Martinez scale?

[Patriot]

What is it, and is there a chart available to help figure it out
And who is Martinez?

[MisterVimes]

Originally posted by Patriot
What is it, and is there a chart available to help figure it out
And who is Martinez?

1)It appears to be a power scale for measuring effectiveness of Super-powers

2)Dunno

3) Major Juan(?) Martinez. Titular head of U.N.T.I.L. who (I believe) made his first appearance in HERO's first published module The Island of Doctor Destroyer... he's Old school.

[Tom McCarthy]

I think Steve said it's a (sometimes inaccurate) estimate of power level by an UNTIL tech, frequently around 1/10th of the AP.

[Steve Long]

It's a scale UNTIL uses to rate the power of superpowers. It's named after Juan Martinez, once the head of UNTIL but now retired. Typically a power's Martinez Scale rating is calculated by its Active Points divided by 10, but the ratings given in the USPD (the only place the Scale's ever been used) aren't always accurate. Sometimes they're based on incorrect information, sometimes the readings taken on powers aren't accurate, sometimes a clerk mis-types a number, sometimes an agent's estimate is off, blah blah blah.

[Susano]

When you say Active Points, do you mean for a single power?

So if Inferno's Flame Jet is 100 Active Points, its Martinez Rating is 10?

Or is the scale for the character as a whole?

[AlHazred]

Keep in mind it's an in-game thing; the agents who rate the powers don't know how many APs a power is. Also, reading some of the blurbs in the sidebars (I love the commentary on Howler!) some of these agents have very limited exposure to supers, and yet attempt to rate their abilities. In all, very much like what would happen in the Real World, IMNSHO.

[Steve Long]

Typically I mean Active Points in the power being rated, but obviously the UNTIL agents have no "realistic" idea what "Active Points" are, and may grossly misinterpret things as discussed above. It's all a fiction based on whatever "measurements" they take from superhumans.

[Enforcer84]

There's another threat scale based on PRIMUS data in CKC right? Or am I experiencing the voices in my head again

[Steve Long]

You're experiencing voices, I'm afraid. There's no universal rating system in CKC, from PRIMUS or otherwise.

[MarkusDark]

I use a similiar scale in my games. I try to give those in the base's database an offensive and defensive rating:

Offensive is AP/10 for their primary attack(s)
Defensive is their overall PD or ED/5 (whichever is higher).

[JmOz]

Actualy I think you are refering to the threat ratings in CKC, something quite different from power...

Think of it this way, Batman would rate quite low on the maartinez, as he has no powers (we can debate this later) but his threat rating would be quite high (as he can take out anyone given time)

[Enforcer84]

Originally posted by Steve Long
You're experiencing voices, I'm afraid. There's no universal rating system in CKC, from PRIMUS or otherwise.

There it goes again!?!

[Agent X]

So, essentially, the Martinez scale is what is sometimes referred to as "flavor."

[Crimson Arrow]

I just viewed it as something which people would probably use if super powers really existed. For example, the subject has flame bolts. How powerful are they? You'd use a scale. This allows people to roughly gauge the threat, eg is the pyrokinetic Rusty Collins or Firewing?

It has little game significance (although the Martinez scale is calculated from Active Points), and is indeed, flavour as Agent X suggested.

I think the comments under Howler's picture were great. A reference to her costume (which I like) and also to previous estimates of her power being wrong. I think this is because Howler has always been a "starting level PC" villain and she got an upgrade in CKC to being more powerful than a 350 point hero. Or it might just be the fact that she's a survivor from the early days of Champions and has grown in power since then. Nice touch either way.

Although...now that I think about it, a clever GM (or a very foolish one), could provide the PCs with an idea of how powerful the villain is. Of course, the Martinez rating could be way off. ;)

JmOz's point that Martinez ratings can be misleading, even if accurate, is another one to keep in mind, if you want the scale used in your games.

[MarkusDark]

If the villian is 'special' in my universe, then the players sometimes already have an idea how poweful they are by reports on the villian.

"I'd be careful around Poltergeist."
"Why"
"He likes to punch THROUGH powered suits."
"Oh..."