understanding Mutants and Masterminds

[Dr_S]

Hello All,
I managed to pick up a copy of M&M 3rd Edition from work for cheap,
(Employee discounts for the w00t)
anyways, I've been reading and re-reading the crap out of this system, but since no one else in the group plays and I've been reading and skimming 'til my eyes bleed, I'm just a bit worn out and having trouble answering a few questions... (though I answered one of them whilst typing because I'm still reading, I'm just getting eye blood on some of the pages now :P)

Anyway I've never made a character, I've never played this system or any previous M&M and I'm relatively new to Pen and Paper gaming in general so some of this may just be stuff I overlooked or something in there.

A) Are abilities limited by power level?
I.E. Using Fighting and Strength as my example, is there any reason I can't put 20 in Strength and 0 in Fighting (as to not exceed attack bonus/damage limitations)
B) is it possible to have abilities/skills that might normally exceed these limitations as long as attacks are artificially limited (such as what the paragon seems to be doing by having 2 extra str but only when lifting or doing non-attacking str stuff... does this have to be done through the enhanced trait power?)
C) speaking of the paragon... how the heck am I supposed to read that? it looks like he's got 12 str and enhanced str 10 and fighting 8 which adds up to 30 not 20? (does something similar with stamina)
D) what is the difference (if any) between permanent enhanced ability and just spending 2 points on raising that ability?
E) what's the difference between the "strike" power and the "damage" power?

I'll probably have more questions later, but my group won't be rolling our first characters for 2 more weeks so I feel like attempting that will generate some questions.

[Hopeless]

Don't have my books on me so I'll double check this when I get home tonight, but...

Having Strength 20 and Fighting 0 means you can't punch anything but can left pretty much anything of course anything you throw is going to do at least your strength in damage!

Ideally you might want to think about Strength based Damage which is 1pt per rank and adds to your Strength score for damage purposes so say Strength and Fighting at both 5 with Strength based Damage at 5 to do 10 close damage for 5 power points instead of 10 to have your character strength at 10 for the same effect.

Check out the Accurate modifier which gives you +2 to hit with your Strength based Damage per Accurate you go for as its most often used to counter the penalties for multi-attack.

Be back later.

[Narsil]

A: Yes they are. You could have 20 strength and 0 fighting, but it actually recommends for the GM's sake to avoid doing that.

B: Yes. So you can have power lifting (enhanced lifting-only strength) to lift heavy objects, in place on both the Paragon and the Powerhouse.

C: The paragon actually has 2 strength. The enhanced strength trait raises it to the listed 12.

D: Whether it can be nullified, mostly, or something like that. Most people don't bother separating them out like the example paragon does, though there are house-rules in which you can't exceed certain figures without enhanced abilities.

E: One is an effect (damage), the other is a power (strike). Look at it this way; strike is a power that is a possible straightforward application of the damage effect.

[Dr_S]

hey, I totally understood that and I've not yet generated more questions!
So thank you!
Though as I said soon my group is going to start making characters so I'm thinking tomorrow I might try to stat out my old City of Heroes character (since that's a character I am very familiar with and so I've done it at least once for when I'm helping my group do it)

[Narsil]

You're perfectly welcome.