Sunday, June 27, 2021

OSR: Kytons

 

by Hieronymus Bosch
They were normal once, ordinary mortals who were changed into something horrific.  They are common races, from your world and others more distant.  Some are distinctively familiar, others alien.  But they all began the same way, creatures with fairly ordinary lives, appetites and habits.  Then they were broken, twisted into the entities you see before you. 

They are the children of Grazui is a Godling, a Dark Power revered by cults of decadence and pleasure, sometimes by name, or in other guises.  He is an absolutely repugnant being, irresistibly seductive and infinitely perverse.  Long ago, it is said, he was the God of First Loves, but in his exploration of pleasure, he became corrupted.  Now he seeks to spread his corruption to all beings, to enlighten them and lower them down to what he currently is.  Others deny this is his motivation, they claim he instead engages in this ruthless and persistent violence against himself, his followers and his victims in order that a champion should arise and finally destroy him. 

The first of the Kytons were supposedly a part of his original cult, whatever that was, and when he fell he dragged them down with him.  His cult spread and grew like a cancer on the land, taking people by the sword and forging them into new members through profane and sadistic rituals.  Eventually, his sins grew too rank and numerous, so much that the Gods of Heaven, the Lords of Law came to notice the rogue Godling and sought to destroy him.  They attempted to strike him down, but Grazui managed to escape, slipping through a tear in the fabric of the world.

Grazui then found an isolated corner of space beyond our world and placed his dwelling there.  He built himself a vast manse and surrounded it by a maze of gardens, nymphariums and pleasure gardens.  There to this day, the Kytons labor and study, working to perfect their understanding of pleasure and pain, in order to gain a greater appreciation and grow in communion with their Beloved Master.  They do not restrict themselves to Grazui's nightmare realm, however, but instead seek to enter our world to acquire new material and new members.  

This is both a blessing and a curse- for while the arrival of the Kytons means horrors never before seen are about to be unleashed, the targets of these horrors are often unsuspecting mortal cultists of Grazui, who are invited, whether they wish it or not, to partake of his wonders and terrors.  For when these cultists open a portal to the realm of their Beloved Master, just as often as granting them power and pleasure here, he sometimes has his slaves gather them up and bring them back, so they can be with him, forever.

Note: Unless stated otherwise, all art in this post comes from Pathfinder Second Edition

Kyton Evangelist

Number Appearing: 1d4+1, plus 1d3 Apostles and 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1d12 Languages, most archaic or antiquated dialogues, but they're almost certain to speak something you do
Treasure: Instruments of torture, tools of the trade, poisons, medicines and rare chemicals, magic items [See below]

Kyton does not refer to a race- it is a word from a dead language that means "Enlightened" or perhaps, "Educated".  The Kytons come from all races of mortal, from this and other worlds.  These are those who when rigorously tortured and indoctrinated, did not collapse into mindlessness, obesquieous subservience or fanatic resistance, instead they were receptive to the scriptures being spoken over them as they were mauled and mutilated.  And so, through a long process, these victims rose from mere material to fellow victimizer. 

For you see, Kytons travel to other worlds to abduct people or trade with Demons and other foul creatures for fresh subjects to work on.  Yet they do not do this for mere sadism or because they long to see others in pain- Kytons are far more benevolent for that.  While the individual philosophies do vary, Kytons generally torture and harm others because they seek to educate them.  They seek to teach their victims what the truth is, to bring them out of darkness and into the light.  The tortures inflicted upon their victims are designed with that in mind.  This is how even when they are inflicting unimaginable suffering on you, Kytons will still look at you with pity, their faces shining with the compassion a mystic might feel for someone trapped in a material mindset, or a prisoner who mocks the wise for talking about the sun, when he can't even see the shadow on the wall. 

Kytons laugh at pain and torture.  Nothing you can do is truly painful or unpleasant to them, they have tasted far worse and would gladly do so again.  Your efforts to harm them provoke giggles or joy, in the same way a child's stumbling first steps make parents croon with delight.  They will praise and congratulate you as the fight goes on, and die with smiles on their face.  They do not fear death, only in being proven wrong.  And since they know, without a shadow of a doubt that they are correct, they will not flinch as the light leaves their eyes. 

Statblock:

Kyton Evangelist
HD 3
AR none
Atk Scalpel (1d4 + bleed) or Binding Chain (1d6 + grapple) or Spell
Mor 13
Saves 10 or less

Masochist: Kytons love to hurt each other.  To them, pain is as enjoyable as pleasure.  As such, they take -1 damage from all sources.

Ageless: Kytons do not age and cannot be aged magically.   

Scalpel: If a creature is injured by a Kyton's scalpel, that creature gains a persistent wound that does 1d4 damage a round on the end of that creature's turn, after it acts.  This wound continues bleeding until the creature dies or it takes an action to staunch the wound.  Use of bandages or a medical kit (as an action) automatically end this condition, as can making a DC 10 COG check as an action.   

Immunity to Torture: Kytons inflict and have had inflicted upon them the worst tortures you can possibly imagine, followed by far worse.  Nothing you can do to them will exceed what they have endured - to them, your attempts at torture and inflicting pain are a child's scribbling compared to that of a Renaissance Master.  It is comedy.

Spellcaster: Kytons have Mana Dice equal to their HD.  Their MD burn out on a roll of 5 or 6 and on doubles or triples trigger a roll on the Chaos table, (see below).  Kytons know the spells: Enhance Sensation, Healing Touch, Inflict Agony and Rapturous Vision.

Chaos of the Kyton:
1d6

1- The Kyton is wracked by agonizing or pleasurable sensation (it's hard to tell) and loses it's next turn as it quakes in rapturous ecstasy.
2- The Kyton begins coughing and exhales a cloud of bloody smoke that fills 50' feet around the Kyton.  All creatures within the cloud must save or take 1d4 poison damage from the Kyton's toxic blood, creatures with open wounds make the save with disadvantage.
3- The Kyton vomits up 1d4 [1= A swarm of carnivorous worms; 2= A swarm of flying beetles; 3= A swarm of scorpions; 4= A swarm of tiny rodent skulls with fleshy tails and stone eyes.]  This swarm runs around for 1 minute (10 rounds) randomly attacking a different creature each round.  It has 2 HD and fights until dead or until one minute has passed, after which it melts into sludge.
4- The Kyton is teleported 1d10*10' in a random direction.  Roll 1d4 with 1 equaling North, 2 equaling East, 3 South and 4 West.
5- The Kyton melts into a puddle of melted flesh and liquefying bone.  After 1d10 minutes, the Kyton must save.  On a failed save, the Kyton will return to it's normal state after 1 day.  On a successful save, the Kyton reassembles itself immediately.
6- The Kyton's spell instead produces a cloud of colorful smoke and a shower of bright sparks.  No other effect.    

Tactics:
- Use Binding Chain to grapple one enemy
- Wound that creature so it begins bleeding out
- Use spells to augment your melee attacks or escape from a tight situation

New Spells:

Enhance Sensation
--------------------------------------------------
R: touch    T: creature        D: [dice] minutes

One creature you touch has all physical sensations double in intensity.  This causes a creature to take +[dice] damage, until the creature runs out of FS, after which it begins taking normal damage again, as this only makes the damage hurt more, not actually more dangerous. 

Additionally, if a creature is exposed to a particularly painful or pleasurable sensation while under the influence of this spell, that creature takes [dice] COG damage a round.  If reduced to 0 COG, that creature falls into a near-catatonic trance for the rest of the duration (if pleasurable) or begins screaming and will do anything to make it stop (if painful).

Inflict Agony
----------------------------------------------------
R: touch    T: creature        D: one action

One creature you touch takes [sum] psychic damage as pain sears through their body, lighting every nerve on fire.  This damage cannot reduce a creature below 1 HP.  Additionally, after using this spell, a creature can make a save.  On a successful save, that creature regains all the HP it had before taking damage from this spell, minus [dice].  On a failed save, the creature regains no HP.

Ex: For example, a creature with 10 HP takes 8 damage from this spell if cast with 2 [dice].  If the creature successfully saves, he regains that 6 HP (8-[dice(2)]).  If he fails, he regain none of his lost HP.    

Kyton Evangelists group themselves into a variety of schools, each one with it's own philosophy and goals.  To see what school any given Evangelist falls into, roll on the table below:

1d8
1- Apocrisiarus [Apoc-Chriss-Sair-E-us].  This school believes that mortals suffer because of the mistruths they believe about themselves, the world and each other.  As such, it uses pain to strip away the illusions the patient* believes in, until the patient will only say things that are truthful.  Kytons from this school work slowly and deliberately, as they know that when under the knife, patients will say anything to make the pain stop.  As such, they give the patients time to rest and reflect upon their sessions, so that the patient can recognize the illusions in his life for what they are- illusions.

Statblock Changes:

Truth-Teller: Apocrisiarus Evanglists cannot outright lie.  They can deceive, talk around an issue or ignore the question, but they cannot tell a direct falsehood.

Enemy of Illusions: Apocrisiarus Evangelists, when confronted by an illusion, must save.  On a failed save, the illusion becomes iron-clad to the Evangelist, and affects them as if it was real.  If you are in the Realm of Grazui and the Evangelist fails a save like this, the illusion also becomes real for everyone else.  On a successful save, however, the Evangelist instantly sees through the illusion and cannot be effected by it.     

Apocrisiarus Evangelists also know the spell(s): Sighted Hands.

Sighted Hands
----------------------------------------------------------
R: self        T: self        D: [dice] minutes

For the duration, if you are touching someone, you can tell when they are lying and when they are telling the truth.

2- Lampadarius [Lam-A-Darius].  This school believes that the universe is a great struggle between dualities, light and darkness, good and evil, law and chaos, and believes the best path is the middle way between the two.  All creatures should balance their cruelty with kindness and vice versa.  Kytons from this school horribly torture their patients, but then seek to balance this cruelty with kindness.  They will whisk their patients off to chateaus and ply them with silk cushions, fine wines and massages that melt the patients into puddles of warm feelings, then drag them down to the dungeon and drown their patients in blood. 

Statblock Changes:

Low-Light Vision: As long as there is any form of light at all, even a lone candle or a shower of sparks in an otherwise lightless environment, Lampadarius Evangelists can see as if it the environment is brightly illuminated.  They cannot see in pitch or perfect darkness.

