Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 23 STR 13 14- Lift 600 kg, 4 1/2d6 HTH Damage 21 DEX 33 13- OCV: 7/ DCV: 7 18 CON 16 13- 15 BODY 10 12- 18 INT 8 13- INT Roll: 13- 20 EGO 20 13- ECV: 7 28 PRE 18 15- PRE Attack: 5 1/2d6 6 COM -2 8 PD 4 Total PD: 8 (3 rPD) 4 ED 0 Total ED: 4 (1 rED) 4 SPD 9 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 9 REC 0 36 END 0 36 STUN 0 Total Characteristics Cost: 129 Movement: Running: 7"/14" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills 7 Fangs: HKA 1 point (1/2 d6 w/STR), Penetrating (+1/2) 33 Drink Blood: HKA 1d6 (15) NND (defense is not having blood;+1), Does BODY (+1)Continuous (+1), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2); No Range (-1/2), Fangs must do BODY first (-1/2) 60 Mastery: Mind Control 12d6, Telepathic (+1/4); Limited Range (-1/4) 64 Spread of Vampirism: Major Transform 10d6, Reduced END (0 END, +1/2); No Range (-1/2), All or Nothing (-1/2), Limited Target/humans (-1/2), Must Drain All But 1 BODY With Drink Blood, Then Feed Target 1/2 BODY of Own Blood (-1) 2 Undead Body: Damage Resistance 3 PD/ 1 ED 20 Undead Resilience: Damage Reduction 50% Resistant Physical; Not vs. staking or decapitation (-1/2) 17 Vampiric Regeneration: Healing 1d6/ Regeneration 1 BODY per Hour, Resurrection (not versus vampire banes including fire, sunlight, staking, decapitation, and damage from holy items), Reduced END (0 END, +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Self Only (-1/2), Extra Time/ per Hour (-2) 47 Undead Vitality: Life Support vs. all conditions (minus Diminished Eating) 10 Arrow Catching: Missile Deflection up to arrows and crossbow bolts 2 Swift: Running +1" (7") 5 Vampiric Senses: Nightvision 6 Vampiric Senses: +2 PER Perks 45 Followers: 16 Vampires [Buffyverse Vampires, 125 pts. Base] Skills 10 Combat Skill Levels: +2 with HTH 3 Concealment 13- 3 Interrogation 15- 11 Magic Skill 17- [used for rituals] 3 Oratory 15- 2 PS: Cult Leader 11- 5 Stealth 14- 4 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons 3 Scholar 2 1) KS: History, pre-20th Century 13- 2 2) KS: Occult Lore 13- 1 3) KS: Slayer Lore 11- 5 4) KS: Vampire Lore 16- 372 Total Powers & Skills Cost 501 Total Character Cost 75+ Disadvantages 15 Distinctive Features: No Reflection (NC, Major) 25 Distinctive Features: Bestial Vampire (NC, Extreme) 20 Enraged: At The Sight Or Smell Of Blood (Common) Go 11-, Recover 11- 20 Psychological Limitation: Cannot Enter A Building Without Invitation (C, T) 10 Psychological Limitation: Considers Humanity Cattle (C, M) 20 Psychological Limitation: Megalomania (C, T) 25 Susceptibility: To Holy Objects (Common) 2d6/Phase 35 Susceptibility: To Direct Sunlight (Very Common) 2d6/Segment 10 Vulnerability: x2 STUN from wood 10 Vulnerability: x2 BODY from wood 190 Experience 501 Total Disadvantage Points
Background/History: The Master was the first archvillain (or 'Big Bad' in Spike's term) that Buffy had to face in the TV series. He was an ancient vampire, believed to be 'sired' in 14th Century Germany. He gained his reputation as a member of the vampire cult called the Order of Aurelius, which was dedicated to the promotion of the vampires' demonic heritage and the total rejection of humanity. Once he inherited leadership, he responded to no title other than "The Master."
The Master was one of the first European vampires to visit the New World, where he met and sired a Virginia prostitute named Darla. He took her with him to Britain, where she went on her own and sired a young Irishman who took the name Angelus. The Master continued to build his cult in both Europe and America, but by the beginning of the 20th Century he had permanently moved operations to America- specifically to a sleepy California town called Sunnydale. Unbeknownst to the human world, Sunnydale was built on a 'Hellmouth', a mystic nexus of demonic energies. The Master sought to use a grand ritual to open the Hellmouth, restore the Old Ones and bring doom to humanity. At some point in the 1930s, The Master and his followers attempted their final ritual in an abandoned church, but the ceremony somehow botched (or was sabotagedÉ) and The Master was trapped beneath the earth for decades. He only revived toward the end of the 20th Century, and even then found that the mystic disaster had trapped him under a dimensional barrier, unable to reach the surface. Buffy the Vampire Slayer first dealt with The Master's plots when she moved to Sunnydale and was told by the reformed 'Angel' that The Master was attempting an escape through an event called 'The Harvest.' A great astrological convergence allowed the Master to create a link to his chosen henchman Luke, with each human that Luke drained of blood giving strength directly to the Master, enabling him to test the barrier. Luke took the Bronze nightclub hostage and proceeded to begin feeding on victims. Unfortunately (for The Master) Buffy showed up and killed Luke through trickery, before he'd taken enough lives. The Master howled in rage as the barrier rebounded and he knew he'd been thwarted.
