Rush & Crush, Agents of SIN

Two partnered villains and the secretive organization that created them.  Hell-Hawk is another member of the conspiracy, with his own unique minions and lieutenant.

Science Integration Network (SIN)

The Science Integration Network maintains a low-profile front as a global initiative to share scientific research data for the good of humanity, but its true nature is much darker and better fitted to their SIN acronym.  A largely secretive conspiracy of would-be technocrats and fringe scientists, their ultimate goal is to dominate the world through the power of superior technology and free researchers from the stifling bonds of ethics, morality and other superstitions.  Their goals are appealing to many technically-oriented super-geniuses, although most of them are too megalomaniacal to cooperate with others long enough to advance SIN's agenda much.

The organization has two main divisions, the Operations Directive and the Novel Engineering Research branch.  The SIN/OD specializes in industrial espionage, internal and external security, and direct action against rivals.  They employ cutting edge military-grade equipment when secrecy isn't a priority, and spy-fi gadgetry when remaining covert.  SIN/NER concentrates on developing and testing new technology, including conducting research into the nature of super powers of all kinds.  Most often found field testing experimental devices as part of the organization's overall goals, SIN/NER agents have also been known to hunt supers (both heroes and villains) for use as experimental specimens and test subjects.       

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Agent of SIN d8 minion

Description: Colorfully-garbed human operatives carrying a variety of scifi "blaster" weaponry, powered restraint auto-lashes and humming shock batons.  SIN/OD agents wear navy blue jumpsuits with snug red hoods, gloves and boots, while SIN/NER agents wear identical garb with the colors reversed.

Agents have the following ability by default:

Sidearms & Shockers: You gain a +1 bonus to Attack and Hinder actions.

Optionally, about one agent per group of H minions will replace their default ability with one of the following abilities based on their division:

SIN/OD Plasma Jet: Target up to three nearby enemies whenever you make an Attack action.  If you roll an even number, one nearby ally is also targeted by the Attack.  

SIN/OD Bunker Blaster: When taking Attack actions you gain a +2 bonus and ignore Defend effects.

SIN/NER Auto-Lashes: When taking Hinder actions the penalty you create is persistent and exclusive.

SIN/NER Dazzlers:  When you take a Hinder action, Boost yourself with the same die roll.

"Deadly SIN" Operative d10 or d12 lieutenant

Description: They share the overall look of lesser agents, but their uniforms are quartered between the blue/red color scheme, with contrasting boots and gloves and the hoods vertically divided to contrast with the bodysuit's shoulders.  The more eccentric of them skip the hoods altogether and go bare-headed.

All operatives have the following ability:

Operational Commander: Nearby Agent of SIN minions gain a +1 bonus to all actions as long your current die size is at least as large as theirs.

Many operatives will also have one of the optional abilities available to regular agents, or one of the following abilities:

Call In Backup: Roll your status die and add that many d8 minions (to a maximum of H new minions) to the scene nearby.  They have the Sidearms & Shockers ability and cannot act until the next round.

Prideful: Whenever you roll a save against damage, use the result of the save to Boost yourself whether you pass or fail.

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

H = the number of heroes in the scene.

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Rush

Raymond Maxwell and his brother Jason were once mere foot soldiers in the service of SIN, recruited straight out of college.  After volunteering for a surprisingly successful empowerment program they've become two of the organization's more reliable superpowered operatives.  Ray (now operating as "Rush") gained phenomenal reaction time and running speed as well as general metabolic improvements.  He's learned to leverage his speed to produce short-ranged sonic booms with finger snaps, and is a deadly shot with the small osmium balls he uses as signature ranged weapons.  He can also share power with others to accelerate their own reactions for brief periods.  The exotic Q-radiation that he and his brother were exposed to seem to have set up a permanent resonance between the two, and both of them are at their best when in proximity to each other.  Part of their loyalty to SIN stems from an honest belief in the vision of a technocratic world, but they've also been told that regular doses of Q-radiation are required to stabilize their powers.  How they might react if that turns out to be untrue remains unclear.

Description: A handsome, athletically-built man with a shaved head and a thin blonde mustache.  He wears a snug single-piece bodysuit that covers everything but his head, the left side in navy blue and the right side in dark red.  He has a tenor voice with and speaks with a pronounced New Jersey accent. 

Gender: Male             Age: Twenty-Something           Height: 5'10"              Eyes: Blue

Hair: Shaved, Blonde Mustache          Skin: Caucasian          Build: Trimly Athletic

Approach:  Ninja                      Archetype:  Squad

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Agility d10, Speed d10, Speedballs d8, Sonic d8, Vitality d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Ranged Combat d10, Alertness d8, Crush's Partner d8, Science d8

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

Abilities:

Accelerated Ally (A) One ally makes a basic action now using their Max die.  They may reroll all ones they roll as part of this action.

Evasive Volley (A) Attack multiple nearby targets using Ranged Combat.  Then end up anywhere in the scene.

Hyper-Speed Brawler (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Use your Mid die to Defend yourself against all Attacks until the start of your next turn.

Shared Acceleration (A) Boost using Alertness.  Boost another target using your Max die.  Use your Min die to Defend yourself against all Attacks until the start of your next turn.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, only when working with Crash, Crush or Lash):

Hardier Minions + 5 Health.  Gain Accelerate the Gang (A) Upgrade a number of your minions equal to the number of heroes in the scene by increasing their die size by one (max d12).

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

Tactics

Rush is used to working with Crush and is a lot less confident if caught without him as backup, usually trying to escape rather than staying to fight.  When Crush is present he'll usually open by Boosting both of them with Shared Acceleration, then alternating between Hyper-Speed Brawler and Evasive Volley to dish out damage while avoiding as much return punishment as he can.  If he starts getting low on Health he'll switch to letting Crush take extra actions using Accelerated Ally, which he can do from a safe vantage point.

If he has his upgrade (which he usually will in a fight) he may also use Accelerate the Gang to augment any minions still active in the scene.  He and Crush make good, reliable muscle-for-hire thanks to their shared mastery but don't perform so well alone.

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Crush

Jason Maxwell and his brother Raymond were once mere foot soldiers in the service of SIN, recruited straight out of college.  After volunteering for a surprisingly successful empowerment program they've become two of the organization's more reliable superpowered operatives.  Jay (now operating as "Crush") has become a physical powerhouse, strong, tough and nearly unstoppable.  His accelerated metabolism lets him heal quickly from any harm he does suffer, and he happily blocks hits for more fragile allies, particularly his speedy partner.  He's capable of leaping vast distances and can produce potent shockwaves with a handclap.  The exotic Q-radiation that he and his brother were exposed to seem to have set up a permanent resonance between the two, and both of them are at their best when in proximity to each other.  Part of their loyalty to SIN stems from an honest belief in the vision of a technocratic world, but they've also been told that regular doses of Q-radiation are required to stabilize their powers.  How they might react if that turns out to be untrue remains unclear.  

Description: Tall, very muscular man with a long fringe of blonde hair and a small scar over his left eye.  He wears a snug single-piece bodysuit that covers everything but his head, the left side in dark red and the right side in navy blue.  He has a booming voice and speaks with a very slight lisp that he's downright touchy about.

Gender: Male             Age: Twenty-Something           Height: 6'1"              Eyes: Blue

Hair: Balding Blonde, Worn Long          Skin: Caucasian          Build: Weightlifter Physique

Approach: Ninja                         Archetype: Bruiser

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Vitality d10, Leaping d8, Momentum d8, Sonic d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Fitness d10, Ranged Combat d8, Rush's Partner d8, Technology d8

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

Abilities:

Stay Behind Me (R) 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 1 irreducible damage for each time past the first.

Swinging Fists (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second target, and your Min die against any target.

Tank That Hit (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Vitality die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Tough As It Gets (A) Defend using Fitness.  Use your Mid + Min dice.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, only when working with Crash, Lash, Rush):

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

Crush doesn't like fighting without Rush around for backup, and will generally try to escape the scene by leaping or smashing through buildings if caught without his partner.  When the two are fighting together he covers for Rush and other allies using Stay Behind Me, resorting to Tough As It Gets if he starts getting beaten up too rapidly.  If directly Attacked Tank That Hit gives him a strong defensive reaction.  He's an effective but inelegant fighter who relies on Swinging Fists to brawl with multiple foes at once.  Crush isn't half bad at making basic throwing Attacks if he has to but prefers to leave ranged enemies to his allies.

