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The Terra Cotta Warrior

One of the organizations statted out in GURPS Boardroom and Curia is a superhero team, the Mid-City Defenders. That was a sort of throwaway idea, a compilation of superhero team tropes intended to outline the kind of organization a superhero team might be and using that to illustrate how stats for it might look. For no particular reason (seriously, no particular reason; this is not a tease and nothing I'm working on is related to this), I was reading through B&C and thought that as an exercise, I might stat out one of the members. Moreover, to illustrate the flexibility of the core text, I thought I'd limit myself to the Basic Set. So here, then, is the Terra Cotta Warrior, a ~1000 point four-color superhero for GURPS.

 

Terra Cotta Warrior (1014 points)

Age 2225/90; Animated Statue; 5' 7"; 350 lbs.


ST 35 [250]; DX 15 [100]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 16 [60].

Damage 4d-1/6d+1; BL 245 lbs.; HP 50 [30]; Will 15 [15]; Per 12 [0]; FP 30 [42].

Basic Speed 7.75 [0]; Basic Move 7 [0]; Block 9 (DX); Dodge 11.


Social Background

TL: 3 [0].

CF: Ancient China, Modern America

Languages: Ancient Chinese (Native) [0]; English (Native) [6].


Advantages

Combat Reflexes [15]; Doesn't Eat or Drink [10]; Doesn't Sleep [20]; Fit (Very Fit) [15]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Indomitable [15]; Recovery [10]; Regeneration (Slow: 1HP/12Hr) [10]; Trained By A Master [30]; Unaging [15].


Disadvantages

Code of Honor (Soldier's) [-10]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Unnatural Feature (Made of clay) -1 [-1]; Vow (Protect the people and deliver justice) [-10].


Skills

Area Knowledge (Midland City)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Artist (Calligraphy)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Bow-16 (DX+1) [4]; Breaking Blow-15 (IQ+3) [16]; Broadsword-16 (DX+1) [4]; Carousing-16 (HT+0) [1]; Cartography/TL3-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Climbing-14 (DX-1) [1]; Crossbow-15 (DX+0) [1]; Esoteric Medicine-14 (Per+2) [12]; Farming/TL3-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Fast-Draw (Arrow)-16 (DX+1) [1]; Fast-Draw (Sword)-16 (DX+1) [1]; First Aid/TL3 (Human)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Flying Leap-13 (IQ+1) [8]; Gambling-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Herb Lore/TL3-12 (IQ+0) [8]; Immovable Stance-17 (DX+2) [12]; Intimidation-14 (Will-1) [1]; Judo-18 (DX+3) [16]; Jumping-15 (DX+0) [1]; Karate-20 (DX+5) [24]; Law (Imperial Chinese)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Leadership-14 (IQ+2) [8]; Naturalist (Earth)-12 (IQ+0) [4]; Navigation/TL3 (Land)-12 (IQ+0) [2]; Observation-17 (Per+5) [20]; Poetry-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Polearm-18 (DX+3) [12]; Power Blow-15 (Will+0) [4]; Pressure Points (Human)-14 (IQ+2) [12]; Soldier/TL3-14 (IQ+2) [8]; Spear-15 (DX+0) [2]; Staff-15 (DX+0) [2]; Stealth-14 (DX-1) [1]; Survival (Plains)-13 (Per+1) [4]; Tactics-14 (IQ+2) [12]; Teamster (Horses)-12 (IQ+0) [2].


Equipment

Scale armor (full suit, DR 4, 70 lbs.)

Naginata (swing 5d+3 cut; Reach 1, 2. Thrust 3d+1 imp; Reach 2. Skill 18; Parry 13. The weapon is technically not a naginata, but is sufficiently similar to one as makes no difference.)

 (Karate punch 4d+6 cr, skill 20, parry 14; kick 4d+7 cr, skill 18)

History

The Terra Cotta Warrior is a enchanted clay statue, created as a sort of prototype by sorcerers in the employ of the first emperor of China. The intention was to create incorruptible servants of the emperor, not subject to the failings of men made of flesh and blood. Qin Shihuang died shortly thereafter and no more were made. Indeed, the work was incomplete at the time, and the statue, not yet animate, was put aside and eventually lost.

In the late 19th century, the statue was recovered by peasants in Shaanxi province digging irrigation canals and from there came into the hands of an American missionary group which sent it on to the US as a curiosity. After changing hands a time or two, it ended up in the Midland City Museum where, one night in 1932, he suddenly came to life. The Terra Cotta Warrior had been imbued with knowledge which the people who made him believed would be useful in his mission: a smattering of law, knowledge about various aspects of daily life, and a variety of practical and martial skills. Many of those were out of date when he awoke, but his mission, to deliver justice and serve the people, was as relevant as ever. He soon made common cause with the other mystery men and women appearing at the time to become a core member of the Mid-City Defenders.

The Terra Cotta Warrior is an almost literally tireless defender of the city. He fatigues slowly, recovers quickly, and has a remarkable ability to absorb damage (he is, in terms of common superhero categorizations, literally a brick). He's no where close to being the strongest entity in the world or the ultimate master of martial arts, but he's certainly good enough to hold his own against the threats which appear around Mid-City, and even when overwhelmed, he's always ready to come back for more soon. Mooks know it's a good idea to flee or just give up when the Terra Cotta Warrior shows up.

His appearance is oddly unremarkable. His shape and facial features are those of a nondescript Asian man of a height slightly below the modern average in his adopted city. However, while his features are expertly shaped, colors (whites and irises of his eyes, etc.) are clearly painted on and the texture of his skin is that of a well-smoothed clay pot. He has genuine affection for the people he has decided to protect, who are often a little surprised by his informal demeanor; he's got a famous scowl, but doesn't use it when he's not actively fighting crime. And he shares deep mutual respect with the other members of the team. As a construct, he was never formally given a name. Outside the team, he is known by his full title or simply the Warrior. Inside the team, he's usually called Wu, a nickname derived from a Chinese word for "warrior," and is known for his endless knowledge of ancient Chinese drinking songs.

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