New Power: Photographic Reflexes

[Trakx]

The power made famous by Taskmaster, and more recently by Ronin/Echo (see Tommy's write-up on her!).

I based how performing Photographic Reflexes actions would be performed off of Power Duplication, but then heavily modified it, using a lot of information from Taskmaster and Echo/Ronin from wikipedia.org.

Let me know what you think and if there are any errors, things you would change, or additional limits or stunts you can think of.



PHOTOGRAPHIC REFLEXES
Trump Suit: Agility
Exemplars: Echo, Ronin, Taskmaster
Related Powers: Power Duplication, Ultimate Skill

Photographic Reflexes is a unique form of photographic memory that ties directly into muscle memory. This ability enables your hero to watch another person’s physical movements and duplicate them without practice as long as it is physically possible for any ordinary human to accomplish. This ability is purely dependent on sight, and restricted to physical motions. For example, your hero could copy a virtuoso pianist’s performance by watching him play, but would not gain the ability to read sheet music.
The hero makes an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target's ability score for the skill being observed to copy. The difficulty is raised from easy to average for Master class skills and to challenging for World class skills. The hero cannot use any copied skills until the next exchange, as it takes at least one exchange to observe the target in action. The skill is gained for an aura duration. The skill may be gained permanently as a stunt of Photographic Reflexes, but follows the same rules as acquiring stunts.

Limit—Agility Skills Only: Your hero can only duplicate Agility-based skills.

Limit—Slow Learner: Your hero can only duplicate skills, or acquiring them through old fashioned learning, never gaining them as stunts.

Limit—Strength Skills Only: Your hero can only duplicate Strength-based skills.

Stunt—Adrenaline Boost: Your hero can boost Strength to that of the targets by making an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target’s Strength. Your hero can also gain the power Leaping this way.

Stunt—Creative Skills: Your hero can also gain Willpower-based skills, in addition to Agility and Strength-based skills.

Stunt—Fighting Style Familiarity: Due to the hero's ability to copy and adapt to an opponent's fighting style, all actions taken against the hero by the subject are at one difficulty level higher.

Stunt—Master of Skills: Your hero can improve skills already possessed to master or world-class levels by observing a subject who already possesses master or world-class skills. These levels may be made permanent by the same rules of acquiring stunts.

Stunt—Multiple Targets: The hero can duplicate the skills of everyone within firing range, subject to the usual restrictions of this power, however doing so is a challenging Photographic Reflexes action.

Stunt— Rangeless: Your hero can duplicate anyone’s powers that he or she has meet and seen their powers in use, whether they are present or not.

Stunt—Rapid Learning: Your hero can duplicate skills in the same exchange, doing any other action – including performing the copied skill - as a contingent action.

Stunt—Speed Boost: Your hero can duplicate the Agility of a target by making an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target’s Agility. Your hero can also gain the power Lightning Speed this way.

Stunt—Voice Duplication: Your hero can duplicate the voice of the target by making an average Photographic Reflexes action.

[Trakx]

Here are some additional stunts that I had been thinking up for a while now, but have just put down on paper (or screen):


New Stunt: Body Linguistics: Your hero is so adept at studying the movements of others that s/he can intuitively understand the subtle language of the body. Your hero gains Empathy at the intensity of Photographic Reflexes.

New Stunt: Animal Communication: Your hero can understand the language of animals that communicate through movement, though at Challenging difficulty. If your hero also possesses the Voice Duplication stunt, you may reduce use of Animal Communication to Average.

[syzygy]

trakx said:

Stunt—Voice Duplication: Your hero can duplicate the voice of the target by making an average Photographic Reflexes action.

I know that Taskmaster does, in fact, have this stunt, but I would nevertheless NOT allow it. I don't know what Marvel was thinking when they let Tasky do this, but it absolutely does not work for me:

The pitch of a person's voice is a percept that is determined by a number of different factors, but largely by the fundamental frequency of the sound generated by the larynx. A person's natural fundamental frequency is influenced by many factors, including the length, size, and tension of the vocal folds. In an adult male, this frequency averages about 125 Hz, adult females around 210 Hz, in children the frequency is over 300 Hz.

Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_cords

So the sound of someone's voice is determined by the length, size, and tension of their vocal cords. I'm willing to credit that Tasky can, through muscular control, alter the tension of his vocal cords, but Photographic Reflexes shouldn't allow him to alter their length or size.

With Imitation, however, you can alter your vocal cords as pretty as you please, and thusly duplicate any voice for free (no stunt), perfectly (or rather, at your power rank, minus one level of difficulty if you also have Diguise or Performing). With Shapeshifting, I might require a player to practice each specific person whose voice he sought to imitate, perhaps requiring a stunt for perfect duplication. But frankly, I just don't see how Photographic Reflexes allows this at all.

Yes, I know Marvel says Tasky has it...but it doesn't work for me.

[xhumed]

The body language thing? if you read moon knight, you'll find out that taskmaster can do that. It's how his power works. So I'd be open to allowing that one. Making it a non-unqnue power isternesting, I'll give it that. I just don't know about letting player get hold of it.

[Trakx]

I hate to sound so agreeable (as I feel like all responses to posts I've done I've thoroughly agreed with), but I felt the same way. But since Marvel has had Taskmaster do it, I included it in the power.

There are other stunts within powers that I have disagreed with, but it's their game - and fan submitted work just follows their model.

I have a character in a story that I'm writing that has Photographic Reflexes and, like everyone else who has this power, he has studied hundreds of martial arts with this power. But what sets him apart is that he is combining his studies with Animal Training to teach wolves improved pact tactics and fighting techniques.

[syzygy]

trakx said:

Stunt—Adrenaline Boost: Your hero can boost Strength to that of the targets by making an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target’s Strength. Your hero can also gain the power Leaping this way.

I wouldn't allow this. Observing the Hulk with Photographic Reflexes wouldn't enable you to duplicate his strength and leaping, unless you had the full version of Power Duplication, or the separate power of Ability Boost.

I'm willing to accept a mutant who can use an adrenaline surge to get top-tier superhuman strength, but I would require this as a separate power, in as much as Photographic Reflexes in no way changes someone's biochemistry to allow for superhuman strength.

Stunt—Creative Skills: Your hero can also gain Willpower-based skills, in addition to Agility and Strength-based skills.

I wouldn't allow this, really. Photoreflexes can duplicate a particular performance -- especially dance, for example -- but it wouldn't allow for original, creative work, or include the intellectual knowledge required (reading music, etc). Basically, I'd make a note on the player's character sheet of what performances the Photoreflexive character saw, and he'd be able to duplicate them.

So, if Tasky saw Itzhak Perlman flawlessly play Borodin's 7th on the violin, Tasky can do this too. However, if Tasky wants to be able to read music, compose his own pieces, improvise, or play something he's never seen played, he has to buy the Performing skill.

Stunt—Fighting Style Familiarity: Due to the hero's ability to copy and adapt to an opponent's fighting style, all actions taken against the hero by the subject are at one difficulty level higher.

Yes, I'd allow this too. The NPC opposing the Photoreflexive character simply doesn't gain the benefit of his skill (-4). Of course, if the NPC is World-Class, he still gets auto-trump.

Stunt—Master of Skills: Your hero can improve skills already possessed to master or world-class levels by observing a subject who already possesses master or world-class skills. These levels may be made permanent by the same rules of acquiring stunts.

No, I'd never allow this. As I see it, a World-Class skill is more than just a set of things or actions the character knows. A character with a World-Class skill has actually reached a level where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, where his very essence has actually been changed or transmuted by the discipline.

In other words, I view World-Class skills as a phenomenon akin to "Edge", something that just goes beyond the sphere of things that can be scientifically measured and quantified. Someone who has a World-Class skill has actually attained a kind of deep, spiritual integration with his discipline. You can't copy Edge, and you can't copy the "World-Class" part of the skill. At least, that's how I do it.

I don't use Master-Class, but I'd regard that as more of the same if I did. So in my campaign, if a Photoreflexive PC wanted to increase his Edge, or get a skill to World-Class or Master-Class, he'd have to do it by spending Response Points, like everyone else.

