Professor Pusher, Unsubtle PSA Messaging Villain

This ludicrously named villain was inspired by the old Superworld adventure Bad Medicine For Doctor Drugs.  If you're a fan of adding a "publishing history" metatext to your games, he would have started appearing in 1971 (a nod to the real-world "Snowbirds Don't Fly" story in Green Lantern/Green Arrow) and was dragged out in later years whenever the publisher wanted to make a show of warning readers about the dangers of drug abuse, particularly in the 80s.  The Professor probably appeared alongside Nancy Reagan and McGruff the Crime Dog at some point.

Most of his stories were awkward borderline PSAs, but there were some attempts at edgy 90s stuff that played him as a more "realistic" villain.  The post-2000s saw deconstructions trying to give him an actual backstory and more believable motivations.  The best of those would probably mirror Jekyll and Hyde's themes mashed up with Timothy Leary's advocacy of psychedelics.

In a game his whole schtick might be a very touchy subject, so check with your table before using him as either awkward camp or a more serious threat.  Drug addiction and abuse are not subjects to be taken lightly.  If you do use him he'd work well in a story arc with the Triple Threat Gang, who gained their powers from a drug called Supe that might easily be one of his creations.

Mechanically, there are two different writeups for the Professor.  The first uses the Inventor archetype and is more of a team player, willing to cooperate with other full-blown supervillains when their motivations align.  The second is a Loner, and only voluntarily works with those he deems his inferiors, all of whom are invariably users of his drugs in one form or another.  

Professor Pusher

Professor John Drummond is a proponent of better living through chemistry in its most extreme form, with a real genius for brewing up wonder drugs with all manner of metabolic effects.  Moreover, he's as aggressive about exposing others to his concoctions as he is about self-experimentation, and if that leads to some bad reactions or addiction that's just the cost of progress in his eyes.  His "Professor Pusher" supranym started out as a nickname invented by students of his college courses while he was still employed in the teaching field.  He's fully embraced it since transitioning into full-time "unconventional pharmacological research" as he calls it.  Most people would say it's mad science and outright supervillainy.

In addition to a boundless array of drugs and toxins capable of a wide variety of effects, Professor Pusher has experimented on himself extensively.  At this point his own body is capable of synthesizing and combining chemicals internally, resisting and regenerating physical damage, and exuding all manner of helpful and harmful substances at will.  He also has access to large numbers of "customers" addicted to his recreational substances and aid from minor villains created through his dabbling in super-solider empowerment serums.

Description: A bald middle-aged man with coke-bottle glasses, wearing a white lab coat and armored black gloves with super-tech needle spitters, chem sprays and injectors built in.  He has a wavering falsetto voice and gives off a strange, sweetish chemical scent.  Disarming him is harder than it looks, since his metabolism has been altered to the point where he's his own pharmacopoeia.

Gender: Male        Age: 55        Height: 5'10"        Eyes: Watery Blue, Thick Glasses

Hair: Bald        Skin: Caucasian, Chemical Stains On Hands        Build: Stoop-Shouldered

___________________________________________________________________ 

Professor Pusher (enthusiastic cooperative version)

Approach:  Overpowered                      Archetype:  Inventor

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d12, Toxic d10, Vitality d10                                    

Qualities: Master of Mad Pharmacology d8, Persuasion d8, Science d6                                        

Status:  (# of Inventions/Mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Chemical Savant (A) Whenever you create a bonus, increase that bonus by one.

Dangerous Overdose (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Shared High (A) Boost yourself using Inventions.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.  Each of your nearby allies Recovers Health equal to your Min die.  Each of your nearby minions or lieutenants whose die size has been degraded at all increases their die size by one step.

Take Your Medicine (A) Boost using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Brainwashing Drugs (I) +10 Health.  While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size.  In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total).  In the Red zone, all heroes' quality 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 quality entirely until this upgrade is removed.  If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.

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

This version of Professor Pusher concentrates on supporting his allies, whether they're other full-blown villains, lieutenants like gang leaders or weaker hired supers or mobs of junkie minions in his thrall.  He relies heavily on Take Your Medicine to amp up allies and his own status die while Chemical Savant makes all his Boost actions more effective.  He'll selectively use Shared High to Boost himself and heal his entire team as needed, resorting to Dangerous Overdose only when hard-pressed and running out of allies to support.

His upgrade limits heroes pretty badly, and makes the risk of going Out much worse for them while in effect.  The Professor might even throw a Dangerous Overdose attack or order massed fire from allies at a vulnerable-looking target to spawn a free brainwashed minion.  His mastery works mostly with chemical science, but he's also dabbled in nanotech to emulate pharmacological effects in artificial or exotic lifeforms.

___________________________________________________________________

Professor Pusher (sneeringly superior version)

Approach:  Overpowered                      Archetype:  Loner

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d12, Toxic d10, Vitality d10                                    

Qualities: Master of Mad Pharmacology d8, Science d8, Leadership d6                                        

Status:  (# of Other Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6

Abilities:

Dangerous Overdose (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Metabolic Tolerance (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

More Where They Came From (A) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Science die to Boost yourself. 

Shared High (A) Boost yourself using Inventions.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.  Each of your nearby allies Recovers Health equal to your Min die.  Each of your nearby minions or lieutenants whose die size has been degraded at all increases their die size by one step.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Brainwashing Drugs (I) +10 Health.  While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size.  In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total).  In the Red zone, all heroes' quality 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 quality entirely until this upgrade is removed.  If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.

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

This variant of Professor Pusher won't tolerate working with other proper supervillains, relying on masses of addicted minions and lieutenant-grade minor supers he's empowered himself for protection.  He'll still support them with Shared High but is more likely to resort to Dangerous Overdose early, then heal up with repeated Metabolic Tolerance attacks before repeating.  Defeating lieutenants (or other villains, if he's being forced by circumstance to work with them) just helps him out with More Where They Came From.  He has a lot of self-healing as a Loner, and will tend to put any bonuses he accrues into Recovering Health even faster.

His upgrades and masteries don't change, but his higher damage output and more aggressive play style will make getting a brainwashed hero more likely.

___________________________________________________________________

Professor Pusher will almost always have some allies around for an action scene, ranging from low-quality minions to minor supervillains.  Their one unifying trait is that they've all sampled his drugs in one way or another, and most will be addicted to them.  He always includes chemically-triggered "kill switches" in his formulas so that he can counteract their effects at will, depowering supers he's created and putting "recreational" users into a life-threatening withdrawal. 

Pathetic Addict d6 minion usually, might be d8 if well-armed or using actual combat drugs, or d10 if high on a super-drug that enhances strength or agility beyond human limits, but those are usually reserved for lieutenants

Description: They can look like anyone from any walk of life, although long-term users become increasingly sickly-looking and often get careless about maintaining appearances.  Some people insist that there are always telltale signs of a user, but they're kidding themselves.  It's far too common to go real far down that road before anyone catches on. 

Desperate For A Fix: Whenever you roll the maximum possible result on your die, treat the result as two higher.  Whenever you roll a one, count the result as zero and reduce your die size by one step.  If this would reduce your die below a d4, you are defeated.

D-List Supervillain d10 or d12 lieutenant

Description: These are minor-league villains who've gained their limited powers from Professor Pusher's experimental super-serums, doing his bidding either to get their next hit or because he's got them under chemical mind-control.  They're as likely to be wearing civilian clothing as not, and when they do have costumes they tend to be pretty obviously home-made or repurposed from Halloween costumes.  Their powers tend to be pretty limited, although most all of them show superhuman resistance to pain and injury. 

