Not-D&D Systems for "Zero to Superhero" -- recommendations?

[Max_Killjoy]

Quick question. Someone I'm talking to on another venue is looking for a system that isn't D&D because his group wants to try something else... at the same time he wants to run a campaign that that takes the characters all the way from normal people to demigods.

So is there something out there with that same progression scale or even higher at the end, but isn't D&D?

[Anonymouswizard]

Exalted and Scion both try to go from 'barely above normal humans' to 'literal gods', but both are broken. I personally prefer Scion despite it being somewhat more broken because I think 'you are the child of a god, monsters are trying to rewrite reality, stop them' is easier to grasp, especially since it uses real world pantheons. But it really is broken, while in 1e Legend 2 Scions are barely better than mortals and balanced against each other the fact that Epic Attributes scale quadratically means that by mid-Demigod tier a difference of one is basically insurmountable. 2e made a few mechanical changes I'm not fond of (mainly the Scale system), but I hear it's better balanced. Relic weapons are also broken, buying down their speed is pretty much the best combat boost in the game, beaten only by boosting Epic Dexterity (to hit everybody and dodge everything), and you can get a +4L, Speed 1 sword at character creation to act on every Tick (or a gun if you want to be outclassed by sword-users once you reach Demigod tier).

It's also pullable off in pretty much every supers system, but they tend to leave the 'zero' side as a bit boring.

Then there's Anima: Beyond Fantasy if you want something more complex than 3.5. I'd love the system if I could ever find a group willing to play it.

[Mutazoia]

There are literally hundreds of options here. It would help if we knew more about any genre preferences?

[Batcathat]

Maybe I'm just thinking of it because of the "superhero" in the title of the thread (and because I've been learning the system myself lately), but Mutants & Masterminds might work, if the players start with a low enough power level. Though admittedly it would also take sort of a gentlemen's agreement to create "normal" characters since it's possible to make some pretty bonkers super powers even with fairly few power points.

[Quertus]

Maybe I'm just thinking of it because of the "superhero" in the title of the thread (and because I've been learning the system myself lately), but Mutants & Masterminds might work, if the players start with a low enough power level. Though admittedly it would also take sort of a gentlemen's agreement to create "normal" characters since it's possible to make some pretty bonkers super powers even with fairly few power points.

Yeah, I was gonna anti-recommend that system for just that reason.

Unless, of course, the group *wants* the Wizard to completely overshadow the Fighter even more than in D&D, and from level 1.

Also, 15 sessions to gain a level - that might be too slow of pacing for modern players.

[Max_Killjoy]

Thanks for the ideas, I'll pass them along. :smile:

[Friv]

I would take a look at 2nd Edition Scion. As noted, 1e is an absolute garbage fire of a system, but the second edition is much more balanced, and also much more respectful of its various pantheons and cultures.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yeah, I was gonna anti-recommend that system for just that reason.

Unless, of course, the group *wants* the Wizard to completely overshadow the Fighter even more than in D&D, and from level 1.

Also, 15 sessions to gain a level - that might be too slow of pacing for modern players.

Eh, M&M would work, and Fighters in it are less underpowered than in D&D, as long as you follow the book's recommendations on wizards and reasonably limit summoning.

Plus, you know, being effects-based. So it doesn't matter if it's a force bolt or elven bow.

And yeah PP and PL gain can be whatever you want. One of the games I want to ruin has the PCs begging as PL4 mundanes before jumping up four PLs and 50-80PP as they get caught up in a super empowering event at the end of the first or second session. But IME 3PP per session is normal, as well as a Power Level every five sessions.


I would take a look at 2nd Edition Scion. As noted, 1e is an absolute garbage fire of a system, but the second edition is much more balanced, and also much more respectful of its various pantheons and cultures.

Oh lord, the 1e treatment of some pantheons. While I think the key mechanical issues of 1e are easily solvable (although you still probably want to read through every Boon and rewrite outliers) the less said about the [redacted] the better.

As I said I'm not a fan of 2e for mechanical reasons, but I'm glad it has an audience.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Exalted 3e is pretty damn fun, though admittedly on the slow and complicated side, and you can technically do zero to hero with it by starting as mortals... but in practice you jump pretty quickly from basically-zero (mortal hero) to world-shaping-demigod (Solar) in one step. You might be able to do it with Dragonblooded (elementally-powered Chinese/Romanic superhuman lords of the earth) by starting mortal, Exalting, and slowly building up Charms--their Excellencies ("just throw dice at it until it's gone") are Charms that have to be either purchased or picked during character creation, unlike Solars who get them for free for anything they even slightly care about.

