First Wave (Mutants and Masterminds 3E)

Game Master Sobran

Same, I just work nights.

Sobran wrote:

as Activation reduces the cost by one flat point

I think this is the problem right here. When you said "activation: move limit" I interpreted it as a version of limited (-1/rank), not a modification of Activation (-1 flat), so I misunderstood. I will go back an rebuild my character with it being a flat -1 instead and will post version 3 soon.

It's very possible I implied as much. I think I misremembered how that particular flaw is costed out.

By the way, what is everyone's general location? I seem to be at opposite times than most of you. I'm in America's Midwest.

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I work swing shift, but I worked graveyard for years and am still stuck on the schedule sometimes. I tend to post late at night. It works out okay for DM'ing though, as people have all day to post and then I can respond at night.

Complications: I would suggest cutting one complication. Two is standard. Four is overkill. I'm fine with three. I would suggest Responsibility, as the way the other three interfere with your normal life will likely cover this one.

Skills: These are better than I expected, likely due to your high abilities. The high Investigation skill alone will make sure you're useful outside of combat. I had my concerns about this previously.

I appreciate your effort on formatting. In long lists like character sheets, it can make a big difference. I wasn't trying to give you s+#! though. I just found it funny that my eyes were freaking out after staring at the power list for so long.

Once I get the updated list of powers, I think I can approve your character, after one last round of review to make sure it all checks out. It looks good so far.

Alright, I got rid of that complication. I wasn't even thinking it kind of gets covered by the rest of them. I didn't put may points into skills, but the ones that I did I tried to put into ones that will be useful, such as treatment and investigation.

Okay, I think this needs to be drawing to a close. I don't want to accidentally forget anyone, so here's what we'll do:

Anyone who has gotten me a final build or is on what they believe to be their final revision, raise your hand. If you are trying to get your character finished, you only have until tomorrow to do so. If you don't make it, I can put you on the list in case the game suffers any attrition, which isn't unusual in play by post games.

I would like to get this game going by Monday or so. Also, let me know if you need a tutorial or system refresher. This won't affect your chance of admittance, but I need to know whether to plan for that.

I was about to suggest going ahead with who we have and letting people fold in as the commotion (supervillain havoc or something) grows, but if we're almost ready then that's fine. Something like the classic bank robbery, being this genre's "You meet in a tavern," simple start, just to get the connections going. It'd be a bit forced to have five whole supers respond, but starting with two or so makes it a bit less... cliche, I guess. I managed a one-off prologue session a couple months ago that started with a bank robbery, but it was kind of deliberate since one of the characters owned that bank.

Either way, I won't begrudge you for however we start. Looking forward to playing.

I was about to suggest going ahead with who we have and letting people fold in as the commotion (supervillain havoc or something) grows, but if we're almost ready then that's fine. The classic bank robbery being this genre's "You meet in a tavern," it's a bit forced to have five whole supers respond, but starting with two or so makes it a bit less... cliche, I guess. I managed a one-off prologue session a couple months ago that started with a bank robbery, but it was kind of deliberate since one of the characters owned that bank.

Either way, I won't begrudge you for however we start. Looking forward to playing.

Originally, I was going to have each character describe how they know at least one other character in the group, as I've always liked that method. That said, that's a pretty neat idea. Maybe I'll combine the two, so the responders have a reason to stick together.

It's a cliché, but I feel like people play supers games because they like the involved clichés. Most people from the Reddit thread seemed interested in a pretty standard four-color supers campaign as well.

Thanks for the idea!

EDIT: My original opener was going to be a brawl with thugs in an alley, for that same classic feel.

Considering my last real foray into MM was started by being conscripted into a government superhuman team because our GM didn't know how to convince us without punches, I feel like the beginning matters. When I attempted a PBP on Myth-Weavers (that failed because life happened and it happened kinda rough), I had my players go through one-on-one Secret Origin stories to explain where the character, and subsequently the team, came from, instead of forcing people to be a part of a team without really knowing one another. This had the amazing benefit of fleshing out the world a good deal, as well as accustoming myself to play-by-post and my players' writing styles. Here that looks unnecessary, as we've all got solid stories and live in the same city. I had to contend with heroes gathering from across the country after finding out this magical article of clothing they just put on is giving them superpowers. (It's an odd setting but I love it. Actually a very similar concept to this one, in terms of "first wave". I keep intending to reconnect with those players to apologize and such.)

