Frighteningly evil supervillain

[Casanova Frankenstein]

Hello all, I'm looking for feedback on a horror-style super villain. I have some ideas for powers but the main thing I have set is the overall idea. The basic goal is to make a villain that feels like fighting a bad dream. Most of the really nasty stuff about him is covered in narrative, but his powers are unusual, nasty, and really in danger of exploitation. I'll have to work hard to sustain an oppressive feeling without making the heroes feel powerless (or BE powerless) against him.

 

Here are the basics:

He can desolidify (SFX: become fear incarnate, a spirit being) and harm people by touching or being touched. Probably a HA or HKA along with damage shield. Is there any rule preventing damage shield while desolid? If so. I need a way to model attacks passing through him but the object/attacker taking damage. Not a lot necessarily, just enough to scare the bejeezus out of the players. "He's invulnerable! We're going to die!" I know desolid is a STOP power and with good reason, but I'd like defeating him to feel like an exorcism, ritual, exploitation of his evil nature or the like, not just shooting him a lot or putting him behind bars. If the X-Men movie character portrayed by Stryker's son ( terrible mental images at Will resulting in suicide, insanity, or the like) had Magneto's level of power you wouldn't accomplish much by just sending him to jail.

 

The rest of his attacks are all mental powers. He conjures images of horrible things (family members suffering, DNPCs caught in some rat-infested basement, disfigurement of the hero, etc.) and can make EGO and PRE attacks. Change Environment, Mental Images, Telepathy, perhaps Mind Control are all possibilities, but the main idea is for him to be like a living nightmare. Every interaction is disturbing if not terrifying, and the more he learns about you the more awful it becomes as he targets your worst fears.

 

One slightly weird power I came up with is the ability to send mental images to a known victim over any range. Imagine you're safe at home after a fight, and suddenly you receive the mental image of someone you know being kidnapped. You know the thought isn't your own, and you don't know whether it's accurate. Paranoia ramps up quickly if the villain can actually harm someone you care about while sending the image, since after that you don't know which ones he sends are "genuine". I'm sort of thinking about mind scan without the "location of target" portion, just to establish a sufficient mental link to send the awful image(s). There are probably other ways to do it but that's sort of what I'm toying with.

 

The last big thing I wanted to model was a gradual transform (cumulative) into insanity. Roleplay would determine the PsyLim or PhysLim he bestowed with the Transform, but the worst case scenario would be a total transform into a psychotic ranting paranoid, possibly even turning a hero into a new adversary. I want to tie this danger of a slow descent into madness by linking the transform to other powers, where any nightmarish image, idea, or experience cumulatively risks the emotional and psychological health of the target.

 

I know a lot of this is a bit vague in a rules sense, but I'd like dialogue or feedback if anyone has questions, comments, criticisms, or the like. Thanks in advance for reading, I'm looking forward to hearing what anyone and everyone might like to say.

 

C.F.

[Grailknight]

For the first, buy the Damage Shield with Affects Real World (+2). Expensive, but stacking advantages will mitigate that somewhat on a low base power.

 

Mental Illusions and Telepathy will cover most of the second. EGO and PRE Drain( an idea for the Damage Shield) build on the fear by breaking down resistance to it.

 

Mind Scan  and Mental Illusion can work for this. Make it Invisible to the target and limit it for the user so neither gets physical location. More evil is to set the Illusion with a Trigger like looking into a mirror for a set time or an innocuous everyday phrase.

 

Link a 1 pip or 1/2d6 Transform to all of his powers with the Partial Transform advantage to cover the stages of madness. Or hit them with a similar Damage Over Time that only triggers when he uses Mind Scan/Illusion combo.

[Casanova Frankenstein]

I forgot about affects real world... Thanks for the reminder, that's perfect. I like all your ideas and they're generally the same ways I was looking at to accomplish the effects discussed. Either EGO or PRE (if not both) make sense for the overall fear effects I'm trying to create.

One small question I had on your suggestion- you suggested mind scan and mental images for the "send someone an evil vision" power but you mentioned making it invisible to the target. Are you talking about IPE, and if so what is the part of a normal Mental Images power that'd need to be made invisible?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

C.F.

[Mister E]

It's not HERO but check out the old Nightmare Lands boxset for Ravenloft AD&D2.

[Grailknight]

Yes, I was referring to IPE.  You need it on the Mind Scan so the target does not get your location. You could put it on the Illusion or you could use the rule for exceeding EGO by an additional +20 to make the Illusion not noticeable.

[Casanova Frankenstein]

Thanks for clarifying, That makes perfect sense Grailknight.

 

C.F.

[Casanova Frankenstein]

So in general if I want my Villian mucking around (or trying) in the PCs minds without their knowledge I'll need IPE on his telepathy for sure.

 

Are there any other sneaky mentalist powers that seem particularly useful and/or insidious? I'd look at the ultimate mentalist if I had it but I'm on a budget for a bit and am just trying to get this one idea solidified for now.

[Ndreare]

On your build do not forget even your mental powers will need the affects solid advantage by the book.

 

Combining Telepathy (to muck around as you say) with slight of hand and even a strength 2 telekinesis can make for awesome fun and torment.

A HERO will find he is losing important information. The villains gains access to his house and his personal belongings. And perhaps after the villain takes his share he just gives bank account, checks, and social security information to other criminals.

A few DNA samples from the bathroom for planting at crime scenes, and the villain could ruin a heroes life in less than a week.