Plurality, A Psychic Who Wants Everyone To Be Just Like Him

A port of a villain from an old 1980s campaign.  Still a monster in human form after all these years. 

Plurality

Jin Marino is a psychic mutant with an unusual ability to divide and project their consciousness.  He can do this by forming a mass of psychoplasm and mentally shaping it into short-lived duplicate of himself with a shared mentality.  More insidiously, he can concentrate on another person and impress his psyche on them, overwriting their will and in extreme cases causing a psychosomatic physical transformation as well.  Unfortunately, Jin is also a violent narcissistic sociopath who takes great pleasure in forcibly crushing the minds and stealing the bodies of those around them.  The lucky ones die of shock and stress during the process.  The unlucky ones survive with shattered minds and lifelong trauma.  

Operating under the supranym Plurality, he's well-known in supercrime circles as an up-and-coming mastermind villain in the most literal sense of the word.  He can be pretty compelling when he wants to be, and his henchmen and occasional allies have learned to provide him with a steady supply of other victims to avoid him toying with them instead.  His overarching goal is to gain more and more personal power - he dreams of his consciousness overwriting the whole of humanity - but he frequently gets distracted by his vices and momentary whims.    

Description: A trim, athletic man of Korean descent, dressed in a pale gray body stocking with yellow banding around the neck, sleeves, waist and calves.  His boots and tight-fitting gloves are a darker yellow and he wears a snug headband of pale metal ornamented with a dark blue square-cut stone on his brow.  His voice is harsh and demanding, with a West Coast US accent.  He speaks English, Korean, and Italian fluently. 

Gender: Male        Age: Late Twenties        Height: 5'10"        Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black, Short Buzzcut          Skin: Olive               Build: Lean

Approach:  Dampening                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  20 + (5 x H)

Powers: Presence d10, Duplication d8, Telepathy d8                                   

Qualities: Imposing d10, Conviction d8, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Violent Narcissistic Sociopath d8 

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

Abilities:

Compelled Hesitation (R) When Attacked by a hero with a penalty, ignore their damage and remove a penalty on that hero.

Divided Attention (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.

Ectoplasmic Absorption (R) When one of your minions is destroyed, roll its die and Recover that much Health.

Ectoplasmic Division (A) Add two minions with size one lower than your current status die.

Forced Transformation (A) Attack using Imposing.  Use your Max die.  Use your Min die to Hinder each opponent that can see or hear the target of your Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

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 Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.

Tactics

Plurality has a fairly fixed approach to combat.  He'll invariably open by using Ectoplasmic Division to create a pair of strong minions, repeating the action whenever their number dips below two.  If there's a strong need for it he might repeat the action immediately, but never maintains more than four active minions at once.  Otherwise he picks a target and repeatedly uses Forced Transformation on them to attempt to disable them rapidly while debuffing everyone in sight or hearing range of the victim.  He'll try to chose wisely between his two reactions, healing as his minions are defeated with Ectoplasmic Absorption and cancelling out Attacks with Compelled Hesitation.  His minions will split their actions up, usually with one Attacking his primary target, another Defending Plurality himself, and any others applying Hinders to any hero who doesn't currently have a penalty.

His upgrade makes it much harder to deal with him and his minions, and can grant him free minions if he defeats a hero while it's still active.  His mastery reflects increased skill and determination when it comes to coordinating his divided consciousness.

Plurality is a port of a very old Villains & Vigilante's villain from a campaign back in the 1980s.  His mutant ability isn't quite a perfect fit for any single SCRPG power, but the combination of Presence, Duplication and Telepathy is pretty close.  His Telepathy is mostly projective rather than receptive, so very "loud" but "hard of hearing" in psychic terms, hard to screen out while having little ability detect minds or dig into anything  beyond surface thoughts.  Presence ties into his personality override abilities, as well as being used for most social interactions - often bundled with Imposing or Violent Narcissistic Sociopath, which says a lot about how awful he is.  His Forced Transformation ability spreads parasitic fragments of his psyche to everyone who can perceive his victim partially transforming into another Plurality and making threats in his voice before reverting back to normal.  With his brainwashing field upgrade active that transformation can become a lasting one if the victim is defeated, turning a hero into a minion.

