Dodge Bonus?

[Hellbound]

Wouldn't you prefer to buy Dodge Focus for 1 pp, as in either case your defence and flat-footed defence will be the same. If you come to buy up defence to 12, then I doubt anyone would object to upgrading dodge focus to a proper defence score.

I dunno. I'm a little fuzzy on how the whole 'Dodge' thing works, to be honest. Is the Dodge Bonus just the amount you lose to your Defense if you're caught flatfooted?

[Ecalsneerg]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

My point is that defence 10 + dodge 1 will give you a defence of +11 (+5 flatfooted). Defence 11 will give you a defence of +11 (+5 flatfooted). It's the exact same thing, only it costs 1 pp less.

[Hellbound]

It's something to think about, but eventually I'd start to worry about Hellbound being a sitting duck if caught by surprise. Taking the level of Dodge Bonus now would still just be +12 +5.

I've always treated him as a very balanced fighter -- that's why he has no Tradeoffs. It's something to consider, but sooner or later you have to spend that 2 points to get your basic Defense bonus brought up. Not that he's ever actually been in a situation yet where he's considered flatfooted...

[Ecalsneerg]

If you have no trade-offs, there is no way you can increase your flat-footed defence until PL 12, whereupon you could easily just spend 1 pp more to change the Dodge Focus rank to a defence score rank. There's nothing stopping you buying odd defence scores, but it will cost you 1 pp more for the same effect. My suggestion wasn't Defence 11 and Dodge Focus, rather sticking to defence 10 and buying dodge focus for aforementioned same effect.

[Hellbound]

...whereupon you could easily just spend 1 pp more to change the Dodge Focus rank to a defence score rank.

Ah, that's what you're getting at. The whole fluid nature of character creation and development that I have to admit, by now, I'm never going to click with. I'm just too used to buying a skill, stat or power and having it stay that skill, stat or power.

You buy Dodge Bonus? Well, now you're stuck with Dodge Bonus. You want +1 Defense after that? 'Gotta buy +1 Defense after that. There's no trading in of powers, man.

Well, there is in M&M. Which is why I'm just never going to worry about ever fooling myself that I'll manage an optimal build. 'Just not my game.

[N/A]

Think of it this way, HB: Dodge Focus is a Flawed version of base Defense. Rather than losing half of it when you're caught flat-footed, you lose all of it. The designers thought that was worth a -1pp/rank Flaw.

When you cash in Dodge Focus ranks and buy ranks of base Defense, you're effectively buying off the Flaw.

Does that make more sense?

[Hellbound]

Well, sure, it makes more sense to think of it in that way. Unfortunately, that's not the way that the designers presented it. Defense Bonus is a stat (and, honestly, it feels as if it should be a derived stat even though Dex, Will and Wis bonuses don't factor in at all), while Dodge Bonus is a Feat (which has the feel of a non-superpowered character perq that has some subtle-but-understandable differences from Skills).

Now, if they'd have listed certain limitations that can be applied directly to the Defense bonus then I'd have an easier time getting into the groove. "Buying off limitations" is a time honored concept that I can understand. That's just part of improving something which has already been purchased and is something that pretty much every other game on the market allows. But that's not what's going on here. This is a matter of selling back a Feat in order to put those points into an Ability.

That... no... that's not right. I do realize that it's my three decades of gaming experience that's making me so inflexible. I've been doing this for a long, long time and there are certain things you simply do not do.

You do not 'sell' back powers, skills or feats. Once a character purchases something and it's on his or her sheet then it stays there. It can grow and it can change, but it does not get sold back for the same number of XPs that it was originally purchased for.

But in M&M, you can do that not just with the Dodge Bonus feat, but with anything at all you want to sell back in particular as long as you present in-character justification to the GM.

Another thing you do not do, under any circumstances, is whip new powers out of nowhere. To paraphrase one of the lessons that Aahz taught to Skeeve in the first Myth Adventure book: Don't waste your time wishing for powers or abilities that you don't have. Work with what you have, in other words. Force your players to rely on their ingenuity rather than allow them to just whip out a 'save the day' power or gadget.

