DreadDomain

Hmm... that's an interesting idea, Ninja-Bear. It would be a neat way of making agents more vulnerable to heroic attacks and cause them to fold. Maybe that could be a campaign rule.
 
 
DreadDomain, you know, it's funny as, after I posted this, I was looking over those rules a bit more. This might also be a great way emulate what I'm looking for. I might also suggest a 0 END advantage on STR for characters that would use this. 

Have you considered just using Multiple-Attacks? Multiple-Attacks:
take a full phase. You can reduce that to half a phase if you buy Rapid Attack at 5 points (or 10 points for both melee and ranged attack) impose a -2 OCV penalty per extra target. Based on Offensive Penalty Skill Level you could buy this off at 2 points per +1 OCV puts you at ½ DCV but you can also improve that by buying Defensive Penalty Skill Level at 2 points per +1 The multiple attacks sequence stop if you miss your roll. What you suggest is even more constraining so it could be worth an extra limitation So for no points at all, you could use Multiple Attacks, or if you want to be better at it, yoy could pay to improve your abilities.
Say this is only for melee attacks. 
Clear the Room (½ phase HTH multiple attacks sequence , +6 vs OCV and DCV penalties); Rapid Attack-HTH (5AP), OPSL +6 (12AP), DPSL +6 (12AP) Total 29 points
 
Using any of your HTH attack, you can attack 3 agents at no penalty as long as you don't miss and at extra -2 OCV per target if you try to go for more target. If you insist on having the sequence stopped if you do not incapacitate a target, I would call that an extra -½ limitation for a final cost of 19 points.
 
The drawback is that it would cost you more END to complete than your proposed build unless your attack(s) are not too onerous on END.
 

It normally wouldn't.  That's why he's got a higher Speed.  The intent is for him to abort to whatever the best defense is, so that he doesn't have to face that issue.  If it were drawn on a comic book page, he wouldn't be doing anything other than standing still, shrugging off the attack.  Now obviously, he's not always gonna know what the best defense is.  That's life though.
 

 
Here Superman uses his held phase to go desolid.
 
Story-wise, he's not using an action (even though in game rules, that's exactly what is happening).  Story-wise, it's just the other guy's turn to go, and the attack harmlessly bounces off of Captain Invulnerable.  Now when he gets attacked by the ghost blaster power, the player may choose to switch away from Desolidification to some other power, but the character is just standing there.
 
Occasionally you'll get a situation where he guesses wrong, and an attack that doesn't seem that it should be particularly damaging will do a significant chunk of Stun to him.  That happens in comics too.  Sometimes you just get a weird interaction of powers.  And you can either come up with some BS explantion ("the ghost blaster is interacting with the strange energies I encountered earlier!  It's harming me even through my invulnerability!"), or you can have him pretend it doesn't hurt.  Instead of saying "yeeaargghh!" when he takes 25 Stun, he just laughs it off.  He's got 60 Stun, after all.

Captain Invulnerable
 
Str 60
Dex 20
Con 30
Body 15
Int 13
Ego 14
Pre 20
Com 12
 
PD 20
ED 20
Spd 7
Rec 18
End 60
Stun 60
 
15" Flight x4 noncombat
1" Flight Megascale (1" = 1 km)
 
15/15 Damage Resistance
 
40 point Multipower "Invulnerability"
--Desolidification, cannot pass through solid objects
--20/20 Force Field
--Missile Deflection (all), and +4 DCV
 
+2 OCV w/ punch, grab, and missile deflect
 
Breakfall 13-
Deduction 12-
Electronics 12-
Mechanics 12-
Paramedics 12-
Persuasion 13-
Teamwork 13-
 
Scientist
Biology 11-
Chemistry 11-
Physics 11-
 
 
Physical Limitation:  In combat, 2 points of Speed per turn must be used for holding action/aborting to defensive actions (max Spd 5 for attacks)
 
350 points total
-----
 
There you go.  That's a quick and dirty, 5 minute character.  He's super strong, he's got an array of what I consider to be classic competent superhero skills, and as long as you aren't stupid with him he'll be really hard to hurt.
 
His multipower lets him shrug off all kinds of stuff.  He just looks tougher when he's using it.  He practically... umm... glows with toughness, or something.
 
He gets actions on 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12.  To prevent him from being lazy and just leaving his multipower in Force Field, he's got a physical limitation where he's supposed to use 2 actions per turn defensively.  Most phases he should probably hold until after everyone else has acted, but use it before he would lose his action.  So we'll say he starts the turn with his force field active.  Then on segment 2, he holds until towards the end of segment 3.  Nobody shoots at him with anything major (no Giga-Buster attacks, nobody throws a fuel truck at him), so as you get down to about Dex 10 on segment 3 he decides to fly over and punch somebody.  On segment 4 he holds again, knowing that the bulk of the opponents will probably be acting on segment 5, he holds until near the end of 5.  Again, nobody does anything crazy, so about Dex 10 of 5 he punches somebody again. 
 