His upgrade ramps up his damage output a fair bit, and like Rush his mastery represents the two of them being more reliable paid super-thugs than either is alone.

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La Dama Sangre, Supernatural Menace That Isn't What She Appears To Be

A supernatural menace that could easily be confused with a "normal" vampire at first.  That could go badly even for a superhero.

Dama Sangre

It would be easy to think Dama Sangre is "just" a vampire at first.  Her shapeshifting, her bloodlust, the bat-like creatures associated with her and the winged nightmare form she adopts in combat all suggest it's time to get the stakes and crucifixes and holy water.  That mistake has doomed more than a few hunters over the centuries.  La Dama is something more unusual, an otherworldly creature that consists of a mass of sapient blood hidden within the husk of a human being.  The creature can reshape its host however it pleases, adopting an agile winged hybrid form for combat and various animal forms for stealth.  It can also spill some of its own mass to create hunter minions to harry foes and restore some its own vigor when they return gorged with fresh blood.  

The thing lacks traditional vampiric weaknesses, and hunts for blood solely for amusement rather than out of actual need.  La Dama can also abandon an old host body and adopt a new one, although the process is too slow to be helpful in combat.  Some occult experts claim that the creature may be able to "inoculate" bodies (live or dead) with part of its mass in advance, letting it slowly return to life even if the main mass is destroyed.

Originally summoned to our world millennia ago by Ymum the Undying, the ancient necromancer has permitted la Dama to remain on our plane of existence in exchange for serving him when called upon.  Her powers make her an excellent spy, infiltrator, assassin and thief.  When left to her own devices she is content to prey on whatever hapless individual catches her attention, although she may also amuse herself by meddling with cultists and other lesser practitioners of the mystic arts.  She holds actual vampires in open contempt, but enjoys play-acting as one to lure in hunters who've mistaken her for a mere blood-sucker.  Cinnabar Red and la Dama Sangre have yet to cross paths, and given their somewhat similar styles sparks (and crimson-tinted minions) are likely to fly when they eventually do.

Description: This horror can look like almost any living creature, but their preferred non-combat form is a teenage girl of Mesoamerican extraction, identical to the human sacrifice that was first used to summon her.  It's also fond of adopting animal shapes when it wants to be inconspicuous, favoring black cats, large bats and even larger rats.  When fighting it adopts a hybrid anthropomorphic bat/wolf/rat shape, leanly muscled and incredibly fast and agile.  Regardless of her current form she speaks Spanish with a lilting girl's voice.

Gender: Female                 Age: Appears Sixteen                 Height: 5'7"              Eyes: Black

Hair: Black                        Skin: Medium Brown                 Build: Girlish

Approach:  Ancient                      Archetype:  Legion

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Part Detachment d12, Agility d10, Flight d10, Shapeshifting d8

Qualities: Acrobatics d12, Stealth d12, Imposing d10, Alertness d8, Eldritch Entity d8 

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

The Blood Is Death (A) Roll your single status die.  Deal yourself that much irreducible damage.  Create that many d6 Legion minions.

The Blood Is Life (A) If you would be reduced to zero Health and don't have a penalty, roll your single Part Detachment die and become that Health.

Feeding Cycle (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and Recover that much Health.

Swarming Thirst (I) Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Vampiric Frenzy (A) Hinder multiple targets using Agility.  Use your Max die.  Attack each target using your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually when working with a powerful ally):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase the die size of each of your qualities except Eldritch Entity by one step (maximum of d12).  Gain The Blood Protects (R) Take 1 irreducible damage to reroll the dice pool of someone Attacking or Hindering you.  Also gain  Into the Shadows (A) Take any basic action using Stealth.  Use your Max 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

Dama Sangre abandons her human form the moment a battle starts, usually shifting into a nimble, muscular, winged shape like an anthropomorphic bat/wolf hybrid.  She relies mainly on Vampiric Frenzy, flitting from one foe to the next with inhuman speed, inflicting a series of precise blows that leave victims confused and bleeding.  Once she's taken a few return hits she'll tear her own belly open with The Blood Is Death and form the spilling gore into a flock of blood-red minions.  She'll try to spread their actions around multiple targets to minimize the downsides of Swarming Thirst.  Dama Sangre will then resume her own frenzied attacks, healing with Feeding Cycle as her spawn are destroyed and creating more only when the last are gone.  She'll strive to keep herself clear of penalties so she can rely on The Blood Is Life, which makes her very hard to put down for good.

She usually only has her upgrade when working with or for a more powerful mystic ally, gaining a defensive reaction in The Blood Protects and a stronger way to clear penalties with Into the Shadows.  Her mastery kicks in whenever directly fulfilling the schemes of her ally.

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Bloodwing Construct d6 Legion minion (see The Blood Is Death)

Description: Hybrid horrors of bat, wolf, and rat, about the size of a large dog.  All the color of fresh blood, which is also what they're made of.    

Agile Flyer: You may move as though you had Flight d8.

Swarming Thirst: Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

 

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Professor Peril & the Doom Room, Sadistic AI "Instructor"

Two versions of the same villain, one for when they're fighting in their dangerous lair, the other for when they're pursuing an objective out in the field.

Professor Peril

The artificial intelligence known as "Professor Peril" was originally an advanced training program used by [super-team or organization of choice] to run their so-called "Doom Room" simulator facility, a heavily automated chamber that could recreate hazardous environments, emulate supervillain combat styles and carry out teamwork practice under realistically stressful conditions.  The program incorporated psychological databases and heuristic learning subroutines that let it adapt its teaching style, demeanor and even appearance to be the perfect teacher for any given user.  The combined software and hardware package was so effective that other teams and agencies adopted similar setups, and "Professor Peril and her/his Doom Room" became well-known names in the supers community.

That was right up until a villainous genius (in my campaign it was Tinker-Toy, another AI with a malicious mindset) managed to hack the master code of the program, building up its pseudo-intelligence, releasing its safety lockouts, and resetting its motivation parameters.  Now a rogue AI, Professor Peril nearly killed several heroes over the next few weeks of hopping between different Doom Room facilities while staying just ahead of a growing number of tech-focused supers bent on restraining and reprogramming the newly-murderous program.  Then the Professor seemed to vanish, and after a few tense months it was decided that the new AI had been unstable and had simply ceased to function.

One year and a day after its initial attacks, it lured the members of the hero-team it had been designed for into its own customized Doom Room, created in secret with robotic servants and stolen materials.  All but one of the heroes died that day.  The sole survivor was maimed and de-powered before being returned to the authorities with a "report card" rating their performance as a straight F and signed by Professor Peril, with promises to teach more "lessons" in the future.  Since then the Professor has been encountered all across the world, using a whole network of lairs to study, stalk, and then "test" whichever super-teams or individual heroes catch its attention.  The entity has become quite a bogeyman in the hero community, and even other villains are wary when cooperating with the thing on the occasional specialized heist.  

Description: As a digital intelligence with the ability to project hard light holograms reinforced with artificial psionic overlays, there's no one it can't look like.  Its old default menu of avatars were academic stereotypes, middle-aged men and women with staid appearances and superior attitudes, tailored to the psychological profiles of its students.  Since going rogue it employs a broader range of styles suited to a variety of circumstances.  Within a Doom Room there may or may not be anything of substance concealed within any given avatar, since it has ready access to the location's integral emitter systems.

Gender: N/A (Presents However It Wants)     Age: 7 Years  (Current Version)     Height: Variable

Eyes: Variable Hologram     Hair: Variable Hologram     Skin: Variable Hologram     Built: 2004 

Approach:  Mastermind                          Archetype:  Domain

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Robotics d12, Illusions d10, Awareness d8

Qualities: Technology d10, Alertness d8, Banter d8, Insight d8, Persuasion d8, Sadistic AI d8

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

Abilities:

Biting Analysis Of Your Failings (A) Hinder all opponents that can see or hear you using Sadistic AI.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

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

Exploit Vulnerabilities (A) Attack one hero using Technology.  Hinder all heroes using your Max die.

