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2018-11-06, 04:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- CA
- Gender
I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
A couple years ago I posted a more-or-less entirely rewritten homebrew ruleset for Mutants and Masterminds. Since then I've been doing a fairly extensive revision in occasional spurts as inspiration struck. That revision is now complete.
The full thing is here. It's long enough that I'm not going to bother trying to copy it into posts here. What I am posting below is a general introduction, the "quick reference" tables, and the archetypes I've built with it. That should hopefully give a decent overview.
As always, any comments, critiques, feedback, questions, issues, error/typo/clarity/consistency reports, WHATEVER are extremely welcome!
Key Changes
While the entire system has been extensively revised in ways both big and small, some of the most important changes are as follows:
Rebalanced Combat Stats: Attack bonus, effect DCs, and defense modes have been consolidated and rebalanced. New players won't get tricked into buying attack bonus for two to four times what it should actually cost. Defense doesn't cost twice as much as Toughness while providing less benefit. Entire core defensive stats can't be trivially ignored by entire Extras or invalidated by certain easily-imposed conditions. And so on. Of equal importance, combat stats are now set to PL rather than capped at it, with a bit of room for boosting further at significant cost, or the option to lower for a non-trivial PP gain. Tradeoffs also still exist.
Revised Skills: Not to toot my own horn too much, but this is probably the part of the system I'm most proud of. The skills have been extensively updated with much more concrete rules and options. I mean, sure, the GM can still do your basic "yeah okay roll this skill at that DC" for simple things, but the skills now provide a number of concrete options with specific mechanical effects for characters to use. Use Investigation to predict a villain's next move based on clues they left at previous scenes. Use Persuasion to smooth over social failures or call for a pause in fighting, or Intimidation to terrorize defeated foes so they know better than to mess with you again or decisively end a social interaction. And so on. Scaling skill costs are also implemented, so generalist skillmonkeys don't have to pay through the nose just to be mediocre at everything.
Rank-independent Costs: Costs for extras are fixed now rather than rank-based, with existing stats and skills providing the number fuel. This keeps low-rank powers with heavy Extra investment from being too powerful for their price, and also makes it so powers integrate with related skills rather than supplanting them - Healing uses Treatment, Concealment uses Stealth, etc.
Versatility Points: Character creation uses both PP, for the basics of stats, measures, skills, advantages, and powers, and Versatility Points, or VP, for things like niche utilities, immunities, arrays, and the like.
Companions: Fully replacing Minions, Sidekicks, and Summons with a system for bringing in multiple characters that actually costs something like what they're worth.
Rebalanced Conditions: Expanded and revised condition options so conditions of the same tier are actually balanced with each other instead of, like, Exhausted or Immobilized trying to compete Defenseless or Disabled (to say nothing for Stunned and freakin' Compelled!) for some strange reason.
MOAR Options: Advantages, Effects, Extras, and Flaws have been consolidated, edited, rebalanced, added to, and basically just heavily overhauled. Extras are now written with an eye towards modularity to allow for more creative combinations with clear interactions. Things that let you get the exact same stuff for different costs (compare Elongation, Increased Range, and Reach) have been consolidated so everyone should be paying the same price for things regardless of system mastery/personal viewpoints of which one is the "correct" price. Some Effects have had a number of options added - Illusion actually does stuff now! Transform tells you what sort of things you can do with it! There are options for adding Extras and Flaws to most standard actions coherently!
Quick Reference
Actions
Action Skill Type Scope Range Req. Dur. Maint. Description Aid General * * * * R - Grant bonus to an action. Attack General S A C FM, PF* S - Impose conditions. Counter General * R * * - (F) - Negate or end an action. Defend General S A C * R (F) - Set minimum Defense or Resistance. Interpose General F R C FM, PF - (F) - Take an attack for an ally. Maneuver General M A C FM, PF - (F) -* Move something around. Manipulate General S* B I PM, FF R* - Socially hamper enemies. Outclass General S B P FF* - S Gain advantage with a skill. Ready General * B P FF R (F) A Prepare to act in certain circumstance. Stance General M B P PF - S Focus on a maintained benefit. Convince Deception S E (T) I PM, FF E - Social task to influence NPC. Disguise Deception M E (7) C FM, FF E - Disguise target as someone else. Distract Deception M B I PM, PF R A Distract a target's attention. Innuendo Deception F OS I PM, FF - (F) - Pass a secret message. Apply Knowledge Expertise M OS P FF - (F) - Draw relevant conclusions. Be Prepared Expertise M OS P FF - (F) - Have an item on-hand. Hack Expertise S E C PM, FF I - Bypass security measures. Impress Others Expertise F B I * S - Do something cool. Perform Task Expertise * * * * * * Do something boring. Recall Fact Expertise - OS P PF - (F) - Know something off the top of your head. Repair/Sabotage Object Expertise S E C FM, FF - (F) - Remove or inflict Object Damage. Consider Insight M OS P FF - (F) - Determine if something is a good idea. Evaluate Insight M B P FF - (F) S Determine mood and motivations of those around you. Intuit Insight M B P FF - (F) - Gain information as if spending Insight Advantage. Disturb Intimidation M OS I PM, PF S - Cause others to hesitate. Dominate Intimidation S B I PM, FF S - Prevent further social action. Incite Intimidation S E (T) I PM E - Social task to influence NPC. Terrorize Intimidation F OS I FM, FF I - Lower defeated foe's rank against you. Assess Behavior Investigation S E, OS P PM, FF - (F) - Learn motivations behind actions. Assess Clues Investigation M OS P PM, FF - (F) - Learn relevance of scene details. Falsify Evidence Investigation M E, OS C PM, FF - (F) - Plant false evidence for others to find. Gather Information Investigation S E, OS I PM*, FF - (F) - Acquire information from a group. Interview Investigation S OS I PM, FF S - Get useful information from willing subject. Verify Information Investigation S OS P PM, FF - (F) - Check if something is true. Pinpoint Perception M A P FF R - Pinpoint things with non-Accurate sense. Scan Perception M B P PF* - S Scan for things that aren't immediately obvious. Search Perception F E P PM*, FF - (F) - Thoroughly search an area. Watch Perception S B P FF - S Keep a lookout for something specific. Exchange Persuasion S B I PM, PF S - Give to get. Negotiate Persuasion M OS I PM, PF - (F) - Get someone to tell you what they want. Parley Persuasion F OS I PM, FF S - Call a hold to combat. Request Persuasion S E (T) I PM, FF E - Social task to influence NPC. Difficult Movement Prowess F A P FM, PF R S Move through restrictive environments. Feat of Prowess Prowess F A P FM, PF - (F) - Look awesome. Free Maneuver Prowess I A P FM, PF - (F) - Perform a maneuver as an instant action. Mitigate Hazard Prowess F R P PM, PF - (F) - Reduce effect of Immediate Hazard. Conceal Stealth M E C PM, PF I - Conceal an object from detection. Elude Stealth F B P FM, FF - (F) - Enemies lose track of you. Surprise Attack Stealth M B P PF - (F) - Render foes Vulnerable to an attack in certain circumstances. Aid Recovery Treatment M B C FM, FF R (F) - Boost an ally's Tenacity check. Speed Recovery Treatment S/D B/E, OS C FM, FF - (F) - Grant additional Recovery Points. Revive Treatment F B C FM, FF - (F) - Bring a character back from the brink. Stabilize Treatment S B C FM, FF - (F) - Stabilize a dying character.
