Recommended MnM house rules/errata?

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I haven't seen it as that much of a problem. You take those guys down like you would any melee monster, from range or in numbers. Just like in D&D, an archer doesn't walk up to the armored axe freak and take a swing, he sits back and tears up that slow moving tank guy.

Max CON plus Max Amazing Save: DMG plus Toughness equals a Damage Save that will exceed by 7 points the maximum equal-PL ranged damage DC. Unless you're throwing LOTS of ranged guys with equal PL at the beefsteak you're not going to take him down by plinking away at him with ranged attacks.

Things like Leap or getting tossed by another powerhouse can bring that monster up close and personal in short order. I've used ranged mooks several times, and the powerhouse will always find a way to come bowling in. That's what they do, so i'm usually glad to see it.

I've had some good fun using mooks with little Entangle goo-shooter guns ... the first one makes them Entangled, the next sticks them to the floor ... then big beefy has to take an action to shatter the goo and you start all over ... It's not as cheesy as the obvious Mental attacks, but brick-types usually have poor Ref saves.

Another Tip: Our M&M catch-phrase has become "Stunned equals DEATH". The stunned result is killer. Your players need to know to use HPs to avoid it and you need to remember to use VPs to get your villians out of it. Standing still and getting easier to hit means getting focus-fired and fried before you ever get another action.

--fje

 

[drnuncheon]

A lot of people will (have!) talk(ed) about the skill ratio, but it tends to get overstated IMO - and if you shift the point-to-skill ratio, you make certain skill-related feats worthless, or actually detrimental.

In general, supers with high levels of skills in lots of areas can be done just fine with the use of Super-Stats - Mr. Fantastic's incredibly broad range of scientific know-how can be represented by several ranks of Super-Intelligence rather than just by dumping lots of points into skills. Don't get caught up into thinking that having only one rank in the actual skill means poorly trained or inexerienced, like it might in White Wolf or other systems - in M&M there is no such division.

Remember that you can flaw any Super-Attribute down to 'only for skill checks' and it will be 2 points per level. If you've got several, you could even combine them into a single 'Highly Skilled' power, cutting the second and further attributes to 1 point/level each.

I've also used Thoughtbubble's suggestion about skill groups, if that was what made sense for the character - one character has Super-Security, another has Super-Cop. I wouldn't allow more than one of those power constructs per character, though.


OK, other than my skill soapbox, what else?


Hero points. Make sure you know what you can do with hero points, and more importantly, make sure your players know what you can do with them. Chances are someone will get knocked through a wall and need to spend one to get back in the fight, but if they don't remember they can, then they won't do it. Encourage gadgeteers and other folks whose powers depend on hero points to buy Heroe's Luck, the feat that gives you extra (if you're a nice GM like my wife, then you might even allow them to buy something like 'Always Prepared', which is Hero's Luck with the flaw: only for Gadgets, bringing it down to 1 point.)

Weaknesses. Encourage everyone to have one. The Annual has rules for three levels (-2, -5, and -10) instead of the single -10 level from the core rules, but you could probably figure out how they worked.


Character Sheets. http://www.elyzium.net/mnm/ is the place to go - Simpson's Character Builder is an excel spreadsheet that makes the process even easier, and you can even make a snazzy PDF copy of the sheet if you have the ability to make them.

I've got a sort of half of a website up for my game at http://drnuncheon.game-host.org/MnM/ which you can feel free to steal anything from you may want - I can also send you some villains I have laying around (some my own, some adapted from GRG's San Angelo and other places).

Good luck...and make sure someone posts the story hour.

J

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

and if you shift the point-to-skill ratio, you make certain skill-related feats worthless, or actually detrimental.

How so? I see that a PL10 character can only have 13 ranks of a skill, but bonuses from feats are still added. (Just like D&D)

Hence the Ballerina who has 13 ranks of both acrobatics and balance could in fact gain from taking talented: perform: dance and balance. (it would give her a +15 on her check before her ability modifier respectfully.) she could also take talented: perform: dance and gain +3 on her check for and now have a +18

Remember that you can flaw any Super-Attribute down to 'only for skill checks' and it will be 2 points per level. If you've got several, you could even combine them into a single 'Highly Skilled' power, cutting the second and further attributes to 1 point/level each.

