Musing On Gameplay: Using Villain Teams

The question came up on one of the forums I frequent on how to use an entire team of villains during play, which isn't all that well covered by the normal action scene design rules due to your limited budget of scene elements.  The following are examples of how I've approached the subject:

• The easiest approach if you just want to do a big brawl between two teams would be to downgrade some or even all of the villains to lieutenant stats, building them so their traits loosely reflect their normal full-villain abilities.  For a moderate scene with H=4 you could take two pairs of d10 lieutenants as two moderate scene elements, a full villain (the team leader or heavyweight) as a moderate element (or difficult, if upgraded), and then use your fourth element for a moderate environment, or perhaps split the slot into an easy environment (ie somewhat hero-friendly) and an easy d8 lieutenant (the team chump or toady).  You could also shuffle things around to squeeze in some initial challenges or minions, but this might be complex enough as-is.
• You could also do the trope where the heroes encounter smaller groups of full villains (say 2-3 at a time) who are focused on doing the set-up work for their team's grand scheme, with them fleeing as soon as their goal is accomplished, possibly leaving a prisoner behind to be interrogated.  Repeat that two-three times with minor variations and montage and/or social scenes between, then (probably next session) have a grand finale where the heroes confront all the remaining villains.  You can turn the difficulty dial up or down as needed, adding minions, challenges or even a heretofore unseen villain to the villain side if needed or using a more hero-friendly environment and/or NPC allies if the heroes are are outnumbered by the remaining villains.  You really don't need to be precise about counting the scene elements here, and you could just grant bonuses or penalties for impromptu tweaks based on earlier scenes, eg a villain who just barely escaped defeat by a specific hero might suffer a penalty the first time they act directly against them, or the heroes might have a team pool of bonuses earned from social scenes interrogating defeated villains.
• The flip side of that trope is to have both teams confront one another early on in an unbalanced scene where the heroes are at a disadvantage, letting the dice fall where they may.  If the PCs lose or time-out, they're defeated and wake up in captivity with a free zone heal or two each, and then play out a montage scene to free themselves.  Any heroes who weren't defeated (presumably through some Overcome that involved escaping the fight and then stealthily following the villains) will, of course, find the prisoners just in time to help.  From there they can gather info, sabotage the villain lair, and/or ambush unprepared villains before the inevitable big rematch as the remaining baddies are trying to execute their scheme.  This is a classic comic arc, but don't use it if you aren't 100% sure your players will buy into it.  A lot roleplayers absolutely hate losing a fight no matter what despite Sentinels making it a largely painless experience.  OTOH, if they are 100% into it, you could just shorten or even skip the initial big fight and just start with waking up captive as you collaboratively narrate their off-page defeat.  Any group like that deserves a few bonuses for playing along with style.
• Another way to use a lot of villains in the same scene is to either drip-feed them into the scene slowly, eg of six villains, maybe only a couple start in play, then two more show up with some flunkies when the scene tracker goes to Yellow, and then the last two when it hits Red or when some arbitrary number of villains are defeated.  You can also play around with mutually-hostile villains who act against one another when they see an opening and aren't being pressed by the PCs.  Be careful with this though, there's nothing players hate as much as watching NPCs roll dice against one another.  Sometimes a bit of GM fiat is fine - but let a PC land the finishing blow.

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Pentad, Five Heroes In One

Long, sprawling writeup for my only Modular archetype hero, who's effectively five different people, four of them very alien.  Be an interesting roleplaying challenge, anyway.  

Pentad

Aaron Acosta never wanted to be a superhero.  He was perfectly content as a grad student with his eyes on a professorship in some university history department down the road.  Unfortunately for his plans, he was also the only suitable person on Earth the night a gestalt of four alien mentalities arrived from the future in search of a psychically-compatible local guide.  The disembodied groupmind explained that they were representatives of a near-Utopian coalition of sophonts, sent back to identify and prevent critical points in the timeline to ensure humanity would survive to join their culture rather than becoming extinct in the 21st century.  Aaron might still have refused to help if he'd fully understood the costs, but the alien minds managed to convince him that the future of humanity was at stake.

He agreed to join the gestalt and form the five-in-one superhero Pentad.  In the process, his physical body was converted into metamorphic psychoplasm, and while he can still adopt his apparently-human form he's effectively time-sharing both body and mind with four hyper-advanced extraterrestrials from over a thousand years in the future.  Each of them can "tag in" and reform their own original bodies at will, exploiting their specific strengths while covering for their weaknesses.

Broosk the Ganikan is a semi-reptilian being from a species that's engineered all aggression out of their society in exchange for tremendous mental stability, and provides the Pentad with a bottomless well of determination as well as telekinetic might.  Crovak the Yasoon is a representative of a physically and psionically imposing species that serve as interstellar peacekeepers in their time, and helps defend the Pentad and their allies from assault by mentally dampening aggression.  Drail the Ysindri is a descendent of a geneered slave species created to be the ultimate planners, innovators and problem solvers, and brings those talents to the Pentad along with their unfortunate lack of survival instincts, which were deliberately excised by their creators to increase their dependence upon others despite their genius.  "Eternal Sorrow" is the closest translation for the Pentad's rask, a species of naturally-sessile sophonts more akin to Terran trees than anything, and unfortunately burdened with a genetic legacy of instinctive territoriality that they still struggle to overcome.  Rask are the coalition's defenders, one of the few member species who are adept at physical violence when pressed.  "Sorrow" only manifests in extreme situations, and invariably regrets its actions afterward.

