Grey Fox suits.

[The Artist Formerly]

The Grey Fox is my hero persona, a analytical Genius character set in Miami in the 1980s. Yeah, Miami. For exactly the reason you're thinking.

Fredrik Hendrik. East German born Stasi officer, R&D specialist.

Height:6'1" Weight: 189lbs

IQ:21 ME:13 MA:17 PS:18 PP:13 PE:17 PB:15 SPD:26 (post physical skills and with some leveling related bonus skills)
Alignment: Anarchist at the series beginning, Scrupulous as of now.

A field specialist with the Stasi (East German secret police), Fredrik was part of team that pursued anything relating to Heinrich Vossen (A.K.A. the Freakmaker). Highly intelligent, Fredrik was tasked with IDing and cataloging anything relating to the team's search. He often helped construct the specialized body armor that his team would need to combat superhumans who had been created by the left overs of Vossen's work. While he enjoyed the work, and the hand's on approach to field research, he grew to hate his communist masters. After all, in the free world his ideas would be worth millions.

During on such op (and the opening to the game, March 1st 1978) he discovered Swiss bank account numbers for the Vrill society (a group of occult D-bags old Adolf was tied into, these guys existed in real life and their exploits are the fodder that gave rise to the Indian Jones Nazi stuff). During the op, he (I) faked his death and blew the cargo van he was in to smithereens, leaving evidence that the Soviet KGB had done it (that way even if the Stasi figured out I wasn't in the van, they'd be looking in the wrong direction). He arranged passage to Cuba, and from there, passage to Key West, then Miami.

As a major port, airline destination and financial location, Miami is ideal for a character who wants to hide. A few bribes and a few purchases and Fredrik Hendrik is gone, with Theodore Truman in his place. He opened a shop for advanced weapons and armor sales. In my first big sale, I sold some improved Body armor and explosives to a trio of guys. They needed them for underwater work, and I didn't ask questions.

A week later, they used it to blow up one of the bridges between the main land and the keys. Killing sixteen people. They demanded money from the Carter admin or they'd blow something else up and the casualties would be much worse. According to my math, they had the explosives to do it, I sold them to them. I lost my temper and strapped on a prototype suit, with only a dark grey primer paint job on it, stocked up a few weapons, and went to explain things to them.

Grey Fox MK:I MDL: zero

Hard Armor Vest: AR:13(12+1 A.G. Bonus) SDC: 120, integrated climbing harness, air filter, police band/CB/commercial radio, five minute onboard air supply, extensive water proofing.
Equipment: Combat knife (1d6+3) Throwing knives (40ft 1d4+3) Slap gloves (+2 dmg to punches). Smoke cloud pellets (12ft AOE) 9mm hand gun(3d6 semi-automatic 17+1 160ft).

After carefully back tracking what I'd learned about them, and tapping into the FBI's tracking efforts, I discovered there whereabouts, and descended on their back woods (bayou really) hide out. The three of the plus four other guys were there meeting. They were 'students' from Iran, here on orders to distract the Americans and keep US supers out of the revolution in Iran. I had just broken in, and was on my way to use their explosives to vaporize them, when two local super heroes, Arsenal and Tigress showed up to stop them. After a few punches and a comedy of errors, we decided to work together to take these guys down. Which was good because we'd lost the element of surprise by beating on each other. Four were captured and turned over to the proper authorities, three others (two of whom had been part of the crew that bought the hardware and bombs from me) were killed when the remaining explosives went off.

I found I liked helping out. Helping take down bad guys was both more rewarding and more challenging then helping them blow stuff up and kill people who didn't deserve it. Tigress had called me the Grey Fox, because the vaguely fox like appearance of my mask, so I went with it. Taking (stealing from his notes found in Switzerland) some ideas from the old Nazi super villain Der Kommandant, I rebuilt my suit into a crime fighting system.