Exalted has an awesome setting, but like I hinted earlier, it IS a very complicated system, so your mileage may vary.

*

Mutants and Masterminds... can work, if you tweak the standard progression system, but you need serious player buy-in. The cost of combat powers scale with level, but any sort of movement or utility is static. And usually extremely cheap compared to combat. 2 power points can get you heat vision with about half the efficiency of a pistol... or the ability to fly everywhere at your base speed. Or walk through walls, or turn into liquid, and so on. It can work, it's got a very balanced combat treadmill, you can't afford THAT much utility stuff at low levels, and it's a hella fun system, but you'll need to accept that players will be starting out with some crazy powers.

*

Most of the other White Wolf/Chronicles of Darkness systems (Vampire, Mage, etc) can... probably work with minor tweaking of the sort I talked about for Dragonblooded in Exalted, but I don't know character creation well enough to comment on the mortal-to-magic jump.

*

The system I designed, STaRS, (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/268061) will do zero to hero for you no problem. It's a generic rules-light system, which may or may not be to your taste, but there's a set of optional rules that are explicitly for fitting very divergent power scales in the same game. Highly recommend, for obvious reasons.

*

You can make most generic systems function, if not necessarily thrive, and there's any number of D&D editions and offshoots that might fit the experience you're looking for.

So... Besides zero-to-hero, what does your friend want out of a new system?

[Max_Killjoy]

Exalted 3e is pretty damn fun, though admittedly on the slow and complicated side, and you can technically do zero to hero with it by starting as mortals... but in practice you jump pretty quickly from basically-zero (mortal hero) to world-shaping-demigod (Solar) in one step. You might be able to do it with Dragonblooded (elementally-powered Chinese/Romanic superhuman lords of the earth) by starting mortal, Exalting, and slowly building up Charms--their Excellencies ("just throw dice at it until it's gone") are Charms that have to be either purchased or picked during character creation, unlike Solars who get them for free for anything they even slightly care about.

Exalted has an awesome setting, but like I hinted earlier, it IS a very complicated system, so your mileage may vary.

*

Mutants and Masterminds... can work, if you tweak the standard progression system, but you need serious player buy-in. The cost of combat powers scale with level, but any sort of movement or utility is static. And usually extremely cheap compared to combat. 2 power points can get you heat vision with about half the efficiency of a pistol... or the ability to fly everywhere at your base speed. Or walk through walls, or turn into liquid, and so on. It can work, it's got a very balanced combat treadmill, you can't afford THAT much utility stuff at low levels, and it's a hella fun system, but you'll need to accept that players will be starting out with some crazy powers.

*

Most of the other White Wolf/Chronicles of Darkness systems (Vampire, Mage, etc) can... probably work with minor tweaking of the sort I talked about for Dragonblooded in Exalted, but I don't know character creation well enough to comment on the mortal-to-magic jump.

*

The system I designed, STaRS, (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/268061) will do zero to hero for you no problem. It's a generic rules-light system, which may or may not be to your taste, but there's a set of optional rules that are explicitly for fitting very divergent power scales in the same game. Highly recommend, for obvious reasons.

*

You can make most generic systems function, if not necessarily thrive, and there's any number of D&D editions and offshoots that might fit the experience you're looking for.

So... Besides zero-to-hero, what do you want out of a new system?

It's not for me, it's for a participant in another discussion.

Zero-to-demigod/superhero is really not my jam, so this is one of those that I'm not as qualified to offer suggestions on, and I thought I'd ask here.

[Batcathat]

Eh, M&M would work, and Fighters in it are less underpowered than in D&D, as long as you follow the book's recommendations on wizards and reasonably limit summoning.

Plus, you know, being effects-based. So it doesn't matter if it's a force bolt or elven bow.

Yes, this is my thought as well. M&M might be even more unbalanced than D&D in some ways but at least the imbalance isn't tied to the basic character concept the same way, so a stupidly game-breaking PC can be fluffed as a fighter archetype just as easy as a mage archetype. You could even make a very powerful character that's still fairly "realistic" in the same way that Batman is "realistic".

[KaussH]

Depends a bit on how you want to do xp and what books are allowed but.

Gurps would work.

