The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Mutants and Masterminds 2E - Training Wheels
barnet4321
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was reading the thread for the old Claremont Academy thread and i thought it was a real shame that it died like it did *sigh*
So i figured screw it, i'll make one! I'm looking for 4 - 6 players, all power level 8. All characters must be presented and approved. Those of you presenting creative powers or creative uses of their powers will garner extra nerd points*.
So please, sign up soon, once we have a full team + 1 week to get everything ready. hopefully there will be sessions with rapid responces, but if we can't arrange a set day, we'll have to make do with sporadic responses.
* - Disclaimer: Nerd points are utterly useless in any and all possible application you could think of. Yes, even that one
So i figured screw it, i'll make one! I'm looking for 4 - 6 players, all power level 8. All characters must be presented and approved. Those of you presenting creative powers or creative uses of their powers will garner extra nerd points*.
So please, sign up soon, once we have a full team + 1 week to get everything ready. hopefully there will be sessions with rapid responces, but if we can't arrange a set day, we'll have to make do with sporadic responses.
* - Disclaimer: Nerd points are utterly useless in any and all possible application you could think of. Yes, even that one
barnet4321 on
0
Posts
It does help that i have a ridiculous number of M&M PDF files
edit: Found the .PDF on the publisher's site, overlooked that the first time.
I will answer with a riddle. Yes.
PL 8
Theres a few sites online with free download copies.
Once all the cast is together, i'll need a week for some thinking and then we shall begin
Just wondering what you need help with?
Mostly just making sure that what I have in mind works with you, conceptually and mechanically.
Dreamwalker is a powerful psychic who's powers manifest the strongest in his sleep. What I was thinking was that he would project a form of himself when he was asleep that was mainly his "combat mode", and that there would be several different alternate forms (taken from Jung's dream templates): The Hero which comes from an exciting dream where the Dreamwalker is powerful and well armed, The Anima--a form that's more supportive in nature, The Shadow--which has the minions power to summon nightmarish entities to attack a foe, and The Trickster--which I don't really know what i want to do yet.
Is having these multiple forms alright, or am I going to just conceptually step on other people's toes and I should just stick with a more basic dreamer-focused concept? I'm thinking I'd use an array of alternate powers to make it work. A warning: I only have the core book.
Here's my idea: Anya is an alien from somewhere far away; she was off-world with her family (dad's a diplomat) when an unknown fleet attacked, devastating the planet. A piece of the armada then went after the neighboring worlds, including the one she was on, so they evacuated; the ship they were fleeing in was also targeted, and she was packed in a sleeper pod and jettisoned. I was thinking the campaign could open with the pod landing on Earth. She doesn't have any special powers, per se, but she is liquid, though not a convincing shapeshifter. As such, she can squeeze into very tight areas, choke people easily, doesn't need to breathe, and a few other things. Anya also wouldn't know English to begin with, unless we want to skip that.
For reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepwalker_(comics)
The alien idea sounds pretty awesome, though maybe it should be 'accented' English. you know, mix the language up a little. Like she curses in her original tongue, or maybe things slip, like "Hhki, my nyrame is Amja" and people just call her Anya because thats what it's closest too
I love it!
You'll start with a pool of power points based on the Power Level. The power level is 8, so characters have 120 points to spend on various traits. Traits can generally be broken down into the following categories: Ability Scores, Skills, Feats, Powers, Combat Traits (Defense Bonus, Attack Bonus) and Saving Throws. I'll break them down here:
Ability Scores - Ability Scores start at 10 and can go as high as 36 (+13 bonus) in a power level 8 game. Each +1 increase costs a single power point. They are the same 6 ability scores as D& Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha.
Note that ability scores usefulness is more normalized in M&M than D&D. Str and Dex do not effect attack rolls in the same way as they do in D&D. Most of the ability scores effect their related skills and a few other things.
Skills - Again, just like in D&D. However, many of the skills have been condensed. For instance Hide and Move Silently are now just "Stealth" and Spot and Listen are just "Notice".
