Savior RSRD, Emergency Response Drones With Some Minor Security Issues

Search and rescue drones aren't villains - but they do get hijacked by them sometimes.

Savior RSRD

The Savior Remote Search & Rescue Drone system is an experimental new emergency response tool for dealing with disasters, major accidents and other potential mass casualty events - including some superfights.  The humanoid Savior drone itself serves as an on-the-scene control and communications relay for a whole network of specialized rescue drones.  These drones are operated remotely by experienced former firefighters, EMTs, hazardous material handlers and others, most of whom have gotten a little too old for field work anymore.  Working safely from a distant HQ, these professionals use their drones to carry out quick and efficient rescue work, first aid and medical transport, and containment of fires, dangerous chemicals, and structural collapses.  While expensive, a city with a Savior system in place is overall a much safer place to live.  Most of the time, anyway.

The Savior system isn't cutting edge technology by super-tech standards, and its security protocols (both physical and electronic) just aren't up to snuff when it comes to super-criminals.  While not designed for combat, the specialized drones are equipped for clearing debris and breaching structures in search of injured victims, evacuating them swiftly and safely afterward.  Those same capabilities make them useful for all manner of grandiose heists, penetrating security, cracking safes and "evacuating" loot or kidnap victims with the same efficiency.  This has led to multiple cases of villains and criminal organizations temporarily hijacking a Savior system to carry off a specific job or just go on a crime spree.  Both heroes and the authorities have learned to be wary around Savior drones, keeping an eye out for them suddenly going rogue.

The worst incident to date followed a major earthquake that left a large part of [campaign city of choice] damaged and burning.  Three different Savior networks were scrambled to help deal with the disaster - only for all of them to go berserk.  As heroes and emergency services personnel struggled to deal with things, the rogue drones seemed to go crazy, starting to loot one building only to suddenly stop and turn to new targets without finishing the job.  A small team of supers discovered there were multiple signals overriding the legitimate Savior control systems, each apparently with conflicting goals.  Quickly tracking the coded transmissions to a secret lair on the fringe of the city, they found an ongoing three-way battle between the villains Doctor Robotico, Miniac and Horde, all of who had the idea of exploiting the Savior drones for opportunistic larceny as the city burned.  The heroes attacked, only to see the feuding villains unite against them and call in a virtual army of hijacked drones for support.  It might have ended in a crushing defeat, but at the last moment an unidentified fourth party* seized control from the villains and turned the Savior networks back to rescue work, leaving the three tech-villains to receive a well-deserved beatdown while the drones helped save thousands of lives.         

Description: A chunky, barely humanoid robot almost four feet wide with a rectangular head, body and limb segments.  It sports a large cluster of antennae and multi-directional camera lenses on it blocky head and spinning emergency lights on each squared-off shoulder plate.  The whole thing is painted red and white to evoke an ambulance feel.  It speaks with a loud PA system that can also double as an ear-piercing siren.  

Gender: None     Invented: 2023     Height: 5'6"     Optic Sensors: Dull Black

Antennae: Chrome     Chassis Plating: White & Red     Configuration: Blocky Humanoid

Approach: Generalist                   Archetype: Overlord

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Robotics d10, Awareness d8, Part Detachment d8, Sonic d6

Qualities: Medicine d10, Persuasion d8, Repurposed Emergency Response Drone d8, Finesse d6

Status:  (# of Minions & Lieutenants) 9+ - d12 / 5-8 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 1-2 - d6 / 0 - d4

Abilities:

Improvised Offense (A) Roll all your minion dice and combine the result to Boost yourself.  Attack using Robotics and use that bonus.

Optimized Safety Protocols (I) Whenever your roll a one on a die, reroll that die once.

Protective Intervention (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Part Detachment die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Network Control (A) Boost using Repurposed Emergency Response Drone for all your minions until the start of your next turn.

Resilient Frame (I) Reduce physical and energy damage dealt to you by 1, 2, or 3 when the scene is in the Green, Yellow, or Red zones respectively.

Summon Rescue Drones (A) Use Repurposed Emergency Response Drone to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die.  The starting die size of for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Subsonic Projectors (I) +10 Health.  The heroes act as being in the Green zone for status die, ability access, and all abilities.  Heroes may remove this ability with three Overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist while attempting these Overcomes, you may use a reaction to Hinder them by rolling your single Infernal die.

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

A Savior RSRD system is not designed for combat, much less supervillainy.  When hijacked for such inappropriate functions, it relies on Summon Rescue Drones to call in help, most of which isn't very good in a fight either.  Once it has enough support it relies on Network Control to make its drones quite a bit more effective and it can keep them in a fight longer with Protective Intervention.  Its own Resilient Frame makes it tougher than it looks, but it still fights directly only when hard-pressed.  Its most effective Attack is to pool Robotics and Medicine, deploying a jet of biostasis gas or anesthetic injectors as an Improvised Offense.  Optimized Safety Protocols improves its overall performance even when operating as an impromptu crime machine.

With its upgrade, the Savior RSRD activates the subsonic projectors carried for calming panicking crowds, while its mastery reflects the unpredictable antics of whatever villain is behind the joysticks.  

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Savior drones of all types may appear as environment targets or hero allies when they haven't had their controls overridden by villains.  

Emergency Response Drones d4-d12 minions (see Summon Rescue Drones)

Description: A bewildering variety of robotic drones optimized for search and rescue work, some built for firefighting and clearing rubble and wreckage, others for locating and safely extracting disaster victims, and still more for field treatment of casualties or medical evacuation.  All are brightly painted in white and red with rotating emergency lights and powerful siren/PA systems.

Adaptive Mobility: You can move as though you had Flight d6 or Swimming d6 or Wall-Crawling d6 as needed to navigate the scene of a disaster or accident.

Specialized Rescue Drones: You receive a +3 bonus to Overcome actions involving search and rescue, emergency medical treatment and disaster response activities, although they still follow the minion rules when dealing with challenges (see page 156).  When you take an Attack action, roll your die twice and take the lower of the two results.

Savior RSRD d10 lieutenant

Description: This is the lieutenant version of villain above, primarily for use when the the ER drone network is performing properly and not being hijacked by criminals.  Replace it with the full villain writeup if it turns coat during a scene.

Drone Network Controller: Any nearby Emergency Response Drone minions may reroll ones rolled on their dice once.

Enhanced Disaster Response: As your action, you may roll your die and add that many d8 Emergency Response Drone minions to the scene.

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*The "unidentified fourth party" was La Chatarerra, but she's not talking about it because it would spoil her rep in the villain community.  Tonia may be greedy and gleefully violent at times, but her family and friends lived in that broken, burning city those other three sociopaths were letting die while they hijacked the rescue drones that should have been helping.  She'd have stopped them sooner if the quake hadn't half-buried her own lair in a scrap tsunami, but the minute she got herself dug out she took steps.  First she subtly pointed the heroes at the source the interference, then she did some hijacking of her own while her "peers" were distracted.  Showed them whose tech is just junk, even if they'll never know it.

There might even have been some mysterious junk-bots helping fight fires, stop gas leaks, handle downed power lines and carry people to safety that day, but no one looked into those rumors too closely and Tonia's fine with that.  She's not some idiot hero, after all.

Blog Content Index

The Odds, A Diverse Group Of Unfortunate Villains

A diverse group of villains, each with desperate needs of their own but at least temporarily sharing the same goal.

