You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8244335" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Chapter 8: Notable PeopleOne may think that this section includes all the notable figures of the setting, but oddly enough the “NPC sections” of Supers & Sorcery are split into two. This chapter provides antagonists whose stat blocks are derived from existing monsters/NPCs but with new and/or altered abilities here and there. Appendix A: Villains & Monsters is further back in the book and provides entirely new stat blocks for even more characters, some of who are oddly enough good-aligned and be on the PCs’ side. I’m going to break with convention and detail both of these sections in the same post if only because together they give a good and consistent flavor for the setting. There’s nearly 40 characters combined between the two, so I won’t detail them all; just the ones I find most interesting.The villains of Chapter 8 all have adventure hooks sorted by Tier; in some cases this isn’t ideal, as there are no proposed changes to their power level by default meaning that the PCs will easily outclass them at higher levels. There’s also sample lairs (complete with lair actions) and minions, along with Legendary Villainy detailing legendary actions added to specific characters’ stat blocks. A few NPCs also have proper Lairs acting as mini-dungeons, although those are detailed in Appendix B which I’ll cover as part of the final entry of the book.Beefcake is a flesh golem made out of animated steaks. A failed experiment of XX the Sciencelich, it gained sapience from ambient magical energies in a museum. The creature is more misunderstood than malicious, often reacting with great strength to frightening situations it doesn’t understand. Unlike other flesh golems it is weak to and fearful of cold, and regenerates from fire.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/eucvRuA.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Count Abramovich is the leader of the Court of Empty Night. He is very much an undead crime lord and uses the vampire stat block, save that his spells are different (more blasty and energy stuff) and wields the Scorched Sun, a shortsword that can deal radiant damage and negates his vulnerability to sunlight. His minions include the Slayer, a vampire hunter who is now a broken thrall, whose Blade of Unmatched Sorrow is a finessable greatsword that grants him a 1/day “powered up” form when he drops to 0 hit points. Isn’t it odd that I find the henchman cooler than the supervillain?Doors came like so many others to Ghaistala through a portal, but ended up stranded in another plane of existence when the arkwaves hit. Coming back nearly 3 centuries to a radically-different world, the person who would come to be known as Doors raged against the “lost lifetime” and set about finding ways to return Ghaistala to a simpler time...by cutting off contact with all other worlds and becoming the sole arbiter of extraplanar travel to and from the plane. Statwise he’s an Assassin with a host of teleportation themed spells and an attack that can forcefully plane shift targets.The Edgecutioner is a solar angel who sees fit to be Ghaistala’s ultimate arbiter of the Law. His gynosphinx sidekick, the Prosecutor of the Law, spends all day in her floating citadel scrying hundreds of locations across the world. When the solar witnesses a crime, no matter how minor, he teleports to the area, informs the wrongdoer of their sins, and asks how they plead. The punishment depends on their pleading: guilty causes him to draw a fusillade of floating weapons to kill them, and if they plead innocent he subjects them to trial by combat. The scale of the crime does not matter, and the Edgecutioner never acts to stop a crime in planning or in progress; he only acts after the deed is done.”Ed” Jorino is a kobold crime lord in charge of the Green Dragons gang and is pretty much your stereotypical comic book mob boss. He uses a modified bandit captain stat block but with more skills, scores a critical on an 18-20, and has a kobold’s pack tactics. His second-in-command Fax Jorino is an animated suit of armor.Idyllia is a good-aligned aboleth who came from an oceanic utopia bereft of strife. Although said society is long gone now, she still prizes it as an ideal and thus seeks to build a similar society in Ghaistala. She uses her innate psychic powers to instill sensations of serene confidence in others, making them believe that they can achieve their greatest dreams. She has additional powers reflecting this, such as granting temporary hit points to those influenced by her powers, can cast Guidance at will, and can project an illusory humanoid version of herself which also as a double-purpose scrying sensor. Idyllia has already set up the Trieye Co-Op in Lowcity, which has encouraged people there to improve their own lives and find productive means of resolution. The only major drawback is that they can no longer drink water sources not produced, unable to gain sustenance from sources not treated with Idyllia’s magic (they’ll vomit up any other nourishment).<img src="https://i.imgur.com/8TzInYi.