Eld's builds:Thomas Rhymer, Morph Fiend, Low Blow

[Arthur Eld]

Well, to be fair, I haven't given the book as thorough of an examination as I'd like. But then again, there are still things in 2E that I've only recently learned about.

[Arthur Eld]

The Atomic Brain
PL 16 274

Abilities:
Strength 13 (-5), Stamina 3, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 13, Intellect 10, Awareness 2, Presence 3

Powers:
Irradiated Brain Immunity 16 (Own Powers, Life Support, Radiation damage), Sense 3 (Radius Vision, Darkvision) 19
Radioactive Death Ray Linked Ranged Weaken Toughness 10 (Resisted by Fortitude) and Blast 10 40
•Matter Eater Ray Linked Ranged Weaken Toughness 10 (Affects Objects only), Blast 10 1
•Radiation Projection Blast 17 1
•Radiation Poisoning Weaken Stamina 10, Resisted by Fortitude Ranged, Progressive 1
•Radiation Field Reaction Damage 10 1
Radioactive Flight Flight 7-250MPH 14
Robot Body (Removable) 57
Armored Lining Protection 16, Impervious Toughness 19,
Artificial Strength Enhanced Strength 18

Equipment
Volcano Island, Size:Awesome, Toughness 14, Features: Communications, Computer, Defense System, Dock, Fire Prevention System, Hangar, Holding Cells, Isolated, Lab, Living Space, Power System, Security System, Workshop

Advantages: Eidetic Memory, Equipment 5, Inventor, Languages 1 (German, base:English), Ranged Attack 7, Startle

Skills: Close Combat (unarmed) 2 (+15), Ranged Combat (Radiation array) 6 (+15), Expertise (Science) 15 (+25), Insight 9 (+11), Intimidation 10 (+13), Technology 10 (+20)

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed +15, Damage 13, Field Damage 9
Ranged +15, Blast Damage 17, Death Ray Weaken 10, Death Ray Blast 10, Poisoning Weaken 11

Defense
Dodge 13 11, Parry 13
Toughness 19 (Impervious), Fortitude 16 13, Will 16 14

Abilities 60+Powers 134+Advantages 16+Skills 26+Defense 38=274

Behold the Atomic Brain, the Meta-4 villain, and as much of a symbol (at least to me) of M&M as guys like Centurion or Omega. 3E Brain was actually not too hard of a build-I have issues with Enhanced Abilities being Sustained, but other than that, most of the stuff was easy enough to adapt. I didn't write-up Singularity, but that's cause I see no need to do so. He has little to no characterization, and isn't even seen in the little mini-comic 'Tears for Everyman.' Maybe I'll do a write-up someday and add Sidekick to the Brain's build. He's major-league overpointed, but as an NPC, and the Atomic Brain (!), that is truly deserved.

[Psistrike]

How does the Atomic Brain get a +15 bonus for Ranged Attacks? He has Dexterity 2, no Ranged Attack or Enhanced Ranged Attack on his stats.

[Arthur Eld]

Yeah, I totally forgot about that. I had to go back and change something when I was working on him, dropping his Dexterity, and I forgot to give him Ranged Attack. Thanks for that.

[Foreshadow]

Cyclops
PL10

Abilities:
Strength 2, Stamina 3, Agility 3, Dexterity 3, Fighting 5, Intellect 2, Awareness 3, Presence 3

Powers:
Immunity 2 (Own powers, Havoc's powers) 2
Optic Beam (Line Area Ranged Damage 10) 30
•Optic Blast (Ranged Damage 10, Accurate, Ricochet 2, Precise, Split) 1
•Wide Beam (Blast 10, Cone Area) 1

Equipment
X-Man uniform Protection 3
Commlink

Advantages
Accurate Attack, Assessment, Diehard, Equipment, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Optic Blast), Improved Initiative, Inspire 3, Leadership, Luck, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (ranged), Ranged Attack 5, Teamwork

Skills
Acrobatics 4 (+7), Athletics 3 (+5), Close Combat (unarmed) 3 (+8), Expertise (teacher) 2 (+4), Insight 5 (+8), Perception 6 (+9), Technology 2 (+4), Vehicles 7 (+10)

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed +8, Close Damage 2
Optic Blast +10, Ranged Damage 10

Defense
Dodge 14, Parry 14
Toughness 6, Fortitude 8, Will 9

Abilities 48+Powers 34+Advantages 21+Skills 16+Defenses 31=150

Cylcops 3E is a simple build, and an iconic one, so I made him my first third edition build. Hopefully I'll get the chance to test him out soon.