The Odds

Countless individuals have received superpowers (accidentally or otherwise) from exposure to mad science experiments over the years.  Some of them have gone on to become well known heroes or villains, having won fate's lottery and received potent abilities with few drawbacks - or such vast power that any accompanying drawbacks seem worth the cost.  Not everyone's a winner though, and the Odds are a diverse group of villains who got the short end of the stick when it came to things.  They've banded together in part to support one another's driving needs, although some are more desperate (and more open to manipulation) than others.

Oddment is the group's nominal leader, and they all current follow his goal of acquiring technology for growing them new bodies and transferring their consciousnesses to them.  He knows he's on the clock with a collapse into psychosis impending, but generally puts on a good show of being cool and in charge.

Vestige has devolved from a skilled scientist to a predator desperate to continue her existence by any means.  When well fed she's stable enough to contribute some useful knowledge about the legal side of the scientific community, although bioengineering and mind transfer are far outside her field.  She's discovered an odd resonance with Afterglow's powers, which serve to keep her from fading away more efficiently than others she's encountered.

The Homunculoid is a lost and monstrous bioengineering project.  Oddment has made it promises that it may not even care about.  The thing's motivations are its own and probably not rational at all, but something keeps it with the group.  The others suspect its creator may come looking for it eventually, a creator with obvious skills in genetically engineering new life forms that might help with their long term plans.

Afterglow is more innocent victim than the villain she's been cast as, but she's also immensely dangerous to the civilian population and suffering from extreme mental fragmentation.  Her rare moments of clarity might lead to connections in the shadier parts of the medical research field, which are only a short step away from mad science clone masters and experimental mind transfers.  Her radiation output is hard to keep damped down to even semi-safe levels, but Vestige's reality drains seem to help keep it under control, making them a symbiotic pair. 

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Oddment

Harrison Odell was once the mad science villain Cyber-Maker, a specialist in augmenting ambitious criminals with cybernetic upgrades that would make them true superhumans - and which included backdoor access that he could use to control them, slowly building a veritable army of cyborg muscle.  A coalition of several heroes and villains twigged to the scheme and cooperated to bring him down, destroying his secret mountain lair and catching him in an explosion no one could survive.  Unless, of course, one was a genius villain who had pre-programmed his robotic surgical assistants to preserve his life at any cost.

That cost proved to be the loss of his entire organic body and large parts of his once-great brain.  What remained was augmented with a digitized recreation of his old personality, installed in a life support capsule implanted in the sturdiest combat cyborg chassis available in the ruined base's emergency backup shelters.  No longer either Harrison Odell or his Cyber-Maker alter ego, the new hybrid of organic and digital minds took the supranym Oddment for itself and assessed its new existence.  Odell had always avoided creating "full-conversion" brain-in-a-tank cyborgs because they went unstable too quickly to be of use, and now he was one himself.  His artificial memory overlays would keep what was left of him rational for longer than most, but eventually the collapse would come.  The only solution was to find a way to create an organic host body before the inevitable, which was not something he could manage on his own.  He would need allies with similar end goals...or at least useful pawns for his pursuit of bioengineering and mental transfer technology.

Description: A large mechanical humanoid covered in variegated black, umber and tan scales over a dull metal chassis.  Its human head sits deep in an armored collar atop the chunky torso, although this is an android fake - the real brain and its life support system are deep within the the chest in a separate armored capsule.  The oversized forearms conceal a mix of cognitive modification mechanisms, while the chunky "boots" and backplate conceal jump jets for short bursts of speed.  His strong baritone voice sounds quite natural, even when coming from concealed speakers after his decoy head has been destroyed.

Gender: Male        Age: 48        Height: 6'4"        Eyes: Brown

Hair: Light Brown     Skin: Titanium Alloy, Variegated Scales     Build: Cyborg

Approach: Generalist                Archetype: Inventor

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Power Suit d10, Deduction d8, Inventions d8, Robotics d6

Qualities: Science d10, Combat Cyborg d8, Technology d8, Criminal Underworld Info d6

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Augmentation Mechanisms (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.

Decrementation Mechanisms (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Inventions.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Intercession (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Power Suit die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Simple Brute Force (A) Attack using Power Suit.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Superior Technology (I) Whenever you create a bonus, increase the value of that bonus by one.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Combat Cyborg by one (max d12).

Master of Mad Science (I) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

Oddment prefers to let his allies to the fighting while he observes his foes and tunes his mechanical  body for optimal performance against them.  He'll usually open with Augmentation Mechanisms, taking a persistent bonus for himself and sharing the other with an ally.  He uses Intercession reactively to protect an ally every round he can, further Boosting himself in the process.  He may continue building up bonuses or handing them out if he's being ignored, or he may switch to Decrementation Mechanisms to debuff multiple enemies while collecting yet another personal bonus.  All of his Boosts will be improved by Superior Technology.  If his Health is getting low he'll switch to Simple Brute Force, possibly piling his accumulated bonuses into the Min die for a big Recovery or onto the Max die to land a big hit and take out a particularly problematic foe.

His upgrade comes from spending time optimizing his internal processors and improves both durability and dice pools, which is particularly helpful when he can bundle in a big d12 Science die with his two mechanisms abilities.  His mastery reflects his ability to carry out scientific and technological tasks quickly and reliably under pressure.

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Vestige

Once a respected dimensional science theorist pursuing the dream of a functioning FTL drive, Tatiana Roman had no idea she'd attracted the attention of SIN's Operations Directive until one of their acquisitions teams interrupted an experiment at a critical moment.  The resulting malfunction consumed half the research complex in dimensional collapse, pulling everyone there into a null-reality state.  Everyone but Tatiana.  She resisted the pull through sheer force of will, but was left as a living anomaly, constantly being drawn toward un-being.  Tatiana quickly discovered that she could stave off oblivion by siphoning some vital element of reality itself from others around her.  

Only other humans could provide what she needed, and most of them were simply too fragile and weak-willed to endure even a single feeding before fading away - but her first encounter with superheroes investigating the catastrophe taught her that they were far better sources of what she needed, even if they were also more dangerous prey.  And prey is what they were.  Dubbing herself Vestige, Tatiana determined to survive no matter what it required to do so.  She would endure until she found away to reverse the accident that had created her, and if others had to perish so be it.

Vestige was contacted by Oddment while she was on the run after her powers first manifested, offering her potential salvation by transferring her intelligence to a new form free from dimensional instability.  The fact that his last recruit Afterglow proved to be able to "feed" Vestige's hunger safely for extended periods has further cemented her otherwise-dubious loyalty to the group.     

Description: A ghostly image of middle-aged woman dressed in a white lab coat over a gray dress and low heeled shoes.  Her natural colors seem faded and the entire figure is nearly translucent when the light is behind her.  She does seems to shine faintly in actual darkness as though caught in moonlight, adding to her phantasmal appearance.  Her sharp features are twisted with frustration and anger, and her hollow voice seems to come from far away.  When using her powers to feed swirls of cold purple-blue energy seem to flow from her victims into her form.

Gender: Female         Age: Early Fifties         Height: 5'2"          Eyes: Faded Blue

Hair: Faded Gray          Skin: Fading Into Transparency              Build: Stick-Thin

Approach:  Specialized                         Archetype:  Domain

Health:  50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Intangibility d8

Qualities: Conviction d12, Close Combat d8, Fading From Reality d8

Status: (# environment targets and challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Call Victims (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to red.

