Proud offspring of some of the worst people to come out late-stage capitalism, the only redeeming feature this villain has is that he's too disinterested to have political aspirations.
Paycheck
Nigel Wake is the scion and sole heir of four generations of highly successful white collar criminals, each of whom added to the family fortune through embezzlement, tax evasion, and a bewildering variety of fraudulent dealings, all without ever serving more than a few years now and then in the most comfortable of prisons. It was expected that young Nigel would follow their footsteps, but once he inherited his trust fund at 21 he decided to pursue a different path, one more suited to his tastes than sitting in an office manipulating the books in his favor. He would become a supervillain, and simply steal a new fortune. Thus Paycheck was born.
Of course, there was no reason not to take advantage of his resources to do so, nor does a gentleman of his social standing do the grunt work. No, he invested wisely in some defensive gear while exploiting family contacts in the criminal underworld to hire a team of the most reliable villainous allies money could rent before staging his first heist. That success led to more, and while his contracted crime spree was eventually stopped and most of his hirelings arrested, Nigel himself got away scot free. Covert legal assistance kept his temporary allies' jail time to a minimum and left Paycheck with a reputation in the supervillain community as a reliable employer and uncommonly rational mastermind type.
Nigel doesn't feel pressed to "work" more often than his (expensive) lifestyle calls for, but when he does Paycheck will recruit a new team, launch another series of financially lucrative crimes, then fade away again to enjoy the fruits of others' labor.
Description: An anonymous male figure in a sleek suit of fully-enclosed black-and-gold battle armor. While stylish and visually impressive the suit doesn't seem to actually do much, lacking integral weapons, mobility aids, or heavy armor. It provides good environmental regulation, modest personal protection and seems to have a potent communication array, while also supporting a bandolier of minor gadgets - none of which, oddly enough, are technically illegal, although some of the self-defense chemical sprays and flashbangs tread pretty close to the line. The helmet includes a voice modulator and amplifier, usually producing a powerful baritone when ordering around his allies.
Gender: Male Age: Early Twenties Height: 5'11" Eyes: Chestnut Brown
Hair: Medium Brown, Curly Skin: Perfectly Tanned Caucasian Build: Lithely Athletic
Approach: Tactician Archetype: Squad
Health: 25 + (5 x H)
Powers: Enormous Wealth d8, Presence d8, Gadgets d6, Power Suit d6
Qualities: Persuasion d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Dilettante Supervillain d8, Insight d6
Status: (# of other Villains) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Exploitive (I) As long as you have at least one ally nearby, you may reroll all ones on your dice.
I'm Management, Not Labor (A) One ally takes a basic action now, using their Max die and rerolling all ones rolled during that action.
Time To Earn Those Bonuses (A) Boost using Persuasion. Use your Max die. That bonus applies to every ally's action until the start of your next turn.
You Owe Me One (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single status die. Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional, but usually in effect if there's any plausible way for his vehicle to be present - walking to a heist is for the poor):
Villainous Vehicle +15 Health. Add a Chauffeured Getaway Vehicle d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene: Escape Plan (R) When Paycheck is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die. If it rolls higher than Paycheck's current Health, both he and the vehicle escape the scene. Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die. Paycheck Recovers that much health.
Master of Profitability (I) If you have access to great wealth and other resources, automatically succeed at an Overcome to leverage those resources to get even richer, no matter who pays the price.
Tactics
Paycheck's not interested in getting his own hands dirty during a job, and rarely takes direct action against heroes himself. He tends to rely on motivating his villainous "contractors" with Time To Earn Those Bonuses at first, selectively switching to I'm Management, Not Labor to grant extra actions to key personnel (or the last ally still standing) when the time seems right. You Owe Me One helps keep other villains (but not minions or lieutenants) in action longer while rewarding Paycheck with bonuses of his own, while Exploitive offers some dice fixing as long as he has some assistants nearby. If he finds himself alone in a scene he'll usually simply surrender, expecting his high-power lawyers to keep him from ever seeing the inside of a prison.
His upgrade will be in effect unless there's absolutely no way for him to have an escape vehicle along, and since he can afford super-tech equipment like flying cars, personal submersibles, and even spacecraft he has a lot of options there. Regardless of its exact form, its abilities play an important part in keeping Paycheck safe and it will usually concentrate on healing or protecting him when possible. His mastery reflects his skill at picking lucrative targets for villainy, upholding the family tradition of accumulating obscene wealth by shady means.
Design Notes
Of the villains currently on this blog, likely villainous "contractors" for Paycheck to sign up include Ascendant, the Brute Squad, Dead-Beat, Firebug (with or without his daughter in tow), the Mighty Bullfrog, Orb-Master, the Purple Gang, Southpaw, Strongarm, Ultrashock, possibly the Hooligans Three (if they can convince him they're not too young for the job), and the duo Hare & Tortoise. Paycheck rarely uses mere minions or lieutenants, preferring quality over quantity.
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