Shifter 
Character Name:Shifter                 (266 points) by Kieran Mullen

OCV: 9         PD  20         ED  16           Levels: +2 DC, +1 Level w/MA
DCV: 9        rPD   1         rED  1                   +3 vs. range mod on TP.
ECV: 4       Total 21       Total 17           Defenses: None

Description:  Shifter looks like a run of the mill martial artist.  He
   is a caucasian of average height and stocky build.  His hair is brown,
   and his blue eyes have a slightly manic gleam.  He wears a dark gray
   martial artist robe ("gi") and a black eye-mask in his secret ID.  He
   makes plenty of wisecracks in combat.

 30     Str    20
 26     Dex    48
 23     Con    26       
 10     Bod     0               
 10     Int     0
 11     Ego     2
 18     Pre     8
 20     Com     5       
 20     PD     14       
 26     ED     11       
  6     Spd    24       
 11     Rec     0
 50     End     2
 37     Stn     0
	---------       
	Total 160

Dex Roll: 14-           
Int Roll: 11-             
Per Roll: 11-                   
Ego Roll: 11-   

Cost    Skills:
	=======
28      Akido Package:          
	Martial Strike  (0/+2)  10d6
	Kick            (-2/+1) 12d6
	Slam            ( 0/+1) 8d6+v/5
	Sacrifice       (+2/+1) 8d6
	Choke           (-2/ 0) 3d6 NND
	Escape          ( 0/ 0) 55 STR
	Disarm          (-1/+1) 50 STR

 8      +2 DC with all MA (added in)
 3      Breakfall
 5      +1 Level with Martial Arts
 6      +3 vs Range Mods on Teleport

Cost    Powers:
	=======
50

37      15" Teleport, Useable Against Others (+1), Ranged (+1/2)
		Only for exchange, (-1).  Does not work against
		Teleporters, or targets with more than twice mass
		of Shifter.

12              15" Teleport, Linked (-1/2), Only for exchange (-1)

 7      10" Gliding, OIF Costume

	-----
56      Total

Bonus   Disadvantages:
	==============

15      Secret ID (Robert Anton)
15      Psych Lim:  Avoids responsibility, whiner, nothing is his fault.
10      Psych Lim:  Prankster
10      Psych Lim:  Vengeful
20      Vulnerability:  Poison and Chemical Attacks (2x)
20      Vulnerability:  Electrical Attacks (2x)
20      Susceptibility:  3d6 when Teleport attack fails or when
		Teleported against will.
20      DNPC: Kid brother
15      Hunted: Police
15      Hunted: Random superhero group
	-----
150     Total

Deficit/Experience:  16pts

Character Concept:

Shifter is basically a martial artist with one really neat power. He is a team player - not very challenging on his own.

Explanation of Powers:

Shifter has the ability to exchange places with another person if they are within 15". He cannot teleport an opponent straight up or into the core of a handy nuclear reactor. But he can wait until someone shoots at him, and then exchange places with any opponent so someone else gets hit.

In game terms, Shift will hold an action. If someone is shooting at him he must first make a "to hit" roll against some opponent. He then must make a roll (11 + His OCV - Shooter's OCV) to get the timing right. If he succeeds then he has switched someone else into the line of fire. (The game mechanics are just like missile reflection).

Tactics:

His teleport allows some interesting maneuvers:

(a) Shift opponents into line of attacks aimed at Shifter. He will shout the codename "Zap " where the color is that of the opponent with whom he will switch. This prevents teammates from accidentally hitting him after a switch, or from being surprised by the switch.

(b) Bring distant opponents (usually those EP with low defenses) to the center of the fray. Same codename.

(c) Have a fellow brick set up a haymaker on Shifter, who teleports someone else into the path of the blow. (This is messy if Shifter misses the teleport roll). Codename: "Spike ".

(d) Have team mates hold actions aiming at Shifter's location. He then teleports one opponent into center of several attacks. Codename: "Gauntlet ".

(e) Shifter can break into buildings by switching with guards, or place opponents in death traps when the hero comes to "rescue" Shifter from some fate. Eg.: Hero comes to rescue man caught in compactor. It turns out to be Shifter who exchanges places with the hero. Crunch!

(f) If he if gliding from a fair height, he can shift with someone who cannot fly.

Background:

Anton was young street tough who realized that he did not have much of a future. He was to shiftless to hold down a real job, and felt he was destined for greater things than a 9-5 job. He had lots of problems, but they were all due to other people - his parents were too poor, the schools were crappy, and no one appreciated how brilliant an athelete he was. Yeah, that's the ticket. Not his fault at all.

One evening while moping about he failed to notice an oncoming truck. When it was too late he looked up and saw the headlights looming over him. In a flash he found himself across the street and an old man got hit by the truck instead.

"Well! Better him then me." he thought.

Somehow the andrenalin release had catalyzed a change in his body. He moved quicker (and was also more vulnerable to metabolized poisons). He had tapped some inner ability to exchange places with people of approximately the same body mass. His ability involved some weird energy fields, that made it painful to deal with strong electric fields.

Shifter quickly found that his new found power was less effective than he had hoped. When confronted by a superhero, all he could do was repeatedly change places with him which was pretty useless. But if he were a member of a group of villains...

Shifter will never be the leader of a group. He is no good at long term thinking, and is too much of a wise guy. He likes to play the role of the wild card, mixing things up and confusing the opposition. He is especially pleased whenever he can use his shifting power to cause a hero to really get stomped. He hates opponents who use killing attacks. He will often teleport so that an unarmored normal will get hit by the killing attack instead. (Which should cause some interesting complications...)

Identifying Quotes:

"What goes around, comes around."

"Boo!"

"Sayonara, sucker..."

Sample Encounter:

Blaster and Brick, two heros, charge into a room above a bank; they have a tip that someone will break into the bank through the ceiling. They find three figures clustered about a hole in the floor.

"Give up villains!" shouts Blaster as he tosses off an energy blast, narrowly missing his target and seering the wall behind it. The distance made the shot a bit tricky. Brick charges into the fray, while Blaster closes slowly.

Poit! Suddenly Blaster sees Brick charging towards him from across the room... But that means he must be - oompph! Blaster, who is now standing directly before two villains, is shot in the back from point blank range by a sonic blast. He is knocked towards Brick.

"Uh... Blaster?" growls Brick. Slowly a thought lumbers through his brain: Blaster was behind me... he is now in front of me... Then who is that I hear running up...

"Surprise, sucker! Eat feet!" Brick is knocked from behind, and crashes into Blaster. He picks himself up slowly, and turns to face his mocking opponent.

"Whatta maroon! `Give up villains!' Did they teach you that before you dropped out of hero school?"

Brick snatches at Shifter, and surprisingly manages to grab his agile opponent. He decides to use the old "human club" maneuver. He turns and winds up, planning to smash the villain who shot his buddy.

Poit! As he connects he realizes that the form he holds is his dear Blaster. Both the villain and Blaster take heavy damage. Blaster is now down for the count, and the villain is stunned.

Shifter is glared at by his remaining ally. "Sheesh. It's not my fault he couldn't duck" he explains.

Possible Extensions and Campaign Use:

Shifter should almost certainly be given some form of resistant defenses. Any other exotic defenses (flash, power, mental) would also come in handy. Burglary, and persuasion skills, as well as any dex based skills would be appropriate.

Shifter is good for making KA characters think twice - they can accidently murder someone while attempting to hit Shifter. He is also very good for setting up deathtraps. In my campaign he gave some players a certain emotional motivation to hunt down the villains: they were really pissed off at him!

Taken from the pages of Jens-Arthur Leirbakk