Urban Fantasy: Nemeses (For Stars Without Numbers/Scarlet Heroes/'Heroic' Systems)

While this post is primarily notes for my Urban Fantasy-styled game using Stars Without Numbers Revised, there's stuff in there which is usable for Scarlet Heroes and other Sine Nomine games which use the 'Heroic' System.

A Nemesis is a named and/or dangerous foe. They are a step up from simple Worthy Foes. All Nemeses are Worthy Foes but not every Worthy Foe is a Nemesis. Nemeses are those named characters and antagonist (even if their name exist only in production notes or the GM notes) who, when they show up in an action scene, receive actual focus compared to the faceless mooks. Some are just big scary super-mooks, the horrible monster or the big tough bruiser working for the villain with a squad of faceless goons. Others are fully fleshed out characters of their own, with a backstory and motivation. Whatever it is, they are not expendable. They don't go down easy even if they might be weaker than the heroes. And some go beyond that, being main villains. All these are example of a Nemesis.

Of course there is always the opposite that can happen, where the villain is a non physical threat and cannot put up a fight. A good example of an archetype of a non-Nemesis Main Villain and Nemesis right-hand man would be any kind of corrupt executive or politician or even some Bond villain who are weak as wet tissue paper but command heavily-trained minions through loyalty and/or money. These guys aren't Nemesis but their lieutenants are.

The Tough Guy

This type of Nemesis might not have any kind of supernatural powers. Not that he needs it, mind you. These abilities work for any kind of character whose sheer talent in combat make them noticeably more dangerous than the run-of-the-mill thug minions. They could be the hardened Yakuza lieutenant whose sword skills and loyalty make him take on blatantly supernatural foes with a blade or he could be some ex-special force-turned-mercenary who is simply so tough that he just won't go down.

• I Should Be Dead: The Nemesis can Commit Effort for the scene as a reaction and temporarily regain HP equal to twice the number of worthy foes (usually PC but it might include some allied NPC on their side) in battle. These HP stick around for 1d4 rounds and after that they fade, possibly killing the Nemesis as he finally succumb to wounds that should have killed him minutes ago. Multiple use of this ability stack in numbers but not duration.
• Mook Leader: The Nemesis is a lieutenant to a group of unnamed, expendable minions. Either through training, intimidation, great motivation speeches or sheer morale boost from his presence he make these minions all the more dangerous. All minions gain the attack bonus and AC of the Mook Leader as long as he's conscious and within the fight itself.
• Multi-Melee Master: The Nemesis is a monster in melee combat. His Fray Dice affect all enemies within range of his melee weapon as he spin around and constantly attacking all those within range in ludicrous cool choreographed attacks.
• Riposte Blow: The Nemesis Commit Effort for the scene as a reaction and makes an extra attack against a nearby foe at -4. Stronger Nemeses might have this ability but without the penalty.
• Unbreakable Mind: The Nemesis gain a passive +4 to his Saving Throws to resist any kind of mind-affecting effect, power, spell or whatever else screwing with his mind.
• Weapon Master: Even on a miss, the Nemesis still inflicts 1d4 regular damage.

The Monster

These abilities work best for generic dangerous creatures, from a summoned monster to a not-quite-human mook to some form of undead monstrosities. They are strong, tough and possibly pretty big and they command an even bigger presence in combat than the Tough Guy. When the monster shows up only one thing is to be expected: pain.

• Man-Chucks: The Nemesis is not only incredibly strong but has such a powerful (and presumably large) grip that it can grab its foes and use them as improvised nunchaku, This has two use: first, the monster can use its Fray Dice 'action' on its turn to grab a lesser mook and use its unfortunate ally as a weapon, increasing the damage of its regular attack by one dice size. This obviously turn its 'ally' into bloody chunks. The secondary use is that it can choose to deal regular damage but enemies which are hit must make a Save or be thrown 1d10 meters in a random direction.
• Monstrous Fray: The Nemesis Commit Effort to increase its Frat Dice by one size category as it focus its energy on wailing on everything around.
• Monstrous Toughness: Supernatural beings are notoriously tough to put down. The Nemesis take 1 point less of damage except (possibly) against its specific weakness.