Slink, Intrusion Expert For Hire

An oddball villain from back in my first ongoing game.  While I've got some other "stealthy thief" style villains like Black Rabbit, Despoiler (when he doesn't go out of control) and the Emerald Phantom, this one is more of a espionage agent and infiltrator than a crook.

Slink

Slink is a gimmick villain with a specialty in infiltration, relying on remarkable skill and an array of gadgetry rather than exotic powers to do the job.  While they could simply steal for a living, it's much more common for them to be hired to go somewhere and commit acts of espionage ranging from copying, altering or deleting information to leaving behind bugs, planting evidence (false or otherwise) or sabotaging equipment.  They won't take on direct assassinations or kidnappings or leave behind lethal mechanisms like explosives but outside of that there doesn't seem to be much beyond the pale for them.  To date Slink's true identity is unknown, even among the criminal underworld, but their reputation continues to grow as they pull off job after job.

Description: A slim, anonymous figure dressed head to toe in some kind of chameleon bodysuit.  In ideal situations the suit is almost as good as true invisibility, leaving only a slight hint of distortion in the air.  Even at worst it's blurry and hard to see, seeming to drink in light rather than reflect it.  The suit is also incredibly slippery when the wearer wants it to be while somehow also maintaining selective adhesion to handle objects and cling to walls and ceilings.  Whatever other gear the being has is similarly concealed, as are the objects being made away with - or brought to leave behind, when deploying surveillance devices or sabotage mechanisms.  Slink rarely communicates on a job, and when they do their voice is altered into flat mechanical tones.

Gender: Unknown     Age: Unknown     Height: 5'5"          Eyes: Concealed

Hair: Hidden     Skin: Fully Covered     Build: Lithe

Approach:  Skilled               Archetype:  Loner

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Gadgets d10, Leaping d8, Wall-Crawling d6

Qualities: Alertness d10, Stealth d10, Finesse d8, Mysterious Intruder d8, Persuasion d8, Technology d8

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

Abilities:

Concentrated Soporifics (A) Hinder using Stealth.  Use your Max + Min dice.  The resulting penalty is persistent and exclusive.

Dispersed Soporifics (A) Hinder multiple targets using Gadgets.  Recover Health equal to the number of targets Hindered this way.

Extensive Training (A) Take any basic action and use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid die.

Hardly Touched Me (R) When you would be Hindered, reduce the penalty to -1.  When an Attack would reduce you to zero Health, reduce the damage to one.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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

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

Note: If using the alternate homebrew masteries suggested in this earlier post, swap Master Mercenary for Master Infiltrator instead.

Master Infiltrator (I) If you've had the opportunity to properly study a security system, automatically succeed at an Overcome to bypass or otherwise manipulate that system without being detected.  Villains with this Mastery rarely remain in prison for very long unless special countermeasures are employed to prevent their escape.

Tactics:

Slink just wants to complete whatever their current mission is and leave, they have zero interest in a fight if they can possibly avoid it.  If an Action Scene breaks out they'll make an attempt at finishing their job but the minute their personal Health zone goes below Green they'll start looking for ways to elude pursuers and depart, post haste.  They'll try to hamper the most aggressive foes with Concentrated Soporifics or deal with groups using Dispersed Soporifics, then use their Extensive Training to pull off tricky Overcomes to hide, grab (or plant) whatever they're here for, cause distractions by starting challenges, or otherwise mess with heroes.  Only in the direst of circumstances would they consider making an Attack.  Despite their excess of caution, Slink is actually pretty hard to seriously impair or put down for good thanks to their Hardly Touched Me reaction and multiple healing options.

Their upgrade makes them even better at all the things they do, as well as a bit more durable (and hence harder to push to Yellow or Red).  Depending on which mastery you use with them they may be a little more willing to stick to mission in the face of violence, or even better at turning security systems against their owners and guardians.

Design Notes:

In my campaign Slink's big secret was that they weren't a single person.  There were actually six Slinks, all of whom had been adopted and trained from a young age by the surviving members of a previous generation's group of master infiltrators, making them a secret legacy team.  While only a single Slink was seen at a time, one or more of the others would provide backup, sometimes from undercover roles within the target organization or facility.  Mechanically, this worked as environment twists or the actions of a "powerful" (or at least untouchably concealed) entity.

Because of their nonviolent evasive approach, scenes with Slink usually include an environment that's largely hostile to the heroes because of sabotaged security systems, one or more challenges rigged up as distractions, and multiple locations with Slink's objective (often hidden) in one of them, forcing everyone to move around more than usual.  Allied villains, lieutenants or minions are pretty much unheard of, but it's quite possible that sheer bad timing might lead to Slink running into someone else's fight by accident.  Other villain targets might be defending Slink's objective, raiding it themselves, or even just there to attack the heroes guarding the place.  In that kind of situation Slink will try to avoid both sides in the clash while carrying out their task, and might very well get away with it if they avoid attracting too much attention.

If you want an aggressive version of Slink as a more traditional villain, it's easy to do a "mean Slink" variant by simply by swapping out Dispersed Soporifics for the more aggressive ability below.  

Deploy Neurotoxins (A) Attack multiple targets using Gadgets.  Hinder each target using your Max die.

Still not an offensive powerhouse but willing and able to launch some Attacks when called for, and less likely to back off in the face of strong opposition.  Most likely to appear after one or more of the other five team members have been captured, injured or killed in action, leading to the survivors becoming more brutal and unprincipled.

Blog Content Index

Lash & Crash, More Agents of SIN

Two more supervillains from the labs of the Science Integration Network's SIN/NER division.  This pair aren't quite the successes that Rush and Crush were, but with those two they do round out a four-man supervillain team for larger operations.  I'm sure they'll shake down into a cohesive group eventually.

_____________________________________________________________________

Science Integration Network (SIN)

The Science Integration Network maintains a low-profile front as a global initiative to share scientific research data for the good of humanity, but its true nature is much darker and better fitted to their SIN acronym.  A largely secretive conspiracy of would-be technocrats and fringe scientists, their ultimate goal is to dominate the world through the power of superior technology and free researchers from the stifling bonds of ethics, morality and other superstitions.  Their goals are appealing to many technically-oriented super-geniuses, although most of them are too megalomaniacal to cooperate with others long enough to advance SIN's agenda much.

The organization has two main divisions, the Operations Directive and the Novel Engineering Research branch.  The SIN/OD specializes in industrial espionage, internal and external security, and direct action against rivals.  They employ cutting edge military-grade equipment when secrecy isn't a priority, and spy-fi gadgetry when remaining covert.  SIN/NER concentrates on developing and testing new technology, including conducting research into the nature of super powers of all kinds.  Most often found field testing experimental devices as part of the organization's overall goals, SIN/NER agents have also been known to hunt supers (both heroes and villains) for use as experimental specimens and test subjects.       

_____________________________________________________________________

Lash

An argumentative and sour individual, Mateo Abarca Villalobos was never a perfect fit as a SIN/NER agent, which eventually led to a disciplinary review.  When offered the choice between a chemical mind-wipe and permanent discharge from service or signing up for an empowerment program to "make something useful of himself" he grudgingly took the latter option.  Better than waking up in a gutter somewhere with no idea what he'd been doing for the last five years.  

