Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
Thanks for the information. I'm just about to delve into the Powers chapter for the first time. (I like to read game books from cover to cover, so I just finished the Feats chapter.)I will point out that a PL 12 "Normal" (i.e. un-powered) person is as dangerously capable as any PL 12 powered person, up to and including being able to take down powered people within a couple PLs of him. It takes some skill to build a character that can do that, and even more skill to play him so that he does it, but it is very, very possible.
An opposite-end example would be a modern research think-tank. The kinds of guys that spend 20 years figuring out a single technology that revolutionizes the world. Five man team, four PL 1 reasearch scientists (6 ranks, 14 or 15 Intelligence, 1 Teamwork feat each), and one PL 5 team leader (10 ranks, 16 or 17 Intelligence). On average they'll get a 46~ish result after 20 years of research, making one nearly-impossible discovery that revolutionizes the world. This is the sort of thing normals can do at relatively low levels of skill and training (four trained professionals and one acknowledged expert).
A single PL 10 super-scientist can have a +30 on his skill check, doing research of the same quality in one check. If he spends the same kind of focus on it as the team, or is extremely lucky, he can make discoveries that should be impossible (DC 50) and unlock technologies or knowledge that is a century or more ahead of the times. This is what is possible by a single master in the field with one of the highest super-human intelligences.
Normals are capable and competative, especially with the incentives of semi-deities flying around.
It sounds like I might need to set a much lower Power Level for the 2nd C than I had originally intended. I'll know more as I continue to learn the game system.
Mecha will definitely have a place in the Guardian Chronicles. I could see ground based mecha being possible by 2025 but flight-based mecha (and powersuits) will take a lot longer to develop for this campaign concept.As for the suits, whatever doesn't break your suspension of disbelief, man. I've got nothing against dudes in relatively simple servo-suits at even current technologies.
With the right incentives and researchers, I can totally accept guys in pretty advanced power-armor flying about and kicking butt, within the next 10 to 15 years of technology. Sooner if you limit them to ground-systems and allow for increased sizes (BattleTech Mechs, anyone?).
I guess I'll be limiting the amount of super science that gets developed. Certain feats and powers might not even be available until the 3rd C begins. Once I've read through the Powers, I'll start deciding which powers will require Descriptors.