Another villain that I've used in a few one-shots over the last few years. He's pretty versatile in terms of who he might be found working with and what his immediate goals might be, and can vary a lot in terms of tone from borderline goofy to tragically deluded to downright sinister.
Tirade
The demented villain known as Tirade gained his psycho-sonic powers at the same catastrophic Supersonic concert that empowered the Loud Crowd and many other supers. Unlike most of those involved, he wasn't attending the show because he liked the band. His sole interest was in making illicit live recordings that would let him prove that subliminal obedience messaging was layered under the songs. To this day he's convinced the accident that created hundreds of (mostly) temporary supers was a botched assassination attempt aimed at him because he was getting too close - and he'll be happy to tell you that. At length.
In fact, he's happy to tell you lots of things whether you want to hear them or not, and his powers make his rambling conspiracy theories actively harmful to listen to by most people, leaving them confused and uncertain and even potentially inflicting neurological damage from lengthy or concentrated exposure. Tirade is largely devoted to his demented agenda of "spreading the truth" far and wide, but occasionally works with deluded followers to gather cash to fund his anti-conspiracy activities. Other more rational villains find him easy to manipulate and useful as a temporary ally/sacrificial distraction as well.
It's worth noting that despite being arrested and briefly incarcerated on several occasions Tirade's true name remains unknown. He refuses to give a civilian identity besides "John Smith" and seems to have a made major effort to stay "off the grid" even before gaining his powers. This put him a leg up on many new supervillains, as he had a surprising number of bolt holes, safe houses and hideouts from word one, as well as connections with other criminally-minded conspiracy nuts.
Description: With his trench coat, conservative civilian clothing and unimpressive physique he could be confused for a innocent bystander - if it weren't for the snug, strange-looking silver helmet that he wears everywhere, which provides protection against orbital mind-control lasers and includes omnidirectional speakers that help amplify his message to the masses. He has a hard time keeping his mouth shut (especially around crowds) and lapses into ranting about the secret conspiracies that manipulate the world with little or no provocation. His voice has an ugly grating quality to it that makes it unfortunately hard to ignore him.
Gender: Male Age: 44 Height: 5'10" Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark Brown, Thinning Skin: Slug-Belly White Build: Scrawny, Large-Headed
Approach: Bully Archetype: Inhibitor
Health: 35 + (5 x H)
Powers: Weaponized Delusions d10, Gadgets d8, Sonic d8
Qualities: Banter d8, Imposing d8, Deranged Conspiracy Theorist d8
Status: ( # of Heroes with Penalties) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6
Abilities:
Never Shuts Up (I) Whenever you or your nearby allies Hinder, increase the penalty created by 1.
Open Your Eyes, You Fool! (A) Attack using Weaponized Delusions. Use your Max die. Hinder the target using your Max + Min dice (if the target's status die is less than d8) or your Max die (if the target's status die is d8) or your Mid die (if the target's status die is greater than d8).
Wake Up, Sheeple! (A) Hinder multiple targets using Weaponized Delusions. Use your Max die. Attack one of those targets using your Mid die.
Your Truths Are Lies! (R) When Attacked by someone with a penalty you created, Defend by rolling your single status die and the Attacker suffers that amount of damage.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health. Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).
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
Tirade's abilities revolve around using his super-powered voice to push his deranged conspiracy theories on those around him, which is distracting at best and downright dangerous to the sanity of the weak-willed. Worse, he can focus on resistant targets to deal raw damage via psycho-sonic resonance. If faced with multiple foes he'll rely on Wake Up, Sheeple! to hamper as many as possible, fueling his Your Truths Are Lies! defensive reaction. Vulnerable targets and major threats will be singled out for Open Your Eyes, You Fool! whenever Tirade starts a turn with at least a d8 status die. All the penalties he and his allies hand out are made worse because he Never Shuts Up.
His upgrade reflects getting some technological assistance in the form of an even bigger stupid-looking speaker-helmet and some other toys, usually bought on the black market or provided by a villainous ally, which will also let him use his mastery with his signature Weaponized Delusions power.
Design Notes
The writeup above doesn't go into details on exactly what conspiracy theories Tirade is obsessed with, which leaves the GM free to use whatever suits their needs at the moment. There's no particular reason for him to be consistent from one appearance to the next, although you can assume he's generally at least a vaguely anarchist, anti-status quo, antigovernment type and build from there. Be careful what real-world conspiracies you use though. It's one thing to jab at patently counterfactual stuff like Flat Earth Theory and faked Moon landings, but denying war crimes should be completely off limits.
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