Description: (Human) A very run-of-the-mill example of homo sapiens with no outstanding features physical features.  In action, those features are fully concealed in a suit of sleek blue power armor with white accents and a yellow star-in-a-pentagon logo on its chest.  Usually doesn't stick around for long if a fight breaks out anyone, shifting into one of his four alien personas to let them handle it.  Mostly seen when the Pentad needs to talk with temporal locals, both mundane and empowered.  He's got a nice baritone voice and is comfortable with public speaking, although he can be a bit pedantic at times.  

(Ganikan) An exceptionally attractive specimen of a 31st century native of Ganik VII, which is to say a slender, twin-tailed, man-sized pseudo-lizard covered in fine turquoise scales.  Wears a snug torso-hugging singlet in the same color scheme as the human's power armor, although this outfit is carefully tailored to display their glorious physique and coloration.  Lacks anything akin to vocal chords, communicating entirely by pleasant, mellow-toned telepathy.

(Yasoon) A hulking, 6'5" humanoid figure that looks like a hybrid of macrocephalic gorilla and tiger, covered in a coat of short red-and-black striped fur, wearing a pair of snug shorts and a tank top with the usual Pentad colors and logo.  They pride themselves on their "primitive vocal communication" skills and prefer to demonstrate them rather than using telepathy, speaking with a voice that sounds remarkably like James Earl Jones.

(Ysindri) Thin, gray-skinned, six-armed figure only 5' tall, with an elongated oversized head that resembles am Easter Island moai.  Wears only a headband, which displays the blue-and-white Pentad colors and golden yellow star-in-a-pentagon symbol.  Moves languidly, as though underwater, and communicates only via a deep, echoing telepathic voice.

(Rask) Resembles an orange-and-black-banded sea anemone, albeit one that's eight feet tall and constantly shifting the length and shape of its many tendrils, manifesting alarming natural weaponry and more incomprehensible appendages from moment to moment.  Holds itself rigidly anchored in place (even in mid-air) with formidable telekinetic powers, which it also employs to levitate loose objects and debris as shields and weapons.  Wears a single "armband" in Pentad colors as a uniform of sorts.  Even its telepathy is alien, communicating more in emotions (most often rage and regret) than words.

Gender: Male (Often uses We by accident)     Age: 22    Height: 5'10"     

Eyes: Brown     Hair: Dark Brown     Skin: Swarthy     Build: Average

Background: Unremarkable     Power Source: Alien     Archetype: Modular (Form-Changer)

Personality: Apathetic     Health (G/Y/R):  32/24/11

Powers: Telekinesis d10, Flight d8, Power Suit d8, Shapeshifting d8, Telepathy d8

Qualities: Self-Discipline d10, Alien Mental Fusion d8, History d8, Persuasion d8

Status: Green (32-25) - d6 / Yellow (24-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d10

Abilities and Modes

Green

Ganikan Persona (Green Mode) - No Attack or Hinder actions, Powers: Telekinesis d12, Telepathy d10, Flight d8, Shapeshifting d8, TK Reinforcement (A) Boost yourself using Telekinesis.  Create two bonuses, one using your Max die, the other using your Mid die.  Both bonuses are persistent and exclusive.

Human Persona (Default Mode) - No action restrictions, Powers: Telekinesis d10, Flight d8, Power Suit d8, Shapeshifting d8, Telepathy d8, no unique ability.

Persona Exchange (A) Boost yourself using Self-Discipline.  Then change to any available mode.

Principle of the Future (A) Overcome a challenge using your knowledge of possible futures.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What unintended ripple did your actions cause?  Major twist: What ripple effect now threatens the future as you know it?  RP: You have alien memories of things yet to come.

Principle of Mental Fusion (A) Overcome in a situation that benefits from a completely new perspective.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What perspective ended up being the wrong one for this situation?  Major twist: What inner conflict has thrown you completely off?  RP: You have four alien mentalities occupying your mind.  As a result you can look at a situation from many different angles, most of them decidedly nonhuman.

Yellow

Yasoon Persona (Yellow Mode) - No Hinder or Overcome actions, Powers: Telepathy d12, Telekinesis d10, Flight d6, Shapeshifting d6, Aggression Dampeners (A) Use Telepathy to Defend yourself and all nearby allies against each Attack until the beginning of your next turn.

Ysindri Persona (Yellow Mode) - No Attack or Defend actions, Powers: Telekinesis d12, Telepathy d10, Flight d8, Shapeshifting d8, Psionic Manipulation (A) Hinder or use one of your principles to Overcome using Telekinesis.  Use your Max + Min dice.

Network Telepathy (A) Boost all nearby allies using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Swift Persona Exchange (A) Destroy one bonus on you.  Change to any available mode and then take an action in the new mode.

Versatile Psionics (A) Attack, Boost, Defend or Hinder using Telekinesis.  You and all nearby heroes in the Yellow or Red zone Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Red

Rask Persona (Red Mode) - No Boost actions, immobile, Powers: Telekinesis d10, Shapeshifting d10, Telepathy d8, Regrettable Necessity (I) Whenever you take a basic Attack action, either Attack one target using your Max + Min dice, or Attack two different targets using your Max die on one and your Mid die on the other.

Emergency Persona Exchange (R) When you are Attacked, you may change to any available mode.  If you do, take a minor twist or extra damage equal to the Min die on the Attack.

Pentad Coordination (A) Choose three basic actions.  Use Shapeshifting in your pool and take one of those actions using your Max die, a second one with your Mid die, and a the third action with your Min die.

