Sección de la gestión del contador de piezas cortadas

Here are some facts characters and NPCs might know about der Westgote if they succeed with an appropriate Skill Roll:

N/R: Der Westgote (“the Visigoth”) is a super-strong villain who’s a member of Eurostar.

K/R: Der Westgote can lift up to 100 metric tons, and has developed a series of hand-to-hand combat maneuvers that exploit his superhuman strength to its fullest.

-2: Der Westgote is also extremely resilient, able to wake up quickly after being knocked out. Putting him down for the count is difficult!

and nothing except himself and his own personal gratification. He doesn’t feel the slightest shred of guilt about committing robbery, murder, and acts of terrorism — as long as he enjoys himself and gets what he wants, that’s all that matters. He’s interested in politics, art, and history, but only in a superficial way compared to the likes of Fiacho and Mentalla; he mainly pays attention to intellectual subjects so he can “look smart” in the company of others.

Quote: “All right, it’s your funeral.”

many superhumans with similar levels of STR. (On the other hand, he heals very quickly, and it’s extraordinarily difficult to keep him unconscious.) What makes him dangerous as a fighter is that he doesn’t just punch people and throw heavy objects. He’s taught himself how to use his super- strength effectively in combat, as reflected by his

Brick Tricks Martial Arts.

In battle, the Visigoth usually opens up with a few straightforward punches to find out just how much damage his opponent can take. If that’s not enough to end the battle, he’ll switch to Martial Maneuvers (particularly Bearhug) or his Rending

And Tearing ability. He enjoys showing off his

strength by doing something flashy (especially a Fist-Grab maneuver) and then making a Presence Attack.

Campaign Use: Der Westgote isn’t quite as “butch” as many other bricks. What sets him apart from other super-strong characters is that he’s smart. While his sociopathy compromises his intelligence at times, he knows how to fight cleverly and with tactical insight... and when it’s time to retreat and live to fight another day. Don’t play him as another ordinary knock-down-drag-out punching brick; showcase his ability to fight intelligently.

To make the Visigoth tougher, increase his defenses a bit, and perhaps give him a small Multi- power of “brick trick” powers. If he’s too tough, reduce his STR to 50, his SPD to 5, his REC to 20, and his related abilities proportionately.

Der Westgote definitely holds grudges; it wouldn’t take much for him to start Hunting a hero. But if he does, he’ll do so casually (rarely on more than an 8-); he prefers to take advantage of opportunities that come his way (or that he can easily set up) rather than deliberately stalking someone for a long period of time.

Appearance: The Visigoth is a handsome German man in his late 20s. He’s extremely muscular, but not nearly as much so as a typical Champions Universe brick — he looks more like a body- builder than a superhumanly strong person. He wears his wavy blond hair at shoulder length, and his eyes have a gleam of malicious cleverness to them. He doesn’t have a costume like most super- villains do; typically he wears black boots and pants, a tan or brown shirt (often with the topmost three or four buttons undone), and sometimes black fingerless gloves.

Champions Villains Volume Two: Villain Teams n The Futurists 117

Membership: The Fiend; Morticus.

Background/History: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world,” Archimedes said. The Futurists believe this is true... and that they are the lever.

The team got its start when two villains — the powered armor-wearing Morticus and the pain- inducing Fiend — were both hired by VIPER for a scheme that required a lot of “hurry up and wait.” During this downtime, the two of them got to talking and discovered they shared an interest in history, politics, and sociology. Both were convinced that human civilization was becoming increasingly chaotic, unstable, dangerous, and backward.

The more they talked, the more they were certain they understood what was wrong with modern society — and knowing what needs fixing is the first step toward fixing it. By the time the job was done, they’d reached a mutual understanding: they were going to work together to save civiliza- tion and cure the ills of society. Determined to lead humanity into a better future, they named themselves the Futurists.

But of course, humanity being what it is, it doesn’t understand that it needs saving. People can’t even come to grips with the problem when those who do understand — say, intelligent men like Morticus and the Fiend — confront them with it. Lacking the power to force people to do what they want, and realizing that even those who did (Dr. Destroyer, Istvatha V’han, Takofanes...) had rarely (if ever) succeeded, the Futurists decided on another approach: stealth and influence. They would work behind the scenes, applying the lever of their power using just the right fulcrums, and direct humanity down the paths they wanted it to take... the paths that would in time lead to Futurist rule.

