Weapons are also a great way to make mooks/minions a bit scarier of an obstacle for the heroes. All of my Rank 1, low health baddies have a knife and a gun, meaning instead of doing, say, 7 damage or so when rolling a 5, they'll deal 12 instead! With 16 or so damage on a crit! Also allows them to deal damage, even if small, to anyone who dipped into Sturdy!
Absolutely! So important to remember that profiles usually don't include the bonuses for weapons, so Narrators have to make sure to add them in themselves. And you're right, Minions/Mooks are especially underpowered if a Narrator doesn't do this. The Hand Ninja has a Melee Weapon Power (Sharp), but a x1 Melee multiplier despite being pictured with a sword. The Maggia Tough has "Signature Weapons pistols or clubs" but a x1 for both Melee and Agility.
Thanks for your vids. They are great! I understand that “Damage bonuses don’t stack!” Is a fundamental rule. And messing with that is fraught with peril. However, I had an idea. Let weapon bonuses stack with Mighty/Accuracy; etc. however, the total bonus can not exceed what the character would normally be able to achieve by just buying more Mighty, etc. So a rank 2 character with Mighty 1 could use a knife and receive a +2 total bonus. But a sword would also only raise the bonus to a +2. This could be an issue with special training characters being able to exceed the 2 rank limit on such things though. I’m not sure how big a deal that is though. It would also be reasonable to limit this to Iconic Weapons. Which helps a lot of them without further tinkering.
Yeah, that could definitely be a way to go. I'm so looking forward to the X-Men Expansion just to see if they're going to introduce any new concepts that would help with this kind of tinkering. The Tony's Workshop document on the website at least suggests they're open to such tinkering!
Question: Rules as written, you could use a melee weapon power for a barefisted attack or ranged weapon power for an elemental burst, since neither power set designates that the power has to come from the weapon, right?
Fantastic question! Really had to do my homework for this one :-). For using a melee power with an unarmed attack, I think that's a hard no. In the Melee Weapons Power Set description on page 71, it states a character "MUST select the type of weapon their power uses, - either blunt or sharp". So, every melee power needs to be assigned one of those two weapon types, and the power has to use a weapon of that type. Unfortunately, your fist, while blunt, isn't a weapon (it is not listed in the Weapons table and does not confirm to any definition of "Weapon" in the book). However, using a Ranged Weapons Power with an Elemental Burst it is absolutely possible, but depends on the combination of Powers. The Ranged Weapons Power Set description (page 72) states it can be used for guns, archery, thrown knives, and "other means of ranged attacks". So, this isn't the blanket "no" that Melee Powers was. You couldn't use Elemental Blast (standard action) with any Ranged Weapon Power that also was a standard action (like Double Tap), because you couldn't use 2 standard actions in a turn. But I see no reason why Accuracy wouldn't work for with Elemental Blast, for example. Accuracy gives you a + to your Agility Damage Multiplier, and Elemental Burst and Blast both use Agility for attacks and damage. So, yes! But you couldn't use Accuracy for Elemental Barrage or Elemental Grab use Ego, so that's a no go. So you just need to treat it on a case by case basis. If you have any combos of powers that you're unsure of, let me know. Wrangling with these edge cases has somehow become my weird idea of fun.
@@FuzzyOnTheDetails Thank you for your detailed answer. I come from dnd5e where edge cases have been documented for years already. It is neat to be on the cutting edge of these types of conversations for Marvel Multiverse
@@FuzzyOnTheDetails melee weapons says when they select a melee weapon power, they get a melee weapon to use with it. Does every power have to be tied to a different weapon, or could I use one weapon with each weapon power?
Ah, great question! My reading of it is that the free weapon and the requirement to select a weapon type to use with the power are two distinct things. Here's an example: Rank 1, you take Fast Attacks. You choose to get a sword for free. You then choose to associate that Power with the "sharp" type (because at this point, that's all you have. Rank 2, you take Whirling Frenzy. You choose club as a free backup weapon. You then choose to associate Whirling Frenzy with the "sharp" type again, since that's your main weapon. If you pick up a knife, those two powers could still be used with it, since you associate powers with a type of melee weapon, not a specific weapon. (All of that said... this is RAW, but honestly, it is a level of complexity that is probably unnecessary for many tables, and I don't think I'd even bother bringing the rule up to a first-time player).
Glad for your take on Improvised Weapons.
Thanks!
