DC Heroes RPG – New Powers

Context

This is the “base camp” page for the new and modified DC Heroes TTRPG Powers on writeups.org.

For more rules-centric content, you can check our Guide to new DC Heroes RPG rules.

Since this article is enormous, we’ve split it in two parts during the 2010s. As of 2022, it’s now split into this orientation page plus four repositoriesA key location where you can stockpile resources.

Alphabetical list of Powers with direct hyperlinks

Hyperlinks to the four repositories

If somebody needs that :

Design notes

The Powers in this document weren’t created from fiat. They all were necessary to model an existing, published/playable character in comics, video games, novels, etc.. Ditto for Bonuses, Limitations, Skills, and so on.

The approach is conservative, with early attempts always being made with existing tools. Which may seem strange given how many Powers are listed there. Until you consider this is the result of dozens of people working on thousands of characters for more than a quarter-century.

Obviously, all Powers here are suggestions. We’re not coming to your house to replace what’s on your rulesbooks. Or at least we’ll insist that it was another guy who did it.

Powers costs aren’t usually the focus area. Most contributors do not use those, so costing is done through quick comparison with other Powers rather than extensive playtesting.

In many cases, there’s an emphasis on how to manage the Power when it’s used in a game. Mayfair books didn’t have the room to include that many examples, specific situations, use cases, etc..

Some Powers rules discussions have been stuck in system development hell for years now. Essentially, there aren’t enough experts available to push that boulder past the finish line.

Other resources for Powers

If you crave more Powers, morrrre ! then you can consider this :

Spells

There are also discussions of spells, which are sort of Powers (unless they’re Rituals) :

Stuff that was added between 2015 and 2021

This chronological list was displayed outside of the article, for people just wanting to see what was new. But there wasn’t enough room to note the *date* at which the new stuff had been added.

Still, we’ve kept it around for people who haven’t looked at the New Powers articles in literal years.

Stuff that was added after 2021

As a note, the pace of creating new Powers has been consistently slowing down. If Mayfair didn’t have a need for it, and then we didn’t need it over 6,000+ characters, then it’s rather rare.

Special note about stacking defensive Powers

Commenter: Ray Winninger.
Helper(s): KalEl el Vigilante, Mike Winkler.

“When I wrote the 2^nd Edition rules (which are essentially the same as the 3^rd Edition rules) my intent was that multiple powers that *add* their APs to AV, EV, OV or RV don’t ‘stack.’

“In other words, a character with APs of both Force Field and Force Shield can add only one of those powers to his RV, not both. That’s certainly the way I’d run it if I was GMing.

“If we had seen this problem crop up frequently in playtesting I would have written it into the rules. Additive powers are already a little dicey – allowing multiple adds runs too much risk of abuse.”

Mr. Winninger added that he would apply the same rule to multiple characters stacking their Powers.

For example, if a character projected Force Field to protect another character with Skin Armor, the other character would use the higher of the applicable Powers rather than both.

Alternative

A more forgiving alternative was suggested by KalEl and Mike Winkler. It’s done by adding the highest applicable Power normally and then adding the others using AP math.

For example, a character with BODY 10, Flame Immunity: 08, Force Field (Self Only): 05, and Skin Armor: 07 might have :

Fnord

Fnord  .

Compiled, formatted, edited, etc. by Roy Cowan and Sébastien Andrivet.