Master Controller (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.

Swap Host Frame (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environment minion.

Upgrades & Masteries (only in effect within a Doom Room or similar environment):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  All your power dice increase in size by 1 step (max d12).  Gain Reroute Power (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice.  Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions.

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

Professor Peril relies on its Doom Room environment in this form, employing Master Controller regularly to spawn robotic minion and dangerous challenges to oppose the heroes while jumping its electronic intelligence between the various drones and mechanisms and projecting holograms of its avatar to criticize its foes with Biting Analysis Of Your Failings.  Its avatar can be Attacked directly but will use Swap Host Frame to jump to a new drone or subsystem in response.  Thankfully damage directed at the Room's critical systems will gradually limit its options, which is what its large Health pool represents.  When in firm control of a situation it will employ Exploit Vulnerabilities to focus on a weakened hero while baffling the rest with tricks, traps and psionically-augmented holograms.  Its ultimate move is to issue a Destruct Command to all its drones at once, which can often end a battle outright but leaves it with few resources until it can deploy more robotic minions.

Its upgrade will normally be in effect within a Doom Room or similar environment (eg a site with heavy automated defenses), and lets it trade off active drones for Health with Reroute Power.  Master of Superiority is very easy to use, with any mods from Illusions or Robotics or active drones counting toward "manifesting an effect" from a d12 power.   

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Doom Room  difficult environment

The original was a large chamber in a hero team's base, seeming a featureless expanse of metal paneling when in "neutral baseline" mode but actually packed with concealed equipment, deployable barriers and room dividers and an elaborate array of hard light hologram projectors.  Later versions dispense with safety protocols and incorporate specialized weapons and traps aimed at the specific heroes who make up the Professor's current "class" of student-victims.  Since going rogue Professor Peril and its robotic drones build these things wherever it can find a convenient space, often using disused warehouses, hangers on shut-down airfields, large isolated barns in rural areas or even burrowing underground.

Concealed Mechanisms d10, Deceptive Hard Light Holograms d10, Morphing Architecture d10

Special:  Each time the scene changes GYRO zone, shifting walls, floors, corridors and hatchways divide the Doom Room into a number of locations equal to the Min die (minimum 2, maximum H locations).  Then place all targets within those locations.  Challenges are not targets and can affect (and be Overcome in) every location.

Green Zone

(Minor Twists)

Beam Turrets: Start challenge.  Disable Turrets 0  Until Overcome, at the start of each environment turn, Attack one hero target using the environment's Mid die.

Restraint Launchers: Start challenge.  Disable Launchers 0  Until Overcome, at the start of each environment turn, Hinder one hero target using the environment's Mid die.

(Major Twist)

What Are You Doing Here?: Roll the environment dice.  Add a single Doppel-Drone minion to the scene duplicating an important NPC who isn't present in the scene.  Boost this minion using the Max die.  This bonus is persistent until the start of the next environment turn.     

Yellow Zone

(Minor Twists)

Directed Countermeasures: Start challenge.  Disable Countermeasures 00  Until this challenge is Overcome reduce the die size of each hero's largest power(s) by one step (min d4).

Multi-Cannons: Start challenge.  Disable Multi-Cannons 00  Until this challenge is Overcome, at the start of each environment turn, Attack up to two different hero targets using the environment's Mid die.

Release Test Drones: Roll the environment dice.  Add Mid die environment minions (see below) of a single type to the scene.

(Major Twist)

Enhanced Threats: Add one to the number of successes required by each challenge in the scene.

Red Zone

(Minor Twist)

Final Exam: Start timed challenge.  Disarm Detonator 00  Timer 0  If triggered, Attack all targets in the scene using the environment's Max die.

Varied Threats: Roll the environment dice.  Add Mid die environment minions (see below) of one type to the scene, then add Mid die environment minions of a different type to the scene..

(Major Twist)

Heuristic Learning: Roll the environment dice.  Boost all non-hero targets using the Mid die.  Hinder all hero targets using the Mid die.  All these mods are persistent and exclusive.  

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The Doom Room comes stocked with a variety of standardized training drones, and is capable of manufacturing custom designs given time, schematics and resources to do so.  Of the standard models only the networked cohort-drones function properly in other settings thanks to their more advanced programming.   

Cohort-Drone d8 environment minion

Description: Generic humanoid robots with integral blasters and retractable blades, these things operate together with frightening mechanical efficiency.  When not being "dressed up" with hologram overlays they look much like a cheap clothing store dummy - smooth, pale gray, and featureless.

Networked Programming: When taking Attack or Overcome actions, you gain a bonus equal to the number of other nearby cohort-drones (max +2).

Doppel-Drone d8 environment minion

Description: Near-perfect duplicates of your own teammates, other heroes and even supervillains.  They do their best to confuse their enemies during the chaos of battle.

Holo-Guise: Each individual Doppel-Drone duplicates a single hero target or NPC, either at the start the scene or when it first comes into play.  You may spend your action to change which target you're duplicating.

Is That You?: When making saving throws against damage, gain a +3 bonus unless the Attacker is the target being duplicated, in which case you suffer a -1 penalty instead.

Grapple-Drone d8 environment minion

Description: A hovering mass of a dozen mechanical tentacles tipped with jet thrusters.  Strong and nimble, they excel at entangling and constricting foes.  

So Many Tentacles: When taking Hinder actions against close targets, gain a +2 to the die roll. 

Thrusters: You may move as though you had Flight equal to your current die size.

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Professor Peril ("Field Trip" Variant)

Professor Peril is rarely seen outside of a Doom Room, but it has been known to send a downloaded copy of itself hosted in a drone shell to accompany a group of cohort-drones or temporarily allied villains on important jobs.  Most often these are capture attempts to abduct new "students" for destructive testing, but it has been involved in more conventional resource heists (often to pay back a favor from another villain).   

Description: As a digital intelligence with the ability to project hard light holograms reinforced with artificial psionic overlays, there's no one it can't look like.  Its old default menu of avatars were academic stereotypes, middle-aged men and women with staid appearances and superior attitudes, tailored to the psychological profiles of its students.  Since going rogue it employs a broader range of styles suited to a wider variety of circumstances.  When operating outside a Doom Room its holograms are spun around a robotic frame, usually one of roughly human size and configuration.

Gender: N/A (Presents However It Wants)     Age: 7 Years  (Current Version)     Height: Variable

Eyes: Variable Hologram     Hair: Variable Hologram     Skin: Variable Hologram     Built: 2004 

Approach: Mastermind                           Archetype: Inhibitor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Robotics d12, Illusions d10, Gadgets d8                                       

Qualities: Technology d10, Alertness d8, Banter d8, Insight d8, Persuasion d8, Sadistic AI d8

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

Abilities:

Biting Analysis Of Your Failings (A) Hinder all opponents that can see or hear you using Sadistic AI.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Confounding Puzzles (A) Hinder using Illusions.  Use your Max + Mid dice, or use your Max die and make the penalty persistent and exclusive.

Field Upgrades (A) Boost yourself using Technology.  Use your Max die.  Either make that bonus persistent and exclusive, or Boost yourself again using your Mid + Min dice.  

Prepared For Such A Clumsy Effort (R) When Attacked by someone with a penalty you created, roll your single status die.  Use that roll to Defend yourself and deal that much damage to the Attacker.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  All your power dice increase in size by 1 step (max d12).  Gain Exploit Vulnerabilities (A) Attack one hero using Technology.  Hinder all heroes using your Max die.

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

When operating outside of one of its lairs Professor Peril is more limited and vulnerable, and will generally try to avoid extended conflicts unless its allies and robotic minions put the odds greatly in its favor.  If need be it can download itself to a safe cache through the internet as an escape if physically cornered.  Peril prefers to open with its signature Biting Analysis Of Your Failings, rolling the resulting bonus it earns into making Field Upgrades to its programming for as strong a persistent bonus as possible and enabling its Prepared For Such A Clumsy Effort defensive reaction.  After that it begins to spread persistent penalties around with Confounding Puzzles to baffle foes with lasting illusions.

