He can even hold his own in a hand-to-hand scrap. Not your average mentalist.
Before there was Soulfire, there was Harry. Harry Gripp. He was, according to the write-up "somewhat of a scoundrel." Personally, I'd have said something worse, given his involvement in gangs and pushing drugs, but the 80s were a different time. He ended up in juvie (I assume that's what "youth rehabilitation center" means) and it was around that time his pyrokinesis first manifested. Rather spectacularly. This attracted the attention of Dr. Poe.
Poe used his son Simon's Mind Control to free Harry, offering to train him in the use of his powers. You know, your basic X-Men pitch. Except with financial incentives. Harry agreed, joined up, and excelled for the first time in his life. Soon, he was training other PSI recruits.
When Counselor Darke arranged for Dr. Poe's downfall, Soulfire was one of the existing PSI rank and file protected from arrest. Today, he serves as their primary trainer, as well as a valued field operative.
As I mentioned above, Soulfire is definitely more field-capable than most PSI operatives. His primary power is a hefty (4d6) Indirect Ranged Killing Attack defined as setting his target on fire. There is a bit of a disconnect between how the power is described and how it's defined in game terms. According to the description, he concentrates on an opponent and they burn so long as he concentrates on them. This would imply a single attack roll, with the Continuous Advantage allowing him to apply the damage across multiple rounds. However, the writeup doesn't include that Advantage. It's a minor blip, and possibly reflective of how quickly this product fell on the heels of Champions 4e.
Apart from the pyrokinesis, he's got Missile Deflection (he burns them out of the air), Infrared Vision, and the requisite Mental Defense. He's also got decent physical stats (comparable to a brawler rather than a full-on martial artist), which is handy, since he also has 18 pts worth of the Dirty Infighting Martial Art. He can also swing around, which is kind of cool (and with the cape, fairly flamboyant).He also carries some PSI gadgets, notably some body armor and the Panic Ring. Overall, a pretty decent balance of abilities.
In a campaign, Soulfire is the Loyal Soldier. He likes being in PSI. He actually enjoys the day-to-day drama, and he's generally well-liked by his compatriots. Don't take his affable manner for granted though; he's a hardened killer and won't think twice about reducing someone to ash if it further's PSI's cause.
Underestimate him at your peril.
The thing I always wanted to stress about him is not just that he is the most "supervillainy" of the PSI members, but he relishes the "character" the most.
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