An archer-themed villain with an angelic motif, and yet another asset for the Science Integration Network.
Angel Arrow
The cyborg known as Angel Arrow was once merely Agent D6745308 of SIN, part of Hell-Hawk's cadre of airborn assault troops. She was horrifically injured by a flame-wielding super during an operation, and the medical experts at SIN HQ were ready to declare her a lost cause - permanently disabled by burns and showing minimal brain activity following injuries from a multi-story fall. That might have been the end of her story, but her former commander Arno Wells felt a twisted sympathy for her, having suffered serious burns in a childhood airplane crash himself. Working with SIN's cybernetics experts he saved her life if not her mind, rebuilding her as an advanced cyborg operative that melded his own aviform flight systems with hyper-advanced exotic munitions technology, integrated sensor arrays and cognitive assistance software to replace lost brain functions.
Angel Arrow is a technological and aesthetic work of art, but her humanity is gone. Only marginally more free-willed than a true robot, she obeys directives from her masters at SIN without question. If she ever recovers any of her memories or personality that might change - but odds are the mad scientists of SIN would regard such a development as a glitch in the system to be corrected rather a belated recovery. For now she's usually found working alongside Arno when he takes the field as Hell-Hawk, but sometimes gets assigned to missions with other SIN assets where her mobility and hard-hitting, low-signature weaponry are most useful.
Description: A female angel, plated in shining silver cyber-armor with gleaming metal wings. She carries an ultra-tech longbow, drawing her arrows directly from her own pinions as needed. She rarely speaks, but when she does her voice is cold and clear with a mechanical lack of inflection.
Gender: Female Age: Mid-Twenties Height: 5'9" (14" wingspan) Eyes: Blank Silver
Hair: Flowing Black Skin: Pale, Burn Scarred, Hidden By Silver Plating Build: Angelic
Approach: Specialized Archetype: Inventor
Health: 30 + (5 x H)
Powers: Inventions d10, Flight d8
Qualities: Ranged Combat d12, Alertness d8, Cyborg Servitor d8
Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Adjusted Subroutines (I) Whenever you Attack a target that you have dealt damage to at least once already in this scene, gain a +1 persistent and exclusive bonus against that target.
Graceful Archer (A) Attack using Ranged Combat. Use your Max + Min dice. Defend yourself using your Mid die.
Supercharged Shot (A) Attack using Inventions and at least one bonus. Use your Max + Mid + Min dice and add all your bonuses, destroying them.
Targeting Programs (A) Boost using Inventions. Use your Max die. Boost again using your Mid die, then either make one of those bonuses persistent and exclusive, or Attack with your Min die.
Volley (A) Attack up to three targets using Ranged Combat. Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second target, and your Min die against a third target.
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 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
Angel Arrow is an airborne archer and does her best to stay clear of melee combat or getting hemmed in by tight terrain. She looks for a chance to run Targeting Programs early on, usually establishing a persistent bonus on herself and improving her status die. She might repeat the move to maximize her status if she has time, and will generally sit on her bonuses until she takes a Supercharged Shot. When facing multiple foes she relies on Volley to spread damage around, switching to Graceful Archer if she's facing much counterfire. In all cases she'll select targets to best exploit Adjusted Subroutines, stacking up the small exclusive bonuses (which are pretty pointless if she has a better one from Targeting Programs) to eventually fuel a bigger Supercharged Shot.
The improved hardware and software from her upgrade improves her damage output and durability quite a lot. Her mastery can only be used when she has a mod in play that was created using Ranged Combat, which usually means one of the bonuses generated by Adjusted Subroutines after damaging a target for at least the second time.
Design Notes
There are a number of rules clarifications that GTG needs to make for some of her abilities and their interactions, but here we are at the end of 2023 and still no FAQ document. Specifically:
- Supercharged Shot (originally the Inventor ability Empowered Destruction) functions as a villain equivalent to the hero Red ability Charged-Up Blast, but the wording here fails to include the text specifically calling out that the ability consumes all your bonuses regardless of exclusivity. My assumption is that it does, so every bonuses gets added and then destroyed.
- Adjusted Subroutines (originally the Specialist ability Known Target) produces tiny persistent and exclusive bonuses every time you damage a given target beyond the first. Those bonuses can only be used against that specific target, much like the Marksman hero Green ability Sniper Aim. In both cases, it's unclear whether the Empowered Destruction/Charged-Up Blast abilities are meant to be able to consume these target-specific bonuses to improve damage against a different target. My assumption is that they can (and must) do so, since the mods aren't being used normally, they're being destroyed as part of the ability.
- Adjusted Subroutines/Known Target also raises some question about exactly how the bonus is being generated for purposes of an Inventor's status die mechanics. If you make an Attack that triggers the ability and includes either Inventions or Science or both in the pool, do the bonuses count toward status or not? They're actually the result of an entirely different ability that doesn't use a die pool at all, after all. My assumption is that they do count, but it would be nice to sure of the designer intent.
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