Grey Fox MK:I MDL:I
AR:14 (12+2A.G. bonus) SDC:120 Weight:15lbs. Integrated climbing harness, air filter, police band/CB/commercial radio, seven minute onboard air supply, extensive water proofing, grapple line throwers (one in each arm 32ft range), pilot cooling/heating (it's ****ing humid here), simple light amplification (200ft range), stealth coating (+2% to prowl/concealment), strength amplifier (+2 to wearer's PS and SPD score) slap gloves (integrated into the suit from now on, covers all major striking surfaces, knees, elbows, boots, ect), retractable climbing claws(hands and boots, +2% to climb checks).
Equipment Handcuffs (first outing,) Zip ties (second and all subsequent outings), sleep poison knives (12, 6 in each forearm bracer with a hold out pistol like feed that allows one to draw and throw a knife all in one action) save vs Non-lethal poison or sleep (A.K.A. Sleepy times). 6 one oz blocks of C-4 with 6 blasting caps. Automatic lock release gun. 4 teargas smoke pellets (12ft AOE). Pen light flashlight with low light setting to work with low light optics (I can see, but they can't see me or my light).

I'll post the MKII next.

[NMI]

Interesting. I likes. Low powered enough for the error, but high powered enough to make you "super".

[The Artist Formerly]

Interesting. I likes. Low powered enough for the error, but high powered enough to make you "super".

Later versions improve, adding new abilities and hardware. I love this class because it can be plugged into almost any game and can be useful.

My latest version is a advanced exoskeleton.

[SolCannibal]

The Grey Fox is my hero persona, a analytical Genius character set in Miami in the 1980s. Yeah, Miami. For exactly the reason you're thinking.

What, this?

[taalismn]

Love the background here...full of Cold War hijinx and echoes of the weird-dark side of WW2, then sliding into the wild American 1980s.

[Genhuman]

As always, love seeing you and your groups hijinx. Can't wait to see what else is coming up.

[NMI]

Waiting for more

[The Artist Formerly]

The Grey Fox is my hero persona, a analytical Genius character set in Miami in the 1980s. Yeah, Miami. For exactly the reason you're thinking.

What, this?

Basically.

Sonny: Tommy Vercetti? **** I didn't think they'd ever let him out.

[The Artist Formerly]

The MK 1 didn't last long, only two sessions. One was spent beating the hell out of the Columbian cartels. I fought with one of their enforcers, a man with what seemed like superhuman level strength, speed and agility, and he smashed up my suit pretty good. While the other pcs were off pcing things up in down time, I was stuck in the lab working on my suit. So I started another one, and then one after that. The second adventure we totally trashed a plot to shake the Carter administration down for cash or see a series of bombs go off along the bridges connecting the Keys to the mainland. A number of thugs hired by a mysterious figure, recruited from a number of criminal groups for their talents rather then their affiliations. Much face punching was handed out. Between the fighting, a few gun shots and the MK 1 was done.

Grey Fox MK:II MDL:1/2a/2b/3

Basic Armor: Frag cape and vest, with Ninja hang glider cape (see N&SS for details). AR:15 (13+2 class bonus) SDC:105 (reduced from 120). +40 SDC to the wearer (class benefit). Weight 13.5 lbs Integrated climbing harness (MDL1 and 2a). Full spectrum radio transceiver. Full environmental suit/water proofing (except for radiation) so long as the suit remained above 85 SDC. 11 minute on board air supply with filtration when in standard breath mode. Improved climbing gear (+3% to climbing checks). Strength Amplifier (+2 to PS and SPD; MDL1 and MDL2a, +3 to PS and 4 to SPD MDL 2b and 3) Voice modulator system to disguise my voice. Slap glove effect on all striking surfaces (+2 dmg). Line thrower (swing line system) built into each forearm, 40 foot cable 1d4 points for the hit or 3d6+1d4 +5 or more points, and a knock down from my beloved line slide kick attack. Helmet with telescopic (3x magnification) and low light vision (200 ft, plus I integrated the flash light feature into the helmet so it always worked in my forward FOV). Protected sense for the ears (MDL 2b forward).
Equipment: Zip ties, sleepy-time knives (six in each bracer and another 12 in the belt Save vs Non-lethal DC 14). 6 one oz blocks of C-4 and 6 radio controlled detonators. Automatic lock release gun tool (I made a smaller one, easier to keep on the belt). 4 smoke pellets using a new chemical substance that is extremely irritating but doesn't cause lethal allergic reactions (went into use right after the MK2 MDL 1 went into action, stole it from the Yakuza). Improved power source, converted from rechargeable batteries to a full on madeup-ithum source. 14 to 18.5 hour combat life span (depending on the model and usually worked out to about 10 hours of actual game time use for the MDL1, with the later MDLs having a longer battery use).

