bryan@SGL.ISTS.CA (Bryan Feir) "Copyright Bryan Feir, 1994. Permission is granted to the editors of the Net.Champions Compendium to edit and include this work in the Compendium and distribute it electronically and to users of the Net.Champions Compendium to distribute this electronically and print it for personal use, as long as this copyright notice is included. All other rights reserved." In the event that the Net.Champions Compendium is published, please contact me to obtain my permission to use this work, at: Name: Bryan Feir Address: 374 Glenholme Ave., York, Ont., Canada M6E 3E5 Phone Number: (416)654-1567 ====================================================================== Character Name: Mercedes Fisher (176 points) by Bryan Feir OCV: 5 PD 2 ED 3 Levels: 0 DCV: 5 rPD 2 rED 1 Defenses: Trenchcoat; no unusual ones ECV: 4 Total 4 Total 4 Description: Mercedes is a tall, woman with shoulder-length red hair cut short and deep green eyes. She walks with a fair deal of confidence, always striding, and rarely acts as though she doesn't understand what's going on. Her skin is clear, with no noticeable freckles, and her face is built along 'classic' beauty lines. Her usual 'business' attire tends to be a bit retro, as she wanders about in a greenish-grey trenchcoat and a wide-brimmed matching green rain hat that makes her look like an escapee from a 30's detective story. The old refurbished Packard she drives around adds to the image, as does her general mysterious attitude. (Note that while she will often be seen with a cigarette, she is trying to quit smoking.) Her voice is contralto, and a bit husky. Psychic impression is of someone who is fairly sure of herself, but there's also a thrum of power lying behind it. Aura is mostly blue-green, with orange streaks, and occasional flicks of rose and green. 10 Str 0 14 Dex 12 14 Con 8 10 Bod 0 18 Int 8 11 Ego 2 15 Pre 5 14 Com 2 2 PD 0 3 ED 0 3 Spd 6 5 Rec 0 28 End 0 22 Stn 0 --------- ----- Total 43 176 Total Dex Roll: 12- Int Roll: 13- Per Roll: 14- Ego Roll: 11- Cost Skills/Talents/Perks: ===================== 3 Ambidexterity 3 +1 to all PER rolls 3 Combat Driving (12-) 3 Criminology (13-) 5 Deduction (14-) 4 KS: 'Occult', and standard beliefs in it (13-) 2 KS: Law (11-) 2 AK: City and back streets 1 Language: French, Fluent conversation 3 Lip Reading (11-) 3 Lockpicking (12-) 3 Persuasion (12-) 3 PS: Private Investigator (INT:13-) 3 Security Systems (13-) 3 Shadowing (11-) 3 Sleight of Hand (12-) 3 Streetwise (12-) 2 Perk: P.I. license 2 Contact: Lieutenant down at police station 3 Martial Throw ----- 57 Total Cost Powers: ======= 3 +5 PRE, Defense only (-1/2) 11 EC: Telekinetic hands (NB: visible to mental and touch senses) 11 22 Left hand: 10 STR TK, partially invisible (+1/2) 14 25 Right hand: 5 STR TK, fine manipulation, partially invisible (+1/2) 5 Ranged on touch sense 10 Extra limbs 10 1D6+1K, OAF (.38 special revolver) 10 1D6 Minor Transform, bullet into other bullet (+1/4), IAF (same gun) 2 2 rPD, 1rED Armour, OAF thick trenchcoat ----- 76 Total Bonus Disadvantages: 100 ============== 5 Rep: Known P.I. with occult leanings. 5 Distinctive Feature: Copper-red hair. 15 Psych: Overly curious (v.com,mod). 10 Psych: Looking for other paranormal events (unc,str). 10 Watched: Police (MoP,NCI,1/2). 10 DNPC: Whichever client she has at the time (Nor,8-). 17 Experience spent ----- 176 Total Character Archetype: ==================== A film-noir style of detective with unnatural curiousity about the supernatural. Character Concept: ================== Mercedes was originally created for a low-level campaign; one in which very few had any powers at all. She was a private investigator with an unusually strong interest in the occult, fueled by her own minor powers. While she never handled the heavy cases, she was always fairly competent to handle normal ones, and did search out occult aspects. This resulted in a lot of crackpot cases, though. She would fit in fairly well in a 'wild' type of Horror campaign, where the players are allowed some minor abilities. She'd also be useful as a talented normal in any sort of supers scenario that deals with the supernatural, or as a contact or DNPC for a hero (a very competent DNPC, but then she has the distinct advantage of being able to get the hero into BIG trouble...). The gun came about from one of her cases, in which she was dealing with a vampire. It's designed to kill supernatural beings. The GM may wish to specify why it is so effective (made from metal smelted from a holy relic, etc.) Explanation of Powers: ====================== Mercedes has two extra 'hands', which are generated telekinetically. Both are relatively weak; one is only as strong as her normal arm, and the other is weaker but capable of more detail work. The hands are both invisible to anyone who can't see mental effects of some sort; to someone like that, both hands will show up brightly as an extension of her normal aura. They also feel