power level

[loki]

I have a quick question for all you “hero heads†out there. What point cost are you all currently running in your groups?

 

We are using 5th ed rules to run 265(ish) point characters. I think that this is due to the fact the a majority of the villains in my groups game a home brew verity, and built under 4th ed @ 250 points.

 

I have found the character creation process to be much more fun at the higher levels. You seem to have the points to put in some “cool†stuff that may or may not be totally effective but is fun to have on the character.

 

So the root question here is what power level are y’all runnin’, and do you enjoy it.

 

Also lets say someone is running a 300 pt power level, is there any kind of source for villains at that level, or is boiling down the CKC a little as good as we can get?

 

Lok

[Blue]

Starting characters weigh in at 300pts, with an 80 Active pt cap on attack powers.

 

It's below "standard hero" level. I did this for three reasons:

1) To make sure any point-pinchers (and I was warned there were several) would not steal the game from everyone else by being much more overpowered. The more points you give to someone like that, the greater the divide between them and the other players.

2) To hold down disadvantages. I thought it would be nice to not have 200 + 150 in disads. The disads start to get silly after 100. People really start scraping the bottom of the barrel.

3) I wanted inflate experience a little. They get a little more than the book says. This way they'll be "experienced heroes" in the same time it takes a standard hero. They'll just have worked for it.

[Enforcer84]

600+

 

I just like that better.

[loki]

Wha??

 

Originally posted by Enforcer84

600+

 

I just like that better.

 

Seriously now... come on... 600?!?!?!

 

I dont know if i could spend that much!

[Patriot]

we have a wide range of pcs, from 350- 1700

[Enforcer84]

Re: Wha??

 

Originally posted by loki

Seriously now... come on... 600?!?!?!

 

I dont know if i could spend that much!

 

its easy. Did you see the "Walk on the sun" power in the Champions book. its 90 pts only to not get burned. If you want that you need some points to go around....

[Zed-F]

Originally posted by Blue

1) To make sure any point-pinchers (and I was warned there were several) would not steal the game from everyone else by being much more overpowered. The more points you give to someone like that, the greater the divide between them and the other players.

IMHO, appropriate caps on powers (especially attacks/defenses) is more important to limit munchkinism than the number of CP available. With appropriate caps, a munchkin can be more versatile than a non-munchkin, but still can't really overwhelm the opposition.

 

I can easily come up with very points-efficient designs at the 250-point level due to my familiarity with character design under the 3rd & 4th edition rules. 200 to 250 points is probably my favourite points range. I don't like higher points values nearly as much as it just seems to get silly. Lower than 200-250 points seems more like heroic range to me, which I'm less interested in.

[Blue]

Originally posted by Zed-F

IMHO, appropriate caps on powers (especially attacks/defenses) is more important to limit munchkinism than the number of CP available. With appropriate caps, a munchkin can be more versatile than a non-munchkin, but still can't really overwhelm the opposition.

 

I can easily come up with very points-efficient designs at the 250-point level due to my familiarity with character design under the 3rd & 4th edition rules. 200 to 250 points is probably my favourite points range. I don't like higher points values nearly as much as it just seems to get silly. Lower than 200-250 points seems more like heroic range to me, which I'm less interested in.

 

I had another concern about just limiting how high a power could go but not limiting the number of points over the whole character: The guy who could do everything that everyone else can do. 300pts forces you to specialize a little more, at least to start. I forbade the more universal VPPs for the same reason. Last thing I wanted was someone who could mimick all of the other players, thus making them useless.

 

I'm happy with my results so far. Everyone has a personality and a place within the team. It rounded out pretty well.

[OddHat]

Currently I'm happy with a very standard superhero set-up, 350 points for a hero, around 8-12 DC for most attacks, specialists allowed up to 16DC. I'm also fairly flexible about character design, with the standard caveats;

 

1) Your Limits Mean Something. If you have restrainable PD and ED defined as rolling with the blow, expect to run into situations where you can't roll with it. Buy all of your stats from Power Armor and expect to run into situations where you're caught without it. And those nasty -1 Side Effects will hit you eventually.

 

2) Your Disads Mean Something. I only allow one or two Hunteds and one Watched, because that's how many I can keep track of. No, you can't get points for double damage from "Kelverite" Weapons, as I don't have any NPCs who are likely to carry them. Double Damage From Silver is on the other hand fine for a Werewolf.