Lampadarius Evangelists also know the spell(s): Darkness, Light

3- Libitinarii [Lib-it-in-nari].  The Libitinarii believe that the cause of all suffering is desire.  They believe that if you never desired anything, but merely accepted whatever you came across in the journey of life, you would find happiness.  However, mortals desire so many things, even things they cannot possibly obtain.  As such, Libitinarii Evangelists work to quench all desires in their patients, either by depriving them of everything or by allowing them to indulge themselves freely until they exhaust themselves, then cutting them off.  Another thing to note is the prevalence of ice in both their "treatments" and their iconography.  The Libitinarii are obsessed with cold, ice and snow, taking their rhetoric about "cooling the flame of desire" literally sometimes.  They are known to freeze creatures in ice and leave them their for long periods of time, while they meditate atop their frozen patients.

Statblock Changes:

Immunity to Cold and Cold Damage

Libitinarii Evangelists also know the spell(s): Chill Breath, Conjure Ice

Conjure Ice
-------------------------------------------------
R: 50'         T: surface     D: [dice] + 2 rounds

You cover up to 10*[sum] square feet of floor or ground or in a thick layer of ice. Creatures attempting any action in the affected areas must Save vs Dex or fall prone.

This spell comes courtesy of Red Kangaroo.

4- Oitos.  While all Kytons believe in pushing creatures to the limits of mortal endurance then beyond, most schools do not kill their patients unless absolutely necessary, regarding death as a line that should be nudged but never openly crossed.  The Oitos school is radical then, it's notion that not only should that line by crossed, but regularly trespassed through the use of Necromancy.  Oitos Evangelists believe that the universe is one of illusions, as the Apocrisiarus do, but they believe that the greatest of these illusions is life itself.  They take the Undead perspective that nothing is valuable, that all value is ultimately subjective and personally defined.  They are a cruel, desperate, cynical bunch.  Other Kytons tend to look down on them, because they are thought to be crude and inelegant in their treatment.

Statblock Changes:

Undead: Oitos Evangelists are Undead.  They are immune to poison and disease.  They do not need to eat, sleep or breathe.  Any spell that says "Undead" in its title or description is talking about something like this. 

Sunlight Damage: Oitos Evangelists take 1d6 radiant damage for every round they spend in sunlight.

Already Dead: Unless decapitated, cut to pieces, burnt to ashes by sunlight or reduced to zero HP by a magical attack or weapon, Oitos Evangelists has an X-in-6 chance of their body knitting itself back together and recovering from the damage they took, where X is equal to the number of HD they have.

Oitos Evangelists also know the spell(s): Create Servant, Enslave Undead

5- Phylacator.  Phylacator Evangelists hold no illusions about what they do- they know what they do hurts people.  And that is the point.  Phylacator is a school that teaches that not only is moral behavior important, but that the standards for Good and Evil are absolutely rigid and extremely strict.  Lying is always wrong, no matter what, even if it is done for a good cause.  If they knew who Kant was, they would likely agree with him, right after they peeled off his skin for being a bad person.  Phylacator Evangelists take people back to their dungeons and torture them for their crimes.  They do this because only blood can pay for sin, and only through suffering can mortals find salvation.  They punish their patients until they judge them repentant, then grant them the mercy of a quick death.

Statblock Changes:


Confessor: If a Phylacator Evangelist injures a creature, that creature must save.  On a failed save, that creature must tell the Evangelist a wicked thing it did, based on that creature's personal feelings. 

Phylacator Evangelists also know the spell(s): Take Captive, Zone of Truth

6- Termagant.  The Termagant are a school of Kytons who are often scoffed at by their contemporaries for being unsophisticated, crude or superfluous.  For unlike most other schools, the Termagants believe in utilizing sexuality as an aspect of enlightenment.  They hold that the sexual complementarity between male and female, the union of two souls, usually in the context of sexual congress, is a beautiful and divine thing.  And while most Kytons do derive some pleasure, even sensual pleasure, from treating their patients, they keep a distance from them.  The patients are there to be educated, not to be pleasured to provide it to the Kyton treating them.  The Termagants believe otherwise, saying that the most effective form of education is one that mixes pleasure and pain and replicates the original process through which the first Kytons were created.  So while a Termagant Kyton will seek to give you pleasure through intercourse with it, the things that Kytons do when knowing each other are as horrific and perverse as their tortures.   

Statblock Changes:    

Addictive Treatment: Those who are tortured/have intercourse (because they are similar activities) with a Termagant Evangelist must save.  On a failure, they gain the Conviction, "I would like to experience the touch of a Evangelist again."  Whenever presented with an opportunity to submit to an Evangelist, they must successfully save to resist.

Termagant Evangelists also know the spell(s): Arousal, Groping Tentacles

These spells come courtesy of Red Kangaroo, again.

Apostles

Number Appearing: 1 more than the number of Kytons, barring special circumstances
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1d4 local tongues and 1 archaic language
Treasure: Money and other valuables taken from freshly captured Sacrai

Mortals who are taken by the Kytons to become their patients are evaluated through the treatments they endure, to see if they can become a greater part of the Kyton's plans, or if they are merely material that should be chopped apart and used for other projects.  These mortals are known as the Sacrai, an ancient word that used to mean "lower rank person" from which we derive the modern word "Sacrifice".

The Apostles are those who have been chosen, those who have endured the many trials of the Kytons to emerge as something deserving of greater treatment.  Apostles are collaborators and servants of the Kytons, assisting them in their mission.  Apostles handle duties that are considered too menial for the Kytons, handling any task beneath the Kytons but too sensitive or important to be left in the hands of a slave. 

Sacrai Apostle
HD 2
AR 1 [Chain Mail]
Atk Hooked Staff (1d6 + grapple) or Barbed Net
Mor 12
Saves 9 or less

Net: Sacrai Apostles usually carry Nets made of barbed wire.  Any creature hit by one takes 1d4 sharp damage when entangled, and each time it takes an action to try and escape the net, it takes another 1d4 damage.  It also takes another 1d4 damage if the net is not pulled off in a slow, careful way.  These nets have 3 HD and can only be hurt by something that could cut through wire.  They are vulnerable to fire and immune to lightning damage.  Should the net take fire or lightning damage, creatures entangled in the net take half or equal damage respectively. 

Loyal: Sacrai Apostles are extremely, pathologically dedicated to the Kytons.  Should a Sacrai Apostle see a Kyton in danger or have reason to believe one is in danger, the Apostle may reroll any failed morale check and gains a new save against any Charm or Fear effect.

Tactics:
- Entangle one creature with nets
- Grapple the next strongest and have your allies attack it while it is vulnerable
- Protect the Kytons, for they are your beneficent saviors


Precentor Apostle

Number Appearing: 1
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages:
Treasure:

A type of Apostle, Precentors are tasked with the supervision and pacification of slaves.  This is a task usually left only to constructs who cannot disobey or slaves who have been ground down so much they might as well be flesh constructs, but sometimes a thinking mind is necessary to administer the chattel.  This is where the Precentor comes in.  Not only are they good at stopping revolts, but they are artists in their own right, making music of screams by eliciting wails, howls and yells from their victims, but also by literally mixing screams with music.  They are known to be very skilled at playing a variety of instruments, including instruments of torture.  They also sometimes accompany the Kytons during their work hours, filling the pleasure-palaces and torture-chambers of their esteemed masters with gentle melodies and angelic songs, only occasionally interrupted by howls of pain. 

Precentor Apostle
HD 2
AR 2 [Natural Armor]
Atk Wand (1d6 psychic)
Mor 12
Saves 9 or less

Screaming Chorus: Whenever a creature is injured by a Precentor Apostle or by one of the Precentor's allies, that creature must save.  On a failure, that creature takes 1d6 COG damage.  If this COG damage reduces a creature to 0 COG, that creature is Charmed to the Precentor and becomes one of the Bloody Fanatics.  This Charm effect ceases should the Precentor not be within 100', die or be otherwise incapacitated.  COG lost this way returns at a rate of 1 point per hour, but anyone who has been turned into a Bloody Fanatic for more than 1 day is lost forever, his mind broken in such a way that only divine-level healing could restore it. 

Entourage: Precentor Apostles are accompanied everywhere by at least 1d4 (exploding) Bloody Fanatics, but numbers can increase or decrease depending on circumstances.

Tactics:
- Stay back, let the Fanatics take the risk
- Target the strongest opponent, whittle him down
- Retreat if you lose all your fanatics or are in danger of dying

by Chuck Hodi
Bloody Fanatics

Number Appearing: 1d4 (exploding) per Percentor Apostle
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: none
Treasure: none

These are the creatures who follow the Precentor like dogs.  They are broken people, humanoids of familiar and exotic races from which the higher mind has been removed through insanity, madness and crushing despair.  Their eyes are flat and dull, with nothing behind them.  They do not speak nor seem to understand any higher concepts.  They wear rags, not knowing how to change their clothes or even that they need to wear them.  They cannot speak, but instead scream whenever something exciting is happening, and quietly cry and curl up in corners when nothing is.  They are violent maniacs and fight like rabid dogs.  They have no fear, except of Kytons, and will fight to the last man, unless ordered not to.  They obey the Precentor without question, and would similarly obey any Kyton as a living God.  They do not usually use weapons unless they find one or see you using a similar weapon, in which case they might remember how to use it.  Mostly they just grab rocks off the ground and use them to bash in enemy skulls, or tear the enemy apart with their bare hands. 

Bloody Fanatics are the waste products left over when a patient doesn't physically die on the table.  These poor wretches do not even have the mind left to defy the Kytons, instantly collapsing at the mere sight of one.  As such, they are given over to the Precentor to fill the air with lovely music, and to provide one last service to the Kytons. 

Bloody Fanatics are usually given to the Precentors to manage, but the Precentors only exercise nominal control over them.  Controlling a mob of Bloody Fanatics is a bit like controlling a pack of excitable dogs with a handful of bacon; while you might be able to direct them to go where you want them too, ultimately your control is limited. 

Bloody Fanatics
HD 1
AR none
Atk Improvised Weapon or Fist (1d6)
Mor 16
Saves 7 or less

Fearless: Bloody Fanatics have no fear, automatically passing any save vs fear.  The only thing that can make them save vs fear is a Kyton, in which case, their morale is 9.

Undisciplined: Bloody Fanatics do not use tactics.  When presented with the opportunity to make an easy kill or chase down a wounded foe, they must make a morale check.  On a failure, the Bloody Fanatics will break ranks and charge after that creature.

