Villain Team Help - The Graveyard Shift

[winterhawk]

Got myself into a jam the other night. While introducing my players to my new villain team, the Graveyard Shift, I annouced they had 10 members and then realized I didn't have 10 members made up. They are a death themed team of hitters, except I'm trying to be more subtle than having Deathdealer, Death's Head, Deathguy, etc. Here's who I have so far:

 

Dirge - Sonic Gadgeteer

Bonechiller - Ice/Cold Projector

Gravedigger - Vibration Projector

Pyre - Fire Guy

Baron Samedi - Voodoo Necromancer

 

Any suggestions for membership? Thanks in advance!

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Watery Grave (Water Guy)

Worm (Tunneling, Regeneration, and... shapeshift to dragon? Brickly?)

Carnation (An Immortal MA or Mystic)

Lily (Plant based, with a 'Sicken and Die' power and Walk on Water?)

Mourners (Duplicator)

Rapid Decay (Speedster power by entropy; has a Damage Shield and Side Effect: Destroys Enviroment)

Entomb (Earth Controller, specializing in Entangles)

Headstone (Steals skills through kills; MA)

[Crimson Arrow]

Do you recall the Marvel team like this? More importantly, do your players?

 

I made my own version, but it was more a general horror theme, than specifically death-related.

 

Off the top of my head:

 

Tombstone: A brick/demi-brick made of stone. (I liked Headstone, though). Maybe he carries around a tombstone instead and uses it as a bludgeoning weapon.

 

Epitaph: Has a VPP giving him any power he can describe in a two-line verse.

 

Obituary: A man who can kill you by reciting how you died. When he finishes, you're dead (although for superheroes, they might not die at the first attempt). Basically an Indirect RKA (NND, probably), but with Incantations and a Delayed Effect.

 

Death Knell (or possibly Death Nell, if you want another female): Carries a funeral bell, which creates a sonic wave when struck.

 

Danse Macabre: (Yes, I know Marvel have a similarly named character). She can raise an army of skeletons, if there are enough corpses around.

 

The Undertaker (nothing to do with WWE): A bit like the Headless Horseman character. He drives an old-fashioned hearse, with Nightmares (as in D&D ones) pulling it. In the back is a coffin, bearing the player's name...

 

The Embalmer: One spray from his potions and your skin stiffens and tightens, until you can't move. It wears off eventually, but that's assuming another member of the team hasn't finished you first.

 

Pallbearer: He has been cursed to drag round a coffin for all eternity. What's in it? Ah, that depends (er, on you, quite frankly). Maybe a lich, maybe a gateway to Hell, maybe an ancient artefact of great power and evil. Maybe it varies with the phase of the moon.

 

Sardonicus: A funny guy. Dead funny. You'll laugh and laugh and laugh until your sides split, or you pull muscles in your face. It's also difficult to fight properly when you are laughing at gallows humour. I see this last attack as a Transformation, by the way, lowering your effectiveness, just as a rash might do.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more.

 

May I make a suggestion about Gravedigger? How about an earth elementalist? He can open up the earth and bury the characters, or create a wave of rolling grave dirt, etc.

 

Shouldn't the Graveyard Shift have thriteen members? Just another thought. Maybe the last three can show up unexpectedly.

[Law Dog]

Alternately, you could make Pallbearer a Dupicator who can make 6 of himself.

[Lord Liaden]

So many good ones already! What comes to my mind right now:

 

Rigour. Able to paralyze his opponents (touch or gaze). Could justify various Resistant Defenses based on being "rigid."

 

Crossbones. Master of the martial art of escrima (stick fighting).

[freakboy6117]

Rigorous Mortis : zombie speedster

Reaper : scythe wielding martial artist

6 feet under : 1"teleport usable as an attack only down wards. (Possibly linked with entangle/tunneling/transormnot sure which to create an oubliette)

[levi]

With ten (or I like Crimson Arrow's idea of 13) members the most important thing is that they cannot be too powerful individually. At least they all can't be. In this case it is perfectly ok for each member to have a single power at higher than normal active points, this will force your players to work together to overcome the foes outnumbering them.

