Heroes and villains are capable of a lot of amazing things. There will come times where no matter what though, one person isn’t enough. Assisting (Metahumans Rising core book, Pg. 88) outlines how to assist others.
Characters may need to assist one another to overcome a challenge. To assist an ally spends 1 Action, or an equal amount of time as the character making the roll to assist. The character making the roll then adds the assistant’s Talent or Power to their roll. If this is an Attack, this is treated as additional Characteristic adding to the Damage as normal.
Metahumans Rising core book, Pg. 88
This can be an incredible benefit to an ally, and can be applied to any number of situations. The following article will look at how to assist in and out of combat, with an array of Talents and Powers.
General Assistance
Lets begin with the notion of what is required to assist an ally. As originally stated, this should be a Talent or a Power, and Specialties, even if not explicitly stated in the text. The easiest means of assisting is mirroring the Talent used. If the character making the roll is using Computers, the assistant can help them by providing additional knowledge with their Computer Talent. However, assisting does not require the supporting character to do this. The characteristic used when assisting should be based on the narrative surrounding the roll, on the roll the primary character is making. .
Example 1: A hero is doing reconnaissance and trying to enter a building undetected. They’ve decided to sneak in, avoiding guards and cameras, a Dexterity + Stealth roll. One of their teammates is an engineer by trade and may be able to talk them through finding entry and exit points beside the ground level doors. This action allows them to add their Engineering to the primary hero’s roll. Hearing them talk through the plan, another teammate pulls the blueprints from public records to help the engineer. With that assist, they can also add this third teammate’s Research.
Example 2: The heroes are trying to get information from a gang member they’ve captured. The character taking the lead has offered to help with a plea bargain if the information pans out. Actions like this normally use Etiquette or Intimidation, lacking these Talents, the hero is using their Contact: Local DA. Another member of the team with a seedy past outlines how easy things can go if the gang member helps them. This isn’t exactly sweet talking, more outlining how things generally go down in these situations. This allows them to assist using their Street Smarts. The pair may not be the most charismatic, but they know the right people, and they’ve seen how this can go.
In both examples the assisting heroes play to narrative, adding wildly different Talents to the roll. By focusing on the narrative, players not only engage in the story but through assisting can help influence outcomes.
When The Machine Breaks Down
Rolls only ever use one Attribute. When assisting, this is the one characteristic another character cannot add. There are some scenarios in which heroes may not have a readily apparent appropriate characteristic, but it makes narrative sense that they would help. A classic example: lifting of heavy things. Something we see happen in both the real world and superhero media all the time.
Example 1: Two characters of average Strength, without Brawn, and Powers that support Strength want to lift a car off of a bystander who was trapped after an explosion. The average car weighs ~1800 kg, a Very Laborious (40) Difficulty normally, but it’s not like they need to push it over their heads, Really they only need to lift part of the car a few inches. The GM sets the Difficulty to Advanced (25). This is still outside either’s normal ability (At Strength 5 + 2d6). There are a number of interesting options in this scenario, creating a level with a metal bar and rock could allow a character to attempt the roll with Engineering or Science. Alternatively, a Background: Parent or other type of Drive might allow a hero to tap into “mom strength” or hysterical strength. Encourage players to think through their options and be creative. Can you talk passers by into helping? Call that Strength + Etiquette to represent how effective the help is.
Example 2: There’s always a characteristic, it may be tangentially related, but a connection can be made. In the case of lifting something heavy, let’s say a collapsing radio tower. A lattice radio tower weighing ~388,048 kg would require a Lift roll of 75. In this example let’s assume there is only one meaty hero, they have Strength 12 Brawn 6 and Ultrahuman (a Power that adds to Strength) 12. Their base roll is 30 + 4d6. With the advantage on Brawn spending a Willpower to explode their dice increases this to 35 + (4d6*2). Even with exploding their dice, they need to roll over a 20 to keep that tower from falling. None of the other heroes possess the Brawn Talent, or a power that adds to Strength, or acts like Strength such as Telekinesis.