Reactive Psychoplasm (R) When you would be dealt damage, you may roll your single Shapeshifting die to Defend against that damage and as an Attack on a nearby target other than the source of the damage.

Time Compression (A) When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die.

Out

Temporal Ripple (A) Remove any mod of your choice from the scene.

Tactics

In Green, use Persona Exchange to Boost yourself and shift to your Ganikan Persona, then use TK Reinforcement to generate a pair of persistent and exclusive bonuses unless there' a truly desperate need to do something else.  Other than doing Principled Overcomes you don't have many choices beyond basic actions at this stage.

In Yellow, your options open up a lot.  You could remain a Ganikan and start handing out big team-wide bonuses with Network Telepathy, ignoring the self-Hinder since that mode can't take Hinder actions.  You could also do the same trick with Swift Persona Exchange, trading a bonus to shift to your Yasoon Persona and act immediately.  Yasoon is even better at Network Telepathy and has access to Aggression Dampeners if you want global defenses instead of bonuses.  If there are Challenges piling up shifting to the Ysindri Persona will let you clean those up efficiently with Psionic Manipulation, which can also offer big single-target Hinders at need.  All of your modes can make good use of Versatile Psionics for some healing and a variety of other minor effects, using a persistent bonus to improve performance each time.

In Red, you have the option to use your Yasoon or even Human Personas for Attacks through Pentad Coordination amplified with Time Compression, but you're more likely to shift to your Rask Persona (possibly via Emergency Persona Exchange if you can't afford a twist to feed into the Yellow Swift version) to get as much mileage out of a frenzy of basic Attacks as you can.

The Rask can use the Pentad Coordination/Time Compression combo with its own Regrettable Necessity to take two basic actions (like, say, Defend and Hinder) with Max and Mid, then assign the Min die to a basic Attack which transforms into either a Max + Min hit on one target or splits to hit two targets, one with Max, one with Mid.  And then Time Compression lets you do another basic Attack, which also gets transformed by Regrettable Necessity.  If anything's left to damage you after all that, Reactive Psychoplasm will block 1d10 (plus bonuses) of it and deal even more damage.

Pentad doesn't do much damage outside of Red, but when their back is to the wall they become a wrecking machine.  An immobile wrecking machine, but if you need range to reach foes you can still land a fair bit of damage Attacking with Versatile Psionics and Time Compression rather than the more efficient Pentad Coordination - and that one will even heal the team while you're at it.

When Out, Pentad reverts to their human form, and gains the unique ability to remove any one bonus or penalty they like each turn using Temporal Ripple.            

Design Notes

Ye gods, Modular is a ridiculous archetype.  Pentad has 15 abilities to work with - 4 Green, 5 Yellow, and 5 Red and an Out.  Some of them have extremely specific uses (there's three ways to change modes alone) but they're all very good at doing what they do, and it's a lot to take in.  That's made worse by the fact that all the modes have action restrictions, something that's obviously intended to balance out absurdly strong (but narrow) abilities tied to them but really just adds to the complexity.

This is the first and last modular hero I'm doing, and I can safely say I despise the archetype. It's just needless complex and fiddly while having questionable balance at best.  Moreover, if you're using the Guided method for character creation you will almost certainly never be able to actually play one.  The only way to get there is from the Relic or Supernatural power sources rolling tens on both their d10s.  The irony of Power Suit being unable to randomly lead into a Modular character is considerable, given that this archetype almost certainly exists solely because Bunker has "modes" in the card game and they just had to shoehorn the idea in somehow.

That said, the Pentad is a mechanically effective build, augmenting itself in Green, offering extremely strong and varied team support in Yellow, and absurd damage output and dice efficiency in Red if the rask persona has to manifest.  

Conceptually, their Shapeshifting power reflects the fact that the Pentad is made out of psychoplasm that could theoretically look like anything, but most of the time it's just going to be used to change personas.  Aaron might occasionally use it to disguise himself as someone else when he's not manifesting his Power Suit (which is also made of psychoplasm), but with the alien forms there's not much point in looking like a different ganakin, yasoon, etc. when they're the only examples of their species on Earth anyway.  Aaron's Power Suit is pretty bare bones (the usual protection, life support, conventional comms, etc.) and mostly exists to make him feel safer while playing hero.  He's not as unconcerned about getting injured as the alien personas, all of who understand that their bodies are just psychoplasm and any injuries are temporary.  Flight reflects the degree of fine control over using TK to maneuver, while the actual Telekinesis die is for manipulating other things in the environment (or anchor yourself, for the rask).

The Pentad's apathetic personality is mostly due to Aaron who'd still just as soon not be doing this, but since the aliens do most of the actual hero work he can  occasionally work up some proper enthusiasm.  Also, it checks another box on my bingo card of unused personalities, just as modular and unremarkable did in their categories.     

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Gruj, Kidnapper For Hire

Another super-thug, but this one's a bit of specialist for when a villain wants a hero captured relatively intact.  He's surprisingly tough to beat one-on-one, and with a little support even teams may have trouble stopping him from making off with his target.  His employer usually provides transport to retrieve Gruj and his victim when the job's done, although he's pretty fast and hard to stop if he has to lug an unconscious hero off by himself. 

Gruj

The brutish lout known as Gruj is a well-known mercenary super-thug, most often employed to confront a troublesome hero, beat them senseless and then abduct them for their current employer.  He's pretty good at that kind of work, with a fine sense of how much damage a target can take without lasting harm.  While he's not squeamish about crippling or killing people either, Gruj doesn't do so deliberately and won't take assassination work.  If questioned about his stance on the subject, he'll just grunt and snarl that killing makes more trouble that it's worth in the long run.

