Plot help!

[Truthsayer]

Ok, in my campaign there's this skull that can expose people to magical energies and transform them into some type of magical user or person with mystic based powers. My question is this: Can you give me suggestions on the types of various characters that could be created? I'm stumped for coming up with a variety of magic based villains. I would really appreciate all of your input. I'll be printing out your answers to create them later. I'll let you know. Thanks.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Plot help!

 

Well, for starters necromancers sound approrpriate. Maybe even undead ones if the skull gets too close to a body or set of bones....

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Plot help!

 

Well, what type of campaign is this for? It sounds like either supers, fantasy, or horror (period or contemporary). What type of stories do you plan to run? Four-color supers, dark fantasy, pulp horror?

 

Really, "magic" can just be the SFX for virtually any type of ability. What's more important is the genre and style of game that you want to play.

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

This is a superhero campaign. Evil organization (Hydra from Marvel) finds out about the skull and steal it. The head scientist is a mutant who is always looking for for ways to mutate Hydra soldiers to create super soldiers. They use the skull and expose several soldiers to the skull's energy, setting up for a later magical transformation. What I'm having trouble with is the actual types of characters to create. You've got your typical Energy wielder, brick, etc. I guess what I'm really looking for is concepts of characters. What would be an original concept for a magical transformation. And each need to be a 350 character that I can use against my new heroes.

[Siren]

Re: Plot help!

 

Mage, Wizard, Necromancer, Lich, Sourcer, Apprentice, Adept, Master, Warlock, conjuror. Prestidigitator.

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

Help me out. I've never played D&D so I don't know the differences between mage, sorceror, wizard, warlock, conjurer, and prestidijitator.

[The Monster]

Re: Plot help!

 

One easy source for ideas is a "monster manual" from a certain popular medieval fantasy system. Dragons, demons, various semi-humanoid critters can be a nice source of inspiration. A huge ancient red dragon as a master supervillain? Why not? Mind flayers, things-that-they-can't-call-balrogs, shapchangers, etc. can all be springboards for bad guys. The lesser critters can be good fodder for what the less successful transformations turn into ("Oh, well, I guess the canine corps can always use another Hell Hound...Next!")

Just off the top of my head, good supervillains from this source include:

-- Mind Flayer: psionic powers (and total Distinctive Features!)

-- Beholder: Energy projector with massice multiple multipower (and even more total Distinctive Features!)

-- Ancient Dragon: flying brick/energy projector - and since they use sorcery, pretty much anything goes

-- Major Demon: brick with special powers, depending on variety; maybe include Summoning lesser demons

-- Spectre: pumped up a bit, the Desolid and Drains could pose a threat to many supers; might also use a bit of sorcery to justify a handy power framework

-- Lich: even more tough than ordinary undead, plus a master wizard! VPP and the sky's the limit

 

Minions can be anything from goblins to ogres to skeletons to hell hounds to displacer beasts...

 

Our group is toying with a one-shot supervillain game (inspired by Necessary Evil); my character is an archaeologist who stumbled upon an ancient Mesopotamian temple dedicated to the Void. It transformed him into a wielder of darkness and fear so that now he's basically a demigod. (Fun power: Drain PRE AoE, then follow up with a PRE Attack using his 45 PRE.)

 

How's that for starters?

[Siren]

Re: Plot help!

 

None of those are from D&D they are from literature.

D&D Just messes things up. Giggle.

 

 

For example Lich:

 

The term lich comes from the Slavic licho, which means "evil"; an alternative spelling is "liche". The word is cognate with modern German Leiche, meaning "corpse".

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

What does a mind flayer look like? A beholder (with what powers?)? Spectre is what exactly? Excuse my ignorance.

[Lucius]

Re: Plot help!

 

Ok' date=' in my campaign there's this skull that can expose people to magical energies and transform them into some type of magical user or person with mystic based powers. My question is this: Can you give me suggestions on the types of various characters that could be created? I'm stumped for coming up with a variety of magic based villains. I would really appreciate all of your input. I'll be printing out your answers to create them later. I'll let you know. Thanks.[/quote']

 

Whose skull?

 

Where did it come from? Whence does it derive its power? Why does it have this effect on people? And what people? What happens if the HEROES are exposed to it? How quickly does it take effect? Is the skull itself sentient, or is it just a relic? If the former, what does IT want, what are its plans? Are the transformations permanent, or temporary?

 

Why did you choose a skull as opposed to, say, a jewel or wand or orb or goblet or tome?

