Basic Action Super Heroes (BASH) feels like a highly streamlined hybrid of Champions and TSR's old Marvel Superheroes RPG: point-buy character generation combining stats, skills and powers wedded to a resolution system with color-coded charts and a scale ranging from street-level to cosmic.
For this exercise I'll be building a team of three "street-level" heroes, called Neigborhood Watch. Characters are built (mostly; see below) on a point-buy system. Street-level heroes start with 25 points (just above the 20-point "mystery men" level) to purchase attribute scores and powers. The rules recommend reserving 14 points for attributes and 11 for powers. Both Stats and Powers are ranked by Levels, which serve as multipliers for the 2d6 rolls that power the game engine. (The results are referenced to a color-coded chart that looks like a highly simplified version of the Marvel FASERIP results table. Roll dice, add bonuses if any, apply multiplier, consult chart for results.)
BASH characters have three Stats: Brawn, Agility, and Mind. The baseline score is 0, which indicates a significant disability in the given area. The human average is 1, costing 2 points; two more build points will bring you up to 2, indicating peak non-super performance. Superhuman ability comes in at level 3 (6 points), with a maximum of 5 (which we're not going to even approach with street-level characters). 14 points will buy a total Stat level of 7, divided among the three Stats.
We'll start with a leader, a Batman-type who's basically a peak-performance normal (maybe with a little extra, since we're budgeted for it) with top-notch detective skills. Twos across the board will cost 12 points; add a point of Agility to make 14. That makes our Stat line:
Brawn 2, Agility 3, Mind 2
Powers are next on the list--skills are a little complicated and depend partially on what Powers you buy. There are seven categories, including an "Intense Training" list for your Batman types; we'll start there. Skillful adds two skill slots per build point spent (to a max of 10) to those already conferred by your Stats, so we'll put a pin in that when we figure out how many skills we want and what they'll cost. In addition, we'll want martial arts training. Three build points buys Martial Arts Mastery in all five available styles. I want to add a couple of utility-belt type gadget powers; a grapple gun can give me Swinging (at a cost of 2) and Immobilize (at a variable cost, but since it's mostly for tying up mooks I don't plan to spend a lot on it).
I've got eleven points to spend here, and only five committed for certain. the Immobilizing power is ranged and area-effect by default, but what I want is a single-target version. Let's look at Limitations to see what we can do here. Limitations reduce the point cost of a power by slapping limits on its utility. Gadget is the obvious choice here: Gadgets have their own hit points and Soak scores (Soak is a threshold attacks have to breach in order to do damage) and can be independently targeted, in addition, they have an additional limitation (or limitations) to be chosen from a list. Reducing an area-effect to single-target isn't on that list, so we'll have to customize, but I do think an ammunition limit would be appropriate. That's 2 limitations, but you can only discount a power once, so we'll buy a 3-point Immobilize at a cost of 2 build points. That gives me a total x4 multiplier on my attack rolls with the power and a target number of 20 for escape attempts, which should be more than adequate for most street-level needs.
All right, so we've spent seven build points so far and have four left. It's time to go shopping for skills, and if we have anything left at the end we can pick up something small but useful.
Skills come in Mental and Physical flavors, and you get a number of initial slots equal to your Mind (2) and Agility (3) stats, respectively. Committing one slot to a skill means you can make rolls on it using your relevant Stat as a multiplier, plus you get one Specialty with which you get advantage (i.e., roll twice and take the higher result). You can commit another slot either to purchase another specialty or to raise your multiplier by one. (If you want to use a skill without having a committed slot, you use the appropriate stat minus 1 as your multiplier.)
At minimum I want Athletics, Drive, Escapology, and Stealth off the Physical list, and Deception, Investigation, and Security off the Mental list. That's seven altogether, which means I'll need at least two more slots. After that, and it looks like I can afford it, I'll want Medicine for First Aid and an extra level each in Stealth, Security and Investigation. That makes a total of eleven slots, so I'll need to spend 3 points on Skillful and will have a point left for something else.
