What’s a hero without memorable villains? Robin doesn’t have a deep rogue’s gallery of his own, mostly borrowing from Batman’s, and the ones that are more Robin-specific aren’t necessarily the easiest to translate to a TTRPG; Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong is basically a particularly bratty kid, Jaeger is barely characterized at all, and so on. However, there are two Robin villains that have been around since the beginning: King Snake and Lynx.
King Snake
Sir Edmund Dorrance, better known as King Snake, seemed like the most obvious choice here. He’s the villain in the original Robin miniseries, and he just keeps coming back. He’s also a skilled marital artist, which is fairly easy to model in PF2E.
Because King Snake is blind, he has to rely on his other senses in combat; he’s honed his tremorsense and scent senses over the years. He’s also, naturally, immune to blindness and effects caused by light.
He’s a little bit faster than average, and he’s quite stealthy as well. Most importantly, though, he hits like a truck. He’s got solid damage output and relies entirely on melee attacks—but if someone tries to escape his reach, he’ll lash out with an Attack of Opportunity.
Ranged opponents aren’t a problem, as he can close the distance quickly with his Flying Kick, but surrounding him isn’t necessarily a smart move, either. He can easily strike at multiple opponents at once thanks to his Sweeping Blow ability.
Ultimately, I wanted King Snake to be a pretty formidable physical threat; hopefully I’ve accomplished that.
Lynx
I’m cheating a little bit here. Despite focusing on King Snake and the Ghost Dragons gang, I’m actually basing this Lynx build off the second iteration of the character, not Dorrance’s lieutenant from the earlier stories. This is the version of Lynx that rules the Golden Dragons, complete with a katana and a sweet costume that has clawed gloves.
Lynx is meant to be a speedy opponent who can hit hard and then escape. She has a slightly higher speed than average, plus her Swift Strike ability that allows her to move and attack multiple targets with ease.
I also wanted to design her with a weakness that would reward a little bit of creativity on the players’ part. So often, combat devolves into little more than each side relentlessly attacking, with combat maneuvers being ignored. Two of Lynx’s abilities—Deflecting Slice and Furious Slash—are dependent on her katana. Not only that, but her claw attack deals less damage than her sword. If the players bother to disarm her, they gain a clear advantage.
The Ghost Dragons
What good is King Snake without his gang, the Ghost Dragons? Not much! After losing control of the gang to Lynx, he pretty much stops being a threat to Tim (barring that one time he joined Kobra, but we don’t need to talk about that). So, once I’d settled on building King Snake and Lynx, I knew I’d need to make a few Ghost Dragons to serve as their minions!
Ghost Dragon Thug
The rank-and-file members of the Ghost Dragons are, frankly, not much to worry about. They’re well-organized and King Snake makes sure they’re competent in martial arts, so they’re a cut above your average delinquent, but they don’t pose a serious threat to someone like Robin.
Their martial arts training affords them the ability to do a Flurry of attacks, and they hit fairly hard for their rating. Their real advantage, however, is numbers: while a single Ghost Dragon Thug is easy to deal with, a group of them can quickly Gang Up and overwhelm a foe—just ask Clyde Rawlins!
Ghost Dragon Gunner
Ghost Dragons are a lot more dangerous when they have firepower. Ghost Dragon Gunners can deal serious damage with their pistols, and they aren’t big on trigger discipline—it’s not uncommon for them to Fire Wildly at their foes and just hope they hit something.
Like their Thug counterparts, Ghost Dragon Gunners are used to working in groups. They can supply allies with Covering Fire, letting their friends reposition themselves to take better advantage of the field of battle.
I’m not sure why exactly but I’ve always really liked King Snake
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