Tactics:
- Obey, except when their is a chance for fresh blood
- Rip and Tear
- KILL KILL KILL
Other Sacrai:

Sacrai Slaves:
- Stat as 1 HD Commoners with barbed spears, halberds or spiked clubs
- Do not wear armor, but can and do use weapons
- Zealously loyal to their masters because they are absolutely terrified of them, do not believe they have any other option
- Will not flee or betray their masters unless they feel they can get away with it, and they usually won't think they can
- Most are not brave enough for that and simply fight recklessly, in hopes of dying in combat
- Not suicidally brave, but vicious and brutal combatants

Number Appearing: 1d6 per Kyton
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1 common tongue and 1 archaic dialect
Treasure: none

Sacrai Cantors

Number Appearing: For every group of 4 or more Kyton, there is a 50% one of the Kytons has a Cantor
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: none
Treasure: none

Made from Sacrai Children, Cantors are living tools that function as familiars for the Kytons.  They are perfectly loyal- their reasoning and higher minds curtailed to the point where they are little smarter than dogs.  But instead of the mad dogs of the rabid fanatics, Cantors are more like well-trained hunting hounds.  They are lavished with praise by their Kyton masters and having one is a sign of status among the Kytons.

Sacrai Cantor
HD 0 - 3 HP
AR none
Atk Fist (1d4)
Mor 14
Saves 7 or less

Psychic Link: The Cantor and it's master have a psychic connection.  The Master can send the Cantor telepathic orders and see through it's eyes.  The Cantor's Master can also speak through them. 

Padfoot: Cantors have advantage on all stealth checks.

Tactics:
- Avoid combat
- Utilize stealth as much as possible

Cantors are used as scouts and couriers.  They are never impeded by those loyal to the Kytons.  They never take part in fighting unless things are truly dire.  All Kytons value their Cantors, and should one be killed, that Kyton will take revenge upon the killer.  Cantors never speak, unless their Master wishes to convey a message through them, then they croak out a message through neglected vocal chords and damaged throats. 

Kyton Ostiarius

Number Appearing: 2
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1d12 archaic languages and dialects, but they will speak something you do
Treasure: Crowns and armor made of ruby-like crystals (not actual rubies, but could fool someone)

The Guardians of the Doorway, the Ostiarius is an office of high honor granted only to very specific Kyton Evangelists.  To be considered for the office, one must be disciplined, independently minded and ruthless.  The frivolity and dramaticism of the Evangelists is not permitted here.  The Ostiarius are stern protectors and cannot allow themselves to be distracted, for should they do so, this would risk the lives of the entire expedition.

The Ostiarius have two primary duties- the first is as infiltrator, the second is as guardian.

Cults of Grazui the Sumptuous can sometimes open portals to the Beloved Master's realm on their own, but not always.  Sometimes they lack the magical talent, knowledge or the courage.  At other times, the Kyton Lords of the Master may seek to enter a world that has not yet known their tender ministration.  As such, the Ostiarius are sent forward to fulfill their first duty, as Infiltrators. 

There are always two of them on these missions, a Doormaster and Keybearer; a Gatekeeper and Keymaster; an Opener and a Sustainer; the titles change depending on the specific circumstances but they all mean the same thing.  Both Ostiarius enter the world and after locating a location where the Veil between Worlds is sufficiently thin, they will perform a ritual that will open the way.  When they do, a doorway to the realm of the Beloved Master will open and the Kytons, along with their ilk, will spill forth into our world, ready to enlighten us.

The second duty the Ostiarius perform is more mundane, that of guarding the portal and keeping it open.  As long as as least one of them maintains the vigil, the portal cannot be closed.  They are always the first to enter and the last to leave.  They never abandon their posts, as they would never wish to leave their comrades in a world beyond the glorious light of their beloved master. 

The Ostiarius do not always come along, they are elites only deployed for special missions that demand success.  They are usually only deployed when those whose are leaving the realm of the Beloved Master are important enough that their escape should be ensured, or when the forces that opened the portal are unlikely to be able to maintain it for long.

Kyton Ostiarius
HD 4
AR 2 [Crystal Growths]
Atk Crystal Shard Shower (1d10/1d10 sharp, save for half) or Spell
Mor 18
Saves 11 or less

Masochist: Kyton Ostiarius have endured as much as any other Kyton.  To them, pain is as enjoyable as pleasure.  As such, they take -1 damage from all sources.

Ageless: Kyton Ostiarius do not age and cannot be aged magically.   

Immunity to Torture: Kyton Ostiarius have inflicted and have had inflicted upon them the worst tortures you can possibly imagine, followed by far worse.  Nothing you can do to them will exceed what they have endured - to them, your attempts at torture and inflicting pain are a child's scribbling compared to that of a Renaissance Master.  It is comedy.

Spellcaster: Kyton Ostiarius have Mana Dice equal to their HD.  Their MD burn out on a roll of 5 or 6 and on doubles or triples trigger a roll on the Chaos table, (see below).  Kytons know the spells: Ash Cloud, Chromatic Orb, Enhance Sensation, Fingers of the Thunderhead, Healing Touch, Inflict Agony, Protection from Energy and Wave of Mutilation.

Chaos of the Kyton Ostiarius:
1d6

1- The Ostiarius takes 1d4 damage as it hacks up a handful of razor sharp shards of crystal.
2- The Ostiarius is temporarily blinded for 1d10 rounds.  It may save at the end of each round- on a successful save, it regains the ability to see. 
3- A portal to a random universe opens for 1d6 rounds within 30' of the Ostiarius instead of the spell's normal effect. 
4- The air around the Ostiarius for 30' fills with glittering crystal dust, dropping visibility to 1'.  All ranged attacks into and out of the cloud have disadvantage.
5- All creatures within 100' of the Ostiarius must save.  The first creature to fail his save transforms into a red crystal statue.  This effect can be undone by a Stone to Flesh spell or broken as a curse.
6- The Ostiarius' spell instead produces a cloud of colorful smoke and a shower of bright sparks.  No other effect.   

Tactics:
- One focuses on protection, the other on attacking
- Heal each other in danger
- While one heals, the other fights


Suffragan

Number Appearing: 1
Alignment: True Neutral
Languages: None, 1 occasionally
Treasure: The manacles and chains that bind it and the wealth left behind by previous victims

Suffragans, also called "Joyful Things" are creatures that were of no further use to the Kytons, who then turned them into this.  Each Suffragan is unique, a living art project designed to demonstrate a Kyton's status, creativity and intelligence.  Each one is a unique spectacle of cruelty and ingenuity, a demonstration of the creator's vision and skill.  They are all hideous to behold and suffering pain you cannot possibly conceive.

Suffragans also function as living weapons, enormous guardians and living battering rams that can crush most resistance.  And while any Kyton that has the resources to make a Suffragan has many other servants who can come to his or her aid, there is little that a half ton of meat and spikes cannot remove as a problem.

Base Suffragan Statblock
HD 1d4+1
AR none
Atk Unarmed Strike or Weapon (1d8/1d8)
Mor 18
Saves (7+HD) or less
Resistance to all non-magical damage

Agony: Suffragans barely feel damage, as they are constantly in pain.  They take half damage from all non-magical sources of damage.  Only the pain of magic can distract them from their own persistent agony. 

Tactics:
- Charge in
- Attack the first creature you see
- Flail about randomly, attacking seemingly at random

What Joyful thing comes to face you?

1d4

1- A man with his arms, legs, eyes, nose and tongue removed.  He has had spiked whips attached to the stumps of his arms and his lower body cuts off at the waist.  His tongue has been replaced with a rotating blade that extends up to 10' out of his mouth that he uses to carve apart his enemies.
2- An enormously fat man with his limbs amputated and his eyes removed, his mouth cut into a permanent serene grin.  He has the power to vomit acid, and his jaw has been strengthened so he can bite through steel.  He is slow and clumsy, however, and groans constantly to himself, as his enhanced stomach churns and bubbles within him, causing him permanent discomfort.  He is resistant, but not immune to his own acid.
3- A pregnant woman with a stomach swollen to be larger than the rest of her torso no limbs and her face, with the exception of her mouth, covered in a featureless iron mask.  Tentacles grow from where her genitals and she uses she to grab and pull creatures toward her, where she tries to get them to drink her breast milk.  Her milk is a narcotic, you will not feel anything as her tentacles disembowel you and then she begins eating you, nor will you really care.  If this fails or she is damaged, she will give birth to a dozen stillborn undead children who will lurch toward you with bloody, half-formed hands and attempt to strangle you.
4- A man with his limbs broken and incorrectly healed so he can run better on all fours, with a potruding spine and head twisted around backwards, but somehow he is stubbornly, unnaturally still alive.  His muzzle was stretched and filled with steel teeth that are slowly poisoning him, as will they if he bites you.  Additionally, as he didn't have a tail, his masters gave him a new one that drags along behind him.  This tail is a thick coil of muscle and strikes like a mace, but only to those creatures foolish enough to try and avoid his toxic bite.

Augur

Number Appearing: 1d6
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: none, can understand 1d10 archaic tongues and dialects but cannot speak
Treasure: Their shells/prisons are made of enchanted metal

Augurs are Sacrai, Kytons or Apostles who have grievously sinned against their overseer or the Beloved Master.  For their crimes, they have mutilated, everything unimportant cut off of their body, and then imprisoned in spherical metal prisons covered in blades on the inside and out.  These prisons are enchanted to permit the accused to levitate, so they can continue to serve their Beloved Master. 

Augurs are a hated and despised class within the Kytons, below even the lowliest of Apostles.  Most of the creatures forced to become Augurs are hateful, despicable creatures.  They are deprived of their right to speak so they express their frustration in other ways, usually by trampling their enemies underfoot and killing those who they have not been explicitly ordered to spare.

Augur
HD 2
AR 3
Atk Slam (1d8 Blunt) or (1d10 sharp)
Mor 14
Saves 9 or less

Retractible Blades: Augurs are covered in blades which they can retract or extend as a free action on it's turn.  If an Augur's blades are not extended, if it misses, it can bounce off the target and ricochet, getting +1 to it's next attack (max +4).  However, if it's blades are extended, it cannot do this.

Blade Grapple: If an Augur hits a creature with it's blades extended, it attaches to that creature and that creature is considered grappled.  The Augur can then use it's action to do 1d4 sharp damage to that creature on it's turn. 

Catch: You can attempt to catch an Augur out of the air by making a STR check equal to the Augur's d20 (from it's most recent attack roll).  If you succeed, you catch the Augur.  You take 1d4 damage upon catching it if it's blades are extended, but none if they are not.

Levitate: Augurs can levitate up to 30' off the ground.

360 Degree Vision: Augurs can see in every direction around them at all times.  They are very hard to sneak up on, making all perception checks based on vision with advantage.

