Panpiper

5 if you do your Complications right.

This is cool

I thought that the 3-5 year campaigns I've been in were a big thing. 40 is just awesome. I'd give a limb to be in a game like that. Actually, right now I'd just like to be in a game at all.
 
Congrats to you and your players, Tech.

I'll post in brief my original character (particularly since he's so experienced). I named him Neutron. At the time, Enemies I or II hadn't even been out yet so he and Neutron of the Conquerors have had several fights just to see who keeps the name; it's been undecided. When first learning how to play Champions 1st Edition, I had some misunderstandings of how to build a good character so keep that in mind.    I should mention the campaign doesn't use 6th edition; the majority didn't want it, so it's primarily 4th -5th edition with some 1st-3rd edition thrown in.
 
I have the original sheet; I just can't find it so I'll go with my memory so here's him at creation:
10 Str        OCV: 8  DCV: 8  ECV: 3
23 Dex
20 Con      
15 Body       7d6 EB
10 Int           Flight 15"
10 Ego         
10 Pre
12 Com        Yes, we still use COM
7 PD
9 ED
7 Spd
9 Rec
40 End
40 Stun
 
Pretty simple but I was learning what power level is good and so on. Since then, he's changed quite a bit. I'll post some of him because quite frankly there's too much to post. Our campaign has several houserules so I'm not posting costs:
20 Str          OCV: 9 DCV: 9 ECV: 9
26 Dex        11d6 EB
24 Con        Flight 25"
15 Body  
14 Int          His most devastating attack:
17 Ego        10d6 EB, APx2, 10" AE with Hole in center, Variable size
30 Pre
12 Com       PD & ED are 3x hardened
27 PD          Lack of Weakness -5
27 ED          Mental Def 9 pts, 3x hardened
7 Spd
15 Rec         Classic Martial Arts
50 End        4 Combat Levels with 6 various skill levels
51 Stun       Gobs of skills
 
 
He's the leader of one of our superteams; we have 7 superteams. Needless to say, we have lots of active characters.
 

I would love to see a 40th Anniversary book for Champions that had some of the old character stats (updated to 6e), and notes from the original campaigns. 

Mine made it 25 before I retired it  But I'm now 2 years into a new game with several of the same players set in the same game world after an absence of 8 years.

So how does that count?

My campaign is 15 years old, but geez...you got me beat. Congrats!

I feel like celebrating when a campaign makes it through ten sessions.
 
Congrats!
 

Very envious, wish I was a part of that! Congrats to you and your players! Here's to the next 40!

Man, I would love to see the character sheets from those early PCs and compare them to what they are now.  This would be like Mr. Allston's treatment in the Strike Force book.
 
Also a timeline would be seriously cool!

Sorry Panpiper, but prefer newbies; also Tuesday night is a no go for me.

I have a starship design system I created for Master of Orion.  As such, it's pretty dependent on its own breakdown of technologies.
 
However, two major points of it that might help you.  Cap the Active Points of weapons and other devices equal to the Active Points in Growth used to determine the size of the craft:  A snub fighter built on 45 AP of growth can have a maximum 3d6 RKA laser.  Limit the number of weapons, shields and other Powers to one per five points of Growth: That snub fighter can have only 9 abilites: FTL, 4 lasers, a torpedo, life support, etcetera.
 
Chris.

I do not use any of the remote style virtual applications so I will not comment on them.
 
But for  a general game I have a few points.
 
1) Character builds.  Go over their concepts (or characters if converting) and then go home and build them yourself.  Alone.  They do not know the rules and trying to build the character while also trying to explain the why's will only make things take longer and frustrate you.  Just do the build yourself.
 
2) Create a player character sheet that is stripped, stripped I say, of ALL BUILD ANNOTATION.  Just leave the info needed in actual play.  For variable items, for example a Flame Blast spell that is actually an energy blast, do not say energy blast.  Just say Flame Blast 4d6.  If it uses end add "1 End per 1d6" for example.  Add descriptions of how anything works geared to flavor and in game while avoiding build speak.   Have an full hero build style character sheet on hand for any after session explanations on Hero's build rules.
 
3) Gratuitous Preaching to the Choir    
Once you get past building and build annotation and just have the actual final needed to play info, Hero is one of the easiest systems to play out there.  That is unless you load it down with each and every possible optional rule.  But if you don't it is easy.  I would recommend not using any maneuvers and ht location for session 1.  Just the basics.  Then add in something each session until you have the full meal.

yeah tuesday evening also works for me

How do you feel about Fantasy Hero? Are you available Monday evenings to play on Roll20?

If it's a Tuesday evening EST, I'd be interested. Only evening I have free at this point.

Usually that would mean beginning heroes built on less points than standard, typically 300, that are in fact usually teenagers. That of course does not mean that YOU need to be a teenager to play.

The challenge of Damage Reduction is in the pricing.
 
If I'm in a 12 DC Supers game, I might have 22 PD and 22 ED.  That costs 40 points, and an average 12d6 hit will pass 20 STUN past my defenses.  Make the extra defenses resistant, and now I pay 60 points.
 
For the same 60 points, I can have 2 PD and ED, and 50% Physical and Energy damage reduction.  I'll take more BOD.  Small attacks will do more STUN, and bigger ones will do less.  This feels reasonably priced.
 
But in an 8DC game, where I might have 15 PD and ED, 6 Resistant, I pay 32 points.  A typical attack gets 13 STUN past my defenses, and I'll take a bit of BOD.
 
Paying 60 for the same Damage Reduction, and sticking to 2 PD and ED, a typical attack still gets 13 past my defenses, but I spent almost twice the CP.  That pricing doesn't feel quite as equitable.

Most of the rest of your comments go to your intent for the powers, so I won't address those, opinions are opinions and equally valid. 
 
