DK's Retread Rules (Collected and Compiled)

[dorkknight23]

Table of Contents:
Overarching Rule Changes (Energy, LOE, etc.)
Actions and Modifiers
Advantages/Disadvantages/Equipment

[dorkknight23]

Semantics: I might try to separate the red/white stone distinction, going for Points. Character Creation Points would thus be different from Character Energy. Naming the two the same thing (like “character levels” and “levels of a dungeon”) only leads to confusion (c.f. Order of the Stick.)
Cost Levels: As is. For whatever reason I like this system.

Make sure to instill a Rule 0, if it isn’t as blatantly spelled out: “GM has an important job. He has to make sure everyone is having fun. And he has to make sure characters are built fairly and not to take advantage of the system purely for the sake of exploiting rules to try and create a more powerful character than the others. The GM is allowed final approval on character creation and what seems logical or justifiable. The GM is also encouraged to not be a jerk about this.”

Like Marxist theory does, a few of my edits presuppose a much more positive human nature than I’ve encountered in the past, so there will be numerous warnings to this effect (for both players and GMs) where they seem essentially necessary. Luckily, this is not a system for an improved socioeconomic structure.

Rule 0.5: “If you aren’t having fun, you need to stop playing and have a brief and immediate discussion as to why and how. Everyone should then apologize and shake hands like grown-ups.”

Action Resolution: As normal. Difficulty and Resistance, the core of the system, works just fine.

However, make this explicit: “The second to last sentence at the body of the D&R chart, ‘to be able to attempt the action, the total of your action number, ability bonus, and modifier must be = to the Difficulty’ should be excised. Instead, to be able to succeed at an action, your Action Number must be equal to the Difficulty Number.”

Weapons/Actions/Modifiers: Left almost entirely untouched.

The Abilities:
“Characteristic Abilities”/”Innate Abilities”/Something Like That:
Intelligence: As before except for Intelligence-based characters….

Intelligence-Based Energy:

I’ve been reluctant to put Intelligence-based energy in the rules previously because 1) it’s one of the rules I immediately see abused, 2) using the Energy Reserve and Stamina rules can prove a very effective mimic of the Intelligence-based regeneration. However, I feel there still needs to be some incentive for Intelligence-based characters to do that.

Intelligence-Based Energy is available to characters who have Intelligence in excess of their Health. It will increase the cost of Intelligence by 2, but it offers a -2 discount to both Energy Reserve and Stamina (so Energy Reserve would cost ([Health-2] or [Energy Reserve Number-2] * [Energy Reserve] or [Health] as appropriate [subtract the 2 from whichever value is higher, minimum of a value subtracted is 1,] and Stamina would cost Health+Stamina Number-1.)
"Extreme Intelligence-Based Energy" (think Half-Faerie Blood or the equivalent) would increase the cost to 3, but offer a -3 discount to both Energy Reserve and Stamina (so Energy Reserve would cost ([Health-3] or [Energy Reserve Number-3] * [Energy Reserve] or [Health] as appropriate [subtract the 3 from whichever value is higher, minimum of a value subtracted is 1,] and Stamina would cost Health+Stamina Number-2.)

For example, if you have Intelligence of 5 and Intelligence-based energy under the current rules, it would cost 6 white (3 white times 2.) Under this idea, having as close as I could come (Intelligence 5, Health 3, Energy Reserve 2, and Stamina 3 would cost 5 white and 2 red. For 1 red stone less, the character’s energy reserve would be 12 and Regen 5, so it’s slightly off, but it almost works. And it fits into the current overarching rules.)

Strength: As before.
Agility: As before.
Speed: As before.
* All of these can have Efficient added onto them (but not the ones below, although there’s hardly a point to them being efficient.)

Energy Related Abilities:
Health: renamed Durability
Energy Reserve: Identical to Energy Battery in all but name. Can be 0.

DK's Note: For those who missed the houserule, Energy Battery adds to the Energy Pool. It costs MN*Dur red stones.[/quote

Stamina: Identical to Deep Reserve in all but name. Can be 0.

DK's Note:For those who missed the houserule, Deep Reserve adds to Durability for the purposes of the Energy Regeneration rate. It costs MN+Dur+1.

SIDE-NOTE ON 0’s: 0’s in other abilities should be noted as possible for NPCs (confined to a bed, non-sentient, etc. But 0’s aren’t heroes, and make very, very, poor PCs. They are not inherently banned but should be highly discouraged to the point of being practically banned, and in any case, no character should have an Intelligence of 0 or more than 2 non-Intelligence Characteristic/Whatever Abilities of 0. Professor Xavier might have a 0 in Speed, but then again, he should be almost always be confined to an NPC role.)

This will allow a built in method (along with Efficient) to counteract the slow energy spiral that occurs in MURPG.

Some examples:
Hulk: High Health, no Energy Reserve or Stamina.
Thor: Lower Health, but some Energy Reserve and Stamina
Cyclops: Human-level Health, High Energy Reserve, low or non-existent Stamina.
Quicksilver: Slightly above Human Level Health, low level Energy Reserve, low-level Stamina
Intelligence-Based Characters: Just give them Stamina = Intelligence-Health and enough Energy Reserve to approximately double their pools, if they need it at all.


A New Modifier:
Based off of Psychocentric Power Template and Personal Luck (pretending the latter has +3 for it’s usefulness to any action and a -1 for a highly specified circumstance [to only help when succeeding by one stone,]) “Innate Talent” is a MN+4 Modifier that can be applied to a set range of actions determined by the player and the GM. Sage, for example, might have her renamed Innate Talent apply to Telepathy and Computers and added a +1 to allow her free stones to interface with computers (although it’s kind of stupid, since she has Biocomputing already, but like Gambit’s Agility Bonus to Charge Objects...sometimes a GM just raises up his hands and goes “whatever.”) Either on its own or combined with some Stamina, Efficient, or a combination thereof, this can allow a character with low Health to be able to really perform in specific situations. If it applies only to a less effective action (one specific skill,) should be worth -1 disadvantage, whereas applying to any and every action is a +3 advantage.

New Rules for Lines of Experience:
Improving Abilities Beyond 4, Modifiers, etc.:
I’ve been using the following in my games and have found it works pretty swimmingly.

BUYING NEW SKILLS:
1 line to buy at AN 1, +10(X) [where X is equal to any addition to the cost level, like the +1 for Black Ops, 0 for something like Computers or Social Skills], 9 lines to improve to AN 2, 10 lines/AN afterwards as normal
IMPROVING ACTIONS
10 lines/+1 AN as normal.
IMPROVING “CHARACTERISTIC”[WHATEVER] ABILITIES TO 3
10 lines/+1 AN as normal.
IMPROVING “CHARACTERISTIC”[WHATEVER] ABILITIES BEYOND 3
10+(X-Y) [where X is the higher cost level and Y is the lower one. The result of X-Y should be 1, 2, 3, or 5]
IMPROVING ENERGY_RELATED ABILITIES TO 3
10 lines/+1 AN as normal.
IMPROVING ENERGY-RELATED ABILITIES BEYOND 3
10+(X-Y) [where X is the higher cost level and Y is the lower one. The result of X-Y should be 1, 2, 3, or 5]
IMPROVING MODIFIERS
10+(X-Y) lines, where X-Y is the difference between the increased cost and the current cost [the result of X-Y should be 1, 2, 3, or 5.)
BUYING NEW SUPER POWERED ACTIONS:
You'll need challenge stones for these, or GM approval (such powers would likely have to be thematically linked to your current ones. The Punisher shouldn’t suddenly grow wings and fly, unless there’s a good in-story reason for it [which would likely be more linked to challenge stones.])
BUYING MODIFIERS: Case-by-case basis
The cost of the modifier on purchase (treat red stones as a third) x 10 LOE. Improved as normal after that. Some modifiers might not be allowed for you to learn by training (GM caveat.)

For example, if you want Mental Defense (+1) or Fast Draw (+1), that would cost 10 LOE. To improve them to (+2), (+3), and so on, would cost 30 LOE. If you wanted Reflexive Dodge (+1), you could wait for 2 challenge stones, or you could spend 60 LOE to buy it.

Pulling Out All The Stops

Characters can and should push themselves to the limits, and characters that do deserve to be rewarded. Any character who spends the maximum number of stones they can in an Ability or Action (including Ability bonuses for actions,) as well as spending a Drama Point may receive 1 additional LOE from the GM to spend towards the Ability or Action. Modifiers may also be improved but must be used to modify a full Action’s stones with a Drama point. The GM has final decision how this LOE is spent.

Example: Tough Guy wants to improve his toughness. When an enemy readies his blaster, he shifts all his stones from Close Combat defense and spends a drama point. He ends up deflecting the enemy’s attack, and gets an extra LOE to spend at the end of the issue to improve his Toughness. If Tough Guy had put no stones into Defense and charged forward and just punched the villain, while spending a Drama Point, the GM may instead have him use that LOE to improve Close Combat (even though Tough Guy’s player wants to use it otherwise.)

Mentor/Students:

Sometimes the heroes learn at the feet of a more experienced hero, be it The Ancient One, Professor Xavier, or The Black Marvel, or even if it's a mutual friendship with one character helping another in exchange for help in another ability. These relationships are good for roleplaying and they should benefit a character's building up.

It is entirely possible to train a fellow player in another reasonable action (anything seemed reasonably trainable like Close Combat, or Mastery of Magic and powers related to it. You can't, for example, teach another person how to fly if they have no capacity to already.) For this to work, one player will have to train the other. This offers benefits to each player:

Mentor: For every line spent by the pupil towards learning, you receive 1 for free as long as the two of you can train together. However, the Master may only improve the AN of their own action once through training others. Any additional lines acquired can be used, however, towards purchasing options, at the usual rate of 10 lines/+1 of option.
Student: As long as you train with your mentor, you receive an extra line for every line you spend on the action. This extra line received must be spent to improve the Action Number of the action.

Example: Doctor Strange is teaching his young new apprentice the Mastery of Magic action (which he didn't previously have.) Instead of having to spend 30 lines to get the action to AN 2, he would only have to spend 15 lines. Doctor Strange would also then receive 15 free lines for teaching his pupil.

If the Students AN should ever equal the Master's, then the student and master can no longer learn from one another, at least for that action.

This will be especially useful for actions with an addition to cost level (like Mastery of Magic.) Or to help a player simultaneously purchase multiple options for an action as well as improve its AN.

Example: Professor Xavier tutors a young Jean Gray on the use of telepathy. She can use the extra lines to both rapidly improve her Telepathy as well as add new options for it. The Professor, on the other hand, can only improve the AN by 1, from 7 to 8, and from there he (or the GM) spends all those lines on new options for Telepathy.
Meanwhile, he helps Cyclops improve his burgeoning Leadership, as well giving him and the other X-Men help on building up resistance to telepathy [or giving them extra lines towards Mental Defense (+2).]
Later on, the Professor would help telepathically teach the X-Men English and other languages like Russian...

SIDEBAR: Languages
(Credit to Browwiw for the starts of this one)
Polyglots are not always exceptionally sociable. Just look at Wolverine. All characters are assumed to speak a common language (English typically) and 1 language per 2 points of Intelligence (they may speak less at the character's discretion for the purposes of background.) For a cost of 1/3rd of a character point, your character can speak one additional language, or for 1 point gain "Normal Translation" and speak all common Earthbound languages (they might not know the dialect of a group of Amazon Rainforest Indians who have never had contact with the outside world, but can speak English, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, &tc.)



