Monday, May 28, 2018

Legendary Edges in Necessary Evil

No, this isn't a general, all-purpose fan thread about suitable Legendary Edges for Necessary Evil. This is about the Legendary Edges that I gave my PCs and their NPC teammates when the campaign reached Legendary. Had some folks ask me about it, found the notes recently, thought I'd post them.

Since there are spoilers for Necessary Evil, the Edges are after the jump so no one gets it spoiled for them on the front page of the blog.

So, the Necessary Evil Plot Point Campaign assumes you'll end somewhere in Heroic. I added multiple sidetreks and extra adventures, and we wound up in Legendary by the end. Rather than do normal Legendary advances, I gave each PC (we only had two) and their primary NPC allies (of which there were four) a Legendary Edge that I had designed, making them the "best version" of their character. After all, in the aftermath of The Battle of Star City, these guys were the Biggest Damn Heroes in the world, even if they were once criminals. Dr. Destruction was dead, the V'Sori were on the run, the world leadership had fallen, and the PCs had become bonafide heroes...not by default, but by choice.

I had people ask about these Edges, and so here they are:

MINDSTORM

Mindstorm was the leader of the cell known as Buster Squad 5. He was a physically frail character, who had Telekinesis and could control the weather. The player originally rebuilt him from a Marvel Classic/SAGA version, just made him a villain instead of a hero. As the team grew a conscience, he spearheaded them standing up against Dr. Destruction (not realizing Dr. Destruction was a hero in disguise), and wound up leading all of OMEGA after Destruction's death. To that end, he got the following Edge:

LEADER OF OMEGA (Legendary)
Requirements: Mindstorm
Mindstorm is the leader of OMEGA, the organization that liberated Earth from the V'Sori, and saved reality from Leviathan. His status as the leader of OMEGA grants him a +2 bonus on all Intimidation, Taunt and Persuasion rolls, and he can apply his Leadership Edges to any OMEGA operatives that he is in contact with, regardless of range.

As he became comfortable as leader of Buster Squad 5, he had bought more and more Leadership Edges. Combined with cutting edge communications tech left in the aftermath of Dr. Destruction's death, and Mindstorm could utilize those Edges with virtually any operative, anywhere in the world.

Mindstorm's player had two NPC allies, Kale - an Atlantean sorcerer who is Mindstorm's best friend, confidante, and whose lives each other saved a few times, once when Mindstorm spent ALL his bennies at the start of a fight to give Kale a chance to soak a killing blow (using Common Bond), once when Kale had been consumed by the Atlantean God Leviathan, and Kale returning the favor when Mindstorm was struck dead killing the same Atlantean God - and Talos - a mischievous robot, who was also adapted from Marvel Classic/SAGA (he was Mindstorm's best friend in that game. Their relationship is much more...tenuous...in this one). 


KALE

As noted, Kale was an NPC ally who grew to be a close friend of Mindstorm's. So close, in fact, that in the opening moments of the final battle for Star City, Kale was struck down and dying, and Mindstorm spent literally all of his bennies (using Common Bond) to give Kale a chance to soak enough damage to not die, before having to face his own brother in one on one combat, without his powers, and that's even before the V'Sori wheeled out their big guns. Later on, Kale became consumed by his patron, the Atlantean God Leviathan, and Mindstorm sacrificed himself to fry Leviathan, killing him and freeing Kale from his possession. As Mindstorm died, the newly empowered Kale summoned his now divine sorcery and resurrected Mindstorm, an awe inspiring demonstration of his new abilities.

SORCERER SUPREME (Legendary)
Requirements: Kale
Since absorbing the power of Leviathan, Kale has become the most powerful sorcerer on the planet and, perhaps, this dimension. Kale now receives +2 on all Super Sorcery rolls, and casting rolls no long count towards multiple actions in a turn.

This doesn't mean he can use Super Sorcery twice in a round, it just means he's not penalized for using it and doing something else. This is to emulate that Kale had now absorbed the full power of an Atlantean God, but was still subject to critical failures, and the appropriate backlash.