Destructive Grasp (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use your Max + Min dice.  The target cannot Defend or use reactions against this Attack.

Endless Need (A) Attack up to three targets using Conviction.  Use your Max die against one target, your Mid die against a second, and your Min die against a third. 

Focused Hunger (A) Hinder one target using Conviction.  Use your Max die.  Attack that target using your Mid die.

Sacrificial Energy (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environment minion.

Siphon Reality (A) Roll any number of environment minion dice and Recover that much Health.  Remove those minions,

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, only if Vestige has been feeding in one area for at least a few days):

Mook Squad +0 Health.  Gain Call Fodder (A) Replenish your Depleted Fodder minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving eldritch forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of otherworldly entities beyond human concerns.

Tactics

Vestige's foremost concern is continuing her existence at any cost, but superheroes offer so much more "reality" to draw on than everyday people that fighting them is well worth the risks involved.  Against a single foe she'll rely on Focused Hunger (usually pooled with Absorption) at first, shifting to Destructive Grasp (often with Intangibility) if they display strong reactions or Defend abilities.  Against a group she'll reach out for as much energy as she can with Endless Need while using Sacrificial Energy to reactively use a minion for protection against Attacks.  Her sizeable base Health lets her hang tough in combat while accumulating environment minions with the occasional use of Call Victims for a single big Recovery using her Siphon Reality healing ability.

If she has her upgrade she may use Call the Fodder rather than rely solely on the environment for minions to victimize, although they're fairly inefficient "food sources" when used as such.  Her mastery reflects her jumping at any opportunity to cling to reality, even as a pawn of the terrible things that lurk beyond it.   

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Depleted Fodder d6 minion

Description: They can look like a female human of any age, ethnicity or occupation, but all are strangely faded, almost colorless and translucent as though they weren't fully real.  Obviously unnatural, they move like shambling phantoms.  Their touch is chilling, and their hopeless stare leaves victims feeling hollow and hungry.  

Last Dregs: You count as an environment minion for Vestige's Sacrificial Energy and Siphon Reality abilities, but your dice always count as rolling a one for Health Recovery or for saving against any damage inflicted when resolving those abilities.

Reality Leech: When you deal damage to a target with an Attack, the target also suffers a -1 penalty.

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Homunculoid

The creature known as the Homunculoid is an escaped bio-construct crafted from some horrific and utterly unethical manipulation of the human genome.  Who created it and what purpose they had in doing so remains unknown, lost behind memories of fire and chaos.  The thing knows only what it has gleaned from the minds that open to its telepathy, and takes its guidance only from the fleeting visions that run wild in its distorted psyche.  It literally latched on to Oddment when he accidentally encountered the Homunculoid in the ruins of another scientists lair, and has stuck with him since then.  Sometimes it dreams of having its mind transferred to a new, human body as Oddment has promised.  Other times it knows that promise was a lie, and is tagging along solely for the joy of the chaos his "ally's" plans will bring.    

Description: A clearly inhuman creature with a distorted human-like head over 18" across, set low between two powerfully-muscled shoulders leading to a pair of three-foot long arms that carry its weight.  An absurdly small humanoid torso in a red and green body-stocking dangles beneath that huge head, trailing two useless vestigial legs.  It mouth gapes open menacingly, equipped with teeth like crooked tombstones and panting steadily.  It speaks only telepathically, where its "voice" is an irritating shriek.  For all its awkward-seeming physique the thing is surprisingly nimble, bounding about on its powerful hands with ease.  

Gender: None (uses he/him)   Age: Unknown   Height: 3'2"   Eyes: One Blue, One Green

Hair: Stubbly Black                 Skin: Sickly Grayish-Blue              Build: Bizarre

Approach:  Tactician                          Archetype:  Fragile

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Intuition d8, Telepathy d8, Agility d6, Leaping d6

Qualities: Alertness d10, Acrobatics d8, Murderous Bio-Construct d8, Stealth d6

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

Abilities:

Gestalt Awareness (A) Boost using Alertness.  Use your Max die.  The bonus applies to every ally's action until the beginning of your next turn.

Mindripper (A) Attack using Telepathy.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Surprisingly Agile (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single status die.  If the damage is reduce to zero, you may move to anywhere else in the scene.

Vindictive Behavior (R) When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Murderous Bio-Construct die. 

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Murderous Bio-Construct by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

The Homunculoid is a pretty unstable combatant who undergoes radical personality shifts as he suffers damage.  While mostly healthy he concentrates on supporting his allies with Gestalt Awareness while evading strikes and staying mobile using Surprisingly Agile.  Once he reaches about half Health he switches over to making Mindripper attacks against whoever has hurt him most, throwing out more damage when allies Attack using Vindictive Behavior if he has a reaction left when the opportunity arises.  If he somehow winds up being the last villain standing he'll do his best to flee even if the opposition is looking pretty rough as well.

His upgrade relies on getting access to booster drugs tailored to his unique biology, while his mastery represents his quirky, erratic flavor of problem solving.

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Afterglow

Mary Curry was once a research assistant in fringe nuclear medicine before her unethical employers chose to use her as a test subject for their latest drug.  The chemical was designed to allow human tissues to absorb and metabolize even hard radiation without harm, and it succeeded spectacularly after a fashion.  Mary became a living atomic reaction, generating impossible amounts of some heretofore unknown exotic radiation and thriving upon it.  Moreover, the process seemed to be dividing her very being on some quantum level, causing her body and mind to partially fission over and over again before collapsing back in on itself.  Unfortunately for such a promising research project, her endlessly fragmenting mentality led her to take violent action that resulted in the termination of all involved staffers, the destruction of the lab facilities involved, and the irradiation of entire site.

That feat earned her the supranym Afterglow in the news media, and she's now widely regarded as a villain rather than a victim.  Even if she was stable enough to explain the situation as she understands it, she can't control her dangerous radiation output and remains a menace to everyone she encounters.  If Oddment hadn't offered her a haven after following the Homunculoid's cryptic guidance to the site of her first "destructive spree" she'd be in a government containment facility already, and quite possibly scheduled for euthanasia in the hopes it would end her out-of-control reaction.  Instead, she's stumbled into allies who might grant her a second chance at life in a new body - and she and Vestige serve to help stabilize one another's erratic powers through some unexplained resonance.

Description: A buxom woman glowing with neon green radiation, wearing a similarly glowing halter top, knee-length shorts and ankle boots.  As she moves she continually leaves afterimages trailing behind her, blurring into one another and making one person look like half a dozen or more.  She usually hovers casually just above the ground but can fly faster than most people can sprint.  She has a rich contralto voice that echoes with reverberations of her duplicate selves.

When she spawns independent legion minions they share her radioactive glow but don't leave a blur of phantoms behind them the way she does.

Gender: Female     Age: Early Thirties     Height: 5'6"     Eyes: Glowing Green

Hair: Flowing, Glowing Green        Skin: Glowing Green        Build: Curvaceous

Approach:  Skilled                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  10 + (5 x H)

Powers: Duplication d10, Nuclear d8, Flight d6

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Imposing d10, Fragmented Mentality d8, Medicine d8, Ranged Combat d8, Science d8

Status: (# of Legion Minions) 0 - d12 / 1-2 - d10 / 3-4 - d8 / 5-8 - d6 / 9+ - d4

Abilities:

Divided Mind (I) Whenever multiple Legion minions all take the same action against the same target, you must roll all their dice at once and use the lowest rolling die amongst them for each minion's result on that action.

