From Panel to Play: HOOD

CP65 HOOD

Most of the time, when people call you a “hood,” it’s a slang term for a criminal. Not an actual, literal hood. Today on From Panel to Play, we’re taking a look at the criminal-turned-demonic-accomplice known mostly by how he accessorizes his wardrobe; it’s the Hood!

Parker Robbins was a petty criminal until he followed up a tip on a warehouse he believed contained valuables. Instead, it was abandoned apart from some occult paraphernalia and one irritated Nisanti demon. Parker destroyed the creature and took its mystical cloak and boots, believing them to be valuable. The items endowed the two-bit criminal with powerful magical abilities, allowing him to rise as a dangerous crime lord and sorcerer. He assumed the identity of the Hood, a villain who uses his power of flight and invisibility to gather other criminals under his leadership.

Unknown to Robbins, the true power of his cloak came from none other than the dread entity Dormammu, who uses Hood as a mortal agent, Empowering Robbins with enough magical power to combat the Sorcerer Supreme.

The Hood comes to Marvel: Crisis Protocol with a whole mess of abilities… in two different flavors! Like Ant-Man and the Wasp before him, the Hood has the ability to transform during battle from his normal self to a much more psychotic version.

When he’s acting as the normal Hood, he has some magically-empowered attacks and abilities. He can channel dark energy through his guns as a hex shot, which functions much like a normal pistol but is a Mystic attack, or he can call down a bolt of Dark Lightning on his target for 3 Power. A Mystic attack hitting at Strength 6, the Arc special rule causes the lightning to leap from the initial target to a number of additional targets within Range 3 for each wild in the attack roll. These secondary targets take 1 damage each. Dark Lightning is a perfect choice for clumps of enemies and can debilitate the initial target, who is shocked after the attack is resolved.

The Hood can also patch up his allies with magic through Dark Arts, which removes 3 damage but inflicts the Bleed special condition. And if he’s looking to avoid damage himself, he can use his cloak to become invisible. Invisibility Cloak lets him use his Mystic defense in place of another defense as he slips from his attacker’s sight.

But you might want to let him get hit once in a while. You see, the Hood has a buddy along for the ride: a Nisanti demon like the one he fought before becoming the Hood. When an enemy damages him, the demon takes the driver’s seat, transforming to his possessed form.

While possessed, the Hood becomes a terror in combat. He trades in his pistols for a pair of Strength 6 Razor Claws that shred the enemy, his Dark Lightning becomes Empowered Dark Lightning that does even more damage to its initial and secondary targets. Beyond that, the Hood gains powers that allow him to charge in at an enemy and lash out with his claws and a supernatural resilience that reduces all the damage he takes by 2.

Fortunately for the people who have to fight him, there are multiple ways that the Hood can revert to his normal form. His attacks can cause him to revert, and he becomes vulnerable to Mystic attacks, returning to normal if he is damaged by one.

That’s all for our first look at this criminal-turned-supernatural villain!

Be sure to check back for yet another installment of From Panel to Play, the series where we give you your first look at how your favorite characters transition to the tabletop in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Pre-order your own copy of the Doctor Voodoo & Hood Character Pack at your local game store or through our webstore today.

Until then, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!