[SUPERS] My Unofficial Handbook to the DC Universe

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Otaku

I'm not overly familiar with the more expansive bits of the DCU... do they their version of the Marvel Comics Taskmaster's training academies?

Not as such, but if you're serious about learning to fight, you can seek out Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, or The Sensai (listed in descending moral order.)

If you're talking about good places to get badass henchmen, the League of Assassins and Intergang will both do work for hire...but their rates are probably out of reach for your average escaped mental patient.

[aesir23]

Anti-Villain: Bane
Alias: Antonio Diego, "The Man Who Broke the Bat"
Affiliations: Suicide Squad, League of Assassins, Secret Six.

Antonio Diego was born inside the walls of the notorious Pena Duro prison on the island nation of Santa Prisca. In a cruel perversion of justice, he was condemned from infancy to serve his deceased father's life sentence.

Bane spent every day of his life in prison fighting for survival--it taught him cunning, cruelty, and perseverance. After escaping from prison, Bane proved himself to be one of Batman's most dangerous foes--in their first meeting, Bane out planned and out-maneuvered the dark knight, eventually breaking his back in their final confrontation.

At the time, Bane made extensive use of Venom--a dangerous drug that grants superhuman strength and reflexes. He became addicted to the substance--an intolerable situation for a man who likes to be in control.

Bane has currently quit Venom, and has vowed never to use it again. Even without chemical enhancements, Bane is still an extremely formidable foe. Bane has worked as a mercenary throughout South and Central America, briefly joined the League of Assassins, and is currently a member of the Secret Six.

Foes who note Banes size and strength have a tendency to underestimate his skill and intelligence--it's a mistake few survive and nobody makes twice.

Name: Bane AKA: Antonio Diego

Attributes [359]
ST 20 [100]
DX 15 [100]
IQ 15 [100]
HT 14 [40]

HP 22 [4]
Will 16 [5]
Per 15
FP 14

Basic Lift 97
Damage 2d-1/3d+2

Basic Speed 8 [15]
Basic Move 7 [-5]

Ground Move 7
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: English (Accented) [4]; Persian (Accented) [4]; Spanish (Native) [0].

Advantages [187]
Ally (Scandal Savage) (100% of starting points) (9 or less) [5]
Born War-Leader (4) [20]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Damage Resistance (Trained) (2) (Tough Skin) [6]
Eidetic Memory [5]
High Pain Threshold [10]
Lifting ST (Trained) (2) [6]
Luck [15]
Night Vision (2) [2]
Reputation (The Man Who Broke the Bat) (3) (All the time; Small class) [5]
Trained By A Master (Actually Self-Taught!) [30]
Very Fit [15]
Very Rapid Healing [15]
Wealth (Very Wealthy) [30]

Perks [3]
Secret Technique: Pharmacy (Synthetic: Venom Manufacture) [1]
Style Familiarity (Wrestling - Combat Wrestling) [1]

Disadvantages [-75]
Bad Temper (12 or less) [-10]
Berserk (15 or less) [-5]
Code of Honor (Pirate's) [-5]
Enemy (Batman) (More powerful than the PC) (9 or less) [-20]
Obsession (To Control the Underworld) (Long-Term Goal) (12 or less) [-10]
Reputation (Dangerous Criminal) (-3) (All the time; Almost everyone) [-15]
Social Stigma (Criminal Record) [-5]
Vow (No Drugs or Alchohol) (Minor) [-5]

Quirks [-5]
_Unused Quirk 1 [-1]
Fatherly affection towards Scandal Savage [-1]
Proud [-1]
Uncongenial [-1]
Vow (Never use Venom again) [-1]