Fleeting Images (A) Hinder multiple targets using Acrobatics.  Use your Max die.  If you roll doubles, Attack each target using your Mid die.

Full Separation (A) Add two Legion minions to the scene.  Their starting die size is one smaller than your current status die.

Furious Response (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Imposing die.  Deal that much damage to another target.

Merge Energies (A) Remove any number of Legion minions from play.  Roll their dice and Recover that much Health.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Afterglow is well aware of her relative fragility and her tactics attempt to compensate for it.  She'll usually rely on Fleeting Images (using Duplication) to hamper as many heroes as possible with a short-lived swarm of duplicates, and can even inflict some real damage with them if she rolls doubles to keep them stable long enough.  Her Furious Response reaction both prevents and deals some damage, and can be a major source of damage output, especially with bonus support.  Once she loses even a small amount of Health she uses Full Separation to spawn a pair of d10 legion minions, ideally letting them act before her next turn before removing one or both of them with Merge Energies to heal.  Like all legion minions their actions are a bit limited by Divided Mind, but with only two of them in play they can generally avoid suffering its ill effects.  She almost never spawns more than two minions at once, preferring to cycle them in and out of existence to maintain as much healing as she can while still getting some further mileage out of them.  A lot of her effectiveness will depend on how initiative goes and how much support she gets from her allies.

Her upgrade reflects her getting either a significant charge of nuclear energy in the recent past or building up a charge over a day or two of relative inactivity, while her mastery draws upon the confusing nature of her multiple duplicate afterimages.

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Afterglow Duplicate d4 to d10 legion minion (usually d10, rarely d8)

Description: Physically identical to Afterglow, although their minds seem more focused and their psychic signature lacks the fragmented nature of their creator.  They share her flight and signature radioactive glare.

Exact Duplicate: You may move as though you had Flight d6, or d8 if Afterglow has her upgrade.

Blog Content Index

Klass K, Trainee Villains On A Field Trip To Your Dimension

A long organizational post with some light worldbuilding sketched out.  Includes five supervillain writeups, a reason for them to work together, and an alternate universe where the most immediately noticeable difference is the total lack of a hard "c" in English.  "Kays" all the way down, folks. 

The Klassroom Program

The multiverse contains many realities, some very different from your campaign's.  One of them (let's be Terracentric and call it Earth-K) features a different world where super-being activity is more widespread and more organized than our own.  The heroes of that world work closely together on a global scale to oppose all manner of supervillainy, and those villains have grudgingly organized in return to avoid facing defeat in isolation.  This state of affairs has continued since their version of World War Two, although both groups have become much more internationally-minded and unwilling to serve as military assets to nation-states.  A de facto Cold War exists between the two sides in the conflict at this point, with small clashes largely staying below the radar of the masses of mundane humanity.  

Both meta-groups expend a great deal of effort tracking down and recruiting new super-beings to their cause.  The heroes have the advantage of recognition by most governments and law enforcement agencies, but they're limited by their own ethical standards.  The villains have to rely on more covert methods to find likely new prospects, but they can also be as ruthless as they like in the hunt, and think nothing of mentally indoctrinating particularly attractive candidates.

These new supers receive far more actual training than our own before they're fully recognized as a part of the greater community.  Heroes come up through actual academies as well as the old traditions of sidekicking and junior team affiliations.  Villains rely more upon the Klassroom Program, a worldwide covert recruitment, assessment and training program that also doubles as an introduction to the underground super-crime community and its major players.  

When they've mastered their powers and learned the unwritten rules that keep inter-villain conflict to a minimum, students are formed into groups to do some actual field work before "graduating" to independent status.  This used to be a risky stage of a villain's development since the odds of being captured on during such excursions were quite high and unproven villains were unlikely to be rescued by a organized jailbreak the way established supercriminals are.  Thankfully for the Klassroom Program, a neighboring reality was found with a far lower population of super-beings, especially heroes.  

While cosmic stresses made it impossible to remain in the other reality for long before being cast back to Earth-K, there was enough time to make short "field trips" with small groups of students and a single instructor/observer to assess their performance.  The relative rarity of super-heroes made for less punishing testing, and even when captured the students would soon be forced home anyway, vanishing from even the most inescapable prison cell.

The writeups below represent Klass K on a field exam to your campaign world.  They can be used as a one-shot, or might make up a collection's worth of story if their current test is a complex one.  The same group can recur multiple times until they finally graduate.  Their membership may change over repeat appearances as some studens move on or are "flunked out" (often directly into some mastermind's experimental labs) while others are held back.

If you feel ambitious, your heroes might find a way to follow a Klass back home, but they may not like what they find.  It would be disastrous if the legions of super-beings on Earth-K found a way to transit to your campaign world en masse and settle their differences where your PCs call home rather than wrecking their own planet.

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Klass K

Kommander Konquest

Quiriel zan vi Martiana has been a villain for a very, very long time by human standards, having first attacked Earth in 1939 under the title of Kommander Konquest.  While still in the prime of her life (only a few Terran centuries old), she's taking a break from interplanetary raiding to act as a senior instructor for the Klassroom Program, ensuring that the heroic opposition doesn't gain a numerical edge that might endanger established villains and their schemes.  The fact that it also lets her size up potential allies, catspaws, and competition before they've attained real power hasn't escaped her, of course.

In "field trip" mode she leaves behind her usual legions or Martian soldiers and war machines, relying on using her personal reality-bending cosmic powers to stay safe from any irritating local heroes who get past her students.  The Kommander can also casually warp the more pliable spacetime of your campaign's reality to complicate the tests she's putting her students through.  Unless very hard pressed (in which case her whole Klass is getting failing grades) she's unlikely to take much of a direct hand in a fight, and could reasonably be treated as a "powerful entity" twist menu instead of a full villain writeup if the GM likes.        

Description: A very typical Martian warrior queen from an alternate reality.  Tall, well-built humanoid with bright green skin and a slightly oversized head topped with a crown of six motile antennae.  She's garbed in ceremonial (and weirdly revealing) Martian armor that adds a good bit of height and bulk thanks to its stiletto heeled boots and impressive shoulder pads - all while leaving her midriff and thighs bare.  She rarely bothers to speak out loud, relying on natural telepathy instead. 

Gender: Female     Age: Gentlemen Don't Ask     Height: 5'11" (6'2" in armor)    Eyes: Black

Hair: Bald, Crown of Antennae        Skin: Vibrant Green                Build: Powerful

Approach: Generalist                   Archetype: Domain

Health:  55 + (5 x H)

Powers: Presence d10, Cosmic d8, Teleportation d8, Telepathy d6

Qualities: Imposing d10, Otherworldly Mythos d8, Veteran Villain d8, Deep Space Knowledge d6

Status: (# of Environmental targets/challenges) 3+ - d10 / 1-2 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Barely Worth Saving (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Teleportation die.  Boost yourself using the same roll.

Beyond Your Reality (I) Ignore damage from environment sources during the environment's turn.

Careless, Hero, Very Careless (R) When Attacked, redirect the Attack to an environmental minion.

Toying With Your World (A) Activate one of the environment's twists in its current zone or one zone closer to the Red.

