A semi-plural villain in two forms - one when his oddball time machine is present to allow access to his infinite alternate timeline duplicates, and the other when it's been destroyed and he becomes a rage-filled berserker out for revenge at being temporally isolated. Potential time travel shenanigans galore when this guy's involved.
The Parallel Man
The Parallel Man is invariably bent on defeating some hero or team, often ones that have never seen him before, thereby pre-emptively preventing them from stopping his plans in the current timeline the way their alternates in some other universe have already done. The fact that this often backfires and results in exactly the kind of defeat he was trying to prevent doesn't seem to matter, and he (or other versions of him) may appear again in the players' future.
In the event of a Parallel Man actually triumphing, he'll usually start in on a plan to collapse the current timeline into some other one, altering history in both and greatly increasing his power within the new timeline. If he's beaten, he usually just vanishes on the spot. If his Sideways Time Machine is destroyed, he may vanish or attempt to escape, but either way he'll be back at some point as a vengeful Isolated Timeline Parallel Man.
Unsurprisingly, Parallel Men have been seen in the company of other time-breaking baddies like the Evermind or the much less grandiose Timetripper, as well as attracting the attention of Johnny Crisis.
Description: Tall, powerfully-built man with glowing orange eyes that bleed into the aura of cosmic energies that surrounds him. He wears a black paramilitary uniform with a stylized hourglass on its left breast, rotated 90 degrees so it resembles an infinity symbol. His deep voice reverberates with inhuman power.
His time machine is a simple rectangle of impenetrable blackness like a doorway to nowhere, framed by Kirbytech gadgetry and hovering just above the ground or gliding ominously in the Parallel Man's destructive wake.
Gender: Male Age: Thirties? Height: 6'2" Eyes: Glowing Dull Orange
Hair: Jet Black Skin: Pale As Parchment Build: Imposing
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(Infinite Timeline Form)
Approach: Mastermind Archetype: Legion
Health: 15 + (5 x H)
Powers: Cosmic d12, Precognition d10, Flight d8
Qualities: Banter d10, Alertness d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Imposing d8, Science d8, Split Physicality d8
Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4
Abilities:
Confused Timelines (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.
Paratemporal Energies (A) Attack one hero using Split Physicality. Hinder all heroes using your Max die.
Shared Viewpoints (A) Boost yourself using Banter. Use your Max die. Either make that bonus persistent and exclusive, or Boost yourself again using your Mid + Min dice.
Simple Division (A) Add two minions of size equal to one size lower than your current status.
Temporal Rebalance (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and Recover that much Health.
Upgrades & Masteries (always active, counts as a difficult scene element):
Villainous Vehicle +15 Health. Add a Sideways Time Machine d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene: Escape Plan (R) When the Parallel Man is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die. If it rolls higher than the Parallel Man's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene. Minion Deployment (A) Add minions to an existing group equal to half the vehicle's current die size. These minions are of a size equal to the highest die size already in the group. If the vehicle has a bonus or penalty adjust the number of minions by that amount and then remove that mod.
Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.
Tactics
In his Infinite Timeline form, the Parallel Man has access to his other selves from divergent timelines, both through his own abilities and through his villainous vehicle upgrade. In combat, he'll open with Simple Division to create a pair of powerful minions, passing the turn to the Sideways Time Machine so it can conjure up another six of them, something it'll continue to do as long as possible. After that he'll grant himself a persistent bonus with Shared Viewpoints and then hammer away with Paratemporal Energies as often as possible, damaging whatever hero seems most threatening to his time machine and minions while aiming to keep his foes under a serious penalty, throwing bonuses in as needed. Whenever possible he'll use Temporal Rebalance to recover some health reactively.
His minions will spread Attack and Hinder actions over foes as evenly as possible to minimize the drawbacks of Confused Timelines. If the Sideways Time Machine is getting damaged badly, some of his minions will shift to Defend and Boost it so it can multiply their numbers with Minion Deployment as fast as possible for as long as possible. The Escape Plan reaction may let the Parallel Man (and his time machine) escape the scene when he's close to defeat, but if he does go Out the minions will make a mass Boost attempt on the machine, after which it attempts Overcomes to escape by itself until it succeeds. If it gets destroyed all of the minions and the Parallel Man fade into nothingness.
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(Isolated Timeline Form)
Approach: Mastermind Archetype: Guerrilla
Health: 40 + (5 x H)
Powers: Cosmic d12, Precognition d10, Flight d8
Qualities: Conviction d10, Banter d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Enraged Nemesis d8, Imposing d8, Science d8
Status: (# of Opponents Engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 - d6
Abilities:
Driving Hatred (A) Boost yourself using Conviction. Use your Max die. Either make that bonus persistent and exclusive, or Boost yourself again using your Mid + Min dice.
Inescapable Revenge (A) Attack one target using Enraged Nemesis. 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.
Unshakeable (I) If you are outnumbered by nearby opponents, reduce all damage dealt to you by 2.
Wrathful (R) When Attacked, Boost yourself using your Attacker's Max die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health. All your power dice increase in size by 1 step (max d12). Gain Boundless Rage (I) At the start of your turn, gain a bonus equal to the number of opponents that Attacked you since your last turn.
Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.
Tactics
If the Sideways Time Machine is destroyed in combat, an Isolated Timelines form of the Parallel Man will appear at some point in the future, usually when the heroes least expect it. This version of the villain is berserk with rage at being cut off from his access to infinite parallel timelines and will attempt to defeat the heroes one by one. He'll open by using Driving Hatred to augment himself, then use Inescapable Revenge on one hero repeatedly until they go Out or somehow escape him. He then shifts to target a new hero, counting on Unshakeable and Wrathful to keep him in the fight even against superior numbers.
His upgrade is optional in this form, and makes him much more durable as well as granting bonuses from Boundless Rage. If he manages to defeat all of the heroes they'll most likely wake up wired into some super-tech gadget meant to reconnect him to his alternate selves and the greater continuum. Whether that's even possible or will "just" cause a paratemporal catastrophe is up to the GM, but either way the players might want to prevent it.
Design Notes
If you want to add to the time-travel confusion, the players (or an allied hero NPC) might be assaulted out of nowhere by an Isolated Timeline Parallel Man bent on revenge for a defeat that hasn't happened yet for the PCs, followed later by an Infinite Timelines Parallel Man showing up and getting beaten by the heroes, which might or might not spawn some kind of time loop. There's a semi-infinite number this villain out there, and his own continuity is tangled mess.
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