Here’s my initial thought. Hopefully it works out well with what everyone is going for and the game as a whole, but we’ll see. As always, subject to chance.
Tachyon (the Beacon) Abilities: Martial Arts (perfect timing), Acrobatics (perfect coordination) Drives: help a teammate when they most need you, earn the respect of a hero you admire, tell someone your true feelings for them, reject someone who tells you “you shouldn’t be here”
How did you gain your skills? I’ve just always had really good timing. Like I always know what time it is and if I watch someone throw something, I can usually match the throw. I really wanted superpowers, but if all I have is good timing I’ll use it. When did you first put on your costume? It wasn’t a costume but when Rampage was tearing apart the Jamison Building downtown, I was able to run through the falling debris to get some people out of there. Who, outside the team, thinks you shouldn’t be a superhero? There’s this Waters guy at AEGIS that, after he found out I didn’t really have any superpowers didn’t think I should be putting myself into danger. But that’s like the AEGIS line about keeping kids safe. I know what I’m doing. Why do you try to be a hero? Superheroes are the best. A lot of kids just care about pointless stuff like grades and dating, but superheroes are different! They care about helping and protecting people and that’s what I want to be. Why do you care about the team? They’re heroes! They’ve got powers and they all try so hard to help people, I just need a chance to prove that’s who I am too!
The idea of “Either he has no super-powers, just an interesting skill, or a super-power that seems kind of lame, but in either case, he uses it shockingly well” is fun.
Purposefully no. Partially because I want the opportunity to both riff and be riffed off by other players, but partially because I sort of want Tachyon to be this “I am skipping all my classes, ghosting my family, and letting my life go to hell to be a superhero because being a superhero matters not all this mundane stuff” trashbaby. Work/life balance really hasn’t occurred to them yet.
So been thinking about Rodrick and his “martial arts” and the best I can imagine is that he’s a bit of a bargain bin Taskmaster. If he can get the timing right (observation, observation, observation), he can emulate other folks’ moves, but it’s not like he knows the best tactics to use them in.
I’m going to have to go with false. Having younger siblings would make it harder to justify (as much as anyone could justify) a lot of Rodrick’s selfishness and idiocentric behavior. It would also be another step away from “asshole but relatable” than I’d like.
Being an asshole teenager: Relatable.
Being an asshole teenager who isn’t supportive of their younger siblings: Total asshole.
Definitely true. Probably the worst thing he’s ever done is sneaked into a basketball game (Go Roboraptors!) because timing is everything.
100% true. It’s easy to replicate arm and finger motions, but breathing is a whole different story. Just like lip reading isn’t a perfect science, him trying to replicate someone singing or even playing a woodwind instrument is going to sound like someone murdering a cat. Plus, he just isn’t that good of a singer.
Yeah, totally true. I mean, it’s just school. It’s not like it matters in the long run.
True to the first part and probably true to the second part. He’s probably been kicked out more than a few times for pestering the other customers. Lucius always lets him back in though, because he’s a softy and thinks the kid’s heart is in the right place even if his brain isn’t.
