The Magic of Mario-World Power-Ups for D&D

Not so very long ago, one of my kids suggested that I write a blog post about using the Power-Ups from the Mario Brothers franchise.  Now, to be honest, the last Mario game I played was Super Mario 3 back whenever it came out but I thought, “Sure, why not?”  Well, it turns out that the number of Power-Ups has expanded exponentially in my almost 30 year absence.  Seriously, at the time of this writing, there’s like SEVENTY-NINE different ones available and that doesn’t even touch on the banana peels from Mario Kart.

That said, instead of trying to stat out all of them, I’m just going to focus on the ones from the Super Mario Brothers game and call it good.  These include the Super Mushroom, the Fire Flower, the Invincibility Star, and the 1-Up Mushroom.  That’s it.  If you want the Penguin Suit, the Raccoon Suit, or a Yoshi, look somewhere else because I’m not going to cover those here.

The Super Mushroom is pretty straightforward.  The Super Mushroom is a red-and-white capped fungus that has the same benefits and drawbacks of an Enlarge (or Enlarge Person) spell.  Your size doubles, increasing your Strength and damage as outlined in whatever version for whichever edition of the Player’s Handbook you are using.  This power remains in effect until you suffer damage from an opponent or trap.

The Fire Flower has a green stem and sort of an orangey-yellow blossom.  It has the same effects as the Super Mushroom but also grants the ability to launch miniature fireballs from your hand.  These fireballs bounce and skip along the ground in a straight line ahead of you until they strike a creature or object.  They deal 2d4 points of damage (no save allowed) and you may throw one in place of each normal attack you can make.  As with the Super Mushroom, this ability lasts until you suffer damage from an attack.

The Invincibility Star is admittedly, a bit trickier to define in D&D terms.  In the video game, it has a 10-second duration during which time the character flashes different colors, runs faster, and takes out most enemies simply by running into them.  In this adaptation, the Invincibility Star would be a badge or brooch that the user snaps in half to activate.  This causes a glowing, scintillating aura to appear around the user.  Those affected gain the benefits of a Stoneskin spell while doubling their movement rate/speed.  Physical contact with an opponent deals 2d4 damage and forces an opposed Strength check to resist being hurled backwards 10’.  These effects last for two rounds.

 

This brings us at last to the 1-Up Mushroom – that granter of extra lives.  When consumed, this green-and-white capped mushroom places the user under the effects of a powerful Contingency spell.  If the user is subjected to an attack that would kill them, the 1-Up Mushroom’s power will teleport them back to the location where the mushroom was consumed and Heal them if necessary.

Using any of these items takes the same amount of time as drinking a potion.