Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Power Profile - Kinetic Powers
Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Power Profile - Kinetic Powers
Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Power Profile - Kinetic Powers
Range Modifiers: Since Move Object allows a character to manipulate objects remotely, the GM may
wish to apply a circumstance modifier when performing traditionally close range tasks at a distance.
Typically the modifier should be the greater of the
characters range modifier or Perception modifier (to
be able to accurately perceive the task).
Example: A hero with Precise Move Object 8 is
working to remotely disarm a bomb from what
she hopes is a safe distance, 100 feet away. This
is within her powers short range (8 x 25 or 200
feet), so no range modifier applies, but there is
a 10 Perception penalty (1 per 10 feet). Unless
the hero has some Senses effect to overcome
it (even a pair of binoculars), shell take a 10
penalty on her Technology check to disarm the
bomb. Good thing shes some distance away!
Kinetic Descriptors
The following are some of the key descriptors associated
with kinetic powers.
Force: Force is defined as energy capable of producing motion or work. In game terms, powers with a
force descriptor are differentiated from other types
of energy in that force is more akin to the energy of
sheer physical Strength. Thus, a force blast or similar
offensive power shares more in common with a
punch (or getting hit by a runaway train) than it does
with energy attacks like electricity or fire. Force is
also energy capable of stopping motion, particularly
when applied to defensive powers like force fields.
Kinetic Features
Some potential Feature effects associated with Kinetic
Powers include the following:
Offensive Powers
Force Cage
You form a bubble, cage, or similar construct of force
around a target, restricting their movements. If your
attack check against the targets Dodge succeeds, the
target makes a Dodge resistance check (DC 10 + rank).
Failure means the target is trapped inside the object and
must break through it in order to escape. The Force Cage
has Toughness equal to its rank.
The Force Constructs power (see Utility Powers) can
duplicate this power, as it is the same effect without the
Limited flaw.
Force Cage: Create Force Cage, Limited to Entrapping 1 point
per rank.
Friction Blindness
With this power, you cause a targets eyelids to stick together, effectively blinding the target. The target does not
get a check to overcome the effect, but it ends instantly
when you no longer maintain it.
Friction Blindness: Perception Ranged Affliction (Resisted by
Dodge; Unaware), Sustained, Instant Recovery, Limited Degree
(Third Only), Limited to Targets with Eyelids, Limited to Vision
1 point per rank.
Friction Heat
You transform a targets kinetic energy into heat, slowing
or stopping the target and inflicting heat damage.
Friction Heat: Ranged Weaken Movement Effects, Broad; Linked
to Ranged Damage (Heat), Damage Limited to Reduction in
Speed Rank 4 points per rank.
Internal Attack
You manipulate kinetic energy within a target, causing a
disruption of the targets internal systems and bypassing
external armor or defenses.
Internal Attack: Perception Ranged Damage, Alternate
Resistance (Fortitude), Affects Objects 5 points per rank.
Kinetic Blast
You project a focused blast of kinetic energy that hits with
considerable force.
Kinetic Blast: Ranged Damage (kinetic) 2 points per rank.
Kinetic Bullet
You can fling a small object with enough speed that it
hits like a bullet fired from a gun. If you can fire multiple
small objects at once, apply the Multiattack modifier to
the power for +1 point per rank.
Kinetic Bullet: Ranged Damage (projectile), Quirk (requires
objects as ammo, 1 point) 1 point for rank 1 + 2 points per
rank.
Kinetic Burst
You create a bubble of force that bursts outwards like an
explosion or creates a blast of debris or small objects in
the same area.
Kinetic Burst: Ranged Burst Area Damage (kinetic) 3 points per
rank.
Kinetic Weapon
You form a close combat weapon out of kinetic force,
able to strike targets like a physical weapon, perhaps with
greater power than an ordinary weapon.
Kinetic Weapon: Damage 1 point per rank.
Suffocating Bubble
You surround a targets head with a force field that keeps
out air, causing them to suffocate.
Suffocating Bubble: Ranged Progressive Affliction (Resisted and
Overcome by Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated)
4 points per rank.