Group Relations: United by a common vision for a common cause, the Futurists get along well. They definitely want to expand their ranks (see below), since the more power they have the more they can accomplish, but they want to be sure that anyone who joins their cabal is someone both of them like and enjoy spending time with.

(This includes being rich, like both of them; they know that differences in means create jealousy and bad feelings.) They know from studying great conspiracies of the past how lack of cooperation and personal animosities can derail an otherwise solid plan, and they’re determined not to let that happen to them.

Tactics: The Futurists prefer to operate behind the scenes and avoid open battle, so they don’t have elaborate group tactics the way combat-oriented villain teams do. If something goes wrong and they’re confronted with force, they try to inca- pacitate their opponents as quickly as possible and then escape. They don’t mind causing some pain — in fact, the Fiend actively enjoys hurting people with his powers — but they’re not killers. When they implement the Futurist World Order, they expect superheroes to be an important element in advancing humanity to higher levels of achieve- ment; killing off such resources would be foolish.

Campaign Use: The Futurists represent a villain team on the rise. They’re only a duo right now, but they hope to grow... and in growing, they could easily provide some plots for your campaign.

Additionally, their emphasis on conspiracy and behind-the-scenes manipulation, rather than traditional supercrime, sets the Futurists apart from most of the other teams in this book. Unlike most villains, they want to help humanity on some level — even if “help” is ultimately defined as making society run the way they want it to, with them in charge. Compared to many villains they’re likely to do “heroic” things, such as help super- hero teams defeat a world-threatening menace. They can’t improve human society if humanity’s taken over by Istvatha V’han, or if Dr. Yin Wu transforms the world into medieval China! It’s entirely possible that they’ll help out your PCs, either directly or covertly, many times during the events of a campaign. But of course, any such help they provide ultimately has the ulterior motive of assisting their own schemes.

To make the Futurists more powerful, give the team more members. A few possibilities are listed below, but you can add just about any villain who fits their modus operandi and personal views. To weaken them, make them less agreeable to one another, and more prone to arguing about methods, plans, and philosophies.

they can do so without weakening their resolve or effectiveness (see above). So far the villain they’ve worked with the most is a cyberkinetic who calls himself Cybercide. They’re considering him for membership, but they’re concerned that (a) he’s not sufficiently dedicated to the cause, and (b) that his penchant for violence and potentially harmful “pranks” hurts their plans. (For Cyber- cide, use Cybermind’s character sheet from CV3, but change his personality.) They’re also very interested in Lady Blue as a potential recruit, but haven’t yet been able to make contact with her in a way that would let them “evaluate” her.

Some other villains from CV3 who’d make good members of the Futurists (perhaps with slight changes to their personality and a few additional KSs) include: Alchemica; Galeforce; Howler; Mantara; Mindgame; Photon; Shrinker; Signal Ghost; Timelapse; and Zephyr. They’re most interested in allies who can help them accomplish things secretly (such as mentalists and many technology-oriented characters), rather than “combat monsters,” but they recognize the value in any superhuman who fervently shares their beliefs.

Since he’s publicly expressed similar goals, and even done things to back up his words, Sunburst interests the Futurists a great deal. They’re watching him carefully, trying to determine if he really believes what he says or is just using it as a “cover story.” Even if they decide he legitimately wants to improve human society, they’re not sure what they’ll do; they don’t know if they could control him or establish an equal partnership with someone so powerful.

The Futurists also think highly of GRAB due to that group’s relatively nonviolent nature and professionalism. They’ve hired the super-thieves on several occasions, and will undoubtedly do so again. The time may come when they reveal their plans to GRAB and try to recruit that team to join their cause.

On the other hand, the Futurists despise Eurostar. They don’t believe Fiacho’s rhetoric at all, and think that even if he’s telling the truth his method for fomenting social change — terrorism and violent crime — is totally repugnant. They’d be happy to help superhero teams defeat Euro- star... but covertly, since Fiacho’s vengefulness is well-known.