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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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Syzygy, A Supernatural Contradiction

A mystical foe in the form of an other dimensional user of magic, one who doesn't follow quite the same rules as most home-grown wizardly types.

Syzygy

Syzygy may be a personal name, a description, or a rank in some incomprehensible hierarchy, but the entity who uses it as an identifier refuses to clarify the situation.  Obviously inhuman and definitely otherworldy, the thing seems to employ opposing principles of magic and draw on conflicting dimensional planes for its powers, baffling even other mystics and sorcerers.  Its interests seem equally divided, apparently serving many masters with wildly differing goals while seeking to seize ever greater power for itself.  Syzygy seems to have an special interest in artifacts and places imbued with mystical power.  This has led to it either clashing or cooperating with beings like the Watcher At the Breach and the Maiden In the Mirror as well as mystical heroes.  It's also been seen with noted magical thief Cinnabar Red and mysterious chimerical creatures like BG Gruff and the Three Bears, sometimes as an ally and sometimes as a foe.  In short, Syzygy is a mystic weirdness magnet who might appear almost anytime the supernatural is involved, with no fixed allegiance to anyone or anything.

An uncommonly versatile user of magic, Syzygy can conjure up both searing radiance and chilling darkness at will, open rifts to unnatural realms whose energies can rend a mortal's sanity, perceive the weave of time and manage all manner of lesser feats.  It's particularly fond of bending reality to create dangerous distractions while it goes about its business - in game terms, creating a challenge by using an Overcome action with Unpredictable.  While very potent against other supernatural opponents, Syzygy does have a pronounced weakness to the "alien arts" of science and technology, as well as struggling against truly strong-willed and single-minded opponents.  Penalties created with with Science, Technology, Self-Discipline, Conviction and Technological powers all trigger its vulnerabilities, and players might be able to leverage suitable Principles and role-playing qualities as well with GM approval.

Description: A strange, semi-abstract humanoid figure hovering in mid-air.  Its surface is mottled in black and white patterns.  The slender limbs, hands, head and torso aren't directly connected to one another, merely hanging in close proximity like a psychedelic parody of the human form.  Its face is an impassive mask quartered in white and black, and it speaks with a high, piping voice sprinkled with incomprehensible alien phrases and sounds.    

Gender: None        Age: Unknown       Height: 6'0"      Eyes: One Black, One White

Hair: None                  Skin: Irregular Black and White                  Build: Abstract

Approach:  Ninja                                

Archetype:  Formidable (Weakness: Technology, Scientific Principles, Single-Mindedness)

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Infernal d10, Radiant d10, Flight d8, Precognition d8, Awareness d6

Qualities: Otherworldly Mythos d10, Magical Lore d10, Imposing d8, Persuasion d8, Supernatural Contradiction d8

Status: No Weakness Mods - d12 / Both Bonuses and Penalties - d8 / Only Penalties - d4

Abilities:

Dread Revelation (A) Attack using Otherworldly Mythos.  Hinder that target using your Max + Min dice.

Eternity Foreseen (A) Boost using Precognition.  Use your Max + Min dice.  Remove all penalties on yourself.

Lashing Energies (A) Attack using Magical Lore.  Use your Max die versus one target, your Mid die versus a second target, and your Min die versus any target.

Unpredictable (A) Take any basic action.  Use your Max die.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Hardier Minions + 5 Health.  Gain Empowerment (A) Upgrade a number of your minions equal to the number of heroes in the scene by increasing their die size by one (max d12).

