Psychic Villain/Terrorist Organization help

vizzone · July 2013

I'm considering converting an old CoV character of mine. I've made a few changes from 'Council Supersoldier', and had a few questions. First, a summary.

The character in question is a sadistic sociopath who loves destroying things. So he joins a terrorist organization to get a paycheck doing what he loves and improve his technique. What he doesn't realize is that he's psychic, and has been since puberty. While he sleeps, he can astrally project his consciousness into someone else's body. He's usually only able to observe, but occasionally has a 'lucid dream' where he's in complete control of his host. The person he possesses doesn't remember anything.

Due to a murder he commits while possessing someone he learns his boringly realistic dreams aren't actually dreams. So he practices while he sleeps and strengthens his powers. Eventually he's able to pick hosts, completely control them, and even swap bodies at will.

With his newfound power, he realizes he can make far more money than his group pays him. So he leaves and becomes a contract supervillain. He specializes in stealing information, leaking intelligence, and assassinating/forcing targets to commit suicide if a client pays him enough. Or if he's bored. He gets bored easily. He usually sets up contracts through a proxy body to prevent anyone from learning his true identity, and tries very hard not to let law enforcement find out he exists.

Summary done, so I have two major questions.

1. What organization would he likely join? I've thought about VIPER, but was wondering if there were other large terrorist groups that would make sense.

2. What could stop him? I know UNTIL has Project Mind Game, but is there other any sort of tech/superpowers that could prevent him from possessing people? Any way of detecting that a string of crimes were caused by him in different bodies?

Edit: He's going to be a nemesis, not a hero. Definitely not a hero.

bulgarex · July 2013

Hmm... interesting character background.

VIPER is certainly one good choice for an organization, as they're always looking for recruits with destructive tendencies and lack of morality.

Another option would be the Shadow Army, the personal combat legion of the arms dealer, warmonger, and would-be conqueror who calls himself the Warlord. The Warlord foments armed conflicts around the world, sometimes behind the scenes and sometimes through direct involvement, as a way both to foster a market for the advanced weaponry he sells, and to create conditions for seizing a country for himself as a base of operations and seed of empire.

Regarding discovering and tracking your nemesis' activities: By the rules of the PnP game, mental powers can leave residual "traces" of their use in the mind of the victim, which another skilled mentalist may be able to detect and identify in subsequent victims. Many mentalists also have the ability to detect when such powers are being actively used in their vicinity, and sometimes locate their source. So it's certainly possible that someone with appropriate powers could discover your nemesis' existence and eventually track him down.

As for containing him, the most scientifically advanced law-enforcement agencies in the world have developed "power-dampening" technology which suppresses the use of superpowers in all but the mightiest superhumans. These dampeners are used on a large scale in the United States's federal super-prison, Stronghold, as well as UNTIL's similar facility, the Guardhouse.

If this isn't what you're looking for, or you'd like more information, please feel free to post a followup.

theravenforce · July 2013

I would definitely say PSI.

That ability to project his psyche/dream self/astral form onto another person SCREAMS PSI.

VIPER wouldn't really know what to do with him, I mean their project awakening is a lab where they create and poke psychic soldiers they created.

I reckon PSI would put him to good use.

As to what could stop him...well...skilled telepaths and mentalists within UNTIL, UNITY and other sources.

The allotted time where a host could not actually remember their activities could be looked into and accessed, a form of "controlling residue" may be left over from his psychic projection activities.

As a mentalist he would have a unique psychic energy signature, which would highlight when he utilizes his powers.

As for stopping him...Tech wise..

Psychic Dampener Technology supresses mentalist abilities a great deal, I would imagine these would be around the hands and perhaps head of the said villain.

Menton seems to have issues with these dampeners and can only perform basic feats and he is the most powerful human psionic alive.

Short of psychic Dampeners...knocking him out may work as long as he isn't able to project whilst knocked out.

Powers wise...

Mystics could trap his astral form and lock it into his own body so he isn't able to project.