Hard To Stop: You gain a +1 bonus to saves against damage.  In addition, at the start of your turn you may remove any -1 penalties on you.

Sort Of Super-Powered: Use the rules on pages 287-289 to select one or two abilities from an appropriate clone archetype to represent your powers.

Empowered Addict d8 or d10 lieutenant

Description: Almost as varied as pathetic addict minions, but they tend to be drawn from the ranks of overtly criminal groups and often display gang colors, tattoos, and similar marks of allegiance.  A few may be corrupted police or other authority figures, and may attempt to confuse the issue about which side they're actually on.  All display inhuman strength and tend to slip into a berserk rage at the drop of a hat.

Berserker: Whenever you roll a save against damage, whether you pass or fail Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Desperate For A Fix: Whenever you roll the maximum possible result on your die, treat the result as two higher.  Whenever you roll a one, count the result as zero and reduce your die size by one step.  If this would reduce your die below a d4, you are defeated.

Blog Content Index

The Hooligans Three, A Team of Young Super-Crooks

A trio of street-level super-criminals, mostly in it for the money and to build their reputations.  Given time they might grow to become serious solo threats, but for now they work together to deal with older and more experienced heroes.  They make good opposition for fellow teenaged supers as well.  How serious a menace they are depends on what your campaign needs, but the writeups below assume they're fairly innocuous.  As written the group is more likely to KO an enemy and leave them someplace embarrassing than kill them and dump their bodies in the sewer.

Easy enough to reskin them into adult villains if desired.  If you wanted to split them up Shootout is decent as a solo threat, while Black Rabbit is more of a team support type and Kid Coppertop really benefits a lot from someone else handing him some bonuses.

The Hooligans Three

Relatively new on the supercrime scene, the Hooligans Three are a group of teenaged villains with a penchant for nighttime burglary and the occasional  daylight heist job.  They appear to be solely motivated by the money and generally avoid serious confrontations with either law enforcement or other supers.  Black Rabbit appears to be the brains of the operation, with Shootout providing the main muscle and his semi-sidekick Kid Coppertop backing him up as a distraction and team getaway artist.  They've eluded arrest to date and nothing is known for certain of their origins or civilian identities.

Black Rabbit

Black Rabbit (real name unknown, possibly "Jen" from overheard banter) appears to have had extensive training in a variety of criminal skills, ranging from intrusion, burglary and safecracking to running a successful confidence game, and definitely prefers the subtle approach compared to her more flashy teammates.  She's very mission focused and prefers to leave the fighting to others, although she's quite competent when she is forced to defend herself, using an agile fighting style and a variety of concealed weaponry with a distinct "American ninja" style to them.  Some reports suggest that she may have some form of luck manipulation powers as well, and the Hooligans certainly seem to get all the breaks when they need them.

She seems to be the team's chief planner, usually favoring quick in-and-out heists that rely on surprise  or burglaries that take advantage of her own thieving skills or Kid Coppertop's ability to bypass security via teleportation through the electrical grid.  She and Shootout may be romantically involved, or at least Shootout seems to think so.  Black Rabbit is frequently annoyed by the lack of subtlety her teammates display, although it's lead to her declaring they need her around to keep an eye on them rather than looking for more compatible allies.

Description: Lightly built woman dressed in a loose black "modern ninja" outfit, her features concealed by a black hood topped with two-foot long cloth rabbit ears that seem weirdly adept at expressing her emotions.  Must be an artistic conceit.  Only her eyes can be seen when in full costume.  When in civilian clothing, a pale young woman of Japanese descent favoring a modern goth look with a lot of cheap silver jewelry and black hair ribbons.  She speaks English with a distinct New Jersey accent and knows less Japanese than the average American anime fan. 

Gender: Female                   Age: 19?              Height: 5'2"            Eyes: Black

Hair: Jet Black                      Skin: Pale                Build: Delicate

Approach:  Skilled                               

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Radiant, Bright Lights)

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Intuition d10, Agility d8, Leaping d6                                  

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Alertness d10, Insight d8, Master Thief d8, Persuasion d8, Self-Discipline d8

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

Abilities:

Fortunate Child (A) Boost yourself using Intuition.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Remove all penalties on yourself.

Lucky Evasion (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Acrobatics die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Shared Fortune (A) Boost yourself using Intuition.  Use your Max die.  Boost a nearby ally using your Mid die.  Boost another nearby ally using your Min die.

Take Advantage (A) Take any basic action using your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Black Rabbit relies on her unnatural good luck and inhuman reflexes in a fight, and will frequently focus on her mission through Overcomes rather than simply brawling with foes.  Shared Fortune is her usual opening move, granting herself and two allies handy bonuses.  Lucky Evasion lets her Defend herself efficiently while also handing out some damage, and if she's being affected by her weakness to radiant energy and bright lights she'll pause to shed the penalties with Fortunate Child as soon as possible.  If she absolutely has to deal damage she'll use Take Advantage to do so, but the ability lets her do anything, and that includes Overcomes.

Her upgrade reflects every lucky break going her way and every misfortune hampering the heroes, all in subtle ways.  Her mastery helps ensure she carries off whatever theft she's been hired to perform with style and grace.

___________________________________________________________________________

Shootout

Shootout (real name unknown) has the ability to create invisible psionic constructs he calls "imaginary guns" at will, and is amazingly accurate with the "mind bullets" they fire.  These "bullets" can inflict either physical damage (apparently via some kind of telekinetic effect) or psychic harm (a crude empathic effect) as desired.  He seems to be able to create whatever type of firearm he likes but favors twin high-caliber pistols.  That hasn't stopped him from whipping up unreal submachineguns, rifles, and even a rocket launcher in the past.  Thankfully he seems to be squeamish about killing his targets and usually contents himself with knocking victims out through mental trauma or taking trick shots that leave them trapped under wreckage or otherwise temporarily out of action.

Shootout seems to be something of a mentor or big brother figure for Kid Coppertop, and may be romantically involved with Black Rabbit.  He seems a bit less money-hungry than his teammates and more willing to back off in the face of serious opposition, but he's loyal enough to stand and fight if the others insist - and he's damn good at it too.

Description: Rather average-looking young Caucasian man, usually dressed in unremarkable street clothing.  When he knows he's going on a job he favors either a cowboy look (complete with ten-gallon hat) or a 1920s gangster style with a natty dark-colored suit and fedora, accessorized with a red bandana drawn over the bottom half of his face as a mask.  He tries to adopt an accent to match his current style but he's not very good at it.  His imaginary guns are only visible to himself or to those who can perceive invisible psionic constructs.  Unless he's deliberately shooting to kill his targets suffer psychic trauma rather than physical injury, although his "bullets" affect non-living targets as though they were real. 

Gender: Male                  Age: 19?                Height: 5'7"               Eyes: Brown

Hair: Sandy Brown                    Skin: Well Tanned                 Build: Wiry

Approach: Specialized                     Archetype: Predator

Health: 35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Imaginary Firearms d10, Agility d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d12, Alertness d8, Master of Gun Fu d8

Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 0-1 - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 4+ - d6

Abilities:

Bullet With Your Name On It (A) Attack using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.

Careful Shot (A) Attack using Ranged Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Defend yourself using your Mid die.

Fast As A Speeding Bullet (R) Defend against an Attack where you're the only target by rolling your single Master of Gun Fu die.  One other nearby target takes damage equal to the amount of damage reduced.

Take Stock (A) Boost yourself using Alertness.  Use your Max die.  This bonus is persistent and exclusive.  Defend yourself using your Mid die against all Attacks until the start of your next turn.

