Just got the full Beta and had some thoughts on Various character write-ups. For reference I have read all of the main series, the first Volume of Guarding the Globe, the Atom Eve and Atom Eve/Rex Splode miniseries, and the Invincible Handbook. I have not read any Capes, Brit, Tech Jacket, or Wolf-Man.
Atom Eve:
I kind of thought Eve would be smarter. I suppose her talent covers what she’s really smart about, and most of the series she just seems above average intelligence. But her mini-series makes her out to be absolutely brilliant.
Dinosaurus:
I really like his write-up, but I just read his fight against Thragg again. This is probably just the game, and others have mentioned Omni-Man getting injured but minions with guns in other posts, but the game does not represent Strength 9 Dinosaurus attacking Thragg and losing his claws and teeth leaving Thragg completely unharmed.
The Immortal:
I don’t know that we’ve ever seen indication that he has interstellar flight, but I guess I buy it.
Invincible (and other Viltrumites):
The comics, and subsequently the show, seem torn as to wether Mark is actually vulnerable to loud sonics like Venom or if this is simply a thing that would effect anyone who could fly by similar means as Viltrumites. Mark (and others) are not written with any sort of weakness. However, Cecil does have an Affliction device. Is this the game’s way of handling such occasions that Cecil is able to hurt Mark with sonics.
Kid Omni-Man:
Oliver is the one that stood out to me the most. He is entirely too weak. I know the write-up states it’s as of getting his first costume (issue 51), but Strength 5? The same as Duplicate? I know he advances in power quickly, but let’s look at what he’s able to do. In Issue 51 he gets his costume and has a skirmish with Kursk and The Furnace and does all right. But in Issue 52 he kills the Maulers. He punches through one of their heads, and flies through the other’s torso. With the same Strength as Dupli-Kate. I’m not knocking Kate, being near peak human makes total sense for her training. Strength 5 says you can lift 800 lbs, I read that like max-human potential Captain America Strength. About Strength 6 in the old Marvel FASERIP which I know is an inspiration for this game. In Issue 60 he is overmatched, but survives his encounters with alternate Marks and Angstrom. Bulletproof looks to be taken out of that last fight, but Oliver gets back up after the same attack. In Issues 62 and 63 he is in the fight against Conquest and makes a decent contribution. He’s able to knock Conquest to the ground. He takes several shots, losing teeth and having an arm messed up, But Eve has he face smashed in by a single punch from Conquest once her barrier’s are down. So this write-up is either underpowered or only applies for Issue 51 and we are to assume he had a pretty significant power bump in Issue 52 before facing The Maulers.
Rex Splode:
On the subject of Strength, Rex only has a 4 despite being given increased strength by the Government. Again, Kate has a 5. Brit has a 5. If it was me I would give Rex a 5 and Kate a 4, or maybe both have 4s.
Robot:
I don’t remember ever seeing a Robot form fly. Usually he flies by riding his sky-cycle.
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- BadEyeAdam
- Posts: 71
- Joined:
Re: Character Thoughts
Hello!Just got the full Beta and had some thoughts on Various character write-ups. For reference I have read all of the main series, the first Volume of Guarding the Globe, the Atom Eve and Atom Eve/Rex Splode miniseries, and the Invincible Handbook. I have not read any Capes, Brit, Tech Jacket, or Wolf-Man.
Atom Eve:
I kind of thought Eve would be smarter. I suppose her talent covers what she’s really smart about, and most of the series she just seems above average intelligence. But her mini-series makes her out to be absolutely brilliant.
Dinosaurus:
I really like his write-up, but I just read his fight against Thragg again. This is probably just the game, and others have mentioned Omni-Man getting injured but minions with guns in other posts, but the game does not represent Strength 9 Dinosaurus attacking Thragg and losing his claws and teeth leaving Thragg completely unharmed.
The Immortal:
I don’t know that we’ve ever seen indication that he has interstellar flight, but I guess I buy it.
Invincible (and other Viltrumites):
The comics, and subsequently the show, seem torn as to wether Mark is actually vulnerable to loud sonics like Venom or if this is simply a thing that would effect anyone who could fly by similar means as Viltrumites. Mark (and others) are not written with any sort of weakness. However, Cecil does have an Affliction device. Is this the game’s way of handling such occasions that Cecil is able to hurt Mark with sonics.
