Thursday, August 18, 2022

Reeker, Toxic Ecoterrorist

This villain is a riff on the "monster ecowarrior" trope that you see with Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, and the Toxic Avenger.  He's also a mechanical experiment in making a villain that relies on constant regeneration for durability rather than damage resistance, defensive reactions or just extremely high health. 

Reeker

The creature called Reeker was first seen in the late 1970s when it attacked an illegal toxic waste dumping operation by REDACTED, killing the workers and apparently ingesting most of the waste material.  It launched similar attacks over the next few years, eventually being captured in 1980 while assaulting a nuclear power plant.  During the legal proceedings that followed, Reeker claimed to have been REDACTED, an employee of REDACTED.  After attempting to blow the whistle on REDACTED's illegal handling and disposal procedures, he claimed operatives of the REDACTED arrested him and then turned him over to his employers, where he was tortured, experimented on, and then left for dead.  REDACTED survived, but the procedures performed on him transformed him into his current monstrous shape.  This was vehemently denied by the lawyers of REDACTED and agents of REDACTED, both of whom presented records indicating that the person Reeker was claiming to be had died in a workplace accident years before.  

Proceedings ground to halt - and that's where the available records end.  The trial was never completed, and there's still no clear explanation for the cover-up.  Reeker definitely hasn't served jail time, and has cropped up on and off for years, almost always in connection with environmentalist or anarchist causes.  His uncontrolled toxic aura makes him dangerous to friends and foe alike, which limits Reeker's ability to aid the causes he supports - but for quick jobs he's an excellent source of muscle. 

Description: A monstrous troll-like humanoid, stooped so far over that its over-long arms drag upon the ground.  The fingers of its right hand have partially fused, leaving it with three digits.  Its face is a mask of livid warts, with snaggle-toothed maw pulled into a permanent snarl.  It wears the tattered, faded remnants of a pair of cut-off jeans and a rusted chain necklace with a tarnished silver peace symbol on it.  A ghastly scent precedes it  everywhere, a sickly chemical stink with undertones of rotting flesh.         

Gender: Male           Age: Unknown            Height: 6'8"           Eyes: Deep Purple

Hair: Greasy Black                          Skin: Putrid Green                   Build: Hunched

Approach: Leech                       Archetype: Bruiser

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Toxic d10, Vitality d8, Transmutation d8                                     

Qualities: Close Combat d8, Conviction d8, Imposing d8, Monstrous Ecowarrior d8

Status: Green Zone Health - d6 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone health - d10

Abilities:

Deadly Secretions (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max die.  Hinder that target with your Mid die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Metabolic Overdrive (A) Defend using Monstrous Ecowarrior.  Use your Mid + Min dice.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.

Pain Response (R) When Attacked, use the amount of damage taken to Boost yourself.

Sickening Exhalations (A) Hinder multiple targets using Toxic.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.  If you roll doubles, also Attack one of those targets using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Group Fighter (I) +20 Health.  When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also make an Attack using your Mid die.

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Use Deadly Secretions or Sickening Exhalations to Attack and Hinder while healing a bit each time, applying any bonuses from Pain Response to the healing if needed - bonuses really help with Min die effects.  If you're really getting beat down, Metabolic Overdrive can provide a big swing by blocking most or all of one hit and healing with your Max die, which is almost unheard of.

Reeker's backstory might make him a semi-sympathetic villain, or could lead to complications with the company responsible for his (unintentional) creation looking to silence him before he gets to trial - or to the media.  Heroes who listen to his claims are likely to wind up on the hit list too.


Blog Content Index

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sentinel Comics RPG Gameplay Overview Part 2: Putting A Session Together

The previous post in this series talked about the types of scenes that will make up most of session - Action, Montage, and Social.  This on...