Skills [143]
Acrobatics DX/H - DX-1 14 [2]
Area Knowledge (Santa Prisca) IQ/E - IQ+1 16 [2]
Area Knowledge (South America) IQ/E - IQ+0 15 [1]
Armoury/TL8 (Small Arms) IQ/A - IQ-1 14 [1]
Autohypnosis Will/H - Will+0 16 [4]
Backbreaker (Wrestling) Tech/H - 20 [4]
Biology/TL8 (Earthlike) IQ/VH - IQ-2 13 [2]
Body Language (Human) Per/A - Per-1 14 [1]
Brawling DX/E - DX+3 18 [8]
Chemistry/TL8 IQ/H - IQ-1 14 [2]
Climbing DX/A - DX+0 15 [2]
Computer Operation/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+0 15 [1]
Drop Kick (Wrestling) Tech/H - 20 [3]
Escape DX/H - DX+0 15 [4]
Explosives/TL8 (Demolition) IQ/A - IQ+0 15 [2]
First Aid/TL8 (Human) IQ/E - IQ+0 15 [1]
Forced Entry DX/E - DX+1 16 [2]
Games (Chess) IQ/E - IQ+1 16 [2]
Gunner/TL8 (Machine Gun) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Gunner/TL8 (Rockets) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Guns/TL8 (Grenade Launcher) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Guns/TL8 (Light Machine Gun) DX/E - DX-1 14 [0]
Guns/TL8 (Pistol) DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Guns/TL8 (Rifle) DX/E - DX-1 14 [0]
Guns/TL8 (Submachine Gun) DX/E - DX+1 16 [2]
Hand Catch (Wrestling) Tech/H - 13 [3]
Head Butt (Brawling) Tech/H - 19 [3]
Intimidation Will/A - Will+1 17 [4]
Judo DX/H - DX+1 16 [8]
Knife DX/E - DX+0 15 [1]
Leadership IQ/A - IQ+3 18 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Born War-Leader'
Lifting HT/A - HT+1 15 [4]
Mental Strength Will/E - Will+4 20 [12]
Neck Snap (ST) Tech/H - 18 [3]
Observation Per/A - Per-1 14 [1]
Pharmacy/TL8 (Synthetic) IQ/H - IQ-1 14 [2]
Piloting/TL8 (Helicopter) DX/A - DX-1 14 [1]
Poisons/TL8 IQ/H - IQ-2 13 [1]
Savoir-Faire (Prison) IQ/E - IQ+0 15 [1]
Scaling (Climbing) Tech/H - 13 [2]
Sensitivity Per/VH - Per-2 13 [2]
Smuggling IQ/A - IQ+0 15 [2]
Soldier/TL8 IQ/A - IQ-1 14 [1]
Stamp Kick (Brawling) Tech/H - 18 [4]
Stealth DX/A - DX+0 15 [2]
Strategy (Land) IQ/H - IQ+2 17 [1]
includes: +4 from 'Born War-Leader'
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ+1 16 [4]
Survival (Jungle) Per/A - Per-1 14 [1]
Swimming HT/E - HT+0 14 [1]
Tactics IQ/H - IQ+5 20 [8]
includes: +4 from 'Born War-Leader'
Wrestling DX/A - DX+5 20 [20]

Stats [359] Ads [186] Disads [-75] Quirks [-5] Skills [143] = Total [611]

I know many of you will be disappointed by a Venom Free Bane, so here's this:

Super-Drug: Venom

In the 1940s, Rex Taylor invented Miraclo--a drug that gave him superhuman strength speed and durability, for exactly 60 minutes. He kept this formula a secret and used this drug to become the hero Hourman and was a valued member of the JSA.

Venom was an attempt to reverse engineer Miraclo. Unlike Miraclo, the effects of Venom will last longer than an hour--but it must be pumped into the blood stream constantly. Bane was the first person to create a device to administer a controlled dose of Venom in this way (and his was designed to give him an extra boost of the chemical to temporarily enhance its effects with some dangerous side effects (notably triggering Berserk).

While on Venom, the user gains Superhuman Strength, Reflexes, and Endurance. Unfortunately Venom is also highly addictive and users gain a tolerance requiring higher and higher doses over time.

Super-Drug: Venom
Users who have a venom delivery system similar to Bane's take the following Advantages and Disadvantages:


Enhanced Defenses +1 (Venom -60%*) [12]
Extra Basic Speed +2 (Venom -60%) [18]
Extra Hit Points +5 (Venom -60%) [4]
Extra Fatigue +10 (Venom -60%) [12]
Lifting ST +10 (Venom -60%) [12]
Regeneration (Regular) (Venom -60%) [10]
Striking ST +10 (Venom 60%) [20]
Bad Temper (Mitigator, no Venom Use for 24 Hours -20%) [8]
Total: 80

In addition to these exotic effects, Venom should be treated as an Anabolic Steroid (Biotech, Pg.154)--Allowing users to "Learn" Strength, Fatigue, or any HT-Based Skill (e.g. Lifting or Swimming) at 1/2 the usual rate (100 hours/point with a teacher.)

Bane himself also had this advantage:

Venom Boost: ST +10 (Venom -60%, Temporary Disadvantage (Berserk with Battle Rage) -15%, Temporary Disadvantage (Unattractive) -4%), Temporary Quirk (Distinctive Feature: Swollen, Veiny Muscles, Bulging, Bloodshot Eyes.) [20]

*Venom= Gadget (Can be stolen, must be forcibly Removed [-10%], Breakable (Complex Machine, SM -3, Dr 6) [-30%], Trigger (Occassional: Expensive Illegal and Hard to Find Drug) [-30%]

Most Venom users also have:
Addiction: Venom (Stimulant: Illegal, Very Expensive, Totally Addictive) [-30]

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Not as such, but if you're serious about learning to fight, you can seek out Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, or The Sensai (listed in descending moral order.)

