Example Super Heroes - Humans & Heroes SRD

The following example characters are ready to play for a power level 10 series. Some require a few simple choices or offer options for customization. Gamemasters can also use these archetypes as ready-made villains, if desired.

Making The Most Of Advantages

The Gadgeteer and Martial Artist archetypes rely a great deal on their advantages (as do other archetypes like the Crime Fighter). You'll want to read the descriptions of all of the character's advantages from Advantages so you know the benefits they provide. Remember to make use of them during play to give your character every appropriate, well, advantage.

In particular, note how some advantages and even powers work together. The Gadgeteer can use Quick-Thinking to speed up the process of inventing (see Inventing) and Skill Mastery (Technology) to make some inventing checks as routine. Similarly, note the Martial Artist's Power Attack advantage, good for doing extra damage to slow, tough, opponents, and the Skill Mastery (Acrobatics) advantage for pulling off formidable (DC 15) Acrobatics checks as routine!

Know Your Options

The Mimic and Shapeshifter archetypes are both very flexible, although in different ways, and it pays to know what your character is capable of doing before you are immersed in the midst of a game.

In the case of the Mimic, the GM may wish to put together note cards or some other quick reference to the powers of other characters whom the Mimic might wish to duplicate. That way, you can see at a glance what traits the character can copy, and simply hand the card to the player for reference. Experienced Mimics may even build up a "hand" of such cards they reference often.

Fun With Strength

The Paragon and Powerhouse archetypes are among the strongest archetypes, able to lift and carry a lot of weight. Just to give you an idea, the Paragon can lift a loaded 747 aircraft, whereas the Powerhouse can lift four times that amount. Both can easily smash through stone or bend steel.

Both archetypes are pretty tough, too. With their 6 ranks of Impervious Toughness, both can shrug off the damage of most conventional weapons, including guns, grenade launchers, and flamethrowers, without even having to make a defense check! It would take the equivalent of an exploding shell to penetrate their skin.

Fast Facts

In addition to formidable ground speed, and the ability to run across water or up sheer surfaces, the Speedster's Quickness rank allows opportunities to do a lot in a short span of time. A Speedster subtracts 10 from the time rank required to accomplish any routine task, doing in six seconds what it takes most people two hours to accomplish! That can include reading, fixing things, or searching an area, just to name a few.

Higher And Lower Power Level Archetypes

The archetypes presented here can serve as models for higher and lower power level versions suitable for different series, ranging from as low as PL8 (PL6 for some archetypes) to as high as PL15 or more. Reworking an archetype for a different power level requires rebuilding the character to ensure everything matches the power level limits, but here are some quick guidelines for modifying an archetype on the fly. They are particularly useful if the Gamemaster wants a character of a different power level for a game, but doesn't want to go through the trouble of creating the character from scratch:

For every +1 power level, increase the archetype's attack bonuses, defenses, and skill ranks by 1. Also increase the archetype's powers offering a defense check by 1 rank. If desired, shift an increase to a trait you don't want to go any higher to the corresponding trait in a pair, such as applying an attack increase to power rank, or a Toughness increase to either Dodge or Parry.

For every -1 power level, decrease the archetype's attack bonuses, defenses, and skill ranks by 1. Also decrease the archetype's powers offering defense checks by 1 rank each. You can likewise shift a decrease from a trait you want to keep at its present rank to the corresponding trait in a pair, like applying an attack decrease to power rank, or a Dodge decrease to Toughness.

Check to see that none of the character's traits exceed the new power level limits and add up the character's new Character point cost. If you are creating a starting character for that power level (rather than a non-player character), adjust the total Character point cost to match the recommended starting total, adding or removing traits as needed.