SKILLS
ACADEMICS - Expert: When it comes to non-scientific knowledge, Brainiac has far less thorough education and information. While he can quickly access most data he needs, he is still far less proficient in these areas than in his technical realm -- though, he is still easily considered an expert by contemporary human standards. This covers his knowledge of history, cultures, social sciences, literature, and so forth. It also includes a background in art and music, though his knowledge tends more toward the technical and theoretical than any practical skill in those areas.
ATHLETICS - Competent: Brainiac 5 is in physical condition generally comparable to a professional athlete. This is due to the rigorous training imposed on him by the Legion of Super-Heroes, however, more than due to any particular in-born athletic ability (or even great interest in athletics). He is proficient in all physical skill needed to pass muster -- such as climbing, tumbling, jumping, swimming, dodging, and so forth -- but he does not particularly stand out in this area.
MARTIAL ARTS - Competent: As most Legionnaires, Brainiac 5 is trained extensively in personal defense and combat. Unlike many, he does not particularly apply himself in this field. He is trained to the level of a fairly skilled amateur, but he lacks any great natural gift in that direction and has never managed to bring himself to dedicate enough time or energy to his training to reach beyond basic "black belt" level of training, which is fairly standard for Legion members.
SCIENCE! - Supreme: Brainiac 5 has, in addition to tremendous intelligence, a particular fascination with science and technology and has benefited from the finest education and practical experience in those fields that the thirtieth century has to offer. All conventional technological concepts are elementary to him, and even the most exotic scientific and technological concepts come to him easily. While he is not necessarily an expert on every subject known to science, given only a short time to prepare, he can educate himself on the field and operate functionally within it. In terms of technology, few if any can ever even begin to approach the capabilities of those who have been called "Brainiac." There is essentially no technology he cannot learn to utilize and master, and he is already familiar with a staggeringly wide array. Computer hacking, designing complex systems, and employing exotic super-tech are all quite elementary for him.
WEAPONRY - Competent: This skill represents Brainiac's ability to use weaponry, particularly technologically based weapons. He is most proficient with weapons that have integrated targeting systems and other such advanced technological interfaces, but he is generally competent with most "point and shoot" weapons that are at least as sophisticated as a modern firearm. When it comes to ancient weapons, however, Brainy is only loosely trained at best.
WILLPOWER - Expert: Due to his complex mind and great mental discipline, Brainiac has particularly strong willpower. In terms of mental stamina and resisting conventional means of influence or coercion (this includes technological, but not psychic), his resolve is unfaltering. However, this does not make him explicitly more capable of defense against specific effects, particularly magical ones. He is not any more resistant to direct psychic damage, but due to his mental complexity it is harder to manipulate his mind more extensively.
POWERS
12TH-LEVEL INTELLECT - Supreme: Brainiac 5 possesses what Coluans term "a twelfth-level intellect." As a result, he has a superhuman capacity for cognition, calculation, memory, and technical ability. Under the Coluan schema, all of 20th century Earth collectively comprises a sixth-level intellect, while 31st century Earth collectively comprises a ninth-level intelligence. The average Coluan possesses an eighth-level intellect. Thus, Querl references his vaunted twelth-level intelligence with great (and often obvious) pride. This grants him not only enhanced intelligence, allowing him to learn and absorb information at staggering speeds, but he has an effectively flawless memory, and he can easily maintain upwards of a dozen completely independent, fully engaged lines of thought with absolute clarity.
Brainiac 5's brain is tremendously complex, and his thought patterns are much more intricate and complicated than those of most any other sentient mind in the known universe. As a result of this, while he has no specific defense against having his mind read or his perceptions toyed with or other such considerations, the job of affecting his mind, memory, or perceptions is much more difficult and complicated than it would be for most intelligences. To accomplish such, one would have to intimately understand his thought processes. This is a bit of a double-edged sword; for one who does not understand Brainy's thought patterns, the difficulty of successfully affecting his mind is exponentially greater. For one who understands them, it becomes exponentially easier.
BATTLE FORM - Enhanced: Finally, while his body is normally configured to look small, non-threatening, and generally humanoid, he can transform it into an enhanced battle form. In this shape, he has enhanced strength and durability, a full complement of ready energy weapons, adaptive armor, and numerous additional metallic appendages and grasping arms, not unlike clawed tentacles.
ENERGY BLASTS - Enhanced: Brainiac 5 is able to configure his body into weaponized shapes, such as in the form of various energy weapons. By default, these are photon-based or plasma weapons, but they can also emit other common forms of energy, such as infrared or ultraviolet radiation. If properly configured, they can emit electricity or other forms of energy that can be used to power technology, and if he's prepared in advance and has the correct particles or other materials, he can create exotic energy attacks, such as gravity beams or hard radiation blasts.
INTERFACE - Supernatural: Using his body's nanotech adaptability, Brainiac 5 is able to connect to virtually any computer system in existence. Whatever port or adapter variety is needed, whether direct or wireless, his interface ability will match it. This allows him to be connected to whatever distance the receptors of the signal are capable of, such that with a global network he can be anywhere on the planet and still be connected. This gives him, among other things, a constant Internet connection and the ability to make radio, cellular, or other communications anywhere on the planet by using existing data networks. His connection speeds also make conventional technology, even the very fastest, look painfully slow by contrast.