An experienced and skilled Telepath could create a psychic barrier within the mind of a person who is going to be controlled, there by blocking him out from possessing them.

OR

If they are powerful enough, they can manually suppress his psychic ability. Or trap him in an illusion where he cannot project, if real enough he could believe it and be stuck in the illusion.

OR

Have him project onto a person who can totally seal their mind, thereby trapping the astral form (not the best idea since that persons mind would have to be permanently sealed off, perhaps loosing some functionality in the process.

OR

Have him get caught out by a telepath, they engage in an astral duel and his astral form is killed...

>>Like This<<<

I'm not sure if said villain can project whilst conscious too, if not, then keeping him awake is the best bet and having him put in a facility which can contain his consciousness and body so he cannot project onto anyone else.

bulgarex · July 2013

theravenforce, those are all excellent points and suggestions. However,

theravenforce wrote: »

I would definitely say PSI.

That ability to project his psyche/dream self/astral form onto another person SCREAMS PSI.

vizzone specified that his character discovered and developed his abilities on his own and in secret, after joining the terrorist organization, and once he understood them went freelance. PSI would have been a great group to detect his psychic potential and help him learn to use it, or to recruit him after he started using his power; but he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to follow the described path if he was always surrounded by other mentalist villains.

Although this does raise the question of what, if any, role vizzone wants the organization to play in the villain's ongoing story.

theravenforce · July 2013

bulgarex wrote: »

theravenforce, those are all excellent points and suggestions. However,....
but he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to follow the described path if he was always surrounded by other mentalist villains.

Ah, I see what you mean...but if it was PSI...

bulgarex wrote: »

Although this does raise the question of what, if any, role vizzone wants the organization to play in the villain's ongoing story.

I got the impression the group was a starting pad and he used it as a stepping stone into something more, and became the villain he is today.

Perhaps forming loose friendships along the way? Maybe getting a few PSI members to follow him as he left.

A perfect time to leave PSI would have been when Poe attacked and Lancer started a fight within PSI (around 2005) which tore PSI apart resulting in member deaths, he could have left amidst this conflict and moved on to different things.

Another organisation could be ARGENT?

bulgarex · July 2013

theravenforce wrote: »

I got the impression the group was a starting pad and he used it as a stepping stone into something more, and became the villain he is today.

That was my impression as well. But it might be more interesting if the group knows about his powers and continues to attempt to "re-acquire" him. If vizzone liked that idea, PSI would indeed be the logical choice.

theravenforce wrote: »

Another organisation could be ARGENT?

Weeeeell... ARGENT might not be the best fit for someone mainly interested in destroying things. Their principle objective is to make money, primarily by selling advanced tech to whoever can pay. They do sometimes hire security guards, but my sense is they generally keep a lower profile than VIPER or the Shadow Army. That's just good business.

vizzone · July 2013

I'll have to look into the Shadow Army; he hates yellow. In fact, if he was one of Warlord's minions, it's possible he assisted in the Harmon Lab raid. He probably wasn't in ARGENT, but likey does freelance work for them now by sabotaging rival corporations/making enemies vanish with plausible deniability. He basically has two forms of possession: passive and active. Passive is observation, active is outright taking over (this is where memory loss occurs). He prefers active, but will gladly just sit in someone's head as they go about their business and note any weaknesses in security/memorize information for a client.

After he leaves his group he's going to be a solo villain. You're right that PSI would be a good choice for his powers, but it doesn't fit his personality. As a holdover from CoV he hates superhumans, especially psychics trying to pry into his mind. He takes a certain amount of glee in murdering them, in fact. Very much more of an old fashioned 'guns, knives, explosives and piano wire garrote' kind of guy. And with how secretive he is with his identity, an organization full of mind-readers is the last place he would want to be even if he didn't want them all dead.