Then on Dex 30 of Segment 6, Death Ninja jumps out of the shadows with his Atomic Blade and takes a swipe at our hero.  The player has peeked at the bad guy's character sheet and knows that it's an NND that Does Body.  So Captain Invulnerable aborts his Segment 6 and activates Desolidification.  Special effect-wise, it looks like the blade just bounces off of him.  Or the energy of the blade goes right into him, maybe even coming out the other side, but when the blade is pulled back out there's no injury apparent.  Game-wise, everybody knows it's Desolid and can react appropriately, because he didn't buy it invisible.  But for coolness and description, it just looks like it harmlessly bounced off.  Captain Invulnerable has now used one of his actions defensively.
 
On Segment 7 Dex 30, Death Ninja decides to go elsewhere.  He's an ambush hunter, and his best attack failed to do anything, and he doesn't want Captain Invulnerable to smack him with a car.  Since that was the good Captain's plan, and now he doesn't have an immediate target (and he likes to appear invulnerable), he holds action until the end of 8.  He's still Desolid at this time.  On Segment 8, Dex 20, Crazed Scientist Man whips out his Ghost Murderer Beam, which looks exactly like a Ghostbusters proton pack.  Captain Invulnerable thinks "Yipe!", and knowing it probably Affects Desolid, he decides to use his held action to switch to his Missile Deflection power and DCV levels.  His DCV goes up to 11, and he uses OCV 9 to try to block the incoming beam.  So whether he blocks it, or whether the scientist misses his new higher DCV, the visual effect is the same.  Captain Invulnerable performs a chest block and the beam harmlessly scatters off of him.  The hero has now used 2 of his actions defensively, and he's free to attack the rest of the turn.
 
On Segment 9, the player knows he wants to get in his attacks, so he's done holding action for now.  He switches back to Force Field, and flies over to the evil scientist and starts pounding him.  On segments 11 and 12 he does the same thing.
 
There you go.  Now, yeah it's possible that he'll get caught with his pants down.  He could blow a missile deflection roll, or switch to desolid and get hit with an affects desolid attack.  Them's the breaks.  Even Superman gets hit by things that lay him out on occasion.  That's why Captain Invulnerable has a really high Speed, so he can burn actions defensively to preserve his "I can't be hurt" mystique.

Yes, this. A full colour, remastered Champions 4E would be glorious.

I would back that. Heck, for that matter it be nice to have stretch goals to colorize the book, make a HD Update for it, and to include a remastered GM Screen. 

somewhere else I have answered this...
 
For me, this is a no brainer, a no contest. Over the years, there was one system to rule them all when it came to superhero roleplaying; Champions/HERO. I thought about creating a top ten ranking but after Champions, whatever would come up next would only be a very distant second place. To make this post a bit more than just “Champions is the best”, I have used different lenses when thinking about other systems that I am still fond of or interested about. Let’s see…
 
The Nostalgia Effect
There are a few games that always kind of interest me because of the good old days. It includes, Villains & Vigilantes, FASERIP, DC Heroes. I like these games but when it comes down to choosing a game to play or run a superhero game, there is less than 1% chance I would choose one of those games. DC Heroes specifically would also have to compete against M&M so even less likely for this classic.
 
The Games I Read Over and Over Again
These are the games I read, decided it wasn’t for me (didn’t scratch my itch or decided other games would suit me better) but still, occasionally come back to because of positive comments on these boards or elsewhere. Invariably, I come to draw the same conclusion. The comic-booky simplicity of those games is attractive, but it is not for me. They are not granular enough, or too hand wavy or don’t provide the full power definition or tactical options that I love. It includes ICON, BASH and SUPERS. Although they seem to be very good games, there is 0% chance I would end up choosing one of those.
 
The Games I am Curious About
There are a few games that I have skimmed through, thought looked excellent but really don’t have any kind of experience with them. They give me this warm feeling that I could love them if I would invest a bit of time with them… or they could become Games I Read Over and Over Again.  For a game or a campaign, I could choose one of those games… but only if I had enough time to invest in preparation.
Prowlers & Paragons is a nice-looking game that seems to fall between the simplicity of ICON and the full-blown power of Champions. Does it hit a sweet spot? Does it play well? Would it offer me enough options, both in character creation and in play, to satisfy me?
Wearing the Cape might be a game that make me get, and like FATE. I haven’t read the novels but the game looks good. Where P&P might offer an easier Champions, WtC seems to offer a different game play altogether, more in the vein of Marvel Heroic Roleplay perhaps.
Eschaton, powered by EABA is a game in the same vein as HERO and GURPS and both have an obvious influence on its design. The game uses very interesting mechanics (the resolution system, the turn rate) and a very deconstructed power design system that feels very powerful but somewhat hermetic and difficult to master. Granularity is good and the number of tactical options available seems reasonable. The setting is set after the Eschaton, the emergence of super-powered individual, and is introduced through scenarios on Day 1, Week 1, Month 1, etc. The game seems to be easily tuneable to get either a four-color style or a more post-apocalyptic feel. The books would benefit from better graphic design and editing.
 
