Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Speed Descriptors
Speed Hazards
Comic book speed powers tend to be truly extraordinary, allowing otherwise ordinary people to run many
times the speed of sound, perhaps even nearing the
speed of light! They tend to ignore the various physics
problems involved in a human-sized figure moving at
that speed; realistically, theres no way for a human body
to withstand such stress and, even if that were possible,
someone moving a Mach 20 (to say nothing of any significant fraction of lightspeed) through a crowded city
would cause tremendous damage from air turbulence
and vibration.
The comics hand-wave away such concerns with talk of
frictionless auras or molecular vibration control and
other unconscious safety mechanisms built-in to keep
super-speed from wrecking either the user or the environment. Likewise, they tend to ignore issues like perceiving
and reacting to obstacles at such high speeds or the dynamics of collisions: a speedster who tripped or slammed
into something moving even at the speed of sound would
be instantly pulped by the kinetic energy, to say nothing of
the effect of truly high speeds.
Like the comics, M&M tends to be quite forgiving when it
comes to speedsters interacting with the environment; collision damage based on speed rank may not be realistic,
but its sufficient and reflects how things tend to work in the
comics, where a speedster can get tripped up but not splattered all over the pavement. Brief and occasional failures of
the safety mechanisms of super-speed can make for good
complications (see Speed Complications).
Countering
Speed powers by themselves are not used to counter many
effects: possibly slowing, paralyzing, or even biochemical
effects (which could be countered or overcome by a superfast metabolism). Some of the potential applications of
speed powerslike kicking up a powerful windmight be
used to counter (see the Air Powers profile for some examples).
Effects countering speed powers either slow the character
down or create some environmental condition that does
so. Most speedsters cannot move fast if they cannot stand,
much less run!
Speed Features
Flattening Wake
By zooming through an area at high speed, you can knock
people over like tenpins, making it that much easier for
you or your allies to mop them up.
Flattening Wake: Reaction (while moving at high speed) Line
Area Affliction (Resisted by Dodge; Dazed, Prone), Instant
Recovery, Limited Degree, Limited to Directly Behind You 2
point per rank.
Lightning Disarm
One moment youre surrounded by people with guns, the
next, youre surrounded by startled opponents, wondering how all their guns ended up in a pile at your feet!
Rapid Strike
You can land multiple hits in the time it takes most people
to make one.
Rapid Strike: Multiattack on Strength Damage 1 point per rank
up to Strength rank, 2 points per additional rank.
Sonic Boom
A deceptively simple attack: you snap your fingers at
super-sonic speed, creating a micro sonic boom able to
momentarily stun or even incapacitate a target at close
range.
A speedster with this power and the Move-by Action advantage might also create a sonic boom by zipping past a
target at high speed, perhaps even adding the Burst Area
modifier to the power.
Offensive Powers
Offensive speed powers involve the ability to make otherwise ordinary attacks very fast or take advantage of
the side-effects of moving at high speeds. Many of these
powers benefit from advantages like Move-by Action and
Takedown (particularly the second rank), allowing speedsters to combine their considerable movement with their
attacks.
Super-Sonic Punch
You put a lot of momentum behind your punch, allowing
you to hit an opponent like a freight train!
Super-Sonic Punch: Strength-based Damage (momentum) 1
point per rank.
Speed Arrays
A common arrangement for speed powers is to assemble the power effects requiring move and free actions as standalone powerssuch as a Super-Speed power consisting of Improved Initiative, Quickness, and a movement effect like
Speedand the effects requiring standard actions as an array of Super-Speed Stunts or similar effects, allowing the
character to switch between different offensive and utility speed powers from round to round. This array is also typically where less frequently used movement powers (like Dimensional Vibration) are found and it is the natural resource
for performing speed-related power stunts, essentially adding temporary Alternate Effects to the existing effects of
the array. You can also construct a Dynamic array of Quickness and Speed effects for a speedster who must balance
precision and fast action and flat-out linear movement speed.
2
Jonathan Lotzer (order #3533764)
Vacuum
Moving at super-speed, you whip up a whirlwind that draws
all the air from an area, causing the targets to suffocate.
Vacuum: Burst Area Affliction (Resisted and Overcome by
Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated), Concentration,
Cumulative 4 points per rank.
Whirlwind Attack
You are everywhere on the battlefield at once, striking at
will against multiple opponents, taking on whole groups
by yourself.
Power: Burst Area on Strength Damage, Selective 2 points per
rank up to Strength rank, 3 points per additional rank.
