Eleven - Powerhouses of Powerful Power

Like the fist of an angry god.

Timothy Luvenhay - Tim takes the cake when it comes to being a powerhouse of powerful power. A four foot tall speedster, Tim had pretty much every power source you could stack onto a single character in the Arcana Evolved system. He could run so fast that battlefield composition didn't matter to him at all, he could turn into lightning, he could keep fighting even while dead, and this is all on top of his swordfighting skills which were his actual signature power. Tim single-handedly defeated a Rakshasa Mage King and his unbeatable undead bodyguard in the span of three rounds of combat, something I will never forgive him for.

Mr. Smith - Mister Smith was pretty much just a straight-up attempt at playing the system in the NWoD rules if I don't misremember, but he accomplished the feat quite admirably. A super-duper-secret agent, Smith featured only for around two sessions but packed enough firepower to take out even supernatural enemies without being noticed – which is quite a feat in a system where mortals are designed to be extremely squishy, even if he didn't get many chances to shine.

David Blaze - David, from the Japanese Mutant game, wasn't intentionally designed to break the game system or anything – far from it – but over the course of his career, he became pretty much synonymous with “unstoppable in combat”. Of course, since the game wasn't heavily combat-focused, this made him more of a specialist character than anything else; he still needed his friends in a multitude of situations – but when it came to plain fighting, David was pretty much the best. Only two things ever really posed a threat to him: the symbiote super-soldier Aku-Shin Kage, and the insane vampire that lived inside his closest friends' head.

Zaraki, again - Zaraki may have been a pretty silly character, but man that guy could kill stuff. When you make a character whose highest passion in life is “swords”, and that guy also happens to be a Solar Exalt... things die. A lot.

Ten - ...instead of these comedians

Today, we take a good look at hilarity.

Mr. White - Mister White makes the list again. A rotund, fat little man whose love of money was only exceeded by his love of chicken, Mister White was a banker in a freeform Wild West game whose special talent was being able to run ridiculously fast. That was it, really. He sucked at everything from gun-slinging to surviving in the desert, and the combination of being absolutely useless and completely obsessed with chicken makes him one of the funniest characters I have ever seen.

Zaraki - Zaraki was the poster child for “one-track mind”. He cared for exactly two things – swords and womanizing – and he cared about them to ludicrous degrees. He was a Solar Exalt in the Chronicles of the Bronze Falcon, and though he had his moments in the limelight, he was primarily a comedic character. To be precise, he was an idiot. Rarely have I seen any player commit so much to a funny concept, to the degree that he actually memorized a children's book because it seemed like something his character would do. Zaraki read it to his daughter, who was a genius prodigy. She wasn't amused.

Brian Ansiell - Scion of Anansi, Brian's special power was being able to convince anyone of anything – well, that, and causing mayhem. A character with no real motivation, Brian just stumbled through life and did whatever amused him, which put him in a multitude of wacky situations. He owned a pet jaguar for a while, he became a member of the Yakuza, and he almost kidnapped a celebrity chef. I doubt he ever really knew why he did... well, any of the things he did. I guess he didn't need a reason.

Ling Tem'Enneth - Ling “died” pretty early in the Arcana Evolved game, to be reborn as Ree Kaspathodex – which was perhaps for the best, because the original Ling was batshit crazy. He makes this list because I have rarely seen a character commit so hard to always having his hit points be in the single digits. Ling fell off roofs, fell out of trees, fell into thorny bushes... I don't remember any enemies actually hitting him in combat, but then again, there was rarely any reason to target him in the first place.

Nine - A Toast To Absent Friends...

These are the characters of some of the people I haven't played with for a good long while.

Vincent Mario Giovanni Winthrop, from Mage: The Ascension. An iconic character in every way, Mr. Winthrop was a stockbroker who could manipulate time. Constantly armed with his pocket watch (except for that one time it turned into raspberry ice cream as a Paradox backlash), Mr. Winthrop was a wealthy man and linguistic genius with no real applicable skills for the adventure – trademark of his player, who seemed to make a sport out of giving his characters powers that were entirely irrelevant to the task at hand.

Naseef, from Arcana Evolved: Breath of the Ancestors. Naseef was, on the face of it, a simple humble woodsman – and though his eventual career took a very different turn, it's his initial plain nature that makes him iconic. No frills, no bells and whistles, just a straightforward everyman trying to survive in a dangerous world. He was eventually corrupted by Requiem, a sword possessed by a powerful Spirit of Death, and turned into an avatar of death itself – before being redeemed at the Tree of Life, and swearing an oath to defend humanity.

Freddy the Cat, also from Breath of the Ancestors. Freddy was a happy-go-lucky thief and master of disguises, who – perhaps unlike the other characters in the story – remained more or less himself even as he grew and changed. It is precisely this happy-go-lucky nature that I think makes him iconic to his player; even in the face of dire tragedy, he kept on smiling. While he ultimately learned a lesson about responsibility, he never ceased to be an optimist.

Aust Galanodel, from Raiders of the Lost Knark. While Aust would reprise in Breath of the Ancestors, I think I liked the original Aust just a little bit better. Aust was an idealist, a visionary, and a mad scientist. He entered the story as an elf seeking to rescue his wife, but as his need for power constantly increased, so did his addiction to it. Aust was a futurist and transhumanist – or I suppose, trans-elf-ist – and his quest for greatness is something that rings through in all characters from his player. The first Aust, with his prosthetic ruby hand and mind-rewriting powers, stands out as the best example.