The Games I’d Like to Love
These are the games I’d like to love enough so they could dethrone Champions or at least give an alternative. While those games don’t quite have what it takes to do so, I really do like the idea or the concept behind the game.
GURPS Supers is surprisingly the only other system we have successfully used in a long-term superhero campaign (all other attempted collapsed quickly). GURPS is very granular and is very detailed when it comes to mechanics but scales very awkwardly for a four-color game. It does up to say Spider-Man level reasonably well but becomes somewhat difficult to balance at high level. To put it another way, it takes a lot of effort and campaign decisions to make it playable when you have a lot of points to spend. So why would I like to love it? GURPS is allegedly one of the best all-around system on the market and the support for GURPS is phenomenal in quantity (although mostly in PDF) and quality of content (less so when it comes to art). If it could do supers in a convincing way, it could end up being my one stop shop for roleplaying. The only reason I would use GURPS Supers these days would be for a gritty, low-powered game… but chances are I would still choose Champions anyway.
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying soon to be Coxtex Prime (althought CP is more than just supers) really brought something to the table. It did make me think about roleplaying in a slightly different way. The system is very flexible across all power levels. However, it is not very granular, has limited tactical options in play and is very gamey. When we tried it, we really struggled to remain immersed in the story because the system is less about what characters choose to do in game and more about how the players will use plot point and assign rolled dice to get to a result to narrate. Still, MHR brings a totally different game style to Champions and the upcoming Cortex Prime could convince me to give it another go. With Cortex Prime, I will be able to pick and choose game elements according to my tastes. You can be sure Affiliations will not be used by me again.
Mutants & Masterminds is closer to Champions than any other games on this list so it seems natural that it is featured. While GURPS Supers turns the granularity/options dial to 11, M&M turns it down to 7, which could be a good thing. While M&M fans will repeat the meme that M&M does 80% of what HERO does for 20% of the complexity, it is only exactly that, a meme. The numbers are chosen (sometimes we see 90/10) to stress a point: M&M is somewhat less powerful than HERO and somewhat less complex. My own perception of M&M is that it can do 80% of what HERO does for about 80% of the work (and because I am more fluent in HERO than M&M, it is currently 200% of the work 😊). The quality of the supplements is excellent even if they do not produce as often or as quickly as during the better days of the game. Full colour, hard covers with good art and contents, what is not to love. Add to it a streamlined scale and generally more compact write-ups than Champions and you really want to adopt it. However, the d20 resolution is swingy, the tactical options are not as numerous as it is in Champions and character creation not quite as meaty. I appreciate this is exactly what others are after but for me, it means that M&M is only 80% as enjoyable as HERO. The trade-off in the end is not good. Maybe one day it will click but for now M&M plays in the exact same space as Champions and unless I specifically want to give it another chance, I would never choose it over Champs.  
 
The Uncontested Champion (see what I did here)
Champions is far from perfect but it ticks a lot of the boxes that I am looking for in a game. Characters are well defined with abilities, interact with the story in a tactical way and suffer very measurable consequences. As I said in another thread, Champions is very "crunch scalable" and most of the complexity lies in the power creation system. During character creation, the system gives you the power to detail, tweak, to the nth degree so you can mechanically come up with the exact effect you envision. But you don't have too. By choosing the rules enforced in the campaign, the GM contributes to set the crunch dial for the game but when creating a character, the player(s) also have a heavy influence on how crunchy they want to play. I’ve seen players (including me) totally enjoy the character creation mini-game, tweaky, changing, trying different powers until they were absolutely satisfied. I’ve seen other players creating ultra-versatile characters making them much more complex to play but hey, that is what they wanted. I have also seen other players putting a very simple character in half an hour. One of my most epic character was built that way. In play, because the game is so well balanced, how crunchy or detailed you go doesn’t really advantage nor disadvantage you (but that is not to say some builds are not more effective than others, it is just not a function of complexity). Once character creation is done, I have found the in-play experience to be one of the most immersive because the rules work in a way that you would expect them to work; they make sense. The Champions Universe is very well detailed and emulates the mainstream comic books from cosmic power gaming to dark urban gaming. The quality of the first batch of books published for its 6th edition is excellent. Champions, Champions Universe, the three Champions Villains volumes, Fantasy HERO and Star HERO are gorgeous books. My own personal favorite books are none other than HERO 6th volume 1 and 2. Champions Complete, while not as striking, gets kudos for returning the game to a much more manageable format (240 pages).
 