Gruj's origins are a mystery, but his questionably-human physiology suggests some explanations.  He might be some kind of geneered human-animal hybrid like Karkinos, the Mighty Bullfrog, or Florida Man, or something less explicable like the Three Bears.  He doesn't work long-term for villains or on any established teams, and what he does on his time off is mostly unknown.  The notable exception is the occasional pub crawl with the similarly cryptic villain BG Gruff.  Gruj has also made a couple of appearances at gaming conventions in the past, entering cosplay contests as a "Proper Old-School Orc" with foam weaponry and armor.           

Description: A hulking humanoid figure with mottled bluish-green skin and rather porcine features - you could almost call that a snout if you aren't afraid of a beating.  Usually barefoot (are those pig's feet?) and dressed in nothing but dirty gray coveralls and a a soiled baseball cap with a shamrock on it.  Smells about as bad as he looks, and speaking mostly in grunts and curses.  Tends to laugh a lot while delivering a beatdown.

Gender: Male     Age: 24     Height: 6'2"     Eyes: Muddy Brown

Hair: None, Cranial Scars     Skin: Sickly Bluish-Green     Build: Apelike

Approach: Bully                  Archetype: Indomitable

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Momentum d10, Speed d8, Strength d8

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Fitness d8, Vindictive Super-Thug d8                                     

Status: Always d8

Abilities:

Brutalize (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Use your Max die.  Until the start of your next turn, use your Mid die to Defend against all Attacks from that target.

Manhandle (A) Attack one target using Momentum.  Either Hinder that target using your Max die, or Defend yourself using your Min die and you and the target end up elsewhere in the scene.

Pig-Headed (I) Reduce all damage dealt to you by 2.

Soak It Up (R) Defend by rolling your single status die.  If that Defend reduces the damage to zero,  Boost yourself using the amount of damage prevented.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Gruj has all the subtlety of a wrecking ball when it comes to a fight.  He'll single out one designated target and use Brutalize on them repeatedly until they're knocked out, then either carry them off as a prisoner or start on a new foe.  Attempts to intervene will largely be shrugged off by Durable and judicious use of Soak It Up.  If sufficiently harassed (usually with Hinders or high-damage attacks) by other heroes attempting to intervene, he uses Manhandle to drag his victim off to someplace more private, crashing through obstacles at speed before resuming the one-on-one beating.  While he could theoretically play bodyguard using his reaction, Gruj only does so when explicitly ordered to - and even then only when someone's keeping a close eye on him to ensure he doesn't "forget" in the heat of action.

He rarely has an upgrade unless working for a very powerful mastermind villain who can augment him to greater power levels, usually in order to take multiple heroes prisoner at once.

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Levin-Brand, High-Voltage Hero

A magical superhero of sorts, inspired by the question of what happens if one of those lightning bolts used to empower Captain Marvel* just happens to get deflected on the way to its target.  There's a whiff of Johnny Thunder's genie as well, but that's more a reality shaper than a mere elemental manipulator.

Levin-Brand

The entity known as Levin-Brand claims to be a mystical lightning bolt, one that was formerly responsible for delivering boons and banes to the worshippers of some deity he doesn't care to name.  Apparently some mystic accident caused the process to go badly awry the last time he was hurled forth on a mission.  Sent tumbling through time and space, he eventually made a crash landing in [campaign city].  Completely lost and cut off from his former divine hierarchy, Levin-Brand has chosen to make the best of things and try his hand at being a hero rather than just the guy who delivers powers, blessing and magical artifacts to them at the gods' behest.  

Enthusiastic but somewhat clueless about regular humans, Levin-Brand is more comfortable around superheroes (who resemble the mythic champions he once dealt with).  Over the last year he's become a fixture in the local superhero community, and has even started to acclimate himself to novelties like modern technology and a scientific view of the universe.    

Description: Short, skinny humanoid lightning bolt, literally crackling with energy.  His proportions are cartoonish and his anatomy simplified, like a sketch of a person made of electricity rather than a real person - which is pretty much what he is.  Usually foregoes clothing unless he's "in disguise" in which case he'll adopt an ill-fitting trench coat and fedora, which wouldn't be very convincing even if he kept his feet on the ground instead of floating everywhere.  His voice has a distinct electrical buzz and crackle to it, like radio static.  Smells strongly of ozone.

Gender: Not Really (Uses He/Him)     Age: Unknown    Height: 4'10"     Eyes: Blue-White      

Hair: Jagged Lightning Bolts     Skin: Electric Blue     Build: Made Of Lightning

Background: Otherworldly     Power Source: Accident

Archetype: Elemental Manipulator     Personality: Mischievous     

Health (G/Y/R):  32/24/11

Powers: Electricity d12, Absorption d10, Flight d6, Teleportation d6

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Otherworldly Mythos d8, Living Lightning Bolt d8, Science d6

Status: Green (32-25) - d6 / Yellow (24-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d8

Abilities

Green

High Voltage (A) Attack using Electricity.  Use your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Min die.

Principle of Electricity (A) Overcome a challenge involving electricity.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What other energy is currently causing your powers to go on the fritz?  Major twist: What other energy is currently dampening all of your powers?  RP: You can easily interact with electricity.

Principle of Exorcism (A) Overcome entities or elements from another dimension.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What is (literally or figuratively) coming back to haunt you?  Major twist: What has been allowed to enter the world?  RP: You can detect the subtle indications of otherworldly influences and disembodied intelligences in an event.

