Mutants and Masterminds thread?

Does the private industry also sponsor the capes?

Also, when building a superhero setting, it has to look really similar to our world on a cursory glance. Consider Watchmen. Looks like 1980 if you're not paying attention

The thing is, Mutants and Masterminds is absolute ASS at making Thinker powers.

There just aren't really mechanisms to make something like Tattletale a viable character.

Everything needs high Dodge or Toughness, or it dies.

They have something like the PRT, as well as sponsoring a team of capes that aren't the party, but have those fighting supervillains over in other parts of the country. I dunno if the party is gonna go for being heroes or being villains, so I'm trying to be ready to accommodate both.

Have them agree beforehand and build the campaign around their decision. Seriously. Go ask them right now in the group chat. They'll argue a bit but that's fine

That'll take some time, but so far from what they tell me I think the group's leaning towards being villains.

Villains are more fun. Put them at a lower level, have only one or two heroes/the teen titans go out to stop them at first

Which power level would you recommend? Level 8?

definitely. PL8 makes people understand that they have to Focus on one aspect of their character, and there's room to grow.

Well what about Hero system? Pretty sure I could remake almost every power in worm through it.

Here's the pdf. I'm also interested in starting a supes campaign with Hero system

These guidelines generally pop up in every M&M thread, and for good reason.

>M&M is absurdly easy to break, even by accident, and the game itself knows this. This is why it appeals to your narrative side when it comes to designing characters and plots. System mastery of M&M is not creating a character that can "win the game," but rather, it's designing a character that most fully and most faithfully matches the image of your character. The stronger an image of your character you have, the easier it'll be to go through chargen.

>Addendum to above: make the character you want, not the character you need. The best thing you can do is ask yourself this question:
>"Would I legitimately read a comic book or watch a Saturday morning cartoon about this character?"
>If the answer is no, you need to start over.

>As a GM, the strongest tool in your arsenal is the word "no." Don't be afraid to put your foot down and ask your player(s) to change something if something comes up that is unfun or potentially impossible to work around. Many times, something will crop up as the game goes on that turns out to be broken as hell, so you'll have to be willing to change it. Don't get in an arms race with your players; it never ends well.

For the record, the default PL is PL10, which puts you at Iron Man/Spider-Man tier. And I don't think there's anything wrong with giving your character a couple overarching gimmicks instead of making them a one-trick pony.

OP here, how do you construct a good teen titans equivalent?

Power idea, system not M&M.
Regeneration at wolverine tier and the ability to take the wounds from others into himself as a start with leaving a significant amount of character creation points as the building blocks of his power at GM's discretion. His thing is that whenever he gets hurt his regeneration replaces the missing parts with stronger and more durable pieces, eventually resulting in a large monstrous form (which may or may not cause mental issues). Worm readers know whose power set I'm making a mockery of.

DO NOT do this. If you need to crib another setting, go with marvel, DC, Astrocity, any other comics, any other cartoon, any vidya. Just not Worm. Worm is a good setting for Worm and nothing else.

That actually sounds like the power of the main character from Oni. She and her relative had what amounts to a super-cancer, where every time she took significant damage, her body would recover and rebuild itself with tougher and stronger stuff. Eventually, she supercharges her power by dunking herself in a vat of acid, allowing her to assault the enemy stronghold and take on her monstrous relative with superhuman might.

Going to buy the book evebtually and run either Tiger & Bunny or One-Punch Man for some friends.

Keep them at a low individual power level and give them weaknesses the others cover. Consider the cartoon team:

- Raven is no good at melee combat; Robin, Beast Boy, and to an extent Starfire are.

- Cyborg has large portions of his body that are robotic and are therefore vulnerable to viruses, EMP, or other computer problems; the others don't have this issue.

- Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire are not technologically inclined; Cyborg and Robin are.

- Robin is a compulsive detective that will follow any lead to its logical conclusion, regardless of the cost; the rest of the team is generally more grounded.

- All five have issues in certain areas of human interaction; the others have overlapping experience that covers most areas.