Primary notes. MK 2 is a custom scratch build designed to be lighter then the style it's based on, which cost me some SDC. But it meant no prowl or movement penalties. This was after my +10% SDC bonus went into account. The cape added a sound baffling element but the benefit just offsets the penalties incurred by the extra volume and mass. In an effort to strengthen and avoid snapping from the swing line cables, I coated them in a plastic. Made lighter cables better able to handle the shock load of having 500 pounds suddenly yanking on them, as well as improve spooling and reducing friction in the system, but it made them stiffer and less flexible (-5% to sense of balance checks during when swinging on them, as we use that check for a lot of acrobatic fighting/flying/figuring out what happened checks, that was a penalty you feel).

The MDL 2a had longer battery life, and a different but tragically unsuccessful air filter. The MDL 2b had an attempt at a stealth camo system, but ate up too much power, way too quickly and any damage or staining showed through, making it hard to use. But I kept a part of it, allowing two preset color patterns set into the cape, one which mimicked clear blue water on a sunny day and one which gave a sandy color consistent with Miami's beaches.

Despite the changing Model numbers, there were only two such suit. I would batch upgrades, then add them to the 'off' suit, and when it worked for the story, switch to the new one, then repair and upgrade the previous suit, starting the cycle all over again. This was a move I'd maintain through out the game through every generation of suit (the Marks vs the Models). Small easy to work on upgrades get a letter added to them, bigger projects a whole new model number. New frame were new Marks. When I'd finish a new suit, I'd repair the previous one, and upgrade the off suit to maximum ability/tech level for that generation then store them, just incase. This became a thing after ninja working for the Yakuza handed me my ass, and the game session before Dr. Frights goons and trashed my other one. Her minor super powers plus superior hand to hand combat abilities made me have to rely on the old MK 1 to get the job done, plus some tech to help me stack status effects on the ninja, followed by kicking her ass (basically I did what every badguy in every 80s martial arts movie did to cheat(blinding attacks, sound attacks, joint/limb attacks, dropping a barrel of oil on her, she's a ninja, she should expect her opponent to cheat and honorable combat blows goats for food stamps anyway)).

A near constant problem for me in fights was finding enough punch to put down the badguys without resorting to lethal level attacks. I developed a number of strikes designed to use game rules to exploit thugs with HTH basic's vulnerabilities. My HTH style was Commando from Rifts Coalition book, which gave me a few advantages, but when the real supers were on the screen, I do a lot of dodging and evading. Using AR as a damage soak really paid off, I just wish I'd read that post much earlier, would have saved me a lot of blood, sweat and blood.

Sufficient power was a gremlin as well, as I alluded too above, but with each upgrade as I rebuilt a suit, I'd get a little better at it, either carrying more or being more efficient with what I was had. Because my abilities allowed me to evolve and tailor to my opponents, when ever I'd have to hurry build or scratch build something, the GM would have me make three checks at various penalties against Analyze/operate when I used them (with appropriate skill checks to first build them) as a sort of shake down mechanic. Her position being that "everything works in the lab" your character wouldn't have put it in the suit if it didn't work on the armor dummy. However in the field is another thing entirely, and that's where the rubber meets the road. This could lead to some Iccraus like moments, especially with the camo-suite and (later) the adhesion ability. I'd scale down, then once I owned the lesser ability, scale back up. Madeup-ithum was huge element of this process, as most of my ideas were based on real world (if 21 century) tech. The GM was cool with it though, because the tech genius classes are all forward thinking characters who see things others don't.