Perception powers are kinda odd. Since if you buy all perception powers, you don't have to buy attack. However, since for the most part, that costs as much if not more than buying attack, it's not like it's a total cop out.
On a side/balancing note, there have been 3 builds that have been fairly bothersome on the balance end as far as I'm concerned, with a simple note on a 2 others.
Note, this is not intending to call anyone a cheater, minmaxer, abuser, or anything, this is just the builds that have been the most troublesome for me as the approver to deal with.
Dominous, who first alerted me to the boost problem. He is also why I ask for backgrounds and notes on powers, because alternate powers need to make sense, and there were too many that didn't. I asked for advice from Keia and had him look over the character as well, and we talked to the owner, but never got a responce (and he hasn't been back on the boards much since). Now, he's got a cool concept and an idea, but I think the build is just abusive.
Body & Spirit is a lot of fun. We redid boost in the general forums to something that fit, we thought, as it was every stat to everyone in an area for hours initialy. However, I wasn't sure if it was too powerful at the time after the change, but it did bug me a bit. But, it had a theme, and the rest of the character seemed fine. Given we had no other restrictions, we'll see what happens.
Circe brought up issues about duration and alternate powers, where some of the lasting powers can be semi-permanent when they aren't in use. It's only 1 power, but there's that. Also, a Con of 30 means no toughness save or fort save points spent, and is slightly more usefull than having done either of those seperately. Con, as an ability, is perhaps the best of them all, with most of the others fairly balanced out with combat/skill usability. And with all powers being perception, no points were spent on attack. All in all, nothing realy is abusive about the build directly, but the combination made me pause a bit when looking it over. Technicaly, she's still not approved due to a math error, but I don't intend to decline to approve her if that is fixed.
Also of note,
Pandora has a mistake that I told her to do about the construct (The Bronze Serpant) and how to deal with not having a Con. I'm still not sure I like the fix for it (buying imunity to all fort saves), and the beast is far from thrilling otherwise, so I don't see an immediate need to fix it till I can find a good fix.
Psyren's lack of needing to hit with perception attacks allowed me to take a -2 attack +2 save shift, which means she can in theory do as much damage or be as effective as a PL10 character in many situations, but since most target saves other than toughness, which can be higher, and have a lower DC, it is less of an issue for her. Mental Blast being the tough power, and that's only at rank 8 anyway. Telekenisis needs a to hit, and she is appropriately bad at it for the most part. Also, many of her powers allow for multiple saves with increasing bonuses, so the advantage quickly goes away.
As the approver, I've been trying to be fairly flexable, and we didn't set any limits so it's been a judgement call on my part (and occasionaly Keia's) for the time being. Not sure if there is a good solution to anything other than me just saying "No" to potentialy abusive builds, but sometimes abusive is in the eye of the beholder.
I've not been GMing that power incorrectly. I've been letting one application heal all conditions. Nonetheless, the masterminds manual specifically adresses healing, because it is hard to GM. Basically, you have characters that are hard to damage already, then you really reduce a lot of the challenge of an encounter. Also,I wouldn't allow ressurection again. NPC death is usually plot driven, so this gets in the way. I'd only allow that power to be held by NPCs.
