Stephan Hawking D20 Cthulhu Killing Machine

[AmericanBadass]

Inspired by McHawking.com i decided to roll up mr. hawking to see how nasty he would be with the new system.

so
he has to be level 20 at least-he is the smartest man ever-right.

so at that level he would have as a base (with Defensive option)-

+1(6-5) reflex (no way could i see fit to give him 12 as per Defensive option) imagine him dodging punches...i cant.

+12 Will save
+12 Fort save.

with 3 constition he would have around 45-60 hit points
and have 2 attacks at +5 +0 (with a one Str (-5))

so with all this basic stuff figured out he would actually do pretty well as an ivestigator. He could take a couple of shotgun blasts no problem, but how much damage do you think a wheel chair can dish out? I can see him having a Samurai Assasin Baby Cart type set of wheels so he would have spears, blades, guns and flamethrowers and stuff. Plus he would be hooked up to a tactical satelite and have a eye tracking laser designator for his chairs various weapons systems.

Watch out if the Hawk comes gunnin for you Homey, because if he does your ass is dead.
-----------------------------Also-----------------------------

Check out mchawking.com if you havent...favorite song All my killings be Drivebys

WARNING NAUGHTY LANGUAGE!!:eek:




All My Shootin's Be Drivebys ---

Trash Talk:
Ah yeah, that's right motherfuckers!
I'm back riding a funky track.
I got a story to tell you all,
So listen up!
Yo! Trip on this!

Verse 1
I'm rolling through the hood on a Saturday night,
got a 40 in my left hand, my dick in my right,
some chronic in my lap, a pager in my cap,
and a 9 millimeter in the small of my back.
I'm just chilling no place to be,
I take another pull off my 40 z.
I'm thinking 'bout spinning a fat ass tree,
a B to the L to the U-N-T.

Then I get a call on my dope cell phone,
check the caller ID, what up homes?
Yo, it's the Doom and his news ain't good:
"little Pookie got capped last night in the hood."
I feel like the world is fading away,
I saw Little Pookie just the other day.
Pookie was my boy we shared Kool-aid in the park,
now some punks took his life in the dark.

I ask Doomsday who the motherfuckers be,
"some punk ass bitches from MIT."
The fucking Institute, man I should've known,
I say meet me at my crib and hang up the phone.
Playtimes over I got a job to do,
and the world will be less crowded by the time I'm through,
and I'll keep rolling while bullets fly,
cause all my shootings be drivebys.

Verse 2
One minute to midnight we hit the street,
cold as a cadaver, hard as concrete.
Doomsday's packing a baby Mac,
got my AK-47 and the nine in my back.
The Alpine's glowing, P-E's flowing,
got my swerve on tight and my game face showing.
Them damn punks are gonna pay,
the Hawks on the case a bird of prey.

Then up ahead cold chilling in the street,
six motherfuckers from MIT.
I flick off the safety, check my grip,
and load a dum-dum clip.
I glance at the Doom to make sure he's packed,
his fingers on the trigger of his baby Mac.
Time to give a Newtonian demonstration,
of a bullet its mass and its acceleration.

Nine on my lap AK in my hand,
I roll up slow like a snake in the sand.
I wait till I'm sure they can see my face,
then I bust out slugs to the beat of the bass.
The streets sketched out in the full moon light,
MIT punks dying left and right.
There's nowhere to run don't even try,
cause all my shootings be drivebys.

Verse 3
Then silence hits the street like a bomb,
an eerie calm like the eye of storm.
Beneath the glow of an old street light,
dead MIT punks be the only sight.
6 motherfuckers no longer alive,
and Pookie's been avenged 1 for 1 plus 5,
and we'll be long gone 'fore the cops arrive,
'cause all my shootin's be, Drivebys.

Trash Talk
Ah yeah! I'm busting more shit than an incontinent man at a chili cook-off!
The moral of the story is:
Don't fuck with the Hawkman, 'cause the Hawkman ain't down with that eye for an eye bullshit.
Fuck that! You take an eye and I'll take your motherfucking head!

Close



I can imagine steve rollin thru the hood kickin ass and takin names.
Yeah Baby!!
D20 & MC Hawking Rock!!!


:cool:

[Bradford C. Walker]

Word, homeboy!

[Gonster]

AmericanBadass,
Even though I beginning to think you should be locked up in the interest of National Security,

Stephan Hawking D20 Cthulhu Killing Machine

is simply the best thread title I've ever seen on rpg.net.

Kudos,
Gonster

[Patrick O'Duffy]

I'm starting to see why people dismiss American Badass as a 'camouflage troll'.

