The Purple Picaroon, A Perfidious Plural Plunderer

A very silly villain in honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day.

The Purple Picaroon

The Purple Picaroon (true identity and origin unknown) appears to be severely delusional, perceiving reality as a strange mix between the real world and some kind of elaborate nautically-themed stage show in which they're acting the lead.  Their ability to project psionic illusions lets them share the madness with those around them, as well as helping them escape capture in the event of being defeated.  

Thankfully, they seem to fairly harmless as supervillains go, with little interest in truly harming people as long as they play along with the "show" being acted out.  That doesn't stop the Picaroon from looting businesses of their "pieces of eight" or seizing "merchantmen" (or buses, trains, and aircraft they perceive as such) to steal booty and take hostages for ransom.  Many such hostages are quietly released once the "scene" ends and they're safely "off-stage" but sometimes the Picaroon stays focused long enough for a kidnapping to become a real issue.  Few other villains are willing to work with this lunatic, but occasionally lesser criminals will tag along opportunistically, playing at being sailors in hopes of being able to do some plundering of their own in the confusion.

The possibility that the Purple Picaroon is secretly much more rational than they act can't be completely dismissed, and the fact that they've been operating for years without a single "capture" sticking long enough for a trial is rather worrisome.  But maybe they're just very, very lucky, and nothing more sinister is going on.

Description: A rather androgynous figure dressed in a over-the-top theatrical pirate captain's outfit, all in shades of purple and including an implausible flowing cloak.  Heavily armed with what might be prop weaponry, including a brace of flintlock pistols, a pair of belaying pins, and an intimidatingly large knife all shoved into a waist sash.  Even their cutlass flickers with violet light as they brandish it.  They spout a steady stream of stereotyped nautical gibberish in a clear alto voice.

Their Legion minions follow a similar nautical, purple-tinted aesthetic but vary considerably in appearance, from youthful powder boys to burly shirtless sailors covered in tattoos to lower ranking ship's officers.  Their voices are identical though, and they all have equally fake mustaches in various styles.  

Gender: Presents As Male     Age: Early Twenties     Height: 5'4"     Eyes: Cornflower Blue

Hair: Short-Cropped Blonde, Obviously Fake Mustache     Skin: Tanned     Build: Lithe

Approach:  Tactician                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  15 + (5 x H)

Powers: Agility d8, Illusions d8, Leaping d6, Swinging d6

Qualities: Acrobatics d10, Delusional Stage-Show Swashbuckler d8, Finesse d8, Fitness d6

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

Abilities:

Ahoy, Mateys! (A) Add two Legion minions to the scene.  Their starting die size is one smaller than your current status die.

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.

Follow Me, Sailor! (A) Make a basic action using Delusional Stage-Show Swashbuckler.  Use your Max die.  One nearby ally also makes that same basic action as their reaction.

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

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

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Brace Up, Lads! + 5 Health.  Gain Embolden (A) Upgrade one group of Legion minions in the scene by increasing their die size by one (max d12).

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

Tactics

The Purple Picaroon is a theatrically flamboyant fighter but not a very bloodthirsty one, favoring non-lethal blows further enabled by their psychic power letting them inflict "imaginary" harm even with apparently-deadly weapons.  Fighting them is a rather surreal experience, much like being an involuntary member of the cast of a badly-written stage show.  When a scene starts, they'll usually begin by using Ahoy, Mateys! to create a pair of strong minions, repeating as desired but generally avoiding putting out more than four minions at once.  They'll follow that with Follow Me, Sailor! to double up the most suitable basic action with one of their crewmen - usually an Attack or Hinder, but anything's possible.  That includes impromptu duets or dance numbers.  Note that the ability doesn't require using the action on the same target, so they can spread them around if desired.  When an ally rolls poorly they'll use Stage Directions to give them another chance at putting on a better performance.  If a minion is destroyed while the Picaroon still has  a reaction available they'll use Glorious Death Scene to ham up the defeat and heal some damage.  Their minions are somewhat hampered by Divided Attention, but there are rarely many minions in play so it's not too much of an issue.

With their upgrade their minions can easily have their die sizes improved, letting them focus on quality henchmen rather than quantity.  Their mastery lets them focus their minions on "seizing the enemy bridge" or carrying off captives for ransom - or whatever their current delusion thinks is going on.  

