OGRE & OGRESS, Super-Thug Power Couple

Going to be needing these loutish lovers for a future post, so here they are in all their dubious glory.  They usually work together (with or without other villains) but I've also included a solo version and a lieutenant writeup for times when they're not getting the spotlight.

OGRE is an homage to the identically-named villain from the combat example in Champions 1e all those years ago.

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The Loving Couple

OGRE

Description: A big green-skinned brute in a black wrestler's singlet and oversized combat boots.  His physique has a weird doughy look, but those lumpy muscles are impressively powerful.  Has a deep, rumbling voice and tends to shout a lot.  He's got a surprisingly good vocabulary when he feels like using it - usually to boast about his own might.

Gender: Male     Age: 33     Height: 7'2"     Eyes: Muddy Brown

Hair: Patchy Orange Spikes     Skin: Olive Green     Build: Muscularly Lumpy

Approach: Bully                   Archetype: Squad

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Leaping d8, Vitality d8

Qualities: Banter d8, Imposing d8, Mercenary Super-Thug d8

Status: (# of other Villains) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

One-On-One (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Use your Max die. Defend against all Attacks from the target until the start of your next turn with your Mid die. 

Showing Off (I) Increase the damage you deal by the number of nearby non-minion allies.

Two-Fisted Beatdown (A) Attack two nearby targets using Strength.  Use your Max die against one target and your Mid + Min dice against the other target.  If either target Defends against this Attack, both targets benefit from that Defend effect.

Watch It, You Dope! (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend against that Attack by rolling your single status die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Monster Trike d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Escape Plan (R) When OGRE is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than OGRE's current Health, both OGRE and the vehicle escape the scene.  Sturdy (I) When making saving rolls against damage, add a +2 bonus.

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome where your payment is at stake.

OGRESS

Description: A big green-skinned woman in a black one-piece skinsuit and oversized combat boots.  Her physique has a weird doughy look, but those lumpy muscles are impressively powerful.  She has a low, gravelly voice and spends a lot of time complaining about whatever subject catches her fancy - often any other villain she's working with.  She's very creative about her insults, borrowing from other languages that she otherwise lacks any real knowledge of.

Gender: Female     Age: 32     Height: 7'1"     Eyes: Lusterless Blue

Hair: Scraggly Orange Mane     Skin: Olive Green     Build: Muscularly Lumpy

Approach: Bully                   Archetype: Squad

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Leaping d8, Vitality d8

Qualities: Banter d8, Imposing d8, Mercenary Super-Thug d8

Status: (# of other Villains) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Get On With It Already! (A) One ally makes a basic action now.  Use their Max die and reroll all ones during this action.  

One-On-One (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Use your Max die. Defend against all Attacks from the target until the start of your next turn with your Mid die. 

Two-Fisted Beatdown (A) Attack two nearby targets using Strength.  Use your Max die against one target and your Mid + Min dice against the other target.  If either target Defends against this Attack, both targets benefit from that Defend effect.

Watch It, You Dope! (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend against that Attack by rolling your single status die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Monster Trike d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Escape Plan (R) When OGRESS is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than OGRESS' current Health, both OGRESS and the vehicle escape the scene.  Sturdy (I) When making saving rolls against damage, add a +2 bonus.

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome where your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Not so much.  When working as a duo, they rely on Watch It, You Dope! to cover each other (and Boost themselves with "You Owe Me on" bonuses) while beating on foes two at a time with Two-Fisted Beatdown.  If that doesn't work, they'll pick the most annoying target and single them out for a little time One-On-One.  OGRE gets a little extra damage out of Showing Off, especially when working with lieutenants or other villains.  OGRESS prefers to order allies (particularly OGRE) around with Get On With It Already! instead.

Their upgrades are a pair of custom armored trikes with semi-AI autopilots, built-in weapons and manipulator tentacles, and an emergency Zoom Gate escape teleporter.  OGRE's is a reverse trike (two wheels up front) which OGRESS this is stupid-looking, so rides a traditional model (two wheels in back).  They're usually being paid by someone else for whatever havoc they're wreaking, hence their mastery.

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OGRE or OGRESS (Working Solo)

Description: They look just like their descriptions above, but there's just the one big brute.

