There’s a power sitting on page 53 of the DC Heroes core book that most people never give a second look.
It’s not flashy. It doesn’t blow anything up. It won’t get you a write-up in the Watchtower files.
It’s called Danger Sense.
And it just might be the reason your character makes it to session five.
Now if you’ve played this system for a while, you know how dangerous things can get. You walk into a warehouse, and the floor gives out. You tail a suspect and step right into a trap. You open a door and there's a guy with a taser and a mask waiting behind it.
This power? It doesn’t stop any of that from happening.
But it gives you a chance to react.
That’s all it needs to do.
The mechanic is straightforward. The GM rolls secretly any time you’re near a threat. Not just combat. Any real danger. If the result is decent, you get a feeling. That’s it. A whisper. A flicker. If the roll is strong, maybe the GM tells you exactly what’s coming. But either way, you’re given a shot to act before the hammer drops.
No dice from you. No hero points spent. It just happens.
I’ve had players ignore this power because it doesn’t show up on the combat tracker. There’s no big moment. No glow. But when it fires, it can change the whole tone of a scene.
One of my players years ago ran a low-level vigilante named Hollow. Danger Sense at 4. No powers otherwise. Just a lot of tension and clever planning. That power went off maybe three or four times in the entire campaign.
Every single time, it kept him alive.
He once stepped out of an elevator, froze, and said, "I’m not moving."
Didn’t even know why.
Five seconds later the GM described the tripwire at ankle height.
Nobody else saw it.
That’s what this power is. It’s not about being cool. It’s about not dying stupid.
If you’re building a street-level hero, take a look at it. Especially if you’re not running with armor or toughness stacked to the ceiling. Danger Sense is quiet. But it’s honest. It’s your character flinching for a reason.
You don’t have to be paranoid.
But it helps.
Check out the write-up I spoke about on the podcast today
No comments:
Post a Comment