“What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.
Harry Houdini
Erik Weisz, Ehrich Weiss, Harry Weis
F: Ex (20)
A: Rm (30)
S: Gd (10)
E: Rm (30)
R: Gd (10)
I: Rm (30)
P: Rm (30)
Health: 90
Karma: 70
Resources: Ex (20)
Popularity: 50
Talents:
Harry Houdini possessed many skills both for his craft and in a variety of related fields:
Martial Arts A, E
Performer
Multi-Lingual
Knowledge: Figures of the era
World Traveler – Houdini has been in more quarters of the world and
gains a +1cs to reason on knowing a place, culture, or person of
importance.
Escape Artist*
Spiritualism*
Acrobatics
Tumbling
Lock picking
Sleight of Hand
Multi-Lingual
Artist* - Writer
Artist – Movie Star (Silent Movies)
Pilot
Powers:
Although Harry Houdini had no real powers, he did display a lot of
abilities, skills and attributes which could be considered superhuman.
Houdini’s strength and endurance had always been remarked to be far
greater than people of his age and build, and his ability to escape from
locks and traps bordered on the supernatural. Houdini displayed the
following pseudo-powers:
- High Pain Threshold: Houdini possessed a high pain threshold that allowed him to continue operating as if he was unaffected by situations and damage, similar in scope to Iron Will. Houdini was able to allow himself to be buried alive in a full grave and dug his way out, be subjected to near freezing waters with little damage, hold his breath while restrained for upwards of 3 ½ minutes, and even perform a full show after rupturing his appendix after several punches in his stomach. Houdini’s pain threshold allowed him to roll a FEAT vs. Ex (20) ability to simply ignore the immediate damage effects. Houdini still took the damage, but he was able to ignore its effects.
- Ultimate Skill: Escape Artist: Houdini is considered by many to be the greatest escape artist that the world has ever seen. Houdini’s mastery of locks was the thing of legend, including being supposedly able to pick every pair of handcuffs in service within current Law Enforcement. Houdini’s ability to escape from both elaborate tricks that he or others had designed still has a degree of unreliability to it. If presented with a situation in which Houdini is handcuffed, restrained, and/or entrapped, Houdini rolls against Amazing (50) rank for such FEATs.
- Eye for Detail: Houdini’s ability to spot detail was very impressive, allowing him to often use such in disproving mediums and spiritualists. Houdini could substitute his Intuition attribute for a reason check if presented with such situations.
- Cheating Death: Houdini escaped several real situations (such as two plane crashes) with few injuries, both through his conditioning and ability but also through just plain luck. When Houdini is in situations that would cause him to be faced with a roll vs. Death effects, Houdini can spend Karma after the roll without declaring he would do so ahead of time.
- The first mega-celebrity: Harry Houdini’s rise to fame as an entertainer had never fully be seen before, and as such, it allowed access to higher levels of society as well as other benefits. As Houdini often toured world-wide, the press and media of the day would follow every move and would report facts of the smallest sort, adding to the size of crowds at Houdini’s events. As a side-effect, Houdini could form temporary karma pools with the attendees at such stunts which Houdini could spend to add to his escapes or make important FEAT rolls.
Harry Houdini had countless contacts in all levels of society and occupations, including famous figures, authors, and world leaders. Houdini maintained a great deal of correspondence to figures both within the magic community, the burgeoning aeronautic community, and the early days of Hollywood to name just a few contacts.
Limitations:
Houdini had several limitations which became more pronounced as he grew in fame:
- Public Persona: Houdini often fanned the flames of his own popularity, and would go to great lengths to maintain his own presence on the scene. As such, Houdini’s crafted persona makes it difficult to escape from – Houdini once could not leave his home and simply travel across the city without being accosted and recognized as Harry Houdini.
- Disbeliever: Especially after the death of his beloved mother, Houdini began to despise spiritualism and made it a crusade to disprove spiritualists of the day, taking great steps to discredit such as charlatans and cheats. Houdini would not waiver in his pursuit of frauds, which later evolved into spiritualism as a whole and cost him long-time friendships (like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
- Obsession: Houdini was obsessed in capturing greater and greater tricks, working often up to twenty (20) hours a day to perfect such and guarding such tricks with zeal (and occasionally lawsuits).