He was one of the lucky ones, gaining the ability to project crackling whips of energy from both hands.  These could drain a wide spectrum of exotic radiations, weakening most "superpowers" and interfering with advanced technologies as well.  The absorbed energy was metabolically converted into vastly improved strength and durability or channeled back into targets to cause disruptive feedback.  He quickly learned to use his whips for acrobatic maneuvering and even fine manipulation at a distance as well, adding to his versatility.  He was also informed that he'd need regular treatment with the Q-radiation used to empower him to keep him from suffering a "catastrophic metabolic collapse" - ensuring his reluctant loyalty to SIN going forward.

SIN assigned Mateo the supranym Lash (which he quietly despises) and generally uses him alongside other success stories from the same series of experiments.  He'd rather work solo or in charge of regular agents so that he isn't constantly having to restrain himself from siphoning his unwanted allies' power, but his superiors rarely trust him that far.  Lash isn't a happy man, but that's pretty much his normal state of being anyway.

Description: A tall, broad shouldered man of Hispanic descent.  He wears a single-piece bodysuit that covers everything but his head, with the upper half in navy blue and the lower half in dark red, and will often be found puffing on a cigarette.  When his powers are active lashes of crackling yellow energy project from one or both hands, moving with impossible precision and extending several hundred feet at maximum. He has a raspy smoker's voice with a mild Costa Rican accent.

Gender: Male     Age: Twenty-Something     Height: 6'0"          Eyes: Muddy Brown

Hair: Brown Buzzcut     Skin: Light Brown     Build: Broad-Shouldered

Approach:  Dampening               Archetype:  Loner

Health:  35 + (5 x H)

Powers: Absorption d10, Strength d8, Swinging d8

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Finesse d8, Grumbler d8

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

Abilities:

Scourging Siphon (A) Hinder multiple targets using Absorption.  While a hero has this penalty, reduce all their power dice by one size.

Stroke of the Lash (R) When a nearby hero that you can see invokes a twist, Hinder them by rolling your single Absorption die.

Unimpressed (R) When you would be Hindered, reduce the penalty to -1.  When an Attack would reduce you to zero Health, reduce the damage to one.

Vicious Thrashing (A) Attack multiple targets using Absorption.  Hinder each target using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, rarely when when working with other villain allies):

Power Dampening Field (I) +10 Health.  While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' powers of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size.  In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' powers of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total).  In the Red zone, all heroes' power 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 power until this upgrade is 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:

Lash would really prefer to work without other powered allies around so that he doesn't have to restrain his energy-draining abilities to exclude them from the effects, but SIN often sends him out as part of a team whether he likes it or not.  Against heroes he'll usually alternate between Scourging Siphon to weaken their powers and Vicious Thrashing to harm and hamper them with painful feedback.  He'll use whichever reaction triggers each round as soon as possible, either making twists even worse with Stroke of the Lash or largely shrugging off Hinders or KO damage with Unimpressed.

On the rare occasions when he has his upgrade it will further weaken opposing heroes and might draw extra Stroke of the Lash reactions as heroes attempt to remove the field.  His mastery makes him a very efficient leader for teams of standard agents and "Deadly SIN" operatives.

Unique Optional Mechanic:  Lash frequently suffers from being a Loner forced to restrain his flailing multi-target abilities around allies, resulting in a low status die.  If his Health reaches the Red zone and he's still at a d6 status the GM can decide he's had all he's putting up with and have him cut loose.  If he does so, his status die becomes d10 until the end of the scene, his upgrade (if he has it active) now affects villains as well as heroes, and whenever he uses Scourging Siphon or Vicious Thrashing he automatically includes any eligible allied villains as targets of those abilities.  Friendly minions and lieutenants aren't affected unless the GM decides Lash has gone totally berserk, as their lower (or nonexistent) power levels don't interact with Lash's Absorption tricks as violently.  How his allies react to this is up to the GM, although they're likely to stay focused on their mission and deal Lash after the heroes.

Lash will suffer serious repercussions from his masters at SIN if this happens, and might wind up making a clean break and becoming a rogue villain rather than face the music.   

_____________________________________________________________________

Crash

Louis Balland was a SIN/NER agent before being recruited for the division's ongoing empowerment experiments.  He was thoroughly enthusiastic about the prospect of gaining super-powers, and while the physical changes that came with them were more severe than anyone expected there's no denying that he gotten some major power in exchange.  As Crash he's become a human rocket, capable of propelling himself at incredible speeds with fiery jets projected from his hands and feet and surviving full-speed collisions with even the hardest targets.  Those same jets can be used as impromptu weapons or tools as well, spraying blinding flames over a wide area as he spins overhead (the so-called "Gamera maneuver") or focusing down to cut like a blowtorch.  Like other successful products of this program he's absorbed a massive dose of Q-radiation that resonates in a positive feedback loop with similarly-empowered superbeings, and his personal charge is the strongest to date.

Description: A very tall man with strange proportions, seemingly stretched out vertically with over-long limbs and a cone-shaped head.  He wears a single-piece bodysuit that covers everything but his head, hands, and bare feet, with the upper half in dark red and the lower half in navy blue.  He has a slight Californian accent and tends to shout to make himself heard over his rather noisy powers.

Gender: Male     Age: Twenty-Something     Height: 6'8"     Eyes: Green

Hair: None     Skin: Ruddy Caucasian     Build: Distorted, Vertically Stretched

Approach: Overpowered                    Archetype: Predator

Health: 50 + (5 x H)

Powers: Flight d12, Momentum d10, Fire d10

Qualities: Human Rocket d8, Imposing d8, Alertness d6

Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 0-1 - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 4+ - d6

Abilities:

Blazing Jets (A) Hinder multiple targets using Fire.  Use your Max die.  Attack any target that gains a penalty this way that already had one penalty from you using your Mid + Min dice.

Jink (R) When Attacked, Defend yourself by rolling your single Flight die.  Deal that much damage to a different nearby target.

Prep For Launch (A) Boost yourself using Human Rocket.  Use your Max die.  That bonus is persistent and exclusive.  Defend yourself against all Attacks using your Mid die until the start of your next turn.

Rocket-Propelled Ram (A) Attack using Momentum.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Deal Mid + Min dice damage to yourself.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional, usually in effect when working with Crush, Lash or Rush):

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 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

Crash is a straightforward fighter, and an enthusiastic one.  He usually opens a scene with Prep For Launch to establish a lasting bonus for himself, then hurls himself at one target after another using Rocket-Propelled Ram until the fight is won or he KOs himself.  Jink gives him a very strong reactive defense that also throws out some non-Attack damage (making it harder to protect against).  He'll break from this pattern only if he sees an opening to go late in one round and early in the next, setting him up to use Blazing Jets back-to-back before the heroes can shed the penalties from the first usage, which can set him up to do a lot of damage and apply big penalties to multiple targets.

His upgrade amps up his damage and lets him spread it around a bit more, as well as letting him survive more rams.  His mastery reflects his talents perfectly.