So if you're designing a team from scratch, start with some archetypes (Strong Guy, Tech Guy, Magic Girl, Detective Guy, etc.), give them weaknesses where the others have strengths, and make sure they have some basic personality traits to make them distinctive. Bonus points if you can make them reflections of the party (a la Jinx being an inversion of Raven). The goal is to have a team that has no easily exploitable weaknesses when put together but if caught separately can be defeated with clever application of the party's resources. The party's challenge then becomes to find ways to catch the team members on their own and defeat them in detail while not allowing the team to catch the players the same way.

Don't forget that M&M rewards pathos with Hero Points, which allows greater feats from your characters. If your players show a willingness to lose or otherwise deal with internal conflict, reward them with Hero Points. "A loss now means a greater victory later."

About running a villain campaign.

Heroes are usually a reactionary force, with villains being the more proactive ones,right? How do you handle villain groups, in terms of giving them stuff to do?

have players set goals. alternately, make the heroes start to get proactive.

A mastermind hiring them to begin with like coil or death stroke isn't the worst thing in the world.

Or, do what I did and start the game with a bank robbery

Man, Worm isn't even a good setting for Worm.

Make them discover a few mission like objectives like possible locations to rob/people to kidnap for ransom/laboratories to steal high tech equipment from and in addition make up (or just ask them about their own) more vague long term goals like "set up a base", If they know early on what they want to work towards it is easier for you as the GM to occasionally throw some missions their way that can help them achieve their goals.
Of course this depends on the GM and the players but thats how my group usually likes it the most.

Especially easy to set up when done in combination with

Ask them what their objectives are. Bring up possibilities for things that'll help them complete them, then figure out what kinds of obstacles they'll run into with each one they pick. Let them come up with a plan, and if their plan evades those obstacles then good for them. Otherwise, things go sideways and they have to overcome that.

I really do not mean to turn this into a Worm discussion thread but,
I always thought that while the story has some clear flaws the setting was the one thing that made it worthwhile?

I have a couple of homebrew things I wanna get a bit of feedback on.

1. Would it be out of line for certain descriptors of damage (fire, acid) to be able to Nullify Regeneration effects the same way water descriptors can Nullify/Counter fire descriptors? I know there's Incurable but most players do not have that power since they usually don't expect it to come up.

2. Custom advantage: External Will. It's like Speed of Thought, but rather than replacing your AGI modifier for Initiative with INT, it replaces your AWA modifier for Will Defense with PRE. Mainly I've been wanting players to get more out of the PRE score, and it does make a bit of sense. Presence as a stat represents your ability to mentally manipulate, and a proficiency in said ability would also give you understanding resisting people who try to manipulate you. It also makes sense for being able to resist certain Nullify effects tht target will, since your "external will" can push back attempts to subdue your power.

This is the villain equivalent to "You all meet in a tavern."
Alternately, you can have all your party members in a maximum security prison in their own cells, the latest captures in a superhero dragnet. Give them a few minutes to banter at each other before giving them a chance to break out.

Advantages to change what stat is used are usually ok as long as one player doesn't make every save and skill check based on the same thing. The one you described is perfectly fine, and the reasons you give are good.

As for nullifying Regeneration, that depends on the descriptors and the time you're going for. A crystal monster struggling to reform after a sonic attack makes sense, but don't go telling everybody that fire descriptors just nullify all regeneration because it worked on the mythical hydra.

M&M Is very heavily reliant on GM and player vetoing powers, because otherwise it becomes immensely easy to break the game.

Very reliant. It's important to note there's actually no Rule Zero in this game.

It's explicitly written into the book as Rule 1. The book notes, several times? You can break the game. That's not hard, at all. It gives you ALL the possible tools to play a superhero, from Ambush Bug, to Batman, to Superman, to Iron Man, to full on anime stuff. I made a pretty decent lower PL Accelerator, for example.

But. But, but but. Because it IS so easy to break the game? It's really no fun to do so. It's a game, and this shit's meant to be fun. So, built to a theme. Just because you can do something in a build doesn't mean you should, if it's out of theme or flavor.

