Jotaro Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

      Not gonna lie, figuring out how to make a Stand User work in Cypher System was a bit of a challenge for two reasons: one, because Stands in the Jojoverse tend to have their own special abilities and the focus you're probably thinking of (Exists in Two Places at One) is a bit generic, and two, because it involves filtering some of the 80s Teen movie out of supers supplement Unmasked.  I initially dismissed Unmasked's approach as a solution looking for a problem, but thanks to a Japanese man's fascination with Italian fashion, I have just the problem!  While you cue some JoJo's background music in your head, let's go over our build goals:

  1. Have a character that will let players play both Jotaro and his stand
  2. Have the stand be the one with the proverbial big guns

     With that out of the way, let's stand proud! 

First Tier

     First, we make our 17-going-on-30 "Teen" form, Jotaro-san.  By default, we'd spend two points between pools that start at 6, but because Jotaro's a MAN!™, I decided to bump it up by 50%, so his pools are 10/9/11.  For a descriptor, he's surprisingly Honorable, being such a straight shooter (at least according to the JoJo Wiki), which means:
  • +2 might, so our pools are 12/9/11 now
  • Training in discernment (seeing through lies and sensing motives) and—once you get to know him—pleasant social interactions.
Unmasked doesn't worry about equipment like vanilla Cypher does, so we'll give him a cool jacket and an even cooler hat.

     Now our stand, Star Platinum, is where the meat and potatoes are.  Starting with pools of 14 might/13 speed/7 intellect with 1 might edge, he's a vicious entity, which means his ora-oras do +2 damage at the low, low price of having to try to stop (level 2 intellect task).  The Type would be Warrior Smasher, giving him:
  • Prodigy Stand Sight, which let's us see Stands and other particularly special stuff
  • Practiced with All Weapons, from swords to bulldozers to vampire faces
  • Extra Edge for 1 speed edge
  • No Need for Weapons turns our fists into medium weapons… or should I say, "heavy weapons"?
  • Trained Without Armor trains Start Platinum in dodging without armor
  • Bash (1 MP, action) let's us hinder our toes through the subtle art of Mudamuda.
And for our focus, Needs No Weapons gives us 2 more damage with Fists of Fury, which raises it to 8 of you're keeping score.  Meanwhile, Flesh of Stone gives us +1 armor when our intangible friend isn't wearing the armor stands can't wear anyway.  Did I mention you can spend effort on extra damage?  Because you can do that.  For our advancements, we'll take gives us
  • A level of effort
  • 4 points, split between might and speed
  • +2 recovery bonus
  • 1 might edge

Second Tier… and Beyond!

Second Tier

     Our riding start gets two new abilities—for of you count our focus abilities—and a power shift (basically a permanent level of effort) in resilience, giving us 1 free effort to might defense a 1 armor.  Speaking of abilities:
  • A second power shift in resilience
  • Successive Attacks (2 SP, enabler) lets us attack again after taking someone down
  • Advantage to Disadvantage (3 SP, action) disarms with
  • Unarmed Fighting Style trains us in Ora Ora no Jutsu
This time, well take:
  • Another level of effort and recovery bonus
  • 4 points in might
  • 1 speed edge.

Third Tier

     Three towers 1 minutein, we get the abilities, plus our focus perk:
  • Fury (3 MP, action to start) gives +2 damage to our punches for a minute and a sense of deja vu
  • Reaction is our old friend from the D&D days, the Attack of Opportunity, but they have to hit you first.
  • Seize the Moment ,(4+ SP, enabler) lets us trade either a level of effort or our next turn to react… on purpose!
  • We can choose either Moving Like Water or Greater Enhanced Potential—the latter gives us 6 free pool points to dump into speed faster than a drug dealer getting into stocks, so we'll take that.
An now, for hump day advancements:
  • Take Moving like Water (3 SP, enabler) anyway, giving an asset to attacks and dodging for a minute
  • 1 speed edge, raising it to 3, for no particular reason.  None at all
  • Four might points
  • A fourth level of effort

Fourth Tier

     For fourth Tier, we get two more type abilities and a power shift to a specific attack (see: +3 oras); for those keeping track at home, that's 11 base damage to our unarmed attacks!
  • Tough as Nails eases might tasks and defense rolls as long as your not at full health, allowing us to throw that road roller right back
  • Capable Warrior raises our base fist damage to 12, for those occasions when 11 isn't enough
  • Divert Attacks (4 SP, action to start) let's us  auto-DODGE! arrows, bullets, and taxes for 1 minute, however, auto-DODGE!ing homes you on your next turn.  A small price to pay for those deductions.
And for advancements, well take the usual:
  • More effort
  • 4 speed points
  • 1 might edge
  • Skill Training towards our berserk feature (called cooldown for obvious reasons). This turns hitting the off-switch into a level 1 task.

Fifth Tier

  Three abilities plus focus perk this time.
  • Improved Success makes our special rolls even more special with +1 damage
  • Jump Attack (5+ SP, action) is kinda what it sounds like— the "jump" part is a level 4 jump that, if pulled off, are [4 + effort] damage to our punch.  And yes, the attack counts as a separate roll.
  • Parry (5 SP, enabler) eases those Dodge rolls we're trained in, and parties nicely with our asset from Moving Like Water. 
  • Stun Attack (6 SP, action), well, stuns.  Pretty straightforward.
Of course, we can't advance from so far away, so we'll come as close as we like!
  • 4 might points
  • 1 speed edge
  • One last effort
  • Specialization in Cooldown, so we can turn Star Platinum on and off as we please.

Sixth Tier

     Almost done with this stardust crusade. We get three more abilities plus our focus perk.
  • Magnificent Moment.  Remember Sieze the Moment?  Now when you do that, it's eased!
  • Finishing Blow (5 MP, enabler) lets us add 7 damage to anyome who happens not to be in a position to fight back
  • Shrug it off (5 MP, action),  a fourth-tier mask form ability (basically, abilities any stand can use), can no-sellny attack that would deal at leasr 6 damage or takemyou down the damage track.
  • Master of Unarmed Fighting Style makesmyou specialized in the violent violet fists.
And now we've crossed this bloody stream: let's see if we can stand proud.

Pros and Cons

     Apparently, we can.  Since we're using an Unmasked character sheet, that freed us to play to Star Platinum's strengths without having to house-rule JoJo roleplay to high heaven.  That, and the amount of damage you can do reaches into the 30s once you start stacking abilities and effort together.  On the other hand, the only real con is that you'll need a GM who's okay with you doing the level 10 task of importing an Unmasked character to their Numenera campaign (which sounds pretty cool, now that I think about it).

Well, that, and if the GM finds out you're playing a JoJo's character, that opens up a GMI where you and your stand take damage at the same time.  Oops.

And as always, character sheets can be downloaded here.  Until next time, may the Golden Wind always be at your back.

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