[Mutants and Masterminds 2e] Character creation help?

[Sir Enigma]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to run a Mutants and Masterminds campaign (my first practical experience with the system), and I'm having a bit of trouble. One of my players has no RPG experience, so I offered to build a character for him, so he can jump in and learn the game that way. The character he wants to play is the Scarlet Witch, as well as having a power that, when activated, gives a random beneficial effect to himself and all his allies. So, I have two questions.

1) How would you go about creating this random buff power?

2) What other powers are appropriate for the Scarlet Witch? I don't know very much about her.

Thanks very much for your help!

[Mr.Bookworm]

1) How would you go about creating this random buff power?

Boost at 5 points, with the Area (+1) and Selective Attack (+1) extras. Add in two customs Drawbacks (modifiers are strictly opinion) called, I'unno, Random (-2) and One Trait Only (-2). Then create a table that has the various PC's traits on it and roll on it whenever the power is used.


2) What other powers are appropriate for the Scarlet Witch? I don't know very much about her.

Ugh, that's kind of a tricky one. Extremely abbreviated comic retcon history:

At first, her mutant power was the ability to manipulate probability, usually in negative ways. This was all very open-ended and she could do a lot of things, but she wasn't running around leveling cities. She usually threw out red-colored "hexes" to manifest her power.

Then a writer declared that her ability was, in fact, "chaos magic" and that she was the focal point of magical power in the Marvel universe. She, predictably, received a major power boost.

Then another writer came along and had Doctor Strange himself declare that there was no such thing as chaos magic, nuh-uh. Her real power was the ability to warp reality and she got another power boost.

Then another, different writer came along and had a demon god declare that there totally was chaos magic, yes-way, but nobody on Earth knew about it because it was super-secret.

These days, I believe the explanation for her powers is a mix of the two, but I'm not up-to-date on the canon these days.

In the end, it would probably work best to just model her powers with Magic. Trying to recreate her exact power level is hard; in her first incarnation, she probably fits solidly into PL 10, but later, she more-or-less has an X trait.

Make sure the player knows how stunting works and it should work pretty well.

[Tengu_temp]

Unless you're using the Ultimate Power rules (which I discourage, all the changes they make except Drain are stupid), you don't need Selective Attack for Boost, just the Selective power feat will be enough.

Here's how I'd do the random power:

Boost (2 pp/rank version) + Area + Selective + a custom flaw that's probably worth -1 pp/rank, like Unreliable.

[Sir Enigma]

Thanks for the input so far! Regarding the Boost power, how would this interact with power level limits? Can it Boost a trait so that a character goes temporarily over PL caps?

EDIT: Also, regarding the Scarlet Witch, I was actually wondering more "what specific effects should she be able to produce?" - I really don't know the character well, and the player's descriptions are a bit vague. So far, I've come up with either Force Field or Deflect, some kind of luck or probability control, maybe Disintegrate limited to non-living objects (causing an unlikely breakdown) - what else would fit?

[The Rose Dragon]

The game balance (such as it is) relies on no effect being able to increase a trait over PL limits unless it is explicitly stated it can. So, Boost should be able to increase Strength 10 to Strength 30, but not Strength 30 to Strength 50.

Note that this kind of weirdness is why Boost was removed in 3rd Edition and turned into a modified Enhanced Trait effect.

[Beleriphon]

EDIT: Also, regarding the Scarlet Witch, I was actually wondering more "what specific effects should she be able to produce?" - I really don't know the character well, and the player's descriptions are a bit vague. So far, I've come up with either Force Field or Deflect, some kind of luck or probability control, maybe Disintegrate limited to non-living objects (causing an unlikely breakdown) - what else would fit?

Nullifying a set of descriptors are probably a good way to go. Force Fields and Deflect are a good thought defensively. Deflect might be a better choice, though you'd ultimately want both Deflect and something else that boosts your Toughness save.

Disintegrate is fun as a ranged attack. Its really fun.