Eight - Lloyd Wilder

Lloyd was a character suffering from severe Trope Overdose, and that is why I think he's the iconic character for his player. Being originally based off the Chaste Hero, he came to live and breathe heroic tropes. It's rare to see those characters done really well, but Lloyd definitely pulled it off – though, of course, much of his kindness stemmed from the fact that he was far too naïve to even realize he'd been wronged most of the time.

Lloyd was the Prince of Britannia, hidden away by his father (the Crown Prince) in a small rural village to grow up an ordinary boy. At the age of fifteen, he left his home against his father's will to join Eisenkrone Academy, to wield his extraordinary powers in service of the world. His adventures in just the first year at the academy are too numerous to recount, but after just a year and a half he had mastered the elements of Air, Water and Earth, with only Fire remaining. Lloyd may yet see a chance to master this last element – we haven't definitely ended the story of Eisenkrone Academy – and if he does, he will have to master his powers quickly. Inner Lloyd, his mysterious alter ego, is growing in power – and he is every bit as evil as Regular Lloyd is good.

Lloyd's most iconic moment, I think, is his greatest tragedy. His father, Walt, knew that his son was in danger at Eisenkrone, and travelled there to bring him home. Just as he arrived, the school was attacked by ultra-nationalistic terrorists, and Walt Wilder died defending his son. Only then did Lloyd learn who he truly was – Lloyd Pendragon, Prince of Britannia.

Seven - Vincent Cale

...on the subject of obfuscating stupidity, enter Vincent Cale. Vincent was a Solar Exalt, an archer, assassin, ostrich-riding woodsman, bumbling idiot and fantastic supreme ultimate genius. He was one of the most intelligent people in the world, but since he grew up in the forest with barely any human interaction, it took a while before his smarts manifested – and when they did, it was perhaps the most astonishing transformation of a character, ever.

The Vincent Cale that stepped onto the stage in the first session was an angry young man, seeking revenge for the murder of his father. During his journey, he learned that he was the Bronze Falcon, the reincarnated King of the East, and accepted his duties with... well, I would say grace, but Vincent was never graceful. In fact, his most interesting trait may have been his crippling inability to look or sound cool; he was terrible with words, something which his player committed to one hundred and ten percent.

What makes Vincent iconic is his smarts and savvy, coupled with his inability to apply them. Many other characters have followed in his footsteps – but Vincent's brilliant mind and terrible luck became a hallmark for his player, whose characters are often geniuses with crippling weaknesses.

Vincent was an Exalt, so it's really hard to pick just one moment from his career – but his most defining stunt ever was probably that one time where he got shot in the spine 17 times, only to perform surgery on himself, fashioning an artificial spine out of his appendix. It combines both his limitless intelligence, and his limitless lousy luck: He fired the 17 shots himself.

Six - Lupi

Lupi is a fairly recent character on this list, hailing from the latest run of the Banewarrens. A more or less psychotic halfling (culturally goblin) rogue, Lupi turned out to be some kind of psycho with a heart of gold – or at least, someone who genuinely cared about her friends and... not so much about anyone else. She managed to establish herself very well, committing violent murder and maiming during her time off, but being absolutely invaluable when actually working with her team. Aside from her supreme backstabbery skills, she saved her team mates from dozens of traps and ultimately ended up saving an entire city.

Lupi, I think, is iconic in the sense that she possessed a degree of obfuscating stupidity, which is something I've seen in her player a lot. On the surface she seemed random and insane, but there was a definite method to her madness – a tactical thinking that went hand in hand with her antics. It is perhaps telling that she was the only character to survive the adventure – and that despite being nearly mauled to death by a minotaur in the second session.

Lupi's coolest moment must have been her disappearance act at the end of the story. She gave the glory to her dead companions, and asked everyone to forget about her – and then stepped out into the city of Ptolus, and disappeared. She was an unsung hero... and perhaps that was for the best.

Five - Setsuna/Setsu

Setsuna's chronicle might have been short, but she managed to establish herself pretty well in the time she had. She was a Scion of Amaterasu, a half-goddess of the Sun, but carrying a crippling and unusual curse.

Every time the sun went down, Setsuna transformed from a gracious, pretentious Japanese lady into a seven-year-old girl, not only physically but also mentally, which effectively made her two characters in one. As Setsuna, she was smart, aristocratic and domineering – as Setsu, she was impulsive and charismatic, but also... well, mentally seven years old. Her adventures took her from Mexico City, to the underground caves of the Aztec Bat-Men, to Machu Picchu, to the icy reaches of Svalbard. Throughout all this, she had her loyal dog Kiba at her side.

Setsuna was iconic to her player in the sense that she was an oddball. The very concept itself was unusual, and very funny when combined with Setsu's deadpan attitude towards it. Setsuna was a little less comfortable with the arrangement; the concept was successful in the sense that it created a comedy relief who could still be taken seriously. I think that, perhaps, may be the hallmark of the player.

Setsu's best moment is undoubtedly when she rescued a rainbow serpent from captivity, and the grateful creature granted her one service. She immediately cashed in – spending it on a joyride across the Peruvian jungle, for absolutely no good reason.