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Death Descriptors
The following are important descriptors associated with
death powers:
Death Features
Some Feature effects associated with Death Powers
include the following:
Offensive Powers
Death powers are given to offensive effects, from directly
draining a victims life energy to nothing to long lasting
curses or wielding the very stuff of souls as a weapon.
Banshees Wail
A soul-rending scream tears at the very life-force of all who
hear it. This power is often Cumulative as well, making it
even more dangerous on successive rounds, and it may
have Affects Corporeal for attackers with the Ghost Form
power (see Utility Powers).
Banshees Wail: Hearing Perception Area Affliction
(Resisted and Overcome by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Dying)
2 points per rank.
Death Curse
Through mystic, psychic, or other means you place a mark
of death upon your victim. From then on, the victim
suffers from a progressive debilitating condition like a
slow poison or disease until the death curse is removed or
the victim finally succumbs.
Death Curse: Perception Ranged Progressive Affliction
(Resisted and Overcome by Will; Impaired, Disabled, Dying),
Limited to one check per day 4 points per rank.
Death Stare
With a chilling gaze, you fill your target with the terror of
impending death, perhaps even to the point of causing
a shadow of the Grim Reaper (or some other avatar of
death) to cross your features.
Death Stare: Perception Ranged Cumulative Affliction
(Resisted and Overcome by Will; Impaired, Stunned,
Paralyzed), Vision Dependent 3 points per rank.
Death Touch
Your very touch is potentially deadly, draining victims
of their life-force and causing weakness and, eventually,
death.
Death Touch: Cumulative Affliction (Resisted and Overcome
by Fortitude; Impaired, Disabled, Dying) 2 points per rank.
Grasping Graves
Multiple rotting and skeletal arms erupt from the earth at
your command to grab a target and hold them in place.
This power may be Limited to places where there are
actual graves, or it might produce its effect anywhere.
Grasping Graves: Ranged Affliction (Resisted by Dodge,
Overcome by Damage; Hindered and Vulnerable,
Defenseless and Immobilized), Extra Condition, Limited
Degree 2 points per rank.
Soulfire
You can generate and project a kind of fiery energy made
up of the essence of souls, rather than having anything to
do with actual fire. Infernal mystics and creatures sometimes refer to this energy as hellfire while angels and
higher beings call it divine or holy fire.
The basic effect of Soulfire is to burn the spirit rather
than the body. Some can project blasts of Soulfire (add
the Ranged modifier) or use it for a wider range of effects.
See the Fire Powers profile, applying the appropriate
descriptors to those powers to make them into Soulfire
effects.
Soulfire: Damage (soul), Alternate Resistance (Will) 1 point
per rank.
Suppress Life
Deathless
You are beyond the grasp of death and, even if you are
destroyed, you will return. There must be at least one way
to slay your permanently, however, whether beheading,
burning, or burying your remains in hallowed ground.
Deathless: Immortality, Limited (means of permanent
death) 1 point per rank.
Ghost Shield
Swirling ghostly forms around you deflect damage and
keep your from harm. The Impervious modifier is common
for this power.
Ghost Shield: Protection (necromantic), Sustained 1 point
per rank.
Shielded Soul
You are protected against death effects and direct attacks
upon your soul or life force.
Shielded Soul: Immunity 5 (death effects) 5 points.
Movement Powers
Death powers include fairly few movement effects, although death-wielding sorcerers and undead often have
them as secondary powers (via magic or spectral forms,
such as levitation, flight, or angelic or demonic wings).
Deaths Gate
You can open a portal into the realm of the dead (or
realms, if there is more than one), allowing you and others
to pass through into it. Of course, there is no assurance
that you will necessarily be able to find someone there or
bring them back with you. Indeed, the realms of the dead
are often dangerous, and ruled by beings who prefer
never to let anyone leave.
Defensive Powers
Defensive death powers allow characters to feed on the
energies of death or harness them to protect themselves.
Blood Healing
You can quickly recover from damage, but only by consuming at least a pint of blood of a living creature. Some
Valkyries Ride
You are drawn to death, so much so that you can immediately appear at the side of anyone known to you
whose condition is dying. As a side effect of this power,
you immediately know when such an opportunity arises
and who that person is. This is a variant of the Accurate
modifier (Heros Handbook, page 131). The Easy modifier
is common for this power, allowing you to arrive at your
Utility Powers
Death Sight
You can perceive those about to perish, seeing their lifeforce as a kind of life which fades as their condition progresses through dying towards death.
Death Sight: Senses 2 (Detect Dying, Ranged) 2 points.
