Randomizers:
Approach: 3, 8, 4 [Options: Prideful, Underpowered, Focused, Mastermind, Generalist, Tactician]
Archetype: 8, 2, 3 [Options: Inventor, Bruiser, Overlord, Inhibitor, Squad, Domain]
Upgrade: 9, 8, 7 [Options: Quality Upgrade I, Quality Upgrade II, Defense Shield]
Mastery: 1, 12, 2 [Options: Annihilation, Behind the Curtain, Malice]
Fantoccini
Real Name: Stella Russeti, First Appearance: Veilwalkers #3, May 2019
Approach: Tactician, Archetype: Overlord
Upgrade: Defense Shield, Mastery: Annihilation
Status Dice: 9+ minions: d12. 5-8 minions: d10. 3-4 minions: d8. 1-2 minions: d6. No minions: d4. Health: 25+5H
Qualities: Alertness d10, Close Combat d8, Stealth d6, A Mother’s Love d8
Powers: Intuition d8, Object Possession d8, Telepathy d6, Intangibility d6
Abilities:
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Organize [A]: Boost using Alertness and use your Max die. That bonus applies to every ally’s action until the beginning of your next turn.
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Spread Strings [A]: Use Object Possession to create a number of minions equal to the value of your Max die. The starting die size for those minions is the same as the size of your Min die.
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Lost in the Crowd [A]: Attack using Close Combat and use your Max die. Defend against all Attacks against you until the start of your next turn using the number of your minions.
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Quick Shift [R]: When a nearby ally makes an Attack, you may also Attack the same target by rolling your single Close Combat die.
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Spread The Blow [R]: Reroll any number of minion saves against the same Attack.
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(U) Spectral Shield (I): You cannot be damaged by anyone except yourself until the defense shield is destroyed. The defense shield has 40 Health, or can be deactivated with three Overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist working on the shield, you can make an Attack as a reaction by rolling your single Object Possession die.
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(U) Restore Shield [A]: Overcome using Intuition. Use your Max die. On a success, remove one success from the deactivating challenge. Alternatively, instead of an Overcome, use the Max die to Recover that much of the defense shield’s Health. This ability cannot be used if the defense shield has been completely removed.
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(U) Master of Annihilation (I): If you can cause massive collateral damage without regard for casualties, automatically succeed at an Overcome where a show of overwhelming force can solve the problem.
Common Scene Elements:
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A Cluttered Environment: A museum, mall, or similar environment filled with innocent civilians and useful objects for Fantoccini to possess.
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Her Current Principessa, a human child half-possessed by Fantoccini’s imagination of her daughter. She sets up challenges for Fantoccini or the heroes to Overcome.
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Moppets: d6 minions. When Moppets are Hindered, reduce the final penalty by 1.
Many of the supervillains faced by the Veilwalkers were in some way sympathetic, victims of misfortune who were, unlike the heroes, unwilling to take the steps needed to avoid being a danger to those around them. Of those who appeared in the first year, the most pitiable but also one of the most dangerous was Fantoccini.
Stella Russeti had been an immigrant to the United States in the late 1800s, coming with her family in search of a better life. The Russetis were puppeteers and performers, but they found scorn and prejudice on the East Coast and soon set out along the western trails, hoping to find a homestead of their own. Instead, Stella’s daughter grew sick, and she went to a necromancer of questionable repute to save her - a minor villain drawn from the pages of the 1970s Cryptic Trails. The necromancer bound the soul of Stella’s daughter into a doll, so that she could be with her mother forever.
This, unsurprisingly, did not end well. Stella was obsessed with keeping the doll safe, ultimately killing her own husband when he tried to destroy it and free his daughter’s soul. When she died, she continued to haunt the grounds, keeping the doll safe, and ultimately she was exorcised and bound by the Dusk Rider, who freed her daughter’s soul and sent it on its way. And that was the end of Stella Russeti… until a tear in the veil of spirits woke her, and she returned to the world to seek her daughter once again.
As Fantoccini, Stella found a girl who resembled her lost daughter, and used her magic to fill that girl with her memories, overlaying her Principessa’s desires onto her. She and her daughter began wreaking havoc as they imbued objects with life and played games with no regards to the survival of their play partners. The Veilwalkers responded, and were just barely able to keep Fantoccini and Principessa from killing anyone, and when Veilweaver realized that Principessa was not possessed by a ghost, merely controlled by Fantoccini, she was able to peel the false layers away and restore the girl’s soul. Fantoccini vanished before she could be safely sealed away.
Fantoccini refused to believe that her daughter was gone. She lurked, and she waited, and months later she possessed another child who resembled her daughter, this time seeking revenge against Lostwood for what she believed to be their attempts to keep them apart. The Veilwalkers stopped her again, but the ghost vowed that she would find her daughter, and the two of them would play together forever…
Behind the Scenes
The Veilwalkers seem to run into horror monsters a lot, although they can more or less deal with them. Fantoccini is definitely in the mould; a ghostly mother who steals children and tries to turn them into her long-lost daughter is the exact sort of thing you expect more in a horror movie than in a superhero comic, but also it works really well for magical superheroes to fight.
Mechanically, she’s likely to create tons and tons of smaller minions, forcing the heroes to constantly fight them off as the situation gets increasingly dangerous, while she and her ‘daughter’ play happily in the chaos. She’s not necessarily the most dangerous overlord out there, and the fact that her minions are all literal objects makes them pretty breakable, but she’s a reasonable threat.
