Pimp My PC: Character Optimization Workshop

N/A · August 21, 2009

Ever since I showed up here, I've been giving a lot of build advice to my fellow players. After spending hours working with Sandman on Wesley tonight, I thought, why not just make a thread? It's like the teachers in school always say: Ask questions, because if you have a question about something, someone else in the room does too. They just aren't raising their hand.

So post here if you'd like me to go over your build and suggest ways in which you can trim the fat and succeed more reliably in your chosen areas of specialty, while still remaining true to your character concept. I know not everyone is comfortable or enthusiastic when it comes to the mechanical side of the game. I happen to love roleplaying and number-crunching equally, so I'm happy to help you better realize your vision.

If you're not comfortable with this process taking place in public, feel free to PM me.

EDIT: Now with Table of Contents kung-fu grip action!

General Articles & Reviews

Defense Options

Exotic Attacks

Skills

Freedom City Archetypes & Legacies (Optimized By AvengerAssembled)

Lady Liberty

Rogue Grue

Ultiman

Iron Age Sample Characters (Optimized By AvengerAssembled)

Cursed Mystic

Demon Avenger

Gun-Toting Mutant From The Future

Vampire Avenger

Silver/Bronze Age Sample Characters (Optimized By AvengerAssembled)

Character Workshops

Arrowhawk

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Atlas

[*:1igoufwr]

Build (PL14/PP250)
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion

Avenger

[*:1igoufwr]

Final Rebuild

The Black Hand

[*:1igoufwr]

PL8/PP180 Build
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 1
[*:1igoufwr]PL8/PP150 Build
[*:1igoufwr]PL10/PP150 Build
[*:1igoufwr]PL9/PP150 Build (Final)

Boomer

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Leveling-Up Advice

Dead Head

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Divine

[*:1igoufwr]

Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2

Edge

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2

Ember Paw

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Fleur de Joie

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Geckoman

[*:1igoufwr]

Original PL10 Upgrade Build
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion

Gossamer

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Grimalkin My Sistine Chapel 8-)

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild Notes
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild 2
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild 2 Notes
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild 2 Notes 2
[*:1igoufwr]Leveling-Up Advice
[*:1igoufwr]Grimalkin Year One (PL6) by Heritage

Half-Dragon (Playah)

[*:1igoufwr]

Original Build (PL6/PP90)
[*:1igoufwr]Rebuild (PL6/PP90)
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion

Hellion

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion

Magnificent

[*:1igoufwr]

Original Build
[*:1igoufwr]PL10 Rebuild

Malice

[*:1igoufwr]

Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2

Quark

[*:1igoufwr]

Original Build
[*:1igoufwr]Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion

Sage

[*:1igoufwr]

Original Build
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 1
[*:1igoufwr]Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion 2

Wesley Knight My First Workshop

[*:1igoufwr]

Original Build
[*:1igoufwr]Discussion
[*:1igoufwr]Suggested Rebuild
[*:1igoufwr]Final Rebuild

N/A · August 21, 2009

Here is Wesley Knight's original build...

PL 11
Tradeoffs -3 Attack / +3 Damage
PP 161/167

Stats: 4+4+4+2+4+2 = 20pp
Str: 14 (+2)
Dex: 14 (+2)
Con: 22/14 (+6/+2)
Int: 12 (+1)
Wis: 14 (+2)
Cha: 12 (+1)

Combat:4+20 = 24pp
Attack: +2, +8 with most powers
Grapple: +4
Defense: +11 (+5 flat-footed)
Knockback: -5
Initiative: +2

Saves 10+8+8 = 26pp
Toughness: +11
Fortitude: +16/+12 (+6/+2 Con, +10)
Reflex: +10 (+2 Dex, +8)
Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

Skills: 48r=12pp
Craft (artistic) 5 (+6)
Knowledge (current events) 5 (+6)
Knowledge (pop culture) 5 (+6)
Knowledge (streetwise) 5 (+6)
Medicine 5 (+7)
Notice 9 (+11)
Profession (Tattoo Artist) 5 (+7)
Sense Motive 9 (+11)

Feats: 7pp
Accurate Attack
All-Out Attack
Defensive Attack
Dodge focus
Luck 2
Power Attack

Powers: 8+55+5+6 = 74pp

Enhanced Constitution 8 [8pp]

Life Control 23.5 (47pp effects; PFs: 7 Alternate Powers) [54pp]
* Base Effect: Nauseate 14 (Extra: Range/Ranged, Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Confuse 14 (Extra: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Flaw: Range/Ranged, Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Emotion Control 14 (Extra: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Flaw: Range/Ranged, Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Fatigue 14 (Extra: Range/Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Healing 14 (Extra: Range/Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Paralyze 14 (Extras: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Range/Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Stun 14 (Extra: Range/Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)
* AP: Transform 14 (mutation of any living to any living; Extra: Duration/Continuous; Flaws: Action/Full Round, Range/Touch; Power Feat: Accurate 3, Precise 1)
*AP: Mind Control 14 (Extras: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Conscious, Duration/Sustained, Effortless; Flaws: Action/Full, Range/Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 3, Precise 2)

Protection 5 [5pp]

Super-Senses 6 (Accurate Acute Analytical Ranged Detect Life [mental]) [6pp]

Drawbacks: [-2]
Noticeable ("lifesight"; eyeballs turn bright green and glow; -1)
Power Loss (Transform; must touch epidermis of target; -1pp)

Costs: Abilities (20) + Combat (24) + Saves (26) + Skills (12) + Feats (7) + Powers (74) - Drawbacks 2 = 161 / 167

N/A · August 21, 2009

...Here is my proposed rebuild, posted with Sandman's permission...

PL11
Tradeoffs -3 Attack / +3 Damage, -3 Defense / +3 Toughness
PP167

Stats: 4+4+4+2+8+2 = 24pp
Str: 38/14 (+14/+2)
Dex: 14 (+2)
Con: 38/14 (+14/+2)
Int: 12 (+1)
Wis: 18 (+4)
Cha: 12 (+1)

Combat: 16+16 = 32pp
Attack: +8
Grapple: +26/+10
Defense: +8 (+4 flat-footed)
Knockback: -7/-1
Initiative: +2

Saves: 2+8+6 = 16pp
Toughness: +14/+2
Fortitude: +16/+4 (+14/+2 Con, +2)
Reflex: +10 (+2 Dex, +8)
Will: +10 (+4 Wis, +6)

Skills: 44r=11pp
Craft (artistic) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Life Sciences) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Pop Culture) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Streetwise) 4 (+5)
Language 1 (Chinese, English [Native])
Medicine 1 (+5)
Notice 8 (+12)
Profession (Tattoo Artist) 6 (+10)
Sense Motive 8 (+12)

Feats: 7pp
Accurate Attack
All-Out Attack
Defensive Attack
Luck 2
Power Attack
Takedown Attack

Powers: 24+45+10+5 = 84pp

Enhanced Constitution 24 [24pp]

Life Control 17 (34pp effects; PFs: 11 Alternate Powers) [45pp]
* Base Effect: Stun 14 (Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Reversible, Sedation) [34PP]
* AP: Boost 10 (All Traits, Flaws: Limited [Physical Traits], Restorative, Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft]) [33PP]
* AP: Confuse 14 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Secondary Effect, Flaw: Range [Touch], Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Reversible) [19PP]
* AP: Damage 14 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Vampiric, Flaws: Action [Full], Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Incurable) [33PP]
* AP: Dazzle 14 (Visual + Audio Senses, Flaws: Range [Touch], Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Reversible) [33PP]
* AP: Emotion Control 14 (Extra: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Secondary Effect, Flaw: Range 2 [Touch], Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Mind Blank, Reversible) [13PP]
* AP: Enhanced Strength 24 + Super-Strength 5 (STR 38, 63 Lifting) [34PP]
* AP: Healing 14 (Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Regrowth, Stabilize) [34PP]
* AP: Mind Control 14 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Conscious, Duration [sustained]; Flaws: Range 2 [Touch]; Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft]) [32PP]
* AP: Morph 11 (+55 Disguise, Any Humanoid, Extras: Duration [Continuous]) [33PP]
* AP: Paralyze 14 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Power Feats: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Reversible) [33PP]
* AP: Transform 14 (Mutation of Any Living To Any Living; Extra: Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Range [Touch], Requires Grapple; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4 [25ft], Drawbacks: Power Loss [must touch epidermis]) [31PP]

Shapeshift 1 (5PP Pool, Extras: Action [Free], Duration [Continuous]) [10PP]

Super-Senses 6 (Detect Life [Mental, Extras: Accurate 2, Acute, Analytical, Ranged, Drawbacks: Noticeable [Glowing Eyes]) [5pp]

Drawbacks: [-7]

Recurring Nightmares (Chance of nightmare with every sleep, check of DC 5 causes nightmare, after nightmare is fatigued until restful sleep; -4)

Vulnerability (to Transforms and other attacks that involuntarily change his shape or form, x2 to DC modifier; Uncommon, Major; -3)

Shapeshift Possibilities

[*:3vgnh6tf]Additional Limbs
[*:3vgnh6tf]Anatomic Separation
[*:3vgnh6tf]Burrowing
[*:3vgnh6tf]Concealment 4 (All Visual Senses, Flaws: Blending, Power Feats: Close Range)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Elongation
[*:3vgnh6tf]Enhanced Abilities (Physical Only - STR, DEX, CON)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Enhanced Skills (Physical Only - Acrobat, Climb, Escape, Stealth, Swim, etc.)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Environment Control (Heat, Light)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Features
[*:3vgnh6tf]Flight 3 (50mph, Drawbacks: Power Loss [Wings])
[*:3vgnh6tf]Immovable
[*:3vgnh6tf]Immunities
[*:3vgnh6tf]Insubstantial 1
[*:3vgnh6tf]Knockback Feat (added to Strength damage)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Leaping
[*:3vgnh6tf]Super-Movement (Slithering, Swinging, Sure-Footed, Wall-Crawl, Water-Walk)
[*:3vgnh6tf]Super-Senses
[*:3vgnh6tf]Super-Strength
[*:3vgnh6tf]Swimming

N/A · August 21, 2009

...and the chat logs where we discussed it, edited for relevant content.

