Jab's Builds: He-Man, Teela, Man-at-Arms, Horde Troops

[Jabroniville]

G-TYPE
Created By: Grant Morrison & Igor Kordey
First Appearance: X-Men #124 (May 2002)
Race: Hodinn
Role: Blaster, Trapped-In-Suit Guy
Legionnaire Basis: None (though he's basically like Wildfire)
Group Affiliations: The Shi'ar Imperial Guard
PL 10 (129)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA -- AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Expertise (Space Hero) 4 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Investigation 2 (+3)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 4 (+5)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit (Imperial Guard), Equipment 4 (Anti-Gravity Device), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
Plasma Aura 6 (Feats: Reach) (Flaws: Permanent) [9]
Plasma Blasts 10 (Feats: Split) [21]
Protection 6 [6]
"Living Energy" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

"G-Type Armour" (Flaws: Removable) [8]
Features 6: Buys Off Permanent Flaw (6)
Protection 4 (4)
-- (10 points)

Equipment:
"Shi'ar Anti-Gravity Device"
Flight 5 (10)
Space Travel 1 (1)
Immunity 7 (Suffocation 2, Cold, Hot, Radiation, Vacuum, Pressure) (7)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Blast +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +6 (+10 Armour), Fortitude --, Will +4

Complications:
Responsibility (The Shi'ar Imperial Guard)

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 74 / Defenses: 10 (129)

-A PL 9-10 guy, G-Type was one of the Superguardians who got controlled by Cassandra Nova. Living energy, he was basically drained by Xorn and killed.

[Jabroniville]

And that does it for the Imperial Guard builds! I felt like doing them both to fit the "Space Character" quotas, and because they're pretty easy to translate from 2e to 3e and I needed the breather after doing all those hyper-complicated Cosmic Builds. Now things should be back to normal .

[Jabroniville]

AMATSU-MIKABOSHI (The August Star of Heaven, The Chaos King)
Created By: Michael Oeming & Scott Kolins
First Appearance: Thor: Blood Oath #6
Role: Japanese God of Evil & The Pole Star, Demonic Shapeshifter, Never-Ending Horde
Group Affiliations: The Japanese Pantheon (Amatsu-Kami/Shinto)
PL 24 (997)
STRENGTH 20 STAMINA 24 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 14 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Deception 9 (+16)
Expertise (History) 9 (+17)
Expertise (Magic) 16 (+24)
Expertise (God) 9 (+17)
Insight 9 (+14)
Intimidation 13 (+19)
Perception 8 (+13)
Persuasion 6 (+11)
Sleight of Hand 7 (+12)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Artificer, Benefit 5 (Ruler of Evil), Daze (Deception), Diehard, Fearless, Improved Critical (Godly Blasts) 4, Improved Hold, Last Stand, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 10, Ritualist, Startle, Well-Informed, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Immortal God"
Immunity 16 (Aging, Life Support, Fatigue Effects) [16]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Senses 7 (Detect Magic- Ranged 3, Acute & Analytical, Tracking By Magic) [7]
"Lives in the Sun" Immunity 10 (Magical Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half) [10]
"Elder Entity" Immunity 20 (Mental Effects) [20]
"Speaks All Languages" Comprehend 3 (Languages- Speak & Understand) [6]
Flight 14 (32,000 mph) [28]
Movement 1 (Space Travel) [2]

"Nigh-Unkillable"
Impervious Toughness 29 [29]
Regeneration 16 (Feats: Regrow Limbs) [17]

"Variable Size"
Features 5: Increased Mass 5 [5]
Elongation 1 [1]

"Elder God"
"Wipe Out Life" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Ranged 24) Linked to Weaken Stats 28 (Extras: Broad, Simultaneous, Ranged) (138) -- [143]

AE: Variable (Magic) 17 (119)
AE: "Godly Wave" Damage 18 (Extras: Area- 500ft. Cone +4) (90)
AE: "Godly Beam" Damage 18 (Extras: Area- 250ft. Line +4) (90)
AE: "Godly Storm" Damage 18 (Extras: Area- 250ft. Burst +4) (90)
AE: "Godly Blast" Blast 30 (Feats: Increased Range 4, Penetrating 14) (78)

Shapeshift 17 [136]
"Shadow Copies" Summon 5 (Extras: Heroic +2) [20]

"Recreate Slain Foes"
Healing 28 (Extras: Resurrection, Ranged) [74]
Mind Control 24 (Extras: Continuous +3) [168]
Regeneration 14 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) [28]

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Blast +12 (+30 Ranged Damage, DC 45)
God Attack Area +18 (+18 Damage, DC 33)
Wipe Out Life +14 (+24 Damage & +28 Weaken, DC 39 & 38)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +24 (+15 Impervious), Fortitude +24, Will +15

Complications:
Motivation (Destruction)- Mikaboshi seeks the destruction of all life in the universe.

