A build I was working on for one of the games on this site. 2e martial artist.
Disciple of the Nexus Fist
PL 8
Abilities: 32
Strength 16 (+3)
Dexterity 20 (+5)
Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 12 (+1)
Wisdom 18 (+1)
Charisma 10 (+0)
Saves: 13
Toughness 3 (+5 Protection, Impervious
Fortitude 8 (5 PP)
Reflex 13 (8 PP)
Will 4
Combat: 16
Attack 4 (8 PP) (+8 with Attack Specialization)
Defense 4 (8 PP) (+8 Dodge focus)
Grapple 7
Initiative 3
Feats: 17
Attack Specialization(ki strikes) 2
Defensive Attack
Dodge Focus 4
Improved Block
Improved Critical
Improved Sunder
Improved Trip
Instant Up
Luck 2
Power Attack
Startle
Uncanny Dodge
Skills: 11
Acrobatics 10 (+15)
Concentration 8 (+13)
Escape Artist 8 (+13)
Intimidate 8 (+8)
Medicine 2 (+5)
Notice 8 (+13)
Stealth 9 (+14)
Powers: 36
Strike 8 [Mighty, Split Attack 2, Incurable, Homing, Subtle 2, Reversible] 21 PP
Focused Ki StrikesAP: Paralyze 8
Quivering PalmAP: Strike 8 [extras: Area(Shapeable)]
Strikes of the GodsAP: Death Touch 8 [extras: Slow Fade]
Touch of the Lost SoulAP: Trip 8 [extras: Knock back]
Sweeping LegsSuper-Movement 4 (Wall-Crawling 2, Slow Fall, Water Walking) 9 PP
Heavenly StepsAP: Leaping 4 [Immunity 4 (falling damage)]
Leap of HeavensSuper Senses 1 (Danger Sense) 1PP
Sense of Killing IntentDeflect 9 [flaws: Limited(physical), Limited(melee)] 5PP
Zone of Absolute DefenseAP: Protection 2 [extras: Impervious 8; flaws: Limited(physical), Check Required(Concentration DC12); feats: Accurate Attack, Elusive Target, Instant Up, Move-by-Attack, Take Down Attack] Linked Powers: Speed 1, Emotion Control 6 (fear) [flaws: Limited to Fear; Sense Dependent, Uncontrollable]
I Am Become Death AP: Reflection Field 3 [flaws: Limited(physical), Limited (melee)]
Redirecting PalmsPower Cost: 32 Abilities + 13 Saves + 16 Combat + 17 Feats + 11 Skills + 36 Powers = 125 PP
Personality:
Shankar is a bit of a conundrum. He does not deal with authority figures too well, sometimes getting into minor spats with adults if he finds they did something wrong. He has a rather strange moral code, which is a lot like many others, but his sense of justice is a bit strange. Suffice to say that when something reprehensible is going down before him, he usually tries to stop it. Yet that doesn't mean he is suicidal, and is likely to turn and get help if he thinks he is out matched. He finds politicians and most government agencies to be corrupt bureaucratic liars, and has trouble maintaining his temper when people talk down to him. On the other hand, he shows obedience to Laoshi and others that are considered Masters in the martial arts world, and to trustworthy adults who suit his moral code, like his older sister. He is generally rather cocky, but never arrogant, never fully one thing or another, as his training with Laoshi tempered his emotions to find a sort of balance between the extremes. While this neutrality seems to be present at most times, it can get jumbled up at times, and Shankar is prone to be both enraged and sorrowful at the same time, which is a confusing state to be in as a teenager. Shankar is seen to be wiser than his ears suggest, and his encounters with death during his training with Laoshi have shown him the inevitability of death, and the preciousness of life. So, despite the fact that his art can kill men with a single blow, Shankar is reluctant to kill, whether it be because of his moral code, his religious beliefs, or his upbringing and training. Shankars upbringing as a Hindu also led to his usage of prayers and Vedic mantras before entering combat, praying to the gods, especially his namesake, Shiva, for their blessings and protection. He picked this up from Laoshi, whose father was also a Hindu, and used prayer as a method of focus and call for the gods to watch over them.
Backstory:
In the world of martial arts, few have the tenacity or courage to master their inner selves. It takes a certain degree of raw talent and inborn ability to draw upon the energies of life. Few who see the road it leads to step down the path, for learning to harness life is to court death. For all who step down that path in search for enlightenment die trying to harness the power, or go mad attempting to take it for themselves. The power within each person is so great that every generation, Fate decides to play cruel tricks on humanity, by selecting one person from each generation, and gifting them the ability to draw out their inner power. Whether it is simply a gift from the gods, or the next surge in human evolution, or simply random chance, the ability to harness inner forces is wild and uncharted. Fate is surely creul if such a person is raised unaware of their abilities, and as a person from the most unlikeliest of places.
