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Freeze, perp! With Cold Powers, you can make that more
than just an intimidating order to your foes. Cold controlling characters can create ice and snow, chilling temperatures, and use ice as a weapon, armor, and mode of transportation.
Cold Descriptors
Cold and ice are the important descriptors for cold
powers.
Cold: Although treated as a quality of its own, cold
is technically the absence of heat. Still, descriptions
often talk about characters able to generate cold or
shape cold and cold powers tend to treat it as a discrete force. Some with cold powers also have power
over heat (see Other Cold Powers) but most tend to
stay within the cold descriptor and theme.
The Heros Handbook puts cold into three main
categories for game purposes (see Heat and Cold,
page 186): uncomfortable, intense, and extreme.
They are measured by the frequency of Fortitude
checks to resist becoming fatigued by the cold due
to exposure: one per hour, once per 10 minutes for
intense cold, and once per minute for extreme cold.
More severe sources of cold can be considered direct
Damage or Affliction effects, requiring a resistance
check every round to overcome them.
Precisely how cold the three environmental categories are in terms of temperature is left somewhat
vague. In general, uncomfortable cold is below freezing, intense cold is arctic weather, and extreme cold
is the coldest environments found on Earth.
Ice: Ice is frozen water, given a relatively brittle material Toughness of 1 (Heros Handbook, page 192),
although thicker sheets of ice are tougher (+1 Toughness per doubling of thickness). Ice created by cold
powers may also be tougher due to the super-cold
of the characters power or some other factor. Its
generally assumed that cold generating characters
create ice out of the moisture in the air, if no other
source of water is available. A sufficiently dry environment (like a desert or humidity-controlled chamber)
might inhibit ice formation. See Power Loss under
Cold Complications for more. Other characters may
simply form ice out of nowhere, especially if their
power is supernatural, not worrying about humidity
as a complication.
Cold Features
Some potential Feature effects associated with Cold
Powers include the following:
Cold Damage
The more severe effects of cold damage like hypothermia
and frostbite are best handled as temporary complications, like other lasting injuries (Heros Handbook, page
199). Generally, characters do not suffer any permanent
ill-effects of cold exposure, unless the player wants to
adopt a permanent complication. More realistic settings
may deal with the consequences of frostbite in terms of
nerve damage and tissue loss, but those things are left in
the hands of the Gamemaster.
Similarly, a character left incapacitated or dying due to
cold damage may receive different medical treatment to
help restore core body temperature, but otherwise recovery from those conditions is assumed to be the same, regardless of the effect that caused them.
Offensive Powers
Offensive cold powers use low temperatures and ice formation to hinder or damage targets.
Cold Blast
You strike targets with a blast of freezing air, causing a
sudden drop in temperature.
Cold Blast: Ranged Affliction (cold; Resisted and Overcome by
Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated) 2 points per
rank.
Cryokinesis
You can lower a targets temperature simply by looking at
it, eventually freezing it solid. A completely frozen target
can be broken or shattered, with the damage remaining
Flash Freeze
You flash freeze a nonliving object, causing it to become
extremely brittle and easy to break or shatter. If you can
flash freeze living targets as well, remove the Limited to
Objects modifier, although you may also want to link a
Damage or Affliction effect, since flash freezing a living
being should realistically render them a nonliving object
before it makes them brittle enough to shatter.
Flash Freeze: Ranged Weaken Toughness, Affects Only Objects
2 points per rank.
Freezing Aura
Your body is so very cold to the touch that it burns those
who come into physical contact.
Freezing Aura: Reaction Damage (cold; being touched) 4 points
per rank.
Hailstorm
You cause large hailstones to pelt targets in your chosen
area. The Hailstorm lasts for an additional round after your
initial attack, affecting any targets remaining in the area.
Hailstorm: Cloud Area Ranged Damage (cold and bludgeoning),
Indirect 2 2 points + 3 points per rank.
Ice Blast
A solid ram, spear, or shower of ice strikes at target, inflicting damage. For showers of icy projectiles, you may add
Multiattack to the power. Sharp or pointed ice weapons
may constitute going for the kill (Heros Handbook, page
206).
