Another member of my Tangent Freedom League, the team's eccentric (and surprisingly young) absent-minded inventor, the pulp-inspired Johnny Rocket. Have I mentioned how much a freaking LOVE pulp? His name may be Johnny Rocket, and himself be a young energetic blonde, but he also has shades of Buck Rogers, Doc Savage, Brainiac 5 and Booster Gold in there somewhere.


Johnny Rocket (Johnny Raczac)
PL 10 (182 pp)

Abilities: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 24, Wis 12, Cha 14 [28 pp]

Attack: Melee +4, Ranged +4 (+7 with Omni-Blaster) [8 pp]
Defense: +6 (+2 flat-footed) [8 pp]
Initiative: +6
Damage: +1 hand to hand
Saves: Toughness +1/+2 in harness/+12 with Force Field active, Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +3 [4 pp]

Skills: Acrobatics 1 (+3), Bluff 0 (+2), Climb 1 (+2), Computers 4 (+11), Concentration 2 (+3), Craft (mechanical) 10 (+17), Craft (electronic) 4 (+11), Craft (chemical) 10 (+17), Craft (structural) 6 (+13), Craft (artistic) 0 (+7), Diplomacy 2 (+4), Disable Device 4 (+11), Disguise 0 (+2), Drive 2 (+4), Escape Artist 2 (+4), Gather Information 4 (+6), Handle Animal 0 (+2), Intimidate 1 (+3), Investigate 4 (+11), Knowledge (technology) 8 (+15), Knowledge (history) 4 (+11), Knowledge (physical sciences) 8 (+15), Knowledge (earth sciences) 4 (+11), Knowledge (life sciences) 4 (+11), Knowledge (all others, untrained) 0 (+7), Language (English, native), Language (German), Language (Polish), Medicine 4 (+5), Notice 4 (+5), Perform 0 (+3, all untrained), Pilot 4 (+7), Profession (scientist) 2 (+3), Profession (all others untrained) 0 (+1), Ride 0 (+3), Search 4 (+11), Sense Motive 0 (+1), Sleight of Hand 2 (+4), Stealth 2 (+4), Survival 2 (+3), Swim 1 (+2)
[28 pp, 112 ranks in skills]

Feats: Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Benefit 2 (wealth 2), Connected, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 19 (rocket-ship, headquarters), Attack Specialization 1 (omni-blaster), Dodge Focus 2, Favored Environment 4 (airborne), Improved Initiative 1, Luck 2
[35 pp]

Powers:
Quickness 4 (25x speed, Flaw: Mental Tasks only) [2]
Immunity 1 (need for sleep) [1]
Comprehend 2 (understand spoken languages, read all languages) [4]

Device 2 – Rocket-pack (hard to lose, Flight 3 (50 MPH), Super-Strength 1, Equipment Features (parasail (Flight 1 (Flaw: gliding, Power Feat: Innate)))
[8]

Device 6 – ‘Omni-blaster’ Rocket-gun (hard to lose, Blast 10 (fire, when Thonium gas is ignited, it burns ferociously and quite cleanly, Power Feats:
Alternate Power – Blast 10 (laser light, the focusing crystal that ignites the Thonium gas can be redirected to project a cutting beam of coherent light),
Alternate Power – Snare 10 (ice bonds, in it’s pre-ignition state, Thonium gas is stored at a state near absolute zero, and bonds with liquid water suspended in the air to generate quantities of ice when released in this state),
Alternate Power – Obscure (visual) 10 (clouds of black smoke, Thonium gas, mixed with a suspending agent, clumps together into thick black particulate smoke),
Alternate Power – Super-Senses 4 (X-Ray Vision (doesn’t see through living beings, Extra: Affects Others, Area (cone), Flaws: Action (movement), Duration (sustained), the mysterious X-Radiation used to trigger the Thonium reaction can be projected as a cone to render nonliving matter effectively transparent!),
Alternate Power – Dazzle (visual) 6 (Extra: Area (cone), the focusing crystal can be turned slightly, causing the coherent laser beam to ‘de-cohere’ and create a harmless blinding light instead),
Alternate Power – Trip 10 (Extra: Knockback, a blast of reactive Thonium gases creates an expanding cloud at the point of impact, blasting a foe off of his feet),
Alternate Power – Blast 10 (electricity, Thonium gas carries an inherent energetic charge, which is released during ignition, but this charge can also be chemically released as a potent electrical jolt, Power Feat: Stunning Attack (a charge of super-cooled and energetically-charged Thonium gas shocks the system of anyone it engulfs, momentarily stunning them)),
Alternate Power – Disintegrate 5 (with only the slightest chemical shift, Thonium gas transforms from safe enough to eat, to a deadly corrosive!)
Equipment Features – laser sight, fire extinguisher (progression 2, 10 uses), flashlight)
[24]

