Greatest American Heroine

Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG

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Holly Hathaway a.k.a. The Greatest American Heroine

Skills:
Acrobatics (Athletics): 03, Animal Handling*: 04, Medicine (First Aid, Medical Treatment, Surgery): 04, Vehicles (Land): 02

Bonuses and Limitations:
Medicine Skill applies to animals rather than people (-1FC).

Advantages:
Expertise (Environmental Issues).

Connections:
Bill Maxwell, FBI Agent (High), Ralph and Pam Hinkley (Low – while they were “retiring” to a normal life after giving Holly the suit, the Hinkleys would likely be willing to help her if needed, and vice versa).

Drawbacks:
Innocent.

Equipment:

• THE SUIT [/STR/ 13 /BODY/ 12, Comprehend Languages: 14, Danger Sense: 08, Energy Absorption: 10, Extended Hearing: 03, Flight: 13, Invisibility: 08, Omni-Power: 08, Postcognition: 08, Pyrotechnics: 08, Remote Sensing: 14, Sealed Systems: 04, Shrinking: 12, Super Breath: 05, Super Ventriloquism: 03, Superspeed: 06, Telekinesis: 06, Drawbacks – Miscellaneous (Only Holly (and possibly Ralph) can use the suit’s abilities, the suit’s abilities do not function in the 4^th dimension, Holly has difficulty controlling many of the suit’s Powers (see Sharp Dressed Maid for details)), Bonuses & Limitations:
  • Italicized BODY only provides Partial Coverage (-3CS Trick Shot to bypass).
  • Danger Sense will alert Holly to threats against others in contact with her as well as herself.
  • Energy Absorption is Catastrophically Marginal but instead of paying HPs to activate it Holly instead suffers a related Power Complication Subplot for the rest of the current scenario for which she is not awarded additional HPs.
  • Holly must run forward three steps before activating Flight.
  • Danger Sense, Postcognition, and Remote Sensing are visual only (usually — occasionally there was audio as well) and require a flat surface for Holly to project her vision onto (though it can still only be seen by Holly and those touching her).
  • Postcognition and Remote Sensing require concentration — Holly couldn’t make any Movement or Dice Actions while using them.
  • Postcognition only works in conjunction with Remote Sensing to see the current location of the owner of the object being examined, only functions if that person is conscious, and is best used with objects associated with the subject’s head such as a hat (+1CS to OV/RV of Postcognition checks using items that do not fall into that category).
  • Pyrotechnics only works on objects behind Holly, adding a -1CS to AV).
  • Super Ventriloquism represents loudspeaker-style amplified volume.
  • Superspeed does not add to Initiative (-1FC)].

Woman In Red

Holly is unable to control the suit’s Omni-Power as the aliens declined to provide a new instruction book and Ralph had never figured out the technique and thus could not pass it along. As a result, the suit’s Omni-Power does not cost any HPs to activate but is completely under the GM’s control as to when it is triggered and to what effect.

Sometimes, the ability in question will be a momentary convenience that Holly is not able to reliably trigger. Examples of Ralph doing so include creating a flameless version of Flame Being by rubbing his hands together at superspeed or mentally controlling animals.

Other abilities might be temporarily activated by environmental triggers, such as Ralph did when he developed a Fatiguing version of Control after exposure to radiation and an Always On version of Magnetic Control after an accident involving a spacecraft.

In the former cases the Power only lasts for the duration of the current scene, whereas in the latter cases the Power may last for the rest of the scenario (and turning it off may in fact be part of said scenario, since those Powers tended to have inconvenient Limitations).

Lacking control

This lack of control also extends to some of the powers Holly does have regular access to. Any use of Flight other than straight-forward movement requires an Action Check with Holly’s DEX 04 as AV/EV versus an OV/RV of 02/02.

RAPs equal to or above the RV indicate a successful maneuver, getting RAPs less than full RV still indicate a successful maneuver albeit clumsily executed, and failure to get any RAPs means Holly tumbles out of control or collides with something (GM’s choice).

Landings were even more difficult, requiring the same Check above versus an OV/RV of 04/04. Carrying heavy objects will help her in-flight balance, negating the need for the Flight maneuver Check and reducing the landing Check OV/RV to 02/02.

Other erratic Powers include Comprehend Languages, Danger Sense, and Sealed Systems, which effectively have an R# of 07. No repair is required for failure — the Powers are simply unavailable for the rest of the current scene if the R# is rolled when they are used.

Holly can periodically purchase new Powers for the suit. Unlike the usual instances of adding an ability to a Gadget, this represents her discovering how to use a previously unknown or uncontrolled ability that was already present. Thus, she does not need to make any Gadgetry or Wealth Checks to add the ability; it is instead purchased as a normal Power.

Examples of this happening to Ralph include learning how to use telekinesis from J.J. Beck, and discovering how to use Shrinking when gaining a new instruction book (only to lose said book again). Given the often-abstract means to activate the suit’s Powers (such as having to visualize white paper to use Telekinesis), it is easy to understand why working out the suit’s abilities without instructions was a very gradual process.

Partial

The suit does not need to be completely put on before it functioned. Even wearing part of it is sufficient to allow Holly access to its abilities. Ralph seemed unable to use the suit’s abilities when it was covered by other clothing.

When he was pitching on a baseball team he only threw 200-mph fastballs when he pulled up his baseball uniform sleeve and pulled down the sleeve of the suit, which he was wearing underneath the uniform. This may simply be a psychological quirk on Ralph’s part, in which case Holly would be unaffected.

While the suit did not cover the wearer’s head or hands, this did not always appear to be an actual vulnerability. As one example, Ralph was able to rub his uncovered hands together at superspeed until they glowed red with heat without suffering any injury or discomfort.

On the other hand, blows to Ralph’s head tended to affect him normally even when wearing the suit, so he instinctively protected his exposed head when attacked.

Generally speaking, Holly’s head and hands are protected from the negative side-effects of using the suit’s Powers (the aforementioned Flame Being, punching objects using his superstrength, flying at supersonic speeds, etc.) but attacks from external sources affect them normally.