Here is why I won't do more than use your build as reference, and this goes for many others who do the same thing like Baron.

Right off the bat I see 150pp, cool, but then I see Dodge 14, Parry 14. Really, I know for a fact if the true official Marvel builds came out they would not include a Cyclops with that total. I think he might have 12, maybe a 13, but then Tal gave Spider-Man a 13, which I think Spider-Man really would have a higher Dodge than a Parry, like 15 Dodge, yes at least 1 higher than a character like Batman, spider-man is very 'dodgy', and a 12 or 13 parry for Spider-Man as no he isn't as good at that, in fact I would think a 12 is fine.

Whereas, Cyclops would have like a 12 dodge, 10 parry or something like that. So in reality this character is not a 150 pp build and is probably like 132 pp or something like that, maybe 142.

But is it a waste of time to have 10 versions of a character, no, but those types of things on a character are something that I, when I make a character, ignore or clearly note is not the way to do it.

[Arthur Eld]

I understand completely, but I approached this build from a player's standpoint, which is something I'm going to start doing with my 3E hero builds.

I built Cyclops for a potential game in the Game Room forum. PL 10, 150pp. It was not easy for me to get him up to 150pp, when I was first finished he probably had less than 130. As a builder and a Marvel fan with knowledge of Cyclops, your points are very valid. But try explaining to a player why A:his character would be under-optimized in combat and B:he shouldn't spend the full 150pp for a PL 10 character.

So trying to get the most accurate representation of a character isn't the goal to me. I want a character that feels like Cyclops, that one could make an argument for, but most importantly, that people will want to play.

[Arthur Eld]

Cloud Strife
PL 11 165

Abilities:
Strength 5, Stamina 7, Agility 6, Dexterity 5, Fighting 10, Intellect 1, Awareness 2, Presence 2

Powers:

Enhanced Body Speed 1, Leaping 2 3
Buster Sword Strength-based Damage 4, Penetrating 9, Improved Defense, Reach, Removable -2 9
Omnislash Strength-based Damage 4, Penetrating 9, Multi-Attack 9, Improved Critical, Reach, Tiring, Quirk-Requires a Sword 11


Advantages
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Benefit (Ambidexterity), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 3, Evasion, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Buster Sword), Improved Initiative, Luck, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (cover, close), Quick Draw, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics), Takedown 2, Uncanny Dodge

Equipment
Motorcycle (Hidden Compartments), Cell Phone

Skills:

Acrobatics 10 (+15), Athletics 4 (+9), Close Combat (Buster Sword) 3 (+13), Expertise (Military) 3 (+4), Insight 5 (+7), Intimidation 5 (+7), Perception 6 (+8), Vehicles 10 (+15)

Offense
Initiative +9
Buster Sword +13, Damage 9
Ranged +5

Defense
Dodge 14 8, Parry 14 4
Toughness 8/7, Fortitude 10 3, Will 7 5

Abilities 76+Powers 23+Advantages 23+Skills 23+Defenses 20=165

•Cloud Strife as a playable PL 11. I might try to do him again as a PL 10 sometime, I'm not sure. With RPG game characters though, you can really do whatever PL you want. Max-level, ultimate weapon Cloud, with insane amounts of Materia could easily be PL 14 or so. But he works well here. He's fast, accurate and powerful, and he's even got that cool motorcycle from Advent Children

[Yagami Fire]

In regards to Cyclops, why do people always forget that he is a WORLD CLASS martial artist? His Dodge and Parry being as high as they are on that PL 10 build are totally justified. The guy is a beast in hand-to-hand. Nice build!

[Arthur Eld]

Tifa Lockheart
PL 10 150

Abilities
Strength 6, Stamina 5, Agility 7, Dexterity 6, Fighting 11, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 2

Powers:
Nigh-superhuman jumping Leaping 3 3
Limit Breaks Multiattack 6, Penetrating 6, Improved Critical 1 on unarmed damage, Unreliable-5 Uses 7

Advantages
Agile Feint, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Diehard, Equipment, Evasion, Improved Critical (unarmed), Improved Defense, Improved Grab, Improved Trip, Language (English, base Japanese), Luck, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close, cover), Seize Initiative, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics), Takedown 2

