This was my first character I ever rolled up. I never gave up on him and so I can say I've been playing the same guy on and off for more that twenty years.

NAME: Joseph Cappo
HERO NAME: None, Uses other know heros' identities.
ORIGIN: Mutant
OCCUPATION: Super Hero Stand-in
IDENTITY: Secret
LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA with no criminal record
ALIASES: Joseph "Alpha" (Deceased), Joe 1, Joe 2, Joe 3, Joe 4, Joe 5, Joe 6 and Joe 7 are his surviving duplicates.
PLACE OF BIRTH:
MARITAL STATUS: Single
KNOWN RELATIVES: Each other. Mary Cappo (Mother), Frank Cappo (Father) Deceased.
BASE OF OPERATIONS: New York
PAST GROUP AFFILIATIONS: Many. Joe has "stood in" secretly for many different heros. Joseph "Alpha" was a member of the Omega Men a now defunct team
PRESENT GROUP AFFILIATION: Heros for Heros, Union of Super Heros (See U.S.H.)

Description:
H: 5' 11", Variable
W: 180 lbs.
EYES: Brown, Variable
HAIR: Brown, Variable
SKIN: Caucasian, Variable
AGE: 40, Apparent is variable

STATS:
"Normal Joes", Joe 1, Joe 2, Joe 3, Joe 4, Joe 5, Joe 6, Joe 7
F: Gd 10 Gd 10 Gd 10 Rm 30 Ex 20 In 40 Ex 20 In 40
A: Gd 10 Ex 20 In 40 Ex 20 In 40 Am 50 Rm 30 Rm 30
S: Ty 06 Gd 10 Ty 06 Ty 06 Ex 20 Am 50 In 40 Rm 30
E: Gd 10 Ex 20 Gd 10 Rm 30 Ex 20 Mn 75 Ex 20 Am 50
R: Gd 10 Ex 20 Rm 30 Ex 20 Gd 10 Ex 20 Gd 10 Gd 10
I: Ex 20 Rm 30 In 40 Am 50 Ex 20 In 40 Ex 20 Rm 30
P: Rm 30 In 40 Am 50 In 40 Rm 30 Am 50 Rm 30 Rm 30


HEALTH: Varies on copied form. Joe 5 has 215
KARMA: 60, Joe 5 has 110
RESOURCES: Rm 30
POPULARITY: 0, +100 amongst heros who know of their services., varies dependent upon duplicated Heros Pop.

TALENTS:
Varies


CONTACTS:
Almost any hero or group they have helped in the past can be considered a reasonable contact.

POWERS:

Power Duplication: Mn 75 This was the original Joseph's original power. All of his surviving copies share this power. This power is able to duplicate the powers, skills, and abilities scores of those within 10' of him up to power rank intensity. Each of the surviving duplicates may copy one person, with the exception of #5. A copied individual suffers no ill effect from this copying. Most people wouldn't even be aware they had been copied.
~ On touch: Un 100 On physical contact the power duplication can achieve an even greater amount of power.
Limitation: This power only copies powers, talents and abilities from organics. It does not copy tech abilities or mechanical safeguards people may have in place to regulate their powers. In the same regards if someone has a handicap with their powers from an injury that limitation can be ignored. (Cyclops is a prime example).
- Shape-Changing: Un 100 Anytime Joseph copies someone his body changes to an exact duplicate of that person. This is unavoidable but a successful P: FEAT allows him to return to his original body and retain the use of his copied powers although he will have to retain the physical changes of those powers to use them. Wings for winged flight for example. Joe 5 does not auto change if he does not wish to.

