Cheat Code

Reggie Milford lived for gaming, blowing away oppo­nents in first-person shooters and regaling the defeated with ridicule, and always wishing his wins could be more real. One night, walking home while carrying his airsoft pistol just like always, he used it to scare off a man who was attacking a young woman. When she told him she would grant him a wish, her eyes glowing in the night, he answered without hesitation. He wanted to be able to use cheat codes in real life.
Previously just an obnoxious and egotistical gamer, a sore loser, and petty winner, Reggie’s powers have effec­tively warped him into a violent sociopath. The difference between reality and a game no longer registers for him, and he feels no more remorse over killing in one than in the other. The more he uses his powers, the weaker his grip on reality becomes.

Physical Description

Special abilities

Cheat Code has been given limited powers to alter reality, consistent with well-known cheats from online gaming. He can greatly increase the accuracy of his attacks through “aim bots” or increasing the size of enemy hit boxes. He can see and attack through walls and other solid obstacles and move through them as if they weren’t there (Wall Hack and Noclip), and he can see enemy combat information (ESP). He is also capable of reading and manipulating machines. The nature and limits of Cheat Code’s powers are unknown, even to him, leaving a lot of potential for power stunts and new abilities to develop.
His preferred mode of attack is through an arsenal of weapons he has collected. He prefers sniper rifles, due to their power and accuracy and their “first-person shooter” qualities, but also makes use of other military-style weapons.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Reggie feels superior to most everyone around him: he knows he’s smarter, more skilled, more creative, and just plain better. He revels in proving his superiority and humiliating the hapless losers that oppose him. While once he would have had enough basic empathy and con­science to confine his aggression to the realm of fantasy, he now sees no real difference between two worlds he can manipulate the rules of with equal facility.
When not playing on a “mission,” he is a normal person, quite full of himself, but reasonable oth­erwise. On his “missions,” however, he kills and destroys with no more mercy than he would show online.
While powerful enough to be essentially unstoppable to the normal authorities, there are heroes who can stand up to him. If stymied or frustrated in a “mission,” he tends to respond just as he would online, by “rage-quitting” and running away. Nevertheless, he also knows how to nurse a grudge, and anyone who gets the better of Cheat Code is going to hear from him again when they least expect it.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Cheat Code’s ego and the nature of his video game ob­sessions make it difficult for him to team up with anyone without demanding to be in charge and expecting every­one else to do things his way. He might hire mercenaries or thugs for a job, but would be a demanding and difficult boss, willing to dispose of his hired help in an instant if it suited him.
Cheat Code is a violent criminal, high on many a wanted list. Heroes who have strong motivations regarding sense­less killing are especially likely to be foes, as are those who have a tendency to attract mentally unstable adversaries. Cheat Code might initially take a shine to a vigilante hero and then turn violently against them when the “friend­ship” doesn’t work out like he envisions.