The Conversion Files: Superman

[Morfedel]

As per Shane's request, I'm going to take the stats of some well known superheroes from other media, and particularly from their stats in official games that represent them, and stat them out here for Wild Talents.

This Conversion File converts Superman from DC Heroes to Wild Talents.

First, an explanation of Superman's stats as they appear in DC Heroes:

Superman's Strength, in DC Heroes terms, is 25; this is listed as "Titan Level Prowess (25-27 range) and capable of lifting 800,000 tons. He can throw a nuclear aircraft carrier weighing 50,000 tons 150 feet.

His body stat is 18, with the narrative description of being virtually indestructable, capable of withstanding highly charged plasma beams and direct hits from demolition bombs. Additionally, he has the additional defenses of Invulnerability 22, Systemic Antidote 18, and Sealed Systems 11. Invulnerability is an odd power that allows a hero reduced to 0 or less body to make a check to be at above zero body, in essence representing someone is damned hard to bring down; systemic antidote is specifically heightened resistance to chemical attacks, toxins, and diseases, while Sealed Sysems, while providing limited ability to travel anywhere wityhout breathing, also provides defense against such things as gas attacks.

His Dexterity is a 15, interpreted as the ability to dodge laser fire, and to catch bullets and arrows in midair; his intelligence is an 11, compared to someone who is the leading authority in the world on particular subject; his force of will is at 20, defined as someone who dominates situations that could have planetary repercussions, and a mind of 15, accustomed to dealing with alien phenomena and handling stress equivalent to the weight of the world in stride.

His influence is a 10, having a personality strong enough to attract the attention of leaders of many separate nations, his aura is a 20, giving him a strength of personality to walk amongst the gods as near-equals, and his spirit is a 10, capable of withstanding even the blackest of life experiences unaltered and withstand the spiritual assaults of an experienced sorcerer.

For powers aside from what I've already mentioned above:

He has super breath 12, which is strong enough to rupture a steel wall and move around 50 tons; super hearing 8 (can hear something a quarter mile away as if it was adjacent to him), super speed 11 (tasks that would take 2 hours long take instead a few seconds), Telescopic Vision 13 (things 8 miles away seem as if adjacent), Thermal Vision 13 (seeing people's heat signatures), Flight 18 (can fly from the earth to the moon in 1 hour), Heat Vision 15 (a thermal blast that can cut through titanium with little real effort), Microscopic Vision 15, and XRay vision 13. He also has Recall 20. Finally, he has Directional Hearing 8, and a handful of meager skills.

So, how do we interpret this in Wild Talents? Well, first of all, one needs to realize that Wild Talents and DC Heroes scales differently. DC Heroes uses an engine calld MEGS (Mayfair's Exponential Game System), something that's darned cool; each factor not only of a character is rated in APs, and each AP is double that of the previous. Also, everything is rated in APs; not just stats, but time, distance, weight, volume, even information.

Wild Talents doesn't scale quite so monstrously as DC Heroes does, so a few liberties will be taken. Additionally, since 10 dice are the maximum, and we don't want to just give someone 10 wiggle dice in something, a few liberties will have to be taken for playability.

However, considering that we have all read comics where superman has fought foes without just blowing them out of the water who were inferior - heck Batman beat him once! - I think we can say that Superman, and all other superheroes, are not 10 wiggle dice critters.

IMHO.

Anyway... so, on to Superman.