Equipment
Cell Phone, 4 ep unspent

Skills
Acrobatics 10 (+17), Athletics 8 (+14), Close Combat (unarmed) 3 (+14), Deception 2 (+4), Expertise (streetwise) 3 (+3), Expertise (bar manager) 2 (+2), Insight 5 (+7), Intimidation 4 (+6), Perception 6 (+8), Persuasion 2 (+4), Expertise (piano) 2 (+4)

Offense
Initiative +7
Unarmed +14, Damage 6
Ranged +6

Defense
Dodge 13 6, Parry 13 3
Toughness 7/5, Fortitude 8 3, Will 7 5

Abilities 78+Powers 10+Advantages 21+Skills 24+Defenses 17=150

•Tifa's build is pretty similar to Cloud's, but she's also a good example of a border-line superhuman martial artist. Strength 6 lets her lift more than a ton and a half, and she's got Leaping like Cloud for all that Advent Children craziness, while her Athletics lets her double her movement every turn (since she'll make the DC 15 check even with a 1). Her Limit Breaks are basically a series of different combination attacks, so a Penetrating Multiattack works best. Expect that for most Limit Breaks, really. Overall, a pretty tight, effective combat build.

[Severance]

Nice 3e builds Eld, especially the Advent Children ones. Just two days ago I thought I was being all ahead of time by posting my Savage Hulk, but it looks like I'll have to step my building up a notch. Keep up the good work!

[kerianvalentine]

So trying to get the most accurate representation of a character isn't the goal to me. I want a character that feels like Cyclops, that one could make an argument for, but most importantly, that people will want to play.

This is pretty much why I build anything ever, because expecting GMs to need a PL-accurate version of Galactus or Cyclops is silly. For some builders it's not a thought experiment about what these people would be like in this system through extraordinary amounts of extrapolation, guesswork, and just a little Fanwank (worksafe, don't worry).

It's a thought experiment to make something that a fan of the character, who wants to play that character (perhaps with the name filed off) or something close to them, can use.

When you market to a GM, you market to one person per group. When you market to players, you market to all of them.

EDIT:
Exempting my thread for my setting, and any 3E resurrection thereof. Because that's for my players.

Also, the challenge of streamlining a character down to their *absolute basics* of what makes them to fit them into the playable mold is much more difficult and much more entertaining (to some of us, myself included) than having unlimited PP and PL to sprawl across. It also teaches you good character design, which is infinitely valuable as a GM, and teaches you how to be economic rather than have points dedicated to how awesome a martial artist Cyclops is or how awesome Cloud's super special motorcycle is.

Because trust me - when people think of Cyclops, most of us *don't* think "super martial artist," we think "the leader of the X-Men who shoots lasers out his eyes".

(And that's still not accurate because it's kinetic bursts! /Ha ha/!)

EDIT 2: Haha, thousandth reply!

I'm curious. Why did you choose to dump so much into Tifa's abilities, rather than skills, and feats (as is standard for martial artists)? Was it a design choice, a streamlining, or something else?

[Arthur Eld]

It was mostly a design thing. Advent Children Tifa has border-line superhuman physical abilities (most of the characters do, but she gets one of the more obvious displays of power). I think 21 points spent in Advantages is still pretty good, and even more points in skills. I'm not sure if she should be stronger than Cloud, but given that her damage is all strength-based, and I didn't want to get into giving her gauntlets (she only wears thin leather gloves in the movie anyway).

As is, she's a mix between the Warrior and Martial Artist archetypes from the DCAH. I thinks its a fairly accurate representation.

[Arthur Eld]

Link
PL 10 150

Abilities
Strength 3, Stamina 4, Agility 4, Dexterity 3, Fighting 11, Intellect 1, Awareness 3, Presence 1

Powers
Master Sword Strength-based Damage 4, Penetrating 7, Improved Critical 2, Easily Removable 9
Mirror Shield Immunity 20 (Energy Attacks, Limited to Ranged Attacks only, Sustained, Reflect, Easily Removable) 14

Advantages: Agile Feint, Animal Empathy, Benefit (Fairy advice), Defensive Roll, Equipment 6, Evasion, Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Luck 2, Minion 3 (Epona), Move-by Action, Quick Draw, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 10

Equipment
Tunic (Protection 2)
Bow and arrows (Ranged Strength-based Damage 2, Variable Descriptor-magic)
Bombs (Burst Damage 5)

Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 6 (+9), Close Combat (sword) 2 (+13), Expertise (magic) 3 (+4), Expertise (music) 4 (+5), Expertise (puzzles) 4 (+5), Perception 5 (+8), Investigation 4 (+5), Persuasion 2 (+3)

