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The first character in this week's COTW is a powerful
psionic, suitable for either supers or psionics
campaigns.
The Aura; psionic super-hero on the run from his past
(c) copyright 2001 Samir
Total Points: 361 Points
Age 32; 5'8"; 154 pounds; a slender man with a fair
complexion, wavy brown hair, moustache and blue eyes.
ST 9 [-10] - thrust 1d-2, swing 1d-1, fatigue
13*
DX 12 [20] - basic speed 6.5**, move 6, dodge
7#
parry (short staff) 9#
IQ 18 [125] - reaction speed 21
HT 10 [-] - hit points 14
WL 18 [-] - fright check 20#
*extra Fatigue for Psionics only
**includes +1 from Running
#includes bonuses from Combat Reflexes
ADVANTAGES: Alternate Identity (Lucas Peterson)
[15]; Astral Projection (Power 14; Limited use, 4
per day, -20%; Takes recharge, 15 seconds, -20%; Unreliable,
14-, -10%) [11]; Charisma +1 [5]; Combat
Reflexes [15]; Electrokinesis (Power 20; Costs 2
Fatigue, -10%; Limited use, 4 per day, -20%; Takes recharge,
5 seconds, -10%; Unreliable, 14-, -10%) [25]; ESP
Power (Power 14; Costs 2 Fatigue, -10%; Limited use, 4 per
day, -20%; Takes recharge, 5 seconds, -10%; Unreliable, 14-,
-10%) [11]; Extra Fatigue +4 (Psionics Only, -33%)
[8]; Extra Hit Points +4 [20]; Healing
(Power 14; Self only, -30%; Limited use, 4 per day, -20%)
[11]; Increased Reaction Speed +3 [11];
Psychokinesis (Power 20; Costs 2 Fatigue, -10%; Limited use,
4 per day, -20%; Takes recharge, 5 seconds, -10%;
Unreliable, 14-, -10%) [25]; Reputation +1 (as
talented artist Lucas Peterson, to public, 10-) [3];
Status 1* [0]; Telepathy (Power 20; Costs 2 Fatigue,
-10%; Limited use, 4 per day, -20%; Takes recharge, 5
seconds, -10%; Unreliable, 14-, -10%) [25];
Teleportation (Power 20; Retains orientation and vector,
-50%) [25]; Wealth (Very Wealthy) [30].
*free from Wealth
DISADVANTAGES: Enemy (IST, 6-) [-10]; Enemy
(Vengeful super-villains, 6-) [-10]; Megalomania
[-10]; Overconfident [-10]; Phobia (Being
Touched) [-5]; Psionic Parasite [-70];
Secret (Is really Jon Gerhardt, aka the Mind Shredder)
[-20]; Secret Identity [-5].
QUIRKS: Answers all questions with the vaguest possible
answer; Walks with limp and cane in civilian Lucas Peterson
identity; Flamboyant show-off; Like fine wines; Wants to be
really, really rich. [-5]
SKILLS: Acting-17 [1]; Appreciate Beauty-15*
[0]; Artist-16 [1]; Bartender-16
[.5]; Boating-13** [0]; Body Sense-11
[2]; Chess-18 [1]; Computer Hacking/TL7-15
[1]; Computer Operation/TL7-18 [1];
Cooking-14** [0]; Diplomacy-17 [2];
Driving/TL7 (Automobile)-11 [1]; Economics-16
[1]; Fishing-14** [0]; Force Sword-12
[2]; Gambling-17 [1]; Glassblowing-10
[1]; Guns/TL7 (Pistol)-14*** [1]; Law
(Intellectual Property)-15/21 [1]; Linguistics-15
[1]; Literature-16 [1]; Masonry-15**
[0]; Mathematics-16 [1]; Mechanic/TL7
(Gasoline Engines)-17 [1]; Meditation-16
[1]; Merchant-16 [.5]; Motorcycle/TL7-12
[1]; Photography/TL7-17 [1];
Physiology/TL7-15 [1]; Politics-17 [1];
Running-10 [4]; Savoir-Faire-20# [0]; Short
Staff-12 [4]; Streetwise-17 [1].