Two Guns Blazing (A) Hinder multiple targets using Imaginary Firearms.  Use your Max die.  Attack any target that gains a penalty this way that already had a penalty created by you using your Mid + Min dice.

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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Shootout is amazingly effective with the guns he imagines into being but lacks a real killer instinct, so he'll often take fancy trick shots and aims to disable rather than kill.  He prefers to open a fight with Take Stock to size up his foes, then launch into a Two Guns Blazing onslaught, trying to time things so he can use the ability late in one round and early in the next while the initial penalties are still in place to grant him extra shots.  Against dangerous targets he'll use Careful Shot and Fast As A Speeding Bullet to protect himself.  If an opponent displays strong defenses or reactions he has a Bullet With Your Name On It to counteract them.

His upgrade makes him even better at cranking out damage, while his mastery makes him better at finishing the job when his pay is on the line.

___________________________________________________________________________

Kid Coppertop

Kid Coppertop (real name unknown) is a walking electric dynamo, capable of emitting powerful shocks and even transforming himself into pure energy to travel through conductive materials like power lines and steel girders.  He can bring willing allies along with him on these jaunts, and often acts as the team's "transport guy" both to make getaways and to penetrate physical security.  Jumping into a protected site invariably triggers alarms and damages the wiring though, so any burglary needs to be done fast when using this approach.  He's also surprisingly strong and tough for his size and apparent age.  The origin of his powers is unknown as of this date.  

Overheard banter between the Hooligans Three has established that he's at least a year younger than the others, and he claims to be 18 despite looking several years younger.  Despite that, he has excellent connections within the supercrime community and has done a lot to establish the team's reputation as up-and-coming villains worthy of respect.  He seems to idolize Shootout to some degree, and usually works with him as a noisy distraction while Black Rabbit gets on with the actual theft.  

Description: Scrawny baby-faced teenager who can't possibly be a real supervillain, can he?  Electrical arcs crawl all over him when he's powered up and his shocks have a kick to them, so I guess he is.  Usually dresses to match whatever style Shootout is using, and could reasonably be mistaken as his sidekick.  Do villains even have sidekicks?  He's much better at faking a Texan or Chicago accent than Shootout is and speaks Japanese fluently, both of which are sources of annoyance for his teammates. 

Gender: Male         Age: 18, Honest (looks younger)       Height: 5'4"         Eyes: Bright Green

Hair: Like Fine Copper Wire             Skin: Pale, Copper Freckles           Build: Skinny

Approach:  Underpowered                               

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Electrical Insulators and Short Circuits)

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Electricity d8, Strength d6, Teleportation d6, Vitality d6

Qualities: Fitness d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Organic Dynamo d8

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

Abilities:

Alternating Current (A) Boost using Electricity.  Use your Max die.  The bonus is persistent and exclusive.  Attack using your Mid die.

Direct Current (A) Destroy one of your bonuses.  Deal each opponent damage equal to the value of that bonus.

Short Circuit (A) Attack using Electricity.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Take irreducible damage equal to your Min die.  If you roll doubles you cannot use this ability again during this scene.

Showering Sparks (A) Attack multiple targets using Organic Dynamo.  Defend against all Attacks against you until your next turn using your Min die.

Tough Little Guy (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Vitality die.  If your roll reduces the damage to exactly zero, use that roll to Boost yourself and to Hinder the source of the Attack and Recover that much Health.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase the die size of each of your powers by one step (maximum of 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

Kid Coppertop is all about flashy electrical arcs and the smell of ozone in the air, even if his shocks aren't the strongest ever.  He'll usually open with Alternating Current to pump himself up, then use Showering Sparks against multiple foes or Short Circuit against a single enemy.  If he's facing resistant targets he may burn a bonus to use Direct Current.  He'll try to hold off on using his Tough Little Guy reaction for times when the damage might be reduced to exactly zero to get that big rider effects on it.  His teleportation power involves momentarily turning into pure electricity and reforming elsewhere, but requires either a clear line of travel or an electrical conductor to travel along.  He can bring nearby allies along with him by using an Overcome action, but his passengers suffer from any twists that result, which usually combine some damage along with winding up at the wrong location. 

His upgrade gets his powers up to more effective levels, and his mastery helps him finish the job in a robbery - which frequently means teleporting away with his allies to make a timely escape with the loot.

Blog Content Index

The Court of Entropy, A Demon King's Inner Circle

The Court of Entropy is a group of extradimensional entities forming the demonic royalty of their home realm.  Each is a unique horror but they all work together to expand their domain and increase their power by collecting the souls of mortals.  Encountering them on Earth (or even on Earth's dimensional plane) would be the result of a major summoning ritual or a catastrophic dimensional breach, the kind of thing that might draw the attention of Johnny Crisis.  They're more likely to be met in their own hell-plane by mystical or dimension-hopping heroes.  

Facing all of them at once is a challenge for a full team of heroes, and likely to be a climactic battle for a whole story arc.  Using only two or three of them in a scene augmented by lieutenants and a dangerous environment will be more manageable while retaining some of their team synergies.

_______________________________________________________________________

Yan-Gannoth the Nadir King

Monarch of the Court of Entropy, Yan-Gannoth is an ageless inhuman entity who embodies the principle of entropy, decay and mortality.  Mortals and their world interest him only as potential sources of subsistence, and he has no fear of any mere human no matter their powers.  That may not work out well for him when confronted by superheroes who can punch a mountain into rubble and resist even the will of a demon lord.

Description: A towering skeletally-thin giant, garbed in rusted, tattered plate and chain armor and bearing a high-spiked crown of gray metal on its brow.  It radiates an overwhelming aura of despair and dull pain.  Rust, rot and mold form a spreading blight wherever it goes.  It rarely uses its echoing sepulchral voice with mortals.  Most commonly encountered seated upon its Throne of Entropy (see below).

Gender: Male?              Age: Immortal             Height: Usually 20'                Eyes: Gray

Hair: Gray                 Skin: Gray                    Build: Horrifically Gaunt

Approach:  Ancient                    Archetype:  Squad

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Suggestion d12, Infernal d10, Strength d10, Size-Changing d8                                     

Qualities: Conviction d12, Magical Lore d12, Persuasion d10, Demonic Royalty d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8

Status: (# of other Villains) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Demonic Supremacy (A) Hinder multiple targets using Suggestion.  Use your Max die.  Attack each target using your Mid + Min dice.

Entropy Is Eternal (I) If you would be reduced to zero Health and you don't have a penalty, roll your single Strength die and your Health becomes the value rolled. 

My Servants Are Sacrosanct (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single status die. Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

The Court Empowers Me (I) Increase damage you deal by the number of nearby non-minion allies.

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect):

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 Suggestion die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Infernal.  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.

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Yan-Gannoth is demonic royalty and rarely deigns to acknowledge any single foe, leaving that to his court and lesser followers.  Instead he remains seated on his Throne of Entropy and uses Demonic Supremacy to grind all opposition into surrender with sheer psychic pressure, augmented by The Court Empowers Me.  His Defense Shield upgrade makes him very hard to harm, and if he is somehow reduced to zero Health Entropy Is Eternal will keep him in the fight unless he's been Hindered beforehand.  While he cares little for his minor servants he will respond to assaults on his courtiers with My Servants Are Sacrosanct.  Yan-Gannoth's mastery is extremely easy to use with the number of Suggestion-based penalties he spreads around.

He prefers to remain at his full twenty foot height but may diminish himself to more modest proportions if need be.  Doing so in response to something a mere mortal has done is a sign of grudging respect - or seething fury if his courtiers have been defeated and his Throne broken.