Actions (in General):
+1/-1: For no cost, and at a player’s option, a character can gain a +1 to any skill-type action in a certain specific situation (talking to the opposite sex, for example,) and a -1 at all other times. Powers may receive it at GM discretion. If there’s a free +1 stone at all times, indicating great general skill, this should be worth +1. For a -1 stone at all times, that would be -1.

Specialties vs. Emphasis:
I originally called Emphasis “Specialization,” but, despite how much I love alliteration (seriously, read the early Vol. 1 Guardians. 9/10ths of the reason I love that game is how much I love alliteration,) I wanted to avoid confusion and “Specialization” could create confusion.
This is a more broadly applied version of the fix to Close Combat that Wildknight and Dionon were discussing. For each AN of many “skills” (see above,) you can receive one Specialty or Emphasis at your option. Specialties are, as before, a +2 sit mod in situations where they occur, but may only be applied once, but can be applied broadly. Emphases are a stacking +1 sit mod. For example, a hard-hitting Heavyweight Boxer might have Close Combat 4 (Strength bonus or Weapon Modifier; Boxing Specialty, Boxing Emphasis, Boxing Emphasis, Boxing Emphasis.) He’s not going to be as good kicking somebody or hitting them with a bat, but when he punches somebody they stay down. This will allow specialists (unarmed combat specialists in particular) to thrive the same way a broad generalist can now (who might have +2 in many situations, but not thrive in a certain field the way others might.) For an example in a non-combat situation, Reed Richard’s General Knowledge might contain multiple “Scientific Emphasis” as well as Specialties with a few specific fields, while Hank Pym might have one “Scientific Emphasis” and a wider range of specialties, and Beast might have no Emphases and a lot of specialties (since he’s so intellectually well-rounded.)

Three Methods to Purchase Powers:
Normal Action Boxes and Mastery of Elements, as normal, and...

Power Packages: With Energy Weapons and Mastery of Elements as inspiration, Power Packages are exceptionally a broader version of those two actions. Power Packages are for characters who need multiple powers but require limited boxes (consolidating multiple powers into one box.) Each option to the power costs either +1 or 1 less than its normal cost level (whichever is more.) The option is to either have a sort of “Swiss Army Power” with many minor powers at a low AN, or, ideally, to fit in a few thematically linked powers of similar strength into one action box.

Skill Packages For Fun and Profit

Your character is limited to 9 action boxes, and some concepts might seem to be more skilled or have a wider variety of powers than most. Power Packages can help conserve action boxes for super powers, but some characters have a wide range of skills (and possibly some powers) but are also restricted to 9 action boxes. What needs to be done in these situations? In play, actions can be combined…

Or, the character can make a Skill Package. Skill Packages are for the skilful superhero in need of some spare action boxes. Instead of being related only to powers, these combine two actions, often renamed into a new action that can function as either of the original actions.

They are built in a manner similar to power packages. You take one action (the one with the lowest value,) as your base. You can then add an advantage “ACTION at AN” which costs 1 less than the amount added to cost level for the action, or +1, whichever is higher.

One restriction to keep in mind is stone limits in action boxes. Even if you have two or more actions in an action box, you are restricted to your Action Number + any bonuses (if any) stones in an action box at a time. These may be divided between actions, but this prevents the full stone expenditures towards both actions.

The GM, of course, has final say on whether a combination is allowable. Advantages and disadvantages may be incorporated as well.

Some Example Skill Packages:
Statecraft: AN+2
Social Skills, with Leadership [+1] at AN, and a built in -1 discount to Wealth [+1]
Ninja: AN+6
Close Combat, with Ranged Combat at AN [+1], Stealth at AN [+1], Concentration at AN [+2], and (Ability Bonus and Weapon Modifier or 2 Weapon Modifiers) [+2]

Dependent Actions:
Inventing and Technology are a good example.
Making an action Dependent on another action requires GM approval and should be somehow plausible or justifiable. It reduces the cost level of the dependent action by 1, but means that this action can never exceed the AN of a second (Dominant) action. This cost is automatically built into Inventing (although some characters [Dr. Samson] have changed the dominant action into Medical Healing.)
Extreme dependence reduces the cost level by 2, but means the action can never exceed half the other action.
The GM can also decide two different actions can be, for lack of a better term, co-dependent on one another. This means one action cannot exceed double the other. This is essentially a +0 option (or, more accurately, a -0 disadvantage.) This is automatically applied to Mastery of Magic and Sorcery/Summoning/Witchcraft. A GM can also do this to other powers, although s/he is encouraged to do this sparingly if at all, and only if the powers can be plausibly/justifiably linked (a -1 “linked to power” disadvantage essentially is begging for this.)
EXAMPLE: A Telepath character requires concentration (and thus use of the Concentration action) to use his Telepathy action (which he purchased as a -1 disadvantage,) so the GM ruled that his Telepathy must therefore be codependent to his Concentration.
These actions must occupy different action boxes and never combined or .
A Power Package could, theoretically, be dependent on another action, or another action dependent on it. But it would require GM approval.

Sidebar: A Rough Guide for Combining Actions: Spend 1 line of experience. Combine two action boxes into one box, with the lower Action Number of the two.

New Rule: DRAMA POINTS

The epic adventures of heroes are nothing else if dramatic. Heroes should be heroes, and even if doing the right thing isn't always rewarded in game, it's always rewarded out of game. Drama Points, a sort of version of the TSR Marvel Heroes' Karma Points, are there for when the chips are down and the heroes need that extra push to succeed. Drama points are carried over from Mission to Mission if they are not spent. A player can spend a drama point to add a flat 2 stone modifier to his next actions. Spending 2 drama points allows a player to ask the GM ONE question relevant to the game, and the GM is encouraged to answer as truthfully and literally as possible (for example, "Which bank will the criminals rob next?" might get a different answer than "Which bank are they closest to right now?") Spending 3 drama points acts as Good Luck (+X) where X is the value needed to make sure the action succeeds by one stone, OR allows a player to reallocate his stones after the course of action (as though he had Prescience.)

OVERSTRAIN: Instead of a +1 option, Overstrain is available to all actions. For the cost of 4 Drama Points, the character received free stones equal to the maximum amount they can expend to the action they’re using, such stones can exceed the limit of the action box. However, after this the action is out of commission for the rest of the issue minimum, longer depending on the nature of the injury, and the limits of GM cruelty (that poor GM had it out for Banshee...) Likely reserved for extremely dire straits.

GMs are to reward Drama Points after players a) make tough decisions in line with their challenges while still being heroic, b) perform a particularly unlikely or heroic stunt that somehow succeeded ("Hey, did you just punch out Dormammu and ran out of the Dark Dimension screaming?") GMs can also rescind Drama Points for unheroic behavior (like using your powers for profit) or general "unsportsmanlike conduct."

THUNDERBOLTS VARIANT: The GM may reverse this for an all-antihero type campaign, rewarding drama points to characters who do the right thing for the wrong reason and will not lose drama points for unheroic behavior as often as not (GMs might be encouraged to just move the line of acceptable behavior back a bit: killing enemies might be ok, for example, but torturing civilians still might be worth loss of a drama point.)

Characters who are "Locked In" receive free drama points at the beginning of every Issue.

New Rule: LOCKED IN

If a character is in play long enough, they can accrue quite a few lines of experience. There is no upper limit, so soon characters could outpace the big league hitters like Thor or the Silver Surfer. This might not be a bad thing, but soon either you have to start dealing with cosmic opponents or consider retiring the character. If either option is not acceptable for you, then Locking In is an option.

A character that is Locked In no longer gains lines of experience. However, they do gain 5 free Drama Points at the beginning of every Issue. Characters can still be of a lower stone count or power level, but the extra Drama Points can help them to thrive and succeed despite this.

Characters can still accrue new challenge stones and use them to improve their abilities, actions, or modifiers, as normal.

Drama Points and Transform Self Users:
I built these Transform Self rules in a manner to accommodate both characters buying two vastly disparate forms (like the Hulk) and ones with a lot of overlap (like Colossus). However, after building a character with significant overlap between forms (like Colossus) I found there's a huge surplus of these leftover stones. Talking with WildKnight about it has given me this conclusion: should you not need your extra stones between forms, you can trade them in for Drama Points, at a rate of 1 Drama Point per 5 stones so refunded. In a hypothetical example, when Colossus joined the X-Men, he linked almost all of his abilities and actions to his baseline form. This meant that he didn't need most of the stones he used to create his weaker form, so he merely traded these in for extra drama points to use during his first few adventures with the X-Men.

ALSO: Any other leftover stones can be saved to improve your character later, as normal, or can be traded in in the same manner (5 characters points for 1 drama point.)

Leadership from multiple sources:
Legal if both sources provide you with 1 stone to the same action. You still cannot receive more than 2 stones from Leadership (or use it on Telepathy or Magic,) but those two stones can theoretically come from two different leaders.

"These Go to Eleven"

Some Marvel characters have phenomenal cosmic powers or abilities that simply put exceed all others. Superman is simply stronger than a 10. Cosmically Aware characters like The Living Tribunal and The Watcher are simply smarter than any mortal. Galactus can channel the cosmic powers in ways The Silver Surfer cannot, and Jean Gray had similar control of the Phoenix Force than Rachel Summers. The Flash can run circles around even Quicksilver.

I had originally conceived of a Superman built with a Strength of 23, capable of easily expressing 800 tons (which is one figure I saw of Superman's peak strength.) But there has been some definitely disagreement about extrapolating, and, in short, it ends up being an inelegant solution. The Scion system, and Spinal Tap, helped me come up with something slightly more elegant.

Characters with an 11 in an ability, action, or modifier, can spend 11 or more stones into their action and simply DO something that is plausible for their ability to do. A character with a Strength of 11 can perform feats of strength that Strength 10 characters might find impossible. It doesn't matter if it's 101 tons or 800 tons. Whatever the ability or action is, by spending 11 stones in an action box, and 3 Drama Points, the character can do anything that makes sense in the confines of that action. A character with Social Skills 11 can outtalk anyone, a character with Mastery of Fire 11 can control almost any fire or any incinerate almost anything, a character with Hex Spheres 11 can more or less make reality his personal whipping boy. If it makes sense, you can do it. And so on, and so forth.

A character can't begin with an Ability, Action, or Modifier number at 11. They must be improved by adding lines. Improving something from AN/AN/MN 10 to 11 costs double the amount it world normally cost. To use your stat at it’s full (11) potential, you need to spend 3 Drama Points.

The sky’s 10’s the Limit

Closing a minor loophole. Ability Numbers, Action Numbers, and Modifiers can be improved or stacked through actions like Growth or Metamorphosis. Should a combination occur that would increase an ability to 11 or above, it is treated as 10, no matter how high the number gets. An ability, action number, or modifier of 11, and the special benefits that provides, can only be acquired through lines of experience and such an increase is permanent.

Example: Mister Munchkin has Growth 1 and a Strength of 9. 1 stone of Growth gives 2 stones to Strength, but instead of reaching 11, his Strength can only reach 10 when improved by Growth.

Flashback Panels:
They only get sporadic usage here, but they’re nice. I like ‘em. No change necessary.

Out of Ammo:
From the Spider-Man Guide, a rule I like so much I’d want to make it featured (and wish I came up with myself.)