Basically, worst case scenario we probably at least all know Meteor Man by reputation if not personally. Coincidence and called-in reinforcements could both work for us.

I much prefer having the characters know each other before campaign start, at least making sure each of us have already interacted with one of the heroes. Cause the whole: you meet in a tavern schtick tend to just give an awkward beginning of story. Figure that the discussion board would be an obvious place for people to discuss back an forth how we knew each other. Alternatively Sobran could also just roll a few dices and go: Warden knows Anthem, who knows Dr. Fate, Who knows Joe Dough and so on, til everyone knew 2 of the other characters.

also, i think this is the final Warden built, so long as you guys are satisfied with it:

*Raises hand* I'm good to go. I am fine with either plan. The one where we start off slow would good while everyone else is finishing up their character. I also like the idea of everyone knowing at least one other person.

*Raises hand* I'm good to go. I am fine with either plan. The one where we start off slow would good while everyone else is finishing up their character. I also like the idea of everyone knowing at least one other person.

I think I'm still waiting on one last revision from you. The last one you posted didn't include your powers. I wasn't sure if that was an accident or if you were still fixing up the Activation issue.

Man, I'm really surprised by the turnout. So the number of applicants is roughly double the number of open spots. If it were just over by one or two, I would try to jam everyone in and let the natural attrition that tends to happen at the beginning of these campaigns sort out the crowd. That's really not possible with ten people. So I have two basic options:

1) I move forward with one campaign, as planned. I pick half of you and break a few hearts. I know that some of you are also considering a campaign run by Tumbler, so it's possible some people may just back out. I'm not sure whether the two are mutually exclusive or if people plan to play in both.

2) I run two games. The only restriction here is that the only way I could reasonably do this is if we run two different games so I can keep the two straight mentally. If I use the same setting and story, I could get mixed up. If I went this route, half of you would play the planned First Wave campaign, outlined here. The other half would run through Emerald City Knights, but with the same characters you've already made. The thing is, I realize that most experienced players have already played through this. It may be suitable for the newer players among you though.

So. Thoughts? I'm not trying to cop out of making a decision here. I'm fully capable of picking half of you and moving forward, but I prefer to provide my players with options. If you can separate yourselves into groups and want to both play here, then so be it. However if the sole interest is in the First Wave setup, then I obviously need to just make my choice.

For reference, here is the list of players with their character name, general concept, origin, and skillset. I made this for the purpose of making my decision, but I figure it might inform your own as well. If I missed someone, let me know. Note: I may have the origin listed as unknown on a person or two that actually had a defined origin. The fluff was often posted separate from the crunch, so I had trouble tracking everyone down.

Thelongestshot: Freebird. A flying ranged combatant. Origin: government experiment. Skilled with Insight, Intimidation, and very Perceptive. Military training.
Rynjin: Meteor Man. A flying master of electricity. Minor weather control. Origin: powers granted by storm. Very persuasive. Famous.
Imimrtl: Dr. Fusion. Radioactive blaster. Regenerates and resurrects. Origin: experiment/accident (I think). Broad array of skills. Physicist.
Rednal: Atsuko (still getting a hero name?). Eldritch horror. Mental blaster. Origin: unknown. Deceptive, Perceptive, Persuasive, Intimidating. Latter two only rarely used.
Anthem: Anthem. Captain America / Black Canary mashup. Brawler and sonic blaster. Origin: unknown (powers developed after injury). Perceptive, Athletic, Acrobatic, and Stealthy. Broad array of skills.
Jaster Kite: Discord. Chaos energy controller. Brawler / blaster. Origin: mysterious rift. Acrobatic. Unskilled teenager.
Crazy Lou: Dough Joe. Elastic martial artist tank. Origin: unknown. Athletic and Perceptive.
Trodskij: Warden. Tech genius / Punisher type. Origin: unknown? Broad array of skills. Tech genius, but also skilled with Vehicles, Treatment, Perception, Investigation, Insight, and Athletics. Inventor.
Pardum: Dr. Fate. Magician. Random powers dependent on cards. Mild precognition. Skilled with Investigation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, and Treatment.
Tumbler: Slipstream. Armored teleporter. Incredibly tough and a small array of teleportation tricks. Deceptive, Persuasive, skilled with Vehicles and Technology.