Total: Abilities: 192 / Skills: 86--43 / Advantages: 31 / Powers: 712 / Defenses: 19 (997)

-Amatsu-Mikaboshi was the clever God-creature featured in some of the more recent mythological tales at Marvel- he invaded Olympus, killed Zeus, spoke only in Haiku, and was seen "killed" by the Skrull Goddess Sl'gurt, only to reveal he'd lived at the end of the story, now in command of all the Gods once subjugated by the Skrull Gods during their race's conquest through the stars. Eventually Mikaboshi arrived at the culmination of the "Hercules & Amadeus Cho" storyline, throwing down with thousands of conquered Gods in his mission to end all life- Eternity was no help, Galactus sided with the heroes, and most of Earth was nearly destroyed before Athena's plan came to fruition- Hercules finally manned-up and gathered the power and wisdom necessary to defeat the dark lord of the Shinto, outsmarting him with his Not-Eronomous Amadeus. Then Herc gave up his ultimate power to return things to the way they were (against Athena's wishes, since she was kind of a bitch at this point).

-"Chaos War" was kind of the culmination of the Herc story, like I said, except it was such a BORING storyline, with endless crossovers and the exact same story repeating over and over again ("Mikaboshi comes in, kills gods and takes them over) that fans lost all interest. It's no major surprise that, despite the reasonably-good ending, it was the end of Herc & Cho as characters, as they pretty much vanished from the mainstream after this (Herc's lower-powered adventure book didn't even last the year). Mikaboshi himself wasn't exactly compelling- he said his Haiku and that was funny, but he was yet another "Mindless Eldritch Abomination" type villain, only out for destruction, and so he was one-note.

-I was gonna go with a Summon effect to show Mikaboshi turning all his slain foes to his aid, but that's not really what's going on- they're pretty much always there once he reforms them, so it's more like a Resurrection added to a Mind Control. This basically lets him return beings he's killed to "life", but as his own personal minions. By constantly adding to his own army, he can go from a PL 21 Cosmic Menace to basically the commander of an all-powerful Horde- even Galactus could not turn back a tide this strong, especially since they can all recover from damage.

[HustlerOne]

AMATSU-MIKABOSHI is a wicked cool looking Japanese villain. A bit odd that he's fighting Herc and the greek gods. Too bad he sounds kind of one note. As always Jab you do cosmic characters very well.

[Jabroniville]

Thanks! It's something I can do only because I built so many guys before... it's best to start from the bottom (ie. The Serpent Society ) and work your way up- once ya figure out the basics of some of these powers (and just throw whatever ranks out there that work in your mind) it's a lot easier to do. Mikaboshi will be the last uber-high level build I do for a heckuva long time, though- they're a TON of work and I pretty much ran out of guys to do .

[Jabroniville]

THE SEEKERS
Created By: Danny Fingeroth & Tom Morgan
First Appearance: Iron Man #214 (Jan. 1987)
Role: Jobber Villains
Group Affiliations: Advanced Idea Mechanics, The Seekers

-The Seekers are a trio of ex-A.I.M. Goons who built their own suits of armour and started acting as bounty hunters. They threatened the Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman and Iron Man, and later got two new members and fought some random groups of heroes (Spider-Man, The New Warriors, The Punisher in the '90s.



CHAIN
PL 8 (101)
STRENGTH 1/8 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Expertise (A.I.M. Buckethead) 2 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Range Attack 2

Powers:
"Chain Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [28]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
-- (34 points)

"Electro-Chain" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [9]
Damage 8 (Feats: Reach 2, Split, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Disarm) (14) -- (15 points)

AE: "Blaster Gun" Blast 6 (12)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Armor +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Electro-Chain +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- The Seekers split from A.I.M. to become Bounty Hunters.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 37 / Defenses: 8 (101)

---

FIREBALL
PL 7 (100)
STRENGTH 1/8 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Range Attack 2

Powers:
"Fireball Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [40]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
Fire Blast 8 (Feats: Split) (17)
-- (49 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Armor +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Fire +6 (+8 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- The Seekers split from A.I.M. to become Bounty Hunters.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 40 / Defenses: 6 (100)

-A later addition, Fireball is a generic Flying Blaster-type with an even more generic name.

