Sunday, January 8, 2023

The Green Queen, Floral Tyrant Pursuing An Agenda of Extermination

A plant-themed villain with a hatred of all things made of flesh.

The Green Queen

The Green Queen is an otherworldly entity originating in the Green Dimension, a plane of boundless alien vegetation possessed of a sinister overmind that the Queen is an avatar of.  She's a crusader bent on scrubbing other worlds clean of filthy, destructive animal life of all types, and particularly resents beasts that develop "tools' and "technology" based on inorganic substances.  She tolerates only a few animals that can serve plants as they should - pollinating insects and soil-aerating worms, mostly - and sees all others as no more than potential fertilizer.  The only thing the Queen of the Green Dimension truly fears is an invasion by Infernovox, a supernatural menace on par with herself.

Her rare incursions to Earth (or wherever your campaign is set) have been universally opposed by the superhero community, and even most villains will work against her out of sheer self-interest.  She continues to make attempts to cleanse the world following some alien seasonal pattern that isn't wholly understood, and defeat holds no terror for her.  Even when "destroyed" the overmind of the Green Dimension will simply create her anew, so battles against her remain a temporary solution rather than a permanent fix.

Her natural abilities grant her complete control over all plants near her, animating and enhancing their durability, speed, and strength to a level that even superhumans struggle to deal with.  Her mere presence drives most animals and some humans mad with fear, and she can drive those whose wills have broken into a blind frenzy or drain their life force directly to strengthen herself and her plants.  She can also greatly vary her size and structure, with heights as great as 300' having been observed in combat and tiny leaflike forms used for infiltration and stealth.  

Description: An animated plant, its lines somehow suggestive of a female form.  Its features vary with its size.  At its smallest it might be a tiny featureless seed, a hard brown nut, a flexible blade of grass or a wind-blown leaf.  At a couple of yards of height it seems to be a hybrid of woman and sapling, graceful and slender and crowned in glorious foliage.  By three yards it's becoming more definitely treelike, with thicker limbs and sturdy bark.  It can be far larger, towering hundreds of feet into the air with gnarled, multiply-forked limbs and iron-hard roots carrying it unstoppably forward.   

Gender: Female?         Age: Eternal         Height: Small As A Seed, Tall As A Redwood    

Eyes: None       Foliage: Verdant Green          Bark: Pale Gray-Brown        Build: Willowy

Approach:  Focused                          Archetype:  Domain

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Plants d12, Size-Changing d8

Qualities: Conviction d10, Floral Tyrant d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8

Status: (# environment targets and challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Above the World of Flesh (I) Ignore all damage from environment sources during the environment turn.

Draw On Deep Roots (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions.

Hungering Vines (A) Attack one target using Plants.  Use your Max die.  That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.  Attack multiple other nearby targets using your Min die.

Maddened Frenzy (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Attack every target in the scene (other than yourself) with those dice.  Remove those minions.

Untouched By Lightning (I) Ignore all damage from Electricity.

Verdant Shield (R) Defend yourself against an Attack that targets only you by rolling your single Plants die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes by one (max d12).

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 Green Queen despises all animal life, and she's none to keen on inorganic life forms and machinery either.  She'll use her absolute control of plant life in her vicinity as weapons and tools, striking with Hungering Vines and defending herself with Verdant Shield.  She's immune to most environmental damage thanks to Above the World of Flesh, and once the environment adds enough minions to the scene she'll either goad them into a Maddened Frenzy to attack all non-plants, or drain their vital energies with Draw On Deep Roots.  The Green Queen shrugs off even the most powerful electrical attacks thanks to Untouched By Lightning, and will happily use her Size-Changing for Overcomes to turn power lines and other electrical sources as impromptu weapons or challenges for the heroes to deal with.

Her upgrade gives her very strong die pools even when her status die is small, while her mastery lets her draw on the unnatural powers of the Green Dimension to further her schemes.

_____________________________________________________________________

Conquered By the Green Dimension

This environment represents an area of the normal universe that's been forcibly annexed by the Green Dimension, overlaying the original reality with a green hell of hostile plant life and driving animal and human occupants of the zone mad with fear.  It might enclose an area as small as a single building or small park, or as large as a small city or geographical feature like a valley or natural forest, but the Green Queen will always be found somewhere within, stabilizing the dimensional intrusion.

