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  1. - Top - End - #31
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    They're listed at the top of the post I linked to. The archetypes are a few posts down from that.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  2. - Top - End - #32
    Orc in the Playground
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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Would you mind if I picked your brain on some specific concepts I'm thinking of and get a little advice as it's a lot to take in. I'm just learning the mechanics without the help of herolab. It's a bit daunting.

  3. - Top - End - #33
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Sure! Probably best to do by PM though.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  4. - Top - End - #34
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    I just wanna thank you for this guide. I've been an M&M fan since 1st edition but having some framework and recommendations to work from makes character building SO much easier for me.

  5. - Top - End - #35
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    MonkGuy

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    Thumbs up Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    I thank you the OP for this very guide quite immensely. It's probably the first coherent general build guide on M&M 3E I ever found on a RPG forum of sufficient size/influence...

  6. - Top - End - #36
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    EvilClericGuy

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Quellian-dyrae, would it be OK if I shot a PM your way asking for some advice with building a power set? I've just got into a new game and while I know what kind of powers, I'd like to have, I'm still not 100% how to go about to maximize potential and minimize dead-ends.

  7. - Top - End - #37
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    TekHed's Avatar

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Awesome guide!

    Though many of the glaring issues you've noted have managed to take the shine off the game. I went looking the other day for a suitable replacement super hero system and couldn't find any modern ones that fit the bill. The closest I was able to come up with are the old DC system and the Marvel FASERIP system, though I know the latter has its quirks too, like with the magic system being broken compared to other sources of power.

  8. - Top - End - #38
    Halfling in the Playground
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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    So, I have a question, one I’ve had about the system for some time now, and your guide touches on it tangentially sorta, and you seem very knowledgeable about the system so I figured I could just ask here and you’d know or could point me in the correct direction. [/rambling]

    Let’s say you’d like to make a toughness shifted character, but would prefer to keep fort and will equal. Do you have to use Protection? You meantion, in the Protection rating, that you could just put the points into Sta and reduce fortitude, but how can you reduce fortitude? At chargen the only thingy I can see you can reduce for more points is abilities. Are you just saying “my Sta is 14, but my fort is only 10”? Wouldn’t that mean you’re wasting 4 points, 3 if you count adding innate to the protection so it can’t be nullified [numbers used as example, could be replaced but the point stands]? Or are you using the reduction property of Enhanced Trait? But then what would happen if that gets nullified? Wouldn’t that throw your trade offs out of balance?

    Tl;dr: How do you reduce your fort so you can get high toughness from stamina?

  9. - Top - End - #39
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    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Well, it kinda depends how you look at it. It's reasonable to take the fact that Abilities are specified as being directly reducible, but other stats aren't, to mean that you can only lower Abilities. However, Reduced Trait definitely applies to any sort of trait, and uses the rule that the PP gain is equal to the value of the traits reduced.

    Since pretty much anything can be an Enhanced Trait, if you don't want your Stamina to be subject to Nullification, you can pick some other essentially constantly active power you have, make some or all of it an Enhanced Trait rather than a base trait, and apply the Reduced Trait to that. If it gets Nullified the penalty goes away, but since you're already at your PL limits, the stat doesn't increase.

    But since that option is always available and carries no point difference, I tend to just figure that the reducing abilities section is meant to be illustrative, or perhaps to clarify the rules for reducing Abilities below 0 (which is what's actually being addressed there), and work off the assumption that they didn't specify rules for lowering other traits because those rules can be derived from basic math; if adding four ranks costs 4 PP, then lowering the rank by 4 returns 4 PP.

    There is also precedent for adding extras directly to traits bestowed from Abilities (for example, you can add extras to or even build alternate effects off of your basic Strength Damage, and you can add Impervious to your Toughness gained from Stamina). Which suggests that it would be equally valid to do, say, raw Stamina 14 (4 ranks Limited [Only for Toughness]). Or maybe attach Quirk 4 (-4 Fortitude) to your Toughness from Stamina or, really, whatever power you want to attach it to.

    Now, if your GM is steadfastly against lowering bonuses from Abilities for some reason, then yeah best you can do is take like Stamina 10, and then buy Protection 4, and accept that Nullifies will eat four points of your Toughness. Or pay the 1 PP surcharge for Innate. Neither's the end of the world. ...Although if you have at least five other points of permanent powers (let's say Regeneration 5, for example), you could do something like Dodge/Parry 10, Stamina 10, Will 10, Enhanced Trait 9 (Regeneration 5, Protection 4; Permanent, Reduced Dodge 4, Reduced Parry 4). That comes to 51 points. Dodge/Parry 6, Stamina 14, Fortitude (-4) 10, Will 10, Regeneration 5 would also come to 51 points. Comes out the same, and if your powers get Nullified your stats snap back to straight 10s rather than having a four point deficit.

    ...What I'm saying is there's lots of ways to reduce traits to avoid wasting points on stuff you don't want, so to me it just makes sense to figure you can do it in the most straightforward, mathematically-obvious way, even if that isn't spelled out explicitly.

    (Also long-lasting Simultaneous Nullifies are overpowered anyway so anything that makes them less effective is only going to improve game balance, not worsen it).
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

  10. - Top - End - #40
    Halfling in the Playground
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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    Interesting. Ya, all of that seems fair! Thanks.

  11. - Top - End - #41
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    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    You know, I would be really interested in your list of house-rules / alterations to the core rulebook, like what you did with Healing and Regeneration, even including bans (like Summon), etc.
    I am quite interested in trying to balance this game in order to allow optimization that doesn't break the game, so if you or anyone has any suggestions on where to find a balanced version of 3e I would be grateful :)
    Last edited by bendking; 2020-03-12 at 08:57 AM.

  12. - Top - End - #42
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    Quellian-dyrae's Avatar

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    Default Re: Mutants and Masterminds 3e Character Guide

    The house rules I'm currently using are here. I...kinda went overboard on it. I don't think all of that is strictly necessary and, on the flip side, there are some things that I just didn't bother trying to fix, like Summon and Metamorph. I also have yet to playtest them extensively so I can't guarantee they don't cause new problems of their own, especially the new options. But they should work as a source of inspiration, at least.
    A role playing game is three things. It is an interactive story, a game of chance, and a process in critical thinking.

    If brevity is the soul of wit, I'm witty like a vampire!

    World of Aranth
    M&M 3e Character Guide

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