like hands; a person who feels around one of them will discover a whole hand, just with a rounded end at the wrist. Her sense of touch is based on those hands, and anyone that she touches will feel her touching them, just as with real hands. They aren't limited in size, however. She's learned how to pull off a few 'impossible' stunts with them, like feel inside a lock and manipulate the pins directly, juggle, actually do two separate things with them, and even drive the car with them while searching through the glove compartment. She can also carry the gun in her 'left' hand. The gun is a special case... what happens is the bullet is fired as normal, but the transformation spell kicks in as the bullet leaves the barrel. It fades about a turn later, returning the bullet to normal. Normal usage is against werewolves, where the bullet turns into silver, but it can also create wood for vampires, or cold iron for faerie. The bullet will remain a bullet, though; no changes in shape. Background: =========== Mercedes is the only child of a career police officer, and grew up convinced that there was a ghost in the house. Her father, of course, totally dimissed the concept. The 'ghost' only seemed to appear when she was around, and when she was the only one. It also seemed to help her out when she was in trouble, but she soon learned to keep quiet about it. As she grew older, she started realizing that she actually had some control over what the ghost was doing, and could feel what it was touching as if with her own hands. Occasionally it would still do things on its own, but she eventually got it almost entirely under her own conscious control. Also, as she grew older, she started realizing just how much politics went on in the police station, and how strong the limitations on her father were. She also looked at the advancement procedures, and realized that it would be years before she got to do any of the 'interesting' stuff, like detective work. So she took some of the basic training, then went on to become a private investigator. She has since built up a bit of a reputation, especially since she's willing to take the 'crackpot' cases that no other PI would touch. She wants to see if there are any other 'ghosts' out there, or any others with abilities like hers. While these cases haven't generally been all that profitable, there are a few semi-regular clients with more dollars than sense. Part of that reputation involves one particular police lieutenant that has had the misfortune of being involved in a couple of her cases which actually did have some supernatural influence involved. He will sometimes toss information her way, if it's the sort of thing she'd be interested in but the papers would have a field day with. He doesn't *like* dealing with that sort of information, and is quite happy to pass it on to her. In general Mercedes is a very practical person, who just happens to have this fascination with the occult, and a slightly odd way of going about it. She can be disturbingly calm at times, preferring to be the eye of any storm going on around her, and will accept some of the most bizarre things without blinking. Identifying Quotes: ================== "Here, let me lend you a hand." "No, Mrs. Murphy, I'm afraid it's not your dead husband haunting your apartment walls. It's just the thermal expansion of the pipes again." "Now, let's see," Mercedes glanced at her notepad, "You say that the spectre of your dead partner walked in through the door all wrapped in chains, spent a good ten minutes haranguing you on the evils of money, and then walked through the vault door and disappeared, taking several of the company's major stocks with him?" She jotted another comment and asked, perfectly deadpan, "Do you mind if I take a look at the lock on that door?" Tactics: ======== Mercedes prefers not to get involved in combat if at all possible. She much prefers to solve the case logically and then, if combat might be necessary, call in backup for the actual arrest. For the most part she prefers to work alone, but she's not stupid. When she actually runs into a 'supernatural' case, her curiousity tends to kick into overdrive, which is the main cause of some of the close shaves she's had with death. She's one of those odd people who actively tries to search out more about the paranormal. In general, her primary motivation is to the truth first, and her client a close second. If she discovers her client has been lying to her or playing her for a patsy, she will be upset. But except for that, she will do her best to make sure the client finds out the truth of the situation. Note this may not always be what the client wants to hear. In an actual combat situation, Mercedes would rather sit on the sidelines. She prefers to keep her gun for supernatural targets only. Her favourite trick is to simply grab or trip someone with her extra hands and keep them down. Sample Encounters/Shtick: ======================== "Are