This villain is inspired by Jack Kirby's many scientifically-oriented villains, using the power of their genius inventions to make trouble for our heroes.
Doctor Mordecai Mentallax
Something of a legend in the ranks of supervillainy, Mordecai Mentallax is a real mad scientist's mad scientist, with no one field of study. Genetic engineering to produce his own super-servitors? Check. Cybernetic augmentations for his lackeys? You bet. Exotic mind control techniques? Comes in handy. Chemical concoctions for every purpose? Sure. Integrating alien technology with his own ingenious mechanisms? Yes, please. Breaching the barriers of time and space in the name of science? Can do. Building the occasional doomsday device just to prove a theory? Absolutely! You name it, if it's mad science Mordecai has probably done it. He usually stays clear of supernatural entanglements, but as he's proven in the past any sufficiently advanced technology is superior to any mumbling magic user.
Most of the time Mentallax is busy with his own obsessions so heroes (and other villains) are more likely to interact with his flunkies than the man-machine himself. When he does get involved personally it's usually because some do-gooders are assaulting one of his many secret research installations, or because he's taken a serious interest in collecting some new technology that's cropped up recently and his minions have already failed to do the job. Once in a long while he'll even get to feeling nostalgic and organize a proper legion of supervillains for something really grandiose, but that sort of thing isn't as much fun as it once was. Sometimes that works out for him, sometimes not - he's "died" a dozen times, but it never seems to take.
Description: More machine than man, what little humanity shows beneath the cyborg parts is aged and sickly looking. His head is hugely out of proportion where it sits atop thin shoulders, all but the cold black eyes concealed beneath golden metallic plating. Armored cabling like a parody of human hair trails back to connect to a bulky secondary mechanical brain on the ungainly figure's upper back and hunched shoulders. In combat Mentallax thrums with power, surrounded by an intense aura of Kirby crackle.
Gender: Male Age: 202 (looks about 75) Height: 5'10" Eyes: Black
Hair: Armored Cabling Skin: Pallid Flesh, Golden Plating Build: Hunched, Macrocephalic
Approach: Adaptive Archetype: Inventor
Health: 25 + (5 x H)
Powers: Inventions d10, Deduction d8, Power Suit d8, Lightning Calculator d6
Qualities: Tecchnology d10, Conviction d8, Mega-Genius Scientist d8, Ranged Combat d8
Status: (# of Inventions/Bonuses) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Hyper-Capacity Accumulators (A) Boost using Inventions. Use Max die. Then Boost with your Mid die. Either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.
Meta-Function Mechanisms (A) Boost using Inventions. Use your Max die. Attack with your Mid die. Defend with your Min die.
Omni-Energy Converters (R) When you are Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Inventions die. Then Boost yourself with the result of that die.
Psycho-Technological Overdrive (A) Take 1d6 irreducible damage. Increase all your powers by one die size each until the end of the scene.
Supreme Ultra-Scientist (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase that bonus by 1.
Upgrades & Mastery (Counts as 4 difficult scene elements with all upgrades)
Defense Shield (I) You cannot be damaged by anything except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed. The shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can use a Reaction to Attack that hero by rolling your single Inventions die. Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Inventions. Use your Max die. On a success remove one success from the deactivation challenge. Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use your Max die to Recover that much of the shield's Health. This ability cannot be used if the shield has been completely removed.
Group Fighter (I) +20 Health. When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die.
Power Dampening Field (I) +10 Health. While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' powers of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size. In the Yellow zone all of the heroes powers of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total). In the Red zone, all heroes' power dice are treated as d4. Heroes can remove this upgrade with three overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist while taking these Overcomes, they lose access to a power until this upgrade is removed.
Villainous Vehicle +15 Health. Include an Armed Excursion Pod d12 lieutenant with the following abilities in the scene. Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die. The villain Recovers that much Health. Escape Plan (R) If the Villain is Attacked roll this vehicle's die. If it rolls higher than the villain's current Health, both the villain and the vehicle escape the scene.
Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.
Tactics
Mordecai generally opens with Psycho-Technological Overdrive to boost his powers, then alternates between Multi-Function Mechanisms and Hyper-Capacity Accumulators to simultaneously Boost and Attack, using his bonuses judiciously to keep his status die up and resist Hinders. When Attacked use Omni-Energy Converters to limit damage and Boost further as a reaction. Supreme Ultra-Scientist makes every bonus larger, and everything he does beyond basic actions Boosts something.
With his full suite of upgrades Mentallax is a match for many superteams by himself, in part because they'll need to chew through his defensive fields, shields, and supporting vehicle or face a serious uphill struggle. Consider Boosting the pod vehicle as needed to make it harder to demolish - he's generating plenty of bonuses and can spare a few.
For a less overwhelming Mentallax, trim off some of the upgrades in whatever order you like, while adding other scene elements in their place. Lieutenants are particularly appropriate for him, representing both lesser villains working for him and larger robotic or cyborg fighting machines he's constructed. He's arrogant enough to consider mere minion-grade flunkies something only lesser villains would resort to employing.
No comments:
Post a Comment