New Lore Knight

Haven't costed it out but here is a rough idea I got from looking through BOH 2.  This guy is a metallurgist by training and trade.  While I don't think he would be a good solo hero, I think he would work well as a teammate hero.

skills
Vehicles - probably only a 2 or 3 in this
Martial Arts - again a 2 or 3.
Weaponry - not sure how much but might be low to start.

Adva -
Ambidextrous [15] - may use two weapons at once with a +1 AP to AV
Expertise/Scholar - Metallurgy [5 or 10]
Insta-Change [5]
Scientist - Analysis only?  metals

Powers [all have -1 FC only in Lore Knight form/Hero ID only]  *? means try and see if it is cheaper to link or not.

1. Comprehend Languages [w/wo the comprehend written language bonus]  Link = Mind*?
2. Enchantment   Link = Will *?
3. Iron Will   Link = Will *?
4. Metal Manipulation   Link = Will *?
5. Radio Communication   Link = Int*?   @@@@@ I'm thinking that with Comprehend Languages, he would have a good chance of cracking and understanding any scrambled or coded messages.  Maybe needs a Thief sub-skill to aide in it too?  Forgery?  Security systems?
6. Skin Armor   Link = Body *?
7. Systemic Antidote    Link = Body *?

Then some slight increase in running and jumping.
Then the basic Lore Knights teleportation power.

He can't use his powers unless he is in Lore Knight form.  I see him having a bag or two or large pockets in cargo/camouflage-type pants of small common metal objects on him at all times - nuts, bolts, nails, screws, washers and ballbearings.  That way he would always have some metal around him to be able to use.  At the very least he could make himself a long/broadsword and main gauche to use if he ever gets stuck out in a desert or ocean with no other metals around.  And it would work well with his Weaponry Skill.

I would like him to have some kind of sub-skill/hobby of mechanic.  Loves to tinker around cars, washing machines, mowers and such.

Let me know what you think.

Got a bit of time, let's see what I can come up with.


Sir Metal

DEX 6 [42] STR 4 [18] BODY 6 [36]
INT 7 [56] WILL 9 [72] MIND 7 [48]
INFL 3 [14] AURA 3 [12] SPIRIT 3 [12]
WEALTH 3 [4]
TOTAL: 314

skills
MILITARY SCIENCE - CRYPTOGRAPHY 3 [9-6=3FC] 10BC + 6 = 16
VEHICLES 2 [FC 5] 5+5BC = 10
WEAPONRY 4 [FC 6] 6+5BC= 11
total: 37

ADVANTAGES
Ambidextrous [15] - may use two weapons at once with a +1 AP to AV
Expertise/Scholar - Metallurgy [5 or 10]
Insta-Change [5]
Scientist - Analysis only? Research only? None ? metals BC 10 FC 7-
total so far: 25 or 30 or more

POWERS [all have -1 FC only in Lore Knight form/Hero ID only, EXCEPT IRON WILL] [LINK -2 FC]

1. Comprehend Languages [w/wo the comprehend written language bonus] BC 10, FC 2-1=1 LVL 6 COST 16
2. Enchantment BC 200 FC 10-1= 9 LVL 3 COST 218
3. Iron Will BC 5 FC 3-2= 1 LVL 9 COST 17
4. Metal Manipulation Link = Will *? BC 50 FC 7-3=4 LVL 9 COST 48
5. Radio Communication BC 10 FC 3-1=2 LVL 5 COST 18
I'm thinking that with Comprehend Languages, he would have a good chance of cracking and understanding any scrambled or coded messages. WOULD PROBABLY NEED CRYPTOGRAPHY
6. Skin Armor Link = Body *? BC 50 FC 5-3= 2 LVL 6 COST 62
7. Systemic Antidote Link = Body *? BC 5 FC 4-3= 1 LVL 6 COST 11
TOTAL: 390


91 OVER without any other disads to the powers and this doesn't even count the generic Lore Knights powers that have to be added in. Guess Enchantment will have to be dropped though I liked the idea of having someone who could boost anyone's abilities or powers for a bit of time.

See what you can do with it and if you think it would work as a Lore Knight.

I'll have a look. Initial thought is that a stiff breeze would knock him over and with regards combat he's a non event. However, he is interesting in a support role and there may be something he can do with the metal manipulation. Enchantment is expensive. It's useful, but only to others so there may be something we can do there. The only in Lore Knight form suggests an alter ego. The Loss all that the others suffer is kind of a need to 'recharge' at Caer Alwyn in that the sword on the table under the keep starts to appear as ghost like and becomes more solid as the hero loses power. They must then return to Caer Alwyn and take up the sword again. This guy would need more about him. An AV6/Ev5 (with a sword) and hopeless mystical stats means he'll get clobbered when magic users turn up (and they are coming). I'll have a play around and see what I can come up with based on the theme you've come up with.