Tactics:
- Float around until an enemy looks interesting
- Bounce off the walls a bit, then slam into them
- Extend blades, slice and dice

Kyton Eremite

Number Appearing: 1
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1d20 archaic tongues and dialects, they might speak something you do
Treasure: Rare weapons and armor, the spoils of countless worlds

The Kytons do not fight.  They are not soldiers, but scholars, teachers and philosophers seeking after truth.  They do not fight pitched battles and refrain from violence against those who can resist it.  Their armies, such as they are, are made of mostly of insane slaves, most of whom cannot fight well or at all.

The one exception to this are the Ostiarius and the Eremites.

The Eremites are the war-leaders of the Kytons, vicious and unrelenting butchers who revel in the clash of steel and the sounds of battle.  The flying sparks when spear scrapes breastplate, the scream of man and horse when arrow strikes flesh, the smell and taste when fire touches flesh and consumes it like candy, these bring joy to their black hearts. 

In the eyes of their fellow Kytons, Emerites are a necessary evil, crude and unrefined, barbarians who possess not the soul of an artist, nor his skill.  But as the greatest protector of the Kytons, they are permitted to dwell among them. 

Kyton Emerite
HD 5
AR 1 [Natural Armor]
Atk Claws and Weapon (1d10/1d10)
Mor 16
Saves 12 or less  

Flyer: Kyton Emerites can fly.  They get +2 to AR and +4 to initiative when flying.  They cannot hover and must keep moving to stay in the air.

Spring-Heels: Kyton Emerites can land and take off in the same turn, rapidly moving between air and ground with no need to make a roll of any kind, unless circumstances make that more difficult for them.  

Masochist: Kyton Emerites love to hurt each other.  To them, pain is as enjoyable as pleasure.  As such, they take -1 damage from all sources.

Ageless: Kyton Emerites do not age and cannot be aged magically.     

Immunity to Torture: Kyton Emerites inflict and have had inflicted upon them the worst tortures you can possibly imagine, followed by far worse.  Nothing you can do to them will exceed what they have endured - to them, your attempts at torture and inflicting pain are a child's scribbling compared to that of a Renaissance Master.  It is comedy.

Spellcaster: Kyton Emerites have Mana Dice equal to their HD.  Their MD burn out on a roll of 5 or 6 and on doubles or triples trigger a roll on the Chaos table, (use the base Kyton Chaos table).  Kyton Emerites know the spells: Blade Barrier, Corpse Gas, Cut on the Dotted Line, Hateful Ground, Inflict Agony and Venom Bullet.

Tactics:
- Use your spells to cut enemies off from each other
- Harass your chosen victim until they die
- Use spells to weaken chosen victim before going in for the kill

New Spell:

Hateful Ground
---------------------------------------------------
R: 50'        T: ground        D: [dice] minutes

You target an area of ground or floor made up of up to [dice] 10' x 10' squares.  Any creature that crosses one of these squares takes [sum] sharp damage, save for half, as phantom blades surge up out of the ground and slash at them.  There is no indication of what ground is safe, except when the blades are attacking someone.

If cast with 3 or more [dice], you can designate a password that if spoken aloud, will allow a creature to safely pass over the hexed ground without being damaged. 

Emerites resemble scabarous men or the corpses of famine victims, covered in blood-stained bandages wrapped tightly around their rotting bodies.  Their flesh is not their own, they slay strong enemies and tear organs, muscle and sinew from the bodies of the slain and use them to augment their own frames.  That being said, their magical transplantation is crude at best, meaning their bodies often reject the transplants, which start to necrotize and rot.  As such, Emerites are always eager to fight strong opponents, as they hope to gather their appendages to add to their failing bodies.

Yet do not be fooled by their horrific appearance, or by the skeletal wings potruding from their shoulders.  They are not as frail as they appear, with their thin limbs overflowing with stolen vitality.  They can fly as well, using their added mobility to hunt opponents like a hawk chases the field mouse, as well as utilizing guerrilla tactics.  They are known to swoop down on their opponents, deliver a punishing strike, then take to the sky and soar out of danger before their foe can strike back in return.  They never fight fair, for it is not the honorable struggle that concerns them, but the glorious final moment when they strike the final blow and convert a living, breathing man overflowing with emotion and potential into something that you could find on the floor of an abbatoir, or a slaughter house.

Ephialites

Number Appearing: For every group of Kytons, there is a X-in-20 chance one of them is a Deathless, where X is the number of Kytons in that group
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Languages: 1d100 archaic tongues and dialects, they speak your language, albeit in a way that sounds queer to your ears.
Treasure: As Kyton Evangelist, but everything they have is of a much higher quality

Ephialites, also called Heavenly Parasites by the Kytons, are a species of parasitic creatures that has one particular trait.  These parasites drain mana as well as blood and other fluids from the body of the host.  As such, sometimes when a host is near death and the bond between soul and body is weakened, if the host is unwittingly playing host to an Ephialite, sometimes the parasite accidentally absorbs the fleeing soul, allowing the dying creature to live on it's body.  The Kytons discovered this trait long ago, and have been using it to ensure their own immortality. 

Through a secret ritual, the most ancient of the Kytons introduce a Kyton into their bodies and when the parasite is fully grown, they allow it to absorb their soul and take over the parasite's body.  This ritual is known as the Feeding of the Worm, and those who successfully undergo it are called the Ephialites, a word best translated as "Deathless".  The Deathless are the mortal rulers of the Kytons, second only to the Demigod children of the Beloved Master, who sit at his feet and have places of high honor in his court.  Besides the prestige one gains from this ritual, the Deathless also gain a number of special powers.

Firstly, the Deathless' life is tied to the parasite, not the body it currently inhabits.  Should this body be slain, the Deathless can chew their way out and find another living body to act as host.

Secondly, the Deathless can take the body of an unwilling creature and hold it hostage, compelling the creature they are inside of to submit to them.  Not only is it virtually impossible to resist a creature casting magic on you from within your body, but should the Deathless run out of mana, it can simply employ it's claws and teeth against it's victim's organs.

Statblock Changes:

In a Body:


(The Deathless have the same statblock as an ordinary Kyton Evangelist, plus...)

HD 1d6+1

Spellcaster: Kyton Deathless have Mana Dice equal to HD of their most powerful body.  Their MD burn out on a roll of 5 or 6 and on doubles or triples trigger a roll on the Chaos table, (use the base Kyton Chaos table).  Kyton Deathless know the spells: Baleful Moon, Circle of Death, Enhance Sensation, Fly, Foresight, Healing Touch, Hateful Ground, Inflict Agony and Rapturous Vision.

Hijacker: Kyton Deathless can treat a body they are inhabiting as their own for the purposes of casting spells.  They can also attempt to dominate the soul of any living creature within that body as if they were a possessing spirit.  However, should a creature

Outside a Body:

Deathless Parasite Body
HD 0 - 2 HP
AR none
Atk Teeth and Claws (1 sharp + Paralyzing Venom)
Mor 15 (in a body)/8 (outside a body)
Saves (7+HD of most powerful body) or less
Immune to Poison and Acid Damage

Spellcaster: Kyton Deathless have Mana Dice equal to HD of their most powerful body.  Their MD burn out on a roll of 5 or 6 and on doubles or triples trigger a roll on the Chaos table, (see below).  Kyton Deathless know the spells: Baleful Moon, Circle of Death, Enhance Sensation, Fly, Foresight, Healing Touch, Hateful Ground, Inflict Agony and Rapturous Vision.

Paralyzing Venom: A Kyton Deathless can, if it damages a creature with a melee attack, inject poison into that creature.  That creature must save.  On a failed save, that creature is paralyzed for 1d10+4 minutes.  That is enough time for the Kyton Deathless to crawl down it's throat and make itself comfy inside the creature's digestive track.

by Vladyslava Hladkova

Kyton Invasion:

If you wish to generate an expedition of Kytons, roll on the tables below:

What did they come prepared for?

1d4

1- 1 creature.  Subtract 2 from the roll on the table below.
2- A small group of creatures, less than 10.  Subtract 1 from the roll on the table below.
3- A medium-sized group of creatures, between twenty to fifty.  Add 1 to the roll on the table below.
4- A large group, between 50 to 100.  Add 2 to the roll on the table below.

How many Kytons came, and how many retainers did they bring with them?

1d8

1- 1d4.  The Kytons brought 1 Apostle and 1 Sacrai Slave per Kyton.
2- 1d4.  The Kytons brought 1d6 Apostles and 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton.
3- 1d6.  The Kytons brought 1d8 Apostles and 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton.
4- 1d8.  The Kytons brought 1d10 Apostles, 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton, and 1 Kyton Emerite.
5- 1d10.  The Kytons brought 1d12 Apostles, 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton, 1 Kyton Emerite, 1 Precentor Apostle and 1d4 (exploding) Bloody Fanatics.
6- 1d12.  The Kytons brought 1d20 Apostles, 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton, 2 Kyton Emerites, 1d3 Suffragans, 1 Percentor Apostle and 1d10 + 1d4 (exploding) Bloody Fanatics.
7- 1d20.  The Kytons brought 1d20+10 Apostles, 1d6 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton, 1d4+1 Emerites, 1d4 Suffragans, 2 Percentor Apostles and 1d20 + 1d4 (exploding) Bloody Fanatics.
8- 1d20+10.  The Kytons brought 1d50+10 Apostles, 3 Sacrai Slaves per Kyton, 1d8 Emerites, 1d6 Suffragans, 1d4+1 Percentor Apostles and 2 Bloody Fanatics per Apostle. 

What equipment did the Kytons bring with them?

1d6

1- Esoteric instruments of torture.  Could be sold to a tyrant for a hefty fee, if you can manage to move one. 
2- Detailed physiology textbooks detailing in great detail the innards of various creatures, describes methods of healing, surgery and torture far in advance of this world.  Such a volume would be very useful to a healer without magic, a Sage, or a collector of rare books.  This could easily be sold for a the book's weight in gold, or far more.
3- Restraints, shackles and chains strong enough to contain most any creature, some made of precious metals, gilded or inlaid with jewels. 
4- A box of 1d6 potions of healing, plus 1d4 other potions relating to medicine.
5- A box containing 1d8 vials of rare poisons. 
6- Magic items.  Roll on the Table below.  

