Ecalsneerg's Expanded Archetypes

[Ecalsneerg]

I have decided to revise my old archetypes thread, starting fresh and anew. I tend not to go into very specific builds, I prefer to build broad archetypes with an eye for people to pick them up, alter a couple of things they don't like for a couple of things they do like, and play them! Alternately, do the same for an adversary. I don't care.

 

Index of Builds:

 

PL10

Archer: Badass Normal with a bevy of trick arrows and badass aim

Battlesuit: Guns. Lots of guns. And some Black Sabbath.

Paragon: Defender of truth, justice and freedom.

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Ecalsneerg

[Ecalsneerg]

Archer
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)
Trade-Offs: +4 Attack / -4 Damage, +4 Defense / -4 Toughness

In Brief: No powers, just a bow, a quiver, and a lot of nerve.

 

 

"Call Kenny Loggins, 'cause you're in the Danger Zone"

 

Powers & Tactics:

Powers? This build doesn't need powers. All it has is one Device, a bow & arrow. With it, he can throw down a variety of effects, from being skilled enough to shoot multiple arrows at multiple people, or being prepared enough to carry a fire extinguisher in an arrow (although it's best to keep that one as a power stunt). You're at your best engaging at range, using your vast utility. You can't go blow for blow with Omega, but you can definitely cover his visor with some form of adhesive arrow goo. You also, while not to the level of people aping Batman over Green Arrow, have a wide and varied skillbase. You can track people, you can drive pursuit vehicles, you know your city. 

 

On the sheet, there is one other superpower, but ultimately, what that allows you to do is not automatically miss attack rolls on a 1. It's less probability control, and more being that supremely good, to be able to hit whatever you aim at. You don't miss. They might be able to dodge quicker than you aim, but you will hit where you aim.

 

Fun fact: A beard is a superpower which costs 0PP

 

Complications:
"I'm Out!": Mutants & Masterminds is not a granular system, it doesn't track ammunition, so running out of it is a Complication at best. And when you're a man with a leather bag of sticks, it's never more relevant than in this situation. You might need to make like Legolas and wander around the aftermath of Helm's Deep looking for your old arrows and hoping they're not all broken.

 

Customisation:

The most obvious thing to do to make this build your own is simple: switch out the trick arrows. You could swap them out for ones you prefer, or just get rid of them and have the more simple arrow-based powers left in the Device, freeing up points for other things. I deliberately overloaded this build with trick arrows to emphasise the sheer versatility of the trick bow, so cutting it down a bit is no big deal!

 

I've also built this archer very much to be Green Arrow, not Batman, or "We Couldn't Get Batman's Rights So Here's Green Arrow" like the CW and Smallville have done in the past. So you could switch out the more dashing elements for some Stealth and Intimidate. 


Abilities: 6 + 12 + 4 + 0 + 10 + 8 = 40PP
Strength: 16 (+3)
Dexterity: 22 (+6)
Constitution: 14 (+2)
Intelligence: 10 (+0)
Wisdom: 20 (+5)
Charisma: 18 (+4)


Combat: 18 + 16 = 34PP
Initiative: +10
Attack: +14 Bows, +12 Ranged, +9 Base
Defense: +14 (+8 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed

Grapple: +12
Knockback: -3/-1


Saving Throws: 4 + 5 + 2 = 9PP
Toughness: +6/+2 (+2 Con, +4 Defensive Roll)
Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4)
Reflex: +11 (+6 Dex, +5)
Will: +7 (+5 Wis, +2)


Skills: 96R = 24PP

Acrobatics 9 (+15)

Bluff 11 (+15))
Drive 9 (+15)

Gather Information 6 (+10)

Knowledge [Streetwise] 10 (+10)

Knowledge [Tactics] 10 (+10)

Language 2 (Mandarin, Russian, native: English)

Notice 15 (+20)

Search 10 (+10)

Sense Motive 10 (+15)

Stealth 4 (+10)

Feats: 26PP

Accurate Attack

Attack Focus (Ranged) 3

Attack Specialization (Bows) 1

Challenge 2 (Fast Feint, Improved Taunt)

Defensive Roll 2 (+4 Toughness)

