Combat

All damage from all sources (combat, falling, knockback, etc.) is considered to be Nonlethal unless otherwise specified.

Accurate / All-Out / Defensive / Power Attack: These mechanics (see the Feats of the same name in the core rulebook) exist as options for all characters, but they can only shift the values by +/-2. Characters who invest into the eponymous feats, however, can shift the values by up to +/-5.

Aggressive/Defensive Stance: These maneuvers no longer exist.

Charge: This maneuver changes from a Full Action where you move at double-speed in a straight line and then attack, to a Standard Action where you move at your speed in a straight line and then attack. This allows you to take an unrestricted Move Action beforehand if you wish, to set up the charge, and makes the clause about surprise rounds unnecessary.

• Charge (Standard Action): Charging allows you to move and attack in a single Standard Action. You must move at least 10 feet and may move up to your normal speed. You must stop as soon as you are within striking range of your target (you can't run past the target and attack from another direction). After moving, you may make a single melee attack, with a +2 attack bonus. You suffer a –2 Defense penalty for 1 round (until your next action).

Combined Attack: The bonus damage from a Combined Attack does not count for overcoming +Impervious saving throws.

Costume Change: Characters may choose to change into their heroic costume or uniform as a Full Round Action once Initiative has been determined, but in doing so lose their Dodge bonus for that round. Characters with Quick Change or sufficient Quickness may still change as a Free Action without penalty and characters may still opt to take the full minute (ten rounds) to change, particularly if they are outside of combat.

Critical Hits: A critical hit (defined as a roll of a natural 20 on an attack, which would have hit the target's Defense even were it not a natural 20) can have one of the following 3 effects, chosen by the player when the critical hit is rolled:

• Increased Effect: The critical hit increases the difficulty to resist the attack's effect by +5.
• Added Effect: The critical hit adds another effect onto the attack, but its effective rank is 0, so the saving throw DC is just the base value (15 for Damage, 10 for other attack powers). The added effect can be anything the player can reasonably describe and justify as adjunct to the original effect: Nauseate or Stun (useful for all sorts of "gut checks," blows to the head or vitals, etc.), Dazzle (blood in the eyes, boxing the ears, etc.), or Drain (Drain Dex via striking the hamstrings or a "nerve cluster", Drain Con for a particularly savage wound), to name a few. The GM decides if the effect suits the circumstances of the attack. The target makes saves against the attack's initial and added effects separately.
• Alternate Effect: The critical hit results in an alternate effect for the attack, like a use of Extra Effort for a power stunt, except the character suffers no Fatigue as a result. This option can represent a "lucky" attack that does something completely different, like blinding a target, or imposing some other condition.

Damage: Characters failing a Toughness save by 5-9 are Dazed & Bruised, not Stunned & Bruised (Dazed, Bruised and Injured if the Damage is lethal). Similarly, characters failing a Toughness save by 10-14 are Staggered & Dazed, not Staggered & Stunned (Staggered, Disabled and Dazed if the Damage is lethal). Per 2e errata, a Staggered character is rendered Unconscious if they are Staggered a second time, rather than going Unconscious from any further damage.

Disarm: A character resisting a Disarm check, or using their unarmed damage or a Mighty attack to disarm a foe, can apply their Super-Strength ranks to the check.

Grappling: A character's Grapple bonus is equal to the sum of their Melee Attack bonus, their Strength bonus, any Super-Strength ranks, any Size modifiers, any Elongation ranks, and possibly any Additional Limbs ranks (see the power description). If the character has the Grapple Finesse feat, then they may substitute their Dexterity bonus for their Strength bonus.

A character grappling a foe with Move Object derives their Grapple bonus from the sum of their Ranged Attack bonus and their Move Object power rank. If their Move Object power is Perception-ranged, their Grapple bonus is equal to double their power rank.

• Escape (Move Action): You attempt to escape a grapple. Roll an opposed check, with either your Grapple bonus or your Escape skill (or Dexterity bonus, if you have no ranks in Escape), whichever is higher, against your foe's Grapple bonus. If you succeed, then you break free, and you can move up to your speed away from the grappler.

  Using Powers to Escape: Per Steve Kenson's suggestion, using superpowers (Insubstantial, Teleport, etc.) to break out of a Grapple requires a DC 20 Concentration check.