I'm gonna be utterly unhelpful and answer: whichever you prefer. though here's my thoughts on the options you've presented

1) is clearly the least stressful option for you. It's gonna break some hearts, but i think most people are clear on that being a possibility when they start writing in a recruitment threat. That being said i feel relatively confident that i would be safe should it come to this, so i can't comment too much on this.

2) would probably be a bit stressed, atleast during startup until the plot gets going and the characters get to know each other. I think it's a good idea to have one of them run a module (for the sake of your sanity - can't have you start tasting colours, and rambling about geometric shapes from beyond the stars). Though you risk having the people who end in the prewritten adventure feel like they weren't "good enough for the real story", not sure how you solve that diplomatically.

I think in the end it primarily comes down to how many campaigns you feel you can manage

(for the sake of your sanity - can't have you start tasting colours, and rambling about geometric shapes from beyond the stars).

*Guilty look*

Might be too late for that.

You already have my Hero Lab file, so that should make this a lot easier. XD

You already have my Hero Lab file, so that should make this a lot easier. XD

Oh right! It was you that sent me your Hero Lab file. I was thinking it was Anthem. They're both A-names, right? Eh... Anyway, I think this is the up-to-date one, so we should be good. I updated your background in my file.

What happens to "Temporary" toughness if its source is cancelled? For example, let's say that Atsuko has five toughness penalties out of her eight toughness points (I think that's how it works...), and she dispels her Dimensional Shield (the source of 6 points of Toughness). Does she suddenly fall over unconscious (and possibly dying), or does she simply have a lower Toughness score at that point?

One of the weirdest things about playing M&M is that there is nothing resembling Hit Points or Health. So what happens is this: Firestorm hits you with a Damage 8 attack. Let's say you have a Toughness of 8, with 5 ranks of that being Impervious. The Damage is higher than your Impervious Toughness, so we move to the next step. (If it were lower, you would take no damage and we'd move on.)

Next, you make a Resistance Roll. In this case, you roll a d20 and add your Toughness of 8. Your target for this roll is equal to 15 + the Damage Rank of the attack, for a total of 23. In your Hero Lab file, that's what the "DC 23" represents on Alien Will. It's pre-calculated there.

If you fail the roll, you calculate degrees of failure. At four degrees of failure, you are incapacitated. At three degrees of failure, you are staggered. If staggered again before recovering, you are incapacitated. These two conditions are essentially the end goal.

When you fail a Toughness check against damage, you get a -1 circumstance penalty to further Toughness checks. This happens regardless of the degree of failure and multiple failures apply cumulative penalties. However, these do not add up and get compared to your Toughness score or anything like that.

Instead, each time you take damage, you are resisting with higher and higher penalties. Sooner or later, you will fail with four degrees of failure and get knocked out.

It is a system that seems complicated when explained, but is actually pretty fast and intuitive in play. For an alternative explanation, check out the Quickstart on the Green Ronin site. They have a pretty good explanation there; that's what helped me understand it.

She can't just deactivate her Dimensional Shield when it's damaged, then reactivate it and have it at full strength again, right? I mean, I'm assuming not, and I'm okay with not, I'm just curious. XD I DO NOT know this system very well. At the moment, I'm sort of flavoring her Dimensional Shield as a reality warp that can be "worn down" by being messed with too much, and then genuine injuries happening when you get to her natural toughness - the last two points. (So creepy Lovecraftian body horror healing there, and then just general weirdness when the shield's recharging.)

See above. These penalties are "circumstance penalties" and are applied directly to the character. Think of them as status effects. They don't have anything to do with any abilities that you have beyond the fact that a character with higher Toughness is likely to be able to accumulate more penalties before they finally get four degrees of failure on a Toughness roll and go to that big RPG in the sky. (Usually you're just knocked out, to be clear. Death is rare, as per genre convention.)

Is there anything you DON'T want us trying to do with Hero Points? I am already intending to avoid scene edits (because it's much harder to say "that's a good stopping point, let me take over again" online), and I want to be sure I'm using them correctly.

