UNLIMITED CHARACTER! UNLIMITED CREATION!

So my goals for character creation are:

• Everyone should have a character that they just LOVE. This is just a one-shot using a broken ruleset, so there's no real point in getting hung up on details just to wind up something just kind of okay. I want everyone having a blast right out of the gate.
• So long as everyone is being reasonable and staying in-genre I'm very much a YES...AND kind of GM. I'm into you guys being good at what you want to be good at, doing cool thing and having awesome moments. If the rules let us do that, we'll follow them. If the rules get in the way of that, we'll ignore them. But I won't accept anyone engaging in bad faith or trying to 'win the game.' It only takes a little bit of that to ruin it for everyone.
• If there's ever a rules inconsistency, ambiguity, contradiction, or anything similar, go ahead and choose the interpretation you like best.

Our 'Main Book' is Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition, the one with the white go-go-go USA cover. If you want to use anything that's not in this book, please tell me where you got it, and ask if it's okay. I'll probably say yes, but having you ask is the only way I'll be able to keep track of everything.

When you give me a final sheet, I would like to see as much of your math as possible. What your  original rolls were, where your bonuses came from, any XP expenditures you made (see below), and the like.

A Note on Balance: everyone knows that balance doesn't really exist in Palladium in the way that it does in most other systems. But there are lots of ways to find room for low-op heroes in a story, and lots of ways to make sure that everyone can contribute. So if you want to play a kind of hero that's ill-served by the game's math, we can talk about it. We can almost certainly find a way to make it work.

THE RULES (such as they are)

Attributes. Roll 3d6 eight times, re-rolling 1's and exploding 6's (the Dice Roller is configured for this right now). Arrange to taste. If you absolutely can't handle what you rolled, feel free to roll a second time.

Superhero Type and Level. Everyone may choose two Superhero Categories and gain all the benefits of both (no Mega Heroes). Everyone starts with exactly 25,000 XP. You can keep it all, or spend some of it as follows:

• 1000: gain 10 Attribute Points to distribute however you wish
• 1000: gain one additional Skill Program
• 1000: gain any three Skills
• 1000: gain one Martial Arts Power in a category allowed by one of your Martial Arts Forms
• 1000: gain 100 percentile points to distribute among Skills however you like
• 2000: gain one Martial Arts Power from any category
• 2000: gain $100,000 worth of gear
• 2000: gain one very expensive/rare/unattainable item you wouldn't normally be able to get (please ask first)
• 3000: gain one Martial Arts form (including Exclusive forms)
• 3000: gain one Minor Power
• 6000: gain one Major Power (please ask first)

Tables and Budgets. Any time you're asked to roll on any table (Education, Budget, Mutant Characteristics, Alien Planet, etc) you may instead just choose any option (if you all want to be MD's, who am I to stand in the way of your dreams?).

Robots. Robots gain the power source and AI type of their choice for free.

Skills/Education. Any player may take the Sexy-Smart Skill Program. This allows you choose four skills from the following list (each may be taken more than once):

• Basic Brain Embiggening: +2d4 IQ and +1d4 ME
• Advanced Brain Embiggening (requires Basic Brain Embiggening): add 6 + 1d6 to IQ and +2d4 ME
• Basic Brain Enhardening: +2d4 ME  and +1d4 IQ
• Advanced Brain Enhardening (requires Basic Brain Enhardening): add 6 + 1d6 to ME and +2d4 IQ
• Basic Personal Hottening: +2d4 PB and +1d4 MA
• Advanced Personal Hottening (requires Basic Personal Hottening): add 6 + 1d6 to PB and +2d4 MA
• Basic Personal Charmening: +2d4 PB and +1d4 MA
• Advanced Body Charmening (requires Basic Personal Charmening): add 6 + 1d6 to MA and +2d4 PB

Assets/Liabilities. from the list below, choose one as an Asset and one as a Liability. If you wish, you may choose a second Asset (or 'supercharge' your first one), but if you do, you must choose a second Liability. Anything not chosen is just 'average.'

