Exalter (Original character - Doc_Nova's game)

[Talmun]

Here is my original character for Doc_Nova's upcoming campaign, as discussed previously here: viewtopic.php?t=945

Exalter
Dominic Hooks [Public]
Solo – d6
Buddy – d8
Team – d10

Distinctions
Natural-Born Leader
Mercurial Emotions
I Have a Dark Side


Powerset
EMOTION CONTROL
You Feel What I Feel (Emotion Blast) – d10
Emotional Influence – d6
I Know What You’re Feeling (Enhanced Emotion Sense) – d8
Willful Ego (Emotion Stamina) – d6

SFX: Area Affect – Add a d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target of an EMOTION CONTROL roll
SFX: Emotional Recovery – Spend a PP to recover emotional stress and step back emotional or mental trauma by -1. NOTE – you cannot use Emotional Recovery to recover from trauma inflicted by manifesting Afflicter.
SFX: Weight of the World - Take a die from the Doom Pool and use it in your next EMOTION CONTROL roll. After use, move that die to your emotional stress.
SFX: Power from Pain - Remove an emotional stress die and use it in your next EMOTION CONTROL roll. After use, step up that die and move it to the Doom Pool.
Limit: Mutant – Earn a PP when affected by mutant specific milestones, tech or other effects.
Limit: Growing Dread – Count 1s and 2s as Opportunities when using the EMOTION CONTROL powerset.

Special Limit: Afflicter
Afflicter is the personification of Exalter’s powerful negative emotions. It is not a distinct personality, more an expression of Exalter’s dark side and loss of control.
If Exalter receives emotional stress at or beyond d10, roll a second reaction roll against the same total that incurred the stress, or against the Doom Pool if the stress was incurred in some other way. If that roll fails, Afflicter manifests.
Upon manifesting Afflicter:
• the Watcher gets an Opportunity (as if you had rolled a 1)
While Afflicter is manifested:
• Step up all dice on traits from the EMOTION CONTROL Powerset.
• All emotions experienced and projected by Exalter must be negative.
• Take one step of additional stress at the end of your Panel, this stress may be of any type, but it cannot be avoided.
Afflicter can be brought under control if Exalter stresses out, by spending a PP, or at the end of an action scene – in this case, assume that Exalter stressed out.

Specialties
Acrobat Rookie – d6
Combat Rookie – d6
Menace Rookie – d6
Psych Expert – d8
Vehicle Rookie – d6

Milestones
Leading the Team
1XP – when first lead a team of super-powered heroes.
3XP – when your team survives an action scene without any team members being stressed out
10XP – when your team allows you to lead them after manifesting Afflicter or you choose to leave a team after manifesting Afflicter.

Losing Control
1XP – when you first take emotional stress
3XP – when Growing Dread first adds at least a d10 to the Doom Pool
10XP – when first manifesting Afflicter or when spending a PP to prevent Afflicter from manifesting.

[Talmun]

Dominic was born to Psi-Agent Olivia Hooks (http://marvel.wikia.com/Olivia_Hooks_%28Earth-616%29), who promptly left him in the care of her parents, Saul and Genevieve Hooks. Dominic grew up with his grandparents in Zanesville, Ohio and had a normal childhood.
His grandparents participated in foster care, so there were always other children in the house, and eventually, two of them became Dominic’s adopted brother and sister. The three of them had the run of the neighborhood, and were always in the thick of any mischief being done.

As he grew up, this tendency to be the leader of the pack developed into a natural talent for leadership among his peers. He served in student government, and was the captain of the school team in several different sports. People, even adults seemed to gravitate toward him, and as he grew up, people began to make jokes about him becoming President some day.

Dominic did have some trouble in school, primarily with Math and Science, being far more interested in things like History, Literature and sports. Additionally, as he grew older, he was known to have a temper, becoming angry at slightest provocation. To combat both these problems his grandparents hired a tutor, next-door neighbor Mrs. Book. An old family friend, Mrs. Book had always been next door, and had often been invited to various family functions. A psychiatrist and, in her younger days, a college psyche professor, Mrs. Book not only shepherded Dominic through his studies but also helped him get a grip on his emotions.

Throughout his childhood, Dominic rarely saw his mother, and what few visits there were, seemed short, almost perfunctory. As he grew older, Dominic came to realize that on these visits his mother always acted as if she feared him. His grandparents always pointed to her stressful job with the government whenever he brought this up, but he could tell that there was something they were trying to hide. Even Mrs. Book was not able to convince him that something wasn’t wrong with his mother’s behavior toward him, though she tried. The identity of his father is, at least to him, a great mystery. When asked about who the man was, his grandparents would change the subject and his mother would become visibly upset. Dominic longed to find the answer to that question, but was never able to discover anything.

Shortly after high school graduation, Dominic’s world was turned upside-down. First, his grandparents were killed by a hit-and-run while out for their evening walk. Dominic and his siblings were devastated, and the police had no leads. His emotions, always near the surface, threatened to overwhelm him. Even with the assistance of Mrs. Book, he could not find a way to ground himself in the sea of grief and anger. And so, at the graveside funeral, Dominic had his apotheosis. His despair grew and became so powerful that he lost all sense of control, all sense of himself. Lost in a near catatonic state, he did not realize that he was projecting his grief and rage outward, into the throng of mourners in attendance. Only later did he learn of the effects – most of those at the service broke down and wept uncontrollably, hysterically. Some flew into violent rages, breaking tombstones and lashing out blindly at anyone nearby, it took nearly two hours for the police to corral and calm everyone, with several needing to be sedated.

Dominic woke up in a hospital, with Mrs. Book by his bed. She revealed herself to be a S.H.I.E.L.D operative assigned to watch over him as he grew, and prevent the very thing that had happened at the funeral. She told him that he had apparently inherited some version of his mother’s abilities, and the raw strength of these newly manifested mutant powers meant he would be sedated full-time until he arrived at his new home…The Raft.

In the year since, Dominic has tried to accept the loss of his grandparents, but chafes against his confinement, unable to accept the loss of his freedom. He yearns for the chance to be out, on his own.

[Doc_Nova]

Fantastic character, Talmun, and (as usual) a wonderful background full of hooks with which the Watcher may play. Yay!