*default from Savoir-Faire
**default from IQ
***includes +2 from IQ
#free from Status
LANGUAGES*: German (native)-19 [0]; Arabic-18
[1]; English-18 [1]; French-18 [1];
Latin-18 [1]; Mandarin Chinese-18 [1];
Romanian-18 [1]; Russian-18 [1]; Spanish-18
[1].
*all include +1 from Linguistics
PSIDE-EFFECTS: Glows when using his Telekinesis.
[-1]
PSI SKILLS: Aspect-17 [2]; Astral projection-15
[.5]; Autoteleport-16 [1]; Clairaudience-15
[.5]; Clairvoyance-16 [1]; Combat Sense-16
[1]; Combat Teleport-17 [2]; Confuse-15
[.5]; Cryokinesis-15 [.5]; Cyberpsi-18
[4]; Dampen-16 [1]; Energy Sense-16
[1]; Energy Shield-17 [2]; Erase
Signature-18 [4]; Exoteleport-16 [1];
Healing-16 [1]; Illusion-16 [1];
Levitation-16 [1]; Lighting-20 [8]; Mental
Blow-16 [1]; Mental Stab-16 [1]; Mind
Shield-21 [10]; Mindswitch-16 [1];
Mindsword-17 [2]; Mindwipe-16 [1];
Photokinesis-16 [1]; PK Shield-17 [2];
Precognition-22 [12]; Psi Sense-17 [2];
Psychometry-16 [1]; Pyrokinesis-16 [1];
Sleep-17 [2]; Suggest-16 [1]; Surge-16
[1]; Telecontrol-16 [1]; Telekinesis-17
[2]; Telereceive-21 [10]; Telescan-16
[1]; Telesend-17 [2].
EQUIPMENT
Lucas Peterson, in his civilian identity, carries only
mundane equipment such as business cards, a cell phone, a
top-of-the-line digital camera, etc.. The one "accessory"
that he always has is his cane - a black-painted wooden cane
with an ivory handle and polished brass tip - an affectation
he uses as part of his "disguise". As the Aura, he doesn't
wear a costume per se, but operates in a billowing hooded
robe and silk mask - both in black - which serve to hide his
features.
BIOGRAPHY
Jon Gerhardt born in 1968 to two wealthy child psychologists
in Germany; he spent most of his youth alone, away from home
in fancy boarding schools. His parents could afford the best
in education, and had no time for social interactions with
their intelligent young son. Eventually, Jon discovered that
his genius parents had genetically gifted him with psionic
abilities. He told no one, and received no formal training,
but managed to gain some control of his powers on his
own.
By 1990, at the age of 22, Jon was enrolled in university.
Wandering from a class-room one evening, he came across two
men dragging a woman between them. Fearing the woman was
being abducted, Jon attacked the men with his developing but
unstable powers... Both men died as their minds and bodies
were shredded under his combined telepathic and telekinetic
assault. As Jon stepped forward to comfort the woman he'd
rescued, her cries of surprise turned to shrieks of fear and
loss when she saw her two brothers dead on the ground.
Aghast at his tragic mistake, Jon turned to leave, but met a
group of Polizie that had responded to the woman's cries.
They drew weapons as the hysterical woman pointed
frantically at Jon, and clearly regarded him as hostile...
He was too upset to try to reason with them, and had no
choice but to defend himself... In the confusion that
followed, the officers were killed, the woman escaped, and
Jon fled the scene. His description was pasted on every
television set, and the media named him the Mind Shredder,
offering a one million deutsche marks reward for his
capture.
