Jab's Builds: He-Man, Mekaneck, Buzz-Off, Ram Man, Teela

[Jabroniville]

Design Diary IV- M&M Advantages:

I love Advantages. Like Skills, they pretty much define a character's personality (Startle & Power Attack vs. Defensive Attack & Improved Defense, etc.), alter his combat statistics to make up for doing less damage normally, make them specialized at various things (ranged or melee combat, grappling), and there's even a few little bits in there. I honestly use WAY more Advantages than most, from this site to the "official" builds, for this character-building reason.

As a general rule, I don't guess Advantage numbers beforehand- I simple take my big list that I write at the bottom of all my Character Bio Pages, and type in whatever fits for the hero. But I have noticed some trends:

Jobbers, Teen Heroes, Rookies, Thugs: Generally 1-5 Advantages. Now that Power Attack, etc. are all allowed for anyone (on a +2/-2 trade-off), I don't use quite as many as the old days.
Fairly decent heroes: 6-10.
Professional, elite heroes: 11-20.
Elite Martial Artists & Spies: 20+ (Shang-Chi, Captain America & Iron Fist all have over 40).

I note that the New Mutants or something are pretty low on the radar, whereas Captain America, Batman, Iron Fist & Spider-Man all pretty much break the bank on their Advantages. Non-Powered guys usually have more of them out of necessity, but alot of Gun-happy guys have a ton as well. Villains tend to use Equipment, but I no longer write down Minions (as it no longer adds up to more Minions with Progression, and no DCA builds seem to use it). Non-powered guys, of course, expend a far more amount than guys with several ranks of Powers.

Moving the Advantages into their own little groups, here's my take on them, and the guys who use them:

Combat Modifiers:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Favored Environment, Favored Foe, Imp. Aim, Power Attack, Extraordinary Effort, Tough, Withstand Damage
*I LOVE these. Power Attack used to be a no-brainer Advantage, but now I'm more sparing with it (elite Powerhouses and some Martial Artists have it- not as many others would). It turns a +6 damage guy into someone able to damage +10 Impervious guys when they go all-out. The other "Attack" ones are all still great. Defensive for Dexmonkeys, Accurate for elite martial artists (or super-strong types who are known as good fighters as well, and you don't want to shatter your idealized Power Level with them- Thundra comes to mind), and All-Out for crazy scrappers. All-Out Attack is also great for Hulk or Wolverine-types who have defensive powers- they get the boost to hit while also taking heavy damage, which they can just make back. Defensive Roll & Tough are also good "alternatives" to a high Stamina score to make those Toughness saves. Withstand Damage is a great Advantage (ported over from Mecha & Manga) that I add to nearly every top-tier Powerhouse or Brick- they sit there and eat that one heavy shot, giving them a massive +5 bonus to Toughness. Improved Aim is good for any shooty guy.

Somewhat less good are the others. Favoured Environment & Foe are nice now that they no longer affect PL caps, but I'd more rarely dish it out these days.

Dexmonkey Advantages:
Agile Feint, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Imp.Defense, Imp.Initiative, Instant Up, Move-By Action, Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge
* These sorta fit down below, but are more for the agile types. Spider-Man, Elektra, Daredevil, etc. all max-out on these. Uncanny Dodge & Evasion are especially good for getting out of a jam. Thankfully, Evasion's been nerfed so it's no longer an automatic decision.

Fighting Advantages:
Benefits (Ambidexterity), Assessment, Precise Attack, Chokehold, Cunning Fighter (Attack instead of Bluff to Feint), Damaging Escape, Def.Strike, Def.Throw, Diehard, Great Endurance, Follow-Up Strike, Imp.Critical, Imp.Disarm, Fast Grab, Imp.Grab, Imp.Hold, Imp.Smash, Imp.Trip, Last Stand, Prone Fighting, Takedown, Weapon Bind, Weapon Break
* Obviously the largest section. So many guys in comics are combat specialists that you can pick & choose the best things in here for your guys- even Blasters like Cyclops tend to pick up some good stuff over time. The "Grapple" Advantages are default for nearly every Growing Guy or Powerhouse, Improved Critical is handy on ANYONE with a really good attack (it can be pumped onto a Blast power to make up for giving it a less-than-ideal damage value compared to the comics' showings), the Disarm/Smash bits are handy for Weapon guys or armed thugs, etc. Takedown is a necessity for Goonsweepers- I would even allow a HP spent to allow a guy to use it on non-Mooks (now that it's been nerfed a bit in 3e). Last Stand is one that's PERFECT for those uber-tough guys who never seem to falter- The Thing, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Huntress, Cap, etc.

Skillmonkey Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Equipment, Inventor, Jack-of-all-Trades, Skill Mastery, Track, Ultimate Effort, Well-Informed
* Used somewhat less often, but any Spy/Detective/Skilled Guy should have them. Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, et al. Ultimate Effort can also be used for your Powerhouses' Strength checks, Captain America & Thing's Will Saves, and all sorts of things. Equipment is a little trickier, since some guys can alternate equipment to include whatever, but a few ranks for Thugs & guys with guns is always handy.

Ally-Based Advantages:
Inspire, Interpose, Leadership, Minions, Redirect, Set-Up, Sidekick, Teamwork
* Stuff to help your friends in combat, which can be useful or even game-breaking if you're all dirty fighters. Minions & Sidekicks are their own thing- they're great for villains with Beastly help or general armed minions, but you can otherwise just not 'charge' them the points for that and count those things as just regular threats as well. I wouldn't want too many players to have those Advantages by themselves- outnumbering is a BIG advantage in this game. Of course, it gets REALLY pricey to use multiple Minions these days, as there's no real option for having more than one guy- you either have to buy it multiple times, or assume it's cost works like Summon does.

Close & Ranged Attack:
* These are here to help fill out the characters' stats. Close Attack is rare for me, as it's usually just a waste of space to include that in addition to Fighting & Parry to get a character's final numbers- it's easier just to use a high Fighting score. It's only real use for me is guys who use Shields (low-level Fantasy characters quickly go over-PL defensively with them otherwise- this way keeps their Parry score down while still allowing good close combat), plus slower, easy to hit characters. Ranged Attack is much better, since Dexterity isn't a cost-effective Ability Score, and I usually use a bit of it, even on guys who aren't normally ranged fighters. After all, most any comic character can be reasonably skilled picking up a gun or a rock or something and taking a desperate shot at somebody.

Assorted Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit, Connected, Contacts, Daze, Fascinate, Luck, Precise Attack (Ranged), Quick Draw, Startle, Taunt
* Stuff of varying use- often great for "Character" bits. Lots of guys seem to have friends in high places, unusual Wealth, great Luck- a potential game-breaker, etc. I'm iffy on Fearless, since that's normally a much more expensive Immunity, but as a GM, I would probably nerf it a bit to either a +5 bonus, or simply render you immune to Intimidation (and not Mind Controlled Fear). Startle's good for Scrappers & Powerhouses.

Attractive is it's own deal- it's a big boost in many situations, but it's always iffy to use on a character. I mean, it's COMIC BOOKS- the medium more legendary than friggin' HOLLYWOOD for every person being abnormally beautiful. It's often tempting to just throw it on EVERY female character especially- but I tend to use it only on characters explicitly given as amazingly good-looking, to the point where it has a battlefield effect. Power Girl & Wonder Woman are good examples of distracting beauties that have their looks as plot points (getting 2 ranks of it, even). Jean Grey, Psylocke, Emma Frost & Rogue are likewise all famous for being good-looking in-world, and Kitty Pryde's just so cute you HAVE to use it (if you disagree, you are a horrible judge of everything and I wish death upon you). But every random Image chick, or just some female characters who don't actively use their looks to their advantage probably can go without it (Firestar, Arclight, etc.). Generally, only PLOT POINT attractive people get this Advantage for me... unless I love them.

Mostly-Unused Advantages:
Animal Empathy, Artificer, Eidetic Memory, Ritualist, Second Chance, Throwing Mastery, Trance
* Some of these aren't necessarily BAD, I just find little use for them except in odd cases. Artificer, Ritualist & Trance are all good Mage Advantages, for example, but most wouldn't get any use out of them. Eidetic Memory is good on robots or Lex Luthor/Batmanny types. Second Chance is alright I suppose, but I always gloss it over. I suppose guys who are good at fighting Telepathic assaults- Captain America for instance, are good for it.

