Heroes Unlimited: World's Strongest 8

Previously on Worlds Strongest:
Impact, The Alien Renegade
Calamity, The Cybernetic Sniper
Megaton, Friendly Neighborhood Nuclear Warhead
The Whirlwind, a Fusillade of Fisticuffs
Car Mage, The Wizard of Wheels
Night Sheriff, The Sheriff of Shadows
Hammer of Heaven, The Daring Demon Hunter

Today we will be digging into the only true spell casting type in Heroes Unlimited.A few other types can cast some spells, but this is the only one that exclusively uses spells. Spell casting in standard Palladium rules is kind of difficult to pull off. It takes several actions and even the slightest damage causes the spell to fail. So if you opponents get initiative it is pretty much over for a caster, unless they got friends who can draw aggro. For that reason I am fan of the Channeling rules in Rifter 21, or in the Best of the Rifter Compilation. It lets you start out casting low level stuff quick and higher level stuff slower, but as time moves on you can do more and more. It can make things too powerful for a grittier or more grounded game, but in a supers game it make sense that a wizard would be able to do really impressive stuff at higher levels. that little tangent aside lets dig into...

Mystic Study

Step 1: Attributes
Here is a funny thing about magic users in Palladium games. The most important attribute for them is Physical Endurance. The tougher you are the more magical power you have. I guess it could work on the ideas of Ki, where spiritual power is based on physical power. It is funny though, the idea that at wizard's school PE is one of the most important classes. Just a silly thought I had.

Step 2: Pick Mystic Hero Type
For this one we will be using the rules for Mystic Study, basically a fully trained Wizard. This is more scholastic than other magically gifted heroes. They are given powers by outside powers, but this type gains his magic abilities through study and practice. This is a very Harry Potter type hero. So lets have some fun. This type of hero has a bunch of abilities that all Mystic Study types get as well as a selection of spells. Lets get digging. I see this character a a bit of a magical prodigy who graduated from magic school early and is now travelling the world and seeing as much of it as he can.

Mystic Study Natural Abilities
Astral Projection
Familiar Link
Sense Enchantment
Sense Supernatural Evil
Sense Magic
Special Skills
Spell Translation, Demons and Monsters, Geomancy, Religion, Archeology, Chemistry, Holistic Medicine

Spells
Blinding Flash(1), Cloud of Smoke(2), Globe of Daylight(2), See Invisible(4), Befuddle(6), Darkness(6), Levitation(5), Mystic Alarm(5), Armor of Ithan(10), Breath Without Air(5), Negate Poison/Toxin(5), Paralysis: Lesser(5), Carpet of Adhesion(10), Energy Field(10), Multiple Image(7), Swim as Fish: Minor(6), Fly as the Eagle(25), Eyes of Toth(8), Call Lightning(15), Fire Fist(15), Tongues(12), Globe of Silence(20), Metamorphosis: Animal(25), Mystic Portal(60)

Step 3: Skills
As this character is supposed to be a trained magic user I think it would be cool to have a sort of magic college that potential wizards go to for training, a little bit like Brakebills from Lev Grossman's The Magicians. So I think he would have something like the magic equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree. As it is a magic school training endurance is important so the Physical Skill Program is key, also Journalist program would be useful for research and writing scholarly papers on magical theory. he does a lot of travelling so I think he should take the Language program. Finally wilderness survival would fit that mode as well.