Also? Creative writing projects do not earn bonus experience points. If you go to Gen Con and submit a writeup for Lolth's older sister to be used in the GDQ series? No, man, that's not going to happen.

Granted, I'm learning to overcome that last one with Singing for His Supper. That's quickly turning into Hellbound's Playground and I have no problems going to it whenever my regular threads slip to a halt.

I'm also starting to understand why M&M is so fluid. I remember one of the great gaming wars of my youth was Champions players (that'd be me), vs. Mutants and Masterminds players as to which was the better system. Having never played M&M before, I can dig why there was so much argument.

But M&M allows for more of a 'comic book' feel. There was a time (what many people consider a campy and poorly written time), where Superman was pretty much whipping a new power out of his Kryptonian ass every other book. Well... Extra Effort allows for that.

You also have characters like Supergirl and... well, okay, it's only 4:40 in the morning over here and I'm having problems coming up with other examples... but you get characters who seem to have their entire backgrounds and power sets rewritten every few months. You also get Batman or Hawkeye who always has just the right gadget for just the right situation.

Both of those aspects have the feel of deus ex machina and that's just not good writing. But comic books rarely are built on solid writing. That's why they're comic books and not classics of literature. M&M is built along lines that allows players to imitate that aspect of comic book creativity.

In so many ways it seems like M&M was deliberately built for exploiting loopholes, power gaming and generating arguments about how things should be done. But I'm getting used to it. I still don't find the character creation process in itself to be an enjoyable process (at least not like Champions or Shadowrun was, where I could sit for days working the numbers until they were just right), and maybe I never will.

So why am I playing this goofy game to begin with? Well, you go where the good gamers are. It's a fun site with some really creative players, so with a little help from time to time I'll learn to deal with what it, to me at least, a completely alien way of running an RPG.

And that's all I have to say about that.

[N/A]

Strength and Dexterity did contribute to base Attack and Defense in M&M1E. They changed it for 2E because they realized it made STR and DEX far more valuable than other Abilities, and because some concepts could justify a high STR and/or DEX without a correspondingly high ATK and/or DEF. The Mastermind's Manual mentions an option to let STR and DEX contribute to ATK and DEF, but recommends that you increase their cost as well. As it is, STR is a good deal for any character that cares about it, and DEX ranges from "slightly overcosted" to "good deal," depending on how many DEX skills you care about.

I think part of truly comprehending M&M is realizing that there isn't much of a difference between the different types of traits. They're all built on the same mechanics. The categories they're separated into (Abilities, Skills, Feats, etc.) are really just an artifact from D20. So cashing in a Feat to buy up a combat bonus doesn't really cross a line, because the line is arbitrary.

The reason that your character sheet isn't set in stone is the same reason that the system errs on the side of flexibility rather than "balance." Because, as you've already touched on, the developers were trying to accurately model superhero comic books.

Those stories aren't very advancement-oriented, like D&D and Warcraft. Characters might get one or two big power-ups over the course of their lifetime, but more often, they don't increase in power level so much as they just change in some way. And it's almost never a gradual process, but instead a Big Deal.

In order to keep the properties feeling "fresh," the Big 2 are constantly revamping their cash cow characters, updating their origins for "modern times." And part of that cycle seems to include an occasional snap-back, as the powers that be wipe away years of character development in favor of returning the character to his/her "roots."

It's not just Superman, and it's not just the Silver Age. Comic book superheroes constantly whip out with new powers, new gadgets, new techniques, or new applications of existing powers/gadgets/techniques, which suit their needs for the moment. And then those new applications get promptly buried in the sands of time and never referenced again, even when the same problem eventually comes up. Sometimes it's explained away as taking Extra Effort, but often it's just forgotten. That's the whole point of the Power Stunt and Heroic Feat systems - so that player characters aren't burdened with the responsibility for buying each and every ability their character might ever use. Kenson himself has stated more than once that a good guideline is to think about how many times a character has ever used a given ability. If you can think of at least 3 different situations, then you should buy the trait with power points. If you can't think of at least 3 instances, then you should save it for power stunts and/or Inventions.

