New Powers for the DC Heroes RPG

(Repository #2)

Technical RPG articles

Power Level: No applicable power level

Game System: DC Heroes/BoH

Sequence

This is one of our new DC Heroes RPG Powers repositories.

Everything is explained — and there’s a full table of content — at the “base camp” article about Powers .

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Dimension Travel (Tesseracts Only)

By Sébastien Andrivet.
Helpers: Nicolas Lemaçon, Leroy Van Camp III, Quintanads, Gareth Lewis.

The Tesseract Limitation is a series of packaged Limitations for the Dimensional Travel Power. A tesseract is a sort of miniature dimensionOther realms of existence that are not our universe to which only the Character, and perhaps some allies, have access to.

It can replace the Tesseract Limitation for Dimension Travel (BoH:SE p69) as it provides more details and options.

With the Tesseract Limitation, any use of the Dimension Travel Power can only take place between this dimension and the dimension the Character is currently in.

Tesseracts can receive additional properties, such as Security Systems (protection against cross-dimensional intrusion) or Obscure (protection against cross-dimensional detection).

These are bought just as if the Tesseract were an Artefact or Gadget (depending on the dimension’s nature) that cannot be Taken Away, but does not need a BODY Attribute.

Dimension Travel (Micro-Tesseract Only)

With this packaged Limitation, Dimension Travel has a Base Cost of 10 and a Factor Cost of 3.

A Micro-Tesseract (abbreviated as µT) is limited to holding 1 to 3 Gadgets or Artefacts, which the Character can have appear and disappear from thin air. The maximum weight of the whole is equal to the APs of Power, minus 4.

Examples include Rom the Spaceknight’s Neutralizer and Analyzer, or the Black Knight (Dane Whitman) elf-made armour, Shield of Night and Sword of Light.

Due to the very limited size, the only possible operations are Summoning or Banishing the Gadgets or Artefacts – there is no Travel equivalent.

Hand-held Gadgets and Artefacts can appear ready to use in the Character’s hand.
Worn Gadgets and Artefacts can be summoned around the Character’s body, already fitted.

An Area Knowledge can be acquired for this micro-tesseract, which turns Summoning and Banishing into Automatic Actions. Though it is an Advantage and is listed as such, this Area Knowledge is not bought separately – rather, it raises Dimension Travel (Micro-Tesseract Only)’s Base Cost to 20 and the Factor Cost to 4.

If the Gadget or Artefact under consideration has no meaningful Powers, Attributes, Skills, etc. (e.g., it is cosmetic) then the Insta-Change Advantage may be a better fit than Dimension Travel.

Dimension Travel (Mini-Tesseract Only)

With this packaged Limitation, Dimension Travel has a Base Cost of 10 and a Factor Cost of 5.

Acquiring an Area Knowledge for it is possible just like with the Micro-Tesseract, raising the Base Cost to 30 and the Factor Cost to 6.

A Mini-Tesseract (abbreviated as MT) works much like a Micro-Tesseract. But the Volume of the MT is equal to the APs of Power.

The MT space is assumed to be an airless, lightless, gravity-less void at about 10°C (50°F). Time passes as normal in the space, and things like bombs, computers and robots function normally inside. Damage done inside the space does not affect the Character.

If an outside party attempts to locate and/or enter the MT (usually with a Dimension Travel Power), the OV/RV is equal to the APs of Dimension Travel (MT Only) plus the INF/SPI of the MT’s owner. Various additional measures such as the Obscure Power or Mystically-Linked Security System APs might add to that.

Placing and reclaiming within a MT

To place an item into the space requires a Dice Action against an OV/RV equal to the mass of the object plus 2 APs (minimum value is 1) added to the distance from the Character (linear addition, so for instance 3+4=7).

Thus, for instance, placing an item weighting 2 APs and located 3 APs away would have an OV/RV of 2+2+3=7.

If the item is held by a resisting person, they can instead use their SPI/SPI as the OV/RV if this is higher.

Reclaiming an item doesn’t require a roll, but nevertheless consumes a Dice Action (barring an Area Knowledge). Items that are physically linked (such as a sheathed sword or a quiver full of arrows) can be called in as one.

The item can appear within a Range equal to the APs of Power minus the mass of the item, but this appearance occurs with very low force – it can only displace gasses and perhaps some liquids (GM’s call). Worn items can appear on the Character’s body, fully fitted.

Special Bonuses and Limitations for a MT

Transdimensional (+1 FC)
The MT is also accessible from other dimensions. The Travel Distance may be greater, and certain dimensions may make it harder or easier to reach the MT dimension.

