An oddball villain and not much of a direct threat to heroes in combat, he still needs stopping before he ruins the lives of a lot of people in the name of his own selfishness.
Sir Needler
Jacob Michael Jones spent sixty years in a tailor shop, first as a delivery boy and gofer, then as a journeyman and finally as the owner of his own business. Never terribly successful, he still kept his head above water while quietly pursuing his other passion - participation in a small and secretive cult of devil worshippers his parents had inducted him into. His last fellow cultist died of old age last week, and an embittered and isolated Jacob decided to make one final call to the dark powers he'd wasted his life worshipping.
To his surprise, he was answered for the first time. His patron asked what price Jacob wanted for his soul and his years of devotion, and was pleased when the predictable mortal wanted a second chance at youth and wealth and a chance to pay the world back for all his petty travails. The demonic entity offered him a bargain. It would provide him with power so that Jacob could take all those things, but he would earn it by spreading suffering and misery to other mortals. The more he hurt others, the faster his youth would return and the greater his opportunities would become. The selfish old man didn't think twice before accepting.
Laughing, the demon picked up a tool of the tailor's trade and transformed it into a symbol of their pact, dubbing his new servant Sir Needler, the newest knight of the netherworld.
Description: A thin, hunched elderly man with a twisted smile and a strange light in his eyes, wearing an old-fashioned but well-fitted black suit and moving with a surprising spring in his step. When acting overtly he conjures up a comically oversized two foot long sewing needle that glows gently with an ominous crimson light and positively reeks of sulfur and brimstone. His voice is strangely grating even when he's trying to be pleasant. Which isn't often.
Gender: Male Age: 74 Height: 5'7" Eyes: Glittering Red
Hair: Mousy Brown, Thin and Graying Skin: Wrinkled Build: Bony
Approach: Specialized Archetype: Inhibitor
Health: 30 + (5 x H)
Powers: Cursed Needle d10, Presence d8
Qualities: Banter d12, Finesse d8, Satanist Hipster d8
Status: (# of heroes with penalties) 0 - d6 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d10
Abilities:
Deadly Insult (A) Hinder one target using Banter. Use your Max die. Attack that target using your Min die.
Devil's Own Luck (R) Defend against an Attack that only targets you by rolling your single Banter die. One other nearby target takes an amount of damage equal to the amount of damage reduced.
Misfortune (A) Select a nearby target. Either turn all bonuses on that target into penalties, or move a penalty from that target to another target you can see.
Soul Puncture (A) Attack one target using Finesse. Use your Max + Min dice. That target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.
Verbal Abuse (A) Hinder using Presence. Use your Max + Mid dice, or use your Max die and make the penalty persistent and exclusive.
Upgrades & Masteries (in play unless the players have previous experience with Sir Needler):
Harmless Old Man? (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 Presence 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
Needler is quite mad with his newfound power and nowhere near as harmless as he might seem. He's rewarded by his diabolic pact when he hurts people either physically (stabbing) or mentally (Hinders), and if left to his own devices he'll happily ignore the heroes in favor of preying on hapless civilians. If it comes to a fight he'll open with a bitter tirade of criticism using Verbal Abuse, which isn't immediately obvious as a threat while his upgrade is in effect. If heroes gain bonuses from any source he'll use the equally unobvious Misfortune to invert them, and might move penalties around to improve his status die. If his facade has been seen through (via a suitable Overcome) or his upgrade isn't in effect then he'll drop his pretense of harmlessness, employing Deadly Insult at range or stabbing victims with Soul Puncture. When Attacked he'll use Devil's Own Luck to bait his enemy into accidentally striking a friend by sidestepping at the last moment.
His Harmless Old Man? upgrade continues to limit hero actions until removed even once he's been detected as a threat, as there's some understandable reluctance about socking a senior citizen in the face no matter what vile things they're saying. His mastery is mostly used to conjure up escape routes via diabolic portals or vanishing in clouds of sulphurous smoke, and only functions if his patron demon is feeling well-disposed to him.
Design Notes
This villain was inspired by a random name drop by Adam on the Letters Page podcast on Fashion Foes, because "Needler" is way too good a name to not use as a chump villain for a clothing designer/supermodel-themed superhero. I've made my version a literal demon-worshipper, but swapping in Gloomweaver as his patron in the Sentinels universe and turning him into a Fashion enemy would be trivial. He's an old-fashioned and not very successful tailor by trade, you can bet he'll have issues with the modern fashion industry - and since he's rewarded for making people feel bad about themselves, he'll be quick to speak his mind on the subject. And with Deadly Insult, his words can literally kill if suffering isn't enough. Or he can just stab you with his magical needle. That's always an option.
Note that he's not very powerful as villains go, and is best used with just two or three heroes alongside a nasty environment (he loves starting trouble in crowded public places when he can) and a challenge to keep them preoccupied. Alternately he might wind up in a team-up with someone like Malicien or a reskinned Gadfly, and he's more than hateful enough that he might be willing to work with one of these racist idiots.
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