Since "comic book superheroes" is an inherently fluid genre, the M&M system favors flexibility over balance by design. It's intentional. Yes, this can be used for munchkin/power-gamer purposes, but the books specifically say that it shouldn't, and preventing or channeling that tendency is part of the GM's job.

In reference to play-by-post games specifically, "bonus XP from creative writing projects" makes more sense, since if you think about it, the act of "playing" here is really nothing more than a semi-collaborative creative writing project.

M&M owes a lot to Champions/HERO when it comes to the system, just like it owes to D20. But the core mindset required to play, to truly understand M&M, is pretty much opposite to the underlying assumptions of those games.

It's also worth noting that Steve Kenson, the guy who created M&M, is a "fast-&-loose" style GM, by all accounts and his own admission. He doesn't sweat the details. He cares a lot more about whether or not everyone is having fun and creating a cool story than whether or not everyone is Following The Rules. It shows in his game design. And while that design philosophy occasionally leads to frustrating inconsistencies and hand-waves, overall I say "gods bless him for it."

Most of the things that seem to confuse you about this system are the very things I love it so dearly for.

[Hellbound]

Well, yeah, I can dig all that. But remember where I'm coming from -- I can still clearly remember the day way back in the late '70s when the Basic Box Set got me to click on the difference between playing a game and writing a short story. That was a lesson which stuck with me for a long, long time.

We're all familiar with the miniatures and tourney rules that gaming initially developed from. It was made crytal clear to me that we were paying a game and that games had to have rules. Ruiles kept things organized and blanaced. I looked at that, recognized the difference between fantasy gaming and fantasy novels, and declared that 'lo, it is good.

'Fast and Loose' is a good way to mess up an otherwise organized and well run campaign. But now I'm finding myself thrown suddenly into Steve Kenson's universe where people are told to, hey, just lighten up already. Games don't have to be played under the assumption that campaigns will automatically go Monty Haul or spiral into a chaotic mess if they're not ran against a strict formula.

As far as player driven content being a hallmark of PbP or PbEM? Nah, that's a new one on me as well. I haven't done much with RL groups since the early-to-mid '90s, and this is the first time I've seen players allowed to have so much direct input in the creation of their own universe. C.O.R.E. sure as heck doesn't allow it (or, at least they didn't used to allow it, not sure if that's changed in recent years), and neither did any of the other games I've been a part of.

GMs are Game MASTERS, not Game Guiders. For something to be considered cannon or to be worthy of XP awards, then a GM has to drive the thread and/or plot.

But this is cool. I realize that RPGs have declined a great deal since I was a younger punk and that the pool of people willing to dedicate so much of their lives towads the creation of entire universes is getting a bit thin. So it falls to us, as players, to pick up the slack and keep the imaginations flowing.

I'm actually having a pretty good time tracking Hellbound's day-to-day activities without having to worry about rolling to hit the toilette. And I'm assuming that, at some point, I'll become more comfortable with the character creation rules and start outlining a few of the NPCs he's running into.

PS: All of this Extra Efforting and tossing about of Hero Points? Well, as I mentioned earlier it seems to draw players away from creativity and pushes them toward brute force solutions. Like trying to shove a cruise ship around with superpowers when it'd been made clear that the only reason why it was adrift in the first place was because the anchor hadn't been dropped ;)

[Dr Archeville]

Now, if they'd have listed certain limitations that can be applied directly to the Defense bonus then I'd have an easier time getting into the groove. "Buying off limitations" is a time honored concept that I can understand. That's just part of improving something which has already been purchased and is something that pretty much every other game on the market allows. But that's not what's going on here. This is a matter of selling back a Feat in order to put those points into an Ability.

That... no... that's not right. I do realize that it's my three decades of gaming experience that's making me so inflexible. I've been doing this for a long, long time and there are certain things you simply do not do.

