Wednesday, August 17, 2022

The Reckoner, Ancient Doomsday Prophet

A mystical menace who acts largely as a sign of worse things to come, although he's also a potentially useful source of information if the heroes can get past his insanity and get him to talk.

The Reckoner

The man known only as the Reckoner is cursed to carry the Doom Bell, an ancient artifact of possibly pre-human manufacture.  The Bell grants him immortality and oracular powers but has driven him quite, quite mad, and the futures he sees now are as much the result of his delusions as any higher power.  He's spent millennia acting as a herald of destruction and chaos, ensuring that ruin comes when and where his visions demand.

Needless to say, most superheroes are none to keen on letting fate (or a raving lunatic) tell them it's time for their city to die.  The Reckoner has been foiled on more than a few times now, even having been separated from his Bell or banished to other realities on occasions.  He always comes back sooner or later though, and there's always trouble when he does.  Other villains have sometimes found common ground with him for short periods, but such alliances don't last long.

Description: A tall, ancient man with a wild mane of white hair, wearing loose off-white robes and giving off a distinct Biblical prophet vibe.  He carries a large hand bell made of some unidentified metal and craved with sigils that hurt the eye to look at.  Even his booming voice is drowned out by the apocalyptic sound of his Doom Bell.

Gender: Male        Age: Remembers Babylon Being Built       Height: 6'2"      Eyes: Clouded Gray

Hair: White                        Skin: Olive, Heavily Wrinkled                Build: Rail Thin

Approach:  Ancient                               

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Interfering with his bell-ringing)

Health:  55 + (5 x H)

Powers: Doom Bell d12, Precognition d10, Sonic d10, Flight d8                                 

Qualities: Imposing d12, Otherworldly Mythos d12, Conviction d10, Doomsday Prophet d8, Magical Lore d8                                         

Status: No Weakness Penalties - d12 / Both Bonuses and Penalties - d8 / Only Weakness Penalties - d4

Abilities:

Inevitable Fate (I) If you would be reduced to zero Health and you don't have a penalty, roll your single Precognition die and become that Health.

Foreseen Resurgence (A) Boost using Precognition.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Remove all penalties on you.

Resounding Tintinnabulation (A) Boost using Doom Bell.  Use your Max die.  That bonus is persistent and exclusive.  Attack using your Mid die.

Toll of Doom (A) Hinder multiple targets using Doom Bell.  Use your Max die.  Attack each target using your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries:

Chilling Aura (I) +10 Health.  The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status dice, ability access, and all abilities.  Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist, you may use a Reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Doom Bell die.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving eldritch forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of eldritch entities beyond human concerns.

Tactics

The Reckoner usually opens with Resounding Tintinnabulation to establish a lasting bonus, then relies heavily on Toll of Doom for offense, battering heroes with visions of apocalypse and crushing waves of despair-inducing noise.  If his bonus is removed or he starts to accumulate penalties he'll use Foreseen Resurgence to regain his d12 status die and keep Inevitable Fate available for use if he drops to zero Health.  He's not a subtle combatant, and will include innocent bystanders and sometimes even allies that he's decided are expendable to the massive area attacks his bell-ringing produces.  His Formidable weakness is anything that interferes with his bell-ringing, whether through inhibiting his physical movements, clogging up the bell itself or dampening the sound.  The Doom Bell is a d12  signature weapon though, and will resist such interference as well as attempts to knock it away, yank it from his grasp, or otherwise disarm the Reckoner.


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