Sean Waters

Yeah, but you knew what I meant
 
That's the thing though: mechanically, building a character that can shapeshift is no longer a matter of deciding how many different shapes they can assume, it is deciding if they still look like their normal selves in infra red and sonar .  If you just want to look different to normal sight but like yourself to other senses, that's Self Only Images, to my mind.  Or if you want to look like something different to long range radar, ditto.
  
I mean, I can not think of a single example of a shapeshifter that looks like its normal self on sonar but can actually fit through a six inch hole because it is long and thin to the touch group.  That might allow you to do some interesting things but is very very unhelpful if you are trying to actually run a game with a shapeshifter whose player did not think of all that.
 
I mean, they shouldn't have to.  It is a conceit too far and an overlap too far.
 
I like 'sensical' though.  I might steal that.

Well, your players would certainly have to use their noodles to figure that one out...
 
I feel like I should be offering you some garlic bread and pointing you toward the nearest Italian restaurant.

I jokingly answered earlier in the thread, but now I'll answer for real.  This is going to come across as kind of rude.  Sorry.  No offense meant to anybody here.
 
 
 
6th edition is inferior because it is designed by a committee, based upon a false promise, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying system.  It's the product of endless tinkering without an achievable goal or a clear direction.  I'll try to flesh out what I mean by all that, but some of it is conceptual and may be rather hard to explain.
 
Everything up to 4th edition was led by the original designers, and there's a logic to how everything was costed.  Power X is about twice as good as Power Y, so it should cost twice as much.  There's a basic concept of balance built into it from the very beginning.  All the powers and characteristics are roughly scaled with one another.  It's not perfectly executed, but it's pretty close.  Moreover, there was a philosophy to how it was balanced.  They valued certain abilities more than others, and so those were costed higher.  These ideas were internally consistent with each other.  Combat abilities are more valuable than noncombat abilities.  Flexible powers are more valuable than those that are more limited.  Therefore these things cost more points.  If you built characters as they intended, and played the game as they intended, it had a wonderful balance.  4th edition Champions was almost perfect.  And again, it was true to its philosophy.
 
Now with a system as complex as Champions, you'll never get a perfect balance.  There are just too many moving bits and pieces, and a powergamer will find the most efficient builds possible, while a person who has never played before will waste points on things that may never come up.  That is unavoidable.  But later editions didn't understand that.  5th edition, 5th edition revised, 6th edition, Champions Complete, all of them have tried to tweak the system to achieve some perfect balance that just isn't possible.  And the biggest problem is, these changes didn't follow the original pricing structure of the system.  The changes were made by people with a different philosophy of how the system should work.  And those changes don't quite mesh with the underlying system.
 
As an example, let's go to 5th edition, written by Steve Long (somewhat prophetically named when you see the size of his manuscripts).  He had his own ideas about how the Hero System should work, and he modified it.  Adders became much more common.  The pricing structure for some powers was changed, but not for others.  And while some of these changes were arguably good, others were not so great.  It was clear that he was seeing the system in a different way from the original authors, but it was a modification of their system and not one built from the ground up with his own ideas.  Long's philosophy appeared to be based around trying to make everything fit around a certain core set of game mechanics.  Instant Change was removed as a Talent and modified to be a "My clothes only" Transform.  Shapeshift was turned into a sense-affecting power.  But one of the most glaring examples here is Damage Shield.  In 4th edition, Damage Shield was a +1/2 advantage you applied to a power.  If anybody touched you, or if you touched anybody, they were hit with that power.  When 5th edition hit, it suddenly required you to purchase the advantage Continuous (+1).  But, you didn't actually get the benefit that Continuous granted, which is that somebody hit with a Continuous power will be affected by it every single phase.  No, you had to pay a +1 advantage tax because now you've got to change your Energy Blast to a Constant power before you can apply Damage Shield.
 