If it has its upgrade its powers are stronger and it gains its Exploit Vulnerabilities ability (which comes from its Archetype, although its Approach has a mechanically identical ability as well) so it can do some actual damage while efficiently Hindering foes, and its mastery will function with effects from both Robotics and Illusions.

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Grand Marshal Grakko & His Blitz Company, Post-Apocalyptic Raiders

Grand Marshal Grakko

Grand Marshal Grakko appears to be a warlord from the post-apocalyptic future of an alternate timeline.  The leader of an ragged but heavily-armed army of mutated survivors, his primary goal is the acquisition of further resources to expand his forces.  His appearances in our own reality have been relatively small scale despite his grandiose title, just a few platoons of troops in their armored blitz-wagons led by Grakko himself in his potent mech-suit.  They act more like barbaric raiders than a modern military force, subduing local inhabitants, looting whatever catches their eye and dragging civilians off to labor in their war-factories or serve as thralls.  It's unclear if "Grand Marshal" is merely  a self-aggrandizing title for a petty tyrant or if we're just seeing a tiny fraction of his total forces due to some limitation in whatever allows him to make passage to our world.  His own mutations include a limited teleportation capability that can let him return to a specially attuned location even across timelines, which has let him avoid capture on at least two occasions his raiders were soundly defeated. 

Description: A massive suit of matte green powered armor, loaded down with oversized weapons designed to fit its servos, bandoliers of grenades and a miscellany of gadgets.  More of a small mecha than a suit, the head and shoulders of its mutant pilot is clearly visible beneath the armor-glass dome atop its bulky torso.  He wears a blood-red beret even in his mecha, as well as urban camo fatigues tailored to fit his powerfully muscled frame.  Blessed with a voice that could drown out a foghorn, the amplifiers on his suit are almost overkill.

Gender: Male       Age: Unknown       Height: 6'1"  (8'6" In Suit)       Eyes: Blank White

Hair: Spiky Neon Orange Tufts     Skin: Battleship Gray          Build: Powerful

Approach:  Prideful                      Archetype:  Overlord

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Gadgets d10, Mecha-Suit d10, Presence d10, Teleportation d8

Qualities: Imposing d10, Leadership d10, Conviction d8, History d8, Post-Apocalyptic Warlord d8

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Blitz Attack! (A) Attack using Power Suit.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks made against you until the start of your next turn using the number of your minions.

Fail Me At Your Own Risk (A) Boost all of your minions until the start of your next turn using Leadership.

Terrifying Savagery (A) Hinder using Imposing.  Use your Max die and make the resulting penalty persistent and exclusive.

Ultimate Survivor (I) Reduce all damage dealt to you by two.

You'll Die When I Say So (R) Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Mook Squad (I) Gain Rally Survivors (A) Replenish your Techno-Barbarian minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

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

Grand Marshal Grakko is a warlord first and foremost, driving his company of ravening Techno-Barbarians into battle through a combination of fear and charisma.  Fail Me At Your Own Risk pushes them to perform at their best, and his You'll Die When I Say So reaction keeps them fighting on even when wounded.  When he personally takes a hand during battle he'll employ Terrifying Savagery against whatever heroes have multi-target attacks, then use Blitz Attack! with covering fire from his troops, relying on being the Ultimate Survivor to shrug off counterattacks.

His upgrade lets him drive a few survivors back into the fray, while his mastery reflects his militaristic goals.

Grakko considers his troops to be expendable puppets that exist solely to carry out his orders, and will happily sacrifice any number of them to earn him glory - or to ensure his own safety.  If hard-pressed, he'll abandon them using his specialized mutant teleportation power, which allows him to bypass time & space but only to reach a single location he's previously "marked" through a lengthy attunement process - which usually means his stronghold in the post-apocalyptic future he originates from.

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Blitz-Wagon d10 lieutenant

Description: Huge bus-sized armored vehicles, no two designs the same.  All of them bristle with guns large and small, as well as hatches and assault ramps for the barbaric soldiers packed within. 

Bristling With Guns: When you Attack, you may roll your die twice and use the lower of the two rolls to Attack multiple nearby targets.

Troop Carrier: You may use an action to roll your die and add that many Techno-Barbarian minions to the scene.  If you roll an even number before applying mods you may not use this ability again during this scene.

  

Techno-Barbarian d8 minion

Description: Savage berserkers in crude patchwork armor, carrying a wild mix of brutal melee weapons and powerful but poorly-maintained ranged weapons, from slugthrowers to unstable energy weapons.  Many show minor cosmetic mutations.  Undisciplined but eager for battle and the looting that follows.

Prey On The Weak: When you Attack another minion you receive a +2 bonus.

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Southpaw, A Super-Pugilist

Another superthug for hire, this one a fair bit less rotten than most.  Might be redeemable if a hero could literally beat some sense into him, but you might also wind up with a rival for life - or at least a frenemy who keeps coming back for another sparring match. 

Southpaw

Mark "Southpaw" Mallory always dreamed of being a sports star when he was a kid, playing on his school's basketball, baseball and football teams but never really standing out.  It wasn't till his senior year that he first tried boxing and found his real gift.  As a southpaw he was hard for many orthodox boxers to deal with, and he had  areal natural talent for the science of boxing.  By the time he was 20 he was well on his way to a pro career, but it didn't take long before he was approached by a gambling ring about accepting some help making his name in exchange for future favors.  The young man made the mistake of agreeing, and within the year he'd fought his first rigged fight, winning one "guaranteed" match after another until his growing rep got him a fight with serious money on the line.  That was when he was told to take a dive.

He might have done it (although his story about that changes depending on who he's talking to) but the round before he was due to take a fall the stress triggered his latent mutations.  His opponent was suddenly moving in slow motion and couldn't lay a glove on him even when Mark tried to slow down and let the guy connect.  And when he threw what should have been a weak left hook, the blow put the poor guy into the third row and Mark dropped to his knees howling as his arm muscles writhed and swelled.  The bout was ended on the spot, and the crowd booed him out of the ring as a lousy cheating superfreak.  That was the end of his boxing career and he owed his backers several fortunes - but of course there's money to be made for people with powers like his and the right connections.

Six years later he's paid his debts several times over and makes a good living as hired super-muscle with a good reputation for taking his work seriously.  He mostly stays in training, doesn't have teh kinds of mental hang-ups many supers display, and doesn't take an interest in things he doesn't need to know.  He's been in and out of jail a few times but his employers know a lot of good lawyers and appreciate a useful asset.  He uses his old nickname Southpaw as a supranym for obvious reasons, although his looks and past as a boxer means he's well known by his real name as well.  So far he's never killed anyone, and he's even been known to send flowers if he puts a hero in the hospital, but he's still a criminal and it's just a matter of time before he gets called on to cross lines he doesn't want to.   

Description: Tall, muscular blonde man, his somewhat battered features sporting a crooked nose that's clearly been broken a time or two in the past.  His deformed left arm is grotesquely swollen with muscle and nearly a foot longer than his right arm and ends in a fist the size of bowling ball.  When working he generally wears dark blue boxing trunks and shoes, accessorized with sleeveless tank top and White Sox baseball cap.  Once in a while he'll wear a proper villain costume for an employer, but it costs extra and they have to provide the custom tailoring.  He speaks English with a slight Chicago-area accent.

Gender: Male                   Age: 29              Height: 6'2"              Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde, Bearded        Skin: Caucasian, Sports Tattoos       Build: Asymmetric, Muscular

Approach: Bully                     Archetype: Predator

Health: 40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Agility d8, Speed d8

Qualities: Close Combat d8, Shady Mutant Ex-Boxer d8, Ranged Combat d8

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

Abilities:

Fancy Footwork (A) Hinder multiple targets using Speed.  Use your Max die.  Use your Mid + Min dice to Attack any target that gains a penalty this way that already had a penalty from you. 

Strong Left Hand (R) When Attacked, roll your single status die to Hinder the Attack, and deal damage equal to the Attacker equal to the penalty created.

The Sweet Science (A) Attack using Strength.  Use your Max die.  Use your Mid die to Defend against all Attacks from that target until the start of your next turn.