But no, just because something is available to be bought in Hero Designer does not make it legal or valid. 6e1, 303 / FREd 235:
 
So the power you built originally would be more like: (unless you are talking time travel as well, then start at 77 CP)
 
EDM: Any physical location in any dimension [45 CP]; Area Of Effect: 2m Radius (+1/4), Usable Simultaneous: 16 others (+1 1/4); Real Cost: 112
 
You would be a lot better off saying you needed to research each dimension and just building a spell for each one. More like:
 
EDM: Any physical location in one defined dimension [22 CP]; Area Of Effect: 2m Radius (+1/4), Usable Simultaneous: 16 others (+1 1/4); Real Cost: 55
 
If it's just a plot device, then the GM probably would not even need to see the point structures, because no matter what they will provide a way for it to happen.
 
- E
 
 

I would be willing to help you out.  The fastest way would be with a Zoom call.  Heck we could even record it and post it for other folks.

One situation that hasn't been mentioned is Linked attacks where the first must do BODY for the second to have an effect (poisoned knives, etc). The character would be more vulnerable to those attacks.

Specific things I would not allow and why:
 
Transdimensional on Teleport: This is called Extra Dimensional Movement and is a defined power.
Precog / Retrocog Clairsentience: Campaign breaker unless the GM decides to make it useless. If you bought with "Vague and Unclear" I would consider it.
Entropy: I don't allow AVAD "Defenses" structured as "Not a dwarf" or the like. It must be a power or the like that can be acquired. 
Courage / Will: I prefer you buy these as AID to the appropriate characteristic from both a flavor and a mechanical standpoint. However, if you did buy aid here, you could get 8d6 of AID with an area of effect of 4m and eliminate the need for them to stay in sight.
 
Questions / Suggestions:
1. Why do you have combo powers in a VPP? I mean, it's legal, but it reduces your versatility. Buy the Flight and Desolid as separate powers.
2. On the invocation of water, I assume this is to avoid killing villains or bystanders outright? Why not go ahead and make it Reduced Penetration? And probably you could add in No Knockback to help even more, KB on even on 6d6 normal can kill a civilian with bad rolls.
3. I would add "Only Magic Effects" to the entire pool, for -1/4. Saves 6 points.
4. Why are all the powers without limitations? Part of the flexibility of a VPP is to have a variety of options available to you at one time. The way you have set it up you can basically only keep one power at a time in it? Example: https://surbrook.devermore.com/adaptationstv/asstd_tv/macgyver.html
5. Ditch the Reduced End / Zero END advantages. If you get to low on END, set up an AID to REC or an AID to END. 
6. Set up some spells with Foci (wand, staff, rod, skull, whatever). This cuts the real points, giving you options for keeping multiple things up at once. Not everything, of course, you want to be able to operate without them, but villains like having things to knock out of your hand and it sometimes saves you getting shot instead.
7. Set up some Full Phase attack actions, maybe with a couple other limitations as well. They won't always be what you use, but options are key with a VPP.
 
- E

I'd be good with everything but the Shapeshift and I'd allow that if you changed the character's complications somewhat. It negates the complications except when she is actively using her powers.

The challenge of this limitation is that it will be enormously campaign-dependent.  If the character did not have these extra defenses, how often would he take BOD damage?
 
 - pretty much never?  Then the limitation is pretty much never going to reduce the value of the extra defenses.  This would be, for example, a Super in a 12DC game who already has 20 rDEF and is tacking this on top.
 
 - all the time?  OK, now perhaps we have a limitation.  Would a typical attack get enough BOD through that he would normally take 5 or less BOD from the hit, so that limitation really means half of the defenses may as well not be resistant at all?  Or would a typical attack blow 10+ BOD past his defenses so he will typically reduce BOD damage by the full 5 points anyway (bringing us back to "not very limiting").
 
Without knowing how bloody the game will be in general, and how likely this character in particular is to take BOD past his other defenses, it's pretty tough to value the limitation.
 
Let's approach this from an alternate build.  If he made half of the defenses non-resistant, that would be a -1/2 limitation on half the defenses, and they would never block KA BOD.  It seems pretty tough, with that in mind, to think that this limitation would be worth more than -1/4 on the full defenses.

This'll help a little.
 
On powers that are normally persistent like senses and defenses, Costs END to activate is something of an odd man out.  Including APG, there are 3 related limitations:
 
--Nonpersistent
--Costs END to activate
--Damage-based END cost (with 2 different levels)
 
They share a major aspect:  the power becomes Constant and shuts off when the character is KOd or stunned.  
Costs END to activate has the likely *nasty* side effect (6E1 374) that it's automatically Perceivable...and no, you don't get points.
 
So there's never a systemic reason to take Costs END to activate on a persistent power...especially one that's persistent and Inobvious.  Costs END to activate is great for, say, Flight, but it's grossly undervalued for senses and defenses.
 
I mention damage-based END cost because I really like it for most defense powers, thematically.  Superheroes don't get beaten up...they get beaten down, til they can't fight any more, they're exhausted.  It's -1/4 for 1 END per 10 STUN blocked, but it's not listed as perceivable.  
 
So of these, the one that bites is Costs END to activate.  It's by far the worst, IMO, because of the "this power is screaming OBVIOUS SUPER HERE!!" aspect.  And I can simply take Nonpersistent AND Perceivable for -1/2.
 
Auric Sense, you went Costs END to activate.  I get the goal here, but I'd go a different route.  My first thought was Side Effect...could be full-on Blind or possibly Deaf (major) or perception penalties to all senses but Mental (minor), automatic when the power's used (x2).  Automatic minor side effect is -1/2, so that shaves another 5 points off the cost.  Other options could be Perceivable and Concentration.