I am fine with all uses of Hero Points. Because of the narrative nature of online play, I actually think scene edits could work pretty well. I would just prefer them to be minor additions to the scene, that's all. For example, Warden might spend a Hero Point to say that there is a fire extinguisher near his opponent, so he can shoot it and create an impromptu Concealment effect. Scene edits do require my approval of course. I think setting up a PM system in Google Hangouts, Skype, or WeChat would be useful for this sort of thing, so you're not waiting for me to return to my computer before you are able to post.

Right-o. XD It's still gonna take a bit of time for me to get used to the system... so by all means, don't hesitate to correct me if I screw up.

Also, I should probably make a quick-reference bar real fast...

Cliff Briskly, ready and willing.

Char sheet is in the profile.

Cliff Briskly, ready and willing.

Char sheet is in the profile.

Getting you entered into Hero Lab. Just a quick note: you do need one of your Complications to be a Motivation. You can just add a third. You don't necessarily need to eliminate an existing one. Just let me know what it is and what your blurb for it will be.

Cliff Briskly, ready and willing.

Char sheet is in the profile.

Hey, just a couple of quick notes:

1) I wanted to make sure that this is the version of Regeneration that you want. The version you have in your profile will require you to find an electrical source other than your powers in order to regenerate. If you want to be able to just regenerate with a bolt of lightning as a visual effect, you'll have to switch it up a bit as we discussed.

2) I am showing you being over your PP allotment by 3 points. It looks like the discrepancy is in Defenses. I am showing you having spent 9 PP there, while you show 6. Just to clarify:

Dodge = Agility (3) + Wind Defense (10) = 13
Parry = Fighting (0) + Wind Defense (4) + Spent PP (2) = 6
Fortitude = Stamina (3) + Spent PP (4) = 7
Toughness = Stamina (3)
Will = Awareness (2) + Spent PP (3)

3) I also need clarification on the Fog Alternate Effect on Weather Control. You show Concealment 3. All Visual Senses would be Concealment 4, Normal Sight would be Concealment 2. Is it Normal Sight and... Normal Hearing? You can actually fit All Visual Senses in the Alternate Effect for no cost difference. I just need to know what you want this to be.

EDIT: Also also... on the Concealment front. If this Fog completely obscures vision and sight, it is basically supernatural. Or superscience. Or something. Normal fog would be penalties to sight and vision, but not complete occlusion. So when you use this ability, be sure to describe that it is way thicker than normal fog and--if Hearing is included in the Concealment--there is, perhaps, rumbles of thunder in the fog that prevent those within from hearing anything else.

Anthem - PL 8
Josita "Jo" Alvarez

Strength 6, Stamina 8, Agility 4, Dexterity 4, Fighting 8, Intellect 1, Awareness 5, Presence 1

Advantages
Accurate Attack, Attractive, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Languages 2, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge

Skills
Acrobatics 2 (+6), Athletics 2 (+8), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+10), Deception 1 (+2), Expertise: History 1 (+2), Expertise: Military 1 (+2), Expertise: Politics 1 (+2), Insight 1 (+6), Intimidation 1 (+2), Investigation 2 (+3), Perception 5 (+10), Persuasion 1 (+2), Ranged Combat: rifle 1 (+5), Ranged Combat: Sonic Blast Skill 3 (+7), Stealth 3 (+7), Technology 1 (+2), Treatment 1 (+2), Vehicles 1 (+5)

Powers
Enhanced Metabolism (Enhanced Agility 2,Enhanced Dexterity 2, Enhanced Stamina 6, Enhanced Strength 4, Regeneration 1, Speed 6)

