Character Name: Owen Osborne Alternate I.D.: n/a Side: Evil
Gender: Male Height: 5'4” Weight: 130 lbs Age: 76
Physical Description: A short, somewhat frail-looking elderly man, with gray hair and brown eyes. He favors slacks and denim shirts. He does not wear any sort of costume, feeling that he is “too old for such foolishness.”
STR: 25 END: 9 INT: 15 AGL: 23 CHA: 16
Level: 2nd XP: 2,108 Basic Hits: 3 Hit Points: 16 Healing Rate: 0.75/day
Movement: 57” Power: 72 Carrying Capacity: 1,074 lbs HTH Damage: 1d10
Damage Modifier: +3 Accuracy: +4 Detect Hidden: 12% Detect Danger: 16%
Inventing Points: 3.0 Inventing: 45% Reaction Modifier: -2 good/+2 evil
Training: Agility
Powers/Talents
Absorption (powers/talents, knowledge/memories) – Owen automatically absorbs any powers, talents, knowledge, and memories of anyone he kills with his Death Touch power, permanently. Attribute bonuses that are the result of natural training can not be absorbed, but Heightened Attribute bonuses that are the result of superpowers can be. If the same power is absorbed more than once, the effects do not stack, but rather he uses the better of the two powers, if there is any difference between them. Combat bonuses like Heightened Defense and Heightened Expertise can be absorbed.
Death Touch
*Darkness Control (darkness 18” sphere, max range 69”, PR = 2)
*Heightened AGL B: +15
*Heightened Expertise: +4 to hit will all weapons (including HTH)
*Heightened Senses (see in darkness)
*Heightened Senses (keen sense of smell, x5 to detect rolls if smell/scent is a factor)
*Heightened STR B: +18
*Invulnerability: 17 pts
*Natural Weaponry (martial arts knowledge, +3 to hit, +6 to damage)
*Paralysis Ray
*Teleportation (PR = 6, only teleport to and from areas of total darkness)
Areas of Knowledge
Medical, Law Enforcement, Occult, *Agriculture, *Astronomy, *Bureaucracy, *Business, *Commercial Art, *Crime, *Education, *Journalism, *Legal, *Military, *Philosophy, *Psychology
*represents powers, talents, and areas of knowledge Absorbed via Death Touch
Notes
The spirits of those slain by Owen's Death Touch can not be contacted via standard magical means – part of their souls are being held prisoner by Owen's absorption of their primal essences, and will not be freed until Owen is slain, or the dark pact that grants him power is somehow negated.
Drawbacks
If the number of personalities absorbed via Death Touch exceed Owen's Charisma score, then the most dominant personality absorbed (i.e. has the highest Charisma score) has a chance of temporarily taking control of Owen's body (% roll vs the personality's CHR score to temporarily take over). This can occur any time a new personality is absorbed, and also during times of physical shock (stunned, knocked unconscious, etc). Owen can then make a % roll against his CHR once per round to regain control. Owen has currently killed/absorbed 8 personalities into himself (and is currently unaware of this limitation).
Character Notes/Origin/Personality: Owen was a bitter old man. His wife had passed away several years ago, and his children (and grandchildren) had little to do with him these days. He was long since retired, having served over four decades as a forensics expert for the F.B.I. As the weight of mortality began to bear down on him, he started searching for ways that death might be delayed, if not staved off entirely. Traditional religion had little appeal for him, but exploring darker faiths proved surprisingly stimulating for Owen.
In time, Owen summoned up what might be termed a demon, which made Owen an offer of no small interest. The demon would grant Owen the ability to kill with a touch, and as long as Owen would do so once every 28 days, then any further effects of age would be halted. However, if Owen ever failed to kill with his deadly touch within the 28 day span, then his life and his soul would be forfeit. Owen agreed.
Knowing from his days in forensics the sort of mistakes that usually got killers arrested, Owen picked his first target with great care, a homeless man than nobody would miss. When he did the dark deed, Owen had two surprises in store for him. The first was that a pale impression of his hand was left on the body of the corpse. The other, more importantly, was that Owen had absorbed the knowledge and memories of the slain man.
This changed things considerably. Over the next several months, Owen began picking targets with skills and knowledge that he coveted (most notably combat skills), or otherwise found of interest. He did a pretty good job of disposing of the bodies, but eventually two of the corpses with the pale handprints were discovered. CHESS began to quietly investigate what appeared to be a superpowered serial killer in the Texarkana area.
One of the men that Owen killed had criminal connections to the supervillain known as Onyx. Using his knowledge that he had gained, Owen approached the villain in his civilian identity. The villain had no reason to fear the elderly looking man, and was surprised to find his life slipping away from him as the two shook hands. Owen was delighted to find out that not only did he absorb the man's memories and knowledge (including the whereabouts of a hidden cache of stolen loot), but he had also absorbed Onyx's super powers (Darkness Control, Heightened Senses (see in darkness), Paralysis Ray, and Teleportation) as well.
This expanded Owen's activities even further. Now he was no longer limited to the Texarkana area, but could teleport to anywhere that any of his absorbed personalities had been to previously. Owen's next target was a solo superheroine in the Houston area called Pitbull. Owen managed to fake a partial building collapse, and when Pitbull came in to free him from the wreckage, Owen immobilized her with a paralyzing ray of darkness. He then calmly went over to the unmoving hero and killed her, absorbing her powers (Heightened AGL, Heightened Senses (keen sense of smell), Heightened STR, and Invulnerability) and memories.
Owen has a laundry list of powers he wishes to absorb, and is choosing his next targets accordingly. The main powers he covets include disintegration (the better to get rid of evidence), illusioncasting, invisibility, mind control, non-corporealness, regeneration, and telepathy. Above all, anyone who seems to be immune to the ravages of age would be a primary target. However, he will avoid anyone with a non-human appearance (he's not certain if he would absorb that, as well). Aliens would also be avoided (not certain if his power would work on them, or if their kills would count against his dark pact), as well as those who are known to have gotten their abilities through supernatural means. He would prefer to target solo superhumans, but the right combination of desired powers may well tempt him into attacking a member of a supergroup. Of course, once he has taken his target, he may well use his stolen memories of the slain to attack the rest of the team while they are at their weakest.
Campaign Use: Owen is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans, and is smart enough and deadly enough to get away with it. Played properly, he should be the stuff of nightmares. His only real weakness at this point is his relative lack of experience, but as he gets more kills (and more powers) his danger will grow exponentially. He will always try to attack a target when they are at their most vulnerable.
Any PC with friendly ties to CHESS will probably be quietly alerted about the “death hand killer” (CHESS is hoping to avoid a panic among the general public, and is hoping to deal with the matter as quietly as possible). A solo hero (or villain) with ties to the PCs may fall prey to Owen's touch, prompting an investigation. Of course, if one or more PCs have powers that Owen finds desirable, then they themselves may find themselves the target of Owen's attacks.
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