Ice Blast: Ranged Damage (cold and bludgeoning or slashing)
2 points per rank.
Ice Binding
Thick ice forms instantly around your target, trapping
them. If you can completely entrap a target in ice, putting
them in a kind of suspended animation, remove the
Limited Degree flaw and make Incapacitated the Afflictions third degree, increasing cost to 4 points per rank.
Ice Binding: Ranged Cumulative Affliction (ice; Resisted by
Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered and Vulnerable,
Defenseless and Immobilized), Extra Condition, Limited
Degree 3 points per rank.
Ice Fist
A heavy gauntlet or club of ice forms around your fist,
allowing you to hit harder in close combat.
Ice Fist: Strength-based Damage (cold and bludgeoning) 1
point per rank.
Ice Slick
You coat a surface with a slick of smooth, wet ice, making
it very slippery and difficult for targets to stand or move.
Ice Slick: Ranged Burst Area Affliction (ice; Resisted and
Overcome by Dodge; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless
and Prone), Alternate Resistance, Extra Condition, Limited
Degree 3 points per rank.
Snowblind
Drawing upon the effect of sunlight reflected off snow
and ice, you strike a target temporarily blind.
Snowblind: Ranged Cumulative Affliction (Resisted by
Dodge, Overcome by Fortitude; Vision Impaired, Vision
Disabled, Vision Unaware), Limited to One Sense 2 points
per rank.
Defensive Powers
Defensive cold powers rely on the ability to ignore the
effects of extreme heat or cold or use ice to shield against
attacks.
Immunity to Cold
Your powers render you immune to some or all of the
effects of cold temperatures. Rather than a permanent
trait, your Immunity might be sustained in duration (with
no change in cost), requiring a free action each round to
maintain, perhaps representing some conscious temperature manipulation. On the other hand, you can use sustained Immunity to Cold for power stunts, perhaps even
switching it for Immunity to Heat (following) by controlling temperatures the other way.
Immunity to Cold: Immunity 1 (Environmental Cold),
Immunity 5 (Cold Damage), Immunity 10 (Cold Effects)
1, 5, or 10 points.
Immunity to Heat
The power to create or manipulate cold renders you
immune to some or all of the effects of extreme heat.
Like Immunity to Cold, this power might be sustained
rather than permanent in duration, requiring a small
amount of concentration, but opening it up to some
power stunts.
Immunity to Heat: Immunity 1 (Environmental Heat), Immunity
5 (Heat Damage), Immunity 10 (Heat Effects) 1, 5, or 10 points.
Ice Armor
You can form a protective layer of ice around your body,
using your power to make it flexible or reforming it as
you move. This armor may prove ineffective against
certain attacks (see Weakness under Cold Complications).
Ice Armor: Protection 1 point per rank.
Infrared Invisibility
You can reduce your bodys heat signature to no more
than that of the surrounding air, even in sub-zero conditions, masking your appearance on infrared and heat
scanners. If you can mask others as well, apply the Affects
Others and Ranged or Area modifiers, also a potential
power stunt for cold-emitting powers like Cold Projection
or a cold attack power.
Infrared Invisibility: Concealment 2 (Infravision) 4 points.
Movement Powers
Movement powers involving cold typically use ice to
move in different ways or overcome some of the difficulties of moving across ice or snow.
Ice Slides
You create bridges and slides of ice, allowing you to surf
along at a distance above the ground.
Ice Slides: Flight, Platform (ice slides) 1 point per rank.
Ice Passage
You can pass through ice and snow as if it were no more
solid than air.
Ice Passage: Movement (Permeate), Limited to Ice and Snow 1
point per rank up to 3 ranks.
Ice Portal
Similar to Ice Passage (previously) to appear to pass
into a surface of ice or snow, but you emerge from
another some distance away without having to pass
through the space between. This cold power tends
to be magical in nature, and may have other Teleport
modifiers applied to it.
Ice Portal: Teleport, Medium (ice) 1 point per rank
Ice Tunneling
You can cut passages through snow and solid ice.
Ice Tunneling: Burrowing, Limited to Ice and Snow 1 point per
2 ranks.
Ice Walking
You can walk on ice as though it were dry, level, ground,
without any effect on your movement.
