Please help with question about challenge rating

[Phil_the_Great]

I haven't played Champions in a while, since the early 90's.  I would like to start playing again, and i can not find the answer to the following question.  Is their a challenge rating for the game to determine an easy,  medium, or a hard challenge?  If i have a group of 4 heroes at 300 points each, how many points of villains (and thugs, or agents, etc) is an easy or hard battle?  Is 1 villain at 300 points too easy, or 3 villains at 400 points too hard?  I have looked through the books and can't find anything, so if it is there, please let me know where.

 

Thanks,

Phil

[ScottishFox]

There was an ancient Adventurer's Club article on calculating Combat Effectiveness, but that was about it.

 

I've used a modified form of that for a couple years now.

 

Other GMs have active point caps, skill level caps and things of that nature.

 

Even if you have rough indicators the villain specifics can make a huge difference. 

Does Dr. Deludo's confusion ray (Entangle vs. INT) have an advantage against the players universally low INT team?

Does Blacklight's always-on Flash Shield cause excessive trouble for your melee-heavy flash-defense lacking hero squad?

 

Basically if the villain is kryptonite to your kryptonians you have to adjust on the fly.

 

It is one of the hardest aspects of game balance.  On a very rough level total CP gives you some estimate, but it varies significantly from villain to villain.

[Ninja-Bear]

Another problem is character builds. If you have a mentalist and all the villains aren’t then you’ll be much more effective than even a typical Blaster.  The fun of Champions is all the unique abilities you can devise. That uniqueness   makes it hard to to really give a good indicator on effectiveness that accounts for all the variables.

[zslane]

In my experience, a team of opponents (villains + thugs) of equal point value is easy, medium, or hard based on the skills of the GM.

 

A GM who knows how to coordinate the attacks (and powers) of his villains will be far more effective than their point totals suggest. A GM who is only a mediocre battlefield tactician is going to present an easy-to-medium challenge to a hero team of equivalent points.

 

[Tjack]

  Also the style of villain himself will be a major factor.  
  Dr. Doom is by his write-up one of the most powerful bad guys in comics, but his character flaws are usually what gives the FF the opportunity to defeat him.

  On the other hand, the Joker is relatively low powered but deadly. (depending on the writer)

[Lord Liaden]

There are a couple of spreadsheets in the free file downloads section of this website, which may help people make a more objective calculation of an appropriate challenge.