Building the Punisher - or any Iconic Character - in the Marvel Multiverse RPG

[@joeking1956]

Sweet! I love The Punisher!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@joeking1956 if you ever take the profile out for a spin, let me know how it works out for you!

[@MrBreadmage]

I'd love to see a take on custom power design!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

I'll add it to my list! Thanks for the suggestion.

[@muigokublack6487]

Thanks for this. I often have to remind myself it's not always feasible to get everything in. It's your build, there's no wrong way.

[@arturrother533]

again great video Fuzzy!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Much appreciated!!!!

[@novembersun2988]

Thanks for all your hard work, Fuzz, both here and our FB group!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@novembersun2988 you’re very welcome! The community support is what keeps me going! :-)

[@edwardkopp1116]

Thanks for clarifying the generalities.

[@omikun17]

The thing I find most interesting about Frank is Ghost Rider's Penance Stare does not work on him because Frank doesn't believe he's done anything wrong.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Yes! I do have a separate build in which I gave him Immunity: Penance Stare. I love the moment right after the Penance Stare attack when Frank just pukes a bit and then is good to go and GR can't believe it, saying something like "Most mortals go insane from that", and Punisher is like "Yeah, well, I ain't most people".

[@josephbearpaw]

​@@FuzzyOnTheDetails This was a great , opening and great explanation of a build . Especially for the Punisher.

[@billymickelbillysuniquedes4490]

Another great video Fuzzy!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Thanks Billy!!!

[@JScottGaribay]

Chuck Dixon / Frank Romita Jr was stellar Punisher Content!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@JScottGaribay agreed!!!!!

[@JScottGaribay]

You knocked it out of the park on this video!

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@JScottGaribay thank you so much!!! I know I say this a lot… but it was so much fun to work on :-)

[@josephmoon6261]

I'd never give him a negative ego as that would mean he'd be at a disadvantage when making intimidation and undercover checks with that minus 1. The wall spec however, is hilarious.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Every Narrator has the freedom to rule differently, but I would point to the Social Interaction advice on page 284 and 285 of the CRB. It gives an example of Wolverine, in full costume and claws popped, snarling at someone to get out of the way. It says a roll is not necessary because Wolverine's "reputation as a no-nonsense brawler precedes him". Now, imagine the Punisher corners three Rank 1 Henchmen in an alleyway. He's just killed the rest of their gang, and everyone can see the skull on his chest so they know EXACTLY who he is. Without a word or a flinch, he puts a bullet in the head of Henchman #1. Then he turns to Henchmen 2 and 3 and says "The first one who tells me where I can find Jigsaw gets to live". NO. EGO. CHECK. NECESSARY. :-) Now, you're totally right about going undercover. But I personally think he shouldn't be that good at it. In War Zone, Mickey does ALL the talking, and the boss clocks that something is off with Frank. He says something like "What's the matta with your cousin, Micky? He don't talk too much". They have to play it off like he's dumb because they knew if he actually opened his mouth in front of the boss it would be over. And in the Rucka run he IMMEDIATELY gets found out as soon as he goes undercover. So at least in these two runs that I focused on, he ain't exactly Black Widow :-).

[@josephmoon6261]

@FuzzyOnTheDetails it still comes down to this, if Frank is trying to intimidate a named NPC, he should roll and he will be less good at it than every named hero in the book with a minus one. Scott Lang has a better chance to intimidate than Frank. And if you hand wave the roll, it undermines the value of non physical related ability scores.

[@LordRavenscore]

Story is King. Love it.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Well said!!

[@matthewboland5598]

Also. It would be REALLY helpful of you took these builds out for a quick play session so you can demonstrate how the choices you have made look like IN PLAY. Why did you pick the powers you did and how do they work in actual play

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

I'll see what I can do! I don't really need an excuse to play with either Frank or Sgt. Alves :-).

[@adamlivingston6599]

Im glad to see you also ignore the bit about the limit of human ability being 3 in a trait. It's so limiting and they seem to break their own suggestion with various characters anyway. Shang Chi comes to mind with his melee above 3 but I believe there are a handful of characters with a logic above 3 that don't necessarily have superhuman intelligence as a power in the source material. I'm kind of surprised sometimes that they left that bit in the book.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

I don't think of myself as ignoring it, so much as other people getting the rule wrong ;-) ;-) ;-) (I shared details in another comment, but, yeah, an ability cap of 3 is just not a thing in my opinion!)