Conditions
Condition Tree Tier Description Dazed Dazing 1 Lose move action. Staggered Dazing 2 Lose standard action. Stunned Dazing 3 Lose all actions. Unconscious Dazing 4 Stunned, Defenseless, and Unaware. Distracted Distraction 1 Impaired and Vulnerable for Full Focus. Disoriented Distraction 2 Disabled and Defenseless for Full Focus, Impaired and Vulnerable for Partial Focus. Incoherent Distraction 3 Stunned and Helpless for Focus. Lost Distraction 4 Incoherent, Exhausted, and Bound. Fatigued Fatigue 1 -2 Tenacity, -1 Measures. Exhausted Fatigue 2 -5 Tenacity, -2 Measures, worsened tier 1's. Spent Fatigue 3 Halve and -2 all numeric traits, halve Recovery Points, worsen tier 1-2 conditions. Empty Fatigue 4 Spent, Drained, and Handicapped. Hampered Hampering 1 Impaired and Weakened for natural traits. Handicapped Hampering 2 Disabled and Crippled for natural traits. Incompetent Hampering 3 Lose all natural traits. Useless Hampering 4 Incompetent, Bound, and Disabled. Impaired Impairment 1 -2 Accuracy and skills. Disabled Impairment 2 -5 Accuracy and skills. Impotent Impairment 3 Can't succeed most checks. Incapacitated Impairment 4 Impotent, Staggered, and Defenseless. Injured Injury 1 -2 Resistance, take a Bruise on failed Resistance check. Wounded Injury 2 -5 Resistance, double tier 0 conditions received, subject to lethal damage. Maimed Injury 3 Double points of Resistance failure, may pass out from actions. Broken Injury 4 Maimed, Crippled, and Staggered. Obscured Obscuring 1 Treat everything as Partial Concealment, can't speak. Unaware Obscuring 2 Treat everything as Full Concealment, can't vocalize. Deprived Obscuring 3 Treat everything as Total Concealment, can't intentionally make sounds. Insensate Obscuring 4 Deprived, Disoriented, and Drained. Restrained Restraining 1 Impaired and Vulnerable for Full Movement. Bound Restraining 2 Disabled and Defenseless for Full Movement, Impaired and Vulnerable for Partial Movement. Paralyzed Restraining 3 Stunned and Helpless for Movement. Encased Restraining 4 Paralyzed, Unaware, and Handicapped. Suppressed Suppression 1 Impaired and Weakened for Supernatural traits. Drained Suppression 2 Disabled and Crippled for supernatural traits. Neutralized Suppression 3 Lose all supernatural traits. Powerless Suppression 4 Neutralized, Disabled, and Crippled. Vulnerable Vulnerability 1 -2 Defense and active DCs, can't take reactions. Defenseless Vulnerability 2 -5 Defense and active DCs, enemies attacks get minimum 11, subject to lethal damage. Helpless Vulnerability 3 Worst possible result on Resistance failure, enemies may attack as reactions. Exposed Vulnerability 4 Helpless, Wounded, and Disoriented. Weakened Weakening 1 -2 Force, lose half of extras. Crippled Weakening 2 -5 Force, lose all extras. Debilitated Weakening 3 Actions fail to have mechanical effect. Harmless Weakening 4 Debilitated, Exhausted, and Wounded. Influenced Influence 1 Exert minor influence. Compelled Influence 2 Exert disruptive influence. Controlled Influence 3 Exert debilitating influence. Commanded Influence 4 Exert complete influence. Bruised Miscellaneous 0 -1 Resistance. Dampened Miscellaneous 0 -1 Force. Disrupted Miscellaneous 0 -1 Accuracy. Hampered Miscellaneous 0 -1 Measures. Hesitant Miscellaneous 0 -1 Tenacity. Hindered Miscellaneous 0 -1 Speed. First application is additional -1/5 ranks. Immobilized Miscellaneous 1 Can't move from current position. Muffled Miscellaneous 0 -1 Scope. First application is additional -1/5 ranks. Prone Miscellaneous 1 Lying on the ground, various modifiers. Sapped Miscellaneous 0 -1 Strength. First application is additional -1/5 ranks. Shortened Miscellaneous 0 -1 Range. First application is additional -1/5 ranks. Slowed Miscellaneous 0 -1 Quickness. First application is additional -1/5 ranks. Tagged Miscellaneous 0 -1 Defense. Dying Lethal N/A Will die unless it can keep making Tenacity checks. Critical Lethal N/A Will die if not treated soon. Treated Lethal N/A Suppresses Dying and Critical. Stable Lethal N/A Suppresses Dying and Critical, harder to remove. Dead Lethal N/A Removed from play.
Environments
Environment Basic Advanced Bestow Movement Grants movement utilities with capped Speed. Raises Speed instead of capping. Block Projections Blocks effects that can pass through objects. Doesn't allow a check. Cover Spend maneuver to gain Partial Cover. Upgrade to Full Cover. Enhance Effect +2 circumstance for certain effect, source, or origin up to environment rank. Upgrade to +5. Extend Movement Increase Speed (1/2 ranks) and lower Prowess DCs (1/rank) for certain movement mode. Affects all movement modes. Extend Projectiles Increase range of projectiles 1 Distance rank per 2 ranks. Also impose -1 Defense vs. ranged Contact attacks per 4 ranks. Extend Sense Increase range of visual senses 1 Distance rank per 2 ranks. Also halve starting Distance rank. Hamper Resistance check or tier 1 condition while within. Tier 2 if fail by 2 degrees. Impede Movement Reduce Speed (1/2 ranks) and increase Prowess DCs (1/rank) for certain movement mode. Affects all movement modes but Teleport and Permeate. Impede Projectiles Reduce range of projectiles 1 Distance rank per 2 ranks. Also impose -1 Accuracy on ranged Contact attacks per 4 ranks. Impede Sense Reduce range of visual senses 1 Distance rank per 2 ranks. Also double starting Distance rank. Restrict Movement Prowess check or specific movement mode required to move through area. Can't move through area without appropriate movement mode. Restrict Sense Partial Concealment against a chosen sense. Upgrade to Full Concealment. Natural environments can upgrade again to Total. Suppress Effect -2 on certain effect, source, or origin if below rank. -2 if below twice rank, -5 if below rank.
Surges
Surge Cost Active Description Action 20-40 Varies Take an additional action. Bonus 10-40 Varies Get a bonus or negate a penalty. Edit Scene 20 No Add a detail to a scene. Inspiration 20 No Get a hint or clue from the GM. Mitigate 30 No Reduce all degrees of an attack by 1, prevent cumulating conditions. Negate Attack 30 No Roll Defense check with +10 heroic bonus to negate hit. Recover 40 No Reduce the duration of an effect by one step. Request Support Varies No Get help from an allied NPC. Reroll 20-40 Varies Reroll a check with a +10 heroic bonus. Retry 10 Varies Ignore one-shot scope for one failure. Reveal Varies Yes Spend unspent PP or VP immediately. Stunt 20 Yes Gain new capabilities for the rest of the scene.