_______________________________________________________________________

Throne of Entropy

The Throne of Entropy is a construct rather than a creature.  It exists solely to serve the Court of Entropy, and will obey any instruction form Yan-Gannoth without hesitation.  If left without guidance, it will attempt to withdraw to its own dimension, bearing any defeated allies with it if possible.  It's probably the most dangerous piece of furniture the heroes will ever encounter, or at least the biggest.  

Description: A massive platform made of tarnished gold inscribed with countless arcane runes, roughly circular with hundreds of multicolored stylized eyes around its rim.  A huge high-backed throne scaled for a 20' tall occupant is centered on it, and the whole apparatus is borne on four thick, columnar legs which fold beneath it when its rider wishes to dismount.

Gender: None        Age: Unknown      Height: 45'      Eyes: Polychromatic

Build: Gigantic Ambulatory Dais Bearing A Huge Throne

Approach: Specialized

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Deface Runes 00  Crack Hellcrystal Core 0)

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d8, Presence d10

Qualities: Imposing d12, Close Combat d8, Demonic Construct d8

Status: Titan Challenge Start - d12 / Stage 1 Completed - d10 / Stage 2 Completed - d8

Abilities:

All-Seeing Eyes (I) Whenever you Attack a target that you have already dealt damage to at least once already in this scene, gain a +1 persistent and exclusive bonus against that target.

Eye of Terror (A) Hinder one target using Imposing.  Use your Max die.  Attack that target using your Mid die.

Invulnerable Demonic Construct (I) Reduce all damage you take by 6 (at d12 status), 4 (at d10 status), or 2 (at d8 or less status).

Layered Defenses (R) When Attacked by a roll that includes doubles, remove one success from the Titan's Challenge.

Looming Behemoth (A) Attack multiple targets using Strength.  Hinder those targets using your Min 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 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 Throne of Entropy primarily exists to carry Yan-Gannoth in style, but it will take an active part in a battle to defend its rider or itself.  Looming Behemoth lets it literally put its foot down, producing devastating shockwaves and getting the bonus from All-Seeing Eyes started on multiple targets at once.  Eye of Terror is a single-beam attack that terrifies a foe with supernatural energy.  Invulnerable Demonic Construct and Layered Defenses combine to make it quite hard to hurt.  It frequently uses a basic action to Defend its rider rather than other abilities.

Its upgrade improves its damage a fair bit, while its mastery applies when following orders from Yan-Gannoth or any other demon lords that might be present.  Of all the Court members the Throne of Entropy is least likely to have an upgrade, as it's mostly a gigantic piece of animated furniture.

_______________________________________________________________________

Urakk the Unmaker

Urakk is the most learned member of the Court of Entropy, and is usually the first entity Yan-Gannoth will consult when in need of information.  He has great power over the tools of mortal beings, manifesting the entropic principle in the form of failing machinery, broken tools, rusting weapons and similar technological decay.  Vindictive in the extreme, Urakk prefers to work with an ally to drag down whichever foe has angered him most, greedily pursuing any who flee so that he can take them as a specimen for his collection of bottled mortals back in his home dimension.      

Description: In its natural form, a tall, narrow-shoulder humanoid with an oversized head sporting half a dozen staring eyes beneath a mane of long squirming tentacles in place of hair.  It wears tattered, mold-stained robes of gray and white that mostly conceal its scaly green skin, digitigrade legs and taloned feet.  Its voice is high and strained, with a deathly rattle to its breathing.

Gender: Male?              Age: Immortal           Height: 6'9"          Eyes: Jade Green

Hair: Coiling Gray Tendrils           Skin: Dull Green, Scaled            Build: Macrocephalic

Approach: Relentless                            Archetype: Inhibitor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Transmutation d10, Infernal d8, Awareness d6                                        

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Demonic Sage d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8, History d6

Status: (# of heroes with penalties) 0 - d6 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d10

Abilities:

Accelerated Decay (R) When Attacked by someone with a penalty you created, Defend by rolling your single status die.  The Attacker also suffers that much damage.

Augment Harm  (R) When one of your allies Attacks an opponent, roll your single Magical Lore die and add that amount of damage to the Attack.

Entropic Evocation (A) Hinder multiple targets using Transmutation.  Use your Max die.  Attack one of those targets using your Mid die.

Fearsome Pursuit (R) When an opponent moves away from you, you may follow them and Hinder them by rolling your single status 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 Annihilation (I) If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where a show of overwhelming force would help.

Tactics

Urakk despises the tools of science and technology above all else, and prefers to use Entropic Evocation to spread "creeping decay" penalties around multiple targets.  He has a number of reactions to choose from each turn, and will usually employ one at the first opportunity.  Fearsome Pursuit lets him chase down fleeing foes and interfere with tactical repositioning, Augment Harm lets him add significant damage to an ally's Attack, and Accelerated Decay gives him a strong response to Attackers suffering one of his penalties.

His upgrade doubles the amount of raw damage he hands out with his sole offensive ability, and his mastery lets him revel in the destruction of man-made structures and items while intimidating and distracting foes.

_______________________________________________________________________

Shaggom the Unyielding

Shaggom is the guardian of the Court, focused narrowly on preventing harm to his king and his fellow courtiers.  If he has motivations or interests beyond that it doesn't show.  If he fails in his duties he'll fight till destroyed, and will gladly remain behind to cover any retreat.  Yan-Gannoth treats his Throne with more respect than Shaggom and will sacrifice him without a second thought.. 

Description: A powerfully built humanoid in heavy plated armor covered in rust.  Its head is a featureless ovoid but it still seems preternaturally alert to its surroundings.  It "speaks" inside your head in a lifeless monotone.  

Gender: Male?       Age: Immortal      Height: 8'10"     Eyes: None

Hair: None              Skin: Dull Black Stained The Color Of Dried Blood        Build: Hulking

Approach: Dampening                           Archetype: Bruiser

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Infernal d10, Strength d8, Vitality d8                                        

Qualities: Imposing d10, Alertness d8, Close Combat d8, Demonic Warden d8

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

Abilities:

Curse of Terror (A) Hinder using Infernal.  Use your Max die.  This penalty is persistent and exclusive.  As long as this penalty is on the target, reduce their highest power die of your choice by one die size.  Attack using your Mid die.

Entropic Invincibility (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore their damage and remove a penalty on that hero.

Seize and Slam (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Use your Max die.  Either Hinder that target using your Mid die or Attack another nearby target using your Mid die.

Warden of the Court (A) When a nearby ally would be Attacked, you may become the target of that Attack instead.  You may use this reaction any number of times in a round by taking one irreducible damage for each time past the first.

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 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

Shaggom is the most militant member of the Court and focuses on defending his allies with judicious use of Warden of the Court.  Spreading lasting penalties around with Curse of Terror also helps limit incoming damage, and Entropic Invincibility blocks damage from anyone with a penalty from any source, something the whole Court hands out plenty of.  Once he's got enough penalties out he'll switch to Seize and Slam for more damage output, either throwing heroes around in melee or hurling battlefield debris at a distance.

His upgrade further ramps up his damage, and his mastery reflects his absolute loyalty to the royalty of his hell-dimension.

_______________________________________________________________________

Vorrin the Frozen-Hearted

Vorrin is the Court's spymaster and assassin, and frequently has his own schemes in progress either with or without Yan-Gannoth's knowledge.  His shape-changing powers let him infiltrate the mortal world, where he's most likely encountered in the company of demonic cultists.  Vorrin's entropic powers manifest as freezing cold and stillness, the ultimate inertia on the molecular level.  He and Urakk are sometimes at odds due to Vorrin's secretive nature and Urakk's endless curiosity.