Pushing his powers, Jon dove into the underground and hid
from the authorities. He made contact with the remnants of
the Bader Mienhoff gang - a pack of terrorists from the
turbulent 1960s and 1970s, now in their fifties and sixties
- and survived hand-to-mouth for a few years. After three
years in hiding, Jon learned that his father had died, and
that his mothers had taken ill. In an attempt to reach her,
hoping to use his psionic healing talent to make her well,
he was captured by European IST forces. During his trial,
Jon learned that his father's death was due to a villain
(who was unidentified) trying to extract a genetic sample
from him, and that his mother's illness also stemmed from
this same villain's actions.
The German high courts sentenced Jon Gerhardt to
'Kirch-Goins', a former U.S. Army base, now a forbidding and
lonely prison referred to by the former service-men as "the
Rock". In 1998, after five years of incarceration, Jon was
approached by prison officials and asked if he would
participate in a experimental program to remove his psionic
powers. A parasitic organism had recently been discovered in
the depths of the Amazon rain forest that - when
administered via helmets and bands - could reduce psionic
activity by a factor of twenty.
A new genetically-altered form of the parasite had just been
developed with the goal of internally blocking the use of
all psionics; they needed a test subject, and Jon agreed.
While resting in the Hospital ward, waiting for the parasite
to strip him of his powers, Jon instead experienced the
magnification of his psionic abilities... With a simple
touch of his powers, Jon located a jet aircraft fifty miles
away and his teleportation skill placed him in the vehicle's
restroom. Because of a limitation on his power, he was
violently thrown against the bulkhead and rendered
unconscious. Hours passed before anyone found him, and when
he awoke he used his telepathy to take the place of another
passenger. He was soon safely in the United States. There,
his psionics successfully hid him in the teeming masses, and
bought him breathing room to assess his new situation. Jon
changed his appearance - grew a moustache, colored his hair,
affected new mannerisms - and became Lucas Peterson,
reclusive artist. He also used his "talents" to have this
identity legally established, so that he could begin an
entirely new life. Lucas decided to change his ways. Knowing
that sooner or later someone would discover his true past as
the fugitive Shredder, he chose to become the hero known as
the Aura. (He hopes that if the day comes that his secret is
revealed, his heroic record will show his aid to society,
and convince the authorities to be lenient.)
Lucas operating as the Aura for about a year before his
identity became known to the public, who know him only as a
telekinetic crime-fighter. (The scope of these powers is not
known, since the Aura has never been seen lifting any object
heavier than a person. It is also known that he glows
occasionally; he does this intentionally to throw off anyone
who is trying examine him. So far, he has managed to keep
his other powers secret.) Not long after that, he was asked
by the American branch of IST to provide an application for
membership. He politely declined, however, explaining his
lack of interest by saying, "My Salary and per mission bonus
requirements are..." He continued independently, trying to
do as much good as possible. And in the meantime, he was
channeling other energies into his new career - that of fine
artist. Working in painting, sculpture and photography,
Lucas' art-work made a big impression; his work was sold in
some of the finest galleries, and it made him a lot of
money.
Just over another two years later, late in 2000, the Aura
received another job offer, this time from a massive
multinational conglomerate known as the American Diamond
Corporation. They were recruiting super-humans for a team of
corporate trouble-shooters called Damage Control, and asked
the Aura to join; he accepted. In the several months he was
worked with Damage Control, all has gone well, though he has
become aware that some of the super-villains that he has
jailed as the Aura are out of prison, and looking for him...
Also, the Aura's superiors in the Corporation have hinted
that they know a lot about him, however they have not acted
in any way as to endanger his lifestyle or freedom...
yet.
ENCOUNTERED
Lucas Peterson is a loud and self-aggrandising man, despite
his small size and seemingly frail nature. He is boastful
and firmly convinced of his own brilliance, both as a man
and as an artist. His style is contentious and
confrontational, up to (but not quite at) the point of being
truly offencive. To some degree, this personality is
artificial, having been created to differentiate Lucas
Peterson from his natural identity as Jon Gerhardt. Even so,
Lucas has taken on a life of his own, and the act is
sufficiently good that Lucas is seldom even consciously
aware that he's pretending.