Death Visions
You can see the spirit of death hovering near those who will
die soon. Whether or not their fate can be changed depends
on how the GM chooses to handle precognitive effects, but
generally the assumption is the victim will die unless something is done to prevent it, although you do not necessarily
know how they will die or what needs to be done.
Death Visions: Senses 4 (Precognition), Limited to Visions of
Death 2 points.
Ghost Form
You are a ghost: an incorporeal, undead being with no
physical body. You pass harmlessly through solid objects,
although you may affect them if you have powers with
Affects Corporeal. Youre immune to mortal concerns, but
do not recover on your own without aid or the use of a
power. Many ghosts also have ranks of Concealment, at
least sufficient to render them unseen by mortal eyes, and
may have other powers as well.
True ghosts apply the Permanent modifier to Flight and
Insubstantial and Innate to Insubstantial, increasing net
cost by 1 point. Otherwise, it is assumed you can switch in
and out of your Ghost Form at will as a free action.
Ghost Form: Flight 1, Immunity 30 (Fortitude effects), Insubstantial
4 (incorporeal), No Stamina rank (10 points) 41 points.
Necromancy
You can imbue corpses, even skeletal remains, with a semblance of life, turning them into undead creatures that rise
up at your command. Use the zombie archetypes from the
Gamemasters Guide (page 144) or apply the zombie template (page 145) to a different archetype for things like
creating zombie or skeletal dinosaurs or other creatures.
Although the power as listed has a substantial cost per
rank, only 1 or 2 ranks are needed to cover the undeads
Undead Form
You are no longer living, but not truly dead, either. Although your body has no vital signs or autonomic functions (breathing, heartbeat, brain activity, etc.) you are still
animate and aware. Although you are immune to many of
the things troubling living creatures, your body also does
not heal on its own without a separate power like Blood
Healing (previously).
Undead Form: Immunity 30 (Fortitude effects), No Stamina rank
(10 points) 20 points.
Death Complications
Death is, in many ways, the ultimate complication for a
Mutants & Masterminds game; a definite setback for a character, but not necessarily the end of the story, given all the
various means comic book characters have for returning
to life. Other complications associated with death powers
include the following.
Acceptance
Death powers can be a terrible curse, especially if they
come as an inheritance or gift the character never
wanted in the first place. Some wielders of these powers
may seek acceptance and understanding, but have difficulty finding it, given most peoples fear of death and the
things surrounding it.
Addiction
Prejudice
Of all the complications faced by those with death powers,
this one is the most universal. The trappings and presence
of death are shunned by most people, so even the most
heroic of characters get labeled creepy and disturbing
when it comes to death powers. The more the character
embraces the deathly image, the worse the prejudice
becomes, until suspicion haunts the characters every
step and other people are always ready to believe the
worst, likely to turn into a torch-wielding lynch mob at the
slightest indication that the character is using unnatural
powers or becoming a threat to society.
Disability
Reputation
Given the prejudice towards death powers (see the previous), it is not difficult to develop a sinister reputation.
Indeed, some death-wielders cultivate such a reputation, since it makes them more intimidating to their foes.
However, it can work against them by imposing circumstance penalties for other interaction checks and generally making the public and the authorities less willing to
cooperate withor even toleratethe character.
Obsession
A macabre obsession with death and all of its trappings is
common for those connected so directly with its powers,
and does little to alleviate concerns about them.
Phobia
Likewise, those who wield the powers of death may
develop fears concerning the symbols or powers of life.
This is a common complication for undead creatures, who
fear things like holy symbols, certain plants (wild rose,
wolvesbane, and ash, for example), or things like running
water (representative of the flow of life-force).
Power Loss
Powers of death are often weakened or negated entirely
in the presence of certain forces of life. For supernatural
death wielders, things like direct sunlight or consecrated
Weakness
Like disabilities and phobias, death wielders are given
to various unusual weaknesses and vulnerabilities associated with their powers and the symbols of life and
death. The classic examples include the undead weakness to direct sunlight, which may have effects ranging
from pain and weakness to outright destruction, reducing the undead to ash and dust, if they are exposed long
enough.
Similarly, necromantic beings may have particular attacks
able to overcome their defenses, such as a wooden stake
killing (or paralyzing) a vampire, or a bullet to the head destroying a zombie. Blessed or holy weapons might ignore
necromantic Protection effects. Certain substancessuch
as holy water or the blood of a martyrmay act as toxins
that ignore the Immunity to Fortitude effects granted by
many death powers.
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Modern System Reference Document, Copyright 20022004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek,
Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, Eric Cagle, David
Noonan, Stan!, Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson,
and JD Wiker, based on material by Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison,
Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
Mutants & Masterminds, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin
Publishing; Author Steve Kenson.