Can Store Other Living Beings (+3 FC)
The subject can resist using SPI/SPI, plus their mass and their distance away from the Character (linear addition as per above). This Bonus is often taken along with a Suspension Power modified to be used on MT-stored subjects.

Self-Storage (+3 FC)
The Character is capable of storing themselves, effectively withdrawing from the normal universe, even if they do not have Can Store Other Living Beings. The OV/RV is the Character’s own mass.

When the Character chooses to reappear, they do so in the same spot he disappeared from – though the MT provides no way of monitoring the outside.

Again, the MT space is in inhospitable and further measures or Power are needed for lengthy stays.

No Location Jumping (-3 FC)
The MT is only accessible from a specific place, often corresponding to a specific object (a wardrobe, an altar, a magic lake, etc.).

If an object is necessary but can be moved (a Bag of Holding or Portable Hole, to quote from classic Dungeons & Dragons) then this Limitation doesn’t come into play. Rather the Power is part of a Gadget or Artefact.

Dimension Travel (Macro-Tesseract Only)

To be written in a fantastic future full of wonders.

Rom the Spaceknight stores his weapons in a tesseract.

Dispersal v2

This proposed Power has been renamed “Intangibility”.

The original intent was to have “Dispersal v2” replace Dispersal. But having both approaches available is better. And giving them two different names makes notation clearer.

This leaves us, for Characters who are less than solid, with the following options :

Dispersal.
Intangibility.
Fluid Form.
Spirit Travel.
(Niche cases better represented by another Power).

The differences can be subtle, aye. Forsooth.

And as it happens, Kitty Pryde can do subtle.

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Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) v1.1.1

Author: Bryant Berggren.
Helper(s): Unknown.
Physical Power
Link: STR
Range: Normal
Type: Dice
Base Cost: 20
Factor Cost: 03

This Power allows a Character to generate a powerful burst of electromagnetic energy, which disrupts electrical equipment and radio transmissions.

The Character makes an Action Check, using the APs of Power as the AV/EV against the target’s DEX/BOD as the OV/RV.

RAPs gained by the attack are subtracted from the APs of any electronic-based Power or Attribute the target possesses. This includes Mental Attributes, the Data Storage and/or Recall Power of computers, and any Radio Communication or similar Power.

Any equipment being carried by the target is automatically “hit” as well.

Design Notes

This power was written to replace the modified application of Magnetic Control for atomic weapons in earlier editions of the game.

Another version of EMP rules can now be found as part of BoH:SE’s Electrical Control Power.

The two differ primarily in that EMP is an active energy discharge while the damaging portion of Electrical Control uses electricity already existing in the target (and thus uses BOD/BOD as its OV/RV instead).

As with the earlier use of Magnetic Control, Electromagnetic Pulse can substitute for Electrical Control in nuclear weapons at the GM’s preference.

The Radioactive Man (Chen Lu) has the EMP Power.

EMP Shielding

Author: Bryant Berggren.
Helper(s): Unknown.
Physical Power
Link: BODY
Range: Self
Type: Auto
Base Cost: 05
Factor Cost: 04

This Power allows a Character or Gadget to protect themselves from an Electromagnetic Pulse. The APs of Shielding are added to the RV against any EMP attack.

APs of Shielding are not transferable unless purchased with the Usable By Others or Area Effect Bonuses.

EMP Shielding normally will not protect equipment the Character has on their person. To do so the Power must have the Bonus: Protects Personal Items (+1 FC).

MJOLNIR power armour in Halo games has the EMP Shielding Power.

Energy Control

Author: Dr. Peter S Piispanen.
Helper: Roy Cowan, Adam Fuqua.
Mental Power
Link: INT
Range: Normal
Type: Dice
Base Cost: 100
Factor Cost: 10

A character with Energy Control can project, modify, or cancel out electromagnetic energies of all types. That includes heat, light, electrical, radio waves, gamma rays and exotic high energy particles.

A character with Energy Control can perform a variety of actions and may even split the APs of power between the various uses listed. A character with 10 APs of Energy Control could fire a 06 AP blast while adding 04 APs to their RV versus energy attacks.