(23:15:28) ShaenTheBrain: I'm curious - why make all his powers Ranged? If you took them all down to Touch, and pumped those points into his attack bonus, he could be a melee monster. Which would also synch well with Enhanced STR as an AP, so he could just brawl with foes immune to his powers (undead, robots, etc.).
(23:16:00) Sandman_XI: not a bad idea
(23:17:49) ShaenTheBrain: For example: Yank 14PP out to drop everything to Touch-range, and 3PP out to get rid of Accurate. That's 17PP free. Use 12PP to buy his Attack from +2 to +8. Now he's at +8/+14, PL11 caps with a 3-point tradeoff. Use 1-3PP to buy the Extended Reach feat for his array, so he can technically "touch" foes from 10-20ft away.
(23:18:02) ShaenTheBrain: Use 1PP to purchase Enhanced STR as an AP on the array.
(23:18:57) ShaenTheBrain: Add Distracting to the Transform power, so it's only useful outside of combat, since while it's a great theme power, it's also a save-or-die one-round showstopper. That drops it back down to the same cost as the other powers in the array.
(23:19:02) ShaenTheBrain: Just some ideas. Food for thought.
(23:19:15) Sandman_XI: yup, thanks
(23:19:22) Sandman_XI: looking at it now
(23:19:22) ShaenTheBrain: The higher base ATK bonus could also be useful if he needs to, say, beef himself up and throw something at a flying foe.
(23:20:28) ShaenTheBrain: Don't get me wrong - the build is solid. Very freaking solid.
(23:20:41) ShaenTheBrain: You obviously know what you're doing.
(23:20:52) ShaenTheBrain: And maybe you don't picture him as a melee specialist. That's fair, too.
(23:20:54) Sandman_XI:
(23:21:32) Sandman_XI: i like the idea, but i'd have to justify +6 attack bonus
(23:22:17) ShaenTheBrain: Off the top of my head - #1: Lots of comic book characters are better in combat than their background would suggest. It's a bit of a genre convention that everyone seems to know how to fight, and it's a big deal if they don't.
(23:22:31) ShaenTheBrain: #2: He's been living on "the mean streets."
(23:22:44) ShaenTheBrain: #3: He could have been training in his off-hours, at a dojo or with other superheroes.
(23:22:53) Sandman_XI: i could say it's because he was in sports in high school
(23:22:59) ShaenTheBrain: That too.
(23:23:02) Sandman_XI: for #1
(23:23:43) ShaenTheBrain: Another thing that occurs to me - With his power set, you could easily justify losing the ranks in Protection and most of the ranks in Fortitude and just buy up his Enhanced CON.
(23:24:21) Sandman_XI: you're full of good ideas
(23:25:29) ShaenTheBrain: I'm hopped up on caffeine, an afternoon nap, the end-of-the-school-week high, and my own innate obsessive tendencies.
(23:26:00) Sandman_XI: anything else? I'm taking notes
(23:26:11) ShaenTheBrain: Another - If you wind up retooling the array, make some room for the Sedation feat on Stun. It's worth it's weight in gold.
(23:28:29) ShaenTheBrain: And another - This is almost more of a personal preference than anything else, but most non-contested Skill DCs tend to come in multiples of 5. So I usually buy my skills in multiples of 5 as well, since intermediate ranks are often wasted. For example: Knowledge +6 will not usually gain you anything that Knowledge +5 wouldn't, nor will it get you what KNowledge +10 would reveal.
(23:28:32) ShaenTheBrain: Make sense?
(23:28:35) Sandman_XI: hm, I could make stun the lead power
(23:28:55) Sandman_XI: ok
(23:29:39) ShaenTheBrain: Another - He's got a Will Save he cares about, and 4 WIS-based Skills he cares about. That means that WIS is actually a good buy for him. You might want to drop his Skills and Will and just buy up his Wisdom a bit.
(23:30:03) ShaenTheBrain: 1PP per 4 skill ranks, 1PP per save rank, versus 2PP per +1 ability bonus. It equals out for him.
(23:30:50) ShaenTheBrain: In 2E, Abilities aren't usually cost-effective, unfortunately, but when they are, they're a good buy.
(23:31:48) ShaenTheBrain: Sand, that's all that springs to mind on Wesley's build for now. His saves and feats are rock-solid.
(23:32:20) Sandman_XI: thanks shaen
(23:32:43) ShaenTheBrain: He's even got the 2 ranks of Luck I recommend for every player character under the sun. (It's the most you can generally get away with without the GM asking for concept reasons, and HPs couldn't be more useful.)
(23:32:47) ShaenTheBrain: Happy to help, Sand.
(23:33:15) ShaenTheBrain: You'll notice neither of my builds currently has more than 0-1 ranks of Luck. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
(23:33:35) Sandman_XI:
(23:36:32) Sandman_XI: would precise be needed if he were melee?
(23:38:00) ShaenTheBrain: Sandman - No. Not unless there's another application for Precise on the power itself. You wouldn't need the Precise Shot benefits.
(00:08:51) Sandman_XI: * AP: Confuse 14 (Extra: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Flaw: Range/Touch)
(00:09:03) Sandman_XI: This obviously is not 28 points
(00:09:17) Sandman_XI: any ideas for it?
(00:09:28) ShaenTheBrain: Right. It's 14PP right now.
(00:09:45) Sandman_XI: isnt confuse perception?
(00:09:56) ShaenTheBrain: Lemme look at Confuse in UP Sand, see what's available.
(00:10:17) Sandman_XI: its ranged
(00:10:45) Sandman_XI: maybe linked to something?
(00:10:49) ShaenTheBrain: Not only is it Ranged, it defaults to 1PP/rank, not 2.
(00:10:52) Sandman_XI: or an extra?
(00:11:05) Sandman_XI: ah
(00:12:30) ShaenTheBrain: Here's one idea: Buy the duration up from Instant to Sustained. It's a Lasting power, so the effects persist even if you switch array slots. At Instant (Lasting), they get a new save every round to break out. At Sustained (Lasting), they get a new save for every interval on the Time Table.
(00:12:37) ShaenTheBrain: That would make it truly fire-&-forget.
(00:12:59) ShaenTheBrain: Confuse (Extras: Duration 2 [sustained], Flaws: Range [Touch]) = 2PP/rank
(00:14:08) ShaenTheBrain: Another option would be the Secondary Effect extra. With that, they have to save against it once when you hit them, then again on the following round.
(00:15:07) ShaenTheBrain: Confuse (Extras: Secondary Effect, Flaws: Range [Touch]) = 1PP/rank. Still leaves you with room for another +1 extra.
(00:15:22) Sandman_XI: hm, i thought secondary was another effect
(00:15:36) ShaenTheBrain: ?
(00:15:44) ShaenTheBrain: "Secondary Effect" is a +1 extra in UP.
(00:12:41) FreedomBot: Error: Connection status: 0
(00:15:47) Sandman_XI: like you chose another effect
(00:15:55) Sandman_XI: i see
(00:16:00) Sandman_XI: i was again!
(00:16:04) Sandman_XI: wrong
(00:16:11) ShaenTheBrain: No, it's the same effect. It just sticks to them. Like acid that keeps dissolving them.
(00:16:18) Sandman_XI: wrong again*
(00:16:52) ShaenTheBrain: Also - have you considered giving Wesley this AP: Damage (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude]) [2PP/Rank] ?
(00:16:52) Sandman_XI: hm, not really thematic to the fire and forget deal of his array
(00:17:13) ShaenTheBrain: Secondary Effect doesn't require any maintenance on your part. It's like Homing.
(00:17:27) Sandman_XI: ah
(00:17:37) ShaenTheBrain: It is fire-&-forget
(00:17:43) Sandman_XI: I'm gonna start buying shapeshift for damage
(00:19:52) ShaenTheBrain: Sand, the problem is that Shapeshift is a Variable power. So they won't let you fold it into an array. If you just buy Enhanced Strength (+ Super-Strength?) as an AP to your existing array, you can have the beatdowns now.
(00:20:03) Electra: Stesha is whatever the opposite of being a brick is.
(00:20:11) ShaenTheBrain: For the low-low price of 1PP.
(00:20:21) Sandman_XI: 31pp worth of beatdown
(00:21:56) Sandman_XI: Strength 10 would give him human potential strength, Strike 3 (mighty) would give him decent size claws, 17pp to go
(00:23:16) ShaenTheBrain: Why cap his STR at "human potential?" He's a world-class superpowered biokinetic.
(00:25:20) ShaenTheBrain: Assuming you leave his Attack at +8, so his attack powers can stay at rank 14, you can buy his STR up to 38 (+14) and still be under PL caps. He's already got STR 14, so that would cost 24PP. He's got 31PP to work with.
(00:26:07) Sandman_XI: also, how do I justify Extended reach? Right now i just have him "reaching out into their life force"
(00:28:33) ShaenTheBrain: Sandman - if he can justify "reaching out into their life force" with full-on Ranged, why not with Extended Reach? It's just that his range is drastically reduced.
(00:29:03) ShaenTheBrain: You could still have the same glowing energy tendrils appear between him and his target. Nothing really changes on the descriptor front.
(00:30:11) ShaenTheBrain: If you buy Enhanced STR 24 (Total 38) as an AP on his array, that leaves 7PP more to work with in that slot. So he could get linked Super-STR 3 for another 6PP, and spend the last 1PP on a feat of some kind. That gives him a lifting STR of 53 when that AP is active.
(00:30:41) Sandman_XI: glowing tendrils! awesome!
(00:31:15) ShaenTheBrain: Isn't that how you described it before? A beam of (green? yellow?) light extending between him and his target? Or an I mixing it up with something else?
(00:31:36) Sandman_XI: no, his aura glowed, their aura glowed, things happened
(00:32:30) ShaenTheBrain: In regards to that Enhanced STR AP, you could also give him Leaping instead of or in addition to the Super-STR.
(00:33:15) ShaenTheBrain: Really, his biokinesis and flesh-shaping descriptors can justify just about any physical alterations you can think of. I'd buy the more commonly-used ones within APs, and save the more situational ones for power stunts. He's got Luck 2, so he should be able to stunt regularly.
(00:33:44) ShaenTheBrain: I should hold more of these intensive character-optimization workshops.
(00:33:52) Sandman_XI:
(00:34:33) ShaenTheBrain: I should also probably take more of my own advice.
(00:39:59) ShaenTheBrain: Somewhere down the line, you might want to purchase just a rank or 2 of Shapeshift for him, just to give you a 5-10PP pool to spend on momentarily useful abilities, like movement powers (Flight, Leaping, Swimming, Super-Movement, etc.) or Super-Senses (Acute Tracking Smell, Accurate Hearing [sonar], etc.).
(00:40:21) ShaenTheBrain: That'll cost 2-4 months points easily, though.
(00:40:35) ShaenTheBrain: But it'll provide great utility.
(00:40:42) Sandman_XI: yup
(00:41:11) Sandman_XI: i did have a request for shapeshpift but it's gone now
(00:41:31) ShaenTheBrain: Oh wow. I didn't realize he's still got 5PP unspent.
(00:41:50) Sandman_XI: yup
(00:42:12) Sandman_XI: i save it to meet caps
(00:42:56) Sandman_XI: as of now (pre HUEG edit ) it'll take 10pp to get capped at PL12
(00:43:56) ShaenTheBrain: Here's an alternative idea - Get rid of 8 skill ranks. That's 2PP. Drop a lot of those +6s and +7s to +5. Take 1PP out of the power array. Combine that with his 5 unspent PPs, and that's 8PP. That's 1 rank of Shapeshift, a pool of 5PP he can allocate to temporary powers, like movement and sensory effects.
(00:44:33) Sandman_XI: Shapeshift 1 (Extra: Duration/Continuous; Flaw: Action/Full) [7pp]
(00:44:47) ShaenTheBrain: That works too.
(00:45:09) Sandman_XI: I'll send you what I got so far
(00:45:57) ShaenTheBrain: 5PP can get Flight 2, Super-Movement 2 (more if it's flawed), Super-Senses 5, Concealment 4 (All Visual Senses, Flaws: Blending)...lots of cool stuff.
(00:46:09) ShaenTheBrain: Speed/Swimming/Burrowing/Leaping 5...
(00:47:44) ShaenTheBrain: Out of curiosity, why give him such a massive tradeoff in favor of Damage over Attack, but keep his Defense and Toughness equal?
(00:48:12) Sandman_XI: dunno
(00:48:13) ShaenTheBrain: Since he's got such good saves all around, you might want to consider just lowering his Defense a little and increasing his Toughness.
(00:48:17) Sandman_XI: made him long ago
(00:48:31) ShaenTheBrain: Gotcha.
(00:49:45) ShaenTheBrain: Oooh, here's another fun on-the-spot power Shapeshift 1 could give him: Anatomic Separation.
(00:50:17) Sandman_XI:
(00:50:23) Sandman_XI: He did use that once!
(00:50:31) Sandman_XI: sent you a PM
(00:51:23) ShaenTheBrain: And here's another AP suggestion: Dazzle (Visual + Audio [or Olfactory], Flaws: Range [Touch]) [2PP/Rank]. Since he manipulates so many other parts of his foes bodies, why not turn off their eyes and ears (or nose)?
(00:52:35) ShaenTheBrain: Sand, come to think of it, having Nauseate, and Fatigue, and Stun seems a bit redundant. You might want to consider dropping 1 or even 2 of them, and saving them for power stunts. How often do you really use all 3 of them? The effects are pretty similar.
(00:53:12) Sandman_XI: do they all do the same thing?
(00:54:07) ShaenTheBrain: They don't all do quite the same thing, but the effects are very similar. You might want to read up on them, compare and contrast, and pick 1 or 2 of the 3 to have as permanent array slots.
(00:54:28) ShaenTheBrain: ...Actually, if you have Shapeshift 1, you should be able to add 1PP APs to the Life Control array as needed.
(00:54:41) Sandman_XI:
(00:54:50) Sandman_XI: I might have to ask aboutthat
(00:54:55) ShaenTheBrain: Maybe, maybe not. Shapeshift has the flaw "Limited [Physical Traits]" incorporated into it.
(00:55:01) Sandman_XI: yeah
(00:55:03) ShaenTheBrain: So it's debatable.
(00:55:55) Sandman_XI: the more and more i think about this, the more and more he looks like he's becoming a twisted biodruid
(00:56:10) Sandman_XI: he can shapeshift!
(00:56:20) Sandman_XI: she has "spells"!
(00:56:38) Sandman_XI: all he needs now is some weird little pet
(00:56:41) ShaenTheBrain: Kinda, yeah.
(00:57:13) ShaenTheBrain: The concept is different. They're both linked to "Life energy," but druids are more about "nature" and he's more about "flesh."
(00:58:17) ShaenTheBrain: Are those 7PP worth of new Drawbacks in addition to the 5PP he's already got banked?
(00:58:53) Sandman_XI: yeah, they helped pay for the shapeshift
(00:59:08) ShaenTheBrain: Gotcha. OK, so no need to free up points for it in the build.
(00:59:21) Sandman_XI: yup
(00:59:50) Sandman_XI: and he has reason to have those drawbacks
(01:00:00) ShaenTheBrain: Gimme a minute here, I'll PM you a suggested rebuild you can feel free to pull ideas from.
(01:00:21) ShaenTheBrain: I get the vulnerability. His nature is becoming increasingly protean. Where'd the nightmares come from?
(01:00:36) Sandman_XI: tough life couple with the fact that he watched the girl he's dating now get murdered, plus whatever he fought in Creeping Killers
(01:02:48) ShaenTheBrain: Gotcha
(01:04:18) ShaenTheBrain: This rebuild will take me a few minutes, so I'm gonna be quiet.
(01:19:05) ShaenTheBrain: One thing that leaps out at me, Sand - your current setup for Mind Control is a Full Action. Issuing commands is a Move Action, unless you have the Instant Command extra (which also requires the Mental Link feat). If you seized control of someone, you'd have to wait a whole round beore telling them what to do.
(01:20:01) Sandman_XI: that's still on there?
(01:20:04) ShaenTheBrain: Ah
(01:20:09) Sandman_XI: i forgot to pull it off
(01:20:13) ShaenTheBrain: Also, the Effortless extra is cheesy
(01:20:33) Sandman_XI: * AP: Mind Control 14 (Extras: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Conscious, Duration/Sustained, Effortless; Flaw: Distracting, Range/Touch; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
(01:21:26) Sandman_XI: I really dont see the need for having to spend an HP for a power
(01:21:36) Sandman_XI: unless youre stunting it
(01:22:21) Sandman_XI: did you see the new setup in the PM?
(01:46:23) Sandman_XI: how's wesley lookin shaen?
(01:47:21) Sandman_XI: hm, can you buy morph with shapeshift?
(01:56:44) Sandman_XI: Sandman_XI wonders how wesley is doing in surgery
(01:56:50) Sandman_XI: Sandman_XI paces
(01:57:00) Sandman_XI: >.>
(01:57:03) Sandman_XI: <.<
(02:01:21) Sandman_XI: I think we lost shaen
(02:01:40) ShaenTheBrain: I think Extended Reach touch-range effects still count as melee attacks, so no, you wouldn't need Precise. But I'm not 100% sure.
(02:01:47) ShaenTheBrain: I'm still working on it - I haven't abandoned you.
(02:01:56) Sandman_XI:
(02:03:07) ShaenTheBrain: I don't see why you couldn't buy Morph with Shapeshift, but I'm pretty sure Shapeshift automatically gives you 1 free rank of Morph for every Shapeshift rank. Not very useful for your purposes. But coincidentally, one of my listed suggestions is an "Any Humanoid" version of Continuous Morph as an AP for your Life Control array - flesh-shaping yourself.
(02:15:41) Heritage: god sometimes chargen in M&M drives me crazy
(02:25:57) ShaenTheBrain: Sand, I just PMed you my suggested rebuild. Let me know when it arrives, and I'll go down the list with you and explain my reasoning.
(02:28:36) ShaenTheBrain: First, this rebuild uses all of your available PP. You'll lag behind a month or two on hitting PL12 caps. But with +14 damage and toughness, you'll be able to take and dish out more than enough to keep you useful in combat against even PL+2 foes.
(02:29:07) Sandman_XI: cool
(02:29:12) Sandman_XI: so far so good
(02:29:17) ShaenTheBrain: Stats: I got rid of your Protection and most of your points in Fortitude, and instead just gave you a bunch of Enhanced CON. That will do everything they did, and give you enough Recovery to autopass.
(02:29:32) ShaenTheBrain: I went with a -3/+3 tradeoff on Damage and Toughness.
(02:29:51) ShaenTheBrain: +8 Attack is still respectable, and since you took all 4 tradeoff feats, you've got a lot of leeway to tailor your approach to each foe.
(02:30:20) ShaenTheBrain: Same with +8 Defense.
(02:30:38) ShaenTheBrain: I kept the saves as you assigned them - solid.
(02:31:11) ShaenTheBrain: On the skills, you can see I smoothed out most things into multiples of 5, as previously discussed. +6 on a Knowledge check isn't going to reveal anything that +5 wouldn't.
(02:31:28) Sandman_XI: heh
(02:31:35) ShaenTheBrain: I went ahead and bumped Notice and Sense Motive to +12, because they're frequently constested rather than opposing static DCs.
(02:31:55) ShaenTheBrain: Medicine +5 will let you take 10 and hit DC15, which is the DC for everything Medicine does but Surgery.
(02:32:29) ShaenTheBrain: I added Takedown Attack to his feats, so that when the Enhanced STR AP is active, he can take down every mook within arms reach. That's about the only AoE ability he has.
(02:33:38) Sandman_XI: tendrils work with takedown right?
(02:33:50) ShaenTheBrain: I went ahead and bought the 1 rank of Shapeshift up to a Free Action instead of down to Full. Here's my reasoning: A lot of the powers you can buy with it are also Free actions to activate and maintain. With Free Shapeshift, you can acquire them and then still move and attack during the same round. MUCH more useful.
(02:34:04) ShaenTheBrain: I think your melee powers work with Takedown Attack too, yeah, now that you mention it.
(02:34:07) ShaenTheBrain: Sick.
(02:34:51) ShaenTheBrain: As far as the exotic attacks go: I kept Confuse for two reasons. First, it's fire-&-forget, unlike Mind Control, where you have to keep giving commands. Second, you seem to like it. That's it. I'm not impressed with it as a power.
(02:35:10) ShaenTheBrain: I analyzed the pros and cons of Fatigue, Nauseate, Paralyze, and Stun.
(02:35:41) ShaenTheBrain: Stun stayed because it's really effective. If they fail the save by even 1 point, they're Dazed and they've lost their actions for the round.
(02:35:44) Sandman_XI: its a theme thing
(02:35:55) Sandman_XI: the confuse i mean
(02:36:18) ShaenTheBrain: However, Stun can't be "layered" on a foe. The others can. When you hit someone a second time with the others, they get bumped up to the next worse save bracket. A fail becomes a fail by 5+, etc.
(02:36:47) ShaenTheBrain: So I wanted to choose one of the other 3 as well. Paralyze seems to inflict the most hurt of the 3.
(02:36:53) Sandman_XI: stun cant be layered?
(02:37:02) ShaenTheBrain: Nope
(02:37:17) ShaenTheBrain: If Stun could be layered, it would be just plain better than the other 3.
(02:37:51) ShaenTheBrain: Now, I'm the first to admit that I build arrays too big, and I tend to purchase APs that are probably best left as stunts. So keep that in mind.
(02:38:10) ShaenTheBrain: The Boost power is there to help patch up you and your allies who've been Drained. That's it.
(02:38:28) Sandman_XI: yeah, that was a question i had
(02:38:39) Sandman_XI: the restorative seems like a stunt
(02:38:51) ShaenTheBrain: The Vampiric Fortitude Damage power is literally sucking away some of your foe's life energy to heal yourself. It's a full action, but you simultaneously heal yourself and hurt them, so it seems worth it.
(02:39:32) ShaenTheBrain: The Dazzle is utility. Not direct damage, but turning your foe into a non-Socialist version of Helen Keller could turn the tide of a battle.
(02:40:24) ShaenTheBrain: The Healing should suit your purposes. I didn't give it Persistent because it seemed like it would be more appropriate to have to burn a HP or use Extra Effort for times when you have to Heal Incurable damage.
(02:40:48) ShaenTheBrain: The Morph is just more fun utility.
(02:41:33) Sandman_XI: yeah
(02:41:54) ShaenTheBrain: And the Transform is more thematic. It's definitely a non-combat power as anything but a last resort, since it removes your dodge bonus and requires a grapple you won't be very good at without the Enhanced STR AP active. "Check Required [Life Sciences]" is another possible flaw if you don't like that.
(02:42:23) ShaenTheBrain: The Enhanced/Super-STR AP is for heavy lifting and fighting foes immune or resistant to your life control powers. That's pretty much it. Turns you into a powerhouse on demand.
(02:42:51) Sandman_XI: i like
(02:43:24) ShaenTheBrain: So there's my insights. It's your vision and your character, of course, so feel free to tweak it as you see fit, or use none of it.
(02:43:32) Sandman_XI: I am
(02:43:45) Sandman_XI: this is definitely cool
(02:44:08) ShaenTheBrain: Glad I could help.
(02:44:44) ShaenTheBrain: I also included a list at the bottom of various traits your Shapeshift power could buy.
(02:44:56) Sandman_XI: drawbacks on powers dont count against the amount of drawbacks you have per PL right?
(02:44:56) ShaenTheBrain: Some are just power entries. Some are more detailed.
(02:44:59) Sandman_XI: I saw
(02:45:02) Sandman_XI: awesome
(02:45:09) ShaenTheBrain: I believe that is the case, yes.
(02:45:18) ShaenTheBrain: That's why I folded them into the power descriptions.
(02:45:29) Sandman_XI: why i asked
(02:46:11) Heritage: the finsihed post
(02:46:20) Heritage: thanks for your help, sand
(02:46:36) ShaenTheBrain: I would really advise against Effortless Mind Control. The UP tweaks were put in place for a resaon. If he can just keep using it round after round, it's going to feel cheesy and lose some of the drama.
(02:47:11) Sandman_XI: you're welcome
(02:47:22) ShaenTheBrain: Whew. Been a while since I took a character completely apart and put them back together like that.
(02:47:36) Sandman_XI: you're still awesoem at it
(02:47:57) Heritage: if you ever want to have a go at either Gossamer of Grim, by all means feel free
(02:48:01) ShaenTheBrain: Thanks.
(02:48:04) Heritage: or Grim
(02:48:08) ShaenTheBrain: Will do, H.
(02:48:25) ShaenTheBrain: Sand - the higher base Attack bonus will make him a lot more versatile.
(02:49:25) Sandman_XI: yeah, i liked that
(02:49:36) Sandman_XI: seeing as he was a sports player in highschool
(02:49:42) Sandman_XI: +2 was pretty bad
(02:50:13) ShaenTheBrain: Especially with +11 DEF
(02:53:17) Sandman_XI: thank you very much
(02:53:29) ShaenTheBrain: Happy to be of service.
(02:53:50) ShaenTheBrain: You think maybe I should start a thread? "Pimp My Ride: Character Optimization Workshop" ?
(02:55:26) Sandman_XI: you should!
(02:58:50) Sandman_XI: maybe if it gets big enough we'll have to sticky it
(03:00:06) ShaenTheBrain: I'll do that.
(03:00:27) ShaenTheBrain: Do you mind if I post our PMs and chat in the thread for the public to see, or would you rather keep them private?
(03:00:44) Sandman_XI: go for it
(03:00:50) ShaenTheBrain: Cool. Thanks.
(03:00:53) Sandman_XI: make it look prettier though >.>
(03:06:42) ShaenTheBrain: Heh. I'll do my best.
(03:09:06) Sandman_XI: yeah, i at least try for +5 on skills
(03:09:49) ShaenTheBrain: For me, it really depends on what the skill is. I try to look at whether it's a static or contested roll, what the DCs are if it's static, etc.
(03:10:31) ShaenTheBrain: I usually won't take anything below +10 unless it's for concept reasons, the DCs are very low, or I have some other way of boosting it (Beginners Luck, Taking 20 with Quickness, etc.).
(03:11:02) ShaenTheBrain: You can take Medicine or Survival at +5 and get by just fine. Computers and Disable Device? If that's your focus, you want +20-30.
(03:11:12) Sandman_XI: yeah
(04:00:02) Sandman_XI: question
(04:00:17) Sandman_XI: why accrate 2 on detect life?
(04:00:24) Sandman_XI: accurate*
(04:02:02) Sandman_XI: I see, accurate costs 2pp
(04:03:50) ShaenTheBrain: Yeah. Just for easy reference.
(04:07:56) Sandman_XI: i'm having a hard time choosing what i want
(04:08:21) ShaenTheBrain: Such is Life.
(04:09:36) Sandman_XI: Does Extended reach go in a straight line?
(04:14:07) ShaenTheBrain: Sorry, I missed that question. I don't know. Probably depends on descriptors. Staves and whips both have it, one can bend, one can't.
(04:15:07) Sandman_XI: you know, the super sense he has is 5pp
(04:15:22) Sandman_XI: it fits into shapeshift
(04:16:03) ShaenTheBrain: It does. I assumed you wanted it available at all times, separate and simultaneous with your Shapeshift goodies. If you don't, by all means, ditch it.
(04:16:31) Sandman_XI: You're right
(04:16:38) Sandman_XI: i want it at all times