What-If?
But in true super-heroic tradition, what-if Champions didn’t exist? What system would I choose? That’s a tough one. Assuming I would still look for crunchy goodness, I believe I would try to get the most out of GURPS Supers but would complement it with better suited systems for high level games, most likely M&M or Eschaton/EABA. I could also give a try to the latest edition of V&V, which I haven’t read yet or, if could finally be bitten by the Cortex Prime bug. Irrespective of what my choice would be, there are so many good games to choose from these days…
 
 

Thanks Sketchpad, it's very kind of you. It's available in the download section (DC and Marvel Sample Heroes 1.0.0) if anyone is interested. I'll try to put a few more characters in the pack this week-end.
 
I created this character sheet because I generally find the official sheets unappealing. 

I agree with all of the above. It was getting close but there still something missing and I believe the text book vibe is what I could not put my finger on. My favorites were 6E1, 6E2, Champions and Fantasy HERO. Champions Villains were great but they could have done with a better character sheet layout and some of the art did not quite have the right vibe. Ahhh that era did not last long...

I agree with all of the above. It was getting close but there still something missing and I believe the text book vibe is what I could not put my finger on. My favorites were 6E1, 6E2, Champions and Fantasy HERO. Champions Villains were great but they could have done with a better character sheet layout and some of the art did not quite have the right vibe. Ahhh that era did not last long...

Well, you get what you pay for.  If what you've paid for doesn't include convincingly having the size of, having the shape of, and feeling like an elephant, you don't get that. 
And in my opinion, you shouldn't be allowed to have SFX that say "I have the size, shape, and feel of an elephant" if you're not going to actually have any of those things. 

You got me!! 🙂
 

That's a trick question right? Everyone knows there are no single, definitive answers on how to build a power in HERO  
 
More seriously, my knee-jerk reaction is that it is not Shapeshift (or at least not only Shapeshift). Shapeshift clearly stated (emphasis mine) "A character with Shape Shift can change his form as perceived by one or more Sense Groups without altering his powers or other abilities." But what else? When they change into a elephant or an eagle, are they changing size, weight, etc. Does DCV change because of size, do they become easier or more difficult to hit? When the power is not in used (flight, STR, HKA) can they still change (look, smell, feel like) an eagle, an elephant or a tiger? Can it prevent others to recognize them?
If the answer is no to all of these questions, it could be a three slot multipower that locks each other out. If some answers are yes, then it needs a multiform or it needs these individual powers to be only accessible when others are also used (like Shapeshift and Growth).
 
Did that support, that Shapeshift is somewhat more problematic that other powers? I believe not. A similar example could be given where the question is "so, is this a Blast, a RKA or a Drain?" 

I recall one of Mystique's early X-Men appearances.  Wolverine sees two Nightcrawlers fighting.  He slashes at one without hesitation because the other one smells right.  I don't think there is a more classic shape-shifter than Mystique, and she was missing a sense she could fool.

Well said.   
One thing I would like to see is Champions products with M&M production value....

somewhere else I have answered this...
 
For me, this is a no brainer, a no contest. Over the years, there was one system to rule them all when it came to superhero roleplaying; Champions/HERO. I thought about creating a top ten ranking but after Champions, whatever would come up next would only be a very distant second place. To make this post a bit more than just “Champions is the best”, I have used different lenses when thinking about other systems that I am still fond of or interested about. Let’s see…
 
The Nostalgia Effect
There are a few games that always kind of interest me because of the good old days. It includes, Villains & Vigilantes, FASERIP, DC Heroes. I like these games but when it comes down to choosing a game to play or run a superhero game, there is less than 1% chance I would choose one of those games. DC Heroes specifically would also have to compete against M&M so even less likely for this classic.
 
The Games I Read Over and Over Again
These are the games I read, decided it wasn’t for me (didn’t scratch my itch or decided other games would suit me better) but still, occasionally come back to because of positive comments on these boards or elsewhere. Invariably, I come to draw the same conclusion. The comic-booky simplicity of those games is attractive, but it is not for me. They are not granular enough, or too hand wavy or don’t provide the full power definition or tactical options that I love. It includes ICON, BASH and SUPERS. Although they seem to be very good games, there is 0% chance I would end up choosing one of those.
 