Equipment:
I use this quite a lot, though I avoid using some guys' iconic weapons as Equipment whenever necessary- DCA used GREEN ARROW'S ARROWS as "Equipment" for some reason, despite the fact that they're often Trick Arrows, and I disagree. I usually use the common Equipment rules and stats, except for guns.

Guns in M&M:
I REALLY find it odd how weak they consistently make guns in this system. I understand the reasoning- guys with guns never seem to harm the heroes in the books, and this is nigh-impossible to do in an RPG without giving Mooks the worst accuracy in the universe. So to keep PLs where they are, they make Guns weaker. Personally, I think that a baseline gun in the modern era should be +5 Damage AT LEAST, and often have Multiattack on top of it. Some later 2e sources were starting towards this (I believe an Assault Rifle was +7 or something in the "Silver Age" book), but now in 3e they've gone back. Note also that Multiattack weapons have worse accuracy in real life, and I often reflect this with an Alt-Effect shot that's lower-accuracy but higher-volume.

Language- Here's a big one- I don't charge as much for this as the game book says to. For 1 rank, you get 2 Languages (base plus another), for 2 ranks, you get "A few", and 3-4 ranks are "lots". Kept kinda vague, because really, how often is speaking Chinese, French AND German gonna come up? Not really fair to charge Batman a ton of points for all of his- he actually can speak a LOT of them going by individual comics. I would argue that you could speak whatever is handy with FOUR ranks of an Advantage (it is unquestionably way more handy to be a Multi-Millionaire than a Polyglot, and it costs the same).

[cbwjm]

How many languages does Batman speak? It mentions in the book that languages known double at each rank (7 ranks equals 64 addiontal languages known.)

[Jabroniville]

How many languages does Batman speak? It mentions in the book that languages known double at each rank (7 ranks equals 64 addiontal languages known.)

He speaks 8 given the Languages 4 he has, though he probably has been shown speaking more in the comics- he speaks whatever is most convenient. That could even be Hero Point expenditure, though. I still think the whole deal is too pricey, given how being WEALTHY is the same price, yet is far more useful.


Oh, also, I have discovered some of the greatest things ever-
Here's some stuff I found about the way old-school marvel was, with Jim Shooter defending himself a bit:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=147 (Jim Shooter Interview- part 1)
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=146 (part 2)
-This stuff is PRICELESS. Shooter's comments over the childish Byrne/Claremont sniping, and how Bill Mantlo once tried to have Peter Parker father an illegitimate child, are awesome. It's kinda funny how Shooter defends himself- "Yeah, I might've been an asshole, but I got SHIT DONE". And you know what- he kind of did! Marvel went from near-bankruptcy to a profitable base under his command. I love his description of the Marvel bullpen and how much more fun it looked that DC's offices.

Plus stuff like this:

...Then I worked on getting them better... I sat everybody down and said, "Guys, we're going to take this a piece at a time. Number one, every issue, make sure the character's name is mentioned somewhere. You look at comics from Marvel written in the mid-70s, 1974, 75, you'll find comics -- whole books -- go by where the character's name is never mentioned. No character's name is ever mentioned.

Or like Chris, he'll have Storm walk out, one guy calls her Windrider, the next person calls her Ororo, you know what I mean. If you're a new reader, who the hell is this broad? I kept trying to say, guys, we have new readers, they don't know all the answers, we are telling them the stories, ya see?

http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/08/fatal ... -1966.html (Jim Shooter's original drawings for the Fatal Five- he rips into some of Paul Levitz's ideas for later Legion stories as well)

Shooter's whole blog is actually amazing, insightful stuff. Recommended reading. Of course, it's hard to "take the side" of a man who managed to piss off Roy Thomas AND Marv Wolfman, driving them into the welcoming arms of DC (where they created a bit of a renaissance there). There's also Byrne, but all Editors get a free pass there.

http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/08/more- ... name.html- hahahahahah Stan Lee's reactions to the New X-Men's names are priceless. He is AGHAST that Roy Thomas didn't know that Banshees are supposed to be FEMALE!

[Unbeliever]

fwiw,

I do pretty much the same thing w/ Advantages as you do. Although I've recently started to tone it down w/ NPC characters since I think too many advantages make a character hard to run. Generally, I've noticed that PCs have more fiddly bits than other characters, which is only natural: the GM has to run several characters, while a player only has 1 that they run consistently, and so might want to keep it interesting.

We also houseruled languages. Rank 0 might let you have 2, if if it fits (e.g., Spanish and English if you're from LA or Miami). Then it goes 1 (international businessman, a few), 2 (really well traveled, Batman, you'v e got a whole lot but not everything), 3 (Indiana Jones, chock some ancient obscure languages on there). Anything above that probably qualifies as Comprehend ...

For what it's worth, I think the GM owed Indy a HP at the beginning of "Raiders" for him not being able to communicate w/ the Peruvian natives.

[PhilproT]

Sorry for what might be an embarrassingly dumb question, but I see some advantages that don't appear in my copy of DCA: last stand, tough, withstand damage... Where do these come from?

Design Diary IV- M&M Advantages:

I love Advantages. Like Skills, they pretty much define a character's personality (Startle & Power Attack vs. Defensive Attack & Improved Defense, etc.), alter his combat statistics to make up for doing less damage normally, make them specialized at various things (ranged or melee combat, grappling), and there's even a few little bits in there. I honestly use WAY more Advantages than most, from this site to the "official" builds, for this character-building reason.

As a general rule, I don't guess Advantage numbers beforehand- I simple take my big list that I write at the bottom of all my Character Bio Pages, and type in whatever fits for the hero. But I have noticed some trends:

Jobbers, Teen Heroes, Rookies, Thugs: Generally 1-5 Advantages. Now that Power Attack, etc. are all allowed for anyone (on a +2/-2 trade-off), I don't use quite as many as the old days.
Fairly decent heroes: 6-10.
Professional, elite heroes: 11-20.
Elite Martial Artists & Spies: 20+ (Shang-Chi, Captain America & Iron Fist all have over 40).

I note that the New Mutants or something are pretty low on the radar, whereas Captain America, Batman, Iron Fist & Spider-Man all pretty much break the bank on their Advantages. Non-Powered guys usually have more of them out of necessity, but alot of Gun-happy guys have a ton as well. Villains tend to use Equipment, but I no longer write down Minions (as it no longer adds up to more Minions with Progression, and no DCA builds seem to use it). Non-powered guys, of course, expend a far more amount than guys with several ranks of Powers.

Moving the Advantages into their own little groups, here's my take on them, and the guys who use them:

Combat Modifiers:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Favored Environment, Favored Foe, Imp. Aim, Power Attack, Extraordinary Effort, Tough, Withstand Damage
*I LOVE these. Power Attack used to be a no-brainer Advantage, but now I'm more sparing with it (elite Powerhouses and some Martial Artists have it- not as many others would). It turns a +6 damage guy into someone able to damage +10 Impervious guys when they go all-out. The other "Attack" ones are all still great. Defensive for Dexmonkeys, Accurate for elite martial artists (or super-strong types who are known as good fighters as well, and you don't want to shatter your idealized Power Level with them- Thundra comes to mind), and All-Out for crazy scrappers. All-Out Attack is also great for Hulk or Wolverine-types who have defensive powers- they get the boost to hit while also taking heavy damage, which they can just make back. Defensive Roll & Tough are also good "alternatives" to a high Stamina score to make those Toughness saves. Withstand Damage is a great Advantage (ported over from Mecha & Manga) that I add to nearly every top-tier Powerhouse or Brick- they sit there and eat that one heavy shot, giving them a massive +5 bonus to Toughness. Improved Aim is good for any shooty guy.

Somewhat less good are the others. Favoured Environment & Foe are nice now that they no longer affect PL caps, but I'd more rarely dish it out these days.

Dexmonkey Advantages:
Agile Feint, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Imp.Defense, Imp.Initiative, Instant Up, Move-By Action, Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge
* These sorta fit down below, but are more for the agile types. Spider-Man, Elektra, Daredevil, etc. all max-out on these. Uncanny Dodge & Evasion are especially good for getting out of a jam. Thankfully, Evasion's been nerfed so it's no longer an automatic decision.