As for what role his old organization plays, they may or may not be gunning for his head since I haven't decided precisely how he leaves. After all, he never really cared about them other than as a paycheck/training to cause even more destruction. He may have doused that bridge in gasoline, set it ablaze with a flamethrower, rushed off to the store for some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers and then returned for a lovely snack while he shot the firefighters that were desperately attempting damage control. If he ended things more amicably he may still work for them on occasion. Just not with his powers.

The mental residue is an interesting lead, but he's already thought of a cunning way to prevent his victims from even noticing when he actively possesses them. After all, who finds memory gaps unusual after they get blackout drunk? It won't hold up to a skilled mentalist, but it would likely slow discovery unless drinking is drastically out of character for the host.

The power dampeners will definitely put him out of commission, powers wise. He's self-trained due to his aforementioned hatred of psychics. (PSI could really boost his abilities and would probably love to have him, but he refuses to have anything to do with them due to his anti-superhuman bigotry. Which he conveniently ignores when he's the superhuman.) He's not really that powerful, and can only possess people when he's asleep. As such, he's very, very paranoid about his hideout's defenses. His hosts must also be awake for him to control them, so his sleep schedule is erratic at best. Probably popping sedatives like smarties.

Do the power dampeners do anything to normal human beings? Because when he's awake, that's all he is. A human very talented in conventional weaponry, explosives, martial arts and stealth but a human nonetheless.

The methods listed for containing him with superpowers are interesting. I especially like the 'trapping him in their mind' one, since I didn't really plan for him to have an astral form. He just goes to sleep and wakes up somewhere else as someone else and lives their life until he wakes up. Or that was how it was initially. Now he can just decide 'I want so-and-so's body' and he's suddenly seeing the world through their eyes.

He doesn't actually dream; in the stages normal human beings do, he just 'wakes up' as someone else. As such, being unconscious probably won't let him project. I especially like the idea of neutralizing a supervillain with a caffeine drip until he can be slapped with a power dampening device. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, but in his case it's a necessary containment method.

theravenforce · July 2013

vizzone wrote: »

He basically has two forms of possession: passive and active. Passive is observation, active is outright taking over (this is where memory loss occurs). He prefers active, but will gladly just sit in someone's head as they go about their business and note any weaknesses in security/memorize information for a client.

This is very interesting, I recently helped a friend make a build which dealt with a hero who was able to access psychic abilities once asleep, so this is very interesting. :biggrin:

vizzone wrote: »

After he leaves his group he's going to be a solo villain. You're right that PSI would be a good choice for his powers, but it doesn't fit his personality. As a holdover from CoV he hates superhumans, especially psychics trying to pry into his mind. He takes a certain amount of glee in murdering them, in fact.

Please have your villain kick Medusa's butt...please...you know he'd want to... C:<

vizzone wrote: »

The power dampeners will definitely put him out of commission, powers wise. He's self-trained due to his aforementioned hatred of psychics. (PSI could really boost his abilities and would probably love to have him, but he refuses to have anything to do with them due to his anti-superhuman bigotry. Which he conveniently ignores when he's the superhuman.) He's not really that powerful, and can only possess people when he's asleep. As such, he's very, very paranoid about his hideout's defenses. His hosts must also be awake for him to control them, so his sleep schedule is erratic at best. Probably popping sedatives like smarties.

Hmm, it is also easier (from what I gather) to access someone's mind when they are sleeping so perhaps a stake out by MCPD and heroes could work to bring him down or something..

vizzone wrote: »

Do the power dampeners do anything to normal human beings? Because when he's awake, that's all he is. A human very talented in conventional weaponry, explosives, martial arts and stealth but a human nonetheless.

I don't think they do, but I cannot imagine having them on would have a pleasant side effect on the human mind and body. Probably cause some form of nausea or migraines. Then again they could do absolutely nothing. So it would seem they'd have to keep him sedated and in power dampeners to seal in his astral form permanently.

vizzone wrote: »

The methods listed for containing him with superpowers are interesting. I especially like the 'trapping him in their mind' one, since I didn't really plan for him to have an astral form.