The following duplicates have copied specific individuals to benefit the team as a whole. They retain these powers and will not copy someone else unless their powers would be more beneficial to the team. Who they copied to get these powers remains a mystery. They have the following designation and powers:

Joe 1: This Joe acts as the team scout using his borrowed precognition ability to find heros that will be in need of the teams service.
- Precognition: Rm 30 Joe only uses this power in regard to a heros' secret identity being uncovered in the future and needing their services. This doesn't just cover the hero being beaten and unmasked in public. It also covers the heros secret identity being late one too many times to dinner and his girlfriend developing an inquisitive quest as to why.
- Danger Sense: Mn 75
- Kinetic Bolt: Ex 20
- Telekinesis: Gd 10
- Force Field: In 40

Joe 2: This duplicate acts as the eraser of the team. He completely erases a fellow duplicates memories of the hero he copied ensuring that the copied heros' secret identity remains a secret.
- Mind Wipe: Mn 75 This completely erases a targets memories for up to the past 75 days. A P: FEAT to resist. This does not erase the powers or abilities of a copied target just the ability to shape change into that person.
- Mental Probe: Am 50 Joe uses this power to aid in only to erasing the memories of the copied individual.
- Res. vs Mental: Mn 75
- Res. vs. Emotional: Am 50
- Hallucinations: In 40

Joe 3: Joe 3 acts as the teams liaison between the team and the hero receiving their services. He also builds modifies and repairs tech items for the group.
- Telepathy: In 40
- Speech-Throwing: Rm 30
- Linguistics: Ex 20
- Comm. W. Cyber: Am 50
- Mechanical Intuition: Mn 75

The following are the teams field agents. They take on other heros identities (Hero or Secret) to help ensure people do not relate the two to each other.

Joe 4: Joe 4 is an agent for the group. He takes on a heros persona so they will not be missed or to protect their identities. Stats listed above are for a persona he has copied at this time. Powers can be random.

Joe 5: Joe 5 is an agent for the group. He takes on a heros persona so they will not be missed or to protect their identities. Stats listed above are his.
- Self Duplication: Am 50 This was the power Joseph "Alpha" was using when he was killed. Anytime one of the surviving copies is killed Joseph 5 can create 1 replacement. He is the only duplicate with this power.
- Template Recall: Mn 75 Any person copied by Joseph 5 can be "recalled" he can mix and match powers, talents, skills and ability ranks of these forms. None of the other duplicates are currently aware of the level of #5s mutation. He currently has an ungodly arsenal of powers but typically sticks with the following:

-- Body Resistance: Am 50 vs. Physical and Energy. This can take on many forms from metallic looking armor to simple skin.
-- Regeneration: Mn 75
-- Recovery: Am 50
-- Mental Invisibility: Mn 75
-- Res. vs. Mental: In 40
-- Res. vs. Emotional: Mn 75
-- Res. vs. Poison: Am 50
-- Res. vs. Disease: Mn 75
-- Res. vs. Aging: Am 50 Joseph 5 ages 50 times slower than normal. After 100 years he will have apparently only aged by 2 years.
-- Enhanced Senses: Rm 30 Hearing
-- Enhanced Senses: In 40 Smelling
-- Tracking: Rm 30 Very useful in the bounty hunter avenue of their business.
-- True Flight: Rm 30
-- Danger Sense: Am 50
-- Claws: In 40 Ea Yes he does more damage with a punch, but people are typically more afraid of Freddy Krugers knife glove than his left hand.
-- Telepathy: In 40
-- Night Vision: Am 50
-- Blending: Am 50
-- Shape-Shifting: Mn 75 Joseph can blend his many copies in such a variety that he can appear to be anyone.

Has copied: Joe 5 has copied some very famous heros through out New York. Note that many of these have public identities.
Captain America, Daredevil, Firestar, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Nightcrawler, Spider-Man, She-Hulk, The Punisher, The Thing, Wolverine
He has at times displayed powers and talents from each of these heros. Powers and talents available to these heros are also available to him up to his power rank. He is a very powerful mutant that tries not to show it. He doesn't know the limits of his powers or if using them could be detrimental to his health in the long run. He does have a list of people he would love to copy including the Silver Surfer, Taskmaster, and The Hulk, but he knows he shouldn't be thinking this way.