Shankar was born in the suburbs of New York, first son to a couple who had recently immigrated from India. This is not to say he was the oldest of his siblings, for he had an older sister, but that's beside the point. Growing up in the suburbs of New York was good for Shankar, and with a family of devout Hindus, Shankar did not lose out on much of his cultural heritage. He was a nice kid, and as a child he had this sort of gleam in his eyes, that made many adults think of him as smart and intelligent. Well Shankar was bright, but not incredibly so, for as the child grew to become a boy, people began to see him not as an intellectual as his father was, but as incredibly aware and insightful. His friends always seemed to look up to him, not only because he was great at sports, but also because he always knew what to do. Which was incredibly odd for the suburbs of New York where Indians are a minority, but nevertheless, Shankar grew to become a popular boy.
It was around the first grade that hips parents decided that it would be good for their kids to learn karate or some form of martial art. His mother thought it would be good exercise and fun, and his father thought it would build discipline in his children. So Shankar and his siblings were enrolled in karate classes, a style known as Tang Soo Do, a type of Korean based karate. It was then that people began to notice something strange. In karate, Shankar excelled, and flourished, gaining the discipline of a martial artist and was incredibly gifted in the art. Though he was a generally normal boy, when he was practicing martial arts, his form was that of a toned master, and his agility and power were beyond that of normal children. In no time, Shankar became a back belt, and began to learn more complicated and versatile forms. However Fate decided to play its cruel tricks once more, and as Shankar was graduating from elementary school, his father decided that it was in the best interest for the financial security of his family to relocate to California. Shankar had to stop practicing martial arts, and for a year, his finely honed form began to tarnish.
A year passed before Shankar came back into touch with his martial arts. He was going out into the woods with a few of his new friends, without parental permission, for his removal from martial arts allowed his discipline to waver, and his grades were already slipping, so he was paying academics no attention. His parents were worried about it, but he was beginning to pay them no heed. Well, he was in the woods, traversing the rough landscape with a coupe of friends, when one of them thought they heard a gunshot in the distance. The group rushed in the direction of the noise, and found themselves an odd sight. In the California wilderness, there were several large men, holding guns and, strangely, swords and spears and other archaic weapons, surrounding a solitary old man. The old man seemed to be bent its age, leaning on a short stick with a long beard and hair of white, and seemed to be some sort of Oriental, or West Asian. The other boys creeped closer, trying to hear what the men were about to say, and get a better look. Shankar on the other hand went closer t see what he could do to help the old man. As the boys found a rather hidden spot, the action began as one of the gunmen pulled the trigger, and began to fire at the old man. To Shankar's surprise, the bullets never touched the old man, and in the next moment, saw the old man sweep his legs to topple the gun man, then strike swifter than a cobra at the man's open throat. The other men with guns began to fire as the people with swords and spears and axes and other weapons swarmed on the old man. Th boys watched in shock as the old man decimated the group in a matter of seconds, blasting the men to with his bare hands, moving faster than and striking stronger than any of the 'masters' Shankar had met as a martial artist on the East Coast. When the battle - or slaughter - was done, the old man began to heave a sigh, and act like an old man once more. The old man picked up his stick, and began to hobble through the woods. Then, he stopped, and turned his head slightly, such that the boys could see his eyes glaring dangerously, staring directly at them, as if peering into their very souls. The other boys turned and fled. Shankar stayed, his eyes fixed on the scene, replaying it over and over in his mind. The old man turned and left.
Shankar left for the woods the next day, and found his way to the spot where the battle had occurred. Not a single trace of it was left.intriguied, he set off in the direction the old man had left, and came upon a campsite, the old man sitting by a small fire, back turned to him. Shankar tried to approach, but the old man called to him, "Come boy!" with great power in his voice. "Tell me why you are here." Shankar boldly approached. He stopped just short of the man, then dropped to his knees, and his hands to the ground, bringing his head to face the earth. "I wish to learn. I want to learn how to do what you can do!" The old man did not turn. After a moment of silence, the old man said, "Go away. I do not take disciples." Shankar rose his voice in protest, "But I can already do martial arts! I know Tang Soo Do, and have attained the level of black belt!" "Meaningless titles!" the old man cried. "Now leave! Your reasons are selfish, and I shall not teach one who Has Not!" Confused and infuriated, Shankar stormed back home.