Background/History: Born to an aristocratic German family whose lineage dates back centu- ries, Niklas Krueger was different from most other people in another way: he was a mutant. His psionic power of “pain induction” surfaced when he was thirteen and already a pretentious, abusive young man. Soon anyone who crossed, insulted, or annoyed him suffered a splitting headache for their troubles.

As he grew older, and even more selfish and jaded, Krueger became fascinated by causing others pain. Watching how they reacted to it, and their general suffering, was the only thing that eased his perpetual boredom. He came to see himself as a modern-day Marquis de Sade, exploring the frontiers of human feeling and freedom from restraint or morality. Unfortunately there weren’t too many situations in which he could get away with using his powers freely, even in the more... unusual... parts of the European underworld. But one day he had a wonderful idea: become a supervillain! Crime, and the violence that sometimes accompanies it, would offer many opportunities to exercise his superhuman abilities. Adopting the name the Fiend, Krueger spent several years working as a villain-for-hire in Europe and North America, accepting jobs only from villains he had some degree of respect for. But he was never entirely satisfied. He did get to satisfy his ability to cause pain, but somehow it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. Crime alone wasn’t a worthy pursuit. He ought to be doing something more meaningful with his life and powers.

Then he met Morticus on a job for VIPER. The two of them got to talking... and a few days later the Futurists were born.

Personality/Motivation: The Fiend is something of a contradiction. One part of him genuinely believes society is going downhill and wants to help make the world a better place — it’s a sort of noblesse oblige thing. But subconsciously, and sometimes consciously, he thinks that the best way to correct society’s problems is to put him in charge. He knows he doesn’t have the power or influence to take over in one fell swoop, so he’s adopted the methods of the conspirator.

Even with those relatively noble aspects of his personality, though, the fact remains that the Fiend is a sadist, and often a vicious one. He enjoys hurting people with his superhuman abili- ties, and seeing the power that inflicting pain gives him over them. It wouldn’t take much for this side of him to overwhelm the better side and turn him into a more traditionally-motivated supervillain.

Quote: “Feel that? That’s pain. Pain controls you... and I control pain!”

Champions Villains Volume Two: Villain Teams n The Futurists 119

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

10 STR 0 11- Lift 100 kg; 2d6 HTH damage [1] 15 DEX 10 12-

20 CON 10 13-

15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 20 EGO 10 13-

20 PRE 10 13- PRE Attack: 4d6 5 OCV 10 5 DCV 10 8 OMCV 15 7 DMCV 12 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 6 PD 4 Total: 14 PD (8 rPD) 6 ED 4 Total: 14 ED (8 rED) 8 REC 4 40 END 4 15 BODY 5

60 STUN 20 Total Characteristics Cost: 163

Movement: Running: 12m

Cost Powers END

72 Chronic Pain Induction: Mental Blast 6d6 9

Constant (+½); Unified Power (-¼)

44 Acute Pain Induction: Drain STUN 4d6 4

ACV (uses OMCV versus DMCV; +¼), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Minute; +1), Reduced Endurance (½ END; +¼); One Use At A Time (-1), Unified Power (-¼)

16 Armored Costume: Resistant Protection (8 PD/8 ED) 0

OIF (-½)

60 Tolerance For Pain: Physical and Energy Damage Reduction, 50%, Resistant 0 10 Psi-Shields: Mental Defense (10 points) 0

Perks

15 Money: Filthy Rich

Talents 3 Resistance (3 points) Skills 3 High Society 13- 3 Interrogation 13- 2 KS: History 11- 2 KS: Politics 11-

2 Language: English (fluent conversation; German is Native)

3 Stealth 12- 3 Streetwise 13-

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 238 Total Cost: 401

400 Matching Complications (75)

10 Distinctive Features: Mutant (Not Concealable; Always Noticed; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 25 Hunted: UNTIL (Frequently, Mo Pow, NCI, Capture) 15 Psychological Complication: Sadist (Common, Strong) 15 Social Complication: Secret Identity (Niklas Krueger)

(Frequently, Major)

5 Susceptibility: to Mental Blast, takes 1d6 damage instantly (Uncommon)

Total Complications Points: 75 Experience Points: 1