Design Notes:  If you're thinking "Mister B Natural" from MST3K but dressed up as a purple pirate, you've got the mental image about right here.  The concept is absurdist, but mechanically they're no joke at all, and can make for a tough (if silly) scene when backed up with some actually mean-spirited thugs who've come along for the ride and some suitable challenges.  Super-Fan thinks the Purple Picaroon is the bestest villain ever and may arrange an "introduction" for your heroes in the hopes they become nemeses.

Note that despite the nautical theme, The Picaroon has no die in Swimming, and in fact gets seasick rather easily.

Blog Content Index

Mister Kong, Psychic Super-Gorilla Heister

How did I not have a gorilla supervillain already?  That's no way to sell comics.  Well, easily fixed.

Mister Kong

Mister Kong (he's quite insistent on the "Mister" part) is the accidental product of an ethically-bankrupt research program intended to produce uplifted gorilla super-soldiers, something that completely overlooked the relatively small number of gorillas available for such treatments.  The entire affair was a debacle, with Mister Kong developing the unplanned ability to project convincing psionic illusions and using it to escape confinement, vanishing into the criminal underworld.  He's built himself a solid reputation as a minor criminal mastermind, skillfully planning and executing a series of profitable heists that let him live comfortably in seclusion.  He usually works with simple criminals, although he has been seen in league with other supervillains who share his monetary motivations. 

The super-gorilla has a sizable mental library of illusory disguises that let him operate in public without attracting undue attention, with a particular fondness for elderly human females of various ethnicities.  He's also been known to adopt the appearance of security guards and police officers while on a job, as well as imitating heroes during combat to confuse their allies.  Mister Kong is surprisingly realistic about his own capabilities compared to the broader supers community, but he's not afraid to take on multiple foes at once when he sees an opportunity to catch them off guard.  Ordinary humans get a lot less respect from him, and he happily displays his physical superiority when opposed by "mere" law enforcement officers.

Description: A powerfully built adult male gorilla.  Spends more time walking upright than any normal member of the species.  Often wears a compact communications headset networked with his allies and henchmen.  His voice is deep and guttural, but his English diction and grammar are impeccable.  

Gender: Male        Age: 24          Height: 6'2"          Eyes: Black

Fur: Black & Silver          Skin: Black          Build: Like A Gorilla

Approach: Dampening                         Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  45 + (5 x H)

Powers: Illusions d10, Strength d8, Vitality d8

Qualities:  Close Combat d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Persuasion d8, Psychic Super-Gorilla d8

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

Abilities:

Exchanged Images (A) Attack one target using Illusions.  Use your Max + Min die.  Defend against all Attacks from targets other than that target with your Mid die until your next turn.  All Defended damage is dealt to the target of your Attack instead.

Threat Display (A) Attack one target using Close Combat.  Use your Max die.  Hinder each opponent that can see or hear the target using your Min die.

Twisted Perceptions (A) Hinder using Illusions.  Use your Max die.  That penalty is persistent and exclusive.  As long as that penalty is on the target, reduce their highest power die of your choice by one die size.  Attack using your Mid die.

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

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.

Gorilla Behind the Curtain (I) As long as you are not directly involved in the fray and are using your influence indirectly, automatically succeed at an Overcome to manipulate a situation.

Tactics

Mister Kong is a gorilla, but he's not fool enough to overestimate how physically powerful some supers are.  He frequently tries to remain unnoticed behind a shroud of psychic illusions while assessing his foes, focusing on critical Overcomes to achieve his goals, or position himself for a sudden ambush.  When he does take direct action, he's quick to engage multiple foes so he can use their numbers against them, relying on Wrong Target to protect himself while misdirecting Attacks through evasion and phantasmal projections.  His other abilities mix powerful blows with illusory images to confound his enemies.  Twisted Perceptions is used against whatever hero seems to be the greatest threat.  Threat Display is a daunting show of brute savagery augmented by psychic "special effects" that make the damage seem worse than it is.  Exchanged Images hits very hard and swaps the appearance of Mister Kong and his target for a brief period, leading to "friendly fire" incidents as his other foes struggle to identify who's who.

With his upgrade he's much better at dealing raw damage and dealing with multiple foes, while his mastery encourages him to employ psychic trickery and direct his allies from relative safety.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Mister Kong usually works with fairly low-grade help, but he's good at recruiting them in large numbers when he needs them.  Sometimes he even lets them know he's a gorilla in advance.  Usually he saves it as a special surprise.

