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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5410067" data-attributes="member: 15538">That's just not true. The more versatile a hero is, sure. Doctor Strange, Superman, Green Lantern... each has about one to three gadgets on their person at any given point in time. But powerful? Wonder Woman is as powerful as Superman, or nearly so, and she has a tiara, bracers, a magic lasso, and an invisible jet. Mister Fantastic is nigh-invulnerable, and carries around a ridiculous number of items, ranging from super-costumes to underwater breathing bills to whatever else he thinks he will need. Iron Man's superpower basically is having gadgets. The Legion of Super-heroes actually are a paramilitary team of ridiculously powered individuals, and they carry flight and communication rings and use futuretech spacesuits with invisible helmets. Any hero that has his or her own solo book has some ability to be versatile, through some combination of equipment and powers. Superman does not carry a microtorch, not because he never torches anything but because he has heat vision; a non-Superman character could and would make use of such an item. Batman and Mister Fantastic certainly have access to microtorches. "Superheroes are all about genre," "A superhero uses his powers, not equipment" is a bunch of reducionistic silliness. In fact, during the Silver Age, at the height of four-color decadence, characters used a ton of gadgets. Even, actually, especially Superman! Superman had Super-robots who looked him, robots that looked like robots, a spaceship and spacesuit for deep space flying and to protect him from kryptonite, a Kryptonian supercomputer, a cape compartment in his belt, heat vision resistant glasses to wear as Clark, and some kind of matter manipulating ray he would use for stuff like shrinking himself to visit Krondor. Heroes without gear are just poorly prepared. Because of genre conventions they are likely to get away with it, but it still creates hassles for them. Heroes in four color books are often written from a child-like standpoint, and further, are not necessarily role models in all particulars. The best known heroes are versatile and do make use of special equipment; Superman and Green Lantern are standouts for not using lots of specialized equipment because of the versatility of their abilities. They are the exceptions, not the norm. If I had a GM who told me my hero could not carry a utility belt or have a science lab, because it's not in genre, I would laugh in his or her face. Some Golden Age supers and some Silver Age second-stringers get away with just using their powers, without specialized equipment or martial training, but it's explicitly because they are amateur crime-fighters. They are the superhero equivalent of Nancy Drew.</blockquote>

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