Approach: Bully                   Archetype: Bruiser

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Leaping d8, Vitality d8

Qualities: Banter d8, Imposing d8, Mercenary Super-Thug d8

Status: (Personal Health Zone) Green - d6 / Yellow - d8 / Red - d10

Abilities:

Mocking Boast (A) Defend using Banter.  Use your Mid + Min dice.  Recover using your Max die.

One-On-One (A) Attack one target using Strength.  Use your Max die. Defend against all Attacks from the target until the start of your next turn with your Mid die.

That All You've Got? (R) When Attacked, use the amount of damage taken to Boost yourself.

Two-Fisted Beatdown (A) Attack two nearby targets using Strength.  Use your Max die against one target and your Mid + Min dice against the other target.  If either target Defends against this Attack, both targets benefit from that Defend effect.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health.  Add a Monster Trike d12 Lieutenant with the following abilities to the scene:  Escape Plan (R) When Ogre is Attacked, roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than Ogre's current Health, both Ogre and the vehicle escape the scene.  Sturdy (I) When making saving rolls against damage, add a +2 bonus.

Master Mercenary (I) If you have a contract for a specific task, automatically succeed at an Overcome where your payment is at stake.

Tactics

Similar to when they're working together, start with Two-Fisted Beatdown and if that doesn't work, go One-On-One with the most irritating hero.  Supplement that with reactionary Boosts from That All You've Got? and take an occasional break to use Mocking Boast for Defense and some healing if you're starting to get low (about 5 x H).

Upgrade and masteries are the same as above.

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OGRE & OGRESS d10 (in a pair) or d12 (solo) lieutenants

Description: As above.

Tough As Nails: You gain a +2 bonus when rolling saves against damage.

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Odd One, An Alien Exile Who's Come to Help Humanity

Your basic weird alien hero type, this one leaning very hard into a team support role in exchange for having almost no offense.

Odd One

obligate transport terminus: a small blue planet / SELF appears / reeking of loss and trauma / OTHERSELF squirms in confinement / esoteric thought masters the ALL by mastering nothing / isolate must pursue new connections / return disallowed

> life approaches in freethought / communication? <

...did right to call us in...Jane says the species is enlightened..whatever that means...

> loud thought / leakage not communication? / self means no harm / understanding? <

...ah, natural telepath...can work with that...

"Telepathy?  I can "hear" you but not "speak" well.  We use sound centered in this frequency.  Does this register?"

< vocalization? / quaint >

"Yes / Can understand / Communication possible / Connection desired / Peaceful"

...from telepathy to speech that fast...enlightened indeed...

Understood.  Welcome, stranger.  You are an odd one, aren't you?"

 < odd one? / Odd One? / ironic / deserved / fitting >

"Odd One is self / self is Odd One / designation acceptable / Connection desired / Must communicate hazard"

...there's always something...

"Well, let's go someplace and discuss that, shall we?"

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Odd One is an exile from a distant alien world, apparently banished for developing some form of mental schism...or pursuing a  some form of persecuted philosophical belief...or maybe it suffers from some kind of incomprehensible psychic deformity?  Still not entirely clear, but after first contact and months of vetting by Team Paragon it was decided that Odd One's desire to be helpful (within the tenets of its alien belief system, which seems benevolent if not quite pacifistic) was sincere.  Its desire to achieve "connection" to the other inhabitants of its new world lead to probationary membership in a small super-team that had suffered a recent mortality, and since then Odd One has become an accepted (albeit aptly named) member of the hero community.

Description: To human eyes, a tall androgynous form, humanoid but with a thin, stretched out look and almost cylindrical dome-topped skull.  The creature is pale except for glittering opaline eyes and a long fringe of glossy black hair that forms a mane of sorts that runs along the jawline and rises to arc around the head just above small, mobile ears.  Its fine facial features are very human but still strangely repellent.  Its voice is high and musical, but you mostly hear it in your mind.     

Gender: Not A Cultural Concept     Age: Unknown     Height: 6'2"     Eyes: Opaline

Hair: Black, Leonine Fringe     Skin: Alabaster White     Build: Inhumanly Thin & Elongated

Background: Exile     Power Source: Alien     Archetype: Psychic

Personality: Nurturing     Health (G/Y/R):  34/25/12

Powers: Presence d8, Remote Viewing d8, Telekinesis d8, Telepathy d8, Transmutation d8, Flight d6 

Qualities: Conviction d10, Deep Space Knowledge d8, Insight d8, Master of Esoteric Thought d8

Status: Green (34-26) - d6 / Yellow (25-13) - d6 / Red (12-1) - d12

Abilities:

Green

An Ordered Mind (R) After rolling during your turn, you may take 1 irreducible damage to reroll your entire dice pool.

