Real Name: Kurt Wagner
Occupation: Adventurer, ex-circus performer
Legal Status: West German citizen
Identity: Secret
Place of Birth: Bavarian Alps
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Eric Wagner (father, deceased), Margali Szardos (foster mother), Jemaine Szardos (a.k.a. Amanda Sefton, foster sister), Stefan Szardos (foster brother, deceased)
Base of Operations: X-Mansion, Long Island, NY; Great Britain
Past Group Affiliations: X-Men, Excalibur
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Known Powers:
Teleportation: Nightcrawler can transport himself across Feeble distances (2-3 miles) with ease. Exceeding his normal range limits is possible, but requires an Endurance FEAT. Failing this roll indicates disorientation or even unconsciousness for 1-10 turns. Teleporting with 1-2 passengers causes everyone’s Abilities and Powers to drop by -2cs for two turns after the transfer. As a Power Stunt, Nightcrawler can teleport away with part of a non-living target, severing it and causing Amazing damage.
Prehensile Tail: Nightcrawler’s tail can be used to attack a foe with Good Fighting rank.
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Weakness:
Whenever Nightcrawler teleports he produces a loud Bamf, a puff of smoke, and a strong smell of brimstone (sulphur).
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Talents:
He is an Olympic-class athlete. He is skilled in hand-to-hand combat and fencing.
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Contacts:
Nightcrawler is well known to the members of the X-Men, X-Factor, and Excalibur.
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Role-Playing Notes:
Nightcrawler is torn between two extremes. Most of the time he is a dashing, flamboyant swashbuckler and ladies’ man. This disguises a darker side that makes him brood about religion, morality, and his place in the scheme of things. Although level-headed when battling most foes (robots, supercriminals, etc.), he becomes almost when confronting sadistic or bigoted foes.
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History:
Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty. Less than an hour after his birth, Wagner was found in a small roadside shelter in the Bavarian Alps by Margali Szardos, a sorceress and gypsy queen. She found his father, Eric Wagner, dead of a heart attack on the road outside. Margali is said to have found Wagner’s mother lying next to the baby and dying, but this assertion has been called into question, and not even Kurt Wagner knows the truth. Margali took the baby to the small Bavarian circus where she worked as a fortuneteller as a “cover” for her activities as a sorceress. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone, but was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against “freaks.” Margali acted as Wagner’s unofficial foster mother.
Wagner grew up happily in the circus, and his two closest friends were Margali’s natural children, Stefan and Jemaine. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility, and by adolescence he had become the circus’s star acrobat and aerial artist. Audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human being wearing a demon-like costume.
Years later, the Texas millionaire Amos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus Wagner worked for and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus. However, he demanded that Wagner be placed in the circus’s freak show. Appalled, Wagner quit and made his way towards Winzeldorf, Germany, where Stefan was. He discovered that Stefan had gone mad and had brutally slain several children. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stefan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Wagner unintentionally broke Stefan’s neck. Wagner was discovered by the villagers, who assumed him to be a demon who was responsible for the child killings. They were about to kill him when they were all psionically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier, who had come to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Wagner agreed to join the group, but before they left for America, he and Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so that Wagner could explain to Margali about Stefan’s death. However, Margali was not there. She held Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan, but years later, when she learned the truth, she and Wagner were reconciled. Wagner was also happily reunited with Jemaine, who now lives in the United States under the name Amanda Sefton. Known as Nightcrawler, Wagner is still a member of the X-Men today.
Following a recent battle with the Marauders, Nightcrawler was wounded and sent to Muir Island to recuperate. He was there when the X-Men apparently died in Dallas. This caused him strong guilt and led to a streak of self-destructive behavior. The sudden appearance of Gate-Crasher and the discovery that Phoenix II had returned to Earth restored Nightcrawler’s sense of purpose. After battling Gate-Crasher, the Technety, and the Warwolves over Phoenix, Nightcrawler joined Captain Britain, Meggan, Shadowcat, and Phoenix in forming Excalibur.
BAMF!