The Games I am Curious About
There are a few games that I have skimmed through, thought looked excellent but really don’t have any kind of experience with them. They give me this warm feeling that I could love them if I would invest a bit of time with them… or they could become Games I Read Over and Over Again.  For a game or a campaign, I could choose one of those games… but only if I had enough time to invest in preparation.
Prowlers & Paragons is a nice-looking game that seems to fall between the simplicity of ICON and the full-blown power of Champions. Does it hit a sweet spot? Does it play well? Would it offer me enough options, both in character creation and in play, to satisfy me?
Wearing the Cape might be a game that make me get, and like FATE. I haven’t read the novels but the game looks good. Where P&P might offer an easier Champions, WtC seems to offer a different game play altogether, more in the vein of Marvel Heroic Roleplay perhaps.
Eschaton, powered by EABA is a game in the same vein as HERO and GURPS and both have an obvious influence on its design. The game uses very interesting mechanics (the resolution system, the turn rate) and a very deconstructed power design system that feels very powerful but somewhat hermetic and difficult to master. Granularity is good and the number of tactical options available seems reasonable. The setting is set after the Eschaton, the emergence of super-powered individual, and is introduced through scenarios on Day 1, Week 1, Month 1, etc. The game seems to be easily tuneable to get either a four-color style or a more post-apocalyptic feel. The books would benefit from better graphic design and editing.
 
The Games I’d Like to Love
These are the games I’d like to love enough so they could dethrone Champions or at least give an alternative. While those games don’t quite have what it takes to do so, I really do like the idea or the concept behind the game.
GURPS Supers is surprisingly the only other system we have successfully used in a long-term superhero campaign (all other attempted collapsed quickly). GURPS is very granular and is very detailed when it comes to mechanics but scales very awkwardly for a four-color game. It does up to say Spider-Man level reasonably well but becomes somewhat difficult to balance at high level. To put it another way, it takes a lot of effort and campaign decisions to make it playable when you have a lot of points to spend. So why would I like to love it? GURPS is allegedly one of the best all-around system on the market and the support for GURPS is phenomenal in quantity (although mostly in PDF) and quality of content (less so when it comes to art). If it could do supers in a convincing way, it could end up being my one stop shop for roleplaying. The only reason I would use GURPS Supers these days would be for a gritty, low-powered game… but chances are I would still choose Champions anyway.
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying soon to be Coxtex Prime (althought CP is more than just supers) really brought something to the table. It did make me think about roleplaying in a slightly different way. The system is very flexible across all power levels. However, it is not very granular, has limited tactical options in play and is very gamey. When we tried it, we really struggled to remain immersed in the story because the system is less about what characters choose to do in game and more about how the players will use plot point and assign rolled dice to get to a result to narrate. Still, MHR brings a totally different game style to Champions and the upcoming Cortex Prime could convince me to give it another go. With Cortex Prime, I will be able to pick and choose game elements according to my tastes. You can be sure Affiliations will not be used by me again.
Mutants & Masterminds is closer to Champions than any other games on this list so it seems natural that it is featured. While GURPS Supers turns the granularity/options dial to 11, M&M turns it down to 7, which could be a good thing. While M&M fans will repeat the meme that M&M does 80% of what HERO does for 20% of the complexity, it is only exactly that, a meme. The numbers are chosen (sometimes we see 90/10) to stress a point: M&M is somewhat less powerful than HERO and somewhat less complex. My own perception of M&M is that it can do 80% of what HERO does for about 80% of the work (and because I am more fluent in HERO than M&M, it is currently 200% of the work 😊). The quality of the supplements is excellent even if they do not produce as often or as quickly as during the better days of the game. Full colour, hard covers with good art and contents, what is not to love. Add to it a streamlined scale and generally more compact write-ups than Champions and you really want to adopt it. However, the d20 resolution is swingy, the tactical options are not as numerous as it is in Champions and character creation not quite as meaty. I appreciate this is exactly what others are after but for me, it means that M&M is only 80% as enjoyable as HERO. The trade-off in the end is not good. Maybe one day it will click but for now M&M plays in the exact same space as Champions and unless I specifically want to give it another chance, I would never choose it over Champs.  
 