PHYSIOLOGY - Enhanced: Brainiac's body is cybernetic in nature, comprised as much of nanotechnology as it is of normal biology. As a result of this, he does not deteriorate, and even if severely damaged, he will regenerate. As his body is biotechnical in nature, it is not affected by magnetics, cyberpathy, or other abilities that affect conventional technology. Likewise, his nanotech immune system prevents technological invasions of his body from progressing far, though they may cause him temporary symptoms not unlike an illness.
He can configure himself so he does not need to breathe, though he usually does so to keep himself well ventilated, and he can adapt to most environments, such as undersea or vacuum. He generally cannot get conventionally sick or be poisoned, as his body can break down unwanted substances and expel them as harmless waste. Like a human, he can fuel himself with food, though he can also absorb other forms of energy. He can also adjust his body in various other ways, such as altering his mass or build, creating a veneer of normal humanity to conceal his true nature, or adjusting the length of his hair. He can also assume a battle form, which is detailed in a separate power.
Part of this physiology is his cybersensory interface. This includes optical enhancement, giving him an active HUD with the ability to scan through various light spectra, to magnify his vision, and to otherwise enhance his vision. He also has enhanced audio and olfactory sensors, and all of these sensors can be connected by his network interface to Computo, allowing for near-instant processing of information gathered on-site.
REGENERATION - Enhanced: The key to Brainiac 5's resiliency is his body's nanotechnology. Wounds will knit closed and recover almost instantly, and more serious trauma will regenerate if given enough time. As long as any part of his body and core personality persist, he can rebuild himself over time from any level of damage.
ADVANTAGES
COMPUTO - C.O.M.P.U.T.O. stands for Cybercerebral Overlapping Multi-Processor Universal Transceiver Operator, and it is a computational device that goes so tremendously far beyond the concept of a "super computer" that the term is nearly inapplicable. It was originally designed using the most advanced technology of the 30th Century as a tool to aid in Brainiac's research, but he has since repurposed it to serve as a central computer for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Its technology and artificial intelligence are sophisticated enough that it can adapt to the commands of even a small child, but even the most advanced intellect of Earth would find it nearly impossible to hack or reverse-engineer the system.
EQUIPMENT - Brainiac typically carries with him a variety of technological contrivances designed to aid him in his various efforts, particularly when functioning as a super-hero. He also carries mundane mini-tool kits, standard Legion of Super-Heroes gear, and other typical superhero essentials such as tracking devices, bugs, and so forth.
FLIGHT RING - The signature token of the Legion of Super-Heroes is a golden ring, emblazoned with the letter "L" and a small starburst pattern. This ring enables the wearer to fly at enhanced-level speed, both within an atmosphere and in the vacuum of outer space. Constructed from a compound called Valorium, the rings are very durable and difficult to damage. They can be cloaked, making them all but undetectable, and they can also function as communication links to the rest of the Legion.
FORCE-SHIELD BELT - Brainac typically wears a device known by the utilitarian name of the "force-shield belt." It does just that: the device is worn around the waist and, apart from serving as a functional tool belt with a stylish Legion of Super-Heroes logo, projects a nigh-invulnerable force field in a micro-fine layer around Brainiac's body. It can be expanded to a size large enough to contain several people, or it can project a force blast, but both of these functions operate at a reduced power level.
RESOURCES - While Brainiac 5 is cautious of disturbing the timeline, he has discovered that due to his origins in a different hypertimestream, there is little direct danger of endangering his future with any actions he takes in the world of this 21st Century. As such, he has allowed himself to sell a few patents and invest carefully in technology markets, granting him a large enough income to live comfortably in the most expensive areas of Metropolis if he were so inclined.
STARSHIP - Brainiac 5 brought with him a starship, provided by the Legion of Super-Heroes. It serves as his home, laboratory, sanctuary, and crash-pad. The Computo unit is housed there, networked via Omnicom to the flight rings of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The ship is also appointed with medical facilities, media suites, living quarters, a super-advanced security and defense system, and all the other standard 31st Century amenities. Its spatial-temporal hyperdrive allows it to travel through time (under proper plot-based circumstances) and across dimensions, while active camouflage cloaking technology hides it from view and from nearly any type of scan. In general, it's perfect for a super-genius mad scientist. Or superhero. Whichever.
WEAKNESSES
OVERCONFIDENT - Due to his great intelligence, Brainiac is accustomed to great success at all he attempts. This tends to make him inclined to be overconfident in his ability to handle things. It isn't so much that he overestimates his own talents as he tends to underestimate things like danger, difficulty, and risk. Also, he tends to come across as rather arrogant at times, which can be off-putting to those around him.
OVERTHINKING - Brainy, for all his profound intelligence, often falls victim to the problem of overintellectualizing matters. He may fail to see simple solutions for this reason, or he may overcomplicate a concept. He may tout Occam's Razor, but he often forgets to apply its principles to his own thought process. This can also lead him to hesitate at key moments, and it sometimes keeps him from seeing a more creative solution to a quandary because he's too busy trying to fit it into a complex conceptual framework that he has preconceived.
RECKLESS - In keeping with his tendency to be overconfident, yet strangely at odds with his tendency to overthink even the smallest details of what he does, Brainiac is often willing to take risks that most rational minds would consider entirely foolish. This stems from several causes, such as a tendency to be far too curious for his own good, an outlook on life that treats nearly all experiences as potentially interesting, and a tendency to become so mentally wrapped up in his work that he loses track of little issues like whether an experiment is likely to blow up his lab -- again.