Because anyone who'd _read_ the d20 Cthulhu rules would see that there's no reason for Steven Hawking - or, indeed, pretty much any real world figure - to be more than a level 4-6 character. With a high Intelligence and the right feats, you easily get a Hawking-level genius by level 6, and still with crap combat/physical skills.

Levels above 6 are generally only for fictional characters that are far more competant than the real world. And starting an argument by saying "of course Steven Hawking is level 20" seems designed purely to start a shitfight.

And jesus, you call that hip-hop? Ain't a patch on the joints from the RZA's "Bobby Digital in Stereo", or even the choicer cuts from the new Wu-Tang Clan album, "Iron Flag".

Woke up this mornin', smoke some stick figurine to get me started
Chocolate tie, all in my eye, I never broken-hearted
Bangers in your car, bangers in your jeep,
Bang that shit retarded.

- from 'Chrome Wheels'

[AmericanBadass]

Patty O'
I dont think so bro.

if 20th level is the highest rank attainable i think it would be an insult to suggest that stephan hawking was less than 1/3rd of human potential.
in the conversion from chaosium to d20-which is in the back of the book-the average call of cthulhu character is 6th level. i would consider stephan hawking way above average.
thus he kicks ass in the d20 universe. (in the game-not reality-remember its a game)

i take comfort in knowing that stephan hawking could be a very dangerous fellow. i have never seen him whoop up on anybody-that doesnt mean he couldnt though.
dont anger him or he could become a super intelligent evil villian.

no i am not suggesting making him level 20 just to start a fight. the game allows you to go to 20 so why not. i hate low level stuff-it bores me. if you had the choice of hiring a 5th surgeon or a 18th level one? for me the answers simple. a 5th level surgeon is a novice compared to the 18th level pro.

if i was trolling bro you would know it-it would be a little more blatant. anyway Wu Tang rocks bro. I live in Detroit Eminem Town bro...yeah!!!
:D

[Jason Sartin]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
so with all this basic stuff figured out he would actually do pretty well as an ivestigator. He could take a couple of shotgun blasts no problem, but how much damage do you think a wheel chair can dish out? I can see him having a Samurai Assasin Baby Cart type set of wheels so he would have spears, blades, guns and flamethrowers and stuff. Plus he would be hooked up to a tactical satelite and have a eye tracking laser designator for his chairs various weapons systems.It's official, AmericanBadass. You must be some kind of insane gamer who got lost on his way to a SenZar game.

But it's cool. I like that.

;)
<br>

[AmericanBadass]

J-Sar
Never even heard of senzar, but i was curious, so i looked it up.
it looks pretty cool. and i do like the option for godhood.

dude you are surely 20th level.

how about this for a hawking idea. his chair can transform into a battle suit like the Cyclone bikes from Robotech. So now Hawking can take down Deep Ones and Gugs hand to hand.
Mild mannered scientist transformed into ironclad kill-borg. It's a good thing...
I bet you he has one already.

MDC+Stephan Hawking=kickass fun!!
Roll with the punch sucker.

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
Patty O'
I dont think so bro.

if 20th level is the highest rank attainable i think it would be an insult to suggest that stephan hawking was less than 1/3rd of human potential.
in the conversion from chaosium to d20-which is in the back of the book-the average call of cthulhu character is 6th level. i would consider stephan hawking way above average.
thus he kicks ass in the d20 universe. (in the game-not reality-remember its a game)

i take comfort in knowing that stephan hawking could be a very dangerous fellow. i have never seen him whoop up on anybody-that doesnt mean he couldnt though.
dont anger him or he could become a super intelligent evil villian.

no i am not suggesting making him level 20 just to start a fight. the game allows you to go to 20 so why not. i hate low level stuff-it bores me. if you had the choice of hiring a 5th surgeon or a 18th level one? for me the answers simple. a 5th level surgeon is a novice compared to the 18th level pro.

if i was trolling bro you would know it-it would be a little more blatant. anyway Wu Tang rocks bro. I live in Detroit Eminem Town bro...yeah!!!
:D

A 5th-level surgeon is just as good as an 18th-level surgeon, because each will do their job equally well. For the vast majority of real-world tasks, a 4-5th level character is as good as you ever need to get - able to reliably perform any task required using the 'take 10' and 'take 20' rules. You don't need Medicine +20 to perform brain surgery in d20 - you just need a TOTAL bonus of +10, and a focused, efficient character can have that by level 4 or 5 (throw in some assistants and a level 2 or 3 character is enough).

Don't look at levels - look at what the character is able to DO.

I think that the one unfortunate bit of baggage that d20 Cthulhu has taken from D&D is the _expectation_ that characters naturally should progress from level 1 to level 20 - that this is the standard curve of character advancement, and that levels are the only real measure of ability.