Applications

Energy Control can be used for the following effects:

The user may fire beams or bolts of energy as a Physical Attack using the APs of Energy Control as AV/EV and the target’s DEX/BODY as OV/RV. The type of energy used for each attack must be specified and any relevant resistances the target has are treated normally.
For example, if the energy controller fires a heat beam and the target has Flame Immunity, it bolsters the target’s RV as usual.
The Character can add APs of Energy Control to the RV of themselves or others within the range of their Power versus any energy-based attacks. This can be done at the start of the turn as an Automatic Action or during the Declare Actions step of a phase in response to an opponent’s declared attack.
In the latter case it is still an Automatic Action but does count as the character’s Dice Action for that Phase.
The character can mimic the Electromagnetic Pulse, Flash, and Radio Communication Powers. Flash can be used for non-visible energy perception abilities as well.
For example, an infrared Flash could be used against an alien that sees in Thermal Vision or a microwave Flash might be used to disable the sensors of a robot with Radar Sense.
The character can perceive electromagnetic energy as if they had the Detect Power for this purpose.
Energy Control can be used to change the frequency of energy waves and thus the energy type. A radio beam could be converted to a beam of visible light.
This requires an Action Check using the APs of Energy Control as AV/EV versus an OV/RV equal to the APs of the energy being altered. The RAPs gained are the APs of the new energy type.
Changing a damaging energy type to a non-damaging one, such as turning an Energy Blast into harmless radio waves) or vice versa adds +2CS to the OV/RV of the Check.

Limitations

Energy Control is available with the Limitation: Can only control one type of energy, which reduces the Base cost to 20 and the Factor cost to 08.

Depending on the type of energy chosen (GM’s judgment) or by the player’s choice, some of the standard abilities of Energy Control listed above may not be available. This is a -1 FC Limitation for every two effects that cannot be used.

A character with Energy Control (Infrared Only) might have an additional -1FC for not being able to mimic Electromagnetic Pulse or Radio Communication.

Design note

In 2022, the elevated-out-of-caution costs were adjusted to better fit the costing scheme of Powers in the rulesbook.

Superman X has the Energy Control Power.

Enhance

By Sébastien Andrivet.
Helpers: Eric Langendorff, Nicolas Lemaçon.

Enhance is a Power used by Gadgets and Artefacts to amplify a specific capacity of the operator.

The APs of Enhance are added to the operator’s relevant score using linear addition. So, for instance, 7+4 will be 11. Not 8 as with the usual AP addition.

Most commonly, the Enhance Power adds a single AP.

Cap

APs of Enhance have a set “cap”. They cannot bolster the operator’s score beyond that cap.

A typical notation is Enhance (Thief (Stealth)): 01 (cap is 07). It notes what is being enhanced, by how many APs, and how high its ceiling is.

In this example, a person with Thief (Stealth): 07 or more would not benefit from using the item. A person with 6 or fewer APs would add 1 AP to their score.

Enhance works best in games where the tables have been modified to use one-AP wide columns.

Usage

Here are examples of use, from least to most common :

Most melee weapons, as they mechanically concentrate and/or amplify the wielder’s strength. This is not true of self-powered weapons, such as chainsaws or lightsabres.
Most forms of body armour. This is not true of self-powered protections, such as power armourStrength-enhancing body armour, like Iron Man’s.
Gadgets that provide a clear mechanical multiplier for a certain task. Examples include a crowbar enhancing the ability to pry things open (it’s a lever), or cinematicThe level of power and (un)realism found in a spectacular action movie. ninja climbing claws, or weapons optimised for disarming (like a sai).
Exceptional Gadgets and Artefacts, such as a magic necklace that makes its wearer more persuasive.

Usage note – prevalence in equipment

High-quality equipment isn’t generally assumed to have Enhance. DC Heroes models heroic action, not techno-thriller action. So the focus is on the people’s competence, not the quality of their gear.

High-quality equipment is the baseline for tasks. It is shoddy or insufficient equipment that represents a penalty, not good equipment that brings a bonus.

Examples

To put it in another way – even a superb sniper rifle isn’t going to turn a mediocre shooter into a good one. And a superb sniper can be assumed to use a high-end weapon, or be skilled enough to make do with a more ordinary rifle.

It’s the operator, not the weapon.

A sniper rifle with the Enhance Power to Weaponry (Firearms) would need to be a highly advanced cyber-gun or somesuch. And even in this case it is possible that the weapon would simply have its own APs of Weaponry (Firearms) as it essentially aims itself.

Another ballistics-related example would be laser sights. We observe countless times in comics, action movies, etc. that run-of-the-mill shooters do not get more accurate when using laser sights. The lasers are simply there because they look cool. They do not change how the gunfight takes place.

Yes, laser sights (or holographic sights, etc.) certainly help with accuracy in more realistic stories. But here :

We are concerned with more stylised stories, with clear hierarchies in power and competence. Pecking orders are critical to super-hero comics.
We are dealing with a game system where +1 means doubling a given quantity. Thus, an increase by one is actually a big boost.

