Build Me A Villain Team

[GestaltBennie]

Earlier tonight, at Steve's chat, we were discussing how the Hero univerrse doesn't really have a world-beater villain squad. Eurostar comes close, but is limited by geography. The Ultimates don't have the gravitas.

 

Here's my proposal. Draft a team of six preexisting villains to form a League of Evil that can challenge the toughest heroes. You may only use characters from CKC or Evil Unleashed, no originals. In addition, you can add two reserve members added to fill out the roster for major operations, but the six is the combat core.

 

No major mastermind villains allowed. No Destroyers, Takofanes, Mechanon etc. Members cannot already be the leader of a team or organization (no King Cobras or Fiachos). The team leader must be terrestrial, not extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional. You may detach villains from other teams to join up. There should be one female character in the core six.

 

The goal is world conquest, and the villains should be willing to rack up thje superero body count necessary to carry it out.

[Hermit]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Is "The League of Evil" to be the team name, or are other options open?

[GestaltBennie]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Is "The League of Evil" to be the team name' date=' or are other options open?[/quote']

 

The team name's open.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Interesting. I was just thinking along similar lines for my reworking of RAVEN.

 

No "major mastermind villains," huh? Would that include Holocaust? He's not included with the other mastermind villains in CKC, and he has a precedent for hiring groups of villains to assist his plans for world conquest, so if he isn't excluded I'd say he's a natural to lead this team. Assuming Holocaust is a go, I'd add to the core combat team:

 

Mechassassin - elite class field commander;

 

Jade Phoenix - one of the deadliest martial artists around;

 

Gargantua - among the top bricks in the CU;

 

Zorran the Artificer - powerful and versatile sorceror, and his magitech could be very useful;

 

Now it gets tricky. We still need a spot for a woman, and I'd really like to use Tesseract - she has the desire for world conquest, and her powers would be extremely helpful to a team - but your "willling to rack up a superhero body count" proscription clashes directly with her Code Vs. Killing. As a matter of fact, I'm having trouble finding any combat-powerful supervillainess that doesn't have CVK. For that reason I'd probably go with Stingray, but that's under protest.

 

For the reserve members, I would choose Masquerade and Esper, both well suited to covert operations, with no qualms about who gets hurt.

[Chimpira]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Enemies unleased and CKC. No Champions Worldwide?

[GestaltBennie]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Enemies unleased and CKC. No Champions Worldwide?

 

I was trying to keep it confined to the villain collections (not including Arcane Adversaries, primarily to give the group a mainstream comic book feel), but CWW is close enough to qualify.

 

And, LL Holocaust's the leader on my list, so I'd say he qualifies. :-)

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

I was trying to keep it confined to the villain collections (not including Arcane Adversaries, primarily to give the group a mainstream comic book feel), but CWW is close enough to qualify.

 

And, LL Holocaust's the leader on my list, so I'd say he qualifies. :-)

 

Excellent!

 

In that case - assuming you're not willing to make allowances for Tesseract, who remains my first choice - please give the female spot on the combat team to Raya de Plata, a world-class speedster with the right attitude for this team.

 

If you really want your superheroes to tremble, replace Jade Phoenix with Taipan.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Now that I think of it, if Tesseract can't be on the main combat team, put her on the reserve list instead of Esper. She'd still make for excellent backup on non-killing missions, not to mention phenomenal team transport.

 

I should note that I'm avoiding drawing on villains that are already part of teams or organizations. Otherwise Viperia would already be here.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Wait a minute, don't the Crowns of Krim count as a "world-beater villain squad?" At least as long as Dark Seraph is around.

[GestaltBennie]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Wait a minute' date=' don't the Crowns of Krim count as a "world-beater villain squad?" At least as long as Dark Seraph is around.[/quote']

 

Power level-wise, sure. But they don't quite have the right tone; they don't feel like a Masters of Evil/Fatal Five/Brotherhood of Evil Mutants type team.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Zoran the Artificer (leader)

 

Black Paladin (waiting to betray Zoran of course)

 

Gargantua (good in a fight, fun cliffhanger for heroes to finally beat him down, only to see Shirak the Destroyer appear)

 

Anklyosaur (versatile attacks)

 

Tesseract (6th-dimensional personality reinforced at expense of human side by Lemurian dimensional magics, opposite of plot seed in book)

 

Ultrasonique (solid techie, also gives the team a good "Black Manta" substitute)

 

(I think Holocaust's a bit unstable to really lead a team, otherwise he'd be great of course. But the first time one of the other villains eats his yogurt in the team base's fridge the group falls apart in a massive brawl. )

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

I'd do something like this:

 

Holocaust - Leader, one of only two choices that match the terms of the thread (not listed as a Mastermind, terestrial) that other villains would follow. Still, persuasive, plenty of power, and a good personality for this type of team.