You Have My Attention (A) Attack using Veteran Villain.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

You Insects Annoy Me (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Presence.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually only for the Final Exam):

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 Presence die.  Gain Reestablish Shield (A) Overcome using Cosmic.  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 Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.

Tactics

Kommander Konquest is here as an observer and instructor for Klass K, not to get in pointless brawls with heroes she doesn't even know.  Given her druthers she's content to find a good vantage and leave the students to it, using Toying With Your World to create "interesting" situations.  She's far Beyond Your Reality so dangerous environmental effects (and local residents) mean nothing to her.  If pestered by heroes she'll discourage them with reactive teleports causing them to target innocent civilians using Careless, Hero, Very Careless.  She might also intervene to preserve a trainee villain with Barely Worth Saving, although she'll be quick to express her displeasure about it.  Only if seriously pressed by multiple heroes will she resort to using You Insects Annoy Me, while a single persistent nuisance might draw an actual Attack from You Have My Attention.  If things have gotten to that point and her students are still active she'll be quick to order them to get it together and deal with the local supers, otherwise she'll start planning a getaway herself.

She'll generally only have her upgrade and mastery for the final exam, at least while acting in a "schoolteacher" role.

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Kid Klotho

Kora Raphti inherited a talent for magic from her mother's family, a lineage that had produced low-tier villainous super-mages during the past World Wars and was already on the Klassroom Program's watch list.  Young Kora was quietly "collected" at the tender age of nine and proved to be an apt student over the course of her apprenticeship.  As Kid Klotho she serves as Klass K's expert in mystic matters and is one of the group's most ambitious members, with a knack for manipulating others that may well see her graduate at the head of the class.

Her unique magical style revolves around generating glowing blood-red strands of energy that she can use to bind victims on both a physical and metaphysical level.  Kid Klotho's threads can also be used more subtly to influence people's thoughts and emotions, as well as offering the physical mobility to avoid the worst melee threats.

Description: A young woman of Grecian descent, dressed in a medium-red bodysuit uniform under a  loose black tunic that bears a prominent yellow "k" on the left chest.  Her feet are usually bare, and her long, flowing hair is tied back with the same magical red threads that she uses for most of her magic.  More thread is wound loosely around her wrists and ankles, and stray loops and strands twitch and drift randomly around her even when the air is still.  She speaks slightly-accented English from her home dimension.

Gender: Female           Age: 18           Height: 5'7"           Eyes: Black

Hair: Flowing Black                Skin: Light Brown                 Build: Elegantly Slender

Approach: Tactician                          Archetype: Inhibitor

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Agility d8, Swinging d8, Awareness d6, Suggestion d6                                        

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Persuasion d8, Trainee Villain d8, Acrobatics d6

Status: (# of heroes with penalties) 0 - d6 / 1-2 - d8 / 3+ - d10

Abilities:

Interwoven Souls (A) Hinder using Swinging.  That penalty is persistent and exclusive.  As long as that penalty is in play, reduce damage dealt to you by one and whenever you are dealt damage, the target with this penalty takes one irreducible damage.

Pulling Strings (R) Take one irreducible damage to reroll an ally's dice pool.

Puppetry (A) Take a basic action using Magical Lore.  Use your Max die.  One nearby ally also takes that same basic action as their reaction.

Red Threads (A) Hinder using Swinging.  Use you Max + Mid dice, or use your Max die and make that penalty persistent and exclusive.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually when near Graduation Day):

Quality Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Quality dice sizes except Trainee Villain by one (max d12).

Master of Mysticism (I) If you have access to proper materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation involving harnessing magical forces.

Tactics

Kid Klotho is Klass K's mystic, relying on fate-weaving magics that manifest as luminous red threads of energy.  Her usual tactics involve binding as many heroes with Interwoven Souls as possible, then singling out the biggest threats with Red Threads - especially if they've shrugged off the previous penalty.  She also provides some support with her Pulling Strings reaction offering some dice-fixing to allies, and Puppetry letting her improve action economy for things outside the team's usual wheelhouse.  Of all the Klass she's the most likely to improvise with unexpected Overcomes and unusual dice pools.

Her upgrade and mastery both represent Kid Klotho growing into the full potential of her unique style of magic as Graduation Day approaches.

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Musclemind

The creature known as Musclemind was recruited for the Klassroom Program relatively late in life after an anonymous college undergraduate developed powers during a biochemical mass-casualty event of which he was the sole survivor.  Whoever this thing was originally is a moot point, with the new entity displaying one of the most stereotypical cases of supervillainous megalomania ever observed.  Powerful but deeply delusional, it's unclear if Musclemind even knows they're in training and their performance is under review, but (after some initial friction) they've adopted the rest of Klass K as their loyal henchmen while the rest have decided to simply humor him for the time being.

Musclemind possesses staggering physical strength backed up by enormous psychic abilities but lacks the experience (and, some would argue, sanity) to fully utilize his great potential.  Whatever knowledge and specialized skills he had in his former life are gone, replaced by largely instinctual responses backed by an overwhelming sense of superiority.  He refuses to acknowledge any inconvenient facts that might get in his way.  What he makes of himself once he graduates Klassroom remains unclear, but he's powerful enough as-is that he's unlikely to wind up as a mere lackey of more established villains.    

Description: A hulking humanoid, almost as broad across the shoulders as they are tall and rippling with muscles.  They have almost no neck, with their bulging oversized head clearly showing elaborate cortical convolutions beneath their nigh-impenetrable skin.  That brain sprawls down the rear of their head and merges, hunchback-like, with the creature's upper spine.  Occasional sparks of purple-white energy crawl across its massive frame.  The thing wears nothing but a pair of oversized black shorts with a prominent yellow "k" on the front of the left thigh.  Their voice is a bellowing roar full of brag and bombast, and their telepathy is equally unsubtle.       

Gender: Male          Age: 21          Height: 7'0"          Eyes: Icy Blue

Hair: None        Skin: Purplish-Blue        Build: Inhumanly Massive and Over-Muscled 

Approach:  Mastermind                      Archetype:  Squad

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d12, Telepathy d10, Telekinesis d8

Qualities: Conviction d10, Awareness d8, Close Combat d8, Fitness d8, Ranged Combat d8, Trainee Villain d8

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

Abilities:

Behold My Awesome Power and Tremble! (A) Attack one hero using Conviction.  Hinder all heroes using your Max die.

Revel In My Invincible Might! (A) Boost using Conviction.  Boost another target using your Max die.  Use your Min die to Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn. 

That One Is Mine, Hero! (R) When another villain is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single status die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Your Efforts Amount To Nothing, Fool! (R) When Attacked, Boost yourself using the Attacker's Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually when near Graduation Day):

Brainwashing Zone (I) +10 Health.  While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size.  In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total).  In the Red zone, all heroes' quality dice are treated as d4.  Heroes can remove this upgrade with three overcome successes.  If a hero takes a minor twist while taking these Overcomes, they lose access to a quality entirely until this upgrade is removed.  If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.

Master of Conquest (I) As long as you are in command of your own forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to seize an area or capture civilians.

Tactics

Musclemind is convinced that he's in charge and the rest of the Klass are merely his henchmen, which is delusional but at this point the rest of the group generally just humors him to save on arguments.  He'll mostly do whatever catches his fancy in a fight, which provides a good distraction once he starts in with Behold My Awesome Power and Tremble! if nothing else.  If he starts drawing a lot of attention he'll use Revel In My Invincible Might! (which at least helps out an ally in the process) and pump any handy bonuses into its Defend rider.  He prefers to use Your Efforts Amount To Nothing, Fool! to reactively Boost himself whenever possible, but he might deign to save an ally instead with That One Is Mine, Hero!  He tends to generate a lot of bonuses and spend them as fast as he gets them to grandstand.   

