Homebrew Supers: Ultiman

Ultiman 
PL: 10 (150 pp)

ABILITIES: STR: 30 (+10) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 30 (+10) INT: 12 (+1) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 14 (+2)

SKILLS: Bluff (+2), Climb (+10), Concentration (+2), Diplomacy (+2), Disguise (+2), Escape Artist (+1), Gather Info (+2), Handle Animal (+2), Intimidate (+2), Notice 8 (+10), Search 8 (+9), Sense Motive (+2), Stealth (+1), Survival (+2), Swim (+10)

FEATS: Power Attack

POWERS: *Super-Strength [4], Super-Breath [1], Flight [6], Immunity (Life Support) [9], Space Travel [3], Impervious Toughness [10]

COMBAT: Attack 10 [Unarmed +10 (Bruise)] Defense 20 (15 flat-footed) Init 1

SAVES: Toughness 10 (10 flat-footed) Fortitude 10 Reflex 3 Will 4

DRAWBACKS: Power Loss -Vulnerable to attacks that drain Magic [Freq DC 10] [Sev DC 15]

Abilities 52 + Skills 4 (16 ranks) + Feats 1 + Powers 53 + Combat 40 + Saves 4 – Drawbacks -4 = 150 / 150

Real Name: Ultiman (had his name legally changed from Randall Spry)
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 250 lbs
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Identity: Public
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: Welsh, English, and Irish

The man who would become Ultiman lived a fairly ordinary life. Up until a couple years ago, Ultiman was known as Randall Spry. He was an average office worker entering claims for an insurance company. He lived in New York City in a modest apartment alone in an average middle-class neighborhood. He had a decent life by most accounts, but Randall always wished that he could be something more. He hated his ordinary life and felt that there had to be more to life than merely toiling along until retirement and then an inevitable death. He would read in the paper about heroes and villains with extraordinary powers battling across the globe and wanted so desperately to become a hero himself, but alas, he wasn’t a mutant born with special abilities or an alien that escaped a dying world. Randall was merely a man with a boring job, so he resigned to merely dream of a life as a hero.

Fate is a strange mistress.

While riding the subway home one evening after work and battle broke out between the villain Doctor Morbid and the magical hero, Arcano, in the subway tunnels. As the battle raged between the two magicians, bystanders were scrambling to get out of the way, except for Randall, who got as close as he dared to watch the two superbeings duke it out. During the battle, a wave of magical energies surged forth from the two supers, combining in ways never intended by either magician, and Randall was bathed in those energies. It is unknown what exactly occurred, but that magic became a sort of wish-fulfilling spell for Randall. He could feel himself getting stronger, could see his muscles rippling and straining the fabric of his clothes, and somehow knew that something magnificent was happening to him.

The battle was going poorly for Arcano. Doctor Morbid was just too strong for him, and his will wavered, weakening his magics. As an eldritch blast tore through the old wizard, Randall leapt to his defense, taking Doctor Morbid by surprise. The punch drove the villain through the tunnel wall into a service shaft. Randall couldn’t believe what he’d done, and then realized that he hadn’t just jumped at Doctor Morbid, but actually flew at the villain! His elation was cut short as the dying Arcano’s coughs drew his attention. Randall was told by the wizard that somehow he was granted great powers thanks to his carelessness for not seeking shelter when he should, and that he should use his abilities to promote truth and justice. Randall asked if he could offer the dying man aid, but with a final, blood-laden cough, Arcano passed into the beyond. Randall said a quick prayer over the body of the wizard and then flew after Doctor Morbid, but found that the villain had made good his escape.

Over the next couple of weeks, Randall explored his abilities. He found that he could lifts several tons over his head with ease, could fly at nearly super-sonic speeds, and could blow gale force winds from his mouth. He decided to call himself Ultiman and set out designing a costume and beginning his career as a crime-fighter.

The first couple of months, he was successful, but then he started answering distress calls over his police band radio during work hours. No one ever saw him leave, but his supervisor knew when he was gone. After a couple weeks of missing sometimes hours of work, Randall was fired. He wasn’t too concerned until his savings started to dry up. Being a hero was exhilarating, but it couldn’t pay the bills. That’s when Randall got the idea to allow companies to use his likeness to sell everything from soft-drinks to sports cars. He got an agent and then a couple sponsorship deals, and realized that he could be a super-hero and be rich at the same time!

While no one can deny that Ultiman is a hero, his antics of glory seeking and using his status as a hero for personal gain puts him in direct conflict with other heroes. When Ultiman petitioned for membership into the Guardians, Hero-Prime told him that the team didn’t need someone with such loose morals on their team. Ultiman was furious, telling the patriotic paragon to stuff his team and that they would regret snubbing him.

During a battle with Doctor Morbid, who had become something of an arch-enemy of Ultiman’s, 17 people were killed and there was extensive city damage. Ultiman was sued by a couple of families of those slain during the fight as well as by the city (under pressure from watchdog groups that strive to make supers pay for damages to buildings and other property created during battles). Instead of offering to pay the families and NYC out of court, Ultiman fought them in court claiming that as a hero the amount of good that he’s done far outstripped any damages caused during scraps with villains that would surely do worse if they were left uncontested. Ultiman lost his case and the fines, penalties, and other costs nearly wiped out his money. Beyond that, it also destroyed his sterling image, which lead to sponsors dropping him from their ad campaigns and even his agent dropped him.

With public opinion against him, Ultiman’s spirit was crushed. Only now did he realize how much he had fallen from grace. He vowed to finally live his life as a hero the way he was first directed to by Arcano. It took a long time, and many still distrust him, but Ultiman is once again seen as a hero. His about-face impressed Hero-Prime enough to offer Ultiman a place in the Guardians, which he humbly accepted.

Ultiman may be poor now, but he at least has the respect of his peers, much of the public, and most importantly himself.

Ultiman stands over 6 feet tall, with dark brown hair and a full, well-trimmed beard. His costume is light blue, with dark blue trunks, white gloves and boots, and a yellow cape. His body is well-muscled. He looks every part of the super-hero. He once wore a dark blue mask that covered his eyes, but since he made his identity public, he quit wearing the mask.