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[Mutants and Masterminds] Starting at level 1?

Mallus

Legend
Not true; skills are limited to PL+5 ranks, so nobody can have more than 6 ranks in a skill.
Right.

And if he's doing PL1/15 pp, nobody's going to be able to afford much of anything...
Right again. At that point the PC's aren't going to have enough points to experience the benefits of the system.

If I were looking to recreate the whole arc of a typical D&D campaign using M&M, I'd run it from PL5 - PL10.

FYI, last Friday I ran the 1st session of my old D&D campaign converted over to M&M2e. The 13th level D&D characters became PL8 M&M characters, and they seemed just about right.
 

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fireinthedust

Explorer
Skills: not true. Standard skills, yes, but pump them with benefits, like attractive, and numbers can get fairly high. Even without a numeric bonus, they can get fair mileage for their pp.
Also, 7 ranks of super strength is what, ES45? Several tons is better than no tons, and at that level they'll likely be more sneaky than kick-in-the-door. I imagine the players will go about collecting large rocks and hurling them through the air, or lugging massive wagons loaded with barrels of oil or explosive powder.
The PCs may be PL1, but the rest of the world isn't. If they can interact with it, set up circumstances (like tricking the giant into walking under the portcullis before closing it on him) that's totally fair.

One trick ponies... well, they're PL1 with 15pp. Heck, if they are utterly average with one thing they can do, like transform stuff into gold, they can buy their way into power. If they can fly, they'll fly the whole game. Wolverine is a claw monkey with healing powers. Maybe they're a character with 10 in every attribute, right, but they pump their resurrection power so it's automatic.
They can take flaws to their powers, too, right? So maybe the high Str only works for lifting/throwing rocks, not trees or metal? Or they can have leather armor, but it doesn't do anything for them when they're struck by magic, lightning, or piercing damage from arrows. That alone should do for +3 leather armor. Think of it as the low-level WoW character who fights kobolds for tattered leather vests.

But I do agree that PL1 is really limited. It could be really good for story-telling that apprentice-level story. Very OD&D, imho.
 



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