RangerWickett said:
Attack, Energy (13 HrPs): Activated. As a standard action you can shoot a ray or 5-ft. wide line of energy to Medium range, dealing up to 4d6 points of energy damage. Base rank 1. Close (2 ranks), medium (1 ranks), line (1 rank), increased damage x3 (6 ranks), adjustable (2 ranks).
…
Heightened Strength (9 HrPs): Persistent. You gain a +6 bonus to Strength. Base rank 3. Increased effect x2 (6 ranks).
…
Super Strength (12 HrPs): Persistent. You gain a +6 bonus to damage rolls and Strength-based checks, and an effective +12 Strength for the purposes of lifting, carrying, and throwing. Base rank 2. Increased effect x5 (10 ranks).
…
Comparison:
First of all, you'll note that the cost of the energy blast has been racheted up from the Asgard preview. When we had a 20th level character shooting 15d6 damage laserbeams from his eyes every round, we realized we had to fix that. So the damage differential isn't that bad (d3+10 averages as 12, while 4d6 averages as 14). If the tank uses a sword or something, instead of his fist, he's even better off. Actually, the tank could probably use some pretty big swords, dealing as much as 2d8+10 per hit (average 19).
But really, it comes down to your niche. The blaster is good at blowing things up, and is more like a sorcerer. The tank is more like a fighter. Depending on the situations, powers will have different values.
Ok, so the Tank has to use up 21 HrPs compared to the 13 HrPs of the Energy Blaster to average a little less damage. He had to buy both Heightened Strength (3 per) and Super Strength (2 per) to get into the ballpark damage of the Attack Energy (1 per).
And, the Energy Blaster could have increased his damage even more if he didn't want to go out to medium range and do a line, etc.
The Tank's strength for the most part has no range (unless he picks something up and throws it).
He increases his damage by about a third if he uses a big weapon, but what if he uses a car? Does it increase even more?
This Tank has an equivalent Strength of 30. Slighty stronger than Captain America, nowhere near as strong as Spiderman.
It must just be me. I do not quite see where the balance lies, nor do I see these guys as overly super.
Even with you changing the EB costs, it still seems a lot more effective than Strength. Plus, as 10th level characters, these guys seem a lot less powerful than supers that you read in the comic books. For example, Captain America is a Martial Artist pushing max human strength and dexterity. Your 10th level tank is just a tad stronger, but has no martial arts, no superior human dexterity, no indomitable will.
Granted, supers in the comic books have a lot more experience.
But, Captain America had maximum human strength day one. Spiderman could pick up a car day one. The Thing could pick up a plane day one.
Your solution for this is to have the Thing be a 20th level hero (class) or something on day one?
Huh?
Seems kind of high. What about DC Heroes? Are Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern 50th level heroes?
What about the superhero with a single impressive power? He gets 80 HrPs as per your example, but can only use 13 of them. And, the power is no more impressive than that of his fellow heroes unless he restricts it to lower the HrPs.
I must be missing something.