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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elric" data-source="post: 4808114" data-attributes="member: 1139">In M&M, hero points can be used to reroll a roll (and if you roll a 10 or below on the reroll, you add 10 to the result, meaning that you can't get below an 11).  This is probably the strongest hero point function and prevents quick knockouts.  In a pbp game, you may want players to specify when they'd use hero points to reroll saves in advance (e.g., "when I suffer a result of Staggered, or anything worse than that) so the GM can roll Toughness saves.You can also invert the system so attackers make the rolls; see my post on how to do that <a href="http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=568414#568414" target="_blank">here</a>.  Attackers make all the rolls could significantly speed up combat because of its interaction with hero points (see <a href="http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=32830" target="_blank">this thread</a> for some more discussion of the effects of using this type of option).Even without hero points, M&M combats last longer than you might think.  I just did <a href="http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?p=566745#566745" target="_blank">a post on my roll call thread</a> about this.  I ran a simulation for "how many attacks does it take to KO the defender" in the most basic combat scenario you could have in the game, and plotted how many attacks it took (since a character will be getting 1 attack a round, this is equivalent to rounds).  The average ended up as 9.35 attacks, with a standard deviation of 5.2.This number is shorter (and has a higher variance) than it would be if you gave the defender hero points to spend on defense (or, for a villain, the GM used GM Fiat to duplicate the effects of a hero point, which gives a PC a hero point each time he does it).  However, attacking a stunned defender (which happens in group fights) will speed things up.  I find that 9 rounds is a long fight in M&M, but a (relatively threatening) fight typically goes at least 5 rounds.NPC prep in M&M can be very easy because of the PL system, and because the power points you spend don't matter for NPCs.  For example: I want a PL 10 villain built around super-strength/toughness; that gives +10 attack/damage from strength/defense/toughness.  However, I think he should be Toughness and Damage shifted, so let's add 2 to damage/Toughness and subtract 2 from Attack bonus/Defense bonus.  Fortitude save should be high; let's make it +10, but Reflex/Will should be lower: +6 each.  I want him to be bulletproof, but not rocket-launcher proof, so we'll give him Impervious Toughness 8.  Due to his strength, he should be able to jump: let's say he has 3 ranks of the Leaping power, for a running long jump of about 200 feet and a high jump of 50 feet.Super-Strength would increase his lifting capacity without affecting most combat abilities directly, so we'll assume he has enough of it to have a Heavy Load of 25 tons (this would be about 4 ranks).  Rounding him out with skills, let's give him Intimidate +10 and Notice/Sense Motive (and any other miscellaneous skills he should have at a low rank) +5.  Done!</blockquote>

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