Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards)

See also: Sam Bell's interpretation.

Description

Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) looks to be in his mid- fifties, but is in excellent physical condition. He is white and somewhat taller than average. His hair is brown with white streaks over the temples. He uses his stretching routinely whenever he is working, so if encountered in his lab his arms, legs, and neck are likely to be several meters long. When streching, his body looks rubbery. He has the aura of a person who is always in control of every situation.

Character Concept

Reed Richards is a scientist, heart and soul. He lives to discover and explore new areas of science, other dimensions, different timelines, and other planes of existance. He is also one of the most intelligent characters in any universe. His extensive knowledge of virtually every branch of science lets him build and modify equipment on the fly, and he is constantly developing new inventions that push the limits of technology. When working, he can become very absorbed in his work, ignoring things that are going on around him and not telling others as much as he probably should.

Mr. Fantastic's powers all rely on the incredible flexibility of his body. He can stretch into any form, and he is very comfortable with his abilities. When working, he routinely reaches for things out of reach or moves around the room without moving his feet (by extending his legs or sometimes his head). His body is rubbery, much like a rubber band, and is therefore resistant to physical attacks.

Explanation of Powers

All of Mr. Fantastic's powers are based on shape shift, but since shape shift can't duplicate other powers, I've included the most frequent uses in the multipower. He often catches and throws back physical projectiles such as bullets, thrown objects, and even leaping characters by using his elasticity as a slingshot. He can stretch under a door or out of any trap that is not air-tight, and that power is bought as desolidification with some unusual disadvantages. He does not actually desolidify, so he can still be hit by attacks while going under doors. However, he can be hard to detect with radar or sonar since he will blend in with the door and floor. He also needs a gap to stretch through; he can make it through any gap that lets air through. Finally, he spreads out like a parachute or hang glider, allowing him to glide or break a long fall. If he is careful, he can support another character without losing his aerodynamic form.

Background

In the Marvel Universe, Reed Richards invented the first manned spaceship. He was an extremely well-respected scientist, but there were various concerns about the safety of the ship. Reed was unwilling to wait for governmental approval, and took his girlfriend, her younger brother, and Ben Grimm, a test pilot and Reed's friend, and launched the ship without authorization. The shielding was not sufficient to protect them from cosmic rays, and the ship crashed. Reed became Mr. Fantastic, his wife Sue became the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman), her brother Johnny became the Human Torch, and Ben Grimm became the Thing. They swore an oath to use their powers to help mankind, and became the Fantastic Four.

The FF has stayed together over the years and grown into a tight family. Reed married Sue, and they later had a son, Franklin. Franklin is an extremely powerful mutant, but has yet to completely develop control over his powers. He is currently around six (and has been six for about ten years, but just grew up, but that may not be permanent....don't ask). In the Marvel Universe, the FF is one of the best known and respected of all hero teams, and Reed has invented several important items such as a negative-zone portal and a time machine.

Reed is hunted by Victor von Doom (Dr. Doom), who was a college roommate. Doom was seriously injured when one of his experiments backfired, and he is permanently disfigured. He blames Reed for this because Reed found some errors in Doom's calculations before the accident (Doom ignored his advice).

Identifying Quote

"You remember my experiments with the radical cube some years ago? Now I've gone a step further. I have completed a radical dodecahedron. The cube enabled us to break through space into a new dimension. The Rad-D will enable us the break through space-time and travel into the future, to anywhere...or anywhen." (FF #337)

Tactics

Although he sometimes punches opponents, Reed generally tries to contain them by wrapping an arm around them several times or enclosing them in a sphere made out of his body [a grab]. More powerful characters he will usually attack with a gadget designed to exploit a weakness in their powers.

His defenses are not high, and he generally relies on dodging attacks with his extreme flexibility. Because of his elastic body, however, physical attacks do very little damage even if they hit, and he can reflect bullets and other projectiles. His defenses against energy attacks are rather low, but if he expects a lot of energy attacks he will probably build some form of portable force field.

A standard Fantastic Four tactic that they often use is to have the Torch and the Thing attack while Reed works on some gadget to defeat the enemy and Sue protects whoever seems to be in trouble with her force fields.

Sample Encounter

While Reed is working in his laboratory, a huge flame shoots through the window.

Good heavens! A blast of flame through the window!"Torch? Johnny, is that you?"

"No, foolish mortal! I am not the Human Torch! I am he who is the Living Flame! And I am your death, Reed Richards!"

Reed stretches to avoid a shower of fireballs. "Living flame?" It's some king of elemental file creature--but who has the ability to create such a thing? Reed turns himself into a ball and begins bouncing off the walls to avoid the creature. The temperature is becoming too high--soon it will be intolerable.

"Your puny attempts to evade me will avail you nought, Richards. Soon you will die, as my counterparts are even now destroying your partners."

What? The others are in danger too? Reed bounces off a wall and out the open, 20th story window. I've got to reach them--to see what kind of menace they face--perhaps find a clue to defeating this threat. That was too close! Only my speed saved me from serious injury! Before he hits the ground, Reed opens himself up like a sail and glides across the city looking for a safe place to land.

--From FF #232 by John Byrne

Possible Extensions and Campaign Use

A few notes on various decisions that I made: First, there was no attempt made to balance this character. Like most established superheroes, the power level is very high and there aren't many disadvantages. Of course, any number of hunteds could be added due to all of the villains the FF have defeated, but only Dr. Doom was integral in Reed's origin. The others seem to be picked up later, and therefore aren't worth points. I also did not refer to any of Marvel's published stats or the role-playing game. They are wrong more often than right, and I've been reading the Fantastic Four for years. I've never cared for the way they wrote up my favorite characters, and power levels change with different writers.

Stats are always a bit tricky with actual comic book characters. A 35 strength for grabbing seemed about right, since Reed does use his strength to immobilize. In other situations, he has a strength of 15. His intelligence can be made arbitrarily high--Reed is probably the most intelligent character in the Marvel universe. Adjust according to taste.

Reed has exhibited skill in basically every science known to man. I just picked out the ones in the book that seemed appropriate, but many more could be added. All sciences should be bought as INT based, of course. Like most established heroes, Reed has more favors and contacts that you can count, so I didn't try to include them.

There are probably several other applications of stretching that I am missing--just add them to the multipower (and let me know--I'd be interested to hear them). One thought is superleap based on his ability to turn himself into a rubber ball. Most of the gadgets Reed builds have incredibly high active points and tons of limitations, so I would consider waiving the requirement that the active points of a gadget not exceed the size of the pool. Otherwise, you may have to increase the pool size.

The "exploration" disadvantage isn't just physical exploration but also mental exploration of new fields of science. He doesn't have a code against killing since he doesn't go on crusades to stop others from killing and will occassionally consider it if it is absolutely the only way to stop someone. However, if he does kill even accidentally, he usually beats himself up over it for a while afterwards.

Reed is best used as an NPC who can answer tough science problems for the PCs. He isn't a knock-down, drag-out fighter by any stretch, but he can turn the tide of an entire battle with a special-built gadget to take out a villain. The FF does have an incredible base and various vehicles that I didn't include since it would be difficult to determine exactly what they can do.

Write-up copyright © 1995 by Russ Allbery (rra@cs.stanford.edu); comments about the page layout should be addressed to Jack Wilson (deejay@cu-online.com). Permission granted to duplicate and transmit, as long as this note is not removed.

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