 

Great ideas all around, here are my contributions...

Murder - Crow themed

Blood Poison - NND Does Body

Slasher - Regenerating Knife wielder

Channeller - DCV Levels usable by others Linked to Clairvoyance or Telepathy with spirits

Blood Moon - Light / Darkness manipulator

Carrion - makes living things rot

Urn - Much like Crimson Arrow's Pallbearer idea

 

Cool premise for a team, I may steal it...lol

[Doug McCrae]

Davy Jones - Water powers

Rot - Super-decay ability

Wreath - Plant powers

Scythe - Kinda like Green Arrow but with a special scythe instead of special arrows

Deathshead Moth - Flyer

Cremation - Flame powers

Spook - Intangibility

Yama - Indian death god

[Pegasus]

How about...

 

Deathtongue!

 

I don't think it's necessary to post an archetype

[Badger]

Just curious as I've heard him mentioned in several threads but Who is Baron Samedi?

[winterhawk]

Originally posted by Badger

Just curious as I've heard him mentioned in several threads but Who is Baron Samedi?

 

Courtesy of the wonderful http://www.Pantheon.org :

 

Baron Samedi is one of the Guédés, related to and intertwined with Baron Cemetière and Baron La Croix. He is a Guédé of the Americas, bridging the Guédés and Legba. Both are guardians of the crossroads, the place where spirits cross over into our world. If the intercessions desired are with the loa, then Legba is saluted and asked to allow the loa to participate. If the intercessions are with the dead, then Guédé (Ghede) is the intercessor.

 

Baron Samedi is usually seen wearing top hat, black coat tails, sunglasses, and smoking a cigar.

 

As per genre standard, death gods are often portrayed is villains (This also often occurs with the Egyptian Anubis). I took the idea from Steve Kenson's excellent Freedom City suppliment for another game publisher.

[SomeAsianKid]

Revenant- a child who died out of pain and returned as a ghost. Has possession based powers and ego attacks, plus desolid.

 

Plague- a mutant with the ability to spread diseases (NND attacks).

 

Takophanes, the Undying Lich Lord- has the power to make your pc's run screaming away crying for their momies.

 

Tupac- The undead rapper who came back again to boost his sales.

[Southern Cross]

Wouldn't it be thematically appropriate to have a vampire as part of the Graveyard Shift?

[Crusader108]

Boothill-an undead Revanant Gunfighter

Dreamstalker-a Freddy Krueger-esque dream based slayer

The Hunger-a ghostly desolid body drainer

Succubus-A female shapeshifter with Body Drain

[DaBadGuy]

I made a group like this for a Gen Con adventure I never ran. It was a follow-up to a Gen Con adventure I did run, so some of the stuff only really makes sense in that context. But any way.

 

The leader was Vampyre, who wasn't really a vampire but just needed a name that started with "V" and a theme that wouldn't be recognized and attributed to him (one of those context things). He really hammed up the Hollywood Dracula act, including the white face makeup and widow's peak hairstyle. His powers were similar to Black Shadow from the Wild Cards series (heat and light absorption to all physical characteristics, darkness linked to the absorption, cold-based EB and RKA, etc.).

 

There was Requiem, who was a sonic EBer. Probably very similar to your Dirge.

 

There was Captain Patriot's Radioactive Zombie (another context thing). Captain Patriot was the mentor of one of the PCs, and he was killed in the previous Gen Con adventure. Vampyre was attempting to use a stolen govt. weapon prototype to raise the dead as his servants (a bunch of minor villains also got killed in the previous adventure) and he wanted to try it out on someone he wouldn't mind losing if it didn't work. So really, any NPC that was killed in your game (that would also be good for shock value) could be used.

 

There was Gargoyle, who was, basically, a psychic energy construct that resembled a typical gargoyle. "It" had Flight, Desolidification, and an HA/HKA that was defended by Mental Defense instead of PD.