 

Can you describe the heroic characters that these villains will be facing?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Or palindromedary

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

I haven't gotten the book yet, but the skull was made by a magician in the age of Turak. I plan on buying the book so I can flesh it out more. The skull is a device. It isn't sentient. It is activated by solar energy (the transformation process occurs on the summer solstice) and by a certain type of magic (I haven't worked out which or what kind). But the heroes will eventually be pulled into a small pocket dimension where the magician stored rare artifacts of power and a history of what happened during the Turakian age. Sort of setting the stage for when the heroes actually get transported there. I was also thinking of having the skull be powerful enough that Dark Seraph wants to get his hands on it. So they will have to fight him as well.

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

The heroes are an unknown because they are 2 people I just met and I will be introducing them to the Hero system.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Plot help!

 

Mage' date=' Wizard, Necromancer, Lich, Sourcer, Apprentice, Adept, Master, Warlock, conjuror. Prestidigitator.[/quote']

No comment.

[The Monster]

Re: Plot help!

 

What does a mind flayer look like? A beholder (with what powers?)? Spectre is what exactly? Excuse my ignorance.

 

My apologies - I hadn't seen your message that you'd never played D&D.

 

A Mind Flayer looks basically human, but has a four-limbed octopus for a head, and its fingers are kind of like tentacles. They do eat brains, which they do by grabbing the victim's head with their facial tentacles. They're fairly powerful monsters in D&D, with psionic abilities of various kinds, and IIRC some regular spell-casting as well. They live deep underground and have a whole evil society plotting against each other and the surface world.

 

A beholder is a really weird beast - basically, it's a large (maybe 4-5 feet across?) ball with a single round eye, a big toothy mouth, and a bunch of eyestalks with little eyes on the end. Each eye can shoot a different magical ray (various zap attacks, mostly), while the main eye can shoot an anti-magic ray which shuts down all magical effects in its path. The critter is actually quite intelligent, and is intended to act as a mastermind type, manipulating lesser beings as slaves and minions. (If you've seen "Big Trouble in Little China," it looks kind of like the floating eye-thing they meet in the tunnels.)

 

Spectre is an undead, much like Tolkein's Nazgul. It has no corporeal form, and it's primary attack is an energy drain (it escapes me whether it drains levels in D&D or just stats). It can only be damaged by magic and magic weapons. Normally, a D&D spectre doesn't use spells, but to be a threat to supers, it would have to have some extra punch, either more powerful drain attacks, or spells that damage. The idea of something that's always Desolid and can fly just strikes me as an amusing exercise for most super groups.

[The Monster]

Re: Plot help!

 

Oh, and a lich in D&D is an extremely powerful magician (or evil high priest) who has tranformed himself into an undead creature, like a skeleton with magical powers. It keeps all the magical knowledge and power it had in life, gains the resistance to normal weapons that powerful undead have, and its very touch spreads disease.

 

Just so you know.

[Basil]

Re: Plot help!

 

Truthsayer, forget all this talk about [|A]D&D. The game system stinks on ice, and anyway you're doing superhero mysticism, so fantasy magic is not appropriate, IMO.

 

Get The Ultimate Mystic if you're planning on doing much with comicbook magic. If not, I'd suggest handwaving the mystic stuff.

 

Actually, that's probably better; it sounds to me like you're not planning on having any of the skull's targets be mystics/magic-users. If that is correct, then I'd say just make up characters that are whatever you want, and slap "mystically-derived" on the powers as a Special Effect.

 

Seriously, it sounds to me like you might be over-complicating things. Remember, KISS.

 

 

For example Lich:

 

The term lich comes from the Slavic licho,

Nope, sorry. It comes from Anglo-Saxon lïc, meaning "body" {using a ï as there's no i-with-a-macron}. No Slavic at all.

 

The word is cognate with modern German Leiche' date=' meaning "corpse".[/quote']

This is correct.

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

I like the mind flayer, beholder, and spectre. Basil, what I'm looking for is concept over powers. I mean, there's only so many ways to make an Energy blasting baddie before it gets old. I'm looking for some really different ideas that I can create villains from instead of the tired old magician with a vpp.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Plot help!

 

All right, I think I have a better handle on this now. It sounds like what you're looking for is concepts for superbeings that would fit within the conventions of a fantasy world with powerful magic, which is what the Turakian Age is. Do I have that right?

 

If that's the case, let's explore a few of the classics, and let me suggest a few appropriate abilities for them.

 

Elementals: Beings composed primarily of the four classical elemental substances.

 

Earth - superhuman Strength, high Resistant Defenses, ability to move through the earth at will (Tunneling or Limited Desolid), ability to generate localised earthquakes (Telekinesis or Energy Blast, Only vs. Targets On the Ground). Usually Vulnerable/Susceptible to water.

 

Fire - hurl blasts of flame (Energy Blast or Ranged Killing Attack), generate flares of bright light (Flash), body of fire that burns anyone touching them (Damage Shield). Usually Vulnerable/Susceptible to water.