Description: Tall, rail-thin figure with a prominent hunched back that bears a second, distorted face looking backward from the hump.  It wears nothing but checkerboard leggings in rusty orange and brownish black.  Its main head speaks only in a whisper, trying not to disturb its secondary head which roars and bellows nonsense when annoyed.  It exudes a chilling aura of bitter cold and muted sounds, and is often coated in a layer of peeling frost when employing its powers.

Gender: Male?        Age: Immortal     Height: 6'7"      Eyes: Saffron Yellow

Hair: Long Bleached White             Skin: Eggshell White             Build: Scarecrow Thin Hunchback

Approach:  Leech

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Heat, Radiant)

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Cold d10, Absorption d8, Shape-Shifting d6                                 

Qualities: Demonic Spymaster d8, Finesse d8, Magical Lore d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8

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

Abilities:

Feast On Your Power (R) When a bonus is used against you on an Attack or Hinder, you may first destroy that bonus.  If you do so, roll your single Absorption die and recover Health equal to the roll plus the value of the destroyed bonus.

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

Mantle of Ice (A) Boost using Cold.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Remove all penalties on yourself.

Unnatural Talent (A) Take any basic action using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries:

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.

Master of Mysticism (I) If you have access to proper materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation involving harnessing magical forces.

Tactics

Vorrin is a cautious but versatile fighter thanks to Unnatural Talent, but will usually rely on Frozen Shroud to pile on penalties and heal a bit when damaged.  Feast On Your Power makes it hard to use bonuses against him and works even when the ability targets multiple villains, so it can be a group defense as well as a personal one.  If Hindered with heat or radiance-based penalties he'll resort to Mantle of Ice as soon as possible to keep his status die up.

His upgrade gives him a strong passive debuff that will require serious effort to remove and his magical talents are reflected in his mastery.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Court of Entropy is often accompanied by a few lesser servants, most commonly demonic mockeries of human knights of old. 

Knight of Ruin d10 lieutenant

Description: Demonic entities that usually manifest as bloodstained medieval knights in rusting, decayed armor with battered and chipped blades.  Some may be mounted on swaybacked steeds in equally decrepit barding but these are just for show, part of the knight itself.  They can appear as something else at their master's whim, but always display the marks of entropy in some way.

Drawn To Weakness:  You gain a +1 bonus to Attack actions for each penalty on your target.

Entropic Contagion: When rolling to save against damage from Attacks you automatically fail.  Hinder the Attacker using the result of your save.

Blog Content Index

Dreadmorphs, Shapeshifting Things From Another World

Your basic shapeshifting alien mimic and potential threat to entire biospheres.  Very much a Thing from another world and all that.  They're designed to be very easy to run (they only have one action ability) so you can throw a bunch of them at a team of supers without strain when running a real horror scenario, but I've included lesser versions of them if you want them to be less of a dominant threat in a story or ramp up the tension slowly.  They can also make good warbeasts for extraterrestrial menaces like Captain Redstar to keep as a pet or for special "venator" bouts on the Galactic Gladiator Circuit.

Dreadmorph

Dreadmorphs are an alien lifeform possessing phenomenal adaptive shapeshifting abilities.  They're feared by most starfaring species and almost any interstellar traveler will have heard stories of the things wiping out entire ship's crews or depopulating whole space stations.  The creatures reproduce by budding, and uncontrolled infestations can leave whole planets overrun by dreadspawn.  Thankfully their animalistic intelligence prevents them from taking full advantage of their ability to imitate almost anyone (or anything), but it also makes attempts at communication and negotiation futile.

How one or more of them gets to Earth depends on your campaign, but the heroes had better deal with pretty quickly.  Safe bet that some dodgy megacorporation will take an interest in the things too, because greed overwhelms wisdom every time.  

Description: Wildly varied.  These things can adopt almost any form they desire, from copying other species with masses ranging from 50-500 kilos to imitating inanimate objects as small as 30 cubic centimeters to a variety of nightmarish chimeric combat forms.  Moreover, they can shift between forms with amazing speed even during combat or pursuit.  They're nearly immune to all known toxins and can synthesize many of them in liquid, solid, or gaseous states as well.  While they have only animalistic intelligence by human standards they can mimic speech (and other sounds) and may be able to pass for a normal human briefly even at close range.  

Reproduction: Budding        Age: Unaging        Height: Variable     Eyes: Usually Two Or More

Hide: Variable Coloring, Always Extremely Resilient        Build: Variable      Mass: 250+ Kilos

Approach: Bully                   Archetype: Inventor

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Shapeshifting d10, Part Detachment d8, Toxic d8

Qualities: Apex Lifeform d8, Insight d8, Technology d8

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Adaptive Physiology (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase that bonus by one.

Agonizing Toxins (I) Whenever you or your nearby allies Hinder, increase the penalty created by one.

Morphic Assault (A) Boost using Shapeshifting.  Hinder using your Max die.  Attack using your Min die.

Resistant Form (I) Reduce all damage dealt to you by two.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase the die size of each of your powers by one step (maximum of d12).

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics

Dreadmorphs are relentlessly hostile to all other motile lifeforms, although they prioritize the greatest threats first.  Their Insight and Technology qualities represent an instinctual understanding of  both their prey and the tools they might use.  They use their incredible Shapeshifting powers to launch repeated Morphic Assaults that employ Agonizing Toxins to hamper foes while their Adaptive Physiology gradually improves their combat performance.  They'll usually let two to four bonuses stack on themselves to improve their status die while relying on their Resistant Form to endure counterattacks.  If hard pressed or when they see an opening to drop a foe, they'll pile all their accumulated bonuses into a single big strike to finish the fight.

Upgraded Dreadmorphs are more experienced hunters with even more refined powers, and their mastery lets them perform incredible feats of biomorphism skill with ease.

___________________________________________________________________________

Lesser Dreadmorph d10 lieutenant

Description: As variable as the adult villain form but somewhat smaller, usually between 50-100 kilos.

Talented Shapeshifter: You gain a +3 bonus to Overcome actions that involve mimicking creatures and objects, or to slip past obstacles and security precautions.

Unnatural Toxins: When you take an Attack action, also Hinder the target using the same roll.

Dreadspawn d8 minions

Description: As variable as the adult villain form but much smaller, usually between 15-30 kilos.

Sense Weakness: You gain a +1 bonus to Attack actions if the target has any penalties on them.

Shapeshifter: You gain a +2 bonus to Overcome actions that involve mimicking creatures and objects, or to slip past obstacles and security precautions.

Design Note

This is another character where the Inventor archetype restriction on using Inventions or Science for abilities that create mods doesn't work well with the concept, so just ignore it and count the mods from Morphic Assault toward the status die count.  It's still going to be fairly difficult to reach the big d12 status for long, although d8 and d10 is easy enough to sustain.

Blog Content Index

Negator, Vigilante Cape-Hunter

An armored vigilante bent on punishing powered beings who cause harm through reckless use of their superhuman abilities.  She's ruthless and driven enough to resort to lethal force against her targets, whether they claim to be heroes or not.  

Negator

Alice Judgement Smith is a survivor of battle between two reckless supers that destroyed her grade school, a fight that cost the lives of dozens of her fellow students, made all the worse by the fact that both were supposed "heroes" who were brawling over mistaken identities.  The trauma and lingering injuries from the incident decided the course of her life, and she took full advantage of the educational opportunities offered to her (and the other survivors) by several philanthropic organizations.  She avidly studied the science behind superpowered beings, and proved to be a savant in the field of generating countermeasures to most common power manifestations.  After graduation she went to work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons' R&D department, and was quickly put in charge of studying new suppression technologies for use in restraining powered criminal.

