I was honest surprised that the other thread got past bump limit.
ITT:
>What is your personal experience with characters that had a "superform"?
>Have you ever made a Custom advantage/Feature/Extras or even powers? How did that turn out?
>How many bruises did it take for one of your non-minion foes to hit the ground? (I have a record of -8).
One of my rougher builds for a stat me thread a while back
Bad. The PL limits make you really suck if you build under them and aren't capable of taking action to go into one fast enough and they overtake the game if you're allowed to buff past PL.
I got the go-ahead to adapt Vampiric to work with Fatigue back in 2E, does that count? Also used a bunch of extras that weren't ported for whatever reason.
Something like -10 but it was because of Regeneration constantly removing bruises in a 1v1 where it was pretty much impossible to render the other guy vulnerable. Deathstroke can go fuck himself.
Delaware is an AE of strength, yeah?
What's the trigger for Withstand?
Oh, when taking damage of course.
So far, the closest thing to a "superform" I've seen is with Holding Back, but that seems like a bit overkill for what I'd want (to surpass PL by a couple levels in offenses and defenses with limitations and or side effects without having to struggle with Tiring knocking me down in three turns) with boosting everything by 4 PL.
So the main thing I see here is a fairly heavy focus on "win fast or go home".
Reaction (Damage) Healing is the sort of thing that gets you really fucking good durability. He's basically invincible against damage until he gets a 4 or lower on a healing check. He's God in short fights.
But at the same time, he doesn't have any attack he can rely on long-term. Delaware is 5-shot, Detroit is highly likely to one-shot him, basic unarmed is two PLs under. Likewise, his healing is only good for 5 rounds on average. By the time the fight hits round six or seven, he's likely to be in deep shit.
I personally wouldn't play this without extensive discussion with the GM, but it is a highly thematic build.
Doesn't Healing lock out for a player unless they use Extra Effort or wait a minute if they fail the Heal check?
Yep. Hence why he's only got an average of five rounds of heals.
Ah, right, not sure how the math works but I'll trust you. That's kind of what i was going for anyway. From what I've seen though Deku can push through a lot of damage, but he'll definitely run out fast doing so, which is what I was going for.
Anotha one.
This build is something a bit closer to heart.
It's a character of a Jojo game that has been canceled for what is now the third time
Your previous memethread made me read the player's handbook only to put it down because of autism.
Your book is only understandable to people with autism.
Anyone here ever use a Linked double array? What I mean is two collections of powers that can be mixed and matched with one another.
For example:
One Array has Damage and Affliction stuff, and the other has Healing and Affects Others Immunities. They can choose what attack they want with what buff they want.
Of course this is extremely expensive, and the only thing I've done clsoe to this is an enemy NPC coming up sometime in my current campaign.
I'm confused. If one array has attacks and the other has buffs, why are they linked? Aren't you just describing two separate arrays?
They happen at the same time.
Like how a Divine Magic character could have anything from a AoE burst healing selective, Nullify, Deflect or Affects Others Immunity power from the first array, and then the second array could be anything from a Selective Blind Affliction, a Compel Affliction, or a selective burst damage effect.
The obvious "superform" method is Holding Back. Of course, +4 PL at climatic moments tends to make the rest of the party feel a bit unappreciated in the big fights.
Barring that, I find the best way to do it is to take an Alternate Form full of partial immunites, regeneration, and extras or Linked attacks to buff up offense. Then flaw the hell out if it, such as Unreliable (5 uses) and Side Effect (Always, complication). Result is -3 PP/R for a powerboost that's perfectly suited to short term usage.
I've used Feature (Passively cleans self), Feature (Never loses games of chance), and Feature (Voice does not match lip movements) before. Am currently trying to get a GM to accept Feature (Cannot die) since he's run for six years with no PC deaths.
Every power effects I've wanted can already be made with what's in core. Do have to hand it to GR, they did a bang-up job of covering their bases.