Stunt—Multiple Targets: The hero can duplicate the skills of everyone within firing range, subject to the usual restrictions of this power, however doing so is a challenging Photographic Reflexes action.

I wouldn't allow this, as the Photoreflexive character can't possibly study and memorize everyone at once. Pure Power Duplication might be able to do this, but that's a different power, right?

Stunt— Rangeless: Your hero can duplicate anyone’s powers that he or she has meet and seen their powers in use, whether they are present or not.

I don't understand this stunt. A Photoreflexive character doesn't need to meet anyone to duplicate a skill. He can just watch film clips of them on You Tube. That's not a stunt, it's part of the power description.

Stunt—Rapid Learning: Your hero can duplicate skills in the same exchange, doing any other action – including performing the copied skill - as a contingent action.

He can duplicate any move he's seen, surely, but he can't get the whole skill unless he's seen the whole skill. He's copying what he sees, not reading minds (like say, David Allyne of the New X-Men). Of course, the question of just how much any Photoreflexive character needs to see in order to get the whole skill is a real can of worms.

I'd probably require a day of study to get to "black-belt level" in most skills, that is, where the character has a full repetoire of moves normally found in that skill. Since the PC can just watch fights on You Tube and assimilate the moves, that's not a terribly strict requirement.

Stunt—Speed Boost: Your hero can duplicate the Agility of a target by making an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target’s Agility. Your hero can also gain the power Lightning Speed this way.

I'd never allow this. Ability Boost and Lightning Speed are, to me, categorically different powers than Photographic Reflexes.

I'd allow the character to boost his speed to "Double-Time", which allows him to double the number of attacks he makes for an aura exchange, although afterwords he loses a card. This simulates the strain Double-Time amplification puts on the body.

Of course, there's nothing stopping the PC from spending a card on Ability Boost when he creates his Photoreflexive character at the beginning of the game. Even a low Willpower card allows the stunt of Dual Ability Boost Strength and Agility.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to shoot down anybody else's ideas. That's not the point. I'm just telling you what I'd allow if I were referee, and why.

Basically, if a player tells me he wants Photographic Reflexes, but that he also wants to be able to mimic a target's Strength, Agility, Leaping, and Lightning Speed, I'd direct him to the standard version of Power Duplication. The problem I have with most of these stunts is that they seem more characteristic of Power Duplication itself than the more restricted power of Photographic Reflexes

Stunt—Voice Duplication: Your hero can duplicate the voice of the target by making an average Photographic Reflexes action.

As stated previously, I've yet to hear a convincing rationale for how Taskmaster can alter the length and size of his vocal cords to duplicate the sound of another person's voice. I'd let Mr. Fantastic, Mystique, Copycat, or Morph do this, but not Tasky.

If Marvel has a decent explanation for how Photoreflexes allow Tasky to alter the length and size of his vocal cords, I'd like to hear it.

[syzygy]

trakx said:

New Stunt: Body Linguistics: Your hero is so adept at studying the movements of others that s/he can intuitively understand the subtle language of the body. Your hero gains Empathy at the intensity of Photographic Reflexes.

New Stunt: Animal Communication: Your hero can understand the language of animals that communicate through movement, though at Challenging difficulty. If your hero also possesses the Voice Duplication stunt, you may reduce use of Animal Communication to Average.

These are so different from the basic power that I'd require the PC to actually buy the new powers themselves.

Normally, a character can't just up and decide to gain a new superpower, but I'd allow it in this instance, based upon your rationale. The reason why I think new powers are required, however, is that while Photoreflexes allows you to duplicate what you've seen, understanding what you've seen well enough to perceive deep emotional nuances is another matter entirely.

So I'd make the character buy either Empathy: 1 or, more likely, Detect Emotion: 1, as well as Animal Control: 1. Not too terribly strict a requirement in most games.

[xhumed]

really? do you not allow stunts that are powers, like animation form telekinesis and stuff like that? cuase that's really all it is.

[Trakx]

I'll have to reply in proper length around noon, but for the moment I want to just say that I value your input and no apology is necessary.