 

There was Graveyard, who was a powerful telekinetic limited to items you could find in a cemetary. I think he had a Flash vs. Sight (dirt), an HA (tombstones), and an RKA (bones). He might have had a Force Wall as well, to simulate him throwing various things in front of attacks, like tombstones of coffin lids (or bodies, I suppose). He also carried a shovel, but he couldn't fight HTH worth a damn. I just like giving the players something to think about for a few minutes.

 

There was Revenant, who was also pretending to be an undead ghost-like being so that he could get close enough to Vampyre to find out if he was the one Revenant was looking for. He was based on the D&D monster, loosely. He had some "patrial desolid" abilities, such as high DCV and Damage Reduction (maybe you hit something that was partially in phase, or maybe your attack went right through him) and an NND HKA choke hold.

 

And lastly, there as 13. She was the black cat familiar of a super-witch from the first adventure. Her powers were more plot device than anything else. She absorbed "good luck" from the PCs, which would manifest itself in a bonus to DVC (1 or 2 points) and a decrease in damage taken(+3 PD and ED, non-resistant) by the villains. After a few phases of this, she would transform into a panther-like monster. But the "luck eating" would continue until, eventually, she transformed into a human witch, Jinx. Jinx had all sorts of magic powers.

 

There were several others that I toyed around with before settling on this lineup. A sorcerror-brick mummy, a reconstituting skeleton creature (you basically had to remove him from the cemetary to stop him), and a "blood elemental" which I wrote up shortly after seeing Blade 2 and then decided it was too much like Blade 2.

[freakboy6117]

Kiss of death AKA Femme Fatale. Black clad temptress(like a widow or morticia addams) emotional control (either via pheromones or hypnotic gaze) to induce lust and the ability to produce various effects with her kiss death paralysis slavish devotion

[KA.]

Just wondering,

are you going for something "scary",

or just villains with a "death" motif?

 

If you want scary, I have some ideas for you, but they would work better if your players didn't know about them.

 

If your players don't read this board, let me know and I will post them.

 

If they do, just email me, or send a Private Message, and I will send you what I thought up.

 

KA

[winterhawk]

Lotsa good ideas, thanks!

 

I like the idea of 13 members, same number as one of my favorite villain teams: "Gathered together from the distant corners of the universe are 13 of the most dangerous villains...The Legion of Doom!"

 

Boothill is in...nice imagery there. Epitaph is in...I'm really digging that idea. I'm going to go with just Fatale...the femme part being implied. That makes 8...keep 'em coming.

 

Oh and KA, I'm open to any suggestions and my players don't read the boards, so post away.

[KA.]

Okay Winterhawk, here goes!

 

It sound like you are going for more of a "death motif" than, "scary".

 

For some reason, One Death Guy is scary.

A whole bunch of Death Guys seems to lose the effect.

It is all about contrast. That is why Army of Darkness, while a great movie that I love, is nowhere near as scary as Evil Dead.

A whole army of demons just lacks the punch of a single one.

 

Anyway, my suggestions are for the "scary option" but they do not interfere in any way with the non-scary option.

 

To me the idea of the Graveyard Shift conjures up more of a cultish group.

 

All the people who work late at night.

Security Guards, Night Duty Nurses, Cops on the Late Shift.

Lonely, separated from normal society, few friends, little family.

If some Evil Force was trying to get a foothold, it would be fertile ground.

Imagine some Big Bad. A Demon, Necromancer, whatever.

He wants to assemble an army to perform a massive human sacrifice that will bring him ultimate power.

So he starts where he is comfortable.

The Night.

He starts sending a core of emissaries around the city.

Maybe in the form of an all-night delivery service.

They don't do anything obvious.

They just talk to people.

Stirring up their resentment.

Their jealousy of the "Daytimers".

 

Heroes spend a lot of their time going around at night.

They start noticing little changes.

Weird Graffiti on the walls. "Darkness is coming."

People they interact with are less friendly, more moody.

The whole atmosphere changes at sundown.

 

Weird, petty crimes start to occur.

Someone keeps breaking out streetlights, rendering more areas totally dark.

Animals start to disappear at an alarming rate.

Ordinary people (who just happen to work nights, if anyone checks) start to harass and attack their "daytimer" neighbors for no reason.

People start wearing strange clothing, strange jewelry.

