Fred's Wild Cards 3e conversions & write-ups

[Fred]

This thread will collect my 3e conversions of the Wild Cards characters statted for 2e in official supplements and serve as a repository for the write-ups of original characters in the same universe, especially from the Carioca Cards series of articles I wrote for RPGnet as part of my column, Superseeds. These three installments describe Rio de Janeiro as a campaign setting for Wild Cards game. If you want to check it out, here are the links:

Part 1: describes the history up to the early 90s
Part 2: describes some of the aces
Part 3: describes some of the jokers and a deuce

This project will probably proceed at a veeeeeeeeeery sloooooooow pace, but I’ll try to have new content every once in a while.

I’d also like to state that I have never played 3e (I played 2e though) and don’t consider myself an expert on the mechanics. The subtleties of power level and the interactions between abilities and advantages still escape me, so be gentle. Having said that, there are some principles that will guide my conversions and write-ups.

First, I’ll try to maintain the basic limits of power level, like the relationships between defense and toughness, but the more convoluted mechanics involved with this concept may be relaxed. Second, I’m not a big fan of the split between “punching” strength and lifting strength, so in most of the cases, I’ll probably drop that. Finally, conversions and write-ups will be filtered by my understanding of the characters. Obviously, I’m not a monolithic entity and will be open to suggestions on how to better model them.

Oh, and this thread might be a little spoilery if you haven't caught up to Death Draws Five (book 17).

Enjoy!

Conversions
Black Eagle
Carnifex (Billy Ray)
Golden Boy
The Midnight Angel

Original
Cruzeiro do Sul

[Fred]

THE MIDNIGHT ANGEL [PL 8]
Real Name: Unknown


Abilities
Strength 7, Stamina 7, Agility 4, Dexterity 3, Fighting 6, Intellect 2, Awareness 3, Presence 2

Powers
Flaming Sword: Strength-based Damage 3, Penetrating 3, Quirk: must speak a prayer to summon, –1 point • 5 points

Advantages
Attractive

Skills
Expertise (popular culture) 2 (+4), Expertise (theology and philosophy) 6 (+8), Vehicles 3 (+6)

Offense
Initiative +4
Flaming sword +6, Close, Damage 10 (Penetrating 3)
Unarmed +6, Close, Damage 7

Defense
Dodge 9, Parry 9
Toughness 7, Fortitude 7, Will 3

Power Points
Abilities 68 + Powers 5 + Advantages 1 + Skills 7 + Defenses 8 = Total 89

Complications
Motivation: Angel is driven by her religious fervor.
Relationship: Angel and Billy Ray become an item at the end of Death Draws Five.

Design Notes
This is the Angel at the end of Death Draws Five. Later in the series, she acquires new powers, but since I haven’t read those books yet, I’ll leave the sheet like this and come back to it in the future.

During the conversion, it became clear that the Angel was no longer a PL 10 character. I don't know if this "power down" is a common result of 2e-to-3e conversions or if I should beef up her sheet. I decide to let her stay at PL 8 and review the conversion after I have a few more conversions under the belt.

Update 10-Sep-2012: Changed Knowledge to Expertise and added Vehicles.

[JoshuaDunlow]

It will greatly depend mostly on either the highest Power rank, or the highest save in 2E before converting. In 3E the defensive caps are much more strict, set by PL (instead of PL +5 for saves in 2e). . Which I rather like, it really adds to the lethal effect of many actions. Also skill ranks are little more strict, the cap for skills is 10 + the series campaign level (ie Rank 20; which in turn makes it more challenging to balance a high ability score vs. skill rank).

and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your conversions

[Fred]

and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your conversions

Thanks! Golden Boy will be up later tonight. I'll probably do the bricks first, as they are easy to convert.

Tchau!

[Fred]

GOLDEN BOY [PL 10]
Real Name: Jack Braun



Abilities
Strength 12, Stamina 2, Agility 2, Dexterity 4, Fighting 7, Intellect 0, Awareness 0, Presence 1

Powers
Golden Aura: Impervious Sustained Protection 11 • 22 points
Unaging: Immunity (aging) • 1 point

Advantages
Attractive, Benefit 3 (wealth), Diehard, Language 1 (German), Power Attack

Skills
Acrobatics 4 (+6), Deception 3 (+4), Expertise (actor) 5 (+5), Expertise (business) 5 (+5), Expertise (civics) 5 (+5), Expertise (current events) 2 (+2), Expertise (tactics) 3 (+3), Vehicles 2 (+6)

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed +7, Close, Damage 12
Ranged +4

Defense
Dodge 6, Parry 7
Toughness 13/2, Fortitude 7, Will 3

Power Points
Abilities 56 + Powers 23 + Advantages 7 + Skills 15 + Defenses 12 = Total 113

Complications
Reputaion: Judas Ace

Design Notes
Golden Boy stayed at PL 10. In the end, keeping his Strength at 12 getting rid of the Super-Strength power fit well with my vision of the character, who is supposed to be able to lift a tank, which weighs around 60 tons.