N/A · August 21, 2009

Chat with Electra tonight about Fleur:

(23:30:37) Electra: Okay... how do I get Stesha's stun power to work, ever? =D
(23:30:46) Sandman_XI:
(23:30:56) ShaenTheBrain: I'll take a look, Electra.
(23:31:48) Electra: Right now I'm thinking of pulling it out of the array and making it a 0pp feature: Stun (self only)
(23:31:59) Sandman_XI:
(23:32:03) Electra: Cause that's the only successful use she's had. =)
(23:33:50) ShaenTheBrain: OK, first thoughts on Fleur:
(23:34:23) ShaenTheBrain: Why the above-average STR? This doesn't appear to be doing anything for her. +2 unarmed damage is nothing to write home about, and she has no Mighty attack powers.
(23:35:43) Electra: I'm not sure. In case she has to hit something, maybe.
(23:36:00) Electra: All of her actual powers are ranged.
(23:36:22) ShaenTheBrain: You can use Ranged powers against foes in Melee.
(23:37:32) Electra: I don't think I've rolled any strength checks for her so far.
(23:37:56) Sandman_XI: maybe it's a concept thing? strong as a tree?
(23:38:23) ShaenTheBrain: Well, if you take a second look and decide you're not getting anything out of it, that could free up 2-4PP for you.
(23:38:44) Electra: Maybe 12 for concept, but she should probably be at least as charismatic as strong. I can probably flip those around.
(23:38:58) Electra: I was going to buy up her Cha this month anyway. It's too low.
(23:39:12) Sandman_XI: write these things down (advicedog.jpg) ask avenger
(23:39:15) Sandman_XI:
(23:39:51) Electra: Yeah, yeah, I don't know how to do the edits properly anyway, I'll tell him what I want and make him do it. ;-)
(23:39:59) ShaenTheBrain: Here's an idea: Add the Action [Full] flaw to her Stun power. That will let her afford more ranks of it, at range.
(23:40:19) ShaenTheBrain: Cuts down on the utility some, but if she's firing a ranged attack into battle, she probably doesn't need to move around anyway.
(23:41:20) Electra: I could, but it's usually her initial attack. She uses her move to try and get out of the way, and then goes to stun. If stun doesn't work, she tries to snare.
(23:41:54) ShaenTheBrain: She's PL7, but has an Attack of +4, +6 with her Accurate powers. So her non-Area, non-Perception attack powers could be bought up to rank 10, rank 8 for the Accurate powers.
(23:41:59) Electra: I suppose I could start her off with the snare and only go to stun later, as a full round action.
(23:42:54) ShaenTheBrain: You could strip 4PP from STR, add 2PP to CHA, add 2PP to the array, bumping it from 18PP to 20PP. Then add the Full Action flaw to Stun. With 20PP to work with, you could have Stun 10 (Ranged, Full Action), or Stun 8 if it's Accurate.
(23:43:35) ShaenTheBrain: Does her Plant-only Healing AP work on herself?
(23:43:43) Electra: The array definitely could use more points.
(23:43:51) Electra: No, she doesn't count as a plant.
(23:44:08) ShaenTheBrain: Then you can make it both Limited [Plants] and Limited [Others]. Each one is worth a -1 flaw.
(23:44:27) Electra: I'm thinking about buying a person-healing AP for the array.
(23:44:46) Electra: You can take both limits? Limiting it to plants doesn't do that automatically?
(23:45:08) ShaenTheBrain: No, it doesn't. That's separate from the whole Personal-vs-Others Only spectrum.
(23:45:32) ShaenTheBrain: Limiting it to Plants means she can't heal animals. Limiting it to others means she can't heal herself. 2 separate considerations.
(23:45:48) ShaenTheBrain: (I'm counting humans as "animals")
(23:46:18) Electra: I'm not sure that's how they'll read it, since Doc made me fine tooth plants as far as "not plant monsters" and "not fungi," but it's worth a try.
(23:46:37) ShaenTheBrain: Another thing - same thing I told Sandman. She's already got a high CON, and she's a regenerating immortal plant-woman. A higher CON is well within concept. And a high CON is more useful than spending points separately on Fortitude Save, Protection, and Recovery bonus from Regen.
(23:47:08) ShaenTheBrain: Each of those things costs 1PP/rank. CON costs 2PP/rank, but gives you all 3.
(23:48:14) ShaenTheBrain: Hm. On the other hand, she's only got 1PP in her Fort save, and she's getting a -1 flaw discount on her Recovery ranks. So in her case, it's debatable.
(23:48:18) Sandman_XI: Humans and animals are wesley's domain
(23:48:35) Electra: I had to argue for the Con I've got.
(23:48:53) Sandman_XI: fungi is his domain too
(23:48:57) Sandman_XI: it's living >.>
(23:49:22) ShaenTheBrain: Argue with who?
(23:49:56) Electra: One of the refs. Dr A, maybe. He took a few pokes at the character, I think.
(23:50:10) Electra: I don't think it was Sandman or Ecal.
(23:50:21) ShaenTheBrain: Hm. If she added the Full Action flaw to the Stun, and kept the Range, it would cost 2PP/rank. With ATK +4 and Accurate, she can buy it up to rank 8, 16PP. +1PP for Accurate and +1PP for Sedation, that's 18PP, which her array currently costs.
(23:51:08) Electra: What does Sedation do that Sleep doesn't? Is it the same?
(23:51:24) ShaenTheBrain: Right. I forgot she had Sleep. Nevermind.
(23:52:00) Sandman_XI: sleep is an extra stun dosnt automatically have
(23:52:06) ShaenTheBrain: The Sedation feat lets you choose to keep them unconscious as if it was a Sustained (Lasting) power. So instead of getting a new save to wake up every minute / 10 rounds, they get a new save at 1 minute, then 5 minutes, then 20 minutes, then an hour, etc., up the Time Table.
(23:52:39) ShaenTheBrain: Sleep changes it from Unconscious (new save every minute / 10 rounds to wake up) to a new save every hour to wake up. But loud noises, damage, and Aid from allies can also wake them up.
(23:53:01) Electra: She only needs them down for a round or two, till she can make the flower eat them.
(23:53:28) ShaenTheBrain: Any reason you kept her Earth Control out of the array?
(23:54:07) Electra: I promised I would get Earth Control eventually, and the array is getting very big.
(23:54:39) ShaenTheBrain: I have a weakness for big arrays.
(23:54:42) ShaenTheBrain: I won't lie.
(23:55:04) Electra: Since I'm planning on making it even bigger, I'm not sure I want to slap another power into it.
(23:55:49) ShaenTheBrain: If you folded it into the array, you could move a lot more dirt at once. Something to think about. Also, you could save some points by dropping it from Perception-range to Ranged. Immobile targets like inanimate chunks of dirt aren't difficult to hit with a ranged attack roll.
(23:56:19) ShaenTheBrain: The base construct for Earth Control in the book is Move Object, Extras: Range [Perception], Flaws: Limited [Earth].
(23:56:33) Electra: I might eventually make it part of a second array, but I basically said I would take Earth Control to explain the flowerpotting. If I can flaw it and free up a point, that would be just fine.
(23:57:47) ShaenTheBrain: Also, I think removing the flowerpotting feature and just adding the Precise feat to the Earth Control would do everything she can do now, and more.
(23:58:18) Electra: After all the damned arguments I had over the stupid flowerpots, I'm not touching it.
(23:58:40) Electra: That was actually the single most contentious point of the entire character.
(23:58:47) ShaenTheBrain: They argued with you over the flowerpotting?
(23:58:51) ShaenTheBrain: That's ridiculous.
(23:59:39) Electra: I originally had it as a very limited Create Object in the array, but that wasn't kosher for some reason. It took ages to just get it down as a feature.
(23:59:41) ShaenTheBrain: Wait - she actually transforms piles of earth into clay pots filled with tilled soil?
(23:59:53) Electra: All I want her to do is to make flowerpots out of dirt.
(23:59:54) Sandman_XI:
(23:59:58) ShaenTheBrain: Nevermind. That sounds like Feature material.
(00:00:10) ShaenTheBrain: For some reason, I was reading it as she was just moving dirt around.
(00:00:31) Electra: She makes flowerpots, yes. It's a thing. =)
(00:01:25) ShaenTheBrain: Here's another small detail - Corrosion. Corrosion is Damage, Linked to Drain Toughness (Extras: Affects Objects). It costs 3PP, since it's 2 1PP/rank effects, one of which has a +1 extra.
(00:02:07) ShaenTheBrain: One thing that confuses a lot of first time players is that Disintegrate, which is just Ranged Corrosion, costs 5PP/rank, not 4. This is because Extras need to be applied to each individual effect in the power. Flaws work the same way.
(00:02:12) Electra: I liked it as Create Object since in the array at the time she could've dropped a flowerpot the size of a small house on someone.
(00:02:20) ShaenTheBrain: That would've been cool.
(00:02:38) ShaenTheBrain: Dirt > Flowerpots strikes me as a valid 3PP/rank Transform effect.
(00:02:49) ShaenTheBrain: "One Thing > One Different Thing."
(00:02:57) Electra: Flowerpots are too heavy.
(00:03:36) ShaenTheBrain: Corrosion - That "Limited [Plants]" flaw should apply to both the Damage and the Drain Toughness effects. So she should be able to afford a higher rank on that, too.
(00:03:41) Electra: The corrosion effect is limited only to plants, though. Doesn't that cancel out?
(00:04:07) Electra: Wait... so am I not spending enough on corrosion, or too much?
(00:04:22) ShaenTheBrain: By my calculations, that Corrosion power should only cost 1.5PP/rank.
(00:05:08) ShaenTheBrain: Damage (Flaws: Limited [Plants]) linked to Drain Toughness (Extras: Affects Objects, Flaws: Limited [Plant Matter]). 1PP/rank -1 = 1PP/2 ranks. 1PP/rank +1 -1 = 1PP/rank.
(00:05:22) ShaenTheBrain: She should easily be able to buy it up to her PL caps.
(00:05:44) Electra: Well, it's not for combat, but it would make her a faster mulcher.
(00:06:07) ShaenTheBrain: Yeah. Unless she's in combat with the Green Man and his minions, it's probably not going to come up.
(00:06:44) ShaenTheBrain: My main recommendations would be to add a flaw to the Stun so you can drop the cost back to 2PP/rank, take points from STR, maybe add a couple points to the main array, and tweak things to make sure she's hitting her combat caps.
(00:07:07) ShaenTheBrain: PL7, so her attack + damage and defense + toughness should average out to 7 each.
(00:07:11) Electra: It's a cheap-ass substitute for the Transform I can't begin to afford. Instead of turning a tree into another tree, you turn a tree into mulch, put a new tree there, and grow it real fast.
(00:07:31) ShaenTheBrain: Gotcha
(00:08:00) ShaenTheBrain: You might wanna go ahead and just copy/paste this chat log into a word processing document, and go over it with AA later, get his input on any tweaks.
(00:08:09) Electra: Already did. =)
(00:08:23) ShaenTheBrain: I'm not saying that because you're female, just because you've stated before that mechanics aren't really your thing.
(00:08:44) Electra: I freely admit that I didn't build my own characters.
(00:08:51) ShaenTheBrain: Yeah.
(00:09:15) ShaenTheBrain: Here's another thing to consider: 1PP freed up somewhere could add the Reversible feat to several of her plant powers. Growth and Corrosion spring to mind.
(00:09:24) Electra: Playing around with them lets me figure out how they work, but to actually make a playable one, I'm passing it off to AA. The mechanics aren't the fun part for me.
(00:09:45) ShaenTheBrain: I love roleplaying and mechanics pretty much equally.
(00:18:25) ShaenTheBrain: Electra, I'm honestly torn between recommending that you go +6 Attack (+4 base, +2/Accurate) / +8 Damage, or +4 Attack / +10 Damage, for your powers.
(00:18:32) ShaenTheBrain: There's pros and cons either way.
(00:18:50) ShaenTheBrain: (-1/+1 or -3/+3 tradeoff)
(00:19:01) ShaenTheBrain: I wouldn't trade off past +/-3 on a PL7, however
(00:19:30) Electra: Electra carefully makes a note of that
(00:19:45) Sandman_XI: i wouldnt do above 3 unless you're a brick
(00:20:45) ShaenTheBrain: Actually, if she's tougher and more damaging than she is nimble and accurate, she fits the textbook mechanical definition of the colloquial term "brick" quite well.
(00:20:50) Electra: And I have no ideas about tradeoffs, so I will just add that to the pile of things to look at. =)
(00:21:03) ShaenTheBrain: Tradeoffs are less complicated than they look.
(00:21:17) Electra: But what if she is squishy and inaccurate at the same time?
(00:21:34) ShaenTheBrain:
(00:22:47) ShaenTheBrain: A PL7 character can have a max Attack, Damage, Defense, and Toughness of +7 each. ATK vs DMG and DEF vs TOUGH exist on spectrums. You can choose to lower your max bonus on one end of the spectrum to increase it on the other. So a PL7 could have, for example, +4/+10, +7/+7, or +10/+4. Make sense?
(00:23:16) Electra: That's why she needs the ranged dimensional pocket, she needs to be able to do something with someone she probably has a hold of for one or two rounds at best, without getting close. =)
(00:23:36) ShaenTheBrain: Sounds like a good strategy.
(00:25:05) Electra: I suppose the only good argument for her strength is that none of her powers can do damage. If she wanted to hurt anything that wasn't a plant, she'd have to pick up a flowerpot and break it over someone's head. =)
(00:25:48) Electra: And I know the theory of tradeoffs, I just can't interpret them in conjunction with everything else yet.
(00:27:20) ShaenTheBrain: Actually, Electra, maybe you should go ahead and spend 1PP to give her a Damage-based attack power in her main array. You could buy a vanilla Blast power (Ranged Damage), with the descriptor "She grows thorns and ejects them from her body with ballistic force." Or add a couple ranks of the Indirect feat to it, and have the descriptor be that she causes a giant Venus Flytrap to grow out of the ground momentarily, bite her foe in the ass, and then it recedes back into the ground. Or nearby plants grow longer and spikier and whip them, then recede. Endless possibilities.
(00:28:02) ShaenTheBrain: If the latter, you could even get away with a 1PP Power Loss drawback, not usable against foes who aren't near plants or dirt.
(00:28:30) Electra: Maybe, it's not entirely character appropriate. I'll think on it. =)