Fighting Advantages:
Benefits (Ambidexterity), Assessment, Precise Attack, Chokehold, Cunning Fighter (Attack instead of Bluff to Feint), Damaging Escape, Def.Strike, Def.Throw, Diehard, Great Endurance, Follow-Up Strike, Imp.Critical, Imp.Disarm, Fast Grab, Imp.Grab, Imp.Hold, Imp.Smash, Imp.Trip, Last Stand, Prone Fighting, Takedown, Weapon Bind, Weapon Break
* Obviously the largest section. So many guys in comics are combat specialists that you can pick & choose the best things in here for your guys- even Blasters like Cyclops tend to pick up some good stuff over time. The "Grapple" Advantages are default for nearly every Growing Guy or Powerhouse, Improved Critical is handy on ANYONE with a really good attack (it can be pumped onto a Blast power to make up for giving it a less-than-ideal damage value compared to the comics' showings), the Disarm/Smash bits are handy for Weapon guys or armed thugs, etc. Takedown is a necessity for Goonsweepers- I would even allow a HP spent to allow a guy to use it on non-Mooks (now that it's been nerfed a bit in 3e). Last Stand is one that's PERFECT for those uber-tough guys who never seem to falter- The Thing, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Huntress, Cap, etc.

Skillmonkey Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Equipment, Inventor, Jack-of-all-Trades, Skill Mastery, Track, Ultimate Effort, Well-Informed
* Used somewhat less often, but any Spy/Detective/Skilled Guy should have them. Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, et al. Ultimate Effort can also be used for your Powerhouses' Strength checks, Captain America & Thing's Will Saves, and all sorts of things. Equipment is a little trickier, since some guys can alternate equipment to include whatever, but a few ranks for Thugs & guys with guns is always handy.

Ally-Based Advantages:
Inspire, Interpose, Leadership, Minions, Redirect, Set-Up, Sidekick, Teamwork
* Stuff to help your friends in combat, which can be useful or even game-breaking if you're all dirty fighters. Minions & Sidekicks are their own thing- they're great for villains with Beastly help or general armed minions, but you can otherwise just not 'charge' them the points for that and count those things as just regular threats as well. I wouldn't want too many players to have those Advantages by themselves- outnumbering is a BIG advantage in this game. Of course, it gets REALLY pricey to use multiple Minions these days, as there's no real option for having more than one guy- you either have to buy it multiple times, or assume it's cost works like Summon does.

Close & Ranged Attack:
* These are here to help fill out the characters' stats. Close Attack is rare for me, as it's usually just a waste of space to include that in addition to Fighting & Parry to get a character's final numbers- it's easier just to use a high Fighting score. It's only real use for me is guys who use Shields (low-level Fantasy characters quickly go over-PL defensively with them otherwise- this way keeps their Parry score down while still allowing good close combat), plus slower, easy to hit characters. Ranged Attack is much better, since Dexterity isn't a cost-effective Ability Score, and I usually use a bit of it, even on guys who aren't normally ranged fighters. After all, most any comic character can be reasonably skilled picking up a gun or a rock or something and taking a desperate shot at somebody.

Assorted Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit, Connected, Contacts, Daze, Fascinate, Luck, Precise Attack (Ranged), Quick Draw, Startle, Taunt
* Stuff of varying use- often great for "Character" bits. Lots of guys seem to have friends in high places, unusual Wealth, great Luck- a potential game-breaker, etc. I'm iffy on Fearless, since that's normally a much more expensive Immunity, but as a GM, I would probably nerf it a bit to either a +5 bonus, or simply render you immune to Intimidation (and not Mind Controlled Fear). Startle's good for Scrappers & Powerhouses.

Attractive is it's own deal- it's a big boost in many situations, but it's always iffy to use on a character. I mean, it's COMIC BOOKS- the medium more legendary than friggin' HOLLYWOOD for every person being abnormally beautiful. It's often tempting to just throw it on EVERY female character especially- but I tend to use it only on characters explicitly given as amazingly good-looking, to the point where it has a battlefield effect. Power Girl & Wonder Woman are good examples of distracting beauties that have their looks as plot points (getting 2 ranks of it, even). Jean Grey, Psylocke, Emma Frost & Rogue are likewise all famous for being good-looking in-world, and Kitty Pryde's just so cute you HAVE to use it (if you disagree, you are a horrible judge of everything and I wish death upon you). But every random Image chick, or just some female characters who don't actively use their looks to their advantage probably can go without it (Firestar, Arclight, etc.). Generally, only PLOT POINT attractive people get this Advantage for me... unless I love them.

Mostly-Unused Advantages:
Animal Empathy, Artificer, Eidetic Memory, Ritualist, Second Chance, Throwing Mastery, Trance
* Some of these aren't necessarily BAD, I just find little use for them except in odd cases. Artificer, Ritualist & Trance are all good Mage Advantages, for example, but most wouldn't get any use out of them. Eidetic Memory is good on robots or Lex Luthor/Batmanny types. Second Chance is alright I suppose, but I always gloss it over. I suppose guys who are good at fighting Telepathic assaults- Captain America for instance, are good for it.

Equipment:
I use this quite a lot, though I avoid using some guys' iconic weapons as Equipment whenever necessary- DCA used GREEN ARROW'S ARROWS as "Equipment" for some reason, despite the fact that they're often Trick Arrows, and I disagree. I usually use the common Equipment rules and stats, except for guns.

Guns in M&M:
I REALLY find it odd how weak they consistently make guns in this system. I understand the reasoning- guys with guns never seem to harm the heroes in the books, and this is nigh-impossible to do in an RPG without giving Mooks the worst accuracy in the universe. So to keep PLs where they are, they make Guns weaker. Personally, I think that a baseline gun in the modern era should be +5 Damage AT LEAST, and often have Multiattack on top of it. Some later 2e sources were starting towards this (I believe an Assault Rifle was +7 or something in the "Silver Age" book), but now in 3e they've gone back. Note also that Multiattack weapons have worse accuracy in real life, and I often reflect this with an Alt-Effect shot that's lower-accuracy but higher-volume.

Language- Here's a big one- I don't charge as much for this as the game book says to. For 1 rank, you get 2 Languages (base plus another), for 2 ranks, you get "A few", and 3-4 ranks are "lots". Kept kinda vague, because really, how often is speaking Chinese, French AND German gonna come up? Not really fair to charge Batman a ton of points for all of his- he actually can speak a LOT of them going by individual comics. I would argue that you could speak whatever is handy with FOUR ranks of an Advantage (it is unquestionably way more handy to be a Multi-Millionaire than a Polyglot, and it costs the same).

[Woodclaw]

Sorry for what might be an embarrassingly dumb question, but I see some advantages that don't appear in my copy of DCA: last stand, tough, withstand damage... Where do these come from?

They are 2E feats that Jab ported to the 3E, since the mechanics are still valid. Last Stand allows a character to spend a HP to ignore any damage condition he suffered (including dying) for a single round. Tough is pretty much a 1 rank Protection effect. Withstand Damage allows a character to reduce his Defense bonus to increase his Toughness bonus, up to 5 points or the character Dodge bonus, whichever is lower.

[PhilproT]

Thanks!

[Jabroniville]

Design Diary V- M&M Powers:

Here's the meat of the system. Every Hero-based game is make or break based off of it's Power section, and I think M&M's is the best I've ever encountered. It's simple enough to be un-complicated, but has enough variance to match just about any power in comics if you use it enough (that guy on the Acolytes who can phase through objects and appear on any part of the object- including rain or a castle's wall... HE can tax the system, but it's do-able). This isn't to say it's without flaw, or allows for EVERY potential eventuality, but it's close. I'll go into a few "problem powers" and my own little addendums to things as follows:

Damage Levels:
This one's a little tricky, based off of how powerful some guy's attacks are shown at times, and how weak they're shown at others. I've seen someone like Stargirl blow the side of her house off with the Cosmic Rod, but usually she's just KOing guys. Problematically, the M&M system chooses it's Power Levels based off of accuracy & damage balanced, which means that guys who are powerful AND accurate like Cyclops or Liberty Belle II (super-speed AND strength) can break the system and go over-PL unless you modify some stuff (Advantages are good for that)