Dodge Focus 6

Evasion

Improved Initiative

Luck 2

Master Plan 2

Power Attack

Precise Shot

Quick Draw
Taunt

Ultimate Aim

Powers: 2 + 15 = 17PP

Archery Supremacy 1 (Probability Control, Flaws: Limited 2 [Archery]) [2pp] (training)

 

Device 5 (Bow and trick arrows; 25PP device, Flaws: Easy to Lose) [15PP] (bow, technology, training)

Bow And Trick Arrows Array 9 (18PP array, Power Feats: Alternate Power 7) [25DP]

• BE: Blast 3 (PFs: Improved Critical, Improved Range [75' increment], Mighty 3, Progression [750' maximum range]) [12PP] (standard arrows)

• AP:  Blast 3 (Extras: Targetted Area - Shapeable [6], Selective Attack [6], Flaws: Action - Full, Distracting; PFs: Improved Range [75' increment], Mighty 3, Progression [750' maximum range]) [17PP] (rain of arrows)

• AP: Dazzle 6 (sticky goo in the face)

• AP: Drain Toughness 6 (Extras: Affects Objects Only, Ranged) [12PP] LINKED to Blast 6 (Flaws: Limited to electronics only) [6PP] [18PP] (EMP arrow)

• AP: Obscure 6 (visual and olfactory, 250' radius; Extras: Independent) [18pp] (smoke arrows)

• AP: Snare 6 (Extras: Constricting) [18PP] (lasso arrow)

• AP: Super-Movement 4 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall Crawling 2) [8PP]and Speed 1 (10MPH) [1PP] [total 9PP] (grappling line arrow)

• AP: Trip 6 (Extras: Area - Burst, Duration 2 - Sustained, Independent, Opposed by Dexterity, Flaws: Distracting) [18PP] (oil slick arrow)

DC Block

ATTACK              RANGE      SAVE                           EFFECT
Unarmed             Touch      DC 18 Toughness                Damage
Arrow Blast         Ranged     DC 21 Toughness                Damage
Arrow Goo           Ranged     DC 16 Reflex/Fortitude         Blinded
EMP                 Ranged     DC 16 Reflex/DC21 Toughness    Drain Toughness, Damage
Snare               Ranged     DC 16 Reflex                   Entangled, Bound
Trip                Area       Opposed Rank 6 vs Dexterity    Prone

 

Totals: Abilities (40) + Combat (34) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (24) + Feats (26) + Powers (17) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

[Ecalsneerg]

Battlesuit
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

Trade-Offs: None

In Brief: Big man in a suit of armour

 

 

"I'm bringing the party to you."

 

Powers & Tactics:

Well, the powers are pretty obvious. You're in a big-ass metal suit with a load of guns. The missiles are below PL, but that just means you can wipe out the mooks before smashing the leader with energy bolts and super-strength. Or use the flamethrower. You can fly fast, or lift literal tonnes, but you struggle to do both at once due to the dynamic array. You've got a load of cool senses inputting data, you can communicate on radio waves, and I assume there's also some nice climate control in there.

 

Outside the suit, you're 'just' a very smart, very inventive person with the constitution of a heavy drinker. Maybe over time you'll build yourself up so you've got higher Strength and combat stats in your normal identity, but until then, you just have to hope that if you're caught out of the suit in a fight, you can get to it fast. You've also got pretty rubbish exotics to begin with because you didn't particularly train up, you spent all your time building your fifth giant machine gun.

 

Complications:

Scratch In The Paintwork: The thing about a Battlesuit is that while it's good that it's getting smashed up instead of your frail, squishy human body, all your superpowers are in it. Maybe you can't see your HUD after a Dazzle attack blinded you, and can't access your Super-Sense data. Maybe your arm cannon's jammed after the super-strong villain crushed your bracer. Maybe a stray missile destroyed your rocket boot. 

 

Customisation:

The Battlesuit is a very customisable archetype. You can do a lot with it. Want a faster, less armoured suit? You can do that. A slow, clunky suit with bigger guns and armour, but less flight and definitely no ability to dodge? You can do it. Enchanted armour hewn by dwarven crafts at Odin's behest instead of in a corporate lab? Very doable. You can also customise the pilot a lot. This build assumes the billionaire playboy genius philanthropist, but why not the military pilot? The kid donning his grandfather's old prototype? The archaeologist who unearthed an ancient Greek artifact in a cave? You can go a lot of places with the battlesuit, with the pilot and the suit being radically different, and the archetype still being entirely recognisable. 