Musclemind is fond of building "creative" dice pools and making Overcomes that show off his incredible strength of mind and body, so basic actions are always a possibility.  His Conviction quality sees a lot of use, since it reflects his utter certainty that he can't fail against such inferior opposition.

His upgrade tunes his mental might up to the point where the weak-willed might believe he's as awesome as he thinks he is, while his mastery reflects a growing talent for bossing around minions.

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Troublemaker

Jo Torrant was only eleven years old when he gained modest electricity-generation powers during a freak thunderstorm that destroyed his family home and left him an orphan.  He was quickly swept up by recruiters for the Klassroom Program, and soon discovered an aptitude for science and engineering.  Assigned to Klass K as their primary tech-support operative, he's gotten a reputation for being a scrappy if somewhat overconfident fighter.  He's not great at taking orders until he's in over his head, at which case his cocky facade drops and he starts yelling for help.

His signature inventions to date interact with and amplify his personal energies.  They include a pair of hover-boots that let him "skate" over most surfaces and make short jet-assisted leaps, and a wide variety of small gadgets he calls "juicers."  These are designed to clip on to a target and feed them a spectrum of bio-electric energies to enhance or degrade performance.  Troublemaker can also short them out to drain all their power at once to produce some potent electrical discharges.

Description: A young African-American man wearing a medium-red bodysuit uniform under loose black trunks, with a prominent yellow "k" on the left chest.  He has odd metal boots with obvious thruster ports on them, and there are dozens of metal nodules clamped to his outfit and even in his hair, all vaguely beetle-like in appearance and varying from thumb-sized to others that would fill the palm of his hand.  His voice is a deep baritone with a faint but unfamiliar accent and an intermittent undertone of electrical buzzing. 

Gender: Male     Age: 19     Height: 6'0"     Eyes: Dark Brown With Flickering Sparks

Hair: Black Zigzag Cornrows        Skin: Medium Brown        Build: Lanky

Approach: Underpowered                   Archetype: Inventor

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d8, Electricity d6, Leaping d6, Speed d6

Qualities: Science d10, Technology d8, Trainee Villain d8, Finesse d6 

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Arcing Discharge (A) Attack using Electricity and at least one bonus.  If you have multiple bonuses, you may Attack a second target using your Min die and one other bonus, and may also Attack a third target using your Max die and a third bonus.

Gewgaws (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.

Gimcracks (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Inventions die.  If your roll reduces the damage to exactly zero, use that roll to Recover that much Health, Boost yourself, and Hinder the Attacker.

Gimmicks (A) Boost using Science.  Use your Max die.  Hinder using your Mid die.  Attack using your Min die.

Self-Defibrillation (I) Whenever you would be reduced to zero or fewer Health, prevent that damage and reduce all of your power dice by one die size.  If this reduces any die below d4 you are knocked out.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually when near Graduation Day):

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 Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

Troublemaker is Klass K's primary "tech guy" but isn't afraid to get mixed up in a super-fight.  He's pretty aggressive at first, relying on his Gimcracks reaction for defense and hoping to get a lucky roll to give him the big rider effects from it.  He'll alternate between Gewgaws and Gimmicks to Boost himself until he has three bonuses stacked up, then roll them all into a big Arcing Discharge move.  Jo continues with that pattern until he's forced to use Self-Defibrillation, after which he switches to more of a support roll and handing out bonuses to allies with his various abilities for the rest of the fight - or as long as he lasts, anyway.

His upgrade does wonders for his damage output since his three action abilities all potentially benefit from it, while his mastery reflects growing tech-expertise.  You might even swap Leaping for Flight at that point as he improves his jet-boots for sustained output.

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Twofold

Jon-Jak Morven was born with an extremely atypical neurological structure, almost as though two brains had been physically conjoined within a single skull.  As a child they suffered from a variety of mental health issues that were misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic disorder that developed into a an entirely separate personality over time.  This lead to their father (their mother having died in childbirth) to abandon them to the care of a pediatric asylum.  

When their somato-psionic powers manifested at age 13 it became apparent that Jon-Jak was not only two people sharing the same body, they were capable of modifying that body to better suit their needs.  The Klassroom Program had contacts within the psychiatric facility and were quick to spirit the child away for their own purposes, barely escaping ahead of a mob of "anti-superfreak" bigots bent on killing the youth.  Jon-Jak now prefers to remain in their more powerful four-armed form, although they can revert to their original humanoid body when need be while both personalities remain in joint control.

Twofold's role in Klass K is as a frontline fighter, with low-level superhuman strength, speed and durability combined with perfect coordination between all four limbs and extensive close quarters combat training.  Both Jon and Jak are stereotypical gym bros in terms of interests.  They're very competitive with each other and even more so with others, eager to prove their physical superiority and perfectly willing to resort to violence to do so.

Description: In their "combat" form, a very tall, well-muscled semi-humanoid.  They have four powerful arms and a broad chest and shoulders, making them look rather top heavy.  Their head sports two sets of eyes (alternating blue, green, blue, green) as though the strangely distorted face divided in two just above the nose.  The outlandish figure wears a medium-red bodysuit uniform under loose black trunks, with a prominent yellow "k" on the left chest.  They accessorize with two pairs of fingerless leather gloves with metal-studded knuckles and steel-toed spiked boots.  Their voice is a powerful bass with a faint, unfamiliar accent and sometimes seems to have a faint echo as though a second person were speaking.  

Their civilian form is about five inches shorter and somewhat less athletic, and the lack of extra arms and eyes make it hard to see the connection between the two identities.

Gender: Male (Plural)        Age: 19        Height: 6'4"        Eyes: Blue-Green Heterochromia

Hair: Buzzcut Blonde                Skin: Caucasian                 Build: Variable, Always Very Fit

Approach: Underpowered                   Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Morphic Physiology d8, Speed d6, Strength d6, Vitality d6 

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Fitness d8, Trainee Villain d8, Alertness d6

Status: ( # of inventions & mods) 4+ - d12 / 2-3 - d10 / 1 - d8 / 0 - d6

Abilities:

Comeback Kid (I) Whenever you would be reduced to zero or fewer Health, prevent that damage and reduce all of your power dice by one die size.  If this reduces any die below d4 you are knocked out.

Four-Fist Boxing (A) Attack multiple targets using Close Combat.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn using your Min die.  

Infighting Tricks (I) If you are outnumbered by nearby opponents, reduce all damage dealt to you by two.

Slip That Hit (R) Defend against an Attack by rolling your single status die.  Deal that much damage to a different nearby target.

Windmill Wallop (A) Attack using Morphic Physiology.  If you roll doubles, add that value to your Attack.  If you roll triples, add all three dice to your Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually when near Graduation Day):

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 Total Chaos (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome when you throw out all the rules during a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Tactics

Twofold is a brawler, plain and simple.  Their Morphic Physiology's ability to swap to a mundane form is occasionally useful for schemes and scams, but mostly they act as a distraction and lightweight muscle for the rest of the Klassroom.  In a fight they'll try to crowd in on multiple opponents to use Four-Fist Boxing, their Slip That Hit reaction (which can redirect Attacks on allies if need be) and Infighting Tricks to their best.  If facing a single very tough opponent they'll gamble on Windmill Wallop instead.  Comeback Kid will save them from their first KO and pushes them toward going outright berserk.

