Morpheus Unbound  |  Supporting Cast  |  GURPS

Deathgrip
Adapted to GURPS from a sourcebook published around 1984 by Chaosium, Inc. 

ST       16 (70 points) 

DX      19 (150 points) 

IQ        14 (45 points) 

HT       16 (80 points)

 

Damage:  Thrust 1d+1, Swing 2d+2, Karate Punch 1d+3 (+6 more from skin secretions), Kick 1d+6 (+6 more from skin secretions), Acid Touch 4d6 Continuous Cutting, Antibiotic Skin Secretions cause 2d6 to Organic Tissue which contacts his skin.  Speed 8.75, Move 8, Fatigue 16

Appearance: 

Total Points:

 

Advantages

Combat Reflexes (15 points)

Immune to Disease (10 points)

Rapid Healing (free)

Trained by a Master (40 points)

Unusual Background:  Super (50 points)

 

Disadvantages

Appearance:  Hideous (-20 points)

Bloodlust (-10 points)

Enemy:  I.S.T., 6- (-20 points)

Enemy:  United States Law Enforcement Agencies (all of them), 6- (-20 points)

Reputation:  Brutal and blood-thirsty, -3, everyone, all the time (-15 points)

Social Stigma:  Emits foul oder -1 reaction rolls (-5 points)

Vow:  Kill police and heroes (-10 points)

 

Super Advantages

Antibiotic Skin Secretions +20 (As Body of Fire for damage only, 2 points/level, Only v. Organic Tissue -30%, 28 points)

Damage Resistance +3 (+4 total v. Crushing, 9 points)

Density Increase +1 (Not Switchable -10%, 5 points)

Extra Hit Points +2 (10 points)

Regeneration:  Standard (25 points)

Super Jump +1 (10 points)

 

Super Disadvantages

Vulnerability:  Antibiotic disinfectants (sprays, powders, liquid, etc), 3d6 from direct exposure (-9 points)

 

Powers and Super-Skills

Acid Touch (Antibiotic Skin Secretions)-19 (4)  (Generic attack power, Continuing Damage +50%, Cutting +30%, Instantaneous +20%, Only v. Organic Tissue -30%Touch Only -20%, Skill cost: 8 points, Power cost:  36 points)

 

Skills

            Acrobatics-20 (8 points), Jumping-21 (4 points), Running-18 (16 points), Staff-19 (8 points), Stealth-22 (16 points)

            Body Control-14 (8 points), Breath Control-14 (8 points), Computer Operation/TL7-10 (0 points), English-14 (0 points), Japanese-15 (4 points), Korean-14 (4 points), Meditation-14 (8 points)Philosophy (Zen Buddhism)-16 (8 points), Yin/Yang Healing-17 (10 points)

            Kenpo:  Breaking Blow-15 (6 points), Judo-20 (8 points), Karate-23 (32 points), Mental Strength-15 (6 points), Power Blow-15 (6 points), Pressure Points-15 (6 points)

            Kenpo Maneuvers:  Arm Lock-20 (Judo default), Enhanced Dodge (15 points), Kicking-25 (4 points), Spin Kick-24 (0 points, Kicking default)

 

Quirks

Hates doctors

Likes Cuban cigars

 

 

 

 

Real Identity: Robert Gantry

Sex: Male

Age: 53

 

            Character Background: Robert Gantry devoted his life to the martial arts. By his 50th year, he had achieved consid­erable mastery of the intricate physical and mental disci­plines of his art. Having earned wide respect from his peers, Robert Gantry was at peace. But fate decreed it was not to last.

 

            Late one evening, he was strolling homeward though a park after one of his classes. After bidding farewell to the last of his students his keen senses detected a struggle in the bushes nearby. A young woman was being assaulted by four hoodlums. Leaping into the fray, Gantry dis­patched three of the knife-wielding youths in as many seconds. The fourth broke and ran. The thug was swift, but Gantry was tireless and inexorable. Meanwhile, a policeman found the victim. She told him that her fourth assailant had fled and pointed the way. The officer saw Gantry, assumed he was the fleeing felon, and shouted for him to halt. Gantry assumed the policeman was shouting at the youth (whom the policeman hadn't yet seen), and didn't even turn around. The policeman fired one shot.

 

            When Gantry came-to in the hospital, he found that he was paralyzed from the neck down by the bullet (which had entered the base of his skull). The doctors said that there was nothing conventional medicine could do to help him, but one of the doctors made an offer. He had devel­oped an experimental procedure involving drugs and radiation which~,could possibly induce nerve regeneration. Despairing at the thought of spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair, and entertaining plans to enact his revenge against all policemen, Gantry agreed. He would walk again! As the treatments began, Gantry exerted the tre­mendous control over his body he had developed after 45 years of meditation to speed the healing process. But the doctor was administering dosages designed for an ordinary man. The combination produced unexpected and horrifying results.

 

            The nerve damage did regenerate. The full youthful vigor of Gantry's body was restored. But the regeneration process had become continuous--Gantry's skin shifted and writhed like a special-effects-man's nightmare. Not only did his features become grotesque but they perpet­ually shifted as his flesh was continually reborn. His immune system became hyperactive, and his raw, exposed skin began to exude a fluid containing antibodies which attacked any other living thing like a deadly poison. Robert Gantry became a monster.

 

            The shock of his paralysis would have been enough to unbalance a normal man, but this new horror toppled even Gantry's finely-honed mind. Formerly a man of gentleness and discipline, Gantry became a deadly socio­path.  Not a raving berserk, but completely amoral, show­ing no loyalty, allegiance or love for any living thing. Only one emotion still motivates him--hate; hatred for the police, after the policeman who shot him, and a perverse hatred for superheroes--in his twisted way, he partially blames his own attempt at heroics for the evil fate that befell him. Therefore, he feels those who dare to indulge in such heroics mock him, and should share in the guilt for his condition.

 

            After the slaughter he wrought in the hospital where he had been treated, followed by the bloodbath at the pre­cinct house near the fateful park, there was no place left for him but the underworld. Among criminals, he quickly became renowned as a deadly assassin, and as an unfailing weapon for those willing to pay his fee. But for his fellow criminals, as much as for society at large, Deathgrip has nothing but contempt. Lumiere he regards as slightly more competent than most but still derides her petty mercenary ambitions. There is no worthwhile goal save destroying those one hates. He will not attack heroes berserkly if, through restraint, he can assure the destruction of more of them. He is faintly curious about the aliens. Perhaps they have some philosophy, s~rne ethic, some ideal more meaningful than those of the stupid rabble of humanity. For this, and for the chance to slay more heroes, he has accompanied Lumiere to the Antarctic.

 

            Deathgrip's combat style is straightforward. Death­grip has no ranged weaponry, so he relies on hand-to­hand combat. There he brings his martial arts skills into play. Against unarmored foes, he will immediately unleash his deadly Acid Touch. Against moderately-armored foes, and those who seem dangerous offensively, he'll hamer away with full-force Martial Arts blows. Against those who are heavily armored and might not feel even his fists and kicks, he will dodge, parry, and defend himself for as many action ranks as it takes for him to successfully Spot Weakness. Then, he will dart in to use his Poison Touch at full potency. If the touch succeeds, his opponent's life expectancy might be measured in seconds.

 

 


Copyright © 1999, 2011 by Patric L. Rogers.  All rights reserved.
GURPS is a Trademark of Steve Jackson Games.
last updated 29 May 2011 by Patric L. Rogers.  
send comments and suggestions to morpheus_unbound@patric.net.