Blog Content Index

Brutallo & Brutalla, Violent Cosmo-God Twins

A pair of largely-identical spacefaring thugs, inspired by Kirby's Eternals and New Gods, various smugly superior alien beings from all across scifi, and a dash of the Wonder Twins as seen through a funhouse mirror (these two get weaker together, not stronger). 

Brutallo & Brutalla

The cosmo-gods are a pantheon of immortal starfaring beings who occasionally amuse themselves by toying with lowly mortals, even those with superpowers.  Some of them claim to embody universal physical principles, philosophical concepts, or moral imperatives.  None of this seem to make them any more compassionate or comprehensible to lesser beings, and their appearance frequently presages disaster.  

Others are underachievers.  Brutallo and his twin Brutalla are underachievers.  They're little more than bullies with a hunger for power and attention, coupled with terrible tempers and the attention span of a toddler.  Their plans usually involve violent intimidation for the sake of proving their raw power, followed by establishing themselves petty tyrants with an entourage of locally-recruited toughs and bullies.  They rarely work with actual peers including each other, although when one of them shows up to terrorize a world the other will often make an appearance shortly thereafter - usually to compete with their twin in displays of gratuitous violence.

Driving off these space thugs with violence can be difficult for non-supers, and even heroes will find them a challenge to capture since they tend to dissolve into raw cosmic energy when soundly defeated.  Fortunately they do get bored easily and are likely to depart of their own accord after they've broken everything interesting they can find and grown tired of being kowtowed too.  They'll happily accept (or demand) offerings of local valuables but have no actual interest in trophies and will usually destroy their accumulated hoard when departing - leaving their followers out of luck and on their own.   

Description: A tall, athletically proportioned human figure (male or female depending on which twin it is) dressed in a skintight white unitard that leaves only their face and hair exposed.  Both wear their flaming hair long, and Brutallo sports a wild flowing beard and mustache that contrasts sharply with his dark blue skin as well.  The twins are invariably surrounded by a aura of yellow-orange Kirby crackle that dims as they take damage.  They both speak bombastically in booming voices.     

Gender: Male (Female)     Age: Eternal     Height: 6'2"          Eyes: Blazing White Orbs

Hair: Flowing Locks of Orange Flame     Skin: Navy Blue     Build: Perfectly Sculpted Physique

Approach:  Ancient                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Cosmic d12, Agility d10, Strength d10, Flight d8

Qualities: Close Combat d12, Ranged Combat d12, Imposing d10, Conviction d8, Immortal Cosmo-God d8

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

Abilities:

Above Mortal Concerns (R) When you would be Hindered, reduce the penalty to -1.  When an Attack would reduce you to zero Health, reduce the damage to one.

Cosmic Might (A) Hinder multiple targets using Cosmic.  Use your Max die.  Attack each target using your Mid + Min dice.

Immortal Nature (I) If you would be reduced to zero Health and don't have a penalty on you, roll your single Cosmic die and become that Health.

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

Upgrades & Masteries (usually active unless something has weakened them):

Cosmic 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 Cosmic 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 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:

Brutallo and his twin share the same straightforward, aggressive style in combat.  They rely on their Cosmic Might first and foremost, especially against multiple opponents, leaving them reeling and snared in bonds of searing cosmic energy.  If a single foe draws their ire by resisting, they'll employ Triumphant Rage against them, either battering them in melee or hurling projectiles and debris as the mood takes them.  As cosmo-gods they are Above Mortal Concerns and difficult to hamper or truly defeat, and their Immortal Nature makes winning even a temporary victory difficult.  Even if apparently destroyed they'll eventually reform from the background radiance of the universe.

Unless something has actively weakened them, cosmo-gods will usually be protected by an aura of cosmic power that must be overcome to even attempt to harm them.  Brutallo's true nature is reflected in his destructive mastery, and Brutalla is even meaner.

Trivia

In keeping with the tradition of silly hyphenated alien names in comics, their supranyms are actually mispronounced versions of their actual names, Bru-Tal-Lo and Bru-Tal-La.  It's remotely possible that one or both of these cosmic lunkheads might decide to be "clever" and adopt an alias using alien tech and cosmic power to alter their appearance for one reason or another.  This will almost invariably fall apart when they use their real name anyway, although they might be able to briefly fool a preschooler.  Canny heroes might decide to play along to figure out what they're up to, of course.

"Ambasador Bru-Tal-Lo of the Galactic Federation, you say?  And you've come to invite the world's leaders to a conference on the far side of this interstellar warp gate?  And they're welcome to bring all the superpowered bodyguards they'd like?  Well, let me just get to work sending out all the invitations, then."

Blog Content Index

Fnord Model M, An Automotive Nightmare

A goofy concept resulting from spicy food before bedtime, vague memories of the Go-Bots cartoon and nostalgia for playing Car Wars back in the 1980s..

Fnord Model M

When Fnord Motors decided to use an experimental artificial intelligence to run their new fully-automated manufacturing facility it was expected to turn the company's failing fortunes around and let them reclaim their position in the automotive industry.  Unfortunately, the programmers emphasized market competitiveness a little too much.  The factory AI quickly went rogue and began producing new models of semi-autonomous vehicles designed to seek out competitors' products, violently dismember them and drag the resulting supply of parts and raw materials back to its factory to produce more of Fnord's new line.  Authorities quickly traced the strange new auto-drones back to their base and (with superheroic resistance) managed to shut the operation down, but not before copies of the Fnord AI had escaped digitally, leaving Fnord's unwitting organic management behind to face lawsuits, bankruptcy and ruin..

Since then there have been periodic outbreaks of further activity, with the AI using various deceits and hacking to covertly establish a new "production line" somewhere and gradually building up a new fleet of vehicles to carry out its deranged program and "Make Fnord #1" again.  Each iteration has evolved, with its newer designs displaying better tactics and increasing stealth to blend in with civilian traffic until the time is right to strike.  The factory AI has also learned to embody itself in more mobile frames to avoid being digitally isolated, with the current Model M prototype being a serious threat even to military AFVs and superheroes.  The AI's goals don't seem to be changing - no grandiose plans of exterminating humanity or anything like that - but its monomaniacal obsession with removing all other automobiles from the road by force is a threat to life and limb that can't be ignored. 

Description: Shape-changing robotic wheeled vehicle hosting a deranged AI.  It can disguise itself as almost any four-wheeled vehicle from a compact car to small truck, and can vary its paint schemes, license plates and even deploy extra fake wheels as required.  The windows are always dark or reflective though.  When not concealing itself, it favors a heavily-built sedan frame with a massive ram plate, covered in spiked armor plates and various industrial cutters and grinders.  A humanoid torso rises from the hood, centaur-like, equipped with powerful manipulators, concealed torches and welding apparatus.  If need be, the passenger compartment can open up to reveal a turret full of military-grade weaponry, but it really prefers to indulge in close combat.  It doesn't "speak" normally other than its roaring engine, blaring horns and squealing tires, but can communicate via radio using a mechanical text-to-speech voice if absolutely necessary.       

Gender: It's A Car          Age: 2023 Model         Height: Variable          Eyes: It's A Car!