Atavistic Connection (A) Boost using Telepathy.  Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.

Principle of Great Power (A) Overcome in a situation using one of your highest rated powers.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies gain each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: How do you restrain yourself from unleashing your full power?  Major twist: What major damage do you inflict in the process of saving the day?  RP: Your powers are so strong they frighten even you, but you work hard to control them.  You can wield those powers to intimidate others.

Principle of the Inner Demon (A) Draw upon your dark psyche to Overcome a problem.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What sinister act comes from tapping into your dark side? Major twist: What havoc does your dark side inflict as you allow in to take control?  RP: You have a darkness within you you strive to keep suppressed.  You can reach out to this shadow to connect with similar forces.

Yellow

Contemplation of the All (A) Boost yourself using Conviction.  Either use your Max die, or use your Mid die and make the bonus persistent and exclusive.

Enduring Gestalt (A) Attack, Boost, Defend, or Hinder using Presence.  You and all nearby heroes in the Yellow or Red zone Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Esoteric Empowerment (A) Boost all nearby allies using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Transcendent Form (A) Overcome using Remote Viewing.  Use your Max + Min dice.  You do not need to be physically present in the area you are Overcoming at.

Red

Esoteric Ward (R) When an opponent Attacks, you may become the target and Defend yourself by rolling your single Red status die.

Mass Reality Manipulation (A) Hinder any number of targets in the scene using Transmutation.  Use your Max + Min dice.  If you roll doubles, also Attack each target using your Mid die. 

Strange Dualities (I) When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die.

Out

Enduring Weal (A) Boost an ally by rolling your single Conviction die.

Tactics

Odd One has a lot of support options for a team, but they're really hurt by dreadful die pools before Red.  It's almost always going to be worth taking a twist on round one to use Contemplation of the All, rerolling with An Ordered Mind if your Mid die isn't getting a +2 P+E bonus.  If that still fails just take the Max die instead and repeat the combination next round, dedicating the temporary bonus to shoot for a +3 P+E.

Once you've got at least a +2 P+E bonus in place, if you're still in Green Atavistic Connection is a solid team assist, and you might take a stab at an Overcome yourself with either of your two extreme flexible Principles.  If we're being honest, your dice make getting clean 8+ successes on those iffy even with a +2 added.

Things really open up for you in Yellow.  Your status is stuck at d6, but you have a stronger Overcome option with Transcendent Form and an incredible team Boost option with an almost trivial drawback through Esoteric Empowerment.  Expect to do that one a lot, because it's going to have to make up for the fact you aren't contributing damage.  Enduring Gestalt is effectively a basic action stapled to Min die group healing, and best saved for times when you can throw a lot of bonuses at it.  Finally, you could do Contemplation of the All to either take bonuses from the Max die or fish for a better P+E bonus (or a replacement for one that's been removed).  Not a very efficient use of your turns, but never forget your reroll options.  You actually want to get in the Red early if you can rather than wait for the tracker.

Red is where most heroes are at their best, but you really feel it with Odd One.  Going from d6 to d12 status takes all those good-to-great abilities held back by weak dice and cranks them up to 12+.  You gain Mass Reality Manipulation for reliable -4 global penalties and the occasional multi-target Attack.  Strange Dualities grants a free basic action every turn for incredible efficiency.  And you gain Esoteric Ward for d12 Defensive reaction that can not only keep you upright, it can cover allies in a pinch.  

This is why you want to get to Red early and gamble on staying in action at such low health, topping up with some bonus-fueled mass healing when possible.  Every Red turn you get is worth a good two from Green and Yellow, but it's a tricky act to pull off.

If you do go Out, Enduring Weal will keep right on Boosting one of your allies.        

Design Notes

This character exists for two reasons.  

Firstly, its checks off the last background (Exile) and last personality (Nurturing) that I haven't used in a build somewhere.  Since I've already finished all the power sources and archetypes that's at least one of every one of the four categories you'll be rolling for (or making choices about, with method 2) in character creation.  So that's done and I can stop trying to fill out the roster with options that have become increasingly unappealing, mechanically speaking.