Advantages
Advantage Type Description Accurate Attack Combat Accurate Attack stance can swap up to 5 points. Active Defense Combat Active Defense stance can swap up to 5 points. Animal Empathy Skill No penalty to use interaction skills on animals. Anticipate Skill Use Insight Advantage to learn what an enemy will do on next turn. Assessment Skill Use Insight to learn about the target's stats. Assistant Skill Use Expertise to Aid actions related to your proficiencies. Attractive Skill, Ranked (2) Gain social advantage more easily against those who find you attractive. Beginner's Luck Fortune Spend 20 HP for automatic 21 on untrained skill check. Commander General Divide degrees of Aid success among multiple allies. Complex Stance General, Ranked Combine certain stances together. Connected Fortune Spend 20 HP to establish existence of helpful NPC. Contacts Skill Gather Information much more quickly. Cunning Application Skill, Ranked Use a different skill for a certain purpose. Daze Skill Successful Manipulate action also Dazes target. Defensive Attack Combat Defensive Attack stance can swap up to 5 points. Defensive Manhandle Combat Successful Defend action allows you to maneuver target. Defensive Manipulation Skill Successful Defend action allows you to manipulate target. Defensive Roll Combat Reduce number of tier 0 conditions imposed by an attack by accepting a maneuver instead. Disruptive Attack Combat Replace tier 0 conditions with maneuvers. Eidetic Memory Skill Use half Expertise for all fields for purposes of Recalling Facts. Encourage General Use rescaled social skills to Aid allies. Evasion Combat, Ranked (4) Gain bonuses to defend against Area attacks. Extraordinary Effort Fortune May use two different active surges per round at increased cost. Fascinate Skill Make targets pay attention to you in lieu of other actions. Fast Grab Combat Perform advanced maneuver as move action with attack. Favored Environment General Get combat or skill bonus in certain type of terrain. Favored Foe General Get attack or skill bonus against certain type of enemy. Fearless General Immune to mundane fear, +2 on Resistance vs. [Fear] descriptor. Great Endurance General Get a bonus to resist repetitive attacks and hardships. Group Manipulation Skill, Ranked (2) Manipulate a group at a lower penalty. Hide in Plain Sight Skill Move with Elude action to get to concealment. Improved Critical Combat, Ranked (4) Increase range of Accuracy check results that cause a critical hit. Improved Defense Combat +2 to Defend actions targeting yourself. Improved Grab Combat, Ranked Grab targets with only one arm, don't count their weight unless moving them. Improved Hold Combat Grabbed target treats all maneuvers as advanced maneuvers. Improved Initiative Combat, Ranked +5 initiative per rank. Improved Interpose Combat 1/round turn failed Interpose into successful partial Interpose. Improved Manhandle Combat Successful Maneuver action against unwilling target inflicts one more maneuver. Improved Manipulation Skill Manipulate actions last one additional round. Improved Smash Combat Attack an opponent and its objects simultaneously. Improvised Tools Skill No DC increase for minimal or improvised requirements. Inspire Fortune, Ranked (5) Spend Hero Points to grant all allies a heroic bonus for one round. Instant Maneuver Skill, Ranked Perform a certain basic maneuver as an instant action. Inventor Skill, Ranked (2) Use downtime and Expertise skill to create temporary devices. Jack of All Trades Skill Use half Expertise for untrained Apply Knowledge, Impress Others, and Perform Task actions. Leadership Fortune Spend Hero Points on allies' behalf. Linguist Skill Use Expertise to understand unknown languages. Move-by Action Combat Intersperse movement with other actions. Power Attack Combat Power Attack stance can swap up to 5 points. Power Refinement General Trade off Accuracy and Force for purposes of caps. Precise Attack Combat, Ranked (3) Attacks reduce effect of cover or concealment. Prone Fighting Combat No penalties to combat while Prone. Ready for Anything Skill Substitute third-highest skill to set passive DCs. Reckless Defense Combat Reckless Defense stance can take two conditions for +5 to a stat. Redirect Skill Can manipulate an opponent into hitting an ally with a missed attack. Second Chance Skill Roll skill check as well as setting DC in certain circumstances. Seize Initiative Fortune Spend 20 Hero Points to gain Automatic Initiative. Set-up Skill, Ranked Transfer benefits of a successful Manipulate action to your allies. Sherlock Scan Skill Use lower of Perception or Investigation to scan for clues about a target. Skill Mastery Skill +5 heroic bonus on checks with a certain skill. Stalwart Defense Combat Stalwart Defense stance can swap up to 5 points. Special Attack Combat, Ranked Gain an additional special attack. Specialization Skill, Ranked Get a circumstance bonus for a certain use of a certain skill in a certain situation. Takedown Combat, Ranked (2) If you drop an enemy, free attack against a minion. Teamwork General +5 circumstance bonus on Aid actions that target others. Tracking Skill, Ranked Use Perception to follow tracks. Trance General, Ranked Fall into a trance for various benefits. Ultimate Effort Fortune Spend Hero Points to make a reroll an automatic 20 for certain type of check. Uncanny Dodge Combat Not Vulnerable due to Surprise, Surprise Attacks, or Concealment. Universal Extra General, Ranked Apply certain low-cost extras to all powers of a given effect. Weapon Break Combat Successful Defend action lets you attack attacker's weapon. Well Informed Skill Get information on encountering someone for the first time.
Effects
Effect Cost Type Scope Range Req. Dur. Maint. Description Aid 0 V V V V R - Add modifiers to Aid action. Attack 0 S A C PM, PF* S - Add modifiers to Attack action, gain a special attack. Bestow V S B C PM, FF - S Grant traits to another. Commune 0 V V V V V V Add modifiers to any action involving communication. Concealment 10 F B P PF - S Gain Partial Concealment from vision while active, add extras to Stealth actions. Create 20 S B C PM, FF R S Conjure objects and barriers. Defend 0 S A C * R (F) - Add modifiers to Defend action. Discern 0 V V V V V V Add modifiers to actions involving knowledge, learning, and figuring. Enhance 0 I B P - - S Add further modifiers to a different effect. Environment 10 M B C FF R S Change environment effects in the area around you. Exert 0 V V V V V V Add modifiers to actions involving physical movement/manipulation. Healing 0 V V C FM, FF - (F) - Add modifiers to Treatment actions. Illusion 10 M B R FF R S Modify what others perceive. Nullify 0 V R V V - (F) - Add modifiers to Counter action against same source or origin. Perceive 0 V V V V V V Add modifiers to actions involving noticing things. Transform 10 S V C PM, FF R S Transform things into other things.
Extras
Extra Cost Description Absorb 10 Convert successful defense to Aid effect as a reaction. Accurate 1 +1 to hit, -1 to effect. Additional 10 Cause an additional result on a success. Additional Sense 1 (N) Affect additional senses or sense types. Affects Insubstantial 2 (N) Ignore Insubstantial immunities. Affects Objects 2 (N) Ignore Object immunities. Aggravated 20 (N) Ignore Standard immunities and trigger weakness-based complications. Area 10 Affect multiple targets in an area. Astronomical 1-3 (N) Operate on interplanetary scale. Augmented 10 Special improvement based on effect. Aura 10 Zone follows a character or object. Battering 10 Inflict additional tier 0 conditions. Broad 10 (VP) Make choices on power use rather than creation. Brutal 10 Fewer points of success/failure required to improve results. Consume 10 Successful defense heals you as a reaction. Contagious 10 Effect spreads to others who come near. Continual 10 Repeat uses keep prior check. Counterstrike 10 On successful defense, take same action against initiator as a reaction. Cumulative 8 Attack conditions combine degrees. Dangerous 1 Equivalent to Improved Critical advantage. Dimensional 1-3 (N) Power works across dimensions. Diverse 1 (VP) Make multiple choices when creating power, choose which applies on use. Divisible 1 Divide potential effects among multiple targets. Effortless 5 (N) Make multiple attempts with one-shot action. Fast 10 Power loses extended scope. Homing 10 New chance to hit in later rounds. Immediate 30 If power succeeds, repeat to add degrees until it fails or maxes out. Increased Duration 10 Increase duration of a power one step per rank. Increased Maintenance 5 Increase maintenance of a power one step per rank. Increased Range 1 Close power becomes ranged. Incurable 5 (N) Ignore Recovery Immunities, increase duration of conditions. Independent 20 Power ignores effects on you. Indirect 2 Originate from point other than user. Insidious 2 Effects of the power are not immediately obvious. Linked 5 Use two effects together for one action cost. Movable 8 Allows you to move the power's area as a move action. Multiattack 10 Attack multiple targets or get an effect bonus from a high roll. Penetrating 5 (N) Ignore Resistance immunities and lower Resistance minimums. Phasing 20 Ignores all forms of cover. Potent 1 +1 effect, -1 to hit. Precise 1 Power allows refined control. Progressive 20 Power's degree may increase each round. Reaction 10 Power gains the reaction scope. Reciprocate 10 Failed defense reciprocates damage. Redirect 10 You may choose target of defensive reactions. Reduced Action 10 or 20 Lower the action type. Reflect 15 Successful defense reflects effect upon user. Reliable 5 Checks get +2 heroic bonus per rank. Repeatable 10 Power repeats over time. Resurrection 10 Allows a Healing power to bring back the dead in a short window of time. Reversible 1 Can reverse the results of power. Ricochet 1 Can bounce an attack off a solid surface to get around cover or surprise target. Secret 1 Cannot be detected by Tactical senses without Perception Advantage. Selective 10 You decide who is or is not affected. Sensory Link 5 Allows you to see through target's eyes when connected mentally. Simple 2 Lessen a requirement by one step. Split 1 Take a penalty to affect more targets. Subtle 2 or 5 Power has no obvious display. Sweeping 10 Affect a wide sweep to target more characters or mitigate a successful defense. Tracing 5 (N) Ignore Defense immunities, increase DC to Interpose. Triggered 2 Set power beforehand to trigger in a certain circumstance. Variable Descriptor 1-2 Choose descriptor on use. Withstand 10 Reduce tier 0 conditions received. Zone 0 Area effect with duration lasts within area, rather than lasting on those who were initially exposed.