Physical Program
Boxing+1 Attack, +2 Parry and dodge, +1 roll w/punch, +2 PS, +10 SDC
Gymnastics+2 roll w/punch, +2 PS, +1 PP, +2 PE, +7 SDC
Acrobatics+2 roll w/punch, +1 PS, +1 PP, +1 PE, +3 SDC)
Wrestling+1 Roll w/punch, +2 PS, +1 PE, +13 SDC

Journalist Program
Computer Operation
Research
Photography
Writing
Language Program
Chinese
Spanish
Hindi
Elven
Wilderness Program
Wilderness Survival
Land Navigation
Carpentry
Hunting
Track Animals
Secondary Skills
Hand To Hand: Martial Arts +2 attacks/melee; +3 roll with punch/fall;+2 initiative; +3 pull punch
Running +1 PE; +10 spd; +3 SDC
Athletics +1 Parry/Dodge; +1 roll with punch/fall; +1 PS; +3 Speed; +5 SDC
Prowl
Climb
Swim
Language: Russian
Cooking

Step 4: Finishing Touches
Alrighty now we got all of that sorted, time to finish it up, calculate HP, SDC, and PPE. Also we have a bit of back story set up. Our hero was at a prestigious magic school and graduated early, now he travels the world seeking knowledge and new experiences. It has been one long party for the last year of travel. Sometimes he helps out the people he meets, or takes out a villain trying to do something bad. He is a bit of a hedonist, but basically a goodly sort.

Name: Marko Salazar
Super Identity: The Wanderer
Alignment: Anarchist

IQ: 11
ME: 11
MA: 11
PS: 19
PP: 13
PE: 16
PB: 11
Spd: 24

HP: 19
SDC: 71
PPE: 86

Skills
Boxing; Gymnastics; Acrobatics; Wrestling; Computer Operation; Research; Photography; Writing; Language: Chinese; Language: Spanish; Language: Hindi; Language: Elven; Wilderness Survival; Land Navigation; Carpentry; Hunting; Track Animals; Hand To Hand: Martial Art; Running; Athletics; Prowl; Climb; Swim; Language: Russian; Cooking

Spells
Blinding Flash(1), Cloud of Smoke(2), Globe of Daylight(2), See Invisible(4), Befuddle(6), Darkness(6), Levitation(5), Mystic Alarm(5), Armor of Ithan(10), Breath Without Air(5), Negate Poison/Toxin(5), Paralysis: Lesser(5), Carpet of Adhesion(10), Energy Field(10), Multiple Image(7), Swim as Fish: Minor(6), Fly as the Eagle(25), Eyes of Toth(8), Call Lightning(15), Fire Fist(15), Tongues(12), Globe of Silence(20), Metamorphosis: Animal(25), Mystic Portal(60)

Growing up strange things always followed Marko. Odd phenomena and bizarre coincidences occurred with startling regularity. On his fourteenth birthday his grandmother came to him and told him of his family history with magic, and of the special school he would need to enter to become a true sorcerer. Shadow Academy sits in a mountain valley far away from normal human eyes, protected by powerful enchantments. Marko immediately fell in love with magic and had many crazy adventures at the Shadow Academy with his friends and rivals. He mastered magic and graduated far earlier than anyone else of his entrance year, and immediately set off on a tour of the world. His goal is to have fun, find out new magics, explore, and be the hero he always felt he was. Things were going great until just recently. When he got to Coast City he discovered a great many powerful spirits had been causing all sorts of problems. In trying to deal with them he ran into a woman who also fought the demons. She was the daughter of one of the Seven Sages, and wielded a powerful artifact of legend. She is very much the opposite of him, where he is easy going she is stern, where he goes with the flow she is direct and goal oriented. Marko finds her annoying, but she is immune to magic and has a great many useful books of demonology available, so now he helps her on her mission to remove these evil spirits.

Magic users are kind of tricky in this system, because they have a fair number of overpowered abilities but they are slow and not very good in combat with the bigger stuff. Now we are almost through the Magic heroes. All we have left is the Mystically Bestowed hero. You know your Captain Marvel types, and it is a pretty powerful class of hero. I will have a bunch of choices to make on the next one, just you wait and see.

Also you should check out my Kickstarter...

A Far Off Land

In this Fate RPG you take the roll of the Fated, Shapeshifting Demigods who seek to bring about or prevent the destruction of two worlds. It contains new magic systems and Factions Dynamics in play.