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Champions Villains Index?


John Desmarais

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Back in the 4th edition days, there was index in the back of Classic Enemies that categorized the villains by a bunch of different criteria (Mastermind, Mercenary, Loner, Alien, Magical, Mutant, etc, etc). Has anyone put together anything similar for the 6th edition villains?

Not really.

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Such a chart for 6e could be useful, though. Perhaps someone would be inspired to compile one?

 

For comparison, if anyone's interested, I use a chart somewhat like the one mentioned for my own setting, , though with different categories. Notably, it helps me see my own favoritisms and blind spots, by what origins, power sets and combinations thereof turn up a lot or hardly at all.

 

First set of origin categories are characters whose powers are an intrinsic part of what they are:

 

* Supernatural Being: Gods, demons, otherspirits, undead, and the like, or mortals who have a supernatural parent. Thor, Dracula, and Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan are examples.

* Mutants and mutates: Something in their genes enables them to have super-powers. For convenience I include characters whose genes are altered to give them super-powers. The X-Men are mutants; Spider-Man would be an example of a mutate.

* Robots: Also other constructs, however they were built. Ultron, Frankenstein’s Monster and the legendary Golem are all constructs.

 

Next come the origins that imbue a person with super-powers, which are innate from then on:

 

* Enchanted: Someone or something conferred powers by magic. Think werewolves or the Absorbing Man.

* Weird Science: Any sort of origin that involves radiation, chemicals, or other quasi-scientific means other than genetics. The Fantastic Four and the Flash are classic examples.

* Cyborg: The character’s powers derive from something that was grafted onto or into his or her body; usually technological, but could be magical or something else, such as an alien gemstone embedded in the character’s flesh. Typical examples are Cyborg (duh), Sidewinder (and several other members of the Serpent Society) and Ulysses Bloodstone.

 

After that, origins that depend on the character’s special skills:

 

* Sorcerer: The character knows magic. For me, this includes characters who “learn” psionics. Examples include Doctor Strange, Baron Mordo and Zatanna.

* Inventor: The character knows super-science and uses it to build a battlesuit or other weapons. Crucially, the character can fairly easily build new devices. Examples include Iron Man, Classic Lex Luthor, and a whole bunch of characters with “Doctor” in their names.

* Training: Mostly martial arts, but other sorts of skill-based characters could fit here, too, such as a brilliant thief and burglar or a super-spy who’s a master of disguise. Shang Ti (the Marvel martial artist, no the Chinese god), Richard Dragon, and the Black Fox are examples.

 

Some characters’ powers are entirely external:

 

* Weapon: Anybody who uses super-powered devices that they cannot easily change. Many battlesuit characters fit this description, such as Guardsman, Crimson Dynamo or the Beetle; but also characters built around one weapon, such as Captain Cold.

* Mastermind: The character has vast wealth or other resources. Even if such characters have no super-powers per se, they have lots of followers, bases and hired minions to do what they want. Justin Hammer and post-Crisis Lex Luthor are “pure” masterminds (or was the last time I checked). The Kingpin and Ras Al-Ghul are masterminds, but also martial artists; Fu Manchu is a astermind and an inventor; Dormammu is a mastermind, supernatural being and a sorcerer.

 

* Other: Any origin that’s sufficiently rare and peculiar I don’t think it merits a category of its own.

 

Then I have two “meta-origin” types.

 

* Alien: In may campaign, nobody has super-powers just for being an alien: If powers are genetically innate (like the Martian Manhunter or many members of the Legion of Super-Heroes), they are mutants. If their species has super-advanced psionic training, they are sorcerers. Hawkman (Thanagarian) is a martial artist with weapons. In some campaigns, “Alien” might count as a fourth class of intrinsic powers.

* Time Traveler: My current setting includes enough time travelers that this merits a special notation. Again, though, nobody has powers just because they come from another time. Kang the Conqueror is a time traveler, mastermind and inventor.

 

And finally:

 

* Complex: I use this if a character fits into three or more categories apart from Mastermind, Alien or time Traveler.

 

Then I have columns (it's all done on a columnar pad) for Brick, Energy Projector, Martial Artist, Mentalist, Other, and Complex. (I don't think Metamorph, Speedster, and some others are distinctive or are going to be numerous enough to warrant entries of their own. A metamorph who hits really hard, such as Gargantua, is just a brick with flavor, or a speedster who basically punches people is just a kind of martial artist.)

 

I don’t bother charting out motivations such as Thief or Violent. I track point totals, though.

 

Dean Shomshak

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