I last read Superman Archives, Volume 1. Interestingly, both of us are not quite correct. Reviewing the explanation from Action Comics #1, on p.4 (counting the cover as p.1), (p.10 of Superman Archives), he can "hurdle skyscrapers"; "... leap an eighth of a mile..."; "...raise tremendous weights..." [panel shows him lifting a red car above his head with a two-handed lift]; "...run faster than a streamline train--"; and "...nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!"

Action Comics #3, second story does the next major power recap and calls the tall building/skyscraper out specifically as a "ten-story building", so about 100'. The train changes from "streamline" to "express", "crush steel in his bare hands!" is added and his skin is now "impenetrable". Starting with Action Comics #4 "smashing tremendous weights" as well as lifting them is added.

So, I'm not sure where I got the idea that it was specifically a 4" shell and bullets aren't mentioned for either speed or power. Back to the drawing board.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Neither, I used GURPS Vehicles 1 kW = ST 50 from Muscle Engines as a direct conversion factor to the power given for the locomotive. Incidentally, and just to be sure everyone is aware of it, this statting is for GURPS, 3rd Ed. and BL is a 4th Ed. concept.

It might have been better to give that information in the first post. Most of us default to 4e unless 3e is specified in the topic. It also affects stat pricing, and ST levels.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

It might have been better to give that information in the first post. Most of us default to 4e unless 3e is specified in the topic. It also affects stat pricing, and ST levels.

I did. First line of Statting Notes: "This is the golden age Superman, roughly as he appears in Action Comics #1 and translated into GURPS, 3rd Ed.."

Fresh from the drawing board, a second write-up for the golden age Superman. Notes this time around apply only to items changed, otherwise assume that the reasoning from the previous version still apply to unchanged items. Also added damage block information.

Superman
[310] ST 300
[20] DX 12
[10] IQ 11
[30] HT 13
0 Appearance: Average
0 Wealth: Average
0 Status: Average
Speed 7.25
Basic Damage: Thr 31d; Sw 33d
Punch 31d-2
Kick 31d

[25] Increased Speed: +1
[15] Very Rapid Healing
[10] Recovery
[3] Reputation: +2, “champion of the oppressed”, large group, 10-
[10] Super Jumping: 1 (doubles effective ST-based jumping distances)
[80] Super Running: 4 (Running Move: 112)
[1,264] DR (Hardened) 324

[-5] Code of Honor: Journalist’s
[-3] Reputation: -2, “dangerous troublemaker”, large group, 10-
[-20] Secret Identity: Superman
[-15] Sense of Duty: toward all humanity

[1] Brawling (P/E) 12-
[1] Intimidation (M/A) 10- [note: can fall back on his default from ST: 295-]
[4] PS: Journalist (M/A) 12-
[0.5] Typing (P/E) 11-
[2] Writing (M/A) 11-
[1] Language: English (native) 12-

Summary:
370 Attributes
1,407 Advantages
-43 Disadvantages
0 Quirks
9.5 Skills
1,743.5 Total

Statting Notes:

This is the golden age Superman, roughly as he appears in Action Comics #1 and translated into GURPS, 3rd Ed.. He is able to hurdle a ten-story building, lift a family car overhead using both hands, is faster than an express locomotive; invulnerable to anything up to and including a 3” shell (the last is my best guess).

For faster than an express locomotive, I’ve used High Tech, 3rd Ed.’s estimate for TL 5 trains, that an express train had a maximum travel limit of 1200 miles/day by 1900 and assumed that the train couldn’t get much faster without having to relay the rails. 1200 miles/day would work out to about 50 mph over 24 hours, 75 mph in 16 hours, 100 mph in 12 hours, 120 mph in 10 hours and 150 mph in 8 hours. I’ve taken 120 mph as the top speed an express train could attain in the 1930s and initially gave Superman a Super Running Move of 75 to overtake it, which meant dropping a level of Super Running. I wanted to keep Superman’s Basic Speed as 7.25, so his Super Running came to 224 mph, which worked out better than expected since it would allow Superman to duplicate a feat that was in the early Action Comics where Lois double-crossed Clark, taking the last express train that day and sending Clark on a wild goose chase to the Metropolis hospital for a story and Clark then being fired on his return to the Daily Star (time period unspecified but at least half an hour to an hour) and he is still able to catch up and overtake the train before it reaches Lois’ destination. Incidentally, using the speed I gave for the .38 Special in my first stat up, this Superman is not faster than a speeding bullet.