Why is this a problem?  Because it's a different game philosophy stacked on top of the previous one.  While both follow the idea of "you get what you pay for", 4th edition was more focused on comparative effectiveness, whereas 5th added costs with the idea of making powers conform to a certain format.  A 10D6 Energy Blast with Damage Shield in 4th edition was 75 points.  That's the same as a 15D6 Energy Blast.  Quite expensive, but you got the benefit that you could hurt your enemy when it wasn't your phase, without an attack roll, depending on what they did.  Still might be too expensive though.  In 5th edition, you had to buy it Continuous first.  So now that power became 125 points, the same as a Twenty-five D6 Energy Blast.  No power-gamer in the world would choose a 10D6 Damage Shield over a 25D6 EB.  The two aren't remotely comparable.  There are other problems as well.  The cost of Major Transform had previously been based upon the cost of RKA, the logic being if you can kill them, you might as well be able to turn them into a frog.  5th ed wisely dropped having Cumulative be a +1/2 advantage (RKA is cumulative by default), but it added requirements that you had to pay more to affect different types of targets.  Instead of "turn target into frog" the standard Transform became "turn human into frog".  To affect any target, you had to buy another advantage. 
 
In this way, the cost structure of 5th edition became less consistent, more concerned with form than function.  Abuse wasn't eliminated at all, the nature of the abuse just changed.
 
I wasn't active on the boards during the time that they were soliciting suggestions for 6th edition.  I think I had an account here but I had wandered off.  But as I understand it there was a lot of discussion about what changes people wanted to see made.  And while I like most of you guys just fine, good lord do I disagree with a lot of you over how the game system should work.  I see questions on the Hero System Discussion page, and many of the suggestions are overly complex and extremely point inefficient.  But some people feel like they've got to dot those "i"s and cross those "t"s.  Again I wasn't involved in any of the discussions, but when I flip through the 6th edition book, I'm reminded of the adage "too many cooks spoil the broth".  6th compounds some of the mistakes of 5th edition and doesn't look back.

The problem with multiple possible outcomes is that is a lot more work for the GM, and I’m not generally in favour of that ?
 
You can structure things though so that most of the scenario bits you write will have to be completed and the important thing is doing them in the right order (otherwise it may make no sense to the PCs) and doing it quickly because this is a time sensitive mission.  It feels more freeform than it actually is, but it is like an escape room - you have to do all the bits, to get to the end, except for a few red herrings.
 
So…
 
Luigi Linguini, mob boss, has been trying to increase his revenue stream, which is usually fed by drugs and prostitution, to the lucrative area of child pornography, the bastard.
 
Fiona Fettuccini is a working girl and sometime squeeze on the side of Linguini.  No angel, but heart of gold.
 
Robbie Ravioli is a small time dealer who works indirectly for Linguini and was with Fettuccini when they both saw four frightened kids being delivered to one of Linguini’s warehouses three days ago.  Fettuccini took a picture on her phone which shows the kids and Linguini in the frame.  Ravioli and Fettuccini are low lives, but that is far beyond what either of them are happy to turn a blind eye to.  They have been making not so discrete enquiries about what Linguini is up to and meeting up to discuss their options, and they have decided that they have no choice but to go to the police.  Tonight word got back to Linguini and he had a couple of his boys drive the streets looking for them.  They shot Ravioli and bundled Fettuccini into a car to take her back to Linguini who plans to interrogate her to find out what she knows and who she told before killing her.
 
Hungry Henry is a former history professor who suffered a serious mental breakdown and is now homeless and on the streets.  Hungry Henry loves hamburgers.  He was the sole witness to the shooting of Ravioli and the kidnapping of Fettuccini.  He can give some details of the car and the two men in it and is the only one who knows that Fettuccini has been taken.  He can describe her but he does not know who she is.
 
Rachel Ravioli is Robbie’s wife and she’s pretty mad at him because he has been hanging round with Fettuccini and acting all secretive for several days, and she suspects they are having an affair.  She will be an emotional wreck when she finds out he is dead but recognises Fettuccini from Hungry Henry’s description, but only if she is specifically asked.
 
Peter Penne and Steve Sagnarelli are the two heavies who offed Ravioli and took Fettuccini back to Linguini, and all four are at the warehouse where Linguini is threatening to move into snuff movies.  Fettuccini is threatening him with the photograph and trying to exchange her life for the phone’s location.
 