As Shankar left the woods, he ran into a strange woman. She was of Oriental descent, possibly Chinese, and her accent backed up Shankar's guess, when she demanded, "Where is Buxiu de Long?" "What? Who?" Shankar replied with surprise. "Don't play coy with me, I know he's here, and you have come from him. Where is he?" the rather attractive lady demanded. 'Listen, Miss, I don't know who the h*ll you're talking about, but if you're lost, the nearest cop is down the..." "Anjing!" the woman interrupted. 'I'll force the answer from you, even if you die!" The woman dropped into a lower stance, than sprang, faster than normal people, though not as fast as the old man in the woods. However, somewhere in his mind remained his training, and Shankar was abrely able to throw up an arm to guard against the kick to his head. He thought he heard something crick, as he was blasted to a wall by the sheer power of the woman's kick. "God's, Lady! That frickin' hurt!" Shankar cried out in agony and anger as pain rushed through his body. The hot woman, rather perplexed at the boy, cried, 'So you have enough sense to block, but you can't keep up forever!" Shankar could do nothing against the woman, as every blow that the woman managed to land seemed to blast his body like a sledgehammer. He wondered through all that pain how a woman so thin and lithe could pack such a punch. Yet through all that pain and beating, Shankar saw a chance. As the woman prepared for a punch, she would always shift her forward foot to face sideways, and raised her arm, opening up her waist. Shankar timed his shot, and went for the punch, and found himself connecting solidy. With a wild yell, blood dripping down his face, and his eyes red with pain, Shankar screamed as his fist blew the woman clear across the meadow, landing several feet from Shankar's bent, bloodied, and exhausted form. he managed to see the woman laying so far away, then looked at his bloody hands, trying to make sense of it all. Then the world began to spin, and Shankar blacked out.
When Shankar came to, he found himself back in the woods, staring at the evening sky, the smell of a campfire nearby. The old man's bearded face loomed into his vision. Shankar groaned, as he tried to sit up. "Don't move. You are very hurt. Wound will open again." the old man said. Shankar groaned, and managed to croak, "Why did you save me?" The old man was silent. Then he said, "I decided to follow you, I was curious why you would come to see someone like me. I thought you were a fool to want to learn from me. It seems that I was a fool as well to follow you." The old man's voice grew soft, and gentle. "I saw you fight that woman on the edge of town. I saw you almost die out there. I turned to run, when I saw you were about to die, when you surprised me. I saw what you did, and..." The old man's voice trailed off. "I thought I was alone...that no one else could harness their inner chi so easily as I...But you could!" He turned to Shankar once more. "You have the same gift that I do! Fate brought you to me, and you asked to learn. I now know that your life and mine are connected, by the string of Fate...I will teach you my martial arts, and you shall be my sole disciple." Shankar's face lit up, and a smile played across it. He tried to lift himself of the blanket, when his wounds cried in pain. "but it first looks like you will need to heal," the old man said. "Thank you" Shankar gasped, tears forming in his eyes. The old man simply smiled in return. "Just call me Laoshi."
When Shankar's wounds were nearly healed, still aching at times, but well enough to stand and move about, Shankar asked, "What did you mean by gifts? What talent did you see I possess? And how did I punch that woman so hard?" The old man turned from eating a berry. "Inner power," he replied. 'The ability to harness one's one chi, and utilize it, to fill their bodies with energy, and turn their flesh into a finely honed weapon. You have the physical ability and talent to learn martial arts easily, and master the use of chi in you arts. If you know your sciences, you will know that man only uses about 10 percent of his brain, and similarly, only about 10 percent of his actual body power. Thus, most martial artists can only fight with about 1/10 of their body's inner power. That is why in many ancient martial arts, the practitioner would shout or yell, to draw out more of that energy. What makes you different is that when you draw out your inner chi, you draw out more than anyone else, and can utilize your body in ways that no one else can. Here let me show you." The old man turned to a great tree nearby, and placed his palm on the tree's touch bark. He closed his eyes, the opened them as he shouted "HA!". suddenly all the leaves on the tree began to quiver and break free of the tree, to fall slowly and gently on the afternoon wind, a myriad of leaves dancing on the wind. "That is caused by my vibrating my palm, and releasing my energy into the tree, not to harm it much, but enough to shake the leaves off...It took me many decades to reach that level. Let's see how many it takes you..." Shankar looked on with amazement. "Come! Let me teach you the basic forms. Let me warn you. My art is that of the ancients, so old, that is considered to be one of the original arts, so pure in its form and style, that it epitomizes the warrior. If you have the capability to master this art, you shall find your entire body will become a mightier weapon than any blade of other mortal weapon on this Earth! Now! Do what I do." Laoshi said. Shankar adopted the same posture as the man, his feet aprt, knees slightly bent, his left palm weld in front of him, right, by his front to receive a blow, and his eyes, fixed forward over his the fingertips of his left hand. And the training began.
I think you intended to buy either Awareness (Magic) or Detect (Magic) as the base effect [Awareness lets you detect people using powers of that descriptor and starts as ranged. Detect lets you detect anything of that type and starts at Touch range], whereupon you can start applying the above modifiers. The range is effectively endless other than the -1 penalty per 10 feet (per 100 feet due to Extended)
though i do have to wonder if the modifiers are added to saves like will and reflex...
which makes sense given the character design.