Stalwart Team Up Part 2

Let’s talk about my character. 

I look up the Spanish words for cat and find Gatito means kitten. I kind of like this.

I also find that in Mexico, cats are sometimes called ‘michis’ because of how Spaniards would call cats. An informal way to address cats is ‘tipo’.

I am thinking like a phrase that means big little cat, so something like Gatito Grande or Grande Tipo would work. I could add a color here – maybe gold? Oro. Tipo Oro or Oro Gatito

Tipo Oro seems to have a nice ring to it, and I sort of like the irony of the name – gold is valuable, but my limited understanding implies that Tipo would be sort of like ‘mutt’ in English.  The golden mutt of cats is how I’m thinking of it, which I also like.

If others call him “Tipo” as a nickname, that’s even better. Either his first or last name should have a T (or both – he’s the Mexican version of Peter Parker, so I want a name that has comparable alliteration and commonality). Tomas “Tipo” Torres is a great working name.  

Tomas means ‘twin’… not sure what to do with this.

Torres has to do with towers and strongholds and fortifications. I love that. He’s a defender.

I look up less common names, and come across Teo. I have used this name for characters before (it is a variation on my middle name Theodore, which is why I like it to begin with), and it means ‘gift from God’, which I LOVE.

Okay, he is Tipo Oro: Teo “Tipo” Torres, the golden cat. Love it. I see him as this kid who’s always out in the streets, taking care of stray cats, and so others have given him the nickname “Tipo” as a form of friendly mockery – you’re basically an ally cat sort of thing. I like giving him this empathetic connection to cats – he’s already supernaturally predisposed to the powers he is going to get.

Let’s stat him up using the point build system in the companion. As a super, he has 40 points to distribute. He’s going to have strength and speed, and I think that reflex is his top trait. I could go D16, but I don’t see him that coordinated, but D12 is appropriate. Reflex D12 set. I don’t want to use Mind as a dump stat, but there’s nothing in his background that would suggest an advanced degree (and I picture him still in high school). He’s not a science wiz like Peter Parker, but he is clever. He figures things out. I see D6 Mind as appropriate to this. I don’t know if I see him as D12 strength, but D10 also seems quite reasonable. This leaves D12 for Power, which is maybe more than I had planned on, but I could definitely make work.

Might D10 (5); Mind D6 (3); Power D12 (6); Reflex D12 (6)

So far, so good. He gets 6 gifts (!) which is a lot (but I’ll take it), and he also has 5 tags.

I start perusing the list, and look at gifts as openly as I can. I’m not going to roll – I’ve got a pretty strong character concept (he’s a cat dude), but what that means in context has a lot of options.

Gifts from the Core Rules I could use:

• Animal control: cats. Not a bad idea.
• Bolt of Feline Energy. Meh.
• Damage over time. Cat Scratch Fever (again, I have a lot of gifts I can get)
• Danger Sense. This is almost definitely a given.
• Elite tier would be quite helpful.
• Enhanced Senses seems like a gimme. This and claws are pretty much default for cat-themed characters.
• Heal is not bad. Cats licking wounds sort of idea. I like it connected to his role as a protector and helper.
• Hyperspeed makes sense.
• Jump makes sense.
• Melee (claws) are probably automatic.
• Phasing is a reach, but it’s at least cool to think about.
• Prodigy is probably too much, and would be hard to justify. He’s not exceptionally well-trained. I tend to think of this as the one who has naturally soaked up a great deal of formalized instruction. That’s not this character.
• Regenerate kind of makes sense based on the mystical nature of his totem, but I don’t know.
• Running kind of makes sense, although the hyperspeed would account for this – he’s not Quicksilver, he’s just got cat-like reflexes. Hyperspeed reflects this better than running does.
• Wall crawling wouldn’t be the worst idea, but I don’t love it. He can climb easier with his claws, but not necessarily because he can cling to walls and ceilings. He’s not moving around ceilings at all.

From the Companion:

• Alter Ego might work. He has to transform into the alternate persona.
• Boost I could make work.
• Chameleon is kind of neat for what I’ve read about… the crafts that Mexican people create to display spirit animals have all sorts of patterns and colors, and the idea that he can shift his color to blend in with his surroundings is sort of a nifty conceit.
• Communicate with cats is a keeper.
• Counter attacks makes sense with his battle senses idea, and is a little different. In terms of game mechanics, it’s a nice gift to have.
• Emotion Control (thinking outside the box here) is a projection of how cats make you feel; my cats sometimes make me happy, and sometimes make me frustrated, so they control my emotions after a fashion. Again, just thinking through the possibilities… Also, doing something with emotions or peacefulness or something might be a nice ‘friendly neighborhood’ parallel, but I feel like it’s a bit of a reach.
• Hex is more for a black cat crossing your path rather than the theme of his particular cat, but it’s at least on the first cut list.
• Immortality would be cool… the cat spirit he has assumed is an immortal force, so as long as he has the totem, he’s not going to age.
• Ki makes sense from the animal spirit angle.
• Luck makes sense from the nine lives perspective.
• Night Sight. Thematically appropriate.
• Precognition would be cool (dreams that come with the totem), and would also be helpful for plot-hookiness.
• Serial Immortality would be crazy interesting, and that is far more like the nine lives thing. This also opens up a LOT more story ideas. I like this being a gift he ‘discovers’ at some point (by dying, of course).

Somehow, I see water linked to his limitation; cats don’t like water, and maybe this is a complex he has linked to the totem... 

I also, as I think about this more, like linking his origin to Bronze Beacon. I’ve already established that her gauntlets are ancient Egyptian (although probably alien before that), and the idea that his totem could be from Egypt at some point, and maybe also from an alien species of cat people, opens up a lot of story ideas.

Okay, wow. Back to gifts. I’m suddenly glad I have 6. At first it seemed like it was too many, and now it’s not enough. I know I have the limitation having something to do with water, so that will give a bonus gift or tag. I’ll probably take it as the tag… so getting my list to 6 gifts. Here are the ones I definitely want:

• Danger Sense and/or Enhanced Senses
• Hyperspeed
• Jump
• Melee (claws)
• Communicate with Cats
• Night Sight

And that’s six. Already. DANG. Those went quickly. Okay… I’m going to take the extra gift instead of a tag from the limitation, so I’ll pick up the Serial Immortality with that. I like that concept for his character. It differentiates him a bit. Enhanced Senses are more appropriate than Danger Sense. I don’t get Elite for his tier, which I might end up regretting not taking… but I also don’t want too many characters having it in the game world – every time someone else is elite, it takes away from those who truly are. It’s the Batman gift – this dude is not Batman.

For tags, I know I want brawl and sneak. He should have dodge. There’s nothing else I need, so I put 2 each into brawl and sneak, and 1 into dodge. I’m good with that.

Tipo Orro (The Golden Cat)

Teo “Tipo” Torres, Student

Super Hero (D10[5]2); Hits 20; Move 30’; HP 5

Might D10 (5); Mind D6 (3); Power D12 (6); Reflex D12 (6)

Communicate with Cats; Enhanced Senses; Hyperspeed; Jump; Melee (claws D12); Night Sight; Serial Immortality

Brawl +2; Dodge +1; Sneak +2

Limitation: Complex about water (Check mind DT 4 when going into water or suffer -1 overall shift)