THE STRAW-MAN
Samuel Hain and Gwydion fab Dôn
Hero Points: 150
Power Level: High Level
Team: Dark Society, former member of the International Hero Corps
Base of Operations: Grove’s Folly
Role: Mystical guardian
Occupation: Protector of Grove’s Folly
Motivation: Responsibility
CHARACTER PROFILE
The Straw-Man is not a single individual but the union of two profoundly different souls: Samuel Hain, a young man whose life became entangled with the supernatural while he was still a teenager, and Gwydion fab Dôn, an ancient Welsh magician, hero, trickster, and shameless architect of his own legend.
Centuries ago, Gwydion served as both apprentice and lover to a powerful witch who instructed him in the mysteries of nature magic. She taught him to hear the voices moving beneath the earth, call upon the wind, bargain with hidden spirits, and draw strength from the ancient forces of the living world. For a time, their relationship was passionate and mutually beneficial, but his teacher’s hunger for power eventually grew to frightening proportions. Gwydion abandoned her when he realized that she no longer viewed magic as a means of understanding or protecting the world but as a weapon with which she might dominate it.
She did not forgive him.
After years of searching, the witch finally tracked Gwydion down and placed a terrible curse upon him. His physical body was destroyed, and his spirit was torn from the natural cycle of life and death before being imprisoned within a bundle of old, tattered rags. The magician who had once walked through royal courts, battled monsters, and commanded the forces of nature became little more than an angry voice bound to decaying scraps of cloth.
The rags endured.
They passed through countless hands and survived fires, wars, shipwrecks, abandoned houses, and generations of owners who never realized what slept within them. Eventually, they found their way to Grove’s Folly, a sleepy community situated just outside Sovereign City. There, the rags were draped across a scarecrow and left standing in a field, unaware and largely powerless until Gwydion’s former lover returned.
Samuel Hain became involved when the witch attempted to kill him. Faced with the destruction of an innocent young man and the renewed threat of the woman who had cursed him, Gwydion joined his spirit to Samuel’s. The bond awakened the scarecrow body and created the being now known as the Straw-Man.
Samuel and Gwydion have been inseparable ever since.
Their union is not always comfortable. Samuel is compassionate, earnest, and considerably more cautious than his mystical partner. Gwydion is arrogant, theatrical, impulsive, and inclined to treat any dangerous situation as an opportunity to embellish his legend. He routinely claims to have inspired Loki, Anansi, Puck, Reynard the Fox, and numerous other trickster figures, despite the historical and cultural impossibility of several of those assertions. Samuel has learned that arguing with him generally encourages even more extravagant claims.
For all his dishonesty, however, Gwydion’s genuine accomplishments remain remarkable. He has fought gods, demons, sorcerers, monsters, angels, and horrors that existed before humanity learned to name the darkness. Some of the stories associated with him are fictionalized versions of actual adventures, while others were created by Gwydion himself and repeated often enough that later storytellers mistook them for tradition. Determining which is which has frustrated generations of scholars.
As the Straw-Man, Samuel and Gwydion have battled the forces of Heaven, Hell, and nearly everything between them. They have formed alliances with the American Crusader, members of the International Hero Corps, the Dark Society, and numerous spirits and supernatural beings who owe Gwydion favors—or believe that he owes favors to them.
The Straw-Man also became romantically involved with Logan Jenkins, the sorceress known as Catalyst. Gwydion’s confidence, magical knowledge, and theatrical nature appealed to Logan, although his evasiveness and appetite for chaos eventually complicated their relationship. Samuel was placed in the uncomfortable position of sharing a body with one participant in a romance he could neither entirely join nor escape. Although the relationship ended, the Straw-Man and Catalyst remain connected by affection, history, and the kind of mystical complications that rarely disappear simply because two people have stopped seeing one another.
Grove’s Folly has become the Straw-Man’s adopted home. Its fields, woods, forgotten roads, old houses, and hidden supernatural population are now the center of his existence. Samuel considers its residents his neighbors, while Gwydion regards the community as the latest addition to the long list of kingdoms, villages, forests, and sacred places he has supposedly defended throughout history.
Recently, the Straw-Man voluntarily accepted a punishment that severed his direct connection to Gaea and restricted him to the environs of Grove’s Folly for sixty years. The sentence dramatically reduced the reach of his nature magic and prevents him from physically traveling far beyond the community he has sworn to protect. Even this limitation did not prevent him from finding a way to aid the Dark Society during its battle against the Perfected Dead.
