[M&M 2e+3e] Running a game with different PLs

[Sir_Chivalry]

Something I've always wondered about when GMing an M&M game is how to model more varied teams like the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Justice League (or even the Freedom League) where not all members of the team are the same PL

In the past I set the "ideal PL" at a certain value (let's say 10) and then players would reduce points to have higher PL (so a PL 11 might have 135pp while a PL 10 had 150) and increase points for a lower PL (so in the above example a PL 8 would have 180pp). This led to potent one-trick ponies and nigh unstoppable skills focused characters of low PL . . . and I'm not sure if what I did was even the right approach

As a tangent from that, is the idea of a varied PL within the party even a good goal to strive for, or does it simply create an imbalance between the players which will ultimately kill fun? And if so what's the solution? Make sure all character concepts are equal in power (so Thor and Hulk are "strong" because they're damage and toughness focused and the system naturally favours that rather than being higher PL, while Black Widow and Hawkeye possess a massive amount of Defensive Roll and Sneak Attack to make up for naturally more human stats)?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I would be tempted to grant more hero points to characters at a lower PL-- that's a solution I've often seen in more narratively-focused games like Fate. You don't have as much raw power, but you have more lucky moments and plot armor. That said, I would say that teams of greatly divergent PL are not, overall, a great bet. Particularly given how divorced PL is from "apparent power"-- you can build Luke Cage as a PL 6 character and Daredevil as a PL 10, and Luke is still going to look a lot more powerful in-setting.

So I guess my real answer is "don't"-- if you want a Batman type character, make 'em accuracy/defense traded and loaded with skill-type powers and gadgets. That's a pretty decent representation of how Guardians did it, I think-- Groot and Drax dumped their points into superpowers, while Rocket picked up Variable (Slow) for his crafting ability, Gamora picked up a weapon and stuff like Defensive Roll and "Martial Skill" (Enhanced Strength, Limited to damage), and Star-Lord grabbed a bunch of Luck Control. Avengers, I think, went with more of a two-teams approach-- that is, players make one high-PL character (Thor, Hulk, Iron Man) and one lower-PL character (Hawkeye, Black Widow, and that one ****hole who reused "Tony Stark when he's not in full armor"), and missions generally involve only one of the two groups, or feature the two groups working on different objectives with the point of view bouncing between the two.

[JoeJ]

A lot depends on the people you're playing with. If they want to focus on teamwork and personal dynamics, then characters of different power level can work. If they like to compete with each other, it probably won't.

If you're not sure how your players will handle it, maybe try running a session with a team of pregenerated characters of different PL. The DC Adventures supplements have 3e M&M stats for a massive number of DC comics characters that you can use as is, or reskin with different names/backgrounds/appearances to suit.