Marvel: Crisis Protocol – Professor X Rules Preview Brings The Mind Bullets
They are more like Psychic Darts but in any case, Professor X is here and he’s calling all X-Men to join him in Marvel: Crisis Protocol!
There are few mutants in the Marvel Universe as important or impactful as Professor Charles Xavier. He might have a little bit of an ego problem (he did name a superhero team after himself afterall) but he’s always wanted one thing: Peace between humanity and mutants. Still, you gotta respect the dude despite his failures and flaws. He one of the most powerful telepaths and one of the most iconic characters in all of Marvel. And now he’s coming to Marvel: Crisis Protocol and to a tabletop near you!
“Charles Xavier is a man with a dream, a dream that has shaped his life’s purpose for years and impacted not just himself and those that have met him but the entire world. His dream seems simple on the surface, peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans, but is more difficult than he ever imagined. In an effort to shelter and protect innocent mutants from oppression, he founded a school on the grounds of his ancestral home. He also saw a need to protect both humanity and mutant kind from those who would use their powers for evil, which eventually led to forming his students into the team known as the X-Men.”
Professor Charles Xavier Rules
Clocking in as a Threat 4 character he’s got one of the highest mental defenses I’ve seen in game with a 6. His physical and energy protection defenses aren’t too good however. And with 6 health, he’s kind of a glass cannon on paper.
Professor X On Offense
Offensively, he’s got 3 attacks that all target the enemy’s mental defense. On the one hand, that’s typically a relatively low defensive stat for folks. His basic builder is Psychic Dart. Range 4 with 5 dice is pretty average. However, if you get any Wilds it can cause Root on the target. Not a terrible status effect to slap a target with.
Mental Suggestion is his first spender attack. If you do damage with this 6 die attack then you get to advance the target it’s Speed. Just for fun I double checked the rules to see if you could hit a friendly with this ability. You cannot attack an allied character (at least directly – AoE/Beams are a little different). Still, controlling the enemy’s movement is a nice trick.
The Professor’s other spender is his big attack and it’s Astral Duel. Interestingly, this attack gets better the more Psychic Defense the target has. Additionally, they can’t modify or reroll the dice they use for defense! There’s certainly some potential there.
Professor X’s Other Abilities
Naturally, Professor X also has an Affiliation Leadership ability for Uncanny X-Men. This allows friendly characters to basically shuffle energy between themselves after spending it. It’s only once per turn but it’s a nice way to keep your overall energy up on the team. Also, there’s no range limits to this one…
Professor’s Guidance is another superpower that allows him to aid another character within range 4. He can spend 1-3 energy to allow them to reroll the same number of defense dice. It’s only a once per turn thing, but that’s still pretty handy.
Telepathic Lock is a sneaky way around those lower defensive stats he has. This allows him to use his Psychic Defensive dice vs attacks unless the attack pays an additional 2 dice! And finally, being the Omega-Level Telepath that he is, he cannot be Pushed or Advanced by the effects of Psychic attacks or enemy superpowers. I thought that maybe it was because he could just lock his chair in place with the brakes. But I was wrong.
Professor X is coming with the new character pack featuring himself and the Shadow King. It is currently up for pre-order from Atomic Mass Games and Asmodee.
Don’t underestimate him just cause he rides in style.