The Uncontested Champion (see what I did here)
Champions is far from perfect but it ticks a lot of the boxes that I am looking for in a game. Characters are well defined with abilities, interact with the story in a tactical way and suffer very measurable consequences. As I said in another thread, Champions is very "crunch scalable" and most of the complexity lies in the power creation system. During character creation, the system gives you the power to detail, tweak, to the nth degree so you can mechanically come up with the exact effect you envision. But you don't have too. By choosing the rules enforced in the campaign, the GM contributes to set the crunch dial for the game but when creating a character, the player(s) also have a heavy influence on how crunchy they want to play. I’ve seen players (including me) totally enjoy the character creation mini-game, tweaky, changing, trying different powers until they were absolutely satisfied. I’ve seen other players creating ultra-versatile characters making them much more complex to play but hey, that is what they wanted. I have also seen other players putting a very simple character in half an hour. One of my most epic character was built that way. In play, because the game is so well balanced, how crunchy or detailed you go doesn’t really advantage nor disadvantage you (but that is not to say some builds are not more effective than others, it is just not a function of complexity). Once character creation is done, I have found the in-play experience to be one of the most immersive because the rules work in a way that you would expect them to work; they make sense. The Champions Universe is very well detailed and emulates the mainstream comic books from cosmic power gaming to dark urban gaming. The quality of the first batch of books published for its 6th edition is excellent. Champions, Champions Universe, the three Champions Villains volumes, Fantasy HERO and Star HERO are gorgeous books. My own personal favorite books are none other than HERO 6th volume 1 and 2. Champions Complete, while not as striking, gets kudos for returning the game to a much more manageable format (240 pages).
 
What-If?
But in true super-heroic tradition, what-if Champions didn’t exist? What system would I choose? That’s a tough one. Assuming I would still look for crunchy goodness, I believe I would try to get the most out of GURPS Supers but would complement it with better suited systems for high level games, most likely M&M or Eschaton/EABA. I could also give a try to the latest edition of V&V, which I haven’t read yet or, if could finally be bitten by the Cortex Prime bug. Irrespective of what my choice would be, there are so many good games to choose from these days…
 
 

Yup, and for a pretty miniscule addition to the cost, touch will not work either.
 
If you see an old lady and shake her hand, it will look and feel like an old lady.  It would require then some other sense, she might smell of musk cat.
 
I think the sixth edition shape shift does address Duke's issues as to the efficacy of the shape-shift.  Players will want all-encompassing shape-shift, GMs want shifting with an option for players to notice something.  "It is amazing that in every crime scene there is the scent of musk, yet there is no obvious source of the scent"
 
He remains correct that, there are vanishingly few cases where shifting shape is the primary reason for changing shape - it is usually to accomplish something else.  Shape-shift is for the character who has doubled down on this as a schtick.  It can be done, in more limited ways, by other mechanics but this is the premium service.
 
Doc
 

somewhere else I have answered this...
 
For me, this is a no brainer, a no contest. Over the years, there was one system to rule them all when it came to superhero roleplaying; Champions/HERO. I thought about creating a top ten ranking but after Champions, whatever would come up next would only be a very distant second place. To make this post a bit more than just “Champions is the best”, I have used different lenses when thinking about other systems that I am still fond of or interested about. Let’s see…
 
The Nostalgia Effect
There are a few games that always kind of interest me because of the good old days. It includes, Villains & Vigilantes, FASERIP, DC Heroes. I like these games but when it comes down to choosing a game to play or run a superhero game, there is less than 1% chance I would choose one of those games. DC Heroes specifically would also have to compete against M&M so even less likely for this classic.
 
The Games I Read Over and Over Again
These are the games I read, decided it wasn’t for me (didn’t scratch my itch or decided other games would suit me better) but still, occasionally come back to because of positive comments on these boards or elsewhere. Invariably, I come to draw the same conclusion. The comic-booky simplicity of those games is attractive, but it is not for me. They are not granular enough, or too hand wavy or don’t provide the full power definition or tactical options that I love. It includes ICON, BASH and SUPERS. Although they seem to be very good games, there is 0% chance I would end up choosing one of those.
 
The Games I am Curious About
There are a few games that I have skimmed through, thought looked excellent but really don’t have any kind of experience with them. They give me this warm feeling that I could love them if I would invest a bit of time with them… or they could become Games I Read Over and Over Again.  For a game or a campaign, I could choose one of those games… but only if I had enough time to invest in preparation.
Prowlers & Paragons is a nice-looking game that seems to fall between the simplicity of ICON and the full-blown power of Champions. Does it hit a sweet spot? Does it play well? Would it offer me enough options, both in character creation and in play, to satisfy me?
Wearing the Cape might be a game that make me get, and like FATE. I haven’t read the novels but the game looks good. Where P&P might offer an easier Champions, WtC seems to offer a different game play altogether, more in the vein of Marvel Heroic Roleplay perhaps.
Eschaton, powered by EABA is a game in the same vein as HERO and GURPS and both have an obvious influence on its design. The game uses very interesting mechanics (the resolution system, the turn rate) and a very deconstructed power design system that feels very powerful but somewhat hermetic and difficult to master. Granularity is good and the number of tactical options available seems reasonable. The setting is set after the Eschaton, the emergence of super-powered individual, and is introduced through scenarios on Day 1, Week 1, Month 1, etc. The game seems to be easily tuneable to get either a four-color style or a more post-apocalyptic feel. The books would benefit from better graphic design and editing.
 