I have to say that, even though I "created" all of these stunts, I didn't agree with them being realistic for how I interpret the power to work, either. However, I added them all the same since they were relative. If someone is able to copy Agility and Strength skills, it's in line to have a stunt that might allow you to copy Willpower or Intellect skills. It comes down to how this power works. Perhaps the hero doesn't gain this power through observation, but through a sort of telepathy where he is reading an area of the brain that sends messages to the body to perform, etc. Though this, or any other outside-the-norm origin for gaining this power, anything is possible.

Some of the Strength and Agility gaining powers, if kept at all, do need to be reworded.

Again, thank you so much for the feedback! I'll write more at noon.

[syzygy]

xhumed said:

really? do you not allow stunts that are powers, like animation form telekinesis and stuff like that? cuase that's really all it is.

Of course I allow them (or would if I were campaigning now, which I'm not). It's just that not all stunts seem to flow from all powers.

In this case, if the telekinetic were powerful enough -- say, 14 or greater -- I'd allow him to learn the solid matter animation stunt. Whether he could also learn liquid or gaseous is another matter, but basically, the higher the power rank, the more stunts you can learn...as I see it, of course.

A 17 or 18 telekinetic might even be able to learn Alchemy (basic power usage)...maybe. If the character also had a high Intellect and Chemistry skill...perhaps....

However, I wouldn't allow a telekinetc to learn, say, telepathy or light control. If the player then points out that many telekinetics also have Telepathy, I'd say that justifies his being able to buy Telepathy as a power. But I'd rule it's too different for a stunt.

Can the character manipulate photons with his TK as a stunt? In Bill Willingham's "Pantheon" limited series (not Marvel), he has a telekinetic who can actually do this, and believably. But the character's rank is probably around a 22 or 24. I'd allow the telekinetic PC to buy Light Control as a new power

[Trakx]

syzygy said:

In this case, if the telekinetic were powerful enough -- say, 14 or greater -- I'd allow him to learn the solid matter animation stunt. Whether he could also learn liquid or gaseous is another matter, but basically, the higher the power rank, the more stunts you can learn...as I see it, of course.

A 17 or 18 telekinetic might even be able to learn Alchemy (basic power usage)...maybe. If the character also had a high Intellect and Chemistry skill...perhaps....

However, I wouldn't allow a telekinetc to learn, say, telepathy or light control. If the player then points out that many telekinetics also have Telepathy, I'd say that justifies his being able to buy Telepathy as a power. But I'd rule it's too different for a stunt.

Can the character manipulate photons with his TK as a stunt? In Bill Willingham's "Pantheon" limited series (not Marvel), he has a telekinetic who can actually do this, and believably. But the character's rank is probably around a 22 or 24. I'd allow the telekinetic PC to buy Light Control as a new power

Really all that you're saying is that you would discuss it with the player as to if you feel the powers are alike enough to gain a stunt from, or if it requires a seperate power.

As for requiring a certain intensity, this is a prime example of using Power Codes (similar to Ability Codes), indicating the skill one has with the power - which also lays a stronger argument for having the control often necessary to perform a number of stunts.

PS: I didn't reply at noon as I had planned as something came up. ...and I still don't have time now. *sigh*

[syzygy]

trakx said:

Really all that you're saying is that you would discuss it with the player as to if you feel the powers are alike enough to gain a stunt from, or if it requires a seperate power.

As for requiring a certain intensity, this is a prime example of using Power Codes (similar to Ability Codes), indicating the skill one has with the power - which also lays a stronger argument for having the control often necessary to perform a number of stunts.

I don't have any specific method. Discussing it with the player is a big help, of course.

It's just that, for some stunts, they seem to go against the very concept of the power. For example, Photographic Reflexes has little to do with super-strength or lightning speed. It has to do with rapidly acquiring skills. If it's suddenly about super-strength or lightning speed, what makes the power unique is, I feel, somehow compromised.

No "Power Codes"; I didn't even know there's such a thing. My general impression from a lifetime of reading comics is that:

1) the higher the rank, the more things that can probably be done with the power; and
2) the more fundamental the energy form, the more things that can probably be done with the power.