Treasures of the Kyton:

1d8

1- 1d6 Migraine Eggs.  Crack one against a person's head or skin and they are struck by a nearly debilitating headache.  This makes concentration extremely difficult, imposing disadvantage on all checks relating to concentration, memory or focus.
2- Tough Love.  A dagger with a blade of gold, yet is still sharper and harder than steel.  The dagger does 1d6 sharp damage on a hit, then when it is withdrawn, heals the target for 1d6 HP. An ideal weapon for the sadist who wishes not to harm his opponent. 
3- Pain Wand.  A wand that does psychic damage, but cannot reduce a creature below 1 HP.  If damage would reduce a creature below 1 HP, it instead does 1d6 COG damage.  If this reduces a creature to 0 COG, that creature will be reduced to a gibbering mess, willing to do or say anything to make the pain stop. 
4- Agonizer.  A metal net infused with hatred for all living things and made from metal mined from the rocks of hell, this net comes in a locked box of sulfur-stained wood.  If opened, the net springs out and grabs hold of the nearest person.  It can be avoided by a DEX save if it attacked from surprise, or a check if not.  The net will continue to move until it wraps someone up.  After it does, it will paralyze that creature and inflict unspeakable agony on it.  The net can be disabled by dealing lightning damage to it, which doesn't hurt it but stuns it for 1d4 minutes, during which time it can be folded up and stuck back in the box. 
5- Healing Jar.  Take a creature that is wounded, stuff his nose with wax, insert a hollow reed into his mouth and then place him in this jar.  Fill the jar with wine, blood, salt and a variety of other ingredients.  Then heat the jar with fire evenly for eight hours.  If this process continues without interruption, the creature will rise from the pot eight hours later, fully healed of all injuries and back to maximum HP.  However, if the process is interrupted, the creature must save.  On a failed save, the creature dies.  On a successful save, the creature lives but loses 1d3 points from all stats and comes up melted-looking and deformed. 
6- Purified Sap from the Tree of Carnal Knowledge.  If you smear the sap on a wound, it will erase that wound.  It can remove a Horrible Wound, end the Bleeding Out condition, remove poison, end paralysis, restore sight to blinded eyes, hearing to deaf ears or if smeared on the stump of a severed appendage, it will cause that appendage to regenerate over 1d6+1 days.  If you wish to use it to restore HP, one use of it will heal you up to half HP, unless you're above half HP, in which case it heals you to full.  There is enough sap to be used for one of these purposes 1d6 times.  However, each time a person uses the sap, they must save.  On a failed save, they start to turn into a sapling of that tree.  This effect will slowly rob them of their DEX at a rate of 1 point per week until they become an immobile tree and produce fruits that poison the nations.  This effect can be broken as a curse, but it would be extremely difficult.
7- A Sacrai Slave.  The slave has a 50% of being male or female.  The slave has been horribly abused and tortured and will obey anyone who seems even mildly dominant, cringing and generally behaving pathetically the entire time.  If given years of love and positive attention, this slave might be able to become a normal person again.  At this point however, they're barely an independent agent.  There is a small chance that the Kytons will return to look for this slave, but they're much more likely to have not even noticed.
8- Stasis Ring.  A ring that if placed on someone, locks them in time.  Such a creature is invulnerable, does not age and cannot be affected by anything outside of itself.  It does not need food or water, nor does it notice time passing.  Other conditions affecting it are suspended until the ring is removed.  The creature is still affected by gravity.  When the ring is removed, the creature proceeds as it did from the moment the ring was placed on it's finger.  The creature cannot remove the ring on it's own.   
9- Ring of Femininity/Masculinity.  Putting on this ring changes the sex of the wearer to the opposite.  Your new form has the same approximate attractiveness as your normal form, so a homely man produces a homely woman and a handsome man produces a fair woman.  Removing the ring ends the change and transforms the wearer back.   
10- A red bag made of skin.  Opening the bag produces a small booklet, a jar of red paint and a pair of brushes.  If two people perform a ritual together, chanting while drawing a circle with the red paint, then sacrifice an animal in the circle it can open a portal to another universe.  The book details the ritual and how to access 1d4 other universes, including this one and the realm of Grazui the Sumptuous, labeled "Home".  There is enough red paint for 1d6 uses.  Once a portal has been opened, it stays open for X minutes, where X is the HD of the animal sacrificed, after which it collapses.

Kyton Plot Hooks:

1d4

1- A Sage hires you to help him search for a mathematical formula said to explain the entirety of the universe.  He is having trouble as not only is finding the formula hard, but those who do find it seem to disappear under strange and violent circumstances.  He is not stupid and would like protection. 
2- A Priest hires you to investigate the strange meetings taking place among some of the nobles in his city.  As you'll need to be high-status to get in, he gives you a fake identity as that of a middle ranked priest in his order.  When you get there, you will find the nobles are performing dark, sexual rituals to Grazui in the hopes that he will grant them eternal pleasure.  If you do not stop them, he will, and he might just take the whole city back with him to add it to his garden.  But you will have to be cautious, for these nobles command much of the power and armed men in the city.
3- One of the players is hired by a rich man's servants who claim he disappeared mysteriously, leaving only some blood, some incense and a strange puzzle device.  The device is a ring that if manipulated properly, all the rings snap together into a single band.  If the ring is solved, it will summon the Kytons, who will come to see who has called them.  They brought the rich man through, for he had grown tired of conventional pleasures and had heard the man who solved the ring would be granted an eternity of bliss.   
4- The players are camping in the woods when they hear screams, before a woman with a torn dress runs through their camp, fleeing for her life.  Shortly thereafter, a Kyton and his retainers ride up on a skinless horse, before dismissing them and going in pursuit of the woman.  If they follow, they will see the Kyton catch the woman and drag her back toward the portal.  If this abduction is stopped, the Kytons will try again until they get her, or until it proves too costly to do so. 

by GetpinnedArt

Friday, June 25, 2021

OSR: Superhero Class

by Ryan Ottley, from Invincible #58
You are a Superhero, or at least a Superhuman.  You should talk with your Referee at the start of the game to determine the morality of your character- no one likes the person who hears "No evil characters" and shows up to the party of Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic Goods with a Chaotic Evil Paladin of Carnage, but that goes double for a superhero game.  Just note that the tables below are based on the assumption that you are a heroic individual, or at least, you are attempting to pursue virtue to become a hero.   

Work with your Referee to generate your Superhuman, or roll on the tables below. 

How did you get your superpowers?

1d3

1- I was a subject of Government experimentation.
2- I inherited my powers.
3- I had an encounter with something otherworldy, which altered me in ways I have not yet fully discovered.

What are the side effects of gaining your powers?

1d6

1- My body was physically transformed, mutating me into something abnormal.
2- My body has become unusually sensitive, without certain stimuli, food or other sensations I am weakened, become sickly or suffer other maladies.
3- A part of my body was corrupted or altered and that corruption is slowly spreading to the rest of my body.
4- I have unusual cravings, impulses and thoughts that don't seem to be normal.
5- Whenever I use my powers, I feel like someone else is exerting control over me or that I'm not in control of myself/my body, but whenver I stop the feeling immediately recedes. 
6- I am afflicted by strange dreams, suffer from visions at unpredictable or random times or feel information from foreign sources "leaking" into my mind. 

Who is your mentor?

1d4

1- A current or former superhero, who I trained under and fought beside as their sidekick.
2- A government agent who, while having no powers of his own, showed me compassion and helped me to cope with my newfound abilities.
3- A soldier who understood the trauma I endured and supported me, no matter my many mistakes.
4- A civilian who risked everything to help me and whom I can never repay.

What is your relationship to the government?

1d4

1- I work for them as a federal agent.  I assist local municipal police departments and the federal government, whenever they need my help. 
2- I am licensed to work as a superhuman, but I work for a private hero agency.
3- I am a vigilante who pursues justice outside the law, as the current system is insufficient in my opinion.  I am wanted by the authorities, but not all of them agree with that official designation and may not put their full effort into capturing me.
4- I am considered a Black Cape, ie a Supervillain, and should they discover my presence, alerts will go out to conventional and superhuman law enforcement to arrest me.  I might be a despicable human being who has committed many evil acts, but I could just be a misunderstood hero, unfairly targeted by a corrupt establishment.     

by Fred Benes

Superhero
Starting HP: 1/3 of CON, rounded down to the nearest whole number.
Fighting Spirit: +2 per Superhero level, up to your COG score
Starting Equipment: Street/Casual Clothes, Hero License, Weapon of your choice (as determined by your level of Access), Costume, cellphone, handcuffs or sidearm

1: Crowned with Power, Hammers of Justice

Crowned with Power: You start with X number of Ability Points, depending on the level of game the Referee is running.  You can use these points to purchase powers from the Superhuman Ability Charts.  These powers always work unless circumstances change and do not require an additional resource to use unless they specify otherwise.  

Hammers of Justice: Your unarmed strikes count as Quick (d6) weapons and can do non-lethal or lethal damage as you choose. 

2+: Roll on the random advancement table.  Unless a result grants benefits from rolling it a second time or states otherwise, reroll. 

Superhero Random Advancement Table:
1d20


1-2- Great Soul.  The amount of Fighting Spirit you gain increases by +1 (max +4 per level).  If you roll this result again, your FS maximum increases to Total COG score+1 (max Total COG+4).

3- Lucky.  You gain an additional Luck Point. 

4- Skill Bonus.  Pick any non-combat task, such as investigation, knowledge of a specific subject, utilizing stealth, etc.  You get a +1 bonus to that activity.  If you roll this result again, you may select another skill, or increase your bonus for that skill.  If you choose to increase your skill bonus for a skill you already have, you increase that bonus from +1 to +2, then +1d6, then 1d6+1, then 1d6+2, and finally to +2d6, where it stops.  You cannot increase your skill bonus beyond +2d6, so you must choose another skill or you may reroll this result.

5- Ability Point.  You gain 1 Ability point which you can use to upgrade one of your powers and make it stronger, or you can give yourself a new power.  You can only gain new powers that are branches off of your previous power, or you have a definitive explanation for them.  For example, if your power was telekinesis, a branch power could be emotion control, because your telekinesis is so fine it can manipulate the cells in people's minds and prod them to produce more of certain hormones- thus altering their mood.  Alternatively, you could gain an unrelated power if you have an explanation, such as when the X-Men's Rogue drained so much energy from Ms. Marvel that she permanently gained her ability to fly, as well as her super-strength and invulnerability. 

6- Clothing Damage.  By reducing your armor's Armor Rating (AR) by 1, you gain a +1 bonus to Attack and Defense rolls for the duration of the current battle.