“Unless you’ve decided to keep track of ammunition, you can assume that you’ll never run out during an adventure. But when the going gets tough, you can get a few free stones by announcing that your weapon has run out of ammo. You instantly get a number of free stones equal to the Weapon Modifier! You can place these stones in another Action or use them to replenish your energy pool. But you can’t shoot the weapon again until you find more ammo.

For example, when Silver Sable is running low on energy stones, she announces that her +2 automatic pistol has just run out of ammo. She instantly gets 2 free bonus stones, ditching the gun and putting 2 stones into her next Close Combat attack.

The same rule can apply for a melee weapon that breaks during combat. Just remember that the character can always re-arm when she returns to base or finds a new weapon.”

As a caveat, I’d want to encourage that for improvised weapons (like breaking a bottle over somebody’s head for example,) will give you a +1 modifier the first round and 1 free stone for the next panel. Good for a barfight or when you’re fighting dirty.

[dorkknight23]

The Big Action List:

I made some initial notes, then cross-checked what I came up with against the work over at the 2.0 board...and surprisingly we had some similar notes.

Credit where Credit is Due: Flight, Force Blast, Manipulate Body Density, Metamorphosis (NOTE: I excised "must remain at least vaguely humanoid in size and shape and you cannot grow additional limbs" and "nor could you sprout wings, since they would be additional limbs,") and Telepathy options, are lifted verbatim from the 2.0 as it stands right now. Force Field has been mildly edited for removing Material Classes (the -1 now stands to allow it to be affected by Armor Penetration.)

Acrobatics
Option: Roll Out! +1 cost level:
In addition to the abilities described, Acrobatics can function as Speed for the purpose of movement, for those who bounce, roll, tumble, or otherwise nimbly move in ways that belie their speed.

Animal Training:
As is.

Astral Travel:
As is.

Biocomputing:
A “custom action.” Concentration, no bonus, Interface with Computers (+2.)

Black Ops/Spying:
This action has been shelved in favor of a new action Stealth.

Blasting
Folded into Flight.

Charge Objects
Now an option of Force Blast

Combat, Close, and Ranged
Both kept.

Computers:
Specialized Technology.

Concentration:
As is.

Clairvoyance:
As is, possibly use as an option for Telepathy as well.

Corrosive Touch:
As is.

Create Illusions:
CL = AN+1

Poster-action for “Options Bought as Actions.”

Dance
As is.

Drain Energy:
As is.

Energy Absorption/Reflection
As is.

Fear
As is.

Fireworks
Now an option of Force Blast.

Flight
I really like the 2.0 version, actually…
[Ruthlessly stolen]

Quote:
AN +2 CL
This might come to you because you have wings like Angel, mastery over the wind like Storm, or just a power like Rogue. Your maximum airspeed is equal to your AN, up to a maximum of airspeed 5 (750 mph).

To carry objects in flight, stones must be applied against weight (see the D&R chart), and do not count against airspeed. The maximum weight you can carry in this fashion is limited by your Strength.

Options
+1 CL = Supersonic. You have the potential to exceed the speed of sound; your maximum airspeed is limited only by your AN.

+2 CL = Unstoppable. Your flight behaves like the Unstoppable Action: total stones of effect (including stones spent on speed) represent the hardest substance you can penetrate. Example: Cannonball has a Flight AN of 7. He wants to smash through a concrete wall (hardness 6) to escape from an ambush, so he puts 6 stones into flight: 1 to move at up to 200 mph and 5 more to overcome the hardness of the concrete wall.

-1 CL = Fits With Main Power. Characters with wings (such as Angel) or an appropriate Mastery of Elements (such as Storm) can qualify for this power. Characters who's flight is merely superfluous (such as Ms. Marvel) pay normal cost.

-1 CL = Limited Maneuverability. Your ability to fly is awkward or unrefined; you may not hover in place, and resistance is doubled during takeoffs, landings, and while performing complicated maneuvers (as decided by the GM).

-1 CL = Max Speed 3. Regardless of your Action Number, you may not exceed an airspeed of 3. (This is the limit for natural creatures such as birds; characters whose abilities are based on those of natural creatures might qualify for this discount.)

-1 CL = Max Speed 2 When Carrying.



Force Blast
I really like most of the 2.0 version, actually (except for the Mastery part)…
[Ruthlessly stolen]

Quote:
AN +0
Force Blast is a generic name for a whole category of variable-range energy attacks, from fireballs to Cyclops' Optic Blasts; with various Options at your disposal, you can even represent Jubilee's fireworks, or Gambit's charged objects.

It comes with a default range of 4, and you can choose 2 Cost Levels of Options and/or Advantages for free. Don't forget to choose an element, such as fire, radiation, or force.

Options
+3 CL = Charge Objects. You can opt to charge an object and throw it a distance of up to Range 2. Your attack gains the benefit of the object's weapon modifier and properties. (If you are like Gambit and can only charge objects, reduce your Range from 4 to 2, for a -2 CL discount.)

+1 CL = Absorb Unused Stones. As Fireworks. (An efficient option for those occasions when an opponent dodges out of range or is knocked out before your action comes up.)



Force Field
Y’know what, I really like the 2.0 version, actually…

Quote:
AN +2 CL
You can surround yourself with a field of force to protect against attacks. Force Field stones shifted to defense protect you normally (on a 1 stone for 1 defense basis, unlike the previous 1 stone for 2 defense rule). Your Force Field can absorb additional punishment at the cost of additional energy: any damage you would ordinarily take from an attack instead comes out of your energy pool. The maximum amount of damage that your Force Field can sustain from any individual attack is equal to twice your AN.

Example: Sue Storm is trying to hold off a rampaging Hulk; she has a Force Field AN of 9, an Energy Pool of 6, and is at full energy (30 stones in her Pool). Not sure what to expect, she cautiously puts 6 stones into her Force Field and shifts them to defense. The Hulk slams a massive fist down on her force field for a total of 13 stones of attack. Ordinarily, such an attack would exceed her defense by 7 stones, resulting in 3 white stones of damage; however, Sue's Force Field can absorb up to 18 stones of punishment from a single attack. Those extra 7 stones of attack come out of her Energy Pool instead of her health. Her Force Field has kept her safe for this Page, but if this keeps up she'll run out of energy fast!

You can also expand your Force Field to protect nearby allies. To do so, announce at the start of the Page that you are offering protection to allies within a certain radius; you must pay stones for an area greater than 2. Any ally within this radius may opt to take shelter within your Force Field; however, in doing so, they are unable to physically affect characters outside the Force Field, which might limit their ability to attack enemies.

Example: Hellion, Surge and Elixir are in a desperate battle against a squadron of Purifier soldiers. At the start of the page, Hellion offers to expand his Force Field to protect his allies. He has a Force Field AN of 5, so he pays 1 stone for area 3, or 25' in total diameter and shifts 4 stones into defense. Elixir happily agrees to take shelter, but Surge decides she's okay on her own. Elixir can't physically attack the Purifiers, but he gains 4 stones of defense from the Force Field. If Elixir is attacked for more than 4 stones, Hellion can pay additional energy from his Pool to reduce the damage, up to a total of 10 stones of protection.

Options
+1 CL = Offensive Force Field. This option allows you to attack with your Force Field, either as a Range 3 attack, or by combining stones with Close Combat. Stones shifted to defense cannot also be used to attack.

+1 CL = Create Constructs. You can create simple objects made out of force, such as bridges. Area determines the size of the construct (pay for area above 2 as usual). Your construct can support a weight equal to 2 times the number of stones of effect (see the Difficulty and Resistance chart). Your construct has a defense equal to the number of stones of effect; you can pay energy from your pool to absorb additional damage up to a maximum of twice your AN as usual for a Force Field. If the construct sustains even one stone of additional damage, it is destroyed.

-1 CL = Personal Effect Only. You may not expand your Force Field to protect others.

-1 CL = Can be neutralized by Armor Penetration.



Gambling
(A Specialized Variation of Stealth)

General Knowledge
As is.

Genetic Engineering:
(Now a special option for Inventing. See below.)

Growth
Cost Level: AN+4
As is, except can be improved by LOE.

Healing
As is

Hex-Spheres
As is.

Horsemanship
As is.

Inventing
[See Below]

Invisibility
As is.

Iron Will:
As is.

Leadership
As is.

Manipulate Density

Quote:
AN+2 CL
You are capable of altering your body's density, becoming heavier or lighter as you desire.

For each stone of effect you can move your body weight 1 step up or down on the D&R chart. The maximum weight you can achieve is equal to your natural weight plus your AN; your weight cannot fall below 1. For each stone of increase you gain 1 strength or 1 toughness (your choice). All changes to your weight last for approximately 1 hour; if you wish to return to your normal weight prematurely, you must pay stones to increase or decrease your weight as usual.

Options
+2 CL = Phase Self. You can reduce your weight to zero, which causes you to phase. Unlike the Phase Shift action, you do not disrupt electrical devices, nor can you bring those you touch into phase as well. You may purchase any Options normally reserved for Phase Shift (such as Phase Stun or Phase Attack).

+2 CL = Potent Density. Each increase in weight grants you both +1 to Strength and to Toughness.



Manipulate Mutagenic Fields
Barely should even qualify for an action. SCRAPPED.

Master of Elements

Mastery of Elements
(Slightly Tweaked)

Cost Level = Action Number +2

Mastery of Elements is a broad term for an ability to create and manipulate certain energies or substances. What a player can do with their mastery is usually decided by the player and GM, and the GM sets Difficulty and Resistance accordingly. Some usual typical applications include simple object (i.e. no moving parts) and barrier creation or alteration of preexisting objects or barriers. These can be tooled with options to perform an even wider range of abilities.

The action also includes a Force Blast at AN (standard rules apply.)

Depending on the element in question, the cost level can increase accordingly:
“Mastery Is of Unusual Power” (GM Discretion): +1 to cost level. This includes elements like Gravity, Magnetism, or Nuclear Power.
“Mastery is Unusually Broad” (GM Discretion): +3 to cost level. This includes elements that could be used in a broader variety of situations like Weather, The Four Elements, Nature, and Light Spectrum.
“Mastery is of Extreme Power” (GM Discretion): +8 to cost level. This includes things that are immensely broad or powerful like Mastery of Time, Space, Matter, and (all) Energy.
(More circumstance-based elements, like Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Plasma, Sonic, Vibration, etc., do not increase the CL.)

Options:
Unlimited Create/Manipulate: (+4) to Cost Level. The capabilities of this to create complex working devices and do practically any plausible application of the element in question, limited only by the player’s creativity and the GM’s versatility.
Accumulate Energy: +2 to cost level. Unlike other actions, you are not limited by the AN for the amount of stones you may put in this action, or the amount you’re limited to in a panel. You may put large amounts of stones towards creating large effects (effects on a global scale might cost thousands of stones, for example.) You, however, are still limited by your AN for the purposes of Difficulty, so all those accumulated stones can only cause commensurate effects. Leaves the user stunned for 1 panel afterwards, leaving them unable to take any actions.
Absorb Element to AN: +2 to cost level.
Absorb +1 stone in certain appropriate conditions (underwater, bathed in fire, in direct sunlight, as appropriate to Mastery.): +1 to cost level
Energy Immunity: +1 to cost level. Provides Energy Resistance (per the modifier #) to the element in question.
Communicate with Element: +1 to cost level. Works best with things that can feasibly communicate back, such as plants, animals, the dead, microscopic life, etc.
Other Options May Be Available at GM discretion (such as “can combine with Close/Ranged Combat.”) One that cannot be taken is the +1 “additional element.”

