New to Mutants and Masterminds (3rd Ed.)

[Zach J.]

I'm planning to run a superhero game for my friends and have been doing my best to familiarize myself with Mutants and Masterminds, but one of the players has asked a question which has stumped me. It's going to start out as a power level 10 campaign. He wants to play a character with a Presence of 20. I've looked through the book, but I haven't found any hard limits on ability ranks for each power level, only skills and defenses. Is this right or am I missing something?

Edit: Oops, I missed a section in the bit about skills and power levels. Looks like he can do it.

RE-EDIT: I'm not very good with names so I'd like to share what I've been coming up with and get some suggestions as how to improve them. I don't have much of a concept for most of them, but I'll post what I do have.

POSSIBLE VILLAINS
Blitzkrieg - An ageless Nazi with super-speed.
Bombshell
Commandant Comet
Demagogue
Doctor X - A mad scientist who believes that humanity is a disease. The only cure is its extermination. The X stands for eXtinction.
Infernus (formerly Infernox) and the Magmites
The Iron Maiden

[Quellian-dyrae]

I believe that is correct, although in practice it's silly to have an ability higher than the cap of whatever bonus they provide (typically PL, or PL + 10 for the ones that boost only skills, modified by tradeoffs).

Although I do feel I have to point out, Presence is literally the only Ability that provides a point-value of benefits less than what you pay for it (it boosts Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion, which cost 1 PP per 2 ranks each, so you pay 2 PP/rank for 1.5 PP/rank worth of benefits). He'd literally be spending 10 PP on nothing by going that route, rather than just buying up the skills individually.

[The Rose Dragon]

That's because there isn't any. Since Presence is tied to several skills, it is effectively capped at PL + 10, which is a maximum rank of 20 at PL 10.

On the other hand, keep in mind that Presence does nothing but contribute to those skills, and skill advantages based on those skills, and Presence 20 costs a whopping 40 power points. If he really wants Presence 20 that badly, you should let him have it.

EDIT: The above post is almost correct, but Presence also applies to uses of force of personality when checks don't apply, which theoretically makes up for those 10 power points. If the GM never uses Ability checks, the player might feel a bit ripped.

[Zach J.]

Thanks for the speedy responses guys.

When would one use a force of personality check?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Somewhere between rarely and never :smalltongue:.

I dunno, maybe just inciting emotional responses other than fear. Impressing a crowd, pumping people up...even that could probably be done through Persuasion if you're actually speaking, though. Or maybe Expertise (Performer)...

[Zach J.]

I see. I'm going to let the player know that it would be cheaper to spend point on increasing his presence based skills than his ability rank. If he still wants the 20 presence after that then it's cool with me.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Really, if you're the GM, it comes down to how often you would call for them. Obviously, if you can see yourself calling for Presence checks, you wouldn't want to tell him not to bother and then suddenly require them. The above is just how I see them.

[Zach J.]

Honestly, I can't think of anything that would call for a presence check rather than a skill check. The player might think of something, but I haven't. Even if they had a presence 10 I think it would be pretty easy for them to succeed at something that relied on the ability alone.

[Zach J.]

Hate to hijack my own thread, but does anyone have suggestions for challenging a group of 8+ heroes?

EDIT: For instance, in the first "episode" the heroes (hopefully) band together to stop a giant fire-breathing monster named Infernox from destroying the city. Does this look like something that could challenge a large group of heroes at power level 10 or should I find a way to split the heroes up?

INFERNOX

ABILITIES
Str 14, Sta 16, Agl 0, Dex 0, Fgt 4, Int -2, Awe 1, Pre -2

POWERS
Giant Monster: Growth 12 (Permanent, Innate; +6 Intimidate, -6 active defenses)
Razor Sharp Claws: Damage 4 (Innate, Strength-Based)
Fire Breath: Blast 12 (Cone Rank 12, Innate )
Tough, Fireproof Hide: Immunity to Bullets and all effects with Fire descriptor (Innate, Reflect (Fire Only)), Impervious Toughness 14 (Innate)
Magma Born: Regeneration 20 (Innate, Persistent, Source: Intense Heat (2000+ degrees Farenheit))
Child of the Earth: Burrowing 8 (Innate, Penetrating), Immune to Suffocation Effects (Innate), Senses: Darkvision (Innate)

DEFENSE
Dodge 6
Fortitude 14
Parry 6
Toughness 16
Will 8

OFFENSE
Initiative +8

SKILLS
Athletics 2 (+16)
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+6)
Perception 6 (+7)

ADVANTAGES
Fearless
Luck 2
Improved Initiative
Power Attack

[Quellian-dyrae]

In general, numbers are a big advantage in M&M, because of how the damage system works. Multiple attackers can stack resistance penalties in a way that a single attacker, regardless of its stats, basically just can't. Further, every resistance check is another chance to roll low and take an incap right off the bat, or maybe a stagger that the next big failure turns into an incap.