Instead, I think levels are far better approached as a guideline for campaign design and character scale - a STARTING POINT to use for your campaign.

For instance:
- Level 1-3 - ordinary human beings
- Level 4-6 - highly skilled, exceptional people (ala DELTA GREEN)
- Level 7-9 - cinematic, edge-of-real-world-possible prodigies
- Level 10-12 - pulp adventure characters suitable for heroic, highly cinematic play (ala MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP)
- Level 13-15 - Titus Crowe-level fantasy

So if I run a gritty, realistic d20/CoC game, characters don't advance beyond 3rd level. If I want pulp adventure, I start characters at level 7 or 8 and wrap things up by level 11 or 12.

That's a far better use for levels in my opinion - a guideline and thumbnail measure of 'power level'. Experience in Cthulhu is better addressed by less quantified measures - the Cthulhu Mythos skill and access to spells or resources.

It's the only weak spot I see in d20 Cthulhu, which I otherwise think is a vast improvement over the original version both mechanically and stylistically (the advice on constructing & running games is just brilliant).

(Oh, and Badass - "Patty O'"? Please, pal, don't go there.)

[AmericanBadass]

P-Dog

i too dig the d20 version of cthulhu. i like it for the flexibility.
you can play low or you can play sky high (level wise).

i love to turn it all the way up bro and let it all boil over.
i eat carnage for breakfast and total destruction for lunch.

did you say Titus Crowe?
i love the Titus Crowe stories-thats what i aspire to.
Lumley is my favorite Mythos author. he definitly is a left lane cruiser (fast lane).

as far as the surgeon analogy. i still say the 18th level guy is way better. if some radical technique is needed to remove a shan from your characters skull without damaging it, i want experience.
i have actually made DC levels as high as 35 before, so the 6th level guy is not going to cut it in that instance.


to each his own though.

The d20 movie equivilent is Evil Dead2, while Chaosium is like the 9th Gate.

i like my guts steaming.

i wont call you Patty O' if it offends.
Crikey!

Croc Hunter rules Homie!!

[sys64738]

The Onion takes your vision to the Epic Level Handbook:

http://www.theonion.com/onion3123/hawkingexo.html

[MattyHelms]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
how about this for a hawking idea. his chair can transform into a battle suit like the Cyclone bikes from Robotech. So now Hawking can take down Deep Ones and Gugs hand to hand.
Mild mannered scientist transformed into ironclad kill-borg. It's a good thing...
I bet you he has one already.

I love the idea of mixing Hawking and Robotech and Cthulhu - it's the sort of thing only you think of, Badass. You make me want to like d20! :)

As a side note, in the novel of Starship Troopers, the armor is controlled by toungue movement only, so there is literary precedent for Hawking's Death Cyborg Suit!

Later,
Matt

[_Gabriel]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
Jhow about this for a hawking idea. his chair can transform into a battle suit like the Cyclone bikes from Robotech.

There was an assassin in the one of the last episodes of Dirty Pair Flash: Mission 1 that had a wheelchair with just this capability.

Transformation took forever, though. And it seemed to have a weakness to large potted trees.

[ParadoxBoy]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
if 20th level is the highest rank attainable i think it would be an insult to suggest that stephan hawking was less than 1/3rd of human potential.


20th level isn't the highest rank attainable - and never has, in any edition of D&D. In 3rd edition (among others), one can, theoretically, go as high as one is willing to devote the effort to, as the progression follows a regular formula.

Never even heard of senzar, but i was curious, so i looked it up.
it looks pretty cool.

I think this sums up everything you have ever said and will ever have to say. *8)

[AmericanBadass]

20th level is as high as call of cthulhu goes...are you suggesting epic level cthulhu? i like your thinking bro. you can hang with the big dogs homey- Paradox boy has to be 20th level.


i used to be a big Lum and Dirty Pair freak in the late 80's early 90's but Japanimation started changing back then. it started getting goofy for some reason. i cant put my finger on how or why, maybe its because it is so popular now and i am an elitist AnimeSnob, but no...Anime starrted getting less poetic or something -more Hollywoodish. Maison Ikkoku and Caravan Kid (the comic) was the last stuff i was into. Oh My Goddess and in part Ranma was the last stuff i can tolerate. I dont care for the new Dirty Pair.

Anyway Dirty Pair with guest star Stephan Hawking vs. Cthulhu very cool concept---
love the cyber suit sys.

Have Kei and Yuri returned? is Dirty Pair still the new version?
its been like 10 years since i bothered with Japanimation-it was still called Japanimation back then kids.