The PCs respond to a call – gunshots heard, possible shooting and find a crowd around Ravioli’s body.  Initial enquiries (appropriate social skills) reveal that none of the bystanders were present when the shooting occurred.  There are no street cameras in this part of town.  If the PCs can work out who was first on the scene and get them to talk they find out that Hungry Henry was there when they arrived, but he’s gone now, the mad old bugger.
 
PCs can:
1.       Speak to Ravioli’s wife (Conversation, Persuasion).  She can tell them about Fettuccini, but unless they have spoken to Henry they won’t know she is missing and might waste some time looking for her.
2.       Try to find Henry (Streetwise) and talk to him (Bribery – he will only talk in exchange for hamburgers). He can tell them that Ravioli was shot by two men in a grey sedan with the bumper hanging off and that they took a girl who he can describe.
3.       Try to find more witnesses – there are none, so that just wastes time, but make them make several rolls and, possibly have some gloryhound called Andy Anelli come forward with a story they will have to discount, just to waste their time.  He describes a guy in a white Impala shooting Ravioli.  The white Impala is real and belongs to the Anelli's neighbour who Anelli hates because he had an affair with Angela Anelli, Andy's wife.
4.       Check cameras at local intersections.  They won’t find anything unless they know about the bumper hanging off the sedan as there are just too many vehicles and they won't see Fettuccini – there was a collision at a red light less than a block away and a grey sedan drove away with the bumper hanging off.  Cameras can ID the plate and it can be traced to Peter Penne, but he’s not at home and his car is not there.  Further enquiries will eventually trace it, but by then Fettuccini has met her end.  Steve Sagnarelli is a known associate and they are both known to work for Linguini.  Linguini has a lot of properties across the city.  He is not at home and it going to take far too long to check them all.
5.       Check at Fettuccini’s place. Another girl who lives there, Therese Taglierini, can tell the PCs that Fettuccini has been acting jumpy for some days and left her phone with Taglierini, but she pawned it, she'll get it back Friday.  Fettuccini’s been her hanging round with someone who fits Ravioli’s description but only for the last few days.  She assumed Fettuccini was jumpy because of Ravioli.  She was talking about going to the police but was clearly scared.
6.       It is the middle of the night and the pawn shop is closed.  The PCs can break in, try and find the owner or get a warrant.  Breaking in is quickest, but might cause problems later down the line with chains of evidence and such.
7.       The picture on the phone is clearly of a warehouse near the docks and shows someone who could be Linguini and four frightened kids.  There are missing person reports for two of them, one of them is diabetic.  If you want to you can have some fun with them trying to guess the unlock code.
8.       This leads them to the warehouse.  Depending on how long they took, Fettuccini might be mildly distressed, badly beaten or dead.  There are four traumatised kids in cages.  One is in a diabetic coma and may not make it if the PCs have dawdled too much.  Linguini will try to escape and get Penne and Sagnarelli to cover his get away along with however many other goons you need to make it an interesting fight.
9.       Aftermath: best case scenario, everyone (apart from Ravioli) lives and Linguni  is arrested at the warehouse and is taken into custody and Fettuccini agrees to testify against him.  There might be some shenanigans providing protective custody.  Worst case scenario, the warehouse is empty by the time they arrive, except for Fettuccini's body.  Linguini gets away and the phone evidence gets thrown out either because they obtained it illegally or because the picture identifying Linguini is not clear enough.  The kids are never found.  Linguini will arrange to have the PCs watched and may cause them further problems down the line.
 
I obviously don't have enough to do...

I think, on balance, my view is that, mechanically, Hero has not changed since it was first edition Champions.  It has a simple but effective mechanic that it has stuck to, despite a number of people pointing out that rolling high for good makes more sense.
 
What has changed is the way the powers are presented, and whether that is better or not is a matter of debate.  Certainly some of the powers are more logically presented but I have a problem with some of the maths (mainly how you go about calculation a modifier value - there seems to be some inconsistency and unfairness) and the detail.
 
By 'detail' I mean that, for example, Shapeshift is now a sensory power.  That sort of makes sense, I suppose, but it is confusing for new players and some old players too: actually building something that can change shape, as most people would understand the concept, is not straightforward.
 
Everything takes a lot longer to actually read, understand and build now.  1eChampions was a slim volume and you could still do (almost) everything that you can do with 6e, given a bit of imagination and a following wind.  I'm pretty sure there are bits of 6e I've never actually read.
 