Shock Barrier (A) Defend using Electricity.  Use your Max die.  Boost using your Min die.

Storm Kin (I) You do not take damage from Electricity.

Yellow

Bleed Power (R) When your personal zone changes, Attack all close enemy targets by rolling your single Electricity die.

Chain Lightning (A) Attack multiple targets using Electricity.  Take damage equal to your Max die.

Energy Sink (A) Hinder any number of nearby targets using Absorption.  Use your Max die.

Red

Quick Recharge (R) When you are Attacked, Defend against that Attack and Boost yourself using your single Absorption die.

Spark Motes (A) Use Electricity to create a number of d6 minions equal to your Mid die.  Choose the one same basic action that they can each perform.  They all act at the start of your turn.

Vital Current (A) Hinder yourself using Absorption.  Use your Min die.  Recover Health equal to your Max + Mid dice.

Out

Lingering Charge (A) Hinder an opponent by rolling your single Electricity die.

Tactics

In Green, Levin-Brand relies on High Voltage for damage output, something he'll continue to do against single targets all the way into Red.  Storm Kin makes him immune to Electricity damage, whether from enemies, the environment, or his own abilities.  Shock Barrier gives him a strong defensive option which can be used to cover allies and NPCs if need be, as well as offering a source of minor bonuses to aid with key Overcomes.  His Principles are fairly versatile against both technological and supernatural problems.

Once he hits Yellow (or opts to twist to use them early) he gains two strong multi-target moves.  Chain Lightning does solid damage to everything he can arc a bolt into, while Energy Sink drops penalties with equal versatility.  Bleed Power encourages him to get up in the enemies' face, dealing heavy damage to anyone who gets too close when his zone changes - and there's room to use his Red zone healing trick early to trigger more zone changes by bouncing up and down between them.  He's also likely to twist to use Spark Motes in Yellow rather than Red so his minions are active longer.

When he does hit Red, Quick Recharge will help keep him in action long enough to use Vital Current to heal back into Yellow - potentially triggering Bleed Power yet again.  He can also use Spark Motes without having to twist for it, although that leaves him more vulnerable to being put Out despite his defensive reaction.  

When Out, Levin-Brand keeps on dropping d12 Hinders on a foe, which is pretty brutal.

All of which looks good on paper, but if something - twists, villain upgrades, strange environmental effects, etc. - manages to weaken or remove his Electricity power his options get a lot worse, and losing Absorption guts his Red zone choices as well.  Even losing Storm Kin will make his offensive abilities horribly painful to use.

Design Notes

I was looking through the hero writeups I've done here over the years and realized that, while I'd used  a lot of the various options there were a few I've missed.  I have no intention of trying to duplicate that "one of every combination" project I did with the villains - heroes have four different elements (background, power source, archetype, and personality) instead of just two, and twenty options for each, which would be a lifetime's work and then some.  But I can take a stab at filling in the gaps, and that's where Levin-Brand came from.  

And it shows.  I'm pulling from the dregs here.  Otherworldly is a dreadful background mechanically, Accident is arguably the least varied power source (come on, three Reactions - and one of them is limited to at most one use per scene?), and Mischievous is worse than merely bad outside of the corner case build (no Athletic powers, no Mental qualities) I've put together here.  Nothing wrong with Elemental Manipulator of course, but I had to give this poor guy some meaningful synergies.  

The end result is certainly viable, but falls into the "keystone" category of builds - ones that rely too heavily on just one key power and/or some vital ability or two to work mechanically. As noted in the Tactics section above, that d12 Electricity works great - right up until something weakens it or worse, locks it off entirely.  Same goes for the d10 Absorption and his Red zone abilities.  Levin-Brand isn't the only hero I've built this way, but he's probably the most narrow example of the type and versatility is important for long-term play.

Still, I like the narrative side of the character, and I'll probably just use him for a few session over the next couple of weekends while there's a chance to do some face to face play.

*You know Captain Marvel.  No, not the blonde gal.  No, not the alien android with Part Detachment.  No, that one died of cancer years ago.  You know, the real Captain Marvel.  The Big Red Cheese, magic words and subway tunnels, casual child endangerment and all that stuff.

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Captain Brass and Corragioso, Clockwork Constructs

I'll be needing two new PCs for our planned October one-off games, and this oddball is the one I'll be using for what's supposed to be a more gonzo Golden Age-inspired story.  I suspect we'll be doing an homage to the old DC comics where Santa Claus needs saving so the holiday can go on, with the Great Pumpkin standing in for the Jolly Old Elf.  A character who's a literal toy of sorts seems like a decent fit for that.

Captain Brass

An enchanted toy crafted centuries ago to serve as companion and bodyguard to the oldest son of a Venetian noble, "Capitano Otone" has outlived his old master's bloodline and gone on to develop something at least approximating free will.  He still sees himself as a dashing champion and foe of evil - especially assassins and supernatural menaces - and has a reputation in the occult fringe community for being easily convinced to fight for a good cause.  Over the years he's partnered with a number of white wizards, exorcists, monster hunters, and similar do-gooders only to see them succumb to age while his own clockwork mechanisms keep ticking along eternally.  He's picked up a few magical tricks related to his own artificial nature in the process, letting him manipulate metals beyond merely repairing himself and his mount.

In the modern superheroic age, he goes by Captain Brass and spends his time wandering the world in search of worthy foes, occasionally assisting local heroes who find themselves confronting occult threats or getting entangled in international crimes or the schemes of old foes.  At least one criminal collector has made repeated attempts to "acquire" him for their collection of stolen art and antiquities.  He's also acquired enough technological savvy to establish an online identity as Giuseppe Otone, private investigator, which his friends and allies use to reach him in times of need.

