Hey y’all! It’s Danny!
I’m the Community Manager for Roll20 and a long-time Marvel fan. One of the coolest parts of working at Roll20 is being able to explore and learn about new games and systems, and let me tell ya: when I heard that we were getting the Marvel Multiverse RPG, my mind was racing thinking about how I could make my own Super Hero and all the different powers that my character could have, hone and, SMASH the baddies!
I had the chance to pick the brain of Mik Holmes, a Content Producer at Roll20 who had his hands in helping convert The Marvel Multiverse RPG for Roll20’s Virtual Table Top. With Mik working so closely with the game and system itself, I had to know what some of his favorite powers were since that info provides a good stepping stone for someone looking to create their first Super Hero!
In this blog, we’ll cover 10 different powers and the power set they belong to, along with suggestions on how you can flavor the Powers and the Super Heroes. Hopefully, this will get your gears going so that you can build your own (with the Roll20 Character Builder) for your next epic adventure!
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First up, let’s talk about Tactic Powers. For something relatively un-extraordinary, the Tactics power set has a lot of fun powers to play with. Tactics are less about landing the winning punch or using powerful magic, and more about being a captain of the team and leader in battles. Not only good for supporting your team of Super Heroes but Tactic Powers can be great to flavor some good cinematic speeches or moments crucial to bringing your team together and inspiring victory.
Mik’s Suggestions:
Rally on Me: Rally on Me lets your allies move towards you and even regain some lost Focus! Charge forward with your cavalry immediately behind you, or get your friends behind cover when they’re out of position. Maybe you’re using an inspiring command, or have set up codewords with your allies beforehand!
Operations Center: Similar to Rally on Me, Operations Center lets you take a support role to your allies, giving them an edge on all action checks! You might be shouting out quick commands and observations, but this could also be flavored as a more bardly skill, encouraging your allies with heartfelt praise.
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Back to Basics – Basic Powers are Powers that don’t have a specific Power Set attached to them, meaning any Super Hero can use them and you don’t have to worry about it counting against the number of power sets your Super Hero can pick from. Don’t let the word “basic” let it deter you from picking up some of these Basic Powers; there’s a reason that they’re tried and true powers to have!
Mik’s Suggestions:
Sturdy: This might be simple damage reduction, but you can describe it in the context of your other powers to make it special. Are your burly biceps naturally reflective; does your phasing power trickle in to protect you; are you surrounded by a psychic barrier?
Flight: Flying’s pretty simple, right? Despite simplicity, zooming across the sky allows for all sorts of combinations with Tactics powers, letting you find the perfect position to assist your friends. Are you naturally buoyant and floaty, jet-like and clumsy, or precise and rapid?
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Feel like being a free soul that can walk wherever you please? Maybe feeling a little spooky? The Phasing power set allows you to walk through objects, electronics, and even people to disrupt the environment and person at play if needed. A great power to have that can tie to an eerie or mysterious backstory as well!
Mik’s Suggestion:
Phase Self: Phasing itself doesn’t lend itself much to damaging enemies, but its utility cannot be understated. Imagine pulling fire alarms from the other side of a wall to create a panic; acting as bait to get enemies to chase you into a dead end; or jumping from object to object to sneak up on your prey!
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Next up, let’s talk about Telepathy (can you hear me typing this blog up in your mind?). Telepathy is one of two Power Sets that use Logic, the other being Telekinesis. The Telepathy power set allows your character to go into the minds of others to read their thoughts and even erase their memory. This is definitely a Power Set that seems simple on surface level but has a lot of considerations to playing virtuously and just.
Mik’s Suggestion:
Animal Bond: What is cooler than having your own buddy pet that you can talk to, and who follows your commands? A loyal hound to sniff out trouble; a sneaky mouse friend to get into tight spaces; or a soaring hawk to scout out the skies! The communication can be verbal, visual, or even more complex – get your princess on by communicating with song, or just use plain telepathy (with a fashionable headache, of course!)
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Teleportation is up next. With a handful of powers in the Teleportation power set, a character can be mobile and go from place to place (though not dimensions, universes, or time – that’s a Power Set called Omniversal Travel). Note to teleporting Super Heroes: sometimes it may seem too convenient to teleport where you want so be careful of traps, teleporting into enemy encounters, or blindly teleporting somewhere that could be potentially fatal!
Mik’s Suggestion:
Blink Defense: Bamf yourself or a friend in reach out of danger, teleporting the projectile somewhere else — and on a Fantastic success, turning it back onto the attacker! Using a reaction to nullify an enemy’s attack is great action economy!
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With the Power Control power set, your character will rely heavily on those around them. Considered a “collection of meta-powers”, Power Control are powers that affect or borrow from other powers. Whether this means you’re amplifying or copying, these types of powers can provide some really neat synergy with your allies or some fun backstory-building with your nemesis or villain.
Mik’s Suggestion:
Copy Power: The whole Power Control set is super interesting, none more than Copy Power. Whether you’re psychically connecting to an ally’s innate power, or Kakashi-ing up against your mortal enemy, Copy Power lets you pick the best solution to any problem.
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Throwing stars and firearms and archery, oh my! The Ranged Weapon power set includes everything you can think of if you’re wanting to keep some distance between you and your foes. Another chance to really create a backstory, characters that have a Ranged Weapon power may have their signature go-to weaponry (cool power stance/signature pose definitely included).
Mik’s Suggestion:
Dance of Death: Spin around with your firearm of choice and shoot at all nearby enemies — what’s cooler than that? You might be blasting your twin shotguns at everything that moves, or a surgically precise dancer sniping at your foes.
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Last but not least, let’s talk about the Illusion power set. These powers are all about tricking others into believing the unbelievable. Illusion powers are great for those who want to describe their illusions in detail to bring the story to life while flavoring the scene when their powers are active.
Mik’s Suggestion:
Mirror Images: Create illusory duplicates of yourself under your complete control. They can’t interact with the world, but they can move up to 10 spaces from you and even pretend to attack – though they always miss. Use this defensively by creating a backup dancer line to confound your enemies, or offensively by weaving yourselves in and out of cover until you finally strike!
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There are powers and power sets within the Core Rulebook that we didn’t get to touch on in this blog that include Magic, Elemental Control, Super-Speed, Resize, and more! You can try before you buy with this FREE Quickstart that’ll give you a taste of what your next Super Hero could be. And if you need a little more motivation, here’s a little Super Hero Name Generator to get the creative juices flowing.