If we are referring to 'build mechanics' therefore, well, it's Betamax vs VHS: Betamax may be technically better, but VHS is the one that actually gets used.  Got used.  Maybe I should have gone with DVD and BlueRay, but even that is showing my age.  How about Apple abandoning the Lightning Connector for USB C?  6e is definitely the best iteration in some respects, but not when it comes to excitement and fun, which is what the mechanics should be aimed at achieving.  The last time I really felt that was when I got my hands on 4th edition Champions, the Big Blue Book.
 
In summary, the actual game mechanics have never really changed - what we appear to be arguing about is the build mechanics.
 
The build mechanics have improved in some areas, not so much in others.  They have certainly become more complicated, which can be a barrier to entry.  I daresay if I went back to 4th edition now it would seem more limited, so in that way, 6e is better, but then I'm an addict and I'd get 7e if it came in 4x500page lever arch files.  I don't think all the changes have been for the better and I don't think all the things that could do with changing have been.  6e is (build) mechanically different.  I think I'll leave it there.

"Sometimes to only way to live, is to give up all hope of survival or escape." - Tzun Tsu.
It is a known effect. And Bertholo had most definitely hit that point.
 
 

The problem with multiple possible outcomes is that is a lot more work for the GM, and I’m not generally in favour of that ?
 
You can structure things though so that most of the scenario bits you write will have to be completed and the important thing is doing them in the right order (otherwise it may make no sense to the PCs) and doing it quickly because this is a time sensitive mission.  It feels more freeform than it actually is, but it is like an escape room - you have to do all the bits, to get to the end, except for a few red herrings.
 
So…
 
Luigi Linguini, mob boss, has been trying to increase his revenue stream, which is usually fed by drugs and prostitution, to the lucrative area of child pornography, the bastard.
 
Fiona Fettuccini is a working girl and sometime squeeze on the side of Linguini.  No angel, but heart of gold.
 
Robbie Ravioli is a small time dealer who works indirectly for Linguini and was with Fettuccini when they both saw four frightened kids being delivered to one of Linguini’s warehouses three days ago.  Fettuccini took a picture on her phone which shows the kids and Linguini in the frame.  Ravioli and Fettuccini are low lives, but that is far beyond what either of them are happy to turn a blind eye to.  They have been making not so discrete enquiries about what Linguini is up to and meeting up to discuss their options, and they have decided that they have no choice but to go to the police.  Tonight word got back to Linguini and he had a couple of his boys drive the streets looking for them.  They shot Ravioli and bundled Fettuccini into a car to take her back to Linguini who plans to interrogate her to find out what she knows and who she told before killing her.
 
Hungry Henry is a former history professor who suffered a serious mental breakdown and is now homeless and on the streets.  Hungry Henry loves hamburgers.  He was the sole witness to the shooting of Ravioli and the kidnapping of Fettuccini.  He can give some details of the car and the two men in it and is the only one who knows that Fettuccini has been taken.  He can describe her but he does not know who she is.
 
Rachel Ravioli is Robbie’s wife and she’s pretty mad at him because he has been hanging round with Fettuccini and acting all secretive for several days, and she suspects they are having an affair.  She will be an emotional wreck when she finds out he is dead but recognises Fettuccini from Hungry Henry’s description, but only if she is specifically asked.
 
Peter Penne and Steve Sagnarelli are the two heavies who offed Ravioli and took Fettuccini back to Linguini, and all four are at the warehouse where Linguini is threatening to move into snuff movies.  Fettuccini is threatening him with the photograph and trying to exchange her life for the phone’s location.
 
The PCs respond to a call – gunshots heard, possible shooting and find a crowd around Ravioli’s body.  Initial enquiries (appropriate social skills) reveal that none of the bystanders were present when the shooting occurred.  There are no street cameras in this part of town.  If the PCs can work out who was first on the scene and get them to talk they find out that Hungry Henry was there when they arrived, but he’s gone now, the mad old bugger.
 