Boss Thug d8 lieutenant

Description: An experienced human criminal, unobtrusively dressed and armed with a variety of concealed weapons.  Dangerous by themselves, but even better at bossing around lesser crooks.

Take Charge: If you take a Boost action, you may target all nearby allied Typical Thug minions.

Human Shield: Gain a +2 bonus to saving rolls against damage as long as there's at least one allied Typical Thug minion close by.

Typical Thug d8 minions

Description: Your basic human crook, usually cheaply dressed and armed with a concealed pistol that they're reasonably competent at using.  Not too bright but also not too ambitious, they're pretty reliable as long as someone's keeping an eye on them.

Follows Orders Well: If an allied lieutenant or villain Boosts you, increase the value of the bonus created by one.

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

Villain Design Analysis: Final Thoughts

Wrapping up this series with a few final thoughts:

1) As I said way back at the start of all this not all villains are created equal, and once you've gotten yours built it's worth doing some test runs to get a good idea how much damage they'll hand out from turn to turn, as well as how well they apply penalties and absorb incoming damage.  Keeping that in mind when scene building will give you a better idea of the villain's de facto impact on a situation, and in extreme cases you might even want to treat a villain as an extra element of their difficulty level for your budget, or adjust them up or down one level on the simple/moderate/difficult scale.

2) I originally suggested starting with a concept for your villain in mind before tackling the mechanical side of things, but I didn't mention that "I wonder what I can do with the abilities of this Approach/Archetype pairing?" is a perfectly legitimate concept.  You can get some real inspiration about the nature of a villain just by mashing together some abilities - especially ones that don't initially seem to work well together - and sometimes just a single standout ability is enough to form the seed of a villain writeup.  The creation process can go both ways.

3) Don't get too hung up on names and descriptive fluff, especially when it comes to Approaches and Archetypes.  For ex, Loners Archetypes supposedly don't like working with other villains, and their status die and even some abilities reflect that.  But you could easily reskin that so that you have a whole team of Loner villains who are actually drawing power from the same energy source, and grow more effective as they suffer losses and their power is shared between fewer people.  Look at the mechanical effects of abilities and see if they inspire you to do something different with your Approach/Archetype pairings.

3b) And by all means, re-name your abilities however you want.  The GM has enough mental work to deal with, and customizing your ability names will probably make it a little easier to remember which one does what at the table.  If the names sound cool and suggest the villain's style to your players all the better.

And that's all, folks.  Hopefully this rather sprawling series of posts has been of use, or at least an interesting read

.

Blog Content Index

Villain Design Analysis: Masteries

Continuing on from the Upgrades overview, this will be the penultimate post in the series.  I don't really have much to say about individual villain Masteries beyond the obvious.  They offer a villain an automatic success on an Overcome in certain situations.  They can also take Overcomes that their Mastery doesn't apply to, but that requires a die roll and risks generating twists so they're less likely to do so.

Villains don't normally spend their actions Overcoming challenges the way heroes do, but they could certainly use an Overcome to create a challenge the heroes need to deal with instead.  When doing so you want to be careful about what types of challenges you use, with simple one-success, no-timer ones probably being the best.  Complex multi-success challenges will result in the villain pulling ahead of the heroes in terms of action economy, and timed challenges can put too much pressure on heroes if there are already many things to deal with.  If you want to use the more complex challenge types those are probably best "purchased" as scene elements on their own (although they might stay "off stage" until a villain puts them into play, or the scene tracker hits a certain point, or some other trigger goes off) or as environmental twists.

Another common use for villain Overcomes is concealing oneself - essentially a "Hide check" - or detecting a hidden hero or other target.  This is most common with Predator Archetypes, who have several abilities that key off their foes being unaware of them, but pretty much all "stealth" is a duel of Overcome actions.

Perhaps the most common villain Overcome will be to escape the scene, usually using some kind of Mobility power in the die pool.  Some action scenes will have the villains escape automatically when the scene tracker runs out, but a villain might choose to duck out earlier if they've completed their objectives already, feel seriously threatened, or just want to leave their allies to take the heat because they're backstabbing jerks and figure they'll get more loot that way.  Some Masteries lend themselves to this trick more than others - and a Master of Annihilation is likely to cause quite a mess to cover their retreat if it comes to that.

