Every major superhero setting that features a wide variety of powers sources also features some who have none at all: the badass normal. This can range anywhere from Bruce Wayne to Tony Stark, and they all have their means to be different and awesome all the same.
So, for those of us who plan to make at least one character who has no innate superhuman abilities, what do you plan?
I'll start:
[b]Gameplay[/b]
This is a guy who takes playing with toys, and insisting that "THEY'RE ACTION FIGURES!" to the logical extreme. As you'd expect, he has no superpowers, but he has all sorts of wonderful toys combined with being in peak human condition that makes him a super of his own. When I said toys, I meant literally. He uses all kinds of toy-themed gadgets to fight crime. This includes:
- Drones, which he calls Action Figures, that increase his numbers. They look like toy soldiers.
- Power gloves that can exert great force, and look like toy gloves. They can also extend further for a greater punch.
- Goggles that allow him to see infrared. They look like what you'd see in a futuristic animated series.
- "Silly putty", which actually entraps his enemies so they can't move.
- Jet boots, which are propulsion boots allowing him to reach higher places.
- Electro disks, which are like frisbees that are supercharged with electricity.
- "Silly string", functioning like a web substance allowing him to swing from one place to another.
Outside of that, he's a master acrobat, martial artist, and keeps himself in top shape while avoiding any vices. He does make a lot of wisecracks in battle, kinda like Spider-Man.
What are your ideas?
Over the years (between both table top RPGs and games like CoH) I've played several versions of a type of character I call the "superhero wannabe". I suspect I'll dust off my CoH version of this and "re-roll" it for CoT.
Basically my CoH version of this character was a teenaged girl who's a prodigy with electrical technology but otherwise is completely superpowerless. It's probably easiest to describe her as a "Hermione Granger clone" if Hermione was skilled in science and technology instead of magic.
Despite her promising future in a mundanely STEM-oriented career she's always been fascinated by all the fancy superheroes buzzing around Titan City. Determined to make a difference even without "powers" she uses her amazing technical knowledge/skill to create various devices that allow her to fly (via rocket boots) and power gauntlets that allow her to shoot electrical blasts and control other electrical effects. She's constantly tinkering with her gadgets to make them better and longs to be considered a "real" superhero despite her somewhat youthful exuberance and naivety.
Bottomline if you can imagine "Supergirl as a non-melee Electric Blaster" that's this character in a nutshell. I'll probably eventually think up a new name for this character just to change things up a bit for CoT.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Putting gadgeteers and power suits into that classification covers a lot of territory. I'd estimate that at least 1/2 of the actual superheroes (ignoring the tons and tons of minor powered mutants like the morlocks) fall into the "externally powered" category. Gadgets, power suits, magic wands, rings of power, ancient artifacts, alien tech, etc.
A key point of course is that there can be characters who both have "internal/innate" powers AND use other "external" gadgets as well. Also you can muddy the waters by talking about characters whose "source" for their power is internal yet they use an external focus/device to strengthen/focus/control that raw power. All these lines can be easily blurred. :)
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
The ultimate blurred example is Doctor Doom. One of Marvel's most dangerous villains, yet isn't technically considered superhuman. He's a brilliant scientist, evil genius, political, criminal, legal and military mastermind, who wears a suit of armor that can stand up to gods and is a powerful sorcerer that effectively wields both science and magic in equal measure. Many would say magic is a superpower, and it sure looks like it, but theoretically anyone in Marvel could learn magic, and he just happened to be really good at it.
I tend to think use of magic, given it's paranormal nature, is classified differently than gadget users: if anyone could use magic, it would be much more common, so some force must separate those with the ability to use it and those without.
Backup argument: the object then holds the power, not the user, so the user can't claim superhero status from it. Kinda like a less severe Sirroco: it's the sword that has the power, not the human.
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[color=red]PR, Forum Moderator[/color]
[url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/desvipers-creative-impulsivity]My Non-Canon Backstories[/url]
Avatar by MikeNovember
I'll be taking some inspiration from Chadwick Strongpants, who's only super power is his reputation.
[youtube]j6kEVfU93gc[/youtube]
My superheroine will be taking advantage of 3D printing, the bleeding edge of material science and the seemingly inexplicable and unlimited resources of Chinese factories on Alibaba.com to mint buttons, coins and lenses with fantastic properties. /plotarmor
[size=14]"The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths." - Pushkin[/size]
[size=14] "One piece of flair is all I need." - Sister Silicon[/size]
Back when DCUO first came out, my main character was a staff fighter with acrobatics who used gadgets and had Batman as a mentor.
Later my tabletop gaming group briefly played an RPG called “Cold Steel Wardens”. Characters in that game were low-powered vigilantes breaking the law to stop dangerous street crime. (The characters on the TV show Arrow would fit right in.) I remade him for that game, but without the gadgets, and with a big emphasis on stealth.
