One of the player characters for my solo Hell’s Rebels campaign.

Arcturus Pankrator is a renowned hero and slayer of monsters among the underwater peoples that make their home near Ravounel. Landlubbers have no idea who he is, which is somewhat unfortunate for him because that’s where he’s headed for the foreseeable future.

His newest quest was given to him by the leader of the sea elf village of Acisazi: he is to seek the help of Shensen, the famous singer and priestess of Sarenrae who lives in Kintargo. The village has been plagued by a horrible curse, and since Shensen is an old friend of theirs she would have both the willingness and the power to help them out. However, she has not answered their magical messages, so something might have happened to her. Time to send in an actual envoy to find out what happened and help Shensen out if needed. An excellent job for a hero of his caliber!

Unfortunately Arcturus’ wallet was considerably leaner than his muscles, so he’s more or less completely broke when he arrives at Kintargo. The information he manages to gather about the city’s situation isn’t all that encouraging either, with Shensen missing and this new human dictator causing a pall of anger and sorrow to hang over the city.

The Atlantean wrestler isn’t exactly a genius detective. His method of investigation can be summed by the word “vibes”. Therefore, Arcturus is absolutely sure that the shortest path to completing his quest lies in opposing this land-monster, which is why he’s at the big protest against him at the start of the campaign.

Description

Arcturus is an obvious expy of Aquaman from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and that’s exactly what he looks like. You can make his hair brown instead of blond if you won’t want a 100% exact match, but you should still take all your roleplaying cues from that version of Aquaman.

Build Notes

Arcturus is a mix of the Wrestler and Martial Artist archetypes. The Wrestler first appeared in Pyramid #3/111. Art makes extensive use of the Fantastic Dungeon Grappling rules, as does the campaign he’s in.

He’s an Atlantean, which means he has no problem operating underwater. His fighting style works well both in and out of water: grab’em, and stab’em. That is, inflict a reasonable bunch of Control Points onto an enemy using Wrestling, and then stab them with his knife while spending as many CP as possible to boost the knife’s damage dice. If there’s no time to draw the knife, the damage dice from CP alone should let Art inflict some involuntary yoga on almost any opponent anyway.

Character advancement is simple. More ST, more DR, higher combat skills, more attacks! Those can come from either straight up increases or Martial Artist and Wrestler powers (or better armor in the case of DR). He can also make excellent use of Extra Attacks and Fast-Draw, which let the grab-and-stab loop happen much faster. Any branching out will mostly be towards the addition of more acrobatic and movement skills. Let everyone else do the talking and investigating, Arcturus Pankrator is here to punch things and tie them in knots. Point him at any nazis, sea monsters, or nazi sea monsters and watch the spectacle.

Character Sheet

Attributes

ST 14 {40}; DX 15 {100}; IQ 10 {0}; HT 12 {20};

Damage 1d/2d; Basic Lift 19.6kg; HP 14; Will 10; Per 10; FP 12; Basic Speed 7 {5}; Basic Move 8 {5};

Advantages

  • Amphibious {10}
  • Combat Reflexes {15}
  • Doesn’t Breathe (Gills) {10}
  • Enhanced Parry (Bare Hands) {15}
  • Trained by a Master {30}
  • Wrestling Master {10}

Disadvantages

  • Code of Honor (Chivalry) {-15}
  • Impulsiveness (12) {-10}
  • Obsession (Find the missing sea elves) {-5}
  • Overconfidence (12) {-5}
  • Sense of Duty {-5}
  • Wealth: Struggling {-10}

Quirks

  • Pick your own! {-5}

Skills

  • Carousing (E) HT {1} - 12
  • Hiking (A) HT-1 {1} - 11
  • Judo (H) DX {4} - 15
  • Karate (H) DX-1 {1} - 14
  • Knife (E) DX+1 {2} - 16
  • Knot-Tying (E) DX {1} - 15
  • Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 14
  • Swimming (E) HT {1} - 12
  • Wrestling (A) DX+5 {20} - 20

Chi Skills

  • Immovable Stance (H) DX {4} - 15
  • Push (H) DX {4} - 15
  • Throwing Art (E) DX {4} - 15

Loadout

  • Large Knife: $40, 0.5kg.
  • Clothing: Free, 1kg.
  • Armor: Nothing on head, light scale on body, light cloth/leather everywhere else. $336, 8.4kg.
  • Pouch: Stores 1.5kg of small objects. $10, 0.1kg.
    • Coins: 1 silver, 10 copper. $30, 0.11kg.

Combat

  • Defenses
    • Dodge: 11
    • Parry: 17 (Wrestling), 14F (Judo), 11 (Knife).
    • DR: 2 on skull, 0 on head, 3 (2 vs Crushing) on body, 1 everywhere else.
  • Attacks
    • Large Knife (16): 2d-2 cut (Reach C, 1) or 1d imp (Reach C).
    • Wrestling Grab (20): 1d+3 control, Reach C.