You do not 'sell' back powers, skills or feats. Once a character purchases something and it's on his or her sheet then it stays there. It can grow and it can change, but it does not get sold back for the same number of XPs that it was originally purchased for.

But in M&M, you can do that not just with the Dodge Bonus feat, but with anything at all you want to sell back in particular as long as you present in-character justification to the GM.

I'm pretty sure you can do that in any point buy game. Champions/HERO, GURPS, etc.. And even D&D 3.5 let you do it, via "Retraining."

Plus, it's not like comic book characters never change. When Batman transitioned from the pre-CCA Pulp mode to the Campy 60's mode, he traded in some of his Fearsome Presence for more Equipment.

And to look at it another way: buying a rank in Dodge Bonus is the same as buying one-half a rank in Defense. It represents a slow & steady increase. It's not different from "buying off a Limitation."

[Hellbound]

G.U.R.P.S., maybe, but I don't recall that being an option in Champions and I could pretty much quote the first three editions chapter-and-verse. Though it's possible that's simply the way we played the game, ignoring the option of 'retraining'.

Und, yah, ve haff been talking about the way that comic'y books tend to change character concepts every five minutes, and that M&M does a good job of simulating that experience. But that's where I brought up my background of maintaining a clear separation between 'games' and 'fiction'. Games have rules, fiction less so.

Und, yah vonce more, I can see that buying a half-rank in defense is what the game designers are going for with the Dodge Focus. That's not the part I'm having trouble accepting. What is simply not sinking in is that 'feats' and 'stats' and 'skills' and 'powers' are more or less all the same thing... only sometimes they're not... but only under oddly defined conditions.

In my mind, if you buy a half-rank in Defense then you should buy a half-rank in defense. You shouldn't buy a feat and then call it a half-rank in defense. In my mind, the more logical way is in how M&M allows you to apply points either to Strength or apply points to Enhanced Strength. Both have the same effect, but Enhanced Strength is vulnerable to power drains and can have both advantages and limitations applied to it.

Well... most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't work like that. Sometimes it does. M&M is rife with situational applications of its own rules and it's just taking me for-freaking-ever to get it straight when things apply.

For example -- PL caps don't apply to initiative bonuses. What? Are you freaking kidding me? Speedsters can have unlimited initiative bonuses? And then Hellbound himself can still go before them simply by spending a hero point on his Sieze Initiative feat?

As a gamer, that offends me on a very primal level. First of all, Initiative as much a part of combat advantage as Attack bonuses, and yet the game restricts one without limiting the other. Secondly, if someone is THAT MUCH faster than Hellbound, he shouldn't be able to get the drop on them. Ever.

But as a fan of comic books, I can understand what's going on. Shoot, Lobo doesn't have Super Speed, nor is it likely that he has a +44 initiative bonus, and yet he tends to get the drop on people who are MUCh faster than himself. He's not the only one who manages that little trick, either. Shen Li Min did it to Impetus after he'd been raised from the dead during Devil's Night.

So I get it. Simulating a very fluid element of pulp fiction is what the game was designed for. But that still doesn't alter the fact that having such a loose system leads to argument, conflict and confusion. Has there been a writeup yet on the board that didn't lead to "Well, that's not the way you should represent that...", or some other drawn out discussion? It doesn't seem like it, but then I haven't reviewed all of the characters that have been presented.

So, fine, I'm slowly getting used to it. Eventually I might even get the hang of it.

Ah -- and that still doesn't answer the question of why Dark Star and Scarab II are attempting a record-setting feat of telekenetically manhandling a cruise ship when they could have SIMPLY DROPPED THE ANCHOR! :P

[Dr Archeville]

Und, yah vonce more, I can see that buying a half-rank in defense is what the game designers are going for with the Dodge Focus. That's not the part I'm having trouble accepting. What is simply not sinking in is that 'feats' and 'stats' and 'skills' and 'powers' are more or less all the same thing... only sometimes they're not... but only under oddly defined conditions.

