Arcane Adversaries Outtake: TRESS!

DShomshak · August 18, 2012

First: Thank you to the people who sent PMs welcoming me to the forum. I would respond personally, but I have not yet found how. (Me big tech dummy. Also, AOL tends to freeze up within a few minutes of my logging onto the Champions forum.)

To business: Arcane Adversaries presented a variety of mystical solo villains. I created many other mystical villains for my various Champions campaigns. Some of them would have been appropriate for AA. Others were, very definitely, not. Tress comes from the “Not” category. I think you’ll see why. Nevertheless, here she is.

-- Dean Shomshak

[bEGIN CHARACTER SHEET]

<3>Tress

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

25 STR 12* 14- Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH damage [2]

20 DEX 16* 13-

25 CON 12* 14-

13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12-

20 EGO 10 13-

30 PRE 16* 15- PRE Attack: 6d6

7 OCV 16*

7 DCV 16*

7 OMCV 12

7 DMCV 12

5 SPD 24* Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12

25 PD 18* Total: 35 PD (20 rPD)

25 ED 18* Total: 35 ED (20 rED)

15 REC 9

60 END 6

12 BODY 2

40 STUN 8* Characteristics Cost: 210

* OIAID (-1/4)

Movement: Running: 12m

Cost Powers END

70 Cosmic Coiffure: Multipower, 105-point reserve

All OIAID (-1/4)

7f 1) Cosmic Blast: Blast 12d6 4

Variable Special Effects (anything; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4); OIAID (-1/4)

7f 2) Omnipotent Will: Telekinesis (56 STR) 4

Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4); OIAID (-1/4)

7f 3) Mistress of All Forces: Reflection (78 active points’ worth) 0

Any Target (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OIAID (-1/4)

6f 4) Nova Aura Surge: Blast 14d6 4

Area Of Effect (personal Surface — Damage Shield; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4); OIAID (-1/4), No Range (-1/2)

3f 5) Create Monster/Cause Origin: Summon 400 point Something [1]

Variable (GM’s Whim; +1/4); OIAID (-1/4), 1 Charge (-2)

3f 6) Enslavement Coiffure: Severe Transform 7d6 (vs. EGO, impose Total loyalty; broken by disrupting victim’s hair) 10

Limited Target (people with hair; -1/4), Extra Time (1 Minute; -1 ½), No Range (-1/2), OIAID (-1/4)

26 Cosmic Force Aura: Resistant Protection (10 PD/10 ED) 0

Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4); Not Persistent (-1/4), Perceivable (-0), OIAID (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4)

33 Cosmic Force Aura: Flight 20m 0

MegaScale (1m = 1 km; +1), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); OIAID (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4)

10 Cosmic Resilience: Resistant (+1/2) on 10 PD, 10 ED 0

8 Immovable As The Cosmos: Knockback Resistance –10m 0

OIAID (-1/4)

6 Sovereign Mastery of Self: Sight Group Flash Defense (5 points) 0

Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4); OIAID (-1/4)

18 Sovereign Mastery of Self: Mental Defense (15 points) 0

Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4); OIAID (-1/4)

12 Sovereign Mastery of Self: Power Defense (10 points) 0

Hardened (+1/4), Impenetrable (+1/4); OIAID (-1/4)

Skills

12 +4 Blast/TK/Reflection

2 KS: Pop Occult 11-

2 KS: Sacred Geometry 11-

2 Language: French (fluent conversation; English is native)

4 PS: Hairdresser 13-

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 238

Total Cost: 448

400 Matching Complications (75)

20 Accidental Change: BODY damage to Hit Location 3 causes total power loss (Uncommon)

15 Hunted: Secret international conspiracy of hairdressers (Frequently, Less Pow. NCI, Capture)

25 Psychological Complication: Megalomania (Very Common, Total)

15 Susceptibility: Takes 3d6 STUN when slave freed from her control (Uncommon)

15 Susceptibility: Takes 1d6 damage per Phase if confronted with evidence against her occult belief system (Uncommon)

10 Vulnerability: 2 x BODY from attacks using hair care products (Uncommon)

Total Complications Points: 75

Experience Points: 48

[END CHARACTER SHEET]

Background/History: Tyra Ressam seethed with rage. She should have won the All-California Hairdressing contest! She knew every mode of cutting and styling hair, from hot curlers to Melanesian mud-packs and the most advanced designs in Paris. Politics and favoritism, that’s what it was. Tyra swore she would create designs so radical and powerful they would crush any competition and show that she was the greatest hairdresser in the world!