The Games I’d Like to Love
These are the games I’d like to love enough so they could dethrone Champions or at least give an alternative. While those games don’t quite have what it takes to do so, I really do like the idea or the concept behind the game.
GURPS Supers is surprisingly the only other system we have successfully used in a long-term superhero campaign (all other attempted collapsed quickly). GURPS is very granular and is very detailed when it comes to mechanics but scales very awkwardly for a four-color game. It does up to say Spider-Man level reasonably well but becomes somewhat difficult to balance at high level. To put it another way, it takes a lot of effort and campaign decisions to make it playable when you have a lot of points to spend. So why would I like to love it? GURPS is allegedly one of the best all-around system on the market and the support for GURPS is phenomenal in quantity (although mostly in PDF) and quality of content (less so when it comes to art). If it could do supers in a convincing way, it could end up being my one stop shop for roleplaying. The only reason I would use GURPS Supers these days would be for a gritty, low-powered game… but chances are I would still choose Champions anyway.
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying soon to be Coxtex Prime (althought CP is more than just supers) really brought something to the table. It did make me think about roleplaying in a slightly different way. The system is very flexible across all power levels. However, it is not very granular, has limited tactical options in play and is very gamey. When we tried it, we really struggled to remain immersed in the story because the system is less about what characters choose to do in game and more about how the players will use plot point and assign rolled dice to get to a result to narrate. Still, MHR brings a totally different game style to Champions and the upcoming Cortex Prime could convince me to give it another go. With Cortex Prime, I will be able to pick and choose game elements according to my tastes. You can be sure Affiliations will not be used by me again.
Mutants & Masterminds is closer to Champions than any other games on this list so it seems natural that it is featured. While GURPS Supers turns the granularity/options dial to 11, M&M turns it down to 7, which could be a good thing. While M&M fans will repeat the meme that M&M does 80% of what HERO does for 20% of the complexity, it is only exactly that, a meme. The numbers are chosen (sometimes we see 90/10) to stress a point: M&M is somewhat less powerful than HERO and somewhat less complex. My own perception of M&M is that it can do 80% of what HERO does for about 80% of the work (and because I am more fluent in HERO than M&M, it is currently 200% of the work 😊). The quality of the supplements is excellent even if they do not produce as often or as quickly as during the better days of the game. Full colour, hard covers with good art and contents, what is not to love. Add to it a streamlined scale and generally more compact write-ups than Champions and you really want to adopt it. However, the d20 resolution is swingy, the tactical options are not as numerous as it is in Champions and character creation not quite as meaty. I appreciate this is exactly what others are after but for me, it means that M&M is only 80% as enjoyable as HERO. The trade-off in the end is not good. Maybe one day it will click but for now M&M plays in the exact same space as Champions and unless I specifically want to give it another chance, I would never choose it over Champs.  
 
The Uncontested Champion (see what I did here)
Champions is far from perfect but it ticks a lot of the boxes that I am looking for in a game. Characters are well defined with abilities, interact with the story in a tactical way and suffer very measurable consequences. As I said in another thread, Champions is very "crunch scalable" and most of the complexity lies in the power creation system. During character creation, the system gives you the power to detail, tweak, to the nth degree so you can mechanically come up with the exact effect you envision. But you don't have too. By choosing the rules enforced in the campaign, the GM contributes to set the crunch dial for the game but when creating a character, the player(s) also have a heavy influence on how crunchy they want to play. I’ve seen players (including me) totally enjoy the character creation mini-game, tweaky, changing, trying different powers until they were absolutely satisfied. I’ve seen other players creating ultra-versatile characters making them much more complex to play but hey, that is what they wanted. I have also seen other players putting a very simple character in half an hour. One of my most epic character was built that way. In play, because the game is so well balanced, how crunchy or detailed you go doesn’t really advantage nor disadvantage you (but that is not to say some builds are not more effective than others, it is just not a function of complexity). Once character creation is done, I have found the in-play experience to be one of the most immersive because the rules work in a way that you would expect them to work; they make sense. The Champions Universe is very well detailed and emulates the mainstream comic books from cosmic power gaming to dark urban gaming. The quality of the first batch of books published for its 6th edition is excellent. Champions, Champions Universe, the three Champions Villains volumes, Fantasy HERO and Star HERO are gorgeous books. My own personal favorite books are none other than HERO 6th volume 1 and 2. Champions Complete, while not as striking, gets kudos for returning the game to a much more manageable format (240 pages).
 