Evidence of the Lucas persona's "life of its own" is his
growing reputation as an artist to watch... At one of his
first gallery openings, Lucas experienced an "attack" from
his psionic parasite, and passed out from the pain. He was
rushed to hospital, but he checked himself out of the ER -
with an ADA (Against Doctor's Advice) - before any tests
could be run. He explained, "I have my own personal
physician, and he is more competent than you
organ-harvesters". (He left, of course, because he knew
exactly what had happened, but cannot risk letting someone
else perform a blood test, lest they discover the parasite.)
He returned to the gallery before it closed, but the only
explanation he offered to the curious public was, "Seizures,
childhood illness". Since that time, Lucas Peterson has
passed out or become weak in public several times, leading
to gossip that he is seriously ill. The result has been an
increase in his sales, and in the prices he charges for his
work; a dead artist is worth more than a living one, and
Lucas is amused by the speculation...
As the Aura, Lucas is a bit more reserved and cagey. The
brash braggadocio of Lucas the Artiste becomes a steely
sense of self-confidence that is, if anything, so strong
that it's detrimental. In either identity, Lucas' true
nature is to be guarded, a legacy of the years he spent in
the European underground, and his psyche's reaction to
living in a near-constant state of chase...
THE AURA'S POWERS
With his high-powered Mental Shield, the Aura is confident
that he can avoid detection by the casual psionic. He does,
however, make at least one daily sweep at the maximum reach
of his Telepathy to determine if there is any other psionic
activity in range (just to know). Performing this sweep
counts as one of his four uses of Telepathy for the day, but
maintaining is Mind Shield does not.
In combat, the Aura tries to stay out of direct melee,
letting the "bricks" and martial artists do all the heavy
work. Between Telepathy and Telekinesis, he has a number of
silent and invisible attacks capable of non-lethally
stopping his opponents - he can erode their Fatigue with
Mental Blow, telekinetically grapple or lift them off the
ground, etc.. (See pp.P33-35 for examples.) If he faces a
truly dangerous foe, however, he will not hesitate to use
his Telekinesis, Mindsword or Teleport skills to destroy or
remove his enemy however he can... The Aura will use any or
all of his powers to end battle quickly, due to the negative
effects his parasite can have on him. To date, Damage
Control has successfully eliminated most of the villains
they've faced within one minute. Of course, the team
understands that it is only a matter of time before they
encounter someone with serious experience, superior ability,
or who is expecting them. Anticipating this, the Aura and
his team-mates make weekly use of the corporate "Danger
Room" to hone their skills and powers, especially when they
have advance intelligence on the opponent(s) they might
face.
CANONICALITY
The Aura is canonical with the exception of two house-rules.