Plus the DM's explicitly allowed to slap your shit down if you're making shit unfun for people anyway.

But a great benchmark? Ask yourself this question: Is this character one I'd enjoy reading a comicbook/watching a satmorn cartoon/movie about? If not, you dun fucked up.

or the PRT van

Yeah that's what I was thinking too. It would have to depend on the nature of the Regeneration as well. Something like some nanotech swarm robot that repairs itself rapidly wouldn't have their powers shut off by fire any more than other form of damage.

It would be pretty dumb to make INT checks based on STR instead. Although with an absolutely bonkers setting fit for something like "The Tick", you could stat it as an enhanced trait AE of Strength flavored as Master Muscle flexing his "brain muscles". But as an advantage, fuck no.

Annnd then I actually read the fucking thread and notice . Well herpaderp on my part!

Incurable is a flat +1 PP mod. Not +1 per rank or anything. If they want to negate regen, just tell them to take the damn mod or power-stunt for it, if it comes up.

The per thing is totally ok, though, Pre needs more love in general.

Running a multiverse game at power level 12. A couple characters might be out of their element due to the technology of the hub world they're going to be refugees to. The technology is around "sci fi/modern", but something you'd expect from a world that was more typical fantasy only a few years ago. The reason is that their homeworlds are pretty fucked and they're coming to this hubworld to join others to fight the origin of the destruction.

1. What would be a good way of conveying that a world is more high fantasy, but still having access to all the things you'd expect from a modern setting?

2. What would be a good way to welcome characters from different universes to the hubworld city as well as each other?

3. I'm also a bit uncertain as to go about government in this case, I would want to avoid having to elaborate on it but if there's a good way to do a city that's based around hunting demons in the ruins outside it without going post apocalyptic rules that'd be great. So far the only thing I really know is there's one guy that serves as a guide around the city who's also got fuckton of money. A mayor I guess?

...

I was wondering how suitable is M&M to running a JoJo game? I assume quite so, but I know nothing about M&M except that it's crunch-lite and flexible.

Depends on how complex and esoteric the Stand power is. You can create the Stardust Crusaders no problem, but beyond that, things might get a little finicky.

SC and Diamond is Unbreakable power-level is what we're looking for, I think. While our group is quite creative I think they're looking more for some over the top fun than Stone Ocean tier fuckery.

If you're playing a hero who made himself a super-suit mostly from scrap and earthly materials, what would be the best metal for a truly epic taser? Something to take down giants I mean.

It'd have to be a good conductor, but something with good heat resistance... Any ideas? I like to research my tech heroes.

Anyone got the warrior and warlocks pdf?

also tips for new game master?

What are you looking for in particular as a GM. There's already a bunch of tips in the thread.

mediafire.com/folder/026war1l4oo42/Mutants_and_Masterminds#yjuycq92peii7

It's in the 1st, 2nd edition > sourcebooks folder.

Tips? Don't be afraid to say no. You should work closely with your players when they're designing their characters - I made the mistake once of letting players do whatever, and I ended up with a bunch of characters that didn't really fit the setting that well, and only like one player that bothered to read about the setting (we used the pre-baked Freedom City setting from 2e with some very minor changes).

Read the books, thoroughly. This absolutely cannot be stated enough. Read thoroughly. Re-read.

Remember that if it's not something you'd like to watch in a CBM or cartoon, or read in a book, you should re-evaluate it.

I'm the other user, but I will still ask - is the system better at supporting over the top, larger than life action or is it more like Watchmen?

Yes.

but why

The default PL for M&M is PL10. That's basically Spider-Man tier.

Watchmen is closer to PL7-8, with the exception of Dr. Manhattan.

Superman is statted in 3e's DC books as PL15, if I recall.

Superman and Wonder Woman are PL 15, and Batman is PL 12 (but built with the points of a PL 15 character).

Low power levels, with their also limited power points, can be pretty gritty and desperate. Characters can barely be able to take a single gun attack, and they don't have much room for many tricks. PL 8 lets you start with more wiggle room. PL 6 is about what a trained soldier is.

is it compatible with third edition?