Walls, curses, divine punishments, and the ordinary laws of geography have never been particularly effective at stopping Gwydion fab Dôn.
Samuel Hain keeps the Straw-Man grounded in the world as it is. Gwydion reminds him that the world has always been stranger than it pretends to be.
Together, they stand watch over Grove’s Folly, an immortal trickster and a young hero sharing a body of rags, vines, and straw.
CHARACTERISTICS
| Characteristic | Rating |
|---|---|
| Edge | 14 |
| Health | 7 |
| Resolve | 2 |
| Trait Cap | 16d |
| Primary Attack | 12d Mystic Sickle |
| Primary Control Effect | 10d Pumpkin Vines |
His 7 Health reflects the unnatural resilience of the Straw-Man’s physical form. Although his body can be torn, burned, pierced, and dismembered, those injuries do not affect him in the same way that they would a living human. Pumpkin vines pull severed pieces back together, torn rags knit themselves closed, and fresh straw grows from the empty spaces inside him.
The Straw-Man begins with 2 Resolve. His numerous responsibilities, divided identity, magical enemies, and territorial restrictions provide ample opportunities for his Flaws to complicate his adventures.
ABILITIES
| Ability | Rank |
|---|---|
| Agility | 7d |
| Intellect | 6d |
| Might | 6d |
| Perception | 7d |
| Toughness | 7d |
| Willpower | 7d |
The Straw-Man’s 7d Agility reflects a body unrestrained by ordinary human anatomy. He can bend at unnatural angles, twist away from attacks, swing from his vines, and continue moving even after suffering injuries that should make physical action impossible.
His 6d Intellect represents the combined knowledge of Samuel and Gwydion. Samuel possesses a modern education and practical understanding of the contemporary world, while Gwydion contributes centuries of magical lore, historical experience, and personal familiarity with supernatural beings. Unfortunately, Gwydion’s knowledge is frequently buried beneath exaggeration, deliberate evasiveness, or stories designed to make him appear more important.
His 6d Might allows him to overpower ordinary humans, tear through wooden barriers, lift heavy objects, and grapple supernatural creatures. Much of this strength comes from the pumpkin vines growing through and around his body rather than from conventional muscle.
His 7d Perception combines Samuel’s alertness with Gwydion’s sensitivity to natural and supernatural phenomena. The Straw-Man can notice disturbances in the local environment, hear the warnings of small spirits, recognize mystical residue, and sense when something has disrupted the balance of Grove’s Folly.
His 7d Toughness represents the unusual construction of his scarecrow body. The Straw-Man has no vulnerable organs, blood vessels, or bones in the conventional sense. Attacks may damage his physical form without significantly impairing the spirits inhabiting it.
TALENTS
| Talent | Rank | Specialty or Use |
|---|---|---|
| Academics | 7d | Magic, Welsh mythology, folklore, and supernatural history |
| Charm | 5d | Storytelling, trickery, and disarming eccentricity |
| Command | 4d | Rallying allies and directing spirits |
| Covert | 5d | Moving unseen through fields, forests, and rural terrain |
| Investigation | 5d | Supernatural mysteries and local disturbances |
| Medicine | 3d | General proficiency |
| Professional | 3d | General proficiency |
| Science | 3d | General knowledge |
| Streetwise | 3d | General proficiency |
| Survival | 8d | Wilderness travel, natural hazards, and tracking |
| Technology | 3d | General proficiency |
| Vehicles | 3d | General proficiency |
Charm represents Gwydion’s considerable ability as a storyteller, liar, flirt, and manipulator. Even people who recognize that he is exaggerating may find themselves entertained enough to continue listening. Samuel’s sincerity helps counterbalance Gwydion’s theatrical behavior and makes the Straw-Man more approachable than his appearance might suggest.
Covert allows the Straw-Man to remain perfectly motionless and pass as an ordinary scarecrow, disappear into fields and wooded areas, move silently across rural terrain, and use his vines to travel without leaving conventional footprints.
Investigation represents Samuel’s practical reasoning and Gwydion’s knowledge of supernatural patterns. The Straw-Man is particularly effective when investigating strange events within Grove’s Folly, where the land, spirits, and residents may provide him with information unavailable to outsiders.
POWERS
The Straw-Man’s Powers possess the Magic or Supernatural Source. Most are produced by the union of Samuel’s living spirit, Gwydion’s magic, and the enchanted scarecrow body they share.