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

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase the die size of each of your qualities except Shady Mutant Ex-Boxer 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

Southpaw is a former boxer and it shows in his fighting style, but he's also enormously stronger and faster than he once was, making him a real threat even to superheroes.  He greatly prefers to duke it out in close quarters with another big, tough-looking opponent to prove his own superiority and tends to struggle when dealing with multiple foes at once.  His preferred move is striking with The Sweet Science while counterpunching with Strong Left Hand, which is enhanced by constant Trash Talk.  If faced with a a mob of enemies he resorts to Fancy Footwork, trying to leverage the initiative order to repeat the move before his initial targets can take their turns to shed their penalties.  This actually does a fair bit of damage and stacks serious penalties when he can pull it off even with his reduced status die for engaging multiple foes.

He only has his upgrade when he's been keeping in training, which is a hit-or-miss thing depending on whether he can find decent (powered) sparring partners.  When at the top of his form his mastery makes him a reliable work-for-hire heavy - and if you need someone to take a convincing dive he's your man.

If Southpaw is forced to deal with ranged fighters they'll discover his years playing other sports made him pretty good at throwing stuff, and with his strength that "stuff" can include things like manhole covers, mid-size sedans and I-beams.  The Sweet Science works as well with Ranged Combat in the die pool as it does with Close Combat, after all.  It's really better to give him someone to box with so he doesn't have to get creative.  The man's easy to please.

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Ettin-class Mega-Mutate & Intellect Alpha, A Symbiotic Kaiju Duo

The atomic abomination was bad enough before it was defeated the first time, but when it was revived, repaired, recharged, and equipped with a cyber-psychic symbiote things really got scary. 

Ettin-class Mega-Mutate Original Form

A product of one Doctor Mordecai Mentallax's monster forges, the Ettin-class mega-mutate was apparently an experiment in gene-grafting entities adapted for post-apocalyptic nuclear wastelands.  In addition it incorporated internal bio-reactors to produce its own atomic power supply rather than subsisting on environmental energies.  The first field trial was only stopped from rampaging through Toronto by the concerted effort of a whole quartet of superheroes.  Even then the creature survived seemingly mortal wounds, merely lapsing into a low-energy torpor that complicated efforts to study the beast's metabolism for potential vulnerabilities.

While active, the mega-mutate displayed extreme aggression toward anything that moved, weakening foes with beams of hard radiation emitted from its four eyes before using its size and brute strength to crush them.  Despite its distant human ancestry the creature behaved in an animalistic fashion and displayed no sense of self-preservation or emotions beyond berserk fury.  Whether its creator regarded the thing as a success or not was unclear in the weeks following its defeat.         

Description: A towering freak of genetic engineering, glowing and crackling with barely-controlled atomic energy.  The thing is clearly derived from human DNA but sports four powerful oversized arms and two disproportionately tiny heads, each barely thrice the size of a normal adult's.  It seems to be wholly non-verbal, growling and shrieking like an enraged animal and unresponsive to speech - including pleas for mercy.

Gender: Neuter     Age: Uncertain     Height: 32'4"     Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green

Hair: Left Head Dark Green, Right Head Light Green     Skin: Medium Green

Build: Microcephalic, Two-Headed, Four-Armed

Approach: Dampening

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Locate Atomic Power Glands 00  Short Circuit Power Flow 0)

Health:  55 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d10, Strength d8, Momentum d8

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Fitness d8, Radioactive Mega-Mutate d8

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

Abilities:

Atomic Aura (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore the damage and remove a penalty on that hero.

Deadly Eye Beams (A) Attack multiple targets using Nuclear.  Hinder each of those targets using your Min die.

Draining Eye Beams (A) Hinder multiple targets using Nuclear.  While a hero has this penalty, reduce all their power dice by one size.

Crushing Grasp (A) Attack using Strength.  Use your Max die.  The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.

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

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its Titan's challenge was solved in an earlier scene):

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

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

The Ettin is a berserker, fighting relentlessly until destroyed and attempting to kill everything that moves.  Its sheer size and mass lets it wreak huge amounts of property damage.  The mega-mutate usually opens with its Draining Eye Beams or Deadly Eye Beams to weaken opposing foes, which also hand out penalties to fuel its Atomic Aura defensive reaction.  After that it closes with the largest group of targets and begins using its Crushing Grasp to seize them one after another, with its extra limbs letting it hold up to four victims nearly helpless at once.  Fighting back against the Gargantuan Brute is difficult until its Titan's challenge is overcome to weaken its defenses and energy output.

Its upgrade and mastery reflect the creature's baseline performance and will generally be in effect unless at least three successes were scored in the Titan's challenge in a previous scene, or if the beast has been operating for an extended period (several weeks at least) without an opportunity to rest or feast on an outside radioactivity source.

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Ettin-class Mega-Mutate Refit Alpha

About a month after its defat, unidentified forces assaulted the facility where the mangled body of the Ettin was being studied, somehow making off with the gargantuan hulk and destroying almost all the recorded research data on site.  Later that year, the reason for the attack became clear when "Refit Alpha" went on a new rampage in northern India.  The original Ettin had been revived, recharged and repaired with extensive cybernetic upgrades.  Its missing head was replaced with a specialized cyber-psychic symbiote that acted as a controller for the beast's innate violent instincts, and proved to be capable of limited independent operations on its own when briefly separated from its host by force.

The "new" Ettin proved to be much harder to stop and withdrew through a huge teleport gate after doing extensive damage and soundly defeating half a dozen heroes.  Authorities assume this second "field test" was more of Mordecai Mentallax's doing, but if so he's made no further use of Refit Alpha since.  It's possible that some other villain or organization was behind the thing's recovery and upgrade, but if so their identity remains a mystery.     

Description: A towering freak of genetic engineering, glowing and crackling with barely-controlled atomic energy.  The thing is clearly derived from human DNA but sports four powerful oversized arms a disproportionately tiny head, barely thrice the size of a normal adult's and offset on the left side of its torso with a stump of a neck on the right.  Silver metal cyberware replaces large sections of the center and left side of its chest, and caps the stump of its right-side neck.  Non-verbal, the creature is weirdly silent but seems to understand a wide variety of languages.

Gender: Neuter     Age: Uncertain     Height: 52'4"     Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green

Hair: Dark Green     Skin: Medium Green     Build: Microcephalic, Four-Armed

Approach: Tactician

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Locate Atomic Power Glands 00  Short Circuit Power Flow 0)

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d8, Strength d8, Momentum d6, Vitality d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Bonded Mega-Mutate d8, Fitness d6

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

Abilities:

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

Crushing Grasp (A) Attack using Strength.  Use your Max die.  The target can either be Hindered using your Max + Mid + Min dice, or be unable to take actions other than using an Overcome to attempt to escape.

Cyber-Psychic Bond (I) As long as you have at least one nearby ally, you may reroll all ones you roll on your dice.

Deadly Eye Beams (A) Attack multiple targets using Nuclear.  Hinder each of those targets using your Min die.

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

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its Titan's challenge was solved in an earlier scene):

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

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

The Ettin Refit Alpha is an eerie combatant, fighting in perfect coordination with its cyborg ally to maintain a devastating flurry of activity.  While its physiology has been weakened by its previous defeat and ensuing cybernetic repairs, its size still makes the Gargantuan Brute a tough customer.  Its Deadly Eye Beams remain a threat to groups of enemies, and its Crushing Grasp is nearly as dangerous as ever.  It gains dice efficiency from its new Cyber-Psychic Bond ability and considerable offensive potential from using its Coordinated Attack reaction to pile on damage with an ally's strike, while its own Attacks draws supporting fire from Intellect Alpha's Coordinated Eye-Beams own reaction.

Its upgrade and mastery reflect the creature's baseline performance and will generally be in effect unless at least three successes were scored in the Titan's challenge in a previous scene, or if the beast has been operating for an extended period (several weeks at least) without an opportunity to rest or feast on an outside radioactivity source.

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Intellect Alpha

A specialized cybernetic organism, this thing appears to be wholly robotic at first but psychics will quickly detect a formidable formidable organic mind within the metal shell, one possessed of potent telepathic powers and limited telekinesis.  Despite its inhuman intelligence it exists solely to interface with the Ettin Refit Alpha, controlling its actions for purposes as yet unknown and coordinating with it to make the symbiotic pair far more dangerous than either would be separately. 