[Fred]

CARNIFEX [PL 10]
Real Name: William “Billy” Ray



Abilities
Strength 5, Stamina 5, Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Fighting 13, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 0

Powers
Regeneration: Regeneration 5, Quirk: imperfect healing, –1 point • 4 points

Advantages
All-out Attack, Benefit (Justice Department ace), Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Language 1 (Arabic), Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close, Concealment), Prone Fighting, Ranged Attack 4, Takedown

Skills
Expertise (streetwise) 4 (+4), Expertise (tactics) 8 (+8), Intimidation 8 (+8), Investigation 5 (+5), Perception 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+6), Stealth 7 (+13)

Offense
Initiative +10
Unarmed +13 Close, Damage 5
Ranged +10

Defense
Dodge 10, Parry 13
Toughness 7, Fortitude 5, Will 5

Power Points
Abilities 74 + Powers 4 + Advantages 17 + Skills 20 + Defenses 7 = Total 122

Complications
Quirk: Billy Ray dislikes bullies.
Relationship: Angel and Billy Ray become an item at the end of Death Draws Five.

Design Notes
This is Billy Ray at the end of Death Draws Five. I don’t know if the Regeneration power as described in 3e is the a good fit for Carnifex, but I used it anyway. Younger versions of Billy Ray have a higher rank, 7 or 8. I also debated giving him at least one rank of Speed. Comments on this are welcome.

For a different take, check out badpenny’s conversion.

[JoshuaDunlow]

Not know the character myself, what does it mean to have Imperfect healing on his regeneration?

[Fred]

It means that although his regeneration takes care of repairing the trauma, it does a less than stellar job in the cosmetic department. So, it will fix a broken jaw, but it might look askew from then on. Another example is his eyes, which are no longer aligned.

In one story, he actually uses this as feature, purposefully causing damage to himself and letting it regenerate "wrongly" so as to disguise himself. For example, he cuts the sides of his fingers and presses them together while they are regenerating, ending up with a three-fingered hand.

Since this is done just once, I attributed it to a power stunt instead of a minor Morph effect. I thought it better to represent the imperfect healing as a quirk, because I've never seen it come up as a Complication.

Tchau!

[Fred]

BLACK EAGLE [PL 8]
Real Name: Earl Sanderson Jr.



Abilities
Strength 2, Stamina 2, Agility 4, Dexterity 4, Fighting 7, Intellect 2, Awareness 3, Presence 3

Powers
Flight: Flight 8 (500 mph) • 16 points
Force Field: Impervious Sustained Subtle Protection 7, Limited: only when flying • 8 points
Psychokinetic Wedge: Damage 8, Limited: only when flying • 4 points

Advantages
Favored Environment (aerial), Move-by Action, Language 3 (French, Italian, Russian)

Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Expertise (civics) 8 (+10), Expertise (lawyer) 7 (+9), Expertise (tactics) 4 (+6), Pilot 9 (+13)

Offense
Initiative +4
Psychokinetic Wedge +7, Close, Damage 8
Unarmed +7, Close, Damage 2
Ranged +4

Defense
Dodge 7, Parry 7
Toughness 9/2, Fortitude 6, Will 7

Power Points
Abilities 54 + Powers 28 + Advantages 5 + Skills 17 + Defenses 11 = Total 115

Complications
Exile: After the HUAC hearings, Sanderson went to France and never returned.
Prejudice: A black man in the United States of the 1950s.

Design Notes
Not much to say about this conversion, except it was quite easy.

[Fred]

CRUZEIRO DO SUL [PL 10]
Real Name: Paulo Alves Parise

Abilities
Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 4, Dexterity 4, Fighting 6, Intellect 1, Awareness 4, Presence 2

Powers
Flight: Flight 9 (1,000 mph), Limited: only when Silvery Aura is active • 9 points
G-Tolerance: Immunity (acceleration) • 1 point
Lightning: Ranged Damage 10, Limited: only when Silvery Aura is active • 10 points
Silvery Aura: Impervious Sustained Protection 8 • 16 points

Advantages
Favored Environment (aerial), Language 2 (English, Italian), Leadership, Ranged Attack 2

Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Expertise (military) 5 (+6), Perception 5 (+9), Pilot 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Lightning 4 (+10)

Offense
Initiative +4
Lightning +10, Ranged, Damage 10
Unarmed +6, Close, Damage 1

Defense
Dodge 10, Parry 6
Toughness 10/2, Fortitude 5, Will 5

Power Points
Abilities 48 + Powers 36 + Advantages 6 + Skills 14 + Defenses 10 = Total 114

Complications
Motivation: Paulo feels a strong sense of duty towards the country.
Reputation: Cruzeiro do Sul is one of the most famous aces in Brazil.

Background
Paulo knew from an early age that he had the wild card virus, but that never prevented him from doing all he wanted. As a teenager, he became infatuated with fighter jets and decided to join the Air Force. During Paulo's Academy years, the instructors found that Paulo could withstand more than double the G-forces that a normal human could. In any other job, that ability would have been considered a deuce, but in Paulo's line of work it was a huge advantage. He became one of the top pilots in the Brazilian Air Force. In 1985, Paulo found out that his ace was much more useful than he thought. A major malfunction in the F-5 jet he was flying forced Paulo to eject. However, the seat's parachute failed to activate. While plummeting to his death, the only thing Paulo could think of was that he wanted to live. At that moment, a silvery aura appeared around him and his fall stopped. It didn't take him long to realize he could fly. The government was very interested in Paulo from then on. He was immediately recruited to the government team of aces and put to good use helping the Brazilian armed forces fight back first-generation Swarmlings near the border with Peru. Today, Paulo - one of the most powerful aces in Brazil - commands the team and splits his time between field and public relations missions.

Design Notes
Like Black Eagle is a flying pilot. He has a higher PL than Sanderson, despite some similarities, because he’s supposed to be one of the most powerful Brazilian aces.