Captain Brass is rarely seen off of his leonine mount Corragioso, which was built and enchanted with him as a part of a set.  The winged lion is oversized in 1/3 scale, standing almost 20" tall at the shoulder and 4' long, with a wingspread over 7'.  More of a machine than an animal and obeys Brass without pause, but has only limited "instincts" to act on when separated.  The two of them are much more dangerous combined, with absolutely amazing maneuverability even by superhero standards.  Brass and Corragioso share the same winding key, and both have a keyhole connected to their mainspring concealed beneath armor plates covering where an organic being's heart would be. 

Description: A clockwork construct in the form of a 15th century Venetian cavalryman wearing polished steel plate armor and carrying a long cavalry saber and small round shield.  He wears a large brazen key around his neck on a fine steel chain.  The heraldry on his shield and tabard mirrors his mount Corragioso, a fantastical lion with brass-feathered wings.  Both are roughly one-third scale and amazingly lifelike, right down to the intricate internal mechanisms that lets the cavalryman speak and even sing and the lion produce a powerful (if somewhat tinny) roar.           

Gender: Male     Age: Created In The 15th Century     Height: 2'2"     Eyes: Crystal Lenses

Hair: Fine Silver Wire     Skin: Brass, Mostly Covered In Steel Plate     Built: A Studio In Venice

Background: Created     Power Source: Genius     Archetype: Sorcerer

Personality: Stalwart     Health (G/Y/R):  28/21/10

Powers: Brass-Winged Lion d10, Clockwork Saber d10, Metal d10, Lightning Calculator d6 

Qualities: Acrobatics d12, Clockwork Knight d8, Magical Lore d8, Creativity d6, History d6, Technology d6

Status: Green (28-22) - d8 / Yellow (21-11) - d8 / Red (10-1) - d10

Abilities:

Green

Brazen Wings (A) Attack multiple targets using Brass-Winged Lion.  Use your Min die for each.

Principle of Immortality (A) Overcome in a situation involving your physical condition.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: You take the long view of things.  How does that cause you to be too slow to act?  Major twist: What important attachment must you shed?  RP: You do not age and will not be affected by mundane ailments.

Principle of Mastery (A) Overcome in a situation that uses your powers in a new way.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies gain each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: How did your powers fail you in the moment?  Major twist: What side effects are you suffering from your powers?  RP: You understand the metaphysics of your powers.

Stinging Jab (A) Hinder using Metal.  Use your Max die.  If you roll doubles, also Attack using your Mid die.

Yellow

Combined Assault (A) Attack using Brass-Winged Lion.  Then, if the target survived, also Attack that target with your Max die.  Otherwise, Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Masterful Parry (R) When you are Attacked, first roll your single Clockwork Saber die.  Use that roll to Defend yourself, then Boost yourself.

Winding Bindings (A) Destroy all mods on a target.  Then, Hinder that target using Metal.  Use your Max die.

Red

Animated Fragments (A) Use Metal to create a number of d6 minions equal to your Mid die.  Choose the one same basic action that they can each perform.  They all act at the start of your turn.

Mainspring Strike (A) Attack using Clockwork Saber and at least one bonus.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Destroy all of your bonuses, adding each of them to this Attack first even if they are exclusive.

Out

Loyal Fragments (A) Defend an ally by rolling your single Metal die.

Tactics

In Green, Brazen Wings gives Captain Brass a typical multi-target minion-sweeper option while Stinging Jab lets him inflict painful minor injuries, either with precise blows of his sabers, the claws of his mount, or by reshaping any metal his victims are carrying into pins and needles inserted in particularly uncomfortable locations.  He prefers not to spend his time on Overcomes while there are foes to face, but when he does his Principles are reasonably easy to apply.

 In Yellow, Combined Assault is his go-to single-target offensive move, delivering either very strong damage or some minor healing when dealing with weaker foes.  Masterful Parry is a very strong reactive defense and bonus generator, the latter of which will often be used to improve his next reaction or healing when he defeats a weak foe.  Winding Bindings is a more specialized move, stripping off enemy bonuses and then applying a strong penalty by wrapping foes in animated metal woven into wire bonds.

In Red, Mainspring Strike puts his damage output through the roof, and every round that his Yellow defensive reaction keeps him in the fight will power another blow.  Animated Fragments can be very potent, flooding the scene with minions made from metallic debris - including battered parts of his own body and his mount's.  It's unlikely to actually be used in the Red zone though, as taking a twist to use it earlier will almost always pay off better, especially with a bonus or two to throw into it to increase the number of minions created.

Even when Out, allies can still be protected by his magically animated Loyal Fragments.

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Doctor October, Bringing Halloween With Him All Year Round

A seasonally-appropriate character for an upcoming occult/urban horror game in a couple months.  Inspired by watching a few too many noir detective films lately.  

Name: Doctor October

Origin: Hard-nosed private investigator Jackie Riordan keeps a lot of secrets, which is why he's respected and feared on both sides of the law...and on both sides of the Veil between the magical and mundane.  Most of those secrets belong to others, gathered over years of research and investigations.  The one he holds dearest is his own.  Jackie is the face behind the mask of Doctor October, the occult champion of [campaign city] responsible for ensuring the living, the dead, and those who aren't quite either receive the justice they've earned.  Touched by the spirits of Samhain and empowered to enact judgement on those beyond mortal law, Doctor October stalks the night punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent.