Sonic Powers Array
. . Hypnotic Song: Concentration Cumulative Perception Area Affliction 6 (1st degree: Entranced, 2nd degree: Compelled, 3rd degree: Controlled, Resisted by: Will, DC 16; Perception Area: DC 16 - Hearing, Concentration, Cumulative; Instant Recovery)
. . Atomic Vibration Punch: Damage 8 (Alternate; DC 23; Affects Insubstantial 2: full rank, Penetrating 8)
. . Sonic Blast: Damage 9 (Alternate; sonic, DC 24; Increased Range: ranged)
. . Sonic Sleep: Cumulative Perception Area Affliction 8 (Alternate; 3rd degree: Asleep, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 18; Perception Area: DC 18 - Hearing, Cumulative, Sleep, Subtle 2: undetectable; Limited Degree (third only))
. . Sonic Vertigo: Cone Area Affliction 8 (Alternate; 1st degree: Dazed, 2nd degree: Stunned, 3rd degree: Incapacitated, Resisted by: Fortitude, DC 18; Cone Area: 60 feet cone, DC 18, Insidious, Subtle: subtle)
. . Sonic Well ( Silence: Concealment 1 (Linked; Sense - Hearing), Sonar: Senses 3 (Linked; Accurate: Hearing, Ultra-hearing), Sonic Immunity: Immunity 5 (Linked; Damage Effect: Sonic), Sound Analysis: Senses 6 (Linked; Acute (Type): All Auditory, Analytical (Type): All Auditory, Counters Illusion: Auditory), Ultrasonic Hearing: Senses 1 (Linked; Ultra-hearing)

Shield (Removable (indestructible))
. . Deflect: Deflect 8 (Reduced Range: close)
. . . . Shield Strike: Strength-based Damage 2 (Alternate; DC 23; Multiattack)

Offense
Initiative +8
Atomic Vibration Punch: Damage 8, +8 (DC 23)
Grab, +8 (DC Spec 16)
Hypnotic Song: Concentration Cumulative Perception Area Affliction 6 (DC Will 16)
Sonic Blast: Damage 9, +7 (DC 24)
Sonic Sleep: Cumulative Perception Area Affliction 8 (DC Fort 18)
Sonic Vertigo: Cone Area Affliction 8 (DC Fort 18)
Strike: Strength-based Damage 2, +8 (DC 23)
Throw, +4 (DC 21)
Unarmed, +10 (DC 21)

Complications
Flashbacks (Explosive noises trigger PTSD flashbacks of EID/War)
Motivation: Patriotism (Loyalty to USA and Emerald City)

Languages
Afghan Arabic, English, Spanish

Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 8, Fortitude 8, Toughness 8, Will 8 (and Deflect 8)

Power Points
Abilities 46 + Powers 63 + Advantages 8 + Skills 15 (30 ranks) + Defenses 3 = 135

Jo Alvarez enlisted straight out of high school. Her parents were proudly legal immigrants from Brazil, and Jo was proud to serve her country in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Over her two tours in Afghanistan, she saw a lot of s&#&. She used to joke that the "Sandbox" ought to be called the "Litterbox" instead. Jokes were one way she made it through the boredom and terror that went hand in hand with being a US soldier.

Her service ended with a bang: she spotted an i.e.d., shoving her fellow soldier Daniel Tursman out of its way just as it went off. Daniel was spared the brunt of the blast, taking shrapnel to his lower torso. Jo took the blast head on. Even with her flak, she should have been dead.

But Jo was raised in the Emerald City. You know, the place where them freaks have been showing up. Turns out, Jo was something of a freak herself. Not only did she survive, albeit in a coma for over a year, her body rebuilt itself stronger than ever.

The military had already signed her off as a casualty and given her an honorable discharge. Her parents had moved her back home, and her coma was spent in the Emerald City VA Hospital.

Jo still has flashbacks to that fateful day, and other memories of the war that cause her nightmares. Loud noises can set them off, especially noises resembling explosions. Her own sonic attacks seem to be an exception.

Tursman visited her many times during her year of coma, but disappeared three months before she awoke. A week after she recovered, she received a package with no return address. Inside was a note and a strange, ancient shield with an eagle emblazoned on its crest. The simply note read To A., from T.. The shield is of an unknown, lightweight metal which seems to be indestructible.

Taking the name Anthem, Jo has decided to serve her city with the diligence she served her country. Not all of these people with powers are going to use them for good, and the police of Emerald City are little better able to handle them than the Afghan police were able to handle the insurgents and terrorists there.

Cliff Briskly, Meteor Man wrote:

Cliff Briskly, ready and willing.

Char sheet is in the profile.

