Hi, The Fated weakness was cooked up entirely by that player. As was Blue Comet, who wanted me to command aspects of his past via his Amnesia weakness; the villain past was something out of that player's history in the campaign and was his idea.
To maintain power balance, and avoid the usual Agility arms race, I have asked players to modify characters, or rejected character concepts entirely. On the other hand, if a charcter ended up too weak on the sheet, I've tried to build them up more. This helps prevent some characters always being unconscious, as per your previous email.
Either way, all sheets are approved by the PCs at the end of the creation process.
I tried secret Weaknesses in the game to create (hopefully) fun, entertaining challenges. Sometimes the PCs embrace them and the characters develop in unexpected ways. I've had them backfire too. In the case of the latter, I tried to negate or undo the Weakness asap.
If you have a magician idea, send it in! We don't have a sorceror type. We have 8 players now, but I do keep a waiting list.
Here's how I usually ask people to submit an idea, before we get into sheets and numbers:
I need a sentence or two on each of the following:
1) Character Idea, Origin and Name Characters can be anything, except for the mysteriously missing heroes of the Freedom Force. All characters will begin at first level. Include his Secret Origin: how he got his powers and what made him want to use them for truth, justice and the american way!
2) Personality Type Give me at least a phrase that describes the personality of the character. Examples: Class clown (Beast Boy, Spidey, or the furry blue version of The Beast) Dark, grim avenger of the night (Batman or The Shadow) Wise cracking, anti-authority, devil’s advocate (Hawkeye or Green Arrow) Square-jawed defender of truth and justice (Superman, Captain America or Green Lantern) Hyper-logical super-scientist (Mr. Fantastic or The Vision) Brash, happy-go-lucky guy who loves being a superhero (Human Torch, The Flash) Mysterious, metaphysical enigma (Raven, The Spectre, or The Stranger) Hard-boiled, working stiff who does this for a job, not for fame, glory or justice (Thing, Nick Fury)
3) Secret Identity Part of that is Name, Age (wide-eyed kid, burned out veteran, etc.) and Occupation (reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, playboy millionaire, honest cop, intrepid astronaut, scientific genius, noble doctor, hardworking boxer who never got a break, student, etc.)
4) Character Statistics Stats are Strength, Endurance, Agility, Intelligence and Charisma. Please rank your stats in order of importance. Then, I’ll assign numbers. (Charisma means leadership, spirit, willpower, determination and self-image.)
5) Powers and Weaknesses Please give me a rough description of what powers and weaknesses you want, and I’ll run it through the rules and turn it into a character sheet. Playable Superheroes (as opposed to Thor or Superman) are better with less powers. This makes their abilities more special. If you have more than one or two major superpowers, you’ll need a weakness.
Thanks.
|