Dr Archeville · August 21, 2009

Very cool 8-)

A few things:

Confuse has a (Lasting) duration, and I'm still not sure how Secondary Effect would work with (Lasting) powers. Plus, (Lasting) effects are already semi-fire & forget-ish, so it arguably doesn't need Secondary Effect to be fire & forget-ish.

I'm not going to allow Shapeshift to be used to make APs of Wesley's Life Control power. That is way too cheesy, being able to create any AP off that array with no cost. (Similarly, Doc's Gadgets can't be used to make APs for existing tech, nor can he Invent a 1pp AP for some existing tech.)

I do remember saying Fleur couldn't do fungi, but Plant Controllers in comics often do get fungi stuff, so I'd let that slide. I do not recall saying her Healing wouldn't work on Plant Monsters, though.

I remember the contention about the flowerpots thing being that it was originally described as "she's a plant controller, but can also create clay pots filled with nutritious soil ex nihilo," which didn't seem to fit for a non-supernatural plant controller. The "she can control plants and earth" came later, and the "create clay pots w/ soil" thing is now a Feature.

N/A · August 21, 2009

Upon re-reading Secondary Effect, you're absolutely right. I thought it did something it does not. It isn't "Homing for damage." It only forces another save on the next round if the first one failed. Otherwise, it doesn't "stick."

N/A · August 21, 2009

Exotic Attacks

Here's a more detailed analysis of the exotic attack powers I referenced in the Wesley rebuild:

Confuse: This horrible, obnoxious power has 2 saving graces. First, it's cheap. Second, it's nature is "fire-&-forget," so it fits into arrays quite nicely. If you find randomness entertaining (I sure do - I played an Orc warband in Mordheim), then by all means, take this power. Just don't rely on it to be effective, or anything other than a waste of a Standard action.

Fatigue: Fail by 1, you're Fatigued. -2 STR (basically -1 Damage), -2 DEX (basically -1 Initiative), -1 Attack, -1 Defense (basically drops you 1 PL), and you can't move all-out (who cares?). Not really a big deal. Fail by 5+, or get hit again, you're Exhausted. Much worse - can't move faster than normal, -6 STR & DEX (-3 Damage & Initiative), -3 Attack and Defense (effectively drops you 3 PLs). Still, you're not out of the fight. Fail by 10+, or get hit a 3rd time, and you're down for the count.

Overall, I'm not impressed with Fatigue as an attack.

Nauseate: Fail by 1, you're Sickened. -2 to Attack and "checks." That obviously includes skill checks. Does it include saving throws? I don't know. If it does, this isn't half bad. Otherwise, it's underwhelming at best. Fail by 5+, and you're Nauseated. Now you can only perform a Standard or Move action each round, not both. This is better. If you have nothing but Full Action attacks (*cough*), you're hosed. If you have to reposition yourself at all, you're hosed. I'm not sure whether or not the Sickened penalty persists once you're Nauseated, or if it applies if you fail by 5 on the first try. I hope it does, otherwise this power is even worse than I thought. Fail by 10+, and you're Helpless. Thanks for playing. Goodbye.

Nauseate is a waste of paper in the rulebooks that wishes it was Paralyze or Stun.

Paralyze: Fail by 1, and you're Slowed. Not only are you limited to only a Standard or Move action each round, not only do you move at half-speed, but you also suffer -1 Attack, -1 Defense, and -1 Reflex (basically you drop a PL). If you fail by 5+, or get hit again, you're Paralyzed. Helpless. Completely unable to move or act. A sitting duck. You read that right. You get completely hosed an entire tier sooner than with any of these other powers.

Snare: Fail by 1, and you're Entangled. -2 Attack, -2 Defense, and -4 Dexterity (which basically means -2 Reflex and -2 Initiative). Depending on the descriptors of the attack, you also either move at half speed or can't move at all. Fail by 5+, or get hit again, and you're Bound/Helpless. A sitting duck waiting for the coup-de-grace. Snare has a nasty effect, hoses you early, stacks with itself, and while not technically Lasting, it effectively is. It persists without maintenance, even if you switch to a different Alternate Power. So far, so good. So why isn't this power quite as good as Paralyze or Stun? Because there are a million ways to get out of it. Escape Artists and Insubstantial characters can slip out. Super-Strong characters can break out. However their escape method, though, they will waste a combat round escaping. A combat round during which they're still Helpless. And since there are so few Reflex-based effects, Reflex saves tend to be "dump stats" more often than not. So while it's not as good as Paralyze or Stun, it's still pretty good.

Stun: Stun is the only exotic impairment power that can hope to compare with Paralyze. Fail by 1, you're Dazed. You get no actions. This is the most powerful one right out the gate. Fail by 5+, you're Stunned. Say goodbye to your Dodge bonus, suck up an additional -2 Defense penalty, and enjoy your no actions. Fail by 10+, you're straight-up unconscious. Unfortunately, you cannot "layer" Stun like you can the other powers. Previous failed saves have no bearing on future saves.

Suffocate: Fail by 1, you suffer -1 Attack, Defense, and Reflex, can only take a Standard or Move action each round, and move at half speed. Then you make a CON check every round. It starts at DC10 (pitifully easy), and then the DC goes up by +1 every round. If you fail, you go from Unconscious to Dying to Dead in the space of 3 rounds. It seems comparable to Paralyze. But it isn't Lasting like the other powers listed here. The attacker has to keep maintaining it. If it's in an array, it paralyzes that array until the victim is dealt with. The power specifically says you can't buy it up to Continuous. And while the impairment is solid, actually waiting for the victim to drop is going to take forever. One way or the other, combat will be over before they actually suffocate. At any time, the victim can use Extra Effort to get a new save to break out of it. That would Fatigue them, which is also acceptable.

I'm torn on this power. I want to like it more than I actually can. Unless it's a one-on-one confrontation, the only way I can see to get a good use out of it is to buy the Duration up to Sustained, then add the Independent extra. This does two things. First, it gives it the Fades flaw. This is only important if the victim uses Extra Effort to get another save to break out of it - they'll save against the Faded rank, not the original. But it also means that you don't have to take any actions to maintain it, and you can switch to another slot in the same array, just like a Lasting power. That puts it on par the other powers here. The impairment from the first attack persists, and the countdown to being incapacitated persists without a second or third application of the power. However, I repeat: No victim will ever have time to actually suffocate before the battle is over.

Paralyze, Stun, and (to a lesser extent) Snare are the clear winners here.

Sandman XI · August 21, 2009

I threw some of my ideas in with Shaen's

Players Name: Sandman XI
Power Level: 11 (167 pp)
Trades-Offs: -3 Attack for +3 to DC, -3 Defense for +3 to Toughness
Unspent PPs: 0

Characters Name: Wesley Knight
Alternate Identity: None yet
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 175 lbs
Hair: black
Eyes: green
Description: An athletically built brown skinned man. Looks to be around 18 years old. Hair in cornrows. Mostly seen in black baggy cargo pants (in fact, that's the only kind of pants he has in his wardrobe), high-top sneakers, and a tanktop.

History: Wesley is a mutant with a dark secret in his past which he seeks to escape. Freedom City gives him a new lease on life to do good with his new condition.

Stats: 4+4+4+2+4+2 = 20pp
Str: 14 (+2)
Dex: 14 (+2)
Con: 38/14 (+14/+2)
Int: 12 (+1)
Wis: 14 (+2)
Cha: 12 (+1)

Combat: 16+16 = 32pp
Attack: +8
Grapple: +10
Defense: +8 (+4 flat-footed)
Knockback: -7/-1
Initiative: +2

Saves 10+8+8 = 18pp
Toughness: +14/+2
Fortitude: +16/+4 (+14/+2 Con, +2)
Reflex: +10 (+2 Dex, +8)
Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

Skills: 48r=12pp
Concentration 4 (+18/+6)
Craft (artistic) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (current events) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (life sciences) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (pop culture) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (streetwise) 4 (+5)
Language 2 (Cantonese, English [base], Mandarin)
Medicine 3 (+5)
Notice 8 (+10)
Profession (Tattoo Artist) 3 (+5)
Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Feats: 9pp
Accurate Attack
All-Out Attack
Benefit (Constitution for Concentration)
Defensive Attack
Luck 2
Power Attack
Takedown Attack 2

Powers: 24+40+14+5 = 83pp

Enhanced Constitution 24 [24pp]

Life Control 16 (32pp effects; PFs: 9 Alternate Powers) [41pp]
* BE: Nauseate 14 (Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Confuse 14 (Extra: Alternate Save/Fortitude; Flaw: Range/Touch; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Emotion Control 14 (Extra: Alternate Save/Fortitude; Flaw: Range/Touch; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Fatigue 14 (Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Healing 14 (Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Mind Control 14 (Extras: Alternate Save/Fortitude, Conscious, Duration/Sustained, Effortless; Flaws: Distracting, Range/Touch, Side Effect 1/Stun 16; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Paralyze 14 (Extras: Alternate Save/Fortitude; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Stun 14 (Power Feat: Extended Reach 4)
* AP: Transform 14 (mutation of any living to any living; Extra: Duration/Continuous; Flaws: Action/Full, Distracting, Range/Touch, Side Effect 1/Fatigue 16; Power Feat: Extended Reach 4, Precise 1; Drawback: Power Loss/Must touch epidermis)

Shapeshift 2 (Extra: Duration/Continuous; Flaw: Action/Full) [14pp]

Super-Senses 6 (Detect Life [Mental; Accurate, Acute, Analytical, Ranged; Drawback: Noticeable/Glowing Green Eyes]) [5pp]

Drawbacks: [-7]

Recurring Nightmares (Chance of nightmare with every sleep, check of DC 5 causes nightmare, after nightmare is fatigued until restful sleep; -4)

Vulnerability (to Transforms and other attacks that involuntarily change his shape or form, x2 to DC modifier; Uncommon, Major; -3)

Costs: Abilities (20) + Combat (32) + Saves (18) + Skills (12) + Feats (9) + Powers (83) - Drawbacks (7) = 167

MBCE · August 21, 2009

A very nice and useful thread! Keep up the good work!

Dr Archeville · August 21, 2009

Also: yes, I am Sticky-ing this.

N/A · August 21, 2009

Heritage asked me to take a look at his characters, and gave me permission to post excerpts from our correspondence here.

My initial thoughts on Gossamer:

Here are my thoughts on Gossamer, in no particular order:

I don't like Defensive Roll. It costs as much as Protection, but you lose it when you're caught flat-footed. The supposed benefit is that you can re-allocate it to your Reflex save, but only against area attacks. And if you do that, you lose the Toughness bonus. So I'd recommend just getting rid of it.

