Supervillains/vidgelante team for Worm

[Sanctaphrax]

I like that backstory. Gives a normal person a reason to be a cape, and includes a good excuse for taking powers later.

[Tirs]

Actually, I don't understand this "racism" toward the normals. I mean, the most of Coil gung ARE normals - and even before the book's plot were started, they were strong enough to fight against E88, which included very much strong capes.
P.S. What about the name? I mean Flayer a quite old word, as I know, but I tried to find something intimidated.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's not much like racism. Nobody is saying normal people should be treated poorly or discriminated against.

But normal people in Worm are no smarter and no more skilled than capes are. It's not like DFRPG, where you lose Fate Points for taking Powers. Capes just get extra abilities, often ridiculously unfair ones, and pay nothing for them. (Well, they pay nothing that would make them worse at cape-ing. Powers are bad for your mental health, but not in a way that makes you less dangerous. Quite the opposite, actually.)

So you've gotta compare someone like Flayer to someone like Flayer who also shrugs off gunfire and punches through stone walls. It's really not a fair comparison.

As for the name, it sounds fine to me.

PS: Wearing a costume to fight or commit crime is a bit silly, really. It makes sense for the powered because there's a cultural expectation there. A non-powered person would need an exceptional reason.
PPS: Coil's gang was backed by Coil's extremely powerful power. They're not a normal person faction.

[Tirs]

I'm not so sure, that somebody ofUndercovers have Great Weapons and Superb Fists. But anyway - the point is The Flayer is leader and "brain" of gung, while the "fist" is Wendigo or Hummersmith.
P.S. About costume - actually, it's just uniform which is comfortable for fight/ Also, it has psyhological reason - even if his not a cape, he s till part of their world. And he actually considered himself as a crime fighter (still) and he wear it also for memory about father.
P.P.S. Yep, but they still dangerous with good equipment. Oni Lee can garantee that.

[Sanctaphrax]

Even in a leadership/thinking role, parahumans are better. Compare Flayer to Flayer plus Tattletale's power.

Normal people can accomplish things in Worm, but they'll never be as capable as capes are.

[Tirs]

The Wendigo
Main Aspect: Loyal
Problem aspect: There's only one Big wolf in Brockton Bay! (Hookwolf is personal arc nemesis)
Other aspects: I was born for fight, Problem child, I like city life
Skills
Superb: Endurance
Great: Alertness, Athletics,  Survival
Good: Intimidation, Might, Weaponry, Discipline, Fists, Driving
Fair: Schoolarship, Craftsmanship, Deceit, Presence
Average: Lore, Guns
Powers
-Echoes of the Beast [–1] (wolf)
-Beast change [–1]
Feeding affecting (meat) [+1]:
-Inhuman everything [-8]
Human form affecting [+2]:
-Beast change [–1]
-Supernatural everything [-16]
-Claws [-1]
Stunts
-Good Arm: Thrown weapons normally have a range of only one zone. With this stunt that range extends to two zones.
Backstory: Max Gray grew up in a small town in Alaska. By origin - Kri, although his family was completely assimilated and he never ever deeply understand his native culture. Still,  all of his childhood was spent in the woods and / or sea, and this was his trigger - during the hunt, he fell into a ravine and broke his leg. He was really scaried, that nobody will help him, and it was enough to run the hidden abilities. His first change turned him into big shapeless creature which instinctively came to the house and once again there has taken human form. The first thing he felt when I came, was brutal hunger...
It may sound funny, but for a normal life to the guy needed to eat a few pounds of meat per day. So almost all the family's finances were spent on something that literally feed the eldest son (Max has younger sister and brother). At the same time the guy learned to control his powers. He chose the image of a large wolf-like creatures, he became stronger and faster even in human form. Seeing that he has become a burden for the family, Max ran away from home. From early childhood, he was a confirmed bully, so the money for the bunkhouse and meat he earned fighting without rules, and one-off jobs. Wandering from place to place, he came to the Brockton Bay in the end. He take name Wendigo and begun work as a cape-villain. Soon, he met Hookwolf and there was fight between them. Wndigo had showed himself as a good and skilled fighter, but Hookwolf was more expirienced and won in those time. Only the intervention of Flayer (who deafened Hoookwolf by stun grenades) saved Max from the death. After Nick learned the story of Max, he develope the way to defeat hunger (special diet based on eating of plants with high animal protein, such as soy) and suggested to Wendigo work together...
Appearance:Large, mighty Native guy, who seems older than he is. Long hair usually pulled back in a ponytail. There is a couple of tatoos.
Costume is a gray-green, dark. Very wide trousers and ponchos strapped straps on the wrists, ankles and waist. The patterns traced Indian motifs. Mask in Native style, stylized wolf face. Usually he had two big machete-knives.

