Characteristic
Cost
END
Cost
5
Cost
3
6
3
4
3
4
3
Cost
| Kidney Blow | ½ | -2 | +0 | HKA 2d6 |
| Low Blow | ½ | -1 | +1 | 3½d6 NND |
| Punch | ½ | +0 | +2 | 10d6 Strike |
| Roundhouse | ½ | -2 | +1 | 12d6 Strike |
| Weapon Element: Blades | |||||
| +3 HTH Damage Classes (already added in) | |||||
Cost
3
8
0
2
3
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
1
3
2
15
5
5
5
15
15
15
15
5
10
1
1
1
1
1
15
10
15
Giovanni (Gio) and his younger brother, Paolo, were born into a very rich family. His father was the managing director of a large Chemicals business (TCC Chemicals) and the family owned the majority of the shares. The family was also head of the Cleveland Mafia.
Gio worked hard to please his father and paid note to all he was taught about business and The Family. He trained hard physically as well. Gio’s father was keen for Gio to take over both ‘businesses’ but things were not to work out that way.
One day Gio was inspecting an illegal warehouse where many thousands of gallons of chemicals were stored. The warehouse also included samples of snake venom bound for an illegal laboratory. Unfortunately one of the pressurised vats malfunctioned and exploded. A chain of explosions followed and the warehouse was destroyed. Many men were killed and Gio was included in the list of fatalities.
Gio had not died that day. He survived although whether it was a miracle or curse was open to debate. Gio had been transformed into a bestial black skinned creature with glowing eyes. Gio’s memory had also been affected and he had lost all notion of who he was. He wandered away from the disaster site and eventually the city as well. He knew only that he was different and people ran from him screaming if they saw him. He found his way to the countryside, in hiding during the day and foraging for food at night. He could see easily at night due to the cocktail of chemicals and toxins that had invaded his body let him see in the dark and sense heat patterns so hunting for food came easy.
Gio will always be haunted by the day his memory came back. He woke one night in the cave system he had called home for months. His body had changed back to its normal form and he now remembered who he was. He headed back to the city and after stealing some clothes headed to TCC chemicals and asked to see his father. The receptionist fortunately recognised him even with long hair. She gave him the sad news that Father and Mother had died in a suspicious car accident three months after his death. Paolo was now running the company but he had already made changes which were foolhardy.
Gio was distraught that his parents were dead but when his brother refused to recognise him and all attempts to match DNA with earlier samples of Gio’s failed his upset turned to anger at his brother and the system that had seemed to let him down the first time he had ever needed it. He was also told by reliable sources that Paolo had been responsible for his parent’s death after an argument regarding how much responsibility Paolo was to have. These thoughts ate away at Gio.
Gio experimented with his powers and found he could control the changes in his body and could turn his skin black with minute scales and flesh hard. He could also shoot streams of a poisonous liquid over distance in a jet from his mouth and realised he had poisonous fangs in his mouth.
He remained angry and bitter but knew he would have to pick his moment and when he did it would have to be a bold, decisive move. He was confident about his powers of persuasion. His presence amongst a group of people was almost supernatural anyway and he knew how to use that to his advantage.
He waited until the TCC Chemicals was against the wall. He knew the board were against Paolo as were the senior members of The Family. It was all over the city. Gio chose his moment well. The board of TCC had had enough and threw him off the board and, predictably, Paolo run to The Family like a scolded child.
Gio contacted his Uncle Mario for permission to attend the meeting and consent was agreed. As the meeting started Gio walked in, acknowledged the others there, paralysed his brother with his bite and watched him die. Gio then changed back to his normal self. He pushed the body off the chair with his foot, brushed the seat off and sat down. ‘I’m Giovanni Tarantini. Most of you know me. I’m very sorry to have caused this ‘scene’ but as I’m still alive and not got a dozen slugs in me I guess my actions do not go against your own plans’ There were some murmurings of agreement.
‘Shall we get on with this meeting then, gentlemen? I just wanna say that although a Tarantini has always sat in THE chair I’m not suggesting it should be me. I know that my Father was a great man and I would never dishonour him as my brother has but I realise that I have a lot to prove to you all, I suggest that my Uncle Mario sits in this chair and takes over the meeting.’
Gio stood up and pulled the chair away from the table for his Uncle to sit. His Uncle rewarded him by telling him that he was not welcome now he was ‘a monster.’ He was paid off with $2 million and all in the room turned their back on him. Gio left disgusted.
He had special powers. It would be a quick high profile way that some of the leaders might not like but if he could find some other like minded men with super powers then he would remain in their minds and increase their bank balance at the same time.
Diamondback is also a womaniser. Although Gio is a very passionate person he has never got close to a woman since the accident. He likes women a great deal but keeps his relationships on a physically level only.
Diamondback is a good planner. He prefers to act with a plan formulated in his head. He knows what his powers can do and what he can’t achieve and won’t overstretch himself. He is also a firm believer in having as many options open to him as possible. Because of this he maintains a lot of people in his pay. He as made many contacts far and wide. His objective now is to use those contacts to help him put a team of villains with super powers together. Whether he is aiming to prove himself to the Family or himself isn’t so clear.
Diamondback has snake and poison based powers.
He is able to shoot a beam of concentrated contact poison that breaks down living tissue very quickly from glands in his mouth. He can also administer poison into the body by biting a victim with his fangs.
His skin is very dense and hard. He has also worked very hard to improve his combat skills and because of his strength and speed is a formidable opponent. He will not hesitate to fight dirty to take a man down as soon as possible.
The accident has made him significantly quicker and somewhat stronger. His scaled skin and hardened flesh have combined to make him very tough and he can take quite a lot of damage. An additional side effect seems to be that Diamondback is now able to almost see as well at night as during the day and can pick up heat patterns as well. behind him.
His fingernails change to claws when in snake form but are not very strong.
Finally he now seems to be much more flexible than a normal human and able to contort himself into small spaces. This enables him to create a lot of ambush opportunities.
Diamondback is tall, wide shouldered and olive skinned. He seems to ‘fill’ a room with his personality when he comes in. He has a winning smile when happy but when angry has an air of great menace about him.
Diamondback likes to dress smart and wears his long black hair tied back in a ponytail. He is normally clean shaven. He normally wears suits or a leather jacket with an open necked shirt or t-shirt. When he is likely to need his powers he dresses bare chested with leather trousers and black snakeskin boots
While using his powers his flesh is covered in black minute scales. His face changes to snake like with glowing yellow/green eyes but with little of the extended snout of a normal snake.. He maintains his black hair in this form however. This tends to fall across his face adding to the frightening visage.
There are a row of red diamond shaped scales down his spine in both human and snake man form that give the impression of a row of gems all the way down his spine. Because of this he has earned the name of ‘Diamondback.’ Gio liked the name and has adopted it.
He wears a ruby ear stud to match the colour of the scaled pattern.