Secondly, I wanted to take a stab at doing another style of "healer" hero, the previous one being Marshal Starblaze and his dedicated "self-and-single-ally" healing trick.  Odd One uses the other type of big Recovery ability, which I believe recurs only twice in the game and is an "every-hero-in-Y/R Min die" multitarget trick.  This really would be too weak to be very meaningful by itself, but with Boost support and a good P+E bonus it can be effective, especially with a larger team where damage is being spread around evenly.

Comparing the two, the Marshal also has a fair amount of damage output when he doesn't need to be healing others, a defensive reaction for allies to reduce the need for healing, and some serious utility tricks down in the Red including a very versatile attack-and-self-heal ability that get him back into Yellow pretty fast if need be.  Odd One is almost pure support, with only two abilities that even include the word Attack in them - one purely voluntary, and other accidental.  In theory they can go a whole scene without ever dealing damage, instead mass Boosting and healing allies, performing Overcomes, efficiently Boosting himself, and partially offsetting weak dice pools with rerolls.  In the Red they add a strong defensive reaction that can cover any hero, self or ally, and the improved status die is almost overkill with some of their abilities.

Of the two, I suspect Starblaze is better on most teams.  Damage output is just too important to skip in as completely as Odd One does, and too much of their real strength is gated behind Red status.  With the right allies (and especially on larger teams where their multi-target support is stronger) Odd One could be the superior choice, but they really need to keep their allies from going out even then.

If I were going to play Odd One myself, I would drop Nurturing for any of the many 6/8/10 personalities, losing a bit of Health and Red zone punch but greatly increasing effectiveness in that long Yellow zone.  But that wouldn't have helped me finish my checklist, so instead we get the extreme version here.

Worth noting that only Naive and Nurturing have that 6/6/12 status spread, and Midas, the one hero I used Naive with, avoids most of the problems of a Yellow d6 by having d12s in both powers and qualities - and by just making minions to do the real work for him.

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KILL-A-TON, Arms Dealer Who Loves Her Own Merchandise

A super-tech arms dealer who's definitely sampling her own wares.. 

KILL-A-TON

Cleo Akamai has loved firearms since she first handled her father's pistol at the tender age of five, and she's only become more enthusiastic over time.  Not content to simply fire them (although that is the fun part) she quickly moved on to use her super-genius intelligence to improve on the and then eventually design her own.  At some point after her college days the expenses for new material and repairs to her workspace exceeded her legitimate income.  Deciding to join the super-crime community was not a difficult decision for the young Miss Akamai.

In the ten years since she's established a reputation for reliability and built a well-paying clientele in the market for advanced weaponry and gadgetry.  Unlike some "tech head" villains she also takes irregular "road trips" operating under the supranym KILL-A-TON.  Her principle goal during these outings seems to be getting an opportunity to shoot her big-ass cannon conduct field testing on her latest upgrades, but she'll usually have some scheme in the works as well.  Whether she's looting exotic materials or technology she can't get otherwise, doing a favor for some villainous ally, or attempting to proactively eliminate some hero that's annoyed her somehow, she regularly varies her approach.  Sometimes it's just her a pack of robot minions or guns-for-hire (often being paid in her own weaponry), sometimes it's another villain, and once in a while she'll show up with a whole team made up of her customers.

KILL-A-TON's casual approach to mass destruction has many heroes looking for her, but she doesn't reciprocate their feelings and has no real nemesis.  The closest she gets to ongoing enemies are the agents of the Science Integration Network (SIN), who have repeatedly attempted to recruit of steal from her and continues to do so despite their failures and some fairly vigorous chastisement from KILL-A-TON.   

Description: Seen outside her power suit, she's a short, lightly built woman of native Hawaiian ancestry, including a slight Islands accent.  When working, all you'll see is a menacing anime-style battlesuit studded with thrusters and auxiliary equipment pods and holding a massive energy cannon that links to one shoulder via an articulated armature.  The gun glows and hums more and more ominously the more it builds up a charge.  The suit is all-concealing and modulates her voice into an obviously artificial tone. 