Masters may purchase Flight or another appropriate movement action (Swimming for a Master of Water, for example,) at -1 to cost level.

Other Actions: Similar to Power Packages, as Master of Elements can add other plausible actions at AN at a cost of -1 to CL (minimum +1.) For example, having a Force Field as part of your Mastery of Plasma costs +2, while having Create Illusions would be +1.

Notes:
Certain masters, like Iceman and The Human Torch, transform into their element. This is typically manifested using Transform Self and a variety of linked actions (sometimes even including their Mastery of Elements.)

Mastery of Kung Fu
You have got to be kidding me. SCRAPPED.

Metamorphosis

Quote:
AN+3 CL
Metamorphosis is the ability to dramatically change your physical body. In its simplest form you can alter and enhance your physical attributes and design; with enough Options, this Action can be immensely powerful.

This Action does not allow you to mimic the appearance of specific individuals: that is the realm of the Shape Shifting Action. However, clever applications of Metamorphosis can help a Shape Shifter mimic the physical abilities of their pretend identities, making the ruse that much more convincing.

Default Rules
1. You are limited to physical/morphological Abilities, Actions and Modifiers only. You can enhance your strength, grow scales for Toughness, and sprout claws, but you can't develop, Telekinesis since it isn't a physical change.

2. Each stone spent grants you 1 Ability point, AN or MN, and allows you to shift 1 point of an Ability, Action or Modifier into another Ability, Action or Modifier.
For example: You want to adopt a more feral form with claws that is more agile, but weaker than your usual form. You put 3 stones into Metamorphosis, which buys you Claws 3. You also get to shift 3 points of your Strength into Agility.

3. Metamorphosis is unusual in that it costs all of your actions in a panel. You may walk any distance you would ordinarily cover without spending stones and you may be able to speak a few short sentences. However, you benefit from your new form immediately at the start of the Page, allowing you to take advantage of any new defensive modifiers you may have morphed.

4. When you morph, any wounds in your starting form carry over to your new form. This can never lower your health below 2 red stones.
Example: Husk has Durability 3 in her natural form, but she is currently injured and missing 1 white stone of health. She morphs into a more durable wooden form which has Durability 4; when the transformation is complete, she is left with 3/4 health.
After a long fight in her wooden form, Husk wants to switch back to her "human" form. She is now badly injured and is at only 1/4 health. Her 3 stones of wounds carry over, and when her Durability reduces to 3, she finds herself left with only 2 red stones. She's in bad shape!

Options
+1 CL = Extreme Transformation. You can shift up to twice as many points of Abilities, Actions or Modifiers as normal.

+1 CL = Animal Affinity. You can adopt the form or features of any animal, provided you can mimic the appropriate CAD. You can even sprout animal limbs such as wings or a tail. Every two stones spent for effect also allows you to shift your size/weight up or down one point on the D&R chart (though you may not phase by reducing your mass to zero).

+2 CL = Omni-morph. You can adopt just about any form or substance you can think of. Every two stones spent for effect also allows you to shift your size/weight up or down one point on the D&R chart (though you may not phase by reducing your mass to zero).

+2 CL = Self Repair. Each time you morph you automatically heal 1 white stone of health for every 3 stones of effect (round down).

+1 CL = Mind of the Beast. You can unlock feral power by adopting a more bestial intellect. You may shift stones out of your Intelligence into physical Abilities, Actions and Modifiers (but not the other way around; you cannot improve your Intelligence).

+1 CL = Rapid Metamorphosis. You can change shapes faster and with greater ease. Morphing costs only you 1 Action.


ADDENDUM: Shapeshifting is available as a +1 CL option to Metamorphosis.

Nerve Punch: (Rename “Nerve Attack” or, if you’re cheeky, “Vulcan Nerve Pinch”)
+2 option for Close Combat.

Ninja
A Skill Package (note the increased cost.) Also available.

Phase Shift
Modified:

Quote:

Cost Level = AN+2

Phase Shift allows the character to become a living ghost, passing themselves through matter (and most physical enemy attacks.) You can be phased for one panel for one stone spent. This does, however, have limitations. For one, other phased characters can still target another phased character of equal or lesser AN. For another, mental and magical attacks can still affect them. Thirdly, phasing puts a great physical strain of the character. Regardless of their AN, they cannot stay phased for longer periods than their (undamaged) Health score they will return to their solid state and be knocked out. They must remain unphased for at least one full panel, they can then return to being phased again. Fourth, increasingly dense materials are more difficult to phase through. Take the hardness of the material and subtract it from the Phase Shift AN. If the result is greater than 0, then you can’t pass through the material (or, if you spend a drama point, can pass through but be knocked out in the process for a number of panels equal to twice the difference [or 2, whichever is more.]) If the result is a positive number, you can pass through it by spending 1 stone per panel passing through it (so you should be careful trying to phase through something like a whole building, or the whole Earth, you’ll have to come up for air eventually!)

For example: Kitty Pryde has Phasing of 8 (with options,) and wants to phase past some Secondary Adamantium, which has some hardness of 9. She can do it, but only by spending a drama point and by being knocked out afterward for 2 panels. However, she can pass through anything of Hardness 8 or lower easily.

High ANs thus, are important, to pass through denser materials, avoid other phased things, and phase for periods at least equal to your health.

Options:
-1 cost level for being able to pass through tiny cracks, but being unable to escape airtight or waterproofed containers.
-2 for still being vulnerable to attacks while passing through objects
Disrupt Electrical Systems: +1 cost level, limited to complexity = AN.
Walk on Air: +1 cost level, max Speed 1
Phase Others by Touch: +2
Phase Attack: As Normal
Phase Stun: As Normal



Pheromones
As is.

Phoenix Force, Full
SCRAPPED.

Phoenix Force, Limited
Remove the “limited.” A VERY powerful Power Package. Jean Gray had/has/will have this at 11.

Power Boost:
As is.

Private Investigating:
Folded into Stealth.

Psychiatry
CL=AN+3; a skill package; Specialized General Knowledge, can combine with Social Skills, and repair mental damage.

Psi-Weapon
As is.

Shapeshifting
As is.

Shrink:
Cost Level: AN+3
As is, except can be improved by LOE.

Social Skills:
Unchanged, except for:
Distracting Banter [+1 to cost level]:
Attack versus Intelligence or Social Skills (whichever is highest,) “damage” is removed from stones shifted to defense, then from action boxes, and then from the opponent’s energy reserve.

NEW ACTION: Specialized Actions
For -1 to Cost Level, an action can cover a more specific application at the cost of being useless for anything except that. For example, if a character’s General Knowledge only applies to something like Marine Biology or another scientific specialty, they could purchase it an CL = AN instead of AN+1 (1-1=0.) Musician would be worth more than Guitar (which might be worth AN-1,) Kree Technology would be worth less than Technology, and Motorcycles would be worth less than Vehicle Operation.

Statecraft
The Quintessential Skill Package.

Steal Superpowers:
SCRAPPED.

NEW ACTION: Stealth
Cost = AN

Call it Thieving, call it Black Ops or Spying, call it Detective Work, Investigating. A character with Stealth is the kind of sneaky thief, spy, PI, or Ninja that can evade capture, hide, move silently, or perform in a sneaky way. However, with Specialties and Emphases, a Stealthy character can become an expert cat burglar, corporate saboteur, or assassin-for-hire.

Notes for Action Box:
(Agility Bonus included)
(Specialties)

Stretching:
As is.

Summon and Control Animals
As is.

Swimming:
As is.

Technology:
New Option: Repair (+1) to cost level
Acts as Medical Healing for mechanical devices of complexity less than or equal to AN.

Telekinesis:
As is.

Telepathy:
(Needs very little don to it, but I like the options for Control others and Mental Block that the 2.0 rules came up with).

Quote:
+2 CL = Control Minds
This option allows you to seize control over the weak-minded, forcing them to act as you please. Resolving mind control involves 4 steps:

1. Overcoming Mental Defense
To initiate mind control, a telepath must allocate stones and choose a target as usual.

a) Stones of Telepathy are compared to the target's total mental defense (Intelligence + Telepathy AN + Mental Defense modifier). Stones of attack in excess of mental defense should be noted, as they represent the Difficulty and Resistance to escape mental control:

Difficulty cannot exceed your Telepathy AN
Resistance can be piled up to infinity

b) If the attack is successful, the victim loses any actions they may have left to resolve in the same Page. Any stones spent on those lost actions are refunded.

2. Maintaining Control
Victims are not necessarily helpless; depending on the strength of the telepath, they might have a chance to fight back. However, the telepath may choose tighten their grip on the victim:

a) At the start of each of your subsequent Panels, the victim may struggle against your mental shackles if his Intelligence (or Telepathy AN, if applicable and preferred) meets or exceeds the current Difficulty. If the victim so chooses, subtract his Intelligence (or Telepathy AN) from the bond's Resistance.

b) Subsequently, you may spend stones of Telepathy to pile on more Resistance and Difficulty. Subtract the victim's mental defense as usual; however, you may ignore their Mental Defense modifier, if any. Any stones in excess add to Difficulty and Resistance. (Remember, the maximum Difficulty is equal to your Telepathy AN.)

c) If at the end of your Panel the Resistance is reduced to 0 or less, telepathic control is broken, and the victim may act again as normal on the next Page.

d) You must spend at least 1 stone of upkeep in Telepathy each page in order to maintain mind control, even if your victim can no longer struggle against you.

3. Weakening Resistance
The following factors may also reduce Resistance:

a) Bleed-off: At the start of every Page, the Resistance drops by 1.

b) Pain: For each White stone of health the victim loses, reduce Resistance by 3. Example: The Purifier captain is slapped by one of his ballsy subordinates in an effort to rouse him from the mental control. The attack exceeds his Defense by 1 red stone; he loses 1 white and consequently, the Resistance of the mind control drops by 3 stones.

c) Morality: Each time the victim is forced to do something strongly against their nature (attacking a friend, hurting a loved one, suicidal behaviour), the GM may choose to reduce the Resistance by 1 to 5 stones, depending on the severity of the act. This reduction takes place immediately, before the act is carried out; if this reduces the Resistance to 0 or less, the bond breaks instantly and the action is not performed.

d) Reason: A friend or ally of the victim may attempt to talk them out of their mental prison. Stones of Social Skills or Psychiatry are compared to the Difficulty of the mental control; any stones in excess of the Difficulty are taken out of the Resistance. Allies with a powerful connection to the victim (family member, lover, best friend) may benefit from a situational modifier.

4. Controlling the Victim
While mental control is unbroken, you may decide how the victim acts:

a) You may allocate the victim's own stones into their Action Boxes as you please. The maximum number of stones you may allocate in this fashion per panel is equal to the Resistance you have piled up.

Example: Emma Frost has Telepathy 8 with an Int bonus of 4. She attempts to mentally control a Purifier captain, who has an Int of 3 and a Mental Defense modifier of 3 (thanks to an anti-telepathy chip implant). Emma acts first and allocates 8 stones into her attack, dealing 2 "damage" and gaining control. The Purifier captain loses his actions (his stones are refunded) and stands motionless like a zombie when his panel comes up.

At the start of the second Page, one point of Resistance "bleeds off". Additionally, the Purifier captain can now try to struggle out of his telepathic bonds. The Difficulty of the mental control is 2 and the Resistance is down to only 1. His Int of 3 is higher than the current Difficulty, so the Resistance falls to -2. The mental bond will break at this rate, unless Emma tightens her grip!