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

Tactics

Syzygy generally opens a conflict with Unpredictable to perform a Max die Overcome that uses some element of the environment to cause problems, eg starting a Challenge of some kind.  If possible they'll keep doing this sort of thing until someone actually harms or Hinders them.  At that point they'll shed any penalties with Eternity Foreseen, then begin alternating between Dread Revelation against whatever single target draws their ire and Lashing Energies against whichever two or three foes seem most vulnerable.

If Syzygy has their upgrade they'll use it to buff up any friendly minions available, spending the action for it early in the scene in place of or in addition to Overcomes to create Challenges.  They don't have a way to innately create minions, so either budget for a group or two of them when creating the scene or have an ally who can make them.  Their mastery reflects their improbable connections to a whole spectrum of unearthly supernatural beings.

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Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 5 - Predator, Squad & Titan

Continuing this series with a look at the last three villain Archetypes.

Predator

Predator villains have a 6/8/10 status die spread that decreases the more opponents they're engaged with.  Much like Guerrillas, this causes some issues because "engaged" is never clearly defined in the rules, and it's unclear whether hostile lieutenants and minions should be counted as well.  If you just count opponents in the same location Predators might maintain a d8 status, but getting to a d10 really requires isolating a single foe, something none of your abilities really allow you to do.  They have an average Health bonus, and get the usual two ability choices from this list:

Surprise Trap - Reaction that uses your status die to Hinder an Attacker and deals damage to them equal to the value of the penalty.  As villain defensive reactions this is really quite bad, in large part because you'll rarely get better than -2 penalty out thanks to your dreadful status die mechanic.  That is a very puny damage debuff and poor payback damage compared to similar reactions.  

Hazardous Terrain - Solid multi-target Hinder that also does decent damage to any target that already had a penalty from you on them.  You don't have any abilities that produce truly persistent penalties so the only way to get the damage to happen is to manage to exploit the turn sequence to use this twice over two rounds before the heroes get to go, or possibly take a twist when creating a penalty to make it last for two uses. 

Hidden Hunter - Innate ability that doubles the value of any mods of your choice involved with taking action against a target that's unaware of your presence in the scene, or has forgotten you're still there.  Very, very dependent on GM fiat or Overcome actions to conceal yourself and/or trick foes into thinking you've fled.

Hunt the Weak - Solid Attack that becomes very strong if the target has a penalty from you or is already in the Red zone.  The lack of an persistent penalty creation hampers the utility of this ability as well, and it's almost overkill if the target is already in their Red Health zone.

Stealth Approach - Solid self-Boost that creates a persistent and exclusive bonus, bundled with a moderate self-Defend that lasts until your next turn. 

Track My Prey - Solid Hinder that lasts until your next turn, so could potentially be used several times depending on timing and target reactions.  While the target has this penalty it cannot use reactions or benefit from Defend actions.  This is potentially very strong for your allies, but doesn't really benefit you.

This Archetype has issues with its abilities, some of which can be patched through taking the right Approach while others need more work.  Any ability that can apply persistent penalties helps make two of the Predator choices much better, and anything that grants you some mobility to reposition and avoid being engaged by too many foes will help improve your status die.  You could also opt to take minor twists when creating key penalties to have them last for two uses, but that's a steep price to pay.  If you took Hidden Hunter all mods are more useful in theory, although it would help to have a "take any basic action using your Max die" ability to Overcome your way into concealment or a faked retreat as well.

There are still several things I'd advise altering as house rules.  Surprise Trap should be reworded as follows:

Surprise Trap (R) When Attacked, roll your single status die.  Deal the Attacker that much damage, and Hinder the Attacker using the same roll.  The resulting penalty is persistent and exclusive.

This makes an underperforming reaction considerably stronger, as well as providing a way to create a persistent penalty to make your other choices more viable.  It still isn't providing much immediate defense, but at least it stings more now and will debuff future Attacks while the penalty remains.