---



GRASP
PL 8 (135)
STRENGTH 1/8 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Expertise (A.I.M. Buckethead) 2 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Range Attack 4

Powers:
"Grasp Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [69]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
"Electro-Gauntlets or Net" Affliction 7 (Strength; Hindered, Dazed & Vulnerable/Defenseless, Stunned & Immobile/Incapacitated) (Extras: Extra Condition +2, Progressive +2, Ranged) Linked to Blast 6 (54)
-- (86 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Armor +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Electro-Gauntlets +8 (+7 Ranged Affliction & +6 Ranged Damage, DC 17 & 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- The Seekers split from A.I.M. to become Bounty Hunters.
Prejudice (Metahumans)- Grasp hates metahumans in general, and Johnny Storm specificaly, because his son died after lighting himself on fire- Grasp believes it was in emulation of The Human Torch.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 69 / Defenses: 8 (135)

-Grasp is actually very pricey, containing a dangerous Electrified Snare thing that grows bigger and more engangle-y as the guy loses saves.

---



SONIC
PL 8 (110)
STRENGTH 1/8 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Expertise (A.I.M. Buckethead) 2 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Minion 2 (Mechanical Crab), Range Attack 2

Powers:
"Sonic Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [45]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
"Sound Cannon" Blast 9 (Feats: Penetrating 6) (24)
-- (56 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Armor +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Sonic Cannon +6 (+9 Ranged Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- The Seekers split from A.I.M. to become Bounty Hunters.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 8 (110)

---
MECHANICAL CRAB
PL 7 (36)
STRENGTH -3 STAMINA -- AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -- AWARENESS -3 PRESENCE --

Skills:
Stealth 2 (+4, +12 Size)

Advantages:
Improved Hold

Powers:
"Tiny Machine"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 2 [2]
Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Flaws: Permanent +0) (-2 Strength, Speed -1, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation) [17]
"Energy Surge" Damage 8 [8]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (-3 Damage, DC 12)
Energy Surge +6 (+8 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +2, Fortitude --, Will-3

Total: Abilities: -22 / Skills: 2--1 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 4 (36)

-Sonic is a generic Blaster guy except for the fact that he shoots a tiny Crab that shocks people... it's the strangest use of the Minion Advantage ever.

---

LASERWORKS
PL 7 (102)
STRENGTH 1/8 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Expertise (A.I.M. Buckethead) 2 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Range Attack 2

Powers:
"Laserworks Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [42]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)

"Laser Cage" Laser Aura 6 (Extras: Ranged) (Flaws: Affects Others Only, Limited to Constructs) (18) -- (20)

AE: "Lasers" Blast 8 (16)
AE: Create Laser Objects 4 (Extras: Continuous, Stationary) (16)

-- (52 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Armor +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Laser Blast +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- The Seekers split from A.I.M. to become Bounty Hunters.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 7 (102)

-Laserworks joined when Fireball did, and could shoot Lasers and make Laser Cages and stuff (take your pick: Affects Others Aura or Shapeable Area).

[Jabroniville]

MISTER X
Created By: Frank Tieri & Sean Chen
First Appearance: Wolverine #159 (Feb. 2001)
Role: Super-Martial Artist
Group Affiliations: The Thunderbolts
PL 12 (160)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+14)
Athletics 7 (+10)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Business) 6 (+10)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+10)
Intimidation 5 (+9)
Perception 5 (+9)
Persuasion 3 (+7)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Benefit 4 (Wealthy), Defensive Attack, Equipment 2 (Swords & Knives), Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Ranged Attack 4, Takedown

Powers:
"Martial Artist Supreme" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

"Telepathic Pre-Determining Offense"
Mind-Reading 8 [16]
Immunity 2 (Pain Effects) [2]
Enhanced Fighting 4 (Flaws: Telepathy-Based) [4]
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+16/+20) (Flaws: Telepathy-Based) [1]
Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Flaws: Telepathy-Based) [2]
Enhanced Advantages 14: Agile Feint, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Roll 2, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 3, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 2, Power Attack, Seize Initiative, Takedown (total 2), Uncanny Dodge (Flaws: Telepathy-Based) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Swords +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Telepathic Unarmed +20 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Telepathic Swords +16 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +6 (+14 Telepathic)

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (+15 Telepathy, DC 23-25), Parry +14 (+18 Telepathy, DC 24-28), Toughness +4 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Killer)- Mister X is a sociopath and a serial killer, desiring to kill for it's own sake. He murdered his childhood pet puppy, his parents, and hundreds of others over the years. His greatest "rush" comes from murdering someone in hand-to-hand combat.
Prejudice (Scarred)- Though he dresses well, Mister X's body is covered in scars, one for each of his murdered victims.
Flaw Explanation: Mister X's powers aren't so much Resistible By Will (nobody is seen actively avoiding his mental intrusions) so much as dependent upon a thinking opponent. Animals, crazed berserkers, people with "unthinking defenses" (a Drunken Fighting Iron Fist) and speedsters can all neutralize his powers.

