Special conditions

If you’re looking to jump into Marvel Crisis Protocol, or just need to fill out your roster with some fresh recruits or supervillains, please check out our Sponsor Board in Brum!

So after a few more of my friends have recently taken the dive into MCP, the first thing they’ve said is there are a lot of tokens, which there is. It’s no secret that you need lots of different tokens to represent Objectives, Damage, Power and most uniquely Special Conditions.

In this post I just wanted to do a breakdown of the core ten Special Condition tokens. There are a few other character specific tokens out there, such as Kill tokens for Killmonger and Doctor Voodoo’s Spirit of Brother Daniels tokens. I’ll go through character specific tokens in their own character reviews, like in Doctor Voodoo’s. So, through the power of a smart phone camera and a free editing app, I present my table of conditions!

So, lets dive straight in to what these conditions do. As a bit of a prefix for this, a character in Marvel Crisis Protocol only gets two actions a turn – And to remove a Special Condition they must perform a Shake action. This lets them remove one Special Condition. So, once a character has one of these conditions, they have to give up one of their actions to get rid of it.

Bleed

I would say from my own experience that Bleed is possibly the most commonly seen Special Condition in the game. Bleed is effective but simple
– The character suffers one damage at the end of each of its activations. This can cause decent amounts of chip damage over time, and force opponents to consider shaking it or possibly have their characters Dazed or KO’d by the damage from it. Quite a few basic attacks deal out the Bleed special conditions, whether its Symbiotic Tendrils or Sword Strikes. It’s worth noting that the character suffers damage at the end of each of their activations, so if you use All You’ve Got or Cosmic Invigoration, you’ll be suffering that damage twice.

Hex

Hex was a later addition to the game, and although it is becoming more common it’s still not seen as often as Bleed or Slow. Hex means – The character doesn’t roll additional dice for its Critical results during Attack, Defense or Dodge rolls. This can seriously limit the potential number of successes a character can get when it rolls dice. With additional dice from Crits removed, your limited to a maximum number of successes equal to the dice you roll. So if your only rolling two dice, the most you’ll be able to get is two successes – Whereas if you could add dice for Crits you could potentially be getting up to four (If your super lucky!).

Incinerate

The character removes one die from its Defense rolls. This is a pretty straightforward condition, and it’s very effective. There are a lot more Attacks and Tactics cards that hand out this condition now compared to when we first saw it, and the Daemons Downtown mission hands it out to anyone securing a Daemonic portal in the Power phase. It’s worth noting that a characters Defense dice pool can never be reduced below one die – Stated in part 5c of the timing sequence. Combine Incinerate with Hex, and you have some heroes in serious danger.

Judgement

Judgement early on was limited to Ronan the Accuser. Now, however, the Scarlet Witch and a few other effects can dish this condition out. Judgement means that – This character does not gain power when suffering the damage from enemy attacks. If you can get Judgement out on a character before dazing them, this can mean they flip onto their Unhealthy side with very little power, making them an easy target for a KO.

Poison

Another Condition that effects a characters power, Poison means that – The character loses one power during the Power Phase. This can essentially negate the one power a character would normally generate in the power phase, and if combined with Judgement, it can make it seriously difficult for a character to build up a decent amount of power. Asgardians don’t particularly like Poison, as a lot of their superpowers, like Thor’s For Asgard! are priced on the basis that they gain two power a turn.

Root

If your opponent already has Judgement and Poison, you can really upset them with Root. Root is probably the least common Special Condition in the game, and what it does is – The character must spend one power before using an active or reactive superpower. This shuts down Superpowers like charge, making them a serious power investment early game. It’s also worth noting that Root means Superpowers that normally cost zero (Like Proxima and Corvus’s Husband and Wife powers) actually have to pay one power to be used.

Shock

Remember incinerate? Shock is the same, but for Attack pools – The character removes one die from its attack rolls. Simple, but nasty. An attack roll can never be reduced below one die, as stated in 4c of the timing sequence, but when combined with cards like Bitter rivals or Disarm, Shock can seriously shut down a Characters offensive output.

Slow

The Slow condition comes up in most of my games, dished out by All Webbed Up. Slow make it so – The character can only use the Short movement tool while advancing. This affects both Move actions and the Advances characters would get for free from certain attacks like Steel Rush, and the moves as part of the Charge Superpower.

Stagger

Stagger is one of the most feared Special Conditions. When the character activates its first action must be a Shake action. This Shake action must remove the Stagger special condition. Stagger can be huge, hugely limiting what characters can do with their activations. Stagger can leave a model out of position, as they have to Shake the condition and might only then be able to move, rather than move twice or move and attack. There are very few ways around having to shake the Stagger condition, a few tactics cards and Thor’s leadership being the only real ways to avoid losing an action.

Stun

Stun is the final Special condition we currently have. If an effect would cause the character to gain more than one power, it gains only one power instead. When doing Strikes, this caps the power gained from damage dealt, and it also limits the power gained when taking damage – Although not completely like Judgement does. Stun is probably the best single condition if trying to hamper a models power gain, as it caps the power gained from all effects.

Hopefully this article has helped to clear up and clarify what all of these Special Conditions and symbols mean, and you can use it as an easy point of reference in your games if you ever need to check. As always please leave a thumbs up if you enjoyed reading, or a thumbs down if you didn’t! Please feel free to comment with any thoughts you have! Thank you all for reading!

If you’re looking to expand your roster or jump in to Marvel Crisis Protocol, Check out Board in Brums Marvel section here, for all the MCP goodness you need. Thanks once again for reading!