Making a Hero or Villain
You are not rolling a farmer with a sword. You are building someone the multiverse will remember — or fear.
Step 1: Choose a Power Tier
Your Tier is your narrative weight class. It sets your starting numbers, damage scale, and what can hurt you.
| Tier | Name | Touchstone | Power Points | Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Street-Level | Peak human, vigilante, spy | 6 | No invulnerability |
| 2 | City-Level | Armored hero, spider-tier, battle-mage | 10 | Resist 1 damage type |
| 3 | Planetary | Flying brick, weather-controller | 14 | Immune to 2 mundane types (bullets, fire, cold) |
| 4 | Stellar | Living reactor, elder sorcerer | 18 | Immune to mundane harm; only Tier 4+ or Exploits injure |
| 5 | Cosmic (NPC) | Multiversal entity, god-machine | 24 | Immune to all below Tier 4 unless Exploited |
Higher Tier means fewer rivals — and bigger Weaknesses. See Step 4.
Crossover Tier cap: player characters top out at Tier 4. Tier 5 is reserved for NPC crises — tyrants, monitors, devourers. During a Crisis event you may attempt a Crisis Surge: burn all held Exploits to fight at Tier 5 for one scene. You take 1 Decrease on every roll afterward until you rest.
Step 2: Assign Abilities (d20 + modifier)
Roll or point-buy six abilities: Might, Agility, Intellect, Will, Presence, Fortune. Standard array: 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, 8. Add your Tier bonus: +1 to two abilities at Tier 2–3, +2 to two abilities at Tier 4.
Attacks, saves, and checks are always d20 + ability modifier + proficiency (starts +2, +1 per 4 levels) vs. Difficulty Class (easy 10, heroic 15, cosmic 20, impossible 25+).
Step 3: Spend Power Points
Buy effects from the menu — Blast, Flight, Armor, Telepathy, Gadgets, Magic, Shapeshifting, anything you can name. Each rank costs 1 point and adds +1d6 effect damage or one narrative permission. Describe each power in one sentence: what it looks like, what it cannot do.
Also record your Power Source (tech, magic, mutant, alien, skill, cosmic) and your Universe of Origin. Both drive Team-Up Synergy and Universe Friction in the Crisis Crossover Rules.
Team rule: no two PCs need the same signature power. Be distinct.
Step 4: Take Strengths and Weaknesses
Every hero takes one Strength (narrative edge: billionaire, beloved symbol, speed-mind) and two Weaknesses: one narrative, one mechanical.
Narrative weakness examples: hubris, secret identity, code against killing, debt to a faction. Mechanical weakness examples: power dampeners, specific element (infernium, red-sun radiation), reliance on tech (EMP shuts you down), concentration, mortal form.
Your mechanical weakness completely bypasses Tier defenses — a Tier 1 thug with infernium shivs wounds a Tier 5 god. This is intentional. It is the Batman rule: preparation beats power.
Step 5: Defenses, Health, Exploits
Health = 20 + (Might × Tier) + level × 4. When hit by an attack two or more Tiers above you, take double dice unless you hold an Exploit.
Track Public Trust separately per universe (−100 to +100 each). Saving one Earth does not impress the other.
You begin play with 1 Exploit Point slot. You will learn to fill it in combat — read the Tactical Combat Manual next.