Flip side, unless the big guy has heavy-duty area attacks (and even then, speed and range scale so much easier than area that it's easy to scatter and still attack effectively), he's hurting one hero per round. Daze and Stagger are not particularly devastating conditions. Basically, you can expect a single opponent against a group to be taking a lot more than they dish out. With groups of PCs, it's even worse, because they all have Hero Points to ablate the occasional bad roll on a Resistance check.

Basically, a single opponent is going to have a lot of trouble with a group of heroes unless it heavily outclasses them, or is optimized for taking on groups (Reaction powers are a good way to do this).

Regarding that monster specifically, it has really good damage with its claws, so it can legitimately threaten the heroes with every attack. That's good. That fire breath is also a huge area which can help against groups, although its damage is mediocre for PL 10. It favors Toughness to Dodge/Parry, which is generally advantageous, but its active defenses are so low that the benefit could be lost due to Power Attack and/or Multiattack. More importantly, it is going to be laughably easy to bring down if anyone happens to have an Alternate Resistance (Dodge or Will) attack - or chooses to Power Stunt one. One of the big things to remember in M&M is that the attacker chooses what you defend with, so having all your defenses at least passable is important.

Hope that helps!

[Zach J.]

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the advice. I've upped his blast damage to 12, his active defenses to 6 and willpower to 8.

Does the rank of an area attack increase the size of the area effect?

[Quellian-dyrae]

I don't believe so, just the applications of the Area Extra.

Ooh, also, Luck is a really good choice for "boss" type opponents. Gives them some leeway to roll low on some of the (many) Resistance checks they'll be making.

[Beleriphon]

Does the rank of an area attack increase the size of the area effect?

No, doing something like Burst Area Damage 10 means all ten ranks get the 30 foot radius area. Something like Burst Area 7 Damage 10 means that only 7 of the 10 ranks have the area (so the centre square gets the rank 10 damage, and everything else is rank 7 damage).

Do increase the size of an area you'd need to apply the Area extra again to all of the ranks. So to get a n increased size area it costs 2 pp/rank as an extra.

[Zach J.]

I see. Thanks for the assistance.

Would Regeneration help Infernox against a large group of heroes?

[Beleriphon]

I see. Thanks for the assistance.

Would Regeneration help Infernox against a large group of heroes?

Yes. Be warned that too much regeneration will make it very, very hard to keep an opponent down.

[The Rose Dragon]

Unless you use Afflictions to disable enemies instead of Damage.

[Zach J.]

Yes. Be warned that too much regeneration will make it very, very hard to keep an opponent down.

Yes. I was thinking of giving the monster Regeneration 20, but with the stipulation that it only works when he's submerged in extreme heat. A blazing inferno, molten lava, etc. It gives the monster a reason to leave when things get too tough and allows for future confrontations.

[Zach J.]

So in an effort to familiarize myself with character creation I talked my younger brother through creating a hero. He's not finished with the story and background of the character, but the mechanical stuff is finished and I wanted to get some feedback from people who have played the game before. I thought the character was interesting, but if he's not a feasible option for gameplay I'd like to know.

NAME
Aeon

ABILITIES
Str 2, Sta 4, Agl 2, Dex 2, Fgt 1, Int 4, Awe 5, Pre 4

ADVANTAGES
Cipher 4
Extraordinary Effort
Fearless
Interpose
Jack-of-all-trades
Teamwork

COMPLICATIONS
Honor
Responsibility (Motivation)
Secret

DEFENSE
Dodge 2
Fortitude 10
Parry 1
Toughness 4
Will 10

OFFENSE
Close +1
Ranged +2

ORIGIN
Mutant

POWERS
Dimension Travel 2 (Activation)
Flight 3 (Concentration)
Healing 10 (Burst, Empathic, Persistent, Stabilize, Selective)
Alternate Effect 10 (Burst, Empathic, Resurrection)
Immortality 20 (Limit: Aeon can only truly die in an alternate time period.)
Immunity (Aging)
Regeneration 10
Time Travel 3 (Activation)

SKILLS
Expertise: History 4 (+8)
Insight 6 (+11)
Perception 4 (+9)

[Quellian-dyrae]

His defenses are scarily low. Regeneration and Immortality help with that, of course, but he can still be neutralized by Afflictions. Someone could, say, poison or taze him into unconsciousness fairly easily, and while he wouldn't be in any real danger of dying, he'd be out of the fight, which isn't a good thing.

