hello ! i’ve posted rico on this subreddit numerous times but this is a more finished and polished sheet, but i NEED HELP! i need suggestions for this character, i feel like he’s borderline too over competent, but at the same time i dont want go nerf him and make him seem weak as well. i also need ideas on how i should make his morals and judgement for killing make more sense. also just any suggestions in general, and of course.. questions you have about him !
Name: Rico Takeishi
Age: 17
Ethnicity: African American and Hispanic. (though he was born in japan)
Quirk: None
Vigilante known as The Silent Sentinel.
Works at a convenience store with its owner Mr.Saito and his nine year old daughter Mio during the day. Though, they don’t know that he’s the Silent Sentinel.
Known for:
His Precision, patience, combat skill, low collateral damage, stealth, and high battle IQ. He targets and kills villains, but not the lower tier less important grunts or criminals, only who he considers irredeemable. Villains, high risk criminals, and organized crime figures. He gathers evidence and stalks heroes who abuse their power, protect villains, gangs, etc, or betray the purpose of heroism. He doesn’t kill them, but he exposes them to the public anonymously and seriously injures them to leave his mark on them. He does the same for corrupt Hero Public Safety Commission associates and politicians. He doesn’t go around killing or exposing just anyone, he’s selective, stalking and observing targets obsessively for days, even longer to gather evidence that’d “justify” their death/make them worthy of being exposed. Even then.. he’s killed lesser criminals in the past, his obsession with cleaning Japan and his anger from past experiences overlapping his judgement. He defends places mostly forgotten or not patrolled by hero’s as often, and when saving civilians he tones it down on the fear and tries to make them feel safe by letting himself be seen by them. It’s the only time he actually feels good as the Silent Sentinel. Most people thought he was some sort of urban legend, but as more and more villains were found dead and more heroes were exposed, his presence was taken more seriously and now the HPSC has taken action, trying to figure out who the Silent Sentinel really is. There are heroes actively investigating, media panic, task forces, hired guns, but hero society is divided on him. One thing they do know is that the Silent Sentinel is in fact quirkless. By all expectations and ideals of current hero society a quirkless person should not be operating at this level, Rico of course, does so anyway.
Methods:
Rico strikes from the shadows or higher places, using stealth, traps, smoke bombs, and other tools. He doesn’t have a quirk, so he always has to be 2 steps ahead. His attacks are fast and precise, doing quick, silent kills by slitting the throat or cutting the artery in someone’s neck with his wakizashi. When he has to kill from a distance he uses his suppressed handgun. For exposing heroes he has to watch patterns, interrogate criminals, see who ignores certain zones, who prioritizes camera moments instead of rescue, agency leaks, camera footage, anonymous tips, ect. Not killing them, but letting their faults be known to the public. He does this cause a small part of him still wants to believe in hero society.. even after seeing its rot. He avoids direct fights as much as he can, but he’s not afraid to throw down if he has to. He sometimes uses fear to his advantage, he doesn’t monologue, he doesn’t announce himself, he uses his reputation as a weapon because that alone scares criminals. They feel watched even when they don’t know he’s there. He doesn’t terrify people by being loud, he terrifies them by being unavoidable.
Personality:
Rico is a very quiet and standoffish person, he doesn’t mean any harm, it’s just hard for him to trust others. he analyzes every person he meets, it’s ingrained into his head at this point. Underneath all that stoicism and skittish behavior is a shy and timid but determined and headstrong boy. He gets very awkward and freezes up when shown kindness or concern, and he’s clueless about anything thats normal for his age and doesn’t know how to socialize properly, but if he has a goal set, he’s absolutely determined to achieve it. He’s a also a little too blunt at times. He’s secretly very kind and gentle with children and animals, and very protective of the few people he cares about.
