i need ideas for villains in a superheroic campaign
>>46701014
Try a Hitler-esque figure. Doesn't do any dirty work themselves, doesn't engage directly. It'll force the players to actually work to get at him, plus he'll be plenty scummy so they'll be motivated to. If your players are aligned with evil in some way, though, the villain could probably be another band of adventurers hell bent on stopping the group's reign of terror.
Flynn Butresse, the living cathedral! Possessed by the zealous spirit of a 19th century priest, he seeks to stamp out the stain of Protestants! Has animated gargoyles and other statues as minions. Can mysteriously replace other buildings.
The Reclaimer, the redeemed lumberjack! Once a foreman at a logging site, he was drenched by mystical sap and transformed and welcomed by the dryads. Now he seeks to advance the borders of the forests by any means necessary. Uses repurposed machinery to clear the land.
A cowardly and neurotic telekinetic who performs robberies with elaborate schemes and Rube Goldberg nonsense to keep himself far from the action.
>>46701232
>>46701236
thanks, i am running a campaign and I was running out of ideas for villains while still avoiding cliches
>>46701014
Think of the worst people you know and then what they'd do given superpowers.
Be it petty, short sighted thugs, or sociopathic killers, or stupid burnouts. Make them fucked up people with too much power rather than Dr. Doom style villains.
The mayor of city X is an empath who psychics the minds of stooges and possibly other villains into doing the jobs he needs to get some ultimate goal
Sometimes it's subtle pushes of motivation, other times it's full-on domination.
The heroes follow a trail of clues and connections between seemingly unrelated events to find it was the mayor all along, and getting him arrested is unlikely, since the cops are all his stooges by the time the heroes get up to him.
A guy whose power is to induce depression
He spends weeks working on a target until they are basically hopeless, then comes in and "saves" them, earning their eternal loyalty
He's weak himself, but his followers make him a force to be reckoned with
Before revealing his powers, treat him like a villain with the power of friendship to fool the players
What flavor are you aiming for? A villain from the silver age is way different from one in a current cape tv series.
>>46701947
Even better if he's manipulating everyone for what he sees as a net good.
>crime is down, corrupt city councilmen are in jail, and we have a sensible affordable housing plan in place
>so what if I had to mind rape hundreds of police, bureaucrats, and private citizens?
ScatterBot
a tinker type hero, he specializes in nanite swarms and smaller robots, he's incapable of getting anything larger than a small dog to work consistently.
he sends in his nanites days or weeks in advance to weaken structures so that it takes comparatively little effort for him to either destroy them or break into them. bank vaults, fortified buildings, armored cars stored for maintinence...
his larger robots act as scouts or control hubs for his swarms.
he has no combat skills or abilities. depending instead on small bomb-drones that act like self propelled grenades.
>>46701014
A smokin' hot supermodel who is the victim of some sort of scientific/mystical/interdimensional fuckery and ends up being turned into some absolutely hideous insect queen monster and decides to infest/transform the entirety of the human race so that she can become the most beautiful creature in the world and also in charge of it. Comes complete with a really fucked up set of minions.
>>46701014
A distressingly homosexual fire-powered marauder called The Raging Flamer.
A distressingly homosexual mind controller called The Homosexual Agenda.
This guy.
The man called "Gentleman"
nobody really knows his power, most do not realize he even has any. he runs an extra-ordinarily decorous force of gangsters. well dressed and well organized and all in abject fear of the Gentleman.
his powers are total stealth, and no need to sleep, as the riddle goes; "he cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt." spying as much on his own as his enemies he knows when to set an example for failures, treachery, or other minor crimes. he is never without a razor(always hand-forged and well made) usually seen stropping it gently. he once found a man that looked very much like him and pays him quite highly to be his double.
all of that combined with a very genre-savvy attitude and a concrete code of conduct means that it's difficult to prosecute him, ambush him, or attack him. just through shear use of simple effective orders and chains of command.
when he kills, he leaves the razor he used in plain sight as a reminder that it is unwise to cross a Gentleman.mix of Johnny Marcone, The Marquis, and generic stealth guy N0.3364332; how does it look?
>>46702469
i like this type of idea because the dudes i play with are total combat monsters and its a good idea to give them an actual scenario
Shane the Shy. Best villain.
A "crazed" hobo who can make clones of himself who's blood is highly addictive. He has a vast group of "blood junkies" at his beck and call.