Mystic Sickle of the Void — Strike 12d, Penetrating
The Straw-Man can summon a curved mystical sickle from the Void whenever he requires it. The weapon appears instantly in his hand, often accompanied by a rush of cold wind, drifting leaves, black vapor, or a momentary tear in the surrounding darkness. The sickle is not a conventional metal weapon. Its blade is formed from condensed otherworldly energy and can cut ghosts, demons, magical constructs, spiritual bonds, and other entities lacking ordinary physical bodies. It vanishes if removed from the Straw-Man’s possession and can be summoned again whenever he wishes. Its Penetrating quality allows the blade to ignore a significant portion of an opponent’s protection. Magical armor, demonic flesh, supernatural invulnerability, and technological defenses offer less protection against the sickle than they would against an ordinary weapon.
Pumpkin Vines — Entangle 10d
Thick pumpkin vines can burst from the Straw-Man’s back, shoulders, arms, or torso and move under his mental command. The vines can restrain several ordinary opponents or concentrate upon a single superhuman target. They coil around limbs, tighten around weapons, pull enemies off their feet, or secure them against nearby structures. The vines are strong but not indestructible. Powerful enemies may tear themselves free, while fire, extreme cold, herbicides, magical blight, and other effects harmful to plant life may destroy them. Damaged vines rapidly wither and fall away, but the Straw-Man can grow replacements.
Vine Limbs — Extra Limbs 4d
The Straw-Man’s pumpkin vines function as additional limbs, allowing him to manipulate several objects or perform multiple physical tasks at once. He may use the vines to hold onto a wall while fighting with the Void-sickle, carry injured civilians while keeping his hands free, manipulate distant objects, or attack from unexpected directions. The vines possess enough dexterity to open doors, turn handles, tie knots, retrieve small items, and operate simple mechanisms. They are less effective with complicated technology or tasks requiring extremely fine precision. Gwydion can command them instinctively, but Samuel sometimes finds the sensation of controlling numerous limbs disorienting.
Rag-and-Straw Regeneration — Regeneration 12d
Destroying the Straw-Man’s physical body is extraordinarily difficult. When injured, pumpkin vines grow through the damaged area and pull the pieces back together. Torn fabric stitches itself closed, broken branches realign, and fresh straw pushes outward to replace whatever has been lost. A severed arm may crawl back across the ground on a cluster of tiny roots before reattaching itself, while a completely shattered torso may gradually reconstruct itself around the surviving rags. The Straw-Man can recover from bullet wounds, impalement, dismemberment, crushing injuries, and other forms of massive physical trauma. Since his body possesses no conventional heart, brain, lungs, or circulatory system, attacks targeting vital organs are largely meaningless.
Lesser Nature Magic — Omni Power 6d
Gwydion retains a limited command of nature magic. His voluntary punishment and separation from Gaea have greatly reduced the scale and geographic reach of these abilities, but within Grove’s Folly he can still produce a wide variety of minor supernatural effects. Possible applications include:
- Calling or redirecting strong winds
- Causing plants to grow rapidly
- Communicating with sprites and lesser nature spirits
- Asking birds or animals what they have witnessed
- Concealing a path with fog, leaves, or thick vegetation
- Detecting corruption within the local environment
- Using leaves, pollen, or dust to reveal an invisible creature
The Straw-Man cannot use Omni Power as a justification for any unrelated magical effect. Every application must be connected to plants, animals, weather, natural spirits, the harvest cycle, or the land surrounding Grove’s Folly.
DIVIDED CONSCIOUSNESS
Samuel Hain and Gwydion fab Dôn share the Straw-Man’s body, but they remain distinct personalities. Either may speak through the Straw-Man, and their voice, posture, vocabulary, and mannerisms often make it clear who is in control. Samuel generally sounds modern, direct, and compassionate. Gwydion speaks with theatrical confidence, ancient references, grandiose declarations, and a certainty that every listener should already know who he is. The two can communicate silently with one another. This allows them to debate plans, compare observations, and irritate each other without anyone else hearing the argument.
Their shared consciousness provides some protection against mental control. A psychic power that dominates one of them may still face resistance from the other. This protection is not absolute, however. A sufficiently powerful telepath, exorcist, or magician may exploit the separation between them, forcing the two personalities into conflict or attempting to drive one spirit from the body.
Samuel usually controls the Straw-Man during interactions with ordinary people. Gwydion is more likely to emerge during magical confrontations, negotiations with supernatural beings, or situations in which his ancient knowledge is required. Control can shift rapidly when one of them becomes angry, frightened, or emotionally invested.