I'd also suggest altering Track My Prey to add some mobility so it has better utility outside of teams:

Track My Prey (A) Hinder using [power].  Use your Max die.  The penalty lasts until your next turn, and while a hero has this penalty they cannot use reactions or benefit from Defend actions.  Then you may move to any location in the scene.

Mobility of any kind helps avoid status die disasters and makes Hidden Hunter a little easier to use.

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Squad

Squad villains have a 6/8/10 status die spread that gets smaller the fewer allied villains are in the scene.  Their status isn't affected by lieutenants and minions.  They have a very low Health bonus and two ability choices: 

On My Mark - Action ability that lets an ally take an immediate basic action, using their Max die and rerolling any ones that come up.  Strongest when used on allies with better dice pools than your own.  

My Allies Are My Strength - Innate damage increase for you based on the number of nearby non-minion allies.

Press the Advantage - Solid single target Attack, and if you pass the turn to the target they must Attack you on their turn if possible.  If you can take the damage this can be very good.  Restricting enemy choices is usually potent, especially if they were needed for Overcomes or Boost support.

Protect My Allies - A rare defensive reaction that protects an allied villain using your status die, and you get to self-Boost as a reward.  Really quite good for villain teams but doesn't protect mere henchmen.

Stay In Formation! - Boost any two targets and get a weak self-Defend that applies to all Attacks until your next turn.  A solid support option that uses all three of your dice efficiently, and can be used to self-Boost if desired.

Take Point - Solid Attack that provides a good Defend to all your nearby allies until your next turn.  Hugely effective team defense move, although it leaves you wide open and you'll likely draw some fire so you can't just spam this move.  Does call for your allies to stay rather bunched up though, so beware of multi-target Attacks with enough damage to breach the Defend.

A very versatile list that can provide just about anything, but really needs allies (and particularly other villains) to function well.  Depending on your selections you can take a direct hand as a damage dealer while also protecting allies, or as a support character handing out improved basic actions and bonuses, and there's also a very solid defensive reaction to cover for allies.  When considering Approaches something with healing might be helpful (it is one thing the list can't provide), but just about anything can work based on what Archetype abilities you focus on. 

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Titan

Titans have an 8/10/12 status dice spread that decreases as the heroes Overcome the custom Titan challenge each has, with status dropping to d10 after two successes and d8 after a third.  They're tied for the highest Health bonus of any Archetype and can choose three abilities from this list:

Crush All Underfoot - Moderate multi-target Attack bundled with a weak Hinder on each target.

Down the Hatch - Solid Attack bundled with the option either apply an all-three-dice Hinder, or render the target unable to take actions at all until a successful Overcome frees them.  Uniquely restrictive, and can be spammed for an almost a guaranteed victory against a single hero unless they escape immediately or have allies to Overcome for them. 

Foolish Insect - Reaction that uses your status die to deal damage to a hero that takes a minor twist in your Titan's challenge, in addition to the twist effect.

You Are But Gnats To Me - Insanely high damage reduction that decreases to merely very good as your status die degrades.  Practically forces the heroes to Overcome your Titan's challenge in order to do damage to you.   

I Will Not Be Defeated So Easily - Reaction that triggers when Attacked with a roll that includes doubles, letting you remove a success from you Titan's challenge, which helps keep you status die up. 

The Land Quakes Underfoot - Action ability that lets you trigger an environmental twist in its current zone, no roll required from you.  Still restricted to just one use of each Major Twist per scene.  Domain villains are better at this trick, but it can still be very disruptive and unpredictable.

The list includes a decent multi-target Attack and Hinder bundle, a single target Attack that either Hinder or apply a unique and very powerful restriction on the victim, two reactions that both interact with the Archetype's unique status die mechanic, incredible damage reduction, and the rare ability to manipulate the environment in your favor.  It's very powerful, but benefits greatly from an Approach that offers either a bit more variety (eg Boosts, healing, a real defensive reaction, other ally support tricks) or that leans into whatever Titan abilities you've chosen (eg stacking even more damage reduction or stronger raw-damage Attacks).  Titans can be remarkably frustrating for some teams to deal with, and their built-in challenge practically requires spending at least three hero actions, especially if you've taken the damage reduction option.  With both offensive options including Hinder riders passing Overcomes on that challenge is much harder as well.

