i recently submitted most of the following post as an article, but i wanted to get first hand feedback from other Realmers on what they thought / how i am wrong, so here we go.

I have come up with 3 categories to help define what powers do when a figure that has them takes an action.

Static Powers: These powers are either always active, activate during another figure’s action, or are activated with a free action.

Enhancing Powers: These powers add something to an action that was already going to take place anyway, and as a result, are always worth using. (Note: Two enhancing powers may conflict with each other, forcing a player to choose between them.)

Active Powers: These powers require a specific action to activate and require the player to make a choice between the natural capabilities (i.e. statistics) of a figure, and the benefits that the power offers.

Rather than list what powers fall under each category, I will be doing a breakdown by slot on the combat dial. For those powers that I feel deserve a justification, I will provide one.

Static Speed Powers: Earthbound, Plasticity, Stealth
Plasticity can be viewed as an enhancing ability, but only when making a breakaway roll.

Enhancing Speed Powers: Flurry, Leap/Climb, Phasing/Teleport, Hypersonic Speed

Active Speed Powers: Charge, Mind Control, Force Blast, Running Shot


Static Attack Powers: Poison

Enhancing Attack Powers: Super Strength, Psychic Blast, Steal Strength

Active Attack Powers: Blades/Claws/Fangs, Energy Explosion, Pulse Wave, Quake, Super Strength, Incapacitate, Smoke Cloud, Telekinesis
Super Strength can enhance both a close combat attack and a move action, however, the ranged combat option of Super Strength is an active power, so it had to be included here.


Static Defense Powers: Super Senses, Toughness, Defend, Combat Reflexes, Energy Shield/Deflection, Mastermind, Willpower, Impervious, Invulnerability

Active Defense Powers: Barrier, Regeneration


Static Damage Powers: Battle Fury, Enhancement, Probability Control, Shape Change, Outwit, Perplex, Leadership

Enhancing Damage Powers: Ranged Combat Expert, Exploit Weakness, Close Combat Expert

Active Damage Power: Support


Static powers are arguably the best, requiring little or no effort on the part of the player to be effective. After all, if I have a figure with Invulnerability, it is up to my opponent to get around it. It does not take planning (or takes little planning) on my account to make use of it, as the power “uses” itself. Some static powers require line of sight, but that is not always hard to achieve, only to maintain.

Enhancing powers are similar. As long as the action that the power will enhance takes place at some point during the game, the power was not a waste of points. Quicksilver is on my team and he makes a close combat attack. Even if I only need 1 damage to KO the figure I am attacking, and his defense is less than my attack, I will use Flurry just to be safe. Once again, there is little planning that goes into enhancing powers (unless they overlap/interact negatively).

Active powers take player thinking and strategy to make work. When do I put up a barrier instead of making the RCE attack for 3 when Pyro is on my team? Does Rocket Red use his Energy Explosion on that group of enemies over there, or does he use Force Blast to keep that bruiser away from him for a turn or two?

So, how does this affect what figures you choose to make up your team? Rather than try to work out what is an appropriate mix of active, enhancing and active powers, let’s look at a few figures that often find their way onto competitive teams and then look at their powers based on the categories I have provided.


E Batman: This figure has a slew of static abilities, including three of the best, Outwit, Leap/Climb, and Willpower. At any given point on his dial, this figure has 1 or 0 active abilities, meaning that when this figure takes an action, it is rarely a tough choice as to what that action will entail.

E White Queen: Once again, a figure with impressive static abilities (Super Senses and Leadership), but she offers a choice with every attack. Given a ranged attack, there is rarely a reason not to use Psychic Blast, but for those rare occasions where PB is not what the doctor ordered, or in close combat, White Queen can use her active power (Mind Control) to do something beyond what her dial’s stats would suggest.

E Firelord: Firelord offers a contrast to the above two figures. The only static power he possesses is some Energy Shield/Deflection in the middle of his dial, and he rarely makes use of it. RCE, an enhancing power, is very often the reason for using this figure. He often has the opportunity to use several different active powers, but the most commonly used one is probably Pulse Wave, simply beacuse he has it after the RCE, showing that different categories of powers at different places on the dial can be just as important as a good mix of all the categories at one point on the dial.

U Amazo: Amazo offers the chance to examine what happens when two or more enhancing powers interact negatively (and/or positively) with each other. A player using Amazo has the choice of using his Hypersonic Speed to enhance a move action with a ranged attack, or to enhance a close combat attack with movement (HSS) and an object (Super Strength), or to stay in place and enhance a ranged attack with additional damage (RCE). Later in the dial he resolves into a more straightforward combatant, but his initial clicks leave a player with choices to make, despite his lack of active powers. At the same time, the player using Amazo doesn’t really have to worry about him during his opponent’s turn as he almost always has a damage reducing static power on his dial.


I have been playing this game since about 3 weeks after it came out, and have been thinking about powers along these lines for a while, but i wanted to know what you all thought / how you disagree with me.