I've seen -14. Heavily accuracy shifted heroes against a higher PL heavily toughness-shifted villain gets pretty funny. Throw in Ultimate Effort (toughness checks) and shit just goes insane.
>The obvious "superform" method is Holding Back. Of course, +4 PL at climatic moments tends to make the rest of the party feel a bit unappreciated in the big fights.
>Barring that, I find the best way to do it is to take an Alternate Form full of partial immunites, regeneration, and extras or Linked attacks to buff up offense. Then flaw the hell out if it, such as Unreliable (5 uses) and Side Effect (Always, complication). Result is -3 PP/R for a powerboost that's perfectly suited to short term usage.
Yeah, I guess partially immunity is really the only way you can do that sort of stuff defensive wise. I kind of wish AoE attacks had more ways of getting bonuses to damage, they kind of get screwed by Evasion and really big AoEs don't feel as devastating as they should be.
>I've used Feature (Passively cleans self), Feature (Never loses games of chance), and Feature (Voice does not match lip movements) before. Am currently trying to get a GM to accept Feature (Cannot die) since he's run for six years with no PC deaths.
>Every power effects I've wanted can already be made with what's in core. Do have to hand it to GR, they did a bang-up job of covering their bases.
Only thing I've used is Feature 2: Fuck Boi that can make persuasion or Connected checks while the PC Mr Bones is away and Custom Advantage: External Will: Use Presence instead of Awareness when adding to Will Defense.
>I've seen -14. Heavily accuracy shifted heroes against a higher PL heavily toughness-shifted villain gets pretty funny. Throw in Ultimate Effort (toughness checks) and shit just goes insane.
Toughness shifted shit is the exact reason why players should take at least one Affliction. Thing is, the -8 bruises happened to an enemy with a PL equal to the 4 PC party and only shifted by 12 toughness and 8 dodge/parry.
From the last thread, the guy with the Kamen Rider/Gavan idea.
I was also thinking, as someone suggested, that his Chaser Units take a full action or something to get to him. Or possibly have it so, depending on how far the Wheel Chaser is, it may take longer to get to the hero. Is it possible that the Chaser Unit reaching the hero can be a separate action, so he can keep fighting while he waits for the Unit to appear and link up?
Another 'ability' or trick I was thinking is for him to be able to call on all his available Chase Units to launch all at once and attack like a swarm, but I dunno if that would be feasible, since it would probably be super expensive, and would have multiple attack types, from blunt, to cutting, to shooting and even explosives, so it might just be a big cluster fuck. I admit I do not have the ruleset fully memorized so I can't be sure.
>Yeah, I guess partially immunity is really the only way you can do that sort of stuff defensive wise.
Unfortunately, yeah. Outside a Conceal effect that is very very blatantly "I want to break PL caps" or bullcrap with variable or arrayed Favored Environments there's not much that lets you spike your defenses unless you're sub-cap normally Certainly nothing that'll boost toughness.
I've got a rewrite of Immunity that might help a bit, but it's really hard since PL caps aren't supposed to be broken except by teamwork.
>I kind of wish AoE attacks had more ways of getting bonuses to damage, they kind of get screwed by Evasion and really big AoEs don't feel as devastating as they should be.
It's half that AoEs frequently function at half effect, and half that they're more expensive so aren't often capped. What I find works great is to take a PL+50% damage effect and staple PL rank area on it. If you hit, they're boned. If you miss, they're still getting hurt. Feels like quite a nice super-attack in my experience.
That, to me, sounds dangerously like "I want to take two actions per turn". I'd strongly suggest talking this through with your GM before going any further. I know I'd veto it.
>Is it possible that the Chaser Unit reaching the hero can be a separate action, so he can keep fighting while he waits for the Unit to appear and link up?