Even without an upgrade, I'd expect almost any Titan to be as hard to deal with as a difficult scene element.  They really are a step above the other Archetypes.   

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Continued in Upgrades.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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Continued in Archetypes part 5.

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Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 3 - Indomitable, Inhibitor & Inventor

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

Indomitable

Indomitable villains have a d8 status die under all circumstances.  They have an average Health bonus and choose two abilities from this list:

Absorb Energy - Defensive reaction that uses your d8 status die, also Boosts you if the damage is completely prevented.

Grab and Drag - Moderate Attack that also lets you choose between a strong Hinder, or a weak self-Defend combined with moving your and the target elsewhere in the scene.

Heavy Duty - Consistent innate damage reduction.

Prepare for the Worst - Strong self-Boost with a persistent and exclusive bonus.

Suppressive Fire - Moderate multi-target Attack bundled with a weak Hinder against the same targets.

Unflagging - Solid Attack bundled with minor healing.

A fairly defensive list with options for damage reduction, a defensive reaction, and three Attack abilities that combine with Hinders or minor Defend or healing options.  Also has a strong persistent self-Boost choice that can help make up for the middle-of-the-road status die.  Not really missing anything, and it has a unique choice that lets you damage a foe and then drag them to a new location in the scene, which can be very disruptive, especially when combined with mobility powers.  Can be combined with any Approach, although probably best for something looking for more durability or one that has a stronger Attack option or two since Indomitable abilities don't have stellar damage output. 

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Inhibitor

Inhibitor villains use a 6/8/10 status die spread that increases very quickly the more heroes have penalties on them.  This often means their status die varies from round to round, bouncing from d10 back down to d6 them climbing back again.  The source of the penalties doesn't matter, which makes ally Hinder actions very useful to an Inhibitor.  They well below-average Health bonus, and select two abilities from the following menu: 

Area Suppression - Strong multi-target Hinder bundled with a moderate single target Attack.

Overwhelming Syphon - Sacrifices all the penalties in play on heroes to deal them damage equal to the mods' values, while you heal equal to the all those penalties.  Can be very strong but wrecks your status die for next round.

Targeted Drain - Either a very strong single-target Hinder, or a slightly less strong one with a persistent and exclusive penalty.

Tethered Life - Moderate single-target Hinder with persistent and exclusive.  While the penalty is in play you gain one damage reduction and the target suffers one irreducible damage for each instance of damage.  The rider effect stacks and damage reduction is cumulative even if there are multiple heroes with these penalties.  Note that mods (especially persistent ones) don't just disappear when a character goes Out, so the damage reduction may still be effect even if the irreducible damage doesn't matter - and many Out abilities suffer from penalties, adding insult to injury.   

Twisted Fate - Lets you either invert all bonuses on a nearby target into penalties, or move one penalty from that target to someone else you can see.

Upper Handed Strike - Nasty defensive reaction useable only against someone with a penalty you created, using your status die to both prevent damage and harm the Attacker.  This is the only ability that specifically requires you to have created the penalty personally, so allies can't help out with this one.

This list includes three very good Hinder options, another ability that transforms bonuses into penalties or moves penalties around, a defensive reaction that relies on having one of your penalties on the Attacker, and an unusual ability that trades off al the penalties on foes to deal damage to them and heal yourself.  In short, it's all about the penalties, particularly spreading around the persistent ones.  Inhibitors lack solid offensive options and Boosts.  They have no direct defense beyond their reaction, but penalties will debuff Attacks just fine so they effectively get some benefit from there.