Gender: Female     Age: 30     Height: 5'2" (6'9" suited up)     Eyes: Dark Brown

Hair: Black, Cut Short      Skin: Golden Tan     Build: Slim

Approach: Mastermind     Archetype: Inventor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Mk. 25 Doom-Cannon d12, Inventions d10, Power Suit d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Criminal Underworld Information d8, Gun-Crazy Schemer d8, Imposing d8, Science d8, Technology d8

Status: (# of Inventions/Mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Intimidation Ploy (A) Attack one hero using using Technology.  Hinder all heroes using your Max die.

Overcharger (R) At the start of your turn, if you have no bonuses in play, roll your single Science die to Boost yourself.

Warning Shot (A) Boost using Mk. 25 Doom-Cannon.  Hinder using your Max die.  Attack using your Min die.

You Were Warned (A) Attack using Mk. 25 Doom-Cannon and at least one bonus.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Add all your bonuses to the Attack, destroying them.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Defense Shield (I) You cannot be damaged by anything except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed.  The shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can use a Reaction to Attack that hero by rolling your single Mk. 25 Doom-Cannon die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Inventions.  Use your Max die.  On a success remove one success from the deactivation challenge.  Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use your Max die to Recover that much of the shield's Health.  This ability cannot be used if the shield has been completely removed.

Master of Annihilation (I) If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation where a show of overwhelming force would help.

Tactics

Unless KILL-A-TON has a strong reason to be subtle about things, she'll happily spend her time cutting loose with her ridiculous powerful energy cannon turn after turn.  That said, she's a decent tactician and does everything she can to make every shot count.  When possible she spends her bonuses as fast as they come so she can get all the mileage possible out of Overcharger.  She often opens a fight with an Intimidation Ploy (using the bonus from her reaction, of course), loosing brilliant, noisy and  confusing micro-pulses while building up her status die with the penalties handed out.  She'll then take a Warning Shot at whatever the greatest threat appears to be, which can generate more mods for status effects if she uses Science or Technology instead of Ranged Combat.  KILL-A-TON follows that up with her signature move, a full-power shot using You Were Warned on the same target they they keep fighting, repeating they've learned their lesson..

Her upgrade significantly improves her durability, either through blocking damage or costing the heroes time doing Overcome actions, the latter of which may also grant her a chance to take a few snap-shots if her reaction is available (in which case she'll at least be less focused on exploiting Overcharger since it's a reaction too).  She has zero qualms about using her mastery when it might help, and is overall pretty casual about killing or seriously injuring innocents and heroes alike.

Trivia

Almost all of the bonuses she generates will be "Ominous Hum" with the number of m's at the end equal to the size of the bonus.  Yes, this is a Schlock Mercenary reference.

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KILL-O-BOT Minion d8 minions

Description: Basic humanoid automaton, not fancy (and certainly not smart) but equipped some pretty good zap guns.  KILL-A-TON doesn't put much effort into these things, robots aren't really her passion.  They do get issued with her usual high-quality guns, though.

Made Them Myself: Each group of H (or fraction thereof) of these minions counts as an invention for purposes of KILL-O-TON's status die.  You can only take Attack and Defend actions.

Only the Finest In Zap Guns: When you Attack, any rolls of one can be rerolled once.

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Praevalidus, A Roman Supersoldier

Metatextually, this character was a Sixties creation that made irregular appearances for years afterward, most often appearing in badly-researched time-travel pieces from the start of the Roman Empire forward.  Eventually some bright spark got the idea of having him appear in the modern day as a costumed hero rather than a resident of the past.  He showed up more often in this role but never got a solo book.  As a nod to his creator, his first appearance in costume was established to be the same date in the Sixties that the character was originally published - in a story set far in the past.  

Praevalidus  (civilian identity: originally Mercurius Atticus Octavianus, modern day Atticus Roman)

Three years after becoming Emperor Augustus, Octavius Caesar initiated a project meant to enhance his soldiers into veritable demigods.  A hidden college of scholars and priests from across the known world was assembled, and the Imperial Legions were dispatched to gather the esoteric materials, strange relics and cryptic writings they called for.  Before long the first experimental processes were ready, meant to meld divine powers with mortal men.  The test subjects were legionaries were who "volunteered" (often by dissatisfied commanders) and losses were high, but eventually there were successes.