What-If?
But in true super-heroic tradition, what-if Champions didn’t exist? What system would I choose? That’s a tough one. Assuming I would still look for crunchy goodness, I believe I would try to get the most out of GURPS Supers but would complement it with better suited systems for high level games, most likely M&M or Eschaton/EABA. I could also give a try to the latest edition of V&V, which I haven’t read yet or, if could finally be bitten by the Cortex Prime bug. Irrespective of what my choice would be, there are so many good games to choose from these days…
 
 

Yeah, your reading of those rules seems to match mine exactly. 

You seem to misunderstand what is written in the 6E write-up.
 
Rubber-Man can shape-shift to modify how he looks (as perceived by the sight group) but not how he feels (he always feels like rubber). If he shapeshift into an old lady, irrespective of how perceptive you are with your Sight group , you could not use it to "see through" the shapeshift because Rubber-man looks and have the shape of an old lady. A successful, even critical, perception roll using sight would reveal an old lady... because it is precisely how he looks.
 
However, if you shake "her" hand, you might be clued in by how rubbery she feels (using another sense). A perception roll would absolutely be legal and , depending on the special effect, the GM might let you know without even rolling.

Thanks for providing the exact quote. Just checking, you were agreeing with my Rubber-Man example, right?

6e1p279, emphasis mine. 

Personally, I have no problem with this approach and your logic shows that point wise, all three powers are very well balanced (kudos to HERO).
 
That being said, I really do not care for the fact that you need to beat your own BODY to transform  yourself. It reminds me of Superworld where you needed to buy enough levels in flight to counteract your own size so you could take-off. Also, once you select Severe Transform, what is the maximum value (real cost) you can transform yourself into?  You allude to it in your post above but that point still needs to be clarified. My own conclusion is that Multiform already does what you are trying to recreate and does it better but it is still nice to see a power repurposed to mimic another within a similar cost bracket.
 
As for Shapeshift, the only really issue with it is the wording chosen which led some people to believe the power was not modifying your "shape" (as defined by how you look, sound, feel, smell, etc...) but was modifying how people perceived you. The "versus the Tough Group" clearly exacerbate the confusion. Aside from that, the power works perfectly fine.  

Hello everyone,
 
I noticed issue #56 of Haymaker featured a female Grond named Gronda.  I created a version of her that is a bit more playable that will be an option at a couple of convention games that I'm going to run this year.  I also just commissioned a piece of her by Taghuso, an artist on deviantart.  Here she is:
 
 
Val   Char    Cost 60   STR 50 15   DEX 10 35   CON 25 20   BODY 10 8   INT -2 10   EGO 0 30   PRE 20         35   PD 8 30   ED 3 4   SPD 20 20   REC 16 70   END 10 70   STUN 25       12m   RUN 0 4m   SWIM 0 44m   LEAP 0       6 OCV    15
      6 DCV     15
      3 DMCV 0
     3  DMCV 0
        
Characteristics Cost: 225
 
Cost   Power END 13   Very Skilled Four-Armed Combat: Autofire (4 shots; +1/2) for up to 60 Active Points of STR; Requires A Roll (12- roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2) [Notes: costs 9 END per Attack]  3        6   Four Arms: Extra Limbs (4), Inherent (+1/4)  0 8   Big and Heavy: Knockback Resistance -8m  0 94   Super-Tough Skin: Resistant Protection (25 PD/25 ED), Hardened (+1/4)  0 8   Rapid Healing: Regeneration (1 BODY per Hour)  0 20   Super-Strong Legs: Leaping +40m (44m forward, 22m upward)  2 7   Surprising Self-Control: Mental Defense (7 points total)  0 Powers Cost: 156
 
Cost   Skill 16   +2 with HTH Combat       3   Breakfall 12-  3   Conversation 15-  2   KS: The Superhuman World 11-  3   Oratory 15-  3   Persuasion 15-  3   PS: TV Reporter 12-  5   Rapid Attack ; HTH Multiple Attacks Only (-1)  3   Stealth 12-  3   Tactics 11-  Skills Cost: 44
Total Character Cost: 425
 
Val   Disadvantages 20   Distinctive Features: 10-foot tall, 4- armed, green-skinned (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)  25   Enraged: Berserk If she takes BODY or gets Stunned from an Attack (Uncommon), go 11-, recover 11-  10   Physical Complication: Big And Heavy (is always 10 feet tall and weighs approximately 800 kg; +2 OCV for others to hit, +2 to PER Rolls for others to perceive (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)  15   Psychological Complication: Split-Personality; (Common; Strong)  5   Unluck: 1d6  10   Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect from Drains (Common)  15   Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect from Fire Attacks (Very Common)  Disadvantage Points: 100
Base Points: 400
Experience Required: 25
Total Experience Available: 25
Experience Unspent: 0
 
 

Gronda.hdc

Just a comment from the peanut gallery.  Manual is best for me.  I never really got into automatic and usually transfer info manually anyway