Haze

Haze

Hazel Whiteridge was born to upper class parents, part of a seemingly perfect world. But from birth her

ambitious socialite parents were desperate and demanding. They viewed their charming baby as a

trophy, a commodity, a pawn. Her emotional skills noticeably surfaced early, about age three, and her

parents (after receiving odd reports from the nanny) decided to utilize their daughter's talents to their

social and financial benefit. Eventually all the lies, broken trust, scandal, and heartache pushed Hazel to

use her powers against her parents so she could finally escape their suffocating world. At least she

walked away with the finest education dirty money could buy, and more life experience than someone

her age should have.

Birthright

Attributes -

Awareness: 6

Intellect: 6

Willpower: 6

Coordination: 5

Prowess: 5

Strength: 4

Powers -

Emotion Control: 4

Fast Attack: 6

Astral Projection: 5

Heightened Senses:

Communication - Telepathy

Dimensional Sense

Circular Vision (if not, go with Comprehend Language and nix linguistics to go expert in Mental

Resistance

Specialties :

Linguistics

Mental Resistance

Physical Description -

Height: 5'7

Build: feminine physique, lean muscle

Hair: Deep honey, very long, loose silky waves

Eyes: mercurial, changing with her mood, or the mood she is inflicting on another

Skin: very fair

Qualities -

Healer of Psyche: This is a true two edged sword. When people express uncomfortable, difficult, or out

of control emotions (pain, sadness, frustration, anger, etc) she feels a pull to use her powers to soothe

them, or create a sense of resolution for them. However, if the person is not ready to move past these

difficult emotions, her emotional healing is nothing more than a bandage, and the emotional turmoil will

continue to resurface (without the person having the advantage of learning to cope themselves). It is

best she use her powers to aid in another's own self healing, this creates a true and lasting repair of

emotional damage. This quality has also led to some personal repercussions for Haze, as some people

have grown to have a bit of a codependence, or even addiction to her soothing ways. Her reclusive

nature is evidence of this.

Poor Little Rich Girl: When Haze broke away from her parents, she made sure that any money taken

from innocent victims was returned. However, there was a rather large sum that was taken from those

who would use their wealth for unsavory things. This money she kept to aid in her endeavors. She

donates much to charities, funds her own missions, and invests in ethical businesses with a view to

bettering the planet and humanity. Still, she has quite a few creature comforts, and a large

(exceptionally beautiful) off-the-grid complex that she calls home. In addition to this, her skills and

former life have given her many useful connections to people with power and resources. Although

many of these she would rather not make contact with, if it is for a very good reason, she will not

hesitate to call in favors and "charm" these connections.

The Mistress of Reckoning: Haze's true drive is to help and defend those who are unable to do so

themselves. When an innocent is wronged, her reaction to rescue them and make it right is almost

knee-jerk. While most of the time she is able to use excellent judgment and foresight, if a situation truly

triggers her she is willing to step outside the boundaries of the law, as well as take on very dangerous

situations, if the cause is in line with her personal values. On the flip side of this quality evildoers, those

who hurt others, should be punished for what they have done. While Haze tends to see the world's

shades of gray with ease, this tends to be a black and white issue for her. If a villain causes harm to

another, she likes to project that emotional experience onto the villain, so they can suffer as their victim

has suffered. It's an effective tool for subduing a criminal, but also gives her a level of personal

satisfaction. This quality is her internal justice system personified - she will balance the scales.

(will edit to add character pictures later)

Quality Explanation

An attempt at a quick primer:

Qualities and Determination are a way to get a mechanical bonus while narratively invoking core

concepts about your character.

You can spend a point of Determination to gain Advantage: get a +2 bonus on a roll, add +1 to the level

of an ability, retcon a story detail, get a clue in the story, or gain a one-time use of a power you don't

have (a Stunt).

But to do this, you ALSO have to invoke a Quality as an explanation of WHY you're getting the bonus.

BECAUSE I am *Champion of Phoenix* and I can't let people down, I get a +2 on this roll. BECAUSE I am

an *Incarnate War God,* I have centuries of combat experience. Thus, I'm going to do more damage

with this attack.

Likewise, you can choose (or the GM can force on you) Trouble, which EARNS you more Determination,

so you can keep invoking those Qualities for Advantage. This might be story-based: "The villain gets

away; there's nothing you can do about it. Take a Determination point." It might be scene-based: "There

are a lot of innocents here. I'm going to lose my action this Page to save them and get a Determination

point." Or it might be Quality-based: "Because you are a "Monster Magnet," there are twice as many

monsters invading the city. Take a Determination point."

It's all about adding to the story and getting a bonus for doing so. Without using Qualities, ICONS is a

decent rules-light supers game, but you end up with situations like the heroes being unable to hurt the

crab-man in the museum. An attempt at a quick primer:

Qualities and Determination are a way to get a mechanical bonus while narratively invoking core

concepts about your character.

You can spend a point of Determination to gain Advantage: get a +2 bonus on a roll, add +1 to the level

of an ability, retcon a story detail, get a clue in the story, or gain a one-time use of a power you don't

have (a Stunt).

But to do this, you ALSO have to invoke a Quality as an explanation of WHY you're getting the bonus.

BECAUSE I am *Champion of Phoenix* and I can't let people down, I get a +2 on this roll. BECAUSE I am

an *Incarnate War God,* I have centuries of combat experience. Thus, I'm going to do more damage

with this attack.

Likewise, you can choose (or the GM can force on you) Trouble, which EARNS you more Determination,

so you can keep invoking those Qualities for Advantage. This might be story-based: "The villain gets

away; there's nothing you can do about it. Take a Determination point." It might be scene-based: "There

are a lot of innocents here. I'm going to lose my action this Page to save them and get a Determination

point." Or it might be Quality-based: "Because you are a "Monster Magnet," there are twice as many

monsters invading the city. Take a Determination point."

It's all about adding to the story and getting a bonus for doing so. Without using Qualities, ICONS is a

decent rules-light supers game, but you end up with situations like the heroes being unable to hurt the

crab-man in the museum.