M&M 3E: Building A Character For A Newbie

[JNAProductions]

Okay, concept time...

Also, I'm gonna need help building my character-I'm not overly familiar with M&M, though I've dabbled in it before.

Hm... Would a gestalt consciousness be acceptable, and possible? The idea I'm going for is some kind of being that inhabits people's minds, just in the background, most of the time, and possibly also machinery. So the idea would be I'd act as the communications network, and spying-by letting the other capes allow me in, I'd be able to telepathically talk between them all, as well as seeing through their eyes, hearing through their ears, etc. etc.

Possibly include a (relatively weak, since I think the rest is pretty strong) mechanical body as the "main" body. So that way I can actively contribute beyond just being in people's minds.



Alternative concept is Harem, the duplicator. Able to make exact copies of herself and all of them have a constant link to each other, so they know what's going on. The original is irrelevant-so long as one remains, she can make more, and they all share the same brain, effectively.

Character concept! I believe I've heard that something similar to this has actually been done in an official book, but I'm at a total loss as to how to build this.

GM has said:


Playing at Power Level 8, with 120 Power Points.

[Reversefigure4]

The second is easy. It's the Duplication power, straight out of the book, with a +1 Flat extra for Mental Link.

The former is doable. I question whether it's a good concept for the game, though. Are the players on board with having you in their head all the time.
- Mind Reading, with the Sensory Link extra, let's you see through others senses (plus Area if you want to be able to do it to multiple people at a time).
- Communication for the telepathy.
- Comprehend (Machines), with Communication: Radio to do it at range (without having to plug into a machine) allows you to talk to machines and sensory link with them.

A gestalt consciousness without a core body is going expensive as hell, since you'll have to buy up a huge amount of immunities to represent the fact that you can't be harmed, only the bodies you're inhabiting. And it's not going to be a lot of fun, since there's limited amounts you can contribute (what are you going to be doing when you can't gather information, like in every fight scene?)

[Grek]

The mechanical body or the duplicator would be a LOT cheaper to build for. But let's assume you wanted the hard version...

Ghost in the Machine (21pts): Innate Permanent Insubstantial 4 [Vulnerable to Mental Effects]
Voice in the Back of the Head (9pts): Distracting Mental Communication 3 [Statewide Radius]
Relocalization (10pts): Distracting Extended Only Teleport 8 with Medium: Human Minds and Change Velocity/Direction. [250 miles]

40pts total spent on being a psychic ghost in the machine, so 80 points left for offense and defense and utility stuff.

[JustIgnoreMe]

The mechanical body or the duplicator would be a LOT cheaper to build for. But let's assume you wanted the hard version...

Ghost in the Machine (21pts): Innate Permanent Insubstantial 4 [Vulnerable to Mental Effects]
Voice in the Back of the Head (9pts): Distracting Mental Communication 3 [Statewide Radius]
Relocalization (10pts): Distracting Extended Only Teleport 8 with Medium: Human Minds and Change Velocity/Direction. [250 miles]

40pts total spent on being a psychic ghost in the machine, so 80 points left for offense and defense and utility stuff.

That's... that's beautiful. You've technically got a body that's present wherever you want it to be, so that avoids the issue of the "Bathroom Psychic" which is easy to build but no fun to play, play with or run for.

You might hit some funny wrinkles with technically having a body (which by default probably needs to eat, sleep and breathe), so some Immunities would be good too. Immunity: Biological Effects got talked about in another thread recently.

The initial description suggested a remote viewing type power: I'm away from books but I'm pretty sure there's one of those available out of the box. You just need to limit it to Only events happening in real time and Only events observed by humans.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The mechanical body or the duplicator would be a LOT cheaper to build for. But let's assume you wanted the hard version...

Ghost in the Machine (21pts): Innate Permanent Insubstantial 4 [Vulnerable to Mental Effects]
Voice in the Back of the Head (9pts): Distracting Mental Communication 3 [Statewide Radius]
Relocalization (10pts): Distracting Extended Only Teleport 8 with Medium: Human Minds and Change Velocity/Direction. [250 miles]

40pts total spent on being a psychic ghost in the machine, so 80 points left for offense and defense and utility stuff.
<slow clap>

Adding onto that, a "see through their eyes" power might be something like, oh Senses 3 (Communication Link, Accurate), Also Affects Others; linked to Mind Reading 1, Sensory Link, Limited to Sensory link (8pts total, I think). The Accurate Communication Link lets you target them with a Perception-ranged power regardless of normal line-of-sight; Also Affects Others means that your friends don't have to take the power.

And if you want a cool offensive ability, how 'bout slipping into your friend's head, using their powers to take a quick potshot, and moving on? Something like (Ranged) Damage ~10, Variable Descriptor 1 (attacking using whoever you're sense-linked with's powers), Indirect 4 (coming from sense-linked partner), Quirk -1 (requires sense-link to be established first)...

[BarbieTheRPG]

If the character is reading minds as described AND gathering perception through others' senses, the above power isn't complete:

Hive Mind: Mind Reading X; rank-ranged, sensory link, subtle, limited to surface thoughts, limited by language [2pp per rank + 1], linked to Communication 2; mental & electronic, short range, dimensional (astral), selective
[11pp], linked to Comprehend 2; machines [4pp]

That covers everything.