Hehe, I was just wondering what sort of person would be willing to do that...I remember vaguely something in Marvel happening like that between Psylocke and Shadow King, in order to seal him in the psionic prison she had to focus all her power on containing him, and as a by product "lost" her telepathic ability because she was focusing it all on containing him.

I guess if there was a hero who had the ability to access the astral plane (like some skilled and powerful telepaths can and sorcerers can) They could sort of banish his consciousness to the astral plane or something and seal off any link to their mind and any other mind again.

vizzone wrote: »

He just goes to sleep and wakes up somewhere else as someone else and lives their life until he wakes up. Or that was how it was initially. Now he can just decide 'I want so-and-so's body' and he's suddenly seeing the world through their eyes.

So it's more like a mind transference thing? That's interesting. I suppose if he possesses someone and acts slightly out of character he could be figured out...but he'd probably have passively sat in someone's mind and noted their mannerisms etc beforehand?

He would also need to account for telepaths who can detect "psychic shadows" (when someone tries to hide their psychic signature from clairvoyants and other telepaths), which seems to be his "passive" mind switch. And also for targets who are otherwise immune to psychic invasion, which would effectively block him from occupying their mind in any way shape or form.

vizzone wrote: »

He doesn't actually dream; in the stages normal human beings do, he just 'wakes up' as someone else. As such, being unconscious probably won't let him project. I especially like the idea of neutralizing a supervillain with a caffeine drip until he can be slapped with a power dampening device. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, but in his case it's a necessary containment method.

I will say, he sounds like an interesting villain

Potentially very dangerous if he got over his hatred for super powered beings, such as helping Menton to escape Stronghold or something similar....or even...occupying GROND's mind lol

bulgarex · July 2013

vizzone, I love how thoroughly thought-out your character's background and personality are. You sound like a natural role player for a PnP gaming table. :cool:

vizzone wrote: »

As for what role his old organization plays, they may or may not be gunning for his head since I haven't decided precisely how he leaves. After all, he never really cared about them other than as a paycheck/training to cause even more destruction. He may have doused that bridge in gasoline, set it ablaze with a flamethrower, rushed off to the store for some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers and then returned for a lovely snack while he shot the firefighters that were desperately attempting damage control. If he ended things more amicably he may still work for them on occasion. Just not with his powers.

The Shadow Army is probably your best bet for being able to leave and to expect to live. By his background and personality Warlord doesn't sound as obsessed with traitors as many other villains and groups. If you don't steal any of his technology or reveal his secrets, I don't think he'd necessarily come gunning for you, and might even be able to maintain a professional relationship with an ex-employee. If Warlord learned of your powers he'd undoubtedly want you back, but would first offer a sizeable financial incentive to renew your employment, only killing you if you refused.

If your character weren't already a well-trained soldier before joining the Shadow Army, he would be by the time he's put in the field. As long as he's emotionally able to accept authority and follow orders, he would learn the skills he's looking for with them, and have plenty of opportunities to fight.

vizzone wrote: »

Do the power dampeners do anything to normal human beings? Because when he's awake, that's all he is. A human very talented in conventional weaponry, explosives, martial arts and stealth but a human nonetheless.

All they do is negate non-physical superhuman abilities, and suppress physical ones down to normal human levels. A superhuman under their influence essentially becomes a normal human. They don't lose any of their knowledge or skills. In fact within the Stronghold prisoner community, people with combat training are the bosses, compared to supers who always relied on their powers. Many prisoners have spent literal years with their powers continuously shut down.

Mind you, some supers are just too strong to have their powers negated completely. These usually end up in "Hot Sleep," coffin-like capsules which electronically shut the conscious mind off, inducing an artificial coma.