PCs can:
1.       Speak to Ravioli’s wife (Conversation, Persuasion).  She can tell them about Fettuccini, but unless they have spoken to Henry they won’t know she is missing and might waste some time looking for her.
2.       Try to find Henry (Streetwise) and talk to him (Bribery – he will only talk in exchange for hamburgers). He can tell them that Ravioli was shot by two men in a grey sedan with the bumper hanging off and that they took a girl who he can describe.
3.       Try to find more witnesses – there are none, so that just wastes time, but make them make several rolls and, possibly have some gloryhound called Andy Anelli come forward with a story they will have to discount, just to waste their time.  He describes a guy in a white Impala shooting Ravioli.  The white Impala is real and belongs to the Anelli's neighbour who Anelli hates because he had an affair with Angela Anelli, Andy's wife.
4.       Check cameras at local intersections.  They won’t find anything unless they know about the bumper hanging off the sedan as there are just too many vehicles and they won't see Fettuccini – there was a collision at a red light less than a block away and a grey sedan drove away with the bumper hanging off.  Cameras can ID the plate and it can be traced to Peter Penne, but he’s not at home and his car is not there.  Further enquiries will eventually trace it, but by then Fettuccini has met her end.  Steve Sagnarelli is a known associate and they are both known to work for Linguini.  Linguini has a lot of properties across the city.  He is not at home and it going to take far too long to check them all.
5.       Check at Fettuccini’s place. Another girl who lives there, Therese Taglierini, can tell the PCs that Fettuccini has been acting jumpy for some days and left her phone with Taglierini, but she pawned it, she'll get it back Friday.  Fettuccini’s been her hanging round with someone who fits Ravioli’s description but only for the last few days.  She assumed Fettuccini was jumpy because of Ravioli.  She was talking about going to the police but was clearly scared.
6.       It is the middle of the night and the pawn shop is closed.  The PCs can break in, try and find the owner or get a warrant.  Breaking in is quickest, but might cause problems later down the line with chains of evidence and such.
7.       The picture on the phone is clearly of a warehouse near the docks and shows someone who could be Linguini and four frightened kids.  There are missing person reports for two of them, one of them is diabetic.  If you want to you can have some fun with them trying to guess the unlock code.
8.       This leads them to the warehouse.  Depending on how long they took, Fettuccini might be mildly distressed, badly beaten or dead.  There are four traumatised kids in cages.  One is in a diabetic coma and may not make it if the PCs have dawdled too much.  Linguini will try to escape and get Penne and Sagnarelli to cover his get away along with however many other goons you need to make it an interesting fight.
9.       Aftermath: best case scenario, everyone (apart from Ravioli) lives and Linguni  is arrested at the warehouse and is taken into custody and Fettuccini agrees to testify against him.  There might be some shenanigans providing protective custody.  Worst case scenario, the warehouse is empty by the time they arrive, except for Fettuccini's body.  Linguini gets away and the phone evidence gets thrown out either because they obtained it illegally or because the picture identifying Linguini is not clear enough.  The kids are never found.  Linguini will arrange to have the PCs watched and may cause them further problems down the line.
 
I obviously don't have enough to do...

We play a game that involves dice: that is how you model weird stuff that actually happens in real life.  I mean, this whole thing could be represented by Bertolo shooting and hitting every time and any return fire missing entirely or doing very minor damage.  This is not a scenario where, in a Hero game Bertolo is likely to succeed, but then in real life he wasn't likely to succeed either.  In both Hero and real life he can/did.  Sometimes real life is cinematic as all hell.

You are incorrect because your opinions are opinions and my opinions are facts.  As proof, I am of the opinion that my opinions are facts, therefore it is fact that my opinions are facts. 
Furthermore I am of the opinion that 6e's removal of the Lack of Weakness power was terrible since no longer can the GM respond to "I use Find Weakness on him" with "FOOL, DOCTOR DEFENESTRATION HAS NO WEAKNESS!".  Therefore 5e is objectively and unarguably superior to 6e in all ways. 

Science!  Why should I be prevented from experimenting on living brains?  Some will suffer, but many will benefit!
 
Madness!  They're coming through the walls!  Can't you see them?
 
Existential Dread!  When the population reaches 10 billion, it will be impossible to stop Climate Change/The Return of The Demon Azararoth/The Intergalactic Invasion!
 