 

All of this can be woven into the background of your campaign, until the heroes start jumping at the slightest sound.

 

Then lower the boom on them.

An army of normals that aren't evil, just misguided.

A very powerful Demon, with an army of loyal followers that are basically innocent.

A thousand points of Dark.

Angry little people, doing nasty little things, that add up to total chaos.

A night watchman lets a gang of stupid kids into the Chemical Warehouse to find some things to play with.

A night nurse starts sending patients out the door with a bottle of powerful hallucinogens to "take when they get home".

Cab drivers start playing "Death Race" for real, killing pedestrians and keeping score, and making it look like a series of accidents.

 

Then the really nasty stuff starts.

 

And the original Graveyard Shift you are building now?

Run it the way you normally would.

Let the heroes fight them, and eventually beat them.

But once they are beaten, have something weird happen.

Have them die! During their trial! On live TV!

Just drop dead, out of nowhere.

After some time, they will eventually have to be buried.

And the heroes will have to start doing something else.

After a while, begin the type of things I have outlined above.

 

So what was the first group?

Sort of a "publicity stunt" for the real Evil Power.

Something to shake people up, and get them edgy, before the real Graveyard Shift begins their work.

 

And later, when the heroes are at their wit's end, and it is time for a showdown, they can always come back . . .

from the grave.

 

KA.

[winterhawk]

KA, that is an awesome idea...one that I would use in a second if my players would appreciate it. Unfortunately, they are a bunch of "There are some costumed guys...lets go hit them." types. I will ask if your ever planning on running an online game of some type, to please drop me a line, 'cause I'd roll with you anytime.

[KA.]

Originally posted by winterhawk

KA, that is an awesome idea...one that I would use in a second if my players would appreciate it. Unfortunately, they are a bunch of "There are some costumed guys...lets go hit them." types. I will ask if your ever planning on running an online game of some type, to please drop me a line, 'cause I'd roll with you anytime.

 

Thanks for the compliment Winterhawk.

One of the things that keeps me from playing as much as I would like is the lack of space where I live right now.

If I ever do run an online game, I will be sure to let you know.

 

KA.

[Crimson Arrow]

Wow, tough audience this time Winterhawk! There have been about thirty suggestions and you've taken three!

 

I am getting the idea that you don't want too many supernatural characters; you'd rather have "ordinary" villains, but ones who choose a slightly morbid name/costume. Is that right? You also seem to want to avoid anything too cartoonish.

 

How about:

 

Krypt: A mute assassin. You might not hear him coming, but by the time you see him, it might be too late. I'm thinking of a martial artist, using poisons, knives and nooses as his primary weapons. Alternatively, maybe a member of the Thugee cult, who worships Kali, Hindu goddess of death?

 

Shroud: I know there's a marvel hero/pretend villain who has this name, but I think a darkness-using villain would suit the team. Perhaps he summons dense fogs, rather than just fields of blackness. This can range from a simple, wide-effect Change Environment (covering an entire graveyard in low-lying mist), through a dense fog up to almost pitch-black regions of unnatural darkness.

 

Moonlight: An energy projector who uses pale light beams for a variety of effects. Her particular schtick is that one of her attacks has strange effects on her victims' minds, turning them into lunatics for a while.

 

The Phantom: A villain with powers mimicking those of a ghost. In particular he can turn desolid. He dresses in old-fashioned clothing to emphasise this and can produce various telekinetic effects, such as throwing things around, wrapping capes over heroes' eyes, creating unnatural breezes or making strange noises from nowhere. Alternatively, he uses Mental Illusions to produce all these effects. If you want to use him more than once, I'd go for the former, or else once the good guys figure it out, he won't be much fun again.

[Crimson Arrow]

I have had a very "interesting" evening so far. To calm down, here are some characters I though of on the way home.

 

IVAM: According to popular legend (perhaps it's true), the body is at its lowest ebb at 4 in the morning. This fellow has a pair of magical/technological gauntlets (or maybe an innate power) that allows him to drain the lifeforce out of anyone (BODY and STUN Drains, of course, with the recovery time slowed). I've also heard it's 2 am mind you... Oh, the name is the Roman numeral 4 added to "am".