Any how I have a game to run today-Mitch the DM is toast-the cthulhu epic i was reporting on before is on hold (indefinitly).
the torch has been passed to badass.
Are you folks interested in hearing a badass run game action report??
if so chime in.
i actually hate doing action reports and i will not waste you folkses (and mine)time if nobody gives a smurf.

any how keep it clean kids.

booyaaah!:D

[Menteroso]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass

its been like 10 years since i bothered with Japanimation-it was still called Japanimation back then kids.



I thought it was just *me*.


Someone else remembers "japanimation"


yippeee.


Fuckin cool idea 'bout the Hawking.


Damn I wish i had D20 CoC

[DarthCestual]

Hawking's chair did all kinds of stuff on those episodes of "The Simpsons", but I don't think his automatic toothbrush would do much against a Sothoth.

[Phishtrader]

Originally posted by Patrick O'Duffy
And jesus, you call that hip-hop? Ain't a patch on the joints from the RZA's "Bobby Digital in Stereo", or even the choicer cuts from the new Wu-Tang Clan album, "Iron Flag".


TROLL!

Please, people, don't feed the troll. Just ignore him and he will go away.

[pointless point]

Just a random idea I had while glancing over this thread. How about a D&D/Planescape/CoC D20 crossover using epic level characters.

background
Sigil is the city of doors. It is linked with every place in the universe through these doors. It is a huge object of mysterious origin. It is guarded by a powerful creature of uncertain and horrific nature. It is a place with geometry that defies conventional reason and notions of time and space.

Yog-Sothoth? Why not? Sigil is actually the physical form of old Yoggy connected to all the planes of existence. It is the core of his being. The portals are part of Yoggy himself. The lady of pain has been set to guard it against hostile powers that might meddle, threaten or try to usurp old Yoggy's perogatives. Maybe she is an avatar of Yoggy or maybe Nyarlathotep Normal races or even outer planar creatures are ignored because they are beneath notice.

The adventure starts with a group of high level CoC investigators. During an investigation into mythos activity, they discover a long dormant portal to Sigil. By chance (or is it?)*, they have the correct key and open the gate. Now Yoggy has free access to our world.

What to do? The threat must be ended. It can't be done from this side. How can it be done? They have to go through. Once there, they can investigate Sigil and what lies beyond other portals. There they can acquire epic level classes, fight fiends and mythos creatures and tour the planes looking for answers. What is the portal? How can it be closed? Why did it open? etc

The adventures could involves Yoggy worshippers at the end of various portals. This could easily crossover into any D&D setting in existence. The portals go everywhere. Go to limbo and confront Slaadi worshippers of the crawling chaos. What better place for worshippers of primordial madness than Limbo?

Eventually, the goal would be to destroy the physical form of Yoggy. They would have to overcome the lady, Sigil's inhabotants and maybe other patries who want to control the portals. Then they must figure out a way to destroy something so large and tough. Once that's done, the portals close and Yoggy either dies or becomes much weakened by loss of his inter-planar travel abilities. Threat over and day saved...for now anyway. Old Yoggy might reappear in time. Also, there are new threats in the form of pissed off outer planar beings or annoyed powers who coveted Sigil but were unaware of it's nature. The other outer gods won't be thrilled either and Nyarl will make his displeasure known for certain.

* I would lean towards this being the result of manipulation by Nyarlathotep. Having the PCs be suckered into causing the problem is good for their motovation. They will feel guilty and pissed off most likely. There will probably be at least a little' make me a chump eh? I'm gonna get you sucka!' feeling.

[sys64738]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
...I dont care for the new Dirty Pair...


Who does?

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Originally posted by AmericanBadass
as far as the surgeon analogy. i still say the 18th level guy is way better. if some radical technique is needed to remove a shan from your characters skull without damaging it, i want experience.
i have actually made DC levels as high as 35 before, so the 6th level guy is not going to cut it in that instance.


Well, 30 is the upper limit of difficulty according to the book - and hell, a first-level character can pull that off.

As an example, here's what a 1st-level "Steven Hawking" might look like:

- Intelligence 18 +4 bonus)
- 4 levels of Knowledge (Physics) (+4 bonus)
- a feat of Skill Emphasis: Knowledge (Physics) (+3 bonus)
- Access to good computer equipment (+2 bonus)

That a +13 bonus to any Physics check. This character can take 10 and automatically work out any difficult Physics question. He can take 20 and spend a long time on a problem - but he _will_ solve that problem.

But you want to go to DC 35? Okay, give him two more levels, let him pump up his Physics skill two more points. Boom, he's able to solve ANY physics problem, no matter how difficult, if he takes his time. At level 3.