Of course, even mystic champions have to earn a living, and Jackie is far more pragmatic than some earlier holders of his arcane title.  He'll take cases from both spirits and mortals, collecting payment in the strange coins of occult wisdom and dire secrets as well as cold hard cash.  Once he's on the trail of a crime nothing can divert him, a fact some of his clients have learned to their regret.   

Description: Thick-set man with weathered features partially concealed by a salt-and-pepper beard and mustache, usually dressed in a dark brown suit and tie.  Clever green eyes glitter beneath a mop of unruly hair and his nose has clearly been broken at some point in the past.  In his heroic identity, his suit magically shifts to deep green, he loses the tie and adopts a snug dark orange hood that completely covers his face and head except for a pair of catlike yellow eyes.  He speaks in a clear baritone as a civilian, or with a deep, hollow voice that seems to echo from beyond when in heroic form.

Gender: Male     Age: 32     Height: 5'11"      Eyes: Green / Catlike Yellow

Hair: Salt and Pepper     Skin: Weathered Caucasian     Build: Stocky

Background: Law Enforcement   Power Source: Supernatural   Archetype: Divided (Shadow)

Personality: Civilian - Analytical / Heroic - Stoic

Health (G/Y/R):  Civilian - 28/21/10 / Heroic - 32/24/11 

Powers: Shared - Deduction d10, Transmutation d10

Heroic - Illusions d8, Agility d6, Weather d6

Qualities: Shared - Conviction d10, Stealth d10, Occult Private Detective d8

Heroic - Finesse d10, Insight d8

Status: Civilian - Green (up to 6 damage) - d10 / Yellow (up to 17) - d8 / Red (up to 28) - d6

Heroic - Green (up to 7 damage) - d6 / Yellow (up to 21) - d8 / Red (up to 32) - d10

Abilities:

Green

Cunning Exploit (A) Attack using Stealth.  Remove one physical mod, Hinder a target using your Min die, or maneuver to a new location in your environment.

Face or Mask? (I) Your access to Powers and Qualities is restricted by your current identity, civilian or heroic.  See above for the specifics.  You may not use abilities tied to a Power or Quality you do not currently have access to.  Superhuman Precision is only usable in heroic form.

Principle of the Detective (A) Overcome to learn hidden information.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What important clue did you miss?  Major twist: What major secret was just revealed that you would have liked to stay concealed?  RP:  You can always tell when important information is being overlooked, even though you may not know what it is.

Principle of the Underworld (A) Overcome a problem related to your knowledge of the criminal underworld or using one of your contacts.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What shady detail causes others to distrust you?  Major twist: Are you guilty of what you're being arrested for?  RP: You have a variety of contacts within the criminal underworld and organized crime.

Swallowed By Fog (A) Change from your civilian form to your heroic form, or vice versa.

Swirling Mists (R) When you would be dealt damage, roll a die based on your current GYRO zone.  Use a d4 in Green, a d6 in Yellow, and d8 in Red.  Reduce the damage you take by that roll, then Attack another target using the same roll.

Yellow

Drawn Into the Mist (R) When a nearby ally would be take damage, Defend that ally by rolling  your single status die, then move them elsewhere in the scene.

Empowering Fog (A) Boost yourself using Transmutation.  Use your Max die.  That bonus is persistent and exclusive.

Superhuman Precision (A) Attack or Overcome using Finesse.  Boost yourself using your Min die.

Red

Justice Will Triumph (A) Overcome using Conviction.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Hinder all nearby opponents using your Mid die.

October's Grasp (A) Hinder any number of targets in the scene using Transmutation.  Use your Max + Min dice.  If your roll doubles, also Attack each target using your Mid die.

Vortex of Mist (I) You can use any number of reactions during a round, but still no more than one per turn.  Each time you use a reaction after the first one in each round, take one irreducible damage or take a minor twist.

Out

Shrouding (A) Defend an ally by rolling your single Stealth die.

Tactics

Unlike some characters using the Divided archetype, there's no great pressure to transform to your heroic ID early on.  Only one Yellow ability is locked out in your civilian ID by Face or Mask? and your Green status die is much better as a civilian.  Once you hit Yellow status becomes a wash and your Health and power/quality access is better as a hero, so changing is probably wise when you can find a chance.  Swallowed By Fog wastes a turn doing nothing beyond minor self-improvement so don't bother rushing it unless it's vitally important your civilian form isn't seen on the scene.

On the plus side, your other Green abilities are better than just good.  Both Principles are broadly useful in the supers genre, Cunning Exploit is phenomenally versatile with great rider effects and not very dependent on bonus support to work well.  Swirling Mists is going to save you a lot of damage over the course of a scene while dealing out just as much, and a persistent bonus will make it all the better.

In Yellow Empowering Fog should be a priority for the lasting bonus, but that's a second turn dedicated to self-improvement now.  You also get your second reaction Drawn Into the Mist, which is your major contribution to team support and helps allies.  Deciding whether to reactively help yourself or an ally will be an important choice almost every turn.  In your heroic ID you also gain Superhuman Precision, which isn't a very strong Overcome but using it to accumulate small stackable bonuses while Attacking isn't a bad plan, and you should have a persistent bonus to pump into it each time to maximize what you're getting out of it.