Defensive Powers
The primary defensive power of speed is not being there
when the attack comes. Other defensive powers are
suited to dealing with the hazards of high speeds or reacting quicker than an attacker can follow.
Fast Defense
Your power enhances your reaction time, allowing you to
more easily dodge and evade attacks.
Vibrational Phasing
By vibrating your molecules you can shift out of phase with
ordinary matter, passing through it like a phantom. This is
especially useful for speedsters able to run at speeds where
a collision with a solid object would be devastating, and it
allows you to take straight paths through obstacles rather
than having to go around them.
Vibrational Phasing: Insubstantial 4 (Incorporeal) 20 points.
Movement Powers
Frictionless
Throwback
When you defend, you can react fast enough to catch an
incoming projectileeven a bulletand hurl it back at
the attacker at the same speed. The powers range allows
you to intercept attacks on others within your range. If
you can throw the attack at any target, rather than just
back at the attacker, apply the Redirect modifier, increasing cost by 1 point per rank.
Throwback: Deflect, Reflect, Limited to Projectiles 1 point
per rank.
Untouchable
You react so fast that when you go on the defensive
(taking your standard action each round to concentrate),
you are practically untouchable: when you perceive an
Air Brakes
Stirring the air with your hands at super-speed whips up a
powerful enough downdraft to provide an air cushion to
slow your fall and allow you to land safely.
Air Brakes: Movement 1 (Safe Fall) 2 points.
Dimensional Vibration
Combining high speeds and changes in your molecular vibratory frequency, you can phase shift out of this dimension altogether and into others. Many speedsters encounter this effect as a complication of their powers rather
than an ability they control although they may develop it
as a regular power stunt in order to get back home.
Dimensional Vibration: Movement 2 (Dimensional Travel,
parallel universes) 4 points.
Run on Water
You move fast enough that your feet are like stones skipping across the surface of a pond, allowing you to run
across the surface of water without breaking the surface
tension enough to sink.
Run On Water: Movement 1 (Water-Walking), Limited to while
moving 1 point.
Run up Walls
You can run fast enough to defy gravity over short distances, allowing you to run up the sides of sheer surfaces,
barely slowing down.
Run Up Walls: Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling), Limited to while
moving 1 point.
Running Jump
You take advantage of the considerable momentum of your
movement to fling yourself through the air like a catapult.
Running Jump: Leaping, Quirk (Requires a running start, 1
point) 1 point for 2 ranks, than +1 point per rank.
Running Speed
One of the primary speed powers, you have considerable
running speed. At low ranks, youre as fast as a swift land
animal (like a horse or cheetah), while at high ranks, you
are faster than even the fastest aircraft!
Note that this power is strictly linear movement speed,
in order to accomplish tasks (other than moving from
place to place) faster, see the Fast Action power. The
combination of the two lets you do things like search an
entire building: moving at great speed and also opening,
closing, and looking through hiding places quickly.
Running Speed: Speed 1 point per rank.
Share Speed
You enable others to move as fast as you. Some speedsters may have this modifier for powers like Fast Action
and Lightning Reflexes as well as Running Speed. If you
can Share Speed at a distance, add the Ranged modifier.
Share Speed: Affects Others on Running Speed 1 point per rank.
Spinning Drill
By spinning rapidly in place, you become like a human drillbit, able to bore down into the earth or even through harder
4
Jonathan Lotzer (order #3533764)
Super-Temporal Speed
A combination of tremendous speed (although it may not
need to be more than 88 miles per hour...) and vibrational
control allows you to break the time barrier and travel
through time. Like Dimensional Vibration (previously)
speedsters often discover this power by accident after
being pushed to their limits in other circumstances, having
to duplicate it as a power stunt in order to return to their
own time (after having an adventure or two in other time
periods).
Super-Temporal Speed: Movement 3 (Time Travel) 6 points.
Utility Powers
Speed utility powers harness the various beneficial sideeffects of moving and reacting at high speeds.
Cyclone
Stirring the air at super-speed, you kick up a powerful cyclone capable of picking up and moving objects
where you direct them. The effect is relatively crude,
capable of moving things, but no good for delicate work
or much more than moving something someplace and
then setting it down with a final gust. The winds kicked
up by the cyclone may also stir up dust and small loose
objects.
Cyclone: Burst Area Move Object, Concentration, Side-Effect
(limited fine movement and powerful winds) 1 point per rank.
Fast Action
Rather than sheer linear ground speed, you act fast, able
to do things quicker than ordinary people, perhaps so
quick that you can accomplish tasks in the blink of an eye.