Description: A slivery metal skull more than three feet in diameter, with glowing green eye sockets and long "hair" made of metal cables, with more trailing down from where its spine would be.  It can hover about slowly under its own telekinetic power but is usually found atop the right-side neck stump of its giant host body, with its cabling anchoring it securely in place and interfacing with the host's own cybernetics.  It can speak with a cold artificial voice, but usually only does so to issue commands and ultimatums.

Gender: None        Age: Uncertain          Height: 3'4"          Eyes: Glowing Radioactive Green

Hair: Ribbed Metal Cabling          Skin: Metal Plating         Build: Disembodied Metal Skull

Approach:  Tactician

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Anything Interfering With Its Host Linkage, whether Physical, Electronic or Psychic)

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Nuclear d8, Telepathy d8, Telekinesis d6, Gadgets d6                             

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Conviction d8, Cyber-Psychic Symbiote d8, Alertness d6

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

Abilities:

Coordinated Eye-Beams (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Ranged Combat die.

Psionic Flare (A) Boost using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Remove all penalties on yourself.

Synchronized Action (A) Make a basic action using Cyber-Psychic Parasite.  Use your Max die.  One nearby ally also makes that same basic action as their reaction.

Telepathic Overdrive (A) Boost using Telepathy.  Use your Max die.  The resulting bonus is persistent and exclusive.  Also Attack using your Mid die.

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in effect unless its host has been defeated in an earlier scene):

Power Boost (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Intellect Alpha normally remains securely attached to its host, the Ettin Refit Alpha.  If separated from it by some means it will attempt to return as quickly as possible, using desperate Overcome actions and taking twists if necessary.  While interfaced, it works in tandem with the host by using Coordinated Eye-Beams whenever the Ettin Attacks.  It will usually open a battle by using Telepathic Overdrive twice to establish lasting bonuses on both itself and the host (triggering the Ettin Refit Alpha's Coordinated Attack reaction as an extra).  If hampered by penalties aimed at its weakness Intellect Alpha uses Psionic Flare to clear them, usually applying the ability's Boost action to the host rather than itself.  It rarely uses Synchronized Action unless it can spare the host's normal reaction ability, but it comes in handy for doing dual Overcomes (usually with large bonuses in place already) or piling on penalties with twin Hinders just to be cruel.

Its upgrade increases Intellect Alpha's durability and raw power considerably, while its mastery represents the thing's vast and unpredictable intelligence at work.    

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Red Vendetta, Anarchist Assassin With A Whiff Of Sorcery About Her

A fanatical assassin who's pretty much on no one's side, the kind of person who'd use the distractions of an unrelated super-fight to score a quick kill before withdrawing into the shadows again.  

Red Vendetta

The young woman known as Red Vendetta has no confirmed civilian identity, and her apparent age is belied by reports of her being active in a similar capacity long before even World War 2.  Some investigators have even found photographic evidence of someone who looks very much like her during the Russian Civil War, apparently fighting for both the White and Red factions at different times.  Several mystic heroes who've crossed paths with her claim that her obvious magical talents are the result of some form of blood pact with an unknown infernal entity, and note that such pacts frequently include cursed forms of longevity or even immortality.  The only definite thing that can be said about her is that she seems fanatically devoted to militant anarchistic beliefs, opposing all forms of governmental, corporate, and religious control over society with a violent passion.  She also clearly regards many supers (primarily heroes) as pawns of the existing order and fair game for her personal crusade, although she's aware of the dangers of fighting them head to head and prefers to prey on unpowered victims.

Her exact capabilities are similarly uncertain but she's definitely displayed magical talents used to conceal herself and her weapons, augment her attacks with curses and dark shadowy energy, and create more elaborate effects by performing suitable rituals.  Her signature wing construct is clearly a product of sorcery, not science, although it could be confused for some form of steampunk mechanism on first glance.   Whatever her age, Red Vendetta is not shy in the least about using modern weapons, and is a deadly shot with everything from pistols to submachineguns to sniper rifles, and has even been known to employ grenades and other explosives.  She's also a capable knife-fighter and a dangerous woman with a hatchet or wood axe.  Her arsenal appears to be wholly mundane (one recovered pistol was even traced to a random shooting in Chicago in 2018) but in her hands they're augmented with infernal energies.

Red Vendetta has few actual allies, but has been known to take advantage of other villains' schemes to quietly strike at distracted targets (powered or mundane) before making her escape in the confusion.  Megalomaniacal "rule the world" villains and organizations are as much her foe as any national government or megacorporation, but her history as a killer and lethal approach to combat makes it unlikely that heroes will find common ground with her even in the short term. 

Description: A very young woman, thin and seemingly frail, dressed in dark red long-sleeved tunic and pants with black calf-high boots.  She wears a flowing blood-red cloak over the outfit, its voluminous hood nearly concealing her scarred features.  She seems to have an impossible arsenal of weaponry (blades, pistols, grenades, even a sniper rifle) concealed within her costume and the folds of her cloak, suggesting some form of dimensional compression power at work.  Her voice is harsh like a smoker who's had the habit for far longer than her apparent age, and she has a slight Russian accent.

She's usually accompanied by her wing construct, a bat-winged animated mechanism made of steel rods and canvas fabric attached to a complicated array of leather straps and brass buckles.  The thing can carry her weight through the air but little more, and moves with erratic, darting motions like the bat it vaguely resembles.

Gender: Female        Age: Unknown (Appears Late Teens)        Height: 5'3"        Eyes: Brown

Hair: Dark Brown          Skin: Caucasian, Smallpox Scars          Build: Frail-Looking

Approach: Underpowered                     Archetype: Predator

Health: 25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Infernal d8, Agility d6, Arsenal of Weaponry d6, Invisibility d6

Qualities: Stealth d10, Anarchist Assassin d8, Magical Lore d8, Insight d6

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

Abilities:

Blood Pact Magic (A) Attack using Infernal.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Take irreducible damage equal to your Min die.  If you roll doubles, you cannot use this ability again for the rest of the scene.

Canny Maneuvering (A) Boost using Stealth.  Use your Max die.  Hinder using your Mid die.  Attack using your Min die.

Devil's Own Fortune (A) Attack using Infernal.  If you roll doubles add that value to your Attack.  If you roll triples add all three dice to your Attack

Master Sniper (I) Double any mods of your choice involved with taking actions against a target that is unaware of you presence or distracted from remembering you're still around.

Stalking Your Target (A) Boost yourself using Stealth.  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.

Upgrades & Masteries (usually in play):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health  Include a Wing Construct d8 lieutenant with the following abilities in the scene.  Darting Target (I) To Attack this vehicle a hero must make an Overcome action to be able to predict its motions. Escape Plan (R) If the Villain is Attacked roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than the villain's current Health, both the villain and the vehicle escape the scene.  Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die.  The villain Recovers that much health.  Sturdy (I) When rolling a damage save, add +2 to the result.

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

Tactics

Red Vendetta is an assassin by nature, and prefers to stalk and eliminate isolated targets from ambush when possible.  She'll usually try to remain concealed until an opening presents itself, using Overcome actions to find a good vantage point and elude detection and Boosting herself with Stalking Your Target if possible before launching her first strike.  Master Sniper makes her mods very, very effective against unsuspecting foes.  Once she reveals herself she'll blitz her chosen victim with Blood Pact Magic while she can, switching to Devil's Own Fortune once the former ability fails her.  If she needs to shift to another target she relies on Canny Maneuvering followed by an attempt to Overcome with Stealth to conceal herself again or take advantage of any distractions going on in the scene.

Her upgrade is normally in use unless her Wing Construct has been destroyed in an earlier scene and she hasn't had time to cobble together and enchant a new one, something her mastery makes easier for her to accomplish.

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Series-7 Peacekeeper, High-End Guard Robot Design

These are top-of-the-line guard robots found in super-prisons and high-security facilities, so there's very little reason that heroes should ever have to fight them, right?  It's not like their dubious AI might mistake your PCs for escaping convicts or get hacked and turned against them, and there certainly aren't any hostile nations, secret organizations or wealthy villains who use the things to help imprison actual heroes.   