Part time gods

Hero system

Aberrant (white wolf)

Witchcraft to armageddon ( related system 2nd one opens the new power scale)

[Grod_The_Giant]

Yes, this is my thought as well. M&M might be even more unbalanced than D&D in some ways but at least the imbalance isn't tied to the basic character concept the same way, so a stupidly game-breaking PC can be fluffed as a fighter archetype just as easy as a mage archetype. You could even make a very powerful character that's still fairly "realistic" in the same way that Batman is "realistic".
You can make an argument that M&M is more imbalanced than D&D (you'd be wrong, but you could argue it), but more importantly is the fact that it isn't unbalanced in a problematic way.

You can wreck both systems with theoretical optimization, yes. But that doesn't matter at an actual table, because we have things like GMs and non-******* friends.

There are some startlingly strong options in both systems, yes. But in D&D they're usually hidden--you need to know lots of monster abilities to realize the potential of something like Polymorph or Planar Binding; you need to dig through weird sourcebooks to find things like Uncanny Forethought. It's a wizard's game, where research equals power. M&M... M&M has all the options in one place. Creating a broken character (say, "I can be invisible and intangible and still hit things") isn't really any harder than thinking of the combination in the first place. You also don't have artificial character limits like class and level, which all adds up to mean that broken powers are equally accessible to all.

More importantly, though, they're not accidentally breakable. D&D classics like "all-bear Druid vs Vow of Poverty Monk" simply don't happen. It's not impossible to make a bad character, but it's pretty obvious that you're doing so--like, say, the character in my first game who choose not to buy any defenses. Practical optimization in M&M usually boils down to "squeezing more power points out of a build"-- you can certainly get some combat advantage from having more expensive attacks and defenses, but it's a matter of diminishing returns. The hard caps on your combat numbers means that the DM never has to worry about one player not being able to hit a monster strong enough to threaten the other guy; even if all you do is run around throwing unmodified Damage or Affliction effects, you're still going to be meaningfully contributing to the encounter.

(And out of combat? If you don't have anything to do out of combat, it's because you chose not to take any non-combat abilities, not because basic archetype X inherently limits your ability to do thing Y. And Power Stunts mean that you can still whip out a nifty utility ability at need.)

[Quertus]

By "in M&M, Wizard beats Fighter even harder", I meant that is your concept had the ability to do cool things (like fly, or walk through walls), you'd be better *cheaper* than the guy with a more mundane concept.

Which might be important for "zero to superhero" considerations.

[Rerednaw]

Also from Zero to Superhero...is this a modern setting? Fantasy setting? Sci-fi?
How rapid is the growth?
Is there a overarcing theme? Such as, it's a universe dominated by martial artists (Dragonball series)?

So in terms of amount of work for the GM from least to most:

Hero
World of Darkness
GURPS

While all would work I have run into issues from running and playing them all over the years. YMMV of course. :)

I like World of Darkness with their "powers...at a cost" theme, and I love the fluff of Aberrant/Scion. But you do have to address certain flaws in the mechanics (Epic Dex and Legendary items as mentioned above). Address them and it would work because it isn't as crunchy as my next choice which would be GURPs. But WoD definitely delivers on the story/drama side. Scaling is a bit of an issue. At times Joe Normal seems exceedingly powerful compared to a 'hero' and other times they are like ants that get stepped on.

Hero system also works the same way as GURPS (covers a lot of elements) but the scaling is a bit different. Even a typical human is by the nature of the system tougher than reality. The system does scale well /best at the high (super) end of things. And it is MUCH easier to adjucate power level. In GURPs a 150 point character can easily destroy a group of 500 point ones if the first is created by an optimizer and the latter are not. In Hero you set min/max defenses, Damage classes, and active points. While you can set such in GURPS there are so many more variables to cover. Though in a good mature group that knows what kind of story you are doing (pvp monster-fest, investigative, drama, mystery) it won't be such an issue. Oh I'd also recommend Hero 4th edition for many of the reasons that I would put GURPS after Hero. Hero 5th+ gets a lot more like GURPS...with similar issues. The only real ding I put with Hero is the speed chart system and the fact that the game is very combat oriented...be mindful of those two features and it will be fine.

GURPS can cover it all...but by its very nature of attempting to cover everything in the system, GURPS becomes incredibly clunky before you even start including their optional rules. If you lay down ground rules then yeah the system is quite workable. GURPS definitely delivers on completeness of a gaming mechanic. But you may get frustrated unless you spend a lot of time trimming the rules. GURPS is one of the only systems I know where there are literally 6 different skills that apply to stealth. Sneakily following someone, sneaking in disguise, sneaking under cover, sneaking across a room, etc. are each different skills. And going through 600 pages of just the core rules just to decide how much of the rules you will need and which supplements (super powers, a complete magic system, fantasy setting or even a starting adventure) may be more than a GM may want to engage in.