I'm going to apply those second skill slots in Stealth, Security, and Investigation to general levels, so each skill will have one specialty. For Athletics I'll take Acrobatics; for Drive, Control; for Escapology it'll be Improvising; for Stealth, Prowling; for Deception, Detect Deception; for Investigation, Questioning; for Medicine (as noted above), First Aid; and finally, for Security, Surveillance.
For my final point, Keen Senses is certainly an appropriate power; since it affects one sense per purchase, I can afford it once, and I'll apply it to smell, which will enable our hero to identify all kinds of interesting evidence.
The next part of character creation, Advantages and Disadvantages, is completely separate from the build-point economy, and the rule is that for each of the first group you must take one from the second. There are some very appropriate choices in the Advantages column: I like Contacts, Jack-of-all-Trades (reduced penalties for untrained skill use), Leadership (I can give my Hero Points--which are not build points--to other characters), and Photographic Memory. Unfortunately, I can only find two Disadvantages that suit the character concept without stretching it too far: Age (old), which puts me at over 50 years old with a corresponding reduction in stamina and endurance, and Secret, which is exactly the sort of thing a retired spook might want.
So, let's look at a backstory and try to put some names to this character. This should get us to a motivation or, as the game calls it, "Mental Malfunction." Our heroine is a retired covert operative--CIA, NSA, military intelligence, somehting along those lines, whose past has enough awkwardness in it that she required a new identity: new name, new background, pension disguised as an insurance settlement, that kind of thing. She tried to settle into the quiet life, but she kept noticing things that seemed wrong about her new home--not just crime left unpunished, but signs that pointed to something much bigger and more corrupt than mere street crime or even gangs. Attempts to leverage the system having failed, she fell back on her own deadly skills and a menacing disguise to find out the truth and protect the innocents around her. "Joanna Vachs" became "The Whisper," and began looking for allies to help her in her quest. We'll meet those allies over the next couple of days.
Statblock:
Codename: The Whisper
Private Identity: Joanna Vachs, Retired Corporate Middle Manager
Secret Identity: [name redacted], Retired US Covert Operative
Mental Malfunction: Trying to protect her new world without letting her old life erupt into it
STATS: Brawn 2, Agility 3, Mind 2
Priority: x4; Defense: x3; Mental Defense: x2; Soak: x2; Hits: 80
Lift: 400 lb; Run: 9 squares; Jump: 4 squares; Climb: 2 squares; Swim: 2 squares, Swing: 12 squares
Powers:
Swinging 2: 12 squares (2 points)
Martial Arts Mastery (5 styles): Fast, Tough, Defensive, Grappling, Tricky (3 points)
Skillful 3: add 6 skill slots (3 points)
Immobilization 3: AGI x 4 vs target AGI to immobilize; Brawn check 20+ to break
--Limitation: Gadget/Ammunition (60 HP, Soak 30, 4 uses per scene)
--Limitation: Single-target rather than area-effect
Keen Senses 1: heightened sense of smell (+3 Mind on relevant checks)
Mental Skills: Deception/Detect Deception x2; Investigation/Questioning x3; Medicine/First Aid x2; Security/Surveillance x3
Physical Skills: Athletics/Acrobatics x3; Drive/Control x3; Escapology/Improvising x3; Stealth/Prowling x4
Advantages:
Contacts: former handler, former rival spook, former colleague in adjacent agency
Leadership: Spend hero points on behalf of others; have effect of two points. Start with five team points.
Disadvantages:
Age (old): Over 50 years of age; start with 80 hit points instead of 100
Secret: retired covert agent; activities under former identity considered top secret classified information.
Notable Equipment: Grapple gun (Swinging, Immobilize), dark bodysuit with full mask, cowled cape
There's a free BASH character generator available online (bashcreator.net), and I have availed myself of it for this exercise. Registration (with email address) required; no fee.
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