[Learning] Mutants & Masterminds – Character Creation and Power Design Question
June 23, 2009
So far, my attempts to build a character in M&M have been sort of going smoothly, with a couple of hitches. While I’m no stranger to d20, I can’t help but feel just a little bit lost as to what would constitute decent values for a PL10 game. As such, I feel that I’m sort of groping around in the dark for now.
I figure a couple of the M&M veterans in the community will be better able to tell me just what an “Average” stat is like when it comes to powers (like Blast… how many Ranks is a decent Blast? How much is too little?)
That said, I’ve been trying to work my way through building my girlfriend’s old HERO character, Vogue.
Vogue is a character with super-strong, stretching, prehensile hair (much like Millia Rage and Medusa of the Inhumans), as well as looks that could stop a fight just by showing up. A fashion model by profession, Vogue’s unorthodox powers have served the party very well as an all-around combatant, and support role, capable of acting in a variety of situations through clever applications of her powers.
So far the Attributes and Skills are decent, and while I’m still working on benchmarks on the book I think I’m on the right track:
Vogue (PL 10 starting character)
Abilities:
STR 10 +0
DEX 18 +4 (08 PP)
CON 10 +0
INT 14 +2 (04 PP)
WIS 14 +2 (04 PP)
CHA 25 +7 (15 PP)
Total Abilities: 31 PP
Bonuses:
Attack Bonus 8 (16 PP)
Defense Bonus 10 (20 PP)
Dodge Bonus 10
Total Bonuses: 36 PP
Saves:
Toughness +0 (Max. Val. 10)
Fortitude +0
Reflex +15 (11 PP)
Will +10 (8 PP)
Total Saves: 19 PP
Skills:
Acrobatics (DEX) 5 Ranks; +9 Bonus
Bluff (CHA) 5 Ranks; +12 Bonus
Diplomacy (CHA) 5 Ranks; +12 Bonus
Disguise (CHA) 2 Ranks; +9 Bonus
Gather Info (CHA) 5 Ranks; +12 Bonus
Intimidate (CHA) 2 Ranks; +9 Bonus
Investigate (INT) 5 Ranks; +7 Bonus
Knowledge: Fashion (INT) 5 Ranks +7 Bonus
Lanugage: French (-) 1 Rank
Notice (WIS) 5 Ranks; +7 Bonus
Perform: Music (CHA) 4 Ranks; +11 Bonus
Profession: Fashion Model (WIS) 5 Ranks; +7 Bonus
Search (INT) 5 Ranks; +7 Bonus
Sense Motive (WIS) 5 Ranks; +7 Bonus
Stealth (DEX) 5 Ranks; +9 Bonus
Total Skills: 16PP
—-
So far, so good… The first thing that tripped me up was how to accurately simulate her prehensile, variable-length and super-strong hair.
Or for the HERO literates:
Prehensile Hair: Extra Limbs (10), Inherent (+1/4) (6 Active Points); Always On (-1/2)
Hair Strength: +30 STR (30 Active Points); Only with Extra Limbs (-1/2)
I tried going over the Power chapter of the book and I might be missing something… I’ve found some similar components in M&M such as:
Additional Limbs (Prehensile Hair) – 4 Ranks, 10 Limbs (grants Improved Grapple Feat; counts as a Stable stance vs Trip)
but I can’t find where we can assign Strength only to the hair itself.
Otherwise they seem to have most of the other bases loaded… most of Vogue’s other abilities are doable.
It’s a very minor point admittedly, but I don’t really want to jack up her Strength to unnatural levels just so her hair can do the stuff that she conceptually should not. Is there something I’m missing?
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1.
greywulf | June 23, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Good questions!
The Power Level you set the game at controls the limits in the game, and many gamers think of that as a target number that every power should hit. So, for example, if it’s PL10 then a “good” character would have Blast 10, Flight 10, Protection 10, etc.
That, imho, is the wrong way to work.
The Power Level is a limit, not an average. It sets the maximum value a hero in that league can reach; among he’s peers, he’s the best in that area.
For example, if we say that the Fantastic Four were Power Level 10, Thing could have STR 30 (ie, +10 damage for DC25) because he’s the strongest guy in the team.
It’s a little more complex because you can trade between Damage & Attack bonus, and Toughness and Defense bonus. Instead of a character with +10 to hit, +10 damage you could have one who is +5 to hit, +15 damage (ie, really powerful but comparatively inaccurate) or +15 to hit, +5 damage (a highly superhero sword fighter, for example) or anything right down to +0/+20. Personally I’d cap it at +/-5 either way though, but that’s a house rule.
When it comes to what’s “average”, that’s up to you. For your character’s signature powers (Vogue’s looks and Prehensile Hair, for example), I’d hit the limits. It’s what she’s good at, and known for. For anything else, don’t go above the Power Level minus two (8, in this case).
Now, on to the hair. It builds pretty much the same as you would in HERO:
Additional Limbs 4 (10 extra limbs, Improved Grapple) 4pp
Enhanced Strength 20 (+20 STR, Limited:Only with Hair) 10pp
I’d also consider adding
Elongation 6 (Limited:Hair only) 3pp
too, for a total points cost of 17 points, but that’s entirely down to your character concept.
Hope that helps!
2.
pointyman2000 | June 23, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Interesting.
It looks like I’ll have to go over the powers with a fine-toothed comb for now. It’s good to see that some of the HERO building logic can still apply to M&M. There’s less math to contend with, so I can see that many of the players of my group might find this as a godsend.
I might try building a couple more characters to get the hang of things, then maybe I’ll try a few test fights as well.
3.
Supah | June 24, 2009 at 12:10 am
I think it’s also worth noting that some powers generally operate effectively only at or near max value, but others can operate effectively far below. Blast (and straight up offensive or defensive powers), for example, needs to be near max to work effectively. The last think you want is to dump points into blast but never have it do any damage. But many other powers, like speed, leaping, or movement powers more generally, can be useful at low levels. A few levels in speed will get you around the entire battle mat in a single turn (if that’s how you play). This would well represent someone like thunderbird, but certainly not the flash, and it would extremely useful.
There’s also a supplement to the core handbook called Ultimate Power. It actually has a build for Prehensile Hair in there that you may want to check out.
4.
pointyman2000 | June 24, 2009 at 7:30 am
Thanks for the advice Supah!
That’s really what got me thinking. If a Power Level is meant to represent the “glass ceiling” of power for characters, I’m probably going to be seeing a lot of people go for Max value rather than not. (kind of like in HERO.) Then again that’s probably a feature rather than a bug, so I might be overthinking it.
Ultimate Power sounds like a good resource, maybe I’ll pick that up after I’ve had a chance to properly digest M&M’s core rules first.
5.
Hikkikomori | June 24, 2009 at 9:11 am
Usavich.
6.
Dirty Yasuki | June 24, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I wish my group played Supers RPG campaigns. Sadly my only my GM, another buddy and myself would even want to.
7.
pointyman2000 | June 24, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I feel your pain. I was really lucky to have found a group open to giving a superhero campaign a chance once. They liked it a lot, but I hope that I’ll get a good response when I do pitch it again.