A straightforward flying powerhouse villain with a bit of a Nineties feel, but can adjust that by just turning the "murderous brute" dial up and down as needed. Maybe spell his name properly too, but I remind you that goofy spelling are not unique to that decade. Angar the Screamer goes back to 1973, and Blastaar to 1967.
Bludshed
John Deville was a smuggler of stolen antiquities passing as a legitimate archeologist until the day he stumbled over the lost sanctum of some ancient diabolist, his splintered bones still protruding from under the gigantic block of fallen stone that ended his life. In breaking the seals laid upon the place he drew the attention of the long-dead mage's otherworldly patrons. Offered superhuman power and near-immortality in exchange for bringing death and destruction to the world, he was quick to speak the magic word MAZASH! and transform into Bludshed, Champion of Evil.
Since then he's clashed with many heroes, sometimes triumphing and committing some new act of mass slaughter, more often being defeated and having his powers stripped for a time by his dark masters as punishment for failure. To date he's eventually been restored to his powered state each time, in several cases during attempts to kill him in his mortal form. No method seems to prevent this "insurance policy" effect, which is the primary reason he hasn't been executed for his crimes years ago. "Don't try to kill John Deville" is a well-known adage in the superhuman community.
While prone to over-relying on his great powers and brute force, Bludshedd retains Deville's cunning and amoral personality. He frequently surprises opponents with unexpected ploys during combat, and seemingly straightforward schemes that turn out to be much more convoluted than they first appear. While he dislikes voluntarily abandoning his empowered form, he can do so when he wants to and sometimes passes as an ordinary civilian (sometimes in magical disguise) to achieve his masters' goals.
Description: Tall, powerfully built figure with a literally devilish cast to his sharp features. Wears nothing but a pair of black-and-purple striped pantaloons and shiny black boots, leaving the blood-red skin of his impressively muscled upper body exposed. When he changes personal health zones he sprouts diabolic black horns - mere inches long in Yellow, growing to curved blades over a foot in length in Red - and shattering if he goes Out. He speaks in a booming voice dripping with contempt for those around him.
His civilian form is a good eight inches shorter, with the gangling physique of a scarecrow and shaggy gray hair. He needs powerful glasses to see anything beyond arm's reach and speaks with the ragged voice of the long-time smoker.
Gender: Male Age: 39 Height: 6'3" Eyes: Jet Black
Hair: None, Black Goatee & Moustache Skin: Blood Red Build: Absurdly Muscular
Approach: Prideful Archetype: Bruiser
Health: 45 + (5 x H)
Powers: Flight d10, Momentum d10, Strength d10, Vitality d8
Qualities: Close Combat d10, Imposing d10, Fitness d8, Much Smarter Than Expected d8, Otherworldly Mythos d8
Status: Current Health Zone Green - d6 / Yellow -d8 / Red - d10
Abilities:
Berserk Vitality (I) Reduce damage taken from physical or energy sources by 1/2/3 while you are in the Green/Yellow/Red zone.
Blood Rage (A) Attack using Strength. If your current status is in the Green zone, use your Max die. If your current status is in the Yellow zone, use your Max + Min dice. If your current status is in the Red zone, use your Max + Min dice against one target and your Mid die against a different target.
Fearsome Might (A) Attack using Imposing. Use your Max + Min dice. If the Attack causes the target to change zones, Boost yourself with your Mid die. This bonus is persistent and exclusive.
Heart-Stopping Dread (R) When a nearby hero rolls a one on any of their dice during their turn, Attack them by rolling your single Imposing die.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional):
Group Fighter (I) +20 Health. When you take an action that lets you make an Attack, also Attack with your Mid die.
Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving otherworldly forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of unknowable entities beyond our reality.
Tactics:
Bludshed is a brutal fighter who relies on strength, speed and raw aggression, augmented by his fearsome reputation as a casual killer. He generally relies on Fearsome Might in the early stages of a combat, using whichever power seems likely to get the best effect at the moment and supplementing his damage output with Heart-Stopping Dread whenever he can. Once he reaches Red status he'll generally switch to Blood Rage for the added damage, although he still keeps an eye out for opportunities to get an easy bonus from pushing a hero down a GYRO stage - including from Red to Out. While stacking exclusive bonuses doesn't help him much he'll continue to do so until he reaches a +4 through applying an earlier bonus to his Mid die. Berserk Vitality makes him increasingly hard to damage as a battle continues and extends the period where he can use his improved status die.
His upgrade increases his damage output to an alarming level, and reflects a "performance bonus" from the diabolical patrons behind his mastery.
Design Notes
This villain was going to be part of Nineties week as an example of a shameless ripoff character, but he wound up getting replaced by the bad Hulk imitation Ang-Gorr instead. I belatedly realized that there are already so many evil versions of Captain Marvel (the Fawcett Comics original one that DC isn't allowed to use the real name for anymore, not all the other Captains Marvel who've stolen the supranym) that it's impossible to really rip the concept off any more. The people who control the IP have beaten that horse to death. It's not enough we've got Black Adam and family, there's Ibac, Sabbac, Bizarro Captain Marvel, and even Alexander Luthor cosplaying as a Mazash already. And I've probably missed some others.
Still, no reason not to have my own version, which is kind of a mix of several of the others. A ripoff of a knockoff, as it were. I am keeping the painfully Nineties name as a reminder of his roots, though. You have to say it extreme, you know. BLUDSHEDDD!
No comments:
Post a Comment