Original Character -Katherine "Kitten" Kittiallen

[markrand]

Kitten, whose name is taken from a FASA BattleTech supplement, is based on a non-clumsy Jo Grant as a cat burglar.

Here's her sheet for comment.

Katherine "Kitten" Kittiallen

Awareness: 3
Coordination: 6
Ingenuity: 3
Presence: 4
Resolve: 4
Strength: 3

SKILLS
Athletics: 4
Convince: 3
Craft: 1
Fighting: 3
Knowledge: 2
Marksmanship: 2
Medicine: 1 (first aid)
Science: 1
Subterfuge: 4
Survival: 0
Technology: 2
Transport: 2

GOOD TRAITS
Attractive: +2 to Convince based on appearance
Brave: +2 to resist fear
Face in the Crowd: +2 to blend in
Indomitable: +4 to resist psychic control
Quick Reflexes: Always goes first in an Action Phase
Run for Your Life: +1 speed
Resourceful Pockets: burglar tools

BAD TRAITS
Dark Secret: She’s a cat burglar
Impulsive
Insatiable Curiosity

Story points: 12

Tech level: 5

[Stormcrow]

Kinda dull and generic femme fatale, isn't she? No weaknesses, apart from no skill in Survival? What about Personal Goals? I don't mean to sound too critical.

[markrand]

I'll cut her marksmanship down to 1 and fighting down to 2.

As far as appearance goes, she looks like Jo Grant and wears glasses, with plain glass lenses, in her civilian identity. (She won't when she's with the Time Lord or Time Lady.) She also liked to pretend that she's an airhead.

One day at school, the head of the popular clique knocked her down and broke her glasses. That night, she and her parents burglarized the popular girl's house and used electronic voice disguisers to change their voices. Kitten rigged a flash-bang grenade to the popular girl's bed, next to her head, but let her think it was an explosive one.

[Stormcrow]

Her PARENTS?!

[markrand]

Kitten is a 20-year old second-generation cat burglar.

[Stormcrow]

Cat burglars are often portrayed as having amazing reflexes. You might consider bumping up her Coordination and take Bad Traits to pay for it. Good choices for this character would probably be Impulsive (she doesn't stop to consider when something is a bad idea—a good way to earn Story Points), Insatiable Curiosity (while on a job she just has to see what's in that box!), or Selfish (she'd be willing to sidetrack from the main goal to pursue valuable objects).

[markrand]

Thanks for the good ideas. Consider them added.

[markrand]

Aside from her list of tools, which I still have to write up, is Kitten ready to be a player character?

[markrand]

Kitten's gear

lockpicks, pliers-based multitool, pry bars (in backpack, usable as blackjacks), climbing gear (in backpack), compact hand mirror, digital wristwatch, headband flashlight with red and white LEDs, boot knife, pepper spray, plastic bottle of chloroform and rags, roll of duct tape, plastic cable ties, smoke bombs, flash bombs, bottle of WD-40, electronic voice disguiser, electronic stun gun, suppressed nine-millimeter pistol loaded with quarter-load blanks that propel sleep darts, fabric garrote (tucked into sweatband under left sweater cuff, used to induce sleeper hold), wire garrote (tucked into sweatband under left sweater cuff, used to scare victims into answering her questions), plastic trash bag (used to scare victims into answering her questions)

[Catsmate]

Depending on what she's trying to crack she may have other, specialised, tools; for example to open a classic mechanical combination lock a safecracker would usually need a stethoscope, either the traditional medical acoustic type, a more modern electronic amplifier type (begun in the 1950s and easily available from the late 1990s) or a magnetic amplifier (which is designed to pick up metallic noises). A borescope (endoscope) is also a useful tool to actually see the tumblers.

[markrand]

True.