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<blockquote data-quote="The Grackle" data-source="post: 1754703" data-attributes="member: 23976">Mutants and Masterminds is a great game, but the archetypes presented in the book are really weak for their PL.&nbsp; Anyone who likes to optimize their characters, and I don't just mean power gamers but any typical roleplayer, could make better/more capable characters.&nbsp; In fact, I noticed that one of the frequently asked questions is &quot;why are the freedom leauge such pushovers?&quot; I actually like it that my players max out their primary abilities b/c it makes it easier for me to design villains.&nbsp; If I want their foe to have a nasty attack, I&nbsp; set it at rank 13.&nbsp; If his defenses are a little weak compared to the PCs I set it at 8 or 9.&nbsp; It seems to be working out well so far. A few ranks above or below their PL makes a big difference, especially if someone's on a bad rolling streak.&nbsp; When you can get KOed in one punch, rolling a lot of 2s and 3s in one night is a big deal.Another thing is that bricks are really easy to make and play (and also fun) b/c they fit with a d&amp;d-style of mercilessly beating on things until they're dead.&nbsp; But one superpower can make them totally ineffective (like insubstantial or wisdom drain) so they need someone to watch their back.&nbsp; A super team has to be&nbsp; designed as a team.&nbsp; You definitly need one brick, one mentalist, and one blaster, and hopefully someone with some useful other/non-combat powers.&nbsp; A group of 2 mediocre flying blasters and one average brick won't cut it.&nbsp; If your players had had a mentalist w/mind control, fighting two bricks would not have taken 10 rounds. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> If you want to try MnM again, I think you should let your players make their own characters and then test them out against the archetypes they played in your last session.&nbsp; Then they can have sweet, sweet vengence for a ruined gaming night... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> emiricol: That's a good idea.&nbsp; I might start making all characters w/a PL 2 or 3 &quot;base&quot; character before adding super powers. I also gave my PCs a permanent power cap of 10 for all powers except one that's their main-power which they can raise to their current PL as they progress. Hopefully it will make them round-out their characters in time, instead of just boosting powers.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Grackle, post: 1754703, member: 23976"] Mutants and Masterminds is a great game, but the archetypes presented in the book are really weak for their PL. Anyone who likes to optimize their characters, and I don't just mean power gamers but any typical roleplayer, could make better/more capable characters. In fact, I noticed that one of the frequently asked questions is "why are the freedom leauge such pushovers?" I actually like it that my players max out their primary abilities b/c it makes it easier for me to design villains. If I want their foe to have a nasty attack, I set it at rank 13. If his defenses are a little weak compared to the PCs I set it at 8 or 9. It seems to be working out well so far. A few ranks above or below their PL makes a big difference, especially if someone's on a bad rolling streak. When you can get KOed in one punch, rolling a lot of 2s and 3s in one night is a big deal. Another thing is that bricks are really easy to make and play (and also fun) b/c they fit with a d&d-style of mercilessly beating on things until they're dead. But one superpower can make them totally ineffective (like insubstantial or wisdom drain) so they need someone to watch their back. A super team [B]has to be[/B] designed as a team. You definitly need one brick, one mentalist, and one blaster, and hopefully someone with some useful other/non-combat powers. A group of 2 mediocre flying blasters and one average brick won't cut it. If your players had had a mentalist w/mind control, fighting two bricks would not have taken 10 rounds. :) If you want to try MnM again, I think you should let your players make their own characters and then test them out against the archetypes they played in your last session. Then they can have sweet, sweet vengence for a ruined gaming night... ;) emiricol: That's a good idea. I might start making all characters w/a PL 2 or 3 "base" character before adding super powers. I also gave my PCs a permanent power cap of 10 for all powers except one that's their main-power which they can raise to their current PL as they progress. Hopefully it will make them round-out their characters in time, instead of just boosting powers. [/QUOTE]

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