I plan to play him again as one of my heroes in CoT. But to make things different, I’m going to make him a Stalwart, with Super Agility as a primary and Fighting Prowess as a secondary. He’ll fight with a staff as a prop of course. I’d probably go with Bruiser as a mastery.
Midnite Falcon was a wealthy playboy bored with the usual adrenaline junkie pastimes, until the day that he stepped in and stopped a robbery using the Martial Arts skills he had picked up. The thrill of pitting himself against an opponent that had no rules inspired him to have a suit of body armor made and he picked up equipment that he felt would assist him in fighting crime.
In my head, each failure he survives pushes him further from the hedonistic nature of his pursuit and into a more dedicated hero. He is NEVER a gloryhound, but he does use both his wealth and fame to help others, becoming more focused and dedicated to crime prevention and justice as time passes.
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I have to wonder where the lines for this sort of thing is drawn. Tony Stark supposedly has no super powers but is a Super Genius, is super smarts not a super power?
Where do cyborgs lie on the superpowered vs non-super powered split? What about someone who has helpful super advanced nano-bots in their blood stream?
Even someone like the Punisher (when he's not like, an angel, or a zombie, or whatever weird thing they're doing to him these days) is at least super humanly durable. Dude remained standing after a punch to the gut from Molly Hayes and she didn't seem to be holding back all that much.
Also where do preternatural abilities sit on the powers vs not powers side of things?
Anyway. I got a few, but I don't think I can go into too much detail right now. Just can't get my brain in gear to write anything worthwhile.
Siege Crab: once an alien killing machine now an exo-suit for a young genius.
Skull-Man: Troubled teen who stumbled upon a decesed supervillian's lair, took the villain's suit, gadgets, and contacts and now uses them to fight crime
A villian, technically, but...
Raccoon Girl: Other than being preternaturally lucky has no powers, has no special skills, some how has not died despite trying to break into supervilliany. Often has intel on actual criminal organizations. More of a gag character than anything.
Also a +1 for McJigg who brought up the amazingness that is Chadwick Strongpants.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
I had this one villain named Mister Horrid, who was a street doctor that was so skilled that he could do surgery with power tools, which he often had to do because of the state of the slum he lived in. One day he tried to defend himself against an RIPD raid which caused him to take a bullet to the brain. He survived but he came back different, screwing up his memories and morality and creating another personality that calls himself Mister Horrid. His deal was that he was an Apex Human but unlike other Apex Humans who can dodge bullets he would be able to ignore pain and ignore pain. He was like if you put Hannibal Lectur's brain in Micheal Myers body. Not a hero obviously but I liked him
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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That's pretty good actually :)
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[color=red]PR, Forum Moderator[/color]
[url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/desvipers-creative-impulsivity]My Non-Canon Backstories[/url]
Avatar by MikeNovember
Interestingly enough I just heard about a new study of leprosy which suggests the main problem with it isn't that it makes body parts rot off directly but that it shuts down your ability to feel pain so that you end up hurting yourself to the point that body parts get damaged, infected, rot and fall off as a "side-effect" of the leprosy. Puts a new spin on just how "beneficial" not being able to feel pain might actually be. ;)
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
This is news? I could have sworn that [url=https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-R-Donaldson/s?page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AStephen%20R%20Donaldson] Stephen R. Donaldson's [/url]Thomas Convenant the Unbeliever regularly did what he called a "visual surveillance of the extremities", at least while on Earth and his leprosy was progressing, to make sure he hadn't accidentally damaged himself, against just such a contingency. And that was back in the seventies...
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
I honestly don't know how "new" this recent study I was referring to was. Leprosy is not a topic I think about too often to begin with so I probably couldn't tell you what's "news" and what isn't. I simply coincidentally heard about a supposedly new study on talk radio the other day and they sometimes just grab things randomly to talk about. ;)
Regardless I'd suspect most people probably still think leprosy directly causes body parts to rot off zombie-style when it's actually more associated with internal nerve damage. I only mentioned it here because as real-life leprosy would suggest "not being able to feel pain" seems like a "superpower" that would likely NOT be worth having for all sorts of reasons.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Well I mean it isn't that he doesn't feel pain, he just ignores it, plus he's a doctor so he knows how to treat his own wounds
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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That's fine - I was just adding to the conversation. You've come up with a perfectly good character concept to explain a CoH Willpower type defensive "superpower" which would work with an otherwise "powerless" character.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
I have an idea for a female villain:
[b]Pestilence[/b]
A villainess who wears a cloak and a mask that looks like a cross between a gas mask and a skull. She has numerous tools available, like gas that induces hallucinations, knives, poison darts, a gun, and smokescreen fired out of a gun. Her signature is her ability to communicate with pests, like insects, arachnids, decapods, rodents and the like, and use them as her own. This [i]seems[/i] like a superpower, but it's actually a device that allows her to control the brainwaves of simple-minded creatures to her advantage. She may not be powerful by herself, but she can weaken her enemies and use strength in numbers. Outside of that, she's a brilliant inventor, criminal mastermind, and madwoman.