Hey, just a couple of quick notes:

1) I wanted to make sure that this is the version of Regeneration that you want. The version you have in your profile will require you to find an electrical source other than your powers in order to regenerate. If you want to be able to just regenerate with a bolt of lightning as a visual effect, you'll have to switch it up a bit as we discussed.

2) I am showing you being over your PP allotment by 3 points. It looks like the discrepancy is in Defenses. I am showing you having spent 9 PP there, while you show 6. Just to clarify:

Dodge = Agility (3) + Wind Defense (10) = 13
Parry = Fighting (0) + Wind Defense (4) + Spent PP (2) = 6
Fortitude = Stamina (3) + Spent PP (4) = 7
Toughness = Stamina (3)
Will = Awareness (2) + Spent PP (3)

3) I also need clarification on the Fog Alternate Effect on Weather Control. You show Concealment 3. All Visual Senses would be Concealment 4, Normal Sight would be Concealment 2. Is it Normal Sight and... Normal Hearing? You can actually fit All Visual Senses in the Alternate Effect for no cost difference. I just need to know what you want this to be.

EDIT: Also also... on the Concealment front. If this Fog completely obscures vision and sight, it is basically supernatural. Or superscience. Or something. Normal fog would be penalties to sight and vision, but not complete occlusion. So when you use this ability, be sure to describe that it is way thicker than normal fog and--if Hearing is included in the Concealment--there is, perhaps, rumbles of thunder in the fog that prevent those within from hearing anything else.

Super-thick fog is what I want, yes. I'll look into the defenses.

Ooh. Is this what Paizo uses the aliases for? Let's see if this worked; putting the sheet both here and in profile. Might look for a different face later, this one looks awfully old for Joe.

Haven't read Atsuko's description enough to know for sure, but could it be.....Gateway and Anthem?

More Conduit than Gateway. XD ...We probably don't want to know what's on the other side of her darkness gates.

That's a pretty accurate pic, though.

I much prefer having the characters know each other before campaign start, at least making sure each of us have already interacted with one of the heroes. Cause the whole: you meet in a tavern schtick tend to just give an awkward beginning of story. Figure that the discussion board would be an obvious place for people to discuss back an forth how we knew each other. Alternatively Sobran could also just roll a few dices and go: Warden knows Anthem, who knows Dr. Fate, Who knows Joe Dough and so on, til everyone knew 2 of the other characters.

also, i think this is the final Warden built, so long as you guys are satisfied with it:

** spoiler omitted **...

So when I plugged your stuff in, I did run into some issues. Some of your powers were listed as more expensive than they really are while one (Warden Helmet) was listed as costing nothing, for some reason.

Some of your skills were also much higher than you realized, as they didn't get recalculated after your Intellect boost from the Technical Mind power.

I also removed some equipment or gave it to you for free, because it's stuff I'd rather you not pay for. I'll trust that he keeps a medkit in his Motorcycle to use with his treatment skill.

On the Motorcycle and HQ, there were a couple of things I had to guess on. Hopefully it came out correct.

When all was said and done, you were actually 5 points over budget. I cut the extra points primarily from the skills that were far higher than you thought anyway.

Finally, I had to modify your explosives a bit. The issue is that you it doesn't seem realistic to have explosives that are incapable of hurting people. That extra is primarily for allowing things that target Fortitude to still affect objects. Also, the damage was a bit too high. Area effect powers are limited to a Damage rank equal to the PL of the campaign.

So obviously I took some liberties here. This was all stuff I didn't see when I perused your sheet. It only became clear once I started entering it all into Hero Lab and looking for validation errors.

So here is the sheet I came up with based on my best approximation of what you were trying to go for. Let me know if I have something wrong. In particular, if you want to shuffle skill points or if I got something wrong on the HQ or Motorcycle features.

Gameplay thread open. Post at will! Fluff up top, first post guidelines down below.

Let's get this show on the road!

<3 you Sobran, not sure what my thought process was on them not damaging living things cause that makes no sense what so ever...

also, i think the surplus of points might stem from my character sheet listing skill value as skill + stat for some arcane reason. I'll just fix my sheet to fall in line with the one you wrote for me

HYPE!

I'm setting up an Obsidian Portal page, just so I have a place to put reference materials. You might find the map of Emerald City I posted pretty handy. Be aware that I used the largest size I could manage, to keep it legible at high levels of zoom. The page may take a second to load.