Joe 5 is not happy about this mutation of his. He has talked about his condition with his fellow teammates (Although he has not demonstrated to them just how powerful he has become). He is trying not to absorb anymore powers, talents and skills but he just can help himself at times (P: FEAT to resist duplicating powers of those around him). Currently he has asked not to fill in for anymore heros and they are respecting his wishes. He will take on the form of a nemesis for the hero to "Die" from however in staged battles between himself and a fellow duplicate. These "villains" are normally given a pretty good back history to make them believable. Heros for Heros currently has developed 6 bad guys of various power levels for the heros to chose their "impeding doom" from. Each of these "criminals" have staged mock crimes with the U.S.H. consent to develop their criminal histories. Acting as the villains lets Joe 5 really explore his powers although he is very careful never to put any bystanders in harms way. Usually a staged battle will take place in a remote/contained yet very public place. Such battles have taken place on private yachts, football stadiums and rooftops. Any damage dealt to these privately owned structures has been fully paid for by "private donors". Boats are usually preowned by a dummy company or fictitious person who in reality is Heros for Heros.

Joe 6: Joe 6 is an agent for the group. He takes on a heros persona so they will not be missed or to protect their identities. Stats listed above are for a persona he has copied at this time. Powers can be random.
Joe 6 could actually be called Joe 8 since the "real" Joe 6 was killed while staging the death of a hero he was impersonating.

Joe 7: Joe 7 is an agent for the group. He takes on a heros persona so they will not be missed or to protect their identities. Stats listed above are for a persona they are using at this time. Powers can be random.

Notes/Limitations:
Each duplicate is its' own person. They have a shared memory up to the point of Joseph "Alphas" duplication but after that they have their own life experiences. They don't always agree or get along with each other though they always work out their differences.
A duplicate can not duplicate powers from each other.
Each duplicate can somehow tell each other apart.

Organization: Heros for Heros

Purpose : The preservation of a heros secret identity

Modus operandi : Agents of H.4 H. impersonate a heros identity or secret identity (or both) to aid that hero in maintaining his secret identity separate from his/hers heroic persona.

Extent of operations : Heros for Heros has been known to operate throughout the world.

Relationship to conventional authorities : Minimal, except when a government run heros' identity comes into jeopardy.

Bases of operations : Heros for Heros operates out of a secret base in New York, NY. It operates under a public front as "Joe's Private Detective and Bounty Service"

Major funding : Heros for Heros major funding comes from its' detective and bounty hunter services. Some heros they have aided in the past have given modest donations.

Known enemies : None, Consequential when they are impersonating a hero.

Known allies : Just about any hero they have aided can be considered an ally.

MEMBERSHIP
Number of active members : 7

Organizational structure : Each member of the team acts for the better of the team. Everyone has a vote if their is a disagreement (Secret if called for) with a majority wins mentality.

Membership requirements : Be a duplicate of Joseph "Alpha"

HISTORY
Founder : Joe's 1-7

Other leaders :

Previous purpose and goals :

Major campaigns or accomplishments : Heros for Heros has preserved the identities of over 186 heros at this time. Some careless heros have received their services numerous times.

Major setbacks : The death of the original Joe 6.

