Highwind Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 Player Name: Highwind Character Name: Mala Suerte Power Level: 10 (150/152PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent PP: 2 Progress To Bronze Status: 2/30 In Brief: Personal Trainer who was in the wrong place at the right time and now is being haunted by a luchador ghost with an incredibly strong sense of justice and in possession of a mask of incredible power. Slowly getting in touch with his inner hero. Alternate Identity: Marco Alvarado Identity: Secret Birthplace: Miami, FL, USA Occupation: Personal Trainer at local gym Affiliations: None Family: Very large extended family, most of whom are in Miami or other parts of Florida. He lives with a slightly older cousin, Jesus Alvarado (25, car salesman) in Freedom City. Description: Age: 24 (DoB: November 1986) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Hispanic-American Height: 6'0" Weight: 200 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Marco practically lives in the gym most days, and is in very good shape as a result. He's tall and muscular, but due to a repeatedly-broken nose is actually somewhat ugly. His skin is a light brown, and his black hair is kept very short. He has no identifying scars or tattoos anywhere on his body. When working, he wears a plain-colored shirt, athletic shorts, sneakers, and a black sports watch. Off-hours he wears whatever, but does focus on appearance a lot and tries to dress nice. Usually has a gym bag with his Mala Suerte outfit on him at all times, or has it in his car. The Mala Suerte costume's most important factor is the mask. The fabric is mainly a white color, with a large red star over the face. Around the eyeholes is a yellow outline, and there is a small slit for him to breathe through the nose, but there is no hole for his mouth. He wears red tights with white stripes on the outside and front of either leg, and yellow boots. He also wears a cape with a white outside and red fabric on the inside. He usually takes this off when fighting. Power Descriptions: Mala Suerte has been infused with the power of his predecessor, and possibly the spirit of Lucha Libre itself. When wearing his mask, Mala Suerte gains physical prowess far beyond human capability History: Marco was always an athletic kid. He grew up with several older brothers, and even at a younger age could beat them at soccer, basketball, and football. In High School, he was a Wide Receiver on the football team, and graduated with average grades. He went to a 2-year college, and then got a job as a personal trainer down in Miami. When he was 23, everything changed. For Christmas, he went down to visit extended family in Chetumal, Mexico. When coming back from drinking with his cousin Jesus one night, they heard some commotion in a nearby alleyway. Marco saw a luchador staggering out, having been severely burned and bruised. He was being pursued by several armed men. Marco intervened, and helped fight the rest of these men off. However, the luchador took mortal wounds, and died shortly afterwards. He took off his mask, and handed it to Marco, telling him he had a spirit of lucha, and was a worthy successor. Marco left Mexico shaken. For the next several weeks, he could swear that the mask was talking to him, beckoning for him to put it on. One day, he finally broke and donned the mask. When he did so, Marco felt the incredible power of Lucha surge through him, and heard the voice of the original Mala Suerte clearly. The original Mala Suerte told Marco he must continue his legacy, and use his powers for good. Marco told the spirit that he was stupid and crazy. However, after some convincing from his cousin Jesus, Marco gave it a try. He broke up a conflict between two gangs one night, and attempted to subdue them to get the cops to arrive. That nearly killed him. He's been getting better since, and now has a full costume instead of just wearing the mask over whatever he had on at the moment. A while later, Jesus told Marco he was getting transferred to Freedom City, and offered to have him come as a roommate, since it was kind of the Superhero Capital of the World. He agreed, since he was getting on bad terms with his landlord. He hasn't done any supering since arriving, mainly out of fear of playing with the big leagues. Personality & Motivation: Marco was always taught to mind his own business, not to stick his neck out and get himself killed. "Think of your family before you go risking yourself for a total stranger" he was told. He always went with it. After Mexico and becoming Mala Suerte though, he has begun throwing this out of the window. He doesn't casually risk his life, but has received major injuries protecting others as Mala Suerte. However, the spirit of the mask asks for more. It wants Marco to be Mala Suerte full-time. To live like his predecessor did. Marco doesn't know if he's ready to do that, especially since he's worried about his family being targeted. in his free time, Marco likes working out and going to clubs. He practically lives in the gym he works at. He's skilled at sports, especially soccer. He's a decent cook, mainly because his cousin somehow messes up making Easy Mac. Powers & Tactics: When wearing the Sacred Mask of Mala Suerte, he gains supernatural strength, reflexes, speed, and endurance. He uses wrestling moves when super-ing to disable