There isn't much there yet, but I'm going to at least set up character pages with links to your PDFs I created with Hero Lab, which I will always keep up to date as you spend XP. I wanted to have those available so we could all be sure we're looking at the same thing if there's ever confusion. Many of you saw the confusion that ensues when trying to copy from an excel document to this forum.

I'll probably also add my crude (CRUDE!) sketches of battlefields to the maps section, if such a thing ever proves necessary.

If you have or create an account on Obsidian Portal, let me know so I can invite you to the campaign. It's really just useful if you want to be able to add to the Wiki, alter your character entry, and stuff like that. If you just want to be able to use it passively as a reference, it probably isn't necessary.

<3 you Sobran, not sure what my thought process was on them not damaging living things cause that makes no sense what so ever...

also, i think the surplus of points might stem from my character sheet listing skill value as skill + stat for some arcane reason. I'll just fix my sheet to fall in line with the one you wrote for me

HYPE!

No problem! Welcome to the game! Let me know if you spot some discrepancy at some point.

I'll probably just passively reference Obsidian Portal. Unless I get bored. Then I might go into ridiculous amounts of detail. XD

Sobran, i can't get your math to add up, why do you have me pay 10PP for Julie, and then have me pay 1 point for each ability, way i understood ability arrays where that you picked a main ability (eg. non-lethal slugs) then paid 1 pp for each additional effect (assuming they don't have a high PP cost than the main ability, in which case, that ability becomes the main one). Also, why did you list Julie as 10 points? all the slugs cost 12 pp and are easily removable pushing them down to 8?

I feel like i'm missing something obvious, but besides that, no complaints here

Edit: Might smoke slugs got raised to rank 4 (listed as 3 in my sheet) could that have something to do with Julies increased cost?

Edit the second: for some reason i don't think hero lab is counting the +1 flat for the suit being subtle (you know, being small enough that you won't at a glance notice it's not just a guy in a black tshirt)

Sobran, i can't get your math to add up, why do you have me pay 10PP for Julie, and then have me pay 1 point for each ability, way i understood ability arrays where that you picked a main ability (eg. non-lethal slugs) then paid 1 pp for each additional effect (assuming they don't have a high PP cost than the main ability, in which case, that ability becomes the main one). Also, why did you list Julie as 10 points? all the slugs cost 12 pp and are easily removable pushing them down to 8?

I feel like i'm missing something obvious, but besides that, no complaints here

The issue here is essentially a problem with order of operations. What actually happens is the entire shotgun is treated like a single power when figuring the discount of Easily Removable.

So we start with Non-lethal Shot (or whatever), which costs 12 points. Then we add 1 for each additional power beyond the first. Four powers, 4 points. That brings us to 16 PP.

Now Easily Removable reduces the cost by 2 PP for each 5 PP of the power's cost. 5 goes into 16 three times (it gets rounded down, in this case), for a total reduction of 6 PP.

Base Cost: 16 PP
Easily Removable: -6 PP
Final Cost: 10 PP

It isn't intuitive that you would treat an Array as one big power when figuring the cost reduction of Removable, but you do. This is confirmed by the way that Green Ronin handled the builds of characters like Steelhead (?) in the Threat Report.

Much obliged, then i'll have it done in a jiffy

And the thing about smoke grenades, is that just a typo?

Which thing? I had to guess what you wanted the Smoke Bomb to conceal. I was guessing it was All Visual Senses, which is Concealment 4. Or was there something else you're wondering about?

Famous last words: i think my sheet now fit with the one you gave me

Sorry, I have been sick the past couple of days and pretty out of it.

I think I'm still waiting on one last revision from you. The last one you posted didn't include your powers. I wasn't sure if that was an accident or if you were still fixing up the Activation issue.

The only thing that I changed was removing the responsibility complication, I think everything else is fine.

Famous last words: i think my sheet now fit with the one you gave me

** spoiler omitted **...

I think so? In any case, you can find a link to your character sheet over at Obsidian Portal. That will dynamically stay up to date if I update anything due to XP expenditures or anything else. There's no picture or biography yet because I'm tired. LOL. Alternatively, if you join I'll just turn that over to you.

Will fix Meteor Man as soon as I can. I'll dot Gameplay in the meantime.