Smith's genius extended beyond superscience, and it took her less than two years to quietly embezzle the funds and materials to secretly build her own suit of powered armor rigged with the very best of her psi-tech omni-nullifier generators.  Shortly afterwards she vanished entirely, leaving her old life behind and re-inventing herself as Negator, a vigilante who was willing to play judge, jury, and executioner of any powered being who misuses their abilities.  She's has hunted down several villains and heroes, leaving at least two dead, and may be responsible for the disappearance of others as well.  Her hatred of super-beings seems to make allowances for those with purely technological or skill-based abilities, and Negator has worked alongside SEVER agents, Crossbolt and the Purple Gang in the past, although such team-ups have been short-lived.  More often she employs autonomous drones of her own invention for support and arranges her fights to take advantage of "rigged" environments.

Description: Out of her power suit, a frail African-American woman, marked with terrible burn scars and looking much older than her true age.  In costume, both her gender and physical condition are concealed beneath gleaming golden Kirbytech armor with prominent ruby lenses on the gauntlet palms and in the center of the plastron.  Its blank-faced helmet is shaped much like a bishop's mitre.  The suit's integral speakers give her voice a cold, mechanical tone. 

Gender: Female               Age: 29                Height: 5'6"                Eyes: Brown

Hair: Graying, Scarred Scalp                   Skin: Brown, Major Burn Scars         Build: Fragile

Approach: Dampening                   Archetype: Inventor

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Suggestion d10, Absorption d8, Power Suit d8

Qualities: Science d10, Driven By Her Past d8, Medicine d8, Technology d8

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Building Charge (A) Boost using Absorption.  Use your Max die.  Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.

Megabeam Discharge (A) Attack using Power Suit and at least one bonus.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice and add all of your bonuses, destroying them.

Nullifier Feedback Loop (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore their damage and remove a penalty on that hero.

Omni-Nullifier Field (A) Hinder multiple targets using Suggestion.  While a hero has this penalty, reduce all their power dice by one size.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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.

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

Negator despises all super-beings, especially those who have heat or fire-based powers.  She's ruthless in a fight and will happily resort to lethal force, although she'll make at least a token effort not to seriously harm innocents or non-powered opponents.  Against a single opponent (preferably a fire-user) she'll use Building Charge then follow up with Megabeam Discharge to take them out fast.  If facing multiple foes she relies heavily on her Omni-Nullifier Field to depower them and let her use her Nullifier Feedback Loop reaction, which offers a very strong defense.  Remember that you need to use Science in the die pool for any abilities that create mods if you want those mods to count toward her status die.

Her upgrade amps up her ability to interfere with superpowers of all types.  She usually uses her mastery to develop countermeasures to specific power sets belonging to troublesome foes.

___________________________________________________________________________

Capacitor Drone d8 minion

Description: A two foot cube made of golden metal with a ruby lens on one face, hovering on whispering thrusters mounted on each corner.

Power Transfer Network: When you target Negator with a Boost action, Negator Recovers Health equal to the value of the bonus created.

Thrusters: You may move as though you had Flight d4.

Blog Content Index

Crossbolt, Veteran Merc With Versatile Ammunition

This villain is a mechanical experiment in simulating the "bowman with gimmick arrows" trope by taking advantage of the free-form Overcome rules to simulate more exotic tricks as well as offering a variety of element/energy types to Attack with.  

He's also very much a team player and is better with allies around to either copy their abilities (conceptually, more gimmick bolts) or encourage them to do things better than he can personally.  Fits pretty well with the way both Green Arrow and Hawkeye work in team books, although they're both very different when they're in solo stories.  I've included a second writeup with a different archetype and altered abilities to reflect him when he's less team-focused, giving him different abilities to make him more versatile personally and better at dealing with foes when outnumbered.

Crossbolt

Vance Martin was born to US expatriates in Egypt.  He spent most of his adult life as a mercenary soldier working on the African and South American continents before transitioning to working in the supers community.  He was on several intelligence watch lists before becoming a known supervillain, and has old connections to the shadier parts of the US government that have probably kept him out of prison to date.  These days he's moved on from shooting regular people to shooting superheroes, usually as a hired gun working for a villainous mastermind or conspiratorial criminal organization.  His extensive military experience makes him much better at leading and organizing henchmen than most supers, and unlike many mercenaries he's unafraid to confront powered heroes.  His motivations seem to be a combination of money and thrill-seeking.

Vance has adopted the name Crossbolt mostly because having a proper supranym earns him a bigger paycheck, but hasn't really embraced the whole supervillain lifestyle.  His "costume" barely qualifies as such, and he relies on gear commissioned from [arms-dealing super-tech villain/organization of choice - he might easily have connections to SEVER or whoever's behind the Pentagram] and natural talent rather than innate powers.  His fighting style manages to be showy and pragmatic at the same time, full of acrobatics and swingline moves coupled with a hail of crossbolt fire.  His signature weapons are both hard-hitting and versatile, especially when working with allies where he can copy their powers to some degree.    

Description: A weathered-looking middle-aged man wearing unmarked urban camo combat gear, a black hooded cowl, and double bandoliers of his signature bolt ammunition.  He carries a pair of customized weapons that look like a cross between a chunky handgun and a high-tech crossbow, although they propel their stubby bolts with an electromagnetic reaction rather than a bowstring.

Gender: Male               Age: 38                 Height: 5'9"                Eyes: Hazel

Hair: Salt-and-Pepper          Skin: Heavily Tanned, Multiple Old Scars         Build: Fit

______________________________________________________________________

Crossbolt (team player version)

Approach:  Adaptive                      Archetype:  Squad

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Swinging d10, Cold d8, Electricity d8, Sonic d6

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Fitness d8, Veteran Mercenary Soldier d8

Status: (# of other Villains) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Acrobatic Evasion (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Swinging die.  Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Do It Now! (A) One ally makes a basic action now using their Max die and rerolling any ones during that action.

Gimmick Bolt (A) Use an action ability of one of your allies.

Squad Tactics (I) Increase damage you deal by the number of nearby non-minion allies.

Variable Ammo (A) Lower two of your powers by one die size each.  Increase one of your other powers to d12, then take a basic action using that power.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Boltmobile d10 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Bombard (A) Attack all heroes with this vehicle's roll.  Use this ability only if the vehicle is below its starting die size or the scene is in the Red zone.  Escape Plan (R) When Crossbolt is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than Crossbolt's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene.  Reliable (I) When this vehicle makes an Attack on its turn, roll twice and use the higher result.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

Crossbolt is all about swashbuckling around the battlefield on grappling lines while pumping a rotating menu of special ammunition into enemies, helping allies, and making weird overcomes to cause unexpected problems.  Acrobatic Evasion gives him a solid defensive move that grants a free bonus to boot, which he tries to reserve for future reactions or Overcomes.  Do It Now lets him give an ally a much-improved immediate basic action, and Gimmick Bolt lets him fire a custom bolt that copies an ally's ability - usually something another villain can do, but it could include his own Boltmobile Bombard ability if he has his upgrade and it's still functional and meets the other use conditions.  Variable Ammo is his go-to offensive ability, and he'll always choose to lower two of his three element/energy powers while turning another power into a d12 before using it in a basic action.  Usually this will be an Attack or Hinder with the newly-maximized power, but he could also maximize his Swinging and then (say) Overcome to create some kind of challenge or to make an escape.  He'll cycle through different ammo during a fight by using the power repeatedly to attack with the new d12, and gets extra damage from nearby allies with Squad Tactics.