In my mind, if you buy a half-rank in Defense then you should buy a half-rank in defense. You shouldn't buy a feat and then call it a half-rank in defense.

But that's exactly what that feat is.

For example -- PL caps don't apply to initiative bonuses. What? Are you freaking kidding me? Speedsters can have unlimited initiative bonuses? And then Hellbound himself can still go before them simply by spending a hero point on his Sieze Initiative feat?

... what's your point here? That Speedsters can go first, unless you go first? (Unless the Speedster also has Seize Initiative....)

As a gamer, that offends me on a very primal level. First of all, Initiative as much a part of combat advantage as Attack bonuses, and yet the game restricts one without limiting the other. Secondly, if someone is THAT MUCH faster than Hellbound, he shouldn't be able to get the drop on them. Ever.

Given that, unlike other D20 games, M&M limits you to one attack/action per round (barring Surging), being able to go first -- or even really, really first -- isn't that big an issue. It's very unlikely a fight can be ended in one round, unless there are already some significant discrepancies in abilities between combatants and/or some freakish luck in the die rolling.

And just because they're faster doesn't mean Hellbound can't get the drop on them -- if the Speedster doesn't know you're there, if you Surprise them, it doesn't matter how fast they are. (Moral of the story: if you want to be able to get the drop on folks, invest in some Stealth.)

Ah -- and that still doesn't answer the question of why Dark Star and Scarab II are attempting a record-setting feat of telekenetically manhandling a cruise ship when they could have SIMPLY DROPPED THE ANCHOR!

Because "Using our Awesome Powers" is a lot more dramatic and heroic than "I pull the anchor-dropping lever"? 'No-Nonsense' solutions don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel. ;)

[Ecalsneerg]

The ship-lifting is due to who showed up. Scarab and Dark Star have a lot of telekinesis, and thus use it. Had it just been Hellbound, Arrowhawk and Sammy, then the anchor would likely have been the solution then.

[Hellbound]

But that's exactly what that feat is.

But that's exactly what's breaking my fragile little mind. A lifetime of gaming has drummed a few basics into my head, such as... Stats, Derived Stats, Skills, Talents and Powers/Spells are each is own 'thing' and goverend by their own rules. M&M blurring the line between all of those is part of why I'm having so much trouble getting a handle on the rules. Being able to openly trade from one to the other is... just weird, man. Just weird.

It might be easier if I didn't keep tripping over exceptions. Like I said earlier, there seems to be a large number of situational applications that are not easy to master.

... what's your point here? That Speedsters can go first, unless you go first? (Unless the Speedster also has Seize Initiative....)

That's precisely my point. From a gaming standpoint, it blows my fragile little mind. From a comic book standpoint, it makes perfect sense.

"Hey! Look a at me! I can catch bullets! Try to snatch the pebble from my hand... hey, gimme back my pebble!"

As I said earlier, Lobo could do it. Lobo's really good at doing it, even before the writing for Lobo went to crap he was really good at doing it. But he's not a speedster.

Remember the Hellfather from the JLA arc called 'Black Baptism'? I'm pretty sure he didn't have super speed either, but he did a pretty good job of putting his cloven hoof right in The Flash's face. Why? Because speedsters apparently rely too heavily on their mindblowing initiative bonuses to bother taking Seize Initiative.

But that's not what offends me. The fan of fiction that I am is cool with all that. It's the gamer in me that cringes, here. Historically, going first in combat is a massive advantage. Having a +44 initiative bonus in the first place is just... just... I don't even have words for it. But it confuses the heck out of me. It'd be like a first level, first edition AD&D character having a 26 dexterity (as long as you ignore the bonuses to ranged combat and AC), but M&M is cool with it.

Something I brought up back in another discussion about a similar subject -- so... my character can't be the world's greatest guitarist straight out of the gate, and yet it's perfectly cool for him to juggle oil tankers at half the speed of light?

Blows... my... fragile... little... mind... man... My gamer mind. But my inner comic book reader finds it refreshing that the nigh-impossible of a four color universe can actually come to light under these rules.