3e is pretty far removed from 1e and 2e, but nothing says you can't do some conversion.

enhanced skill - sense motive?

Super senses (lie detector)?

Mind reading, with flaw: limited (learn stuff about person by observing them)?

I've been wanting to run a game based in Astro City for a while. I found someplace that statted all the characters for 3e, but now I can't find it.

Run 2nd edition instead.

> literally impossible to make a setting with superheroes in it realistic
Kind of annoying, but I guess it's just the nature of the beast.

My buddy is starting up a game in a few weeks, never played before but I'm looking to make a doctor/healer type character.
Now, coming from 3.PF I'm dubious as to the actual usefulness of such a character, and with what I've read about 3e, characters regenerate extremely quickly out of combat. So basically, is it even a viable concept or am I better off repurposing it elsewhere?

Characters do indeed heal rapidly unless there is a GM-induced complication. Healer powers are kinda useful for helping NPC's, but their descriptors can also be used to counter or undo poison/disease/necro/etc attacks and effects.

I'm currently running a 1940s game for a group, we just recently had the first session. I'm a noob DM but got though just because how easy the system is to use and work, I love it.

No storytime?

Well it was only the first session. But basically

>The group were attending a victory day parade when cyber animal troops attacked the city via bombard deployment
>The group faced some difficulties but eventually prevailed by their strengths and teamwork
>They uncovered some idea of what the goal of the cyber troops were, which may come into play later
>For now though, they have to be thanked by the mayor, and the chief of police wants them to help tackle the crime problem of the various criminal organizations and families around the city!

In fact, here.

A heal power can be pretty cheap. But a secondary spec is a pretty good idea. Look up the Life power profile, that can give you ideas past just healing.

bump for healing

So without starting a skub war what edition would people say is best and why?

3e. It streamlines a lot of mechanics and powers, makes the power creation system much clearer, and it's not bogged down by typical d20 foibles. It's the cleanest version of the three.

This. It completely eliminates the silliness which is 3.PF attributes, replacing them with a flat bonus system. It also reworks the mix of BAB vs. AC and Saving Throws, so all attacks and defenses now work the same way.

That said, some grognards are still attached to 2e because there are a LOT of splats available for it, but I don't think that's a good enough reason to stick with it.

First off, how in the fuck does M&M have grogbards?

Anyway, the splats are generally pretty easy to convert. There were some things which changed to some degree, but things work much closer between 2E and 3E than any edition of D&D besides 1 to 2.

Its actually still the 3.PF attributes but only listing the modifiers instead of the actual attributes. It's just a change in presentation.

And a couple additional stats added on and shifted around.

Strength, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Fighting, Intelligence, Awareness, Presence.

The very fact that it's read straight changes a lot. But there's more then the 6 3.PF has, a touch more granularity, and a few other bits.

That alone makes it a bit change compared to that.

You're underestimating how useful it is to just be able to tell new players "you have a 5, so add 5 to this stat."

It's great. Having a 0 in all stats means you're a baseline, average human. There's no shame in having a 0 in a core stat.

Just dropping this thing in. This is probably the only DM's screen I've ever used.

This is SO GOOD, you have no idea. It covers all the important minutiae you need.

Absolute newb here, and I'm really excited by how much potential the game has.

One thing I'm seeking clarification on: how are ranged attack distance rank's determined? Is it just the power rank?

What if I wanted a weak attack with long range, or a powerful attack with a shorter range?

Oh, I do. That's why I posted it!

Page 95.

Ranged: The effect works at a distance, limited by
perception and path and requiring a ranged attack
check against the subject’s Dodge defense. A ranged
effect has a short range of (rank x 25 feet), a medium
range of (rank x 50 feet) and a long range of (rank
x 100 feet). Ranged attack checks at medium range
suffer a –2 circumstance penalty, while ranged attacks
at long range suffer a –5 circumstance penalty.
See the Action & Adventure chapter for details.

If you want more or less range, check extras and flaws.

Extended Range is a +1 Flat PP option that doubles all range categories. You can take this as many times as you want.