Appearance:
Rico is 6’2, 195 pounds with a lean build and compact muscle. He has thick, black hair in a messy afro and fuzzy facial hair. His brown eyes are low and hollow from getting barely any sleep, his dark skin and face are marked with lots of scars, a large noticeable one on his left cheek. He’s missing his left hand (replaced by a prosthetic forearm) and part of his ear. He wears black, shock-absorbent lightweight armor, black cargo pants, black boots with shock-absorbent soles, and gloves for grip. Some parts of his outfit are patched up, tattered, and bloodstained. He also wears a cloak, with pouches across his outfit to carry his tools. His mask is sleek, matte black, and covers his face from the nose down. His katana and wakazashi lie at his left hip, handgun at his right, wearing wraps on his right forearm for the tremble, and wears his late mentor’s tattered old gray scarf.
Emotional Profile:
Rico keeps up stoic and standoffish demeanor to keep his emotions hidden. But beneath all of it he struggles with survivor’s guilt, grief, anger, loneliness, and low self esteem. He see’s the real him as weak and a hypocrite. His guilt stems from killing, but he thinks what he’s doing is necessary. Most of these people deserve death, but is he really any better than those he’s killed? Ryu taught Rico restraint, that every life has value no matter who it is. He loathes himself because everytime he takes one it feels like he’s betraying Ryu’s beliefs and spitting on his grave. He died that day protecting Rico, he wanted him to live and keep going, but in Rico’s head, him living only has any worth if he lives righteously, so when he fails to stay in control or when he takes a life it feels like he doesn’t deserve to still be alive. Rico takes lives despite his guilt because in his mind if he doesn’t kill certain people, they’ll just come back and resurface, causing even more pain and suffering. He’s tired of watching corruption win over and over again, it angers him immensely, he’s tired of the system let monsters slip through, so he forces himself to get rid of the problems permanently, one by one. Killing, as much as it destroys him, it gives him purpose, if he stops, what’s next? He doesn’t know peace, normalcy or how to be a kid. So he keeps moving, because if he stops he has to face himself. When he sees kids his age interacting, dating, just hanging out, he feels so lonely. He’s once accidentally killed a grunt who was just moving product for money who got caught in the crossfire of an assassination in a warehouse gone wrong, later finding out he had a son waiting for him at home after the grunts lockscreen on his phone had a photo of them. He went home and hurled uncontrollably from the guilt unable to hear or think clearly. After that incident he makes sure he’s less reckless and obsessively digs for evidence on his targets to make sure. Even then, there are still things in his life that keep him going, such as Kimi, Mio, Mr.Saito, Ms.Akiyama’s support, and carrying on Ryu’s legacy even if he thinks he isn’t doing it the right way. The people in his life make him think that maybe he has purpose beyond killing… but he pushes that thought away every time. He’s been hesitant to kill as of lately and when he saves people it makes him feel… good. Secretly he’s grown weary of this life, he has thoughts of making friends, going to school, etc. His absolute obsession with cleaning and cutting out rot in current hero society makes it feel like he NEEDS to do this. He’s lost too much due to it, but it’s driving him insane.
Relationships:
There are really only three people Rico consider close. Which is Mr.Saito his daughter, Mio, and a homeless woman he helps out, Ms.Akiyama. He views Mr.Saito as somewhat of an adult figure in his life, he’s always looking out for Rico and doesn’t judge or question him for his differences. He offered the shop as a place to stay when he found him out on the street one day until eventually Rico started a job there. (he has his own place to stay now with all of his equipment.) At first, his daughter Mio was downright terrified of Rico. His scars, his taller height compared to the average Japanese person, his rugged appearance and stoic cold face, and especially his missing hand. After a while, Mio saw Rico for who he truly was, he treated her with nothing but kindness in his own quiet and stoic way. Mio views him as a big brother now, sometimes even calling him “big brother Rico.” Rico views her as a little sister and someone worth protecting. Though, her eccentric and excited personality overwhelms him sometimes… They often read comics together and Rico voices them out to her, doing silly voices to make her laugh. She’s obsessed with his cat, Kimi, so he keeps her at the shop during work days. Ms.Akiyama is a woman in her mid-thirties who he met while walking the streets in his civilian attire. She’s motherly, kind, but still a little stern and overprotective. She used to have a 13 year old son of her own before he passed away from his injuries during a villain attack where the hero’s came too late. During their first encounter he offered her his last rice balls and bottle of water, and the sheer gratitude and warmth on her face after sparked something in Rico. To him, it felt… good? Since then he visits her on his off days, giving her food, getting her a sleeping bag, essentials, ect. They often just talk as well, she has a lot of motherly concern for Rico because of her son’s unfortunate death. One night she hugged him after a long talk and he bawled his eyes out in her arms. He’s not really sure how to process their care for him. He doesn’t let them know of his vigilantism, not wanting to rope them into his dangerous life.