7- Righteous Rage.  If you are faced with an act of legitimate injustice, personal loss or witness something else traumatizing, you can fly into a rage.  While raging, you take -1 damage from all sources and get a +2 bonus to Attack and Defense rolls.  This rage lasts until the person or persons responsible for the evil you witnesses are defeated, dead, retreat or until you fall unconscious. 

8- Spandex Shield.  You can wear flimsy outfits and treat them as armor.  For you, spandex and other thin outfits work as Light Armor with an AR equal to 1+[CHA modifier].

9- Battle Cry.  As an action, you can scream at the top of your lungs.  This can either be a word or a simple animal roar.  When enemies hear this sound, if they are not in an overwhelmingly superior position, they must immediately check morale or flee.  Similarly, when allies hear this sound, they are bolstered and receive a +2 bonus to all morale checks for the next hour, and receive a new save against Fear effects.  Allies and enemies can only be affected by this ability 1/Day, unless the Referee rules otherwise. 

10- Fell the Greatest Foe.  When fighting an opponent larger than you, you do bonus damage equal to the number of size categories between you and your opponent.  So if they are Huge and you are Medium, you do +2 damage.

11- Disciple.  You gain an NPC follower.  This follower has a 50% of having superpowers of his or her own.  This follower is personally loyal to you for a reason determined by the Referee, but do not require payment and will not abandon you easily unless you severely mistreat them. 

12- Populist.  The common people where you are from are fond of you, whether for your heroic deeds, your attitude or simply because you are "their guy".  You can always find help among the common folk, in the form of advice, them hiding you from your enemies, them not revealing your secret identity should it be discovered, etc.  If you are particularly disliked by the population in general, this does not apply to the whole population, but only to one particular sub-group, whether ethnic, political or cultural.  If you roll this result again, you are so beloved by the people that should you need their help, you can call upon the vast body politic to aid you in direct action, or should you be facing overwhelming odds, that can trigger a revolt on your behalf.           

13- Just in the Nick of Time.  If you are not at the site of a disaster, battle or other dangerous situation where someone is in danger and in need of saving and there is a chance you could be there and you want to be there, you arrive just in time to try and save the day. 

14- Fortune Favors the Bold.  If you enter a battle without any Luck Points, you regain 1d4. 

15- Heroic Soul.  You have advantage on all saves made to resist charm or fear effects produced by creatures less virtuous than you.  This does not apply to effects produced by creatures more virtuous than you, or creatures lacking morality (such as beasts).

16- Marked for Judgement.  As an action, you can give your allies advantage on their next attack against a single target.  You can only use this ability once per fight, and only if that creature has attacked or damaged you.

17- Hero of the Downtrodden.  Whenever you enter a battle with the intention of fighting to protect someone weaker (less capable/fewer HD/fewer class levels), you regain 1d6+[your level] FS.  Referee's Discretion applies.  

18- Vanquisher of Evil.  When in combat, you can spend a Luck Point to gain Advantage on an attack. 

19- Dispenser of Justice.  If you choose to deal non-lethal damage on a hit, X times per day, where X is your CHA modifier, you can reroll your damage and take the higher result. 

20- Paragon of Virtue: 1/Day, if you are reduced to 0 HP or below, you can temporarily suppress any penalties caused by Horrible Wounds for the duration of the current situation (ex: a fight, being tortured, a daring rescue, etc).  Until that situation is resolved in one way or another, or you take a Wound that would kill you, you can continue to function normally.

artist unknown

Sunday, June 20, 2021

OSR: Black Science Superheroes

This is an idea that originally comes From The Sorcerer's Skull, I believe.  I couldn't find the original, however.  I was also inspired greatly by a Blasted and Cratered Land's post on the same subject.

by Ryan Ottley

The History of the Superman:

In 1921, a chartered fishing boat loaded with wealthy Americans on vacation and local guides accidentally stumbled upon a floating city in an otherwise empty patch of the Pacific Ocean.  The Americans, though warned otherwise, decided to get off and explore the city.  They found ancient, crumbling temples and water-logged ruins depicting a culture that seemed totally unlike anything else on Earth.  At first, they speculated it might be the lost City of Atlantis, or perhaps the mythical El Dorado.  But then, one of them discovered that not all of the city was just a ruin.  One of the Americans had found a massive door, engraved with reliefs and still shut.  With some effort and the dynamite they had brought along to aid in their fishing, the Americans were able to breach the door and open it. 

Inside they found the door was water-tight, preserving ancient art, architecture and technological devices the likes of which none of them had ever seen.  Before they could explore this any further, however, a monster emerged from within the sealed part of the ruin and attacked the Americans.  It slaughtered the majority and chased the survivors back to the boat.  The surviving Americans plus the natives tried first to fight, then to flee.  The first approach failed, but the second succeeded, and the few survivors managed to make their way to nearest US Navy base, where they reported the incident.  The US Navy then went to investigate and found that, while this strange visitor from another world was indeed resistant to small arms, it coped as well with the destroyer's 5 inch guns as did any other animal.  From there, the US Government took possession of the strange base and all the technology within.

However, it was only in the 1930s that this find went from a scientific curiosity to a national security issue when a group of Jewish Scientists fled an increasingly hostile Germany and warned President Roosevelt of Hitler's secret scheme.  The Germans had discovered a similar site beneath the catacombs of Berlin, a vast stone labyrinth designed by clearly inhuman creatures.  They warned that Hitler was tormented by a persistent delusion that Jewish elites would use the technology within to create their Messiah, who would be a savior to them but a figure more commonly thought of as "The Anti-Christ" to non-Jews.  So he decided to beat them to it, and was attempting to combine this technology with human biology to create a Super-soldier. 

The Bunyan Project was the American attempt to beat the Germans to the punch and create the first Superhumans before they could.  The project turned out to be a success, though it was not without cost.  Most of the early test subjects died within minutes being transformed, but the later ones survived for months or years before expiring from complications.  The first superhumans, on both the Axis and Allied side were mostly insensible monsters, walking mountains of twisted flesh with almost no sense of self-preservation and reduced intelligence.  Most died fighting each other, made some silly mistake that ended up killing them or committed suicide.  Several also had to be put down by their handlers, after it was feared that they were actually much more intelligent than they let on, but also that they weren't considering the interests of humanity or their side anymore. 

The Superhumans were still secret at this time, with rumors of super-soldiers being laughed off by both sides.  Many of the atrocities committed by the early wave of superhumans were covered up, including the devastation of Japan.  The Atom Bomb wasn't actually developed until 1956, as during the War it was considered too far-fetched to be worth the money and effort.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki, along with a dozen other Japanese cities, were devastated by a pack of American supermen given free rein to do as they willed.  They demolished that nation and finally brought an end to the conflict.   

After the war, the surviving superhumans who did not quickly expire or were not dangerously unstable went public as heroes of the war and assistants to the Federal Government.  Comics were initially funded by the Defense Department and later by the CIA as a means of propaganda and convincing the public that these superhumans could be trusted.  Similar efforts were made in the Soviet Union, as by this point they had acquired their own superhumans, mostly from dissecting captured German ones. 

The Cold War leads to the second Generation of Superhumans, who were not only much more stable and far less prone to insanity and psychotic breaks, but also looked much more human.  At this time, most superhumans were still created by the United States or the Soviet Union respectively, and waged war against each other alongside their governments.  Some of these superhumans claimed to be independent but were actually secretly funded by one side or another, allowing them to strike directly at enemy nations without threatening war or nuclear escalation.  However, something strange began to happen at this point.  Superhumans began to emerge naturally, not from government laboratories exclusively.  It turns out this current generation of superhumans could safely mingle with lay-humanity, and their offspring sometimes inherited their gifts.  Attempts were made to control the spread of superhumans in the Soviet Union and the United States, but both failed completely.

After the failure of Communism and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, many of those formerly sponsered Soviet superhumans went legitimately rogue, either carving up a newly "free" Russia amongst themselves or going abroad to claim a Kingdom for themselves.  Similarly, many of the less scrupulous superhumans funded secretly by the CIA tore apart Latin and South America.  This lead to the development of the supervillain and super-crime as we know it today.   

Today there are more superhumans than there have ever been in history.  Some work with the blessing of the government, fighting alongside the police and military.  Their secret identities are known to powerful government agencies, but are generally kept secret.  These superhumans wear colorful costumes and have exciting origin stories, such as how Longsnout claims he was bitten by a Weasel spirit; or how Mother Mars claims to be the only survivor of a doomed Russian space mission to the Red Planet, while the rest of her comrades killed each other when they failed a secret test of character, but she alone was pure of heart and was blessed by the ghost of the last Martian King to inherit the power of his dead race.  Most of these stories are nonsense, of course, but they're useful in convincing the public that the superhumans are safer.  These fictions, along with the official endorsement are what makes a White Cape, as they are commonly referred to.

The capes who use their power for selfish or evil actions, heading up crime rings or perpetrating evil schemes are called supervillains or Black Capes.  They usually aren't as flamboyant as in the comics, and generally don't have the money to build giant space lasers to hold countries hostage or try to replace members of Congress with vat-grown slave clones, but they do commit crimes and do other wicked things. 

There are also so-called "Grey" capes, who use their powers to help people but do so without registering with the government.  Some of these are mere Good Samaritans, while others are vigilantes who feel that the current system is too flawed to promote real justice.  By the standards of the government, these superhumans are just more Black Capes, but in some countries, Grey Capes are beloved by the citizenry, who secretly support them, sometimes even to the point of lying to police and sheltering the Cape if they are fugitives.  When Iron Patriot "allegedly" killed one of the men responsible for the lie about WMDs in Saddam's Iraq, despite the fact that it was in public in front of at least 30 witnesses, only 5 of them claimed to have seen anything, or even that it was Iron Patriot at all.   

from Guarding the Globe #2

Gods and Kings:

Superhumans are ranked by strength and placed into one of four tiers: Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces.

Jacks are low-tier heroes.  They have 1-3 Ability points and cannot have any individual Power over Rank 3.  Jacks can be faster than a sports car, agile enough to dodge normal punches like they're moving in slow motion, strong enough to lift a person in a Vader chokehold, hard enough that knives glance off their skin or survive an attack that would slaughter a mundane, sensitive enough to notice all the bugs in a room and smarter than a room full of scientists in a modest lab. 

Queens
are mid-tier heroes.  They have 4-6 Ability points and cannot have any individual Power over Rank 4.  Queens can be fast enough to catch a high speed train, agile enough to dodge an arrow or a moving car, strong enough to lift a car in one hand, tough enough to survive an attack powerful enough to destroy a car, sensitive enough to find a specific person in a crowded concert hall, and smarter than an entire research department.