And that's exactly what she does. Not one to take chances, Emma Frost spends another 9 stones of telepathy (1 stone of upkeep, and 8 stones of attack). The Purifier's Mental Defense modifier no longer applies (since she's already breached his defenses), so only the Purifier's Int 3 counts as defense against the attack. 5 stones get through. The Difficulty increases to 7 and the Resistance both increases from -2 to 3. Because the Difficulty is so high, the Purifier is now helplessly ensnared.

Now Emma is free to control the Purifier as she pleases. Since the Resistance is 7, she may allocate up to 7 stones of the Purifier's own energy into any Action she pleases. She puts 2 of his stones into Ranged Combat (+3 for the captain's assault rifle) and targets one of the captain's own men. The GM assigns a circumstance bonus of 1 stone for such a surprise attack!




Quote:
+2 CL = Mental Block
This option allows you to lock away a target's powers, temporarily blocking access to some or all of their ability; with enough time and effort, a mental block can be made permanent.

The Difficulty and Resistance of creating a mental block is relative to it's strength and duration:

Determining Strength and Difficulty
The Difficulty is equal to the portion of an Action Number you wish to reduce. Thus, if you wanted to reduce an Action Number from 6 to 2, the Difficulty would be 4. Your Telepathy AN must meet or exceed the Difficulty to even attempt this procedure.

If an Action Number is reduced to zero, the Action cannot be used at all, even if it has an associated ability bonus or modifier.

Determining Duration and Resistance
The Resistance of creating a mental block is equal to the Difficulty x the desired Duration (found on the Difficulty & Resistance chart). To create a permanent block, multiply the Difficulty by 20.

Creating the Block
You cannot block an Action that you don't know exists; in other words, you must have seen the power in use, or have learned of its nature through telepathic probing or some other method first. You cannot use this option to block mundane Actions, such as Close Combat or General Knowledge (instead, use the Edit Memories option). You may only block one Action at a time.

To create a block, first determine the desired strength and duration and calculate the Resistance. Next, you must overcome your target's mental defense (the sum of their Intelligence, Telepathy AN, and Mental Defense modifier, if any). You can ignore the mental defense of a willing subject. Any stones in excess of mental defense count against the Resistance. You do not need to overcome the Resistance in one attempt, but all contributing attempts must be made in consecutive pages, without interruption.

Removing Blocks
Removing a mental block requires the Repair Minds option; however, a telepath can always remove a block of their own creation, even without the Repair Minds option.

To remove a mental block, a telepath must first overcome the same Difficulty (equal to the AN that has been blocked). The Resistance is equal to the Difficult x the remaining duration. The Resistance of removing a permanent block is equal to the Difficulty x 20 stones.

Example: Upon discovering a young telekinetic named Julian Keller, Emma Frost secretly probes his mind to understand the nature of his power. Her probe reveals a disturbing lack of control over his telekinesis, and she fears he may be a danger to himself and to others as his powers develop. The simplest and safest solution, she reasons, is to block the most devastating portion of his power.

Keller has a Telekinesis AN of 9. Frost believes he'll have a much easier time with an AN of 5. The Difficulty of creating such a block is 4; easily within the limits of her own Telepathy AN 8. She wants to make the block permanent (she can remove herself if and when she feels he's ready), so the Resistance is set at 80 stones. It is no simple task, and will require a sustained effort if she is to complete the block before she exhausts herself.

First she creates a telepathic link so that she can complete her work at a distance, in the privacy of her office. She recovers 5 energy per panel, and so she puts 5 stones into Telepathy: 1 stone to maintain the link, and 4 stones towards the block. Due to Julian Keller's Intelligence of 2, only 2 stones get through and count against the resistance. While it will take her a whopping 40 pages of work (upwards of 20 minutes at 30 seconds per page), as long as she isn't interrupted she will eventually be successful. Perhaps she should limit his flight speed, too..



Teleportation:
As is.

Thieving:
Folded into Stealth.

Tongue/Tail/Tendril Whip:
As is.

Unstoppable:
As is.

Vehicle Operations:
Specialized version of Technology.

Ventriloquism:
Both Ventriloquism and Webslinging are good examples of pricing custom powers.

Wall-Crawling/Climbing:
As is.

Webslinging:
See Ventriloquism

MAGIC:
I’d ban the everloving hell out of Asgardian sorcery. And, I would add this one rule.
Rule 5: The GM is encouraged to work with the mage in question on setting a thematic “school” to your magic (examples might include Ancient Egypt Hermeneutic Magic, Witchcraft, Chaos Magic, the “Four Elements,” Voodoo, etc.) Logic can be then used to determine the kinds of magical effects that make most sense out of using your mastery or other relevant magical actions.

Magical Travel:
Now a Power Package maybe up of various movement actions.

The Big Modifiers List
(Note, the option for Immortality and Self-Contained Life Form was taken from the 2.0 thread.)

Adamantium Skeleton
As is.

Animal Senses:
As is.
New Option: Radar Senses, +3
New Option: Cybernetic Senses, +5
New Options: Enhanced Vision, +1/cost per variety.

Bionic Self-Repair:
As is.

Bone Weapons:
Part of Innate Talent.

Claws:
Part of Innate Talent.

Copy Ability/Action/Modifier

Options for Copy Ability/Action/Modifier

1. For five stones less, the character can only copy powers, and not skills like Close Combat, Social Skills, or General Knowledge, unless the "skill" is part of a mutant power (for example, Forge's talents with machinery.) He may increase his own Abilities, Actions, or Modifiers, per normal. Can't be used with Option 2.
2. For five stones less, the character cannot copy any ability, any modifier above 2, or superpowered action (any action that could only be purchased outside of creation with Challenge Stones.) Can't be used with Option 1.
3. For ten stones less, the character only can copy "skills" (like Close Combat, Social Skills, General Knowledge, or anything else that requires training.) Can't be used with Option 1.
4. For ten stones more, the character can hold retain any and all abilities, actions, or modifiers copied, at -1 their Ability Number, Action Number, or Modifier Number of up to 5 characters. For Healing Factors, they become one step lower (Instant becomes Enhanced, Enhanced becomes Accelerated, Accelerated normal, and normal into a 2x healing rate. 2x healing rates can be retained without loss.) Other singular modifiers must be adjucated on a case-by-case basis by the GM (Cosmic Awareness might be retained as Prescience and Precognitive Flashes, for example, or Invulnerability might be replaced with Toughness [+6, no AP,] for example.) If the character selects to permanently copy a sixth target, he must forgo copying one of his other targets. He may improve permanent actions copied with Lines of Experience.
5. For fifteen additional stones, the character may retain any and all abilities, actions, or modifiers at full Ability Number, Action Number, or Modifier Number of up to 5 characters. If the character selects to permanently copy a sixth target, he must forgo copying one of his other targets. He may not improve permanent actions copied with Lines of Experience.

Example #1: The Mimic has purchased the first and fourth options, making his modifier 35 stones. He current has the abilities of the original five X-Men permanently retained. He also was able to learn to control Cyclops’ optic blast (by dedicating 20 lines of experience to the affair.) If he were to permanently copy another mutant (say Wolverine for his claws at +2, Animal Senses at AN 5, and a Healing factor) he would have to remove one of the five X-men's powers he has retained.

Example #2: Prodigy II has purchased the third option, making his modifier 20 stones. Within the confines of the school, he is able to modify his own skills by copying Wolverine's Close Combat of 7, The Beast's General Knowledge, Technology, and Medical Healing of 6, and Nightcrawler's Acrobatics 6. As he gains lines of experience, he might start taking specialties in his own actions reflecting this (such as certain Wolverine or Cyclops specific specialties to Close Combat after repeatedly copying their styles, or "Copying the Style of Cyclops/Wolverine/etc.") However, in any event, he could not fire an optic blast, heal faster like Wolverine, or even get Nightcrawler's (+3) Reflexive Dodge. However, should any of those X-Men be further than a mile away, he suddenly has to rely on his decidedly less than 6-7 AN (if he has them at all.)

Example #3: Sync has Option 1, for a 25 stone modifier. Sense Superpowered Beings (like Sense Mutants, with +1 for broader use,) and a powerful Innate Talent with powers copied.

Example #4: Rogue has taken Option #5, along with “Only Usable in Conjunction with Action” linked to her combined action “Improved Drain Energy/Read Memories By Touch” (which itself has “Power out of Control.”) She also took a modifier “Might Be Overwhelmed by Strong Personalities” for -1, and “Does not work on Gods, Synthezoids, and beings of ionic energy” for an additional -1, maybe the total cost for the modifier 35 white.

Cosmic Awareness:
Prescience taken to 11.

Cybermorphics:
As is.

Cybernetic Senses:
As normal, also available as an option for Animal Senses.

Defense, Energy:
As is.

Defense, Magical:
As is.

Defense, Mental:
As is.

Destiny Force:
SCRAPPED.

Duplicate Self:
As is.

Fast Draw:
As is.

Flexible Skeleton:
As is.

Healing Factors:
2x Healing: CL = Durability
+1 to cost level; Regenerate stones at a rate of 3 red/2 health.
All as is.

SIDEBAR: Healing Factors and Increased Durabilities:

When initially purchasing a Healing Factor, you keep a note of the Health you used as a base for it. This should be your starting Health score. Should your Durability improve, either through LOE or an action like Growth, you can still heal at an enhanced rate, but regeneration rate is either the baseline for Healing Factor (3/2Health for the Health you purchased [+Stamina]) or your current Health Score [+Stamina]. In terms of Stamina and Energy Reserves, these numbers are reduced by 1 point per point of Health increase for Growth (to a max of 0.)

Example:
Growing Guy has Growth 5, a Durability 2, and a Healing Factor. At his normal height and Durability, he regenerates 3 red/panel, If he puts 1 into Growth and improves his Durability to 3, he still regenerates 3/panel. By putting 5 stones into Growth he can improve his Durability to 7, but he only regenerates 7/panel. He needs to improve his Healing Factor with LOE in order to get it up to the equivalent Durability of 7 for the energy regeneration rate to apply at that size. He still heals 1 white stone an hour regardless of his relative size.

Immovability:
As is.

Immortality:
As is, but also an option for Self-Contained Life Form.

Immune to Reality Distortion:
As is.

Innate Talent:
New Modifier (Can be reworked into things like Claws, Psychocentric Power Template, and Targeting.)
Cost Level = MN+4

Based off of Psychocentric Power Template and Personal Luck (pretending the latter has +3 for it’s usefulness to any action and a -1 for a highly specified circumstance [to only help when succeeding by one stone,]) “Innate Talent” is a MN+4 Modifier that can be applied to a set range of actions determined by the player and the GM. Sage, for example, might have her renamed Innate Talent apply to Telepathy and Computers and added a +1 to allow her free stones to interface with computers (although it’s kind of stupid, since she has Biocomputing already, but like Gambit’s Agility Bonus to Charge Objects...sometimes a GM just raises up his hands and goes “whatever.”) Either on its own or combined with some Stamina, Efficient, or a combination thereof, this can allow a character with low Health to be able to really perform in specific situations. If it applies only to a less effective action (one specific skill,) should be worth -1 disadvantage, whereas applying to any and every action is a +3 advantage.

Interdimensional Travel:
As is.

Invulnerabilities:
Minor ones retained.

Major Invulnerabilites
All Scrapped. Instead they should be Toughness, Energy Defense, and Mental Defense taken to 11.

Limb Regrowth:
As is.