Ice Walking: Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation Ice)
2 points.
Snow Shoes
You can walk on the surface of even lightly packed snow
without sinking into it or leaving any tracks to follow.
PL8 MR5
Ice Creatures
Speed Skating
Ice Form
Utility Powers
Cold utility powers range from whipping up cold weather
to summoning creatures of ice and snow, or transforming
into one.
Blizzard
You can whip up powerful, blinding snow storms. At
the minimum, this power creates intense cold and a 2
circumstance penalty to visibility. At its most severe, it
creates extreme cold and a 5 visibility penalty.
Blizzard: Environment (Cold, Visibility) 2, 3, or 4 points per rank.
Cold Projection
You create an area of intense or extreme cold. While this
does create an environmental hazard (Heros Handbook,
page 186) it is more often useful for countering some
effects and providing cold conditions needed for others,
unless the area is large enough to affect a whole region or
lasts for considerable time.
Ice Shifting
You can move masses of ice and snow, up to a mass rank
equal to your effect rank.
Ice Shifting: Move Object, Perception Range, Limited to Ice and
Snow 2 points per rank.
Snow Form
You can transform into a being of living snow (a mass
of granular ice) and may even look like an animated
snowman!
Ice Creatures
Thermal Vision
Ice Shapes
Phobia
Its natural for cold characters to display a fear of their disabilities or weaknesses, such as being afraid of fire or heat
sources that could injure, melt, or even destroy them.
Cold Complications
The cold can cause complications, ranging from the
smooth operation of people and technology used to temperate environments to difficulties with the characters
own physiology and psychology.
Accident
With powers like Cryokinesis and Flash-Freeze and the
creation of large masses of ice for ramps, walls, barriers,
and the like, it is quite possible for a cold-wielding character to cause accidents. Melting ice structures may collapse
into deadly avalanches, even in the midst of a city! Pools
of ice water can do damage and make areas treacherous,
and authorities may begin treating the character like a
living blizzard blowing into town.
Disability
The adaptations of some cold-powered types make it
impossible for them to survive in above-freezing temperatures. A character permanently in Ice- or Snow Form
might have to remain frozen in order to remain healthy.
Similarly, a cold-user might need a special refrigeration
suit or some other means of moving about in a warmer
environment.
Conversely, other characters produce cold by absorbing heat, in which case it is not warmth that disables the
character, but lack of it! Heat-dependent types can literally freeze from the effects of their own powers; trapped
without heat, they turn into immobile, frozen statues.
Power Loss
While those with cold powers can generally lower temperatures on their own, creating cold, they may have greater
difficulty when the ambient temperature is already quite
high. So, cold-wielders may be at full power on a temperate day, but have difficulties in the steamy jungle or the
midst of a burning desert.
Similarly, the power to create ice often relies on drawing
moisture out of the air. Much of the time, its easy to assume
theres enough for whatever the character wants to do, but
especially dry environmentslike the aforementioned
desertmay deprive characters of the ability to create ice
(or large amounts of it) without providing their own water.
Quirk
Ice-themed characters may have personalities as cold
as their powers, distant and emotionless. Of course, the
cold shoulder may simply be a defense mechanism for
those unable to exist amongst normal people because of
their powers: trapped inside a refrigerated environment
suit, for example, or doomed to inflict frostbite on any
normal person coming into contact with them. This isolation can lead to relationship complications as well, such
as a parent separated from a child, or someone separated from a spouse or other loved one whom they can no
longer touch or spend time with.
Reputation
As mentioned under Accident, cold-users can develop
a reputation as walking natural disasters, especially for
population centers not used to dealing with snow and ice.
Its one thing to bury downtown Albany under fallen snow
and another to leave tons of ice melting in central Atlanta!
Weakness
The most common weakness for cold powers is heat,
counteracting their effects and weakening their user. The
character may suffer additional degrees of effect (literally!)
from heat- or fire-powers, and exposure to above freezing
or hotter temperatures could be incapacitating or worse.
As mentioned under Disability, some cold users may actually have a weakness when it comes to cold, needing constant sources of heat to keep them from freezing solid. They
may receive additional degrees of effect from cold powers
and attacks used against them, perhaps even their own.