When considering Approach combos, remember that Inhibitors need to keep 1-3 penalties in play on different heroes to maintain a solid status die.  Persistent penalties help with this, but even they'll get removed and need reapplication now and then.  This makes the inhibitor rather action-hungry, so looking for other abilities that combine Hinders with Attacks, Boosts or healing would be helpful, as well as innate abilities or better reaction options.  Self-Boosts can be particularly helpful, since they can often let you create larger penalties.

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Inventor

Inventors have a very wide 6/8/10/12 status die spread that increases based on the number of inventions and mods in the scene that they or their minions, lieutenants or twists have created.  It's usually quite easy to maintain a high status die if they have any henchmen along, and only slightly more difficult if they're the only one adding to the tally.  They have a well below-average Health bonus and two ability choices from the following list.

Capable Creator - Innate ability that increases the size of every bonus you create

Cut Both Ways - Efficient multi-purpose ability that Boosts, Hinders, and makes a weak Attack using all three of your dice.

Empowered Destruction - Requires at least one bonus to use.  Insanely strong single-target Attack that uses all your dice and burns all your bonuses to add even more damage, exclusive or not.  Players will immediately recognize this as Charged-Up Blast with a different name, and it's just as nasty when a villain uses it, maybe more so since hero Health is generally lower and you could easily get a one-shot KO with hot dice and a handful of bonuses.

Leverage Advantage - Requires at least one bonus to use.  Unusual Attack that can target one, two or three foes if you have at least that many bonuses, each target using one of your dice.  Very efficient with three bonuses (and targets) but much less so with only one or two.

To Serve their Maker - Unusual defensive reaction that destroys one of your bonuses to use its value to self-Defend against all Attacks until your next turn.

Variable Creating - Double Boost with the option to make one persistent and exclusive or add a weak Attack instead.  One of very few ways to put a persistent bonus on another character.  

This list has two ways to create bonuses (one of which also Hinders a target) to feed your status die, but it also has two very strong Attack options and a potent defensive reaction that all eat through bonuses when used.  There's also an innate option that increases the size of all your bonuses, letting you potentially reach +5 and making +3 quite easy to achieve.  Approaches that offer more mod creation through Boosts and Hinders will help prop up your status die, as would Creator's minion/lieutenant creation abilities.  Alternately, anything with damage reduction or healing would help with your fragility, and it might be worth grabbing a less expensive-to-use Attack ability and use the Inventor list's other options.

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Continued in Archetypes part 4.

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Villain Design Analysis: Archetypes Part 2 - Formidable, Fragile & Guerrilla

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

Formidable

Formidable villains have an unusual 4/8/12 status die spread that's tied to whatever their specific weakness is, which is defined by the GM during creation.  If they have no penalties related to their weakness they get that big d12, a mix of weakness penalties and bonuses that might offset them is a d8, and only having weakness penalties with no bonuses drops them to d4.  They have an above-average Health bonus and choose two abilities from this list:

Channel Greatness - Creates a strong persistent and exclusive bonus with a moderate Attack as a rider.

Cleansing Elevation - Very strong Boost action that also removes all penalties on you.

Expended Negation - Unusual offensive action that lets you destroy one of your bonuses to deal light damage to every opponent.  That damage isn't an Attack, and therefore doesn't trigger most defensive reactions, nor is it affected by mods.

Share In Your Glory - Efficient Boost action that affects yourself and one or two nearby allies.

Unrivalled Paragon - Allows you to take any basic action using your Max die.  Despite the name, several other Approaches and Archetypes have the same trick, so it's more like "plenty of rivals" really.

Untempered Grit - Reaction that lets you ignore all penalties for the turn in exchange for taking damage equal to the total value of your penalties.  This does mean you won't shed any of those penalties either, but it not only avoids their effects for now, if any were degrading your status die you'll be back up to a d12 for this turn's action.