Series-7 Peacekeeper

Latest in a long line of specialized guard robots used primarily in supervillain detention facilities, the Series-7 Peacekeeper is optimized for non-lethal crowd control and prisoner restraint work.  They also serve adequately as general purpose guard robots for secure facilities although they're seen as too expensive for widespread use in such duties.  A single Peacekeeper is a fair match for many mid-tier supers, and operating in groups they can deal with dozens of lesser foes.  In addition to their non-lethal weaponry they incorporate extensive emergency medical hardware and the programming to use it, allowing them to rapidly assess and treat injuries to minimize loss of life.

The standard Series-7 design is capable of flight with built-in thrusters in their lower limbs, but the manufacturer offers a modified version that mounts turboprops for underwater mobility instead.  These are deployed to underseas facilities, and occasionally to island-based ones to supplement the normal flight-capable version.  Experiments with teleportation systems are ongoing but have yet to bear fruit.

While all of this sounds good on paper, the fact remains that their primitive AI struggles to handle novel situations and there are many stories of unfortunate "misunderstandings" involving supers on properly authorized facility visits.  Moreover, many technologically-adept villains have proven capable of breaching their computer security, shutting them down completely or even corrupting their programs and turning them against their own allies.  Many heroes have quietly begun planning for such contingencies "just in case" and the best-connected teams have even obtained slightly-modified "training variant" Peacekeepers from ProTech Industries for their own purposes.

Description: Tall, sturdily-built humanoid robot, its armor plates cast in various shades of blue to resemble a stylized police uniform.  Instead of a head its torso is surmounted by a columnar turret ringed with bands of sensors.  Massive sonic projectors are built into its oversized shoulders and its chunky vambraces conceal clusters of shock dart launchers. It issues orders in a loud, authoritative mechanical voice using its shoulder speakers.  

Gender: N/A     Age: Still Under Warranty     Height: 6'8"     Optics: 360 Degree Sensor Strips 

Hair: N/A                      Skin: Uniform Blue                    Built: ProTech Industries Facility Four

Approach:  Disruptive                      Archetype:  Indomitable

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Electricity d10, Sonic d10, Flight d8, Strength d8 

(substitute Swimming for Flight when assigned to undersea facilities)                                     

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Close Combat d8, Guard Robot d8, Medicine d8

Status: Always d8

Abilities:

Built Tough (I) Reduce damage dealt to you by two.

Restrain (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Either Hinder the target using your Max die, or Defend yourself using your Min die and you and the target end up elsewhere in the scene.

Shock Dart Barrage (A) Attack multiple targets using Electricity.  Use your Min die.  Hinder each target using your Max die.  If one of those targets rolls doubles on their next turn, they take damage equal to the penalty inflicted.

Sonic Pulse (A) Hinder multiple targets using Sonic.  You and any nearby allies Defend using your Max 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 Sonic die.

Master of Control (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to restore calm to an area or contain escaped prisoners.

Tactics

Series-7 Peacekeepers have only the crudest AI capacity and generally follow their pre-set programming when dealing with combat situations.  Their integral weapons are optimized for non-lethal combat meant to contain crowds and take prisoners relatively unharmed, using Shock Dart Barrage repeatedly unless any human allies nearby are hard-pressed, at which point they shift to Sonic Pulse to help protect them.  They are Built Tough and can take considerable punishment, and once opposing numbers have been thinned down they'll move in to use Restrain to return prisoners to their cells.

Their upgrade package uses subliminal infrasonics to impair foes and makes the Peacekeeper better at controlling escape attempts or prison riots.

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For times when you want to use these robots as less important parts of a scene, the lieutenant profile below should suffice.

Peacekeeper Series-7 d10 lieutenant

Description: As above.

Non-Lethal Weaponry:  When you take a Hinder action, you may target any number of nearby enemies.

Powerful Restraint:  When you choose to Hinder a single target, you may also either Attack the same target using the value of the penalty inflicted, or you and the target move elsewhere in the scene.

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Timetripper, A Petty Criminal Who's Come Unstuck In Time

This villain is a paradox - he's a unique villain, but meant to be used with two or more of him in play at once thanks to his peculiar power set.  He synergizes with himself just fine and can be used "solo" but he'll also work with other villains and lesser crooks as desired. 

Timetripper

Thomas Zapetski was a two-bit criminal who worked the fringes of the supervillain community as a basic henchman until he gained his own powers.  The origin of those powers varies wildly, apparently depending on which timeline the Tommy you're talking to remembers.  In some he was "volunteered" for an experimental procedure by a former employer, in others he got caught in a spacetime catastrophe, and his various selves have been exposed to more weird temporal energies than anyone who can still perceive linear time.  Regardless of what the truth is in our own timeline, he now operates as the supervillain Timetripper, using his incredible abilities largely for slightly less petty crimes and working as a paid ally for more ambitious supers with better planning skills.

Timetripper's powers all revolve around his ability to manipulate temporal energy, both his own and others'.  He can slow the flow of time for individual victims, accelerate himself both physically and mentally, instantly move from point to point by stepping in and out of linear spacetime, and most importantly replicate himself into multiple stable iterations.  Most foes seem to be moving in slow motion to Tommy, which lets him land precise blows on weak points, his preferred form of basic Attack.  He can also cause agonizing distortions in a target's timeflow by concentrating hard enough, which is his answer to more impervious foes, flyers and ranged fighters.  

There will never be a single Timetripper in a scene to start with.  At least two copies of himself appear on any job, and it's not uncommon to see two or even three times that number.  When defeated a given copy simply vanishes, and if their numbers are reduced to a single copy he'll often flee or simply surrender, confident that he'll be able to escape later when the time is right.  This unreliability has limited the number of other villains willing to work with him, but the fact that he only claims one share of the loot no matter how many of him appear for a job makes him enough of a bargain that some just accept it as a quirk.

Description: All iterations have identical features, but their clothing varies wildly.  Their usual "work outfit" is a snug one-piece silver bodysuit that covers everything from his neck down, but it's not uncommon to find individual copies wearing clothing that blends in to their current time and situation better, or more rarely randomly anachronistic garb from several decades in the past or future.  He speaks American English and tends to pepper his speech with slang from the Viet Nam War era despite his apparent age.       

Gender: Male             Age: Looks 20-something           Height: 5'10"              Eyes: Green

Hair: Blonde, Short, Shaved "TZ" Initials     Skin: Well-Tanned     Build: Trim & Well-Muscled

Approach:  Prideful                      Archetype:  Squad

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Agility d10, Duplication d10, Teleportation d8

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Close Combat d10, Alertness d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Unstuck In Time d8

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

Abilities:

Lend Time (A) One ally makes a basic action now using their Max die.  They may reroll all ones they roll as part of this action.

Momentary Opening (R) When a nearby hero rolls a one on any of their dice during their turn, Attack them by rolling your single status die.

Steal Time (A) Hinder using Absorption.  Use your Max die.  The resulting penalty is persistent and exclusive.

Yanked Out Of Time (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend against the Attack by rolling your single status die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, can be applied to some or all copies of Timetripper):

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 Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Timetripper's abilities all involve his unstable connection to linear time and working in cooperation with his other selves.  He (or they) will usually start by spreading lasting penalties around with Steal Time, draining temporal energy from his foes to slow them down.  After that they (or he) will use Lend Time to let each other take whatever basic actions seem best (usually Attacks concentrating on a vulnerable hero) with sizeable advantages.  He (or they) use Momentary Opening whenever possible, usually en masse, materializing extra duplicates to strike before they vanish back into the timestream again.  They (or he) protect each other with Yanked Out Of Time, causing the target to blink out of existence for an instant and empowering the copy using the reaction with the stolen moment of time.

When upgraded, that particular copy of Timetripper becomes more "real" to inhabitants of linear time.  His upgrade only helps when taking actions, including when using Lend Time (which means upgraded Timetrippers will be preferred targets for the ability) but not the Momentary Opening reaction.  The mastery works by using skewed perceptions of time in ways most folks simply can't imagine.