The first "Praevalidus Miles" (roughly "Mighty Soldier" in English) was a ten-year veteran named Atticus, who survived being immersed in a vat of carefully-diluted water from the river Styx.  Previous attempts had left the subject either simply dead or frozen into a still-living statue of iron that took weeks to starve to death.  Atticus not only came out unharmed, he'd acquired a portion of the Greek hero Achilles' invulnerability.  Sage advice ("Get in there and really wallow around. Dunk your head.  Keep your eyes and mouth open.  Maybe spread your cheeks a bit.") had avoided the weak spot problem, but the protection wasn't as total as the legend claimed and he could still be cut or bruised if hit hard enough.  The process was far from perfect and the survival rate was still very low, but it was a success, and spurred further experiments.  By the time Augustus passed away the Roman Emoire had over a dozen super-soldiers with a variety of powers and the college became a fixture that would last almost as long as the empire itself.

For reasons unknown, Atticus remained the most successful of his kind and underwent other procedures that granted him the reflexes worthy of one of Mercury's offspring, bonds with  a variety of exotic Egyptian divine weapon/tools that somehow merged into a strange gestalt  form, and the power to change his shape into a bull-like Greek monstrosity.  Someone eventually noticed that he'd acquired immortality at some point, which started a brief furor as the mortal scholars struggled to discover how to duplicate the effect.  Nothing came of it, nor (as far as anyone knows) did any of the other Praevalidus Miles through the centuries become ageless, though none died of old age.

After this discovery, Atticus was increasingly used to hunt down likely resources for more and more extreme experiments, something which earned him the (largely ineffective) wrath of minor deities, spirits, and stranger things.  He kept coming back with the goods, and lived through dozens, hundred, and eventually thousands of procedures.  Few of them added discernably to his abilities, but the options available to him for shapechanging and with his equally morphic weapon grew and grew.  The only major change came, ironically, from a failed shattering curse that let him send out short-lived duplicates of himself to aid himself and his allies.

Regrettably, for all his growing power he couldn't be everywhere, and his fellow super-soldiers never achieved the same heights, nor did their ranks ever exceed twenty active members at a time.  There were less than eight others just before Rome was sacked in 410 AD, and from then till the final fall in 476 Atticus fought alone.

He survived to mourn the glory of Rome, but in the end he moved on to a wandering life, fighting for what causes he deemed worthy, dealing with occasional manifestations of his many curses, and encountering the strangest people.  Many were oddly-clothed people who demonstrated powers akin to his own, all of whom claimed to have come from other times in the past or future when questioned.  Many seemed confused at first, having expected to appear somewhere else, and some were quite hostile about it.  Atticus and the more friendly travelers eventually worked out that something about him seemed to attract those who were out of place in time to his vicinity, perhaps another of the curses laid on him.  He found he was anchored in time himself, and could only travel through it by passing passing one day after another.

Having eventually reached the present day of the campaign, the modern Atticus has adopted the rather grandiose supranym of Praevalidus and joined the hero community.  After thousands of years spent fighting he no longer takes things as seriously as once did, although he's still quick to take action when needed.  

If encountered earlier in his long lifetime (a likely occurrence) he'll be very different, almost always a mysterious military man of some kind, and often unhappy to see yet another lot of strange meddlers cross his path.  That said, he knows good from evil, and will aid time-lost heroes as best he can.

Description: A solidly-built man, a little short by modern standards.  His outfit varies depending on the era you meet him in, but always has a military feel to it if it isn't an actual uniform.  If he's caught up to the current day of the campaign he'll have adopted a costume for show, with blue pants, black boots, and a red tunic top with blue detailing.  His signature weapon is polymorphic (even splitting into multiple blades or ever-loaded bows and infinite javelins) but can't adopt the form of anything more recent than 476 AD.  His voice is powerful but coarse, with what might be an Italian accent.  Most of the many languages he speaks are dead, or barely recognizable to modern speakers.    

Gender: Male     Age: Born 50 BC (appears ~25)     Height: 5'8"      Eyes: Brown

Hair: Dark Brown, Curly     Skin: Deep Mediterranean Tan     Build: Sturdy

Background: Adventurer     Power Source: Cursed     Archetype: Close Quarters Combatant

Personality: Decisive     Health (G/Y/R):  28/21/10

Powers: Arsenal of the Gods d10, Agility d8, Duplication d8, Shapeshifting d8

Qualities: Close Combat d12, Eternal Roman Super-Soldier d8, History d8, Leadership d6

Status: Green (28-22) - d8 / Yellow (21-11) - d8 / Red (10-1) - d8

Abilities:

Green

Millennia of Practice (I) Whenever you roll a one on your dice, you may reroll any number of those dice.  You must accept the results of those rerolls, 

More Than Mere Weaponry (A) Take any two basic actions using Arsenal of the Gods.  Use your Min die for each.