Their upgrade improves their damage output and durability a fair bit.  Their mastery reflects how unpredictable they can be when a plan falls apart and they're pushed to the wall.  They might even snap out of it and make a getaway, perhaps by slipping out of sight and adopting their "civilian" form to play at being an innocent bystander.

Blog Content Index

Doctor Whirligig, Colorful Gimmick Villain

A "silly gimmick" villain (notably, spinning, and making other people spin) worthy of the Martian Manhunter, or perhaps Golden Age Flash.  Mechanically effective, but visually absurd and based on science so bad that even a grade school reader would question it.  

Doctor Whirligig

Wallace Washington Topman is a self-trained physicist and electrical engineer who claims to have discovered a new principle of physics that lets him directly transform linear momentum into rotation, producing what he insists on calling a "green shift" (or for lower energy states, a "yellow shift").  He can also directly invert the momentum of an object approaching one of his "gyrolight" gadgets, causing a "red shift" that repels the object.  Absolutely none of this should be possible according to our current understanding of physics.  He explains this via his inspiration for his discovery - the study of UFOs he describes as spinning metallic saucers emitting green, yellow or red light as they raced over his house one night.

It's worth noting that every extraterrestrial individual questioned about this "gyrolight principle" insists it's utterly impossible and no known alien technology employs anything like it.

Despite this, his absurd technology does work, letting him casually manipulate momentum to defend himself and move at incredible speeds with apparent freedom from the limits of inertia, spinning wildly the whole time.  How he does it and why he isn't rendered helpless by his own high-speed rotation remains unclear, but he does it.  Projectiles are sent wildly off course or stopped in their tracks, melee attackers find the momentum of their blows turned against them as they go reeling away in dizzying circles.  He can even "ram" victims with the fringes of his "gyrolight field" and transfer part of his momentum destructively to a target, or send everyone within sight spinning madly away.  This would all be a fantastic scientific breakthrough - if anyone but Wallace could reliably re-create his results, or even explain how to operate the more sophisticated examples of his genius.  Despite being more than willing to explain at length how the "gyrolight principle" works to anyone who'll listen, Topman just can't make anyone else understand, and is widely seen as a fraud or a madman in scientific circles.  

Embittered by this steadfast rejection, Topman has adopted the supranym Doctor Whirligig and set out to gain fame and fortune as a super-criminal, spinning down the same path taken by so many other tech-villains in the past.  Admittedly, most of them looked significantly less ridiculous while doing so.

Description: A rather thin man wearing a reflective silver full-body "retro-spaceman" suit with accordion joints, moon boots, sturdy gloves and a snug hood that leaves only his face exposed.  The suits is studded with small gem-like "gyrolight" lenses.  Three larger hooded lenses are arranged in a vertical column on his thin chest, giving him an unfortunate resemblance to a traffic light.  When his powers are active all the lenses emit bright rays of green, yellow or red light depending on his current power level.  While surrounded by his gyrolight aura he also spins constantly at high rates of speed with his boots just off the ground, darting erratically from place to place like...well, a whirligig.  His tenor voice sounds odd, as though he were speaking into a fan - or spinning wildly with his mouth facing away from the listener most of the time.

Gender: Male        Age: 32      Height: 5'9"       Eyes: Brown

Hair: Light Brown, Pencil Mustache     Skin: Caucasian     Build: Lean, Large-Headed

Approach: Generalist                     Archetype: Fragile

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Gyrolight Suit d10, Momentum d8, Speed d8, Inventions d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Banter d8, Criminal Inventor d8, Acrobatics d6

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

Abilities:

Building Momentum (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Min die.

Gyrolight Curtain (R) When an ally is Attacked, Defend them by rolling your single Gyrolight Suit die.  Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Spinning Away (I) Whenever your personal zone changes, you may immediately move elsewhere in the scene.

Strobing Gyrolight (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Gyrolight Suit.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Whirling Whirligig (A) Attack using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn using your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Villainous Vehicle +15 Health  Include a Gyrolight Spinner-Car d8 lieutenant with the following abilities in the scene.  Bombard (A) Attack all heroes with this vehicle's roll.  Use this ability only if the vehicle is below its starting die size or if the scene is in the Red zone. Escape Plan (R) If the Villain is Attacked roll this vehicle's die.  If it rolls higher than the villain's current Health, both the villain and the vehicle escape the scene.  Recovery (A) Roll the vehicle's die.  The villain Recovers that much health.  Sturdy (I) When rolling a damage save, add +2 to the result.

Master of Mad Science (A) As long as you have access to materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome by using scientific principles and inventions.

Tactics

Doctor Whirligig never stops moving during a fight, spinning in place like a top even when not zooming around.  His mouth never stops either, so expect a lot of monologs whether you want them or not.  He'll use Strobing Gyrolight regularly throughout the scene, as well as his Gyrolight Curtain reaction at every opportunity, then re-invest the resulting bonuses in his other abilities.  Against groups Whirling Whirligig is his main offensive move with a strong defensive rider (often pumped up with bonuses).  When injured or facing single foes he'll use Building Momentum instead for healing, again increased with bonuses.  He can move for free with Spinning Away whenever his personal Health zone changes, including when it increases from healing, so expect him to go zipping around the scene quite a lot as long as he lasts.

With his upgrade he's accompanied by his custom vehicle piloted by a trustworthy henchman with a very strong stomach, which (like its creator) has a lot of bells and whistles but isn't the toughest thing in the world.  His mastery reflects his mad science talents.

Trivia

Doctor Whirligig was inspired in part by fjur's color-coded villain Sirrush, although I'm pushing the concept to its silliest by having this guy literally glow in the GYRO colors as his power reserves (Health) drop - or climb, if his healing tricks work.  When he's defeated his lights literally go out, and it's very appropriate for him to go spinning wildly out of control to smack full-tilt into a wall and knock himself silly.

Because of the way his powers work he absolutely fails at any attempt at stealth unless his opposition is blind.  If quizzed about why he doesn't fill out his ROYGBIV bingo card, he'll be quick to explain that pushing beyond the "Blue Boundary" (much less reaching for indigo or violet) is obviously impossible and would rupture the fabric of spacetime by turning everything into antimatter with negative atomic spin.  Orange, well, he just doesn't like the color orange.

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Doctor Whirligig happily works alongside other villains, but his goofy schtick means he's usually seen as a bit of a loser and can only find D-listers willing to work with him.  To compensate he often has a cadre of henchmen equipped with his rather questionable technology backing him up.  They rely on conventional vehicles (usually stolen cars or trucks) to get around, since riding in the Gyrolight Spinner-Car makes them puke their guts out in short order.

Topman's Top Men d8 minion

Description: Doctor Whirligig's signature henchmen, dressed in very similar retro scifi outfits (albeit without the spinning thing or the chest lenses) and carrying scifi weapons that vaguely resemble the offspring of a pistol and a traffic signal.  Doc has a mild phobia about conventional firearms based on an early experimental failure, which is why his long-suffering lackeys use his unreliable inventions rather than simple guns.  Between that and the goofy suits they're very well paid to humor him.  