• Grapple (Standard Action): You attempt to grapple a target. Make a melee attack roll against the target. If successful, roll a Grapple check, opposed by the target's Grapple bonus or their Reflex save. If you roll a critical hit on the attack roll, you gain +5 to your grapple check. If you win, the target is Pinned. They are held immobile, losing their dodge bonus to Defense, and suffering an additional -4 Defense penalty. If you win by 5+, or if you win another opposed grapple check (requiring another Standard Action), the target is Bound, and thus, Helpless, unable to move, or take any actions which require physical activity other than Escaping, with a Defense of (5 + size modifier). Other adjacent characters gain an additional +4 attack bonus against them, and can coup-de-grace them as a full action. You lose your dodge bonus to Defense against foes outside the grapple while grappling a foe (unless you have the Grapple Finesse feat).

   

  Maintaining a grapple is a Free Action, but you cannot perform other actions requiring the use of your grappling limbs while doing so. Normally, maintaining a grapple requires the use of both hands. The Improved Grapple feat allows you to maintain a grapple with one hand (as can the Additional Limbs power - see the power description).

   

  A larger character can grapple more foes of a smaller size. Double the number of foes the character can grapple at once per size category the attacker is larger than the defenders. So, for example, a Medium attacker can grapple one Medium opponent, two Small opponents (one under each arm, for example), four Tiny opponents, etc.

   

  Since maintaining the grapple is a Free Action, you can take a Standard Action to inflict an attack upon a grappled target on subsequent rounds after the grapple has been established (or on the same round, if you Surge for another Standard Action). There is no need for an attack roll (and thus, no chance to score a critical hit or use tradeoff feats); the grappled foe must simply roll a saving throw against your attack.

   

  If you are maintaining a grapple at a distance with Move Object, then you must still make an attack roll to hit the grappled target with a ranged attack. But they are Pinned or Bound, and all the usual Defense penalties for those conditions apply (as do tradeoff feats and critical hits, since an attack roll is involved).

   

  If you try to move while grappling a foe, you must drag them along with you. Roll an opposed Strength check against your grappled foe. If you succeed, you move, and your foe moves along with you. If you fail, then you cannot move unless you release your foe. You must be strong enough to at least push or drag your foe, and normal movement penalties for encumbrance apply.

   

  Since there is no action/reaction between an attacker using Move Object and their target, they cannot "drag" their target. They must move them like the target of any other Move Object power, by "throwing" them as a Move Action.

   

  You can end a grapple (releasing your foe) as a Free Action. If you are unable to take the Free Action to maintain the grapple (if you are Stunned, for example), then the grapple ends automatically.

   

  If you take a Standard Action to grapple a foe, then you can then throw them as a Move Action on the same round (thus, Grappling and Throwing a foe is a Full Action). On subsequent rounds after you initiated the grapple, throwing the grappled foe is a Standard Action.

   

  The functions of the existing Grappling feats remain unchanged.

  • Grappling Block still allows you to initiate a Grapple check as a Reaction following a successful Block maneuver.
  • Improved Grab still allows you to initiate a Grapple check as a Reaction following a successful unarmed attack.
  • Improved Grapple still allows you to maintain a Grapple with one arm, leaving your other arm free to take other actions. And since maintaining a Grapple is now a Free Action, now this feat actually does something.
  • Improved Pin inflicts a -4 penalty to any Grappled character's Escape checks (since all grapples now inflict the Pinned condition).

Minions generally take the worst possible effect on any failed save, not just Toughness saves, per the published Mutants & Masterminds 2e FAQ.

Trip: A character using Dexterity to resist a Trip attempt can use their full Acrobat bonus instead. A character using Strength for a Trip check (offensive or defensive) can apply their Super-Strength ranks.

Vehicle Combat

As per the Masterminds Manual, a character operating a vehicle can take a move action to move the vehicle under its own power, and either a standard action to attack with any vehicle-mounted weapons, or a standard action for "evasive maneuvers," which replaces the vehicle's normal Defense (10 + vehicle's size modifier) with (the result of the operator's skill check + vehicle's size modifier) for 1 round. The "Simultaneous Task" skill challenge can be used to both fire weapons and perform evasive maneuvers in the same standard action, with a -10 penalty to the operator's skill check. A challenge feat can be taken to reduce the penalty to -5 (one rank), or to eliminate it altogether (2 ranks).

Please note that these are not the only actions available to a character operating a vehicle, and that the character is, depending on the circumstances, free to use a personal weapon or attack power instead of the weapons mounted on the vehicle.