It's been a few months (months!) since we talked about the Sons of Liberty, but they are not forgotten. You've met the core of the team already -- the powerful Minuteman, the clever Swamp Fox, and the mystic Lantern. They are, admittedly, relatively thin pastiches of what should be familiar heroes, albeit recast to fit into an earlier age: specifically the early American Republic. But three heroes is far from the full roster! The Sons of Liberty needed to grow, and having already addressed a few obvious pastiches, it was time to move on -- at least temporarily -- to ground less clearly covered in a later age by the Justice League. Still, making sure the character had a familiar feel, had an obvious hook for new players to grab onto, and be easily linked to early American history.
And so, from a dimly remembered Disney film
Secret Origins
She was fiesty to the end, she was, Edward Teach's seventh…or was it thirteenth?…wife. She never lost heart, as so many of them did, and when he decided he'd grown tired of her, and it was time to feed her to the hungry sea, she cursed him in the name of Old Scratch himself before slipping beneath the Atlantic waves. Blackbeard held little fear of the Devil, anyway. He knew that Hell awaited you when death finally came, but you thought you'd give Lucifer a run for his money once you met him. Few men really believe in the Devil, but everyone believed in Blackbeard!
But when he finally did die on the Carolina shores, cut down by the servants of a jealous British governor in 1718, his soul did not descend into Hell. His head was struck from your body, and hung first from the bowsprit of your own ship, and then over the port of Charleston. Some hex or curse had a hold on him (undoubtedly the witchly Lucretia's), and he was trapped in an otherworldly limbo just beyond the sight of mortal men for as long as your head remained apart from the rest of your rotting bones. Eventually, the head was taken down, buried, and he knew not where. But someone did. In the midst of the colonial rebellion more than 50 years later, he was suddenly called from the ghostly Atlantic shores of the Carolinas to Boston. He had been summoned.
He saw the skull, grabbed for it, but your ghostly hands could not touch it. A voice echoed through the room, promising an end to the horrid Limbo in exchange for only a few years service to a shadowy organization called the Sons of Liberty. 50 years to defend the nation being born on the battlefields, and then he'd bury the head with Blackbeard's bones, ending the curse. He drew a strange symbol on the skull, and the deal had been sealed. So bound, Blackbeard's Ghost is able to affect the material world. He uses whatever free moments he has to try to find true death (or better, a return to life) even earlier. The skull binds him to this debt, but no one would ever accuse Edward Teach of being a man of his word.
Ye'll be walking the plank...one way or another!
Blackbeard appears much as he did in life: a raven-haired, thick-bearded buccaneer. He waves a thick cutlass about as if it could affect the mortal world, and, when visible, will frequently draw one of his phantom wheel-lock pistols to help punctuate one of his wild threats. However, Teach is a ghost, and as a result can become invisible at will.
Blackbeard is immune to physical and energy attacks, but still vulnerable to magic, mental, and sensory effects. He can become invisible at will, and can use his ghostly status to possess others. He can do damage with his Ghostly Strike, or animate otherwise dormant objects and turn them against his foes. Never an honorable fighter, Blackbeard is still at his best when he can surprise and sneak-attack his foes.
Blackbeard's Ghost (PL 10, 150pp*)
(For Mutants and Masterminds 3e)
Abilities:
Strength -, Agility 4, Fighting 6, Awareness 4, Stamina -, Dexterity 4, Intellect 4, Presence 4
Advantages:
Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 6, Evasion 2, Fascinate (Intimidation), Fearless, Leadership, Move-by Action, Uncanny Dodge
Offense:
Initiative +4
Ghostly Strike +10 (Tough DC 25, Extradimensional)
Unarmed +8 (Tough DC 15) Grab +8 (Tough DC 15) Throw +4 (Tough DC 15)
Defense:
Dodge 14 Parry 14 Fortitude - Toughness 6 (0) Will 10
Skills:
Close Combat: Sword 2 (+8), Expertise: Sailor 6 (+10), Insight 5 (+9), Intimidation 7 (+11), Perception 5 (+9), Stealth 7 (+11)
Powers:
Ghostly Form [Container: Flight 5 (60 miles/hour, 900 feet/round), Immunity 10 (Life Support), Insubstantial ; 4 (Incorporeal, Permanent), Invisibility 4 (total concealment from all visual senses)];
Overwhelming Spirit [Possession: Cumulative Affliction, 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Compelled, 3rd degree: Controlled. Resisted by Will, DC 20; Cumulative (Standard - Close - Instant)]; **Fearsome Presence [Perception Area Affliction, 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by Will, DC 20; Perception Area (Standard - Close - Instant)]; **Ghostly Strike [Damage 10, Extradimensional, DC 25; Affects Corporeal (Standard - Close - Instant)]; **Hand of Blackbeard [Move Object 7, 3 tons; Affects Corporeal, Innate, Dimensional 2 (group - Spirit World), Precise]
Complications:
Quirk: As a former pirate, Blackbeard has always found himself, almost unconsciously, ending statements with "AARGH!" or beginning them with "AHOY!" or "AVAST!" He peppers his speech, even when it would otherwise be inexplicable, with pirate slang such as this.
Temper: Crude, brash, and arrogant, Blackbeard is a foul presence, even for a malevolent spirit. He respects nothing and no one, and does only as much as he must to guarantee his head's return. He's disrespectful, constantly making lascivious comments to any nearby females. He curses like a sailor, and flies into towering rages whenever his wishes - no matter how minor - are frustrated.
Weakness: Blackbeard is immune to physical and energy attacks, but still vulnerable to mental, and sensory effects. A creature of foul magics himself, Blackbeard is particularly susceptible to magic effects and attacks.
Power Points:
Power Level 10, 150 PP; Abilities 32 + Powers 71 + Advantages 15 + Skills 8 (*32 ranks at 4 skill points/pp) + Defenses 24. ** Alternate Powers.
