EXTRA EFFORT
Heroes are sometimes called upon to perform feats beyond even their amazing abilities. This calls for extra effort. Players can use extra effort to improve a hero’s abilities in exchange for the hero suffering some fatigue. The benefits of extra effort are not limited by power level due to their extraordinary nature.

USING EXTRA EFFORT
Players can have their heroes use extra effort simply by declaring they are doing so. Extra effort is a free action and can be performed at any time during the hero’s turn (but is limited to once per turn). A hero using extra effort gains one of the following benefits:

ACTION
Gain an additional standard action during your turn, which can be exchanged for a move or free action, as usual.

BONUS
Perform one check with a bonus (+2 circumstance bonus) or improve an existing bonus to a major bonus (+5 circumstance bonus). This bonus can also negate a penalty (–2 circumstance penalty), allowing you to perform the check with no modifier, or reduce a major penalty from a –5 penalty to a –2 penalty.

POWER
Increase one of your hero’s power effects by +1 rank until the start of the hero’s next turn. Permanent effects cannot be increased in this way.

POWER STUNT
Temporarily gain and use an Alternate Effect (see Alternate Effect in Powers). The Alternate Effect lasts until the end of the scene or until its duration expires, whichever comes first. Permanent effects cannot be used for power stunts.

RESISTANCE
Gain an immediate additional resistance check against an ongoing effect. If you’re compelled or controlled, the fatigue from the extra effort doesn’t affect you until you’re free of the effect; this is so you can’t resist yourself to exhaustion as a way of avoiding being controlled!

RETRY
Certain effects (see the Powers) require extra effort to retry after a certain degree of failure. The extra effort merely permits another attempt to use the effect; it grants no other benefits.

SPEED
Increase the hero’s speed rank by +1 until the start of the hero’s next turn.

STRENGTH
Increase the hero’s Strength rank by +1 until the start of the hero’s next turn.

In comic book stories, heroes often confront the villain(s) and deal with various setbacks. Perhaps the villain defeats or outwits them in the first couple scenes. Maybe one or more of the heroes have to overcome a personal problem. The villain may have a secret the heroes need to discover, and so forth. By the end of the story, the heroes have overcome these challenges and they’re ready to take on the villain.

COST OF EXTRA EFFORT
At the start of the turn immediately after using extra effort, the hero becomes fatigued. A fatigued hero who uses extra effort becomes exhausted and an exhausted hero who uses extra effort is incapacitated. If you spend a victory point at the start of the turn following the extra effort to remove the fatigue, the hero suffers no adverse effects. In essence, spending a victory point lets you use extra effort without suffering fatigue.