Using 660’ (1/8 mile) for a standing broad jump and 100’ (ten story building) for a standing high jump, we get ST 663 for a standing broad jump; ST 404 for a standing high jump and lifting a family car (about two and a half short tons, or about 5,000 lbs.) overhead with a two-handed lift would be about ST 200. Giving Superman ST 300 and 1 level of Super Jumping lets him do a 3.75 short ton two-handed lift, a standing broad jump of 198 yards (22 yards short of an eighth of a mile) and a standing high jump of 148’ 4” (not quite a fifteen story building). Lastly, 31d-2 does an average of 106.5 damage, so Superman can easily punch through a 1” steel wall (DR8; 80 hit points) in a single blow, which is good enough to represent “crushing steel with his bare hands.” I’m willing to say, “close enough” for ST at this point.

For the 3” shell, the damage remains 9x6d with a divisor of 2, which hardened would ignore, so he remains DR 324 with one level of Hardened for the same reasoning as used previously.

On the whole, I liked the way Superman’s DX, IQ and HT worked out, so I left them “as was.”

Clairaudience and Clairvoyance have been dropped as a review of the first four issues of Action Comics reveals that he didn’t have telescopic or x-ray vision, or super-hearing in those early appearances. Since the powers are being dropped, the associated skills have been dropped as well. (I think the values given previously would work if you wanted to have those abilities available from the start, though.)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

This is the golden age Superman, roughly as he appears in Action Comics #1 and translated into GURPS, 3rd Ed.. He is able to hurdle a ten-story building, lift a family car overhead using both hands, is faster than an express locomotive; invulnerable to anything up to and including a 3” shell (the last is my best guess).

For faster than an express locomotive, I’ve used High Tech, 3rd Ed.’s estimate for TL 5 trains, that an express train had a maximum travel limit of 1200 miles/day by 1900 and assumed that the train couldn’t get much faster without having to relay the rails. 1200 miles/day would work out to about 50 mph over 24 hours, 75 mph in 16 hours, 100 mph in 12 hours, 120 mph in 10 hours and 150 mph in 8 hours. I’ve taken 120 mph as the top speed an express train could attain in the 1930s and initially gave Superman a Super Running Move of 75 to overtake it, which meant dropping a level of Super Running. I wanted to keep Superman’s Basic Speed as 7.25, so his Super Running came to 224 mph, which worked out better than expected since it would allow Superman to duplicate a feat that was in the early Action Comics where Lois double-crossed Clark, taking the last express train that day and sending Clark on a wild goose chase to the Metropolis hospital for a story and Clark then being fired on his return to the Daily Star (time period unspecified but at least half an hour to an hour) and he is still able to catch up and overtake the train before it reaches Lois’ destination. Incidentally, using the speed I gave for the .38 Special in my first stat up, this Superman is not faster than a speeding bullet.

Using 660’ (1/8 mile) for a standing broad jump and 100’ (ten story building) for a standing high jump, we get ST 663 for a standing broad jump; ST 404 for a standing high jump and lifting a family car (about two and a half short tons, or about 5,000 lbs.) overhead with a two-handed lift would be about ST 200. Giving Superman ST 300 and 1 level of Super Jumping lets him do a 3.75 short ton two-handed lift, a standing broad jump of 198 yards (22 yards short of an eighth of a mile) and a standing high jump of 148’ 4” (not quite a fifteen story building). Lastly, 31d-2 does an average of 106.5 damage, so Superman can easily punch through a 1” steel wall (DR8; 80 hit points) in a single blow, which is good enough to represent “crushing steel with his bare hands.” I’m willing to say, “close enough” for ST at this point.