Two main ways to do this. Activation flaw means he has to spend his action "waiting for the chaser". Doesn't really accomplish the intended goal. Alternative would be Quirk (Changing chasers does not take effect until start of own next turn) which I'd rate as a -1 flat.
>Another 'ability' or trick I was thinking is for him to be able to call on all his available Chase Units to launch all at once and attack like a swarm
Sounds like an Area Damage effect to me. Perfectly doable.
Has anyone used M&M to run a Work style story? How did it go? Any tips on doing something similar?
>What I find works great is to take a PL+50% damage effect and staple PL rank area on it. If you hit, they're boned. If you miss, they're still getting hurt. Feels like quite a nice super-attack in my experience.
Is that rules legal? I mean, I would think that an Area attack with 16 ranks would still be breaking PL 10 even if said Area Ranks are limited to 10. And does the non-Area ranks work with things like Power Attack?
RAW it's legal.
Rules say "The total of your hero’s attack bonus and effect rank with that attack cannot exceed twice the series power level. If an effect allows a resistance check, but does not require an attack check, its effect rank cannot exceed the series power level."
I'm going to use a PL 10 +8 to-hit Damage 12 Area (Partial, 10) for this.
>The total of your hero’s attack bonus and effect rank with that attack cannot exceed twice the series power level.
8 + 12 If an effect allows a resistance check, but does not require an attack check, its effect rank cannot exceed the series power level.
Two possible readings:
a: Since the effect requires an attack roll, the number of partial ranks of Area doesn't matter (and could exceed PL, so this is clearly silly).
b. The portion of the effect that doesn't require a to-hit roll can't exceed PL.
No matter which interpretation we use, this effect violates neither clause, so is RAW legal.
>And does the non-Area ranks work with things like Power Attack?
Per pg 188's section on Partial Modifiers, you only ever get your Partial ranks. So Power Attack won't change anything, but if you Accurate attack down to Damage 8 or lower all your ranks will have Area on them.
Won't work the way you want. You Link effects, not arrays.
You'd have to just make a single array with a bunch of combinations of Linked effects, but that'll cost a lot if you want a bunch of combinations. .
Rate my build?
Did so last thread (can't believe that we got to a second thread)
This is like the 5th revision that I've done. Almost did yet another one.
A little background (because why the fuck not)
So I'm in a game with the following (Names are not the actual names, as the players haven't made final decisions)
Teen Angel (Teenage Angst, Wings, "Angel Powers", Immortality)
Concrete Lass as played by That Girl (Construction worker with Augustine from inFamous 2nd Son's powers)
Dr Bug (Entomologist that isThe Pain from MGS3, Shino from Naruto, and the Bug Plasmid from Bioshock all rolled into one)
Broke Ass Iron Man (Mechanic, Super Strength's the real power, but has an industrial DIY power suit)
There's a 6th guy who I do not know what he's doing, but knowing him something flamboyant and awesome
Then there's That Guy. (John Carpenter's The Thing with 10's in all defenses, with an OW THE EDGE level of edgy backstory)
Then there's me; Ghetto Non Lethal Sub Zero who squats in an abandoned office building.
GM took Emerald City, put it in Nor Cal's coast, had it be San Francisco's more responsible older brother, took all the superhero history away, then replaced a landmark with a Meta Research Facility. Plot is that a Partical Accelerator blew up while an experiment with exotic radiation was going down.
(If you've seen the CW Flash you know the story)
Week Later, all the party is brought together by something and we become a superhero team.
So everyone who posts here then...?
Big objection:
Your defenses are godawful. You're effectively FIVE power levels under against a fortitude or will attack. Two and a half under against toughness. You will die like a bitch. Or be knocked out like a bitch, dunno.
Powergamey quibbles:
Your offense would be great if you had Power Attack. You don't have Power Attack. You'll quite frequently hit and bounce off. Heck, an Impervious enemy like a powerhouse or paragon can ignore your damage.
You have HiPS and a stealth modifier of +5. That's painfully low, making HiPS basically useless.