Four of these abilities are useful for manipulating the Archetype's unique status die mechanic, creating bonuses and removing or ignoring penalties, and one of the others lets you sacrifice the many bonuses potentially being generated for multi-target damage.  You also have a strong ally-friendly Boost option and a versatility trick that includes your highest single-target Attack.  The Archetype can be paired with any Approach, but the best choices will ones whose own abilities benefit most from ready access to bonuses and the potential for that excellent d12 status die.

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Fragile

Fragile villains have a 6/8/10 status die spread that starts at d10 and degrades as their personal Health drops through the GYRO zones.  They actually have a Health penalty rather than a bonus, and select two abilities from the following menu: 

Careless Smash - Very high-damage Attack that also does minor damage to you.  Your low Health makes even minor damage a concern, though.

Cheese It! - Defensive reaction that lets you move anywhere in the scene if you cancel out all the damage.  Relies on your status die, so it becomes much weaker as you take damage.

Dismantling Jab - Moderate Attack that removes all bonuses from the target.

Escape Plan - Innate ability that lets you move anywhere in the scene whenever your personal zone changes.  If you have access to healing this can trigger when you health increases as well as when it drops a zone.

Shrouded Attack - Solid Attack with a weak but multi-use self-Defend as a rider.  Even modest bonuses can make the defensive side of this quite hard to breach. 

Versatile Strike - Solid Attack with a wall of text that gives one of four different riders (most using the Min die) varying based on your Health.  It's a lot of words for not very much actual effect. 

With four different Attack abilities this a very offensive list, and its other two abilities lean into granting mobility and a modicum of self-defense.  Fragile villains tend to be just that, very effective as long as they remain healthy but falling apart as they drop through the GYRO scale - and their low initial Health makes that process faster than normal.  They can benefit from Approaches that offer healing, more reliable defensive reactions or damage reduction.  Approach abilities that Hinder foes, especially multiple foes, can be very useful for diminishing incoming damage. 

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Guerrilla

Guerrillas have a 6/8/10 status die spread that increases based on the number of opponents currently engaged.  This is a bit of an issue since "engaged" is not a tightly defined term, mechanically speaking.  As a GM I'd certainly treat all active enemies who are able to potentially Attack or be Attacked by the villain as engaged for status die purposes, whether they're in the same cramped indoor room or sniping from the roof of a building down into a distant outdoor plaza.  The intent might be that only heroes count toward status dice here, but the wording does technically mean hostile NPC minions and lieutenants would be included as well.  The Archetype has an average Health bonus and the usual two ability choices from the following:

Close Quarters Combat - Moderate multi-target close-range Attack with a weak Hinder against the same targets.

Even Odds - Innate ability that generates a bonus at the start of your turn based on how many opponents Attacked you since your last turn.  Quite efficient, especially if combined with a defensive reaction or damage resistance from your Approach.

Fighting Rhythm - Efficient Attack that uses all three of your dice, one against up to three targets.  If you have three targets, the damage becomes irreducible as well, which is very good. 

Human Shield - Strong Attack with a very nasty defensive rider.  You get a moderate multi-use self-Defend against everyone but the target, and any damage stopped by that Defend is dealt to your target.  This usually means you just won't be Attacked at all for a turn except by your victim.

Malicious Deflection - Status-die based defensive reaction that deals equal damage to another nearby target.  Quite strong when engaged with multiple foes, rather weak one-on-one.

Tangled Fray - Solid innate damage reduction whenever you're outnumbered by nearby foes. 

So three nice Attack options including a multi-target one bundled with a Hinder, a good strong reaction that both prevents and deals damage, a potentially quite strong innate bonus generator, and some damage reduction.  It's a pretty solid list overall and doesn't really need much help.  An Approach with some healing or dice manipulation would be helpful but not vital, or you could look for something that offers more ally support, which is one thing the Guerrilla really lacks.

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Continued in Archetypes part 3.

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