Book Differences

[ZamuelNow]

Outside of the copyrighted characters, what is the difference between DC Adventures: Hero Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds GM's Kit, and Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster's Guide. I know all three use 3rd edition but are there any specific things one book explains better than another?

[Shadowchaser]

Outside of the copyrighted characters, what is the difference between DC Adventures: Hero Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds GM's Kit, and Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster's Guide. I know all three use 3rd edition but are there any specific things one book explains better than another?

Seems like this question comes up once every three months or so.

Primary differences: DCA is hardcover, DCA has stats for some DC Heroes and Villains in it(in addition to the PC archetypes), DCA Has setting overview material for the DC Universe (a chapter on what the DC universe is/was like when the book was written). The M&M book is softcover, slightly cheaper, has an example of how combat runs, duplicates the Damage explanation from the Powers section in the combat section (for people who were having trouble finding it in the DCA book), and tweaked some of the power wordings a bit.

I tend to carry the hardcover book with me most often because it's more durable, being hardcover and all, but when I'm writing I reference both books whenever possible.

[FuzzyBoots]

I want to say that there are a few minor differences in how powers are set out that aren't reflected in errata, but there's some controversy as to whether they're actually different, or if it's a case of things they aren't saying that we should assume.

It would be useful for someone to write up a topic with a comprehensive list and then post it as a 3E/DCA resource in the relevant thread.

[The One Phil]

Outside of the copyrighted characters, what is the difference between DC Adventures: Hero Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook, Mutants & Masterminds GM's Kit, and Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster's Guide. I know all three use 3rd edition but are there any specific things one book explains better than another?

In terms of the GM Kit and GM Guide you also reference here - they are completely made up of material not included in the Hero's Handbook and are separate products. The GM Kit contains a screen, and a book featuring a random character generation system. The GM Guide is stuffed with world building advice, villainous archetypes, and advice on running villain plots. The Guide also has some alternate rules.

Although both are technically "M&M Products", they are both 100% compatible with DCA and, especially in the case of the GM Guide, I'd highly recommend them even if only to help you play around in the DC Universe sandbox.

[WanderingMystic]

The one thing that I didn't see mentioned was Layout, while this might seem like a small detail DC Adventures Heroes Handbook is horrible difficult to use. The text uses blue to highlight and as a bold, their is no edge differences to denote chapter. Over all I personally find the color coated edges of the M&M Heroes handbook to be a big help in navigating and that the text is easier to read, the highlight color matches the border color so you know immediately what you are looking at and where you are in the book.

[Stigger]

Funny, I actually prefer the visually cleaner, starker look of the DCA HH comparaed to its M&M counterpart... it's much easier for me to read actually because of that layout. Yet another case of YMMV I suppose.

[HappyDaze]

One difference is that DCAHH allows for Increased Duration to make a Concentration power into a Sustained power while the M&M3eHH does not. Also, when using the Portal extra with the DCAHH, you get a 6 foot portal, but M&M3eHH gives you a 5 foot portal. I believe that in both cases, the DCAHH is generally regarded as being 'correct' and that the M&M3eHH needs errata.

[Greyman]

Move Object!

The bulk of the text in both manuals implies Move Object is Sustained in duration, but can be effectively made Concentration by taking a standard action to increase strength by +1. This agrees with the header and modifiers section in Heroes Handbook, as does the Power Effects table.

However, in D.C.Adventures the header and modifiers section, and Power Effects table, implies that Move Object is Concentration by default.