Luck [Personal]:
As is.

Photographic Memory:
As is.

Photographic Reflexes:
Option of Copy Ability/Action/Modifier, but with another five stones removed to have to actually have to watch the action being performed, and another five removed for only being able to only exert as many stones as you’ve seen performed.

Precognitive Flashes:
As is.

New Modifier: Prescience
CL=MN

Allows the user to spontaneously and subconsciously detect possible danger, enabling them to shift stones equal to the modifier number to defense (or, at the player’s option, to an appropriate movement action [like Flight, Force Field, Teleportation, or Phase Shift.] If they take this option, they can’t shift stones to defense, only to that one action in question,) or negate situational modifiers based on attacking an opponent shielded by illusion/deception/invisibility or any other similar situations (stepping on creaky floorboards and navigating a darkened room, for example.) However, actions like Illusion or Invisibility of a higher AN ignore this totally (so the Invisible Woman can still sneak up on Spider-Man.) Spider-Man, for the record, has this at MN 7.

Notes:
For characters who “have a bad feeling about this.”

Psycho-Centric Power Template:
Folded into Innate Talent.

Radar Senses:
Option for Animal Senses, but still a modifier in its own right.

Reflexive Dodge
As is.

Reconstitute Self:
As is, but as was recommend in the 2.0 rules can be used as an option for Healing Factor.

Resistance to Entanglement:
As is.

New Modifier: Second Wind
CL = Dur-1 (min 1/3 CP)

Like a really weak reconstitute self, it brings you back with just 1 white stone of health, but that might be all you need to give that least speech or make that last attack.

Self-Contained Life Form:
As is. Can add Immortality for 1 white, can possibly rename “Robot”.

Sense Mutants:
As is.

Sonar Senses:
Can be purchased on its own, or used as a +1 option for Animal Senses.

Stealth:
Scrapped.

Suppress Mutant Powers:
As is.

Targeting:
Folded into Innate Talent.

Totem Enemy:
Scrapped.

Toughness:
As is.

Transform Self:

I briefly considered scrapping this entirely giving The Hulk out of control Metamorphosis (and Colossus “one form only.”) But instead I came up with this…
The character with Transform Self uses their full stone count to built the “more powerful form.” They then get to spend half that amount to build a “weaker”/baseline form.
For a +1 to cost level of any ability, action, or modifier on the more expensive form it can be “linked” and thus be acquired at no cost for the weaker form. Any LOE used to improve a linked action is thus improved for both (or more, see the alternates) forms.
The Wolfsbane Rule: For a cost of 2 stones, a character can purchase two alternate forms, and divide the stones however you like (evenly, or more towards a powerful form and less to an intermediate one.)
The Snowbird Rule: (In different sorts of fandoms the “Beast Boy” Rule or the “Ben 10” rule, or whatever) For a cost of 5 stones, a character can acquire “Transform Self: Any form of X stones,” where X is equal to the number of extra stones put into it. For example, Transform Self: …35 stones would cost 40 stones. Your only limit is the number of CADs and your imagination.
The character is then built as normal.
Disadvantages to Transform Self typically instill a decrease in costs for all the Stronger form’s abilities/actions/modifiers (like The Hulk having “Power out of Control” would put a -2 into all abilities actions and modifiers,) and 5 stones per -1 for “The Snowbird Rule” (Snowbird, for example, has a -2 for being limited to “white female animals native to Canada.” [-1 for white female animals and -1 for limiting it to Canadian animals] and thus gets 10 free stones for her Transform Self)

Transform Self/Possession:
As is.

Transform Self by Touch:
Can be reworked as a disadvantage to Metamorphosis (-1, need to touch material in question to transform.)

Transforms Other by Touch:
Metamorphosis: Powers Affect Others, doesn’t affect self, one form only.

Translation:
As is.

Vision, Enhanced
As is. Individual options can be used as a +1 part of Animal Senses.

Weapons Morphing:
Scrapped.

[dorkknight23]

New Advantages and Disadvantages

Most of these are lifted from the 2.0 thread. Subject, of course, to plausibility, and GM approval. No amount of disadvantages can decrease an action to cost 2 less than its normal AN, or 1/3 a character creation point, whichever is higher. Should disadvantages exceed this amount, the GM can potentially award 1 additional Drama Point to the character for creating a phenomenally unbalanced action, but they will receive no further discount in character creation stones than the amount listed below.

Lowest Amount You Can Pay, After Disadvantages:
1: 1/3
2: 1/3
3: 1/3
4: 2/3
5: 1
6: 2
7: 3
8: 4
9: 6
10: 9

Add “Substitute for ‘Characteristic Abilities’/’Innate Abilities’/Whatever” as a +1 option for all Actions, not just Mastery of Elements. Substituting an Action for Intelligence costs +2 instead of +1 (because it’s a lot more useful. This can be mitigated by a -1 to cost for “for sake of Mental Defense only” or “can substitute for Intelligence for beating Resistance of actions relating to pure mental power.”)
+2 for an action to combine with a Characteristic/Innate/Whatever Ability. [Both of these should be looked at very critically and subject to GM fiat.]
+2 for “can combine with ACTION”
+3 for “can combine with ACTION A and ACTION B” [Close and Ranged Combat, Social Skills and Leadership, etc.]
+4 for “can combine with ANY ACTION”

+1 Damage: +1 to cost level
2x damage: +2 to cost level
3x damage: +4 to cost level
2x damage or Area Effect: +4 to cost level.
3x damage or Area Effect: +5 to cost level

Allies Benefit from Power. For +2 CL you can extend the benefit of your power to include allies you touch by spending 1 red stone per ally. For +4 CL you can share your power with allies you touch for free.
Area of Effect. You have the option of making the associated Action affect everyone within a certain radius of yourself; see the Area row of the Difficulty and Resistance chart. An Area of 1 is free; pay 1 stone per additional step in range. +3 to cost level.
Attack vs Ability. Choose an Ability when selecting this Advantage. Compare your stones of Attack vs your opponent's Ability instead of defensive stones to determine damage. +6 to cost level.
Burst. When you split stones of attack between multiple targets, gain a free +1stone of attack from the General Pool per target. +1 to cost level.
Free Action. Applies to Actions only. Using this Action does not count against your normal limit of 2 actions per panel. You may only use one Free Action per Page.

Example: Hellion buys Flight as a Free Action. Later, in combat with Predator X, Hellion uses his first Action to use Telekinesis, his second action to put up a Force Field. Because it is a Free Action, Hellion can put 1 stone into Flight in order to soar into the air, even though he's already used 2 actions this panel.

+3 to cost level.

Permanent Action. Counts as both a Free Action and an Unlimited Power. +6 to cost level.

Stun Option. You can opt to have your attack cause Stun damage instead of regular damage. Stun damage drains red stones of energy from the target's Energy Pool instead of eliminating white stones of Health. Damage done in excess of this amount is damage as normal. +1 to cost level.

Unlimited Power. Applies to Actions only. All stones placed in this Action come from the general pool, up to the limit of it's AN. +4 to cost level.

+X to Range: Increases range of actions by X. +X to cost level.

Add (Weapon Modifier): +1 to cost level
Add an additional Weapon Modifier [(Ability Bonus and Weapon Modifier or 2 Weapon Modifiers) or (2 weapon modifiers) depending on the action]: +2 to cost level
Change (Ability Bonus or Weapon Modifier) to (Ability Bonus And Weapon Modifier): +3 to cost level.
Add Ability Bonus: +5 to cost level
[As in the Core Rulebook, you can only use 2 ability bonuses with an action at a time.]
Discount: Add a -1 discount to an Action or Modifier (at GM approval.) +1 to cost level

Disadvantages

-1 CL or -2 CL = Affect only Non-Living Substances. The associated Action or Modifier has no affect against non-living substances. For -2 CL the power actually backfires (targets you) if you attempt to use it against a non-living substance. You may wish to substitute "non-living substances" for some other qualifier.

-2 CL = Allies Don't Benefit. Applies only to Actions or Modifiers which normally benefit allies, such as Teleportation or Phase Shift. You cannot affect others with your power.

-1 CL = Automatically Causes Collateral Damage. The Associated Action or Modifier is especially destructive to your surroundings, whether it's by causing fires, shattering solid objects, littering debris, or some other fashion.

-2 CL = Can't Improve By Lines. You cannot use LOEs to improve this Action. With GM's permission you may still be able to buy new Advantages or buy-off Disadvantages (including this one).

-2 CL = Can't Split Attack/Defense. You can't split stones between attack/effect and defense; you must choose one or the other.

-2 CL = No Bonus. Applies only to Actions which grant a free Ability Bonus or Weapon Modifier. You can no longer use that Ability Bonus or Weapon Modifier.

-1 CL = One Target Only. You can't split stones between multiple targets; alternately, for cooperative powers, you can only affect one ally at a time.

-1 CL = Only In Conjunction With _____ . You can only use the associated Action or Modifier in conjunction with another Action or Modifier chosen at the time of purchase.

-2 CL = Out of Control Without Device. You need a special device, serum, pill or similar item to properly access and control the associated Action or Modifier. Without said item, your power is out of control. The GM decides exactly what happens while your power is out of control (but typically, the power functions indiscriminately and at full power).

-3 CL = Out of Control. Device or not, there is no controlling the associated Action or Modifier. The GM decides exactly what happens while your power is out of control (but typically, the power functions indiscriminately and at full power).

-1 CL = Requires Device. You cannot use or access the associated Action or Modifier without a special device, serum, pill or similar item.

-1 CL = Requires Preparation. Using the associated Action or Modifier requires at least one panel of preparation.

Equipment Building Rules
For the core mechanics, see The Guide to Hulk and the Avengers page 90-91, Appendix D. These are fundamentally unchanged, but, as always, are subject to GM approval.

Vehicles:
I generally like the way vehicles work in the original rules. The one thing they’re genuinely missing is pricing. Here are the ways to get vehicles.

Wealth: as with basic equipment, appropriate wealth can be used to purchase an “off of the line” vehicle. They can later be tweaked or improved (supercharged, or pimped, or whatever) by Inventing (either the owner, another PC, or a friendly [possibly even unfriendly] NPC) at GM discretion.

Using stones: For exemplary vehicles at start of play, like the Green Goblin’s glider, stones may be used. This requires the input of both player and GM to come up with what seems like an equitable price.

MN+2 stones, with MN being the highest value (speed, damage, maneuver modifier, or defense modifier,) is a generally good place to start. All other attributes of vehicles should be less than that. [NOTE: Difficulty and Resistance to operate the vehicle are independent of this, and should always be arbitrated by the GM.] It’s up to the GM and player to decide these values should be (as appropriate to the vehicle,) however, using the pre-existing vehicles as baselines. Ghost Rider’s motorcycle, for example, should be comparable to a supercharged motorcycle.

They can later be tweaked or improved (supercharged, or pimped, or whatever) by Inventing (either the owner, another PC, or a friendly [possibly even unfriendly] NPC) at GM discretion.

Team vehicles: if a team has an appropriate Inventor or Influence-type character (like Iron Man or Professor X,) the GM might provide the players with a team vehicle “free of cost” (or free of player stones or wealth at any rate.) The GM should come up with something for this, using a baseline vehicle as a template (perhaps with some increased.)

Powered Armor

Powered Armor, as it stands in the core rules, is a complicated addition that seems potentially the best option over any other. Why be mutant, metahuman, or mage, when you can put on a high-tech battlesuit and kick some evil butt. While high-tech battlesuits are awesome, they should not be the obvious choice for new characters.

