Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

154
What Villains Do
Villains have plots, minions, doomsday devices, and
more. Heroes are largely reactionary; it’s the acts of
the villains that give the heroes a chance to be truly
heroic. As a result, villains have more abilities and
options than any other GM controlled elements.
On the villain’s turn, the GM can have them take a
basic action or use one of their abilities. Additionally,
some villains have special rules allowing them to
take multiple actions — see the villain’s description
for full details.
Take a Basic Action
Villains can do any of the basic actions: Attack,
Defend, Boost, Hinder, and Overcome, but see
below for more information on villain Overcomes.
Like heroes, they assemble a dice pool using their
powers, qualities, and status, though their status
could be based on something other than their
than Health. They get their status die from their
archetype (page 220).
Use an Ability
Villains have abilities that make their actions more
dangerous than the basic actions, and often these
are more potent than heroic abilities. A villain’s
abilities guide what kind of plots, schemes, and tactics
they can unleash on the heroes. Their archetype
also informs their strengths and weaknesses. For
example, an “Overlord” villain focuses on leading,
empowering, and replenishing their minions and
has abilities that compliment those goals.
Overcome
Villains can Overcome obstacles similarly to heroes.
Major villains often have villainous masteries that
allow them to automatically succeed at Overcome
actions for tasks within their realm of expertise.
There are no opposed rolls in this game, so you
can’t use Overcome to nullify any of the heroes’
actions. That’s where the Hinder action or a villain’s
special ability comes in.
Overcome to Make the Scene More
Dangerous
Villains have another game effect they can bring
into play with an Overcome action: create mayhem,
deliver a villainous monologue, or otherwise make
the scene more dangerous. On a success, the scene
tracker advances one space.
What Villains Do
Usually this is a result of the villain causing chaos:
blowing up buildings, letting out a bellowing roar that
echoes through the city, and so on. Occasionally,
the villain might unleash a monologue, detailing
their villainous plan and taunting the heroes.
Don’t Abuse Your Power
Important: Overcome to advance the scene
tracker only once per scene, at most!
Overcoming to make the scene more dangerous
can be very powerful and could derail a game if used
to end a scene outright. This is especially true if you
choose the environment/scene tracker to go next
and your players aren’t aware or have forgotten
you could do so. While this use of the Overcome
action can serve as a great pacing tool and create
tension and excitement in a scene, abusing it will
likely create a sense of distrust and frustration in
your players and make your villains less interesting.
That being said, with a little dramatic use of
foretelling and the description of a villain’s rising
frustration as heroes smash through minions and
schemes alike, you could drop hints about the
villain’s plan to do something stupid and dangerous
out of sheer desperation. That would give your
players the chance to plan accordingly.
Villains and Minor Twists
Villains can succeed with minor twists, but these are
different than the twists heroes take. The following
list represents a selection of useful minor twists that
have been configured especially for villains.
•Villain takes damage equal to their Max die.
Victory comes at a price.
•Villain eliminates one of their own minions or
lowers the die size of one of their lieutenants.
If someone else can pay the price of victory, so
much the better.
• Villain takes a penalty (as from a Hinder action)
or grants a hero in the same location a bonus
(as from a Boost action) equal to their Max
die. The best laid plans often go awry.
•Villain inflicts a penalty (as from a Hinder action
based on their Mid die) to all their minions and
lieutenants or grants a bonus (as from a Boost
action based on their Mid die) to the heroes. If
one lets their anger get the best of them, it can
be their undoing.
•Villain skips their next action to deal with a
consequence (unintended or otherwise) of
their action. If you want something done right,
you have to do it yourself!