Archetype: Alien (total: 23)
Source: Extraterrestrial
Permission: Super
Intrinsics: Resilient, Allergy (Kryptonite; rare, kills, -2)

First, his stats:
Body: 7d+3WD
16 levels Booster for Weight Capacity (can lift 800,000 tons, throw 100,000 tons a distance of 10 yards); the 3 WD... he's darned good. Really darned good; but he doesn't score exactly what he wants every single time (though usually against another villain, using the too many tens rule)l he also has 30 levels of deadly; the first 10 for +10 stun, the other 20 for +10 killing. When he hits, he hits HARD!
Brains - 6d
he isn't lex luthor but he's no slouch, and he has a photographic memory (represented by the Recall power); so I gave him 6d in brains; no wiggle, as again he isnt a super scientist, but he's darned clever and smart.
Command - 6d+1wd
As represented by various aspects of several stats above, Superman command respect upon entering a room. He doesn't get in the habit of barking commands, but he usually doesn't have to. When he chooses to really use his aura of command, though, people listen. In other words, he doesn't TAKE COMMAND, he just does what he thinks is right, and people tend to follow him.
Cool - 5d+2wd
Superman is not immune to pain - just expose him to kryptonite. But he is very cool under pressure, and it takes a lot to shake him.
Coordination - 6d+3wd
Superman is capable of catching sight of laser fire and catch bullets in midair! his strength is a bit more impressive than his dexterity, but that isn't something to shake a stick at!
Sense - 7d+3wd
Superman has a large number of superhuman senses, and even his "non-power" senses are superhumanly attuned.

I can imagine many people howling at these stats, but look at the narratives on their description, compared to what he does; Cool at 8d says you are immune to pain, but the few times he has been hurt, as with kryptonite, he shows himself quite vulnerable to pain. The trick is getting through that hide of his to make him feel it! That's just one example, but using the narratives of each stat level can help guide the number of dice, then use hard and wiggle dice to sculpt is extraordinary skills with each power. Someone with 2+wiggle dice in cool, for instance, is gonna be darned hard to shake even if he does have only 7 dice since he can't ignore pain completely.

Now, on to his powers:

Flight - ADRU, Maxed, 8d+2wd, +8 levels booster for speed
Superman can fly at 256,000 miles per hour. He is also a very capable flyer, though there are some more agile.
Heat Vision - 7d+3wd, Burn extra
Well, superman is SO fast and SO strong I have always wondered why he has heat vision, other than to do some things like spot welding, especially since his heat vision hs weaker than his raw physical strength. However, he has it, so here it is.
Immunity [Universal x2, not against magical effects -2, not against nonphysical assaults -4] - 10 levels
Superman's powers are largely ineffective against magical assaults and anything that attacks the mind or spirit, but otherwise he can survive virtually any environment or attack conceivable.
Super Breath - 5d+2wd
Weaker than his heat vision, he often uses this to do things like blow out fires.
Multitasking - Automatic (no willpower cost x2) 10 levels
Superman is one of the fastest beings alive.
Go First - Attached to Multitasking -2, 10 levels
Superman is one of the fastest beings alive.
XRay Vision (Perceive XRays, -4/8/16) - 8d+2wd
Thermal Vision (perceive heat) - +0 - 8d+2wd
Ultra/Subsonic Hearing (perceive sub and ultrasonics, frequent -1/2/4) - 8d+2wd
Telescopic Vision (booster to sight distance @ 3 pts/level): 11 levels (equivalent to 6 miles closer)
Extended Hearing (booser to hearing distance @ 3 pts/level) 8 levels
Microscopic Vision (Perceive really small things -4/8/16 ) - 8d+2wd
Indomitable Will - 10 levels
Superman has faced threats that have broken entire planets, without losing resolve
Second Chance - 10 levels. I mean, come on... this is SUPERMAN here!
+69 base will
+3 current willpower
Base Will: 83
Current Will - 86+, probably much more.

Wealth: 5d

Total Points: 2000, and not one power at 10wd. Lots of powers with lots of dice and two to three wiggle dice. These stats don't quite exactly match DC Heroes's versions, but these two games don't have an easily defined 1-to-1 relationship, so some "best judgement" calls had to be made.

Why so much base will? Well, 1. I wanted a nice whole round number, and 2. this guy is superman!

[Shane Ivey]

Very cool. Thank you!

