Help creating my first character

[Basarin]

Hello, everyone.

I'm in the middle of making my first Mutants and Masterminds character build, and I'll be frank in that I really am not 100% sure on what I'm doing. That being said, I submit what I DO have for the rest of you all to take a look at, and I value any opinion or criticism that any of you have.

For starters, I'll begin with a rough character background. My character (Ian Smith) is an AEGIS reconnaissance pilot. All his life he wanted to become a superhero, inspired mainly by Paragons such as Captain Thunder. His body stubbornly remained typically mortal, but he still kept the dream of wanting to fly fresh in his head. He did the next best thing; he trained to become a pilot instead and joined AEGIS as a means to that end. He turned out to be quite talented at the job, and he was assigned to the reconnaissance flights to give AEGIS ground personnel early warning about super powered threats in Freedom City; having a good pilot that both could report in and make it out in (more or less) one piece was always an asset.

This links into his origin. I am still a bit undecided on which villain organization (or a single supervillain in an arms deal with another group like the Foundry) AEGIS was fighting at the time, but during said battle, Ian will be shot down and taken prisoner. He will be held in a temporary base or safehouse, but he'll be rescued, either by AEGIS personnel or nearby heroes recruited by AEGIS to do the same thing. In that safehouse, though, he saw the jetpack prototype that's basically going to become his trademark, and during the chaos of the rescue operation, he'll break free, put on the jetpack, and hit the on switch without looking back. After it's all said and done, AEGIS would put him back on active duty, but as a superhero rather than a pilot. Ian doesn't need much convincing, since now he actually gets to fly around like he dreamed as a kid AND keep getting a paycheck for it. (*superhero handle still under consideration*)

So that's that for his rough character background. Now here's for his probably cringe-inducing stats I've come up with.

Abilities: (26 points total)

- STR: 12 (2 points)

- DEX: 18 (8 points)

- CON: 14 (4 points)

- INT: 12 (2 points)

- WIS: 18 (8 points)

- CHA: 12 (2 points)

Saving throws: (8 points total)

- Toughness: +2 (+2 w/Costume, +5 w/Force Field active)

- Fortitude: +2

- Reflex: +8 (4 points)

- Will: +8 (4 points)

Skills: (6 points total)

- Piloting 8 (2 points)

- Survival 4 (1 point)

- Notice 4 (1 point)

- Concentration 4 (1 point)

- Computers 4 (1 point)

- (May add knowledge here, but not sure on that just yet)

Feats: (14 points total)

- Diehard (Free)

- Equipment (Free? Must confirm later)

- Attack Focus 5 (5 points, Ranged attacks)

- Favored Environment 5 (5 points, Air)

- Improved Defense 2 (2 points)

- Uncanny Dodge 2 (2 points, Visual)

Powers: (points total) (this section is still being worked on; fluff and flavor text will follow as soon as I have a firmer idea of how this works)

Costume (Protection 2, 2 points)

Jetpack, Device 3 (12 points, Jetpack, hard to lose)

- Flight 5 (200 MPH, 10 points)

- Force Field 5 (5 points)

Blaster Pistol, Device 5) (15 points, Easy to lose) (this part is still under construction)

- Feats: restricted 1 (finger printed)

- Traits: blast 10 (feats: Alternate Power - Area of Effect)

- Complications

- Recharge (must be plugged into the jetpack)

Helmet (Device, hard to lose) (this part is also still under construction)

- Datalink

- (Currently debating what else the helmet gives)

Combat: (24 points total)

- Attack: +6 (12 points)

- Defense: +6 (12 points)

The premise behind this guy is that, well, he wears a jetpack, helmet, and jumpsuit/costume, flies around and zaps criminals with his raygun; I also plan on giving him extra tools to help him out in other scenarios. I want to make him generally a dodgey type, being able to maneuver his way out of incoming attacks while also giving return fire. His jetpack also contains a force field generator, so if he can't dodge it, the shield can take the brunt of it for him.

The raygun is where I'm not too sure on how to design power-wise. Normally it's a blaster pistol; however, its alternate power is that he can hook it up to his jetpack and charge it up for an area of effect attack, basically making it a less extreme version of Men in Black's "Noisy Cricket" gun. The catch there is that he has to spend time to charge it. His helmet is also there for advanced targeting, but I'm thinking it would also give some other benefits (more saving throws? Unsure). And people mentioned in the chat that I could add extra effort to the devices themselves? I would like more input on that.

So there's what I've got so far. I'm sure there's a bevy of stuff I haven't thought of, but I ask anyone out there to take a look and to lend me your thoughts. Thanks, all!