In Red you turn into a Hinder machine with the combination of October's Grasp for massive global penalties and Justice Will Triumph to let you make those vital last-minute Overcomes while also hampering multiple foes.  Your offense is still pretty lackluster and you probably won't last long, but Vortex of Mist multiples the effect of your reactions quite a lot, limited mainly by how much Health you have left and how many twists you're willing to take to pay for it.  Neither reaction provides really impenetrable defenses so don't be surprised if you or an ally goes out despite your best efforts due to massive incoming damage.

Your Out Shrouding provides good last-gasp defense for any ally still standing, adding some extra strength to an overall defensive play style.

Significant weaknesses are a lack of high damage output or multi-target abilities outside of Red, and even there it's all penalties rather than damage.  Your Green combat abilities do help make up for both of those, with a reaction that can degrade or KO a minion turn after turn and an Attack with such good riders that poking a single minion with it still feels like an okay use of your turn.

Design Notes 

This whole build arose from a vision of a hero who made his own Halloween noir environment around him at will.  Transmutation was key, turning the air into swirling mist and drifts of dead leaves for that October feel, even adding skulls and bones and other iconic paraphernalia when going all-out.  Add a dash of Weather for bleak rain and gusts of wind and moderate Illusions for suitable shadows and fleeting glimpses of horrible things and Doctor October is a mood machine worthy of his name.  Mostly just narrative effects, but many of his abilities revolve around the ever-present fog that he conjures up, which can have supernatural soporific or psychedelic effects at times.

Divided Shadow opened up a second Responsibility Principle for the super-thematic combo of Detective and Underworld.  I've also done the common Divided trick of having dual Personalities to get a d10 status die at both ends of the spectrum as long as you're in the right ID and almost minimized the number of locked-out abilities in civilian ID.  Even there I could have keyed Superhuman Precision to Stealth instead and had no lockouts at all, but I didn't like the idea of tying both my Attack powers to one quality.  It's risky to tie too much to any one thing in case you lose it to twists, especially certain upgrade twists.  

Does all that offset how bad Swallowed by Fog really is for your action efficiency?  Probably not, but I'll give it a shot.  Taking two turns every scene doing Empowering Fog and changing forms is a lot on a standard eight-round tracker, and if the environment or villains or challenges accelerate things even a turn or two your odds of timing out skyrocket.  

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Novia Aterradora, A Vengeful Spirit For October Gaming

My circle of players is planning on doing some horror-themed stories (probably two sessions each) in October.  I could use some pre-existing villain like Corpsefire as the centerpiece for my run but a couple of the people involved have already "met" them in the past so I'd rather do someone new.  Ought to able to make this lovely lady pretty scary and hand them some moral quandaries as well by having her own pre-death behavior not much better than her revenge targets.  Also taking the opportunity to settle some dangling plot threads with organized crime figures in my last campaign, who may or may not wind up horribly dead at the end of things.    

La Novia Aterradora

Maria Torres was a hard woman during her life, de facto head of one of California's major organized crime families after her father was killed and her grandfather reduced to a figurehead by age and infirmity.  Ruthless, thoroughly amoral and quick to punish any disrespect, her fearsome reputation kept her solidly in power but earned her many enemies in the criminal underworld.  A coalition of those foes chose to strike at her on her 30th birthday, which was also to be her wedding day.  Firebombs went off just after she and her spouse swore their vows, and their honeymoon was spent in the morgue.

That should have been the end of it, but Maria was a hard woman in death as well.  Refusing to go to Hell without a proper retinue, she was granted a chance to go collect the souls of her killers.  Risen into awful unlife, la Novia Aterradora roams the mortal world in search of her rightful prey.  Can your heroes stop her?  Considering who her killers were, do they even want to? 

Description: A spectral vision of a skeleton dressed in the rags and tatters of a scorched bridal gown.  She glides along soundlessly, hair and dress trailing wisps of smoke.  When using her powers she's often accompanied by unnatural shadows populated with horrifying phantoms, or wreathed in sulfurous yellow flame when thoroughly enraged.  On the rare occasions she does speak, her voice is cold and full of menace, echoing as though it comes from beyond the grave.   

Gender: Female     Age: Deceased     Height: 5'5"     Eyes: Burning Red

Hair: Ash Grey, Scraggly & Smoldering     Skin: None     Build: Skeletal Phantasm

Approach: Disruptive                         Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Illusions d10, Infernal d10, Intangibility d8, Flight d8

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Alertness d8, Stealth d8, Vengeful Spirit d8

Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 -d6

Abilities:

Fleeting Phantasm (R) Defend against an Attack by rolling your single status die.  Deal that much damage to a different nearby target.

Spirit of Vengeance (I) At the start of your turn, gain a bonus with a value equal to the number of opponents that Attacked you since your last turn.

Vision of Horror (A) Attack using Illusions.  Use your Max die.  A target dealt damage this way Attacks an ally of your choice by rolling their single largest power die.

Wreathed In Hellfire (A) Hinder using Infernal.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving otherworldly forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of unknowable entities beyond our reality.

Tactics

La Novia Aterradora is a vengeful spirit, only half-real and shrouded in a web of illusion at all times.  In combat she relies on Vision of Horror to terrorize foes and turn them against their allies while intervening in Attacks on herself and her allies with Fleeting Phantasm.  She prefers to spread damage around multiple foes rather than concentrating on finishing one at a time, taunting them into Attacking her to maximize the benefits of Spirit of Vengeance.  When hard-pressed she'll call on the pact that animates her, becoming Wreathed In Hellfire to paralyze foes with fear while restoring her own vigor.

She rarely manifests her upgrade or mastery unless directly confronting someone directly involved in her death (of whom few will survive even a single encounter) or when being called upon to fulfill some arcane requirement of her pact.

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