Honorable mention:
I personally favor PBTA (Powered by the Apocalypse) but that system tends to work better with a fairly narrow power band. Of course it is flexible enough that one could come up with the tweaks needed (or look at the various 'hacks' others have created and pick one to suit). One of my favorite customs hack of PBTA is Monster of the Week. With zero experience you can have a character in 5 minutes and running a game for a group of new folks in 15. Everything you need to know about your character fits on one page with big print and lots of empty space. But it's greatest weakness is like most of all PBTA they don't come with many fully fleshed out adventures (no 'modules' in the classic sense of a D&D adventure).

Good luck!

[Max_Killjoy]

I think it's supposed to be fantasy-esque.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yes, this is my thought as well. M&M might be even more unbalanced than D&D in some ways but at least the imbalance isn't tied to the basic character concept the same way, so a stupidly game-breaking PC can be fluffed as a fighter archetype just as easy as a mage archetype. You could even make a very powerful character that's still fairly "realistic" in the same way that Batman is "realistic".

Oh yeah, I make no claims to it being balanced. But it recognises problems like linear warriors quadratic wizards and gives players tools to counter them. It's up to the group where they build to, but every concept can in theory be equal.

And a utility belt or other item to their on a bunch of 'cool items' to a character are part of this. The issue is not getting the power, it's justifying it.

I once had a Speed 14 robot. When asked to justify it my only response was 'comic book'.

But yeah, a M&M group can contain Superman, Green Arrow, Tony Stark, and Sir Hopsalot the Relativistic Rabbit* and have them all be equal if the players want them to be.

* I've not played him yet, but I have an actual sheet somewhere for if I ever get into another M&M game. The name might be a misnomer, I think I got him up to FTL hopping speeds, and his backstory includes a mutant equality act being so poorly written it gave him the same rights as a mutant human.


I think it's supposed to be fantasy-esque.

That covers everything from 'stone age with summoning' to 'in the future we jump between planets with mystical petals', a little more information would be nice. Particularly a rough tech level to work with.

I know you might not be able to get this information, but such things really do narroe down what we should be recommending.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I've not played him yet, but I have an actual sheet somewhere for if I ever get into another M&M game. The name might be a misnomer, I think I got him up to FTL hopping speeds, and his backstory includes a mutant equality act being so poorly written it gave him the same rights as a mutant human.
I think this is my new favorite character concept.

[Mr Beer]

I'm doing fantasy-ish zero to hero right now in GURPS. PCs start at 100 points and get 50 at the end of each session. Currently at 250. I'm confident it will go fine up to ~750 points and then juggling kewl abilities while remaining balanced may get difficult.

The only downside is that it requires reasonably thorough planning by the DM, because it's GURPS. I'm using D&D type professions and directing where points can and can't go.

[Anxe]

Hackmaster is a pretty cool fantasy system for starting as a Zero and moving up. At the beginning you're one step above a farmer for most of the classes. Character creation is super in depth and fun. Combat and non combat play are like D&D, but a little different. The basic rule set is available for free so you can try it before you buy.

It doesn't really do the demigod/superhero part well though. Your characters will level up and get stronger, but progression is slow and the cap for a fighter is more like, captain of the guard than ultra-star general if that analogy makes sense.

[GrayDeath]

If youa re looking mainly for balance/"System just works", go Gurps.
its a lot to reead, and takes ages to build/advance, but it does it well.


If the respective Players and DM`s know each other well, trust each other, and are open to simply removing/adjusting some vry OP "problems" Scion 1st Edition will work. Kinda.
It ahs the Advantage to play equally well in old and modern Times (as Firearms not using some kind of Boon suck hard), but if you choose it, ask 1 or 2 Scion veterans for the Houserule List.
We ahd fun with it for years, but it will NOT work with your regular "Munchkin, lazy rollalong, Rules lawyer and "Truest Roleplayer" D&D Group composition. ^^


Aberrant works, if you dont mind pretty low detail pool systems, very well for gaining Superpowers in the time of the Game.
Not so much for actually getting much better at "mortal" ****, as with most WW Systems.

[Duff]

Witchcraft to armageddon ( related system 2nd one opens the new power scale)
Also, the "Buffy" game uses the same system. If you houserule "You're all Whitehats", I think that would do it (you might also have to audit which advantages are available)

[Quertus]

Scion 1st Edition… will NOT work with your regular "Munchkin, lazy rollalong, Rules lawyer and "Truest Roleplayer" D&D Group composition.