Thanks tor the outline and advice
Weapons are also a great way to make mooks/minions a bit scarier of an obstacle for the heroes. All of my Rank 1, low health baddies have a knife and a gun, meaning instead of doing, say, 7 damage or so when rolling a 5, they'll deal 12 instead! With 16 or so damage on a crit! Also allows them to deal damage, even if small, to anyone who dipped into Sturdy!
Absolutely! So important to remember that profiles usually don't include the bonuses for weapons, so Narrators have to make sure to add them in themselves. And you're right, Minions/Mooks are especially underpowered if a Narrator doesn't do this. The Hand Ninja has a Melee Weapon Power (Sharp), but a x1 Melee multiplier despite being pictured with a sword. The Maggia Tough has "Signature Weapons pistols or clubs" but a x1 for both Melee and Agility.
enjoyed it!
Thanks Travis! :-)
Thanks for your vids. They are great!
I understand that “Damage bonuses don’t stack!” Is a fundamental rule. And messing with that is fraught with peril. However, I had an idea.
Let weapon bonuses stack with Mighty/Accuracy; etc. however, the total bonus can not exceed what the character would normally be able to achieve by just buying more Mighty, etc.
So a rank 2 character with Mighty 1 could use a knife and receive a +2 total bonus. But a sword would also only raise the bonus to a +2.
This could be an issue with special training characters being able to exceed the 2 rank limit on such things though. I’m not sure how big a deal that is though.
It would also be reasonable to limit this to Iconic Weapons. Which helps a lot of them without further tinkering.
Yeah, that could definitely be a way to go. I'm so looking forward to the X-Men Expansion just to see if they're going to introduce any new concepts that would help with this kind of tinkering. The Tony's Workshop document on the website at least suggests they're open to such tinkering!
Question: Rules as written, you could use a melee weapon power for a barefisted attack or ranged weapon power for an elemental burst, since neither power set designates that the power has to come from the weapon, right?
Fantastic question! Really had to do my homework for this one :-).
For using a melee power with an unarmed attack, I think that's a hard no. In the Melee Weapons Power Set description on page 71, it states a character "MUST select the type of weapon their power uses, - either blunt or sharp". So, every melee power needs to be assigned one of those two weapon types, and the power has to use a weapon of that type. Unfortunately, your fist, while blunt, isn't a weapon (it is not listed in the Weapons table and does not confirm to any definition of "Weapon" in the book).
However, using a Ranged Weapons Power with an Elemental Burst it is absolutely possible, but depends on the combination of Powers. The Ranged Weapons Power Set description (page 72) states it can be used for guns, archery, thrown knives, and "other means of ranged attacks". So, this isn't the blanket "no" that Melee Powers was.
You couldn't use Elemental Blast (standard action) with any Ranged Weapon Power that also was a standard action (like Double Tap), because you couldn't use 2 standard actions in a turn. But I see no reason why Accuracy wouldn't work for with Elemental Blast, for example. Accuracy gives you a + to your Agility Damage Multiplier, and Elemental Burst and Blast both use Agility for attacks and damage. So, yes! But you couldn't use Accuracy for Elemental Barrage or Elemental Grab use Ego, so that's a no go. So you just need to treat it on a case by case basis. If you have any combos of powers that you're unsure of, let me know. Wrangling with these edge cases has somehow become my weird idea of fun.
@@FuzzyOnTheDetails Thank you for your detailed answer. I come from dnd5e where edge cases have been documented for years already. It is neat to be on the cutting edge of these types of conversations for Marvel Multiverse
anyone else read 2+2+1 and immediately think of Clue the Movie?
Clue happens to be my wife's favorite move of all time, so that could have been in the back of my mind when I wrote it, lol
Can you stack powers on a singular weapon?
Hi there! Can you give me an example to make sure I’m understanding correctly?
@@FuzzyOnTheDetails melee weapons says when they select a melee weapon power, they get a melee weapon to use with it. Does every power have to be tied to a different weapon, or could I use one weapon with each weapon power?
Ah, great question!
My reading of it is that the free weapon and the requirement to select a weapon type to use with the power are two distinct things. Here's an example:
Rank 1, you take Fast Attacks. You choose to get a sword for free. You then choose to associate that Power with the "sharp" type (because at this point, that's all you have.
Rank 2, you take Whirling Frenzy. You choose club as a free backup weapon. You then choose to associate Whirling Frenzy with the "sharp" type again, since that's your main weapon.
If you pick up a knife, those two powers could still be used with it, since you associate powers with a type of melee weapon, not a specific weapon.
(All of that said... this is RAW, but honestly, it is a level of complexity that is probably unnecessary for many tables, and I don't think I'd even bother bringing the rule up to a first-time player).