First draft. Thoughts? I know you don't like the burnouts or the loss vulnerability (but I do so there ) but the Loss Vul is integral to the Lore Knights as they are tied to the land. Metal Manipulation obviously requires a bunch of metal and he can carry nails and nuts/bolts about in a little pouch no problems. Enchantment was going to be a stretch. I can have a go at juggling the numbers about, dropping stats across the board but 200 BC is a killer and you'd need 8-10 APs to be useful. Looked at Power Reserve with 'usable on others' but that's marginally more expensive. Guess they thought of everything.

Admin wrote:

First draft. Thoughts? I know you don't like the burnouts or the loss vulnerability (but I do so there ) but the Loss Vul is integral to the Lore Knights as they are tied to the land. Metal Manipulation obviously requires a bunch of metal and he can carry nails and nuts/bolts about in a little pouch no problems. Enchantment was going to be a stretch. I can have a go at juggling the numbers about, dropping stats across the board but 200 BC is a killer and you'd need 8-10 APs to be useful. Looked at Power Reserve with 'usable on others' but that's marginally more expensive. Guess they thought of everything.

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Yeah Enchantment is nice, though I disagree that you need large levels of it.  If I am reading it right, however many APs of the power he has, he can transfer that much to another character.  So if he had Enchantment of 3, he could give Wonderman 3 APs of Strength for 3 APs of time.  Bumping up his strength by 3 for a round or two could be a make or break in a battle or for breaking through a strong reinforced door.        

But it is too expensive for this low level of a team.  If this was a 900-1000 pt team, I would say "let's go for it!".  Be awesome to have someone like that on a team around that level.  

Gonna have to give him Dispersal of at least one.  Now that you know of and told the rest of us the rule on sonic booms and damage to self, everyone who moves faster than eight needs it sooner or later.  But it is almost cheap enough that he could buy it the first time he earns over 100 HP.  so put at the top of the list for improvements when he gets more HP.

Skills -
I would like to see him have Missile as well, if not getting the whole package of Weaponry.  I see him more of an ancient weapons user and maker, which could include all kinds of bows and ancient siege weapons like trebuchets and ballistas.  Could also be ancient flintlocks and cannons and such.  That way he could make metal crossbows and such with his metal manipulation for ranged attacks.  And if someone else on the team had Chemistry, they could make gunpowder while he makes flintlocks or rifles and the cartridges.  
Vehicles would be a nice skill too minus space vehicles.  Be nice to have someone on the team who could fly a plane or sail a boat if they wind up powerless far from home and need to steal transport back.  Take that back, Boadicea has Vehicles.
Military Science - I say just limit him to Cryptography and Danger Recognition.
Thief - can take it or leave it, not sure it fits but if you need to drop something for more points....
Artist - don't see this.  Artist is EVERYTHING!  Maybe just sculptor as he works with wood and metal to make perfect ancient weapons?
Detective - don't see this.
Acrobatics - nothing in his background indicates he would be good at this, the opposite actually.
Martial Arts - nothing in his background indicates he would be good at this, the opposite actually.
Accuracy - might want to consider adding this in.  Maybe, maybe not.

There is something in BOH2 that says skills can be used as powers.  Powered Skills just below description of Subskills.  Those skills that don't seem to fit, could be skills granted to him as a Lore Knight and are therefore powers.  Might even be cheaper that way at the start.
So that would be Thief, Detective, Acrobatics, Martial Arts and Accuracy.



Powers

About the only one I would re-look at is Density Increase.  Cheaper than Skin Armor's BC but the minuses to Dex and increased weight have always been a big negative to me.  If you are in a building, you can't really use more than a couple of levels or you could fall right through the floors.  I would almost say he needs Gravity Decrease, Usable Only On Himself, as well to balance out the negatives of the power.  
Or go back to Skin Armor.

I gave him Iron Will for two reasons.  One silly, the other serious.  If he is going to manipulation Metal, having powers with the name "Iron" in it should be in his powerset.    
And since most of his powers are in the mental area for linking, having a higher mental defense sounds like a good idea, especially if he develops any other "real" mental powers later on.

The way I see it, each new Lore Knight should have the powers and skills that the other Lore Knights are missing, to help balance out the team.  That's why I originally looked at Enchantment, as a way to bolster the team when it is lacking but it's too expensive.  Metal Manipulation was the same reason, if they couldn't break through the metal doors, he maybe able to just pull them apart.  And now I see why you gave him all of Thief, because combing that with Security Systems, he could possibly bypass electronic locks and such and make it easier to open such doors.