This is the second common component of super-speed,
and it allows you to accomplish a variety of tricks, from
disassembling a getaway car out from under a group of
crooks to rebuilding a destroyed house in seconds.
Note that Quickness does not increase movement speed
over distance, so this power is limited without accompanying Speed. For example, you cannot search an entire
city with just enough ranks of Quickness to cover the
time, unless you also have the Speed to cover the distance. The same with searching through every volume
in a vast library. On the other hand, you can read a
book amazingly fast, or attempt all the possible code
combinations in a lock, or assemble (or disassemble) a
machine, and so forth.
Fast Action: Quickness 1 point per rank.
Fast Healing
Your metabolism is so fast you can heal in a mere fraction
of the usual time.
Fast Healing: Regeneration 1 point per rank.
Lightning Reflexes
Along with moving and acting fast, the third major component of super-speed is reacting quickly. This power improves your initiative modifier, often so much that only
other speedsters have any chance at all of beating you
when it comes to acting first in the initiative order.
Lightning Reflexes: Enhanced Advantage (Improved Initiative)
1 point per rank.
Speed-Learning
You can cram at super-speed, instantly learning how to
do something. The knowledge doesnt stick however, so
you dont retain the information for more than one use of
the skill.
Speed-Learning: Enhanced Advantage 1 (Beginners Luck)
1 point.
Speed Complications
Complications of speed powers often involve the disconnect between a super-fast character and a world moving
at a normal pace.
Accident
Moving and reacting at tremendous speed can lead to accidents due to the side-effects of a speedsters powers (see
Speed Descriptors for more on this). Fortunately, speedsters
can clean up their messes almost as quickly as they can cause
them, although some things cannot be repaired or replaced.
Addiction
While it is not a common complication for heroes, some
speedsters may literally be on speed for their powers,
dependent on some type of drug or chemical. Without it,
they may suffer from Power Loss or the drug may be psychologically or physically addictive. Similarly, a speedster
may depend on medications in order to slow down and
interact with the world at close to normal speeds.
Disability
Speedsters generally need to be pretty physically capable
in order to use their powers, but the demands of moving
at super-speed may lead to some complications. The most
common is for speedsters to have tremendous metabolic
needs; some of their energy may come from elsewhere
but they might need to consume a massive number of
calories to fuel their powers. A speedster who doesnt get
the necessary fuel might suffer from Power Loss or other
physical side-effects like fatigue or even incapacitation.
The other common disability for speedsters is that their
accelerated metabolism causes them to age at a faster
rate, essentially burning out. A speedster a thousand
times faster than a normal person might also have a lifespan one hundred times shorter, aging to death in just a
year! This complication mainly comes into play as a motivation for the character to seek a cure for the condition.
Power Loss
Speed powers are not easily countered or removed, other
than by Nullify effects which specifically target them. Individual speedsters may have their own peculiarities to
their powers, such as a blessing from the Gods of Speed,
which can be revoked at their whim for a failure to live
up to their expectations, or dependence on a mysterious
extradimensional power source, which could be cut off by
certain conditions.
A more common sort of Power Loss for speedsters is temporary loss of their protection from the side-effects of
moving at super-speeds (see Speed Descriptors). These
types of losses may be due to in the characters powers,
natural interference (due to anything from sunspots to
exposure to experimental energies or chemicals), or the
nefarious schemes of a foe.
Reputation
A speedster unable to slow down, who always looks like
a jittery blur, or gives off sparks of electricity or the like, is
going to have to deal with some strange reactions.
Temper
To a speedster, the whole world can appear painfully slow,
and dealing with ordinary people is a constant exercise in
patience. This leads to speedsters who are hotheads with
short tempers, likely to go off at a moments provocation
or otherwise act without thinking in comparison to others.
Weakness
A super-fast metabolism can make a speedster vulnerable
to certain Fortitude effects, particular toxins and diseases,
which have a more pronounced effect: an increase in the
resistance DC or one or more additional degrees of effect
imposed by the GM (including having successful resistance still inflict at least one degree of effect).
6
Jonathan Lotzer (order #3533764)
M&M, Green Ronin, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC.
The following is designated as Product Identity, in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License,
Version 1.0a: hero points, power points. All characters and
their associated images, descriptions, backgrounds, and
related information are declared Product Identity.
The following text is Open Gaming Content: all game system
rules and material not previously declared Product Identity.
Green Ronin Publishing
3815 S. Othello St., Suite 100 #304
Seattle, WA 98118
Email: custserv@greenronin.com
Web Sites: www.greenronin.com
www.mutantsandmasterminds.com