The eleven existing Masteries are probably plenty, but I'll suggest a couple more to reflect some villain "personalities" that aren't quite covered:

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.

Master of Terror (I) Automatically succeed at an Overcome to spread fear in a community and weaken the morale of those who oppose you as long as you've made an example of a victim recently.  This primarily affects NPCs, although heroes may suffer indirectly as frightened civilians refuse to co-operate or blame them for failing to stop the villain sooner.  

This series will finish up with one final wrap-up post, after which we'll move on to other subjects. 

Blog Content Index

Villain Design Analysis: Upgrades

Continuing on with this series of posts, today we're moving from Archetypes to villain Upgrades.  These are an optional part of creating a villain, and adding one turns a basic villain into a difficult scene element rather than a moderate one.  A villain can be assigned more than one Upgrade if you want to make them an even greater threat, with each extra Upgrade counting as another difficult scene element when designing an action scene.  A GM should consider what grants a villain an Upgrade and whether there might be a way to remove one, perhaps through creating some kind of countermeasure during a montage scene.

Most Upgrades modify a villain's Base Health as well as granting some other benefit.  The core book includes the following ten Upgrades (which, weirdly, aren't in alphabetical order, unlike Approaches and Archetypes):

Mook Squad - This is one of only two Upgrades that don't improve Base Health, and grants the villain an action ability that lets them add enough signature minions to the scene to bring their number up to H, ie the number of heroes in the scene.  Obviously gives the most benefit when you have no minions in play.  While it's nice to be able to spawn more henchmen during a scene, the benefit has to be weighed against using the villain's action for the Upgrade rather than one of their other abilities.  As such, this is often best on a villain with relatively weak die pools or otherwise lackluster abilities.  The lack of bonus Health doesn't help either, and as Upgrades go this is one of the less impactful ones.

If you wanted to make it stronger, changing the ability it grants to allow it to spawn Hx2 minions would help balance quite a bit.  This is more on par with the minion-creation abilities found in the Creator Approach and Legion/Overlord Archetypes, and might be too strong if you regularly play with a lot of heroes.  The danger to going to Hx2 is that you may find the upgrade now outshines Creator, Legion and Overlord villains at the their own game.

Hardier Minions - Grants a very small Health bonus, and the villain gains an action ability that increases the die size of one group of minions in the scene by one step, to a maximum of d12.  The term "group" isn't really defined in the rules, leaving the GM leeway to decide how many are affected by each use of the ability.  I would recommend limiting it to a maximum of Hx2 minions, or simply H if that proves too strong for your particular team.  This Upgrade requires minions in play to do anything at all, so it's best paired with abilities or allies that can create minions.  As with Mook Squad, you also have to weigh the benefits of buffing/healing some minions or using the villain's action for one of their other abilities.      

Group Fighter - Provides a very large Health bonus and gives the villain an inherent ability to use their Mid die to make a free Attack whenever they use an action ability that includes an Attack.  Simple, straightforward increase in durability and damage output, making it a popular "generic" choice on any villain that plans on making Attacks regularly.  Worth noting that it doesn't work with reactions that include an Attack, since you aren't taking an action there. 

Villainous Vehicle - Grants a fairly large amount of extra Health, and adds a very customizable vehicle (treated as a lieutenant mechanically) to the scene with anywhere from two to four of its own abilities from a menu of seven options.  Depending on which ones you take the vehicle may simply add some independent combat power, or it may provide key support synergies for the villain by providing healing, deploying minions, or letting a badly damaged villain escape the scene altogether.  Another Upgrade that can be helpful for almost any villain, although it is likely that players will focus on destroying the vehicle quickly if its abilities are impacting the scene heavily.

While described as a vehicle of some kind, this Upgrade can easily be re-skinned into other autonomous threats such as a living war-beast, steed or "junior villain" sidekick.  Actual mechanical versions of this Upgrade could reasonably be counted toward an Inventor Archetype's status die.    

Power Upgrade - Offers a very large Health bonus and increases the die size of all the villain's powers.  If this would improve a given die past d12, they gain an extra ability chosen from their Archetype's list instead, although only four of the eighteen Approaches have d12 powers to gain that variant benefit.  Most useful on villains who have many abilities dependent their die pools, especially those that Boost or Hinder a lot where die steps make a big difference to generating larger mods.