Kings are high-tier heroes.  They have 7-10 Ability points and cannot have any individual Power over Rank 6.  Kings can be fast enough to catch an airplane at full speed, agile enough to evade a rocket and the ensuing explosion, strong enough to lift a house in one hand, tough enough to survive an attack that would level a building, sensitive enough to find a needle in a haystack and smarter than every attendee at a national conference simultaneously.

Aces are the gods walking among us.  They have, at minimum, 11 Ability points.  Aces can be faster than a speeding bullet, agile enough to dodge the shockwave from explosions, strong enough to lift container ships one handed, tough enough to tank anything short of a nuclear weapon, sensitive enough to count the angels dancing on the head of a pin and smarter than anything on Earth.  Up until the late 90s, they were entirely theoretical.  You cannot play an Ace, and with any luck, you'll never fight one.

Jokers are Superhumans with powers too weak to put them on this scale- or they have powers that escape easy classification.  An otherwise normal human or superhuman can also be considered a "Joker" if they have a power that enables them to punch above their weight class, but only in specific circumstances.

Depending on the Tier your Referee has chosen and his or her fiat, you start with X Ability points, which you can use to purchase Powers.  You can also use your Ability points to purchase skills, resources or other talents, as determined by your Referee (see below).

You can also choose to gain a Weakness.  If you do so, you gain 1 additional Ability point, up to the maximum Ability points per your Tier (Referee's Discretion applies). 

A Weakness can be anything agreed upon by you and the Referee, but it is a permanent disability that cannot be overcome permanently, only mitigated or avoided. 

Ex: Superman is always damaged by green kryptonite, but he is smart enough to take counter-measures against it, such as wearing a lead suit.  The only time that Superman became immune to green kryptonite was in All-Star Superman, when he was super-charged with solar radiation to the point where his cells started dying, a fact that would inevitably lead to his own death.  

What a Weakness is NOT is a limitation set on a power itself, such as "My Heat Vision requires a round to cool down after I use it."

Basic Rules:

1.  Powers are grouped into 6 Tiers, 1-6.  1-2 are Jack Tier powers, 3-4 are Queen Tier, 5-6 are King Tier.  Each Tier costs 1 Ability point.  No refunds.

2.  If a Power grants a flat numerical increase, consult the Physical Enhancement chart below:

Physical Enhancement
Tier        Bonus
1        +1
2        +2
3        +1d6
4        +1d6+1
5        +1d6+2
6        +2d6

3.  I'm not making a list of every conceivable power, that is a waste of my and your time.  But I will include some likely Powers your players will probably want and you can use those as a guide or example to build others.

from Man of Steel #2

Common Superhuman Abilities:

Invulnerability:


Tier 1: This player does not have HP, but instead starts with a Damage Threshold equal to 1d4+2.  Whenever a source damages you, if it equals or exceeds your Damage Threshold, you lose 1 SHP.  You have SHP equal to your Damage Threshold.  If this reduces you to 0 SHP, the Referee should treat you as if you were a normal creature that ran out of HP.

Tier 2-6: For each Tier up you go, roll 1d4 and increase your Damage Threshold and SHP by that much. 

Superhuman Strength:


Tier 1: You have a bonus, as determined by your Tier on the Physical Enhancement table, added to any roll based on lifting, holding, carrying or anything else based on physical strength.  You also add said bonus to your Damage rolls, but only after the hit is confirmed.  You do not include them in the initial Attack or Defense rolls.

Tier 2-6: For each Tier you go up, increase your Physical Enhancement bonus as per "1".

Superhuman Speed:

Tier 1: You add your bonus on the Physical Enhancement Table, as determined by your Tier, to any roll based on evasion, speed, fast movement or anything else relevant.  This includes checks or saving throws that could be more easily done if the creature attempting the feat was super fast.

Tier 2-6: For each Tier you go up, increase the bonus added to your roll as per the Physical Enhancement table.

Telekinesis:

Tier 1: You can move an object or person with your mind, as long as that person weighs less than or equal to 10*[COG modifier] pounds.  You can also make attacks and use your Telekinesis in other ways.  If you do, use your COG score, adding the relevant modifier to any check.  If making an attack, you can include your Attack modifier as well.  If any creature is grappled or restrained by your Telekinesis, they can make a STR check as opposed to your COG check, on a success, that creature can break free from your grip. 

Tier 2: You gain a number of Mana Dice equal to your COG+CON modifier.  These dice are d6s that burn out on a 5 or 6.  They can be rolled to enhance any use of Telekinesis.  You can also use your Telekinesis to create force fields or barriers- each one having [sum] HP, equal to the amount of dice put into them.

Tier 4: You can use your Telekinesis to fly, levitating yourself while using your Telekinesis for other purposes.  You must roll 1 MD to take to the air, but regardless of the number rolled, this grants 10 minutes of flight.  Additional dice can be added to boost the speed of your flight.

Tier 3-6: You gain +X Mana Dice, where X is your highest modifier among your ability scores. 

Psychic Abilities:

Note: I'm not writing a bunch of rules for psychic combat and the like, I already did that here, so I'll be using those rules.

Tier 1: You gain 1 of the following abilities per Ability point:

- You can see ghosts and other invisible spiritual entities that inhabit the shallows of the Astral Sea.
- You can sense magic, spiritual energies and other disturbances in the flow of energy occurring throughout the cosmos.
- You can peer into the future and receive visions of what is, or might, occur.  Sometimes these visions are involuntarily, and come to you without being summoned.
- You can enter the minds/dreams of others by touching them.  You can also bring other people with you, if they consent to be brought along.
- You have telepathy, and can communicate with other creatures that have minds within X (where X equals your COG modifier) miles, as long as you know those creatures and have touched their minds before.  You can also communicate with any creature within visual range, as long as that creature has a minds.

Tier 2: You gain 1 of the following abilities per Ability point:

- You can attempt to erase or alter memories by entering a creature's mind, you must be close or touching that creature to do so.  That creature can and likely will attempt to resist you.
- You can read minds.  Creatures can either attempt to push you out of their minds or feed you a false stream of consciousness, if they are intelligent enough.
- You can damage and attempt to destroy the minds of creatures whose minds you have entered. 
- You can create illusions by projecting them into creature's minds. 

Tier 3: You gain 1 of the following abilities per Ability point:

- You can create glamours that linger as long as you are alive or someone else maintains them.
- You can attempt to control the minds of other creatures. 

Fast-Healing/Regeneration/Healing Factor:


Tier 1: When you would roll to recover HP, roll twice and take the better result.  You also halve all recovery times. 

Tier 2: When you roll to recover HP, always act as if you have a Constitution of 18(+3).

Tier 3: Whenever you eat food, especially meat, you regain HP equal to 1d6+[HD of the creature you're eating].  You gain a prodigious appetite and will eat just about anything. 

Tier 4: If below full HP, you regenerate 1 HP a round.  You also heal Horrible Wounds after a number of rounds equal to the amount of damage that reduced you below 0, unless receiving that Horrible Wound would kill you instantly or is sufficiently crippling, in which case the Referee may still require a Save vs Death.  Ex: The "3 Damage" result on the Horrible Wound table heals after 3 rounds.  You also regrow small appendages, such as fingers, toes over a period of 1d4 weeks, and internal damage repairs itself naturally, but you cannot regrow whole limbs.  Your natural lifespan is also dramatically increased, with you living up to 3x longer than a normal human. 

Tier 5: If below full HP, You regenerate 1d4 HP a round and heal Horrible Wounds after a number of rounds equal to the amount of damage you received minus your CON modifier, unless receiving that Horrible Wound would kill you instantly or is sufficiently crippling, in which case the Referee may still require a Save vs Death.  Ex: Your CON is 16(+2) and you receive the "3 Damage" Wound, so it is healed after 1 round.  You can also regrow limbs in 1d6-CON modifier days (min 1) and regenerate damaged organs.  Your natural lifespan is also increased.  Barring outside interference, you will live up to 10x longer than a normal human. 

Tier 6: You gain access to a pool of MD equal to your CON+COG modifier +6.  You can spend these MD to regenerate [sum] HP.  These dice are expended once used.  You can use these almost instanteously regenerate, repairing damage as soon as it occurs.  If you lose a limb, if you roll [sum] that is greater than or equal to half your CON, you can regrow that limb.  You can also instantly heal Horrible Wounds if you roll a [sum] equal to your result on the Death and Dismemberment table.  You cannot regenerate from anything that kills you instantly, and some things may inhibit your regeneration, depending on the source of it. 

What if I want to be Batman though?:

Skills:


A skill is anything that your character could know, but is not related to their superpowers.  Example skills include carpentry, bomb-making, investigation and performing tea ceremonies. 
All skills have six ranks and use the same bonuses equal to the Physical Enhancement table.  For example, a Tier 3 Chef has a +1d6 bonus to cook something tasty. 

I am operating under the assumption that all Superheroes have some training in things relating to their profession, such as combat, investigation, search-and-rescue, etc.  I do this because it is more interesting, but also because it makes sense.  In my fantasy games, if the party encounters a troll, I'm not going to make them make an Investigation or an Intelligence check to remember that acid and fire is how you stop a Troll from regenerating and/or punish them when they point out they already know that without making the check.  I just assume that adventurers would know that Trolls are hurt by fire and acid, in the same way that I would assume a Knight would know how to fight with a sword, ride a horse and behave properly when at court. 

However, I will still be including skills for the sake of players who want to play some kind of non-Superhuman who is still really skilled, ala Batman or the Punisher, or they want to play a Superhuman who has weaker powers but is really really good at one particular task.   

1 Ability point will buy you either 2 ranks in one skill or 1 rank in two.

Some important skills:

Fighting/Martial Arts/Combat Training:

Tier 1: You get +1 to attack.

Tier 2: You get +1 to attack.

Tier 3: You learn the Novice ability to any of the Fighter's Secret Techniques.

Tier 4: You learn the Journeyman ability of the Secret Technique you selected last time, or learn another Novice technique from another school.

Tier 5: You learn the Expert ability of the Secret Technique you selected last time, or learn a Novice (or Journeyman, if eligible) technique from another school.

Tier 6: You learn the Master ability of the Secret Technique you selected last time, or learn a Novice, Journeyman or Expert technique from another school you are eligible for.

Equipment:

Tier 1: You have access to any equipment you could find in a basic hardware store.

Tier 2: You have access to any equipment a reasonably sized small to mid-sized corporation could obtain.