The goals for the retread power armor are: 1) slightly decrease its power (to make it a powerful alternative without being gamebreaking.) 2) simplify the rules to make them.

A BRIEF SIDEBAR ON ROBOTS: Robots are now built no different than any other character. However, they would easily suggest certain modifiers (Extended Lifespan, Cybernetic Senses, and Self-Contained Modifier) and challenges (Non-Human Appearance, Alien Mindset/Difficulty Understanding Humanity, etc.) Robots may pay +1 to the cost level of their intelligence to have the capabilities of an equivalent Suit Intelligence = Intelligence.

Powered Armor can be theoretically built during play using Inventing, subject to the same restrictions and GM approval. Most characters, however, should be encouraged to build their armor at start.

Powered Armor is purchased the same as any other equipment, except every ability, action, and modifier receives an automatic -2 discount to cost level. They receive no additional discounts to abilities, actions, or modifiers.

Powered Armor takes one panel to take on or take off. Powered Armor users are limited to using 2 actions per panel like other characters.

Wealthy characters can benefit more from funding powered armor, from R&D to other resources. Stones spent purchasing Wealth may be refunded back into purchasing your powered armor at a flat 1-to-1 exchange.

Finally, Powered Armor abilities, actions, and modifiers can be improved either through the use of inventing (and GM approval) or with the expenditure of Lines of Experience as normal.

Powered Armor is thus a versatile and potentially powerful option for characters, but not to the point of outstripping other types of characters at start of play. It’s only after heavy investments that a guy like Iron Man begins to outperform other powerful characters.

Iconic Equipment

Captain America’s Shield, The Silver Surfer’s Board, Quasar’s Quantum Bands, Thor’s Hammer, Venom’s symbiote. There are some items so iconic to a character that they serve of a major part of who the character is and what the character stands for. They’re what makes that character that character.

When creating iconic equipment for a character, you first will need GM approval and assistance in the process. The GM, as always, has final say to the price of anything.

NOTE: Powered Armor as described CANNOT be iconic, no matter how crucial it is to the character.

Iconic Equipment is something that is core to your character concept (but, to reiterate, not Powered Armor.) It should be equipment used for something, either weapons, a handy device, or something provided for defense again, powered armor doesn’t count.)

We clear on the powered armor not counting for iconic equipment? Good, just testing

Iconic Equipment can, unlike other equipment, be improved by lines of experience, for a cost of an additional +1 to cost level to the relevant ability/action/modifier. This means, by investing lines into the weapon, the player can improve it’s weapon modifier, defense bonus, or action numbers.

Mentor: (Special Modifier)
Cost = 1 white stone, see below

At GM’s discretion, particular intelligent or magical or other iconic items might extra lines of experience to the owner (as per a master-student relationship) towards a certain ability, action, or modifier.

For abilities, actions, or modifiers with no increase to cost level (i.e. a base cost of Cost Level = AN+0), then the Mentor modifier costs 1 white stone. For each +1 to AN, the cost of the modifier increases on the cost level chart. So Mentor (Flight,) for example, would cost 3 white stones. Mentor (Toughness) would cost 4 white stones. Mentor cannot be used on power packages or other combined actions.

(This will, of course, change the price of some of the items presented in the back of the Core Book, X-Men Guide, Hulk and Avengers, and Spider-Man’s Guide to New York.)

[dorkknight23]

In Playtesting…

Multiple Actions a Panel

Earlier I said how much I love the 2 action/panel rule. I still do. But we as people multitask every day, sometimes doing 3 or more things, but it’s hard to focus all of our attention all of those different ways.

This is in playtesting: a character may do X number of actions a panel, where X is equal to 2 less than their Intelligence, minimum 2. If a character does more than 2 actions, they prioritize their actions (first, second, third, all the way to ninth for someone with an 11 Intelligence.) Each action after the second gets a negative sit mod equal to 2 less than the action’s priority (for example, the third action would get a -1 sit mod, the fourth a -2, and so on.) Having a specialty and/or emphasis in “Mulittasking” could mitigate or remove this sit mod entirely.

Only 2 actions still may be combined at once, however.

MURPG Combo Attacks

Sometimes there are things that a character can do pretty often that, although they are awesome, often bend or outright break the rules of MURPG. Should we let the rules dictate that we can’t do it because it’s easy? No! A thousand times no!

Initially created characters cannot have combos. Combos have to be purchased with lines of experience. The amount varies depending on the combo involved and the power and coolness of the move, but a good rule of thumb should be somewhere between 3 and 10 LOE. The primary rules for a combo should be: 1) they are cool, 2) they create an effect that would be identical for each use, and 3) they should use 2 actions, and/or employ a modifier [whether a piece of equipment or power] (so perhaps a character could use a particular modifier to aid with a combo with one action, or two,) in short, multiple effects should be used for a combo.

Performing a Combo

Performing a Combo is exactly the same as any other action, save it’s the only action you use in the panel, and the stones of energy are spent the exact same way every time.

Designing a Combo
To start designing a combo you need a character and a GM.

1) Describe the Effect: This is how the move plays out. Get creative, be visual, and have fun with it! Note to GM’s: make sure to be reasonable to the rules without stymieing the creativity of the player.

2) Determine the Cost: Once this is set for a combo, it cannot be changed. This is the amount of stones that are always spent for that combo. If the player wants to upgrade a combo, he’ll have to pay for and design a new one.
Adding Options: * Spend stones equal to the additional cost of an advantage or option to allow it for the combo [and only for the combo.] For example, if you want an area effect as part of a combo, it would be 3 stones away from effect.
* Upgrading a similar advantage (for example, 2x to 3x damage) costs the difference between the two in stones (so, for that example, 2 stones.)
* For 2 stones a character can use all the stones in their energy pool, but are stunned afterwards for 1 panel.
* The equivalent of Drama Point can be used at a rate of 1 red/point, so getting two free stones to the action would be the equivalent of 1 red, making sure you succeed by 1 stone would cost 3 red, and Overstrain would cost 4 stones.
* Combining a modifier to an action would cost 1 stone.
Disadvantages: Certain disadvantages, if judiciously used, might allow extra stones to be added for effects, up to double the action number of the highest action or modifier involved.

3) Set the Guidelines: These are the Actions and/or Modifier involved, and the minimum Action Numbers or Modifiers required as well. These may be above or below the characters current ANs, according to the GM (so they might need to improve in certain areas before spending lines towards the combo.)

4) Set the LOE cost: As stated above, 3 to 10 LOE is a good guideline, based on the power of the combo and the rigorousness of the guidelines. Some rough guidelines are presented only for the sake of edification. If it’s low power, with low requirements, set a low cost. If it’s higher power with low requirements, set a higher cost. If it’s medium power with low cost, set a medium cost. If it’s medium power with high requirements set a lower cost. If it’s high power with high requirements a medium cost.

This is all open to the GM’s interpretation, and he is the final arbitrator of requirements and any and all costs.

CLASSIC EXAMPLE: Johnny Storm’s player wants to burn things. Like, really burn them. He has a Force Blast as part of his Mastery of Fire, but he wants to be able to put all of his stones into a “Nova Flame” that is centered on him and can cause huge amounts of damage in excess of his action number. He has Mastery of Fire 5 and Immolation (a renamed and fire-element-themed Electrification) at MN 3. He also has an Energy Reserve of 9. He runs his idea by the GM, Stan, and he approves. After describing the visual effect, they determine the cost. It’s basically a super-hot area force blast centered on Johnny, and he wants it to be really hot. So, first he throws 2 stones towards being able to use all his energy that panel, but being stunned afterwards, and 3 towards being able to always succeed by 1 stone (so he can burn basically anything,) and 1 stone to link it to Immolation (so he can gain 3 free stones towards effect.) He also wants it to do intense damage, so he upgrades his force blast to 3x damage, which would be 2 stones, and he wants an area effect centered on himself, so that’s 3 stones. That leaves no stones possible of effect (not counting the free ones for immolation,) so Johnny wants to add on a couple of disadvantages. Stan agrees to give him 1 stone for always having the area effect centered on himself, and another 1 stone for always causing collateral damage, and 2 stones for being unable to discern between friend and foe (anything in the range is burned the same amount.) He also gives 1 more stone for a special “out of control” that would cause it to flare up if he absorbs too much fire and has to either use it or go far away to safely discharge it. Johnny agrees to the disadvantages, especially since he needs the stones.

So, when Johnny wants, he can spend all his stones into a 3x damage, Area of Effect (centered on himself) 9 stone fire attack that always does at least 1 damage to the opponent. Pretty powerful.

Next, the requirements. Johnny wants to be able to do it now without raising his AN, so he asks Stan to set the requirement to Mastery of Fire 5, Immolation 3. Even if these numbers improve, the above attack is going to remain the same.

Now, Stan has to set the cost. It’s very high power, and the requirements are at best moderate (anyone with Johnny’s powerset could develop it at a similar AN if so inclined, like, the Super-Skrull.) So, as a high power but moderate cost combo, he sets the cost at 8 LOE. Johnny wishes it was cheaper, but he realizes how powerful it is, and sets about paying for it.

NOT-SO-CLASSIC EXAMPLE: In DorkKnight23’s PBP game “The Guardians” (which, for the purposes of this argument, is Retread compliant, which it isn’t yet,) the alien superhero Flypaper (played by the amazing Andyman) has Flight 6, Immovability 5, Strength 8, Close Combat 4, and Wallcrawling 5. He has the idea to use his immovability both in the air, or clinging to surfaces, to hold onto an opponent moving at high speeds and injure them. The GM thinks this is awesome, but since it doesn’t work with the rules as is, and instead of just ignoring the rules for the sake of logic and/or awesomeness, wants to make two combos for them. One for holding still in the air, the other for clinging to a surface.

For the first combo, DK figures out how this combo would work mechanically. The move basically uses the opponent’s high speed against them. There are three parts of it at work: Flypaper hovering with Flight, grabbing the opponent with Close Combat, and effectively giving them whiplash with Immovability. The GM decides the costs: 1 stone would be to remain airborne with Flight, 4 stones into Close Combat for a touch attack, and then a 5-stone attack of modifier stones from Immovability. He would need 1 stone to combine his Immovability to the Close Combat, but other than that, nothing else applies. The result is spending 6 stones for, if it connects, a 9-stone attack. But that still isn’t quite as awesome yet. He also should be able to use the enemy’s momentum against them, so, the GM puts two more stones in for “can always combine with opponents movement action,” with a note that certain movement type actions wouldn’t be affected (teleporting or astral/dimension travel primarily.) So that’s 8 stones for a 9 stone+X attack (where X is the number of stones of speed a character has.) Pretty good for what you’re spending. (Flypaper already has a combo that allows him to use his Wall-Crawling and Immovability as a Phase Attack, essentially ripping the chunk of whatever he’s holding off of a person or object. So he can generally, as part of two panels, use these two combos.)

Now for guidelines: DK thinks Flypaper can do this within his existing skill set, and sets them at Flight 6, Immovability 5, and Close Combat 4. Those requirements are common to a “flying brick” type skillset, but not exceptionally common, although it would be easily within reach at character creation. For moderate power and low requirements (per his own opinions, of course,) DK sets the cost at 6 LOE.

The wall-crawling variant on the combo would be priced and cost the same.

