Crunching Numbers

Characters will be being built in Hero System 5th Edition. The creation rules for them are as follows:
1. Each Player Character receives 75 Character Points for Free.
2. Each Player Character may add up to 75 points (maximum) through “personal Disadvantages” – this is in addition to any gained from Racial, Cultural, Training, or Professional Packages.

Your Characters will be primarily Characteristics, Skills, Talents and Perks-based. For these first characters in your first Hero System campaign, I want to keep it relatively easy and light on the intense math. Any “Powers” you possess will be VERY low level, no more than 20 Active Points in any single power, and no more than 20 Real Points in Powers, total (“Active” points are a gauge of how powerful an ability is. Real points are how much it costs. (Powers costs can be reduced through limitations, such as “only underwater”, “only versus Dogs” etc)).

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Primary Characteristics

Secondary Characteristics

Movement

Skills

Skill Enhancers

Talents

Perks

Disadvantages

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Building Powers

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Blurb

When the campaign starts, you will be a newly assigned SHIELD Field Agent, reporting for duty for the first mobile operations tour of duty, with a lot to prove, and a lot to learn. This is your first Command Posting, and until the start of the campaign, you’ve only seen most of Shields operations from the vantage point of the rank-and-file, boots-on-the-ground agents

To represent your experience and training at the Academy and your early Career, you will be REQUIRED to purchase the SHIELD AGENT PACKAGE – This will cost between 2 and 8 points depending on what Security Clearance and Rank you wish to have (Rank 3; Field Agent, Rank 4; Senior Field Agent or Rank 5; Specialist) and how much Security Clearance you wish to have (Rated from 3 for starting characters, Can not be purchased at a higher number than your Rank level, but CAN be lower. (Which would represent you being a good operational Agent, but not being much of a tactical Agent).

IMPORTANT
Try to build a person, not just a character. What did they do before they joined SHIELD. Do they have family? Any deeply held beliefs? How about issues specific to the Genre/Universe – Has any member of their family been a Mutant, or more recently, a NuHuman (newly discovered Inhuman)? Does their cousin work for a crime lord such as Wilson Fisk? Does their gardener moonlight as a Hydra Goon on weekends? Be creative, and try to weave whole cloth… the rest of the process is easier the more defined a picture you have.

You CAN have custom equipment, over and above the gear you will be issued from Q-Branch. BUT; It will be paid for with points. So it will reduce what you can do in other areas. Followers (of a kind) can be purchased too; A well-trained Dog – a bond formed during SHIELD K9 training… isn’t standard issue, but makes for an interesting character hook… Persona/Unique Followers, and Vehicles (Don’t touch Lola!) cost 1 point per 10 points in the creature or vehicle, after taking off Disadvantages. A Large (combat trained) Dog (a police dog (Alsatian) for example) would cost about 5 points – as they have 45 points NOT countered by Disadvantages. Though also, please bear in mind that Followers are not mindless automata… they have minds, and lives, of their own, over and above your companionship. They will not mindlessly walk through a minefield, just because you said so… (not without serious levels of Mind Control, anyway).

Details about SHIELDS Rank Structure

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Addendum – Source of Powers

If you are choosing to have powers, you will have to think about why you have them or how you got them. There are a few options available, and most come with their own bonuses and penalties.

Power Origin	Notes	Bonus	Penalty
Mutant	Powers kicked in at or before puberty	30 Active Point Power Limit and maximum of 30 Points in Powers, total	Able to be detected on Mutant Detection equipment. Generally Hated and Feared by the general populace
Inhuman	Powers triggered by exposure to Terrigen	Can choose to develop Powers later instead of at CharGen	Divided Loyalties (Inhuman Royal Family)
Alien	Allied or Enemy species on Earth for some reason	Powers not limited to 20 Active Points	Powers (mostly) Limited to Racial Abilities
LMD	Artificial Lifeforms with Minor Abilities	Can change personalities and appearance with outside assistance	Seen as ‘property’, not ‘people’, by SHIELD
Experiment	Powers derived from some kind of experiment	No Inherent Bonus	No Inherent Penalties
Accident	Powers derived from some kind of accident	No Inherent Bonus	No Inherent Penalties