Each character gets one movement action every turn. If they like, they can use their standard action as a movement action as well, doubling their movement that turn.

A character can take their standard action at any point before, during or after their movement action.

Some powers require a movement action to use. This is listed in the descriptions of those powers in Chapter 7.

When a character moves, they can travel a distance up to their listed speed with that mode of movement. Every character automatically has running, jumping, swimming and climbing as potential movement modes. Powers and traits can give them additional modes.

Basic Speeds

A character’s Run Speed is 5 spaces, plus 1 space for each 5 points they have in Agility.

A character’s Climb Speed, Jump Speed and Swim Speed are half their Run Speed. The Jump Speed only applies to horizontal jumps—unless the character has the Jump power, which can be used for vertical jumps as well.

Other speeds are listed in the descriptions of the powers that grant them. They are often based on the Run Speed. Powers that affect Run Speed (or any other speeds) do not stack. Instead, use the one that offers the greater benefit.

Combining Modes

Characters can combine two or more modes of travel in the same movement action. For instance, if they begin their turn underwater, they could swim to the surface and then fly to a nearby building. When combining two or more modes of travel, a character must use whichever mode has the lowest speed for them as their overall speed for that movement action.

Gliding

The character can glide at their listed Glide Speed. At the end of a turn in which they glide, they lose altitude equal to half of their Glide Speed.

Swinglining

Swinglining consists of swinging from place to place on a series of lines, like Spider-Man does on his webs. A character can swingline at their listed Swingline Speed.

A character’s Swingline Speed is also the swingline’s reach. The character must be within their swingline’s reach of an anchor—something to which the swingline can attach—to continue swinglining. Otherwise, they fall at the end of their turn.

Teleporting

The character can teleport between any two open points, as described in the power they use to teleport. If they end their teleportation in thin air, they fall at the end of their turn.

Lifting and Carrying

A character can pick up anything their own size or smaller, and they can carry, swing or throw it. With a successful Challenging Melee check, they can lift something one step larger than they normally can, but they cannot carry, swing or throw it.

Carrying something smaller than the character’s size does not affect their movement. Carrying something their own size cuts their movement in half. Characters cannot normally carry something larger than their own size.

Sneaking/Hiding

A character who doesn’t want to be observed while moving can sneak or hide. Moving while sneaking cuts their speed in half.

Anyone who might be able to spot the character can make a Vigilance check against the character’s Agility defense. A success means the character is spotted.

Towing

Sometimes a character grabs or pins a target at the end of a length of line like a rope, a chain or a webline. When this happens, the character can move toward the target, or the target can move toward the character with their movement action.

If either attached character is strong enough to carry the other, they can use the line to tow the other character during their own movement action. They can also reel the other character toward them on the line, narrowing the distance up to the towing character’s speed.

Using a standard action, either character can use the line to throw the other—if they are strong enough to throw them—up to their normal range. If the thrown character lands within the length of the line, they remain grabbed/pinned. Otherwise, the throwing character must release the line if they can. If they can’t, the maximum range of the throw is the length of the line.

If the target is strong enough to carry the character, they can use their movement action to move away from the character. The character must release the line with their reaction—if they can—or be towed by the target.

Other characters do not suffer trouble when attacking the attached characters, unless the two characters are in adjacent spaces.

Terrain

The basic movement speeds assume the character is moving through an open area. Things like running through a swamp, a thick forest or an alley full of trash cans slow a character down. Such challenging landscapes are called difficult terrain.

When a character moves through difficult terrain, their movement costs 2 spaces rather than the usual 1 space. If a character doesn’t have enough movement left to move into a space, they must stay where they are.

Characters that can fly or otherwise move above difficult terrain are not affected by it.

Example: Luke Cage has a Run Speed of 5 and uses his movement action to run through a swamp. Moving through the swamp costs 2 spaces of movement for each space moved, so he can move 2 spaces for 4 spaces of movement. He doesn’t have enough movement left to get into the next space, so he has to stay where he is.

Jessica Jones can fly over the swamp, so it doesn’t affect her Flight Speed at all.

Falling Prone

While a character is prone (on the ground), they have trouble on all Melee attacks. People making close attacks against them have an edge.

Ranged attacks against a prone character have trouble.

It costs a prone character 1 space of movement to stand up.

A prone character can crawl (move while prone). This is treated like moving over difficult terrain.