White Bishop Villain
Real Name: Donald Pierce.
Occupation: Businessman, subversive.
Identity: Publicly known, although his criminal activities are not.
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record.
Other Aliases: None.
Place of Birth: Knoxville, Kentucky.
Marital Status: Divorced.
Known Relatives: Ex-wife (name unrevealed).
Known Relatives: None.
Group Affiliation: Owner of many coal mines in the Appalachians and a few private military companies; leader in the Hellfire Club and its secret Inner Circle.
Base of Operations: New York City.
First Post-Reboot Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #
History: Donald Pierce inherited a number of Appalachian coal mines and his Hellfire Club membership from his parents. Using part of his inheritance, he organized or bought several mercenary companies, some of which were contracted out to the United States military at the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. A shrewd businessman, he was soon offered membership in the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle. It is not currently known how he lost his right arm or where he obtained his bionic prosthetic, although it is quite possible he obtained it from AIM.
Pierce rose through the ranks of the Inner Circle, becoming its White Bishop when the then-current White Bishop, Emma Frost, rose to become the White Queen. As the White Bishop, he provides the Club with its mercenary forces.
As a member of the Club's Inner Circle, Pierce has twice come into conflict with the mutant adventurers known as the X-Men, and once has sent his mercenaries to aid them without their knowledge against forces under Frost's control. This last was the first move in a power play against Frost and the Club's current Black King, Sebastian Shaw. He has begun digging into Shaw's and Frost's histories and business affairs to see if there is a scandal (or three) he could exploit.
Age: 42.
Height: 6' 3".
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue.
Hair: Blond.
Uniform: None; when engaged in his official Hellfire Club duties, dresses as a Colonial-era gentleman.
Strength Level: Donald Pierce possesses the normal human strength of a man his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. His bionic right arm possesses enhanced strength, but because the rest of his body has not been augmented he cannot lift more than four times the normal amount in that one arm.
Known Superhuman Powers: Donald Pierce possesses an experimental bionic arm replacing his right arm. This arm has superhuman strength, enabling him to strike opponents with more strength than he could normally muster, but is only lightly armored.
Weapons: Pierce has a laser rod stored in a compartment in his bionic forearm. This rod can double as a baton in close combat if needed. He presumably has access to other weapons through the mercenary companies he owns.
340 points
Attributes: ST 12 [20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 12 [20].
Secondary Characteristics: Dmg 1d-1/1d+2 (3d+1/6d-1); BL 29 lbs.; HP 12 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 12 [0]; Basic Speed 6.00 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Dodge 9.
Languages: English (Native) (Native Language) [0].
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Advantages: Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Arm ST (One Arm) +20 (Temporary Disadvantage: Electrical, -20%; Temporary Disadvantage: Maintenance, 1 Person, Weekly, -5%) [45]; Business Acumen 2 [20]; Damage Resistance 5 (Partial: One Arm Only, -40%) [15]; Enhanced Parry (Bare Hands) 2 [10]; Extra Attack 1 (Multi-Strike, +20%) [30]; Fit [5]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Merchant Rank 8 [40]; Payload 1 [1]; Status 5 [0*]; Wealth (Multimillionaire 1 [75].
Perks: Accent (Mid-Atlantic) [1]; Convincing Nod [1]; Cutting-Edge Training (Beam Weapons) 2 [2]; Disarming Smile [1]; Fearsome Stare [1]; Haughty Sneer [1]; Striking Surface [1].
Disadvantages: Addiction (Heroin) [-40]; Bad Temper (12) [-10]; Code of Honor (Gentleman's) [-10]; Intolerance (Mutants) [-5]; One Arm (Mitigator: Cybernetics, -70%) [-6]; Overconfidence (12) [-5]; Secret (Criminal Subversive) (Imprisonment) [-20]; Stubbornness [-5].
Quirks: Affects a Mid-Atlantic Accent to Cover his Kentucky Drawl [-1]; Believes His Mid-Atlantic Accent is a British Accent [-1]; Careful [-1]; Goal (Become the new White King) [-1]; Patient [-1].
Skills: Administration (A) IQ+2 [2] – 14†; Beam Weapons/TL10 (Pistol) (E) DX+2 [4] – 12; Body Language (Human) (A) Per+0 [2] – 12; Boxing (A) DX+2 [8] – 14; Connoisseur (Wine) (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Current Affairs/TL8 (Business) (E) IQ+2 [4] – 14; Current Affairs/TL8 (High Culture) (E) IQ+0 [1] – 12; Detect Lies (H) Per+0 [4] – 12; Diplomacy (H) IQ+0 [4] – 12; Economics (H) IQ+2 [4] – 12†; Fast-Talk (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Holdout (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Intimidation (A) Will+0 [2] – 12; Leadership (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Market Analysis (H) IQ+2 [4] – 14†; Politics (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Propaganda/TL8 (A) IQ+2 [2] – 14†; Prospecting/TL8 (A) IQ-1 [1] – 11; Public Speaking (Rhetoric) (E) IQ+2 [4] – 14; Running (A) HT+0 [2] – 12; Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ+0 [1] – 12; Savoir-Faire (Mafia) (E) IQ+0 [1] – 12; Shortsword (A) DX+0 [2] – 12; Swimming (E) HT+0 [1] – 12.
Starting Spending Money: $3,903,200 (20% of Starting Wealth minus the cost of his laser rod).
* Includes +2 from Wealth and +3 from Merchant Rank.
† Includes +2 from Business Acumen.
Role-Playing Notes:
Pierce is a shrewd, patient businessman and an anti-mutant bigot. He'll patiently wait for others to leave themselves open before attacking, and almost never attacks himself, unless enraged.
White Bishop's Laser Rod
Essentially a Laser Pistol from Ultra-Tech (p. UT155), with the following modifiers: Disguised (Custom-Built) (×5), Higher-TL Equipment +2 (×4), Rugged (×2), Blinding Mode (+10%), Dazzle Mode (+10%), and Pulse Laser (Switchable) (+100%). Final cost is $96,800.