Offense
Initiative +8
Close +13, Damage (Master Sword) 7
Ranged +13, Damage 5

Defense
Dodge 13/11, 7 Parry 13/11 3
Toughness 7/6, Fortitude 7 3, Will 10 7

Abilities 54+Powers 25+Advantages 33+Skills 18+Defense 20=150

•Link is of course, a very modular build, and I might try to do a PL 8 version for a Child version. As is, I think I hit most of the high notes. He's undercapped with his bow, but with that, he'll usually Aim and Power Attack (representing sniping an enemy's weak spot, since most of his bigger foes, like bosses, have one). The Mirror Shield's effects were actually pretty easy to write up in 3E. He can reflect Superman's heat vision, but if Darth Vader came at him with a lightsaber, he'd have to go Improved Defense to block it (and yes, the Master Sword can block a lightsaber).

[Arthur Eld]

Dr. Strange
PL 14 210

Abilities
Strength 0, Stamina 1, Agility 1, Dexterity 2, Fighting 3, Intellect 3, Awareness 5, Presence 2

Powers
Mystic Senses (Detect Magic, Ranged, Acute, Analytical, Radius) 5
Magic Mastery Variable Power 13 (65 point pool, Move Action, Magic Descriptor, Accurate 2) 106
Mystic Shield Protection 8 (Sustained) 8

Advantages
Benefit (Sorcerer Supreme), Equipment 3, Fearless, Luck, Ritualist, Strike

Equipment
15 points for Greenwich Village mansion

Skills
Close Attack (unarmed) 3 (+6), Expertise: Magic 16 (+19), Expertise (physician) 7 (+10), Insight 5 (+10), Perception 5 (+10), Persuasion 2 (+4), Ranged Combat (magic) 6 (+12), Treatment 12 (+15)

Offense
Initiative +1
Magic +12
Unarmed +6 Damage 1

Defense
Dodge 6 5, Parry 6 3
Toughness 8, Fortitude 5 4, Will 14 9

Abilities 34+Powers 119+Advantages 8+Skills 28+Defense 21=210

•For build 450, I thought I'd do a bigger name. So here's Dr. Strange, 3E. He's not the current Sorcerer Supreme, but he probably will be again, eventually. I decided to go PL 14, putting him one below Superman and Wonder Woman (although he could probably school Supes). I took the easy way out and gave him a massive Variable Power, along with Mystic Senses and Protection rank due to his defense. Usually, he'll divide the pool into stuff like Active Defense, higher Protection, Flight, and Blasts, but when he needs to do something massive, well, a clever player (as one who plays Strange should be) can do a lot with 70 points, especially if they use it to gain powers with Tiring or other Flaws. He seems almost overpowered, but then again, in the comics, Strange can often be more of a cheat code than Supes. If you wanted, you could drop some points from his Variable for things like the Eye of Agamotto or a cloak of Flying, but that's not really a big deal at all.

[Arthur Eld]

Kingpin
PL 9 135

Abilities
Strength 6, Stamina 7, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 7, Intellect 3, Awareness 3, Presence 3

Advantages
Benefit 4 (Multi-millionaire), Close Attack 2, Connected, Contacts, Equipment 3, Improved Grab, Minions 6 (45 point minions), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Tough, Well-Informed

Skills
Athletics 2 (+8), Close Combat (unarmed) 2 (+11), Deception 8 (+11), Expertise (business) 5 (+8), Expertise (current events) 4 (+7), Expertise (streetwise) 10 (+13), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 8 (+11), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Persuasion 4 (+7)

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed +11, Damage 6
Ranged +7

Defense
Dodge 8 6, Parry 10 3
Toughness 8, Fortitude 8 1, Will 8 5

Abilities 66+Advantages 26+Skills 29+Defense 14=135

•I decided to do away with the Kingpin's more advanced techno equipment, because really, there's no point in being a dude who's built like a tank if you can just wave your cane and blast people. If you wanted that, though, you could drop the Minions and Equipment and buy an Easily Removable Blast. As is, this Kingpin has what it takes to make street-level PCs miserable. He can pound most non-powered types in a fight, and when that doesn't work, he can set up a plot rife with minions, deadly mercenaries (Bullseye, Electro, guys like that) and send em out after his foes. I figure with 3 ranks of equipment and being as rich as he is, he can get most mundane equipment (weapons, buildings, vehicles) without having to spell anything out. I gave him basic Minions, cause he should have some, but that's really up to the GM and the plot.