The Champions Character Creation Cheatsheet

Long ago I made the Champions Game Play Cheatsheet. It's pretty useful while you're playing, but the fact is that right now you guys are wrestling with Character Creation, not playing the game so I decided to try and make a similar sheet for Character Creation.

The Champions Character Creation Cheatsheet. The idea is to synthesize on one sheet the most useful information possible. I don't think it's quite as successful as the first one but if nothing else the page numbers should be useful.

Hideous

Hideous is another sample character for my nascent Champions campaign. Hopefully it will help people see how you can use the rules to translate a concept into a character. Specifically Mike wanted to see something Blob-like.

Hideous is a 10ft tall, 1000kg monster. When irritated it can will itself to be even heavier and stronger. When it feels truly threatened it goes into "Unstoppable Mode" where it moves very slowly but almost nothing can turn it from it's path let alone harm it (it's almost like a cross between The Blob and Juggernaut).

First how to make it tall and big? Well the rules say Growth and Density Increase are for characters that change their height and weight (p. 126). To model characters that are always tall and heavy you are supposed to buy regular powers and characteristics. They give you some templates to help(pgs. 573, 336).

If you look at Hideous's sheet you will see that it is built on the combination of the Large (p. 575) and Heavy (p. 577) templates. Once I had that base I was free to add whatever I wanted knowing that he already satisfied the requirements of being 10ft tall and 1000kg. I gave him additional STR, CON, BODY, etc... I also gave him additional Knockback Resistance and Armor. All this just reflects that he is even tougher than your average 10ft, 1000kg monster. :)

The next part of my concept was that when Hideous gets mildly irritated it can will itself to be heavier and stronger. Since this IS a case of him temporarily changing his body it is a good fit for Density Increase. So I just bought him a few levels of DI basically until I was satisfied his STR would let him inflict some decent property damage.

The final part of my concept was Unstoppable Mode. In this mode Hideous can barely move, but he's also almost impossible to stop or harm. This was a little tricky, here's what I did:

1. I bought Damage Reduction (p. 143), the key power of Unstoppable Mode
2. I bought more KB Resistance and Linked (p. 299) it to DR

At this point he is super-tough, but how do I make him super-slow when he activates his DR?

3. I lowered his regular DEX, SPD and Running.
4. I bought DEX, SPD and Running as Powers (p. 139).
5. I labeled these powers as "Hideous Movement".

Then the final trick that ties it all together:

6. I added the Limitation Lockout (p. 301) to his DR. Lockout says whenever I activate DR other powers of my choosing will stop working. So on my sheet I indicate the powers that will stop working are the ones labeled "Hideous Movement". Now we have modeled our concept.

A few other things to keep in mind about this character. It's a villain. It would make a terrible PC. It's powers are too great and it's limitations are too extreme. I would reject this character from a player out of hand just based on the DR alone. So I detailed "how" I did it because I hope that's what you'll take away from this example, rather than "what" I did.

BTW the picture used in the character sheet is indeed Karkas another of Jack Kirby's creations.

The Baddest of Them All

Wrecking Ball is a sample character for my friends who are getting into Champions to take a look at. He is your basic "Brick", closer to Thor than Hulk in that he is strong and fast.

This character has all the basics covered. Good attack, good defense, solid movement, decent skills (your not gonna' get away with less than 20pts in non-combat skills). If you compare his character sheet against the tables in 5ER on p. 28, you'll see that he falls within all the ranges for a Standard Super-Heroic character. Based on the "OPTIONAL CHARACTER DESIGN GUIDELINES" table on p. 29 he is a "Characteristic Oriented Hero".

Champions Game Play Cheatsheet

One of the great things about Champions (and now Hero System) has always been that although there are a lot of rules the whole thing boils down to just a few very simple mechanics. The ones I consider most important to running a Champions game can all fit on a single piece of paper, The Champions Game Play Cheatsheet.

I can pretty much run any Champs game with just that piece of paper and I'm pretty confident that if I have done it recently enough I could run it without anything.

Champions

I've been playing role-playing games a long time. Since 1979 in fact (man I am old). Almost that long, since the early 80's I've been playing Champions. It's a great game that doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves. The underlying Hero System is very well factored and rules-wise pretty much my favorite RPG.

In the near future I hope to start up a new Champions campaign. Like all my other role-playing stuff I will post info about it here for my player's and for myself.

The first and most vital piece of info is the Hero Games website.

Norrin Loves Shalla?

I want to love all the super-hero movies that come out. I did not love the first Fantastic Four Movie. On the other hand it was not the worst movie I ever saw. So it is with genuine enthusiasm and trepidation that I anticipate the next one.

Using the Silver Surfer and Galactus is a good start. This story done right has the potential to set people back on their heels, but will it be done right?

The surfer looks good:


As does the trailer.

'Nuf said True Believers.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a great day here at our new abode. You can read all about it on the family blog. I myself have been playing with my new scanner:


That's a sketch I made of Jack. I have been drawing a little lately which is one of the many reasons that we needed a new Printer/Scanner.