 

Air - Flight, ability to generate wind (TK or EB), rain or fog (Darkness), maybe lighting (RKA or Flash), ability to become intangible vapor (Desolid), possibly Invisible.

 

Water - rapid Swimming, breathe freely in water (Life Support), hurl blasts of water (EB), ability to drown an opponent (NND: Life Support). Usually Vulnerable/Susceptible to fire.

 

Undead: beings who have perished but been reanimated, or have extended their lives beyond their natural span through magic.

 

Vampire: normally depicted as exceptionally strong, with fangs and sometimes claws (Hand-To-Hand Killing Attack), may transform into animal forms (probably Multiform), may have hypnotic power (Mind Control) or be able to turn to mist (Desolid). May have th power to Transform a victim into a vampire under its control. Usually has various Vulnerabilities/Susceptibilities, e.g. sunlight, garlic, running water.

 

Ghost: Normally intangible (Desolid, perhaps Always On), often can become Invisible. Probably high offensive Presence due to their frightening appearance. Powerful ones can affect the physical world (Telekinesis, perhaps with Affects Physical World Advantage), may create frightening visions (Images or Mental Illusions).

 

Lycanthropes: Beings who can assume an animal or animal-humanoid form (through Multiform or abilities bought OIHID). Wolves are most famous, but bears, big cats and others are possible. Commonly have exceptional Strength and maybe Speed and Dexterity, animalistic Enhanced Senses, probably exceptional Movement (Running, Leaping). May have Resistant Defenses, and often Regeneration. Usually Vulnerable/Susceptible to things like silver weapons or wolfsbane.

 

Dragons: the classic fantasy creature. May be a full giant dragon (with appropriate Size abilities and Disadvantages, and great STR), or a draconic humanoid. Scales (Armor), fangs and claws (HKA), wings (Flight), maybe a usable tail (Extra Limb). Often can breathe something noxious - fire is most common (EB or RKA), but others are possible.

 

Demons: almost any form is possible from the source materials, but let's start with traditional Christian depictions. Horns, maybe fangs and claws (HKA), sometimes wings (Flight), may be able to command "hellfire" (any of the previous suggestions for fire powers). Often able to assume deceptive and pleasing forms (Shape Shift). May be geared to battle (superhuman STR and Defenses), or to deceiving and corrupting humans (high PRE and Interaction Skills like Persuasion and Seduction).

 

There's a great deal more that we could discuss, but I'm going to leave it at that until you say whether this is the sort of thing you're looking for.

[Truthsayer]

Re: Plot help!

 

This is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks! Keep it coming!

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Plot help!

 

You can use just about any character archtype and just give it a mystical flavor for starters...

 

Using the ulitmate books for insirations:

 

Martial Artist - The agent all of a sudden has the skills and knowledge of past masters of a martial arts style - The spirits speak to him, which gives him knowledge skills, he is mystically transformed into having the Dex, Speed and whatnot for the physical skills. Now with that bit of color you can add things - Dangersence (the spirits warn him), Clarisentience (spirits go look and come back and tell him) perhaps even some defence - the spirits semi solidify with him - and if he talking to, and having spirits around him, he could get a nifty distinctive feature.

 

Brick - Ability to transform into an Earth elemental or small dragon, having the mystic strengh of animals, or having th e Strength of Gods or Demons. Juggernaut is just a brick who was exposed to a mystic artifact.

 

Metamorph - can change into a Demon, or like the brick above, have the ability of animals, but in the metamorph's cas he can actually change into the forms of said animals. Perhaps he can shift into living mystical energy - desolid energy projector or desolid with a really strong spell multipower.. which leads into

 

Mystic - the person gains the knowlege and ability to cast really tough spells. Or becomes a wild talent and doens't know that it is magic, just that it began to happen after the skull incident.

 

Speedster - The character assumes the abilities of Hermes and can move at incredible speed, or gains the ability to shift through space and dimensions and becomes a teleporter / Extra Dimensional movement based.

 

 

Really all you need is to look for mystic flavor for any archtype, and add in a couple of odd mystic flavor things to the build, and away you go for a mystic kind of character. Hope that helps.

[The Monster]

Re: Plot help!

 

As another example of supers magic, one of the supers in my Champions campaign based his powers on Voudon (Voodoo) concepts. His primary power is a wide array (actually a VPP) of Drains and Aids, representing the powers of various spirits which he calls on. He rarely if ever does any actual damage, but functinos as an excellent support character, and the right Drain at the right time can shut down a bad guy as fast as any punch: just 3 or 4 dice of INT Drain and suddenly Superthug is a drooling idiot who can't remember what he's doing from phase to phase.

