Villain Options

I have added two specific abilities for villains. These are mechanically nifty, and they capture the vibe of how villains work (at least, I think they do). They also give the "Joker" option; he has a really high CHA (I'd say 18/+4) so he has mooks who are willing to take damage for him, which allows him to keep on keeping on in fights he would normally be out of in round one... Since the Joker has both Tenacity and Henchmen, (and he's like level 4, so there's quite a bit of tenacity) he is actually really, really hard to pin down and land attacks on.

Tenacity

Villains do not have access to resolve; in its place, they have tenacity. A villain has their level tenacity points each turn. As a free action, a villain may attempt a Feat (CR 20) to use a tenacity point against any action that has negatively affected them. If the Feat is successful, the villain completely ignores the effect, damage, or consequence: the villain captures the arrow in midair, ducks the energy blast, or shrugs off the mind control. Like Resolve, this is an instant, at-will free action that can be used at any time; a villain can wait to see how much damage an attack deals before deciding whether to use a tenacity point to neutralize it. A villain may only attempt tenacity once per attack; if they fail a tenacity check, they cannot use another point against the exact same result.

Henchmen

Villains may take Henchmen as a talent. While any villain may travel with a cadre of na’er do wells, a villain with the henchman talent has a small group of devoted followers who obey without question. A villain with this talent travels with CHA modifier level 0 goons (see page xx). While at least one of these goons is in the fight, the villain can have a henchmen ‘take a bullet’ for them; once per round, a villain with this talent may attempt a CHA check (CR 20) as a free action; if successful, one of their henchmen will suffer the damage from an attack in place of the villain. Once all henchmen are incapacitated, the villain cannot access this talent. Henchmen cannot be used to soak mental attacks, but any physical attack can be blocked by a henchman instead of the villain.