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Sequence

This profile is meant to be read after our Ani-Men team profile, which explains most of the context and history.

Background

  • Real Name: Townshend Horgan.
  • Known Relatives: None.
  • Group Affiliation: The Organisation, then the Unholy Three, then the Ani-Men.
  • Base of Operations: New York City area.
  • Height: 6′ (1.82m). Weight: 190 lbs. (86 Kg.).
  • Eyes: Green. Hair: Red.

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Powers & Abilities

Horgan was a professional criminal and mercenary with unusual skills :

Our game stats assume that he served a tour in Việt Nam. This isn’t stated in the material. It’s just a convenient hypothesis about where he learned to pilot light helicopters (presumably a Bell OH-13 Sioux  ) and fight using guns.

Gear

The Cat-Man suit had the following capabilities :

  1. It had suction cups along the soles and gloves. These provided for additional speed and safety when doing rope and tightrope work.
  2. Infrared night vision goggles. These seemed at least on par with the best Gen 1 models the US Army had back then.
  3. The gloves had cat-like claws for hand-to-hand combat.
  4. The boots were padded and muffled, making Cat-Man stealthier.
  5. There was… something that made it much easier for him to land on his feet.

Cat-Man was the only armoured one. From the panel, I assume his costume had a built-in helmet to support and protect his low-light goggles.

Supernature

Cat-Man was then turned into a superhuman by Count Nefaria. He thus became a mutate with a feline appearance.

We see very little of him in this state. He could credibly engage Wolverine (James Howlett) in hand-to-hand combat. This likely means enhanced speed, reflexes and agility.

He also stated that he had natural claws that could easily kill somebody.

Cat-Man of the Ani-Men (Marvel Comics)

History

Townshend Horgan was the first expert thug hired by the Organizer (Abner Jonas).

He broke into a penitentiary to free Gordon Keefer, so he could become Ape-Man.

See our Ani-Men team profile for more.

Description

Horgan sports the 1960s equivalent of a big hipster beard. It’s distinctive, especially since his costume leaves it exposed.

Personality

Cat-Man is a pragmatic professional.

He’s disciplined but looking out for number one, and will change allegiances to preserve his interests.

He’s *slightly* overconfident, and hates it when his competence is questioned.

He also likes to compare his acrobatic skills to those of a cat.

Cat-Man of the Ani-Men (Marvel Comics) leaping to attack

Cat-Man (Sebastian “Morris” Patane)

The second Cat-Man worked for Death-Stalker (Philip Sterling) in 1979. He was seen for but a few pages.

Patane was markedly less confident and professional than Horgan. He seemed nervous and out of his depth.

However he was a capable acrobat, though probably less skilled than Horgan, and used the same gadgets.

DC Heroes RPG

Cat-Man

Dex: 05 Str: 03 Bod: 04
Int: 03 Wil: 03 Min: 03
Inf: 03 Aur: 03 Spi: 03
Init: 011 HP: 015

Skills:

Acrobatics: 06, Martial artist: 04, Thief (Stealth): 03, Vehicles (Land, Air): 03, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 04

Advantages:

Familiarity (Military equipment & protocols).

Connections:

Underworld (Low).

Drawbacks:

Creepy Appearance (Big beard).

Motivation:

Mercenary.

Occupation:

Mercenary.

Wealth:

004

Equipment:

CAT-MAN SUIT (see below).


The Cat-Man suit

It does a lot of minor things, so it’ll be clearer with bullet points :

  • BODY 02.
  • Enhance (Acrobatics): 02 (cap is 10), Limitation: only for landing on his feet, and rope and tightrope work.
  • Enhance (Thief (Stealth)): 01 (cap is 08).
  • Enhance (EV): 01 (cap is 04). These are the claws.
  • Enhance (Unarmed RV, Cold RV): 01 (cap is 08).
  • Enhance (RV against Critical, Devastation and doubles): 02 (cap is 08). Built-in helm.
  • Radio communication (includes video): 12.
  • Ultra-vision: 03.

Design Notes

I went narrow with his costume’s Enhance (Acrobatics) to avoid intruding upon Ape-Man’s niche.

You can simplify the suit, of course. Say, by giving it its own Skills and one AP of Skin Armour instead of the Enhance. Which removes any reason to recruit an acrobat. But heh, use any level of detail you prefer if the fully detailed version feels too fiddly.

The Appearance is debatable. But the beard is a noticeable and memorable feature. Especially since it’s comic-book-red hair, and thus orange. It also has to be hard to hide, since even the Cat-Man costume didn’t cover it.

Ani-Men group shot from the Official Handbook Marvel

Cat-Man (mutated)

Dex: 07 Str: 05 Bod: 05
Int: 04 Wil: 02 Min: 02
Inf: 03 Aur: 02 Spi: 03
Init: 016 HP: 015

Powers:

Claws: 06, Jumping: 01, Ultra-vision: 04

Skills:

Acrobatics: 08, Thief (Stealth): 05, Vehicles (Land, Air): 03

Advantages:

Familiarity (Military equipment & protocols).

Connections:

Ani-Men (Low).

Drawbacks:

Strange Appearance.

Motivation:

Mercenary.

Occupation:

Mercenary.

Wealth:

004

Equipment:

RADIO HEADSET [BODY 01, Radio communications: 10].


Design Notes

Stats are *tentative*.

We have but a few panels to gauge, he fought a very early Wolverine (not yet depicted as a triple badass super-ninja), it’s unclear whether he still had powers in ’78, he’s defeated by far superior force (say, Colossus), etc. etc..

Catlike senses are a distinct possibility, but even the night vision wasn’t actually demonstrated.