If you want to replace Defensive Roll, and/or take some of the Toughness bonus out of her bodysuit, you could add the Force Field power to her Prehensile Hair container. It's just Protection, converted from Passive/Permanent to Free Action / Sustained at no cost/deduction. It can be used for all manner of defensive powers that require some kind of active involvement. I usually prefer it to Deflect.

The descriptor could be her hair batting aside projectiles and blows, and growing rapidly to "soak up" energy damage. Since it's Sustained, she'd have a chance to lose it when she's caught flat-footed, so it could replace the Defensive Roll thematically.

Since she's already got above-average physical Abilities, you could probably justify a CON score in the 16-18 range. Constitution is the most efficient Ability by far. For 2PP per +1 bonus, you get a +1 to Toughness, Fortitude, and Recovery checks, each of which cost 1PP/rank by themselves. So, concept permitting, it is almost always better to buy CON than any of the 3 traits individually.

Dexterity is rarely an efficient purchase, but for her, it actually works. Improved Initiative costs 1PP/4 ranks, so Initiative is worth 1/4PP. Skills are worth 1/4PP, since 1PP buys 4 skill ranks. Reflex Save costs 1PP/rank. She has Reflex (1), Initiative (1/4), and 3 DEX Skills (3/4) she cares about (Acrobat, Drive, Ride). DEX costs 2PP/+1. So buying up her DEX score is just as efficient as buying up any of those traits individually. You might want to raise it.

She has 10 Intelligence-based skills. INT costs 2PP/+1. Skills cost 1PP/4 Ranks, or 2PP/8 ranks. Every 2PP she spends on Skills gives her +1 to 8 skills. Every 2PP she spends on INT gives her +1 to 10 skills. INT is an efficient purchase for her. I'd buy it up as high as you can get away with while staying true to your concept.

Charisma is never an efficient purchase. Buy as much or as little as you feel your concept warrants, and don't worry about getting your money's worth out of it. You never will.

Skills: A lot of taking 10 and 20 happens with skills, especially Knowledge skills. And the skills that aren't contested rolls tend to have DCs that come in increments of 5. So, for example, a +6 on a Knowledge skill is very unlikely to give you any information you couldn't have gotten with a +5, or to give you the information you'd get from +10. So I generally recommend smoothing these out.

Acrobatics 5 (+8): I'd take this to +10.
Drive 1 (+4): I'd take this to +5.
Knowledge (Arts) 2 (+6): I'd drop this to +5.
Knowledge (Life Sciences) 4 (+8): I'd take this to +10.
Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 8 (+12): I'd drop this to +10 or raise it to +15.
Medicine 1 (+3): I'd take this to +5. At that point, you can take 10 for DC15, which will cover every application of this skill but Surgery.
Perform (Dance) 1 (+4): I'd take this to +5.
Perform (Stringed Instruments) 5 (+8): I'd take this to +10.
Profession: Teacher 4 (+6): I'd drop this to +5.
Ride 1 (+4): I'd take this to +5.

Also, I recommend taking a look at the entry for each individual skill, paying close attention to the listed DCs. Buy the skill up as high as you need to in order to reliably hit the DC you want by taking 10. And for any 4 skills you plan to use during combat or other stressful situations, Skill Mastery is your friend. The more you can take 10, the less the dice can screw you over.

Example: Knowledge. The DC is 10 for easy questions, 15 for basic questions, and 20 to 30 for difficult questions. So your +5s will routinely answer "basic questions" on the fly when you take 10. If you have an hour and access to a library, you can take 20 and they'll hit the more difficult and obscure information.

Look at each skill, and the DCs involved, and ask yourself: "Can I reliably succeed at this skill, at the level I need to in order for it to be useful?" If the answer is "No," then ask yourself whether or not you need it for concept reasons, and consider dropping it down to +5 or so. If the answer is again "No," then consider just getting rid of it.

You might want to consider Stealth for this character. She could "walk on her hair" like Doctor Octopus. She'd get more mileage out of her DEX score, more easily flee bad situations, and have a chance of making surprise attacks.

Prehensile Hair is just Additional Limbs Linked to Elongation. I see you went with a 5/5 split.

Don't forget that you can apply your Additional Limbs to a grapple attempt, gaining a +1 bonus for every rank's worth of extra limbs you assign to it. So if she grappled a single foe with all 25 tendrils (5 ranks), she could gain up to a +4 bonus. I assume the first rank, a single tendril, is the "base" limb being used. If she's using her actual hands, make that a +5 bonus.

If you choose not to apply multiple limbs to a single grapple attempt, Additional Limbs already gives you the benefit of the Improved Grapple feat. You don't need to buy it.

Her grapple-oriented feats might be better represented as Enhanced Feats, within her Prehensile Hair container. Unless you mean for her to have access to them when she's just grappling with her hands and arms as well.

I question the usefulness of an Engulf Snare (especially one at 1/2 PL) versus just grappling a foe. Snare (Engulf) is basically Snare (Extras: Duration 2 [sustained], Flaws: Feedback, Range [Touch]). With her hair, she has a +23-27 grapple bonus. That's going to practically auto-win against anyone who isn't a paragon, powerhouse, or very powerful telekinetic. And anyone who can beat that grapple score can very likely break out of a rank 5 Snare, damaging her in the process. Engulfing a foe is going to tie up the array anyway, so the standard action to keep someone grappled isn't really any worse than the free action to maintain the Snare.

Here's an idea. Have you seen the Rapid Attack power in Super-Speed? It's just the Area (Targeted) and Selective Attack extras, purchased directly onto your Strength score. I propose something similar for Gossamer. For one of the array slots, try this:

"Hair Attack 10 (Strength, Extras: Area [Targeted], Selective Attack) [20PP]"

This will allow her to take a standard action to make a simultaneous use of her Strength against every foe within an AoE centered on her (since Strength is touch-range by default). I'd recommend Burst as the AoE type, since this would hit everyone within 50ft at rank 10. If you want it to hit everyone within 100ft, so it's the same reach as her tendrils normally are, add 1PP for the Progression [Area] feat. Since there are 10 ranks, she can make use of up to +10 of her Strength bonus against each target.

Now, this costs twice as much as her current array. If you can't scrounge up the points for it, just drop it to rank 5. That still lets her use +5 of her STR bonus against every target in the AoE. That's still a +15-18 grapple check against everyone within range, enough against most Minions (I'm not sure if the Super-STR bonus would apply or not, since it doesn't have the Area and Selective extras applied to it).

She could also use this power to, for example, disarm everyone in the AoE, or Aid every ally in melee within the AoE. Anything she could normally do with her Strength.

You may or may not be able to add the "Limited [Hair]" flaw to this power. I don't know what the Refs will say. You can try it, in which case you can get 10 ranks for 10PP.

Another possible AP for the Prehensile Hair array would be to add the Autofire extra to her Strength, to represent pummeling a foe with tendril after mighty tendril. Something like this:

"Flurry 10 (Strength, Extras: Autofire) [10PP]"

I'm not a fan of Deflect. Since she's got a tradeoff in favor of Toughness over Defense, I question the usefulness.

Bodysuit: You are overpaying for this. I see little to no reason to buy the Datalink and Communication separately instead of just arraying them together. That frees up 3PP within the Device. You could, for example, buy more Immunities (Heat as well as Cold, for example - two-way temperature regulation). Also keep in mind that you're allowed to overbuy on Impervious (and Penetrating) if you have other ranks of Toughness (or damage) coming in from other sources. For example, since she has +2 Toughness from her CON score, it would be perfectly legal to buy "Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious 10)" in the Bodysuit.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Upon reflection, the Shield power (which is just Enhanced Dodge Focus), another "active defense" power, would be very appropriate for her prehensile hair as well.

N/A · August 21, 2009

And my initial thoughts on Grimalkin:

Again, in no particular order:

I find the roleplaying of this character to be endlessly entertaining, but in mechanical terms, the concept is spread out all over the map. It lacks focus. She's trying to do too much, so she doesn't do any particular thing very well. She's got just enough points devoted to each area to fail in that area. A jack of all trades, journeyman of none. I really feel that this build needs to be tightened up. Decide what you want her to do, and then give her traits high enough to consistently succeed at those tasks. Is she a martial artist? Detective? Infiltrator? Face?

She performs consistently below her Power Level in combat, often far below.

To review: A PL10 character is limited to a +10 bonus in each of 4 combat values: Attack, Damage, Defense, and Toughness. Attack vs. Damage and Defense vs. Toughness exist on spectrums with each other, and you can trade off between those spectrums. Attack + Damage and Defense + Toughness should each average out to your PL. So a PL10 character could have +5/+15, +10/+10, or +15/+5.

Base Form: Attack +6, Damage +0, +5 Sneak Attack (STR 10, no attack powers), Defense +6, Toughness +8.

6 + 0 = 6, 6 / 2 = PL3 offensively. 6 + 5 = 11, 11 / 2 = PL5.5 offensively w/Sneak Attack.

6 + 8 = 14, 14 / 2 = PL7 defensively.

Changeling Form: Same.

Goblin Form: Attack +10 (Claws), Damage +6 (Claws), +11 Sneak Attack, Defense +6, Toughness +12.

10 + 6 = 16, 16 / 2 = PL8 offensively. 10 + 11 = 21, 21 / 2 = PL10.5 offensively w/Sneak Attack.

6 + 12 = 18, 18 / 2 = PL9 defensively.

Ogress Form: Attack +5, Damage +4 (Unarmed), +9 Sneak Attack, Defense +5, Toughness +13.

5 + 4 = 9, 9 / 2 = PL4.5 offensively. 5 + 9 = 14, 14 / 2 = PL7 offensively w/Sneak Attack.

5 + 13 = 18, 18 / 2 = PL9 defensively.

Sprite Form: Attack +8, Damage +0, +5 Sneak Attack, Defense +8, Toughness +8.

8 + 0 = 8, 8 / 2 = PL4 offensively. 8 + 5 = 13, 13 / 2 = PL6.5 offensively w/Sneak Attack.

8 + 8 = 16, 16 / 2 = PL8 defensively.

Did you forget that the first rank of Sneak Attack gives you +2 damage, then it's +1 per rank after? Her Goblin Form is actually illegal right now. She hits +10 attack and +11 damage when she sneak attacks with her claws.

She might do OK against Minions, but against foes of comparable PL, she's gonna get slaughtered. To put this in perspective: Beat cops and common Thugs are PL2-4. Professional soldiers and SWAT teams are PL5-6.

Sneak Attacking is the only way she even comes close to hitting her PL caps in combat. I question the wisdom of putting so many eggs in one basket. The first rank of Sneak Attack is a bargain - +2 damage, melee or ranged, for 1PP, as long as you catch them flat-footed. After that, it's not such a great buy. You may want to shift points around to make her more consistently effective, instead of being such a one-trick pony.

Super-Senses: Tracking is an extra. You need to specify which of your senses it applies to (I assume Scent).

With such a high Acrobat score (far higher than her Bluff), she should probably have the Acrobatic Bluff feat. This allows you to Feint and Trick in combat with Acrobat instead of Bluff, both very useful combat maneuvers it's worth reading up on. Feint in particular, since it will let her make consistent use of her Sneak Attack bonus.

Saving Throws: These are all a little low for a PL10. I generally like to have my 3 exotic saves average out to the PL. Most published characters who aren't Badass Normals, however, tend to have saves that average out closer to PL-2, PL-3. It's a matter of personal taste. Just ask yourself, "Which saves do I want to fail, and how often (and how badly) do I want to fail them?"

If you spend 6PP to increase her CON to 20 (+5), you can get rid of Protection 2 (2PP), 1 rank of Defensive Roll (1PP), and the 3PP you're spending on her Fortitude save. The net cost is 0PP, and not only do you wind up with a Toughness save that is more consistent, but that +5 CON bonus also applies to Recovery rolls.

Just like with Gossamer, DEX is a good buy for Grim. She's got Initiative, Reflex, and 4 DEX-based skills she cares about enough to invest in. So she gets slightly more out of buying DEX than she does buying any of those traits individually.

She has 8 INT-based skills, enough for INT to be an efficient purchase. Since she has 8, no more, no less, she'll spend the same number of points whether she buys the skill ranks or just buys up her Intelligence.

A lot of her Skills are very low. One thing that has always struck me while reading her threads is that she seems to fail rolls a lot, especially skill checks. See my thoughts on Gossamer regarding Skills. Also think about maybe adding the Beginners Luck feat and a few Hero Points to this build. She's a fÃƒÂ¦rie, so I think you could get away with 3-4 ranks of Luck and still stay true to concept.

If you plan to keep her combat traits undercapped, I'd recommend you study up on the indirect combat options in the Combat chapter of the core book - Aid (the Teamwork feat is good for this), Demoralize/Taunt, Feint/Startle (the Setup feat lets you transfer these to a friend), Trick (the Redirect feat enhances this maneuver), etc. There are many more ways Grim can contribute to a battle than just punching villains in the face.

Her base DEX bonus is +7. So her Initiative bonus should be +7, not +5.

Again, let me know if you have any questions.

N/A · August 21, 2009

You're definitely right about Grim not having her skills built up well, leading to many failed rolls. Also I've never been quite sure exactly what niche she fills on a team; originally she was meant to be a sort of martial artist/infiltrator, but she's never been very good at combat, partly because of her low STR, but also because of the rest of her build and they way I've roleplayed her, which has been to have major self-confidence issues.

To be honest, I think her best use would probably be as an infiltrator who can defend herself if she needs to, assuming we fixed the combat stuff; I think I consistently play underpowereed characters, partly by choice (I tend to prefer hero support) and partly because I don't really know what I'm doing! Also remember that Grim was built up from a PL6, so a lot of this has been piecemeal, making it up as I go along. A lot of things were fixed/updated with the jump from PL8 to PL10, but that build was constructed on the faulty foundations of the original.

I'm at work, so I can't really go into this stuff point-by-point, but I look forward to it! We may we see a radical rebuild of the character, if the GMs allow it.

I'm pretty sure they will, Heritage.

Dr Archeville · August 21, 2009

Did you forget that the first rank of Sneak Attack gives you +2 damage, then it's +1 per rank after? Her Goblin Form is actually illegal right now. She hits +10 attack and +11 damage when she sneak attacks with her claws.

It'd seem the Refs missed that, too :o

N/A · August 21, 2009

Defense Options

Defensive Roll

I'm not a fan of this feat. I love it conceptually, but it fails in execution.

If it was just "Protection (Flaws: Limited [Lost When Flat-Footed])," and each 1PP rank gave you +2 Toughness, then I would jump all over it. But instead, it's a Dynamic Array between Protection and Reflex Save (Flaws: Limited [Area Attacks]), both of which go away if you're caught flat-footed. It's overcosted. You pay as much as you would for Protection, with half the benefits.

Deflect

The merit of the Deflect power has been debated on the official M&M forums countless times. I'm not a fan. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that Deflect is just "Nullify Attack Powers." Because every attack in M&M is technically the application of a power.

Theoretically, gaining an extra roll to avoid being hit is very powerful in a game where every saving throw might be your last. But Deflect gets way too expensive too quickly if you buy enough extras on it to actually make it useful. In its default configuration, you sacrifice your Standard Action preparing for the possibility that you may be attacked. You, and you alone. If you pay 1PP for the Interpose feat, you can sacrifice your Move Action as well, to go stand next to an ally who may or may not be attacked. You haven't done anything to actually swing the battle in your favor. You've just delayed your defeat for a round. Sometimes, buying time for your teammates is all you need to do. But I'd rather take a more active roll in my character's fate.