He could probably save some points by dividing his healing into some Alternate Powers. A Selective Area Healing with a Resurrection [Something] Healing as an alternate power would probably be more useful in most cases - use the Selective one in battle, and the resurrection one to bring people back (make the [Something] Area if he really wants to mass-rezz). Likewise, he could take a couple alternates for non-empathic healing, or ranged healing, etc.

Adding a Limit to Immortality is fairly typical, and would save him twenty points (albeit, at the cost of actually being killable by some means, but Cipher 2 helps avoid enemies figuring out how).

Time Travel's...very vaguely defined. It's worth making clear before play just what it can and can't do.

Persistent being a lot cheaper on Healing than it is on Regeneration, he could drop it from the latter and rely on the former to heal himself from Incurable effects.

A lot of the above is mainly if he wants to branch out a bit. But being an unkillable mass-healer is plenty potent. He'd require party support, but as long as he has allies to handle the actual fighting, he'd be incredibly useful. Although he might want to get some mobility and/or ranged healing capability so a super-powered fight doesn't leave him in the dust with no one nearby to heal. Some Nullify alternate powers to deal with Afflictions might also be a good idea, since an Affliction-heavy enemy would shut him down in his only real role.

[Zach J.]

Healing can remove Afflictions, right? What about Regeneration?

[Quellian-dyrae]

I don't believe so, in either case; both specify Damage conditions.

[Zach J.]

True, but the Affliction power says that it can be healed by the Healing power. In any case, he's taken some of your suggestions and given himself a limit to Immortality.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Huh, that it does. My fault.

[Zach J.]

He's stumped about the limit to immortality. Any suggestions?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Decapitation or physical destruction of the body are decent generic ones. Anyone can do them, but they require some effort.

An interesting one might be being killed while in an alternate time period. Makes the time travel riskier. But, that gives him a lot more control over it.

[Zach J.]

He really likes the limit about being killed in an alternate time period. That's not too uncommon though, is it?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Judging it in a vacuum, yeah, I'd say it's probably too uncommon, especially since he'd be the one controlling it. Naturally, if time travel will be a significant feature in the game, that changes things.

[Zach J.]

Hmm, it's hard to say at this point, but so far his is the only character with the ability so I'd guess that time travel will rarely be a prominent feature of the game. I suppose I'll have him pick another limitation.

[tensai_oni]

Infernox:

A ~PL 12 villain vs 8 PL 10 protagonists? They'll splatter it in one round. If their builds are any decent, they'd splatter a PL 15 villain in one round, too.

I suggest giving it some sidekicks, 4-5 smaller monsters at PL 10 each. In Mutants and Masterminds, it's usually better for the encounter balance to give players more targets to fight, rather than making the existing targets stronger.

Aeon:

Is the almost complete lack of any combat capability deliberate? He can heal, and he can't die - but he can neither throw a decent punch nor really take one.

[Tengu_temp]

Note about the original post:

Because buying presence as a stat is strictly inferior to buying its component skills (raw presence checks are incredibly rare and while 2e had feats that benefitted from charisma, 3e doesn't anymore), I suggest either giving the player fluff benefits (his natural charisma makes people act positive towards him and listen to him even before any dice are rolled), and/or homebrew in the Inspire feat from 2e:

You can inspire your allies to greatness. You must be able to interact and you can affect a number of allies equal to your Charisma bonus. By taking a full-round action and spending a hero point, your allies gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls, saving throws, and checks for the following round. Each additional time you take this feat increases the bonus by +1, to a maximum of +5. You do not gain the inspiration bonus, only your allies do. The inspiration bonus can exceed power level limits, like other uses of hero points. Multiple uses of inspiration do not stack, only the highest bonus applies.

[Zach J.]

