D20 Series 3.5 Revised - L.A. Starr

L.A. Starr

Real Name: Lance Angstrum Starr
Nationality: American, Anglo-European
Alignment: Neutral Good [Public Good]
Legal Status: An American citizen with no criminal record
Group Affiliation: None
Base Power Level: [-11-] - Unlimited Power Level/Power Points

Str: [-16-][+03]
Int: [-17-][+03]
Wis: [-18-][+04]
Dex: [-16-][+03]
Con: [-13-][+02]
Cha: [-16-][+03]
Toughness: [+05]
Insight: [+05]
Will: [+05]
Reflex: [+05]
Fortitude: [+04]
Stability: [+06]
Point Total: [-48-]

Powers
Empathic Manipulation: Starr can automatically perceive and the emotional states of any living creature within his line of sight. Second, he can project beneficial emotions to a specific target within hearing range of his voice. His empathic abilities make him formidable as they are geared towards influence and manipulation, not rejection or torment. His unique power gives him an edge in psychological manipulation and in activities were good or welcomed social behavior influences a given outcome. Emotion Control 10 [Drawback: Specified towards Calm, Confidence, Hope, and Infatuation only, Extra: Alternate Save- Stability, Area-Perception, Feats: Mind Blank, Subtle, Flaws: Sense Dependent]

Inductive Telepathy: Starr knows when an individual is fabricating a falsehood, lying, or acting in a deceptive manner by merely making direct visual contact. In short, he can perceive bio-metric fluxes in a person cardiography and neurography, even through clothing. Super Sense 05 [Extra: Area-Perception, Feats: Alternate Power x2 - Aura Reading, Subtle, Flaws: Sense Dependent - Auditory, Visual]

Stunning Blast: Starr's only means of self-defense is a blast of empathic energy that he can direct at an individual and use it to stun his intended target's nervous system. Starr is a "psionic sponge" of sorts. He absorbs psychic trauma, pain, anger, socio-apathy, despair, fear, etc. and stores it until he can release it towards a specific living target. Starr can use this ability every other round. If he wishes to use it again immediately on the following round, he must successfully make a Stability and Fortitude save against DC 15. For every round after that, the DC increases by 03. He surmises this is a "recharge period." A brief period, but a necessity none the less. Stun 12 [Extra: Alternate Save-Stability, Feats: Sedation]
Power Packaging: All Powers Linked
Points: [-35-]

Skills
Bluff [+07], Climb [+06], Computers [+06], Diplomacy [+07], Disable Device [+06], Drive [+06], Gather Information [+07], Investigate [+07], Knowledge: Behavioral Sciences [+07], Knowledge: Civics [+07], Knowledge: Current Events [+07], Knowledge: Military Science [+07], Knowledge: Popular Culture [+07], Knowledge: Streetwise [+06], Navigation [+08], Notice [+08], Profession: Journalism [+08], Research [+07], Search [+06], Sense Motive [+09], Sleight of Hand [+07], Survival [+08], Swim [+10]
Points: [-25-][-100 Ranks-]

Feats
Animal Empathy, Beginner's Luck, Connected: Media Company, Contacts, Dodge Focus, Evasion [+02], Exotic Weapons Proficiency, Fascinate [+03], Improved Aim, Languages [Chinese, French, German, Russian, Spanish], Luck [+02], Move-By Action, Quick Draw, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Renown [+02], Second Chance, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed
Points: [-28-]

Combat
- Damage: [+03]
- Defense: [+08]
- Grapple: [+05]
- Initiative: [+05]
- Melee Attack: [+05]
- Range Attack: [+05]
Point Total: [-40-]

Weapons and Equipment
None

Hero Points: [-13-]
Point Total: [-176-]

Notes: Lance Angstrum Starr is a mutant (Homo Sapien Superior), but he is blissfully ignorant of the fact. Socially, Lance was the lowest rung in his peer group and often the butt of tasteless jokes and bullying by his school peers. Often, the stress of going through the daily regiment at school was unbearable. His teachers were ambivelent to the situations and the eventual isolation drove him away from his studies, writing, and any hope of a descent future. He was often absent do to infrequent headaches.

His empathic powers manifested shortly after his fifteenth birthday as a series of disabilitating migraines. This genetic phenomenon left him bed-ridden and inundated with tranquilizers for two weeks in a city hospital. The concentrated environment of psychological illness and isolation catalyzed his empathic powers and positively impacted the psychological health of every indigent patient immediately. This impact was collateral in its manifestation, yet not under his direct control. Immediately to his surprise, he became quite popular with the elderly, the terminally ill patients, and those of the burn-victim special units. After two weeks of medical examinations and cranial scans via MRI, his migraines subsided quickly to the astonishment of his doctors. He eventually returned to school and soon became quite popular with friends and teachers. Almost eerily unmatched as he saw it.

His world suddenly turned upside right. He had no trouble, in fact, turning in assignments late with no grading penalty. He discovered he was popular with the girls and women (especially with the teachers) at school. He had no trouble getting dates nor was he the victim of jealousy or school fights. He immediately started athletics (bicycling, swimming and weight lifting) with a physical education teacher, a woman 15 years his senior, struck an instant and plutonic liking to him. Within three years, he was elected president of the speech club and was voted most popular student of his class and graduation year. And it was all done with nothing.

Lance had no problem in applying and enlisting in the military. Thanks to his physical education, he was a gifted swimmer and a paradigm of health. He has served in the United States Navy as a Navy Seal with extensive training in deep water operations and as an attaché' dealing with Navy/Civilian relations. He eventually landed a reporting job with the Naval Times newspaper. This would become his first true taste of journalism. He would continue for four years in the Navy and begin has academic studies at George Washington University before he was honorably discharged .

Back on the West Coast, he began studying and applying his course works in psychology, counciling, technical writing, and art, but shifted away from the two former areas of study. He eventually graduated with Bachelor degrees in Social Sciences and Communication studies from UCLA. Two years later, he would finish a master's degree in journalism. The Los Angeles Chronicle hired Starr as a reporter and celebrity columnist, especially with his unremarkable connections to the American and Canadian super-hero community. Since then, he's had a life of adventure and danger against all manner of menaces in the Pacific West, Japan, Korea, and China. His personal favorites include an incursion of Amazons (during the Amazon Attacks Campaign), the hidden Turtle-Ninja Clan of Japan, the unintentional discovery of a covert Atlantean cell, and an interview with the Banner-persona dominated Incredible Hulk. His favorite column piece was the in-dept exclusive interview series with Pepper Potts, field commander and the entire roster of the west-coast team called The Order. Eventually, earned their respect and trust after his journalistic skills and connections uncovered the location of their lost team member, Mulholland and her captor, Stane.

L.A. Starr, Character Concept
© Copyright Jeffrey Williams, 2007,2008.