Still, some powers seem pretty specific and limited, even with a high rank. Photographic Reflexes, Ability Boost, Quills....these powers, no matter the rank, will never have the scope of energy manipulation powers like Magnetic Control or psionic powers like Telepathy.

This is just something the player has to realize when creating or choosing his character. An "18" in Photographic Reflexes is an immensely skilled fighter, and an 18 in Imitation can fool most anybody, but an 18 in Telekiesis or Light Control, with sufficient stunts, will be taking on alien armadas.

[Trakx]

syzygy said:

It's just that, for some stunts, they seem to go against the very concept of the power. For example, Photographic Reflexes has little to do with super-strength or lightning speed. It has to do with rapidly acquiring skills. If it's suddenly about super-strength or lightning speed, what makes the power unique is, I feel, somehow compromised.

Taskmaster, who is the exemplar of Photographic Reflexes, has developed a number of stunts to this power over the years. Whether or not we agree with them, it would only be right in having this power adapted to a Marvel roleplaying game to list these stunts.

Therefore, when I listed Speed Boost, trying to duplicate his "double time" effect, I then created an equivelant for Strength. I don't know if it's feasible or not for a character to have such a stunt, but that isn't for me to decide - such a character is bound by the players imagination and limited by the rules and opinions of the Narrator for that game.

While I've been convinced that Taskmaster shouldn't be able to duplicate voices, the fact remains that he does. Therefore, I've included this stunt.

While I tried to be careful in my wording of the power and its stunts and limits, I may have been too hasty in areas. So, if there is a problem with the rules I'd love to hear about it. But in regards to the concept behind "stunts" as shown in the comics, I'd love to talk about it (as I have immensly enjoyed the talk on vocal cords and Photographic Reflexes!), but my mind is shut as to whether or not it should be listed as stunts to the power.

[wizzer]

Stunt—Speed Boost: Your hero can duplicate the Agility of a target by making an easy Photographic Reflexes action, opposed by the target’s Agility. Your hero can also gain the power Lightning Speed this way.

I have re-read the mini-serie with Tasky and I propose the following modification:
Stunt—Speed Boost: By watching another hero with Lightning Speed or a fastened video, your hero can make accelerated movements. In game terms, it gives him extra contingent actions just like Lightning Speed.
As in this power, the Hero's normal ability score and all pre-cardplay modifiers are divided among the number of attacks, rounded down.
But, unlike Lightning Speed, each exchange of accelerated movements causes the unavoidable loss of one card per extra action above the first.
The effective limit in intensity of the Lightning Speed your hero can copy is equal to the fourth of his Photographic Reflexes intensity (rounded up).

What do you think about this?

On the same hand, I would allow the Voice Duplication stunt.
I agree that the imitation is not perfect, but in the real world imitators can fool even friends of the imitated person.
I also would rather assume that they can fool voice scanners because the technology is far from perfect and permissive (because even with flu, Tony Stark still wants to enter his lab ). A scanner has Enhanced Senses (Hear) at a given level that I add to the difficulty level of the imitation.

On the other hand, I wouldn't allow the Adrenaline Boost stunt. Photographic Reflexes is no really "photographic" in the rapid sense. For example, Tasky needs to train the moves he wants to copy, repeating and repeating them until his copy is perfect. And Tasky can train him all his life, he could never copy the Hulk Strength without breaking some bones.

[oninowon]

IMO, I don't think voice duplication should be included in photographic reflexes. I think it should be a separate power. Even though TaskMaster has the ability doesn't mean that PR should be tweaked to accomodate that ability especially since the ability itself doesn't really fit with the original intent of the PR.

The name of the power implies that that hero somehow can duplicate another person's moves by watching. Voice duplication uses a different sensory entirely. Instead of relying on watching, it relies on hearing.

Anyway, it looks like TaskMaster somewhat recently gained that ability so to document it, he could just have discovered a new power. Maybe his powers are still developing and he may be able to duplicate more things in the future similar to Skyler on the show, "Heroes". Similar to TaskMaster, he needs to see how a power works before he can utilize it.