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Sideswipe is a mimic enamored with superhero culture. As such it sought to imitate its role models by polymorphing into rather comical facsimiles. Although well-intentioned, the creature lacks the proper training and tends to get in the way as an unwanted sidekick. Statwise Sideswipe’s a mimic save that its bite attack can deal any form of energy damage provided it witnesses an attack of that damage type being used, can mimic the forms and abilities of superpowered creatures, and can speak any language that it has heard.The Sizzler is your stereotypical “didn’t get superpowers and was resentful” type of guy, and by the time he did get superpowers he was too far gone to bother with being a superhero. After many desperate attempts and ruining his own social ties he went on a rampage after the second arkwave emanation in his life gave him the ability to create and control fire. He uses the mage stat block save that he has a variety of fire-based spells, can use Metamagic like a Sorcerer, and radiates a burning aura that damages people in melee range.Tomas Nailtanhe isn’t so much a supervillain as he is more of a bit character who can still cause trouble that the PCs have to clean up. Empowered by the arkwaves, this otherwise ordinary halfling can temporarily alter the appearance and composition of metal objects. He turned such powers to con artistry, using them to sell fake goods and jewelry at prices far beyond their actual worth, taking pains to make himself scarce before angry customers come back for refunds.The major difference is that his get-rich-quick schemes have finally caught up to him; Tomas is already a wanted man in every major settlement of note, and at higher tiers he ends up conning someone he shouldn’t con and the PCs have to save him from a vindictive crime lord.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/pdCqonr.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />XX, the Sciencelich is one of Beacon’s most dangerous threats. He was originally a famed arcanist who made breakthroughs in the study of portals along with other magitech inventions that are now omnipresent features of the city. XX’s true name is unknown, for he went to great pains in erasing all traces of his old life. Now he’s obsessed with uplifting society to an elevated state of being via fusing the best features of life and undeath. Many terrible monsters that have menaced Beacon have come from his labs, and he cares little for the misery he spreads as he insists on “looking at the big picture.”Statwise XX is a lich, but he can turn his Paralyzing Touch into a ranged Freeze Ray and knows Chill Touch and Shocking Grasp. His Lair Actions involve various mad science lab effects, from various energy rays to needle-tipped tethers that transfer hit points from a target to XX.Appendix A: Villains & MonstersThis Appendix has 18 named NPCs and 3 generic NPC types. There’s an inconsistent amount of fluff text in the entries. Some major characters have proper write-ups on their backstories, others are entirely stat blocks and nothing else. In some cases this is fine, as they’re NPCs in an adventure or mentioned elsewhere in the book, but other times this Appendix is the only time that they appear (like Circe).<img src="https://i.imgur.com/Sd5d5FC.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Amelia Kassram is an ordinary high school girl who wants to be an engineer and was empowered with telekinetic strength from the last arkwave emanation. She’s still learning to control her abilities, and the shockwaves from her attacks often cause collateral damage. Statwise she is a CR 7 human with Resistance against nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, deals a bonus die of damage with weapon attacks, and when she scores a critical hit on an unarmed strike she deals 1d10 bonus force damage to everything surrounding her in a 5 foot radius. She’s actually a superhero, being of Chaotic Good alignment, which threw me off when I first read the appendix.Circe, Master of Magi-Tech is a CR 16 supervillain who relies upon an array of gadgets rather than spells proper. Her tools have flavorful names, such as the Gorgeous Goggles of All-Seeing which grant her Truesight, or the Raygun of Amazing Transformations which can impart debilitating conditions from animal polymorphing to unwanted etherealness as part of its damaging effects.Hagard Thornheart is an SPND member tasked with assassinating superheroes in order to bring about the return of Nul. He’s a CR 11 innate spellcaster, with magic specializing in illusion and misdirection along with Rogue-like abilities. He wields a Paragite Dagger which can ignore the Resistance of any creature it strikes.Heroes Interfector is a demon and perhaps the most powerful member of the Court of Empty Night. As a CR 22 fiend it has a host of powerful abilities, ranging from multiattack natural weapons, a poisonous stinger, has a constantly active antimagic field, and has innate spellcasting of various ‘black magic’ spells from eldritch blast to blight and animate dead...wonder if it can voluntarily lower said antimagic field in order to cast such things, the text doesn’t say. Heroes Interfector also has legendary actions to make additional attacks, cast an additional spell, or summon up magical darkness.The Marquis is the leader of the Shattered Sons who possesses a mysterious power known as the Retaliation which manifests as literal fires of wrath. He’s a CR 11 Chaotic Good human who casts spells like a warlock, specializing in heat-based magic (as well as a self-only fly spell). His signature ability is the Aura of Vengeance, which damages targets in melee range with magical flames, and said aura’s radius, damage, and the Marquis’ own AC increases the lower his hit points get.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/pHA4DnM.