Tier 3: You automatically have access to any materials or equipment that a well-contacted crime boss could afford/have access to. 

Tier 4: You automatically have access to any materials or equipment a business valued at less than ten million dollars could obtain. 

Tier 5: You have access to any materials or equipment that a top-secret black ops unit or government-backed rebel/terrorist group would be able to afford/have access to.

Tier 6: You have access to the sort of funding that is only available through a megacorporation with extremely deep pockets or a nigh-bottomless government slush fund.  The only limits to you are time and feasibility. 

For Other Superpowers:


I haven't the time to create long lists of super-powers for you to reference, and I doubt you have the time or interest to read them.  Besides, as Basic Red first said and as I discussed later in my many posts on Clerics/Prophets, creating God lists is a waste of time because someone's going to ask to play as a Cleric of Dionysus or Satan and then you'll either have to adapt something you already wrote or come up with something new for them, so making the list is a waste of time in the first place.  

So instead of writing up all potential superpowers, I'll simply create them as needed.  Most Superpowers are simply spells that can be cast at-will, without the need to use mana or expend a spellslot to cast them.  Simply allow your players to use their weaker abilities like that, and for their more powerful ones, impose upon them some sort of cost, such as a cool-down or other penalty.

For example, if a player has the ability to temporarily gain superhuman strength that he doesn't ordinarily have, make it so that when he exerts that much power, he wounds himself. 

Or if he has the ability to create ice- have it slowly cool his body the more he uses it, inducing first numbness, then clumsiness, then eventually hypothermia.

from Ms. Marvel #44, by Sana Takeda

Some Examples:

Columbia
HD 7
Tier - Queen
Powers: Light Manipulation, Object Conjuration, Teleportation, Telekinesis
Alignment: Lawful Good

Columbia is a buxom, muscular woman who wears a dark blue bodysuit adorned with twinkling rhinestones over red and white leggings.  Her arms are covered in a pure white jacket adorned with red and blue stars, and she wears a helmet that conceals her face behind a featureless mask, but doesn't conceal her golden hair which flows out of the back of the helmet.  The hair is actually fake and she is actually red-haired underneath the helmet.

Columbia has the power to manipulate to create bright flashes or lengthen shadows, allowing her to easily sneak around despite her colorful outfit.  She can conjure objects made of white metal, though these objects disappear after a couple of minutes, and she can only make simple things- no complex machinery.  If the T-1000 could shapeshift into it, she can make it.  She can also teleport short distances and has weak telekinesis, which she uses in conjunction with her muscles to enhance her strikes in melee combat and to make her throws more accurate.

Columbia fights by throwing conjured throwing stars, as well as using  conjured melee weapons.  Her Telekinesis allows her to throw off the aim of gunmen, provided she can see them, and her light manipulation means that it's extremely hard to see her until she's right under your nose.  Her usual tactics are to ambush her opponents, riddle them with throwable blades, then crush the remaining opponents with a brutal hand-to-hand assault.  She's ruthless when it comes to combat and has no patience for honor or fair play, which she regards as idiocy.

Columbia was an ordinary office lady on a business trip until one fateful day, one that lives in infamy in the American psyche: September 1th, 2001.  Her Flight, American Airlines flight 99, was hijacked by terrorists.  Rather then allow themselves to be used as weapons, the passengers and crew chose to attack the terrorists, leading to the crash-landing of the plane, which resulted in the deaths of all aboard, except for one lone woman, who was found three hundred feet from the burning wreckage of the plane.  Since that day, the lone survivor of flight 99 took on the identity of Columbia, The All American Heroine. 

Columbia is tormented by her guilt, as she feels she didn't do enough to save flight 99.  Though that traumatic incident awakened her powers, which at the time she couldn't control, she believes that there was something that she could have done to save the flight.  She is, of course, a patriot who regularly assists the US Military and appears in their recruitment ads.  However, she secretly nurses doubts that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark, and that the country has been going in the wrong direction since 9/11, though she would never say that, for fear of hurting her beloved nation.  This is a sentiment likely caused, or at least aggravated, by the intelligence community operatives who have been monitoring her for years now, as they feel she is gaining too much influence over the Military. 

Gloomy Sunday
HD 3
Tier - Jack
Powers: Emotion Inducement, Mental Influence, Telepathy
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Gloomy Sunday is a pale, Eastern European looking man with the build of an older man who still regularly engages in physical exercise.  He wears a dark suit with cufflinks made of smoky quartz and a broad-brimmed hat that covers his face.  He is known to lean on a cane because of a leg injury he suffered a long time ago, but this is actually a deception.  He doesn't need the cane, and furthermore, the cane conceals a sword that he is very adept with.  His only other notable physical feature is that his tear ducts are overactive and constantly produce excess fluid, meaning he cries almost constantly, tears running down his face frequently.  He dabs at them with a white hankerchief, but otherwise doesn't let them distract him.

He prefers to avoid direct confrontations, avoiding violence whenever possible.  He is no stranger to it, but he prefers not to dirty his hands with it, and in truth, he hates to see people in pain.  When he kills, he does so cleanly.  He is most famous for using his powers to overwhelm people with sorrow and despair, robbing them of hope and manipulating them into killing themselves.  But if directly threatened, he will overwhelm opponents in a deluge of terror, sorrow and misery that can bring even superhuman foes to their knees and leave them a sobbing wreck, then put them down.  If his opponents can resist his psychic barrage, he will resort to his concealed guns, sword and knives.

Gloomy Sunday is almost entirely lacking empathy, but he is not a psychopath.  He can and does feel for some other people, which is why he never observes torture or mistreatment personally. He dislikes such cruelty, but is not above it.  He will use the most inhumane methods if he feels it necessary, but he does not hurt people for sadistic pleasure.  When he does anything, he does it for the purpose of advancing one or more of his goals.  His current goal is dismantling and assimilating the local underworld, to bring it all under his control.  He is currently a smaller player, but he is confident he can succeed.  His current goal is manipulating the local families and syndicates into fighting each other, and when they are sufficiently weakened, he will be able to destroy them and usurp the title of Kingpin.

Yellow Cake
HD 4
Tier - Queen
Powers: Mutagenic Touch, Alchemical Touch, Weaponized Self-Mutation, Dust Manipulation, Radiation Immunity
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Yellow Cake is an older woman with a shock of white-grey hair extending off her head, a nose like a hawk's beak and eyes that glitter with wild cruelty.  She wears a yellow cat suit made of rubber under a dress made of thick, transparent plastic that is tinted a different shade of yellow.  Her clothing is adorned with radiation and biohazard symbols, as well many stains that could be human blood.  The outfit has also been damaged and repaired many times, to the point where the lurid yellow is starting to fade to that of a soft sunshine white.  Yellow Cake also wears heavy bracelets made of lead, which she carries with no apparent difficulty.

Yellow Cake has the powers of being able to transform stone or metal into a radioactive yellow dust which she can telekinetically control.  This dust burns the skin and quickly induces radiation sickness in those exposed to it.  Extended exposure will massively increase your risk of cancer, as well as your children being born with birth defects.  Yellow Cake also possesses the ability to mutate other creatures into freakish monsters, which she can then control for a short period after.  Finally, she can mutate herself, transforming herself into a terrible monster.  This is an ability that was only recently discovered after she mutated herself and smashed her way out of the Prism, the hyper-max security prison built to contain her and other super-high risk inmates in North America, triggering the simultaneous break out of 28 other prisoners.  It is also believed that she can reverse the mutations she creates, as when she spotted two weeks later, she resembled her normal form once more. 

Yellow Cake is a sadist who inflicts pain because she enjoys it.  She utterly despises young women, especially young mothers, who she takes great joy in torturing.  She has a particular fondness for children, kidnapping and holding them for long periods of time, keeping them safe for long periods of time before usually killing them in some painless way.  It is believed that some of her henchmen might simply be children who were never rescued and see her as their Mother.  Yellow Cake primarily commits crimes to indulge her sadistic habits, she doesn't seem to have any greater ambition other than inflicting pain and making people suffer.  Because of this, she sometimes joins other supervillains with more concrete goals, usually for large fees. Whether she does this because she actually needs money or simply to limit her mercenary work to jobs worth her time is unknown.  Despite the fact that she is generally untrustworthy, the fact that she is so powerful means that she has no shortage of potential clients.     

Encanta
HD 3
Tier - Jack
Powers: Sorcery, Extended Lifespan, Fast Heal
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Encanta is a young lady who wears a low-cut black-purple dress trimmed in gold that falls to the mid-thigh, with black thighhigh boots trimmed in purple and adorned with golden stars.  She wears lavender evening gloves, a red-purple scarf around her neck which she uses to cover her face and an oversized Witches' hat, with a big point and a bright red bow.  Her hair is dark and her eyes are violet, just darker than the purple undertones of her dress.

Encanta is a sorceress, and possesses the ability to speak words of power and channel the very energies of creation.  She is only limited by her concentration, imagination and physical stamina when it comes to casting spells.  Besides this, her Wizardly heritage gives her the ability to rapidly recover from wounds that would permanently incapacitate a normal human and over time, her body can even heal wounds that a normal human's body could not heal, such as a broken back or stroke.  Additionally, that same healing ability extends her lifespan.  She ages, but much slower than a normal human.  Though she's still fairly young, she'll live for hundreds of years, assuming she doesn't get herself killed fighting someone much stronger than her, or accidentally blow herself up when attempting a magical working.

Besides her own abilities, Encanta also carries several magic items to aid her.  She has a magical purse that is enchanted to provide more storage space than normal, and also not to be noticeable unless focus is directed to it.  She carries this purse all the time, but you only notice it when she grabs it to remove something from it or put something in it.  She also carries a magic wand which lets her more efficiently channel her magic and her clothing is enchanted to be bullet and stab-resistant.  It also has another, more subtle enchantment on it that encourages creatures to direct attacks against her clothing and not her bare skin, which is less protected.  Finally, she wears a pair of rings that allow her to create a shield of magical force in front of or around her to protect herself from more powerful attacks that her clothing is not likely to protect her from.   

Encanta is famous, and she knows it.  She loves to strut her stuff and show off.  She's everyone idol and loves every second of it.  Every gesture of hers is infused with theatrical flair, and she is known to make witty puns and engage in clever word-play, even when not appropriate.  She is sassy and spunky, and while her public persona is exaggerated, it's mostly how she actually is.  In person, however, she is much more serious and can be quite somber.  She's also much smarter than she looks and not nearly as brave.  She gets scared easily and thus does not fight battles she does not think she can win.            

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