Actually, all of the super ability can be broken down to costing 1/pp a rank for skills… I've done it before, not for a game as this gets really broken really quick, but simply to prove that allowing skills ratios of better than 1:1 is a better idea than “creative character building.” I haven’t the time to do the math right now but if you look at Super Dexterity you quickly see how it can be done.

Super Dex [Flaw: limited – No Dodge Bonus; Flaw: limited – No bonus to dexterity checks; Flaw: limited – Bonus to reflex saves]

So not only do you see higher ratio to PP this way but you also get very mundane character with no specifies or weakness. (the scientist is just as skilled at biology as geology, or robotics, or quantum physics..)

 

[billd91]

Finally, talking of possible problems, there are a few powers you might want to watch out for. Incorporeality for one can become problematic with it's 'only one type of attack can injure me'. Sorcery and especially Cosmic Power, while valid and expensive powers, can make a character the Swiss Army Knife of superheroics - able to do practically everything that the rest of the group can do and somewhat overshadowing the proceedings.

I'm not sure I entirely agree. Having a swiss army power like Sorcery or Cosmic Power means the PC will be useful in almost any situation. But it doesn't mean they'll be all that effective. In the campaign I'm running, the cosmic power wielder can do a lot of stuff but the power was so expensive it couldn't have been bought with many ranks and still have a well rounded character (for her concept, anyway). So she can do a lot, but without a lot of raw power behind it. It means, for one thing, that although she can munch up mooks easily, she has considerably more trouble with the main villains, being 3-4 ranks behind them in both main offense and defense.
So, they may be swiss army knives but they're usually weaker in general. If they have spent the points to have good power levels, then they're leaving some achilles heel open somewhere.

 

[Piratecat]

Quick question: the miimic power specifically states that you can mimic lots 'o feats but only one power and one skill, unless you purchase the "all attributes" extra. Then the example shows Knock-Off yoinking lots of stuff from lots of people. I'm reading the example as violating the rules, but this isn't in the errata. Any opinions?

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I'm reading the example as violating the rules, but this isn't in the errata. Any opinions?

Mimic is one of those powers that can really sour the game and if you can talk your player out of using it the game will be better... (I've honestly seen it ruin more than one game.)

Other iffy powers are animation and duplications. (I've only played online so duplication might not be so bad in person.)

 

[Piratecat]

May I ask why?

 

[Chaldfont]

I have to echo the comment on Hero Points earlier. Since they come back at the beginning of every session, there's no reason to horde them--they should be all used up by the end of the night. I give out one of those Chessex glass beads for each power point so I can see how many the players have. That way I can pick on the guys who save them up!

The fact that you can spend a Hero Point to boost a power by 2 ranks or to temporarily gain an extra is huge. It leads to those classic "Must... Use... More... Power!" comic book moments.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

May I ask why?

I don't find it all that problematic, but, let's take for instance the trial-run game I ran.

All of the players had pregenned characters, but one. My wife wanted to run a character I had statted out who was a full-force Mimic.

Only two people liked the game. The guy playing the giant bruiser Minotaur, and my wife ... who spent most of the game AS Minotaur, because the mimic could touch him and use his powers.

So basically a mimic who has paid enough for the power can pretty much be whoever or whatever is the most effective thing at any particular moment.

I didn't really have a problem with it because here's the thing ... with Extra Effort and some leeway on your side, just about anybody can do that too ... i think it was suggested that using Extra Effort anybody should be able to use any power they can come up with a good story for linked as an "extra" to their core powers ... like the speedster using Incorporeality or using Drain Power by becoming a funnel-cloud beneath a flyer, etc.

Mimic lets you skip the HP for it, though, and do it for as long and whenever you want to. To get it up there, though, it's pretty expensive. Though easy to flaw: Think Beast Boy (always green). Her character was always wearing something pink. (His name was "Cosmopolitan").

--fje

 

[coyote6]

I give 4 skill points for 1 pp; it works fairly well, IMO. (I settled on 4:1 by building a "typical" 1st level human warrior as a PL1 character; 4 skill ranks/pp let it work out perfectly). I also use skill checks a lot, though.

M&M doesn't really spend a lot of energy trying to munchkin-proof rules, so keep that in mind. So many of the sample characters aren't min-maxed wrt attacks, defenses, and PL limits.