But how? Tyra chose the occult. It was a perfectly logical choice: As a denizen of Los Angeles, Tyra naturally encountered a wide variety of occult practitioners, from pet psychics to feng shui interior decorators. Her pursuit of the occult roots of beauty eventually focused on sacred geometry: the theory that certain numbers, ratios, shapes and angles have occult significance, and that their architectural use concentrated supernatural forces. Tyra figured that what made buildings beautiful and powerful would also make hairstyles beautiful and powerful. She did not ignore other doctrines, though. In months, Tyra synthesized lore from several pop-occult books into a new arcane science of Hermetic hairdressing.

Why should she give kabbalistic coiffures to others before trying them herself? With the help of her last loyal assistant, (the others, cowards and fools that they were, abandoned her and called her mad), Tyra moussed her hair into Archimedian spirals held on a wire scaffold of Golden Ratio ellipses. As she carefully placed crystals mounted on bobby pins, Tyra felt the energies of the cosmos converging on her hair. Yes! Power such as she never imagined! Power that made her a living goddess! Tyra Ressam was no more. She was Tress, and with her new power she would not just silence the mocking tongues of the hairdressing academy.

She would rule the world.

Personality/Motivation: Tress is bugnuts, quite apart from her loony notions of mystic hairdressing. She was already vain and obsessive. Giving herself super-powers convinced her that she has ascended to divinity. As a goddess, it is her right to conquer the world and impose her vision of proper hair care. But she is a merciful goddess: She does not destroy those whom she defeats. She styles their hair so they properly perceive her cosmic omnipotent right to rule, and become her willing slaves. Her greatest fear (though still not very great) is a bald super.

Quote: “Tremble before Tress, Mistress of the Coiffure Cosmic!”

“Why do you oppose me? I shall build a new world — a world free of hunger, strife and split ends!”

Powers/Tactics: Tress is a Mad Mage, as described on page 10 of The Ultimate Mystic. She channels her magic through a delusion system of occult hairdressing. An aura of cosmic energy protects her and enables her to fly. Her pseudo-divinity also helps her resist mental, adjustment and other unusual attacks. Tress can move objects by force of will, bounce ranged attacks off her aura to whatever new target she wants, or make her aura surge with power to blast off Entangles or Grabbing characters. She relies chiefly on her Blast, though, which can manifest any Special Effect she wants. While a straightforward bolt of lightning or pure cosmic energy works, her madness means that high-pressure shampoo, hot curlers fired like bullets, or, heck, flaming chihuahua dogs make as much sense and are just as likely. Maybe more.

Any damage to Tress’ hair disrupts the Cosmic Coiffure and removes her powers. This requires an attack that strikes Hit Location 3 that manages to inflict BODY. Even though the Cosmic Coiffure is very large, its vast power tends to deflect attacks, making it no easier to hit than the rest of Tress’ head. Well-presented evidence that her cobbled-together occult doctrine is based on false premises can inflict psychic pain on Tress: This requires not only KS: Western Occultism 11- (or better), but also a successful Presence Attack to penetrate her mania. No one could ever persuade Tress her doctrine is flat-out wrong and impossible, though, for she has felt her hair channel the Power Cosmic. She knows it works.

Belief in her divinity prevents Tress from attempting clever tactics. Her plan is to rampage until the world surrenders. She does have one somewhat clever strategy: If she captures another superbeing, she enslaves his will through an occult hairstyle. She intends to build an invincible army of well-coiffed supers who worship and obey her without question. Such a force quickly becomes more dangerous than Tress herself. Once per day, she can also infuse cosmic energy into some convenient person, animal or object to create a brand-new superbeing (with great hair). The new super is no more likely to obey than any other Summoned entity, but this power can add a further twist to a fight. This is also an excuse for the GM to introduce opponents who can be even stranger than Tress herself.

Campaign Use: Tress is designed as the villain for a silly one-shot adventure. As such, this description of Tress assumes the PCs encounter her on her first rampage: There is no information for PCs to gain through a successful KS: Supervillains roll. Since the source of Tress’ power is obvious, though, it’s just a matter of time before the heroes defeat her.

If the PCs don’t think to shave Tress’ head at that point, the authorities will. And that’s the end of Tress… until she gets a wig. Unless that happens, she has no way to Hunt anyone.

To make Tress more powerful, increase the active points of her attacks, give her combat skill levels or a higher OCV, or just allow her to defeat and enslave additional super-beings before the PCs encounter her. You might also make it harder for opponents to damage her hair and so de-power her. To make Tress less powerful, reduce her defenses or the active points of her attacks.

Appearance: Tyra Ressam is an Arab-American woman with skin the color of old ivory, dark eyes and waist-length, straight black hair. As Tress, her hair is piled and styled into a yard-wide construction of interlocking spirals and radiating spikes, with some brass wire loops as further support and various crystals set here and there. She wears a miniskirt, bustier and high heels. A crackling aura of multi-colored Kirby dots surrounds her, and sparks crackle through her hair as she gathers her power for an attacks.

Lawnmower Boy · August 19, 2012