Total: Abilities: 82 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 33 / Defenses: 14 (160)

-Mister X is kind of an interesting addition to the whole "New Villain Stink" thing you see in most fiction based around ass-kickings. See, this guy debuted as basically OMG THE BEST MARTIAL ARTIST EVAAAAAAR in "Wolverine"- a trope seen quite frequently in comics when the writer wants to show off his new villain (occasionally with heroes). Englehart's Mantis did it, Loeb's Red Hulk did it, and Simone's Catman & Sin (I love Gail's work, but she ALWAYS wants to convince everyone of how bad-ass everyone is, to the point where sometimes I'm like "OKAY I GET IT THESE ARE STRONG WOMEN OKAY?") did it- Mister X came in, beat the LIVING HELL out of Logan with ease, and fans were immediately all "ooooh this guy is TOUGH!" and were immediately throwing him into the "Tiers" of fighters out there.

-However, quickly thereafter, it was revealed that Mister X was actually a telepath who "cheated" by predicting guys' movements before they did them, allowing him to get the jump on his opponents. This is actually a VERY cool trick, and made for a unique character. Especially since they added it to an obsessed, depraved killer, more befitting a serial killer than a random murderer like Sabretooth (or the usual guys Logan fought). Of course he even did the "Learns martial arts from dozens of masters, killing all of them when he learned all he could" thing. Very quickly, Mister X dropped the second fight to Logan (who went into a Berserker Rage and thus was immune to having his mind read). He WAS able to defeat The Taskmaster in his next appearance (no mean feat), making it look easy no less, but then Wolvie pulled the same trick and beat him again. It'd be nearly a DECADE before we'd see him again, as he popped up in "Thunderbolts".

-Mister X is a LETHAL, high-level combatant, able to take on the very top-tier of characters and handily defeat them. As such, using his Telepathic "Cheat" (a Flaw on most of his Fighting-based Powers- I went from "Resistible by Will" to "Telepathy-Based" to reflect how unthinking or too-fast opponents can remove his advantages in these categories), he hits PL 12 caps and beats the living hell out of Wolverine, Taskmaster or any other martial artist unfortunate enough to face him. A +20 Attack Bonus is UNREAL by my standards (even my Akuma build only hit +19), but when you consider the fact that he's actively cheating his nuts off in every fight (predicting all of his opponents' moves), it could almost be HIGHER.

[JoshuaDunlow]

The only drawback , having to wait for your target to make 4 will saves to see if you get to use all your nifty combat advantages.

[Jabroniville]

I think just one Will Save would cut it for most of his moves. It's also a bit weird, as someone who would presumably have a high Will like Wolverine was TOTALLY vulnerable to it until he went all animalistic and "wasn't actually thinking" so much as acting. In theory you could redact all the "Resistible" Flaws and just leave a Complication, but I find that odd, as most Telepaths or High-Will guys should theoretically be able to "block" his Telepathy.

It isn't a truly major cost-issue, and going by comics-showings it's not something that even shows up very often (only when Logan finds it convenient, really), so it could just be a one-note Complication or a Quirk on everything.

My theory: She was a retcon added to "War of Kings". It was only later that someone, probably a fan, pointed out that a superficially similar character had appeared earlier. At which point, it was decided that "oh, it's not a retcon, it's the same character" despite the different name, appearance, and personality.

Y'know, that actually makes a whole lot of sense. After all, even her NAME was different at first- I'd have to go back and check, but did they call her Xenith at all at first?

[Ares]

Interesting to see the Seekers statted up. A group of armored goons that each have their own gimmick is always fun for superteams to fight. If I remember right, Grasp had some complication about hating superheroes, apparently his son died trying to immitate the Human Torch or some-such.

As for Mr. X, he struck me as a kind of Taskmaster/Prometheus type guy where he's a skilled fighter, but his real advantages come from a single gimmick as opposed to dedicated training the ways guys like Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Fist and the like acquire their own, and if you negate that gimmick they tend to fold pretty quickly.

For instance, if they're fighting someone whose moves they've seen/downloaded, Taskmaster and Prometheus are tough opponents. Yet if they fight someone who they haven't seen in action, their effectiveness plummets, and sometimes just by doing something unexpected you can throw off their entire game.

