M&M: Every stat is a dump stat?

[MatthewJHanson]

I think that what you're running into might be that in order to make M&M character creation as flexible as it needs to be to mimic the breadth of heroes found in comic books, it requires more work for both players and GMs. Normal is hard to define in the games, because it is equally hard to define in the comics the game emulates (Bruce Wayne vs. Billy Baston is a perfect example).

And because everybody's campaign is a little bit different, in the end its left for each GM to decide what normal is. It looks like you're coming up with a system that you like and I hope it works well for you.

 

[Mallus]

My GM kind of likes it, because it lets you make characters that are effective without being physically amazing, implying other sources of power.

M&M provides you with a remarkably balanced (given what its trying to do) set of mechanics for modeling a broad range of superhero types. However, it makes no attempt at rationalizing them. That's up to you.

But I don't want to deal with the metaphysical questions of how much of my toughness is physical and how much is mental toughness in my RPGs

Then don't.

IMO, given a hypothetical Superman character built to the best the system is capable, someone with no superpowers and a Dex of 4 should never be able to dodge a punch from him. Not unless he roll a 20 and Superman rolls a 1. But under this system someone with no Powers and a Dex of 4 could easily pull this off if the point total were the same.

M&M is mechanical effect-based. If two character's PP total is the same they're of equal power (my superhero name is Captain Obvious). Perhaps the clumsy oaf fighting Superman is protected by the luck of the Irish, or the grace of God, or a swarm of confusing nanomachines, as long as the point costs for their defenses are paid, the system doesn't care. Again, it's up to player to rationalize how their character's abilities actually work.

For a lot of players this a feature, not a bug.

Barring that, does anyone know know any good house rules that either remove the stats or impose minimums on stats for given attack, defense, and save bonuses?

What would this do, other than make the system less flexible?

I would just rather not have to be constantly guessing at how many points I have to waste in stats just to make sure that my character makes some semblance of sense.

Well that's your problem right there... you're trying to make a comic book character make sense.

In my M&M campaign I play the out-of-shape 14 year-old Egyptian God of Mexican Wrestling, aka O Mighty Joseirus. He flies around in a flaming chariot tying foes soul's into knots and dropping pyramids conjured out of thin air. Sure, he has an elaborate backstory "explaining" his powers, but frankly it doesn't make a lick of sense. Thus, he maintains a considerable degree of fidelity to the genre.

 

[Wolfwood2]

Okay, let's look at this one by one. All stats cost 2 points for every +1 from them.

Strength - Your strength affects several things. Damage, strength-based skills, grappling, carrying capacity, and trip checks. (Grappling is a killer in M&M.) If all you care about is damage, then it is mechanically efficient to buy the Strike power and not buy any strength. If all your attacks are via a ranged power, you might not care about strength much.

If you want to be a muscle-bound character good at doing damage with punching, grappling, and feats of strength... you'll want some strength.

Dexterity - Dexterity affects Reflex saves and dex-based skills. There are a lot of dex-based skills. Saves are one-for-one and skill points are bought at 4/1, so if there are at least 4 dex-based skills you think you're going to use semi-regularly, you might as well buy dexterity.

Consitution - Consitution adds to to saves, Fortitude and Toughness. Generally speaking, it will cost at least 1 point per 1 to increase your toughness save. Constitution is generally a good buy.

Intelligence - Er.... Applies to skills and a few feats. If you want to be a super-genius inventor/tactician, then you should buy up your intelligence and take the proper feats. if not, leave it at a 10. (Like most comic heroes. You're either a genius or average joe.)

Wisdom - Applies to some very useful skills (perception, concentration) and your Will save. Not a must-have, but can be useful.

Charisma - If you care about charisma based skills and want to use the feats that work off of charisma, it's a good buy. If not, leave it at 10.

 

[Seeten]

Here is an example pair of character sheets, one for the hero, and one for the "Normal Identity" Alter Ego.

Please note, I also have dump statted some stats, and bought up others, another pet peeve of yours, and yet, they all make in game rational sense. I'll explain.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=32801

This is the "Cat" version of our hero. She's actually a housecat, not a human, and Loki turned her into a catgirl with an alternate human form as a prank, then promptly forgot about her and did some other mischief. She's no smarter than a regular cat, nor any wiser, so her int and wis are 6. She's got the proportional strength of a wet noodle, so her str is 8. She has a 30 dex, because she's a cat, she doesnt fail reflex saves(And even has Immunity: Fall damage), she's sneaky, she's tumbly, balancey, and acrobaticky. So, dex 30. Also, dex affects init, so she's fast and goes first a lot. Lastly, she's got a charisma of 16 cuz she's cute, and lovable. And because she has Distract and Fascinate, and they work of Charisma. All that work totals up to 16 points spent in abilities, which are mostly a throwaway, but they sure help define the character, no?

The powers and such are self explanatory, but briefly, she has claws(strike power, negating her strength, doesnt matter how strong, if your claws slice through flesh like a knife through butter), superspeed(only 2, but still, she's fast), pheromones(even more kitteny cuteness!) supersenses, regeneration, and a prehensile tail.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=32800

This is sheet 2, her alternate identity.

In this identity, which is a drawback, she's a normal human girl(Yes, even though she's really a housecat. Damn that Loki!) who is pretty smart, int 12, still not very wise, wis 8, still fairly dexy, but not superhuman anymore, at 16, has a str of 6, much worse even than the cat forms, and a cha of 18, pretty pleasant and nice.

She has no superpowers in this form at all, and her attack and defense are both low. She goes from 36 feats to 4, and is basically a normal person. She'll certainly get shredded by the PL 10 foes the group will be facing if caught in this form.

I often make characters with a stat array of 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 because its how many comic characters are. A normal guy with (insert monstrous energy blast/wings/guns/etc). I think its a feature, not a bug.