 

Zoran the Artificer - Smarter and more of a potential power house than he's given credit for, he's reasonably persuasive and able to vie for control of the team. Also, the only other non-"mastermind" world conquering leader type in CKC most villains follow.

 

The Visigoth - A brick tough enough to be a real threat, smart enough to be interesting, and a killer.

 

Vector - With his Speed Zone option he becomes a potential murder machine. He thinks small time, but his power level is world class. All he needs is someone to get past his paranoia and keep him focussed.

 

Talisman - Kind of underpowered for this crew, but she's easy to upgrade. Even without an upgrade, she's smart and reasonably powerful, and she'd love to be part of a group spreading death and destruction on a global scale.

 

Morph - She has trouble working with others in the long term, but her raw power is impressive, she's smart, and her psych limits aren't crippling.

 

Reserve Members:

 

Gravitar - I'd rather have her as Leader. She's a smarter and more interesting character than she's usually given credit for. As things stand, Zoran might choose to flatter her into playing along for a while.

 

Mechassasin - He's able to kill without regrets, willing to work for groups, and brings a level of technical expertise to the team that it needs. As a merc, he's a potential betrayer as well.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Another good choice for team leader is Molnya, from CWW. He's smart, charismatic, powerful, and has the right type of personality. Currently, he's trying to become the power behind everything in Russia, but if he succeeded, he could easily turn to gaining more power elsewhere.

 

The catch is, his style would be different: as leader, he'd be more a behind-the-scenes type. Basically, think Lex Luthor and the Injustice Gang.

 

The only sticking point is, he prefers "unnecessary" chaos and bloodshed. He's not CvK, and has no squeamishness about killing if its necessary and productive, he just doesn't got for mass destruction for the hell of it. OTOH, if your trying to conquer, thats a good thing. . .

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Another good choice for team leader is Molnya, from CWW. He's smart, charismatic, powerful, and has the right type of personality. Currently, he's trying to become the power behind everything in Russia, but if he succeeded, he could easily turn to gaining more power elsewhere.

 

The catch is, his style would be different: as leader, he'd be more a behind-the-scenes type. Basically, think Lex Luthor and the Injustice Gang.

 

The only sticking point is, he prefers "unnecessary" chaos and bloodshed. He's not CvK, and has no squeamishness about killing if its necessary and productive, he just doesn't got for mass destruction for the hell of it. OTOH, if your trying to conquer, thats a good thing. . .

 

Not within the thread rules, unfortunately. Good suggestion, though.

 

I liked Invictus as a leader; the downside is that his MO has him too far behind the scenes, and this sort of group is meant to be fighting it out in public.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

The leadership issue is a telling one. Holocaust has everthing he needs to be a great leader/sponsor of a world-conquering team: tremendous power, intellect, charisma, vast wealth, plenty of political clout. If only he weren't such an a$$. Trouble is, the next most appropriate candidate, Zorran, isn't much better, being massively arrogant and condescending.

 

I ran into the same issue using these villains as part of my new RAVEN. I think anyone incorporating them into a group would have to be willing to stick just to the letter of their Psych Lims, and tone down the behavior described in their flavor text. Otherwise the group would never last.

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

The leadership issue is a telling one. Holocaust has everthing he needs to be a great leader/sponsor of a world-conquering team: tremendous power, intellect, charisma, vast wealth, plenty of political clout. If only he weren't such an a$$. Trouble is, the next most appropriate candidate, Zorran, isn't much better, being massively arrogant and condescending.

 

I ran into the same issue using these villains as part of my new RAVEN. I think anyone incorporating them into a group would have to be willing to stick just to the letter of their Psych Lims, and tone down the behavior described in their flavor text. Otherwise the group would never last.

