Background/History: When Marie Foster was born, her parents were overjoyed at what seemed to be the perfect baby. She was never sick, complained about being cold (or hot for that matter), and never accumulated the assorted bumps and bruises other children did while growing up. The only real problem was when it was time for a haircut—Marie’s hair was virtually uncuttable (notching scissors more than once). Then came the visit to the doctor’s for her flu shots....
After three broken needles and a few simple tests, it was determined that Marie’s skin, hair, and nails were impenetrable to anything in the doctor’s office. Stymied in his attempts to draw blood, the doctor ended up settling for swabbing the inside of Marie’s mouth to get a DNA sample that could be sent off for proper testing. Several weeks later the results were in: Marie was a mutant.
Unlike some mutants, Marie didn’t fly, project beams of fire form her eyes, create storms at will, or bend her body into improbable shapes. She simply was impervious to injury. As she grew older (and taller), she also exhibited superhuman strength, as well as near immunity to temperature extremes. While tempted to join the superhuman scene as a costumed crime-fighter, Marie found a far more exciting life as a Hollywood stuntwoman, where her invulnerability was a great asset to those directors looking to capture even more daring stunts on film.
These days, Marie’s perfectly happy with her choice of career. Of course, that hasn’t stopped her from getting embroiled various superhuman conflicts and confrontations—when you have the reputation as the world’s most invulnerable human being, there are those who’ll want to put that claim to the test!
Personality/Motivation: Growing up nigh-invulnerable has resulted Marie naturally assuming that nothing can hurt her. She’s more than willing to let a foe get the first shot (or two, or three) in, figuring they’ll have no effect on. She’s been right for the most part, although it remains to be seen if she’ll retain this attitude if she ever meets some of the more powerful superhumans in the world. Her invulnerability has also made her hungry for excitement and adventure. Knowing she can’t be hurt means many ‘ordinary’ risks pales by comparison, thus Marie likes to push the envelope by trying more and more outrageous stunts.
Quote: “Look, I’ve fallen off tall buildings, walked out of exploding cars, survived having a tractor-trailer dropped on me, and taken direct hits from military-grade weapons. All without a scratch. Do you really think anything you might be able to do will hurt me?”
Powers/Tactics: As near can be determined, Marie’s mutation produces an impenetrable bio-energy force field capable of resisting almost any sort of energy (kinetic, heat, electrical, and so on). Thus she can survive impacts from physical objects, as well as exposure to open flames, lasers, and the like with no ill effects, and in many cases won’t even feel the impact. This lead her to be dubbed the ‘Woman of Steel’ when she first start to work in the stunt industry, a nickname she (and her agent) switched around to the more marketable “Steel Maiden.”
While Marie is virtually immune to harm from conventional attacks, she has no such protection from psychic powers, chemical-based agents, manipulations of gravity, and so on.
Appearance: Steel Maiden stands an athletically svelte 6’5” and weighs roughly 185 pounds. As her dark hair is nearly uncuttable, it usually falls well past her waist. While on the set, she’ll be dressed in whatever costume is required for her role. Off set, she wears casual contemporary fashions. If attending an event for publicity purposes, Marie will don a form-fitting metallic silver bodysuit with light gray trim, black boots, gloves, and belt.
Designer's Notes: Steel Maiden is my knock-off of the Marvel Comics character Diamond Lil. I liked the idea of someone who was nigh-invulnerable, and built her accordingly. I gave her superhuman strength since mainly because I like super-strong characters (they’re a lot of fun to play).
To down-power Steel Maiden, reduce her defenses to 30 and her STR to 25 (or even 20). To make her more power, up her STR to 40, and add Hardened to her Damage Resistance. You can also give her Energy and Physical Damage Reduction, Hand-To-Hand Attack (to simulate how her body doesn’t ‘give’ when she hits someone), and additional forms of Life Support (Radiation, Longevity, and so on).
Mister America's Hero Designer File
(Character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)