Damage:
+1: Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost (unarmed)
+2: Barracudas, Most Humans (200 lbs.)
+3: Black Widow, Iron Fist (standard attack), Rottweiler, Lynx, Eagles, Mandrills, Nighthawk, Kitty Pryde (Sneak Attack)
+4: Daredevil, Mastiff, Wolves, Crossbones
+5: Standard Gun, Captain America, Bullseye (Objects/Adamantium Fists), Daredevil (Club), Hyenas, Eels, Rattlers, Stags, Chimps, Swarm, Red Skull
+6: Agent 13 (Gun), Black Widow (Bite), The Kingpin, Dire Wolf (Bite), Cougars/Leopards, Dolphins, Pythons, Horses, Elk, Orangutans
+7: Punisher, Cable & Domino's Rifles, Vermin, Jaguars, Lioness, Cobras, Gorillas, Spider-Girls, Black Knight (Sword)
+8: Spider-Man (Unarmed/Snare), Captain America (Shield), Wolverine (Claws), Lions, Black Bears, False Killer Whales, Bull Sharks, Anacondas, Terror Birds, Crocs, Moose, Bulls,
+9: Tigers, Brown/Polar Bears, Hammerheads, Colossal Squids, Salties, Irish Elk, Giraffes, Hippos, Black Rhinos, The Shocker, Titania I, Poundcakes
+10: Smilodons, Cave Bears, Great Whites, White Rhinos, Elephants, Killer Whales, Hydro Man, Piledriver's Fists, Texas Twister's Wind, Foxfire & Quagmire's Attacks, Gladiatrix
+11: Jack of Hearts (Blast), War Machine (Blasts), Mr. Hyde, Giant Snakes, Woolly Rhinos, King Kong, Dr. Octopus (Arms), Venom, The Lizard, Electro, Frenzy, Unuscione, Power Princess, Tiger Shark, Rogue, Stegosaurus' Thagomizer
+12: Iron Man (Blasts), Humpbacks, The Scorpion (Tail), Thunderball & Bulldozer's Weapons, Dr. Spectrum's Blasts
+13: Sperm Whales, Indricotherium, Namor, The Thing, Colossus, Ultron, The Mandarin's Area Attacks, T-Rex's Bite
+14: The Wrecker (Crowbar), Magneto's Blasts, Exodus' Blasts, Namor & Tiger Shark (in Water), Ultron's Attacks, Sasquatch, The Mandarin
+15: Zeuglodons, Megalodons, Gilgamesh, Hulk (Baseline), Inertia's Blasts, The Executioner's Axe, Apocalypse
+16: Thor (Unarmed), Hercules, Giant-Man (Maximum Size), The Kraken, Redstone, The Abomination, The Juggernaut
+17: Hyperion, Ulik the Troll
+18: Thor (Hammer), The Champion of the Universe
+19: King Caesar, Anguirus
+20: Hulk (maximum rage), Godzilla (Showa)
+22: Godzilla (Showa- Breath Weapon), Godzilla (Heisei)
+24: Godzilla (Heisei- Breath Weapon), Mechagodzilla (Showa- Weapons)
+25: Mechagodzilla (Heisei- Weapons), Space Godzilla (Breath Weapon)
+26: Destroyah (Oxygen Destroyer)

There's other things to do if you need people to be powerful, but fit their Caps. Cyclops for example can modify his caps with Accurate & Power Attack, to make more accurate Optic Blasts (he's VERY good at aiming in-universe) or bigger Sentinel-crushing ones, just as any martial artist or good fighter could with his unarmed attacks. This is how I get past all the "wait, shouldn't so-and-so's attacks be stronger?" and other questions that can come up: just modify Caps!

Problem Powers:
Area-Effects- If you make them "Touch Range", as in the effect comes from you, they cost no more than a single Blast, which seems odd. I mean, who wouldn't want to hit TEN guys for the same cost as hitting ONE? Well, there's drawbacks- anyone with a high enough Defense is able to avoid a ton of damage from your Blasts if he rolls well, you can't get any Critical Hits without an attack roll, you could damage things you don't otherwise want to destroy, and you can't use any of your Combat Modifier Advantages (Accurate, All-Out, Power Attack, etc.). It also screws with your PL caps if you have powerful guys doing this.

What's funny about Area Effects is several people seem to not give them to characters who need them, in my estimation. I see alot of GL builds with no Area Blasts, which makes no sense- as they frequently hit about ten guys at once in the comics. It's really a VERY common thing for Blasters to have. Regarding the "types" of Area Effects- Cones (fire blasts), Lines (GL energy beams) and Bursts (all-around Nova Flame blasts) are BY FAR the most common in comics, being more visually interesting. Not too many cool Cylindar or Trail effects in the comics, y'know what I mean? One of the only Trails I can think of is Spider-Man's Webbing (or those TRON Bikes) and even THAT is highly-rare.

Multiattack- As many people have mentioned, this is almost over-powered. It deals just a little TOO much damage, and is a little TOO good. My solution is to usually make guys take it in smaller amounts than their basic Blast (ie. use an Alternate Power), or lower their accuracy- this is true of most real-world weapons (ask any soldier- going full-auto with a gun is a surefire way to screw up your aim, with your arms flying everywhere- using a single round at a time is much better if you NEED to hit someone- Controlled Bursts work best for room-clearing. crowd control and covering fire). After all, one BIG Blast tends to do the same damage as a bunch of Little Blasts for all those Energy Guys out there.

Weaken- It works okay as a power (it could be game-breaking if made too strong), but fails on a couple levels in terms of comic-accuracy. First off, a Vampire can use his Blood-Drinking power on Tony Stark, even in-armour? Guys who use Poisoned weapons are also left out of the system's explanations, as they do damage, THEN do Poisoning Drain stuff. I prefer the simple explanation of a Complictation (Power Loss)- must deal damage with weapon first/doesn't work on armoured beings)- 3rd Edition is MUCH better than 2nd in this regard, as you can just be like "No, Morbius CAN'T drink Iron Man's blood, because he's gotta puncture that ARMOUR first" and dole out a Hero Point or something. REALLY powerful versions (like Omega Red's Death Spores) simply stack Weaken Stamina & Strength and stuff like that. This makes them more expensive, but fits with how dangerous they are.

Elongation- This is now ridiculously cheap in 3e- you can stretch 15 feet (3 ranks of Reach) in a single round, for one point. I guess the game-designers totally brainfarted over this. I don't feel so bad about missing the cost of certain Extras because of this :).

Magic- This power almost seems like "Variable Power" sometimes, but at least you need to spend Hero Points to get anything you wouldn't normally have. It's versatility fits in-universe with how comic book mages really are (which is part of why I hate reading Magic-themed books), however- so you can't fault the M&M makers for at least including it. As a GM, I'd tend to limit Mages to various things (a "Miscast Table" or something for if you rolled poorly- probably a Complication or Quirk), but that's outside of the realm of most comic book wizards as well. It's also good to throw in some weaknesses like "Power Loss: Wearing Armour" or "Power Loss: Cold Iron"- it works to keep costs down, and leaves them with SOME limits beyond "use every power you want". I actually have a "Schools of Magic" system in-place for my Fantasy builds that I've been working on.

Energy Aura- This is a HIGHLY expensive power, as it should be, since anyone who kicks you would take the damage. However, it makes guys like Human Torch overly-costly with constantly-up Auras while they're fighting, so a way out is to make a BASELINE "Aura" stat (Torch's is +4 damage, for example), then leave 6 ranks as part of a Dynamic Array, which means he can Blast away all he likes, but if he needs to, he can Alt-Effect (man, that is SO much more awkward than just saying "AP"...) to a full-blast +10 Flame Aura. A few others have independently come to similar solutions regarding this power, so it's not just me. Another little trick with some Auras is to Limit it to Flesh Contact Only (a Complication). This fits people like Rogue or Wither, who actually have to make skin contact, rendering Robots, Armoured People & others immune to their powers- as well as making their powers not work while they're wearing too much clothing.

Damage- Particularly the Strength-Damage variety, in terms of hand-held damaging stuff. On most guys with swords & stuff it's not that big an issue (though it's a little weird that peak humans can pick up swords and do double-damage compared to some guns), but when you get with Super-Strong guys who ALSO have weapons, it's iffy. Especially if said guy is also considered a good fighter. Thor is a case of this, as well as Thundra, Battleaxe, and others. Anyone who does beyond +10 damage in Unarmed damage and then picks up a +2 or +3 WEAPON is going to go well over the PL 10 caps unless their Attack Bonus is lower, which may go "against character".

One way out of that include just biting the bullet and making them less accurate (give 'em Accurate or All-Out Attack to make up for it, letting them modify caps). I like making Super-Strong guy weapons only +2 to damage to account for the higher levels of power (giving Thor a magic hammer isn't gonna let him do exponentially more damage than his fists, compared to if you gave it to a normal guy... +3 Damage doesn't mean as much when you do +12 basic, amiright?). Thankfully, there's a TEENY TINY rule in the "Equipment" section that says any equipment will be destroyed if someone whose base Damage is over the weapon's toughness uses it in a fight- this means that all Strong Guys need to buy their weapons as Devices rather than Equipment, and anything they just pick up is toast.