Defensive Powers
Defensive kinetic powers absorb, deflect, or redirect
kinetic energy or use it as a medium to deflect or protect
against other harmful effects.
Frictionless
You can render your surface virtually frictionless, such
that it is impossible to get a grip on you: attempts to
grab, ensnare, or otherwise restrain you automatically fail
unless the effect does not rely on touching you (such as a
trap or construct completely enclosing you).
Frictionless: Immunity 10 (Grabbing, Ensnaring, and Restraining
effects), Sustained 10 points.
Immovable
By redirecting kinetic energy and affecting friction, you
render yourself immune to any attempt to move you
against your will. Since this power as well as Frictionless
(previously) are sustained, they may well exist as Alternate Effects, representing different applications of kinetic
control.
Immovable: Immunity 10 (Being Moved), Sustained 10 points.
Kinetic Absorption
You soak up incoming kinetic energy, transforming it
into energy you can redirect and use for your own purposes. When hit with a kinetic attack, you gain a trait, from
Strength or Agility to particular advantages or powers,
such as Kinetic Blast. You can even take multiple traits
as Alternate Effects, allowing you to choose from a set of
traits each time you absorb kinetic energy. Channeling
energy to the same trait resets the Fades flaw, bringing
the trait back up to its full normal value.
This power is typically linked with something that blunts
the actual effects of the kinetic energy absorbed, such as
Kinetic Deflection, Kinetic Immunity, or Kinetic Shield.
Kinetic Absorption: Enhanced Trait, Fades, Reaction (When
Absorbing Kinetic Energy), Limited to When Absorbing Energy
1 point per rank.
Kinetic Deflection
You rob projectiles of their kinetic energy, or redirect it,
causing them to miss their target(s) or even just drop
Kinetic Immunity
You are essentially invulnerable to impacts and other
attacks reliant on kinetic energy, absorbing or dissipating them harmlessly. This power includes the benefits of
the Immovable power (previously), since kinetic attacks
cannot move you any more than they can harm you.
Kinetic Immunity: Immunity 40 (Kinetic Attacks) 1 point per rank.
Kinetic Shield
You surround your body with a tight field of energy that
protects you from incoming attacks.
The standard Kinetic Shield is an effective barrier against
all attacks targeting Toughness, but some Kinetic Fields
are Limited to Kinetic Damage, ineffective against other
types of energy, such as cold, heat, or electricity.
Kinetic Shield: Impervious Protection, Sustained 2 points
per rank.
Movement Powers
The energy of motion itself, kinetic powers can provide all
kinds of movement abilities, including standard versions
of the Burrowing, Flight, and Leaping effects (Heros Handbook, pages 99, 109, and 115).
Friction Cling
Controlling the friction between your body and a surface
allows you to stick to walls and ceilings.
Friction Cling: Movement (Wall-Crawling 1 or 2) 2 or 4 points.
Kinetic Transport
You render yourself at rest relative to the rotation of the
Earth beneath you, giving you a sudden and brief westward velocity of 1,000 MPH (at the equator, less towards
the poles). The effect is that you suddenly vanish and are
about a mile away before anyone realizes you are gone.
Kinetic Transport: Teleport 8, Limited to Due West, Not Through
Barriers 4 points.
Kinetic Rebound
You absorb or dissipate the kinetic energy from falls (often
linked with Kinetic Absorption) allowing you to fall any
distance without harm.
Utility Powers
Control over kinetic energy has numerous other useful
applications, particularly involving the telekinetic movement of objects at a distance.
Friction Control
You create an area of extremely low or high friction,
causing targets in the area to slip and find it difficult to
stand, or become stuck and find it difficult to move.
Friction Control: Burst Area Ranged Affliction (Resisted
and Overcome by Dodge; Hindered, Prone), Progressive,
Limited Degree; AE: Burst Area Ranged Affliction (Resisted
by Dodge, Overcome by Strength; Hindered, Immobile),
Progressive, Reversible, Limited Degree 2 points + 4
points per rank.
Force Constructs
You can project force fields to form different solid objects
or constructs. See the Create effect for details (Heros
Handbook, page 102).