For each power point you spend, you get 4 skills ranks to distribute as you like. The max rank you can have in a skill is Power Level + 5, so for Power Level 8, you can have up to 13 ranks in a single skill.
Feats - Feats vary a bit more from their D&D Counter Parts. Many class features like Sneak Attack in D&D have been converted into feats. In addition, some feats are ranked. Applying more than one rank in a feat may make it either more effective, or give you a different application of the same feat. For instance, the more ranks you have in Attractive, the more influence you have over persons who may be interested in you. However taking multiple ranks in Skill Mastery only makes the mastery apply to different sets of skills.
There is no limit to the number of feats you may have. However you cannot reap the benefit from feat effects that exceed another power level limit. (For instance, putting 20 ranks in Dodge focus doesn't give you a +20 defense rating)
Powers - Powers require the most time to put together. Each power has it's own cost determined by it's effectiveness. A basic Strike power (melee attack) only costs 1 pp per rank, whereas Time Control costs 7 points per rank.
Additionally, powers can have flaws, which reduce the cost of the power per rank, and extras, which increase the cost per rank. These customizations allow you to build the specific power you have in mind. Powers also have their own feats, which cost 1 pp each, but that is a one time cost.
As an example, we'll build a Pheromone based Emotion Control power. Emotion Control has a base cost of 2 power points per rank. (Each rank adds to the DC of the save the target has to make to resist being effected). To represent the pheromones involved in the power, we add the Sense-Dependent flaw to the power (-1 Modifier) which lowers the cost to 1 pp/rank. We want this power to radiate from the character using it, so we add the Extra Burst (+1 Modifer), raising the cost back up to 2 pp/rank. The highest we can raise the Save DC is 18 (10 + Power Level), so we end up with Emotion Control 8 (Extras: Burst [+1]; Flaws: Sense-Dependent [olfactory] [-1]). costing a total of 16 power points.
If you wanted to make it more powerful, you could add the Selective Power Feat, which would make you able to exclude your team-mates from your thrall and only target enemies, for the one-time cost of 1 Power Point. You could also Add Progression power feats as long as you like, increasing the area of effect until you cover the entire city, world, solar system, universe (it's possible to get quite ridiculous with powers )
Powers aren't technically limited on their own. You can, for instance, have as many ranks of Flight as you'd like. However, if there is a separate limit imposed on the power you are using, then you can't raise the power higher than that amount. For instance, Blast can only be up to rank 8 in a power level 8 game, because save DCs (referring to Toughness save, see below) can't go above the Power Level. Enhanced Strength can't make your character have a strength higher than the power level limit either.
Combat Statistics - Each +1 into attack Bonus (D&D called Base Attack Bonus) is 2 power points. Similarly each +1 into defense bonus costs 2 PP (D&D called Armor Bonus).
Note: Defense bonus seems to get a lot of confusion from new players, but it works just like in D&D. Your total defense bonus = 10 + Defense Bonus, just like in D&D. Additional, in M&M, half of your defense bonus counts as Dodge Bonus for determining penalties if you find yourself Flat-Footed.
If your going to be singly. focused in either ranged or melee combat, you'll find it's more point-efficient to take Attack Focus (Melee) or Attack Focus (Ranged) feats, as they only cost 1 point each rank.
The highest Attack or Defense bonus can be is +8.
Saving Throws - Just like in D&D, Saving Throws represent your ability to avoid bad things happening to your character. Reflex means getting out of the way, Fortitude represents your ability to ward off physical ills like disease or poison, and Will represents your ability to fight of mental effects.
There is an additional saving throw, however, called Toughness. Toughness is your ability to resist damage from an attack you get hit with. There are no hit points in M&M, so if you get hit, you make a Toughness Save, DC 15 + Damage taken (Damage is typically the rank of the power you were hit with). If you save, you shrug it off and nothing bad happens. If you fail, how badly you are hurt is determined by how badly you fail. If you fail by 1 or 2, then you'll just get a bruise. If you fail by a lot then you may well be out of the fight or bleeding out.
