Mutants and Masterminds Beginner Characters

[SpicyBoi_Nezu]

My friend and I were looking through the Mutants and Masterminds core rulebook, because his dad owns a copy, and were thinking of trying it out sometime. I was just wondering if there was anyone who has played, and hopefully understands it well. I want a few recommendations on different character ideas that would be good for beginners. I know that there are a few Race/Archetype pairings that are really powerful, but I'd like something that isn't too complicated to play well, and allows me to enjoy something a bit different than Dungeons and Dragons, which I'm most familiar with.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Like D&D, Mutants and Masterminds has gone through a couple editions. Can you tell which one the book you have is? The easiest way is probably to look at the skill list on the character sheet and/or check the publication date.

Balance, Demolitions, Forgery, Hide, Innuendo, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Read Lips, Repair, Science, Spot, and Taunt are only found in 1e. The edition was published in 2002.
Notice is (I think?) the only skill unique to 2e. The edition was published in 2005.
Athletics, Close Combat, Deception, Expertise, Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Ranged Combat, Technology, and Vehicles are only found in 3e. The edition was published under the name "DC Adventures" in 2010, and as Mutants and Masterminds in 2011.

[Rynjin]

Yeah.

Though I can tell you that in both 2e and 3e, one of the WORST characters a beginner can try to make is a "peak human" character; your Captain America, Batman, Green Arrow, Deathstroke, Taskmaster, etc. archetype.

It is a universal issue with the system that powers cost a hell of a lot less than anything else, and are also pound for pound more expensive. Skills are overpriced, attributes are overpriced, weapon proficiency is overpriced, especially if you're going for a "master of all weapons" deal.

As a quick example, you can get the ability to fight well with every type of weapon for about FOUR TIMES the cost of just buying a melee Damage power that has a flexible power upgrade that can deal any type of damage you want. It's even less cost efficient if you want to add your Strength attribute to damage instead of just dealing the Power rank, since there are hard caps on how high your damage rank can be anyway.

It takes way more mechanical mastery to make one of these types of characters than I find reasonable.

[Anonymouswizard]

Attributes are great if you want everything that Attribute does, except maybe Presence. But except for Strength they're generally just packages of other traits with nothing that you strictly need them for (barring houserules of course).

As for beginner friendly characters Bricks are always good. But mostly I just recommend avoiding anything with Variable, the power creation advantages (Artificer, Inventor, Ritualist), or overly broad arrays.

[Beleriphon]

Your typical brick or paragon archetypes are the easiest to use general. The paragon is basically Superman, it flies, it is strong and tough, it usually has some kind of ranged attack and a few skills to support a secret identity. It generally works by flying up to something and punching the thing until the thing falls over.

The brick is similar, although typically lacks the flight, and is generally both tougher and stronger. Think the Hulk.

[apn]

I always find it best to start with an archetype and tweak it to make it something like what I want. The math/crunch of character creation in M&M has always put me off the game which is weird seeing as I rattle off characters in DC Heroes with no problem (also point buy, but less fiddly I find). Not for lack of trying either - my shelves are groaning the most under the weight of Mutants and Masterminds stuff despite the fact I've only played it a couple of times and never run it. Doh.

[noob]

Watch out for healing: healing is so powerful that in one turn you can revert the harm dealt in multiple turns of attacking of opponents which have the really bad result that basically opponents needs to focus fire the healer to have a chance to win in a straight engagement.
A beginner would not want to hear "Your character have been downed yet another time by your opponents because now its healing powers are well known by any villain worth their salt due to journalists writing articles about it"