His upgrade gets him a tricked-out armored vehicle loaded with weaponry, concealed jump-jets and smoke launchers that are perfect for a quick getaway.  His driver bears a remarkable resemblance to Bruce Lee for some reason.  His mastery reflects his years of experience as a more conventional mercenary.

______________________________________________________________________

Crossbolt (independent operator version)

Approach:  Adaptive                      Archetype:  Guerrilla

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Swinging d10, Cold d8, Electricity d8, Sonic d6

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Fitness d8, Veteran Mercenary Soldier d8

Status: (# of enemies engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 - d6

Abilities:

Acrobatic Evasion (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Swinging die.  Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Swashbuckler (A) Boost using Swinging.  Use your Max die.  Attack using your Mid die.  Defend using your Min die.

The Odds Are In My Favor (I) At the start of your turn gain a bonus equal to the number of opponents that Attacked you since your last turn.

Variable Ammo (A) Lower two of your powers by one die size each.  Increase one of your other powers to d12, then take a basic action using that power.

Versatile Fighter (A) Attack up to three targets using Veteran Mercenary Soldier.  Use your Max die versus one target, your Mid die against a different target, and your Min die against a third target.  If you Attack three different targets all the damage is irreducible.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Boltmobile d10 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Bombard (A) Attack all heroes with this vehicle's roll.  Use this ability only if the vehicle is below its starting die size or the scene is in the Red zone.  Escape Plan (R) When Crossbolt is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than Crossbolt's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene.  Reliable (I) When this vehicle makes an Attack on its turn, roll twice and use the higher result.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

Crossbolt is all about swashbuckling around the battlefield on grappling lines while pumping a rotating menu of special ammunition into enemies, tackling groups of foes without fear of the odds against him.  Acrobatic Evasion gives him a solid defensive move that grants a free bonus to boot, which he tries to reserve for future reactions or Overcomes.  Variable Ammo is his go-to offensive ability, and he'll always choose to lower two of his three element/energy powers while turning another power into a d12 before using it in a basic action.  Usually this will be an Attack or Hinder with the newly-maximized power, but he could also maximize his Swinging for use with Swashbuckler.  He'll cycle through different ammo during a fight by using the power repeatedly to attack with the new d12.  The Odds Are in My Favor grants him bonuses just for being Attacked, and he can deal with multiple foes at once using Versatile Fighter (which works fine in both ranged and melee combat) to punch through any defenses.

His upgrade gets him a tricked-out armored vehicle loaded with weaponry, concealed jump-jets and smoke launchers that are perfect for a quick getaway.  His driver bears a remarkable resemblance to Bruce Lee for some reason.  His mastery reflects his years of experience as a more conventional mercenary.

Blog Content Index

Fireteam Firestorm, Radiation-Themed Villain Quartet

This foursome of villains started out as an experiment to see how a whole team of Loner archetypes working together would perform.  They're not A-list baddies, but as a group they're fairly effective and the survivors get stronger as individuals are defeated, which poses a tactical puzzle for the heroes.

___________________________________________________________________________

Fireteam Firestorm

The four members of Fireteam Firestorm share a common origin and power set, as well as having fought together for years as mundane mercenaries before gaining superhuman abilities.  Their powers stem from being caught in an experimental radioactive weapon attack while hopped up on and equally-experimental combat drug.  The interaction between the two has given them low-level superhuman strength (any of them can lift a motorcycle overhead without much strain) and modified their physiology to absorb, contain, and redirect ambient radiation.  This lets them throw radiation blasts, propel themselves through the air with blazing jets of energy and shield themselves with auras of nuclear radiation.  They all appear to draw on the same type of radiation to empower themselves, which makes them get stronger (larger status die) when there are fewer of them active in an area.  They can even enhance themselves when a teammate drops in action by soaking up his last burst of energy.

They've moved on to working in the supers community since gaining powers, but they still act a lot like mundane mercenaries, working for cash on a mission by mission basis.  They've adopted a snazzy team name and themed supranyms, but that's more to make them look "legit" to potential employers than a real embrace of a supervillain lifestyle.  The team are unanimous in thinking that most actual villains are crazy, and they never worked for them before getting their own powers.  The Black Capes do pay well, though. 

Their unnatural appearance (aside from being bright green and glowing in the dark, they look like they're wasting away from radiation poisoning despite actually being quite healthy) limits the kinds of jobs they take.  They either need to conceal their looks with technology, magic, or psionic assistance or accept that they're going to draw a lot of attention.  People who hire the team frequently use them for base security work or send along another super with powers that can disguise them.

Fireteam Firestorm has developed a semi-friendly rivalry with the Purple Gang, who have a lot in common with them as well a pretty complementary color scheme.

___________________________________________________________________________

Doctor Fallout

Arno van Wyk is a failed medical doctor, having lost his accreditation over a drug selling scandal.  He selected his supranym with that in mind.  Arno's disgrace led him into the mercenary field, and he's proven himself to be a more than competent medic over the last decade.  He's also discovered a real love for a good fight, and that's only become more true now that he's got superpowers for a real edge.  Of all the team members he's got the most suitable mindset for proper supervillainy and a bit of mad science.  Like all of his team he's polylingual, speaking Afrikaans, Spanish, French, and English, with a smattering of Russian, German and several other African languages as well.

Description: A hairless, unnaturally thin man with faintly glowing green skin and eyes, dressed in military fatigues that hang loosely on his spare frame.  His uniform lacks insignia and will be in an appropriate camo scheme for the area, most often an urban look.  He carries a clearly marked medical kit on his back but no weapons or other gear, relying on his powers.  When manifesting those powers his glow brightens to a painful intensity.

Gender: Male          Age: 31         Height: 5'11"          Eyes: Solid Green

Hair: None              Skin: Emerald Green           Build: Wasting Away

Approach:  Skilled                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d10, Flight d8, Strength d6

Qualities: Leadership d10, Medicine d10, Acrobatics d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Insight d8, Mercenary Veteran d8

Status: (# of Other Allied Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6

Abilities:

Atomic Fallout (R) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Leadership die as a Boost for yourself.

Nuclear Shielding (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Mercenary Veteran die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Radiation Sickness (A) Hinder using Medicine.  Use your Max + Min dice.  This penalty is persistent and exclusive.

Radioactive Feedback (A) Attack using Nuclear.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics:

Doctor Fallout is the team's medic, although he's also become the de facto leader since they became supervillains.  Like his teammates he uses Radioactive Feedback when he needs to deal damage and heal himself, and Atomic Fallout to self-boost if one of his allies is defeated.  Nuclear Shielding gives him a strong personal defensive reaction that also deals out some damage.  His medical training comes into play with Radiation Sickness, which hands out a powerful lasting penalty by damaging selected nerve trunks - or just hitting his opponent very hard in the genitals if he opts to use Strength or Flight with it.

His upgrade improves his ability handle multiple foes at once and his mastery makes him more reliable at completing his contract, as with all of the team.

__________________________________________________________________________

Sergeant Armageddon

Hakim Joubert is a very experienced soldier, having served in the South African military for years before moving on to mercenary work.  He's good with tactics and teamwork, and knows enough about logistics to know he gets less paperwork to do if he hides how good he is at it.  Hakim hasn't really got a life or interests outside of military service, and is pretty dull to hang around with.  Closest thing he gets to a hobby is an encyclopedic knowledge of weapon systems, modern and historical.  He speaks Afrikaans and English flawlessly (and can even manage a convincing British accent) and several other languages rather poorly, including German and Italian.  