Diminished range is the opposite, halving each. So a short of 10 feet x rank, med of 25x, and a long of 50x. You can take this up to 3 times, for a short range of 2 feet x, med of 5x, and a long of 1x. This is a flat flaw, so you get -1, -2, or -3 PP discounts.

Excellent, thank you! I feel like I should have noticed that, but there's a lot to notice in this book so I might be suffering a bit from information overload from trying to consume too much of it too quickly.

It happens, it happens. That's what these threads are for.

Use the power profile and gadget guide books, as an aside. They have a lot of solid ideas, and can help quickly round out a concept. I've been using this system for at least 5 years, and I still use those books to help me out.

I was talking with my friend about MnM after we wrapped up a campaign and started talking about what's next. Everyone seemed into the idea of using the system (even though we're not quite sure about the details yet) and he went home and downloaded "Mecha and Manga", not realizing it's for 2e.

Now naturally you can do all of that well enough with 3e, but how well do the feats it introduces work as Advantages? Aside from those ones that would obviously be powers or effects all on their own. Obviously something like "Power Proxy" wouldn't be an advantage.
I'm quite familiar with the game, but I've never ran it before.

Probably mostly well.

Also, Gadget Guides has a chapter on Mecha.

GMs: What's the best character you've seen a player bring to the table?

Players: What's the best campaign you've played in?

1. dragons wearing neckties
2. interplanetary refugee camps
3. government, modern monarchy. guide immigration lawyer

Is there an editable character sheet? i am creating my first hero so i can understand the system better, and on average how much time does it take to create a hero?

Depends on how clear the image of your would-be character is and how well you know the system. If you know exactly what sorts of powers and capabilities your hero has, it'll be easy. If you're waffling about and only have a couple broad strokes, it'll take a little longer.

At absolute worst, it'll take a couple hours.

I think there's one around, but I'm on mobile and cannot check easily.

Creation time depends a lot on how complicated or novel your choices are. Making a basic flying brick is very straightforward, and the hardest thing would probably be deciding which skills you like. Someone with lots of choices like Batman is far more fiddly. What did you have in mind?

Fantasy gunslinger with shadow clones

Hey, I'm also running a 3E campaign, and I need some advice. I'm a new DM, and new to the system, so I tried to do a low PL setting, and ramp it up quickly. But it's not going as well as I would've hoped.

I decided to keep away from nullify powers since, in my opinion, they're not fun. However, I allowed luck powers, and the one guy who took them is ultra power gamer-y. The result is a luck guy who did a crapton of damage to one villain and almost incapped another. Mind you, this was against a gang which is a mix of NPC and PC villains. I have no idea how I can deal with this guy; he's really overpowered, and I need advice.

Also, the players are using these things called 'cycles' which I have no idea what they do beyond making their powers way cheaper. They just seem to be running around me in circles doing things I don't understand. I can't ask for their help either, since they bitch about whatever villains I put out who are remotely threatening. For example, a villain named Concrete Man - literally just a construction worker who had a robot arm on his back for spewing quikrete - was berated the second he started using his non damaging, two tier affliction on them.

What should I do differently?

Tell him to cut that shit out. M&M bends very easily under the muscle of power-gamers, and he's making it extremely hard for you to build reasonable encounters. If you have to build to accomodate him, then that makes trouble for everyone else in the party. Alternately, if he's a major one-trick pony, try attacking him from an alternate angle. If you have someone with lots of physical strength and armor but no mental fortitude, attack his mind or something.

Also, I don't know what you mean by "cycles." There are things called "arrays" that let you slot multiple powers in a single array of powers with the caveat that you can only use one power at a time. If they're abusing the arrays, tell them to cut that out too.

In fact, ask for a copy of their character sheets so you can look them over and see exactly what they're doing.

As an aside, your players sound like big fucking babies if they complain about anything that vaguely puts up a fight.

>As an aside, your players sound like big fucking babies if they complain about anything that vaguely puts up a fight.
To that point, see . Give them incentive to struggle.

>that pic, that concept
That is an A++ villain design for a regional-tier heroics, and your players sound like dickheads.