Off the top of my head, he might need more Deadly and Penetration in Body and Heat Vision. Compare his average damage with some inanimate objects described in the WT book. How long does it take him to, say, demolish a tank or a bank vault in a representative comic (or in the source game if you're sticking with a conversion)? What kind of damage does he need to inflict in WT to represent that?

[Morfedel]

Very cool. Thank you!

Off the top of my head, he might need more Deadly and Penetration in Body and Heat Vision. Compare his average damage with some inanimate objects described in the WT book. How long does it take him to, say, demolish a tank or a bank vault in a representative comic (or in the source game if you're sticking with a conversion)? What kind of damage does he need to inflict in WT to represent that?

You could well be right; When I amped up Booster to 16 levels, I figured a net 16 levels of effect (+8 stun and +8 killing) would be about right. So I probably do need to amp up deadly and add the penetration as you say.

I'll look it over.

[Morfedel]

Ok, I went and did a comparison. Superman would destroy a tank in one hit... with a marginally better than average die roll. So, let's see:

Let's say Superman did a called shot on one location of his choice, with his remaining 7 dice of body; he rolls, gets one set, plus his 3 wiggle, equals a width of 5, in both killing and stun damage. With +8 in each, that's 13 stun and 13 killing. A tank has 10 body in each hit location and 8 hard armor; so, assuming the called shot was in its most important hit location, and assuming that its the most critical location, then... he would do 6 stun and 6 killing; yeah, its not QUITE enough as that would leave him with two boxes with stun only in it.

So, I'd say that bumping up his deadly levels about 2 to 4 levels. Call it 2 each, for a total +10 stun, +10 killing, and he should demolish a tank with one shot, which is just barely in his abiltiy.

(I know... saying he can ONLY destroy a tank with ONE hit... hehe )

However, in the meantime I was looking at some other items. One of them was that he could survive a bunker breaker bomb. That does width +10 in killing and stun, though, and he only has 5 levels immunity. So, I'd bump that up to 10. He can still be harmed by purely mental or spiritual attacks, but against physical attacks, he is nigh invulnerable.

And combine that with Second Chance, he can even survive a nuclear bomb, as seen in The Dark Knight Returns.

So, adding 6 levels of deadly for +2 stun and +2 killing, and +5 to immunity, make him a bit better?

(BTW, editing his character sheet above to match this as soon as I post this)

EDIT: Ok, I added in more deadly to his body, more levels to immunity. Now just need to decide about heat vision. Frankly, other than spot welding things, I never understood why he needed it, as he can run and punch things harder and faster than his heat vision can nail things. Just the causing the heat thing seemed to be all he needed, which is why I left it a bit more modest.

So, you think his heat vision should have penetration, eh?

[vitae_drinker]

Instead of having 20+ levels of Deadly, why not just give him some levels of penetration related to his body?

[Morfedel]

That works too

[UnlikelyLass]

Maybe this is just me, but shouldn't Superman have "No Upper Limit' on his Body?

In terms of the utility of Heat Vision, several things occur to me:

1) It functions at range.

2) Depending on which version of 'cannon' you accept, it's not necessarily really obvious/visible to people around him that he's using it.

3) It lets him weld metal closed!

4) He can pull punches. Heat vision is pretty much always lethal, so he only uses it against robots and people like Darkseid, whom he knows can take the punishment. IMHO, anyway. I personally wouldn't make it less powerful than his strength -- I'd make it more deadly, personally, and therefore less used by the more or less 'code against killing' Superman.

Of course, this is just me. Personally, how Wonder Woman manages to read any of the gauges on the control panel fo the invisible jet always puzzled me much more, particluarly considering how it was depicted in the Superfriends.

Shrug.

[Morfedel]

LOL!

Well, the DC Heroes RPG has his heat vision as weaker - and significantly so. As for No Upper Limit, I don't know... the Hulk clearly has this, but this hasn't been really shown with him. However, narrative views could certainly be argued.