| Height: 6' 2" |
Hair: Black |
| Weight: 181 lbs |
Eyes: Blue |
Jack doesn't have a superhero's build...no mighty thews or statuesque stature...and at 6'2" 180 he would look utterly rediculous in spandex. Besides, capes are so passe.
No, such frippery is not for a man as stylish and appearance conscious as Jack Hoern. Instead he simply wears Vegas style designer suits that are cut just right and fit just so. He rarely wears the same suit twice if he can avoid it, but fortunately he has deep closets and deeper pockets. Clothes aside, Jack is a handsome man with a look that Ysabel Dee, famous upper crust columnist and fashionista for New York's Ultrapolitan, once described as "jaded angel chic".
When embroiled in some altercation Jack tends to just slouch and lounge around casually as if noting at all is going on, while all around him the most absurdly unlikely coincidences occur. |
| Jack is a thrill seeker. He loves the adrenaline rush of abandoning himself to his luck and allowing "what will be" to be. However despite his lounge lizard charm, off colour humor, and sleazy demeanor, underneath it all he really does have a heart of gold and wants to do the right thing to help people that are in need. He just has to do it while maintaining his shtick; wouldn't do to let people start thinking he's a softie -- then they'd all want him to use his luck to give them winning lottery numbers and similar annoyances. |
| "Care to try your luck?" |
Jack has no overt Powers, does not detect as a mutant or a mystic or a psionicist, but without a doubt the laws of probability might as well not even exist in his immediate vicinity. Just about anything that could happen very well might happen around Jack if it suits him.
Relatively simple or direct things like guns jamming, people tripping, things falling off of shelves and knocking people out, and similar lucky breaks all happen around him of course, but truly remarkable chains of complex events with many seemingly unrelated elements suddenly coming together in such a way as to advantage Jack also occur.
A break down of Jack's key powers follows:
- Luck Effects: This is Jack's most powerful ability. Most of his "luck" does not require him to do anything whatsoever; it simply happens around him. Jack could lay down and take a nap and still be protected by his luck. In some ways it is almost as if he has a guardian angel hovering over him protectively at all times. To model this the Duplication power has been used to make effectively two invisible and intangible additional characters. Blackjack and the Luck Forms act independently, giving Blackjack's player effectively 12 actions per Turn.
However both Blackjack and the Luck Forms share the same Luck Pool, and there is a STUN Feedback on the Duplication and all three have the same amount of STUN so effectively if one of the characters is knocked out, all three are knocked out.
Intelligent use of the Luck Form is the most important aspect of this character. It is important to note that the MECHANICS of the build are not known to Jack -- he does not conceptualize his abilities as having invisible friends. Jack just trusts in his luck to make things happen for him, without knowing exactly WHAT or WHEN. The only information that is shared between Jack and the Luck Forms is PER checks, and this takes the form of "lucky awareness"; this also makes it easier for both the GM and Player as whatever either character is aware of all three characters are aware of. Jack can indirectly get a feel for what his Luck Forms are going to do for him with his Lucky Guess detect ability, but very rarely bothers to do so since it ultimately doesn't matter (and would slow the game down).
- Better Lucky Than Good: Roll 18d6 and add the result together. This total is the number of points can be applied to add or subtract from any of Jack's dice Rolls to gain a result that is better for him for the day. These points are added or subtracted directly to the face value of individual dice, and cannot take a die below 1 or above 6. If damage dice are modified, dice turned into 6's or 1's are treated as 6's or 1's for purposes of BODY damage.
This is Jack's second most powerful ability, as he can be successful at anything if the player wants to spend enough Luck to make it so. However, the Luck Pool is shared between both Jack and the Luck Form, and most of the Luck Form's abilities cost Luck points from the Pool to use. Management of this resource is crucial to the character.
- Lucky Outcomes: Using this Power Jack can modify other character's dice rolls in the same fashion that he can modify his own. He can use this to help allies or hurt opponents. This is entirely IPE, but characters that have Luck of their own are immune to the effect. Blackjack has to make a to hit roll against the target, even if they are allies.
- Lucky Ride: Using this Power, Jack can always seem to get a ride. A taxi pulls up, a bike is leaning against a poll, something to swing on just happens to be handy, a boat just happens to be pulled up to the pier with the keys in the ignition, and so forth. This particularly comes in handy vs opponents that use some sort of vehicle or device to accomplish their movement as Blackjack can use this ability to "borrow" their transport; he could even use it in the right circumstances to "hitch a ride" on a person that has innate means of transportation.
The ability has many limitations on it however; Jack has to announce his intention to use the Power a TURN in advance; he can do other things during that TURN however. This is to give the GM enough time to set up a chain of events that results in some form of transport becoming available. Further Jack has no direct control over what sort of movement the conveyance he gets will have; that's up to circumstance. Most importantly, if used to take a conveyance from someone else that they paid points for it must be handled carefully. In the case of a Vehicle that was left unattended, Jack can usually take control of it unless the Vehicle has countermeasures of its own to prevent it, and movement bought via an OAF is likely the same unless it is a Personal Focus. For movement bought via an OIF the usual rules for getting an OIF away from a person apply. If Blackjack "piggy backs" a ride from someone with an innate power, they can take action to shake Jack off.
This Power requires cooperation between the GM and the player. It is intended to allow Blackjack to pull off some heroic stunts and to explain away how he gets around, not to allow a disruption of the game. Due to the "Opportunity" aspect of the Power, there will be times when it simply does not work.
- Karmic Mitigation: This is a force field mechanically, but the SFX is similar to that of Combat Luck but taken even further. Whenever it protects Blackjack from an attack it appears that the attack either missed outright (if all damage is prevented), or was merely a glancing wound. Further circumstances in play and loose objects in the vicinity can play a role in this as well, with things interposing between Jack and his attackers to prevent him from taking as much damage as he should, bullets from multiple opponents colliding in mid air and deflecting each other, and so forth. All of which is just part of the SFX of the Force Field power.
- Lucky Avoidance: When all else fails, Jack can Abort to Desolid to protect himself from harm. It is important to realize that this is not a true Desolid, it is essentially a mechanical way to model a super-dodge. Somehow, based heavily upon circumstances and specifics in play, something happens to prevent him from taking damage from something he should have had no way to avoid. As always with Blackjack the SFX should be coincidental in nature. This effect is Instant in nature, so it only works once per use; he does not remain Desolid until his next action. Blackjack can also use this ability on other people to protect them from damage, but cannot Abort to do so.
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