From Panel To Play: Cassandra Nova

CP53 Cassandra Nova

On today’s installment of From Panel to Play, we’re taking a look at the woman who proves the power of negative thinking, Charles Xavier’s sort-of-but-not-quite twin sister, Cassandra Nova!

Cassandra Nova is a being known as a “mummudrai,” a parasitic form of life born incorporeal on the astral plane. The mummudrai that grew to be Cassandra was telepathically entangled with the mutant Charles Xavier. Xavier’s vast telepathic powers bestowed Cassandra with psionic powers herself, including the ability to create a physical body for herself.

Cassandra Nova is Xavier’s twisted shadow, bent on genocide and destruction in contrast with his benevolent and humanitarian beliefs. She believes that she and her psychic “twin” are the only true beings in the universe and has set her mind to eradicating all of the delusions her brother holds dear.

If you ignore the fact that she’s rocketing upward on a blast of mental force, Cassandra Nova might cut an unassuming figure on the tabletop. A slender woman wearing normal street clothing, Cassandra Nova’s menace is conveyed in her imperious posture and scowling expression.

On the tabletop, Cassandra Nova is a bundle of horrible things ending in “-kinesis” wrapped up in an unassuming package. The mummadrai has all the mental powers you’d expect from someone who gained their powers from a spirit link with Professor X.

Like Jean Grey, another potent telepath, Cassandra Nova has the Psionic Bolt attack, which can sap power from its targets and bestow it to her. But Cassandra Nova can use this extra power for some truly diabolical abilities that interfere with your opponent’s carefully laid plans. The Mind Possession Mystic attack costs only 1 Power to use, is Strength 6, and allows her to advance the target its Speed after dealing damage. Oh, I’m sorry, were you trying to hold that objective? Not anymore!

Of course, if Cassandra Nova wants to be a bit less subtle, she can always use her Flesh Manipulation attack. Using her biokinetic powers, she unleashes a Strength 8 attack that pushes and damages characters within Range 2. Oh, were you trying to gang up on little old Cassandra Nova? Not anymore!

That’s just the beginning when it comes to Cassandra Nova’s suite of abilities. She can use biokinesis to stop an enemy target in their tracks, telekinesis to protect herself from thrown objects, telepathy to distract her opponents and cloak her presence, and more! If you’d like to learn more about her powers and abilities, be sure to check out her full rules when they become available, and don’t forget to pre-order your own copy of Cassandra Nova from your local gaming store or our website. Until then, this has been Atomic Mass Transmissions’ first look at this psychic parasitic entity.

Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!