The really fun part (as a GM) is that his powers have a Side Effect: there is a risk that the invoked spirit will take over and make him use that same power over and over again - basically an odd form of Berserk.

[Lucius]

Re: Plot help!

 

Okay….

 

You’re using Hydra from Marvel, but also assuming a prehistory that includes Champions Universe’s Turakian age.

 

It sounds like you’ll have only 2 superheroes. So your villains have to be balanced against that – a challenge but not overwhelming to 2 characters of presumably 350 pts.

Also, we have to keep in mind that the players are beginners. Since the villains will presumably be backed up by Hydra agents, I suggest only, at most, 2 or 3 villains at or near the same power level as the characters.

 

You have some ideas about the skull already. Its age, its provenance, that it’s an artifact and not relic (constructed object, not something that was once a real person’s brain case) and that it has a solar connection.

 

I believe connecting it to the Solstice fits that academic year at Yale. (I may explain later why that might matter.)

 

Maybe it has just so much power to give on a given solstice; that explains why perhaps 2 to 3 Hydra members were imbued with power, and not a whole army.

 

So: What kind of powers/concepts are closely related, magically, to the Sun?

 

Among the more obvious:

 

Light: Not just Flash attacks and Energy Blasts, either. Definitely Telescopic Vision (Sun Gods traditionally see all that transpires while they are in the sky.) Dispels vs. Darkness and Images (if the players have any.) Possibly even Telepathy, to see with penetrating mental clarity into the minds of others.

 

Heat: A lot of the same powers suggested for Fire.

 

Growth: Possibly making plants spring up and Entangle the characters. Also, possibly having Growth, Usable By Others, to make the Hydra agents even more threatening. And, naturally enough, Growth, usable on self!

 

Less obvious:

 

Leadership: The Sun has always been a symbol of Kingship. One or more of the Empowered may have an overwhelming PREsence, newfound skills of Oratory or Persuasion, or other Kingly abilities.

 

Healing: There is a reason Apollo was associated with the healing arts. For that matter, there is a mythological connection of kingship to healing – it’s not just something Tollkein invented.

 

Music and Poetry: In some cultures at least, solar deities are associated with these activities.

 

Strength, Courage, and Heroism: Heroes like Hercules and Samson are often associated with solar imagery. A solar-powered brick is not too farfetched in mythological terms.

 

Death and the Dead: At night, the Sun passes into the underworld, often conceived as the land of the dead. If you have just two villains, you may pair them off as the dual aspects of the Sun – the Sun by Day, and the Sun by Night, who would have powers of Invisibility (you can’t see the Sun at night, can you?) Darkness, perhaps command over spirits of the dead…

 

Resurrection: Every dawn, the Sun rises again. In game terms, the solar powered villain may have Regeneration and a high RECovery.

 

In fact, if you use a paired paradigm, perhaps knocking one out simply causes both to change roles: the Sun by Night inherits the powers of the Sun by Day, and vice versa. Only by knocking both out in the same phase can they be defeated for good. At which point, your two heroes (temporarily!) inherit both powersets!

 

This is when the interdimensional portal opens; it will only open for those who have proven themselves heroes by overcoming the Empowered Ones. Make sure, by the way, that one of the artifacts squirreled away is a Lens of Translation or something similar! Otherwise, all these Turakian tomes will be meaningless to the heroes. This is where they learn of the Skull, and the prophecy that they themselves must prevent its acquisition by “A great evil.†– the Dark Seraph. I’m not familiar with the Seraph’s write up, but if he is all that powerful, the characters may NEED the extra power of being the Sun by Day and the Sun by Night to defeat him – but after that epic battle, their “extra†powers will soon fade, leaving them with only whatever they bought to begin the game with.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary remarks “Lucius, you have to start running a game again soon.â€

[Siren]

Re: Plot help!

 

Where do you think D&D stole all those names? They took them from ligature. My ex-bf drove me CrAzY that he knew so little about a game he spent half of his time playing. LOL

D&D messed up most of the stories of those characters too. It is a shame because most of the stories and myths are very interesting to read about.

[Siren]

Re: Plot help!

 

Also there is a manual for many of the monster and creatures all ready written for Hero Games. I strongly suggest you buy it, as it has many of these creatures already made for you, as well as full discriptions.

 

 

Guyz is that still in print?

[prestidigitator]

Re: Plot help!

 

Also there is a manual for many of the monster and creatures all ready written for Hero Games. I strongly suggest you buy it, as it has many of these creatures already made for you, as well as full discriptions.

 

 

Guyz is that still in print?

The Fantasy Hero Bestiary, you mean? It's still in print as far as I know, but a few clicks in the Online Store could probably clear that up in a blink. Too bad I'm so darn lazy....