These are some sample heroes to inspire your characters (and provide examples heroes for this setting, or to use if you so choose (especially for a one shot). If you want to create your own, I will be more than happy to assist or create it for you. These characters gender (and any identities/sexualities) can be anything you want them to be, this is simply my imagination.
Rat Man (M) – Martial Fighter (Rat Mutt)
- Gist: Rat-man victim of the LA Mutt-Pack Experiments that did not get great powers. He uses grit and dedicated training to become a great, under-powered vigilante
- Powers: Super-athlete, danger sense, unageing. Well-trained martial artist with some gadgets.
- Source: Super-Soldier (Mutt)
- History: Alan Alder was a down on his luck teen and young adult. He suffered from bad bouts of epilepsy even when it was well managed. He lived with his grandmother since his parents were mostly absent, suffering a lack of confidence that plagued his personal life. Under these circumstances, promises of a new experiment that would cure him lured him into the Mutt-Pack experiments. While technically cured of his epilepsy, he became an anthropomorphic rat man as a result, like the other animalistic survivors. A kind “egg-head” that worked at the lab, Mary Anne, snuck him out of the lab. She deactivated the implant that could be used to find or kill him and raised him while hiding in Aguanga, outside of Temecula. Miraculously, they hid from the Walrus successfully until the Mutt Pack went public. He decided to move back to the sponsor zone of Los Angeles and become a vigilante, training obsessively to use what powers he had to good use. He’s going to live a long time, probably, so he wants to use his tragedy to bring about good that he can be proud of.
Starshine (aka Gold Dust – F) – Flying Illusionist Shooter
- Gist: Famous superheroine from the episodic dramedy “Gold Dust,” about an 18 year-old superhero played by someone with real powers! Now she’s a vigilante in real life, trying to make a different name for herself.
- Powers: Light manipulation. She can shoot light, fly with light, shield herself with it, and make illusions.
- Source: Mutant
- History: Sally (real name) got her powers when she had a scare with a pool as a young girl. At 15, she was a star on the hit show Gold Dust about a young vigilante hero. She was supposed to be 18, but she was surrounded by younger characters, so they looked more like her target audience. Being an underage vigilante is illegal, however, and it would have been scandalous to attempt to portray it on television. A few years after her 18th birthday, she decided to join the GCC vigilante program and become a hero in her real life and find success as something other than Gold Dust. In the show, she was always surrounded by gold sparkles and light, but her real powers have much more range.
Billow (M) – Teleporting, Weakening Shooter
- Gist: A “Mad” who wants to normalize parascientists to the community at large. Uses tech to make his body follow the quantum superposition of his mass and arrive in a new space. He also uses this tech to damage or destabilize his enemies. His powers manifest by a cloud of black particles.
- Powers: Flies along many min-jumps of his molecular “shunting”. About five times per day, he can shunt his body much longer distances before needed to recharge the device he straps to his chest. He also shoots a damaging OR weakening blast.
- Source: Parascientist
- History: Leeroy Pierce was a regular Quantum Physicist who loved science and his imagined future career. When working in University, he was able to successfully observe Quantum Superposition. But to his devastating dismay, was able to get large, complicated molecules to perform this feat easily, in an observable fashion. He was ratted out by the colleague working with him, and he was registered as a parascientist and could no longer work in his field. After the incident with the Walrus, he jumped at the new opportunity to practice non-repeatable science and be an example of responsible use of parascientific powers. He is now sponsored by a wealthy friend from his college days, and his lab is heavily monitored lest he use his tech beyond his own use as a vigilante.
Daisy (F) – Debuffing Martial Fighter (Skunk Mutt)
- Gist: Victim of the LA Mutt Pack experiments, appears as a skunk. Can spray an alchemical stink like her appearance implies, but her powers go far beyond, giving her many more options besides subduing others by an awful stench. She also has super-natural athletics like most Mutts and can put up her dukes.
- Powers: An Olfactory Factory that dazes, impairs, weakens toughness OR weakens strength. Close-combat, danger sense, unageing.
- Source: Super-soldier (Mutt)
- History: She spent three years in the yards before the Mutts went public and tried to live a normal life when they did. After the events with the Walrus (whom she met and hated as much as any other Mutt), she decided to see if her powers could be put to better use. She ended up loving the thrill of crime-fighting and being a public figure, even though many days in this work are unexciting. She now keeps up her fur and appearance meticulously and tries to make her animalistic nature a feature rather than merely a problem.
Incandescent (M) – Martial Fighter w Explosions & Flight
- Gist: Mutant with the ability to affect his own alchemical state in specific ways. Can make his skin harder than steel and supplement his attacks with insane heat.