It just... takes a while to get used to, that's all.

The ship-lifting is due to who showed up. Scarab and Dark Star have a lot of telekinesis, and thus use it. Had it just been Hellbound, Arrowhawk and Sammy, then the anchor would likely have been the solution then.

Sometimes it's better to work smarter rather than harder. Avatar had some pretty planet-shattering spells at his disposal, but he knew the better solution was to just put a round between Blackwolf's eyes.

[N/A]

I can't speak for Cyroa. I went for the our-phenomenal-powers-combined solution for three reasons:

1) I honestly forgot about the anchor.

2) As previously stated, what good is it having powers if we don't get to use them?

3) I thought our solution was more awesome.

I try to strike a balance between what would be tactically advantageous, and what the audience would find most entertaining if reading the story, or watching a film or animation adaptation. That's a mode of thinking that is often lost on players of D&D, or Shadowrun, or Champions/HERO. The idea of coming together to create an entertaining story doesn't often occur to people who are only trying to "win."

Although the game presents optional rules to tweak it in a more "realistic" or "gritty" direction, the default rule of the day for M&M (and especially for the Freedom City setting) is the Rule of Cool.

In regards to Initiative: I'm not sure going first is really as big an advantage in this game as it is in other RPGs. I really don't think Seize Initiative is worth the Hero Point 90% of the time.

[angrydurf]

As a fellow codgery old Gamer I can see where hellbound is coming from the fluidity of M&M when coming from the perspective of pre-D20 D&D or HERO games make it look like Amber.

But really on the complexity and sheer wonk scale its no worse than any of the relitively universal systems like GURPS or Champions. I mean when I played Champions a sure sign of noobness was actually buying superspeed with wallrunning as we all knew that you just bought flight with "must be at ground level" limitation. The one thing Champions really did well with all of that though was tell the GM up from that thier players were gonna be a bunch of cheesy bastards and to feel free to say NO early and often to such behavior. M&M is a little more subdued than that.

It takes some getting used to and its a delicate line to walk between power gamer/minmaxer and so un-optimized it can't compete. Its really what comes out of this more freeform playstyle off the table top. With 5 guys at your kitchen table itspretty easy to say shut up frank and don't be cheesy when there are 20+ players it gets tougher its why LARP usually has much firmer rules than Tabletop even for the same games/systems.

[N/A]

The one thing Champions really did well with all of that though was tell the GM up from that thier players were gonna be a bunch of cheesy bastards and to feel free to say NO early and often to such behavior. M&M is a little more subdued than that.

M&M pretty much states outright that they chose flexibility over "balance," because they decided creating a set of tools that truly could simulate any superhero comic book was more important than babysitting the players. Because, in their view, babysitting the players is the GM's job. The M&M books repeatedly make a point of saying that just because a player can build a certain character, that doesn't mean they should, or that the GM should let them.

[Dr Archeville]

The M&M books repeatedly make a point of saying that just because a player can build a certain character, that doesn't mean they should, or that the GM should let them.

Which is why getting character approved takes time, and is as much work for the Refs as it is for the player. ;)

[Ecalsneerg]

I mean when I played Champions a sure sign of noobness was actually buying superspeed with wallrunning as we all knew that you just bought flight with "must be at ground level" limitation.

Really? The ability to run up walls was so overpowered in that system? The mind boggles. I really need to at least read Champions.

itspretty easy to say shut up frank

... do you play in Aberdeenshire?

[Hellbound]

Really? The ability to run up walls was so overpowered in that system? The mind boggles. I really need to at least read Champions.

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by overpowered there, but what he's getting at are different ways of 'powerbuilding' (or nerfing, if you're strange, though I preferred the term 'taking advantage of loopholes in the rules'). The powers of 'Running' and 'Flight' had the same cost base, but where the ability to run on walls was considered an advantage for Running, being forced to remain in contact with a surface was considered a limitation for Flight.