Stronghold power negators project an area-affecting field. They cover the entire prison, so prisoners can move about as they would in a normal facility without being a superhuman threat to the guards. The Stronghold prisoner transport has a negator covering the interior of the vehicle, and prisoners being moved to and from the transport and the prison are fitted with personal restraints incorporating the same technology.

vizzone · July 2013

Mind transference is a much better way of describing his powers than astral projection. He doesn't have any of the host's knowledge unless he's in passive mode long enough to accurately gauge things. Even then, minor details like accent, gait, peoples' names/relationship to the host, and eating food they hate are a dead giveaway. He's far from flawless at impersonating someone in active mode, and tends to only really use it for assassinations/suicide bombings/when he's caught in passive mode by a psychic and needs to silence them. Another of his favorite uses of actively possessing someone is to take control of a henchman in an enemy group and force them to go on a bloody massacre until they're cut down. Then he possesses a survivor.

Cases when a psychic detects him usually end in both the first host and the psychic very, very dead. In which case, another question: Can mentalists detect psychic energy if he murders the host?

Either way, it seems blatantly obvious that the only real way to track him down is with mental powers, which gives him an even better reason to hate/avoid/murder them if he's detected. He probably tracks down PSI members for fun and reports their hideouts to UNTIL so he doesn't have to deal with them as often...

It's good to know that power dampeners will be useless since he can't use his powers anyway if he's awake. I expect the first superhero who manages to track down his real body will be in for a hilariously nasty surprise. And while I'm on the subject of power dampeners, I have a few questions about Hot Sleep.

How does imprisonment in a Hot Sleep Chamber work? I know it's a medically induced coma with enough stimulation to prevent muscular atrophy, but how long are they in there? Is it a life sentence? If not, what happens when their sentence is up? He's not going to be strong enough to require a Hot Sleep Chamber since the power dampeners should do the trick while he sleeps, but I'm still quite curious. I have a few other villains that might require one.

Especially the 'schizophrenic' whose senses are actually ahead of everyone else's in the time-space continuum. That's not so bad, if it weren't for the fact he can accelerate others into what he sees and interact with wreckage before it's wrecked. Such as walking through a solid wall that he sees as a pile of rubble.... because he walked through it, got a bomb, planted it on the intact wall, and set it off so he could walk through to get the bomb. Very skewed sense of cause and effect, that one.

bulgarex · July 2013

vizzone wrote: »

Cases when a psychic detects him usually end in both the first host and the psychic very, very dead. In which case, another question: Can mentalists detect psychic energy if he murders the host?

I've honestly never seen that particular situation discussed from a rules perspective. At the gaming table, this would likely be a Game Master's decision, based on the circumstances, special effects of the powers involved, and needs of the plot.

vizzone wrote: »

How does imprisonment in a Hot Sleep Chamber work? I know it's a medically induced coma with enough stimulation to prevent muscular atrophy, but how long are they in there? Is it a life sentence? If not, what happens when their sentence is up? He's not going to be strong enough to require a Hot Sleep Chamber since the power dampeners should do the trick while he sleeps, but I'm still quite curious. I have a few other villains that might require one.

Villains can be sentenced to Stronghold for varying amounts of time depending on their crimes, as with any other convicted criminal. Hot Sleep is reserved for prisoners who are too powerful and violent to be restrained any other way. Some who are unable or unwilling to control themselves, or whose powers are too innately dangerous, serve out their entire sentences in Hot Sleep, however long they may be. OTOH even powerful villains who demonstrate willingness to follow the rules can remain in the general prison population.

Stronghold prisoners who are repeatedly violent or rebellious during their stay in the prison may be confined in Hot Sleep for limited periods in response, just as normal prisoners may be sent to solitary confinement.

vizzone · July 2013

Well, I think that's answered all the questions I can think of. Thank you both for your assistance!

theravenforce · July 2013

Depending on time of death it can be detectible.

If the psychic is close and catches the host just before they die the psyche of the being will still be interact able and be able to communicate with them.

Detecting "dead psychic energy" is usually reserved for mystics though, or the telepath who is largely persistent.

If the host body can still be medically saved it is possible to re anchor the host's psyche to the person again. Or the psychic can "store" the psyche of the dead/dying person.

EDIT: My understanding of Hot Sleep is an induced coma which keeps the body and in most cases the mind from being active.