The first is the suite of advantages and disadvantages
modelled by his Psionic Parasite; see below. The second is
the Reaction Speed trait, used to determine combat sequence
and number of actions in an alternative to the standard
combat rules. These rules are available in a GDF for the
GURPS Character Assistant software, and can be found at the
link (the download includes .txt files outlining the new
rules):
Reaction
Speed GCA GDF
THE PSIONIC PARASITE
The parasitic organism that amplifies the Aura's psionic
powers is a set of advantages and disadvantages - some
canonical, most invented - which function as a whole. On the
positive side, the parasite turns the Aura's brain into a
Drug Factory (p.Ci53) which produces a single chemical
concoction that affects only him, and which cannot be used
by or administered to others. It is not unlike the bio-psi
drug Brainstorm (p.P78), except that it doubles the Power
level of each Psionic ability, and is always in effect. It
has no effect on skill levels. On the negative side,
however, this increase in psionic power comes with a spate
of drawbacks. The Aura is not able to improve his body's
fitness through training; his HT, Hit Points and Fatigue
stats can never be permanently improved with earned
experience points. Further, if the Aura's Fatigue score ever
falls below 4, he immediately takes 3d-2 damage to Hit
Points. Additionally, there is a chance every day that he
will suffer a "parasitic attack"; at some point during each
day (GM's discretion), a roll of 8- on 3d will result in the
Aura taking 3d-2 to hit points. (Note that both of these
damaging effects may occur on the same day. And if Fatigue
is restored to 4+ and then drops again, the damage is taken
again...) Any time the Aura takes damage from the parasite
in one of these ways, he must make a HT roll to resist going
into "system shock". This applies shock penalties until the
end of his next turn (as per p.B126) and leaves him
physically stunned (p.B127). This is irrelevant, of course,
if the damage takes the Aura to negative hit points and
leaves him incapacitated (or dead). The Psionic abilities
listed among the Aura's Advantages reflect the permanently
doubled Power levels. Even so, the Psionic Parasite's total
value is negative, and is listed among the Aura's
Disadvantages.
WHAT IF?
The Aura is intended for supers gaming with a darker or more
gothic tone than most four-colour comics, although there is
no reason why he can't co-exist with more traditional, more
colourful heroes. (Batman and Superman occupy the same
world, after all, and often even serve on the same team.)
The Aura's history is a depressing one, and his future is
uncertain. In the meantime, he has reinvented himself for
one shot at some kind of salvation. If used an NPC, the Aura
can play up on themes of powerlessness (under the control of
the Parasite, wanted by the authorities), the use of masks
and artificial identities (the Mind Shredder image invented
by the media, the Lucas Peterson persona invented by
Gerhardt) and/or a desperate struggle for redemption (the
heroics of the Aura balancing the mistakes of the
Shredder)... As a PC, the Aura can use these themes as well,
trying hard to remain calm and confident while IST, escaped
super-villains and even his own corporate bosses come ever
closer to discovering his secret. This doesn't necessarily
mean, however, that the Aura is a depressing character;
Lucas Peterson is pretentious and upbeat, and in costume he
is willful, focused and confident.
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Extra-Curricular Business: Lucas Peterson has just gotten
quite a scare. His agent called him, informing him that a
man named Robbie Irons has been to a couple galleries,
asking to get in touch with him. Lucas doesn't know Mr.
Irons, but realises immediately who he is: he is the
super-villain known as Lodestone, whom the Aura captured a
year earlier. Lodestone's magnetic- and metal-based powers
pose little threat to the Aura's telepathy, but the fact
that Irons is asking around for Lucas Peterson suggests that
he knows that Lucas Peterson is the Aura. And if he knows
that... The Aura's contract with the American Diamond
Corporation stipulates that he is not meant to engage in any
super-heroics outside Damage Control's corporate-sanctioned
trouble-shooting activities. But this is too important to be
ignored, and too sensitive to take to his bosses. So
Peterson uses some of this wealth to hire the PCs - either
independent vigilantes, heroes, even highly-skilled normals
- to look for Lodestone and bring him in. Since he is hiring
them as Lucas Peterson, he wants to keep the Aura's name out
of it. But as the PCs' investigation goes along, the Aura's
name will no doubt crop up, since he was the hero most
recently responsible for Lodestone's capture. How will the
PCs go about finding Lodestone, and how much of the
backstory will the unravel? (For some added complexity, it
is possible that Lodestone is working for the
as-yet-unidentified super-villain that killed his parents,
and who still wants a genetic sample of the psionic
parasite... If the PCs learn this, they might become aware
of much more than Lucas Peteron wants them to know...) How
will Lucas Peterson steer their activities, if at all, if
they stray too close to the sensitive truth? As it is, he's
in violation of his contract. Will he risk making things
even worse by asking the PCs to do anything... unsavory?
- written by Samir (samir@chisp.net)
- edits & additional material by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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