Aeon:

Is the almost complete lack of any combat capability deliberate? He can heal, and he can't die - but he can neither throw a decent punch nor really take one.

Yes. The player wanted to play a (fairly) normal guy who couldn't die and could heal. He wasn't interested in fighting.

I'm not sure how optimized the player's characters will be. I only have stats for two of them at the moment and as I'm not very familiar with the system I wouldn't know if they were or not.

I like the idea of smaller monsters that followed the larger one up to the surface. I'll have stats for these "Magmites" up shortly.

[Zach J.]

NAME
Magmite (PL 10)

ABILITIES
Str 8, Sta 8, Agl 4, Dex 2, Fgt 4, Int -4, Awe 2, Pre -4

ADVANTAGES
Accurate Attack, Fast Grab, Favored Environment: Extreme Heat, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 2, Luck 2

DEFENSE
Dodge 10
Parry 10
Fortitude 8
Toughness 10
Will 6

OFFENSE
Initiative +12
Unarmed +12 (Damage 8)

POWERS
Child of the Earth: Burrowing 8 (Innate), Immunity (Innate, Suffocation), Darkvision (Innate)
Fiery Aura: Damage 10 (Innate, Reaction)
Heart of Flame: Fire Absorption (Enhanced Strength 2, Fades, Innate, Reaction), Immunity (Fire Effects, Innate)

SKILLS
Athletics 2 (+10)
Close Combat 6 (+10)
Perception 8 (+10)

[Zach J.]

In case others are interested the other completed character:

NAME
Mr. Wonderful (PL 10)

ABILITIES
Str 12, Sta 7, Agl 0, Dex 0, Fgt 8, Int 0, Awe 8, Pre 6

ADVANTAGES
All-Out Attack, Attractive, Benefit: Wealth 4 (Multimillionaire), Connected, Equipment 2, Extraordinary Effort, Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Critical: Unarmed, Improved Defense, Inspire 4, Interpose, Leadership, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Takedown, Weapon Break, Well-Informed

COMPLICATIONS
Enemy
Identity
Weakness

DEFENSE
Dodge 8
Parry 8
Fortitude 7
Toughness 12
Will 8

EQUIPMENT
The Blue Lagoon (Hotel): Toughness 6, Huge

Features:
Communications (Control Room)
Defense System (Guards)
Fire Prevention System
Garage (Free Parking for Guests)
Living Space (Hotel Rooms)
Personnel (Staff)
Security System 1 (Standard)

OFFENSE
Initiative +0
Grab, +8 (DC Spec 22)
Know the Enemy: Mind Reading 10, +8 (DC Will 20)
Throw, +0 (DC 27)
Unarmed, +8 (DC 27)

POWERS
Mind Over Matter: Enhanced Strength 7
Psychic Barrier: Protection 5
Psychic Focus: Immunity 12 (Lifesupport, Uncommon Descriptor: Mental Effects)
THE WONDERS OF MR. WONDERFUL
Know the Enemy: Mind Reading 10 (DC 20; Distracting, Reduced Range 2: close)
Meditation: Regeneration 5
Mental Awareness: Senses 6 (Danger Sense: Mental, Precognition, Radius: Mental)
Psychic Channeling: Flight 7 (Limited: Usable Only if Not Injured, Noticeable: Purple Glow)
The Wonder Field: Create 10 (DC 20, Tether, Limited: Defensive Objects Only, Noticeable: Glowing Purple Eyes, Reduced Range: Close)

SKILLS
Deception 2 (+8), Expertise: Business 6 (+6), Insight 2 (+10), Intimidation 2 (+8), Perception 2 (+10), Persuasion 2 (+8)

THEME SONG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJLXaM4vf_U

[Beleriphon]

THE WONDERS OF MR. WONDERFUL
Know the Enemy: Mind Reading 10 (DC 20; Distracting, Reduced Range 2: close)
Meditation: Regeneration 5
Mental Awareness: Senses 6 (Danger Sense: Mental, Precognition, Radius: Mental)
Psychic Channeling: Flight 7 (Limited: Usable Only if Not Injured, Noticeable: Purple Glow)
The Wonder Field: Create 10 (DC 20, Tether, Limited: Defensive Objects Only, Noticeable: Glowing Purple Eyes, Reduced Range: Close)


I like the theme of Mr Wonderful, but the Noticeable flaw might not be appropriate on several of these. Create is already noticeable by default, so applying the flaw doesn't do anything since only continuous or permanent effects can be noticeable. I get that the player wants to make the create, or other effects, super noticeable as in he can't hide the fact they are superpowers but the Noticeable flaw isn't the right choice. I'd personally use Quirk since the cost is the same and you don't get confused about what the rules for Noticeable actually do.