Claws on Strong Guys- Linked to "Damage" above, similar issues apply. Me, I'd just as soon assume that someone like Wendigo isn't gonna do THAT much more damage with their pointy claws than if they'd just punched someone with their Class 75-plus strength anyways, so I'd give them a maximum bonus of +1 damage if they were particularly strong. Only human-type guys and regular animals should need to go higher than that.

Force Field- This one causes problems in terms of PL caps, giving guys ludicrous toughness bonuses for very, very cheap when their Fields are up. Then I realized that this seems to imply that the power is active while the guy's jumping and dodging around. A few Force Fields are like that (Jean Grey & Green Lanterns tend to have mini-body fields up in-combat), but only at low levels. Anyone like Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange or full-on defensive Green Lanterns are almost always Immobile by default with high-powered fields, sitting there and taking all the shots bouncing off their field. Immobile is a -2 Flaw (it was in 2e anyways) which can be used for high-level Fields (often on only a couple ranks), to allow heroes to have GIANT Toughness saves, simply by standing there and eating hits. It might be a little cheesy for certain games, but it definitely reflects the comics.

Growth- This power's caused a few headaches, and kind of weirds things out, since it alters damage and scales up WAAAAAAYYYY faster that it reasonably should in comics, messing with people's Power Levels and making them tougher than necessary. Look at how often Atom Smasher or Colossal Boy take the fall in fights (to say nothing of Hank Pym) to see what I mean. Similarly, people have done the math, and Growth comes up as a MUCH cheaper option (even Innate, Permanent Growth) for stat growths that you'd normally have to pay more for. It's rather odd, though Growth is understandably one of the tougher abilities to build in any game.

I deal with this problem in a fairly simple way (there are some House-Ruled Growth rules, but I prefer to use official stats whenever possible)- Use a smaller Growth, and just stick Reach, Increased Mass (a Feature) or Elongation onto it- you get more reasonable stat increases, and it's just a few more points' worth of stuff. You could also selectively take away a few stats here and there (possibly from Accuracy, like 2nd Edition did). DCA's official Giganta build includes the option of additional Growth (Limited- Does Not Add to Strength or Stamina), which is another way to do it. DCA's "Heroes & Villains" includes the possibility of using a baseline Growth, and then ANOTHER set of Growth with the Limit of (Flaws: No Strength & Stamina Increase). Which is a pretty good idea, too.

There are a few side-powers common to Growth guys that I typically throw on as well- most strong guys can attack whole groups of people at once- these are basically Touch Range Area Attacks. This was included automatically in 2e, but was taken away from this edition.

Shrinking- Shrinking causes an issue because the Defenses blow up INSANELY after a point, screwing with Power Level just like Growth does. For animals that are always small, it could make Rats a high-PL creature. To combat this, I give them REALLY weak bonuses in their Stats (Fighting & Agility), boosting them with Improved Initiative and Close Attack to make up the difference.

Summon- The classic "Broken" power, it's expensive for a reason. It only causes me problems because I habitually "skim" pages and miss little things like both Active & Heroic being on the build being redundant. Especially because the print is so tiny.

Teleport- I just hate dealing with it. Distances are so rarely mentioned in comics that it's hard to nail down, it's expensive as HELL (for good reason- it's a Game Breaker in an RPG situation or a comic book one- note how many Teleporters get nerfed by random lame stuff in the books), and it's got a ton of Feats & Advantages on it that I forget about. They turned one of the old Feats into a +1 Extra for this edition, and it screwed me up for a bit. It's also a power I don't like fiddling around with because it's kind of dull to think about, yet requires tons of work and careful reading. I just hate it.

Devices/Removable & Easily Removable- These are proving controversial these days, what with the ENORMOUS discounts you get on points, for what basically amounts to something that happens very rarely, depending on the GM. The best example given is Tony Stark's "Iron Man" Armour- does he really have this taken away a lot? He basically loses it as much as Superman gets exposed to Kryptonite, and Supes gets NO bonuses for losing all his powers and dying when he's near the stuff! And Easily Removable nets you even more.

The only really way to deal with his is to either House Rule a different cost structure, or make do with GM decisions. The GM kind of has to be an ass about the Removable Powers, moreso than to another player. I would allow for Aimed Shots or Critical Hits to F-up certain parts of someone's Removable Power Armour- a shot here takes out his Flight systems, for example, necessitating a quick-fix or just plain ol' Power Loss. Another shot might wreck the vision sensors so now he's gotta take off the helmet. Heavy damage could "Chip" away the Protection. Stuff like that. And you wouldn't get Hero Points for it, since you already saved about 20-25 points on the Armour when you "paid" for it! This is kind of a dick move, but I would argue it's allowable given the points-cost here.

Impervious Toughness- This has caused no end of freakouts online, but since I gave up worrying about points-costs, I don't need to care anymore :). I'm fine with how it costs essentially "2 points per rank, minus 1" (that's still the weirdest addition and explanation of a power ever, though), especially since many guys who use the power (Powerhouses) are among the cheaper characters to build anyways.

Other Stuff:
Affliction- I'm still in love with this power. You can get almost any effect with it (and many 2e effects were really just the same sorta thing anyways), and there's "middle" degrees so it's not just "Save or Die". Learning from Taliesin that "Power Thief" guys can be Afflicters was a big one for me- it works much better than Nullify (which is more complicated and can't affect every super-power- just certain ones). Groundstrike is also an Affliction (I prefer to link it to Area Affects Objects Damage as well- it reflects what actually happens in the comics, and can be used to bust through floors), similar to Aging Others (a power Pamela Isley REALLY obsessed over getting into 2e- which is why I'm surprised she didn't like 3e's version), Electrical Shocks/Tasers (Stun-Incapacitated), Nauseate (any number of effects), Vertigo (ditto), etc. I also like that you can tailor-make certain effects by mix-and-matching things. You can trap, dizzy, stun and screw up people's movements and stuff.

[Jabroniville]

Design Diary V.i.- Power Percentages

There's some characters who use a higher percentage of Powers compared to their other abilities- I was curious to see who'd come up with what:

Higher than 50%-
(guys who are REALLY dependent on their powers, the point of being useless without them)
Darkhawk (59.6%)- Inexperienced and bad at heroics, but has a decent suit of armour.
The Vision (42%)
Wonder Man (26%) -- (note: increases to 53% when you include Strength and Stamina as Powers)
Dr. Strange (57.7%)
Iceman (56.2%)
Rachel Grey/Phoenix (63.7%)- INCREDIBLE POWER, not much otherwise

Between 40 & 50%-
(guys who are dependent on powers, but have a few more tricks up their sleeves)
Firestar (40%)
Crystal (45.7%)
Moondragon (44%)- Incredible mental powers, but also a good fighter
Iron Man (43%)- has the expensive suit, but is also a genius and wealthy
Thor (33.7%) -- (note: goes way higher when you include Strength & Stamina as powers)
Jean Grey (50%)
Magma (43.6%)
Human Torch II (48.2%)
Invisible Woman (41.6%)

Between 25 & 40%-
(not so dependent- often has just enough. Team Powerhouses have this since I typically put their strength just into base Stats and not Powers, so the numbers are thrown off there. That's mostly a math thing, however. Easier to add up that way)
Cyclops (28.3%)- Mostly advantages & skills
Colossus (32%)
Wolverine (20%)
The Thing (36.3%)
Hawkeye (36.3%)
Spider-Woman II (Julia Carpenter) (27.4%)
Spider-Man (29.7%)

Below 25%-
(afterthought powers. Guys who are Featmonkies and fighters with a miniature focus on a weapon)
Captain America (10.1%)- Dozens of Advantages, one Shield.
Gambit (11%)
Nightcrawler (16.4%)
Luke Cage (15.8%)
Forge (13.5%)

So the things I'm noticing as trends are that weak, Street Level heroes take up the bottom rungs, Powerhouses & high-end Street Levellers (Wolverine's pricey claws & healing) end up next-highest up, Blaster Types almost ALWAYS end up spending over 40% to be effective, and guys who spend over 50% tend to be very one-note or have massive Arrays that give them tons of options.

I noticed that "Effectiveness" of heroes is irrelevant to which level. Dr. Strange & Wonder Man are mega-heavyweight heroes and spend a TON of points on their high-powered abilities, while Cap spends the fewest points on powers overall, and is similarly a top hero. Cyclops and the big Powerhouses are 25-40%, while Thor & Iron Man are at 33-43%. So it doesn't seem to matter if you want your heroes to be effective. It just depends on what type of hero they are.