Hair: It's A Car!!     Skin: It's A Car!!!     Built: USA, Not Some Shoddy Foreign Import Job

Approach:  Focused                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  25 + (5 x H)

Powers: Prototype Chassis d12, Shapeshifting d8

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Deranged Automotive AI d8, Technology d8 

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

Abilities:

Defensive Driving (R) Defend against an Attack against only you by rolling your single Prototype Chassis die.  Boost yourself using the amount of damage reduced.

Demolition Derby (A) Attack multiple targets using Prototype Chassis.  Hinder each target using your Max die.

Jump Start (R) When Attacked with Electricity, Recover that amount of Health instead of taking damage.  When Hindered with Electricity, Boost yourself using the same roll instead.

Red Asphalt (A) Attack using Shapeshifting.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Spark Plug (I) Ignore all damage from Electricity.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Mook Squad +0 Health.  Gain Deploy Murder-Wheels (A) Replenish your Murder-Wheel minions up to the number of heroes in the scene.

Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.

Tactics:

Left to its own devices the Fnord Model M is content to simply dismember other vehicles for parts to carry back to its factory, but if opposed in any way it's quick to turn its dangerous tools into deadly weapons.  It prefers to use Demolition Derby to deliver crushing rams to multiple targets (including any other vehicles it can reach), switching to Red Asphalt to deal with whatever foe seems most dangerous while reconfiguring itself to repair any accumulated damage.  Defensive Driving makes it quite difficult to damage and provides a steady source of bonuses to use on its other abilities, although it may use its reaction for Jump Start instead if hit by a strong Electricity-based Attack or Hinder.  Weaker electrical Attacks will simply be ignored with Spark Plug instead.

With its upgrade the Fnord Model M carries a ready supply of light parasite vehicles inside its frame.  Its mastery further improves the already-remarkable handling and durability of its mechanical body.  

____________________________________________________________________________

Battle-Car d8 or d10 lieutenant

Description: A four- or six-wheeled combat drone disguised as any of a wide variety of street-legal civilian vehicles.  Doesn't stand out from regular traffic until it deploys the articulated robotic arms tipped with grabber claws and rotary saws.  Most have a concealed rack of anti-air missiles to deal with flying attackers, but they prefer ramming and fighting in melee.

Hit & Run:  When taking an Attack action you may roll your die twice and take the higher result.  If you do so, divide the damage dealt as evenly as possible between any number of close targets.  You may move afterward subject to the rules of your Street Legal ability.

Street Legal: You may move to any street location in the scene without using an action.  Contrariwise, you can't traverse most stairs, steep inclines, or any terrain impassable to a standard automobile or light truck.

Murder-Wheel d6 or d8 minion

Description: A 5' tall monowheel robot with two mechanical grippers and one or two tool arms tipped with cutting torches and rotary saws for disassembling machinery.  Can also use firearms built for regular humans.  Think "Terminator Unicycle of Doom" and you've pretty much got it.      

Monowheel: You may move to any street location in the scene without using an action.  Contrariwise, you can't traverse any terrain impassable to a dirt bike or ATV.

Scoot: After taking an Attack action against a close target, you may move afterward subject to the rules of your Monowheel ability.

Blog Content Index

Bigg Gunn, Bioengineered Cyborg Killing Machine

A very simple villain today, inspired by an old Dreamblade miniature I've repainted for people several times over the years.  He's a very Nineties character design, as you can see below.

Bigg Gunn

Bigg Gunn is the product of a criminal augmentation lab using data stolen from an abandoned government super-soldier program.  "Product" is literal in this case, as Gunn-series cyborgs have become a popular acquisition in certain circles.  Using a baseline human as a starting point, the upgrade process combines retroviral bioengineering, hyper-steroids and metallic bone lacing to produce a frame capable of supporting cybernetic heavy weaponry and ammunition nanofactories.  It also installs extensive behavioral controls that leave the finished creation utterly loyal to its eventual owner but with enough free will to be truly autonomous in combat.

Expensive enough that they're rarely encountered in groups, even a single Bigg Gunn can still provide a great deal of firepower for a warlord, gang boss, or less physically-powerful super-villain.  They do retain part of their original personalities but their brainwashing and safety protocols largely override any personal motivations or pre-existing ethical qualms.  They're mostly content to follow orders while waiting for an opportunity to use their big weapons, and they require far less micro-management than robots, drones, animated statues or undead do.  When "off duty" Gunns usually use their integral cyberware to connect to the internet, spending their time streaming entertainment and playing games through their neural links and displaying the feeds directly to their cyberoptics. 

Description: See picture.  Note that he's a big lad, standing over eight feet in height.  Where he shops for jeans and boots I can't even guess. 

Gender: Male          Age: Late Twenties         Height: 8'2"          Eyes: Dark Blue

Hair: Bald, Full Blonde Beard     Skin: Caucasian, Metallic Implants     Build: Distorted

Approach:  Disruptive                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  30 + (5 x H)

Powers: Arm Guns d10, Vitality d10, Awareness d8, Strength d8

Qualities: Ranged Combat d10, Alertness d8, Bioengineered Cyborg Killing Machine d8, Fitness d8

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

Abilities:

Concentrated Fire (A) Attack using Arm Guns.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Flying Lead (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, that hero takes damage equal to the size of that penalty.

Full-Auto Fighting Style (A) Attack multiple targets using Arm Guns.  Hinder each target using your Max die.

Suppressive Fire (A) Hinder multiple targets using Ranged Combat.  You and any nearby allies Defend using your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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 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:

The average Bigg Gunn doesn't have much going on tactically.  He'll repeatedly use Full-Auto Fighting Style to hose down every opponent he can see while inflicting a little more damage if Attacked by by using Flying Lead on the first hero who tries to fight back through the firestorm.  If faced with a single foe or badly injured he'll switch to Concentrated Fire for a while instead.  Suppressive Fire is quite strong for defending himself and his allies, but he usually has to be prompted to use it instead of shooting to kill.

His upgrade lets him concentrate a bit more damage on whoever's bothering him most, and he particularly enjoys using the bonus Attack to club a foe who's crowding him in melee while blazing away with his other arm.  Gunns are an exceptionally ruthless sort, and his mastery reflects that.

Note that despite being a Loner mechanically, he's actually quite happy to work with other villains when ordered to.  His poor status die when working with others reflects how much having allies he's not free to shoot cramps his fighting style rather than any personal reluctance.  Minions and lieutenants don't hamper him in the same way.  If they get caught in one of his long, uncontrolled bursts that's their problem.

Design Notes:

Bigg Gunn's Flying Lead reaction is taken from the Disruptive Approach where it's known as Painful Disruption, which I discussed over on this post here.  I've left it as-is per the core rulebook, but the ability really is quite bad as written.  If you want a slightly more effective Gunn I'd suggest using my fix from the other post, which changes the ability text to the following:

Flying Lead (I) When you are Attacked by a hero with one or more penalties, that hero takes damage equal to total value of all their penalties.

Blog Content Index

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.  

Blog Content Index

Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 4 - Legion, Loner & Overlord

Continuing this series with a look at three more villain Archetypes.