>>46702469
when he encounters the party, is his big evil speech about how girls always choose the asshole thug over a real gentleman
Shadow Caller
she speaks with shadows, can control them, interrogate them, and while under her direct control they are capable of effecting the local environment.
any strong light cuts her off.
with one exception she can only control shadows in her line of sight.
she can, given time, reduce a shadowed space to absolute blackness. she uses this to torture people to insanity.
the exception to the line of sight rule is any old shadow. the insides of skulls, deep caves, the inner tips of curved sword sheathes, these can be commanded each in the darkness to perform a task. the age of the shadow determines the strength of the task. an old bird skulls shadow may go and watch and return, the elder shadows within an ancient crypt might destroy a building, or competantly abduct a child without trace. a hitherto undiscovered volcanic lava-tube...well, that doesn't bear thinking on...these shadowed minions can be destroyed by sufficiently powerful light from several sources.
>>46702799
that strikes me as far to whiny to suit the character.
>>46702873
>>46702896
too edgy?
I think it's suitable...
>>46702873
>villain and all of their minions can be beaten by shining one of those emergency flashlights
this is going to be a short campaign
>>46702990
...I should have implied a relative strength to those lights...I meant floodlights or sunlight.
Shadow Boxer!
Once an ordinary boxer in a small gym cross town he was approached by a few men as he left for the day. They offered him money and power if he would work for them. He agreed not knowing what would await him!
After agreeing and signing a few papers he was drugged, and tossed into a nearby van. Months of cruel experimentation and brain-washing later we have the world's most powerful boxer was let loose on the world! Through some advanced tech, mutation and/or magic it seems as if he's able to move through people's shadows to surprise them!
He longs for a worthy foe and often causes havoc so that a hero may stop him!
Dead Drop!
A former cable man who after tapping into the wrong wire accidentally heard what was supposedly a nefarious government broadcast! No one knows what he heard on that line but it scarred him for life. He immediately began learning everything he could about engineering of various types and locked himself out from the world. However, due to this solitude his madness deepened! Thinking that everyone was in on this plot he has set himself on the plot to tear apart governmental institutions brick by brick!
Disrupting of communications, bogus orders and may other devious communication themed plots are his own! He will stop at nothing until, through his schemes, the government falls into panic and collapsing itself!
Exodus!
The top executive in a global corporation. He has an infectious smile and a way with the press. They eat out of his hands almost everytime he's at a press conference. His presence is downright lovely, to say the least! However, this pleasant demeanor is all thanks to his own power of mind control! He has used this to lie, cheat, steal, bribe and flatter himself to where he is now. However, this man has much greater plans.
After garnering all the power he can amass worldwide he will assume the mantle of "Total Emperor of The World and Its Affiliates"! (As no one could say, "no" to that face!) He has his eyes set for the stars and plans on conquering as much as he can with the most willing populace imaginable!
Here's one, if you don't mind the pun:
Femme Brûlée, a dangerous, fire-powered woman. Most likely French (though not necessarily), her plans would mostly revolve around taking the "cream" of the crop of certain museums and art collections, leaving about 80-to-90% of the rest of the loot untouched.
Or, if you'd like to dip into the villain pool our group uses, I can tell you of the Menagerie of Menace, led by the villainous Zoocreeper.
>>46703415
>Menagerie of Menace, led by the villainous Zoocreeper.
Not OP, but I'm interested.
Contribution
The Concierge of Crime, adapted from some TV series, he is never the main criminal of a scheme, never the planner, but he has contacts. When a villain needs nuclear bomb, they go to him. When a villain needs to hire some extra goons, they call him. When a kingpin needs to hire a bunch of villains, he has the black book. He's never done anything actually illegal, so some heroes might not want to go after him, but taking him down would yield lots of information.
>>46701014
Underpants gnomes.
op here
dead thread is dead
>>46701014
Slightly unrelated, but how is the Hero System for superheroes campaigns and in general? I gave it a peek and it seems to suffer from abbreviation overdose and be even rules-heavier than GURPS.
>>46704938
Hero's acronym collection tends to be pretty contextual, though, so it isn't tough to figure out. Done right, a character sheet can take a while to fill out, but once that is done, play is easy.
Just pay attention when the rules tell you to not combine certain power advantages...
>>46705360
How does it handle very high power levels? I am talking about shit like Silver Age Superman or Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Goku, you know, guys that can blow up planets with a fart or break reality if they punch too hard.
Gold Standard
Nefarious roboticist who is constantly robbing banks and jewelry stores for cash to pay for his ever expanding army of solid gold attack robots, as well as to upkeep the prosthetic arms he built himself after a terrible accident down a gold mine (the arms are also made of solid gold).
>>46701014
Tarot, a criminal mastermind who might have divinatory powers of some kind or might just be really intelligent and good at guessing people's future actions. Anyway, their henchmens' titles are based on tarot cards, with their cool super-powered lieutenants being the major arcana while the normals are twos of swords or whatever depending on their rank and role within the organization.