[AWorldWithoutShrimp]

As Sanctaphrax said, it's not really about racism, it's about the conventions of the Worm world. You pretty much need a Thinker or, failing that, a ton of really serious superpowered muscle to be seen as one of the city's strongest forces.  Even the most competent normal can't hold a candle to Skitter's unbelievable multitasking, Coil's risk management, or Tattletale's information-gathering and psychological warfare.

A standard comic book "normal" like Batman would be a Tinker in the Wormverse anyways given his ability to produce and/or manufacture a variety of bizarre and specific tools and weapons on demand, which leaves a true Wormverse normal with nothing but their wits and their guns. Wits will not suffice against a Thinker, and guns will not suffice against quite a few different kinds of capes.

If you're really determined, you can run with it, but you'll need to come up with a very compelling reason as to why this gang is taken seriously when they're headed up by, and taking orders from, a non-powered individual. In the eyes of the nastier types in Brockton Bay, not having powers makes you weak, and if you're a powered person taking orders from a normal, than to them you're weak too. Flayer's gonna need one hell of a rep. You might consider having him pass himself off as some kind of Thinker for appearances when in fact he's just a near-genius level intellect without the benefit of any special powers. This accomplishes your goal of retaining his normalcy while also granting a plausible reason for him to be taken seriously within the community, as well as a potential weakness and plot hook for PCs to explore and exploit. His parentage will also make establishing such a facade fairly easy for him. Keep him well away from Tattle, though! 

[Tirs]

Actually, they must be on the respect-level of Undercovers. I mean, they can't destroy E88 or ABB, but they must be strong enogh to keep their district.
About tons of superpower - Wendigo is quite strong and I want to "lift" others to his level. Flayer will be brain, cuz he clever and know 'cape' world very good (as well as laws). And, yes, Flayer can't create iron from air, but his skills I think, quite higher than for Kayzer.

[Tirs]

Also, about Flayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0npdZT2yWM
this is the his level as I see it.

[AWorldWithoutShrimp]

I feel it is important to note that Red Hood survives several falls and throws there that would leave a Wormverse normal crippled or dead. 

You'll definitely want to power these guys up and tweak the general nature of their powers if you want them to have the same amount of respect as the Undersiders, since the Undersiders are pretty hardcore in terms of powersets, if not always mentality. Wendigo should be a solid enough Brute with Supernatural everything, but the others just aren't quite there. Taylor alone could probably destroy the rest of the team under Wormverse logic as it stands, and the Undersiders' MO of giant hellhounds, enveloping darkness, swarms of killer bugs, possessing your own allies and turning them against you, and an invisible assassin is a good sight more terrifying.

I would urge you to consider reevaluating Flayer's skill distribution. He's supposed to be a highly competent leader, but right now pretty much every skill above Good (+3) is a combat-related one, with the exception of Scholarship. If all of his skills related to leadership are just slightly above-average for his level, I don't think he makes a particularly convincing or effective leader, especially since he has no kind of Thinker power to fall back on. Consider dropping down some of his combat skills in favor of social ones. The dude's inevitably going to struggle in combat compared to most of Brockton Bay's heavy hitters, so you might as well.

[Tirs]

I'm still don't finish, but I'll consider what you say.
What if I give him also Great Intimidation, Good Rapport, Great Presence and Average Perfomances?

[Sanctaphrax]

The guy already has a silly skill total. I would be reluctant to add to it any further. The good news is that you don't have to add to it. If you use stunts intelligently, you can cover his competencies pretty well.

I'm honestly a bit confused, though. You had an earlier thread where you asked for advice on how to build this kind of character, and I sketched out one way to do it. You seemed to like my approach, but here you've gone on a completely different track where you spend more and get less.

That aside, I think people are overrating the Undersiders. At the beginning of the story I doubt any of them were even Submerged, and with a decent FP supply Flayer could probably take out any of them. High-FP mortals don't really exist in Worm canon, but that's beside the point.