So while both builds provided the same effect and the same velocity, one was cheaper as it made use of a limitation while the other was saddled with an advantage.

And, yeah, I got into exploiting the rules a fair amount myself... though it would seem that M&M has far more loopholes and ways to take advantage of the numbers. If you do go back and read the old rules, make sure you stay with the first three editions. Once it was officially made part of the Hero system, it just wasn't quite the same game.

But there was a degree of simplicity in that it only had 'advantages' and 'limitations'. Arguments might come up in how much a given limitation (outside of the pre-listed versions), would be worth, but in M&M you not only have to figure out how much a flaw is worth, but whether or not it should be actually be a drawback, instead. The line between those two does not seem to be set in stone.

To make matters even worse, what may be a flaw for one power could only be a drawback for another depending on how the GM interprets the universe. And I see where the M&M flexibility truly reflects the nature of the four-color pseudo-reality. Just lately I've been re-reading some old Ghost Rider reprints -- and in particular the scene where Witch Woman teaches him how to create his bike out of flame seems like a Hero Point expenditure to me.

So I'm getting used to it... sort of. Though I've yet gotten feedback from a Ref on Tony B., at least I'm trying. G.D. Badman should be coming up later this week as well.

By the way... has anyone yet come up with a flaw worth more than 1 point? Though I haven't made an exhaustive search of the Freedom City population, there does seem to be an immediate assumption that 1 point is all you get.

[N/A]

By the way... has anyone yet come up with a flaw worth more than 1 point? Though I haven't made an exhaustive search of the Freedom City population, there does seem to be an immediate assumption that 1 point is all you get.

If you mean a Flaw worth more than -1PP/rank, there are a few.

Side-Effect has a -1 level and -2 level.

Limited can be anywhere from -1 to -3, depending on how narrow the scope of the power. One example from the books: Protection, Limited to either Physical or Energy Damage, gets a -1 Flaw. But if it's Limited to, say, blunt weapons, or edged weaapons, or fire, or electricity, it's a -3 Flaw.

You can usually apply more than one level of the Action and/or Duration Flaw.

[Hellbound]

Yeah, the books say that, but has anyone actually done that yet? Not that I've seen, but I haven't scruitinzed every char on the site just yet.

[Ecalsneerg]

The problem is that the PL system needs refined. Protection limited to fire breaks PL caps, but outright immunity doesn't. Thus, extremely limited protection will naturally be ignored in favour of immunities, or even partial immunities.

[Lord Fell]

I spotted a character that has mental quickness limited to specific skills. Quickness can be -1 Flawed to either Mental or Physical, limiting that again to a specific skill is worth a -2 Flaw. Of course, if you have two or more skills that you want Quickened, it's cheaper to just buy (limited to mental), so the only reason to do that is concept modeling.

When it comes to character maintenance, most GMs in most games should be somewhat flexible. In D&D "you know, I took 12 ranks of Rope Use, but I haven't used it once in the campaign. Can I reshuffle some of those skill points?" In super hero games, flexibility is even more genre appropriate... "So, this story arc... uhm... since when can Power Girl communicate telepathicly with animals?" "You mean she can't?" (facepalm) ...because comic writers either make mistakes in what a characters powers are, or because they need to fudge them to make the story work.

[Dr Archeville]

When it comes to character maintenance, most GMs in most games should be somewhat flexible. In D&D "you know, I took 12 ranks of Rope Use, but I haven't used it once in the campaign. Can I reshuffle some of those skill points?" In super hero games, flexibility is even more genre appropriate... "So, this story arc... uhm... since when can Power Girl communicate telepathicly with animals?" "You mean she can't?" (facepalm) ...because comic writers either make mistakes in what a characters powers are, or because they need to fudge them to make the story work.

Yes, but that's also a weakness of superhero comic books that superhero RPG campaigns don't (well, shouldn't) have (unless the campaign's been going on for many years): clear character sheets and a history that should be able to easily remember and reference. Sure, some fudging does occur, but too much and you may as well not have stats or rules.