Cat-Man (Sebastian “Morris” Patane)

Very little material once again. Possible numbers :

  • One less AP in all Physical Attributes.
  • Five Hero Points.
  • Skills limited to Acrobatics: 05, Thief (Stealth): 03, Vehicles (Land): 03.
  • No Drawbacks nor Advantages.

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DC Adventures RPG

Cat-Man (Horgan) — Averaged PL 5.2

STR STA AGL DEX
01 02 04 02
FGT INT AWE PRE
04 01 00 01

Devices:

Cat-Man costume ● 7 points (Removable) ● Descriptor: Technology
– Enhanced Advantage (Second chance (Balance and landing on one’s feet)).
– Enhanced Skill (Stealth 2).
– Claws – Strength-based slashing Damage 1, Improved Critical 1.
– Protection 2 (Limited 2 to cold and unarmed).
– Night vision goggles – Senses 2 (Darkvision).
– Feature (Transmits video and audio back to base in real time).

Combat Advantages:

All-Out Attack, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 1.

Other Advantages:

Instant Up.

Skills:

Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 7 (+8), Close combat (Unarmed/claws) 2 (+8), Deception 1 (+1), Expertise (Hitman) 4 (+5), Expertise (Soldier) 4 (+5), Insight 1 (+1), Perception 2 (+2), Ranged combat (Infantry weapons) 4 (+6), Stealth 1 (+5), Vehicles 2 (+4) (Limited 1 to common land vehicles plus helicopters).

Offence:

Initiative +4
Unarmed +8, Close, Damage 1
Claws +8, Close, Damage 2, Crit 19-20.
Infantry weapons +6, Ranged, effects by type.

Defence:

Dodge 08
Fortitude 06
Parry 08
Toughness 02*/03/**
Will 02

* Without Defensive Roll.
** Costume has specific Protections.

Complications:

  • Merc for money Cat-Man’s after the benjamins.
  • Mighty beard Horgan’s big red beard is quite distinctive.

Powers Levels:

  • Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 5, Dodge/Toughness PL 6, Parry/Toughness PL 6, Fort/Will PL 4.
  • Points total 73. Abilities 30, Defences 14, Skills 17, Powers 00, Devices 07, Advantages 05. Equiv. PL 5.


Cat-Man (Horgan, mutated) — Averaged PL 6.8

STR STA AGL DEX
04 03 05 01
FGT INT AWE PRE
05 01 00 01

Powers:

Feline physiology ● 5 points ● Descriptor: Unrevealed source
– Claws – Strength-based slashing Damage 1, Improved Critical 1.
– Leaping 1.
– Senses 2 (Darkvision).

Combat Advantages:

All-Out Attack, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 2, Move-by Action.

Other Advantages:

Instant Up.

Skills:

Acrobatics 6 (+11), Athletics 7 (+11), Close combat (Unarmed/claws) 4 (+11), Expertise (Hitman) 4 (+5), Expertise (Soldier) 4 (+5), Insight 1 (+1), Perception 3 (+3), Ranged combat (Infantry weapons) 4 (+5), Stealth 3 (+8), Vehicles 2 (+3) (Limited 1 to common land vehicles plus helicopters).

Equipment

Radio headset Feature 1 ● 1 point

Offence:

Initiative +5
Claws +11, Close, Damage 5, Crit 19-20.
Infantry weapons +5, Ranged, effects by type.

Defence:

Dodge 11
Fortitude 07
Parry 11
Toughness 03*/05
Will 01

* Without Defensive Roll.

Complications:

  • Merc for money Cat-Man’s after the benjamins.
  • Mighty fur Horgan is entirely mutated.

Powers Levels:

  • Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 8, Dodge/Toughness PL 8, Parry/Toughness PL 8, Fort/Will PL 4.
  • Points total 88. Abilities 40, Defences 17, Skills 19, Powers 05, Devices 00, Advantages 07. Equiv. PL 6.


Cat-Man (Patane) — Averaged PL 3.2

STR STA AGL DEX
00 01 04 00
FGT INT AWE PRE
02 00 00 00

Devices:

Cat-Man costume ● 7 points (Removable) ● Descriptor: Technology
– Enhanced Advantage (Second chance (Balance and landing on one’s feet)).
– Enhanced Skill (Stealth 2).
– Claws – Strength-based slashing Damage 1, Improved Critical 1.
– Protection 2 (Limited 2 to cold and unarmed).
– Night vision goggles – Senses 2 (Darkvision).
– Feature (Transmits video and audio back to base in real time).

Combat Advantages:

Defensive Roll 1.

Other Advantages:

None demonstrated.

Skills:

Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 7 (+7), Close combat (Unarmed/claws) 3 (+5), Expertise (Hitman) 3 (+3), Perception 3 (+3), Stealth 1 (+5), Vehicles 3 (+3) (Limited 2 to common land vehicles).

Offence:

Initiative +4
Unarmed +5, Close, Damage 0
Claws +5, Close, Damage 1, Crit 19-20.

Defence:

Dodge 06
Fortitude 03
Parry 05
Toughness 01*/02
Will 01

* Without Defensive Roll.

Complications:

  • Merc for money Patane’s after the benjamins.

Powers Levels:

  • Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 3, Dodge/Toughness PL 4, Parry/Toughness PL 4, Fort/Will PL 2.
  • Points total 41. Abilities 14, Defences 8, Skills 11, Powers 00, Devices 07, Advantages 01. Equiv. PL 3.


Writeups.org writer avatar Sébastien Andrivet

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Older Marvel comics.

Writeup completed on the 12th of January, 2020.