If there is a service truck, a hero might hook the winch to the tower and pull from the other side. This would allow someone to assist with Talents like Technical Operators, or Vehicle. What’s the likelihood of a maintenance vehicle being on site? This depends on the narrative. If there wasn’t one already described the GM can allow for a Cinematic Addition (Metahumans Rising core book, Pg. 97) setting the Difficulty based on the scene. A Partial Success here could mean there is a Lineman / Bucket truck that could be rigged to help, but takes extra time. The GM can allow the hero attempting the lift to attempt an easier roll to maintain status quo until getting the full assistance.
Also, if you’re wondering why we include the numbers in this example: Technical Operations has an Advantage that gives a +5 to the a roll when used to assist others for each 5 Levels of the Talent when exploding the dice. If the hero has a Technical Operations of 10 that would mean a total bonus of +20 (10 from the Talent and 10 from the advantage) This means the lifting hero is now rolling 55 + (4d6*2), they might still fail (rolling a 9 or lower), but things just got a lot easier.
In both examples players will need to come up with creative solutions to how they can help, but in doing so, they add to the scene in fun ways that can create iconic moments. This also allows them to apply their Talents in fun and unique ways.
Tag-Team Champions
Assisting in Combat works the same way as other rolls. This could be a coordinated attack where everyone fires at once, or a tactic where the heroes work together. When teaming up, something players should keep in mind is the scale and narrative beats of foes.
Heroes and villains should be roughly evenly matched. If they are of the same power level. When attacking, a character with the same Attack Value as the foe’s Defense will hit unless they take an Active Defense, which reduces the chances. This means that when assisting on an attack, the character rolling for the action has added flexibility for Combat Maneuvers.
Example 1: Power Guardian Strike! Go!
A team of five heroes all attack a target at once. Their leader Guardian Red initiates the attack. Guardians Black, Blue, Pink, and Yellow each add their Power to the Attack roll. If this is a Low Powered campaign, each of the heroes may have a Power of 8. This means, by everyone attacking together Guardian Red gains a +32 to on the Attack! The team could use this to add 3 Instances of Heavy Blow trading 30 points of Attack Value for +9 Damage, or to perform a Tactical Power Strike. For this example here is what Guardian Red’s Attack may look like before and After being Assisted:
Unmodified Attack: Guardian Power Blast! 18 (Mental 10 + Guardian 8) Dice 3 Range Medium Damage 8
Assisted Attack 1: Accurate Guardian Power Blast! 50 (Mental 10 + Guardian 8 + Black 8 + Blue 8 + Pink 8 + Yellow 8) Dice 3 Range Medium Damage 16 Notes +2 Damage for each Characteristic added in the Assist.
Assisted Attack 2: Heavy Guardian Power Blast! 20 (Mental 10 + Guardian 8 + Assists: Black 8 + Blue 8 + Pink 8 + Yellow 8 – Heavy Blow 30) Dice 3 Range Medium Damage 25 Notes +2 Damage for each Characteristic added in the Assist. +9 Damage from Heavy Blow
Assisted Attack 3: Tactical Guardian Power Blast! 20 (Mental 10 + Guardian 8 + Black 8 + Blue 8 + Pink 8 + Yellow 8 – Maneuver Penalty: Tactical Heavy Blow 30) Dice 3 Range Medium Damage 19 (9) Notes +2 Damage for each Characteristic added in the Assist. +3 Damage from Power Strike. 9 Damage Penetrates. Requires 2 Actions to complete.
Each of the three attacks has their own advantages and this allows the players to select what works best in the situation. However, not all Assisted attacks are about raw damage.
Example 2: The All Star Pitch
Two Classic Powered heroes without ranged attacks are facing off against an opponent with a ranged beam. They can try to close ranks, but doing so will leave them open to multiple attacks. To mitigate this, one hero wants to attempt a Move – Attack Rapid Action. Sprinting up to the foe. However, at Long Range that’s a massive 60 Difficulty to have to close. Here is the base Attack:
Unmodified Attack: All Star Pitch 4 (Dexterity 12 + Best At What I Do 12 – Maneuver: Rapid Action 20) Dice 3 Range Close Damage 10 Notes For each 20 points of the final Attack Value move 1 Range Increment.
The other hero is superhumanly strong and offers to assist the first hero by throwing them at the target.