Sure Footed 4 is eating 8 points for something unlikely to matter much.
You've bought Dexterity 3 and are only using it to improve a ranged combat skill. You've basically thrown 4.5 points down a hole in doing so.
You've got a bunch of skills at +5, which is pretty low for PL 10. I don't think they'll get too much effective use, especially if a specialist is in the party.
What you're looking for is the Direct Hit rules in the Heavy Weapons Gadget Guide.
So lately I've had a friend of mine recommend me M&M.
As a GM, is this a good system to run? Are there major balance issues which might affect the party dynamic?
How does it run? Smoothly or more crunchy?
Like this user says. Having at PL defenses is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you're not you're basically one really good roll away from a OHKO.
You can fuck with it a bit and skew your defenses towards one defense, but still have them at PL. It's very important.
So laser focus my build?
Bump up the skills im using and then drop some powers here and there?
>As a GM, is this a good system to run?
It's fun and allows for a lot of creativity.
>Are there major balance issues which might affect the party dynamic?
Oh, fuck yes. Balance took a backseat to letting players make whatever they fucking want. Your players will need to run any new powers by you first. You both need to make sure you're on the same page as to how they're going to work.
Basic damage powers are straightforward, but once you start combining different power effects to make something specific there will sometimes be disagreement on how it'd actually work.
There are also some relatively cheap power effects that make a drastic difference in combat effectiveness. Like Regeneration. Not every character is going to have a theme that lets them take that reasonably.
>How does it run? Smoothly or more crunchy?
Fairly smooth in terms of basic damage and affliction attacks. Things can get more complicated if your players are clever though and try applying their powers in non-obvious ways (which they should, its a superhero system).
Addendum;
Am i thinking to much like other d20 based systems (pathfinder) where my ranks dont matter as much as other bs?
straight from srd
SKILL BENCHMARKS
You can get a general idea of just how good a particular character’s skill bonus is using the general difficulty class guidelines given in The Basics along with the rules for routine checks (see Routine Checks).
For example, a +5 total skill modifier means the character can routinely achieve a result of 15 (a tough task). Safe to say the character is a pro, able to routinely handle tasks that would prove too much for someone less skilled. A character with a +10 skill modifier achieve a DC 20 (challenging task) on a routine basis, a real level of expertise, while a +15 modifier can routinely complete DC 25 (formidable) tasks. At the high end, a +30 skill modifier can routinely accomplishing the nigh impossible (DC 40 tasks)!
>Major Balance issues
High (>5) rank regeneration is crazy good.
Selective Create is straight up bullshit.
Immunity "Limited to Half Effect" is generally as good as immunity at half the cost.
Summon and Variable can break the game clear in half.
Linked is insanely powerful.
That said, it does run quite smoothly since it's always the same series of rolls. I recommend it, but of course I'm biased what with being in this thread.
To an extent, yeah. It also doesn't help that Acrobatics and Athletics are sorta bad, and Stealth, Perception, and Insight are opposed skills. Having a +5 when a competent foe will have a 15+ isn't really worth the points. For opposed skills, it's generally go big or go home.
Acrobatics and Athletics are bad? How so?
Most everything they do, powers do better and usually cheaper.
Take Acrobatics for example. Balancing is useless when your Boreal Stride means you can climb on anything without a check. Standing is useless since you have Instant Up. Tumbling is useless since you have Safe Fall. That leaves just one out of four uses that your powers don't already do better.
I heard that you can pick power levels for your setting (and also fixes player's starting power). Is it adequate?
>a Work style story?
So, some type of slice of life of the heroes in their secret identities working? Sounds like something to do between stories in a campaign not something to base a whole story around.
Yes. Power Level does a pretty solid job of keeping everyone on an equal footing, unless people deliberately underpower themselves.
Agreed, slice-of-life superheroes doesn't need a system like M&M.