Menton however can utilize his astral form whilst in hot sleep (whether this is due to him not actually being in a container of Hot Sleep fluid I am not sure)

It seems to totally incapacitate the majority of mentalists.

As for your villain killing off psychics, it really depends on what calibre of psychic he comes into contact with.

If it is an experienced one, it is possible that the psychic would invade and force him out of the host, sending him back to his body.

Such an interaction MAY give details as to who and where his body is.

thebuckeye · July 2013

if the villains are psychic...didn't they see the heroes coming plant their boots in the villains' backsides...(a skeptical Tech Hero's perspective (in character trolling...sorry saw the title and had to respond))

bulgarex · July 2013

"Psychic" can cover a variety of abilities, not necessarily including precognition or clairvoyance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic

In a comic-book world the existence of such powers is hard to deny, since numerous beings can demonstrate them very forcefully.

There's a story from one of the Champions PnP books of an American senator lobbying publicly and aggressively for the government to devote more resources to counter the threat of Menton. That is, until he received a video recording of Menton having his way with the senator's wife and daughter.

iamrune · July 2013

bulgarex wrote: »

There's a story from one of the Champions PnP books of an American senator lobbying publicly and aggressively for the government to devote more resources to counter the threat of Menton. That is, until he received a video recording of Menton having his way with the senator's wife and daughter.

Note this is the Menton from Champions Pen & Paper games, who is a caucasion of European descent and extraordinarily tall, handsome and so on. Not the little Steve Urkel with a glowing, obvious brain we see here in Champions Online..

I still like to think the one we see in Stronghold is his current body host, with his true body somewhere in Europe awaiting his psychic return, whenever he can get the host body far enough away from all those power dampeners, anyhow.

theravenforce · July 2013

iamrune wrote: »

I still like to think the one we see in Stronghold is his current body host, with his true body somewhere in Europe awaiting his psychic return, whenever he can get the host body far enough away from all those power dampeners, anyhow.

I like this line of thought :biggrin:

bulgarex · July 2013

iamrune wrote: »

Note this is the Menton from Champions Pen & Paper games, who is a caucasion of European descent and extraordinarily tall, handsome and so on. Not the little Steve Urkel with a glowing, obvious brain we see here in Champions Online..

With the magnitude of Menton's mind-controlling powers, it wouldn't matter if he looked like a Gadroon. Normal people are his puppets.

However handsome he may be on the outside, though, Menton on the inside is a sleazy, selfish, sadistic slime. About what you'd expect the average person to become if he could literally make anyone do anything he wants, without consequences.

vizzone · August 2013

Well, crap. I did a bit of research, and I appear to have come up with a weaker, more traditionally violent version of a PSI villain named Bodyjacker who is presumed dead.

Not sure how to feel about this. Does take the wind out of my sails a bit, though I suppose completely avoiding power duplication would be a difficult thing to do in this genre. At least his background seems to be different enough....

I guess I could try to spin this to his advantage. He's definitely not Bodyjacker, but PSI and UNTIL don't know that. Until they manage to capture him, he could probably string them along into thinking Bodyjacker, well, jacked a body before he died. His hatred and killing of psychics could even be misconstrued as rage at his original body's death. Might not go so well if the guy isn't actually dead, though it could serve as another layer of hiding his true identity.

A psychic terrorist can never be too careful, after all.

bulgarex · August 2013

After seventy-five years of superhero comics, the likelihood of coming up with a concept that hasn't been done in some way in the past is vanishingly small. I wouldn't sweat it. Many people in this game don't worry much about originality; just ask all the guys with claws running around.

I admire how you're thinking of turning this situation to your advantage, story-wise. Maybe you should consider having your villain actually adopt the name, "Bodyjacker," as his professional alias. Send law-enforcement and superheroes chasing leads related to the original holder of the name, keeping them off the real guy's trail. There are certainly characters in the CU who have taken the names and motifs of deceased or retired predecessors, and even a few who are still active.

Psychic Villain/Terrorist Organization help

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