Principle of Mastery (A) Overcome in a situation that uses your powers in a new way.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: How did your powers fail you in the moment?  Major twist: What side effects are you suffering from your powers?  RP: You have thoroughly studied your own powers and are proud of your mastery of them.  You understand a good deal about the metaphysics of your powers.

Principle of the Veteran (A) Overcome a tactical challenge using knowledge of a previous conflict..  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: What about the current conflict affected you emotionally?  Major twist: How are you withdrawing from the current conflict?  RP: You remain clear-headed under intense combat situations.

Unmatched Skill (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.

You Actually Fell For That Trick? (A) Attack a minion using Shapeshifting.  Whatever that minion rolls a save also becomes an Attack on on another target of your choice..  

Yellow

Call Up the Legion (A) Boost all nearby allies using Duplication.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Chimeric Form (A) Boost yourself using Shapeshifting.  Then, either remove a penalty from yourself or Recover Health using your Min die.

No Defense (A) Attack using Close Combat. This Attack ignores all penalties and Defend effects, and no reactions can be taken against it.

Red

Countless Lives Within Me (A) Hinder yourself using Duplication.  Use your Min die.  Recover Health equal to your Max + Mid dice.

Monstrous Evasion (R) When you are Attacked, Defend against that Attack and Boost yourself using your single Shapeshifting die.

Unshaken (I) When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die.

Out

Aid My Allies! (A) Boost an ally using Arsenal of the Gods.

Tactics

Praevalidus has spent almost 2000 years training himself in the fighting arts and his own supernatural powers, but he's still pushing to improvise and master new tricks.  This shows up first in his Millennia of Practice dice-fixer and recurs in the supremely versatile More Than Mere Weaponry ability, which he'll often use to Attack and Boost, storing up small bonuses for later use.  If there are minions (especially strong ones) he loves using You Actually Fell For That Trick? to use them to attack a more durable threat while also wearing them down.  If he needs big single-target damage his Unmatched Skill in melee provides it.  Principle of the Veteran is quite easy to use thanks to his long and conflict-filled life, and Principle of Mastery encourages innovative uses for his grab-bag of powers.

In Yellow, No Defense lets him deal with even the trickiest foes under the most difficult situations.  Chimeric Form offers a stronger Boost option combined with either penalty removal or self-healing, often with some bonus support from earlier turns.  Call Up the Legion summons temporary duplicates that grant powerful bonuses to his allies at the cost of some strain to himself, and is one time he might not want to reroll a one.

Red opens up a chance to make a quick return to Yellow Health with the combination of Countless Lives Within Me and Unshaken.  His Monstrous Evasion reaction improves the chances of living long enough to do that combo. and provides yet another moderate bonus for he to work with when he does.

Even when Out his morphing, semi-sapient driven weapon continues to hand out bonuses with Aid My Allies!

Design Notes

This hero got a rather extensive writeup because he was a birthday request from a fellow player my current PbP game, and I figured I'd better give him some extra effort.

Some of his powers are worth further description:

Arsenal of the Gods is a collection of multiple weapons and implements stolen from the divine regalia of half a dozen pantheons.  It manifests as whatever weapon or tool Praevalidus desires, with the limitation that nothing more recent that the early 5th century AD is available (which is when he stopped getting regular upgrades).  The thing can do miraculous staves or paired blades easily enough, but any sort of firearm is far beyond its time.  It's also become semi-sentient and can follow instructions to a limited degree.

Duplication creates temporary copies of Atticus, usually dressed in Roman Legionary uniforms.  He can vary their appearances to copy later periods of his lifetime, up to and including his hero costume, but the days of Rome are just easier for him.

Shapechanging is limited to any of a wide variety of mythological creatures captured from fables across the breadth of the Roman Empire.  The menu of available forms is largely drawn from Greece, Rome and Egypt with a few additions from Western Europe.

      

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