Single Issue Politics!  Whatever hysterical headline the paper is carrying today!
 
Collection!  I simply must have another flyer for my Superhero Zoo!
 
Property Rights!  I know there is an alien spaceship buried under Manhattan but can't get drilling permission...
 

Since the expectation is the character will last years, I'd handwave it.

the story line for Hawkgirl in Legends of tomorrow was that she reincarnated to the same form but her hunted (Vandal Savage)could always sense her once she manifested her powers to hunt her down
The same could be the same for your character Sean in keeping the same hunteds

Yes, I would.  I'd build it as a Major Transform.

I’m not sure I entirely follow the logic: pistol bullets travel at 400m/s, a punch maybe 10m/s and a sword tip maybe 40m/s: if you can dodge bullets, you can dodge pretty much anything short of a laser.  That aside, them’s the rules, so…
 
There are various ways to simulate what I think you are after.
 
First off, can you tell me what the hard cap on OCV is and what a typical DCV would be?  Also does the hard cap include combat manoeuvres and combat modifiers?
 
The simplest way to get +1 OCV is to Set.  Full phase action, you get the OCV bonus.  That might help.  You can also Brace but that only helps against range modifiers.
 
Otherwise you have to make the opponent easier to hit.  Lots of ways you can do that, but the simplest is one hex AOE.  You are attacking DCV 3 – SFX that you shoot lots of bullets.
 
In fact pretty much any power you build is going to need AoE to hit, unless your GM allows you to use your uncapped OCV for attacks that are not damage shots.  You could use Entangle, Drain, Flash, whatever you like, really.
 
One option would be to build Darkness (which is already AOE) with personal immunity, the SFX being that you have ‘blinded’ the target with your GunFu by distracting them so much that their DCV drops to half.  They are not actually blind, they just can’t see your other attacks.
 
The only other way I can think of is mental powers – with the sfx that what you are doing is more akin to psychological warfare than actual telepathy and such.  You could use either mind control or mental illusions to get a target to reduce their DCV.
 
 

In a general Rule, Hero does not "do" duels very well. The system is optimized for Group combat, as most RPG's are.
 
Coordinated Attacks (6E2 44)
The target of a coordinated attack is subject to the "multiple attackers" penalty. Most people only consider it for the "check for being STUNNED" part. But it does have this effect too.
 
Spreading an attack (6E2 49) allows you to trade off DC for OCV or Area of Effect.
 
Another option is to force the target to "abort to dive for cover". And then use the built-in DCV penalties to allow followup attacks to hit better.

Well, you have the right approach, you know the ultimate aim is to reduce DCV, that is, as you say, most likely a drain in mechanical terms.
 
You might consider, instead, a bonus to PRE attack.  You need PRE+20 to cause an opponent not to act for a full phase and be reduced to 1/2 DCV.  If you read that instead as causing an opponent to dive a particular way, setting up a follow-up attack, then this fits the bill.  You could make it all or nothing, the opponent either does it or does not, no minor effects.
 
It is apropos as opponents with greater PRE are less affected while those with power defence have no greater ability to avoid the effects (which they would have with a drain).
 
For most base characters, that means a roll of 30 on a PRE attack - needs 9D6 to achieve that on average.  If the character has PRE 15 and can count on the gun (violent action, +1d6) countering context (in combat, -1d6), then you need +6d6 to give you nine dice.  
 
The rules allow for +1d6 for an appropriate interaction skill (+2d6 If roll is made by more than half).  I might as GM allow 5d6, requiring you to make some kind of attack roll to get the extra dice with a chance of a bonus for a good attack roll.  
 
This is feels like a better mechanic than the drain, IMHO anyway.
 
Doc

So, Starfinder is based on Pathfinder, which should have been obvious ?.  Looking at the Pathfinder Rules, Paralysis is a condition defined as:
 
A paralysed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act.  A paralysed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions….
 
There is more but that is the important bit.
 
That references another condition: helpless.  Pathfinder defines that as follows:
 
A helpless character is paralysed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious or otherwise completely at an opponent’s mercy….as a full round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe…
 
A coup de grace is an automatic hit, critical damage and an automatic death chance.  HERO does not have a coup de grace mechanism as such.
 