You can buy the Ranged extra for Deflect, letting you protect allies at a distance. You can buy the Action extra, in order to Deflect more often and salvage more of your round after its use. But this can easily leave you with a 3-6PP/rank and up power. Even on the low end, Deflect is too expensive for most characters to afford outside of their main power array. Which means that while you're using Deflect to just plain not die, your offensive potential is paralyzed. Again, you lose any ability to actually affect the outcome of the battle rather than just delay it.

If you insist on buying Deflect, I would recommend the Reflection extra. That way, the Standard Action you burn can be used to increase your own defense and still get an attack in. This will still wind up running you 2-4PP/rank, depending on the scope of your power. But it makes for a more effective Alternate Power in an array.

Alternatives

If you want "active defenses," I heartily recommend the Force Field and Shield powers. Force Field is just Protection, with a +0 extra that changes it from Passive/Permanent to Free Action / Sustained. Shield is just Enhanced Dodge Focus. The latter is lost if you're caught flat-footed, and the former can be, depending on your Concentrate score. They're both only 1PP/rank, and they get the job done. They're also very simple to work with, since they're just a part of your Defense and Toughness scores with power descriptors, rather than separate mechanics.

N/A · August 21, 2009

This is more of a reference than a discussion, since the edits have already been made. But this was my idea:

Avenger

Terrifying Vampiric Array of the Undead" 10pp+ 5 APs=15 pp
Insubstantial 2 (gaseous; Extra: Linked Flight 1 [10 mph] PF: Subtle Flaws: Limited/night-time) [10 pp]
AP: Drain Constitution 2 Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Requires Grapple LINKED Emotion Control 12 Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Limited to love, Range 2 [touch], Requires Grapple PF Subtle [10 pp]
AP: Drain Constitution 2 (Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Requires Grapple) LINKED Mind Reading 12 PFSubtle (Flaws: Limited [Probe], Range 2 [Touch], Requires Grapple) LINKED Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition, Flaws: Medium [blood]) = 9PP
AP: Drain Constitution 10 (blood drain, Flaws Requires Grapple) [PFs] Precise, Slow Fadex4 (1 hour), [10 pp]
AP: Mind Control 12 (Feats: Mental Link, Subtle), Extras: Conscious, Duration [sustained], Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Limited [Night], Sense-Dependent [Visual]) [8 pp]
AP: Strike 2 (claws and teeth, PFs Affects Insubstantial, Improved Crit, Incurable, Mighty) LINKED Enhanced Feats Fearsome Presence 4 [10 pp]

Originally, AA had purchased most of these powers separately. It occurred to me that, since they're all pretty much mutually exclusive, why not array them together and save some points?

Other ideas of mine included: Adding the Requires Grapple flaw to the blood Drains, adding Incurable to his Strike, and the Mind Reading / Postcognition power, which occurred to me after watching the villain use that trick in Underworld: Evolution. Not only is it thematically appropriate, but it helps compensate for the fact that Avenger's detective skills are somewhat lacking.

The Insidious extra on the Drains, the Emotion Control, the Mind Control, and pretty much everything else were all AA's ideas (and damned good ones, too). They give some real versatility to the character, as they're not the sort of powers one generally expects to face when running up against a Costumed Vigilante archetype.

N/A · August 21, 2009

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2433&start=0#p48543

This thread now has a ToC, which I will be updating as new content emerges, for ease of navigation.

N/A · August 22, 2009

Skills

Skill Bonuses

When you buy a Skill, the first thing you should ask yourself is "Am I just buying this for concept reasons, or do I actually want to succeed at checks with this Skill?"

If you're just buying it for concept reasons, I recommend one of two tactics: Either just put a rank or two in it, maybe enough to get +5 (and reliably hit DC15), or buy the bonus up as high as you need to for the concept. If "world-class musician" is part of your concept, you probably want to buy that Perform skill up to +15, even if it doesn't actually affect any area of your character's superhero career.

If the skill is relevant to your superhero career, then you should read the entry for that skill in the rulebook, paying close attention to the DCs you are likely to face when using it. If the Skill fulfills one of the expected functions of the character niche you have chosen for yourself, then you need to be able to succeed at it, consistently.

For Example: Most of the tasks for Medicine and Survival hover in the DC15 range. A +5 bonus will probably be all you'll ever need. Drive, Pilot, and Ride tasks seem to cap out at DC25, so +15 should handle all your needs. Computers and Disable Device? Those DCs rocket up into the stratosphere. In a PL10 game, a DC40-50 task is well within the realm of possibility. You'll want a +20-30 bonus to pull off world-class electronic stunts, like breaking into the Pentagon or a Las Vegas casino.

Some skills involve opposed checks, some oppose static DCs, and some do both. This will have a significant effect on how you should purchase each Skill.

Static DCs: Look at the charts in the Skill descriptions. You'll notice those DCs invariably come in increments of 5. Even the suggested penalties for difficult tasks usually come in intervals of -5. Keep this in mind.

Taking 10/20:The Take 10 and Take 20 mechanics exist for several reasons. First, they speed up gameplay by reducing the number of necessary die rolls. Second, they help players out. Simply put, the less you have to roll the dice, the less of a chance they have to screw you over. So it's a good idea to Take 10 on a Skill whenever you can do so while still hitting the DC you need to. So, in turn, it's a good idea to purchase your Skill bonuses high enough to hit the DCs for the tasks you want to reliably accomplish by Taking 10.

So if you're going to be buying your Skill bonuses to within 10 (or 20) of the DC you want to hit, and the DCs all come in multiples of 5...then maybe you should buy most of your Skill bonuses in multiples of 5 as well.

Take, for example, Knowledge. The book description states "The DC is 10 for easy questions, 15 for basic questions, and 20 to 30 for difficult questions." That means that a +6 in a Knowledge skill is unlikely to reveal any information you wouldn't get with a +5, and it's even more unlikely to reveal the same information you'd get with +10.

Actually rolling the dice and trusting your fate to the whims of chance is for chumps. Avoid it as much as you can. 8-)

Contested Skills: If the Skill is primarily used in opposed rolls, then all this advice goes out the window. You want as high a score as you can get, because opposed Skill checks are an arms race.

Inventing: The same principle applies to certain Craft and Knowledge Skills if you have the Artificer, Inventor, and/or Ritualist feats. When it comes to these feats, your Skill bonuses can never be too high.

Abilities vs Skills

Strength and Constitution pull their own weight. The other 4 Abilities have a level of usefulness determined by which, and how many, Skills and Saving Throws you care about.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that, if it suits your concept better to have an Ability score at a certain level, then by all means buy it to that level, even if it isn't the most efficient expenditure of points.

Dexterity: Costs 2PP/+1 bonus. Improved Initiative costs 1PP / 4 ranks, so Initiative is worth 1/4PP. Reflex Save costs 1PP/rank, so it's worth 1PP. Skills cost 1PP / 4 ranks, so each Skill rank is worth 1/4PP.

Initiative 1/4 + Reflex 1 = 1 1/4PP. In order to break even on Dexterity, you need to care about at least 3 DEX-based Skills.

[*:1h9c4iya]The Agile Climber feat (described in several supplements, sometimes with a different name) lets you substitute your DEX bonus for your STR bonus when calculating your Climb skill bonus. A great purchase for a Dex-Monkey, it makes DEX a more profitable purchase.
[*:1h9c4iya]The Grappling Finesse feat lets you substitute your DEX bonus for your STR bonus when calculating your Grapple score, and lets you keep your Dodge bonus while grappling. Another good buy if you're planning on playing a Dex-Monkey. It also makes DEX more points-efficient.

Intelligence: Costs 2PP/+1 bonus. Skills cost 1PP / 4 Ranks, or 1/4PP per rank. 2PP will either get you INT +1, or 8 skill ranks. So you need to care about at least 8 INT-based skills to break even on Intelligence. If you have more than 8 INT skills, buying INT is more efficient than buying skill ranks.

[*:1h9c4iya]The Eidetic Memory and/or Jack of All Trades feats can combine with a high Intelligence to save you points.
[*:1h9c4iya]The Master Plan feat basically turns your Intelligence bonus into an Aid action for all your allies during any combat situation you've had time to prepare for. This feat lets high-INT characters get more bang for their buck.
[*:1h9c4iya]The Speed of Thought feat from Masterminds Manual lets you substitute your INT bonus for your DEX bonus when calculating Initiative, which can save you a few points if you're an Intelligence-based character.

Wisdom: Costs 2PP/+1 bonus. Skills cost 1PP / 4 ranks, or 1/4PP per rank. Will Save costs 1PP/rank. So Wisdom is an efficient purchase if you care about at least 4 WIS-based skills.

2PP = WIS +1 = 1PP Will Save + 1PP / +1 to 4 Skills.

Charisma: Like Intelligence, Charisma only affects Skills. Costs 2PP/+1 bonus. Skills cost 1PP / 4 ranks, or 1/4PP per rank. So, like INT, you need at least 8 CHA-based skills to break even on Charisma. The CHA skills in the game are Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Info, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Perform. That's 6 skills, plus Perform and it's array of sub-skills. So if you plan on taking all 6 of those skills as well as at least 2 different types of Perform, then Charisma is an efficient purchase for you.

In other words, Charisma will never be an efficient purchase. Go ahead and take as much as you need to accurately reflect your character concept, and try not to think about the points you're technically wasting. I have a high-Charisma character myself.

[*:1h9c4iya]The Inspire feat is CHA-dependent, in regard to the number of allies you can boost. If you plan on taking this feat, a higher Charisma score will pay off for you.
[*:1h9c4iya]The Well-Informed feat basically turns your Gather Information score into an all-purpose Knowledge Skill for recognizing people. This can make Charisma pay off better for you.

Meeting Caps: Skills ranks are capped at PL+5. A PL10 character, for example, can only have 15 ranks in a Skill. So if you want a Skill bonus higher than PL+5, you need to fill out the rest of it with the Ability bonus. This is a good reason to buy up an Ability even if you won't break even on the cost.

Skill Feats

Second Chance: Pay close attention to the wording of this feat: Choose a particular hazard, such as falling, being tripped, triggering traps, being mind controlled (or affected by another specific power, such as Blast with the fire descriptor), or a particular skill with consequences for failure. If you fail a saving throw against that hazard or a check with that skill, you can make another roll immediately and use the better of the two results.

Did you catch that? If you choose Second Chance with a Skill, you get to re-roll any failed check with that Skill. Period. Anyone who's ever burned a Hero Point knows how powerful re-rolls are in this game. If you have a Skill that's important to your concept which you can't avoid rolling for, then Second Chance is worth it's weight in gold.

Skill Mastery: Remember what I said above about Taking 10 whenever you can get away with it? Well, you can't Take 10 "if distracted or under pressure (such as in a combat situation)." Unless you have Skill Mastery, that is.

Look at your character sheet. Are there 1-4 Skills there you'd like to be able to Take 10 with stressful situations, to reliably hit those (rank+10)DC tasks, or to just avoid rolling a "1" in a contested roll? If the answer is "Yes," then take Skill Mastery and never look back.

Note that you cannot Take 10, even with Skill Mastery, on the following checks (this list is not necessarily exhaustive): Aid, Concentrate, Master Plan.

Ultimate Skill: I rarely choose this feat. Anyone can burn a Hero Point anytime to re-roll a failed roll, including a Skill check, and be guaranteed at least a 10 on the die. Before taking this feat, ask yourself how often, if ever, you will face a situation where burning a HP for Ultimate Skill will achieve something that just burning a HP for a standard re-roll won't.

If you do buy this feat, here's how I'd set it up: Choose one of the Skills with a DC chart that goes sky-high. Examples include Computers, Escape, Disable Device, and certain Crafts and Knowledges used for Artificer/Inventor/Ritualist. Buy up your Skill bonus high enough to reliably take 10 on a task somewhere in the middle to the high end of the DC chart, and high enough to hit the absolute highest difficulty on a roll of a 20.

For example: Computers. If this is your thing, you could buy it up to +20, so you can take 10 and reliably hit the DC30 tasks, then take Ultimate Skill (Computers) for the (hopefully rare) times when you need to pull off the DC40 stunts.

N/A · August 22, 2009

At Geez3r's request, I've taken a look at his villain Malice. Geez has an exceptionally good grasp of the M&M rules, so as I suspected, I didn't have much to do here.

Overall, this build is solid. Very solid.

The Ability purchases show that Geez can obviously do math. He doesn't have enough relevant skills to make Dexterity, Wisdom, or Charisma profitable, so he didn't buy much of any ranks in any of them. He has 8 Intelligence-based skills, the bare minimum necessary to make Intelligence profitable. So he could buy his INT score up or down, whatever suits his concept, with no change in point value (assuming he keeps his current skill levels).

The saving throw allotments are very savvy - with a high Toughness tradeoff, and good Fortitude and Will saves, Area effects aren't much of a concern. And the suit has Strength-enhancing APs that make it strong enough to bust out of any Snares. So he chose Reflex Save as a "dump stat," knowing it wouldn't hurt him much, if at all.

Attack +8 is high enough that he can hit reliably in melee combat without Aid or Surprise on his side, and All-Out Attack (combined with a high Toughness) helps. Attack +10 / Damage +12 is an interesting choice with his Autofire cannon. Since Autofire boosts damage based on a high Attack roll, most people who use it take a tradeoff in favor of Attack over Damage, or no tradeoff. But what Geez has done here is set his base Damage high enough to overcome most Impervious foes he'll face, while leaving his Attack still high enough to benefit from Autofire (I'm guessing) about half the time or more. And again, All-Out Attack + High Toughness combines with this setup very well.

As far as the Normal CON / Enhanced CON split goes, I'd give him a "real" CON of 14 (+2) rather than 12 (+1). Just in case he does get bushwhacked outside his armor, +2 is better than +1.

Skills:

Most of what I said in the Skills article applies here.

Computers 8 (+14): I would take it to +15, possibly +20.

Craft (electronics) 8 (+14): I would take it to +15.

Craft (mechanical) 8 (+14): I would take it to +15.

Disable Device 5 (+11): I would drop it to +10, or, preferably, raise it to +15 or +20.

Knowledge (business) 5 (+11): I would drop it to +10.

Knowledge (civics) 8 (+14): I would take it to +15.

Knowledge (technology) 8 (+14): I would take it to +15, maybe +20. Inventions!

Medicine 3 (+4): I would take it to +5. Apart from Surgery, the Medicine DCs are all in the 10-15 range, mostly 15. +4 will let him hit those half the time. +5 will let him just take 10 and hit them all the time.

Search 2 (+8): I would take this to +10. It is opposed more rarely than Notice, so you're likely to be facing static DCs in increments of 5.

Sense Motive 8 (+9): I would take this to +10.

With his Autofire attack, All-Out Attack, and tradeoffs in favor of Damage over Attack, you might want to consider increasing his Bluff and/or Intimidate score and making regular use of the Feint maneuver. Stripping away your foe's Dodge bonus would greatly increase your damage potential. You could also buy Enhanced Acrobatics for his battlesuit, and "Aerobatic Bluff" as a power feat.

Feats:

[*:13jq15ds]Luck 2 would help out with Connected and Inventor, in addition to all the usual usefulness of Hero Points and Extra Effort.
[*:13jq15ds]See

the Skills article for commentary on skill-related feats.

The Battlesuit:

[*:13jq15ds]Immunity to Entrapment covers grapples and Snares. His Super-STR alt-mode is strong enough to break out of Snares, and gives him a very high Grapple score. Why bother with this Immunity?
[*:13jq15ds]"Impervious Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious 6)," and "Impervious Toughness 2." Why not just "Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious)?"
[*:13jq15ds]Knockback: Just some math errors here. Ground-Pounder Mode has Toughness +14 (Impervious 11). So the base Knockback score is 11. Then you halve the non-Impervious Toughness, which is 3. 3 / 2 = 1.5, rounded down = +1. Immovable 3 adds +3. That totals out to a Knockback score of 15, not 14.
[*:13jq15ds]Communication: 4 ranks only gets you 1 mile. You might want to consider rank 5 (5 miles), or even rank 6 (20 miles, giving you a range that would cover the entire city, from any point to any point).
Why does he have Radio Communication, but no Radio Super-Sense?