Campaign History:
Joe Cappo was born in Carmel Indiana. At the age of 12 he started to notice his abilities. When he was around people who were good at football so was he. When in school if he sat closer to the teacher or smart kids he did better on his tests. He used his gifts to launch himself through school getting perfect grades and a scholarship to the New York Institute of Technology. While attending school in New York the apartment he was staying at caught fire. Fortunately the Human Torch was in the area and quickly subdued the flames. Unfortunately for Joe the moment he went to thank the Torch and shake his hand his body burst into flames. Joe panicked thinking the Human Torch had set him aflame he could only think of getting away fast and putting out the fire. He somehow took flight and began racing for water. The Torch believing that Joe was the one who set the fire pursued him and contacted the remaining Fantastic Four and informed them of the situation. The Torch easily outmaneuvered Joe and grounded him. By this time Joe realized something very wrong was happineng. He just wanted the fire to go out. Shortly later the rest of the F.F. had showed up and Joe was still on fire. He was panicky had difficult to control. When the Thing tried to subdue him in a hold Joe again changed into an amalgamation of both the Thing and the Torch. Reed realized at this moment that they were dealing with the Super Skrull and ordered a full scale attack on Joe. Joe gained the abilities of both Reed and Sue but he couldn't understand why they were attacking him. He just wanted them to stop. He started to cry. He turned into a pool of flaming rocks. This immediately brought the fight to a halt as Reed had never seen the Super Skrull or any Skrull for that matter use this tactic. After calming Joe down (The Thing still keeping a hold of him in case it was a trick.) Reed established what was going on. Joe readily cooperated with the F.F. but still was unable to control his powers he was still on fire and barely able to keep from melting back to the ground. Reed opened a fire hydrant, Sue formed a force field around it filling the bubble with water. At the same time Johnny tried to cancel out Joe's flame while the Thing held him in place. When Sue's bubble was full she dropped it directly over Joe. This extinguished his flame and greatly helped in calming him down further. The F.F. brought him back to the Baxter Building where Reed conducted a few tests and informed Joe that he was in fact a mutant with the ability to some how change his genetic structure to copy those around him. Reed believed if Joe could control his emotions he should be able to control his abilities. Joe thanked them and asked if he could go home and back to school. Because Joe hadn't committed any crimes they let him go and promised to keep his identity secret as long as he didn't start to use his powers for criminal purposes.

Joe tried to go back to the way things were. He really did but he realized that his whole life he had been a leach. He was only as good as the guy next to him. This depression led to him dropping out of school which further depressed him. He also learned that absorbing too many powers was bad for him as he had trouble maintaining control of too many different powers and abilities at the same time. He could however hold onto a single persons abilities indefinitely. He returned to the F.F. to see if Reed could help him establish some kind of direction in his life. Fortunately for him Spiderman was there. Spiderman talked to Joe and explained that a great man in his life had told him "With great power comes great responsibility". Spiderman informed him to follow his heart and try to make the world better on day at a time. "You have a gift. You just need to find out how to use it the best way you can."

Joe decided to follow the F.F. and Spiderman as examples. He was going into the superhero business. He costumed up and called him self Mr. Echo and began looking for wrongs to right. This proved more difficult than he had anticipated. First if he just copied some villains ability that was committing a crime it still wouldn't be a fair fight. They had years learning their powers he had seconds to figure out how to best use them. His first three months on the streets he was the human punching bag. Second most heros really don't want you to copy their powers and run around town using them willy nilly. He needed to join a team. He considered the F.F. but that didn't seem right. Spiderman was a solo hero. The Avengers outright turned him down. How the hell do find the X-men? What was he supposed to do? Joe put an ad in the paper and was surprised at how many responded. Most people were frauds, their "powers" were even more ridiculous than his or were really bad guys looking to beat up on him even more. He did however come up with a group of nine others who had legitimate powers and a desire to do good in the world.

They called themselves The Omega Men (The group was made of all guys.) They were a group of mid to low level super heros that acted as a micro-Avengers on a micro-budget. Each hero still had a job and still had bills to pay. Many times when the team was called into action 2-3 couldn't even show up because their real life problems needed handling first. Not Mr. Echo anytime his prepaid "Omega Phone" called he was there. He was a serious hero with a serious calling to right the wrongs of life. This all changed when "The Murderous" Mirror Man showed up. He could create copies of himself. A lot of copies...more that twenty Mirror Men engaged the Omega Men in a bank robbery attempt. Seeking to even the odds Mr. Echo copied the Mirror Mans powers and made twenty of himself. At this point Mirror Man pulled out an AK 47 and started blowing away the Omega Men. The Mirror Man unloaded clip after clip into the Omega Men. When he was finally taken down his mirror images disappeared. Three Omega Men had been killed including Mr. Echo, 13 of his copies were killed in this battle and disappeared instantly. Oddly however the copies of Mr. Echo who had survived remained. They waited to disappear at any moment talking amongst themselves at how badly they had sucked at being super heros. When it was apparent that Mr. Echo was dead and they were still "alive" they decided to take his body from the battle field. They returned to Joe's apartment with his body, they couldn't figure out what was going on. They should have disappeared when Mr. Echo had died.