Extradimensional Vegetation d10, Insane Occupants d10, Twisting Trails d8

Green Zone

(Minor Twists)

Crazed Animal: Add one animal environment minion (see below) to the scene.

Killer Plant: Roll the environment dice.  Attack one target using the Max die, including heroes and animal environment minions.

(Major Twist)

Living Labyrinth: Start multi-step challenge.  Impenetrable Maze 00  Until this challenge is Overcome, moving from one location to another requires 4+ on your Mid die that turn or your movement is blocked by shifting walls of plant life and magical distortions.  If you attempted to move and your Mid die was 8+ you may bring any number of allies along with you when you move, or you may take an action in your new location after moving.


Yellow Zone

(Minor Twists)

Deranged Inhabitants: Roll the environment dice.  Add Mid die animal environment minions (see below) to the scene.

Grasping Roots: Roll the environment dice.  Use the Max die to Attack one target and Hinder another, including heroes and animal environment minions.

Separated: The surrounding foliage heaves and twists, isolating unwelcome intruders to make them easier prey.  Divide the heroes as evenly as possibly between the scene's locations.  Then do the same for any animal environment minions in play. 

(Major Twist)

Hunters In the Maze: Roll the environment dice.  Add Mid + Min dice Woodwolves to the scene.  They are hostile to all heroes and animal environment minion targets.

Red Zone

(Minor Twist)

Frantic Stampede: Roll the environment dice.  Add Max die animal environment minions (see below) to the scene.

(Major Twist)

Bolstered By The Overmind: Roll the environment dice.  Heal all villain targets using the Max die, then Boost all villain targets and Woodwolves using the Mid + Min dice.

______________________________________________________________

The exact types of environment minions used for twists should be based on what might have lived in the area before the dimensional intrusion occurred.  Urban areas would have a lot more humans (who are still "animals" since they're made of flesh and can't photosynthesize worth a damn) while rural areas and zoos will see more animals, and likely more dangerous ones.


Crazed Animals d6, d8, or d10 animal environment minion

Description: Various natural creatures, all driven mad by fear and desperation.  Their die size varies depends on the type of animal and how dangerous it could be to an unarmed normal human, but even something as small as a housecat or a swarm of rats would be a d6 under the influence of their terror.  Big dogs, wolves, and larger livestock or herbivores are d8 minions.  Unless there's a zoo in the area you probably won't have any d10 elephants, rhinos, tigers or lions, but rural areas might see d10 bears, elk and moose.

Utterly Frenzied: You can only take Attack actions, and may choose any target including other animal environment minions.


Desperate Survivor d6 or d8 animal environment minion

Description: Everyday human beings transformed into maddened berserkers by the terror of the situation.  They no longer retain enough reason to use firearms but they may flail away with improvised melee weapons.

Fear-Crazed Victims: You can only take Attack actions, and may choose any target including other animal environment minions.  You gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage from Attacks by heroes who are using non-lethal methods to subdue you.

Still A Glimmer of Sanity: Heroes can take an Overcome action to restore your sanity.  On a success you become a hero ally, cease to be an environment minion, lose Fear-Crazed Victims and gain Trying To Help.

Trying To Help: You gain this ability only when restored to sanity.  You can only take Boost actions, which can only target nearby heroes.  When a nearby hero moves, you may move along with them.


Woodwolves d10 minion

Description: A tangle of animated branches and thorny vines in the shape of a large wolf.  Acts a lot like one too.

Brutal Killers: You gain a +1 bonus to Attack actions, which increase to +3 against animal environment targets.

Tough As Oak: You gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage unless the Attack uses Fire.

_____________________________________________________________________

The Green Queen can (and often should) be used with other environments, but if so you should add Crazed Animal (Green twist) and Deranged Survivors (Yellow twist) to the existing environmental options.  Her mere presence drives creatures of flesh to self-destructive insanity even without the direct support of her native dimension.


Blog Content Index

No comments:

Post a Comment

Go-Go Robo, Hippie Fembot Super-Speedster

New hero PC for a one-shot last weekend.  Nice to get some play time in again. Go-Go Robo Go-Go Robo is a gynoid duplicate of the Silver Age...