Force Constructs: Create Force Constructs 2 points per rank.
Momentum Boost
You can add to a subjects momentum, accelerating them
to even greater speeds. The power is normally Sustained.
If you provide a single burst of speed, apply the Fades
modifier as well.
Momentum Boost: Enhanced Speed, Affects Others,
Ranged, Variable Descriptor (movement effects) 2 points
+3 points per rank.
Momentum Drain
You can drain or dampen a subjects momentum, causing
them to slow towards an at-rest state with no movement
speed (if they are weakened to less than speed rank 0).
Momentum Drain: Ranged Weaken Movement Effects, Affects
Objects, Broad 4 points per rank.
Tactile Telekinesis
You can exert force on objects simply by touching them,
but the energy imparted comes from your power rather
than your muscles, which do not have to do any of the
work. This means you can exert the effective Strength of
your power without having to move, so long as you are in
close contact with the subject.
Tactile Telekinesis: Enhanced Strength, Limited to Lifting
and Moving (No Damage), Feature 1 (Able to Exert Strength
Without Moving) 1 point + 1 point per rank.
Telekinesis
You can move objects at a distance without directly
touching them. See The Move Object Effect at the start
of this profile for details.
Telekinesis: Move Object 2 points per rank.
Telekinetic Touch
Your telekinetic powers have a sense of touch, allowing
you to feel things at a distance with a kind of kinetic
echolocation.
Telekinetic characters with this power may have the
Feedback flaw (Heros Handbook, page 148) on powers
like Force Constructs or Telekinesis; they feel impacts
and energy through their connection, enough to cause
mental strain and psychosomatic reactions.
Telekinetic Touch: Senses 1 (Ranged Tactile) 1 point.
Kinetic Complications
Kinetic powers can make a character into a powerhouse, but
they can also complicate matters. The following are some
complications associated with kinetic powers and their use.
Accident
Flinging powerful blasts of kinetic force, or playing with
the forces of friction, inertia, and momentum, can wreak
havoc if a character isnt careful. Kinetic powers can cause
various sorts of accidents in the heat of combat or simply
Addiction
Its possible controllingand particularly absorbing
kinetic energy might come with a rush that is potentially
addictive. Someone addicted to soaking up kinetic energy
is likely to look for it in the rawest form: getting hit, and
hit hard. Such an addict might seek out fights with strong,
powerful opponentslike superheroes and villainsjust
for the opportunity to feed off the energy.
Power Loss
Other than specific exceptions like Kinetic Absorption,
the powers in this profile are assumed to generate their
own kinetic energy, essentially out of nowhere. A character might be dependent on a source of energy in order to
use kinetic powers, however. This could be as simple as
drawing on minute amounts of kinetic energy from the
environment: in areas where things are especially still, the
characters power could diminish. Or the kinetic controller
might draw on a different power source, converting it into
kinetic energy. Cut off from that source, theres no power.
Side-effect
Kinetic powers might come with some problematic sideeffects which constitute complications when they come
into play.
For example, if a kinetic controller draws upon ambient
molecular motion to gain a kinetic charge, then when
the character uses kinetic powers, the temperature drops.
Likewise, if the character absorbs and sheds kinetic
energy by transforming it into heat, the temperature rises.
This can cause changes in the environment and potential
problems.
A character with Kinetic Immunity may be literally immovable by any outside force. No one can carry the character,
nor can any vehicle, which can certainly cause problems.
Weakness
The prime weaknesses of kinetic powers are a focus solely
on kinetic energy and the potential of too much kinetic
energy.
In the first case, characters immune to things like impacts
or physical force might suffer a greater sensitivity to
effects able to bypass their defenses. A juggernaut with
Kinetic Immunity could literally be stopped cold by a
paralyzing ice Affliction, for example, or have his Strength
sapped quickly by a chilling Weaken effect.
Theres also the potential for kinetic powers to overload
when channeling or exposed to too much energy at once.
A character might have Kinetic Immunity, but still suffer
the occasional setback where a massive kinetic impact
temporarily stuns him, for example.
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