Other than loving the description, I was wondering if you could expand on *why* it would be ill-suited (and, specifically, *worse* than most systems, including D&D) for such a group composition.

[GrayDeath]

Thanks, I like them as well.

Especially since they sooo often fit. ^^

As for Scion:


In Short?

Because the way you "have" to play Scion for a group Game of it to work past "we all found out we are descendants of Gods" requires a certain Mixture of Fluff over Mechanics, detailed Houseruling, trusting the DM with the (stupidly done) Fate Rules, building characters in the slim area between "doesnt work past legend 2" and "can still be fought by characters without Epic Dex and Strength", as well as adapting a lot of the Boons.

So neither RAW guys nor fully RAI guys (as the I is often hard to see) will like the system.

if you are lucky however, and have the right group AND a DM spoending the Effort and time to houserule (and who ahs enough experience in various systemsto do so) its a LOT of fun.

Especially since I have yet to find a System that does the "Barely Superhuman to God" Power Creep as well AND as easy (Scion has many flaws, but it excels at making you as Demigod and higher actually FEEL like you are that powerful....unless you didnt buy epic Attributes and your Purviews are mysticism, prophecy, Animal and Jotunblood, in that case you can only play Doggy Sherlock Holmes and "DM says we should know X" Guy and make people who drink your blood be aggressive Rockers^^).

Dang, now I want a Scion Game again. Ours died in 2014ish when 2 of 5 Players moved. Lasted for 5 years until then though, and they were a lot of fun.

[aglondier]

The Aberrant game by White Wolf does a pretty good job of human to superhuman. I played ww games for a couple of decades and quite enjoy them, other people don't, that's life. In Aberrant, character creation has you build an ordinary mortal, and then add on the super-bits. It's also fairly flexible. I've run Justice League scale games, Teen Titans, Bat Clan, as well as a WWII supers that were barely above mortals.

[Friv]

The Aberrant game by White Wolf does a pretty good job of human to superhuman. I played ww games for a couple of decades and quite enjoy them, other people don't, that's life. In Aberrant, character creation has you build an ordinary mortal, and then add on the super-bits. It's also fairly flexible. I've run Justice League scale games, Teen Titans, Bat Clan, as well as a WWII supers that were barely above mortals.

I would like to chime in to absolutely counter-argue against this.

Abberant is very flexible, in much the same way that a snapped timing belt inside your car's engine is very flexible while you're driving down the highway at eighty miles per hour. It's good at handling human to superhuman in much the same way that strapping a jet engine to your bicycle is good for getting you to the grocery store. The mechanics are about as stable as a skyscraper made of jello, and the NPCs are all either built with enough experience to turn any PC into chunky salsa, or so poorly designed that players can walk over them without a second thought. It's a superhero game in which fighting multiple opponents leaves you essentially defenseless.

Most of your powers are set up so that your superhero can nova burst out a few immensely powerful abilities and then is basically human for several hours, and the character creation system strongly encourages not buying super powers, as well as just brutally and ludicrously penalizing people who don't understand how its nonsensical mechanics are constructed to the tune of dozens of play sessions worth of power.

It's a game in which the average PC, if they don't specifically buy defensive powers, has 7 health levels and ignores one damage per attack, and buying a single point of super-strength lets you add five automatic levels of damage to each of your punches. It's a game in which offense dramatically and immediately outpaces defense, such that equivalent investment at low to mid experience totals will allow you to one-shot your enemies, but also there are more sources of defense so you can stack your defenses and eventually be invulnerable to anything that anyone could ever throw at you.

The setting is fun, in a dark White Wolf sort of way, and it is certainly possible to run a successful campaign in it as long as you play fast and loose with the rules and all of your players make characters who are at about the same level of combat capability. Otherwise, it is doom on a platter.

[GrayDeath]

Not to hamper ypour parade too much ( as yous eem very agitated about this please take this as the helpful post it is intended as^^) , but this is incredibly easy to solve.

Remove Nova Pool and make the Powers at Will. As supers usually are (or at most only let the highest maximum powr expression of a power cost "mana", say for example for lifting: only if you max it it costs you, otherwise you are strong but not too strong, yet can do it alld ay, that already worjks as is, adapting the rising costs of other Abilities should not be hard for any exoerienced DM/Player :) ).