Note: Typically in mutants and masterminds their are staged effects with reference to saving throws that typically go in steps of 5. If you just fail a Fortitude save one thing may happen, and a different effect will be listed for failing by 5+, 10+ and 15+. Sometimes you can take a bad guy out of the battle completely if he botches his save by enough.
Fort, Reflex and Con have a max of a +13 bonus. (Note: This includes the relevant bonus from ability scores!) and cost 1 power point per +1 Increase.
Toughness, like fortitude, reaps the benefit of your Con score. However, it cannot be directly inflated with power points. However, the Protection power or the Defensive Roll feat will increase your Toughness save by one for each rank purchased. (Both cost 1 PP/rank, so this is mostly a moot distinction)
That should give you an idea of how to build your various traits. For review, here are the limits, and how much each trait costs:
Power Level: 8
Trait Limits
Max Attack/Defense Bonus: +8
Max Save DC Modifier: +8
Max Toughness: +8
Max Save/Ability Bonus: +13
Max Ability Score: 36
Max Skill Rank: 13
Trait Costs:
Ability Score: 1 Power Point per +1 Increase about 10.
Attack Bonus: 2 Power Points per +1 Increase
Defense Bonus: 2 Power Points per +1 increase
Save Bonus: 1 Power Point per +1 Increase
Skills: 1 Power Point per 4 skill ranks
Feats: 1 Power Point per 1 Feat or Feat Rank
Powers: Base Cost * ranks
I'm not home to finish my character right now, but I've narrowed down the subject. I'm using the Morph power with the Metamorph power feat to establish the two forms for the character. So one is a traditional psychic. But the character has been somehow infected by a psychic eating beast who emerges in times of crisis, shutting down or weakening most of the character's powers as he uses them to manifest, but serving as kind of a big bruiser. This means I only need to make two characters instead of like six.
Concealment rank 2, limited to water, 2 points
Elongation 4 4 points
Immunity 4 (crits/breathing) 4 points
Insubstantial 1 permanent innate 5 points
Swimming 3 3 points
Regeneration (bruised/injured/staggered 1, resurrection [scattered remains] 1) 4 points
Super-movement: wall-crawling, water-walking 4 points
Super-senses: radius sight 2 points
46 points
8 STR
14 DEX
10 CON
14 INT
14 WIS
12 CHA
24 points
4 attack, 7 dodge, 2 fort/ref/will
33 points
Bluff 4
Climb 6
Diplomacy 3
Escape artist 4
Language 2 (native and Kra;mn, embassy lingo)
Notice 3
Sense Motive 5
Sleight of Hand 3
Stealth 2
8 points
Environmental Adaptation (underwater)
Evasion 2
Grappling Finesse
Improved Grab
Improved Initiative
Uncanny Dodge
7 points
Total: 46+24+33+8+7=118 points
Backstory:
Before the attack, Anya was rather light-hearted, as most members of her species tended to be. She enjoyed wrestling, reading, and playing with the other children on-site, both the natives and the other diplomats' children. [If the campaign begins with her crashing] she is still in shock from the devastation she suffered, both personally and as part of a civilization that may have been destroyed. [Regardless] she will need counseling and the support of her peers to come to terms with her new circumstances.
Anya is a liquid life-form, and does not need to breathe; her body is as flexible as you might expect, being able to squeeze through very tight spaces and hide underwater. When hit, the substance of her body tends to react fluidly, minimizing the impact and damage; should she take the worst of a long fight, her cells still have the capability to regroup and heal, unless scattered. Lacking solid parts, Anya is unable to strike a convincing blow, but she is adept at wrapping herself around enemies and immobilizing or suffocating them; she can also apply digestive acids to an object or enemy to weaken them. Given these properties, it is not a surprise that she can climb walls, primarily by flattening herself over as large an area as possible and grasping the minute imperfections in the surface.
Beyond that question, i like what you did there, it seems like a solid concept all in all