To quote the rules on Noticing Powers:

NOTICING POWER EFFECTS

Effects with a duration of instant, concentration, or sustained must be noticeable in some way. For example, a Blast effect might have a visible beam or make a loud noise (ZAP!) or both. Some effects are quite obvious, such as Flight, Insubstantiality, Growth, or Shrinking. Effects with a continuous or permanent duration are not noticeable by default.

If an instant, concentration, or sustained effect’s base duration is changed using modifiers, the effect remains noticeable. A continuous or permanent effect made instant, concentration, or sustained also becomes noticeable. The Subtle modifier (see page 144) can make noticeable powers difficult or impossible to detect. Conversely, the Noticeable modifier (see page 148) makes a normally subtle effect noticeable.

Also, is this an Array structure? If it is I'd encourage the player to put the word array in the Wonders of Mr Wonderful title. It doesn't do anything mechanically but it does make it clearer about how the effects interact with each other.

Also the player could very well if they want put all of this always on powers (the Enhanced Strength, Protection and Immunity) into a single power with many effects. They don't have to be separate like they are, but doing so is more style than anything else (except for Nullify).

[Zach J.]

Thank you for the suggestions, Beleriphon. I'll make sure to mention them to the player. What do you think about the stats for the Magmites? Do they serve any kind of threat as a group?

EDIT: Where do I find the rules on arrays? Never mind, alternate effect covers it.

[Zach J.]

Aeon's player wanted to take another crack at making his own character. He used the pre-made Powerhouse as a base and made a few modifications.

Alien Powerhouse (PL 10)

Str 12, Sta 14, Agl 2, Dex 0, Fgt 6, Int 1, Awe 1, Pre 1

ADVANTAGES
All-Out Attack, Assessment, Fearless, Improved Initiative 3, Interpose, Languages: Alien (Native Language) and English, Power Attack, Ultimate Effort: Toughness

POWERS
Alien Physiology: Enhanced Stamina 10; Enhanced Strength 8; Immunity 8: Alien Atmosphere, Bullets, Cold and Heat; Leaping 10; Regeneration 10 (Persistent, Limited: Powerhouse must be in contact with ground.)

Shockwave: Burst Area Damage 10, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground.
Groundstrike (Alternate Effect): Burst Area Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude; Vulnerable, Defenseless), Instant Recovery, Limited Degree, Limited: Both the Powerhouse and its targets must be in contact with the ground.

SKILLS
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8), Expertise: Science 4 (+5), Insight 12 (+13), Perception 6 (+7), Ranged Combat: Throwing 8 (+8), Technology 4 (+5), Vehicles 6 (+6)

DEFENSE
Dodge 6
Parry 6
Will 6
Fortitude 14
Toughness 14

OFFENSE
Initiative +14
Throwing +8 (Ranged, 12 Damage)
Unarmed +8 (Close, 12 Damage)

COMPLICATIONS
Acceptance (Motivation)
Prejudice
Responsibility

[Grod_The_Giant]

Seems solid enough. I'll note that the Strength Power Profile introduce the idea of Strength-based arrays, where you take Alternate Effects of your Strength score's "built-in" damage effect. (The "damage" aspect of Strength is instantaneous, after all). Both Shockwave and Groundstrike would fit in there, and leave you more points to play with for skills and such.

Groundstrike can also be much more potent-- perhaps drop the Instant Recovery and add an Extra Condition, so that in deals Hindered and Vulnerable, Prone and Defenseless?

[Beleriphon]

Thank you for the suggestions, Beleriphon. I'll make sure to mention them to the player. What do you think about the stats for the Magmites? Do they serve any kind of threat as a group?

EDIT: Where do I find the rules on arrays? Never mind, alternate effect covers it.

Yep, an Array is just a series of alternate effects. If you're using HeroLab the Array option is just an autocalculating set of AEs..

As for the magmites they look good. If they're minions, and they could be, that would really fun. They'd go down on a failed toughness resistance check, they're active defenses (dodge and parry) are low enough that using routine attacks (10+attack bonus, its like taking 10 from D&D but on an attack, and only against minions) is useful.