[@havokan45]

Frank is one of the characters you can make many different ways in this system . It's been years sense i read my Punisher vs DareDevil comic in that comic it was them fighting no weapons .I maybe try him as rank 2 and have him duke it out with DD tell he seems right . The Punisher always has weapons on him maybe when the weapons get expanded on them adding how they work or even adding new ones we finally get him .He has been a thorn in Spiderman side over the years i also have a story with the Punisher,Spiderman,Nightcrawler in it where the Punisher thinks Nightcrawler killed someone and Spiderman trying help Nightcrawler

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@havokan45 I was reading a story where spider-man gets SUPER pissed at the Punisher because he used a stolen web-shooter to commit a crime. While Spidey gets the upper hand early in the fight, Punisher takes him out. And then steals another web-shooter off him lol. He used a flash bang grenade but had to soak up a LOT of punches plus get out of webbing to do so. And he pulls his punches while doing so because he doesn’t want to kill. You could read a story like that and go, wow, maybe he’s a 4. Not to mention the time he neutralized the whole avengers like twice to bust Alves out of jail. So many ways to build him!

[@rangereric18]

The only change I would have made with that build is allow him to have a point or two in Ego because he is terrifying in person. With Interrogator, that gives him Edge when making those intimidation checks on goons hanging upside down in his HQ. Otherwise, that build is solid. Frank's back!

[@haetron]

For some reason, I'd never grasped that you could go into negatives in this system for more points! I'm still puzzling over a speedball build myself :)

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

I think that's because they haven't ever done it for a named character! The only build, to my knowledge, that has a negative in any publication is the Alpha Primitive. So even May Parker doesn't have a -1 for Melee or Resilience. That sets a bit of a weird bar in my mind.

[@Stamatos]

Thank you for giving my guy his due! What is this character creator?

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

You're welcome! Glad you liked it. The character creator / compendium is caled Demiplane - it is featured prominently in the video I just put out yesterday (kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXLZaHV5j7ljmrc&lc), and my character creation video goes through a full demo as well, building Jubilee as an example (kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXjCaZxmfJ1rrLssi=5MukI5ewGH4dhk-v&t=590).

[@enochlamont877]

Amazing! I was just thinking "how do I build the rest of the OG Marauders?" or "How do I build Spiral so she can be there with Mojo?"

[@havokan45]

The OG Marauders Mr Sinister's second under used team the Nasty Boys . Speaking of under used teams from Uncanny X MEN i think It's Issues 232 to 234 the Brood had a team of Brood Mutants their was 8 of them that would make a great Halloween one shot or story arc some how they returned for revenge.

[@enochlamont877]

@@havokan45 Brickbat!

[@enricolunelli9039]

You are the best❤

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Grazie!

[@enricolunelli9039]

@@FuzzyOnTheDetails grazie a te, amico 😉❤️

[@solarisdevorak]

Great video! This really helps me as a new GM as well. But coming from D&D, I'm looking at building GM facing characters. Would you ever consider building or rebuilding characters where you turn off the requirements and just list focused powers and traits? Just to streamline them to make them faster to run? Even renaming the basic powers to something more flavor for the character

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@solarisdevorak for ease of running, I make frequent use of the the Henchmen rules. They have a lot fewer choices which is fine really, because you don’t expect them to last very long. Alternately, if you don’t want to worry about a lot of powers, you could always convert those slots to ability scores! Or you could focus on powers that don’t create choices for you, like Mighty or Flight or Brawling

[@solarisdevorak]

@@FuzzyOnTheDetailsI just meant more for bigger villains like say kingpin or magneto even Just stripping them down from their current cards to make them faster to run You know turn off the prerequisites add what is relevant etc

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@solarisdevorak I haven’t done that before, but you certainly could (or leave them there in case you need them but come up with a cheat sheet of only 2 melee snd 2 range options,

[@Jay_D_Generate]

Hey Fuzzy love the content. I actually have a topic request. How to use alternative form and make non powered sheets. I like running games with a good balance of in and out of costume stuff. I know Perry has quite a few profiles but hearing ideas would be a huge help.

[@meredithsalt8397]

I got thinking about this as well. Like changing in and out of the Ghost Rider. Was following Fuzzy's game with the werewolf and vampires. Couldn't tell if the werewolf had a sheet separate from his human.

[@Jay_D_Generate]

@@meredithsalt8397 I’ve had a lot of players use it. In an Avengers game I run Angel leads the team and he can transform between Angel and Archangel. It’s fun both mechanics wise for the player in control and narrative wise for me as the narrator. Symbiotes also can be fun to play with alternate form as well.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

@@Jay_D_Generate ooh, so I can’t speak about this yet but I have some interesting information for you in a video I’ve got planned for next week :-)

[@Jay_D_Generate]

@@FuzzyOnTheDetails Oh man now I’m excited. I can’t wait. Btw while I’ve got you here have their been any updates on the digital Roll20 version of the X-Men expansion? I’ve been waiting for it for weeks now. I ended up buying the physical book so I can just reference that and enter stuff in manually.