So the Earl, if and when he joins the team, should have such things as: Charisma, Area Knowledge ranging somewhere from Caer Alwyn to Britain.  Connection [he is an Earl, that puts him in the House of Lords, right?].  Credentials, maybe?  Gift of Gab.  Languages, probably went to one of those expensive posh university like Cambridge, so probably knows Latin and maybe German, since that was the main language for science during the early 20th Century.  Leadership.  Local Hero/Popularity - he is the new Earl after all.     Probably also has Omni-Connection and Rich Family/Friends.
He might also have the Authority Figure Drawback too or not.  Might have Limelight too for a disad.

after buying that, then we figure out his powers and stats are with what's left.      

And I don't really mind burnout, it's the burnout of 6 that sets my teeth on edge.  Burnout of 2-4 I can live with, 6 makes me cringe.        

He loses all the skills (keeps any above 5APs as they drop to 2) so all that stuff is Lore Knight only. Density Increase... read the Blood of Heroes version. You can increase Str, RV and not decrease Dex for +3FC (for a FC of 10) but totally worth it for the low base cost and huge benefits. Skin Armour is hopeless. In my head I've already changed Skin Armour to reduce RAPs of damage from physical blunt/trauma attacks rather than add to RV. That's how I think it should be anyway (and yes Kinetic Absorption does the same but it can burn out if overloaded, SKin Armour wouldn't).

If you're ok with Swordsmith (agree, Dispersal for the first buy, or I may jig things about to get it now) I'll update.

Got the points from trimming skills...

Why the artist of 2? That's dancer, actor, writer, painter, director, sculptor and I forget what else? Oh musician and singer! Other than that? Sure!



BTW, took a nap and came up with a wild idea or two for the Earl. Since the British Lion is so big for the royals and lions for various houses, etc. And we have a Lionheart and a British Bulldog, we should make the Earl ---- The British Lion!
He either can shapesift into any kind of feline form from housecat to bobcat to leopard to tiger to lion! Or ... he is basically a werelion.

Guessing here at werelion powers but:
Regeneration, growth one level, superstrength, body and dex, running, variety of heightened senses, claws and bite.

See him in some kind of almost medieval outfit with a patriotic British Lion motif tabard over it. But with a lion head, retractible claws and lion's tail. Actually might be able to make something like that in the DC Universe Online game. Will give it a try later. Not a big hurry, the Earl isn't showing up until after this adventure ends anyways. If he does at all, that is.

Not Liony enough but it gets the idea across.






Just a couple of costume ideas

This is British Lion in different colored armor. Chrome, Silver [which looks pretty much like Chrome], Iridescent, Gold and Bronze.

Other than I don't know why you gave him Artist in Everything, I think we are ready to go with him.

Artist is cheap and he may have a hobby (other than metals) but it's not of much use, there for flavour really. He'll be plinking away on the piano before long...

Says you!  

Rush King aka the Haunt has a 7 in it.  Making him one of the world's greatest actors, painters, sculptors, directors, writers musician, singer, etc.  It's amazing he isn't more world famous.  Got to remember to put some more points into Wealth the next time I get a chance to reflect his growing fame and bigger roles.  

How do you buy advantages again?  He would be in the public eye and popular.  

well, he will if he ever gets back to his own time period.  Unless ...  our Pulp Heroes are set in the 20s, still the silent film era, maybe we could have a few adventures in Hollywood and he can become a big time silent film actor, screenwriter and director?    

Okay, I've had an idea I want to run past you and see if you like it or at least some of it.

I would like to recover the Earl and stop the Advent on the island but after that, have Prof. Wynde and Wonderman leave the Lore Knights.  I am thinking that they would go to America and adventure there under new guises, staying in WW2 ... for a bit.  Churchill isn't happy with Prof. Wynde and Wonderman is an American so them going to America, as they are something of persona non grata, and protect it until it is time for it to enter WW2 kind of makes sense.  So Advent would sort of drop into the background for Prof. and Wondie for a couple of short adventures and then come back to bother them.

We work Steeplejack and the Haunt up through time.  After their Victorian adventures, they go to the 20s and meet our pulp heroes, Jade Hood and Stone Fist and adventure with them.  After adventuring there, they go into the 40s where they team-up with Prof. Wynde and Wonderman, then the 4 of them move up into time ... to the fifties, where they will run into Lightning Bullet and whoever he has teamed up with.

This is obviously a multi-year plan.  No need to rush through those time periods, do full adventures in each one before moving on to the next period.

And maybe, once reaching the modern era, they team up with all the other PCs and finally stop the Advent.