• Anonymity: as an asset, this means your mundane life and identity are especially safe. Maybe you've covered your tracks especially well or maybe you have friends and family to cover for you. As a liability, it means that your mundane life is vulnerable and people may already have reason to suspect your secret identity.
• Fame: as an asset, this is the good kind of fame: you are known and liked. As a liability, this is infamy. In-game events can swing this in either direction, but this represents a solid starting point.
• Freedom: as an asset, this means the 'mundane' part of your life is relatively easy. Maybe you telecommute or set your own schedule. Maybe you live with oblivious parents. As a liability, it means that your mundane life is time-consuming and difficult and rife with responsibilities.
• Network: as an asset, it means that you have friends in all kinds of places, some of whom might owe you favours or goodwill. As a liability, it means that you have enemies who seek to block your goals or harm you.
• Respectability: as an asset, this means you have the general goodwill and cooperation (or possibly even official standing) of the police, government, or other authority figures. As a liability, it means you're seen as shady or unsavory and may possibly be wanted by authorities.
• Resources: as as asset, this might mean you have lots of money or that you're being bankrolled by someone. As a liability, it means you're poor and/or owe money to the wrong kind of people or organizations.
• Security: as an asset, this means that your physical premises are safe most of the time. Good lair, a panic room, good security, Fortress of Solitude, nice neighbourhood, whatever. As a liability it means that your home is insecure or easily found or both.

Equipment/Money. For normal, mundane, legal, off-the-rack equipment, just decide what you think you would have and write it down. Anything non-standard/illegal/superhero-y, ask. So long as you aren't trying to break the game with kit, I'll probably be okay with it (plus, the more stuff you have, the more stuff I get to break!). And, of course, anything you get from your power categories you get to keep as well.

Is that it? I think that's it. I'm sure this is all just a giant mess. Which means we'll all feel right at home.

Questions? Ask away!
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:37, Mon 08 Mar 2021.

So we discuss Chargen here then?

I'll start with that I plan to pick Physical Training (Strength and Endurance0 and one of the Hardware Hero types.

OK...since Doc went first here.

I have Corrupted Good/Deevil Empowerment as Main Category. This is listed in Armageddon Unlimited, pg 41 to 50 with Powers of Darkness(Alter physical Structure: Shadow, Shadow Meld, Shadow Stepping, and Shadow Trap). As I watch others dip into Physical Training, I kinda have to agree with that thought....Shadowbourne will have been a Courier who uses Parkour to deliver items. This Defensive and Fast, Agility and Speed seem like a natural fit.

However...

There is the Demon Hunter category(doubling down) in Armageddon Unlimited pg 23-30. This would add Mystical knowledge(not spells), Protection Circle abilities, and contacts.

Which of these seems appropriate? What do you think of the Demon Hunter? I can expand upon the class if more in depth is needed.

I truly am torn here...BOTH fit thematically PT/DFAS is a very comfortable fit and easy to apply. Demon Hunter has MORE moving parts that might have more downtime applications.

A third option is Enchanted Object/Weapon...This also seems appropriate(Arggghh...I have an idea for something here: Duskmantle Battle Dress and Shadowfang Weaponry/Multiple Karambits)....

Opinions?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Tue 09 Mar 2021.

As I said in the other thread I would really dig being the only Physical Training guy since that is the niche Doc is most based on.

If you guys are dead set on it though then I can flex.

So, at the risk of throwing a whole monkey wrench all up in everything while it's in flux, is two power categories too much?

I'm not married to that, I just find that sometimes allowing two means more use of the 'lower powered' categories.

But, as we see, Physical Training makes a wonderful add-on to just about anything, and so there's some erosion of chosen niches.

What do we think?

I was thinking a Mutant/Experiment.  He was a soldier, an early, part of a group that eventually disbanded on its own after defeating a GBEG.  Part of it was personality clashes, part was the lack of a need for them.  However, a few years later, Pitstop, as he was known, vanished.
The rest of the team got together and searched for him.  After a couple of years, they found him in the hands of the GBEG's heir(s).  He had been used in an attempt to make an army of super soldiers, and to also resurrect the GBEG, and he had been experimented upon for weaknesses, and severely tortured.  And, after his rescue, the destruction of the company run by the GBEG's heir(s), and the incarceration/death if the heir(s), Pitstop, and the rest of the group, soon disappeared into obscurity.....
The truth is that the experiment altered him further, and now, he lives on the streets, hidden from view despite helping the homeless, the impoverished, the forgotten.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Tue 09 Mar 2021.

I think it's an interesting idea and would like to try it.

It WILL make some very powerful characters with some potentially wacky combos (like supernatural strength power punches) possible if people want to go that way.

A lot of Doc's story is about him being a super guy who made himself super so I wanted to request being the only Phys guy.

I was looking forward to the whole 'two categories' thing. I mean, why can't a 'Weapon of Order' be a katana? Sure, it would be pure luck that the guy who finds the weapon is dedicated  to bushido and trained in the use of the weapon. In fact, that's so lucky it's almost as if there's some Karmic Power at work.
This stuff just writes itself.

I feel the same with the idea of Doc getting to be a Phys Hero and a Hardware guy. It plays right into his concept. It seems natural.