Abilities: 0 + 0 + 8 + 10 + 0 + 4 = 22PP
Strength: 30/10 (+10/+0)
Dexterity: 10 (+0)
Constitution: 18 (+4)
Intelligence: 20 (+5)
Wisdom: 10 (+0)
Charisma: 14 (+3)


Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP
Initiative: +0
Attack: +10 Blast, +10/+4 melee, +8/+4 Base
Defense: +10/+4 (+4 Base, +6 Shield), +2 Flat-Footed

Grapple: +20/+6, up to +30 with Super-Strength
Knockback: -10/-2


Saving Throws: 3 + 5 + 6 = 14PP
Toughness: +10/+4 (+4 Con, +6 Protection [Impervious 10])
Fortitude: +7 (+4 Con, +3)
Reflex: +5 (+0 Dex, +5)
Will: +6 (+0 Wis, +6)
 

Skills: 60R = 15PP

Computers 10 (+15, ^{Skill Mastery})

Craft [Electronic] 10 (+15, ^{Skill Mastery})

Craft [Mechanical] 10 (+15)

Disable Device 10 (+15, ^{Skill Mastery})

Knowledge [Technology] 10 (+15, ^{Skill Mastery})

Notice 10 (+10)

 

Feats: 6PP

Benefit (Wealth 2)

Inventor

Luck 2

Skill Mastery (Computers, Craft [Electronic] Disable Device, Knowledge [Technology])

Powers: 81PP

All powers have the Technology descriptor

 

Device 20 (100 Power Points, Flaws: Hard to Lose, Power Feats: Restricted [Int 20+]) [81PP] (cool suit of armour)

Armored Weaponry Array 10.5 (21PP Array, Power Feats: Alternate Power 3) [24DP]

• BP: Enhanced Strength 20 [20PP] (servo-motors)

• AP: Blast 10 (Power Feats: Accurate) [21PP] (energy blasts)

• AP: Blast 10 (Extras: Area - Cone, Flaws: Range - Touch) [21PP] (flamethrower)

• AP: Blast 7 (Extras: Area - Burst) [21PP] (missile launcher)

Thrust Ratio Array 6 (24PP array, Power Feats: Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 1) [27DP]

• DBP: Flight 6 (up to 500 MPH) [12PP]

• DAP: Super-Strength 6 (Maximum lifting strength 60; Heavy load: ) [12PP]

 

Communication 5 (radio, 5 mile radius) [5DP]

Enhanced Attack 4 [8DP] (targeting system)

Enhanced Feats 5 (Accurate Attack, Attack Focus [melee] 2, Move-By Action, Power Attack) [5DP] (targeting systems)

Immunity 9 (life support) [9DP] (sealed environment)

Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious 10) [16DP] (armour plating)

Shield 6 [6DP] ("INCOMING!")
Super-Senses 10 (Blindsight [radio; Extended], Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Infravision, Radio, Time Sense) [10DP]

Drawbacks: -4PP

 

 

Normal Identity (full-round to don suit, Frequency: common, Intensity: major) [-4PP]

DC Block

ATTACK              RANGE             SAVE                           EFFECT
Unarmed             Touch             DC 25 Toughness                Damage
Energy Blast        Ranged            DC 25 Toughness (Autofire)     Damage
Missiles            Ranged (Area)     DC 17/22 Reflex/Toughness      Damage
Flamethrower        Touch  (Area)     DC 20/25 Reflex/Toughness      Damage

 

Totals: Abilities (22) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (15) + Feats (6) + Powers (81) - Drawbacks (4) = 150/150 Power Points

[Ecalsneerg]

Paragon
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

Trade-Offs: -4 Defense / +4 Toughness, -4 Attack / +4 Damage

In Brief: The superhero classic

 

 

"It's never as bad as it seems. You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me."