N/A · August 22, 2009

Ecalsneerg asked me to look over his Captain Ersatz Green Arrow, Arrowhawk.

Again, there isn't much to say. Ecal knows the system pretty well, and his build shows it. For the most part, Arrowhawk is very good at what he does.

Abilities:

He has 3 DEX skills, enough to break even on his high DEX. He takes a loss on INT and WIS, so I assume these levels are for concept reasons. (And CHA, but everyone takes a loss on CHA).

Combat:

His Defense is undercapped by 1 point. That's the only area where he doesn't meet PL caps.

Saves:

These feel a little low for a Costumed Detective. I would raise that Will Save especially.

Skills:

See my post on Skills for general commentary.

Acrobatics 2 (+7): I would drop this to +5 or raise it to +10.

Bluff 6 (+8)

Climb 13 (+16, Skill Mastery): I would drop this to +15. The penalty for a slippery surface or a fast climb is -5. Taking 10 with Skill Mastery and +16 isn't going to get him anywhere that +15 wouldn't.

Craft [Mechanical] 13 (+15, Skill Mastery)

Drive 8 (+13): I would raise this to +15.

Gather Information 14 (+16): I would consider dropping this to +15.

Intimidate 13 (+15)

Investigate 4 (+6): I would drop this to +5. That lets him Take 10 to collect evidence. His skill level isn't anywhere near high enough to analyze evidence, and he doesn't have a laboratory anyway.

Knowledge [Physical Sciences] 5 (+7): I would raise this to +10.

Knowledge [streetwise] 14 (+16): I would drop this to +15.

I wouldn't bother with the ranks in "Profession (Scientist)" at all. I think his Knowledge skills should cover that.

I'm surprised to see a costumed detective with no ranks in Escape.

Craft (Mechanical) is a surprisingly good fit for Skill Mastery, because of the jury-rigging rules (see the description of Craft in the rulebook).

Feats:

With such a high Intimidate, why doesn't he have Startle?

I'd buy a second rank of Quick Draw, so he can draw his bow and knock an arrow both as Free Actions. Then again, if he's shooting someone from a distance, he may not need the move action he'll be spending to knock the arrow.

I like how you bought one rank of Improved Critical as a normal feat and wrapped one up in the weapon. That's how I would have done it.

I assume from the lack of the Ranged Pin feat that you decided to just pop a Hero Point for it when it comes up rather than actually buy it. That's what I would have done, too.

Powers:

Autofire on his bow-&-arrow Blast looks to only be purchased to rank 3. The first tier of Autofire caps out at a damage bonus equal to 1/2 the power rank. 3 / 2 = 1. So he could get a maximum of +1 damage from it. Since the total damage for that power is +6, he could buy up to 6 ranks of Autofire, raising the maximum bonus damage to +3.

I question exactly how useful extending the maximum range of the bow really is.

Your Obscure AP is only using 12PP of the 18PP available. Independent is a +0 extra. You could add the Total Fade extra, so the entire cloud persists until the duration is up. Or the Slow Fade feat. Or you could have it Obscure another sense type, such as Olfactory.

I'm not impressed with Fatigue as an exotic attack power. I prefer Stun or Paralyze.

Geez3r · August 22, 2009

Thanks for the once over Shaen!

Now, let's talk shop.

Attack +8 is high enough that he can hit reliably in melee combat without Aid or Surprise on his side, and All-Out Attack (combined with a high Toughness) helps. Attack +10 / Damage +12 is an interesting choice with his Autofire cannon. Since Autofire boosts damage based on a high Attack roll, most people who use it take a tradeoff in favor of Attack over Damage, or no tradeoff. But what Geez has done here is set his base Damage high enough to overcome most Impervious foes he'll face, while leaving his Attack still high enough to benefit from Autofire (I'm guessing) about half the time or more. And again, All-Out Attack + High Toughness combines with this setup very well.

Right you are. This also ties in with managing resources. Malice's weapons array is expensive. Buying attack is cheaper than upgrading the array. So when I have a small trade-off, or none at all, I get the best of both worlds. My high attack is useful against fast, agile targets, while the Extras in my array augment the damage. Against slower targets, I can milk the auto-fire for all it's worth, and I don't need to All-out attack and open myself up to punishment

As far as the Normal CON / Enhanced CON split goes, I'd give him a "real" CON of 14 (+2) rather than 12 (+1). Just in case he does get bushwhacked outside his armor, +2 is better than +1.

He's pretty hosed no matter what he does if he's caught. He's PL 4 out of the armor, that means he can be taken down by pretty much any cop. But I have to admit, I've been thinking about bumping up his base abilities.

Skills, pretty much none of them are up to where I would want them to be. But, your article on stills has helped me redefine where exactly I want them to be. Great Tips!

With his Autofire attack, All-Out Attack, and tradeoffs in favor of Damage over Attack, you might want to consider increasing his Bluff and/or Intimidate score and making regular use of the Feint maneuver. Stripping away your foe's Dodge bonus would greatly increase your damage potential. You could also buy Enhanced Acrobatics for his battlesuit, and "Aerobatic Bluff" as a power feat.

Bluff and Intimidate are slated for improvement, and I should probably milk those a bit more. But I would be against the Aerobatics. The suit is very much designed like a tank. Maneuverability is nice and all, but not what it's designed for.

Feats, again, great suggestions.

Immunity to Entrapment covers grapples and Snares. His Super-STR alt-mode is strong enough to break out of Snares, and gives him a very high Grapple score. Why bother with this Immunity?

This is to prevent being "locked down". I intend to buy this as a full Immunity in the near future. Due to his low Defense and low Reflex, Snares are going to work on him pretty much every time they're used. Now, as you said he could probably break out of them easily, but he has to wait until his turn comes up in order to do so, and in the meantime, his defense suffers. Furthermore, because of my relatively small offensive Trade-off, Malice doesn't have the high Strength necessary for an instant break out. Meaning, he is forced into his Super-Strength form, and he is forced to burn a standard action breaking out. Two heroes working in tandem could make quite the combo out of this. Also, if he fails the reflex save by 5 or more, he's helpless, coup de grace's hurt, and his Hard to Lose Device is in jeopardy.

Also, his Grapple modifier is either in the gutter, or merely respectable. A grapple monster can lock him down pretty easily, and again forces him to change Array settings. I just want to avoid all of that.

"Impervious Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious 6)," and "Impervious Toughness 2." Why not just "Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious)?"

I've actually suggested that edit numerous times. Any time I've said "And the new battle suit will look like this..." I've done just that.

Knockback: Just some math errors here. Ground-Pounder Mode has Toughness +14 (Impervious 11). So the base Knockback score is 11. Then you halve the non-Impervious Toughness, which is 3. 3 / 2 = 1.5, rounded down = +1. Immovable 3 adds +3. That totals out to a Knockback score of 15, not 14.

Good eye.

Communication: 4 ranks only gets you 1 mile. You might want to consider rank 5 (5 miles), or even rank 6 (20 miles, giving you a range that would cover the entire city, from any point to any point).
Why does he have Radio Communication, but no Radio Super-Sense?

It's yet another thing on the list.

I don't need the supe-sense. "You can receive Communication of the same medium as your own." So effectively, the Radio Super-Sense is already folded into Communication.

Once again Shaen, thanks for the help.

Dr Archeville · August 22, 2009

*makes edits to Malice's Knocback and Imperviousnesses*

N/A · August 22, 2009

Grimalkin

Power Level: 10

Tradeoffs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage, +2 Defense / -2 Toughness

Drawbacks [-8PP]

Vulnerability (Iron, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Major [+50% DC]) [-2PP]

Weakness (Iron, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate, -1 CON / minute [10 rounds]) [-6PP]

Abilities [40PP]

Strength 16 (+3)

Dexterity 26 (+8)

Constitution 18 (+4)

Intelligence 12 (+1)

Wisdom 12 (+1)

Charisma 26/16 (+8/+3)

Combat [24PP]

Initiative +12

Attack +6 Base, +10 Melee, +12 Claws

Defense +12 (+6 Base, +6 Dodge Focus], +3 Flat-Footed

Damage +3 Unarmed (+5 Sneak Attack), +6 Claws (+8 Sneak Attack)

Grapple +18

Knockback 4, 2 Flat-Footed

Tiny-Sized Combat
Shrinking 8 + All-Out Attack +/-2 + Power Attack +/-4 = Medium-sized combat values!

Initiative +12
Attack +6, +10 Melee, +12 Claws
Damage +3 Unarmed (+5 Sneak Attack), +6 Claws (+8 Sneak Attack)
Defense +12, +3 Flat-Footed
Toughness +8, +4 Flat-Footed
Grapple +10
Knockback -4, -5 Flat-Footed

Saving Throws [11PP]

Toughness +8, +4 Flat-Footed

Fortitude +7 (+4 CON, 3PP)

Reflex +10 (+8 DEX, 2PP)

Will +7 (+1 WIS, 6PP)

Skills [20PP = 80 Ranks]

Acrobat 12 (+20) (Skill Mastery)

Bluff 15 (+23/+18) (Skill Mastery)

Climb 2 (+10)

Diplomacy 2 (+10/+5)

Disguise 0 (+3, +28 Morph)

Gather Information 2 (+10/+5)

Intimidate 0 (+8/+3)

Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+5)

Knowledge (Pop Culture) 4 (+5)

Knowledge (Streetwise) 5 (+6)

Notice 9 (+10)

Search 9 (+10)

Sleight of Hand 4 (+12) (Skill Mastery)

Stealth 12 (+20) (Skill Mastery)

Feats [37PP]

Acrobatic Bluff

Agile Climber

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus (Melee) 4

Attack Specialization (Claws)

Connected

Contacts

Defensive Attack

Defensive Roll 4

Distract (Bluff)

Dodge Focus 6

Elusive Target

Evasion

Grappling Finesse

Improved Initiative

Move-By Action

Luck 2

Power Attack

Setup

Skill Mastery (Acrobat, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Stealth)

Sneak Attack

Takedown Attack 2

Taunt

Uncanny Dodge (Audio)

Powers [39PP]

Immunity 2 (Aging, Cold) [2PP]

Glamour 5 (10PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 5) [15PP]

Base Power: Morph 5 (Any Humanoid, +25 Disguise) [10PP]

Alternate Power: Concealment 4 (All Visual Senses, Feats: Close Range, Selective, Extras: Affects Others, Flaws: Blending) [10PP]

Alternate Power: Elongation 1 (5ft) + Insubstantial 1 (Liquid) + Super-Movement 2 (Slithering, Water-Walking) [10PP]

Alternate Power: Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Area, Flaws: Limited [Fear], Sense-Dependent [Vision]) [10PP]

Alternate Power: Enhanced Charisma 10 [10PP]

Alternate Power: Flight 1 (10mph, Drawbacks: Power Loss [Wings]) + Shrinking 8 (Tiny, Feats: Normal Toughness) [10PP]

Leaping 2 (x5) [2PP]

Strike 3 (Claws, Feats: Alternate Power, Improved Critical 2, Incurable, Mighty) [8PP]

Alternate Power: Create Object 3 (Feats: Precise, Subtle, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Range [Touch]) [6PP]

Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling) [4PP]

Super-Senses 8 (Normal Hearing [Extras: Accurate 2, Extended], Normal Olfactory [Extras: Acute, Extended, Tracking], Normal Vision [Extras: Counters Obscure 2 {Darkness}]) [8PP]

Abilities 40 + Combat 24 + Saving Throws 11 + Skills 20 + Feats 37 + Powers 39 - Drawbacks 8 = 161 Power Points

EDIT: I added +4PP to the build, to take into account Grim's coming awards for August. I bought a couple ranks of Luck, and added the Sprite Form and All-Out Attack feats.

N/A · August 22, 2009

Grimalkin was a challenge. I spoke with Heritage at length on the subject. When I asked him to describe the core concept of Grim, he added to my "Jewish Pixie Ninja" with "Quick, agile, nimble, sneaky, able to get in and out of any place, find and/or take whatever she needs to, not the best fighter but able to take care of herself, more of an infiltrator than a warrior. Grimalkin means a witch's cat, a familiar. She's catlike." (paraphrased). Her Shapeshift ability was a reflection of the fact that, like other faeries, her body is composed, not of flesh, but of Glamour, a magical energy she can reshape at will.

I took that core concept, and did a complete overhaul of the character. Here is my proposed rebuild, with extensive annotations:

Grimalkin
Power Level: 10
Tradeoffs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage, +2 Defense / -2 Toughness

Less strong, tough, powerful, more agile, nimble, graceful.

Drawbacks [-8PP]

Vulnerability (Iron, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Major [+50% DC]) [-2PP]

Weakness (Iron, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate, -1 CON / minute [10 rounds]) [-6PP]

The damage of any Iron-based attack goes up to 150% of its original value. So a +10 damage Iron attack, which would normally be DC25, becomes +15 damage, or DC30.

She loses 1 point of CON for every minute she's exposed to the presence of iron objects. So in 18 minutes (180 combat rounds), she dies.

Abilities [40PP]
Strength 16 (+3)
Dexterity 26 (+8)
Constitution 18 (+4)
Intelligence 12 (+1)
Wisdom 12 (+1)
Charisma 26/16 (+8/+3)

The Charisma has 2 values because one of the APs in her main power array is Enhanced Charisma (see below). Most of the time, her CHA will be 16. Heritage's portrayal of her is just too damned charming for her not to have at least 16+ CHA.

Her 26 Dexterity puts her just outside the range of human achievement, marking her as slightly superhuman in that regard.

Her high physical Abilities mark her as someone in top-notch physical condition. She isn't a powerhouse, but she's strong for her size, and very healthy.

Combat [24PP]
Initiative +12
Attack +6 Base, +10 Melee, +12 Claws
Defense +12 (+6 Base, +6 Dodge Focus], +3 Flat-Footed
Damage +3 Unarmed (+5 Sneak Attack), +6 Claws (+8 Sneak Attack)
Grapple +18
Knockback 4, 2 Flat-Footed

Most of these values are derived from traits further down the sheet.

To hit her PL caps in combat, Grim needs to attack with her claws, and she needs to make surprise attacks. So she needs to attack from a place of Stealth and/or Concealment, or make Feints against her foes in combat (which she can do with either Acrobat or Bluff).

She has a decently high Initiative, so she'll be up toward the top of the combat order more often than not.

Her Grapple score is also surprisingly high. But she really isn't built to thrive in grapples - she isn't strong enough to do decent damage, or to throw a foe very far. So she's better off just using it to escape from other people's grapple attempts.

Saving Throws [11PP]
Toughness +8, +4 Flat-Footed
Fortitude +7 (+4 CON, 3PP)
Reflex +10 (+8 DEX, 2PP)
Will +7 (+1 WIS, 6PP)

These aren't as high as I'd like, but they're still better than her current saves. Since Heritage described her as being agile, I made Reflex her highest value. I'd recommend putting some more points into these ASAP.