Couldn't find anywhere else to trim points, so dropped 2 ranks of Meteorological Expertise (+5 is still "Highly skilled" as I recall), and Improved Critical Thunderbolt entirely.

So I just realized a problem I may have...I can't see through my own fog. It's not a listed power, but can I trade in one of my Senses for the ability to see through thick fog and cloud cover or something? Probably Ultrahearing. Or would that be an extra point of Immunity, rather? Immunity to vision obscuring weather effects.

I never did get a reply about what senses the Fog blocks. Is it Normal Sight (2 PP) and Normal Hearing (1 PP) for a total of Concealment 3? Is it just All Visual Senses (4 PP) and it was meant to be Concealment 4? Is it just Normal Sight?

If it is only affecting Vision (of whatever flavor), you can use Hearing or another sense not affected by it, provided that sense has Accurate. Wolverine, for example, might have added Accurate on his sense of smell, so that he's able to gut someone even when blinded provided he can smell them. That doesn't seem to fit your character though. There is a way to build a whole new sense (call it Electrical Sense or something) that might fit, but that requires more points than you have to spare. I would save that for later.

You could swap out your Uncommon Immunity to Wind to an Uncommon Immunity to Weather effects for no point cost. This would leave you vulnerable to a pure wind power, but you would be immune to wind related to weather control as well as other general weather control effects. You can also add a 1-point Rare Immunity to be immune to all of your own powers.

Yeah, it's All Visual, since you said that doesn't cost any extra.

Rare Immunity: My Powers seems like a good start, though I was considering Acute Hearing as well.

How do you make a new sense that way, for future reference?

You start with two ranks of Detect (the second rank makes it ranged, like hearing and vision, rather than close like touch and taste) and name it something appropriate. Detect Bioelectricity, for example. Then you add the appropriate sense modifiers, noting that each one applies to Detect Bioelectricity.

For example, I might make it Accurate (I can use it to locate things accurately), Acute (I can tell people and things apart), and Counters Illusion because no one thinks to make their illusions simulate the body's electrical signals.

You can find the updated version of your sheet, based on what you told me to modify, over here. Let me know if you spot something off.

I'm gonna trade in Ultrahearing for Immunity to my own powers (I was gonna trade it for Accurate Hearing, but I noticed that was 2 ranks. Will definitely nab that later though).

Okie. I'll get that fixed up when I get home.

I'm gonna trade in Ultrahearing for Immunity to my own powers (I was gonna trade it for Accurate Hearing, but I noticed that was 2 ranks. Will definitely nab that later though).

Sheet updated.

Atsuko/Conduit: Sheet updated.

Cliff/Meteor Man: How is this build?

Fog: Burst Area Concealment Attack 2
Sense - Normal Sight; DC 12; Burst Area 2: 60' radius; Attack: Dodge

It would only work on normal vision, but it has a large radius. You could also use Cloud Area instead, which would halve the radius in exchange for it lingering for 1 round after you stop concentrating on it. Just let me know what you'd like this to be, so we can get it updated.

Attack is necessary on that particular power effect in order to add Area to it, in case that's not clear.

I'm fine with it as it is now. Unless you're saying it doesn't work as it is at all? Area Concealment doesn't need to be an attack that I know of. DC 12 may as well not exist. Especially if I need to keep Concentratng for it (which stops me from doing anything else?).

Yeah, it wouldn't work as intended at all right now. It would just make you concealed which, while cool, isn't what you were going for.

From page 153 in the Deluxe Player's Handbook, under the Concealment entry:

Attack: Use this extra for a Concealment effect you can impose on others (whether they want to be concealed or not). An invisibility ray, for example, is a Visual Concealment Attack, while a field of darkness is a Burst Area Visual Concealment Attack.

For the record, the Attack extra doesn't actually make it any more expensive. It also doesn't change the duration of the power. It is Sustained in either case. That means you have to be capable of taking a free action each round to maintain it. Certain conditions might impede that, causing the power to stop, but it doesn't otherwise interfere with your ability to act.

Oh! Ignore the DC by the way. It's irrelevant. It would be used if they wanted to resist being concealed themselves, which... wouldn't make a lot of sense. It won't help them see you.