[Zach J.]

This concerns the player who plans to make the character with 20 Presence. I'm not sure, but I think they plan to make their cosmic level presence natural rather than some sort of power and I'm not really comfortable with that. Would it be unfair to ask that they use the enhanced trait effect?

[JoeMac307]

In case others are interested the other completed character:

NAME
Mr. Wonderful (PL 10)

THE WONDERS OF MR. WONDERFUL
Know the Enemy: Mind Reading 10 (DC 20; Distracting, Reduced Range 2: close)
Meditation: Regeneration 5
Mental Awareness: Senses 6 (Danger Sense: Mental, Precognition, Radius: Mental)
Psychic Channeling: Flight 7 (Limited: Usable Only if Not Injured, Noticeable: Purple Glow)
The Wonder Field: Create 10 (DC 20, Tether, Limited: Defensive Objects Only, Noticeable: Glowing Purple Eyes, Reduced Range: Close)


I was wondering, the fact that Regeneration comes from Mediation for Mr. Wonderful, would that change it from a Permanent effect to a Sustained one? Minor point, since I believe they are the same cost either way, but IIRC you can perform power stunts with Sustainted effects, but not Permanent ones (at the cost that sustained effects turn off when you are ko'd)

[Beleriphon]

I was wondering, the fact that Regeneration comes from Mediation for Mr. Wonderful, would that change it from a Permanent effect to a Sustained one? Minor point, since I believe they are the same cost either way, but IIRC you can perform power stunts with Sustainted effects, but not Permanent ones (at the cost that sustained effects turn off when you are ko'd)

Oh, that's what I forgot. Mr Wonderful's Regen probably should be sustained, or even Concentration.

[Grod_The_Giant]

This concerns the player who plans to make the character with 20 Presence. I'm not sure, but I think they plan to make their cosmic level presence natural rather than some sort of power and I'm not really comfortable with that. Would it be unfair to ask that they use the enhanced trait effect?
Would you require the same of a player with 20 Strength? Heck, would you require the same of a player with 10 strength? Both are just as superhuman, and you see those all the time.

It's not unreasonable to ask, but you should be consistent, and aware that any ability score above 7 is defined as superhuman.

[Zach J.]

With the exception of fighting I think I would ask the same of any player with a score above 7. Maybe even fighting. The thing is that every other player with a stat above 7 has used the enhance trait effect to bring their stats up that high.

[Grod_The_Giant]

With the exception of fighting I think I would ask the same of any player with a score above 7. Maybe even fighting. The thing is that every other player with a stat above 7 has used the enhance trait effect to bring their stats up that high.
Fair enough. As long as you apply it consistently, then yes, I'd say it's totally reasonable.

[Zach J.]

Cool. I let the players know. They seem okay with it although they're terrified of their powers being nullified... I'm not sure what happened to them in the last game using this system, but it's made them awfully skittish concerning that particular power.

[Beleriphon]

Cool. I let the players know. They seem okay with it although they're terrified of their powers being nullified... I'm not sure what happened to them in the last game using this system, but it's made them awfully skittish concerning that particular power.

The only thing I'd note with Enhanced X is that they don't have the effect active when they're say asleep, or anything that prevents a free action from being taken. Enhanced Trait is great since you can power stunt off of it, but by the same token it might not be appropriate in certain circumstances. If you're using some alien that is really naturally that strong (like Superman) then just using a straight bought trait is often easier.

As it stands the player could make the effect permanent instead of sustained and add on innate and you'd end up with the same end result for a single extra point spent. Just a thought.

[Zach J.]

I hadn't thought about that. I may remove that stipulation. I believe it would only affect one player anyway.

[Zach J.]

Charles - PL 10

Strength 8, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Dexterity 3, Fighting 2, Intellect 10, Awareness 5, Presence 2

Advantages
Benefit, Wealth 3 (millionare), Connected, Eidetic Memory

Skills
Close Combat: Unarmed 8 (+10), Expertise: Science 10 (+20), Insight 5 (+10), Investigation 5 (+15), Perception 4 (+9), Ranged Combat: Blast: Blast 10 2 (+5), Technology 10 (+20), Vehicles 2 (+5)