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Poppet is an antihero who can take control of other people by establishing a magical link to them and one of her dolls. She was born on the Ethereal Plane to a mage who plane shifted there and couldn’t get back, which instilled in her the desire to interact with a world that was literally untouchable. She managed to return to the Material Plane, but her stereotypical Chaotic Neutralness means that she’s more concerned with self-fulfillment than more heroic ideals. She’s a CR 7 wizard with a diverse array of spells, can open a portal between the Ethereal and Material Planes once per day, can use Dominate Person at will provided she is holding a doll, and can force an attacker to waste an intended offensive action on a failed Wisdom save as a reaction.Sinister Void is a sage who studied antimatter and a mysterious “dark universe.” An accident during one of his science experiments infused him with antimatter, turning him Chaotic Evil with a desire to further his research through destructive displays of entropy. He’s a CR 21 wizard with a healthy assortment of spells, and he wields an antimatter greataxe that does a lot of normal as well as necrotic damage. His legendary actions grant him bonus attacks and cantrip casting, as well as a gaze attack that imposes the frightened condition and an AoE antimatter blast that harms only living creatures.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/i5Egkwk.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Spectacle is a superhero who derives his powers from self-confidence as well as positive emotions from others. He is a CR 4 warlock who also has innate spellcasting, and he gains bonuses to AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls based on how many friendly creatures he can see and hear. Furthermore, he grants friendly creatures within 30 feet the ability to spend a reaction to impart words of encouragement which can heal him. There’s no limit to the amount of people Spectacle can impact this on, but every individual creature can heal him in such a way only once every 24 hours.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/HLCeVOQ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Zephon Othaenya is a half-aasimar, half-tiefling paladin whose dual heritage came from the unlikely marriage of a half-angel and a reformed procubus (nonbinary succubus/incubus). Their son Zephon inherited unique powers, where he shapechanges into a more angelic aspect during the day and a more demonic one at night. Innate magic prevents any onlookers from realizing that the two are the same person unless Zephon discloses such information to them. Zephon naturally used this to his advantage, taking on the identity of two different superheroes: during the day he is the frightening instrument of heavenly power, Darkday, and at night he is Nightlight, the surprisingly good-hearted demon who is a light of hope in darkest night.Zephon is a CR 11 paladin who has a variety of melee and ranged weapons, and as Darkday he has a healing touch much like a paladin but as Nightlight he can effortlessly travel between the Ethereal and Material Planes.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/oZwTVWB.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />So we covered a bunch of interesting named characters, so how about the generic types? Well we have the rather underwhelming Ground and Flying Assistants, CR 0 constructs who I suppose represent background workers for magitech stuff and have no interesting traits to speak of. But the far more interesting entry is for Underlings! Representing mooks of all kinds, they are a base CR 1/8th stat block with 1 Hit Point, 11 AC, and 12 in every ability score save Constitution. They take no damage on a successful save vs a damaging effect, even if it would still do half damage.But beyond this rather underwhelming stat block, there’s a list of suggestions and templates to make them more unique. For example, Magic Underlings get Darkvision, immunity to cold and fire damage, and can cast the Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost cantrips. Melee Underlings get 16 AC and a shortsword, while Undeadlings are immune to necrotic damage and can absorb all damage the first time they get hurt (effectively requiring 2 attacks to put down) unless they take radiant damage which can 1-shot them normally. There are even entries for Superpowered templates, such as gaining a 30 foot fly speed, super-speed which increases their speed by 30 feet, limited teleportation, and various Recharge-based attacks.I have to say that I really like the Underlings. Albeit not as all-encompassing as 4th Edition’s Minion template, it provides a nice degree of variety for hordes of lesser foes for parties to mow down.Thoughts So Far: Overall I like this chapter and appendix. The characters are quite flavorful and have quite a bit of support in using them in adventures. I’m rather fond of Sideswipe, Spectacle, and XX the Sciencelich from Chapter 8, and Spectacle from Appendix A.There’s a larger than usual number of fellow superheroes with stats, which is a bit of an odd choice, but one that I can appreciate both for world-building and potential “team-up” scenarios. The 5th Edition system of Lair and Legendary Actions work very well with the concept of supervillains and masterminds, and the Underling stat block and templates help reinforce a comic book feel. Easily my favorite chapter in this book.Join us next time as we dive into a host of superpowered plots in Part 3: Adventure Time!</blockquote>

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