The following powers can be flavored as you please. Mutations bestowed on cultists by an alien God. Spells used by a sorcerer. Powers derived from a mysterious artifact. A couple of these mixed in among a group of adversaries adds excitement and encourages the players to prioritize targets. My favorite combination is a group of foes, most armed with mundane weapons, but a few armed with supernatural abilities.
The narrative justification you give for an ability can also give the Agents an idea of what to expect, if they observe the target before engaging.
- Science: Biology or Chemistry can identify the drool coming from the "dog"'s mouth as acidic.
- Occult recognizes the deformed instrument in the cultist's hand as an artifact of supreme power.
- Medicine recognizes the flickering patterns on the target's skin as a seizure hazard.
1: ACID SPIT
As an action, the tango emits a cloud of corrosive miasma that deals D6 damage to anyone caught in it. Armor negates the damage, but is eroded away by an amount equal to the damage absorbed.
2: AURA OF FEAR
While active, everyone in line of sight is overwhelmed with fear, preventing them from moving closer to the tango. Breaking line of sight dispels the effect.
3: BLINDING CLOUD
As an action, the tango emits a noxious cloud that blinds anyone without PPE who fails a CON save. A successful First Aid test can flush their eyes out and restore vision.
4: BILOCATION
A visual illusion makes the tango appear in two places at once. Successful attacks that roll an odd number to-hit pass harmlessly through the illusion. Kill radius or area attacks ignore this defensive property. Clever tricks like throwing sawdust on the ground also defeat the illusion.
5: DEFENSIVE MIMICRY
Every time the Agents attack the tango, it screams at them to stop in the voice of a loved one, costing D4 points from that Bond.
6: DEGENERATIVE AURA
As an action, the tango emits a fleshy hum. Everyone within earshot loses D6 STR and CON as their bodies melt like candles.
7: ENTANGLE
The tango emits a web, resin, or other sticky but strong substance, inhibiting the target's movement. Actions such as aiming a gun or struggling free of the goo require a successful STR save.
8: FURIOUS RETALIATION
The tango gets one additional action for each attack made against it in a turn.
9: FLAY
The tango picks a single target to instantly reduce to 3 HP. This damage does not stun the target. If the tango breaks line of sight, loses concentration or is incapacitated, the target is restored to their former HP.
10: GAZE OF MADNESS
While active, anyone looking at the target is disabled by grand-mal seizures. The seizures break line-of-sight, allowing the victim to act on subsequent rounds.
11: HAZE OF MADNESS
Anyone with a disorder who engages the tango suffers an acute episode of that disorder.
12: MENTAL BLOCK
As a free action, the tango places a temporary block in an Agent's memory, reducing one of their skills to its base value.
13: PALL OF ISOLATION
While fighting this tango, the Agents feel that they are totally alone. They cannot project onto their Bonds.
14: PERFECT PARANOIA
The tango is automatically aware of any attempt to harm it. Its senses may be impaired in some other way.
15: SHATTER
The tango picks a piece of equipment carried by an Agent, which begins to vibrate dangerously. The item explodes on the tango's next action, dealing D6 damage if the Agent has not disposed of it by then. Items like firearms or grenades may deal additional damage from ammunition cookoffs.
16: TORMENT
The tango spends an action to halve the current HP of everyone in line of sight. This cannot take a victim below 3 HP.
17: TRANSCENDENT BUBBLE
The tango exists in a three meter sphere where an alternate brane overlaps with ours, centered on its person. It can only interact with, attack, or be attacked by things within this distance.
18: TURN BACK TIME
Once per round, the tango can force the reroll of a single D100.
19: VOLUNTARY VAMPIRISM
When the tango's allies are damaged, the tango recovers HP equal to the amount of HP lost.
20: WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS
The tango exists in multiple parallel realities simultaneously. They only lose HP from the lowest damage attack that hits it in a given turn.
I was thinking of this list again and came up with a weird defense that's more effective against veteran Agents than fresh ones:
ReplyDeletePSYCHIC PARASITE - Every time an Agent spends or loses WP in the tango's presence, it recovers an equal amount of HP.
Still thinking about this. Watched a video about XCOM 2 and thought of this...
ReplyDeleteASEXUAL REINFORCEMENT - When the tango is damaged but not killed, take its remaining HP and divide it in half (rounding up). The tango divides into two clones with that much HP. The clones otherwise have the same stats and abilities as the original, including this ability.
This is also how some slimes and oozes worked in the older D&D editions.
Delete