The Vigilante is a mysterious hero who protects his home city from crime. Due to a tragic and traumatic event in his early childhood, he completely abhors and despises guns in all their forms, instead using his wealth and intelligence to devise a variety of gear with which to wage his war on evil and corruption. His reluctance to use guns results in many of his quarries being captured alive and imprisoned, and then breaking out of prison to once again threaten society, but the Vigilante considers this an acceptable cost for holding to his principles.
In his crimefighting career, the Vigilante is followed by his trusted young companion, the Sidekick, whom he had accepted as an apprentice crime-fighter after saving him out of a burning building. The Sidekick has come to share the Vigilante's views on guns, and has proven apt in combat, but never seems to be able to stay out of trouble.
Eventually, the Vigilante's haphazard practice of keeping his enemies alive has caught up to him. A group of especially evil criminals had managed to capture the Sidekick, and set an ambush for the Vigilante in an abandoned warehouse. When he arrived, he saw the Sidekick tied up and facing a wall of guns, with the criminals themselves standing ready to attack. And while he was able to escape himself, he could do nothing to prevent the Sidekick from being gunned down before his eyes.
After that, his crimefighting career had hit a downward slide. Unable to focus himself and doubting his every decision, the Vigilante was no longer able to perform his chosen duties. Faced with the terrible reality, he had turned to searching for a way to undo what has happened, and on the far reaches of the known universe, he found it. His worst nightmare. A gun.
The story is meant to deconstruct the sort of vigilante hero that tends to leave his enemies alive (i.e. Batman), by putting them against the impossibility of success unless more drastic action is taken.
The Past fight itself would involve using Blanks repeatedly to clear bullets that would strike the tied-up Sidekick while destroying the several stationary guns pointing in his direction (before running out of blanks), and then proceeding to eliminate the criminal gang that set up the ambush to prevent the same event from happening again.
The Vigilante starts with the regular 3 full hearts and no armor. He starts with one level of curse due to his hatred of guns (normally provided by one of the passives on pickup).
The Boomarangs are a semiauto/charged thrown weapon with a clip size of 3 and moderate-low (starting-gun wise) damage. Quick reload time, medium range. Charging a boomarang will consume the whole remaining clip and toss an exploding (visually identical) variant, producing a small explosion akin to the Exploding Bullets passive at point of impact. Explosion damage is increased based on the ammo remaining in the clip before throwing.
"The wearer of the Cowl is imparted with crushing disdain and abhorrence for anything that remotely looks or acts like a gun, reducing their aptitude regardless of skill. The built-in heads-up display makes managing your gear a breeze, but the Gundead still avoid this bit of apparel like the plague."
Mechanics-wise, this item severely reduces the effective range, damage, and accuracy of every "gun" wielded by the user, while significantly reducing (by half at least) active item cooldown. What exactly defines a "gun" is slightly arbitrary, but generally it's most things either shaped like a gun, or acting like a gun. The Bow and variants, the Flaming Hands, the Beehive, the Bundle of Wands, and the Silencer would all be exempt, for example. Missile launchers are likewise not guns, but grenade launchers are (as they shoot what is basically exploding bullets).
Being hated by the Gundead, this item imparts a level of Curse on pickup.
"This sturdy high-tech toolbelt can produce any number of useful supplies, but it may be difficult to find exactly what you need in so many pockets."
This active item has a long recharge time, which is normally halved by the Cowl for the Vigilante. The regular recharge time would average to one use every four to five rooms, so every two to three rooms for the Vigilante.
On activation, the item produces a random consumable pickup, chosen from typical room clear rewards (brass/steel/gold casing, health, armor, blank, key, ammo box). The choice of item is, however, *weighted* by certain conditions.
None of the "needed" drops are guaranteed, even at 1/2 health you have a chance of getting a single brass casing, but generally you have a higher chance of being given something you're in critical need of.