Despite their arguments, neither can function fully as the Straw-Man without the other. Samuel provides a connection to living humanity and the modern world. Gwydion provides magical knowledge and the power animating the scarecrow form. Their relationship has gradually changed from reluctant coexistence into a strange but genuine partnership.
Neither is entirely willing to admit how much he depends upon the other.
SUPERNATURAL FEATS
The Motionless Watchman
The Straw-Man can remain perfectly still for hours or days, appearing to be an ordinary scarecrow. He does not need to breathe, blink, eat, drink, or shift his weight.
Unless someone possesses supernatural senses or knows what to look for, recognizing him as a living entity may require a difficult Perception or Investigation challenge.
Voice of the Harvest
Within Grove’s Folly, the Straw-Man can call upon lesser spirits of fields, forests, weather, and changing seasons. These spirits do not automatically obey him, but many recognize Gwydion and can be persuaded, tricked, bribed, or shamed into offering assistance.
Unfortunately, some of them remember Gwydion from centuries ago and have their own versions of what occurred during those encounters.
Guardian of Grove’s Folly
The Straw-Man possesses an instinctive awareness when serious supernatural danger threatens Grove’s Folly. This is not a precise alarm system, but changes in the land, agitation among local spirits, unnatural weather, or disturbances among plants and animals may warn him that something is wrong.
The connection becomes stronger near the center of the community and weaker along its borders.
Aid Beyond the Boundary
The Straw-Man is prohibited from physically leaving Grove’s Folly for the duration of his punishment. This does not mean he is incapable of influencing events beyond it.
With preparation, Resolve, and a suitable mystical connection, he may send dreams, communicate through nature spirits, lend magical energy, offer knowledge, or manipulate events from within the region. Such assistance should require ingenuity and remain less direct than personally joining the battle.
His contribution against the Perfected Dead demonstrated that a territorial restriction can limit Gwydion’s movements without limiting his capacity for finding loopholes.
PERKS
Connections: Supernatural Community
The Straw-Man has contacts among magicians, faeries, nature spirits, ghosts, monsters, occult scholars, supernatural heroes, and beings whose names do not appear in any reliable reference work.
Some of these beings consider Gwydion a friend. Others consider him a rival, debtor, former lover, enemy, nuisance, or incorrigible liar. Occasionally, the same being places him in several of those categories.
These connections can provide information, magical assistance, passage into hidden places, or introductions to powerful supernatural figures. Calling upon them may also remind Gwydion of debts he had hoped everyone involved had forgotten.
Local Authority: Grove’s Folly
The Straw-Man is the recognized protector of Grove’s Folly. Many residents know that strange things happen around the community, even if they do not understand the full truth about their scarecrow guardian.
Local residents may provide shelter, information, transportation, or practical assistance. The Straw-Man also knows the region’s fields, woods, farms, roads, abandoned structures, hidden paths, and supernatural locations better than almost anyone.
His authority is strongest when he is protecting the town. Residents may be less cooperative when Gwydion’s behavior has recently caused property damage, frightened livestock, offended local spirits, or produced another wildly implausible public explanation.
Reputation: The Immortal Trickster
Within mystical circles, Gwydion fab Dôn is recognized as an ancient and dangerously unpredictable magician. The accuracy of the stories surrounding him may be debatable, but his reputation can command attention from beings who would dismiss a less experienced hero.
Enemies who know his reputation may hesitate because they assume he has concealed plans, secret alliances, or undisclosed powers.
Frequently, they are correct.
FLAWS
Duty: Guardian of Grove’s Folly
The Straw-Man has accepted Grove’s Folly as his home and considers its protection a sacred responsibility. When the community is threatened, other concerns become secondary.
Samuel knows many of the residents personally and refuses to regard them as acceptable casualties in a supernatural conflict. Gwydion may pretend to be motivated by territorial pride or ancient obligation, but he has also developed genuine affection for the town.
Enemies who understand this devotion may threaten Grove’s Folly to manipulate the Straw-Man, force him into an unfavorable bargain, or distract him from dangers elsewhere.
Restriction: Sixty Years Within the Boundary
As part of a voluntarily accepted punishment, the Straw-Man has been severed from his direct connection to Gaea and confined to Grove’s Folly and its immediate environs for sixty years.
Attempts to cross the mystical boundary may cause his body to weaken, unravel, or become physically incapable of further movement. Teleportation and magical portals do not automatically bypass the restriction.
