BASH Ultimate Edition - character creation walkthrough

[Renny]

I'm pulling on the spandex for this one. Creating a character using the BASH rules. They seem to be a nice mix of crunch and freeform and are on the short list for me to use for my WW2 supers game.

[Great Teufel]

I want this in hard copy a lot

[Renny]

First up is character scale. This determines the point value of the character. I'm going to build an old Champions character called Blackstar and I like my supers to be..erm...super so i'm going with World Class. This gives us a suggested 40 points to spend, 18 pts for Stats and 22 pts for Powers. Blackstar has powers granted by a mysterious gem worn in a wrist band. His powers include flight, energy blast and force field.

Step 1: Stats

Stats are rated from 0-5 and each point of Stat costs 2 character points. The three stats are Brawn, Agility and Mind.

Brawn - This represents strength and toughness. Blackstar is a normal man and so, using benchmarks provided in the book, his Brawn should be 1 (2pts).

Agility - Reflexes, basically. I see the character as being fairly agile and quick so I score him a 2, equivalent to a black belt martial atist. Agility 2 (4pts).

Mind - This stat represents iq and will power. Looking at the benchmarks, i'm going with a 2 again, which gives Blackstar a stat of 2 (4pts).

So far we've spent 10 points on stats out of a possible 18 suggested. This is not a hard and fast rule and we may need to spend some of these points on powers. Blackstar is a vague Green Lantern clone so is pretty much a normal guy given extraordinary abilities by a semi mystical device. At this stage in the process, we can opt to give our character a weakness to gain some points back but the concept doesn't support a weakness i.e. vulnerability to argonite or some such thing. I'll skip it at this point.


(Total cost so far - 10 stats, 0 powers)

[Renny]

Step 2: Powers

All powers have a base cost of 1 point per power level. This cost may be modified by enhancements or limitations. An enhancement usually adds 1 point to the cost while a limitation reduces the cost by 1 point.

I decide I need the following powers at first glance; Flight, Force Field, Special Attack, Immunity.

Starting with Flight, i've decided to buy 4 points worth. This will allow flight of 20 squares per game turn and translates to 200mph real world speed. I'm aware that it might be useful to have Blackstar able to carry others with this power so decide to buy the Enhancements Affects Others and Ranged. Each of these adds 1 point to the power so we're at 6 points so far. I make the range of the power Close which is 5 squares and costs another 1 point so in total Flight costs 7 points.

Originally I wanted a Force Field for Blackstar but i've decided to change the concept a bit to Armour, suggesting a form fitting personal shield. Armour costs 1 point per level, to a maximum of 3. I decide to buy 3 points of Armour which costs 3 points. This increases the characters Soak (damage resistance) to x4 (Brawn of 1 + 1 each for the levels in armour). I've also decided to link the characters immunity with the force field. Linked costs 2 points and is added to the most expensive of the powers . I'm going with 2 immunities to Suffocation and Radiation. Total cost for Armour is 5 points. This means as long as his shield is up, he can't suffocate or be affected by radiation.

(Total cost so far - 10 stats, 12 powers)

[Renny]

Next up is Special Attack. This power represents an attack of any form. In the case of Blackstar, it will represent his energy attack. Each point adds a bonus to damage bonus or to hit multiplier. I'll buy 4 points for now and add the Variable enhancement. This allows the range, to hit bonus, area etc to be defined each time it's used. Total for this power is 5 points.

(Total cost so far - 10 stats, 17 powers)

I've already factored Immunity into the armour power. Looking through the power list, I notice Boost. This power allows you to increase a stat under certain conditions. As my energy attack is based off Mind, I buy Boost for Mind at level 2 at a cost of 2 points.

(Total cost so far - 10 stats, 19 powers)

Thinking back to the inspiration for the character, I think Immobilisation may fit. I buy 3 levels which set the difficulty for tagrets to escape. I also buy Mid range for this power which costs 2 points. This power costs a total of points.

(Total cost so far - 10 stats, 24 powers).

[Renny]

In case you're wondering, I think this thread is dead for now. My love affair with BASH was fierce but short-lived. I can't even look at it now. Maybe time will heal and i'll revisit the game later on.

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