Designing Marvel and DC characters

[acctingman]

Hey all.

 

JUST bought the game and I'm going to use it for my Marvel and DC solo skirmish gaming as I think the combat (from my research) is perfect for what I'm looking for.

 

I've found a TON of player made stats for Marvel & DC characters but there are quite a few missing. Now, not knowing much about the game let alone character creation I figure I should read the rules and play some games before I even attempt to do some write ups.

 

But, I'm here asking for any tips and tricks when I do start my write ups.

 

I was thinking of doing comparisons for stats and powers, but I'd appreciate any advice you could provide as how I should go about it.

 

Thanks!

[ArmlessTigerMan]

Surbrook's Stuff has a great guide for writing up superheroes and fictional characters in the Hero system:

https://www.devermore.com/surbrook/herosource/other/adaptions.html

 

also there is a large archive of characters written up in the Hero system:

https://www.devermore.com/surbrook/index/index.html

[Haerandir]

You may want to pick several characters, preferably written up by the same person, to use as a baseline/point of comparison for your own writeups. One thing that is known about the Hero System/Champions is that each playgroup tends to establish their own conventions for what is a 'typical' value for common combat stats like DEX, SPD and CV. If you're planning to use these writeups for skirmish combat, particularly if that involves PvP, you'll want to make sure you're using builds with similar stat ranges. 

 

Things to keep in mind in particular are Combat Values, Defenses and most of all Speed. Getting to act more often is a huge advantage, so you'll want to make sure that you aren't using a Spider-man build with SPD 5 against a Wolverine with SPD 6 (just to pick two characters at random). Not because either of those values is necessarily unreasonable, but because I think most people would agree that if one of those characters has quicker reflexes and agility, it's Spider-man.  It's just that some folks think of 5 as the 'default superhero' SPD, where others think of SPD 6 as a baseline for their campaigns. And some groups intentionally skew slower, with baseline SPDs of 3 or 4. 

 

Similarly, it doesn't really matter what baseline you use to establish the 'average' Combat Value score for your campaign, just that most characters are in roughly the same range. I like to pick a number and make sure that everyone is within plus or minus 2 from that value. Due to the bell curve distribution of 3d6 attack rolls, you get diminishing returns with greater CV differences. 

 

In terms of Defenses, I find it's helpful to compare a character's PD/ED and STUN against the average damage from a typical attack power. A 12d6 normal attack will averge 42 STUN and 12 BOD. Against such attacks, someone with 45 PD/ED isn't technically invulnerable, but they might as well be. Conversely, someone with 25 PD/ED facing a 15d6 attack better have a lot of STUN, or a great plan for not getting hit.