Legion

Legion villains have a very wide 4/6/8/10/12 status die spread that decreases the more Legion minions there are in the scene.  They suffer a Health penalty rather than gaining a bonus, and get the usual two ability choices from their list:

Divide and Conquer - Reaction that lets you cancel all damage from a physical hit and create a minion.  Can be used any number of times per round, taking one damage each time after the first.  This is very strong, but doesn't help against non-physical damage at all.  No die roll involved, so immune to penalties.  

Instability of Form - Innate ability for your legion minions.  When they pass a save against physical damage while at a d6 or larger die size, they split in two after degrading.  If they fail a save, they just degrade instead of being defeated.  Again, a very strong trick but vulnerable to non-physical damage.

Parts of the Whole - Creates a number of weak legion minions equal to a roll of your current status die, dealing yourself that amount of irreducible damage as well.

Returned Vitality - Reaction that lets you heal when a legion minion is defeated.

Split Up - Creates two minions one size smaller than your current status die.  No die rolls required, so immune to penalties.

Combine - Lets you destroy any number of legion minions, roll their dice and heal that much damage.  Can be a huge swing if timed right.

You also gain the mandatory Uncoordinated Actions ability, which is effectively a penalty to your legion minions' freedom of action and strongly encourages them to use different actions on different targets rather than ganging up to spam the same action on a single foe. 

This is an odd list, with two very different actions and a rather situational defensive reaction that create minions, as well as an innate ability that makes your minions a lot harder to defeat when facing physical damage.  The other two abilities use minions for healing.  There are no Attacks, Boosts, Hinders or even a Defend option, but the expectation is probably that some of your legion minions will be doing that for you.  Moreover, your status die drops like a rock the more minions you have in play and they can't mass up to do the same action on the same target at all well, something the Creator Approach and Overlord Archetype don't suffer from.  Legion villains can also wind up with some serious Achilles' Heel problems if they take either (or both) of the two abilities that only work versus physical damage.  

All this can make very swingy in terms of effectiveness, although I still don't think it's in need of house rules.  Minion creation is just inherently a very strong trick.

When picking an Approach, looking for something with strong base Health, damage reduction, and/or healing would help make up for your relative fragility.  A more universal defensive reaction might also be useful, and having any action abilities to take advantage of your excellent status die when you have few or no minions in play would be good - a strong Hinder option would be good for penalizing multi-target Attacks that threaten minions might be best, but a a decent Attack would let you do some damage on your own beyond basic actions.  Boosting yourself might be least useful owing to how few Legion abilities actually roll your own dice.  

_________________________________________________________________________

Loner

Loner villains have a 6/8/10 status die spread that gets smaller the more other allied villains are in the scene.  They work just fine with lieutenants and minions, who don't harm your status die.  The Archetype is less "Loner" and more "Wants to be the biggest fish in the pond" really.  They have a below-average Health bonus and two ability choices as usual: 

Antisocial Behavior - Moderate multi-target Hinder that heals you based on the number of targets affected. 

Best On My Own - Solid Attack bundled with strong healing.

Better Them Than Me - Reaction that Boosts you when a non-minion ally is defeated.  This can add up to quite a few bonuses when there are a lot of lieutenants working with you, and of course every actual villain defeated helps your status die as well.

Singular Strength - Innate ability that gives you a small damage bonus and damage reduction when you have no nearby allies.  This one does care about the presence of minions and lieutenants, not just villains.  Even as an innate ability this one actually does feel awfully weak considering its use conditions, and you could probably house rule the bonus and damage reduction to two instead of one to make it more attractive.  True lone villains with no allies at all tend to struggle against PC hero teams, even small ones.

Thin the Herd - Strong multi-target Hinder bundled with a moderate multi-target Attack on the same targets. 

Worst Case Response - Reaction that reduces penalties you take, or reduces the damage of an otherwise deadly Attack to one.

The list includes quite a bit of healing, two multi-target Hinders with useful riders, one rather specialized reaction and another more generalized one, and an odd innate that discourages keeping even henchmen around you.  It's a decent list that leans a bit toward applying penalties and damage.  In terms of finding good Approach pairings, stronger single-target Attacks or Hinders would help for one-on-one fights, and any dice fixing is always useful when relying on Hinders (or Boosts, with the one reaction).  If you wanted to break with theme taking Creator to make your own lieutenants and minions might also work, since you really don't want to work with other villains.

_________________________________________________________________________

Overlord

Overlords have a very wide 4/6/8/10/12 status die spread that increases the more minions they have in the scene.  They have an average Health bonus and can choose three abilities from this list:

By My Command - Moderate Boost for all of your minions.  Really impactful when there are a lot of them in play.

Get Back In There! - Reaction that lets you reroll damage saves against one Attack for any number of minions.  Really weakens multi-target Attacks, the usual way to scrub off mobs of minions efficiently. 

Give Me Your Strength - Odd ability that lets you roll all your minion dice to Boost, then make a moderate Attack using the resulting bonus.  It's actually got rather mediocre damage even at the best of times, and is often weaker than the average villain Max-die Attack ability.  At the very least I'd recommend house ruling this to use the Max die rather than Mid to make it somewhat better balanced with Form Up below. 

"Look Out, Boss!" - Reaction that redirects an Attack to one of your minions, which will often pull any rider effect off target as well.

Rapid Deployment - Mass minion creation ability, using your Max die to determine the number created and the Min die for their starting die size.  The first use is usually relatively weak and then rapidly grows to incredible effectiveness if the heroes can't stay ahead of the number of minions out there.  This ability is almost a mandatory choice for an Overlord villain unless they've taken the Creator Approach.

Form Up - Solid Attack bundled with a self-Defend based on the number of minions you have that works until your next turn.

Overlords are all about their minions, and the ability list reflects that.  They can create them, protect them, enhance them, use them to augment their own offense and defense, or use them to hide behind.  Unless the players can keep their numbers under control an Overlord can be incredibly dangerous, and is much more capable of tackling multiple heroes than most Creator or Legion villains are.  Use them with care, and you may need to consider house rules to reduce their power level somewhat if your heroes are a bit lacking in efficient minion removal.

When selecting an Approach it's probably best to look for abilities that don't require actions so as to concentrate on enlarging and supporting your army, so check for useful innates or reactions.  Multi-target Defend or Boost options would also help improve the durability of your minions.

_________________________________________________________________________

Continued in Archetypes part 5.

Blog Content Index

KO Clown & Mister Mean, Animated Cartoon Nemeses

KO Clown is character ported over from a Tiny Supers team I threw together for a one-shot a while back.  He's not a perfect translation of the original but close enough, and I've taken the opportunity to write up his nemesis Mister Mean as well.  I might tackle some of the other members of the Syracuse Seven eventually.  The one-shot went very poorly - the players hated the system, which I did warn them was kind of light - and it would be nice to get some mileage out of the character concepts, at least.

EDIT:  Since posting this, I've also added a third "cartoon character" to my roster in the form of Deadeye Mouse, an occasional flunky of Mister Mean.

KO Clown

KO Clown started out as a character in the 1930s "Clown Town" cinematic cartoon series, where he mostly played the hero by showing up at the last moment to stop the scheme of Mister Mean by bonking him with a hammer.  The shorts weren't the most sophisticated humor even for their era, but became popular enough to get a newspaper strip and later a children's radio program and comic book.  In the late 1940s a young boy named Ricky Little somehow gained the ability to summon KO Clown into our reality by saying the magic word "Okaykayo!" and the two of them spent about five years bonking real-life mobsters, recalcitrant Nazis, mad scientists and Communist spies alongside other peculiar Golden Age heroes.

