FREEDOM FORCE

MAN-BOT

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
30	STR	20	15-	Lift 1,600 kg; 6d6 HTH Damage
14	DEX	12	12-	OCV:  5/DCV:  5
30	CON	40	15-
20	BODY	20	13-
13	INT	3	12-	INT Roll:  12-
11	EGO	2 	11-	ECV:  4
15	PRE	5	12-	PRE Attack:  3d6
16	COM	3	12-

10	PD	4		Total:  30 PD (20 rPD)
10	ED	4		Total:  30 ED (20 rED)
3	SPD	6		Phases:  4, 8, 12
12	REC	0
60	END	0
50 	STUN	0		Total Characteristics Cost:  119

Movement:	Running:	6"/12"
		Swimming:	2"/4"

Cost	Powers & Skills
27	Focused Energy Beam:  Energy Blast 12d6; Beam (-1/4); OIF (Bulky; -1), END 6*
11	Unstable Energy Discharge:  Energy Blast 10d6, Explosion (+1/2); Increased Endurance 
	Cost (x10 END; -4) No Range (-1/2), Side Effect (Energy Discharge occurs whenever 
	Man-Bot is Stunned, controllable circumstance, affects both Man-Bot and 
	environment, -1), END 70*
26	Contain Energy:  Energy Absorption 8d6, +52 points maximum (+26) to END Reserve; 
	Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Side Effect (10d6 Explosion, see Unstable Energy 
	Discharge, -1)
30	Metal Shell:  Armor (20 PD/20 ED); OIF (Bulky; -1)
9	Life Support System:  Life Support for self-contained breathing, low pressure/vacuum,
	high pressure, radiation, intense cold, intense heat; OIF (Bulky; -1)
15	Energy Build:  END Reserve 100 END, 5 REC (* Powers on END Reserve)

	Skills
4	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 OCV with Focused Energy Beam

3	Electronics 12-
3	High Society 12-
3	Mechanics 12-
131	Total Powers & Skills Cost
250	Total Character Cost

150+	Disadvantages
15	Hunted:  Nuclear Winter (More Powerful, Kill), 8-
15	Hunted:  Timemaster, (More Powerful, Enslave) 8- 
5	Physical Limitation:  Requires Suit To Avoid Random Power Discharge (Infrequent, 
	Slight)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Performs Heroics To Redeem Himself (Common, Strong)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Seeks a Cure for His Condition (Uncommon, Total)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Self-Loathing (Common, Strong)
20	Vulnerability:  x 2 STUN  from Electricity (Common)
250	Total Disadvantage Points

Background/History: Ted Taylor was a wealthy playboy who was content to spend his days dating beautiful young women. But when Patriot City was hit with canisters of Energy X (see Mentor's origin), he was exposed, and it caused his body to explode with destructive power. Ted survived, but he soon found that the alien radiation continued to build up in him. Not knowing what would happen next, Ted went to his genius brother, the Nobel Prize winning scientist Tom Taylor.

Tom told his brother that he couldn't figure out how to remove the radiation, but in the meantime he found a partial solution to Ted's problem. He gave Ted an experimental armor suit that he originally designed to help crippled people walk again. Refusing to spend the rest of his life in a metal shell, Ted argued with his brother, but then the radiation built up again and exploded out from him. When Ted woke up, his brother was dead—killed by the power in Ted's body.

Wracked with guilt over what he'd done, Ted put himself in his brother's robotic suit, seeking to find a cure for his condition. But in the meantime he resolved to fight the evil of the world as... The MAN-BOT.

Personality/Motivation: The death of Ted's brother and the realization that his normal life was over convinced Ted that he needed to become a hero in order to atone for his selfish life. While heroism ultimately built his sense of responsibility, Man-Bot acts at least as much out of self-pity as any other motivation. Once cocky, he now considers himself unworthy of companionship or pleasure, and in any case knows that even with his suit, it's dangerous to be around him.

Quote: "Well, if I'm good at anything, it's destruction."

Powers/Tactics: Ted received one of the least beneficial Energy X mutations. The cells of his body are constantly generating Energy X, and never stop doing so. Eventually the energy has to release either as a random discharge or as an explosion radiating from Ted's body, which is not only dangerous to the local environment, but can cause serious, even fatal damage to him. In game terms, without his suit, Ted's "Unstable Energy Discharge" Power automatically goes off whenever his END Reserve reaches maximum, which would also happen if his Contain Energy Power either fails to work or causes the Reserve to go over maximum.

The Man-Bot suit alleviates the problem somewhat, as its own batteries act as 'sinks' for the Energy X buildup, allowing Man-Bot to move around normally (more or less). The suit also serves as Life Support, and allows Man-Bot to focus his own energy as a concentrated blast. With experience, he can use this capacity to manipulate energy by draining it from other targets or transferring it to allies. However, sudden shocks can still cause Man-Bot's Energy X buildup to discharge, as will an overload of his energy absorption capacity.

All this means that Man-Bot, even more than other bricks, is the 'tank' of Freedom Force, in the sense that he's very hard to hurt and has a powerful ranged attack, but is also terribly slow and ponderous in his armor. As such, he is most effective as a ranged combatant/artillerist, although the armor also makes him very tough in hand-to-hand combat, when he can land a punch.

NOTE: I wasn't exactly sure how to model Man-Bot's power, given that the 'Side Effect' is actually of great value in combat, even if the effect hurts Man-Bot as much as anyone else. Thus I bought it as a Power with a Side Effect that makes it go off in circumstances similar to how it does in the computer game (the game says it goes off 'randomly' when the character is struck). I decided that meant when the character was Stunned, since the effect usually causes the character in the game to be stunned. The effect also applies as a Side Effect if Man-Bot's Absorption fails to work. Given that the character has a Vulnerability to electricity (either due to the armor or his innate radiation powers) these attacks are more likely to 'overload' Man-Bot's system and bring about the energy discharge.

Also note that I'm giving the character credit for having a Focus bonus on his armor, which he usually does not take off. This is partially because it is big enough to count as having the Bulky Limitation (and this bulk causes some problems while Man-Bot is in armor).

Appearance: Man-Bot wears a bulky, cumbersome suit of silvery armor that makes him look somewhere between a tank and a refrigerator. Ted was a blond, handsome man before his accident, but all that can be seen of him now is his hazel eyes behind his faceplate. Likewise, he naturally has a high voice, but through the armor it comes out low and muffled, adding to his melancholy mien.

[Freedom Force characters copyright 2002 Irrational Games LLC. HERO System write-up by James Gillen]


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