Flaws/Limits
Flaw Cost Description Activation Limit 1+ Must spend an action to activate each scene. Advantaged Limit 1 or 5 Negated by or requires certain skill Advantage. Buildup Limit 1+ Must build up charges before use. Capped Flaw -10 Limits the degree of result. Complex Flaw -2 Increase requirements for the power. Complicating Limit 1+ First use each scene grants GM some free Hero Points to use against you. Conditional Limit 5/tier Only usable against targets with certain condition. Contingent Limit 10 Using it requires certain result on a check. Costly Limit 10 Must spend HP to activate. Distracting Limit 5 Suffer a condition as long as upgrade is active. Disruptable Limit 5 Effect deactivates on failed Resistance check. Empathic Flaw -20 You suffer any effects placed or removed. Fades Flaw -10 Each use penalizes future uses. Feedback Flaw -10 Suffer damage when manifestation or target of effect is damaged. Focused Limit 2 Take penalty on other stats, skills, and measures while active. Full Power Flaw -1 Must use at full strength. Increased Action Flaw -10 Power uses higher action type. Invested Flaw -20 While power is active, you are removed from play. Lessened Flaw -1 or -5 Reduces a numerical trait involved in use of power. Limited Limit Varies Only usable or applicable in certain circumstances. Locked Limit 1 or 2 Traits with a downside can't be turned off. Medium Limit 10 Power that operates over a distance requires a certain medium. Mundane Flaw -5 to -20 Power uses lower character rank. Noticeable Limit 1 Clearly noticeable while active. Passive Limit 10 Cannot use in same round as you target someone else. Proportional Flaw -5 Must divide stat among certain calculations for power. Quirk Flaw -1 or Limit 1 Minor inconvenience attached to power. Reduced Duration Flaw -10 Power has a lower duration. Reduced Maintenance Flaw -5 Power has a lower maintenance. Reduced Range Flaw -1 Ranged power becomes Close. Removable Limit 0+ Power can be temporarily removed by circumstance or enemy action. Requirement Limit 5 Must spend action or effort a certain way to use upgrade. Resistable Flaw -2, -5, or -10 Power is easier to resist. Restricted Limit 1+ You have fewer options for using the trait. Selfish Flaw -10 Power only benefits you. Selfless Flaw -10 Power only benefits your allies. Sense-dependent Flaw -2, -5, or -10 Targets must be able to perceive the effect. Short Flaw -2 Scene duration power expires after a few rounds. Side Effect Flaw -10 or -20 Suffer conditions on power use. Source Limit 10 Must be in close range of the source to use the power. Synchronized Flaw -1 Tied to another power, ends when it does. Tiring Limit 10 If you used the power, gain condition with episode duration. Uncontrolled Limit 5 or 10 Certain choice for power is outside of your control. Unreliable Limit 10 50% chance each round that upgrade is unavailable. Last edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2018-11-08 at 09:54 PM.
A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
World of Aranth
M&M 3e Character Guide
-
2018-11-06, 04:29 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- CA
- Gender
Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Utilities
Utility Cost Description Arrays Array Slot 1 VP/5 PP Gain additional mutually exclusive sets of traits. Dynamic +1 Only count used points towards array total. Flexible +1 Can mix-and-match extras and effects from Flexible slots. Reaction +1/10 PP Swap array slot as instant reaction. Shiftable +1 Shift values of extras in the slot. Slow Limit 2+ Takes time to swap array slot. Synched +0 Use this array's value to activate a different array's slots. Variable +3/5 PP Can change the traits in this slot 1/scene. Arrays (Variable) Additional Change +1/5 PP Change slot one additional time per scene. Broad Theme +2/5 PP Power's theme is broad enough to justify virtually any trait. In Play Limit 2+ Traits you use have to be "brought into play" somehow. Narrow Theme -1/5 PP Power's theme is especially narrow. Communications Clarified Communication Varies Other characters possess Senses utilities for purposes of detecting your communication. Comprehensive Communication 2-6 Comprehend a non-linguistic form of communication. Communication Link 1 Communicate with others with similar link. Encrypted Communication 1+ People who aren't authorized to receive communication can't understand it. Interface Communication 2-4 Interface with electronic data. Projected Communication 2-10 Communicate at a distance. Rapid Communication 1 Double communication speed. Selective Communication 2 Only those you wish to hear you do so, without super-sense. Universal Communication 2-6 Speak/understand any language. Fortunes Augmented Edit 5; Instant Reaction May keep Hero Points when using Edit Scene. Augmented Inspiration 5; Instant Reaction Ask additional questions when using Inspiration. Augmented Recovery 5; Instant Reaction Reduce additional conditions when using Recover. Augmented Reroll 5; Instant Reaction Get a critical bonus on a Reroll. Augmented Stunt 5; Instant Reaction Gain multiple benefits from Stunts. Charge Luck 5; Basic Move or Standard Take an action to grant temporary Hero Points. Lucky Streak 5; Free Reaction Can gain Hero Points on natural 20, opposed natural 1. Negate Luck 5; Instant Reaction Can prevent Hero Points from being used against you. Save Luck 5; Instant Reaction May retain half Hero Points spent. Share Luck 5; Instant Reaction May send half Hero Points spent to an ally. Siphon Luck 5; Instant Reaction May gain half Hero Points spent by an ally. Spread Luck 5; Instant Reaction Defensive surge applies to all targeted by attack. Steal Luck 5; Free Reaction May gain half Hero Points spent by an opponent. Stock Luck 5; Free Reaction Can gain Hero Points on natural 1, opposed natural 20. Temporal Action 5; Free Reaction Action surge retroactively applies last round. Temporal Bonus 5; Free Reaction Get a Bonus after rolling for double Hero Points. Temporal Edit 5; Free Reaction Expand usage of Edit Scene. Temporal Inspiration 5; Free Reaction Use Inspiration to learn about past or future. Temporal Mitigation 5; Basic Free Mitigate conditions after the fact. Temporal Reroll 5; Free Reaction Can forego a poor reroll to conserve the Hero Points. Temporal Support 5; Free Reaction Request Support from your past or future self. Immunities Age Immunity 0 You don't age, or do so very slowly. Ally Immunity 1+ Specific people can't harm you. Cipher 1+ It's hard to get information about you. Condition Immunity 10 Ignore the effects of a certain condition. Critical Immunity 5 Treat critical hits as normal hits. Defiance 20 You can recover from tier 3 Scene-duration conditions using Tenacity. Hardship Immunity 1 Ignore certain hardships. Hazard Immunity 2 or 10 Ignore certain hazards. Instant Escape 10 Maneuver action lets you auto-escape. Interaction Immunity 1 or 10 Immune to interaction skills, but can't use them on others. Lethal Immunity 5 Lethal damage treated as nonlethal. Life Support 10 Immune to all hardships. Maneuver Immunity 15 Immune to undesired Maneuver actions, position changes, and the Immobilized condition. Manipulate Immunity 15 Immune to the Manipulate action. Nonlethal Immunity 2-10 Highly resistant to nonlethal damage. Standard Immunity Varies You are immune or resistant to certain types of attack. Temporal Inertia 1 You are anchored in the space-time continuum. Morphs Shifting