Ricky disappeared when he was sixteen, the same night that a studio fire destroyed the original prints of the Clown Town shorts and that was the last anyone saw of KO Clown for decades.  Clown Town faded into obscurity by the end of the 1950s, and remained an obscure "lost media" curiosity until 2023 when a forgotten film reel was discovered by a film historian.  As luck would have it, that historian had a ten year old daughter and the magic word worked as well for her as it had for Ricky Little.  It took a while to explain concepts like "child endangerment" to KO Clown, but he eventually accepted that things had changed.  He now works with a minor superhero team rather than an unpowered preteen crimefighting partner.  Many villains hate him with a passion - getting beaten silly by an old-fashioned cartoon is embarrassing - but he's actually got his fans even in the supercrime community.

But no matter how busy things get, he still makes time to visit little Susie and always comes when she calls out "Okaykayo!"  Her father is still digging into KO Clown's past, and there are some things buried there that might be awkward for everyone involved.  If KO Clown can manifest here in the real world, why not other cartoon characters like Mister Mean?  And what happened to Ricky Little?

Description: A cartoon clown.  Tall, gangly, rubber-limbed, wearing bright blue pants, a canary yellow shirt with big red buttons, white suspenders and gloves, and enormous red clown shoes.  Frequently carries the tools of his trade, with his powers letting him conjure an endless variety of pies, seltzer bottles, jugglers' clubs, rubber chickens and similar props out of thin air.  His favorite "toy" is a huge red mallet that's taller than he is.  His clown makeup changes to reflect his emotions, usually glad, sad, or mad.  Sometimes he goes all monochrome just for the sake of nostalgia.  Has a jolly voice and his movements are weirdly irregular, like early cel animation.

Gender: Male            Age: Clowns Are Eternal           Height: 6'2"          Eyes: Bright Blue

Hair: Neon Green Fright Wig       Skin: Pasty White Under The Clown Makeup     Build: Lanky

Background: Performer               Power Source: Unknown            Archetype: Wild Card

Personality: Jovial                   Health (G/Y/R):  32/24/11

Powers: Strength d10, Transmutation d10, Elasticity d8, Leaping d6, Size-Changing d6

Qualities: Creativity d10, Acrobatics d8, Banter d8, Cartoon Clown d8, Close Combat d8

Status: Green (32-25) - d6 / Yellow (24-12) - d8 / Red (11-1) - d10

Abilities:

Green

Have A Present! (A) Boost or Hinder using Transmutation.  Use your Max die.  If you roll doubles you may also Attack using your Mid die. 

Juggling Act (A) Take any two different basic actions using Elasticity.  Use your Min die for each.

Principle of Chaos (A) Overcome a challenge in a way that is truly unpredictable.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies gain each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: How did you fall in line to get something done?  Major twist: What caused you to become predictable and stale?  RP: No one can predict what you will do next.

Principle of the Clown (A) Overcome a challenge that has already flummoxed a more serious teammate.  Use your Max die.  You and your allies each gain a Hero Point.  Minor twist: Which hero has to bail you out of the predicament your shenanigans have gotten you into?  Major twist: What boring grown-up thing that you ignored is now getting you into big trouble?  RP: When a crisis strikes your teammates, they can just say the magic word and you'll be there to help.  Okaykayo!

Yellow

Bonk!  Bonk!  Ha-ha-ha! (A) Attack using Elasticity.  Use your Min die on one target, your Mid die on a different target, and then Boost using your Max die.

Gifts For Everyone! (A) Boost all nearby allies using Transmutation.  Use your Max + Mid dice.  Hinder yourself using your Min die.

Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! (A) Attack multiple targets using Strength.  If you roll doubles one ally is also hit by the Attack. 

Red

How Do You Kill A Cartoon? (I) You have no limit on the amount of Reactions you can take.  Each time you use a Reaction after the first one each turn, take 1 irreducible damage or take a minor twist. 

Purely Cosmetic Damage (R) When you are Attacked and dealt damage, you may ignore that damage completely.  If you do, treat the value of the damage as a Hinder action against you instead.

Raining Trouble (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.

Out

Friends With The Animator (A) Defend an ally by rolling your single Creativity die.

Tactics

KO approaches a fight about a seriously as he does everything else - so, not very much at all.  Only children being put in danger gets him to put on his Mad face, and he'll do his best to save them using Overcomes as soon as possible.  

Barring that sort of thing, he has a lot of options in Green but will usually use Have A Present! to Boost himself by conjuring up a suitably clownish weapon or prop, then do his Juggling Act to take whatever two basic actions seem best with the bonus applied to whichever is more important - or funny.  If there's an opening for an amusing Overcome he'll do that instead, especially if it's unpredictable enough to use Principle of Chaos or show up a more dour teammate with Principle of the Clown.

In Yellow, Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! offers a strong and only ever-so-slightly risky way to scrub off minions, especially if he has bonuses to use with it.  He can easily set that up himself with Bonk!  Bonk!  Ha-ha-ha! to hit a couple of targets and generate a solid bonus, or he can pass the bonus to an ally who needs it more.  He can also exert himself to hand out Gifts For Everyone!, giving huge bonuses to all nearby allies at the cost of a small self-Hinder.

In Red he almost stops taking damage.  Unless an Attacker can ignore reactions, the combination of Purely Cosmetic Damage and How Do You Kill A Cartoon? effectively turns Attacks into Hinders, with the small cost of taking one damage or a twist per Attack beyond the first between his turns.  He may wind up buried in penalties, but it's awfully hard to actually put him Out.  He also gets access to Raining Trouble (his retcon choice) for big penalties on every foe and a fair possibility of doing some damage as well.

If he does go Out he still provides a solid defense for an ally each round thanks to being Friends With The Animator, letting him continue to materialize inconveniences for his foes even while his ghostly clown form hovers over his cartoon tombstone.        

Design Notes

KO Clown actually has kind of a rotten set of dice available but still manages to make it work in play thanks to some efficient abilities.  He's not the hardest-hitting hero ever (nothing above Mid die) but spreads attacks around well even in Green.  He's very good at Boosting both himself and allies right from round one, and even his "small" Green Hinder uses Max, while his Red Hinder option is one of the strongest in the game.  His Red zone defensive combo is pretty silly against most opponents, and if he does go out he's got a solid defensive ability there too.  Principle of the Clown is a reskinned version of Principle of the Sidekick, letting him show up stuffy boring adults, get himself in trouble by behaving childishly, and appear on the scene when most needed by his friends.   

What he does lack is defensive Reactions before Red, although he can Defend a bit while doing something else even in Green.  Generally speaking he doesn't need to worry much about taking damage fast because of the way the brakes slam on in Red, so he can concentrate on throwing mods and multi-target damage around with some impunity.

