Powerhouse
(Obscure Marvel mutant)
Context
*This* Powerhouse (there are many) was first seen in a 1991 Spider-Man issue.
She has little material, she has vague powers, she has the stereotypical Erik Larsen visuals and she firmly falls in the “obscure” bin.
But :
- She’s fine for a “random encounter” sequence. This is in fact how she was used in the comics.
- Her outfit is reminiscent of the classic Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) black costume. And much like Kamala Khan, I’m a sucker for this.
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Background
- Real Name: Unrevealed.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Once associated with Masterblaster.
- Base of Operations: New York area.
- Height: 5’10” (1.78m). Weight: 145 lbs. (65 Kg.).
- Eyes: Brown. Hair: Black with a large white streak.
Powers & Abilities
A superhuman mutant, Powerhouse can drain and reuse energy. This includes energy from living beings, and may in fact be limited to such.
She was seen :
- Emitting plasma blasts from her fists.
- Punching with what amounted to superhuman strength. Part of the effect was the physical impact, part of the effect was the additional energy drain on contact.
- Punching with what amounted to superhuman speed. The drain effect seems to make people nearby slower, allowing Powerhouse to reliably hit even superhumanly fast and agile targets. This stacks with the previous ability.
- Surviving superhumanly strong blows without serious damage, and not being cut by Wolverine (James Howlett)’s bone claws (though the impact did affect her).
She is fit and has significant combat experience.
History
Powerhouse is a mutant supremacist.
Her activities include :
- Anti-human attacks.
- Attacks on prominent mutants accused of seeking peace with baseline humans.
- Heists to fund her struggle.
In 1991, she attacked an Empire State University lecture given by the Beast (Dr. Henry McCoy).
This was derailed by the concurrent attack of anti-mutant activist Masterblaster, and the intervention of Spider-Man (Peter Parker).
Mutant power !
In 1998, she attacked the UN Building. Powerhouse used her plasma blasts to keep the NYPD at bay.
Wolverine (James Howlett) and Warbird (Carol Danvers) responded. However, Carol was drunk as a skunk, which made everything worse.
Nevertheless, Wolverine took Powerhouse down.
Banking on it
In 2004, Powerhouse robbed a bank. Inexplicably, she was allied with Masterblaster, who was in charge of demolitions to breach the safe.
But Spider-Man intervened. Spidey now had a sense of her powers, and attacked with enough speed and force to overwhelm Powerhouse.
Powerhouse was arrested and sentenced to seven years. To her surprise, she was visited in prison by some random bystander. He had become smitten with her during the attempted hold-up.
Personality
Angrily shouts cliché radical stuff, and other stock pro-mutant soundbites.
Quotes
“Cease your witless prattling, human-lover ! Traitorous pig !”
“It makes me sick the way you rally to the humans’ aid, while our people are hated and feared the world over ! We were the ones gifted at birth — we have the powers, the abilities, and that makes us their superiors !”
Another time, another universe
Powerhouse looks much like Rapture (Sharona Jackson), a Savage Dragon ally. She might thus be an otherdimensionalLocated in another reality. equivalent of her.
Powerhouse could conceivably be named Sharonna Jackson… except for legal reasons.
Adνеrtisеmеnt
DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Powerhouse (no, not that one)
| Dex: 04 | Str: 06 | Bod: 05 |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 03 | Min: 04 |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 01 |
| Init: 022 | HP: 020 |
Powers:
Energy blast: 07, Enhanced Initiative: 08, Power Reserve (see below): 04, Regeneration: 01
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Power reserve can feed all Physical Attributes, all Powers, and the Accuracy and Martial Artist Skills.
- Power Reserve APs can be assigned at the beginning of a Phase, before anybody actually acts. It still consumes an Automatic Action.
- Power Loss – Power Reserve depends on the human density around her.
Skills:
Accuracy (Energy blast): 05, Martial Artist (AV, OV): 10
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Accuracy is a Powered Skill.
- Martial Artist is a Powered Skill, and only works against opponents within 0 APs of her.
- Her Skills likely can’t be used against non-living targets (the undead, robots, golems, etc.). Against those she thus has to go with her DEX.
Advantages:
Stabilization.
Connections:
None demonstrated.
Drawbacks:
Power Loss (see below).
Motivation:
Mutant supremacy.
Occupation:
Terrorist.
Wealth:
004
The power of gregariousness
We are going to *assume* that Powerhouse’s exact energy output depends upon how many people there are around for her to drain a bit of energy from.
Her baseline power levels are given above for a generic urban setting.
Given denser crowds, she can engage her Power Reserve. Proposed scale :
- Downtown, where the lights are bright — one AP of PR.
- Dense downtown (Manhattan, Boston…) or a mall — two APs of PR.
- Big crowd — three APs of PR.
- Ariana Grande concert. Or a big Walmart on a Black Friday and the 55″ TVs are 70% off — four APs of PR.
Likewise, in a low-inhabitant-density environment she’d get a Power Loss Vulnerability.
Design Notes
Yes, I’m extrapolating how her powers might work, since :
- There’s too little data.
- Such mechanics can be useful for some Player Character concepts.
You can also see the Every-Man (Larry Ekler) character profile for loosely similar mechanics. These are in his second profile.
The dialogue keeps describing how she drains energy, weakening those around her. A literal approach would thus model her using Drain or somesuch.
But simply allowing her to boost her AVs (and to a lesser extend her EVs) works just as well as lowering people’s OVs (and RVs). And it is much simpler.
Source of Character: Marvel Comics.
Helper(s): Darci.
Writeup completed on the 4th of December, 2018.