FAQs

You “dodge” when you want to try to evade incoming attacks that cause damage. You try to “resist”  the effects and abilities of certain powers or magical weapons.

To dodge an attack, add your Evasion total to a D20 roll. Your attacker will add his/her Accuracy total to their D20 roll. If you’re total is higher, you dodge the attack. If their total is higher, they still hit you anyway.

To resist an attack, add your Resistance total to a D20 roll. Your attack will do the same. If your total is higher, you successful block, reject, or resist the unwanted effect/ability of that power. If your attacker’s total is higher, their power works as intended.

Both can help you avoid unwanted attacks. Dodge if it causes damage; resist if it does something else.

Examples of things you might try to dodge:

• A sword that deals Health damage
• A mind blast that deals Mental damage
• An energy beam that deals Power damage

Examples of things you might try to resist:

• being morphed into an animal
• being levitated or teleported
• being possessed or mind controlled

Damage can be dodged; other (non-damage) effects can be resisted. But as always, it has to make sense for you to be able to dodge or resist the attack. For example, if you’re trapped in a narrow space and someone attacks you, there’s nowhere for you to “dodge” to. Or if someone’s using super strength to pick you up and throw you, that’s not something you simply can “resist”. When in doubt, ask your Story Master.

If your power/equipment physically moves or somehow physically changes a person or object, you need to define the maximum weight your power/equipment can handle. For example, you’d need to define your Weight variable for things like: super strength, teleportation, flying, shape-shifting/polymorphing, possession/mind control, levitation, telekinesis, and matter manipulation, because they all move and/or physically change your target.

If your Target is “Self Only”, you do not need Weight. It’s always assumed that your own power can handle your own weight. Also, you do not need Weight if your power/equipment is only dealing damage or healing. “Weight” is for powers/equipment that do “other” things besides (or in addition to) damaging/healing, to any target other than yourself.

A note on powers like “super strength”: you may be tempted to put “Self Only” as your Target. After all, you have the super strength ability, right? But you want to move other people and objects with your super strength, so your actual Target should be “Everyone & Everything”.

Both powers and equipment have a “Damage/Debuff” section, as well as a “Healing/Buff” section. If you put points into both, your power or equipment is capable of both damaging and healing your Targets. As long as it’s plausible that your power or equipment can discern between one target and another (or friend verses foe), it’s capable of doing either damage and/or healing to your target(s).

Also note that the total values for all the features and options within a power/equipment are the “maximum limits” for that power/equipment. For example, if your Ray Gun has a “Distance” of “100 ft”, then it can shoot targets up to 100 ft away. But, obviously, you can also hit something closer too.

Some powers/equipment are “all-or-nothing”. Like if you have a basic crude bomb, its blast radius will always be the same. It won’t automatically reduce its explosion size just because you’re standing too close. However, if you had a smart bomb of some kind, or something with a variable explosion setting, then you can choose (ahead of time) how big you want the blast to be — up to the maximum limit as determined by the “Radius” feature.

The same applies to damage or healing. If you’re attacking with a gun that fires ordinary bullets, it will always deal the normal, maximum damage. But if you’re attacking with heat vision, it’s plausible that you could “hold back” some of your power to deal less damage, and roll fewer/smaller dice in the attack.

Ultimately: if you can explain how/why your power or equipment does less than its maximum values, you can hold back. And if you can explain how/why it affects different targets differently (healing some, damaging others), then it’s enabled to do that too. Obviously, your power or equipment can’t do more than it’s designed to do. It can’t exceed its maximum values unless certain conditions (like performing a Critical Hit) apply.

That’s ultimately up to how you describe your super power and what your Story Master approves. But generally, becoming intangible allows you to pass through solid objects — and causes other solid objects to pass through you. So as a universal rule of thumb, we recommend that while intangible, you can’t deal Health damage and can’t receive Health damage. Your other stats/skills are still vulnerable, though — and you can attack other stats/skills on others.

No. When choosing a class and race, you only get the bonuses, benefits, and special rules specifically provided for that class or race. Even though, normally, most angels “can” fly, that doesn’t mean they all do — or more specifically, it doesn’t mean you do. If you want to be a flying angel, make sure you create a super power or equipment that gives you flight ability.

It means that before you are able to select this class (and receive its bonuses and benefits), you must already meet the requirements specified in the prerequisite.

So, for example, if your class has a prerequisite of “Minimum 10 Social”, you must already have at least 10 points in your Social skill total, before being able to choose that class and receive its benefits.

When first creating your character, unless your Story Master says otherwise, you can select as many Special Advantages and Special Disadvantages as you want and can afford. Special Disadvantages provide Special Points. Special Advantages use Special Points. If you want to give your character a lot of disadvantages, and your Story Master approves it, you can select as many as you want — giving you more Special Points to get more advantages earlier on in the game.

Special Disadvantages can only be selected when you first create a new character — or when the Story Master tells you to apply one. For example, your character might not have started out “Cursed” (a Special Disadvantage), but half way through the story, an evil witch places a curse on you. At that point, the Story Master will tell you to add the “Cursed” Special. You will also get any Special Points it provides.

Special Advantages can be selected any time you have enough Special Points to buy one.

If both your classes have a “Extra Cash” amount, add those together. It’s like having two jobs. You have two income sources, so you have more cash saved up at the start of the game.

Yes, all equipment needs at least 1 Item Durability.  But be careful — you may want more Item Durability anyway. Certain powers or equipment can temporarily disable one of your Specials. If your equipment only has 1 Item Durability, and someone disables your “Unbreakable Equipment” Special, they can destroy your item in one hit.