Conceptually, he's a living cartoon from a 1930s short, and is as pliable as a cartoon of that era should be.  His Size-Changing and Elasticity represents stretch-and-squash animation styles, Leaping covers him literally bouncing around (often stretching his arms to reach farther when one of his bounces falls short), and his considerable Strength is as much ignorance of the Laws of Gravity and Inertia as anything.  

He also has a very strong Transmutation power, which he mostly uses to conjure props out of thin air, as well as occasionally doing things like turning bricks into gingerbread or firearms into pop guns.  Basically if it's something funny he can probably manage it on a small scale, although reality is more resistant to his pranks than celluloid was.  No turning the sun into a big light bulb and flipping the switch off these days.  He's particular fond of whipping up giant mallets as impromptu weapons, bouquets of flowers that inexplicably Boost or Hinder the people they're given too, and gift-wrapped presents for any kids in the audience.  He can't conjure up anything really complex or boring (comic books but not a dictionary) and with his 1930s mindset modern things like personal electronics are right out.

Exactly what his abilities look like in game varies, but Whomp, Whomp, WHOMP! usually involves him hitting or stomping the ground so hard it sends out shockwaves, or sometimes clashing giant cymbals if all his foes are airborne (that one should probably get a new name momentarily - Clang, Clang, CLANG! works).  Transmutation-based Boosts and Hinders involving materializing objects (he likes flowers and wrapped gifts and balloons) and tossing or handing them to the target.  Raining Trouble is literally that - miscellaneous items appear and fall on his targets, ranging from enormous water balloons and gigantic pies to (when he rolls doubles) anvils and cartoon weights and the like.

His greatest weakness is "Kissy Stuff" as he puts it.  As a character from a 1930s children's cartoon who has the emotional maturity of a stereotypical ten year old boy, even mild displays of affection throw him off his stride.  Explicit sexual displays are pretty much his Achilles' heel - assuming he even recognizes them for what they are.  He may express concern about catching cooties when fighting female supervillains.

___________________________________________________________________________

Mister Mean

Much like his nemesis, Mister Mean was a character from the 1930s "Clown Town" cartoon.  He was the show's principle bad guy, always scheming to take over the town and make its citizens' lives miserable and always stopped in the end by KO Clown.  It's not clear how he's followed the Clown to the real world in the 2020s - is there a rotten little kid behind it? - but he's back to his old shenanigans.  While technically a supervillain, his idea of an ingenious criminal plot tends to be childish, outdated, impractical or all three.  He works very poorly with his peers, many of whom either baffle or secretly horrify him.  His weird powers are useful enough that he does attract all manner of petty thugs as henchmen, although they're more interested in using him as a distraction while they get away with some actual loot - often in bags clearly labeled as such.  To date he's proved impossible to arrest (much less imprison) as he melts away into a puddle of black ink when defeated, inevitably returning in a few weeks or months.

It's quite possible that Mister Mean may only be the first Clown Town villain to manifest.  The shorts did have other lesser baddies and there's obviously some kind of breach in reality revolving around the films.  If the breach widens it may only be a matter of time until there's more criminal silliness going on.  For now it seems Mister Mean is the only one carrying out schemes to counterfeit nickels, steal all the ice cream in the city, and turn everyone into mice.

Description: A cartoon bad guy.  He generally wears a black suit under a black overcoat and a tall, crooked stovepipe hat - also black, of course.  Short and scrawny with a hunched physique and arms so long his spidery hands drag on the ground.  Carries a six foot long fountain pen that he impossibly tucks away in his coat when it's not needed.  His inability grow suitably villainous facial hair is a sore point for him.

Gender: Male          Age: Timeless Classic         Height: 5'0"          Eyes: Red

Hair: Black              Skin: Sickly Green           Build: Hunched

Approach:  Underpowered                 Archetype:  Loner

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Transmutation d8, Elasticity d6, Giant Fountain Pen d6, Size-Changing d6

Qualities: Stealth d10, Cartoon Villain d8, Finesse d8, Banter d6

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

Abilities:

Even Narrower Escape (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.

General Nastiness (A) Attack multiple targets using Cartoon Villain.  Defend against all Attacks against you until your next turn using your Min die.

Ink Siphon (A) Attack using Giant Fountain Pen.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Narrow Escape (R) When you would be Hindered or when an Attack would reduce you to zero Health, reduce the penalty to -1 or reduce the damage to 1.

Take Some Time To Gloat (A) Boost using Cartoon Villain.  Use your Max die.  Hinder using your Mid die.  Attack using your Min die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Boost (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:

Mister Mean is an old-fashioned cartoon villain.  He's sneaky and underhanded and prefers to prey on the weak - stealing candy from babies is his idea of a good time - but if it comes to a fight he's gleefully violent.  He'll Take Some Time To Gloat to open a scene then use General Nastiness, which usually involves pulling cartoon bombs out of nowhere and chucking them around wildly or fencing with his signature weapon, a giant fountain pen.  Once he starts taking damage he'll use Ink Siphon to skewer an enemy and restore himself by draining their life force, a move that thankfully gets censored into cartoon violence when used on real-world targets.  His Narrow Escape reaction lets him avoid the worst of incoming penalties or cancel out a blow that would otherwise defeat him, and if that's been used up Even Narrower Escape will save him at least once.

With his upgrade his powers are bit stronger, he starts with a lot more Health, and he gets an extra last chance with Even Narrower Escape.  His mastery is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a living cartoon character.

Mister Mean's powers are very similar to KO Clown's, although he favors conjuring up comedically menacing weaponry with Transmutation instead of circus props.  He's particularly fond of big round bombs (usually labelled as such) with sputtering fuses, jagged daggers that don't seem to actually draw blood, blackjacks and occasionally tommy guns when he's feeling like playing gangster.  His signature weapon is a huge fountain pen that he can use to jab people, spray ink, or siphon energy from people - which leaves other cartoons all shriveled and puny but just makes real world folks intensely sleepy.

His greatest weakness is extreme squeamishness about the sight of blood, which (as he puts it) just isn't natural.  "Why are you people all full of red ink?"  

Blog Content Index

Professor Pusher, Unsubtle PSA Messaging Villain

This ludicrously named villain was inspired by the old Superworld adventure Bad Medicine For Doctor Drugs.  If you're a fan of adding a "publishing history" metatext to your games, he would have started appearing in 1971 (a nod to the real-world "Snowbirds Don't Fly" story in Green Lantern/Green Arrow) and was dragged out in later years whenever the publisher wanted to make a show of warning readers about the dangers of drug abuse, particularly in the 80s.  The Professor probably appeared alongside Nancy Reagan and McGruff the Crime Dog at some point.

Most of his stories were awkward borderline PSAs, but there were some attempts at edgy 90s stuff that played him as a more "realistic" villain.  The post-2000s saw deconstructions trying to give him an actual backstory and more believable motivations.  The best of those would probably mirror Jekyll and Hyde's themes mashed up with Timothy Leary's advocacy of psychedelics.

In a game his whole schtick might be a very touchy subject, so check with your table before using him as either awkward camp or a more serious threat.  Drug addiction and abuse are not subjects to be taken lightly.  If you do use him he'd work well in a story arc with the Triple Threat Gang, who gained their powers from a drug called Supe that might easily be one of his creations.