I got one friend and two mostly inactive Superhero PBEM groups that I can send out feelers to see if they want to join us here, with the hopes that they want to play in the 50s with Lightning Bullet.  Since the PBEM groups were based off the 40s All Star Squadron comic book, I have hopes we might get one or two folks to join us from it.  Though the gaming style was totally different in that.  If that doesn't work out, then I think we have tried most of our current avenues to get new players and I would be then ready to solo Lightning Bullet.

Still got to go through the BOH2 book and see if there is anything in it I want to use to change Lightning Bullet, if not, then my last update on him is probably the one I want to go with, if I did the numbers right.

What do you think?

Sounds like a plan. Happy to drop the Lore Knights when required as it's 6 NPCs I have to run and things would whizz along with just you and W Man. I have to admit I am vague on the fifties, I'd have to do some reading up. I'm guessing it's the 'red menace' type of era? There's time yet to research that. Jade Hood/Iron Fist is definitely on the 'to do' list. I'd planned to run some new rules through with those guys though (DC Heroes/Blood of Heroes based but more tweaks so to speak) but none of the rules are deal breakers.

The 50s:
1. Red Menace is huge. That's why I posted all those newspaper headlines. Most of Marvel's earliest villains in the 60s were of the Red Menace type. Mainly fighting the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Giant-Man.
2. Rock and Roll was growing and parents were concerned. Elvis was known as Elvis the Pelvis and when he went on the Ed Sullivan Show [huge hit in the 50s] they only filmed him from the waist up while he sang and gyrated.
3. Schlocky b-movie sci-fi films were the rage. Aliens menaces, other than the Advent - let's leave them out of the picture for now, they can come in when it gets closer to the others moving into the 50s.
4. Monsters created by radiation. Godzilla is too big a monster to take on with low level heroes. However, there were also giant ants and spiders grown by radiation.
5. Comic books were the source of much of juvenile delinquency. Congress investigated the industry starting in 1953. The publishers, in fear, created the Comic Code Authority neutering comic books in 1954, bringing about the end of most comic book publishers within two years.
6. Schlocky horror/juvenile delinquent movies. I direct your attention to "I Was A Teen-Age Werewolf" starring a very young Michael Landon, later of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie fame. "Creature From The Black Lagoon" was made during this time.
7. NASA hadn't been created yet, so most rocket experiments were carried out by the various branches of the military.
8. Korean War ends July 27,1953. I figure we start out around early March, 1953.
9. Depending on who you ask, the Golden Age either ended in 1950 or 1953 and a few say it didn't end until the new version of the Flash was published in 1956. The Silver Age didn't begin until late 1956. So we are in the dead spot between the two ages.

Meant to say this earlier but I think the Earl should be based on higher points than the rest of the Lore Knights. This is mainly because of all the advantages an Earl who is also a trained blooded soldier might have. Those advantages would eat up a great deal of points that normally would go to powers.

From an earlier post:


The way I see it, each new Lore Knight should have the powers and skills that the other Lore Knights are missing, to help balance out the team. That's why I originally looked at Enchantment, as a way to bolster the team when it is lacking but it's too expensive. Metal Manipulation was the same reason, if they couldn't break through the metal doors, he maybe able to just pull them apart. And now I see why you gave him all of Thief, because combing that with Security Systems, he could possibly bypass electronic locks and such and make it easier to open such doors.


So the Earl, if and when he joins the team, should have such things as: Charisma, Area Knowledge ranging somewhere from Caer Alwyn to Britain. Connection [he is an Earl, that puts him in the House of Lords, right?]. Credentials, maybe? Gift of Gab. Languages, probably went to one of those expensive posh university like Cambridge, so probably knows Latin and maybe German, since that was the main language for science during the early 20th Century. Leadership. Local Hero/Popularity - he is the new Earl after all. geek Probably also has Omni-Connection and Rich Family/Friends.
He might also have the Authority Figure Drawback too or not. Might have Limelight too for a disad.

after buying that, then we figure out his powers and stats are with what's left. lol! lol!

And I don't really mind burnout, it's the burnout of 6 that sets my teeth on edge. Burnout of 2-4 I can live with, 6 makes me cringe.

He'll probably be 900 points, the other guys are based on 675. Maybe a step higher than that even, with some special abilities that grant the others immunity from the 'away from britain' disadvantage so long as they stay near him.

900? Pfft. Had to go down the gadgetry route too. Sorcery. 750HP base Cost. Damn. 1575 points and not even that powerful!

Haven't read Sorcery that close but doesn't it basically let you use any powers? If so, why have all those other powers when he could use those points to raise Sorcery? Then his Adrenaline Surge would only be for his stats and sorcery. MAYBE then get the burnout down to 4 or less?