And add a "must intend to kill someone for real" on top of the (granted, without boosted Stamina very low) "Wounds", as again, is done in most super Hero settings.
So yeah, your non Super tough guy goes down easy. So what? ^^

And done, you have a flexible, overall well working System for "more grounded" Super hero gaming.

Is it perfect, or does it work well without Houseruling?
Heck, of course not, but lets be honest, what System (aside from things like FATE or Systems that are completely simulationist, to name to extreme examples, which requires people to be willing to go for very specific ways of playing) does? :smallcool:

[Jay R]

Hero system. Start with low-level characters and be generous in giving out experience. It wouldn't be that hard to start a game with Clark Kents and end with Supermen.

Warning: there is a fair amount of arithmetic for many characters, and a lot for certain types (power absorption, power pools, etc.). My experience is that if I steer beginning players away from a few difficult types at first, that solves most problems. And I still have to design the character sheets for one or two players.

But if the GM doesn't enjoy fiddling with arithmetic, and isn't pretty quick with it, then you should probably avoid this system of games.

[Friv]

Not to hamper ypour parade too much ( as yous eem very agitated about this please take this as the helpful post it is intended as^^) , but this is incredibly easy to solve.

Not so much agitated as "doesn't want the OP to wander into Aberrant and explode."


Remove Nova Pool and make the Powers at Will. As supers usually are (or at most only let the highest maximum powr expression of a power cost "mana", say for example for lifting: only if you max it it costs you, otherwise you are strong but not too strong, yet can do it alld ay, that already worjks as is, adapting the rising costs of other Abilities should not be hard for any exoerienced DM/Player :) ).

That's a decent enough houserule, although it does remove some Backgrounds from play, which the ST will have to consider. It also means that you'll need to create new rules for Maxing powers, since as it stands the primary cost of doing so is the increased Quantum Point cost, and provides some extra leeway in terms of buying Tainted powers and buying lots of powers and triggering all of them at once, but I don't think that's a drawback, really.


And add a "must intend to kill someone for real" on top of the (granted, without boosted Stamina very low) "Wounds", as again, is done in most super Hero settings.
So yeah, your non Super tough guy goes down easy. So what? ^^

That's actually not the problem. The problem is that the game system for Aberrant does a bad job at running superhero fights, which is a problem if you are expecting superhero fights out of it. The offense > defense problem isn't just a problem of "oh my character might die", it's a problem of "the person who wins Initiative wins the fight, unless there are multiple people in which case whichever side has more people on it wins the fight because you need to allocate actions to defense in advance and each action you do this with reduces all of your die pools by a lot."

To revise that, you need to revise the multiple action system in order to make defense an option, without it becoming overpowered for Mega-Dexterity characters, and then you need to revise the damage system so that people don't drop in a single hit from an equivalently-powered opponent, which requires revising most of the damage-dealing powers.


And done, you have a flexible, overall well working System for "more grounded" Super hero gaming.

Well, once you've also revised character creation so that buying things in the wrong order during it doesn't give you an extra 15 Attribute points and buying super-powers in character creation doesn't dramatically weaken you in the long run. And once you've revised social systems to not run on (Attribute + Ability VS Willpower). And once you've revised psychic powers to not be a perfect one-touch "I Win" button against anyone who does not have a decent Psychic Shield, while being utterly useless against anyone who does. And you'll also need to revise how most of the Level 3 powers work, because they're a strange awkward hybrid attempt at giving people multiple abilities at a lower cost. You'll want to think about how many iconic powers require you to spend most of your starting points on Quantum, and then leave yourself extremely weak, unless you're looking for a D&D-style Zero to Hero approach where Storm can't control the weather until Session 5. Level 4-6 powers will probably have to be patched out entirely. You probably want to deal with the fact that without quantum points, there's no way to gain Temporary Taint, thereby taking the teeth out of that whole subsystem (but also with the fact that the subsystem as a whole isn't very good.) You'll need a way to engage with the fact that Mega-Dexterity is wildly more powerful than every other Attribute, and

By the time you're done revising everything in Aberrant that needs to be revised, you don't have much of the original system left. You're better off just starting with M&M or Cortex for a grounded game, it'll take less work.

[aglondier]

Wow...you must have had a seriously anal retentive gm...I've been playing Aberrant since it came out and never had a tenth of the problems you've related. The system works. You really don't need to give yourself ulcers over it. As it stands it is a cleaner, more straightforward system than many others (I'm looking at you Palladium). Say your bit and move on. No need to harangue the OP.