enemies. Either by the mask's influence or his own inner ham awakening, Mala Suerte is fond of really flashy displays of skill. He has very limited ranged attack abilities, so has to stick with close range combat. Complications: Secret: Identity Secret-Keeper: Marco's cousin Jesus is the only person alive who knows that he is Mala Suerte. He's also been seen in public with Mala Suerte back in Miami. Abilities: 10 + 8 + 10 + 0 + 2 + 4 = 34PP Strength: 30/20 (+10/+5) Dexterity: 24/18 (+7/+4) Constitution: 30/20 (+10/+5) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 16 + 16 = 32PP Initiative: +7/+4 Attack: +8, +10 Unarmed Grapple: +19/+13 Defense: +10 (+8 Base, +2 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed Knockback: -15/-2 Saving Throws: 4 + 3 + 2 = 9PP Toughness: +10/+5 (+10/+5 Con) Fortitude: +14/+9 (+10/+5 Con, +4) Reflex: +10/+7 (+7/+4 Dex, +3) Will: +3 (+1 Wis, +2), +9 (Impervious 6) vs Mental Effects Skills: 52R = 13PP Acrobatics 8 (+15/+12) Bluff 3 (+5) Gather Information 8 (+10) Intimidate 6 (+9) Investigate 4 (+4) Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+4) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 4 (+4) Languages 1 (English [Native], Spanish) Notice 4 (+5) Perform (Lucha Libre) 10 (+12) Feats: 15PP Acrobatic Bluff Assessment Attack Specialiaztion (Unarmed) Blind-Fighting Chokehold Dodge Focus 2 Elusive Target Grapple Finesse Improved Grab Improved Grapple Improved Pin Improved Throw Instant Up Prone-Fighting Powers: 46PP Device 11 (55PP Container, Flaws: Hard-To-Lose, Feats: Restricted 2 [Only usable by Marco or first person to don it upon his death]) [46PP] (Mask of Mala Suerte) Enhanced Constitution 10 [10PP] Enhanced Dexterity 6 [6PP] Enhanced Strength 10 [10PP] Immovable 5 [5PP] Immunity 8 (Bullet Damage, Poison, Suffocation) [8PP] Leaping 5 (x50 [Running Long Jump: 1,000ft]) [5PP] Mind Shield 6 [6PP] Super-Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling) [2PP] Super Strength 1 (Lifting STR 35 [Heavy Load: 1.5 tons], Feats: Groundstrike) [3PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC30/20 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Groundstrike Touch/Area DC20 Reflex 1/2 Effect Contested STR/DEX Prone Abilities (34) + Combat (32) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (14) + Feats (15) + Powers (46) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/152 Power Points
Geez3r Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 Ok, first off, the character should be a bit more heroic. They shouldn't have to be goaded into stopping crime and the like, they should just do it. Likewise, a character here shouldn't "avoid lethal combat whenever possible" they should never enter into lethal combat in the first place. Onto the build itself: Your Strength and Constitution modifiers are wrong. Your modifier is (Score-10)/2 rounded down. So a Strength of 30 for instance has a +10 modifier (30-10)/2 = +10 A Constitution score of 27 has a +8 modifier. Combat: You add your Dexterity modifier to your Initiative. Your Grapple Bonus is calculated incorrectly, we've got a guide on how to calculate it correctly in the Newbie Guide. You will also need to note what this bonus is with and without your powers. Under Defense, there are 2 things you need to be aware of. When we say Dodge Focus, we are referring to the feat "Dodge Focus" not to the Dodge Bonus that buying Defense ordinarily gives you. Secondly, we do Defense differently here; every even point of Defense gives you a +1 flat-footed bonus, where as the book says every odd point gives you the FF defense. Otherwise, it's identical. Your Knockback modifier is calculated incorrectly. It is 1/2 your Toughness + ranks in Immovable (and make the resulting number negative). So in this case, with the mask, your knockback modifier is -15 (-4 from Toughness from Con, -1 from Toughness from Protection, -10 from Immovable) Saves: In addition to correcting Fort and Tough for a different Con modifier as discussed above, you will also want to denote what your saves are with and without the mask enhancing your abilities. Reflex for instance would look like this: Reflex: +4/+8 (+2/+6 Dex, +2) Skills: Firstly, alphabetize the list. Next, I don't think your skill choice is particularly well suited to the character. Climb: With your Enhanced Strength, you are already an excellent climber, and with your Leaping power, there is nothing big enough for you to climb that you couldn't simply leap over. Escape Artist: Escape artist allows you to escape bonds and grapples. You are already better at doing that because of your Enhanced Strength and Super-Strength. Swim & Drive: You can already do these things without putting ranks into them. You can swim and drive a car safely around town without ranks in these skills. Feats: Firstly, alphabetize the list and get rid of the asterisks. Next you will need to drop Attack Specialization (unarmed) 3. I will explain why later. Next, there is no such thing as Takedown Attack 3. You can have at most 2 ranks in this feat. For Uncanny Dodge, you must specify which sense it is keyed to, such as auditory or visual per rank of the feat. You are unlikely to need 3. Lastly, you don't need Equipment for a run of the mill car. If it was somehow better than a standard vehicle, you'd need Equipment for it. Powers: Firstly, it looks like you forgot to account for the cost of the Leaping