Like I said, Blasters are by definition power-based guys (except Cyclops, who's a bit more limited with his to just wrecking stuff), especially the elemental versions. So are Powersuit guys and gods with TONS of powers.

[Jabroniville]

My own Master Power Level List

Design Diary VI- Power Levels:

This the "big number" so to speak- what determines where your stats cap out at, what makes you as good as you are, etc. It's also handy to let everyone who looks at the build know exactly where the character stands. Are they a newbie hero, a low-level villain, a decent threat, or someone on the uber levels? It's all right in here. Of course, since that's such a "Your Mileage May Vary" kind of thing, PLs are ALL OVER THE PLACE on the Think Tank, and what's funny is that nobody's any more right than most others, as even in-universe, characters often simply beat other characters with no rhyme or reason to stats. This of course fits with the M&M system as well, because there's no rule saying a PL 9 can't beat a PL 10- it just takes a little bit more effort, since they're usually one ahead of you in accuracy AND damage, or two ahead of you in either category. Stuff like that.

Since it's so Subjective, you've gotta kind of eyeball it yourself. Honestly, I have a GENERAL idea of where I want most characters to fall when I start. But if I stat them up, and get a totally different PL from it, I have some decisions to make. Do I alter it, and drop their scores below the 'ideal' level, just to make them fit? Or do I adjust the PL to what it should be? It depends on the build, really. If I get some random Acolyte member who's PL 11, I'll shoot them down a notch, but the bigger-name heroes generally go higher. I want everybody to fit a PL I'd be comfortable seeing in my game. PL 8s & 9s as early or weaker heroes (or just less powerful Street Level guys), PL 10s as something to aspire to (I never cared for M&M's suggestion of putting that high a level of a "starter" PC), and PL 11s & 12s being as high as most heroes will ever get- the uber-tier. PL 13s and up are for guys like Thor, Gladiator, Ultron & Doom- guys you don't encounter very often. This way, most everyone stays fairly competitive. It may be more "accurate" to have modern Superman or Thor be PL 14-15, but that makes him so far beyond every other baseline hero that it just wouldn't be any fun for anybody. Comics-accurate? Maybe. But not fun. So I usually lean towards Comics Accuracy, but cut guys off at the higher ranks a bit- I can usually back this up with "well, Thor regularly has trouble with guys who Spider-Man has beaten, so he's not THAT tough".

As for me, most of my characters fit between PL 9 and 12: I take into account that most of the heroes inhabit the same universes, and have to fight each other alot. Thor is super-powerful, but is challenged by Absorbing Man, who has lost fights to Wolverine (hand chopped off), Captain America & Spider-Man. So their PLs shouldn't be THAT far apart, even taking into account that nobody in their right minds thinks Spidey or Cap can K.O. Thor. Iron Man is similarly near-Thor in might, but has taken physical damage from both Cap & Spidey, and has lost to PLENTY of Loser Characters- even more than Spidey has. Iron Fist once beat a huge Dragon (it was implied that it was hard as hell, at least) in a recent issue, but then goes and loses to Wolverine in hand-to-hand, sans Claws; and Daredevil (a PL 9-10 if there ever was one) is pretty close to him in several issues. Off this reflects a 'verse that is fairly close together in PL. Never underestimate guys' Advantages modifying all their caps, plus stuff like Hero Points. I feel that by making everyone closer together in PL, you can more accurately show how in comics, some guys can just randomly do better at certain times.

"Power Level" Is About More Than Just PL:
That sounds strange, but hear me out- there's more about "which guy would beat whom" than just their PLs, though that's obviously the big part of it. Various other factors can come into play, based off of and around the PL conceit, but also their points cost and what powers they have, etc.

Points-Cost:
A very direct way to tell how tough or good some guys are. A "standard" PL 10 costs 150 pp, and a standard PL 8 costs 120 pp. That's actually a fair bit of points (less so nowadays), so you have room for some solid physical stats, some Skills, a bunch of Feats, and a good spread of Powers. For a PC, that's great. But for PL 8-10 scrubs and villains? They often fall short. Guys like The Rhino & Electro are PL 10 easily (I make Electro a PL 11), but both are known for being rather dumb, and aren't that great of fighters, so they fall well short of their potential totals for points-spent. At best, they get some All-Out/Power Attack-type stuff and some Advantages based off of their styles of combat. So it's fairly easy to reflect how "useful" someone is based off of the points they cost. Electro can fight Spider-Man for a good bit, but ultimately he will almost always fail because he's an idiot and can't think his way out of situations that Spidey could.

Guys like The Acolytes and Mutant Liberation Front (ie. villain scrubs) are even worse, often costing under 100 pp, no matter their PL! This means these guys are REAL losers- very little Skills, a few token Advantages, and one single Power to base themselves around! Really pathetic. Generally speaking, I don't plan out "oh, this guy's gonna cost very little points". That's just something that kinda 'happens' when I do a build of a guy, adding up each category separately.

How Many Points Should People Cost?:
This can be tough, but it can really only be answered with: Do it however you feel like. There's so many takes on so many guys, that nobody's 100% close. On one end of the scale, you have Taliesin, who builds guys up to their maximum showing, without caring about the points (he's said so himself)- switching to DCA-accurate builds of Marvel guys for the time being. Someone like Kreuzritter either minimizes or maximizes everybody to a perfect PL 10 (150) standard, making them all Playable Characters. Neither way is "wrong", and it entirely depends on the type of game you want to run. PL 10 PCs will have a HELL of a time in a Taliesin-built world, but an easier one in Kreuz's. I think internal consistency is more important than higher or lower PLs- as long as your Spidey can get a decent fight with most of his opponents, and your Thor doesn't completely overpower your Hulk or Juggernaut, you're good.

Me, I prefer the most universe-accurate set-up of the character possible, within the boundaries of how I'd run a game. I stat up guys using literally every Advantage or Skill or Power I can think of them using, and then see what I have at the end. The way system M&M uses was built in Second Edition that I'd often get pretty close to PC-worthy stats when I was done- minor heroes cost less, major guys cost more. HOWEVER, Third Edition changed all that- with Skills now costing much more, everyone but Super-Strong guys (who now cost LESS, thanks to the Super-Strength rules changing) now cost a number more points. Nowadays, I care a whole lot less about points. If a scrub villain like Blackwing or Jack O'Lantern doesn't make full PC-points, who cares? Similarly, a 200 point Daredevil shocked the CRAP out of me, but when I thought about him, and his comparisons to the "Official" DC build of Nightwing, I realized that he was basically the same, plus 20 points in Super-Senses, and thus it was completely okay. Most any villain really doesn't have to either- their existence is due to fighting the hero, not going on his own adventures. Similarly, guys who are REALLY powerful also don't matter too much- Silver Surfer can cost 267 points for all I care.

It... still takes some getting used to. Guys with LOTS of Skills like Daredevil (smart, streetwise, lawyer) and Spider-Man (genius, scientist, also good at investigating) are MONSTROUSLY expensive, hitting over 200 points each. I have to consistently remind myself that a Captain America that's 220 points isn't going over the line. It makes sense when I REALLY think about it- the old system was set up so that an X-Man at standard Iceman/Gambit level could come to a PL 10 (150) build. The thing is... that's a STARTER character in game-terms. Most X-Men have been in comics for 20 years by this point- it makes sense that they should be more costly. The more experienced or well-rounded the hero is, the more he'll be beyond the standards of are starter Player Character.

I also note that guys who I've read 900 appearances of accumulate points MUCH more quickly than guys I do Wiki-fuelled builds of . Sometimes, though, it just ain't gonna happen. Captain America & Spider-Man are two great examples of guys who are NEVER going to be shaved properly down into PC-accurate Builds without losing alot of what makes them great. Spidey is too smart, too skilled, too good a fighter, and has too many powers- he will cost over 180 pp no matter which way you slice it. Cap also has a MASSIVE assortment of Advantages, but is also strong-willed, skilled and is pretty smart as well. Plus the Shield. For those guys, I'll not beat myself up about it. All the headaches over the X-Men builds having to fit PL 10 (150) were enough for me .

But as an overall rule, I want the characters to fit as accurately as possible. If you've got someone like Wonder Woman, Batman or Superman- the Elite Tier of capable heroes, then just go balls-out. There's no point in nitpicking over miniature amounts of points for someone who's SUPPOSED to be really good. It's another way of attaining accuracy in-game. Sure, I want Superman to be a PL 12 so he doesn't tower over every other character- but hey, why not let him cost 220-240 points? THAT can accurately reflect just how much better he is than a normal guy! Hell, Steve Kenson's own builds for these guys COMPLETELY absolve me of all doubt- I'd recieved some criticism in the past that my characters were "too expensive" despite having low PLs. Well, Steve's 178-point Catwoman and 287-point Wonder Woman pretty much make me feel like I did it properly, even if I disagree with his builds on other things .