 

At the least, you'd need to add "Acting" and "Seduction" to their character sheets, so they could at least pretend not to be complete jerks.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Not within the thread rules' date=' unfortunately. Good suggestion, though.[/quote']

 

Scott later amended the list of possible books to include Champions Worldwide, so Molnya would be in the queue. I have to agree that Molnya is one of the most capable, stable masterminds in the whole CU, with substantial personal power, great guile and subtlety, and plenty of team-leading experience. Still, even if you used him as a front-line fighter rather than his stated preference of background manipulator, that pesky "Dislikes Unnecessary Bloodshed And Chaos" is right there in his Psych Lims, which works against the style Scott seems to be going for.

 

I liked Invictus as a leader; the downside is that his MO has him too far behind the scenes' date=' and this sort of group is meant to be fighting it out in public.[/quote']

 

Particularly since he wants the world to think he's a hero. I suppose he could adopt another costumed identity to act as a supervillain, but those SFX of his Powers are pretty flashy. Someone would be bound to add two and two eventually. Besides, his current gig is working pretty well for him. Why put it at risk?

[garou]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Not within the thread rules, unfortunately. Good suggestion, though.

 

I liked Invictus as a leader; the downside is that his MO has him too far behind the scenes, and this sort of group is meant to be fighting it out in public.

Pity that Villainy Amok isn't allowed - I'd like to see The Engineer used. She's only mediocre against mutants or magic characters, but against powersuits and cyborgs, she's just nasty. And, she has no CVK.

[Hermit]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

 

Particularly since he wants the world to think he's a hero. I suppose he could adopt another costumed identity to act as a supervillain, but those SFX of his Powers are pretty flashy. Someone would be bound to add two and two eventually. Besides, his current gig is working pretty well for him. Why put it at risk?

 

 

I was thinking of just that for Invictus, calling himself the Golden Hood or something, a homage to the Crimson Cowl of the Masters of Evil. It would have to be a situation where he thought he had all angles covered for him to risk it

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Pity that Villainy Amok isn't allowed - I'd like to see The Engineer used. She's only mediocre against mutants or magic characters' date=' but against powersuits and cyborgs, she's just nasty. And, she has no CVK. [/quote']

 

The Engineer is available through EU, and I seriously considered using her. I decided against it only because I didn't think she'd work that well with the other villains I chose over the long run. That said, in the right group she's a great call.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Pity that Villainy Amok isn't allowed - I'd like to see The Engineer used. She's only mediocre against mutants or magic characters' date=' but against powersuits and cyborgs, she's just nasty. And, she has no CVK. [/quote']

 

IIRC she's reprinted in Evil Unleashed, so she's fair game. I considered her to give the team some technological savvy, but I don't think she'd be willing to work for the advancement of a bunch of organics.

 

I think we're starting to see a pattern as to why so many solo villains work solo.

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Particularly since he wants the world to think he's a hero. I suppose he could adopt another costumed identity to act as a supervillain, but those SFX of his Powers are pretty flashy. Someone would be bound to add two and two eventually. Besides, his current gig is working pretty well for him. Why put it at risk?

 

I was thinking of just that for Invictus' date=' calling himself the Golden Hood or something, a homage to the Crimson Cowl of the Masters of Evil. It would have to be a situation where he thought he had all angles covered for him to risk it[/quote']

 

Plot Seed: Invictus loses his seat in the 2006 mid term elections. Rather than pout, he forms the American Justice Legion (AJL), using some of the saner or more tractable mercenary villains in appropriately changed costumes. They go on to position him for a 2008 run for a governorship by publicly performing acts of daring, while pairs of team members in their normal costumes commit crimes that just happen to ruin or kill off Invictus' political rivals. The PCs investigate, but the AJL provides alibis for their team mates while pursuing the Evildoers. Near election time, they'll need patsies to frame for their crimes, and who better than the PCs?

[Metaphysician]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

True, Invictus could work using a Tbolts angle.

 

If your going for just straight out raw, overt force to cow the masses into acquiescing to your conquest ( ahem ), I'd say that yeah, Holocaust is the best bet.

[OddHat]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

True, Invictus could work using a Tbolts angle.

 

 

Never read the Tbolts; there are very few Superhero plots you can come up with that won't resemble something that someone else has put out over the last 70 years.

[MitchellS]

Re: Build Me A Villain Team

 

Holocaust [leader]

Gravitar [leader's gf]

Eclipse [wanna-be leader's gf]

Grond [muscle]

Brainchild [hired to keep muscle in line]

Shrinker [infiltration]

 

If you didn't want to use Gravitar I'd replace her with Photon as a good villain team needs 2 powerful women trying to win the leader's heart.