V&V Vednesday: Norsefire agents and the Aesir

Norsefire is a Aryan hate-group who seek to establish a society free of multiculturalism, one where the white race is dominant and all other ethnicities are subservient.  Norsefire was founded and is led by the superhuman known as Odin.  Their numbers at any given moment vary, depending on recruitment and how many they've had captured or killed recently: as a rule of thumb, any Norsefire operation that superheroes encounter will have 2d4 agents per superhero (including NPC's) that they might be facing, or 2d6 per agent if the number of superheroes outnumber the superpowered Norsefire agents (i.e. the 'New Asgardians') present.  If the GM wants to keep things simple, here's a stock stat listing for the rank-and-file non-powered Norsefire agents:

Side: Evil     Gender: Male (usually)     Weight: 175 lbs

Physical Description: Goons wearing a white bodysuit (complete with mask) with black gloves, belt, and boots.  They are typically armed with an energy rifle, and usually have a dagger in a boot sheath.

STR: 12     END: 12      INT: 9     AGL: 11     CHA: 9

Level: 1st     Basic Hits: 4     Hit Points: 7      Healing Rate: 1.2/day
Movement: 35”      Power: 44      Carrying Capacity: 256 lbs     HTH Damage: 1d6
Damage Modifier: -     Accuracy: -    Detect Hidden: 8%     Detect Danger: 12%
Inventing: 27%     Inventing Points: 0.9     Reaction Modifier: -

Equipment
Laser Rifle (+3 to Hit, 1d12 damage, range 55")
Dagger (+1 to hit, +1d2 damage)

Weaknesses
Psychosis - Bigotry:  hates all non-Caucasians, and may have to make an INT roll if taunted or attacked by a minority (a d20 roll if taunted, a d100 roll if he takes damage) to avoid attacking that person directly.  He also suffers a -4 reaction roll penalty from most people who do not share his views.

Areas of Knowledge
Hate Groups

Some GM's like having individual stats for all the various goons and henchmen that the heroes may encounter. Other GM's may occasionally find that, due to circumstance, a faceless goon is suddenly not so faceless (a la Bob, Agent of Hydra), and may need to be personalized a bit.  Individual character creation notes for Norsefire agents are as follows:

STR: 7+2d4     END: 7+2d4      INT: 4+2d4     AGL: 6+2d4     CHA: 4+2d4

Most agents are male, 1 in 20 is female.  Males weigh 70 + (3d6x10) lbs, females weight 50 + (3d4x10) lbs.

Most agents are 1st level, 1 in 12 will be of higher level (1 in 20 of these will be 3rd level, otherwise such agents are 2nd level).   Training from level increases have even odds of either going to an attribute increase (roll a d8: 1-2 STR, 3-4 END, 5 INT, 6-7 AGL, 8 CHR) or Combat Accuracy with a weapon (roll a d6: 1-4 laser rifle, 5-6 dagger).   

1 in 6 agents will have a combat Talent (roll a d4: 1 = Heightened Attack, 2 = Heightened Defense, 3 = Heightened Expertise, 4 = Natural Weaponry).

1 in 20 agents will, in addition to their standard weaponry, will also carry a non-standard weapon (roll a d6: 1-3 = sword, 4 = hand axe, 5= battle axe, 6 = bow).  If a non-standard weapon is carried, any Combat Accuracy or Heightened Expertise bonuses go to this weapon instead. 

Besides having an automatic Background/Knowledge dealing with Hate Groups, 1 in 4 agents will also get a standard roll on the Knowledge Area table.  In addition, each agent has a 1 in 20 chance of having a Military background, a 1 in 20 chance of having a Law Enforcement background, and a 1 in 8 chance of having a Crime background.

*

Inbetween the rank-and-file Norsefire agents and the superpowered New Asgardians are the Aesir.  These are agents who were chosen by Odin to be granted powers, but their actual abilities are less impressive than those of the New Asgardians.  They do not have individualized costumes like the New Asgardians do, but their Norsefire costumes do tend to be personalized a bit.  Their natural abilities, even without powers, tends to be a bit more impressive than the usual Norsefire agent (which is why they usually stood out enough to Odin in the first place), but their powers are usually weaker than most superhuman types.  They usually have names derived from lesser known Norse mythological figures (i.e. Forsetti, Vidar), or occasionally from human Norse heroes (Sigurd, Beowulf).  There are generally 1d6 of the Aesir as part of the Norsefire group at any given time.

To create an Aesir, roll up a normal Norsefire agent with the following modifications:

For their attributes, roll 3d4 instead of 2d4, and drop the lowest die.

Roll 1d6 for character level: 1-3 = 1st level, 4-5 = 2nd level, 6 = 3rd level.

Even odds of them having a combat Talent.

1 in 4 Aesir will carry a non-standard weapon; if they do, they automatically get the Heightened Expertise talent with that weapon.

Aesir have even odds of getting a general roll on the Knowledge Area table.  In addition, each Aesir has a 1 in 12 chance of having a Military background, a 1 in 12 chance of having a Law Enforcement background, and a 1 in 6 chance of having a Crime background.

Aesir get 1d3 of the 'standard' powers usually granted by Odin (roll a d6, rerolling any duplicates: 1-2 = Heightened Endurance B, 3-4 = Heightened Strength B, 5-6 Invulnerability).  They also have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a roll on the regular Powers table.  If the power gained would fit thematically into the Norse motif, then they get some sort of power limitation that reduces the effectiveness or appropriateness of the power.  If the power really doesn't fit into the Norse motif, no limitation is applied, although powers that are truly impressive or useful anyways might need to be rerolled.  For Invulnerability or any Heightened Attribute power, roll 4d10 instead or 3d10 and drop the highest number.

For GM's who don't want to go through that much work to have a few extra superpowered henchmen on hand, use the following template and modify as directed:

STR: 13     END: 13      INT: 10     AGL: 12*     CHA: 10

Level: 2nd     Basic Hits: 4     Hit Points: 9      Healing Rate: 1.2/day
Movement: 38”      Power: 48      Carrying Capacity: 306 lbs     HTH Damage: 1d6
Damage Modifier: +1     Accuracy: +1    Detect Hidden: 8%     Detect Danger: 12%
Inventing: 30%     Inventing Points: 2.0     Reaction Modifier: -

Roll or assign one combat Talent, and roll or assign one Background/Knowledge skill.  Assign a non-standard weapon, if desired.  Roll or assign 1-4 powers, using the above guidelines.  Invulnerability is 12 points, and any Heightened attribute is +12.  (Aesir with Heightened Endurance have 19 HP, a healing rate of 2.1/day, a movement rate of 50", a Power score of 60, and a Carrying Capacity of 411 lbs; Aesir with Heightened Strength have 15 HP, a movement rate of 50", a Power score of 60, and a Carrying Capacity of 1,481 lbs, increasing their base HTH damage to 1d10; those with both Heightened Endurance and Heightened Strength have 32 HP, a healing rate of 2.1/day, a movement rate of 62", a Power score of 72, and a Carrying Capacity of 1,586 lbs, increasing their base HTH damage to 1d10).

*note that this increases the Energy Rifle range to 60"