Guys Who Cost Alot of Points:
Lots of types of characters can cause problems in costing too many points, if you care about that sort of thing. Simply put, anyone who's a Construct is a pain, because they drop 10 points' worth of Stamina for 30 points of Immunities, plus if they're a Robot, they're usually Immune to Mental Effects as well. Anyone who turns to no-STA-score Energy (which tends to have Auras AND Blasts) as well, though nowadays I just leave them with Fortitude. Martial Artists are also a rather big pain, and produce some uncomfortable results: guys who are weaker but more skilled tend to cost more than simple Blasters or Powerhouses, just because there's about FIFTY different Combat Advantages, many of which are pretty good. Books like Mecha & Manga and Warriors & Warlocks only ADD to this problem, as the Advantage tree gets ever-bigger, and these poor guys have to pick & choose what they want. This is part of why I never use "Weapon Proficiency" or anything like that- it looks cool and fits well, but it only adds ANOTHER Advantage your hero would have to spend pp on, while the team's Psychic just keeps using his 40-points array and scrimping on all his points.

"Skillmonkeys", my name for guys who are based around lots of Skills (usually a mix of Spy/Detective guys and their Awareness-based people-reading & sneaking, or Intellect-based builder-inventor types), can also be problematic, as a good one will have around 50-80 ranks of Skills, meaning a big chunk of 25-40-odd pp spent! Some have "house-ruled" that Skills are cheaper (or used the Mastermind's Manual rule for basic skills that encompass many standard M&M ones), but I prefer to stick to the 'basic' rules whenever available.

Another big issue is guys I've either read alot of, or who have appeared a LOT over the years. It's easy to fit villains into the framework because they usually only show up in one or two issues a year of anyone's books. But guys like the X-Men literally have runs amassing every monthly issue for thirty years; Storm, Cyclops, The Beast, etc. Solo heroes like Daredevil, too, are especially prone to this, as they never are allowed to min/max to let one team member be the "Smart Guy" and another one be the "Goonsweeper"- Daredevil literally has to have a little bit of EVERYTHING on him, including strong will, great fighting skills, and tons of abilities, to keep himself alive in solo adventures. There's just so much they've been SHOWN doing, that you want to include all of it. Sometimes you just have to pare them down if they're going to fit, but you don't have to.

Street Level = PL 10?:
This one comes up sometimes, and is a bit weird, but is generally something you have to deal with in M&M: Since Power Level balances attack/damage and defense/toughness, it leads to accurate guys like Daredevil & Elektra matching the PL of much tougher characters like Warpath or Colossus. Now, in the COMICS, these fights are virtual no-brainers- DD would have to knock a building over to scratch one of those two. However, that would a) be boring as hell to play in-game and b) be hard to stat up differently. So you just kind of have to deal with the fact that Daredevil is the same Power Level of a guy he could probably never beat in the comics.

There are different things to think about, though. Colossus has pretty good Impervious Toughness, meaning that DD would be hard-pressed to do ANY kind of damage to him- likely having to go to Power Attack constantly. Someone in a suit of PL 10 Power Armour can dish out Blasts, Multiattack Damage, etc., in ADDITION to being really hard to hurt, whereas Daredevil had to put the majority of his Power Points into being smart, skilled and really good at melee combat. So the Battlesuit archetype will nearly always dish out more damage, but Martial Artists are harder to hit, and tend to be better at solving problems (think the Rogue-class in D&D), going solo, or just Goonsweeping (ie. taking down tons of Mooks at once).

And, as Baron has noted in his hyper-math-based calculations, strong guys nearly always have the advantage mathematically in this game, assuming nothing else is mattering in the fight. A +12/+8 strongman has an advantage over a +3/+17 accurate guy.

Next up: A whole section on Power Creep!

[danelsan]

Quick note on Area attacks costing just as much as a single-target Blast: don't forget that the Area attack might hit undesired targets (friends, innocent civilians, important-to-maintain-intact surroundings...) if you don't increase the cost with Selective.

[Jabroniville]

Oh yeah, there's that, too- not so much of a problem for Super-Villains (or Iron Age heroes, for that matter...), but it can hamper you in team tactics. During the "Tournament of Suck" I ran, most guys were still able to fit only enemies in their areas of attack, though- using a gameboard or something makes it easier. There WERE some incidences of "Friendly Fire", though.

[ClassDunce]

Oh yeah, there's that, too- not so much of a problem for Super-Villains (or Iron Age heroes, for that matter...), but it can hamper you in team tactics. During the "Tournament of Suck" I ran, most guys were still able to fit only enemies in their areas of attack, though- using a gameboard or something makes it easier. There WERE some incidences of "Friendly Fire", though.

The Acolytes were robbed...

[Jabroniville]

Design Diary VII- Power Creep:-

That most infamous of examples of characters slowly getting higher and higher in power over time. It happens in comics (Superman got additional powers every month at DC back in the day), it happens in RPGs ("Rifts" is INFAMOUS for it's ever-increasing scale of power- suits of armour got more powerful with each new rulebook, tanks got better, and even the Character Classes are notably more powerful in later books), and it's hard to take into account. The X-Men are almost constantly increasing in Power Feats and unique tricks, yet they almost always seem to be the same general level. Since everyone's around the same level, and I only go between PL 8 and 12 most of the time, they usually just retain PL 10-ish status.

How I see the Marvel Universe in terms of "Power Creep":
-Characters were clearly less powerful back in the early days of Marvel- scrub villains were nearly ALWAYS treated like dire threats at first, until they eventually turned into jobbers. The heroes from the Silver Age would get their ASSES KICKED against modern-day examples of the heroes- a decade of experience will do that for you. I basically see it like this:

World War II- Captain America & the Human Torch are PL 10, Namor is probably PL 11. All the other Golden Age characters are PL 7-8, as they're mostly two-fisted adventurers.

The Early Silver Age- Spider-Man starts out as a PL 7, but rapidly becomes a PL 8 by issue 25 or so. Most of his villains are likely more powerful than he is- at least PL 9. Almost all of The Avengers (even Iron Man) are PL 10 at-best- Hawkeye, Giant-Man, The Wasp and others are only PL 8-9, as are most of the Silver Age villains. Thor himself has a ton of powers, but operates as a PL 11 guy, fighting on a solid level with Mister Hyde, The Wrecker, and other goons he would later CRUSH. Daredevil is a PL 8, as is The Black Widow. The Fantastic Four seem like some of the rare PL 9 squads, except for Sue, who is weaker. The Silver Surfer is like PL 15 or something- MASSIVELY beyond anyone else's capabilities. The X-Men (the teen years) are PL 8 at-best, and started out as PL 7s in their first few issues- Magneto was probably only PL 10. The Juggernaut is too, leaning WAY towards Power & Toughness.

The Later Silver Age- Spider-Man appears as a solid PL 9 guy around Spider-Man #50 (the Kingpin fight). By the '70s (around Gwen Stacy's death and Roy Thomas' run), he's probably a PL 10, and sticks that way for over a decade- he's established as well beyond his one-time villains The Shocker, Kraven and The Vulture. The Avengers are now mostly PL 10, and stick this way for YEARS. The X-Men developed into a solid PL 9 team by the end of their run in the late '60s. The Fanstastic Four are easily a PL 10 team.

The Seventies & Eighties- Spidey is PL 10. Daredevil under Frank Miller is a solid PL 9 tough guy (ST 4, Club +5, accuracy 15), as are his competitors Bullseye & Elektra (who may have even been lower- she got beaten by MOOKS in her first appearance, and Bullseye handed her her ass in that famous fight). The FF, Avengers and others are all still PL 10s, INCLUDING Iron Man. Claremont's X-Men team starts up as mostly rookie PL 9s (Colossus, Wolverine & Storm especially), and take a LONG time to develop properly (remember how badly the Imperial Guard kicked their asses?). Thor receives near-constant upgrades as time goes by, hitting PL 12 or 13 depending on the story (and the writer). The New Mutants debut at below Spidey's original level (PL 7), but develop to PL 8s by the middle of their run (issue #50, where they defeat The Magus). Magneto peaks as a PL 14, but appears weaker as an X-Men leader. Street level guys like Luke Cage, Moon Knight & Iron Fist debut at PL 8. The Punisher is PL 9.