Mechanically, there are two different writeups for the Professor.  The first uses the Inventor archetype and is more of a team player, willing to cooperate with other full-blown supervillains when their motivations align.  The second is a Loner, and only voluntarily works with those he deems his inferiors, all of whom are invariably users of his drugs in one form or another.  

Professor Pusher

Professor John Drummond is a proponent of better living through chemistry in its most extreme form, with a real genius for brewing up wonder drugs with all manner of metabolic effects.  Moreover, he's as aggressive about exposing others to his concoctions as he is about self-experimentation, and if that leads to some bad reactions or addiction that's just the cost of progress in his eyes.  His "Professor Pusher" supranym started out as a nickname invented by students of his college courses while he was still employed in the teaching field.  He's fully embraced it since transitioning into full-time "unconventional pharmacological research" as he calls it.  Most people would say it's mad science and outright supervillainy.

In addition to a boundless array of drugs and toxins capable of a wide variety of effects, Professor Pusher has experimented on himself extensively.  At this point his own body is capable of synthesizing and combining chemicals internally, resisting and regenerating physical damage, and exuding all manner of helpful and harmful substances at will.  He also has access to large numbers of "customers" addicted to his recreational substances and aid from minor villains created through his dabbling in super-solider empowerment serums.

Description: A bald middle-aged man with coke-bottle glasses, wearing a white lab coat and armored black gloves with super-tech needle spitters, chem sprays and injectors built in.  He has a wavering falsetto voice and gives off a strange, sweetish chemical scent.  Disarming him is harder than it looks, since his metabolism has been altered to the point where he's his own pharmacopoeia.

Gender: Male        Age: 55        Height: 5'10"        Eyes: Watery Blue, Thick Glasses

Hair: Bald        Skin: Caucasian, Chemical Stains On Hands        Build: Stoop-Shouldered

___________________________________________________________________ 

Professor Pusher (enthusiastic cooperative version)

Approach:  Overpowered                      Archetype:  Inventor

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d12, Toxic d10, Vitality d10                                    

Qualities: Master of Mad Pharmacology d8, Persuasion d8, Science d6                                        

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

Abilities:

Chemical Savant (A) Whenever you create a bonus, increase that bonus by one.

Dangerous Overdose (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Shared High (A) Boost yourself using Inventions.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.  Each of your nearby allies Recovers Health equal to your Min die.  Each of your nearby minions or lieutenants whose die size has been degraded at all increases their die size by one step.

Take Your Medicine (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.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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

Tactics

This version of Professor Pusher concentrates on supporting his allies, whether they're other full-blown villains, lieutenants like gang leaders or weaker hired supers or mobs of junkie minions in his thrall.  He relies heavily on Take Your Medicine to amp up allies and his own status die while Chemical Savant makes all his Boost actions more effective.  He'll selectively use Shared High to Boost himself and heal his entire team as needed, resorting to Dangerous Overdose only when hard-pressed and running out of allies to support.

His upgrade limits heroes pretty badly, and makes the risk of going Out much worse for them while in effect.  The Professor might even throw a Dangerous Overdose attack or order massed fire from allies at a vulnerable-looking target to spawn a free brainwashed minion.  His mastery works mostly with chemical science, but he's also dabbled in nanotech to emulate pharmacological effects in artificial or exotic lifeforms.

___________________________________________________________________

Professor Pusher (sneeringly superior version)

Approach:  Overpowered                      Archetype:  Loner

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Inventions d12, Toxic d10, Vitality d10                                    

Qualities: Master of Mad Pharmacology d8, Science d8, Leadership d6                                        

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

Abilities:

Dangerous Overdose (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max + Mid + Min dice.  Hinder yourself using your Max die.  Take damage equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Metabolic Tolerance (A) Attack using Toxic.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

More Where They Came From (A) When a non-minion ally in this scene is defeated, roll your single Science die to Boost yourself. 

Shared High (A) Boost yourself using Inventions.  Recover Health equal to your Max die.  Each of your nearby allies Recovers Health equal to your Min die.  Each of your nearby minions or lieutenants whose die size has been degraded at all increases their die size by one step.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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

Tactics

This variant of Professor Pusher won't tolerate working with other proper supervillains, relying on masses of addicted minions and lieutenant-grade minor supers he's empowered himself for protection.  He'll still support them with Shared High but is more likely to resort to Dangerous Overdose early, then heal up with repeated Metabolic Tolerance attacks before repeating.  Defeating lieutenants (or other villains, if he's being forced by circumstance to work with them) just helps him out with More Where They Came From.  He has a lot of self-healing as a Loner, and will tend to put any bonuses he accrues into Recovering Health even faster.

His upgrades and masteries don't change, but his higher damage output and more aggressive play style will make getting a brainwashed hero more likely.

___________________________________________________________________

Professor Pusher will almost always have some allies around for an action scene, ranging from low-quality minions to minor supervillains.  Their one unifying trait is that they've all sampled his drugs in one way or another, and most will be addicted to them.  He always includes chemically-triggered "kill switches" in his formulas so that he can counteract their effects at will, depowering supers he's created and putting "recreational" users into a life-threatening withdrawal. 

Pathetic Addict d6 minion usually, might be d8 if well-armed or using actual combat drugs, or d10 if high on a super-drug that enhances strength or agility beyond human limits.  Those are usually reserved for lieutenants, though.

Description: They can look like anyone from any walk of life, although long-term users become increasingly sickly-looking and often get careless about maintaining appearances.  Some people insist that there are always telltale signs of a user, but they're kidding themselves.  It's far too common to go real far down that road before anyone catches on. 

Desperate For A Fix: Whenever you roll the maximum possible result on your die, treat the result as two higher.  Whenever you roll a one, count the result as zero and reduce your die size by one step.  If this would reduce your die below a d4, you are defeated.

D-List Supervillain d10 or d12 lieutenant

Description: These are minor-league villains who've gained their limited powers from Professor Pusher's experimental super-serums, doing his bidding either to get their next hit or because he's got them under chemical mind-control.  They're as likely to be wearing civilian clothing as not, and when they do have costumes they tend to be pretty obviously home-made or repurposed from Halloween costumes.  Their powers tend to be pretty limited, although most all of them show superhuman resistance to pain and injury. 

Hard To Stop: You gain a +1 bonus to saves against damage.  In addition, at the start of your turn you may remove any -1 penalties on you.

Sort Of Super-Powered: Use the rules on pages 287-289 to select one or two abilities from an appropriate clone archetype to represent your powers.

Empowered Addict d8 or d10 lieutenant

Description: Almost as varied as pathetic addict minions, but they tend to be drawn from the ranks of overtly criminal groups and often display gang colors, tattoos, and similar marks of allegiance.  A few may be corrupted police or other authority figures, and may attempt to confuse the issue about which side they're actually on.  All display inhuman strength and tend to slip into a berserk rage at the drop of a hat.

Berserker: Whenever you roll a save against damage, whether you pass or fail Boost yourself using the same die roll.

Desperate For A Fix: Whenever you roll the maximum possible result on your die, treat the result as two higher.  Whenever you roll a one, count the result as zero and reduce your die size by one step.  If this would reduce your die below a d4, you are defeated.

Blog Content Index