 

3) Adult Gaming Is Not (Only) About Naughty Tentacles. My campaigns are character driven, and I only game with a small group of friends. If a player starts trying to turn it into a hack fest, we'll talk it over. If he doesn't like the game's style, he can GM next time, or just not participate. In the few pick up games I've run recently, I handed out pre-made characters; that cut down considerably on most abusive design tactics.

 

I've also run 100, 150, and 600 point Champions campaigns that were a blast to play. A good game is always much more about the players than the ground rules.

[Fireg0lem]

I'm running 100+50 superheros (The 50 are for unusual disads only, all PCs are assumed to start with Hero's Code, ie won't kill if he isn't forced to, cares about innocents, etc. unless they define their code as otherwise). I don't play with any power caps, but I reserve the right to veto abusive powers or "one trick pony" characters.

[Zed-F]

I'm happy with my results so far. Everyone has a personality and a place within the team. It rounded out pretty well.

That would be what counts, then.

[JmOz]

350-400 points

 

60 active point limit on attacks UNLESS that is all you can do, then you can have up to 75, this does not count a few advantages (such as 0 Endurance). Up to 90 points for a Nova Power (or 125 for a one trick pony)

 

100 points of total defence, no more than 30 in a single catagory, does not include Force Wall but does include rDEF and Damage Reduction

[Agent X]

We've got games running at 350 and 450 points and aren't having any issues of problems with balance. We take the published characters of about the same point range as a cue and the suggestions in the book. This allows great variety and some characters are better in some situations than others - as it should be.

[lemming]

Somewhere in the 500-750 range. I'm running a game without point caps and have the PCs balanced more by feel than anything scientific. The PCs are in the upper echelons of power, but there's plenty of competition.

[megaplayboy]

the last campaign I played and ran in went from 250-500+ points over 4 years.

Currently we are looking at a starter game of 275 points, and an "iconic" campaign with no point limits defined yet.

 

Holding my breath until Galactic Champions comes out--waiting to see people with expressions like:eek:

[Rook]

Originally posted by lemming

I'm running a game without point caps and have the PCs balanced more by feel than anything scientific.

 

This is the way I tend to handle things as well. What I do is have players describe in detail what their powers can and can't do and then just assign a number of dice to them.

[Jhamin]

I am running a 6 year old campaign with characters running from 425-450 points.

 

We started at 250. By the time FREd came out we were up to the four hundred teens. Bumping up the average to 350 still left our characters well above average.

[Guest Keneton]

Points Smoints

 

Points are not what makes a charcter powerful. I suggest using the Effectiveness Rating from DH # 3 and also in the free stuff, Yes I was the author, but this is not shamelss promotion. This tool will help balance characters regardless of point values. Points at 250 always seemd low and foolish to me. What superhero from the comics is effectively written up at 250? The average Marvel guy is at least 700 points. The DC guys may be more.

 

Good luck on yor balance issues, but please take a look at the tool, IT WILL HELP!

[Killer Shrike]

campaign is currently at around 415. No AP caps, no rule of X, no arbitrary limits other than Speed. Im encouraging the players to not "SPEED" monger. I try to keep the PCs between 3-7, with most at 4-6, and speedsters at 8-9.

 

Other than the Speed median, its make anything legal, and Ill veto it if I dont want it in the game, whatever it may be.

 

Because there are no point caps, I dont allow frivolous pushing however. You can push only if you have no other viable option and failure represents some "Very Bad Thing". Because there is practically always another option, you can imagine that push almost never happens.

[OddHat]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

campaign is currently at around 415. No AP caps, no rule of X, no arbitrary limits other than Speed. Im encouraging the players to not "SPEED" monger. I try to keep the PCs between 3-7, with most at 4-6, and speedsters at 8-9.

 

Other than the Speed median, its make anything legal, and Ill veto it if I dont want it in the game, whatever it may be.

 

Because there are no point caps, I dont allow frivolous pushing however. You can push only if you have no other viable option and failure represents some "Very Bad Thing". Because there is practically always another option, you can imagine that push almost never happens.

 

The relationship you have with the players makes all the difference in a game. I set limits as guidelines to let players know when their characters have "enough" of a given ability, and to let them know where they stand in relation to the campaign. If a player wants to create the worlds fastest man, that player should know roughly what the fastest Supers out there can currently do, and should be able to trust me not to stamp on his idiom (i.e. not to have him meet an even faster speedster in every adventure). OTOH if a good player comes up with a good concept that goes past those limits, we should be able to work something out.

 

And if the character doesn't work, I can always drop an asteroid on him.