Here's my first character to post here on the forum. Samson the Lion: a macho, swaggering jock that turns into a lion. And sings heavy metal.
(Excuse the weak artwork. I'm still learning my way around Hero Machine)
Identity: Samson
Real name: Richard "Rick" Samson
Group: Independent
Origen of Powers: Induced mutation (failed possession by Sekhmet)
Citizenship: Citizen of South Africa, with permanent residency status in the United States. No criminal record.
Occupation: professional musician
Appearance: Tall, long blond hair, muscular, Rick Samson comes straight out of MTV's "Headbanger's Ball". Then he turns into a honest-to-god lion that stands on two legs, gaining a foot of height and over two hundred pounds of fur and muscle in the process.
Height: 6'2" (human), 7'2" (lion)
Weight: 220lbs. (human), 425lbs. (lion)
Hair color: blond (human), tawny brown (lion)
Eye color: blue (human), yellow (lion)
Age: 23
Fighting: Incredible (40)/ Monstrous (65)*
Agility: Remarkable (26)
Strength: Remarkable (30)/ Amazing(55)*
Endurance: Remarkable (26)
Reason: Excellent (16)/ Feeble (1)*
Intuition: Excellent (16)
Psyche: Incredible (36)/ Feeble (1)*
*when in berserker frenzy
Health 122
Karma 68
Resources: PR (4)
Popularity: 0
Talents:
Performer (musician): He is a talanted vocalist and guitarist as well as a promising up-and-coming songwriter.
Wrestling, Martial Arts B,C: Samson was a star athlete in school, both on the wrestling team and on the rugby pitch. He also readily took to hand-to-hand combat training in the military.
Contacts:
Despite dealings with the X-Men and Prof. Xavier, they do not have any real ties. The one exception is Alison Blaire (aka
Dazzler). The two are good friends, and she has given him several good tips on how to deal with the music industry. The two even appeared together on stage at a recent music festival, naming their set "Loud and Clear".
Powers:
Natural Weaponry:Claws & Teeth RM(30): Remarkable (30) material strength and edged damage. Samson generally avoids using his claws and teeth against nonpowered opponents, but when in frenzy all bets are off.
Alter Ego: Although he appears to be a lycanthrope, Samson possesses a hybrid phsysiology combining both human and feline traits. There are two forms, one that is outwardly human and a second that is almost entirely a lion except for a bipedal stance. He moves around normally when in lion form, but has a tendency to drop to all four limbs similar to a gorilla when running. He can change back and forth voluntarily, but sometimes will change involuntarily. GM's discretion, but the usual triggers are stress, injury, or threatening someone close to him. He usually keeps tight control over the change, but accidents happen...
Absorption Power: Sonic AM(46): Samson can absorb acoustic energy and convert it to strength or directly to health. Any form of sound can be absorbed, up to Amazing (46) amount.
Limitation:Absorbed points of energy cannot be divided between strength and health: all of it is used in one application or the other. Furthermore, the increased strength lasts for a single strength feat (ex. a mighty punch, or to toss a dumptruck). Additional strength feats require that Samson absorb more acoustic energy.
Berserker EX (16): The prime reason why Samson was not invited to join the X-Men, he can enter into a beserk frenzy. His Reason and Psyche drop to FE(1), while his Fighting and Strength go to MN(65) and AM(55) respectively. While in this rage he has the equivalent of
Iron Will EX (16) untill the end of the rage. Second only to the Hulk in destructive potential, this rage has two qualifiers:
Limitations:
1) While Samson can voluntarily enter a beserk frenzy, he can also go beserk involuntarily. GM's discretion, see
Alter Ego above for the usual triggers.
2) If he is not in Lion form when he enters the beserk rage, he will immediately and involuntarily change into lion form.