Powers
Enhanced Ability: Enhanced Intellect 3 (+3 INT)
Enhanced Trait: Enhanced Trait 5 (Traits: Toughness +4 (+6), Dodge +1 (+6))
Power Suit (Removable)
. . Blast: Blast 10 (DC 25; Diminished Range)
. . Defense Effect (Saving Throw: Toughness)
. . Enhanced Ability: Enhanced Strength 7 (+7 STR)
. . Flight: Flight 11 (Speed: 4000 miles/hour, 8 miles/round)
. . . . Speed: Speed 11 (Alternate; Speed: 4000 miles/hour, 8 miles/round)
. . Immunity: Immunity 7 (Enviromental Conditions (All), Suffocation (All))
. . Movement: Movement 2 (Environmental Adaptation: Space, Environmental Adaptation: Water)

Offense
Initiative +3
Blast: Blast 10, +5 (DC 25)
Grab, +2 (DC Spec 18)
Throw, +3 (DC 23)
Unarmed, +10 (DC 23)

Complications
Fame
Rivalry

Languages
Native Language

Defense
Dodge 6/5, Parry 4, Fortitude 5, Toughness 6/2, Will 5

Power Points
Abilities 50 + Powers 65 + Advantages 5 + Skills 23 (46 ranks) + Defenses 7 = 150

Edit: 1st Revision

[Grod_The_Giant]

He's going to get splattered. His defenses are less than half of what they need to be. He's also not going to be able to hit, well, anything. Don't let your player use the character as-is-- In terms of combat numbers, he's floating somewhere around PL 5-6, by my calculation.

To free up the points for defenses and skills... are his power suit effects in an array? A "rerouting power," sort of thing, perhaps-- a dynamic array would work great for that. Putting Blast, Strength, Flight, and Speed in, oh, a 30-point dynamic array should free up a ton of points to patch up.

Other notes: he'll want the 1-point "Aquatic" extra for his Flight power to make it work underwater. He might also want to grab the Inverter advantage-- it's very useful, utterly appropriate, and he's already maxed out the relevant skill.

[Beleriphon]

The next character has been created for the game.

Charles - PL 10

Strength 8, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Dexterity 3, Fighting 2, Intellect 10, Awareness 5, Presence 2

Advantages
Benefit, Wealth 3 (millionaire), Connected, Eidetic Memory

Skills
Close Combat: Power Suit 8 (+10), Expertise: Science 10 (+20), Insight 5 (+10), Investigation 5 (+15), Perception 4 (+9), Technology 10 (+20), Vehicles 2 (+5)

Powers
Enhanced Ability: Enhanced Intellect 3 (+3 INT)
Power Suit (Removable)
. . Blast: Blast 10 (DC 25; Diminished Range)
. . Enhanced Ability: Enhanced Strength 7 (+7 STR)
. . Flight: Flight 11 (Speed: 4000 miles/hour, 8 miles/round)
. . Immunity: Immunity 7 (Environmental Conditions (All), Suffocation (All))
. . Movement: Movement 2 (Environmental Adaptation: Space, Environmental Adaptation: Water)
. . Speed: Speed 9 (Speed: 1000 miles/hour, 2 miles/round)

Offense
Initiative +3
Blast: Blast 10, +3 (DC 25)
Grab, +2 (DC Spec 18)
Throw, +3 (DC 23)
Unarmed, +2 (DC 23)

Complications
Fame
Rivalry

Languages
Native Language

Defense
Dodge 5, Parry 4, Fortitude 5, Toughness 2, Will 5

Power Points
Abilities 50 + Powers 66 + Advantages 5 + Skills 22 (44 ranks) + Defenses 7 = 150

So he's Iron Man Lite? Twice the flavour half the booze? :smallwink:

I will note he has no resistances so to speak. There are no points invested into the Dodge, Parry, Fortitude, Toughness or Will. They are currently all at the base levels afforded by the character's stats. Your player might want to take a look at those again, they're something that I often forget to increase so I can understand why they are so long. You might want to get your player to pick a default language, I'd assume English but not necessarily.

There are a few tings I'd do to free up some points for the resistances. First I'd make Flight, Speed and Movement AEs of whichever is most expensive (probably flight).

Including some Protection might be appropriate as well for some kind of power suit. If not consider Enhanced Trait to buy up ranks of Defensive Roll. Also, what is the descriptor for the Enhanced Trait (Intelligence)? Is it some kind of neural booster, alien DNA injections, or something else? I'm asking because it becomes relevant for Nullification attempts, as well as the possibility of countering other powers.