Usage note – why Enhance

Enhance specifically avoids equipment having absurd side effects when used by a broad variety of persons. See the “substitutive vs. additive” discussion for more about this.

This is especially useful for our articles where we write about equipment, such as body armour. It allows the equipment to behave properly even when used by a wide variety of characters.

It also helps avoid “dark corners”. This is when the GM has to make judgment calls about :

Whether such superhuman durable character would really benefit from wearing such magical chainmail hauberk.
Or whether such character with borderline superhuman strength should benefit from using a steel crowbar to force a door open.

If a piece of equipment will only ever be used by a single Character, Enhance is much less necessary.

Usage note – when to use Enhance, when not to

Characters

If considering this for a Character rather than equipment, you are *probably* wrong. See the “building up vs. building down” discussion for Characters enhancing their own abilities.

Consider the Enchantment Power if they enhance other characters. If the Enchantment Power should in this case have a cap, it’s simpler to eyeball a Limitation for Enchantment rather than force Enhance into that hole.

Self-powered equipment

In many cases, equipment supposed to multiply the user’s abilities behaves substitutively. So a power armour suit described as increasing strength 50-fold ends up being simply statted up as /STR/ 08.

This is because there’s little evidence that a strong person using the suit is radically stronger than when it’s an ordinary person. Or that a frail person would be much weaker than a standard operator, using the same suit. Thus, /STR/ is simple and sufficient.

Likewise, the user’s strength does influence the damage done by a chainsword, a vibroblade, etc.. They can hit harder if they’re stronger. But not, in most cases, by a full AP. Thus, Claws (or EV) is simple and sufficient.

What usually happens is that stronger operators have a custom, larger version of the weapon (likely with a Recommended Strength score) with more APs in Claws or EV.

Dancing on the ceiling

The cap is a key component of the Enhance Power. If the Gadget or Artefact would be useful to anyone, no matter how powerful, use another Power without a cap.

If the Ruby Pendant of Elemental Fire would help even the Human Torch withstand mega-heat, just go with Flame Immunity and call it a day. But this is not true of the commercially-available fire resistant jumpsuit Johnny Storm has to wear whilst racing cars.

High-tech insta-polarising protection glasses likely have a ceiling as to whom they can protect from bright lights. Galactus would *probably* not benefit from them. But this ceiling is very high. It’s not unreasonable that the Thing (Benjamin Jacob Grimm)’s baby blues would benefit from these.
So heh, just go for an AP or two of Shade.

Computing cost for Enhance

Enhance has no Basic Cost, and its cost isn’t computed using a Factor Cost. Instead, we use a variant over the Power Loss chart.

The cost of an AP of Enhance is equal to the FC of the ability being enhanced. So Enhancing a FC 06 ability by one AP costs 6 points. Or 12 points for 2 APs, etc..

Then you add a multiplier based on the cap, and round to the nearest (up for .5) :

Cap	Multiplier
05 or less	0.8
06	0.9
07	1
08	1.05
09	1.1
10	1.2
11	1.25
12	1.3
13 or 14	1.35
15 or 16	1.4
17 to 19	1.45
20+	1.5

This is the cost *without* the usual divider for Gadgets/Artefacts. So this cost will be halved for a Gadget/Artefact that cannot be Taken Away, and quartered if it can be Taken Away.

If you use Descriptors, here’s a convenient link to multiple Descriptors costs.

Example

CINEMATIC NINJA CLIMBING CLAWS [BODY 03, EV: 02, Enhance (Acrobatics (Climbing)): 01 (cap is 06)].

Acrobatics (Climbing) is FC 05 as a stand-alone Subskill. One AP of Enhance for it thus costs 5 points. The cap is 06, so that’s a multiplier of 0.9. Cost is thus 4.5 points, rounded back to 05.

Next we buy the rest. Three APs of BODY is 12 points, two APs of EV is 7 points. So that’s a total of 24 points for this Gadget. It cannot be Taken Away, so its costs 12 points all told.

Enhancing raw scores

The most common applications for Enhance involve raising the physical EV or RV of the operator. These are not stand-alone quantities, unlike Acrobatics (Climbing). Instead, these are aspects of the operator’s STR or BODY.

Thus, in DCH term, a truncheon increases the melee combat EV component of the operator’s STR. Melee combat EV isn’t everything that STR does, so in DCH terms what is being Enhanced is STR with a Limitation. It has a lower FC.

