The Man of Steel. The Last Son of Krypton. The Man of Tomorrow. Superman. (Spoilers within)
“I stand for truth and justice, and the American way.”
In the endless reaches of the universe, there once existed a planet known as Krypton, a planet that burned like a green star in the distant heavens. There, civilization was far advanced and it brought forth a race of “supermen,” whose mental and physical powers were developed to the absolute peak of human perfection. But there came a day when giant quakes threatened to destroy Krypton forever. One of the planet’s leading scientists, sensing the approach of doom, placed his infant son in a small rocket ship and sent it hurtling in the direction of the Earth just as Krypton exploded. The rocket sped through star-studded space, landing safely on Earth with its precious burden: Krypton’s sole survivor. A passing motorist found the uninjured child and took it to an orphanage. As the years went by and the child grew to maturity, he found himself possessed of amazing physical powers. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound… the infant of Krypton is now the Man of Steel, SUPERMAN. To best be in a position to use his amazing powers in a never-ending battle for truth and justice, Superman has assumed the disguise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
Until recently the greatest modern icon of all has been closed off to Iconomancers, save for a brief period in 1993 when a cynical ploy for sales killed the beloved Man of Steel. In early 2006, however, the DC crossover “Infinite Crisis” killed off the Golden Age Superman, Kal-L, making the Iconomancy school viable once more.
For 1 minor charge Big Blue Boyscout draws on Superman’s archetypical affability, giving the Iconomancer a +10% to their Charm skill for a number of minutes equal to their roll. Use of this formula has the side-effect of causing the caster’s bangs to curl into Superman’s famous spitcurl. Consequentially, bald Iconomancers cannot use this ability without a wig.
For 2 minor charges, Mild-Mannered Reporter allows the Iconomancer to conceal their identity, provided they make use of the flimsiest disguise available to them. This effects last until the physical disguise is discarded.
For 3 minor charges More Powerful Than A Locomotive causes the Iconomancer’s muscles to ripple and expand, allowing them to reroll any Body roll or body-based skill check.
For 1 significant charge, It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! gives the Stalker the skill “flight” at a level equal to his Iconomancy skill. Every two minutes this skill goes down by 1 point. As long as it is above 50% the Iconomancer’s top speed is roughly 60 miles per hour. This slows down as his skill dwindles, becoming a mere 10 mph at 25%, 3 mph at 15%, and requiring a land- or a crash- before the Iconomancer reaches 0%. Note: If you want to avoid waking the tiger, it’s best to do this where no one can see you, or with “Mild-Mannered Reporter” to make you resemble some sort of large bird.
For 4 significant charges the Iconomancer can summon the power of The Man of Tomorrow to inspire his allies. For a number of minutes equal to the Iconomancer’s roll all of his allies gain a +5% shift to all checks.
Drawing on the negative side of Superman, for 2 significant charges Last Son of Krypton allows the Iconomancer to gain a permanent +2 to a given skill. Unlike normal permanent skill bonuses, these can stack indefinitely, however the only way this spell can work is if someone close to the iconomancer (such as a family member, close friend, or loved one) dies.
Major Effects: Gain one of Superman’s powers permanently. Make yourself naturally likeable or awe-inspiring. A few crackpots believe that a major charge along with a disaster powerful enough to make one the last member of one’s race could even grant them Supe’s full power.
What You Hear: Geoff Johns had a ghost-writer for the issue wherein Kal-L was killed off. Someone unassuming that no one’s ever heard of. Where is this mystery writer now, and what’s he going to do with his major charge?
Forgot to put this in its rightful place! Also, this is my first shot at an adept school, avatar, or really anything involving rules, so try not to let any horrific balance issues or the like make you think any less of me. 😉
I guess my only issue with this is the problem of significant charges. Where are you going to find out the deep secrets of a fictitious character?
My immediate problem with Superman is that he’s fictional. In context people can put up James Bond and Spider Man as well.
C.
I suppose it’s a matter of campaign setting. In my UA game I’d have absolutely no problem with someone using Iconomancy for Spider-man or James Bond, provided Spider-man or James Bond, as characters, became well and truly dead. In Infinite Crisis the original Superman, the same one that appeared in Action Comics 1, bit the dust. I figured that was final and iconic enough to work. But I also agree that it would not necessarily work for all games.
As for the sig charge, that’s a remarkably good point, and I will be meditating on that. Thanks for the help!
Could also draw on the negative side of Superman as he original was- a big blue blob of American Masturbato-ganda
Giving the player the ability to see Commies and Nazis! For the price of never engaging in ‘deviant’ sex, politics or art!
And I was just planning to do Christopher Reeves too (with one or two supermanesque effects). ahh well.
I largely concur with people about the problem of fictional characters, not just for the problem of significant charges but more because using them really drifts from the core of iconomancy, not to mention the tension.
Not trying to be harsh, but I also kind of feel your Oh good now he’s dead he’s available tone isn’t really the right mindset for iconomancy. Its not that they can only invoke the legend of dead people (so more famous dead=more power for them), its just that you have to die to transcend the mortal frame and become a god, empowered as they are by the mass of love and respect that the people have for them.
Its the active worship of people as gods, people who were ultimately just as human and flawed as you yourself that runs this school (hence the sig charge structure). A star dies, but because we love them, because we can’t let them go, they remain, the shining Idols, once human, now gods, but hollow gods, one dimensional persona’s who have lost the depth they had when alive (again hence the sig charge structure). Fictional characters were never human. They were never “once like us”, they haven’t risen up. nor have they lost depth and definition. Using them is certainly a different take on Iconomancy.(superman has gained depth over the years, becoming more and more a three dimensional personality and less and less a mere icon. And perhaps there is something in that)
That said if I allowed fictional characters I probably wouldn’t require them to be dead, since they have no flesh to transcend. This leads to them being gods in a more classical sense rather than ascended mortals, which I don’t really like the idea of.
Also good wordage to arcturus on masturbatoganda. very apt.
Thanks cal… just to be clear, not having a go at the americans there, just certain ideologies of america in the pre and during cold war era.
Ever wonder why sonic is blue and good while robotnik with the clearly russian name is an evil genius who is 1. fat 2. mustacioed and 3. building sprawling technological landscapes not entirely unlike a certain mr stalin? and sonic wears sneakers… available from all good shopping malls. Am I just being paranoid and silly? Am I? AM I?! hehe.
Maybe there is room for iconomancy of fictional characters, with a splinter school of some sort. maybe with a hint of avatar activity; definately like the notion that to channel certain superman qualties you need to wear the clerk kent glasses or the sleek hair with a curl. An iconomancer (or, I dunno, “Idolomancer”?) would need to wear a punisher t shirt and live rough on the streets to be able to use “frank castle just wont die” for example. Or, speak in whispers and shouts and wear a CTU cap in order to channel Jack Bauer and get anywhere he needs to be within 1 hour!
Ooo, I really like where you’re going with that Arcturus.
You could get a Sig if you discovered some unwholesome secret about how the comic or the character was created or written or developed.
Finding out that someone who wrote a story about Superman defending America against terrorism, for instance, once commited high treason against the U.S.