Spin-Pistol: When you Hinder a target you may reduce the penalty you inflict by one and move the target to an adjacent location in the scene.

Stupid-Looking Protective Suit: You gain a +2 bonus to saves against damage unless you roll a one.

This Stuff Works Better For Doc: Whenever you roll a one on your die, treat the roll as a zero and (if it wasn't a save against damage) gain a -2 "Spinning Helplessly" penalty.

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Onslaughter, Advocate of Anarchy

A fanatical physical powerhouse with the ability to shape metal via willpower.

Onslaughter

Simon Sorenson had always lived on the fringes of society, having been raised as a member of a radical antigovernment survivalist community in the Adirondacks.  He manifested his powers after a law enforcement raid on one of their training camps led to him being exposed to a mixture of experimental riot-control gas used by the FBI and a home-brewed chemical warfare agent that had been deployed against the officers and gotten out of control.  Most of the officers and all of the other survivalist militia perished horribly in the toxic haze, but Simon was rendered comatose and carried by the few surviving officers.  

He awoke weeks later to discover most of his family and friends were dead and the Federal government had covered up the debacle completely.  Simon was seen as an inconvenient piece of leftover evidence, something to be disposed of after a lengthy "augmented" interrogation.  His powers kicked in while awaiting execution.  Armored in what had been the bars of his cell, he left the holding facility behind him in ruins and vanished into the criminal underground.  Since then he's resurfaced several times, always working alongside antigovernment groups as a very outspoken proponent of anarchy and putting an end to "the System" that resulted in his experiences.  He's even more fanatical about his beliefs now and actively looks for opportunities to cause mass casualties to both law enforcement and the "sheeple" that blindly accept the current world order.  Most other supervillains can't stand him and he prefers to keep the spotlight on himself anyway, but mundane terrorist groups find him a very useful distraction to keep heroes occupied while they get on with their business.            

Description: A massively-muscled bald man, hairless as an egg and "wearing" a layer of flexible steel animated by his powers that covers him from the waist down.  He has a powerful voice and likes to use it at full volume while decrying the evils of "the System" and related topics.. 

Gender: Male          Age: Thirties         Height: 5'11"          Eyes: Metallic Silver

Hair: None        Skin: Caucasian, Partially Plated With Metal        Build: Musclebound

Approach:  Generalist                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Strength d10, Metal d8, Vitality d8, Leaping d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Ranged Combat d8, Loudmouthed Anarchist Supervillain d8, Acrobatics d6

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

Abilities:

Animated Plating (I) Reduce physical and energy damage dealt to you by 1 in the green zone, 2 in the Yellow zone, and 3 in the Red zone.

Brutal Determination (A) Attack using Strength.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Defensive Siphon (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Absorption die.  Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Grandstander (I) As long as you have no nearby allies in the scene, increase all damage you deal by one and decrease all damage dealt to you by one.

Hyper-Adrenaline (I) Reroll any ones on your dice once.

Metallokinesis (A) Hinder multiple nearby targets using Metal.  Boost yourself using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

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:

Onslaughter focuses on tackling as many heroes as possible as a distraction while his mundane allies carry out whatever sabotage or assassination mission they're pursuing.  He's tremendously durable thanks to a combination of Animated Plating and Grandstander as well as the sizeable healing he gains while Attacking with Brutal Determination.  His Hyper-Adrenaline improves his average die rolls a fair bit, which particularly helps his healing (which uses Min die in part).  He'll frequently focus on stalling with Metallokinesis to truss heroes up with animated metal while reinforcing his own plating, trying to draw his foes in to a lengthy brawl and only switching to actual Attacks once actually injured.  He's pretty smart about how he uses his bonuses and will amp his Hinders, Attacks or healing as efficiently as possible.

His upgrade greatly improves his die pools and Health, and his mastery represents his ruthless approach to dealing with problems.  He'll make some effort not to harm his allies when using it, but if it looks like they might be captured and subjected to the "Injustice System" he figures they're better off dead anyway.

Onslaughter's powers stem mostly from his metallokinetic ability.  His physiology has been significantly altered, but much of his great strength and durability stems from a subcutaneous layer of flexible metal that reinforces his musculoskeletal system and bulks him out considerably.  He can also manipulate metals at a distance, pulling it from the environment to form into bonds for his foes and added armor for himself.  He's particularly fond of wrapping enemies in flexible cables that become rigid when he releases his control of them, or plating his powerful fists with ablative layers of steel.  

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Villain Design Analysis: Approaches Part 4 - Focused & Generalist

Continuing from yesterday's post, more villain Approaches:

Focused

Focused villains have strong but very narrow Power dice, average Quality dice and Health.  They get three choices of abilities.  Unusually for a villain, they're limited to using their big d12 power for a maximum of two of those choices, so the third ability has to use their weaker die if it uses a Power die at all.  Their abilities are:  

Elemental Absorption - Reaction that inverts the effects of both Attacks and Hinders using a specific energy/element type, causing damage to heal you and turning penalties into bonuses.  Narrow but very strong when it does work.  As a reaction it can be gotten around with timing or multiple actions.

Defensive Charging - Moderate Defend that lasts until your next turn.  If damage gets through the defend it ends and deals damage to the Attacker.  Can be very strong if you have bonuses to apply to it.

Perfect Alignment - Innate ability that lets you ignore all damage from an energy/element type.  Does not combo well with the Elemental Absorption reaction since no damage equals no healing.

Pour It On! - Strong hard-to-counter Attack on one target followed by a weak multi-target Attack on nearby foes. 

Sympathetic Shield - Fairly strong reactive Defend and self-Boost ability.

Vicious Entanglement - Strong Hinder with a moderate Attack bundled in.  Pretty average for a villain ability.

The abilities here push you toward building some kind of energy projector villain, but it can work equally well for any character concept that will work with just a couple of different Powers, one very strong.  The energy-resistant innate ability and damage/penalty inversion reaction do give you strong options for messing with heroes who rely too much on a single energy/element type, but you also have a good general-purpose defensive reaction, two decent offensive options, and a unique Defend action ability that can be very strong with bonuses or against multiple smaller Attacks.  Two of your abilities will benefit from being tied to a strong d12 Power die, which slightly improves their performance over the average.

There are no duds here, just very different capabilities depending on your choices.  It doesn't seem like you need more for decent variation between Focused villains, since your choice of d12 Power will help differentiate between user of this Approach.   

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Generalist

This Approach has average Power and Quality dice, above-average base Health, and three ability choices off this list:

Bodyguard - Reactive defend for an ally with a self-Boost for yourself.

Dependable - Innate rerolls for any ones that come up.

Heavy Hitter - Decent Attack with minor Health Recovery.  

Stalwart Combatant - Strong Boost and middling Defend actions bundled together.  No restrictions on targeting, which is nice.

Tough Customer - Damage reduction that scales up as the scene tracker advances through GYRO zones.

Wracking Aura - Multi-target Hinder affecting nearby foes, with a strong self-Boost as a rider effect.

The Generalist options can make them strong team players, with a rare reaction that Defends for an ally, a freely-targeting Boost and Defend and a decent multi-target hinder.  Alternately you have some dice fixing, an Attack with a bit of self-healing and damage reduction for a more selfish build.  Mixing choices between the two sets of abilities lets the Approach be as versatile as it's supposed to be.  There isn't much in the way of offensive power here, so that's something to look for in your Archetype.     

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Continued in part 5.

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