Superhero Roleplaying: Losing Your Powers

“If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” – Tony Stark

A common trope in superhero stories is losing one’s powers – Thor gets banished to Earth by Odin in Thor, Superman gives up his Kryptonian abilities in Superman II, Ray Palmer’s Atom suit blows up in Legends of Tomorrow.

This is the time where the hero shows their grit.  Are they the type of person who relies solely on their superhuman abilities to dominate lesser folk?  Or do they have the heart of a winner, willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to achieve their goal, regardless of disadvantages? 

In roleplaying games, this element is best used cautiously.  I say this because players typically don’t like to have their toys taken away from them.  Those special abilities are part of the reason to play roleplaying games in the first place. No one needs a game in order to be a normally-abled person attempting to muddle their way through life.

This type of thing is best left for campaigns – a one-shot is too short to really explore this avenue. It would also defeat the purpose of playing a superhero game, since most of the time the characters wouldn’t actually be super. Know your players and what they like. I’ve had gamers I would never pull this on and many who would enjoy this type of thing.

So here are some ground rules:

• The sacrifice should be voluntary
• Everyone loses their powers at once
• Everyone gets a chance to use their non-power abilities
• There is an achievable way to retrieve the powers

Voluntarily sacrificing their powers is a noble act and leaves the agency in the hands of the players. It lets them be the heroes.  People can become very testy when you force this type of thing. It invalidates the time spent to achieve those cool superpowers, so don’t do it.

That said, the players don’t necessarily need to be happy about their characters losing their abilities, but it should be their choice, even if that choice is one-sided.  Example 1 – Death Lich is going to drain the souls of everyone in the city unless the heroes surrender and enter his de-mutantizing chamber.  Example 2 – the heroes have the option to chase the villain through the Portal to the Dream World where all powers are negated.

Everyone losing their powers at once is necessary so that no one feels singled out or ineffective.  This could lead to frustration and disengagement.  I’ve had players who wouldn’t mind being the odd person out, but it requires a certain level of maturity.

Using the PC’s mundane abilities should be a no-brainer – they don’t have many other options.  It’s a fun way to expand a character’s repertoire or use skills they rarely utilize.  The tank has to fight with finesse, the flyer needs to learn to climb, the telepath actually has to talk with people to learn information.

Getting the powers back should eventually become an option, if it isn’t from the very beginning.  It can be as simple as returning to headquarters to pick up your spare Nega-Helmet or as complex as going on a quest for a god-like alien to conquer a neighboring
galaxy.  The characters should be able to learn how this can be done so they can begin the process as soon as they’re ready.