Quality Upgrade - Offers a very large Health bonus and increases the die size of all the villain's qualities except their d8 roleplaying quality.  If this would improve a given die past d12, they gain an extra ability chosen from their Approach's list instead, although only two of the eighteen Approaches have d12 qualities to gain that variant benefit - and Ancient will gain two extra abilities.  Most useful on villains who have many abilities dependent their die pools, especially those that Boost or Hinder a lot where die steps make a big difference to generating larger mods.

Defense Shield - Doesn't directly improve Base Health, but gives the villain a force field that prevents the first forty points of damage dealt to them by any source except themselves.  That's an enormous bonus to durability, but the field can be removed by three Overcome successes from the heroes, with any minor twists rolled dealing damage to them as a reaction as well as the usual twist effect.  As long as the field is still active, the villain can spend actions removing successes from the Overcome to remove it, or repair damage done to it.  Heroes are usually better off doing Principled Overcomes to remove the field than powering through it with raw damage, but that's still eating up actions in the scene.  Worth noting that it doesn't alter the villain's Base Health, so Bruiser and Fragile Archetypes (whose status die depends on personal Health zone) will be in Green longer than usual.

This is another Upgrade that could be counted toward an Inventor Archetype's status die, at least while it lasts, and the three that follow might also be "inventions' if they're technological in nature.

Calming Aura - Grants a moderate bonus to Base Health and forces all heroes to act as if they were in the Green zone until the aura is removed by three successful Overcome actions.  Minor twists let the villain use a reaction to Hinder the hero in response, which discourages doing another Overcome right away.  Obviously not very impactful at first, but if the players don't get rid of it fast the effect quickly becomes a serious handicap.

Power Dampening Field - Another moderate bonus to Base Health, and a complicated wall of text that basically results in hero power dice being reduced more and more as the scene tracker advances.  Can be removed with three Overcome actions, but minor twists mean the hero loses access to a power completely until this upgrade is removed.

Brainwashing Zone - Nearly identical to the Power Dampening Field above, but it affects qualities rather than powers.  It also has an added rider that means any hero who goes Out while the zone is still in play becomes a mind-controlled villainous minion with a die size equal to their largest power die.  Not really likely to happen unless you really focus down one PC, but it certainly is colorful.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ten Upgrades is probably plenty, but it would be nice to have a little more variety so here are a couple of homebrews to consider:

Ability Upgrade - Experience, training and practice has expanded the villain's bag of tricks.

Health +10  You may pick one extra ability from either your Approach or Archetype.

Modest Health bonus, counterbalancing the fact that this opens up a tremendous number of new synergies.  After nearly two hundred custom villains I've lost count of how often I wished for just one more ability choice.  Some villains would be better off with the Power Upgrade or Quality Upgrade above, but this is more versatile if all you want is an added ability.

Amped Up  - The villain is at the top of their game, giving 110% and dialing it up to eleven.

Health +10  On your turn, when you roll your dice to take action you may reroll one die before determining the outcome.

So, moderate Health bonus but a strong dice fixer to go with it.  Most impactful for the few villain abilities that look for doubles or triples, but generically useful for anyone.

This series is nearing its end, with the penultimate post on Masteries.

 Blog Content Index

Strain Zeta, An Outbreak of Dangerous Macro-Organisms

Flesh-eating bacteria are bad enough, but they're even worse when they're big enough to bite your hand off.

Strain Zeta

Strain Zeta started off as a variety of genetically engineered micro-organisms cooked up in a super-science lab for use as easily tweaked bio-research test specimens.  Then some idiot tested an experimental growth ray on them and turned them into fast-breeding macroscopic omnivores with the potential to depopulate an entire continent in weeks if allowed to get out of control.  The individual Zetas are fairly small and nearly mindless, but they generally form in larger collective pseudo-organisms that display slightly more awareness.  While destroying any given Zeta isn't difficult for a superhero or even a well-equipped human, letting any of them escape guarantees another outbreak at some point in the future.

If you're looking for potential creators of these things, the researchers of SIN are likely culprits, as are the Moseby Twins (with the Zetas being a sort of proto-protoid).  Horde has already had one major failure when dabbling in growth technology and might repeat his mistake, and his cousin Miniac might well have sabotaged any experiment involving embiggening stuff.  And there's always master mega-genius Mordecai Mentallax, who comes up with this kind of stuff in his spare time between doing "real" science and planning to conquer the world.  Might also be the harbingers of an invasion from a hostile microversal civilization, or maybe the whole thing's an accident and the Zetas actually started as a single micro-kaiju shot into our continuum like the end of the first Gamera movie.