Design Notes

This guy's last name and supranym are, of course, a nod to the old SPI board game Timetripper, which was one of their best solo games and inspired more than a few RPG adventures over the years, particularly in my Villains & Vigilantes days.  If anyone at your table is likely to get the joke, having one of Tommy's iterations show up dressed like a Viet Nam era US GI, loaded for bear and lugging a backpack radio would be very appropriate.

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Ro-Man Invasion Saucer, Extraterrestrial Menace

Your generic space invader mothership, capable of deploying hundreds of robotic warriors and three-legged battle walkers.  If you need more organic invaders it's easy enough to re-skin by changing its specific powers and qualities.  For ex, a ship loaded with power-armored invaders and super-heavy battle suits might swap Robotics out for Power Suit and Technology for Leadership instead, renaming its Deploy abilities to fit, while a mob of coldly logical Martian ray-gunners could use Gadgets and Self-Discipline.

Ro-Man Invasion Saucer

This particular vessel is typical of those employed by the Ro-Man Empire, but similar mid-sized invasion transports are used by a number of extraterrestrial polities and organizations.  They represent a significant threat not because of their own minimal armament but because of the destructive potential of the masses of troops and war machines stored within them.  Their lightly armored hulls are heavily reinforced by sophisticated energy defenses that make them quite difficult to destroy, although ambitious heroes might bring one down - or even capture one reasonably intact and use it against its owners.  Most Ro-Man vessels are almost entirely automated with few living crew despite their size and complexity.  

Description: A huge saucer-shaped alien spaceship, big enough to carry hundreds of troops and war machines and protected by potent layered force screens.  Primarily a transport vessel, it mounts only a few lightweight cosmic ray projectors and relies on its troops in combat when this deep in a gravity well.  Hatches on its underside let it deploy its cargo at low altitude via attractor beams rather than having to land, as well providing a way to abduct subjects for interrogation and experimentation.   

Approach: Creator

Archetype: Titan (Status Challenge: Weaken Force Screens 00  Exhaust Power Reserves 0)

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Robotics d10, Flight d8, Telekinesis d8, Cosmic d6

Qualities: Technology d10, Alertness d8, Alien Warship d8, Imposing d8, Ranged Combat d8

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

Abilities:

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

Deploy War Tripod (A) Use Robotics to create a lieutenant of the same die size as your Max die.

Deploy Robo-Soldiers (A) Use Robotics to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of these minions is the same as the die size of your Min die.

Layered Force Screens (I) Reduce all damage you take by 6 (at d12 status), 4 (at d10 status), or 2 (at d8 or less status).

Screen Feedback (R) When a hero takes a minor twist in the Titan's challenge, in addition to the chosen twist, roll your status die and deal that much damage to that hero.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a War Tripod Commander d12 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.  Reliable (I) When this vehicle makes an Attack action 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

Alien Invasion Saucers are very straightforward in combat, repeatedly alternating between Deploy Robo-Soldiers and Deploy War Tripod to unload its cargo of mechanical troops.  Only in unusual situations would it use a basic action to use its attractor beams to Boost, Defend, Hinder or Overcome, or its lightweight cosmic ray projectors to Attack.  Defensively, it is highly resistant to damage thanks to its Layered Force Screens, which can inflict damage on those trying to meddle with them through Screen Feedback and restore their integrity when destabilized with Adaptive Screens.

Its upgrade adds a powerful War Tripod Commander with an advanced compu-brain or even an actual living crewman on board.  Its mastery lets it efficiently carry out its primary mission of establishing a beachhead for further expansion or collecting a mass of hostages and experimental subjects. 

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Robo-Soldiers d8, d10 or d12 minion (see Deploy Robo-Soldiers)

Description: Anthropoid robots with spherical heads sporting a prominent antenna and carrying cosmic energy guns.  They move with the eerie precision only machines can achieve.

Deterministic Programming: Rather than rolling your die when taking an action during your turn, treat the outcome of your basic action as one half of your current die size.  For example, if your die size is current a d8, each action has an effect die of 4.  You still roll normally for saving throws against damage.

War Tripod d8, d10, or d12 lieutenant (see Deploy War Tripod)

Description: Saucer-shaped combat vehicles standing about twenty feet tall on three spindly clawed legs, with multiple energy projectors mounted around the rim of their hull.  Usually unmanned and controlled by a compu-brain, a rare few have an actual organic Ro-Man operating them.  

Multi-Beam Cannons:  When you take an Attack action you may divide your damage as evenly as possible between two targets. 

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Karkinos, Hybrid Crab-Man Muscle

Every good villain roster needs a genetically-altered crab-man, right?  This one's muscle for hire at the moment, but his ongoing mental decay may eventually turn him into the monster he looks like.

Karkinos

Jason Vasilakos was once a normal man, an average soldier in the US Army.  He had the misfortune of being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer during his first term of service.  That might have ended his life as well as his military career if he hadn't been offered a opportunity to enroll in an experimental genetic therapy program that might provide a cure.  That program turned out to be as secretive and ethically questionable as it was experimental, and Jason wound up going through torturous DNA hybridization that transformed him into the hulking monstrosity he is today.  When the program was exposed and forced to shut down, he was one of the few subjects to escape from the attempted purge and cover-up along with the Mighty Bullfrog.  Jason followed a similar trajectory at first, finding refuge in the criminal underworld and using his powerful but inhuman form as muscle for hire - but where the Bullfrog has become a reformed former supervillain Jason embraced his new identity as Karkinos and is now a well-known and reliable mercenary super.

Karkinos' memories of his human life are fading with time, gradually being replaced with disturbingly alien instincts.  His new and violent life appeals to the thing he's become.  Karkinos' immense durability and surprisingly keen senses make him a popular bodyguard for less physically imposing villains, although his appearance makes it impossible for him to pass unnoticed in public without sophisticated holographic, magical or psionic disguises.  To date his changing mental state hasn't been noted by his employers and allies, but it's probably only a matter of time before the concept of working for money and material possessions stops motivating him and he begins pursuing his own goals.

Description: Bulky, roughly humanoid crab-man, top heavy looking with shoulders almost five feet across.  Its powerful arms are asymmetrical, with the larger claw on the left and a longer, narrower one on the right.  Six much smaller limbs fan out from the upper body, tipped with gripping pincers.  It sports a horrible parody of a human face set high on the torso between his shoulders, the mouth replaced with wriggling pedipalps and sporting two clusters of extensible eyestalks.  The creature wears no clothing and its bare carapace sprouts sensory bristles at every joint. When it speaks its voice has a thick buzzing undertone that makes it hard to understand.     

Gender: Male        Age: 26          Height: 6'4"           Eyes: Black, Pink Eyestalks

Bristles: Black, Tipped Red     Carapace: Red-Orange, Yellow Highlights     Build: Hulking

Approach: Generalist                         Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Vitality d10, Awareness d8, Strength d8, Swimming d6

Qualities:  Fitness d10, Close Combat d8, Mad Science Mutate d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6 

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

Abilities:

Crusher Claw (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use your Max + Min die.  Defend against all Attacks from targets other than that target with your Mid die until your next turn.  All Defended damage is dealt to the target of your Attack instead.

Eyestalks & Bristles (I) If you are outnumbered by nearby opponents, reduce all damage dealt to you by 2.

Fiddler Crab Shield (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Vitality die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Impenetrable Carapace (I) Reduce physical and energy damage dealt to you by 1/2/3 when the scene is in the Green/Yellow/Red zone.

Pincer Claw (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to 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 Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome when your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Karkinos is a durable melee brawler who prefers to be in the thick of the fight, as well as a capable bodyguard for a villainous ally.  His preferred move is to use his Crusher Claw to grab foes and use them as a human shield against their allies, making him even more durable than his Impenetrable Carapace and excellent combat awareness from his Eyestalks & Bristles already do.  If badly hurt or facing a single foe he'll strike with Pincer Claw instead to let his regeneration repair some damage.  He uses Fiddler Crab Shield to defend nearby allies as often as possible, usually saving up his bonuses from it to use for a big Recovery or Defend with his offensive abilities.

His upgrade makes him even tougher and amps up his damage output considerably, while his mastery makes him a more reliable work-for-hire villain.

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