For the 3” shell, the damage remains 9x6d with a divisor of 2, which hardened would ignore, so he remains DR 324 with one level of Hardened for the same reasoning as used previously.

On the whole, I liked the way Superman’s DX, IQ and HT worked out, so I left them “as was.”

Clairaudience and Clairvoyance have been dropped as a review of the first four issues of Action Comics reveals that he didn’t have telescopic or x-ray vision, or super-hearing in those early appearances. Since the powers are being dropped, the associated skills have been dropped as well. (I think the values given previously would work if you wanted to have those abilities available from the start, though.)

I'm not going to review all the details, not least because I no longer have 3/e on my shelves. But the basic method looks sound. Sometimes you have to go for the best approximation.

[Michael Thayne]

In Action Comics #1, Superman doesn't just lift a car—he also forces open the door of a safe large enough to contain a human being. That's realistically probably harder than lifting a car. I don't know about 3e stats for a safe, but in 4e we're talking about ST 700 or something like that.

Action Comics #1 also says he has total control over his facial muscles, this could be interpreted as anything from providing a semi-realistic justification for the Masked perk, to Elastic Skin. Early issues do portray him as a master of disguise.

Also, if you care not just about Action Comics #1, but the first few issues of Action Comics, there's an early-ish issue (first dozen issues, easily) where Supes outruns a bullet to save a teenager from the shot. He only does this once, though, so maybe give him Enhanced Time Sense so he can use Bullet Time.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

In Action Comics #1, Superman doesn't just lift a car—he also forces open the door of a safe large enough to contain a human being. That's realistically probably harder than lifting a car. I don't know about 3e stats for a safe, but in 4e we're talking about ST 700 or something like that.

Action Comics #1 also says he has total control over his facial muscles, this could be interpreted as anything from providing a semi-realistic justification for the Masked perk, to Elastic Skin. Early issues do portray him as a master of disguise.

Also, if you care not just about Action Comics #1, but the first few issues of Action Comics, there's an early-ish issue (first dozen issues, easily) where Supes outruns a bullet to save a teenager from the shot. He only does this once, though, so maybe give him Enhanced Time Sense so he can use Bullet Time.

I just re-read Action Comics #1 and the only door that comes close to your description is the door to the governor's sleeping room when Superman is trying to stop the execution of Evelyn Curry. While it is:

Superman: It's locked!
Governor's Butler: Yes! And made of steel! Try and knock this door down!

It isn't a safe door. It's a bit thicker in appearance than a standard door but not by much, and is held shut by it's lock and hinges. The door bends in spots where Superman grabs it, but he plainly rips the door from the door jamb by its hinges, the lower hinge coming off with the door while the upper hinge shows as plainly still remaining with the jamb. I think ST 300 still covers that feat.

I can't find any mention in either Action Comics #1 or Action Comics #2 that says he has complete control over his facial muscles, not even in the text pages. Which is a pity, because it would go a long way to explaining why Lois in particular hasn't connected Superman and Clark Kent. To be fair, other people have met both Superman and Clark Kent but Lois is the only one who has done so with repeatedly. (Seven times in the four issues that make up Superman's first year in Action Comics.)

On the other hand, you're right about him using disguises several times but master of disguise may be a bit much. He only impersonated two specific people in the first year, Tommy Burke and Larry Trent, both of whom were reasonably close to Superman's appearance, and while he's described as "expertly alters the appearance of his features", that's not quite the same thing as having expert (16-) skill, so I'd agree to add a line:
[8] Disguise (M/A) 14-
to Superman's character sheet.

I do care about his early portrayals in more than Action Comics #1 but like Phantasm's Marvel Universe reboot, I'm forced to go with how he's consistently portrayed, rather than all the one-off powers he has. For example, the text page stories in the first two issues do mention telescopic vision and x-ray vision and one regular story does at least imply super-hearing, but on a consistent portrayal basis, I felt they should be dropped from the write-up as, at best, one-offs.