Mask: Conceals his face from the nose down, helps breathing through smoke and other gasses, and has two different modes. One can muffle his breathing, small sounds, grunts, etc, for added silence. The other projects a distorted, twisted, more monstrous version of his voice and can make it seem like it’s coming from different angles to induce fear and confusion on his opponents if needed. Small slits and vents near the sides for the directional sounds that can be open and closed. (much like shinso’s mask) If used in more populated areas or in a hostage/city block situation it could cause panic among civilians so he doesn’t use it then.
Prosthetic forearm/hand: Attaches to his left forearm, has a carbon fiber and reinforced polymer frame. It is both a tool for mobility and a weapon. The knuckle and forearm plate can harden for blocks, blunt strikes, and durability. A small blade can also come out of the knuckles if needed. A threeprong claw grappling line is integrated along the top of the forearm, and is activated by sudden muscle tension or flexing and attached by lightweight carbon straps that wrap around his upper arm and shoulder. Tight enough to stay on, loose enough to not restrain movement. Powered by a battery that has to be charged every so often. There is more battery drained depending how much strain and use is being put to it. He made it as lightweight but sturdy as possible, though he’s still working on getting used to the weight distribution.
Smoke bombs
Wire traps
Tracking devices
Basic first aid
Small cameras
Backpack
(his gears a bit janky due to his lack of access of high end resources, but he makes do with what he has. It could even mess up during some missions, which could end up bad.)
Fighting Style:
Patient and counter focused, punishes mistakes.
Elegant, but with a more brutal edge.
Uses fear to his advantage.
Switches from his sword to hand to hand combat randomly during fights to throw off his opponent.
Uses the environment, ambushing, traps, and improvised weapons. (glass, pipes, bricks, things like that)
Draw cut strikes and counters with his scabbard.
Uses grappling launcher to move around and snare enemies in battle.
Unarmed: Fighting style using a mix muay thai, taekwondo, and boxing. His combat skills are more advanced than those in his age group, since he never had to worry about putting his time into training a quirk.
Techniques:
Falling Leaf: A feint with his katana from above where he pivots to slash or sweep at his opponents lower half.
Cross Cut Reversal: He takes a half step back, letting his opponent overextend, then goes forward with an upward cut with his wakazashi.
Iron Snare: His grappling line wraps around an opponents limb, and jerks hard to make them stumble or slam onto the ground.
Hanging Judgement: He fires his grappler down to an opponent from a higher place, then yanks them toward him, and delivers a midair knee or slash.
Dead Silence: Strikes with his scabbard, then disarms his opponent with it.
Weathered Gate: He uses his scabbard like a shield to catch and deflect a strike, then immediately counter with his right fist or elbow.
Crushing Sweep: He swings the scabbard low, hitting the inside of an opponent’s shin or ankle.
Stone Wall: Absorbs an attack with his shoulder, and counters with a crushing elbow.
Blindside Knee: He uses his low stance and quick footwork to move to his opponent’s side and drives a knee into their ribs or hip.
