This villain started as an experiment to see what the "worst" possible combination of approach and archetype would look like. His base health is as low as it's possible to get, but he's surprisingly sort of hard to take down quickly thanks to his abilities, particularly with his upgrade. Not quite a joke, but definitely not a high-powered villain no matter what he thinks of himself.
Flashbang
Thomas Thompson gained his powers after being struck by a lightning bolt while stocking outdoor shelves at a big box garden center, most likely due to some fluke reaction with the lawn care chemicals caught in the strike with him. Realizing that he was now a superhuman being, he immediately quit his job and set out to take everything he always wanted out of life. That mostly means money and lots of it, either stolen directly or by taking pay for acting as a mercenary supervillain.
He remains confident that his awesome powers make him nearly unbeatable despite considerable evidence to the contrary. The only reason he isn't rotting in jail after multiple defeats is that his powers make him very good at escaping confinement. Some quirk makes him unusually resistant to most power-dampening methods regardless of whether they employ a technological, psionic, or magical approach. It rarely takes him more than a few days to recover from a defeat sufficiently to make his departure from even the most secure super-prison.
Flashbang might show up alone or with a few low-quality minions and a suitable environment as a foe for a hero or two, or he might have villainous allies who are letting him tag along. He's exactly the kind of chump that Red Hott and Fever Dream might recruit as an expendable dupe, for ex.
Description: Young man wearing a hooded black full-body suit covered in an elaborate mesh of copper wire and electronic modules, none of which actually do anything to boost or focus his powers but do add a good thirty pounds to his weight and make swimming inadvisable. Only his pale, long-nosed face is exposed, which also shows off his unfortunate attempt at growing a mustache. His speech is bombastic and he tends to shout a lot owing to partial hearing loss. When he uses his powers he "leaks" crawling arcs of electricity and his teleports are accompanied by a bright strobing light and loud BOOM, making him very bad at stealth. Even his Remote Viewing is accompanied by a distinct smell of ozone wherever he's scrying.
Gender: Male Age: Mid-Twenties Height: 5'7" Eyes: Electric Blue
Hair: Jet Black Skin: Pallid Build: Wiry
Approach: Underpowered Archetype: Fragile
Health: 5 + (5 x H)
Powers: Teleportation d8, Agility d6, Electricity d6, Remote Viewing d6
Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Full Of Himself d8, Close Combat d6
Status: Green Zone Health - d10 / Yellow Zone Health - d8 / Red Zone Health - d6
Abilities:
Flashbang Attack (A) Attack multiple targets using Ranged Combat. Defend against all Attacks against you with your Min die until the start of your next turn.
Instinctive Teleport (I) Whenever your personal zone changes you may immediately move elsewhere in the scene.
Lightning Strike (A) Attack using using Electricity. If you roll doubles, add that value to your Attack. If you roll triples, add all three dice to your Attack.
Unbeatable! (I) Whenever you would be reduced to zero or fewer Health, prevent that damage and reduce all of your power dice by one size. If this would reduce any die below d4 you are knocked out.
Vanish (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single status die. If the damage is reduced to zero, you may move anywhere else in the scene.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Power Boost (I) +20 Health. Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).
Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.
Tactics
Flashbang is entirely convinced that he's a fearsome and powerful supervillain and has few qualms about tackling entire groups of heroes, which usually works out poorly for him. His go-to offensive move is to make a Flashbang Attack on every enemy in the scene, blinking around in a storm of noise, light, and electrical discharges. When Attacked he'll use Vanish and attempt to teleport to a safer location, while Instinctive Teleport lets him do the same when he takes serious damage (which is virtually any damage, given his pathetic Health). He can shrug off the first hit that would knock him out with Unbeatable! After that he'll often strike back with Lightning Strike in hopes of rolling hot and getting a big hit. The smaller his dice get the more likely rolling doubles or triples gets, and he'll try to build die pools with similar sizes to maximize the effect.
His upgrade significantly improves his health and lets him shrug off two knockout blows instead of one, as well as making him hit a little harder. His mastery makes him much better at accomplishing a job he's been paid for, something he frequently struggles with otherwise.
Flashbang's teleportation power is fairly short-ranged (120 feet is about his limit) but remarkably quick, letting him make multiple jumps per second without great effort. Each jump is accompanied by a loud BOOM, flashes of light, and significant electrical discharge, which is the foundation for most of his abilities. He can also generate electricity without 'porting, manipulate existing currents and generally mess with unshielded electronics, but he's not very good at it and can easily suffer painful feedback and overloads.
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