So, I would say that, in HERO terms, the paralysed target can not move physically and is easier to hit, which Entangle gives you, but is also takes extra damage, which Entangle does not give you.  Being Stunned (can we please change that term to Dazed, or somesuch?) does all of that too (albeit differently: ½ DCV rather than 0 DCV), but your non-persistent powers drop at the end of the segment. Pathfinder paralysis specifically says you can take mental actions, which (in HERO) would include maintaining powers, so that’s not quite right either.
 
The nearest effect that I can see to simulate extra damage (pretty much the only way you can score extra damage if you are not using hit locations – actually, are you, because if you are then you can add levels to make it an automatic hit on a high-damage area…) is surprised outside combat and that is not something you can easily engineer.
 
I’m not entirely sure that we can manage the effect precisely and at a reasonable price, especially in 5ER, without taking some liberties…
 
Mental Paralysis in 5ER was problematic.  It worked by adding the following advantages: takes no damage from physical attacks (+1/4), works against EGO not STR (+1/4) and cannot form barriers (-1/4).
 
That does not really work because 5ER did not have the +1 level of ‘takes no damage from attacks’ so, technically, that build still allows the entangle to be targeted by physical attacks.  As a pseudo-mental power you could then add ‘works against CON (-1)’, but it isn’t REALLY a mental power, so I’d handwave replacing EGO with CON, probably and….well, I wouldn’t do it like that, I’d do it like this:
 
Entrancing Scent: Mind Control 1d6, Telepathic (+1/4), Cumulative (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Area Of Effect (Hone Hex x 4: 4" Radius; +1), Invisible to Hearing, and Sight Groups, Hide effects of Power (+1 1/2) (34 Active Points); Based on CON (Defense: PD; -1), Always On (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Set Effect (Stand still and take no physical actions; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Once a breakout roll is made, the target is immune for 24 hours; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Target must have a sense of smell and be able to smell; -1/4), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Breakout roll every turn; -1/4)
34 Active points 7 Character points
 
It is cumulative so you may have to be in the area for a couple of turns (or you could up the number of dice).  You probably need about CON+10 because you want the victim to remain standing still, but if the target were to be attacked then they would get a breakout roll at +4 to shake off the effects.  Or you could shoot for CON+30 to start with – it would take longer but the target would not get an additional breakout roll.
 
In a heroic game, CON+10 may be around 25, which would require the target to be exposed for 5 or 6 turns.  You could always give the tree a SPD 12…alternatively you could halve the time by doubling the dice (67 AP/15 CP).  This makes individual trees reasonably easy to avoid, but a copse of them can be dangerous. 
 
The only perceivable SFX is smell, and the effect is not obvious until it happens.  You should probably give PCs hints: you smell something unusual, a scent, it is really quite lovely, and you want to stop and identify just what it is…
 
So, not the same, but a pretty good copy.
 
You automatically get a breakout roll before the Mind Control takes effect.
 

Will the experience points gained transfer with her?  Or are you constantly playing a 400 pt character??
 
Just another factor to take into consideration.
 
I think the concept is neat, Is this an Immortal character but the SFX are body switching?

To me, this is a complication. Every so often a hunted turns up. At some point the hunter will kill the hero. Probably at the end of an adventure arc, at which point the player gets to build a new character with gained experience (a novel version of the radiation accident).
 
As GM, I would not expect to see any powers on the character sheet for this.

When the character dies I'd just go and use CCCC to generate a new hero
about the only thing I would keep would be 25 to 50 pts of complications to represent her past/original persona
the use the remaining 25-50 complications to represent the current host's situation

I would get together with the GM to approve this kind of character and not sandbag them with this character
Relationships with other characters will be weird for the first few reincarnations

As you just noticed, there is a difference between "not under Character Control" and "not under Player control".
Banners transformation into the Hulk was not under Banners (Character) control. But odly they mostly happened when the Hulk was needed. Almost as if they were under player control
Even if the Character is not "suicidal", the player might run her as the "Heroic Sacrifice" type.
 
What you decribe sounds a lot like Posession (APG 1 has two builds for that). But this might just be the SFX of this ability.
 