He was built to compensate for not having a quirk, so he’s no one to underestimate in a direct fight.
Weaknesses:
The tremor in his right hand gets in the way of his precision.
He’s only human, he doesn’t have super strength, speed, or raw power to fall back on.
His lack of sleep has him running on fumes most days, slower reaction time, reflexes, and recovery. He’s forced to take rest days to make up for it.
He hates relying on others, so he’s not good at teamwork at all.
He’s combat skill is great, but he lacks the refinement pros have.
He’s not good at reading people emotionally.
His gear is high maintenance and the resources are not easily accessible.
His lack of resources at times force him to take downtime from his “work”
Wide ranged AOE quirks and wide open spaces.
Too stubborn and determined at times
His obsession with cleaning Japan overlaps his judgement.
He sometimes overprepares because of his paranoia.
The mention of Ryu is a sore spot for him.
He’s lost fights and miscalculated many times due to these weaknesses
Cracked Edge: Happens when pent up emotions become too much to handle, or high stress situations. A feral, unstable state that makes his movement very erratic and twitchy, his attacks reckless, even more brutal than before, and replaces technique for unpredictability. Though, he makes more sloppy and emotional decisions in this state. This state does not boost Rico’s physical strength or speed or anything like that, it just drops all of his restraint and control he has over himself. in some fights this can even be a weakness, he’s not as aware or vigilant so he’s more vulnerable to attacks. This state doesn’t happen often. After his episodes the guilt he feels for losing himself is huge. Breaking down and feeling filthy, inside and out. He scrubs his only hand until it burns, sometimes even shaking so bad he can’t even hold anything, sometimes even throwing up. Other times he stares at his own reflection after an episode not seeing himself, but the monsters that he kills. To Rico it’s proof that all the training and discipline meant nothing, that the kid Ryu sacrificed his life for grew into a weapon instead.
Random things:
Constant tremble in right hand.
Occasional twitching.
Shaves himself with his wakazashi. (has cut himself on numerous occasions due to the tremble in his hand)
Huge momma’s boy before Maria’s death.
(Maria was his mother)
He’s trilingual
(english, spanish, japanese)
Has a knack for making and tinkering with things and has been practicing ever since he was little, a trait he gets from Maria. (she was in the support technology industry)
Has trained since the age of 10
Has quite a few grey hairs
He analyzes entire rooms entry and exit points when he enters them
Has studied the biological nature of quirks and how they work, giving him a deep understanding of them and their weaknesses, though not having one himself.
Goes out dressed as a normal civilian during the day on his days off. He gets weird stares from others because of his scars and unusual ethnic appearance.
Spanglish when frustrated or flustered.
Speaks little, actions over words.
Isolates even when offered help.
Likes:
Playing with Kimi.
Street food/Simple meals
Quiet places
Strategic games
Old fashioned weapons
Writing/journaling
Training until he drops
Pro Hero’s with quirks that are on the weaker side and thrive anyway.
Tinkering and making things.
Dad jokes.
(the ones ryu used to tell)
Sleeping.
(though he never gets enough)
Dislikes:
Social events.
Arrogance that isn’t backed up.
Shortcuts to strength or relying on a quirk.
Relying on people.
Sudden loud noises.
Uninvited touch.
Constant noises like clicking or tapping.
Heroes that do it for selfish reasons.
Goals: Rico wants to cut out the rot in Japan one by one. He protects the forgotten, not for glory, just doing what some heroes won’t. To this day he still hunts the two villains who killed his mentor, Shrapnel and Dreadstep. He wants nothing more than to leave the two bleeding and suffering in the rubble just like Ryu. Deep down he’s always wanted to be a hero, a part of him still does. But he’s hesitant because he thinks his actions make him unworthy of the title of a hero. He doesn’t trust the system either, he obviously thinks it’s rotten. His main goal above all is to “clean” Japan one by one, even if it costs his life.