Skills [20PP = 80 Ranks]
Acrobat 12 (+20) (Skill Mastery)
Bluff 15 (+23/+18) (Skill Mastery)
Climb 2 (+10)
Diplomacy 2 (+10/+5)
Disguise 0 (+3, +28 Morph)
Gather Information 2 (+10/+5)
Intimidate 0 (+8/+3)
Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Pop Culture) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Streetwise) 5 (+6)
Notice 9 (+10)
Search 9 (+10)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+12) (Skill Mastery)
Stealth 12 (+20) (Skill Mastery)

These also aren't quite as high as I would have liked. I'd recommend dumping a few more points here when you get the chance.

With some input from Heritage, I got rid of the Computers and Disable Device skills. For infiltration, this version of Grim relies on her Acrobat, Bluff, and Stealth skills, and her Morph and Insubstantial powers.

Acrobat +20: She can take 10 with Skill Mastery and hit DC30. If she rolls, she could hit DC40.

[*:305fq85l]Assuming her Wall-Crawling power fails, she can hit the highest difficulties on the Balance chart. She can move across an uneven, angled, slippery surface less than 2 inches wide without falling.
[*:305fq85l]She can increase her jumping distance by +15 feet (15 over DC15).
[*:305fq85l]Assuming her Slow Fall power fails, she can reduce the effective height of a fall by 25 feet (25 over DC5).
[*:305fq85l]She effectively has the Instant Up feat, since it's DC20 to stand up from prone as a Free Action instead of a Move Action.
[*:305fq85l]She can hit 30 with an Acrobatic Feint (creating a surprise attack) or Trick, 25 if she does it as a Move Action instead of a Standard Action. If she decides to roll instead of taking 10, she can potentially hit 40 with a Standard, 35 with a Move. (see "Acrobatic Bluff" under her Feats below)

Bluff +23/+18: She can take 10 with Skill Mastery and hit DC33/28. If she rolls, she could hit DC43/38.

[*:305fq85l]She can lie very well. Not many people have a Bluff or Sense Motive skill high enough to oppose a +18, let alone a +23.
[*:305fq85l]She can resist Bluff with her own Bluff score, so she isn't very easy to lie to, either. You don't play a player.
[*:305fq85l]Taking 10, she can hit 33/28, 28/23 if she does it as a Move Action, on the following combat maneuvers: Diversion (lets her make a Stealth check to hide while being observed), Feint (creates a surprise attack), Taunt (see "Taunt" under her feats below), and Trick.
[*:305fq85l]She can take 10 and hit 33/28 with Distract (see "Distract" under her feats below).

Climb +10 is high enough to make sure she isn't completely helpless if her Wall-Crawling power fails. She can take 10 and scale "an uneven surface with just a few narrow handholds and footholds, such as a coarse masonry wall or a sheer cliff face with a few crevices and small toeholds." As long as it isn't "slippery." If she rolls, she could get high enough to scale anything short of a perfectly smooth surface, even if it's slippery.

Diplomacy +5 isn't anything to write home about. But it jumps to +10 when she activates her Enhanced Charisma AP. That's enough to take 10 and push NPCs one step up the Reaction Table: she can make a Hostile foe Unfriendly, an Unfriendly foe Indifferent, an Indifferent foe Friendly, or a Friendly foe Helpful. It's also enough to take 10 and hit DC20, getting some pretty decent favors out of her Connected feat. If she rolls, she could get as high as DC30. DC25 would be enough to secure the greatest favors, or to push NPCs two steps friendlier.

Gather Information: +5 isn't anything special. Normally, neither is the +10 she gets when her Enhanced Charisma is active. However, as you'll see down below, she has the Contacts feat. This allows her to take 20 on Gather Information checks, which is normally not allowed. At DC30, she can learn even the most sensitive of information, or find someone even in the largest metropolis (at GM's discretion and the needs of the plot, of course). If she's searching for someone who's trying to keep a low profile, they get their Stealth or Knowledge (Streetwise) as a bonus to the DC, so she can't find someone in Freedom City if they have either skill above +10 (keep in mind, though, that they have to be keeping a low profile).

Intimidation is one of her weaknesses. Intimidation can be resisted with Intimidate, Sense Motive, or Will. So she's best off just using her +7 Will Save, since her 16 Charisma only gives her an effective +3 Intimidate, and her 12 Wisdom only gives her a +1 Sense Motive. If her Enhanced Charisma AP is active, she can resist with her effective +8 Intimidate. Either way, intimidate is the one Interaction method she is vulnerable to.

I wanted Knowledge (Streetwise) to be higher, but I just couldn't scrape up the points. I figure the in-character explanation for her low score can be that she's lost touch with "The Street" since leaving town and not having to squat. I'd recommend buying this up, both for conceptual and mechanical reasons.

Notice and Search +10 are decent. She should be able to find whatever she's looking for.

Sleight of Hand +12 is enough to take 10 with Skill Mastery and hit 22. That covers the DC20 to pickpocket someone, and would require a DC22 Notice check to spot the pickpocketing or any small items she tries to palm. If she's up against a foe with a high Notice, she should go ahead and roll (and pray). This skill should be at least 3 points higher.

Stealth +20 is really good. Not many people have a Notice, Search, or Gather Information high enough to beat that. She should get off a Surprise Attack at the start of every battle.

Feats [37PP]
Acrobatic Bluff
Agile Climber
All-Out Attack
Attack Focus (Melee) 4
Attack Specialization (Claws)
Connected
Contacts
Defensive Attack
Defensive Roll 4
Distract (Bluff)
Dodge Focus 6
Elusive Target
Evasion
Grappling Finesse
Improved Initiative
Luck 2
Move-By Action
Power Attack
Setup
Skill Mastery (Acrobat, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Stealth)
Sneak Attack
Takedown Attack 2
Taunt
Uncanny Dodge (Audio)

34PP seems like a lot, until you realize that the Attack Focus, Attack Specialization, and Dodge Focus should be considered points spent on Combat. That drops it down to 25PP, perfectly reasonable for a ninja-type.

[*:305fq85l]Acrobatic Bluff lets her make Feint and Trick maneuvers with Acrobat instead of Bluff. Steve Kenson has ruled before that foes Immune to Interaction Skills are not immune to Acrobatic Bluff.
[*:305fq85l]Agile Climber lets her substitute her DEX bonus for her STR bonus when calculating her Climb skill (+8 vs +3).
[*:305fq85l]Contacts lets her take 20 on Gather Information checks, and lets her make them much faster.
[*:305fq85l]Defensive Attack lets her take up to -5 Attack to gain up to +5 Defense for a round. If she's in a combat situation and she's planning on using her Standard Action for something other than attacking, she can use this to boost her Defense to +17, making her very difficult to hit.
[*:305fq85l]I don't Defensive Roll, but it fits the concept, and I was hard-pressed for another way to pump up her Toughness save.
[*:305fq85l]Distract lets her take a Standard Action to make a Bluff check against a foe's Bluff, Sense Motive, or Will. If she wins, they're Dazed - they keep their Dodge bonus, but they can't take any actions. Even with the cumulative +1 bonus they get to resist subsequent attempts, a +23/18 bonus is higher than most foes can hope to resist. She could conceivably keep a foe locked down for the entire battle.
[*:305fq85l]Elusive Target gives foes a -8 penalty (instead of the usual -4) to make ranged attacks against her while she's in melee. So keep her in melee as much as you can.
[*:305fq85l]Evasion lets her take no damage from an Area attack on a successful Reflex save instead of half damage. It's one of the best feats in the game.
[*:305fq85l]Grappling Finesse lets her substitute her DEX bonus for her STR bonus when calculating her Grapple score. That will make it easier for her to resist grapple attempts. With her Insubstantial power (see below), she could automatically slip out of any grapples. But it's best if she can avoid them in the first place. However, that's not why I selected this feat. I selected this feat because it also lets her avoid being caught flat-footed while grappled. Even if she's grappled, she gets full use of her Dodge Focus and Defensive Roll, against all foes (not just the one she's grappled with).
[*:305fq85l]Move-By Action suits her acrobatic, nimble fighting style. She can split up her move, taking some of it before she attacks and some of it after. The strategic possibilities are endless.
Example: Start Move, Attack, Finish Move around a corner or behind cover, up a wall or on a ceiling with your Wall-Crawling. Free Action to activate Concealment. On his action, your foe comes around the corner chasing you, then scratches his head, mumbling "Where'd she go?"
[*:305fq85l]Power Attack is in the same "Best Feats In The Game" club as Evasion. You'll face a lot of foes with Impervious Toughness, which this will help you overcome. And when you surprise attack someone, they lose their Dodge bonus. So you don't need as high an Attack bonus to hit them. So you're free to Power Attack, inflicting even greater damage.
[*:305fq85l]Setup lets Grim transfer the benefit of an Interaction maneuver (anything she does in combat with Bluff, basically) to a friend. So she could Feint a foe and let her friend the +5 Attack / +15 Damage powerhouse make the surprise attack, or Trick a foe into doing something stupid like swinging his sword at her friend who's standing in front of live electrical wires.
[*:305fq85l]Skill Mastery lets her take 10 on her most important skills, even when she's in danger or under stress. Avoiding the randomness of die rolling leads to more consistent success.
[*:305fq85l]Sneak Attack gives her +2 damage, melee or ranged, whenever she surprise attacks a foe. Which, between her Stealth, Concealment, and her Acrobat and Bluff skills, she has the tools to do pretty much every round.
[*:305fq85l]Takedown Attack 2 lets her cleave through groups of Minions like dental floss through cream cheese. If she renders a Minion Unconscious (which happens if a Minion fails a save against her attack at all, by any amount), she gets to move up to 5 feet and attack another Minion. She keeps doing this until she runs out of Minions standing within 5ft of her latest takedown. I think this suits her aforementioned agile fighting style. I can see her jumping and rolling around the battlefield. Takedown Attack is another one of the Best Feats In The Game.
Also keep in mind that Takedown Attack does combo with Move-By Action. She can move into a group of Minions, take them all down, then move again.
[*:305fq85l]Taunt lets her use the Demoralize maneuver with Bluff instead of Intimidate. Feint is usually a better use of her time than Demoralize, but not always (like if the foe is already flat-footed for some other reason). Demoralize basically drops a foe by an effective combat PL for a round. It's equally good on offense and defense.
[*:305fq85l]Uncanny Dodge (Audio) lets her keep her Dodge bonus to Defense even when surprised, as long as the foe surprising her doesn't have Total Concealment to her Hearing.

Heritage had Hide In Plain Sight on Grim, but with this build, she doesn't need it. Her Bluff his high enough to create Distractions when she needs to hide, and with her Blending power, she doesn't need Visual Concealment - she brings her own.

Powers [39PP]

Immunity 2 (Aging, Cold) [2PP]

Glamour 5 (10PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 5) [15PP]

Leaping 2 (x5) [2PP]

Strike 3 (Claws, Feats: Alternate Power, Improved Critical 2, Incurable, Mighty) [8PP]

Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling) [4PP]

Super-Senses 8 (Normal Hearing [Extras: Accurate 2, Extended], Normal Olfactory [Extras: Acute, Extended, Tracking], Normal Vision [Extras: Counters Obscure 2 {Darkness}]) [8PP]

With the powers in particular, I tried to break Grim down to her essence, keeping two things in mind: Catlike, and Faerie. I made sure everything stayed true to that coherent theme, while still leaving her with most of her old capabilities.

Immunity: According to Heritage, her Immunity to Aging comes from the fact that she is a faerie, not a mortal, and Immunity to Cold comes from the fact that faeries tend to live out in the woods, where a human would often die of exposure.

Glamour: This is the "big" power array. She manipulates and reshapes the magical energy of her own body, for a variety of effects.

[*:305fq85l]Morph lets her transform into any humanoid. It's not a Phantasm, not an illusion -the change is physical. But not significant enough to change any of her stats. She can't change Size Level, but Medium size includes creatures ranging from 4-8ft tall. That's a lot of leeway. She can still take the shape of a 4ft tall gnome or sprite, or an 8ft tall ogress. The change in size just isn't significant enough by M&M rules to change her stats. She doesn't get significantly stronger or weaker.
[*:305fq85l]The Concealment power lets her blend in with her surroundings like a chameleon, fooling any kind of vision (Normal Vision, Infravision, anything). Affects Others lets her share this blending with one other person as long as they're touching. Selective lets her vary the Concealment. It can be Partial or Total. It can cover some parts of her body but not others. The Close Range feat means that foes with an Acute sense can get a Notice check to know she's there somewhere (but not her exact location) if they pass within 5ft of her (normally it's 3 Notice increments - 30ft for most people, 300ft for people with Extended Acute senses).
[*:305fq85l]She can collapse her body into liquid, giving her several advantages. Elongation 1 lets her reach 5ft farther than she could while solid. Insubstantial 1 lets her slip through any opening that isn't water-tight, and automatically escape grapple and Snares, while still keeping her Strength. Slithering lets her move at normal speed along the ground. Water-Walking lets her float on the surface of liquids (slithering at full speed), rather than sinking to the bottom or swimming through the middle (which would be at 1/4 speed). This power makes her very difficult to contain, and makes it nearly impossible to keep her out of any given place.
[*:305fq85l]Emotion Control (Fear) lets her temporarily assume a shape so terrifying that the morale of all who see it is potentially broken.
[*:305fq85l]Enhanced Charisma lets her channel the power of her glamour toward charming those around her.
[*:305fq85l]At Heritage's request, I have incorporated a "Sprite Form" into her array. Shrinking 8 drops her to Tiny-sized. Normally, this would give her +2 Attack and +2 Defense, and -8 STR (-4 Damage), leaving her over PL caps on defense and under on offense (she has the Normal Toughness feat, so she doesn't suffer the -2 Toughness for being Tiny). However, if she uses All-Out Attack for -2 Defense / +2 Attack and Power Attack for -4 Attack / +4 Damage, at the same time she uses Shrinking, she can keep the same combat values that she has at Medium-size. So she doesn't need the Normal Strength extra. It's just her Grapple and Knockback modifiers that flush down the crapper.

Leaping: I calculated her jump distances for you already. These distances take into account her STR bonus and Leaping power, and assume that she's taking 10 on Acrobat.

Running Long Jump: 140ft
Standing Long Jump: 70ft
High Jump: 35ft

Strike / Create Object:

[*:305fq85l]I assumed that her claws are magical, probably composed of the same glamour-stuff as her body. I also assumed that her Created Objects are created from the same energy. So it made sense that if she can create claws out of it, she can create other stuff too. As far as mechanical considerations go, I decided to array the Create Object with the Strike instead of the larger Glamour array so she could still make stuff while Morphed, or while she's got the charm turned on.
[*:305fq85l]I gave her claws the Incurable feat because I assumed they're magical in nature, composed of solid glamour. Thus, they could suppress the healing powers of supernatural creatures likely to have Regeneration.
[*:305fq85l]Her Created Objects are Subtle, so they are indistinguishable from "real" objects. However, since they're not Innate, they can be Nullified into nothingness. They are Precise, so she can create complex objects, with moving parts. They have a maximum Toughness of +3 (power rank).

Super-Movement:

[*:305fq85l]With Wall-Crawling, she can climb anything.
[*:305fq85l]With Slow Fall, she always lands on her feet.

Super-Senses:

[*:305fq85l]Normal Vision with the "Counters Obscure (Darkness)" extra is usually represented in shorthand as "Darkvision." Acute Olfactory (M&M rules don't separate the senses of Smell and Taste) is usually listed as "Scent."
[*:305fq85l]Extended senses effectively give you up to +10 on Notice checks. Normally, you take a -1 hit for every 10ft between you and your target. With Extended 1, you take -1 for every 100 feet of distance. Not bad for 1PP.
[*:305fq85l]Grim excels in darkened areas. She has Darkvision, and she has total concealment against everyone who doesn't. Which means all her attacks against them are surprise attacks.

EDIT: Now includes notes on her "sprite form," added at Heritage's request.

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