[@meredithsalt8397]

@@Jay_D_Generate ooh thank you this helps me to be okay with it. My Narrator was okay I was uneasy.

[@crankyrobo]

If you ever give Punisher Accuracy 3, he'll need another origin besides Special Training due to the caps on that origin.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Of course! Thanks for the correction. Maybe that Hand of the Beast build ain’t looking so bad after all… ;-)

[@meredithsalt8397]

😂 "signature weapon walls." - when i did a Frank Castle i was watching Netflix's Punisher and thought about how he finds these criminals in the first place when he is alone. I gave him Investigation Trait.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

That's a good choice as well!!

[@ianhoulihan4649]

What about the rules’ take that “non-supers” can’t go above 3 in a stat? This is something that was thrown at me when I was trying to do stats for the characters from Agents of SHIELD. Interested to get your take on this given that both Black Widow and Hawkeye have stats over 3, but Nick Fury, Agent Hill, and Coulson don’t.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

My take: Whoever threw that at you is ignoring the second half of that rule. The full quote is "Standard human-level abilities range from -3 to +3, but your character's rank, traits and powers can lift those higher". Later, of course, there's a chart that explicitly states how much rank CAN impact that score (Rank +3 is the cap). It even confirms that 3 is not some hard cap by later saying "For regular folks who are Rank 1, that means the standard cap is 4". To me, that is very clear. They repeat in the example section that the cap is Rank +3. And on top of that, like you said, you've got Black Widow and Hawkeye...and Kingpin...and Crossbones... and even Hit Monkey! (not technically a "human", but still "regular" from a rules perspective as he is "Special Training" only).

[@The5thGeneration]

How would you do Husk from Xmen? I was thinking just the adaptive power or alternate form and maybe Powerful Hex to simulate the changes on her stats

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

That's a tough one - I think there's probably a reason both she and Absorbing Man aren't in the game yet! Okay, here's a wacky idea that might be crazy enough to work. I'd go with an alternate form, and look to the werewolf for inspiration. Basically, when she changes form, she would gain a rank, and would gain the powers/ability scores associated with that form. Thinking of the forms I can remember her taking, she could take a fiery form, and gain some powers from the Elemental Control Power Set, along with ability scores that would go well with that (Agility and Ego). If she went Adamantium, it could include Sturdy, plus Melee and Resilience boosts. I don't mean to be prescriptice with the individual choices - one would have to work out with their narrator the exact choices that make sense for each form. Maybe at lower ranks, she could only turn into the "weaker" forms she's had, like wood or glass, and learn the more powerful forms as she ranks up. As Paige learned a new form, you'd basically have a separate profile for each form. She'd be an extremely fun and flexible character to play!

[@The5thGeneration]

@@FuzzyOnTheDetails we are on the same page! I was thinking of Absorbing Man for my current game. I put together and version of Mister Hyde, Carl Zeno, but changed it to Mistress Hydec/Carla Zabo. Using her in my game this week for a mansion exploration. Thank you for the response!

[@matthewboland5598]

Do a better gambit! I always thought his energy type was wrong

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

It'll be cool to do a post-Krakoan era version of the X-Men in general. I'm not sure they ALL need it (beyond changing the Origin to regular Mutant from Mutant:Krakoan), but it'd be interesting to see if the new authors have any particularly unique takes.

[@phillconklin382]

At minimum I make all characters rank 4, just so I can give them a satisfying amount of powers.

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

Yeah, you could EASILY fill up 4 more power slots for him :-). But I kinda like the constraint - it really makes you thinking about what's essential for the build you have in mind!

[@phillconklin382]

@@FuzzyOnTheDetails here's a funny build. Choose no powers and just trade all your power points for ability points. Give them healing factor and then choose signature attack for melee attack and ranged attack. Deadly.

[@sethlikespizza]

Hey fuzzy! Video idea: would you be able to show how you come up with henchman/enemy stats for NPCs and villains for the players to fight?

[@FuzzyOnTheDetails]

I'll add it to the list! With Henchmen being "official" in the game now (as CJ mentioned in my interview with him), I can definitely give that some attention! I covered a lot of villian creation in the Boss Fight video (as well as a bit in the Kraken video) so I might not touch on that again for a bit (unless I get more requests for it of course!)

[@sethlikespizza]

Thanks!!