Mechanics Feature: Using Your Superpower
Hello avid readers of the We Can Be Heroes newsletter and blog! I hope you’ve enjoyed the holidays. With 2023 officially closed out, we are rapidly approaching our Kickstarter launch date of February 20th. We’re getting super excited about it so I thought now would be a good time to cover the most exciting part of the game—using your super power.
This is a core part of the game, and one of the things you’re going to have the most fun with. There’s a lot to cover in this blog post so I thought I’d change things and try a Q&A format to help us dig into this core mechanic.
What does it cost?
3 Action Points and 1 Hero’s Favor
Like all actions in combat, superpowers cost Action Points (AP) to use. Superpowers are considered a primary action, like weapon attacks, and cost 3 AP. You have 6 AP to use each turn however you see fit. Your AP resets at the beginning of each of your turns.
In addition to AP, superpowers also cost Hero’s Favor (HF). This is a more finite resource than AP. Think of HF like your power bank of super energy. If you deplete the bank, you won’t have any more energy left to use your power. Your HF does eventually reset, but not until you’ve been able to take a breather and rest a bit.
How do I know my superpower was successful or hit the enemy?
You always hit. Superpowers are automatically successful. They’re superpowers. They should always do something cool. You’re spending a finite resource to do your coolest trick, we’re not going to penalize you for a crappy roll.
How much damage do I do and which dice do I roll?
Target Die + Superpower Die + Moxie
Target dice are what would normally be used to determine if your attack was successful. Superpowers are always successful, so instead we’ve made them part of the total damage.
Target dice scale as you level. At lower levels the target die is a d12; at higher levels this becomes a d20. These dice have a large range–while there is no penalty for a low roll, your superpower may end up having a low output.
Superpower dice are assigned to each superpower and represent how damaging or impactful your superpower has the potential to be. Superpower dice range from a d4 to a d10; the most common is a d6. These dice are fixed to each power and do not change throughout the game.
Moxie is your bonus for being awesome at something. It comes from your Origin and is equal to half of your boon talent score, rounded down. Add your moxie to the dice you rolled to give your superpower a little boost. Moxie will scale when your talent score increases as you level up.
Can I supercharge my power?
Hell yeah, you can. You can use additional Hero’s Favor to add extra superpower dice to your power—one Hero’s Favor for each die.
For the anime fans, here’s a cool scene in My Hero Academia that captures this idea perfectly. The class is at a training camp retreat when they are set upon by the league of villains. Deku is fighting Muscular and losing, even though he’s giving it his all. He attacks at 100% power, knowing it will cripple his body, but it’s not enough. He then has to channel even more power into his attack. Deku throws every ounce of strength into his power, making it more powerful.
In our world this translates to using extra Hero’s Favor, drawing deep from that energy bank, to throw everything you’ve got into your superpower.
Can I use my power for something other than an attack?
Absolutely. We call this “Hero’s Favor for Flavor.”
To use your power in a nontraditional way, use the appropriate amount of AP and HF for the action and simply describe what you’d like to do.
This should be something that is on theme with your power, like using a strength-based power to rip a door off its hinges or Phasing Aura to completely phase the door out of existence. This is a great way to get creative with your power and stretch your imagination.
Did it look cool?
Dude. It looked so freaking cool. Imagine the coolest thing you can think of your power looking like. Describe it. It totally looked like that.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or want to share cool ideas for your superheroes, the easiest way to reach us is on our discord channel, linked below.
And if you haven’t already, follow our Kickstarter page to get a notification when we launch our campaign in February.