This is the turning point when Joe 2 suggested that if the seven of them are still around in the morning one of them should go to the F.F. with some story about not feeling right. Have Reed run as many tests as he is willing to and com back with the results. Also they should make funeral arrangements for Joe "Alpha", and one of them needs to go to work regardless tomorrow or they are going to lose the apartment. They put Joe "Alpha" in the bath tub with lots of ice and tried to get some sleep. In the morning they all awoke and it was decided Joe 5 would go to the F.F. Joe 3 would go to work and the rest of them would try to deal with Joe "Alpha". Joe 1 went and bought seven prepaid phones and handed them out. If #5 could he was to covertly borrow the Torches powers just in case the other Joes' couldn't get rid of the body in a respectable way.

Joe 5 bother the F.F. one last time. Reed humored Joe just because he felt sorry for the bad luck the kid had been getting in since he met him. (Johnny had heard about the Omega Men getting creamed last night and talked Reed into this "one last favor" for Joe). Joe passed all the test Reed could put him through. He was still the same Joe as six moths ago with only minor "non-concerning" deviations in his genetic coding "probably do to your powers". The Joes' met back in "Alpha's" apartment and decided that since it looked like they were all going to live for at least the immediate future they needed a plan. #5 was able to "borrowed" the Torches powers again but he had a lot more control than the last time. (He didn't set himself on fire). Joe 7 made arrangements with the Omega Men to borrow the Omega Van. They took the body down to New Jersey and #5 incinerated Joe "Alpha" on the beach. Each said his good byes and each made a promise to each other and "Alpha" to do better.

The Omega Men never recovered from their battle and shortly after disbanded. The duplicates formed their own organization. They each got jobs off the books and pulled their incomes. They started to discreetly test their abilities and found some odd changes from the original Joe. When they copied a power they also took on the appearance of the original person. They could only copy one person at a time and each time they copied someone else they couldn't use a previous copy. Lastly they could not copy from each other.

They briefly formed a group known as The Replacements. It was supposed to be a group that was able to covertly infiltrate criminal organizations and bring them down from within. They wanted to work with local and federal law enforcement but found no takers. It's hard trusting a group of masked men who wanted to impersonate known criminals.

Joe 1 came up with the idea of Heros for Heros after he copied precognition from someone in a casino in New Jersey. With this power he seen Spiderman unmasked and his grandmother (Really his Aunt May) having a heart attack and dying. Sometime in the next week. Joe 1 suggested that the group do something to prevent this. They had no way of contacting Spiderman so they contacted the F.F. who in turn somehow contacted Spiderman. After a brief explanation to Spiderman of Joe's premonition Spiderman agreed to be helped by Joe but wanted his secret identity to be maintained. At this point things got weird Joe 2 stepped into the room and explained to Spiderman that he had an ability to erase someone's memories from the past 24 hours. (He has since vastly improved over this.) Finally the coup de grâce Joe 4 came in and explained that he could impersonate either Spiderman and fight or his secret identity and hang out with the "grand mom" so she didn't believe that it was really her "grandson". Spiderman decided to have Joe impersonate his secret identity and fight his own battles. Spiderman was unmasked in front of his Aunt however "Peter" was right beside her. To make things even more confusing another "Spiderman" showed up out of the blue and rescued Spiderman from Dr. Octopus. Overall the plan went flawless. Each Joe had his memory wiped and Spiderman "owed them one".

Heros for Heros has now been in service for 17 years. It helps out all heros around the world. It makes sure that heros are home for their kids first birthday but they are still seen fighting criminals no matter where they may hide. Joe has finally found his calling in life and is making the world a better place one day at time.