Strain Zeta Gestalt

Description: A seething mass of amoebic blobs, about the size of a haystack.  The whole mess is fringed with writhing cilia and lashing flagella, and its interior is dotted with countless organelles and vacuoles.  The only sounds it makes are the burbling squelches of digestive juices as it wriggles about.

Gender: None     Age: Unclear     Height: Variable (Usually About Eight Feet)     Eyes: None

Hair: Do Cilia Count?     Cell Membranes: Translucent Oily Blue-Green     Build: Blob-Like

Approach:  Underpowered                                Archetype:  Legion

Health:  5 + (5 x H)

Powers: Part Detachment d8, Elasticity d6, Swimming d6, Wall-Crawling d6

Qualities: Close Combat d10, Mega-Bacterial Collective d8, Fitness d6, Self-Discipline d6

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

Abilities:

Cell Division (A) Roll your single status die.  Deal yourself that much irreducible damage.  Create that many d6 Legion minions.

Mass Consumption (A) Attack multiple targets using Close Combat.  Defend yourself against all Attacks using your Min die until your next turn.

Mindless (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.

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

Resistant Strain (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.

Smother (A) Attack using Elasticity.  If you roll doubles, add that value to your Attack.  If you roll triples, add all three dice to your Attack.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Hardier Minions + 5 Health.  Gain Embiggen (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 Enforced Order (I) If you have complete control over your surroundings, automatically succeed in an Overcome to organize rabble to accomplish a task.

Tactics

Strain Zeta Gestalts rarely stick together long in combat, using Cell Division to break down into minions whenever it can without too much risk of defeating itself - although if it's caught very low on Health and Resistant Strain has already been used it may just deliberately go out one last batch of hungry macrobes.  Their effectiveness is a bit limited by Mindless (even as a collective they're none too bright) but Reabsorb will help keep the Gestalt in action longer.  If a Gestalt is too weak to spawn more minions it has two offensive options to use, with Smother potentially inflicting a hard hit to a single foe and Mass Consumption harming multiple targets while providing some minor damage mitigation.

With its upgrade the Gestalt can also increase the die size of one group of minions.  I'd define a group as "all the ones from a single use of Cell Division" for this ability.  Its mastery makes Overcomes a lot easier while there are minions in play.  

_____________________________________________________________________

Strain Zeta Legion Spawn d6 minion (created through Cell Division)

Description: An irregular lump of squirming cilia and translucent blue-green protoplasm, roughly a foot in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.

Mindless: Whenever multiple Legion Spawn 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.

Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.

Strain Zeta Macrobe d6 minion

Description: A larger mass of squirming cilia and translucent blue-green protoplasm, roughly two feet in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.

Basic Organism: As an action, you may sacrifice yourself to either roll your die and restore that much Health to a nearby Strain Zeta Gestalt villain, or to increase the die size of a nearby Strain Zeta Vector lieutenant by one (max d12).

Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.

Strain Zeta Conglomerate d10 lieutenant

Description: A formidable collective of translucent blue-green protoplasm, lashing flagella and squirming cilia, roughly four feet in diameter and dripping with digestive enzymes.

Intermediate Organism: As an action, you may sacrifice yourself and remove H nearby Strain Zeta Macrobe minions from the scene, then add a Strain Zeta Gestalt villain to the scene at full Health but with no Upgrade or Mastery.

Shapeless: You may move as though you had Swimming d4 and Wall-Crawling d4 and can slowly ooze through small openings, under doors, and similar tight spots.

Unstable Mass: As an action, you may roll your die to Hinder yourself and add a number of Strain Zeta Macrobe minions equal to your roll to the scene.

_____________________________________________________________________

Design Notes:  The "Strain Zeta Gestalt" villain form is about as fragile as a villain can be, but its job is mostly to spawn a bunch of minions before it goes Out.  If it manages to throw (or draw) an Attack or two before it gets finished off that's just a bonus.  Bringing along some Macrobe minions as scene elements will let the gestalt last a bit longer, but you could also just bring multiple Gestalts or create new ones using the Conglomerate lieutenant's sacrifice ability.  Unlike most villains they're definitely not unique, just something that forms whenever enough of the smaller Zetas are around.

Blog Content Index