 

Powers & Tactics:

This is a pretty straight-forward flying brick. You're strong, you're tough, you can fly, and can do so in the inhospitable vacuum of space or in the depths of the sea. You don't have much in the way of fancy fighting skills, until you started facing the truly powerful threats, your invulnerability and strength had been plenty to get by with! The Paragon Array is a fairly standard thing a lot of player builds in the past have had; you've always got low ranks in Flight and Super-Strength, but can use the dynamic array to boost your strength to the point you can heft a cargo jet over your head, or speed up to 500MPH. This build is deliberately light on the more exotic paragon powers, no laser vision or energy blasts, but you can use your Super-Breath to scatter mooks like ninepins or put out fires. 

 

You're also pretty inspirational, the gosh-darn embodiment of heroism, valour and hope. You can use your hero points to inspire your allies and to bring them back into the fight. After all, with all you can achieve on your own, just think what you could achieve with a posse of super friends?

 

Complications:

Oh no! Unobtanium, my only weakness! Great powers often come with great weaknesses. Some rare and precious substance can harm you, even through your paragon's physique. If this weakness is especially harmful or especially lethal, it could even be worth adjusting your build to have Power Loss, Vulnerability and Weakness drawbacks; but sometimes having a source of Hero Points is more valuable than a few more PP in your build.

 

Customisation:

The obvious places to customise this build, aside from the weaknesses suggested above, could be more exotic powers. A Distracting Blast could AP off of the Super-Senses, or perhaps your paragon is a font of cosmic energy and can temporarily put that energy into cosmic radiation lasers instead of great physical might. Maybe you lack the same super-senses but can call down lightning bolts? Maybe you lack the senses too, and 'just' have even higher Impervious Toughness and more Super-Strength ranks.

 

There's also whoever wears the cape. Maybe in your secret identity you're a reporter with a scattering of Knowledges and great Gather Information. Maybe you're former military and have higher attack/defence to reflect your training. Perhaps you're not an alien orphan, but just a plain old alien, with knowledge of the galaxy and super-advanced technology. 

Abilities: 6 + 0 + 6 + 0 + 4 + 10 = 26PP
Strength: 38/16 (+14/+3)
Dexterity: 10 (+0)
Constitution: 22/16 (+6/+3)
Intelligence: 10 (+0)
Wisdom: 14 (+2)
Charisma: 20 (+5)


Combat: 4 + 4 = 8PP
Initiative: +0
Attack: +6 melee, +2 Base
Defense: +6 (+2 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +1 Flat-Footed

Grapple: +21/+9, up to +26 with Super-Strength
Knockback: -11/-1


Saving Throws: 4 + 4 + 6 = 14PP
Toughness: +14/+3 (+6/+3 Con, +8 Protection [Impervious 8])
Fortitude: +10/+7 (+6/+3 Con, +4)
Reflex: +4 (+0 Dex, +4)
Will: +8 (+2 Wis, +6)
 

Skills: 32R = 8PP

Diplomacy 10 (+15)

Knowledge [Civics] 5 (+5)

Language 1 (English, native: Spanish)

Notice 8 (+10)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

 

Feats: 18PP

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus (melee) 4

Dodge Focus 4

Fearless

Inspire 3

Leadership

Luck 3

Power Attack

Powers: 22 + 6 + 2 + 7 + 16 + 9 + 3 + 13 = 76

I've elected to not list descriptors for much of this build: the paragon's might could come from his alien physiology, a magic word, psionics, or any number of things!

 

Enhanced Strength 22 [22PP]

Enhanced Constitution 6 [6PP]

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2PP]

Immunity 7 (suffocation, all environmental effects) [7PP]

Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious [+1]) [16PP]

Super-Senses 9 (extended hearing 2 [1000' increments], extended vision 2 [1000' increments], infravision, ultrahearing, X-ray vision, Power Drawbacks: Power Loss: Lead) [9PP]

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy load: 2.4 tons, Power Feats: Super-Breath) [3PP]

 

Paragon Array 5 (10PP array, Power Feats: Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 1) [13PP]

• Dynamic Base Power: Super-Strength 5 (total 6, Heavy load: up to 153.6 tons) [10PP]
• Dynamic Alternate Power: Flight 5 (total 6, 500MPH) [10PP]

DC Block

ATTACK              RANGE             SAVE                           EFFECT
Unarmed             Touch             DC 29 Toughness                Damage
Super-Breath        Touch  (Area)     DC 24/+14 Reflex/opposed Str   Trip

Totals: Abilities (26) + Combat (8) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (8) + Feats (18) + Powers (76) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points