A slightly crazed tech-based supervillain with strong shrinking powers and a more indirect approach to combat than most. Can be very stealthy and hard to keep track of, as you'd expect from someone who can scale down to one millimeter tall.
Miniac
Jamie Small was a well-known researcher in cutting-edge dimensional scaling technology right up until he chose to test a prototype "shrinking harness" on himself. The harness worked just fine, definitively proving his theories about quantum energy conservation across molecular scaling thresholds. Unfortunately, it turns out that having your brain resized by an untested and inadequately shielded piece of technology is an excellent way to induce physiologically-created paranoia, megalomania and narcissism. Shortly after being suspended for the unauthorized experiment, Jamie "resigned" from his lab job with a handmade explosive device, taking the prototype harness and rather a lot of other equipment (miniaturized, of course) with him in the process.
He's since adopted the supranym Miniac and began earning his living as a scientifically-savvy crime consultant and expert at infiltration, sabotage, and industrial espionage. Jamie is quick to point out that "Miniac" is a name chosen as wordplay and deliberate mockery of his former supervisor who insisted he was insane to experiment on himself in such a risky fashion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his mental health, and having his brain shrunken regularly is entirely safe. Safe, I tell you! There's nothing wrong with me!!!
Description: A very average middle-aged man, if he wasn't wearing a silver and black bodysuit with a bulky red shrinking harness, a chunky utility belt and crossed bandoliers loaded with small technological doo-dads, many of which are highly explosive. He has a rich baritone voice that would make him great for voice acting or radio work if he didn't use it to rant about the jealousy of lesser scientists and narrow-minded bureaucrats so much.
Gender: Male Age: 44 Height: 5'10" Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Dark Brown, Graying Skin: Pale Build: Average
Approach: Mastermind Archetype: Inventor
Health: 30 + (5 x H)
Powers: Size-Changing d12, Inventions d10, Illusions d8
Qualities: Banter d10, Alertness d8, Angry Scientist d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Stealth d8, Technology d8
Status: (# of Inventions/Mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Brood On the Injustice of It All (A) Boost yourself using Angry Scientist. Use your Max die. Either make that bonus persistent and exclusive, or Boost yourself again using your Mid + Min dice.
Planted Micro-Explosives (A) Attack using Inventions and at least one bonus. If you have multiple bonuses, you may Attack a second target using your Min die and a second bonus, and you may Attack a third target using your Max die and a third bonus.
Unshakeable Confidence (R) Discard one of your bonuses to Defend against all Attacks against you until your next turn, using the value of that bonus as the Defend result.
Voices From Thin Air (A) Hinder all opponents that can see or hear you using Banter. Boost yourself using your Max die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Villainous Vehicle +15 Health. Add a Micro-Jet d8 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene: Escape Plan (R) When Miniac is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die. If it rolls higher than Miniac's current Health, both the villain and this vehicle escape the scene. Reliable (I) When this vehicle uses an Attack action on its turn, roll its die twice and take the higher result. Sturdy (I) When this vehicle makes a damage save, add +2 to that roll's result. Tiny (I) To Attack this vehicle, a Hero must first make an Overcome action to spot it.
Master of Angry Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.
Tactics
Miniac usually tries to remain hidden using Size-Changing and Illusions with Stealth while building up bonuses on himself with Brood On the Injustice of It All. He can use Voices From Thin Air with Illusions or Inventions to broadcast his confusing ranting from relative safety, debuffing groups of heroes while Boosting himself further. If located and Attacked he'll use Unshakeable Confidence to burn bonuses to reduce damage, then Overcome to try to conceal himself again. When he decides to go on the attack (often because some hero's own banter has punched his buttons) he uses Planted Micro-Explosives and multiple bonuses to set off tiny bombs that he's been emplacing while unseen.
With his upgrade he brings an adorable little robotic aircraft with him for support and a quick getaway, and his mastery reflects angry-but-definitely-not-mad science skills.
Design Notes
Miniac's powers deserve some discussion. His Size-Changing gear only allows shrinking, and he gets very upset at the mere suggestion that an "embiggening" option would make the technology more useful. His Inventions are versatile as always but focus on stuff that's useful for sabotage and spying, with a particular fondness for compact explosives and tiny monitoring devices. Illusions represent deployed audio-visual hologram projectors, which he usually programs to produce duplicates of himself and/or allies. He's often pretty passive in a fight, self-Boosting and handing out some Hinders from concealment or focusing on mission-oriented Overcomes while staying unnoticed. When he does take a hand in a fight it's in the form of tiny little remote-controlled bombs rather than energy blasts or punching people.
His upgrade's Micro-Jet has the Distance Attack ability renamed and slightly re-flavored to Tiny to represent it taking an Overcome to draw a bead on rather than it being far way a from the battle. Mechanically it's exactly the same, but you can can (and should) certainly use different powers and qualities to build your Overcome pool.
Spotting an opponent like Miniac who's trying to stay hidden is a function of the Overcome action, as is attempting to hide again once spotted. GMs can and should consider applying mods as appropriate - hiding in an empty well-lit corridor is more difficult even for a guy who stands 1mm tall, and a shadowy cluttered warehouse might conceal even the most garishly-dressed full-sized super.
And yes, "Angry Scientist" is a Sheep In the Big City reference. It was no Animaniacs, but the show was good for the occasional chuckle. Miniac himself is inspired by Doll Man, whose Golden Age origin story features him experimenting on himself and very briefly becoming violently unbalanced from brain shrinkage because that's how comic book science works.
No comments:
Post a Comment