Device 2 – Tranceiver-Helm (hard to lose, Datalink 1 (Power Feat: Machine Control), Mind Shield 2, Sensory Protection 1 (all senses), Super-Senses 1 (Communication Link (to Dyna-Soar)), Immunity 1 (his own or other Thonium-based blinding or obscure effects), Equipment Features (cell phone, PDA, video camera, binoculars, parabolic microphone, night vision goggles, flash goggles, gas mask, rebreather, GPS receiver),
[8]

Device 6 – Shield Harness (hard to lose, Force Field 10 (Extras: Impervious, Partial Extra: Area 1 (burst, 5’ radius), Power Feat: Selective), Immunity 9 (life support, Partial Extra: Area 1 (burst, 5’ radius), Flaw: Duration (sustained), Power Feat: Selective, Equipment Features (Camo clothing (configurable - foliage, desert, urban or arctic), armored plates (+1 toughness), armored vambraces (shield 1, +1 dodge bonus, +1 block rolls), reinforced striking surfaces (+1 bludgeoning damage on a hand to hand attack))
[24]
[71 pp in powers]

Headquarters – Gargantuan, Tough 20, Features 13 (Communications, Computer, Defense System, Fire Prevention System, Hangar, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System, Workshop, Concealed (undersea base in the harbor), Minions (clunky robotic support staff))
Size 4 + Toughness 3 + Features 13 = 20 EP (4 pp)

The Dyna-Soar Space-Plane – Gargantuan, Str 40 (Med Load 2 tons, Hvy Load (2/3 speed) 3 tons), Def 8, Tough 13, Features 4 (Alarm, Hidden Compartments, Navigation System, Remote Control), Powers: Immunity 9 (life support, Extra: Affects Passengers), Flight 7 (1000 MPH, Alternate Power – Swimming 5 (50 MPH), Alternate Power – Space Travel 10 (1000x the speed of light), Concealment 10 (all senses), Super-Senses 21 (Communication Link (radio, to Johnny Rocket), Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Infravision, Low-Light Vision, Radio, Time Sense, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision, Blindsight (radio), Extended 3 (radio), Extended 3 (vision), Radius 1 (blindsight), Radius 1 (radio))
Size 3 + Toughness 2 + Features 4 + Powers 9 + 16 + 20 + 21 = 75 EP (15 pp)

Abilities 28 + Combat 16 + Saves 4 + Skills 28 + Feats 35 + Power 71 = 182 pp


Johnny 'Rocket' Raczac is a rash and adventurous young inventor, enamored of the age of pulps and ‘weird science.’ He tends to overconfidence and the only time he frowns is when he's concentrating furiously on solving the problem at hand, otherwise being in a perpetually infectious good mood that some attribute to the gallon or more of coffee and caffeinated soda (he drinks coffee until noon, soda until midnight, and never, ever sleeps) he goes through in the course of a day.

Johnny has a jet-pack, his first invention at the tender age of eight, and an assortment of ray-guns, rocketships, robot assistants and other odd and whimsical inventions, which change with staggering regularity. He has demonstrated on many occasions the ability to cobble together whatever gizmo is needed out of materials at hand, or 'stuff' he has on his person, using his ‘omni-blaster’ to illuminate an area, blow away clouds of smoke, heat boulders to provide warmth, or even to fuel another machine.

Johnny’s greatest invention is the amazing Thonium gas, an unstable compound that regenerates itself and is therefore self-replenishing and available in seemingly endless quantities. Not only are his rocket-pack and ‘rocket-pistol’ powered by the amazingly versatile compound, but he has managed to use harden it into a solid crystalline material that can be used to generate refractive laser-technologies years ahead of anything mere diamond can produce, as well as being sturdy enough to compose the walls of his undersea base, generating electrochemical power from the very weight of the sea crushing down upon it!

His 'rocket-pistol' is a bulky oversized weapon, much larger than most rifles, with protruding fins that often glow with radiated heat and light as gouts of flame or concentrated laser light emit from the stubby barrel. It is connected to his rocket-pack by a long flexible tube, as it draws upon the same inexhaustible source of Thonium gas used by the rocket-pack itself. All of his gear is amazingly simple to use, as he would prefer taking the risk of someone using it against him, to his allies not being able to make use of it in extremis. It isn't like he can't hunt down and reclaim (or destroy) anything stolen from him, or rebuild anything permanently lost, after all.

Earth seems sadly lacking in scientists capable of replicating his work, and the golden age of Thonium for all that he enthusiastically predicts remains frustratingly out of reach... In actuality, ‘Thonium’ isn’t actually a gas, or a liquid, or a solid, or have any sort of actual ‘properties’ at all. Thonium, per se, doesn’t actually exist, in this universe, anyway, and is generated on the spot inside his ‘jet-pack’ and ‘gun,’ from a form of unstable ‘quantum pre-matter.’

If he wants it to be flammable, he causes the substance to manifest as a combustible. If he wants it to be lighter than air, he makes it so. If he wants it to be able to harden into a super-efficient crystalline building material, that too is possible, with the turn of a dial. ‘Thonium’ is just the name he dreamed up, as the truth behind his impossibly versatile miracle substance is just too radical, and potentially dangerous, to reveal.