Notes:
I started playing this character in 1989. I was young and didn't really know how to play this character the right way for about 6 months. Every adventure he was in he got creamed. It was my fault not his. When the GM brought in other gamers we formed the Omega Men. Some of the more experience gamers were really agitating the GM one night saying that their heros were too weak and they wanted Thor level, Hulk smashing heros. I was still happy with my character so we compromised they would get new heros and I would keep mine. Unfortunately the Mirror Man was way out of my class and he killed Mr. Echo. The GM offered to fudge the rules and let him live but I figured if he died let him die. Well at the next game session I had this really cool Terminator robot type guy rolled up but the GM throws out a curve ball to me. What if one of Mr. Echo's duplicates didn't disappear? Me being greedy asked how many had survived. This led to the evolution of the seven duplicates that survived the massacre as being permeant characters for me to mess around with. We had intended to be in a high powered campaign so why not. Well eventually I was the only one left coming each week to the gaming sessions so having me run seven characters became the norm. The GM picked the levels of the powers I would encounter and so he controlled the level of the campaign. After a couple of months I was getting board when I came up with the idea of my character(s) impersonating other heros to help them out. Since about 1992 I've have played as this character impersonating this guy or this girl. I have gone to gaming sessions to act as a fill-in because someone's sick and this guy just falls into any campaign almost seamlessly. I can play another guys character with out them getting all bent out of shape because it's my character pretending to be their character. (Come on you guys know you don't want anyone playing your character but you.) Anyway this is my first post and I would appreciate creative criticism.

Sorry the Stats are so hard to read Ive corrected them and they should read as follows:


STATS:
"Normal Joes", Any time he is not impersonating someone his stats should read:

F: Gd 10
A: Gd 10
S: Ty 6
E: Gd 10
R: Gd 10
I: Ex 20
P: Rm 30

H: 36
K: 60

Joe 1, Duplicate 1 currently has the following stats:

F: Gd 10
A: Ex 20
S: Gd 10
E: Ex 20
R: Ex 20
I: Rm 30
P: In 40

Joe 2, Duplicate 2 currently has the following stats:

F: Gd 10
A: In 40
S: Ty 6
E: Gd 10
R: Rm 30
I: In 40
P: Am 50

H: 66
K: 60

Joe 3, Duplicate 3 currently has the following stats:

F: Rm 30
A: Ex 20
S: Ty 6
E: Rm 30
R: Ex 20
I: Am 50
P: In 40

H: 86
K: 60

Joe 4, Duplicate 4 currently has the following stats:

F: Ex 20
A: In 40
S: Ex 20
E: Ex 20
R: Gd 10
I: Ex 20
P: Rm 30

H: 100
K: 60

Joe 5, Duplicate 5 currently has the following stats:

F: In 40
A: Am 50
S: Am 50
E: Mn 75
R: Ex 20
I: In 40
P: Am 50

H: 215
K: 110

Joe 6, Duplicate 6 currently has the following stats:

F: Ex 20
A: Rm 30
S: In 40
E: Ex 20
R: Gd 10
I: Ex 20
P: Rm 30

H: 110
K: 60

Joe 7, Duplicate 7 currently has the following stats:

F: In 40
A: Rm 30
S: Rm 30
E: Am 50
R: Gd 10
I: Rm 30
P: Rm 30

H: 150
K: 60

An interesting character(s) concept, something like Mimic crossed with Multiple Man although I imagine he wouldn't see too much game time for that reason for being so flexible and so much potential for power.

This is what you call some depth. Bloody damned original, too. Nice work indeed.

man one of the best backgrounds i have seen very nice,kudos man.

looking forward to others characters you made,night his character actually had a purpose and is perhaps one of the best characters i have seen,bar none

still hoping for more great write ups.

GILGAMESH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> still hoping for more great write ups.

I don't know anything about great.....

However I have not forgotten about the Exiles. There are 23 characters in that team. I'm trying to flesh them out for posting. It's hard with RL getting in the way all the time...

Fellupthestairs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GILGAMESH Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > still hoping for more great write ups.
>
> I don't know anything about great.....
>
> However I have not forgotten about the Exiles.
> There are 23 characters in that team. I'm trying
> to flesh them out for posting. It's hard with RL
> getting in the way all the time...

no worries and boy do i understand im job searching still myself. Can i say eager type lol

I just found this thread. I loved reading this history on this guy. Very nicely done.