Sunday, January 14, 2024

New Salem Character #14: The Talon

The Talon (There are many of them, and they have no names)

Pyramid Tier: 3    Experience level: 8

Affect/Gimmick: Ninja. The members of the Talon are among the most dangerous Ninja in the world, wearing dark green ninja suits. Everything they use are classic ninja weapons, as well as smoke bombs, grapnels, etc... but see below 

Gang?: They are the gang. There is one elderly Talon member who actually speaks in ways that others can understand who acts as the spokesperson for the clan, but their stats are no different than the others, they just have a visible face.  There are 5 Talon members in New Salem, plus their leader. 

Status: The Talon are a Yakuza Ninja Cell in New Salem. They act as the representatives for the Yakuza in New Salem, handling the protection rackets in Harbor, especially the Asian population of that part of the city. They have oversight of Coyote, who fears them more than he hates them, and therefore does as he's told. They find him acceptably reliable in his tasks, if a brute and a thug. 

Powers: 2

  1. Stretching Powers: This is just their super-ninja-ness. At no point do their bodies actually stretch. That would be insane. Instead their super-ninja-ness lets them duplicate the various advantages of V&V's stretching powers
    1. They can reach things (via thrown grapnels) and attack with their melee HTH out to 90" (450 feet).
    2. They add 45" to their movement rate due to jumping, bouncing, acrobatics and grapnels/swinging.
    3. They have the Stretching Powers defense type, costing 1 power per use.
    4. They have superior nightvision (making their eyes bigger) can act as if they can see around corners, and can hear specific conversations or evens within 90" of them as if they were standing there.
    5. They can enter any room that is not watertight. Don't ask how, they are ninja! 
    6. When knocked unconscious their bodies appear to disintegrate, but it's really them liquefying, flowing away, and when they wake up reforming and going back to HQ. That's why it seems like there's an infinite number of them. 
    7.  They can temporarily make their faces look different (they can't change their skin tone or facial hair, but their nose and bone structure), change their heights, and their secondary sexual characteristics as a disguise.
    8.  Can completely eliminate their facial features (other than small black dots for their eyes and skits for their pupils) which they do when it looks like they may be unmasked.
  2. Natural Weaponry: +3 to hit, +1d8 damage. With their super-ninja skills, this is all of their weapons. All of them. Shuriken? use these stats. Bow? use these stats. Swords? Nunchaku? Manriki-Guisari (those weighted and spiked chain things)? Use these stats. A Talon is functionally impossible to disarm because it's not a device or an item, it's an aspect of their super-ninja-ness. Note that yes, this means their bowshots are 'technically' them karate chopping them at extreme distance with their stretching powers, and that means that they can absolutely make shots around corners or through any hole that would admit their stretched hands. 
  3. Mute: Other than their current 'face' the Talon do not speak. Not to you. They have stretched their vocal chords and ear canals to to speak/hear in ultrasonic (this only lets them hear each other, or be attacked with ultrasonics), which is how they seem to have telepathy amongst themselves. If any PC can hear ultrasonic sounds they will be able to make out the 'cockney rhyming slang' Japanese that the Talon use to direct their activities. Their unwillingness to speak does limit their ability to disguise themselves, but they wouldn't lose the Japanese accent anyway. 
Weight: 170      Basic Hits: 4    Agi Mod: +0
S: 15        E: 15        HP: 24
A: 15        I: 13         Pow:  58         
C: 13                        Move: 90"
Accuracy: +2 or +5 HTH
Damage Mod: +2
Reactions Mod: +1
Carrying Cap: 243    HTH: 1d6
Inventions: They all carry smoke bombs (as darkness power 3" radius, but lasts only until their next action, 20 movement to use), and a nasty spider-poison they put on their weapons (carried Chemical Powers attack for 1d12 damage that is ongoing until the target makes a d20 save vs. Endurance as their organs liquify)

Background/Origin: The Talon are eternal. This ninja clan are the most dangerous of the Ninja, and they are involved in a massive mystical war with other ninja clans and super heroes. In Japan. Where it matters. Not this cultural backwater. This is a place to get some training, some work, have some money flow back to Nippon. It's not a punishment to be here, more like a Journeyman period. The PCs might think that they are killing lots of these guys since they liquify when defeated but no, it's just these save 5 guys, learning more before going home.


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