power in the device. While we're on the subject, with Leaping 11, assuming you had a running start and a Strength of 30, you could jump roughly 20 miles in a single bound. I'm not sure of the scale of power you were going for that, so I'm just going to put that out there. Secondly, for your Super-Strength power feats, each one costs 1pp, not 2pp. Also they deal with your caps which I will talk about later. Next, I'm wondering why you have Swinging and Slowfall. Leaping makes both of those redudant. Lastly, you may want to consider an array. It allows you to have a wide variety of powers, at a cheaper cost, the downside being that they won't all be at full effectiveness at the same time. You for instance may want to put Leaping and Immovable into a Dynamic Array with Super-Strength. There's nothing wrong with the way you have it now, but I'm just giving you options. Finally we come to the issue of your Combat Caps. Shaen has a wonderful example in the Newbie Guide so I'm just going to quote that: Power Level limits. The way you build characters is, in a way, backwards from most other RPGs. With D&D, for example, you start with some traits at base levels, and then you stack as many bonuses on top of them as you can possibly scrounge up. With M&M, your Power Level sets a hard cap for your combat-related traits, which you build up to. Situational modifiers, like specialization with a particular power or weapon, would just stack onto your "base" attack bonuses in D&D. In M&M 2E, your Power Level caps determine the maximum possible effectiveness you can have under the best circumstances - your favored weapon/foes/environment/whatever. Specializing doesn't make you "better" than another character of the same level. Instead, it makes you less effective when you're not "in your element," but it's much cheaper to build. Say I've got a PL 10 character. I could buy his base Attack bonus all the way up to +10, for 20 power points. Or, I could give him +6 base attack for 12pp, the "Attack Focus (Melee)" feat (which gives +1 on all melee attacks), twice, for 2pp, and the "Attack Specialization (Staff)" feat (which gives +2 on all attacks made with a staff) for 1pp. So he gets +10 to attack with his staff, +8 to attack with any melee weapon/power, and +6 for ranged attacks. He's not as generally effective as the guy who just bought +10 base Attack, but he only paid 15pp instead of 20pp. You can see how this thinking is totally backwards from just about every other RPG ever written. So with this character's +8 Attack, Attack Specialization (unarmed) 3, and 30 Strength, they have a +14 to hit with their unarmed attacks, which deal +10 damage, which effectively makes them PL 12 instead of PL 10. You get your PL by averaging those statistics. (14+10)/2 = 12. So to be PL 10, they should add up to 20. That's everything I can think of right now, let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
Highwind Posted August 3, 2011 Author Posted August 3, 2011 A lot of the wonky numbers are from me changing things around during creation and forgetting to fix absolutely everything (his strength and constitution were higher during creation, and I forgot to fix the modifiers). I am used to the creation style and scale of other RPGs like D&D and Legend of the Five Rings, so this has been a bit of a learning experience. The time/scale chart has really thrown me off. I'll get to fixing everything you addressed, but I may also retool Mala Suerte as a PL7 character.
Geez3r Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 If you're thinking about doing that to make it easier, Don't. Making a PL 7 character is harder than making a PL 10 character. Seriously. You have a fixed budget to hit your caps, which takes about 8-10pp per PL, where as you have 15pp per PL. So making a higher PL character means you have more slack, and can therefore be less optimal and come in on budget.
Highwind Posted August 3, 2011 Author Posted August 3, 2011 If you saw the original, I was strained to even hit the 150. I'll take your word for it though.
Highwind Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Redid all the numbers. Altered the mask a bit. Redid Skills and Feats (no equipment now). Made him more Heroic. Removed the nonlethal combat line. Everything is Alphabetical. Replaced asterisks with Bullet-code.
Geez3r Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Much better. Still a few kinks though. Combat: Initiative should be "+4/+7" don't forget about the Enhanced Dexterity which still adds to your initiative. Your Grapple modifier = Attack Bonus + Attack Focus Melee Ranks + Strength Bonus + Super-Strength Ranks; So therefore you should have a +13, +19 bonus, without and with powers respectively Knockback is -2, -10, as you round down for 1/2 toughness Lastly, you currently aren't hitting PL 10 caps defensively. With a +8 Defense and a +10 Toughness, you are currently PL 9 instead of 10. I won't hold up the approval process because of that, but we suggest players hit PL 10 caps. After that point, caps don't matter all that much.
Highwind Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Okay. -Fixed initiative, grapple, and knockback numbers -removed 1 PP of skill points and improved overrun, replaced with Dodge Focus 2, bringing my defense/toughness up to cap. Thanks for dealing with my derp.
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