The same applies to any character strongly focused on one or two intellectual skills - doctors, lawyers, scientists. Anything past level 3 or 4 is just unnecessary.

For characters like this, level provides _breadth_ - it allows a character to perform a wide variety of tasks, much more than it allows them to focus strongly on a small clump of abilities.

For more physical characters, especially combat-oriented characters, level provides _depth_ - you need BAB and feats to perform well in a fight, and that means you need levels.

Sure, you can make a high-level scientists / Steven Hawking / neuro-surgeon. But you don't NEED to make them high-level, unless you really want them to be highly competent in a number of disparate fields. And that kind of character is much more pulp than realistic, much more Doc Savage than Doctor Hawking.

Which is fine, if you want pulp. But it's not a ncessity if you want 'realism'.

[NPC Erstwhile]

A nit-pick about "Taking 20"...isn't the rationale behind taking 20 that you keep trying until you succeed, basically? And Take 10 is "let's play it safe and be very careful"?

I'm not sure that the Take 20 approach should be applied to things like brain surgery! "Whoops, shouldn't have snipped THAT...ah well, let's try this again...!"

So for things like surgery (which Badass has used as his example), and assuming the upper limit of difficulty is 30 as stated earlier, you'd likely want someone with nearly +20 to their Surgery skill so they can take 10 and still succeed, rather than a trial-and-error approach. Though you're still not looking at 18th level or whatever...likely the mid-levels (e.g. +4 for stat, +3 for Skill Emphasis, +13 ranks for skill, so level 9 character...)

Just a thought.

NPC E.

[gentrification]

Originally posted by Patrick O'Duffy
Because anyone who'd _read_ the d20 Cthulhu rules would see that there's no reason for Steven Hawking - or, indeed, pretty much any real world figure - to be more than a level 4-6 character. With a high Intelligence and the right feats, you easily get a Hawking-level genius by level 6, and still with crap combat/physical skills.

Dude. You have allowed yourself to be drawn into an argument about <i>what level Stephen Hawking ought to be</i>. You need to focus power.

[gleichman]

Originally posted by MattyHelms
As a side note, in the novel of Starship Troopers, the armor is controlled by toungue movement only, so there is literary precedent for Hawking's Death Cyborg Suit!

Hmm.

No.

The tongue controlled special fuctions like comm selection. The armor however moved with the user's body movement. It was like wearing clothes.

I still want to know how it handled slobber buildup during an intense firefight...

Clinton R. Nixon may be able to give us a being clue after his encounter with Knight.

[MattyHelms]

Originally posted by gleichman


Hmm.

No.

The tongue controlled special fuctions like comm selection. The armor however moved with the user's body movement. It was like wearing clothes.

I still want to know how it handled slobber buildup during an intense firefight...

Clinton R. Nixon may be able to give us a being clue after his encounter with Knight.

Uggh, thanks, Brian.

Goddam faulty memory - it's been like 15 years since I read that damn book.

Hawking still needs kick-ass power armor, regardless.

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Originally posted by NPC Erstwhile
A nit-pick about "Taking 20"...isn't the rationale behind taking 20 that you keep trying until you succeed, basically? And Take 10 is "let's play it safe and be very careful"?

I'm not sure that the Take 20 approach should be applied to things like brain surgery! "Whoops, shouldn't have snipped THAT...ah well, let's try this again...!"

So for things like surgery (which Badass has used as his example), and assuming the upper limit of difficulty is 30 as stated earlier, you'd likely want someone with nearly +20 to their Surgery skill so they can take 10 and still succeed, rather than a trial-and-error approach. Though you're still not looking at 18th level or whatever...likely the mid-levels (e.g. +4 for stat, +3 for Skill Emphasis, +13 ranks for skill, so level 9 character...)

Just a thought.


A very good thought, and one I should have had.

In the words of Shakespeare - oops, my bad.

Yes, you can't take 20 on a skill where there's a solid consequence for failure. So utterly reliable brain surgery does need a higher level character. Although if the surgeon has an assistant or two, she won't need to be level 9 - probably level 5.

The argument still stands for any kind of theoretical-knowledge / no-explosions-if-you-fail skill, which covers a lot of Cthulhu character types.

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Originally posted by gentrification

Dude. You have allowed yourself to be drawn into an argument about <i>what level Stephen Hawking ought to be</i>. You need to focus power.

I prefer to think of it as a rational discussion over the purpose of level-modelling in d20-based systems.

I don't know about other thread participants, but I'm being sensible, intellectual and very reasonable. And none of you know I'm sitting here with my underpants on my head...

Whoops. That just slipped out.