If it happens rarely, then it is really just "roll up a new Character". There is no power build needed from this.
Maybe include a "Previous Life Knowledge" skill in all the new Characters, to simulate that this character knows the group and vice versa. Asuming the GM and Group insists on that much detail. Not every group does:
https://youtu.be/oSynJyq2RRo?t=1739
 

This is a new character so, what you see below is backstory, basically.
 
Novate (pronounced Nova Te, latin for 'a new you') is not suicidal.  When she dies she 'awakens' in a new body, but it is the body of another living person.  She is initially a 'passenger/observer', unable to influence the host at all.  Her personality slowly (or sometimes quickly) takes over.  The host often thinks they are going mad.  The host body develops superpowers, again, over time, sometimes before she takes over, sometimes after, but usually as it is happening.  Sometimes she has limited communication with the host, and usually the host becomes a passenger in their former body before fading away completely.  On one occasion she never took over, and remained a passenger until the host died and she moved on.  It is a horrible experience for both of them so she is not going to kill herself just to change up her powers.  She has no control over the powers she gets (although, obviously, I do, building her).
 
Theoretically she could awaken in a body that already had superpowers, but it has not happened yet.  Theoretically she could awaken in the body of a team mate, or the campaign villain.  Sometimes the awakening is almost instant, sometimes it takes days or weeks before she becomes aware again.  The longest it has ever taken is just under a year.
 
She can awaken anywhere in the world.  She has only limited access to the memories of the host.  Her appearance remains that of the host unless she develops the ability to shapeshift.  Her personality is her own although some hosts seem to come with baggage she is saddled with while she inhabits them.  She feels a responsibility to use her powers for good. She can not usually pick up her old life in a new body because, well, she's in a new body.
 
What normally kills her is a creature called Nocere (latin for 'harm') who always eventually finds her.  Nocere is a More Powerful Hunter.  In the past she has tried to run and hide from Nocere, not drawing any attention to herself, but it finds her anyway, eventually.
 
Novate does not know how her ability works and has not been able to find a way to stop it working.
 
When and whether she dies will very much be in the hands of the GM, as will all the other details (host location, for example, emergence time).  The longest she has lived in a host before being killed was just over eight years.
 
Nocere does not just march up and rip her head off: it stalks her and will often defeat her in combat then leave her several times before delivering the coup de grace.  It likes to taunt and torture her before the kill.  She does not know why.  I've got some ideas, but the character does not.
 
So the next question was going to be whether the possession and transformation of a host should be built as powers or whether they too are really just the SFX of building a new character.  Obviously I'll run all this past the GM but I want to get it straight in my own head, because I too could go either way.

I'd do it as something along the lines of
Paralyzing Stench:  Entangle 1d6, 1 DEF, Works Against CON, Not STR (+1/4), Takes No Damage From Attacks All Attacks (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1) (47 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Always On (-1/2), Cannot Form Barriers (-1/4)
Adjust number of dice to fit tastes. 
 
Anyone who walks into the area has to make a Casual CON roll.  If they don't get enough NDB on the CON roll, they're paralyzed until they get a good enough roll to break out. 

Say a longsword costs 8gp in your game, as a one off cost, and you have it pretty much all the time.  Have the mage pay 32gp to learn the spell, as a one off cost.  To be honest I can't remember any character in a fantasy game getting through more than a couple of mundane weapons in their career, or, for that matter, the cost of a mundane weapon ever really being a bar to having one.
 
Bear in mind, having the spell does not always mean you have a sword handy.  If the spell requires gestures or incantations, you may be restrained or silenced.  Hugh Neilson  points out that producing a sword with a spell may well be less convenient than simply drawing it from a scabbard.
 
I'd go as far as saying, and this probably won't be popular, in a fantasy game where magic is common, spells should be treated like equipment - something you can just buy, not something you have to pay character points for.
 
I mean, why should the warrior get a longsword, armour and shield and still have all the starting character points to spend, and the mage have to fork out character points for the spells FlameHand, Armour of Artemis and Protego?  The game balance would then come from the GM building a spell list like they have to build an equipment list.  Those spells should not be more effective, on balance, than mundane equipment.  What is so special about spells?

<shakes head and leaves room>
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