 

Grimm: A huge behemoth of a man. Probably a mutant, but possibly a mutate, he has a negligible intellect. He loves hearing fairy stories and nursery rhymes and gets his name from the famous story-telling brothers, whose tales he loves. Generally, Grimm is just pointed at the heroes and off he goes. He can be calmed from his rage if you promise to tell him a story. Better keep that promise. He's not bright, but he remembers if someone lies to him. As an afterthought, perhaps Grimm is really only a small child, but has mutated early. Imagine if the heroes find out they have been beating on a six year old (even if it's a huge six year old).

 

Ebony: Not really much to look at, Ebony is a small, but well-carved doll. She is made from black wood and is in the shape of a child. Grimm often carries the doll around.

 

Except it's not a doll of course, but a wooden golem. Her fingers are hardened like steel and she has a strength belied by her size, perfect for throttling innocents. She can move silently and hide in any shadow. Ebony is quick and almost impossible to catch. She will flee and hide when confronted, only to strike again when you least expect it. Think evil Pinocchio and you'll have it! Perhaps Ebony is the real brains behind the Graveyard Shift - a devil trapped inside a doll by a demonologist centuries ago.

 

Hey, was that a noise...?

[winterhawk]

Originally posted by Crimson Arrow

Wow, tough audience this time Winterhawk! There have been about thirty suggestions and you've taken three!

 

I am getting the idea that you don't want too many supernatural characters; you'd rather have "ordinary" villains, but ones who choose a slightly morbid name/costume. Is that right? You also seem to want to avoid anything too cartoonish.

 

 

The idea (which I should have stated more clearly at the onset), is that these guys who use the death theme more as an intimidation factor. I am trying to avoid supernatural characters (with the exception of Baron Samedi), and thinking along the lines of a bunch of mid-level villains who use their reputation and tactics to great effect. Your mention of Shroud reminded me a villain a friend of mine made for the first incarnation of this team back in the Stone Age. May have to give him a call and see if he remembers her stats.

[Crimson Arrow]

Sudden Death: Dressed in a costume based on an ice hockey outfit, he uses powered roller blades, or even hover skates to move around. He carries a reinforced steel hockey stick, which also has a razor sharp edge. He uses the stick to hit or cut people and also to propel pucks which have a number of effects (spiked, blunt damage, explosive, incendiary, etc.) The costume might even be a type of power armour and the face mask is painted like a skull. Yes, a bit silly, but I liked him and someone else might want to use the idea.

 

Mangler: A power armour villain. He wears a suit reminiscent of plate mail, but covered in a number of spiked wheels that can be set in motion. He can slice or grind through walls (Tunnelling) or people (HKA). He is loosely inspired by the Gladiator, the old Daredevil villain.

 

Swift Wings: A flying speedster (“Swift Wings†is a reference to death coming on swift wings). His (or her) costume is patterned on an angel of death. Scythe optional (nasty for Move Bys, though).

 

Carrion: A crow totem. You could go a number of ways with this. He could be a metamorph who turns into a crow or a man-crow, a power armour character, or maybe even simply a flier of some description who happens to wear a bird-like costume.

 

The Ghoul: A metamorph who can turn himself into a dog-like humanoid with medium super strength, agility and fast running, plus a nasty bite and maybe a bit of Tunnelling. I had in mind something like H. P. Lovecraft’s version of a ghoul. In “Superworldâ€, there was a Cthulhu-inspired superhero scenario featuring comic-book versions of Lovecraftion horrors and one of the characters was “Super Ghoulâ€. It’s possible this could be the same character as Carrion, just using a different Multiform.

 

If he has another couple of forms, this could account for the discrepancy between there being ten or thirteen members. Appropriate ones might be a giant worm or maggot (“Conqueror Worm†perhaps), with a soft body (Desolidification) and Damage Reduction and some kind of acid attack and maybe an aquatic form (“Devil Fishâ€, possibly?). I saw WhammeWhamme suggested a worm earlier, so perhaps that won’t suit you.