Multiple Character Combos

Wolverine and Colossus have the Fastball Special, and sometimes characters use complimentary powers together in new and creative ways. The rules are the same as designing a combo for one player, except the two players both pay for it, and agree on how many lines each would spend towards it. These should typically cost at least 5 to 10 LOE.

CLASSIC EXAMPLE: Wolverine and Colossus’ players have an awesome idea! Colossus could throw Wolverine at the opponent, creating a sort of Fastball Special. They run it by the GM and he thinks it’s an awesome idea. Colossus has a Strength of 7 and Ranged Combat 2, and Wolverine has Close Combat 5 and his Claws modifier (+3) (Armor Penetrating, of course.) The GM allows Colossus’ player to combine his Ranged Combat with Wolverine’s Close Combat, so that’s +2 to the cost (the whole attack, since one part has 2x damage, would count for double damage.) Other than that, the mechanics is straightforward: 1 stone to lift, 5 stones to throw Wolverine fifty feet (a fair distance.) Colossus would spend 2 stones of Ranged Combat, combining with Wolverine’s usual full 9 stones in Close Combat with a +3 modifier from Claws. So, in total, that would be a 14-stone, Armor Penetrating, 2x Damage attack, the kind of thing that might seriously injure an unprepared Sentinel or any other big hitter.

Now for the requirements. The GM decides the requirements are straightforward enough: Strength 7 and Ranged Combat 2 for Colossus and Close Combat 5 for Wolverine. The GM decides these requirements are low, but so are the benefits, so he makes the cost 5 LOE. Wolverine and Colossus’ player decide to split that 3/2 (Wolverine is still figuring out his character, and is willing to take the extra lines so Colossus can focus LOE towards increasing his Strength.)

The GM later adapts it to include movement actions (like Teleportation and Flight) as Wolverine makes the combo work with other teammates (like Nightcrawler, Rogue, Cannonball, Armor, etc.)

NOT-SO-CLASSIC EXAMPLE: In DorkKnight23’s PBP game “X-Men: Heirs to the Atom,” two of the characters can make force fields. John Darkholme (Manticore) has the action at AN 2, and Francesca McCoy (Dionon) has it at AN 4. They want to be able to combine their fields together into one more protective or larger field (although in terms of Difficulty and Resistance, it would only count as Difficulty 4 for anything requiring difficulty or resistance [Francesca’s higher AN. If both were equal, they could potentially be 1 higher, or able AN 5.]) For the overlapping force field effect, that seems pretty straightforward, 2 stones to always combine the two actions, and 1 stone to combine John’s Toughness (which is linked to his invisible force fields) to the equation. So, for a total investments of 6 stones, they could create a 9 stone field, 3 stones have to be towards defense (from John’s Toughness,) but up to 4 could be used to spread out the area.

DK sets the requirement as Force Field 2 and 4, respectively, but since the power is also fairly low, sets the cost as 5 LOE, to be divided between John and Francesca 2/3 or 3/2, respectively.

Limits on Combos

The only limits to the number of combo’s a character has are the creativity of the player and their willingness to spend LOE towards them. Wolverine, for example, might have a “berserker rage” combo, and also have variants of the Fastball Special with Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Armor (dude likes to be thrown at people)… One item of note: mentoring or other ways of gaining less LOE cannot under any circumstances lessen the cost for combos. A GM might require a PC to learn a combo from a certain teacher, or develop it on their own, depending on the game and the nature of the combo.

Other than that, go nuts!

Other:

As of right now, I’m removing Accumulate Energy as an option for Mastery of Elements, if only because Combos could be used to cover most (if not all) of their theoretical uses. None of my playtesting games currently have it, so it’s not a big issue, but FYI.

[dorkknight23]

Mission Statement: Inventing as it stands in the core rulebook is problematic at best. It’s a bit vague and can lead to a lot of overpowering situations (a character with Inventing without proper storyteller intervention could bust the seams off a game without too much effort and vastly overscale other characters.)

I’m not 100% in love with the 2.0 Version of Inventing either, unfortunately. But, I’m still not crazy about the version I came up with either.

So, Inventing should be able to allow a character to devise new items, sometimes for temporary items, sometimes for permanent new equipment for teammates and the inventor.

After hashing it out, I’ve tried to come to something that has some hard concrete rules to it and is potentially quite powerful without being gamebreaking (to give tech geniuses like Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Hank Pym room to shine.)

Inventing
Cost Level = Action Number +5

Invention is an action that comes with an Intelligence bonus, and is dependent on Technology (its AN may not exceed the characters Technology rating.) If linked to another more highly specific knowledge-related action, such as Medical Healing, Mutant Sciences, Computers, or Ballistics, the GM may allow a -1 disadvantage and restrict the action towards creating Medical equipment, mutant-related equipment, computers and electronics, or weaponry, as appropriate. A player can use Inventing to create any type of equipment, with a limit on the average of the Intelligence score and Inventing AN of the character (added together and divided in half, rounded down.) They may have up to their Inventing AN of pieces of equipment “in play” at any given time. To create an item, the player spends 1 stone per Aspect Number of the item in question, and 1 stone per +1 of any advantages (the player, or the GM, may impose disadvantage on items as well. They do not affect the cost.)

Any item created by Inventing can only be used for 1 Issue, unless the inventor (or another player who wishes to use it permanently) wishes to pay LOE to keep it. The cost of this purchase is 10 lines of experience +1 per the total cost of the item in white stones (minimum 1.) The player must pay off the item, investing at least 1 line of experience per issue (or more) towards this. After paying off the item, they may then consider the equipment iconic and use it accordingly.

EXAMPLE: Spider-Man’s player has Inventing at AN 1 and Intelligence 7. He wants to have a set of special tracers to follow escaping criminals using his Spider Sense. They basically function as a highly focused version of Sense Mutants, so the GM allows him as Cost = MN. Spidey makes them at Modifier 4 (the highest MN he can.) He spends 4 stones to design them, but if he wants to keep them for a prolonged period of time he needs to spend 14 LOE (10+4 lines) to keep them permanently. Since he only has Inventing at AN 1 he can only have this invention active for now.

Inventions at start-up should be purchased like normal equipment, as normal.

[dorkknight23]

NEW RULE: EFFORTLESS EFFECT

Reed Richards shouldn't have to spend energy to realize what he's looking at is a toaster oven, or Henry McCoy diagnosing a common cold. In non-combat situations, a character can perform any action of Difficulty AN-2 or less effortlessly (e.g. without spending energy.) In combat situations, however, energy still must be used as normal, regardless of the actual skill level (allowing a punk like Stilt Man to get the jump on both Spider-Man and Daredevil.) This saves the energy of characters towards combat and allows them great leeway for high AN characters to perform amazing feats.

[dorkknight23]

Preamble/Forewarning:

The following is a very powerful action, which, in the hands on an unethical player, might take the fun out of the game for everyone involved. Every GM has the right to disallow this action, or to allow it for NPC use only. No whining.

New Action: Cosmic Powers

Cost Level: Action Number+6 Cost Levels

Some heroes are a cut above earthbound heroes, power-wise. Be they Sorcerer Supremes, wielders of the Power Cosmic, Omega-Level Mutants, or even if they possess the power of a billion exploding suns, they can throw around phenomenal cosmic powers the like of which make even gods and demons nervous.

When purchasing this action, the character can perform any powered action (like Flight, Force Blast, etc.) at an Action Number 2 less than the regular Action Number (minimum 1). This does not apply to what could be described as “skills” (like Close Combat, General Knowledge, Social Skills, or Stealth.)

In addition to this, the power has a number of “Action Specialties” equal to the Action Number. Each of these is a singular action or modifier (such as Force Blast, Flight, Phase Shift, Toughness, etc.) that can be used at the full action number. Each Action Specialty can have a net cost with advantages and disadvantages equal to the CL. For modifiers that are a set cost (like Translation) consider it AN 1 and try and figure out what the Cost Level would be to pay for it. For example, Self-Contained Lifeform costs 3 stones, so you could acquire it as a specialty any time after AN 4 (which is the equivalent of CL=1+4.) These can be traded out between Issues with GM approval.

As an addendum: any actions or action specialties do not provide any discount to any other actions or modifiers. For example, a character with Telepathy as an Action Specialty does not gain a discount purchasing Telekinesis or getting Telekinesis as another Action Specialty. If the character were to later purchase or acquire the action to take up another action box, normal discounts would apply to other actions.

Example #1:

The Silver Surfer has Cosmic Powers at AN 10. In addition to 10 Action Specialties (things like Flight, Create Portals, Manipulate Matter, Transmute Matter to Energy, a Force Blast, Create Illusions, Mutagenic Healing, and Phase Shift, and two more,) he can perform any effect he can describe up to AN 8 by spending stones in his Power Cosmic accordingly.

Options:
Intelligence bonus: +2 to cost level. People with these power levels are often able to perform amazing feats “seemingly with a thought.” Thus, the Intelligence bonus is discounted for this action.
Magical Ability/Sorcery: +1 to Cost Level
For Sorcerer Supremes, Sorcerers, Masters of Magic, Shamans, Voodoo Houngan, etc. For the increase to cost level, the following are included:
1) Identify Magic Rituals or pull out other Occult Lore.
2) Magic Resistance Modifier at half AN (rounded down.)
3) Summon/Control Demons/Spirits/Faeries/Ghosts or other “Supernatural Beings” at GM’s discretion
3a) Invocation: +1 option: the Sorcerer can invoke the powers of ancient cosmic beings, calling on their power to perform amazing effects. For each stone spent, the invoker would have an additional stone spent towards a specific related Action Specialty calling on their power (such as The Crimson Bands of Cytorrak or the Images of Ikonn.) This would stack with the Efficient advantage. However, depending on how involved the beings in question are, or their morality, they might disallow this to be used on a whim (or whenever the GM describes it is dramatically viable.) Other disadvantages may apply, depending on the nature of the beings (for example, Faerie Magic might not work on Cold Iron.) In the Marvel Universe, these include beings like the Elder Gods, the Octessence, or the Vishanti.
4) Instead of performing any action at -2 AN, like normal cosmic powers, it is reduced to -1 AN instead.
5) This action costs double LOE to improve unless the character has a mentor (usually an NPC but this may not always be the case) with a high AN in this action. The character must obey their mentor if they want to receive those benefits, and might even find themselves caught in precarious or unethical situations because of it. Once a wizard reaches AN 5, the character can no longer benefit from any Mentoring, but the character may begin mentoring another character and receive bonus lines to this action as normal.

Cosmic Power Mentor: +1 to Cost Level
With this, the character may more rapidly purchase or improve actions or modifiers. For each line invested in an action or modifier considered an Action Specialty, they receive 1 additional line of experience. This line must be spent to improve the AN or MN in question or pay off Cost Level.

Highly Specialized Set: -1 to cost level
Although the character still has the same number of allotted “Action Specialties” and can still perform limitless feats, as long as they describe it in the context of their abilities. Very common amongst Omega Mutants like Storm, The Scarlet Witch, Iceman, or X-Man.

Comments:

Extremely powerful, and possibly gamebreaking in the wrong hands, but the best way to represent some of the most powerful members of the Marvel Universe and possibly beyond. “All-Powerful” Cosmic Beings like Galactus and the Living Tribunal would have this at AN 11.

[dorkknight23]

Janus' Leadership Corollary: Leadership cannot normally combine with Telepathy or Magic.

However, if the character in question has either Telepathy or Magic at AN 2 or higher, and Leadership at AN 1 or higher, they can put stones from Leadership into Telepathy or Magic as though it were a normal action.