Wednesday, January 18, 2023

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


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