[Tirs]

Also, modifed Hummersmith:
Hammersmith
Main Aspect: Ambitious scientist
Problem aspect: Diffident
Other aspects: I hate bullies, No more nerd, Changed man
Skills
Superb:Craftmanship
Great: Lore*, Schoolarship
Good: Guns, Endurance, Alertness
Fair: Might, Resources, Discipline, Driving
Average: Deceit, Fists, Burglary, Contacts, Rapport
Powers
-Rituals (Craft) [–2]
-Item of power [–3] (hi-tech armor, implanted in the body)
-Inhuman Toughness [–2]
Human form affecting [+1]:
-Supernatural Toughness [–4]
-Inhuman Speed&Strength [–4]
-Wings [–1]
-Inhuman Recovery [–2]
Catch[+1]: cold (T<100C is a problem)
-Channeling [–2] (kinetomancy: gravitygun)
Stunts
-Jury-Rigger: You have a talent for improvising with available materials. When jury-rigging, your repairs last two scenes longer than usual.

Average drone stats (he can use 3 drones in the same time)
Skills
Good: Guns, Endurance
Fair: Alertness
Average: Stealth
Powers
-Wings [–1]
-Pack Instincts [–1]
-Inhuman Toughness [–2]
Catch[+1]: can be hacked
-Inhuman Speed [–2]
-Echoes of the Beast [–1] (senses)
Weapon: 3 (or 4 - depends on situation)
Backstory: First twelve years of his live, Kevin Holloway lived in New Orlean's French quarter. He was typical nerd and almost the only white guy in his class. This two factors provide him a very "happy childhood." May be he would have taken similar views with the views of the Empire88, but his famly moved in Brokton Bay, and he begun in more "white" school - and nothing changed. Once, when he was literally beaten, his ability to awaken - it all night thinking about how to take revenge, until he realized that he can easily develop technical tools beyond the conventional technique.
He was not only nerd, but geek - but in Worm-verse superhero geek intresting a real things. As Taylor, he want to become a hero, but he was broken by the fact that his hidden abilyties don't improved his life. He still was nerd - and decided to speak about this with only guy in school, who *sometimes* protect and support him.
The name of this is Nick.
Of couse, Flayer could not miss the opportunity to recruit another cape. He also gave him a few simple tips: learn how to do push-ups in the morning, put the shot, showed how normal teenagers talk. Nick showed him that the problem nerds often in themselves. Kevin got this thesis, and become more popular, but he still hate bullies (as much as nerds).
Appearance: Тhin and pale blonde guy with dark eyes, quite tall. His armor looks like futuristic armor plate with a solid helmet. Colour - black with a greenish.

[AWorldWithoutShrimp]

While I can't speak from the DFRPG side, since I'm hardly a master of the system, from a pure story perspective I always found a lot of the Undersiders to be pretty crazy strong right from the start. Grue and Regent took a while to get really scary, and Imp doesn't enter the picture for a while, but Skitter, Tattle, and Bitch struck me as forces to be reckoned with from the get-go. Skitter hospitalizes one of the strongest capes in Brockton Bay all on her own right at the start of the story, and the Undersiders beat the numerically superior Wards, plus Glory Girl and Panacea, in a straight fight very early on, and with Skitter and Bitch both holding back from any potentially lethal use of their potent powers.

I took a look at the thread Sanctaphrax is talking about, and that depiction seems to be a great way to represent a pure mortal in a cape world without needing extremely high skill amounts!

[Tirs]

The guy already has a silly skill total. I would be reluctant to add to it any further. The good news is that you don't have to add to it. If you use stunts intelligently, you can cover his competencies pretty well.

I'm honestly a bit confused, though. You had an earlier thread where you asked for advice on how to build this kind of character, and I sketched out one way to do it. You seemed to like my approach, but here you've gone on a completely different track where you spend more and get less.

That aside, I think people are overrating the Undersiders. At the beginning of the story I doubt any of them were even Submerged, and with a decent FP supply Flayer could probably take out any of them. High-FP mortals don't really exist in Worm canon, but that's beside the point.

I got your point, but I still don't think, that Flayer with his friends' help can't be the gung leader. I mean, Kayzer and Lung are not Thinkers, but they ruled their gungs during the long time. Yep, they were capes, but Kayzer wasn't the strongest capes in E88. So, if Flayer will be clever and skilled enough (now he had 70 skillpoints) and his mates will be ready to listen him (cuz he actually most clever of them) - why not? He at least as much as smart as  Grue or Skitter, and now Wendigo and Hummersmith are quite strong, no? And Serpent and Jusper will be stronger too.
P.C. What you think about the backstories of Wendigo and Hummersmith?