Description: A tall, hairless, unnaturally thin man with faintly glowing green skin and eyes, dressed in military fatigues that hang loosely on his spare frame.  His uniform lacks insignia and will be in an appropriate camo scheme for the area, most often an urban scheme.  When manifesting his powers his normal glow brightens to a painful intensity.  He carries a holstered 9mm pistol and combat knife at his belt, mostly out of habit.

Gender: Male          Age: 32          Height: 6'2"          Eyes: Solid Green

Hair: None              Skin: Emerald Green          Build: Wasting Away

Approach:  Tactician                Archetype:  Loner

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Flight d8, Nuclear d8, Intuition d6, Strength d6

Qualities: Leadership d10, Acrobatics d8, Mercenary Veteran d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6

Status: (# of Other Allied Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6

Abilities:

Atomic Fallout (R) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Leadership die as a Boost for yourself.

Coordinated Strike (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Leadership die.

Radioactive Feedback (A) Attack using Nuclear.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Team Effort (A) Attack using Leadership.  Use your Max die.  Add one to the result for each other ally that Attacked that target since your last turn.

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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics:

Sergeant Armageddon was the team's leader in the old days and still tends to take charge during actual fights, but he's content to let the better-connected and educated Doctor Fallout make the big decisions on a day to day basis.  Like his teammates he uses Radioactive Feedback when he needs to deal damage and heal himself, and Atomic Fallout to self-boost if one of his allies is defeated.  He prefers to use teamwork as much as possible, aiding allies' Attacks with Coordinated Strike and concentrating fire with Team Effort.

His upgrade improves his ability handle multiple foes at once and his mastery makes him more reliable at completing his contract, as with all of the team.

__________________________________________________________________________

Little Boy

Amari Ndaba's not thrilled with his supranym, but he's used to jokes about his height, especially since his younger brother Katlego finished growing.  He's spent his whole adult life as a mercenary soldier and knows the job well, but working for supervillains has him feeling a bit out of his depth.  Amari speaks Afrikaans and English well, can get by in French, and has a smattering of many other languages, although most of his vocabulary in them consists of curses and ways to ask for drugs, alcohol and sex workers.  Plays a variety of (mostly African) wind instruments well, they're a hobby of his.

Description: A short, hairless, unnaturally thin man with faintly glowing green skin and eyes, dressed in military fatigues that hang loosely on his spare frame.  His uniform lacks insignia and will be in an appropriate camo scheme for the area, most often an urban scheme.  When manifesting his powers his normal glow brightens to a painful intensity.  He often carries a battered assault rifle slung on his back, and uses it to aim down when throwing his atomic energy blasts, which he insists gives him better accuracy than just pointing.  It doesn't.  The weapon isn't loaded - he had a bad experience live ammo detonating from the energy coursing over it and has learned better. 

Gender: Male          Age: 30          Height: 5'6"         Eyes: Solid Green

Hair: None              Skin: Jade Green           Build: Wasting Away

Approach:  Relentless               Archetype:  Loner

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d10, Flight d8, Strength d6

Qualities: Leadership d10, Acrobatics d8, Mercenary Veteran d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6 

Status: (# of Other Allied Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6

Abilities:

Atomic Fallout (R) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Leadership die as a Boost for yourself.

Combined Attack (R) When one of your allies Attacks an opponent, roll your single Leadership die and add that amount of damage to the Attack.

Radioactive Feedback (A) Attack using Nuclear.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Radiation Poisoning (A) Attack and Hinder one target using Nuclear.  If target status is d4 or d6, use your Max + Min dice  If target status is d8, use your Max die.  If target status is d10 or d12, use your Mid 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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics:

Little Boy is a well-trained grunt, good at taking orders but without a lot of personal initiative when on his own.  Like his teammates he uses Radioactive Feedback when he needs to deal damage and heal himself, and Atomic Fallout to self-boost if one of his allies is defeated.  He usually works in tandem with Sergeant Armageddon, piling on extra damage on Sarge's turn with Combined Attack and using Radiation Poisoning himself whenever he doesn't need healing. 

His upgrade improves his ability handle multiple foes at once and his mastery makes him more reliable at completing his contract, as with all of the team.

__________________________________________________________________________

Fat Man

Katlego Ndaba's supranym used to be a pretty accurate description of his physique, but these days it's a cruel mockery.  Still has quite the appetite though, and his older brother Amari likes to rag him about it.  He's a bit a language savant and despite being largely self-taught speaks Afrikaans, English, Zulu and Xhosa pretty well and can get by in French and Arabic, with a smattering of several other languages.  Knows his way around most infantry weapons.  Can't drive worth a damn, never even learned to ride a bicycle.  Good thing he can fly these days. 

Description: A very tall, hairless, unnaturally thin man with faintly glowing green skin and eyes, dressed in military fatigues that hang loosely on his spare frame.  His uniform lacks insignia and will be in an appropriate camo scheme for the area, most often an urban scheme.  When manifesting his powers his normal glow brightens to a painful intensity.  He doesn't have any nostalgia about his past or weird ideas about how to aim his energy blast, but he does tend to carry snacks and water bottles in his various pouches and webbing.

Gender: Male          Age: 24          Height: 6'6"          Eyes: Solid Green

Hair: None              Skin: Jade Green           Build: Wasting Away

Approach:  Leech               Archetype:  Loner

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d10, Flight d8, Strength d6

Qualities: Acrobatics d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Leadership d8, Mercenary Veteran d8

Status: (# of Other Allied Villains) 0 - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d6

Abilities:

Atomic Fallout (R) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Leadership die as a Boost for yourself.

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

Radioactive Feedback (A) Attack using Nuclear.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Radiation Surge (A) Hinder using Nuclear.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Boost using your Mid 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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics:

Fat Man is physically the largest of the team, the youngest, and the least happy with his current situation, but he's sticking with the rest until he can find a way to cure his powers.  Being a big green freak is a little easier with company.  Like his teammates he uses Radioactive Feedback when he needs to deal damage and heal himself, and Atomic Fallout to self-boost if one of his allies is defeated.  Nuclear Glow lets him irradiate multiple foes at once as well as drawing in more energy to heal his injuries,  Radiation Surge is a more focused variation of the same ability, handing out a single very strong penalty while enhancing Fat man's next move.

His upgrade improves his ability handle multiple foes at once and his mastery makes him more reliable at completing his contract, as with all of the team.

__________________________________________________________________________

At some point Doctor Fallout will (most likely with the assistance of some mega-genius villain or kidnapped scientist) come up with a serum that can give other people cut-rate versions of his powers.  While the resulting super is dangerously unstable and literally short-lived, that fact won't be shared with anyone he opts to use as temporary muscle to pad out the team's numbers.  He'll recruit these guys through his underworld and mercenary connections, selecting for subjects who won't be missed when they inevitably burn out.  Some people will do anything for powers, especially when there's the promise of a decent paycheck piled on top of the offer. 

FNG d10 lieutenant

Description: Green, glowing, flying guy dressed in unmarked military fatigues, looks kind of sickly and thin - and it gets visibly worse pretty quickly, with their hair falling out in clumps and their musculature withering away.  There might be an antidote or another way to save them before it's too late.  Maybe.

Flight: You can move as though you had Flight d6.

Radioactive Meltdown In Progress: When you take your action, roll twice and use the higher result.  If you roll doubles reduce your die size by one.  If this reduces your die size below a d4, you are defeated.  This can trigger the Atomic Fallout reaction.

Blog Content Index