The exact limits of the sentence are governed by supernatural law rather than ordinary geography. Gwydion constantly tests its wording, searches for exceptions, and argues that temporary projections, detached vines, dreams, summoned spirits, or assistance offered from a distance do not constitute physically leaving Grove’s Folly.
The powers responsible for enforcing the punishment may not appreciate his interpretations.
Dual Identity: Samuel and Gwydion
Samuel and Gwydion do not always agree about who should control the Straw-Man or what they should do.
Samuel is more concerned with protecting innocent people, respecting modern morality, and considering the long-term consequences of their actions. Gwydion is willing to lie, manipulate, provoke, and gamble when he believes the result justifies the risk.
Their disagreement can create hesitation at critical moments. Under severe emotional or magical pressure, they may struggle for control of the body. Enemies capable of entering dreams, manipulating spirits, or exploiting divided minds may turn one against the other.
Despite these difficulties, neither regards the other as merely a burden any longer. Their arguments have become part of the relationship holding the Straw-Man together.
Enemy: Gwydion’s Former Lover
The witch who destroyed Gwydion’s physical body and bound his spirit to the tattered rags remains one of the defining threats in the Straw-Man’s existence.
Her complete plans, current power, and long-term fate may not always be known, but her influence continues through old curses, surviving servants, hidden magical preparations, and enemies created during her centuries-long pursuit of Gwydion.
Her relationship with Gwydion was once genuine and passionate. That history makes their conflict more dangerous. She knows his habits, weaknesses, vanities, and magical methods better than almost anyone.
She also knows that Samuel gives Gwydion something he did not possess when she originally cursed him: someone else whose life can be threatened.
Quirk: Incorrigible Storyteller
Gwydion habitually exaggerates his accomplishments and inserts himself into legends that have nothing to do with him.
He may claim to have taught Loki three of his best tricks, defeated Anansi in a storytelling contest, advised Merlin, invented a famous magical ritual, or inspired an entire cultural tradition after spending one evening in the relevant region.
Some of his stories contain genuine information. Others are complete inventions. A troubling number begin as obvious lies and later prove to be at least partially true.
His reputation for dishonesty can make it difficult for allies to recognize when he is offering a sincere warning. It also creates conflict with supernatural beings who object to the role Gwydion has assigned himself in their histories.
Relationship: Catalyst
The Straw-Man’s past involvement with Logan Jenkins remains emotionally complicated.
Gwydion and Logan shared genuine affection, magical compatibility, and a taste for dangerous lives. They also possessed powerful personalities, guarded secrets, and fundamentally different ideas about trust. Their relationship ended, but neither became entirely indifferent to the other.
Samuel’s presence made the romance even more complicated. He shared Gwydion’s body and experienced the emotional consequences of a relationship he had not personally chosen. Although Samuel respects and cares about Logan, he occasionally resents being drawn into Gwydion’s romantic history.
Threats to Catalyst can still provoke the Straw-Man into reckless behavior. Encounters between them may also revive jealousy, affection, unresolved anger, or memories neither wishes to discuss in front of the rest of the Dark Society.
Vulnerability: Fire and Spiritual Separation
The Straw-Man can regenerate from enormous amounts of physical damage, but fire is particularly dangerous to his body. Flames can consume his straw, vines, wooden supports, and enchanted rags simultaneously, making regeneration considerably more difficult.
Ordinary fire can injure and delay him. Mystical or infernal fire may threaten the magic sustaining his body.
Powers capable of attacking spirits, severing mystical bonds, performing exorcisms, or manipulating souls may bypass his physical resilience entirely. Separating Samuel from Gwydion—or either spirit from the rags—could incapacitate the Straw-Man even if his physical body remains undamaged.
EQUIPMENT
The Straw-Man carries very little conventional equipment. He does not require food, water, armor, or shelter, and his Void-sickle can be summoned whenever necessary.
Samuel sometimes carries a modern phone, although reception in the stranger corners of Grove’s Folly is unreliable and pumpkin vines are not always compatible with touchscreens. The device allows him to remain connected to friends, local residents, and other heroes without relying entirely upon Gwydion’s magical methods.
POINT ACCOUNTING
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Superhero Package | 50 |
| Ability Increases | 22 |
| Talent Increases | 16 |
| Powers | 56 |
| Perks | 6 |
| Total | 150 Hero Points |
Barry Reese - Writer of Badass heroes 