Multipower help

[lineman74]

Hey every one. I need a little help with multipower in how the stepping down of the dice work for this. A good a example of this power in use would be very useful for me.
Thanks for all the help.

[igorbone]

Carnage (BR 12) has Multipower. He can use both his Tentacles d8 and his Superhuman Strenght d10 ability in a single action, when he is trying to choke, crush and take hold of a hero. To use both his powers in the action pool he step each by -1 for a Tentacles d6 and Superhuman Strenght d8.

If he was, at the same time, trying to use his Telephaty d8 to cause emotional stress he would roll each die by -2 for a total of Tentacles d4, Superhuman Strenght d6 and Telepathy d4.

This is risky, though, as his dice are now very likely to result in a bad roll and effect.

Also, note that he only gets one effect dice, unless you spent a Doom Dice to add more.

[braincraft]

I'm not sure I like the way Multipower is implemented. In practice, it's a weaker version of Versatile.

[igorbone]

I think this is intentional

[dgh1973]

For specific use I like Ms. Marvel.

Lets say I'm playing her and I tell the watcher that I'm going to use multipower to turn myself into a bullet and slam into the Void. Using this narrative I build my die pool as follows:

Team D10 (I'm acting alongside the Avengers let's say)
Take-Charge Attitude D8

Since I'm using multipower to become a "bullet", I explain to the Watcher that I interpret that to mean I was using these three powers:

Subsonic Flight D8 (used as a D4 instead because of down step)

Superhuman Durability D10 (used as D6 instead because of down step) - This could be debatable, but I'd argue without this I couldn't even hope to use myself in this fashion, I'd just go squishy and land at his feet. If your Watcher doesn't like this try using energy blast instead for a D8 stepped down to D4. That's easily narrated as blasting right as you impact.

Superhuman Strength D10 (used as a D6 instead because of down step).

Throw in Combat Expert at D8 and the final pool is:

D10, D8, D4, D6*, D6, D8.

* or D4 if you use blast instead of durability

Key points - only the powers from the pool get their dice stepped down, and you step them down 1 time for one additional power (using two total), 2 times if using two additional powers (3 total) etc. That's why I used a 3 power combo here - that really illustrates the impact of multipower as written IMHO. I would probably stick to only two powers with her at a time using this because she has a couple of D8's in key narrative areas of that set (flying and blasting).

Realistically speaking it's hard to pull this off with more than two additional powers if you have a lot of D8's in your power set because your dice get stepped down pretty low at that point.

This is what arguably makes versatile better, but again versatile is designed for the one who doesn't have a lot of power options generally speaking while multipower tends to assume a good handful of powers at D8+. That's my take on things at least.

[Supplanter]

If you're making a datafile, Multipower is a good choice if most of your powers are D10 or D12, and at least two of them are regularly going to make sense when rolled into an action, and at least two of them are regularly going to make sense when rolled into a reaction. It's also best if you've got a power set with a lot of traits in it, so you can mix it up from roll to roll. Otherwise, it's easier to play a hero with Versatile.

I've played Ms. Marvel, and had a blast doing so. But her power set isn't actually ideal for Multipower because of those darn D8s in Flight and Blast. Still, the way I'd handle a cannonball maneuver with her power traits is to narrate the flight, but not take the die for it: just roll Strength and Durability, stepped down to D8s. That will give you better odds than rolling 2D6 + D4.


Jim

[EldritchFire]

I'm not sure I like the way Multipower is implemented. In practice, it's a weaker version of Versatile.

They are different SFX for different occasions. See Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage. Ms. Marvel has multipower because she has a lot of powers that work in conjunction. She can fly and beat people up, Fight d6+Strength d8, fly and blast people, flight d6+blast d6, or fly and take the blow, flight d6+durability d8. Luke can punch people, or take the blow, but not both.

-EF

[Supplanter]

I'm not sure I like the way Multipower is implemented. In practice, it's a weaker version of Versatile.

They are different SFX for different occasions. See Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage. Ms. Marvel has multipower because she has a lot of powers that work in conjunction. She can fly and beat people up, Fight d6+Strength d8, fly and blast people, flight d6+blast d6, or fly and take the blow, flight d6+durability d8. Luke can punch people, or take the blow, but not both.

Though D6+D6 is kind of lame. And even D8+D6 is indisputably worse than D8+D8...


Jim

[EldritchFire]

I'm not sure I like the way Multipower is implemented. In practice, it's a weaker version of Versatile.

They are different SFX for different occasions. See Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage. Ms. Marvel has multipower because she has a lot of powers that work in conjunction. She can fly and beat people up, Fight d6+Strength d8, fly and blast people, flight d6+blast d6, or fly and take the blow, flight d6+durability d8. Luke can punch people, or take the blow, but not both.

Though D6+D6 is kind of lame. And even D8+D6 is indisputably worse than D8+D8...


Jim

With only a d8 in flight, I would have given her, instead of multipower, Air Force Major. You may include Subsonic Flight free in your dice pool.

Either that, or given her d10s in all her powers.

-EF

[Mad Thinker]

Multipower can be very effective if it lets you bring in a bigger power. Storm has Lightning D10, Weather Mastery D12, and Multipower. Just throwing a lightning bolt adds D10 to the pool. But if she creates a thunderstorm overhead and draws lightning down from it as an attack, that multipowers together Weather Mastery, now D10, and Lightning, now D8. Instead of adding D10 to the pool, she now adds D10 + D8.