Attire 1-2 Change your clothes freely. Shifting Body 5 Make minor appearance changes to reconfigure physical features. Shfiting Form 2+ Take on entirely different shapes. Shifting Features 1-2 Make cosmetic changes freely. Shifting State 10+ Become less substantial, gaining certain movement and immunity effects. Shifting Voice 1-4 Alter your voice. Movements Adapted 1 Ignore Impede/Restrict Movement of chosen descriptor. Burrowing 10 Move through solid objects destructively. Climbing 1-2 Move along non-horizontal surfaces freely. Dragging 1 Drag willing targets freely, drag without carrying. Flight 10 Move freely in three dimensions. Flow 2-4 Pass through small openings. Gliding 5 Control movement during a fall. Hovering 2 or 5 Cease falling or levitate. Leaping 2 Jump uses higher of Strength or Speed. Permeate 10 Move through solid objects non-destructively. Portal 5 Movement opens a portal that others can pass through. Safe 1 Performing a maneuver cancels existing falling velocity. Sure 1 Reduce external penalties to Speed. Stable 1-2 Move across surfaces that don't support your weight. Swinging 2 Swing through the air using projections. Teleport 15 Move without passing through intervening space. Tunneling 10 As Burrowing, but leaves a tunnel. Trackless 1 Harder to track with certain senses. Senses Accurate 2 Sense can pinpoint exact locations. Acute 1 Sense can identify and recognize individuals. Analytical 1 Easily determine fine details. Broad 1 Pick up broader range of stimulus. Circuitous 1-2 Detect things around objects. Clear 2 or 6 Sense ignores certain impediments. Danger Sense 5 Get an instant warning of threats or hazards. Detect 1 Sense a descriptor others can't. Informative 4-12 Sense provides additional useful information. Microscopic 2 Perceive extremely small things. Piercing 5 Perceive through solid objects. Positional Awareness 1 Aware of position in space and time. Radius 1 Perceive in all directions simultaneously. Ranged 1 Required to use full Scope. Remote 10 Project sense over a distance. Simultaneous 5 Perceive multiple locations simultaneously. Tactical 2 Informative sense reveals information about powers. True 5 Automatically recognize falsehoods. Vague -1 Sense can't tell much difference between things.
Features
Feature Cost Type Description Alarm 2 DVI Unauthorized access triggers alarm. Alternate Identity 2 C Additional legal identity. Ambidexterity 2 C Use both hands equally well. Beacon 2 CDVI Output a trackable beacon. Benefit V V Varies. Combat Simulator 2 R Room for simulating combat situations. Communications 1 CDVI Connect to communications network. Computer 1 CDVI Computer functionality. Concealed 2 DI Device easy to hide, installation hard to find. Defense System 2 DVI Attack in response to unauthorized use or access. Diplomatic Immunity 2 C Cannot be prosecuted for crimes in other nations. Dual Size 1 CDVI Object bigger on inside than outside. Environment 2 VI Choose internal environment (including effects). Fortified 2 VI Raise durability of object sections. Grounds 1 I Installation surrounded by outer grounds. Growth 1 CDVI Make it bigger! Hidden Compartments 2 CDVI Allows hidden storage space. Holding Cells 2 R Room for securing prisoners. Immovable 2 D Device cannot be moved by external forces. Immunity 2 I Installations can acquire immunities as features! Individual 2 D Individual objects must be attacked/disarmed separately. Installation Power 2 I Installations can acquire powers as features! Intelligent 10 DVI Object is sentient and intelligent. Iron Stomach 1 C No negative effect from consuming non-toxic substances. Isolated 2 I Installation is hard to reach. Jumping 1 C Increase jumping height and distance by 10%. Language 1 C Learn an additional language. Light Source 1 CDV Illuminate 30' radius or 60' cone. Living Space 1 R Suite with all amenities required for full-time occupation. Luxury 1 R Cool special room with no practical purpose. Might 1 CV Increase carrying capacity by 10%. Navigation System 1 CDV Avoid getting lost and make best time. Neural Interface 5 DVI Users can interface with object mentally. Occupant Power 2 I Installation power usable by those within rather than installation itself. Organization Rank 2 C Member of a significant organization in good standing. Personnel 5 VI Includes a generally noncombatant crew or staff. Portable 2 V Vehicle can collapse into portable form. Power System 2 VI Object is independent of outside power. Power Dampener 5 I Suppresses powers of chosen source or origin while within. Proficiency 2 C Proficient in a certain field of Expertise. Projection Blocker 2 VI Walls block projections. Purge 2 VI Purge effects of chosen descriptor that enter. Recorder 1 CDVI Record sensory information from chosen sense for later review. Remote Control 1 DVI Object can be used remotely. Remote Function 1 I One or more rooms separate from main structure. Restricted 5 D Device only usable by certain people. Sealed 5 I Installation sealed off from outside world. Secret 2 I Installation is more than what it seems. Secure Location 1 VI Add features to only certain room at lower cost. Security (Alternative) 5 DVI Change the nature of security measures. Security (Easy) 1 VI Authorized users can bypass one security measure with free action. Security (Improved) 2 DVI Bypassing security requires additional degree of success. Security (Layered) 5 DVI Multiple redundant security measures. Security Clearance 2 C Have access to classified information and resources. Self-Repairing 10 DVI Object recovers as a character. Shrinking 1 CDVI Make it smaller! Stasis Chamber 1 CDVI Hold people in stasis, unable to act, unaging, and with full Life Support. Stamina 1 C Delay effect of most hazards. Status 5 C Special social status in certain area. Storage 1 CD Can safely store things inside. Summonable 5 DV Summon device or vehicle as free action. Sustenance 2 C Sustain self by abnormal means. Swiftness 1 CV Increase movement speed and top speed by 10%. Temporal Limbo 5 I Time flows at different rate. Tool 1-10 CD Satisfies requirements for tools. Transport 10 I Installation can be used as limited transport. Upgrade 40 I Treat installation PL as one higher. Vehicle Storage 2 R Room for storing and deploying vehicles. Wealth 5 C You have more resources, improving some surges. Weapon Systems 2 I Installation has weaponry that can actively defend it. Workspace 2 R Room for working on certain type of task.
Archetypes
Originally Posted by BattlesuitOriginally Posted by ConstructOriginally Posted by Crime FighterLast edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2018-11-06 at 04:37 PM.
A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Originally Posted by Energy ControllerOriginally Posted by GadgeteerOriginally Posted by Martial ArtistOriginally Posted by MimicOriginally Posted by MysticOriginally Posted by ParagonA role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Originally Posted by PowerhouseOriginally Posted by PsychicOriginally Posted by ShapeshifterOriginally Posted by SpeedsterOriginally Posted by WarriorOriginally Posted by Weapons Master
Originally Posted by Blank TemplateLast edited by Quellian-dyrae; 2018-11-12 at 09:41 PM.
A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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2018-11-10, 03:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
I totally wasn't stalking that webpage or anything...