The "Dark Age"- By the late '80s, Iron Man is now a PL 11. Spider-Man is still PL 10 (he got beaten by every single freaking newbie villain to come down the pike), making PL 11s like Venom a REAL pain to deal with. The X-Men hit PL 10 by the early to mid-80s, and the FF go to PL 11 finally. X-Force debuts as a team of PL 9s, with Cable as a PL 10-11 guy, and the team eventually matures by issue #20-30 or so into a squad of PL 10s, able to hold their own with The X-Men. A huge amount of Jobber Villain Teams come down the pike, with The Acolytes, The Dark Riders and The Mutant Liberation Front being gangs of PL 8s and 9s at-best, with a few really tough guys. Most of the elder X-Men (Scott, Jean, Logan, Storm) hit PL 11. The New Warriors debut as a team of PL 9s, akin to X-Force. Plenty of new villains debut with a lot of fanfare, but their seemingly-high PLs drop down by decade's end, as they stop mattering.

The Modern Age- By the late '90s, Spider-Man is a PL 11 fighter, well beyond a lot of his old Rogues, the elites of which (Sandman, Electro, The Lizard, Norman Osborn) have hit his Power Level, leaving the others in the dust. Doc Ock, Venom & Carnage are still more powerful, however. Iron Man has started living up the the hype, and is a PL 12, way beyond his old Rogues Gallery of M.A.U.L.E.R., Unicorn and The Raiders. Most experienced heroes (Jean Grey, Colossus, Hank Pym, Vision) reach PL 11. The Street Level operatives like Daredevil, The Punisher, Bullseye, Moon Knight & Luke Cage all reach PL 10 finally- being able to hold their own with the elites (Civil War shows this pretty clearly). Thor's Power Creep has led to him being a PL 13-14 Powerhouse, and he is WAY beyond The Absorbing Man, Ulik or The Wrecker by this point.

DC's Power Creep:

-I'm a lot less familiar with DC Comics in general up until a certain point, and their frequent Reboots, status-quo changes and random power upgrades make the PLs even harder to place. Generally speaking, the Golden Age heroes started off as PL 8s, developing into PL 10-11 in the modern age (with Alan Scott being much higher). The Teen Titans were a pack of PL 8s and 9s in the Silver Age, and the Wolfman/Perez team were recognizably PL 9-10. By the 1990s, they were entirely PL 10s for the most part. Donna Troy is kind of impossible to figure out, as she was no more powerful than anyone else in the '80s, but is now sub-Wonder Woman somehow.

-The Legion of Super-Heroes were small beans in the '60s, but by the '90s, they too were mostly PL 10, with some obvious names (Karate Kid, Mon-El, Ultra Boy) being much more powerful. The Justice League big names started with high power but little finesse (Barry Allen the police scientist & Hal Jordan the test pilot weren't exactly world-class fighters straight away), but gathered up to be quite epic later on. I don't have many problems with DCA's PL 14-15 spread for the top tier, though I'd downgrade Hal to PL 12-13 (he gets challenged by a LOT of newbie characters, much like Spider-Man).

-Like I said, though- internal consistency is important. Batman is better than Nightwing, who would beat Catwoman or The Huntress (though not by a lot), but probably tie with Black Canary. Cheshire is around that level, and so are most of the Secret Six- Deadshot shouldn't be better than Green Arrow (a PL 10 guy like Hawkeye). I'm not a fan of the MONSTROUS Batman PL, as it artificially-inflates the whole Gotham crew just to be a challenge to him, and I find that silly. Most Gotham guys aren't BETTER than other fighters, they're just SCARIER.

Other Power Level-Related Stuff:

"Glass Cannons" and Other Weaknesses:
"Glass Cannons" are heroes & villains who are very powerful, but vulnerable to attack. This is VERY common in comics (usually with mutant characters, since they usually only have ONE power), as someone like Zatanna has a very powerful Magic/Variable Power Array, but is only as durable as a normal, fairly-fit woman. Storm fits, being able to tear apart an entire coastline, but be KO'd by a normal thug throwing a brick. As does Cyclops, though he's a little more solid, being a big, buff guy (Usually Toughness +4, which isn't bad- he's just not balanced Defensively like a Martial Artist would be). This means these characters can fit their PL offensively, but be worse-off defensively (compare to martial artists, who have HUGE Defense Bonus scores, thus avoiding the pratfalls a little bit), which is good and fits the characters well. It also saves the player some points, which is always nice.

I generally stat most guys as lesser than their "full" PL on defense, at least in one category (many Bricks are easier to hit at range, as are most animals, but Spider-Man is conversely easier to hit in melee than with guns). It just reflects the characters and the comics more. It just isn't optimized .

Uber Power-Sets (ie. things to watch out for):
Some Power-based set-ups are way more effective than others, and not just the broken ones that GMs have to watch out for (any power that lets you double-team people using your own abilities). Strength, Protection & accuracy, combined with Immunities to keep your Will Save protected (normally an Achilles Heel for those guys). Characters who can go Insubstantial and have more than just that as their power (like Hydro-Man & The Sandman, who can walk through an attack, then ram someone with devastating power) are WAY worse than someone like Kitty Pryde, who's stuck Stunning people she walks through. Even worse is Insubstantial with an Affects Corporeal power (like Shadow King's Possession)- that's something you should slap a player upside the head for even suggesting.

A good example of an overall Uber-set is Superman, who can Fly, Punch, Blast, Dodge, Block and even freeze crap pretty well. A more playable version is the Ultra-Boy set-up, that allows him each of those powers, but only one at a time. It's so cost-effective that it's almost disallowable in itself, though (my 2e Ultra-Boy Build is literally 175 pp compared to Mon-El & Superboy's 220-something). Generally, though, guys who Alt-Effect some of the Uber set-ups off base powers (like Green Lanterns, who rarely attain full durability if they're also Blasting away) are more vulnerable at many times (especially if double-teamed), so they're 'weaker' overall.

Alt-Effect-based arrays can be problematic if the players throw a little TOO much onto them at times, so I'd suggest monitoring that kind of thing. Guys like Ultra-Boy, Magneto & Iceman have a ton of Alts, but at least those are all in-universe effects that have sensical links to them. I wouldn't let players just whip out a swack of things Alt-ed off of one main power, especially if multiple ones affected different Saves.

Some other nasty things include Regenerate (which allows easy recovery), which apparently some players building new PCs like to abuse. I'd suggest limiting that as a GM, too.

Assorted Building Challenges:
Some characters are easier to build than others, and some characters are REALLY FUN to build. I figure I'll just go on about some of them here.
Spider-Man (Tons of powers, typically above-average PL, with a very distinct combat style)
Wolverine (adding all his various skills and combining it with a distinctive fighting style and claws)
Iceman (TONS of Alt-Effects, including some very rare ones)
Storm (similar to Iceman, but more complex and with more Skills. She's a tough one, but still a blast)
The Acolytes (as much as I knock them, the team contains: A universal-threat-level guy in Exodus, a Big Bad with a unique power-set in Magneto, Kamal the Object Mimicker, Unuscione the Summoned Creature/Force Field chick, Cargill the mid-tier Powerhouse, Voght the Mist-Transforming-Teleport-Attacking lady, Neophyte the Phasing/Speed Guy, Senyaka the Life-Drainer With Whips, a few Mind Controllers, a guy who has Communication-based powers, and Fabian Cortez, whose power is to AMPLIFY the powers of others! That is a CRAZY combination of insane and unique powers, each one providing a different challenge! I honestly think that building The Acolytes is the greatest test of a game system's capabilities after going through them.)
The Absorbing Man is fun for all his abilities. The Wrecking Crew are classic jobbers.
The Serpent Society (a blast as well- very unique stuff, with Venom Blasts, Darkforce Entities that Choke You, etc.)
Gambit (a mix of Skillmonkey & semi-Limited Blaster)

[Jabroniville]

Oh hey, anyone who remembers my builds of "The Roswell Conspiracies" should check out this guy's channel. He only had the first handful of episodes up when I did the builds, but now he's got ALL FOURTY episodes up! It's pretty fascinating stuff.

Oh man, the last four episodes... that's one of the greatest Finales I've ever seen. Countless Heroic Sacrifices, tons of old stuff brought back (the EMP bomb, Athos, Standing Stones, the Teleport Device, etc.), the Guy Gets the Girl (for reals this time), and it's all a New Beginning.

I never thought the show was "JLU Good" or anything, but it's ending was truly magnificent.