If you're talking about good places to get badass henchmen, the League of Assassins and Intergang will both do work for hire...but their rates are probably out of reach for your average escaped mental patient.

When it comes to lower level flunkies, I would assume a situation akin to what we saw in The Spectacular Spider-Man TV series; many villains simply take control of some thugs. You may be a stone cold killer with the talent to back it up, but if you're not an idiot, when the Joker drops by and sings "Meet the new boss, insane as the old boss!" (...okay, Joke would hopefully have better material) you remain calm since telling him no drops your odds of survival from "low" to "no". It won't work for everyone, but most exceptions are the guys established to offer benefits or who go to more drastic lengths: Penguin, Riddler, Madhatter.

So... yeah, my bad. I forgot Taskmaster is usually training for organizations, not "Thugs 4 Hire". Since too much of my DC knowledge are from continuities other than the main comics, does the Hive do anything akin to how they were portrayed in the Teen Titans series from Cartoon Network?

[Adversary]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Comic book villains just don't work without a known Henchmen R Us store supplying all the suicidally loyal goons.

I read a short story dealing with this, from the goon's point of view. The gig is called "henching," as in henchman. "What are you doing these days?" "Oh, I'm henching for The Joker now."

It's known to be risky, and carry drawbacks like having to wear funny costumes, use themed weapons, and often abstain from practical firearms. But the pay is good and there is always work.

But seriously, I agree with you. And I guess you could just handle that as a setting feature, or by allies--supervillains always have a group of loyal goons, and can recruit more now matter how many times they lead them to disaster. But it seems to me that the game-mechanical way to represent, in Gurps, someone who can always recruit new followers, is Charisma.

Looking at Charisma in strictly game terms, it provides an overall reaction bonus, plus bonuses on Fortune-telling, Leadership, Panhandling, and Public Speaking. (Which seems like a limited and arbitrarily small list.) So I guess one could ask of each particular villain, is this someone who all things being equal gets good reactions, and who would be good at those skills if stripped of his identity and dropped on the street somewhere to survive by panhandling and fortune-telling?

Bane, for instance, seems like a guy who, yes, has a certain presence. He has reputation and high Leadership, and could certainly terrify most people into submission. But he doesn't have that much Gurps Charisma (thinking of movie Bane here.) He has loyal followers because he leads an organization full of Fanatics, not because he wins their personal loyalty. Drop him in a strange place and he would get respect because he is so dangerous, and he would rise to leadership because of his skills.

But drop the Joker into a strange place and he might take it over just by talking. I can picture him fast-talking his way out of a prison cell. People would find themselves following him and not really knowing why. He could absolutely survive by panhandling and fortune-telling if he had to.

P.S. I like the Joker's disadvantages as done here, but (and maybe this is subsumed under "Play 'games' with Batman") the Joker often seems to have something like Obsession: Prove to Batman that the world is cruel and pointless, and all rules of morality are a joke.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Since too much of my DC knowledge are from continuities other than the main comics, does the Hive do anything akin to how they were portrayed in the Teen Titans series from Cartoon Network?

I'm probably no more current with mainstream DC than you are but I can't recall The Hive turning up anywhere except for Titans-related books.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I'm probably no more current with mainstream DC than you are but I can't recall The Hive turning up anywhere except for Titans-related books.

I'm down with a bad cold so please forgive me for being thick; in the Teen Titans animated series they offered training for super villains (at least, possibly others). Even if they don't directly show up in another book, that doesn't preclude this as a background element.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Otaku

I'm down with a bad cold so please forgive me for being thick; in the Teen Titans animated series they offered training for super villains (at least, possibly others). Even if they don't directly show up in another book, that doesn't preclude this as a background element.

I don't recall any variation of H.I.V.E. offering this in the comics. In fact, early on they gave Grant Wilson powers similar to his father and didn't offer any training before sending him on a mission to capture the newly formed New Teen Titans as the first Ravager. (Said powers killed Grant an issue or two later.)

I recall them being "the secret subversive organization with lots of supertech that somehow managed to keep from making the national or even local news", kinda like Marvel's Secret Empire who had it in for superheroes for some reason. They used a lot of supertech and minions, but didn't actually train minions for others.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Otaku

does the Hive do anything akin to how they were portrayed in the Teen Titans series from Cartoon Network?

Sorry, I haven't even heard of the Hive. I haven't gotten around to reading the Teen Titan TPBs that were recommended to me upstream, so my knowledge of them is limited to their appearances in the handful of "Crisis" Crossovers I've read in their entirety (and even those I don't remember well.)