First of all, I think a lot of these changes are for the better. You don't get into as much of a rut where you have to continuously "keep up" in powers after you get them with more investment like you did before, versatile abilities feel like they're in a better place without having to worry about Scope, no more confusion between playing currency and building currency, lots of stuff. Specific things:
1) The first, and most dangerous, issue is rather arcane and involves using Companions with the Independent Arrays option and some Limits. Let's do a very simple example where you have a Companion Set with Two PL 8s (A and B) using independent Arrays and taking an additional -1 to a single stat. (PR-10+1-1=-10.)
Let's say they're using a non-tradeoff spread of 8/8/8/8/7, and then choose to sell that down to 3/3/3/3/2 for 125 PP. Then, they make a 125 point Array where one slot is Limited to A and the other is Limited to B (both of these are 5 point Limits, half of -10.) In slot A, you could put +7/+7/+5/+5/+7 to stats for a cost of 125+60=185, well within the allotable points of 125*1.5=187.5. In slot B, you could put +5/+5/+7/+7/+7 for the same cost.
The result of this is that your two companions somehow have finagled themselves into having stats of 10/10/8/8/9 and 8/8/10/10/9 spending a net of zero PP and 50 VP. There are probably more silly and less silly versions of this (this is a particularly silly version just to highlight the discrepancy), but the fact that the math allows this kind of nonsense at all probably means there is wrongness here.
2) Related but perpendicular to the above, it's a little unclear how selling down and buying up stats works when you want to shove your stats into upgrades for some reason, as is the case in Battlesuit for example. Basically, does the "PL-5" cap on selling a stat down for 5 points actually mean "PL+Tradeoff-5"? Like, if Force is traded up to 15, do you get 35 points for selling it down to a 5 or 50 points? Similarly, if Accuracy is traded down to 5, do you get 25 points for selling it down to 0 or 10 points? This is more of a clerical issue, but given the archetypes do this kind of stuff frequently I think it should be clear.
3) The Force restriction on Extras stacked on a power feels pretty relevant, but the Accuracy one feels less so. Maybe it's because I've been favoring fewer, more complex array slots, but you might want to look at constraining the total amount of VP/PP invested in slots of an array rather than just the raw slots. (So a Dynamic Slot would count as 2 slots and a Variable as 4 slots for the purpose of the restriction.)
4) The Reliable Extra seems a little undercosted. For 25 PP, you could give your attacks a +10 Heroic bonus, which is sort of similar to getting +5 Accuracy, just with less variance. +5 Accuracy costs 50 PP instead. I would personally think Reliable would still be interesting at +1 Heroic bonus/5 PP.
5) Do you still need to Create only a specific kind of thing with a Create power by default? The Wizard Archetype doesn't have a descriptor on it but the text of Create suggests that you do. Also, is the Resistance of Created objects just as the mundane version in the Objects table, or is it determined by your Force as suggested in the Proportional Flaw's text?
6) If you have a Total Recovery Immunity deactivated for whatever reason (inside an array or upgrade for example), get afflicted with the condition, and then activate the Immunity, does the condition immediately go away? The text sort of implies this, but "Total allows you to completely ignore such effects; you basically recover from them the instant they are inflicted." could go either way really. And the minor and major versions would definitely help with conditions inflicted while they were off, looking at their text. This seems a bit better than other total Immunities, but there may be other edge cases they have in their favor.
7) {Language/Editing nitpick} In the Arrays section, Reaction uses "+1 per 10 PP" and Variable uses "+3 per 5 PP", even though it's implied that points are relative to 5 PP anyway (none of the rest are labeled, so one would assume Variable would just be "+3") Is this just some legacy text on Variable that got lost in editing? The language could almost imply a quadratic cost the way it's presented (ie (+3 per 5 PP) per 5 PP) but the Archetypes seem to show that Variable really does just mean (+3). Maybe it'd be cleaner to just call Reaction (+0.5) too? I'm not sure if words are more painful than decimals here.
8) Contact seems like kind of an overloaded delivery mode compared to the others. Splitting it into Contact and Impact before helped that, but I can understand it may have felt a bit weird. It's probably just a thing that Delivery Modes and Attack Modes are going to all have different rates of use, but Contact seems like it might equal all the rest of the delivery modes combined.
9) I'm not sure what I think about exponential skill costs. On the one hand it means they won't really scale with PL the same way. It definitely helps make them more scale-invariant (like, skill differences between different PLs will be less intense than otherwise), so if that's what you were going for, it's probably good. Maybe parabolic cost instead of exponential would work a little less sharply, if you want something in between on this one. (ie 2-4-6-8 SP per tier instead of 2-4-8-16)
10) Selfless and Selfish should maybe be Limits and not Flaws. As Flaws they can make powers that still retain a lot of value extremely cheap (For example Selfish Linked Reliable Defend at 1 PP.) They sort of make more sense as Limits, since they don't directly weaken the effects, just reduce their scope.Last edited by DeAnno; 2018-11-10 at 03:37 PM.
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2018-11-11, 03:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
May I just say, you are really good at this . And I appreciate the proofreading.
Yeah, that seems off. I'll probably need to mull over it some more and run some numbers to be sure, but I think what ends up being the problem with it is the combination of Independent Arrays, and being able to apply separate Limited to Companion limits to the traits in multiple slots of the same array, thereby letting both limited traits apply simultaneously. At best, at least when Independent Arrays are in play, Limited to Companion limits should only be able to apply to the slot costs (maybe, if both are being used in the same array?), since there's no real downside to the traits being limited in use because you can still use them both together. Going to need to think on it more with a fresh brain, but I think that might solve the issue.
It's PL - 5, period. If you trade Defense down 3 and Accuracy up 3, you can lower Defense by two more points before diminishing returns comes in. Flip side, you can now lower Accuracy by up to eight points before diminishing returns comes in.
I had considered a VP restriction on arrays, but decided it would be too prohibitive for things like heavily Variable focused concepts like the Mimic and Shapeshifter, or "Metamorph" style characters. I think this may be kinda character or preference dependent though. Someone with a single really beefy Variable slot, for example, or who just doesn't want a lot of array slots, will get less value from Accuracy. But someone who favors stat boosts over extras, or makes extensive use of Linked effects, will find Force less valuable. Worth keeping an eye on, but my gut is that it isn't a particular balance concern.
Actually, yeah, looking at it, the math is pretty obvious. A heroic bonus at the end of the day is +1, limited to rolls of 10 or less. I'll adjust that one.
What you can form depends on the effect's descriptors. So yeah it should require Variable Descriptor to form a bunch of different things, I just hadn't been thinking about it when I did the archetypes.
...Well huh, I guess I didn't specify Resistance = Force. Will have to do that.
My ruling in normal M&M is that if you activate an immunity while under an effect it ends, but I suppose it would be a bit more complex here. That makes total sense for Recovery Immunities and...some sense in certain cases for Resistance Immunities, but less for Defense Immunities. I'll have to think about this one...in practice it really only matters for immunities in like arrays and such. I'm leaning towards letting Recovery Immunities do that, but perhaps imposing some slight delay on them, perhaps just when first activated, to balance it out.
That's actually not an editing issue; "A default array slot costs 1 VP per 5 points of the slot's total, rounded up. But you can add the following adjustments to slots to modify the cost of the slot by the listed total." You are modifying the total slot cost by whatever is listed. Dynamic, Flexible, and Shiftable just add a flat +1 VP to the slot cost, regardless of the slot's PP value. Variable is much more expensive at +3 VP per 5 PP in the slot. And so on.
That's probably true, but I don't think it should be problematic in play. The main place it matters is immunities and the like, and I'm going by the premise that objective commonality is kinda irrelevant for those, because the GM will throw at you what it throws at you, and Standard Immunities get Hero Point tie-ins to deal with commonality balance issues. End of the day, across a broad sample of all possible attacks one could face, the Contact delivery mode would probably be over-represented. But if the main villains of the game are a cabal of evil telepaths, that isn't going to matter.