TALOS

In this reality, Talos was a machine built by the V'Sori to kill superpowered enemies. He can shrink, leap, and has magnetic powers. After Buster Squad 5 defeated him, Mindstorm made the decision to have him reprogrammed. After Talos later sacrificed himself to save Star City, but activated an unknown backup copy, he revealed to Mindstorm that he had NOT been successfully reprogrammed as Mindstorm had thought, but that he had chosen to save Star City...and now Mindstorm would just have to trust him the same way he trusts the rest of the team.

BURY THE LIVING (Legendary)
Requirements: Talos
Due to multiple redundancy measures, Talos' consciousness exists in multiple backups. If his body is ever destroyed, he will create a new one in 1d10 days.

Simple, effective, and functionally immortal. Hopefully old robots really can learn new tricks.

SOCKS

Socks is the other PC in the group. His player's original character was a demon named Angel's Bane that died in the second mission, and Socks was his replacement. He's a science experiment who escaped from V'Sori captivity, a human-badger hybrid. His hand to hand exploits became Legendary, no pun intended, culminating in his most epic battle, when he defeated Leviathan in hand to hand combat, forcing him to retreat back into the vessel of Kale in order to get the Buster Squad 5 to back off of him. As he became Legendary, this snarling beast became the top of the food chain.

TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN (Legendary)
Requirements: Socks
Socks is perhaps the deadliest hand to hand fighter in the world, having stood toe-to-toe with an Atlantean God and not only drawing first blood, but forcing it into retreat. Whenever Socks scores a Raise on an attack roll with an unarmed melee attack, he may opt to instead remove a Wound or Fatigue level. Additionally, once per turn, if he defeats an enemy with an unarmed attack, he may move up to his full pace and make a second unarmed melee attack.

The name of the Edge came from Wolverine #100, when Genesis tried to put the Adamantium back in Wolverine and it got him killed. Socks isn't to be messed with, unless you've got range on him.

BULLY

Bully is Socks' best friend and a mutated man-bull. He died in combat with a human death squad led by Mindstorm's brother, and his body was paraded through the streets of Star City while the Buster Squad 5 had to watch on in sadness and shock. Months later, he re-emerged as part of the Super Drones and fought Socks in an epic battle before Socks' player played the Sidekick Adventure Card and Socks grabbed Bully by the horns, screamed at him to remember who he was, and broke through the V'Sori programming. When Cyber-Burglaire eventually shut down all the drones, he backdoored one last command into Bully's programming: Live. This gave the now cybernetic manbull his final freedom from the V'Sori.

THE BULL THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN (Legendary)
Requirements: Bully
Bully has crossed through the veil of death and come back stronger. His rage can now be laser focused, allowing him to activate (or deactivate) his Berserk Edge by spending a benny. Additionally, he can gore his opponents if he moves at least 4" before attacking with his Melee Attack power, adding +2 to his attack roll and 1d8 to his damage.

His Berserk Edge was what actually got him killed, as the chainsaw wielding Jacko had sent him into a rage and the group couldn't recall him, even though they were getting chewed up by the Death Squad. Now, it is switch that can be flipped on and off, and his newfound mobility makes him an engine of destruction as well.

STEVE THE ATLANTEAN

So Steve was funny. He was one of two nameless Atlanteans extras who was with Bully and Socks when they helped Cyber-Burglaire shut down the drones, but he rolled really well, not only taking out bad guys, but shaking off their attacks and surviving the battle. Socks, unable to pronounce his Atlantean name, dubbed him "Steve" and he became the team's pilot, with a ferocious hatred for all things V'Sori.

ATLANTEAN AVENGER (Legendary)
Requirement: Steve the Atlantean
Steve has refused to let the harm suffered at the hands of the V'Sori go, and seeks out their destruction whenever he can. He gains +2 to all attack and damage rolls directed at V'Sori and V'Sori sympathizers.

They aren't really balanced, but it never hurt a thing at our table. In actual play, everything worked just fine. I'll probably do the same thing if I ever have another game cross Legendary.

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