- Powers: Martial fighting enhanced by heat-based damage. Can cause an explosive heatwave centered from his body several times per day. Summons armored skin, can daze by touch.
- Source: Mutant
- History: Tyler Fitzroy was a typical construction worker who found himself in a serious car accident on the way to work one day. While unconscious in his wrecked car, the stress activated his powers, causing him to unintentionally make his vehicle explode, severely injuring the other driver. She was unable to sue him for damages due to the accidental use of his powers. Now he works with a vigilante team these powers for good, and to supplement his income so he can assist the woman who was disastrously injured.
Metal (F) – Super-Resilient Martial Powerhouse
- Gist: Was the victim of an extreme experiment when kidnapped abroad. They transformed her skeleton to fuse with a parascience alloy and grafted bio-engineered organs inside her newly indestructible ribcage that helps her regenerate and come back from almost any injury.
- Source: Super-soldier
- History: While vacationing in South America, Ellen Carter she was kidnapped and forced to participate in a super-soldier experiment. When the attempt to give her powers proved successful, she was able to escape due to human error in their security. The GCC then rescued her from the project’s pursuers, and with her help rescued a handful of other remaining survivors. When she returned to the United States, she was observed by the GCC like any other altered person and deemed stable and safe enough to continue a public life and work as a vigilante. She claims to have an undiagnosed personality disorder, but secretly believes her subdued personality originates from the excruciating experiments. She found that the GCC seemed less likely to fear her or discriminate against her if this condition was a preexisting one. Despite not displaying emotions neurotypically, she enjoys helping others and doesn’t seem cut out for a lot of other work.
Gravitas (M) – Gravity Bending Flyer and Shooter
- Gist: Mutant that can use gravity powers to fly and punch from a distance. Also can grab or otherwise place an oppressive weight on others at a distance.
- Source: Mutant
- Powers: Gravity punch/push, grab at range, oppressive area affect at range, flight
- History: Jim Jennings is a basic guy that literally flew into the air after his first kiss. After being evaluated by the GCC, his powers were thankfully well under control and not too dangerous to the world at large. He and his supportive parents moved out to LA where he continued the family business of maintaining and repairing old ground-cars. When his partner received a near-fatal injury due to an incident with an altered person, he decided to become a full-time vigilante instead.
Azi (Azalea) (F) – Super Strong Powerhouse
- Gist: Super strong, stocky woman whose powers come from pure strength and toughness.
- Source: Mutant
- Powers: Super Strength, Super resilience (tough and radiation immune), Leaping
- History: Azi was a long-distance trucker in a past life, but her powers awakened one day while vomiting after a heavy night of drinking. After being evaluated by the GCC, she was deemed too powerful to retain her old life, but safe enough to live in a sponsor zone. Luckily, her partner was willing to move with her to Los Angeles, where boredom and a desire for improved healthcare got her into vigilante work (she also has improved opportunities for travel as a vigilante). She now enjoys fighting the good fight, even though she was a little hesitant to fight for the GCC. She thinks she would like to move to other sponsor zones someday, if her partner is willing.
Luckman (M) – Fighter w Time Slowing Powers/Luck
- Gist: Protected by a Forcefield that slows objects and combatants around him. Unfortunately, his shield is less useful against beam weapons. He also is lucky, a power he is unaware of.
- Source: Mutant
- Powers: Slows combatants/projectiles around him. Luck. Martially trained and wears a cool jacket that makes up for some of the vulnerability to beam weapons.
- History: Frank Alvarez came into his power after coming out to his parents (he is either gay or has some other secret the player is comfortable with). He is cynical about the GCC, and while he fought for the GCC since before the Walrus days, he has become more of a believer since the event. He cares about his image and costume for his own sake and wears one of his own design.
Battle-Kate (F) – Armored Super Suit
- Gist: Flying suit of armor that goes shootie and is pretty safe and cushy
- Source: Parascientist
- Powers: Armored, flying suit that can go near-indefinitely as long as it is occasionally charged. The kinetic force from her battery powers ranged attacks and other feats
- History: As the GCC loosened restrictions after the Walrus incident, being a law-abiding, registered parascientist finally paid off for Katelyn Collymore. She was able to continue her research into her specialty, a ridiculously long lasting-battery. She was able to modify this technology to fashion a long-range kinetic blast that wasn’t too deadly, and with some modifications could incapacitate people or electronics. She had to borrow from other parascientist designs to complete a suit, which is naturally less impressive than the work linked to her specialty. She enjoys tinkering with her work and is not too involved in the politics of being a “Mad” unless it affects her personally. While she has a good heart, in some ways, to her being a vigilante is the equivalent of playing a game like robot-wars. She wants to make the best suit she can and see it work in the field!