From this point, The Master's plans converged with the need to kill Buffy. Darla realized that Angel had fallen in love with the Slayer and tried to kill Buffy herself, only to be slain by Angel. The Master mourned the loss of his favorite, but by this point had discovered a new possibility for victory.
Researching his occult library, The Master found the Pergamum Codex, in which it was prophesied that an Anointed One would appear, that "the Slayer will not know him, and he will lead her into Hell." Said Anointed One turned out to be a ten-year old boy that had been sired during one of the local vampire raids, whom The Master took in to train. Meanwhile, Giles and Angel had also gotten to look at the prophecy, and Buffy was horrified when she overheard their conversation and realized she was fated to die. At first she tried to thwart Fate by giving up the Slayer duties, but when she remembered the threat vampires posed to her friends and the other innocents of Sunnydale, she steeled herself. She met the Anointed One- knowing exactly who he was- and willingly went with him down to The Master's lair. There Buffy fought The Master briefly before he managed to clinch her and drain her blood. And it was at this point that The Master revealed that the Slayer's blood would give him the power that he needed to break the barrier- thus he would not have been able to escape if Buffy hadn't tried to face him. The Master left Buffy to drown in an underground pond, and free to walk the Earth for the first time in decades, went out into Sunnydale in order to open the Hellmouth.
But The Master didn't realize that Xander, out of love for Buffy, would force Angel to reveal the location of The Master's lair. The two of them arrived after The Master had left, finding Buffy in the pond. Xander had to perform CPR to revive Buffy from drowning, and when she awoke, she felt strangely invigorated from her experience. As The Master stood at the roof of the Sunnydale High library, awakening the Hellmouth directly underneath, Buffy returned to face him, somehow able to withstand his mystic powers, and fought him long enough to push him through the ceiling windows and over a column, staking the vampire and bringing his death.
But such was The Master's power and evil that his skeleton actually survived staking (unlike most vampires who disintegrate completely). While Buffy vacationed over the summer, Giles and Buffy's friends had the bones buried in holy ground. Nevertheless, The Master's remaining cultists rallied around The Anointed One and kidnapped Giles and the others for a ritual that was supposed to bring The Master back to life. Buffy and Angel showed up to rescue the gang, and while The Anointed One escaped (eventually to get killed by Spike) the other cultists were dispatched, after which Buffy took a hammer and smashed the skeleton, putting an end to The Master once and for all.
Personality/Motivation: The Master was an archetypical Archvillain, plotting Buffy's doom, cursing the incompetence of his underlings, and doing it all with gusto and style. His main short-term goal, of course, was to escape his dimensional prison and walk freely again. If he had accomplished that goal and survived, the future would have looked like it did in the Season 3 alternate-universe episode "The Wish", where The Master ruled Sunnydale as his personal demesne, with vampires taking humans as slaves.
Quote: "Tonight, I shall walk the Earth—and the stars themselves will HIDE!!!"
Powers/Tactics: The Master is a very old and experienced vampire with several tricks up his sleeves (like being able to catch crossbow bolts). Fitting his name, The Master can use traditional vampiric mind control, except that he does not need to make eye contact or vocalize his commands. He is also a very knowledgeable and skilled occultist, although most of his spells are ceremonial rituals (like the Harvest) that work only under very specific conditions. They thus fall into the realm of plot device, and are not detailed here. The circumstances of his imprisonment forced The Master to work through his vampire servants, but his overall power is such that a beginning Slayer or group of vampire hunters would have a hard time dealing with him face-to-face.
Appearance: The Master is a vampire so ancient that he has lost the ability to retain his human appearance (or he is so contemptuous of humans that he refuses to do so). He is bone-white and completely hairless, with red eyes, jagged fangs and bloody marks around his features, causing him to resemble Count Orlock in the German vampire movie "Nosferatu." The Master always wears a black suit somewhat resembling a Nehru jacket or old tank crew uniform, with a high-collar leather jacket that closes in front.
Designer's Notes: FUN FACT: Mark Metcalf, the actor who played The Master in the series, also played ROTC commander Niedermayer in Animal House.
(BUFFY characters created by Joss Whedon, HERO System writeup by James Gillen)
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