Kid Omni-Man:
Oliver is the one that stood out to me the most. He is entirely too weak. I know the write-up states it’s as of getting his first costume (issue 51), but Strength 5? The same as Duplicate? I know he advances in power quickly, but let’s look at what he’s able to do. In Issue 51 he gets his costume and has a skirmish with Kursk and The Furnace and does all right. But in Issue 52 he kills the Maulers. He punches through one of their heads, and flies through the other’s torso. With the same Strength as Dupli-Kate. I’m not knocking Kate, being near peak human makes total sense for her training. Strength 5 says you can lift 800 lbs, I read that like max-human potential Captain America Strength. About Strength 6 in the old Marvel FASERIP which I know is an inspiration for this game. In Issue 60 he is overmatched, but survives his encounters with alternate Marks and Angstrom. Bulletproof looks to be taken out of that last fight, but Oliver gets back up after the same attack. In Issues 62 and 63 he is in the fight against Conquest and makes a decent contribution. He’s able to knock Conquest to the ground. He takes several shots, losing teeth and having an arm messed up, But Eve has he face smashed in by a single punch from Conquest once her barrier’s are down. So this write-up is either underpowered or only applies for Issue 51 and we are to assume he had a pretty significant power bump in Issue 52 before facing The Maulers.
Rex Splode:
On the subject of Strength, Rex only has a 4 despite being given increased strength by the Government. Again, Kate has a 5. Brit has a 5. If it was me I would give Rex a 5 and Kate a 4, or maybe both have 4s.
Robot:
I don’t remember ever seeing a Robot form fly. Usually he flies by riding his sky-cycle.
While I don't have time for an in-depth reply at the moment, I will share a few tidbits.
First off, it is important to note that the Official Handbook of the Invincible Universe is not considered canon by Skybound. It is more like apocrypha.
Another key thing is that the write-ups in chapter 8 are intentionally a snapshot and provided from the point of view of what is generally or publicly "known" about the characters, hence the change of the section titles to "Known Powers," etc. It doesn't mean that everything about the character is included, and many things would be included in later write-ups - like the Viltrumite equilibrium weakness. The TSR Marvel game took a similar approach with their profiles because of similar reasons.
This would be the primary explanation behind where Oliver's statistics are right at the beginning, because little to nothing was known about him at that time. When he gets stats at (even a slightly) later time in his career, he will certainly be more powerful.
As for Rex's strength, that is in line with how Skybound positions him in the comics (since the Handbook isn't gospel). It's also important to note that attribute scores take in the totality of a character's powers and context - Dupli-Kate's slightly higher strength actually represents her ability to use her duplicates to apply more leverage to lift and apply force.
While some of Robot's drones do not possess it, he certainly has access to drones that can fly, so his profile provides that power as a snapshot. But you and your group can tweak it to match a different automaton if you would like to.
That same principle applies across the board - the profiles in the core rulebook are snapshots that are meant to be a bit broader. Future supplements will progress the characters and provide more specificity based on the context. If you are a big fan of the comics and want to go deeper with specific characters in the meantime , you should feel free to do so for your group.
Thanks!
Co-Creator of Free League Unbound | Writer / Designer for Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying
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- Talison
- Posts: 3
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Re: Character Thoughts
Cool. I really wasn’t referencing the Handbook that I could specifically think of.
However the Handbook is the only place where I’ve read that Bulletproof’s powers have damage absorption that I can remember. I’ve not read all of Guarding the Globe/Invincible Universe and I’m just about to re-read his actual origin. But when I saw the absorption in the test play rules I thought “Huh?” Then looked at the Handbook and thought “Oh, OK”.
I get the comparison to the old Marvel stuff. I still think Oliver should be written a bit stronger. If his write-up covers less than an issue of the comics it’s not very useful.
Everything else was just commenting on what I remembered. I know that there won’t be a universally agreed upon version of any given character. That’s the fun of Comics.
However the Handbook is the only place where I’ve read that Bulletproof’s powers have damage absorption that I can remember. I’ve not read all of Guarding the Globe/Invincible Universe and I’m just about to re-read his actual origin. But when I saw the absorption in the test play rules I thought “Huh?” Then looked at the Handbook and thought “Oh, OK”.
I get the comparison to the old Marvel stuff. I still think Oliver should be written a bit stronger. If his write-up covers less than an issue of the comics it’s not very useful.
Everything else was just commenting on what I remembered. I know that there won’t be a universally agreed upon version of any given character. That’s the fun of Comics.
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