Assisted Attack 1: All Star Pitch 28 (Dexterity 12 + Best At What I Do 12 + Assist: (The Strong One 12 + Brawn 12) – Maneuver: Rapid Action 20) Dice 3 Range Close Damage 14 Notes For each 20 points of the final Attack Value move 1 Range Increment.
The assisting hero has both Brawn, and a Power Supporting Brawn so both may be applied to this roll. With 3 Dice the attacking hero will still need to spend 2 or more Willpower to close ranks successfully, finding a Talent that might work to support the roll and exploding the dice would likely put them over the top. There is another way.
If this is something the heroes practice, there is no reason they both might not have Specialties for the All Star Pitch. Here is the All Star Pitch with small investments from both heroes.
Assisted Attack 1: All Star Pitch 34 (Dexterity 12 + Best At What I Do 12 + (S) All Star Pitch 3 + Assist: (The Strong One 12 + Brawn 12 + (S) All Star Pitch 3)- Maneuver: Rapid Action 20) Dice 4 Range Close Damage 18 Notes For each 20 points of the final Attack Value move 1 Range Increment.
Thanks to their training and knowing how to work together well, the attacking hero can easily close to Medium Range and by exploding their dice strike a target even at long range. Specialties can add another dimension to Assist actions to show how well the heroes work together, and represent practice or training.
Of course, the Power Guardian Strike and All Star Pitch are inspired from popular media. The following examples emerged from our home games.
The Slimeball: A centuries old troll uses her maul to hammer an amorphous blob across the battlefield and into a foe. The name comes from the blobby hero compacting themselves into the smallest sphere they can make to get the best air possible before exploding onto the villains.
So Rad: A psychic assists a mystic swordsman by partly possessing him. The characters names were Chad and Soren respectively which led to the name of this Assist. Chad’s player enjoyed the So Rad Assist so much that he not only invested in a Specialty for the maneuver, but also took a dedicated Drive to encourage them to do this as often as possible.
Work Together or Go Solo
The Assist mechanic is designed to be versatile and easy to use. Talents such as Tactics and Technical Operations help to create characters that can support the team in a wide array of situations, especially if coupled with the Leadership Boon. With that in mind, Assist is meant to be a tool in the kit. Each hero should feel competent in their own right and have moments to shine.
The GM’s Tools
Assists are not exclusive to players. Assist is not limited to central characters; background characters can also assist. (As with determining Advantages, count the Assist Bonus as equal to 1 for every 3 points of the Base Value.) What may be more important is that the Assist mechanic allows GMs to create threats or scenarios that are otherwise far too dangerous for one hero.
Depending on the Power Level of the campaign character core competencies generally fall across a range for starting characters. There are a number of factors that can apply but the following can serve as a general rule of thumb.
- Exceptional 10 – 18 Dice 3 or 4 Difficulties to challenge characters Very Advanced (30) +
- Low 16 – 28 Dice 3 or 4 Difficulties to challenge characters Very Laborious (40) +
- Classic 19 – 36 Dice 3 or 4 Difficulties to challenge characters Very Challenging (50) +
- High 25 – 45 Dice 3 – 4 Difficulties to challenge characters Very Hard (60) +
- Cosmic 31 – 60 Dice 3 or 4 Difficulties to challenge characters Very Heroic (70) +
GMs can use this to identify Difficulties that will push heroes outside their comfort zone. The listed Difficulties or greater will typically require a hero of that Power Level to spend Willpower or get help from others to accomplish a task. Acknowledging a larger degree of variance for High and Cosmic Powered heroes. Degrees of Success can play a major factor here as well. GMs can provide context when a basic Success will not be enough, or that there are Degrees of Success.
Finally, as discussed in the Tag-Team Champions section, in combat Assisting may not be about overcoming a Difficulty, but rather buttressing an attack to increase its overall effectiveness. An Impervious villain may force heroes to use Power Strikes, while a villain who can heal (through Absorption, Drains, or Healing (Self)) may encourage heroes to push their Damage though Heavy Blow. By working together, heroes can take larger penalties to their combined Attacks to overcome these monstrous challenges.
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