Yeah it's a bit of an experiment. Not being PL-dependent is definitely one of the reasons for it; I don't want, say, Albert Einstein to have to be PL 10 to rock a +20 Expertise (Physics) skill. Or perhaps more to the point, I don't want Superman to have a higher skill cap than Batman.
I have them as flaws because limits can apply to pretty much any trait and are more about "can I use this right now?", while flaws apply specifically to powers by affecting the action itself. Selfish and Selfless don't really make sense on anything that isn't an action, because constant effects and bonuses and such will pretty much always apply to you.
I'm thinking the Selfish Linked Reliable Defend issue may be more of a problem with the minimum cost of powers and the fact that so many effects have a 0 PP base cost (and possibly exacerbated by Linked) than with Selfish and Selfless specifically. I'll think on that more.
Thanks again for the suggestions!
--
In other news, I suppose I might as well mention in case anyone is interested, I'm currently recruiting for a playtest one-shot using this system.A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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2018-11-17, 05:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Well, it's that time again. Time for DeAnno to dig into Immunities and break things!
Imagine this power: Bestow (Total Variable Recovery Immunity to whatever descriptor) {10 PP}.
Basically, if someone is conscious, you can heal them of literally anything with this power. I think the root of the issue here is probably that Recovery Immunities shouldn't be able to be Variable or Adaptive, because by changing them around you can basically absolve yourself of all your conditions. You also maybe shouldn't be able to Bestow Recovery Immunities, but that's less clear-cut.
On the other hand, Shifting State seems mysterious and I'm going to look into it. Adding things up:
Flexible: Flow and Immunity to Falling together are 4 VP. Major Immunity to an Attack Mode is 10 VP (I still think Insubstantial and Object Immunities should be worth less as they are easier to counter, but that's a different argument I guess). So that's a value of 14 VP, but to get it you need to pay 10 VP and take a weakness that would be 15 VP to buy off. Seems kind of ... eh
Fluid: 32 VP of additional Immunities, and an extra 15 VP disadvantage. This is a lot better than Flexible on examination, though you're still paying 20 VP for 46 VP and -30 VP of disadvantages, so I wouldn't call it a "good" deal.
Gaseous: Flight is probably an upgrade of 8 VP over immunity to falling, so this is 29 extra VP of advantages. That disadvantage is really hefty though, I would call it much higher value than the -15 VP of the previous two even though it isn't buy-offable.
Energy: Slightly nerfed Permeate is probably a 5 VP upgrade over Flow 4, and total descriptor immunity is probably worth about 5 VP (10 VP if you let the Innate part "count"), and another Major Delivery mode is 20 VP. You lose all the disdadvantages of Fluid and mostly get around the problem with Gaseous though, so I think this is another one of the "good" levels. At this point you have about 110 VP of stuff at the cost of just the Transformative disadvantage and a weakened form of the gaseous disadvantage. This is probably a pretty good deal at this point.
Incorporeal: Being unable to target entirely probably isn't worth the additional stuff you get in most cases, compared to energy. There's enough total stuff that this still seems reasonable though.
So in conclusion, I think Flexible is probably straight-out bad (even considering you can turn it off if you want). Gaseous and Incorporeal are mixed bags, but being able to turn them off and on probably makes them fine. Fluid is reasonable on its own and being able to switch it probably makes it good. Energy I think, is straight out just good. All of these values degrade a bit if you are skeptical of the comparative value of Incorporeal Immunities.
Do Shifting State Immunities earn HP when they are bypassed like normal Immunities do? If they don't, that's also a potential substantial downgrade.
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2018-11-17, 06:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Ah, yep, that's a quite broken loophole. I think what I'll probably do, rather than outright preventing them from being bestowed/variable/adaptive, is say that while they will work on conditions you acquire while they're inactive, they do have to already exist when you receive the condition to work. So you can, say, set a Variable Recovery Immunity to [Slashing] so you can heal damage you're going to receive from an enemy swordsman, it won't heal any slashes you've already received. Essentially, the Recovery Immunity considers you "optimal condition" to be whatever condition you were in when you obtained the immunity in the first place. Fine for one you've always had but was just inactive earlier, not so effective for one you receive after getting badly injured.
They don't earn HP, and while I do recall doing some calculation when making them...I may have only counted their benefits and kinda gut-assessed their disadvantages. Which seems silly in retrospect. And looking at what you wrote, even Energy may be worse than it sounds, since it's kinda more-than-slightly nerfed from Gaseous; it's much closer to Incorporeal in that it prevents targeting period, not just physical interaction, except for the specific action. I'll go back through those and do some rebalancing. I think I might have been a little wary of Insubstantial in general when I was designing it.
I'll put some thought into the possibility of discounting Object and Insubstantial immunities. I think I did at one point, but decided that while they were cheaper, those extras would probably be somewhat more rare since they don't come with side benefits. I kinda feel like metagame-wise, making them equally expensive means there's no "incentive" to use those kinds of immunities, which will result in them only being used when it's particularly fitting, and probably mean the cheaper counters will nonetheless be more rare. But I'm not sure, and given how I'm already treating immunities as largely "they'll get ignored when someone wants to ignore them, that's why you can get Hero Points" it may be an outdated mode of thinking in any case. I'll give it some thought.A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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2018-11-18, 02:18 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
To bring Bestow back up, you don't mention it anywhere, but are VP costs of Powers Bestowed automatically converted into PP costs in the base cost of the Bestow? In your example:
For example, say you wish to be able to bestow the Flight movement mode, the Move-by Action advantage, and +2 to Defense. That costs 31 PP total, so this effect would have a minimum cost of 31 PP.
The minimum cost for this effect is equal to the full cost of the traits you can bestow.
Does this same rule apply to Enhance? Like what would the cost of this power be:
Enhance Attack (Attack has Broad Attack Mode)
Does it cost 10 PP? Does it cost 10 VP? Does it perhaps cost 1 PP and 10 VP (due to the 1 PP min)?
Is there some global rule I'm missing that the VP costs directly added into the base cost of effects are always converted to PP costs?
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As a different line of questions, is there a still a rule that you don't have to use an Extra attached to your power if you don't want? Like if I had an Attack (Brutal, Area [Burst], Zone) power could I still attack a single target Brutally without the area? Could I make the attack Brutally over an Area and decide not to make it a Zone? I remember this being a thing from older editions but I'm unsure if it's still a thing now.
Relatedly, in a Dynamic Array can you turn on and off pieces of Traits? Specifically, can you turn off some of the extras on one trait (or extras already factored into the base cost of a Bestow or Enhance) while still leaving the rest of the trait on? As an example, if I have the Dynamic Array:
Example 15 Point Dynamic Array
- Enhance Attack (Multiattack, Reliable)
- Enhance Defend (Area [Burst], Split 5)
Could I Turn on Enhance Attack (Multiattack) with Enhance Defend (Split 5)?Last edited by DeAnno; 2018-11-18 at 04:10 AM.
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2018-11-19, 06:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
There's not a global rule, but yes costs should be converted to PP when Bestowing. That's been clarified.
There is definitely intended to be such a rule and I'm sure there's some allusions to it, but I'm not actually 100% where it is or if it got lost in the translation somewhere. I added a note to the Extras section to be safe.
And yes, that sort of thing is precisely what Dynamic Arrays are for.A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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2018-11-19, 07:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Wasn't sure where to put this with everything moving around right now, but the Indenting in the main document and the snapshot both got broken with the changes to shifting state (at least it looks broken on my screen)
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2018-11-19, 07:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Yeah had a typo. That's fixed, thanks.
A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
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2018-11-20, 09:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
I was thinking over this logic, and I think one issue with it is actually that the niche bonus system subverts it a bit. Niche bonuses are meant to be impractical to whip up on the fly to prevent characters from just ignoring immunities tactically (rather than strategically.) But since ignoring Object or Insubstantial Immunities only costs 8 PP after the niche multiplier, it's still extremely practical to do so, compared with the higher costs of ignoring regular immunities.