Likewise, I remember one fight where Mr. X was fighting both Black Widow and Songbird at the same time and was winning the fight, until Songbird remembered "Hey, I can do AoE attacks" and sent him flying with a blast that was too big for him to dodge. Likewise, Iron Fist used Drunken Kung Fu to fight without thinking and pretty much owned Mr. X in one hit (even though Drunken Kung Fu isn't like that at all, it's an intentional and controlled emulation of a drunken person's movements to put your opponent off his game and attack from unexpected angles and such). Quicksilver also just beat the crap out of Mr. X by moving too fast for his telepathy to work on him, whereas we've seen other A-Listers like Captain America and Iron Fist be able to hold their own against speedsters due to skill.

It's actually a really good device for villains, since it emphasizes their status as bad guys by essentially 'cheating' to be as good as they are without the hard work the heroes put in, and gives them a weakness the hero can exploit to win, since without them some of those villains would be unbeatable as written. Like the whole Judomaster II thing of "Any attack aimed at her automatically misses".

[Woodclaw]

Personally I never liked Mr.X at all. Mostly because I think that his gimmick is based on some wrong assumptions on fighting. One of the reasons a high level level fighter must keep training constantly is to acquire a level of automatic reaction. A top-level fighter does not think consciusly about what to do now, usually his reflex arc pathway takes care of the immediate contingecies.
Given that either Mr.X has a very strange kind of telepathy that allows him to read reflex arc movement nad his trained to act by consequence, or the entire deal seemed bugged to me.

[badpenny]

If attack bonus meant something in MnM, I'd say Mister X would be hella scary, but with only a +4 damage bonus, he still won't be able to out-fight a whole host of people at (or even near) his PL. IMO, he should have some extra damage thrown in with a Multiattack effect with the descriptor "precision" or something along those lines because with the linear d20, plenty of people are going to roll well enough to hit him and he's not that tough.

Someone (Paragon maybe?) said he was going to play around with the idea of implementing a relative degree concept for damage (in the way 2e Autofire worked) to make attack-shifted characters actually count for something. Because they do in fiction, but it seldom matters in MnM.

[Murkglow]

Because they do in fiction, but it seldom matters in MnM.

Ummm actually I'd say attack shifted characters are better off in M&M then in normal comics. In normal comics Batman punching Superman would do nothing. In M&M Batman can Power Attack and maybe damage Superman on a good roll.

With this build the character has damage 6 with his swords, throw on the basic level of power attack and he's looking at 8 damage. Not amazing for a PL12 character but he's a normal human level fighter, he's not exactly supposed to be racking up higher damage totals to begin with.

[badpenny]

With this build the character has damage 6 with his swords, throw on the basic level of power attack and he's looking at 8 damage. Not amazing for a PL12 character but he's a normal human level fighter, he's not exactly going to be racking up higher damage totals to begin with.

Well, if this was a PC and on a team with other PL 12 characters, he's going to soon find himself unable to participate in team fights (against a Big Bad of even higher PL). He won't be able to generate enough damage to affect the higher PL character (higher Toughness, perhaps even Impervious).

This is why I think he needs to generate more damage as a descriptor to him being precise with his attacks (hitting vulnerable locations). And the only way to do that and keep his sky-high attack bonus is with Multiattack ("deadly aim" rather than "flurry of blows").

[Murkglow]

Well, if this was a PC and on a team with other PL 12 characters, he's going to soon find himself unable to participate in team fights (against a Big Bad of even higher PL). He won't be able to generate enough damage to affect the higher PL character (higher Toughness, perhaps even Impervious).

Depends entirely on who the enemies are. If they are also attack/defense shifted (which seems to be the type of characters he fights, Wolverine, Taskmaster) then he's right at home vs them and it's the power house characters who need to start accurate/all-out attacking otherwise they won't be able to hit the dodgier enemies. This build itself shows us that high PL does not necessarily equal higher damage/toughness (especially since he likely is the bad guy that your players would fight rather then being the player character).

I just noticed he has the Power Attack advantage which means he can actually go all the way up to Damage 11 (9 with his unarmed which has 4 ranks of improved critical). Frankly for a Human level fighter I'm not seeing why he needs to go higher then that (he's already doing more damage then a stock tank and his damage is more then high enough to hurt most builds of superman I've seen which he probably shouldn't be able to do in comics). If that's seriously too low to even hurt enemies in his setting (note he only needs to be able to fight the enemies he runs into not any given character remotely within his PL range) then he's either fighting the wrong enemies or the GM made a mistake in building their setting/approving character builds for their game.