I have a good handle on Titan's villain Deathstroke from his appearances in other books, and of course I know the Robins inside out from being a huge fan of the Bat books, but that's pretty much it--unless they bear more of a similarity to "Young Justice" than I assume.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Sorry, I haven't even heard of the Hive. I haven't gotten around to reading the Teen Titan TPBs that were recommended to me upstream, so my knowledge of them is limited to their appearances in the handful of "Crisis" Crossovers I've read in their entirety (and even those I don't remember well.)

I have a good handle on Titan's villain Deathstroke from his appearances in other books, and of course I know the Robins inside out from being a huge fan of the Bat books, but that's pretty much it--unless they bear more of a similarity to "Young Justice" than I assume.

Young Justice to me will always be: Robin III (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl II (Cassie), Impulse (Bart Allen), Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), the clone Superboy (before taking the names Conner Kent or Kon-El), and Secret (Greta Hayes), "mentored" by Red Tornado. The chemistry between the characters just seemed natural rather than forced.

Secret and Spoiler do not get along well, as Secret has a major crush on Robin. I forget whether their Gotham-wide brawl took place in Robin's book or Young Justice. o/`


For the H.I.V.E. (and yes, it is an acronym in the mainstream DCU, at least circa the original Crisis on Infinite Earths), I would definitely read Judas Contract to get a feel for them. If you can find any TPBs of the New Teen Titans issues before Judas Contract, the H.I.V.E. figures prominently in major storylines before that, too.

[aesir23]

Villain: Killer Croc
Due to the presence of an active Meta-Gene, Waylon Jones was born with green scaly skin, webbed toes, and slightly pointed teeth, but with each passing year he's become more crocodilian and less human.

He began his criminal career in the underground fight scene, then began to take jobs as a body guard and hired goon. For a while he even ran his own gang.

After being injected with a virus designed by Hush, Croc's size and strength increased and his deformities became much more pronounced, including a long tooth-filled snout, with the side effect of reducing his intelligence. He became less and less capable of relating to human beings and/or functioning in society (even the most violent and lawless subcultures.) He no longer has the mental acuity to run a gang, nor the self-control to work in someone else's.

Currently, Killer Croc is more animal than man--whenever he's not locked up in a special, partially flooded cell in Arkham Asylum, he's living in Gotham's sewers, killing and sometimes eating anyone he encounters.

Name: Killer Croc AKA Waylon Jones

Attributes [224]
ST 25 [135]
DX 12 [40]
IQ 8 [-40]
HT 14 [40]

HP 30 [9]
Will 12 [20]
Per 12 [20]
FP 14

Basic Lift 125
Damage 2d+2/5d-1

Basic Speed 6.5
Basic Move 7 (Basic Move includes +1 from 'Gigantism')

Ground Move 7
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages: English (Accented/Semi-Literate) [-3].

Advantages [100]
Breath-Holding (2) [4]
Claws (Blunt Claws) [3]
Damage Resistance (Leathery Hide) (2) [10]
Damage Resistance (Tough Skin) (5) (Tough Skin) [15]
Discriminatory Smell [15]
Hard to Kill (1) [2]
High Pain Threshold [10]
Nictitating Membrane Lvl 2 [2]
Night Vision lvl 3 [6]
Regeneration (Slow: 1HP/12Hr) [10]
Regrowth [40]
Striking ST (5) (Bite Only; Size) [8]
Teeth (Sharp Teeth) [1]

Perks [0]
Born Biter (+1) [0]
Scales [1]

Disadvantages [-125]
Appearance (Monstrous) [-20]
Berserk (12 or less) [-10]
Enemy (Batman) (More powerful than the PC) (9 or less) [-20]
Enemy (GCPD) (A large group (21-1,000 people)) (9 or less) [-30]
Gigantism [0]
Odious Personal Habit (Cannibalism) (-3) [-15]
Social Stigma (Ciminally Insane) (-3) [-15]
Stress Atavism (Moderate) (12 or less) [-15]

Skills [44]
Area Knowledge (Gotham City Sewars) IQ/E - IQ+4 12 [12]
Brawling DX/E - DX+2 14 [4]
Intimidation Will/A - Will+4 16 [4]
includes: +3 from 'Appearance'
Stealth DX/A - DX+0 12 [2]
Streetwise IQ/A - IQ+2 10 [8]
Survival (Swampland) Per/A - Per-1 11 [1]
Swimming HT/E - HT+2 16 [4]
Urban Survival Per/A - Per-1 11 [1]
Wrestling DX/A - DX+2 14 [8]

Stats [224] Ads [124] Disads [-125] Quirks [0] Skills [44] = Total [267]

Notes: Note the two DRs--one is regular DR that protects him from contact agents, injections, etc. the other is regular tough skin.
Croc's abilities have no power modifier--they are permanent physiological changes that operate inside the bounds of traditional physics and biology. His meta-power is to subconsciously make permanent physical changes to his body. A power-dampener or anti-power could only prevent further regressions (and only when activated).