Making a survivable martial artist [M&M]

[Myshlaevsky]

I read less mainstream comics much more frequently than I read anything put out by Marvel or DC, but in those lines my favourite characters are unashamedly superheroes like Iron Fist or Karate Kid. I've got the opportunity to play this kind of superhero in an upcoming game.

I'm looking for some help on creating a martial artist with a focus on survivability in Mutants & Masterminds - can anyone help me? I'd prefer to avoid out-and-out superheroics in favour of stuff that can be explained under such arcane disciplines as 'dragon-powered kung fu' or 'future karate'.

[The Rose Dragon]

Well, start with a Strength of 20+. Buy Enhanced Strength and Super-Strength, and an array based on a power like Stun.

Sustained Force Field and such are optional.

[jiriku]

That's pretty easy to do in M&M. You'll focus mostly on powers, with a secondary focus in stats. Since you're fluffing your own powers, you basically just pick what makes a good character and then fluff it as a mundane source.

For example, an Iron-Man clone might have powered armor protecting him from physical blows and energy attacks, an enclosed environmental system making him immune to tear gas, flash grenades, and such, mighty servo-assisted punches, short-range repulsor blasts to attack foes from a distance, and suit-powered flight.

On the other hand, Bruce Chan Li Norris, your dragon-souled kung-fu expert, instead is fantastically tough and resilient from his training, can shrug off tear gas, flash grenades and such by focusing his chi, delivers killing punches using secret kung-fu techniques, can use his dragon soul kiai shout to attack foes from a distance, and can leap acrobatically into the sky, run up the side of a building, or balance on a leaf because of his incredible ninjutsu.

The crunch underlying the two characters is almost exactly the same, but you fluff the powers differently. They each have physical protection and energy protection, limited immunities, melee attack, ranged attack, and some form of gravity-defying super movement and super speed.

[hiryuu]

Enhanced Strength doesn't exist anymore. You could buy Strength as a power, but then it could be the target of something like Nullify.

I would go for Strikes (with the Innate power feat), feats, and try to avoid most of the powers and power arrays. Strength doesn't actually do very much for you, and there's a lot of feats out there that, when taken at the proper ranks, and some powers that will let you shut down your opponents pretty quick.

[The Rose Dragon]

Enhanced Strength doesn't exist anymore. You could buy Strength as a power, but then it could be the target of something like Nullify.

That power? It's called Enhanced Strength. Any non-effect that is bought as a power falls under the power Enhanced (Trait).

[hiryuu]

That power? It's called Enhanced Strength. Any non-effect that is bought as a power falls under the power Enhanced (Trait).

You are correct, of course, but it's not listed in the primary source material anymore (which is what most people are going to be working from). I just think it's silly that he's trying to mimic the "powers" of the likes of Karate Kid and Iron Fist, and he's getting suggestions to take superpowers.

[Tengu_temp]

I suggest taking a look at Mecha and Manga. It has a whole chapter about martial arts, and while a lot of this is DBZ-style energy blasting and auras, there's a lot useful for more mundane martial artists too. A feat that basically lets you Autofire your basic melee attack, for example (for a small penalty of course).

You don't really even need powers to be a good martial artist. Just invest heavily in feats and remember to take Power Attack and/or Defensive Attack to take advantage of your most likely extremely high attack bonus.

[The Glyphstone]

You are correct, of course, but it's not listed in the primary source material anymore (which is what most people are going to be working from). I just think it's silly that he's trying to mimic the "powers" of the likes of Karate Kid and Iron Fist, and he's getting suggestions to take superpowers.

But that's how M&M works, as far as I understand...based on the one game I played in, physical stats have a hard cap based on PL. If he wants a 'Strength score' higher than the cap, he has to also buy Enhanced Strength as a 'power', up to that PL cap. Iron Man's suit is also a 'Power' (the Device power, specifically), but he doesn't have superpowers either.

[Tengu_temp]

But that's how M&M works, as far as I understand...based on the one game I played in, physical stats have a hard cap based on PL. If he wants a 'Strength score' higher than the cap, he has to also buy Enhanced Strength as a 'power', up to that PL cap. Iron Man's suit is also a 'Power' (the Device power, specifically), but he doesn't have superpowers either.

You can't upgrade stats over that cap with powers either. That'd be abusable. I also think that using cap tradeoffs to increase your damage or toughness also increases your maximum strength or constitution, but it isn't stated explicidly anywhere to my knowledge.

TRD suggests buying Enhanced Strength instead of normal strength mostly so it'd be boostable with Extra Effort, I think.

[Myshlaevsky]

I suggest taking a look at Mecha and Manga. It has a whole chapter about martial arts, and while a lot of this is DBZ-style energy blasting and auras, there's a lot useful for more mundane martial artists too. A feat that basically lets you Autofire your basic melee attack, for example (for a small penalty of course).

You don't really even need powers to be a good martial artist. Just invest heavily in feats and remember to take Power Attack and/or Defensive Attack to take advantage of your most likely extremely high attack bonus.

Enhanced Strength doesn't exist anymore. You could buy Strength as a power, but then it could be the target of something like Nullify.

I would go for Strikes (with the Innate power feat), feats, and try to avoid most of the powers and power arrays. Strength doesn't actually do very much for you, and there's a lot of feats out there that, when taken at the proper ranks, and some powers that will let you shut down your opponents pretty quick.

This sounds like stuff similar to what I had in mind, I'll check out these options. I'd prefer to avoid energy blasts and massive superstrength if possible.

Thanks to everyone for the very quick slew of replies!

[Cthulubot]

For a grappling-focused martial artist, I would look at their suggestions for "Judo fighting style" on page 65. I would add the following feats: Improved Grapple, allowing you to grapple with just one hand, Grapple Finesse, letting you grapple from Dex instead of Str and letting you keep Dodge bonuses to Defense while grappling, Elusive Target, which doubles the penalty to hit you with ranged weapons while you are in melee, and Improved Throw, letting you trip against the weaker of their Dex or Str (assuming you correctly guess which one is lower).

Maybe even two levels of Takedown Attack, so that when you lay out one opponent you have a chance to move into melee with another, thereby making yourself a difficult target for ranged attackers. Chokehold would give you a method of disabling pinned enemies, so long as said enemies need to breathe. And either Instant Up or Prone Fighting would help you a lot against ranged trip attacks that would otherwise preclude you from getting into melee easily.

As you may guess, I've wanted to run a character like this for a while, but there are no local M&M games. My basic strategy would be to have at least one opponent grappled at all times for use as a shield. Use the other hand for unarmed attacks and rude gestures.

[Haven]

Just one last piece of advice: check out the official forums, specifically the section "Roll Call", to see various characters statted out by a community that is, at times, alarmingly dedicated to the game. Here's an Iron Fist build, since you mentioned that was one of your influences (though you'd have to scale that one down a few points, since they built it at PL 11).

[Beleriphon]

Check the character archetypes in the core rule book, there's a martial artist in there to base your own character upon.

Its main focus is a damage/accuracy trade-off and feats that let the character manipulate their trade-offs dynamically (like Power Attack).

Big focus on feats, skills and direct stat increases rather than powers.