you sure this is all right?" Mercedes looked at the man beside her. "You are his heir, you gave me full authority on looking into your uncle's death." The man winced a bit. "I know, but he never let me into his library. It was always locked." She rattled the doorknob. "Still is. Just a moment." She pulled a small metal tool out of her purse and inserted it into the lock, making a show of 'picking' the lock while she deftly manipulated it with her telekinetic fingers, feeling the pins out. In fairly short order, the door pulled open and she looked at the other side. "No wonder. The door doesn't unlock, you need the key just to open it." "Uncle was a little paranoid." "I noticed." Mercedes walked in, stepping over the chalk outline on the floor. "So you never saw the inside of this room before?" "No, I haven't." "House plans?" "Sorry." "Well, somebody got in here." "Auntie said it was grandfather's ghost. She said she saw him running around the house a few days before..." "With all due respect to your dear aunt, while I've seen stranger things happen, I'd prefer to exhaust natural means before moving on to the supernatural." She started walking along the back wall, tapping along each of the panels, while muttering under her breath "I don't believe I'm doing this..." "Checking for secret panels? In this day and age?" "I know, but this is an old house, and your uncle was strange enough. Hmmm... nothing obvious." She looked over on the shelves. "Good lord, I haven't actually seen a copy of that book outside of a display case." "Pardon?" "_The Book of the Wheel_. Rather obscure little book of a strange mystic order that spent some time around these parts. Got wiped out over a century ago when they tangled with the wrong people over a site of mystical significance. Or so I've been told." "Ummm..." "Too bad your uncle never heard of the Dewey Decimal system. This place is an occultist's dream." "Right... now.. aaah!" "What?" Mercedes spun around, just in time to watch an extremely pale looking old man ran out from a space on the side wall, charging at them. She mentally 'grabbed' at his ankle with one hand, and shoved him on the back with the other, sending him crashing into the floor hard enough to rattle him badly. All the while making it look like he just happened to 'trip'. She walked over to the figure, which was still clutching a knife. "I think here's our 'ghost'... though why he's dressed in those sacrificial robes I have no idea." She sighed. "The boys down at the department are going to *love* this one..." Note that Mercedes likes to play up the fact that almost nothing bothers her, and act as if she meant just about anything that happens. Her speech will go along with this. She tends towards fairly snappy patter, playing up the 30's detective shtick. She'll even sometimes pull lines from old movies if she figures she can get away with it. Possible Extensions and Campaign Use: ===================================== The 'French' language above is there simply because the campaign was set in Toronto. If it's set somewhere else, choose an appropriate second language: Spanish for L.A., etc. Mercedes fits best into a campaign with a low level of unusual powers, but can be worked into a standard superhero campaign. She would also fit in a straight 1930's pulp J.I. game, but wouldn't work as well there simply because she would fit in too well; she's really more of a modern person who simply likes using the 30's 'shtick'. As for extensions, most of her extensions are skill enhancements or items she might pick up. She likes playing a fairly archetypical P.I., so read Spillane and such for ideas. Involving her in a campaign: this can be done in one of two ways, depending on power level of the PC's and how you want to run things. The first method is that the PC's search her out. They might have run into something odd, something which seemed to be supernatural, but not have the experience to handle it. Somewhere along the way (quite possibly through the police lieutenant Contact) the PC's could be referred to 'that Crazy P.I. who's into all that weird stuff'. The second method is for her to seek out the PC's. If the PC's are reasonably well known (even if only in occult circles) and/or fairly powerful, she may ask for their help with a case. This will probably only occur after she's either exhausted all leads and needs to talk to a medium or similar, or when she's got the suspect cornered and needs just a little help to bring him/her/it in. (She'd probably still need just 'a little help' if trying to bring in Cthulhu...) Note that if Mercedes were to ever run into anything that actually rattled her (which with a 20 PRE is possible though not easy) she would handle it as best as she could, then spend some time studying the matter. She doesn't so much pick up insanities as she simply rolls anything new into her present 'insanity': an abnormally high degree of curiousity with a focus on the unusual.