Then again, you can usually just get around regular immunities with Diverse (given the attack mode changes) or Variable Descriptor anyways, which aren't niche bonuses and would be even cheaper if you could fluff it properly. Maybe the problem isn't that Affects Objects and the like are too cheap, but that Tracing and the like are too expensive for what they do, when compared to those cheaper options.
At that point Immunities sort of become reverse-complications maybe (where instead of paying in mechanical trouble for occasional Hero Points, you pay in VP for occasional Hero Points, unless the opponent feels like not ignoring your immunity instead)? It's a weird system of incentives to get my head around, that's for sure. Or maybe the unanswerable attack rules are closer to what a good solution should be, and immunities should get back some of their teeth again. It'll probably be pretty useful to see how it goes in the playtest.
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New 11/21
I'm pretty sure the "Enhance Effect" of Environment is broken, since you can use it to Selectively enhance a Stat up to the Environment user's Force Rank. Like, imagine:
Accuracy 10, Force 15, Defense 10, Resistance 10, Tenacity 5 {0 PP}
Environment (Rock Music/Dance Fighting, Enhance Effect (Accuracy); Selective) {20 PP} (Rank equals Force Rank)
And you even get it for the whole party too! To a lesser extent this is also very efficient for improving measures past PL. Probably mostly fixable with "A selective environment can never provide stats or measures".
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Complicating should probably use the same new logic as Costly, since it's sort of inverse Costly. It should probably be a bit higher of a number of Hero Points since it also gives you the option of buying them off.
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Originally Posted by Buildup
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Originally Posted by Block Projection Environment
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Originally Posted by Stable
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Originally Posted by Touch
For example, if you purchase Extended Counters Illusion vision, you may use Additional Sense to also apply them to hearing, but your hearing would not get the Accurate option that your vision has by default.
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It seems a little weird that the Perceive (and to a lesser extent, Discern) effect uses PP even though Senses utilities use VP. If someone wanted for example, Dimensional 3, True Vision and Hearing, could they pay 9 VP (3 dimensional + 5 true + 1 additional sense) or would they have to do something more convoluted with the actual perceive effect?
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The rules for Clashes are a little confusing. Look at this section:
At the end of the round, and of each round thereafter, repeat the opposed Force check with the same results.
Maintaining a clash takes effort. Both characters involved must spend an action on their turn to maintain the clash. Normally, this must be a full action. If it's a standard action, you take -2 on your roll at the end of the round. If it's a move action, you take -5. If it's a free action you take -10. And if you don't spend an action at all, your roll is treated as an automatic total result of -10.
What about the case where the counterer is first? B makes an Attack, A counters with clash. Clash is indecisive (-4 to +4, not a tie). The round ends. Does the clash repeat now, even though A hasn't even had a new turn yet? Assuming it's indecisive again, A won't have its standard action next round. Will A take a penalty on the clash the next round because of this?
Somewhat perpendicularly, extras on Nullify apply to clash actions right? Like, Reliable would apply to the roll, and would Reduced Action apply to the full action to maintain?
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Re Simultaneous Senses:
Simultaneous (5 VP): You may add this option to a Remote sense. You may perceive at one location per application simultaneously; if you wish, you may dedicate one of these locations to your own so you are not Unaware with the sense at your location.Last edited by DeAnno; 2018-11-28 at 11:30 PM.
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2018-11-29, 02:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
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- CA
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Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Yeah next time I do updates I'm going to take another look at immunities and immunity piercing.
Yeah that needs editing. It wouldn't be as bad if "effect" weren't one of the options (which it probably shouldn't be, actually), but even limited to sources or origins it could be problematic as a power.
That makes sense.
Hah, good point.
Whoops! That should be Force.
Not naturally, but it's meant to provide a way to keep a character going for the remainder of the episode if they've taken conditions with episode duration, at some risk since Treated/Stable can be lost.
Whoops, editing fail.
Senses still cost VP. Perceive is mainly for when you want to add things like Effortless, Reliable, Repeating, and so on to your sensory actions. Although I do recall going back and adding the more skill-oriented effects after working on utilities, and there is a rule that utilities kinda count as effects themselves, so I'll probably have to take a look and see if that all meshes together right and is neces
Nullify extras can apply to clashes, yes. As for the rest, yeah, I should add a note that the original actions count for whatever checks come up before you get new actions.
Will do.A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
World of Aranth
M&M 3e Character Guide
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2018-12-01, 01:22 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
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- CA
- Gender
Re: I Might Have KINDA Rewritten M&M. ...Again.
Okay, made some edits. I didn't update the archetypes as a result yet, so they will probably have some issues now (especially the ones that did VP tradeoffs). In addition to a few minor typo/correction/clarification things:
Added Feature Points (FP) to get rid of the notion of SP that can only be used for certain things. 10 FP to 1 VP, just like 10 SP to 1 PP.
PP can't be spent for VP at 2:1 anymore. Anything VP can buy PP can too, and anything FP can buy SP can too. While PP can be used for more stuff than VP, they are considered essentially equally valuable, since honestly that's how I treated them pretty much everywhere except for direct trading and it's just more cohesive to do it that way. I may still have some references to that tradeoff in there, but I'll remove those if I spot them.
Changed the Accuracy array slot cap to 1 + 1/2 rather than 3 + 1/3 so Force/Accuracy trading is more even. Also clarified that an odd Force rank adds 2 to the Force cap.
Expanded the rules for capping measures to allow for easier fine-tuning of genres.
Close range now uses Range minus 2 rather than not using Range at all, so you don't have to do weird ugly point-contorting to make ranged attacks. You can still use Increased Range to remove the penalty, and Reduced Range can be used to get a more "reach"-like power or to remove Range from a power entirely.
Clarified when you have to start spending actions to maintain a clash so the actions to perform it don't force you into penalties.
Adjusted Improved Initiative so the first rank can instead swap PL for Prowess to initiative, if desired.
Adjusted Universal Extra so it can apply to a whole array instead of a single effect if desired.
Added a Power Enhancement advantage that increases the Force cap for your powers by 1 PP per 2 ranks.
Completely rewrote Bestow to make it more usable in play. Now it has solid function for being an immediate boost to multiple targets, can provide lasting boosts to multiple targets more easily at various costs. Also now has explicit "Improve Existing Traits" functionality rather than needing to work with Variable arrays.
Halved the effective environment rank for Enhance Effect when chosen for the Environment power.
Streamlined the immunity piercer extras. Aggravated no longer does that at all, it's now solely for triggering complications. The others cost 1/2/5 (for Affects Insubstantial and Affects Objects) or 2/5/10 (for Incurable/Penetrating/Tracing) to reduce the relevant immunity type one step. The more expensive ones have secondary effects that complement ignoring immunities, while the less expensive ones have secondary effects that kinda do their own thing.
Removed the clause from Broad and Diverse about not being able to choose things you spend points directly on, since specific rules should cover that where needed now.
Removed the Rapid extra (and the reference to it in Illusion). For most powers it probably shouldn't be available as an alternative to Restricted Quickness.
Added that an action enhanced by a Buildup upgrade can't build charge for that upgrade.
Adjusted Complicating to use same calculations as Costly.
Fiddled with Restricted a bit.
Removed the rule about adding extras to utilities. Utilities are standalone, for extras on utility-related things use powers like Commune, Discern, Exert, and Perceive.
Added Extended and Rapid back to Senses, since quickening or extending a single sense for VP is something that should be doable.
Added Synesthetic Senses for swapping utilities between senses, and Unified Senses for giving utilities to an entire sense type.A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.
If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!
World of Aranth
M&M 3e Character Guide