Background:
Richard Samson was born in Johannesburg to a midddle class family. He enjoyed a typical childhood, and excelled at sports, particularly rugby and wrestling, in secondary school. Unfortunately he was also infamous for his temper, and got into a nearly endless string of fights, several of which nearly got him expelled from school. Although a good student, he barely graduated due to his proclivity for brawling. The counselors advised him to consider military service as a way to learn some self control. As a recruit in the South African Defense Force Samson's athletic prowess and intelligence allowed him to sail through basic training easily, excelling in hand-to-hand combat. One night while out on patrol, private Samson and his platoon heard what they thought to be a gathering of insurgents. Upon approaching the soldiers saw some form of ritual taking place. Entering the clearing Samson attempted to speak to the individual leading some form of chanting but immediately felt something course through his body. Believing it to be a taser or similar weapon, he quickly restrained the apparent leader of the group while his colleagues did the same to the others. Upon debriefing the group leader explained that they were from nearby Wakanda and were attempting to summon Sekhmet, the Lion God of Wakanda, against Bast, the patron godess of that nation . Private Samson had interrupted the ceremony and caused the spiritual energy to be lost. Later Samson would learn that the ritual had been partially successful, but Sekhmet had tried to manifest in Samson instead of the wakandan. Something about Samson prevented him from successfully entering the soldier; Professor X has theorized that Samson has the latent mutant gene, and it was activated by Sekhmet attempting to take over his body. Whatever the reason Samson did not know at the time that his life had changed in a very literal sense.
Initally, Private Samson went back on duty and gave the matter little thought. It quickly became clear however, that something had changed: his notorious temper, held in check by military discipline, returned worse than ever. Additionally, as an ardent fan of British and American heavy metal bands- he even had a garage band in high school- the soldier spent increasing amounts of free time listening to music at increasing volume. His commanding officers could only shake their heads in disbelief as he reveled in the noise and chaos of live-fire exercises. Despite doing well in the service, Samson was bored with military life and mustered out at the end of his contract.
For a second time, a single event changed his life forever. Just after leaving the military, Samson was out on a date when the couple were accosted by a group of five thugs, all armed. While he prepared to go toe to toe with the criminals, one of them fired a shot at him. The shot missed him, and instead struck his date in the chest.Seeing her collapse to the ground bleeding, something snapped in Samson and he saw red. When he regained his senses, all five attackers lie dead at his feet, as did his date- she had died of the gunshot. He was released by the Police, who believed that the five criminals had been killed by a wild animal. Their bodies had been badly mauled and people had reported hearing a lion's roar from as far as 6 miles away at around the same time. While Samson grieved for her death, he was contacted by Professor Charles Xavier. He accepted the professor's offer to fly him to the United States for testing at his School for Gifted Youngsters. There, it was determined that Samson is not a mutant per se, despite possessing the mutant gene. The attempt to summon Sekhmet into the physical world had activated something in his DNA that prevented possession. Seeing his date killed triggered the rest of the process. Since then, Xavier decided against inviting Samson to join his team, and he left the school on good terms. Samson has since decided to stay in the United States and pursue his musical career.
Personality:
A macho, swaggering jock with long blond hair in the true spirit of heavy metal, Rick Samson is the vocalist and guitarist of his own band named (what else?)
Samson. Despite not having signed a recording contract- yet- Samson still plays any and all gigs he can manage. He has thus far managed to keep his identity as Samson the superhero secret, but his rather cavalier attitude means it will likely be revealed at some point. He has never really tried to hide his ability: nobody has ever really connected his tendency play music loud enough to be heard in the next star system to anything beyond a typical headbanger mentality, and his hair trigger temper was well known long before turning into a lion. The majority simply chuckle and mutter about one too many hits to the head on the rugby pitch at his remarks about "The healing Power of Heavy Metal" and "Music is fuel for the soul".The only concession is that he has claimed to the press that he plans to sue "that club band" for copyright infringement of his name as a superhero. How long this ruse will work is unknown (probably not much longer).In both forms, He also has quite a reputation for chasing almost any female within reach. In a rare moment of humor, Professor Xavier cracked his usual serious, stern demeanor to joke that he didn't need to be a pre-cog to see that Samson's fate would be death by paternity suits.
Beneath the swagger and the testosterone, Rick Samson is a good person. He is absolutely a team player and takes the superhero role seriously. He is loyal to a fault where his friends are concerned: threatening so much as a hair on the head of any of them results in a quick trip to the hospital or worse. Unfortunately, his legendary temper is still there; it was the reason Xavier didn't extend an invation to join (with
Wolverine and
Feral, the last thing Xavier needed was another beserker). He has the potential to be a solid leader, once he gets more experience. Despite the attitude, Samson is actually quite sharp, and has a solid grasp of strategy and tactics. As a muscician his main strength is his voice and his stage presence which he uses to good effect. Samson still speaks with a bit of a South African accent, and the occasional expression from there comes out.
I used the "With Great Power" points system to generate this character. The total is 400 CPs. I didn't add any points for the limitations, so maybe they could be used but as is this is a straight 400 point hero. Feedback? Too much? Not enough?
"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?" - Steven Wright