Here is a list of the common FC you’ll need:

Melee combat EV (or EV for short) — FC 06.
EV for a very specific physical action (like prying things open, Disarm attempts, Grappling/Wrestling) — FC 04.
Physical RV in general — FC 06.
Physical RV against kinetic impacts only — FC 05.
Physical RV against energy attacks only — FC 05.
Physical RV against a specific descriptor of kinetic impact (Unarmed attacks, slashing attacks, piercing attacks, corrosives…) — FC 04.
Physical RV against a specific descriptor of energy impact (Flame/heat, sonics, lightning, cold, telepathic assault, bright lights…) — FC 04.

AVs or OVs can usually be handled with Skills (such as Accuracy or Evasion).

Example

Gordon Freeman in HλLF-LIFE has a crowbar, of course, of course.

A crowbar is great at prying stuff open – it’s a lever and a wedge. It should considerably increase STR when doing so. It is also used to smash attacking headcrabs. Therefore:

Crowbar [BODY 06, Enhance (EV): 01 (cap is 07), Enhance (STR – only to pry things open): 02 (cap is 10)].

EV is FC 06 for Enhance Power purposes. So one AP of Enhance for it is 6 points, multiplied by one for the cap so… 6 points.

STR that can only be used to pry things is FC 04. Two APs of Enhance for it thus cost 8 points, time 1.2 for the high-ish cap that’s 9.6 rounded to 10.

So we have 16 points in Enhance Powers, plus 36 points for the high BODY (it’s good steel). This is 52 points. A crowbar can be Taken Away, and thus has a Gadget divisor of 4. So this piece of video game history ends up costing 13 points.

However it doesn’t increase the EV of a person who can lift elephants. It’s not heavy and strong enough for that. And it will not help with your crates-opening if you can already punch through steel. Your fingers are stronger than the crowbar.

Design Notes for costing

We went through various models based on incremental costs to reach the cap, or a reversed Power Loss logic.

That the most coherent scheme ends close to the FC value is a lucky break. The actual values have some dither around the FC number, but it’s negligible.

Gadgetry and Occultist rolls for Enhance

When going through the process to build a Gadget or enchant an Artefact, APs of Enhance have a special multiplier. This applies when :

Buying parts.
Doing the Gadgetry or Occultist roll against the Enhance Power to build it.

For these purposes, each AP is multiplied by four times its cap multiplier (round up). The value cannot be higher than the cap.

Example

Crowbar [BODY 06, Enhance (EV): 01 (cap is 07), Enhance (STR – only to pry things open): 02 (cap is 10)].

The AP of Enhance (EV) has a cap of 7, which means a multiplier of 1. 4×1=4, so this single AP of Enhance is counted as a 4 APs Power for Gadgetry purposes.

The APs of Enhance (STR – only to pry things open) have a cap of 10, which means a multiplier of 1.2. 4×1.2=4.8. Two APs time 4.8 is 9.6 rounded to 10. So this Enhance Power is counted as a 10 APs Power for Gadgetry purposes. Which is equal to cap, so it wasn’t going to go higher.

Melee weapons are a common use case for the Enhance Power.

Enhanced Initiative v1.1

Author: J.D. Marquart for Pulsar Games, edits by Sébastien Andrivet.
Mental Power
Link: INT
Range: Self
Type: None
Base Cost: 18
Factor Cost: 01

Enhanced Initiative APs are added to the Character’s APs of Initiative when determining Initiative.

Since this is applied automatically at Initiative, Enhanced Initiative does not require any Action.

The Base Cost is based on the Lightning Reflexes Advantage, and the Factor Cost is based on the Superspeed Power and Attributes.

Design notes

In its sole Pulsar Games appearance, this Power was called Enhanced Reaction.

Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man has the Enhanced Initiative Power.

EV for Characters

Author: Sébastien Andrivet.

Some character writeups have an EV listed as a Power. Often with characters with reinforced and/or heavier extremities, such as adamantiumAn indestructible metal in Marvel comics-laced bones.

There isn’t much to say about it. It does the normal EV thing using normal EV costs, and there’s nothing preventing a Character (rather than a Gadget) from having an EV.

It is usually used when using the Claws Powers would mean additional notation about Killing Combat and not being sharp and just denoting enhanced punches/kicks.

Once Bullseye had adamantium-laced bones, he gained an EV.

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

Author: Roy Cowan.
Helpers: Sebastien Andrivet, Pawsplay, Peter Piispanen.
Mental Power
Link: INT
Range: ½ APs, rounding down.
Type: Auto
Base Cost: 15
Factor Cost: 4

When this Power is active, which requires the expenditure of an Automatic Action each phase, it allows its user to perceive the environment around them as if they could see it clearly despite visual impediments.

Such characters seem to have eyes in the back of their head, reacting to events behind or above them as if they were looking directly at them.