A Powerset to End All Powersets (Marvel Heroic)

I’m running the Marvel Heroic event Civil War, and I just started doing so on Monday.  We’re keeping the continuity from our previous Breakout sessions in this game, which means the Avengers already found Thor’s hammer and Thor already returned.

So if I utilize the Broxton, OK scene, what’s a Watcher to do?  Why, switch out the Asgardian artifact that fell from the sky, that’s what!  Instead of Mjolnir falling to the Earth, instead we had Surtur’s sword fall to the Earth.

Not only did it let me use the scene even though Thor is already back for our Civil War, but it also allowed me to address something that bugged me about the original FF issue:  regardless of how much Doom may think he is worthy, he knows magic, and he knows that he isn’t what Odin had in mind when it comes to “worthy,” so why was he so sure, after all of these years, that now was the time he could actually lift the hammer?

Doom is arrogant, but he’s not stupid.

On the other hand, there is a history of powerful sorcerers getting their hands on the Twilight Sword and using it to do very bad things  (Loki turning Thor into a frog and unleashing disease and pestilence on Asgard, Morgan LeFey turning back the clock to her youth and setting herself up as queen).

On the other hand, Mjolnir could be picked up and wielded as a new powerset by the right person, and I liked the idea of this happening with the Twilight Sword, and my players hit upon that notion before I could fully flesh out my thoughts.  Both Thor and Moon Knight tried to master the sword, but failed against the almighty Doom Pool.

To make the sword a bit more like Mjolnir in purpose, I decided to fuse the Twilight Sword from the comics with Surtur’s sword from Tales of Asgard, Elderstahl, which changes size for it’s wielder, but also can have some unpredictable effects.

So in our corner of the Marvel Universe, Surtur used Elderstahl in his battle with Odin, the sword was broken, and thousands of years later, once Surtur had found all of the pieces, he caused the sun of the Korbinite homeworld to go nova so that he could reforge Elderstahl into an even more powerful and dangerous weapon.

Elderstahl, the Twilight Sword

d12 Sorcery     d12 Fire Supremacy     d12 Weapon

SFX  Area Attack.  Against multiple targets, for every additional target add a d6 and keep an additional effect die

SFX  Multipower.  Add more than one Elderstahl power to your pool.  Step back each Elderstahl die back one for each one beyond the first.

SFX  Cursebringer.  When using Sorcery to create a complication, add a d6 and step up the effect die.

Limit  The March of Ragnarok.  Count 1s and 2s as opportunities when using an Elderstahl power.  Only 1s are excluded from being used for totals or effect die.

Limit  Harbringer of Woe.  When you generate an opportunity that adds to the Doom Pool, the die starts at a d8 rather than a d6.

Limit  The Doom is Upon Us!  Whenever Elderstahl is unsheathed, if there are 2d12 in the Doom Pool, the Watcher must spend them, and the scene ends in the most calamitous way it would logically end.

Limit  Wildfire.  When using Area Attack, target all targets in the scene other the the wielder  (even allies) to gain 1 pp.

Limit  Sheathed.  Shut down Elderstahl, the Sword of Twilight powerset to gain 1 pp.  Recover on an opportunity or during a transition scene.  When Elderstahl is sheathed, The Doom is Upon Us! does not activate.

In order to gain Elderstahl, the Sword of Twilight as a powerset, the character must roll against the Doom Pool, not to prove that they are worthy, but to prove that they have both a strong personality and the ability to cause great harm to others.

It costs 15 XP to add this powerset, in addition to mastering the sword, as detailed above.

What’s that?  This is an insane powerset that could swing from incredibly overpowered to dangerously screwed up depending on how many 1s and 2s hit the table?  Totally.  If anyone out there uses this powerset in their games, please let me know what kind of havoc this thing causes, and if the risk is worth the reward.

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