massey

To start out the campaign, I'd give the players a rough idea of power level and setting, and then build the rest of the world through the choices they make with their characters.  The Marvel movies did that.
 
For instance, in the first Iron Man movie, they introduce the "arc reactor" technology.  This is really what sets the Marvel world apart from our world.  Tony Stark invents some really awesome stuff, and the "super" tech that we see all comes from him.  Of course his dad was brilliant too, and so if we need to have some existing supertech that Tony didn't invent, it probably came from his dad.  Then we get the Incredible Hulk, and we know that there's this serum the government has been messing with for decades, and if you do it wrong it produces monsters.  Then we get Thor, and we learn there are aliens who have been messing around on Earth for eons, and a lot of our old myths probably come from their exploits.  They've got advanced technology that looks like magic to us, and they aren't big on explaining themselves to humans.  Finally we get Captain America, and we not only see what the super-soldier serum does when it works right, but we also see the glowing cube thingy that (among other things) gives Nazis supertech.  This all comes together with the Avengers movie, where we get glowing cube thingy, brainwashing staff, alien armies, super-agents, and a flying helicarrier.
 
Everything we see in the early Marvel movies has its origins in something tied in with the "PCs" of that world.  Look at the origins of the main characters, and that gives you your villains.
 
So say you've got 5 players.  Bob wants to be a ninja.  Dave insists on playing a chain-smoking Scottish wizard who wears a trench coat and fights demonic creatures.  Ricky has designed a power armor character who spent all his points on the cool armor, and doesn't have any skills or wealth.  When forced to come up with an explanation, he says he's a military pilot and was given the armor for this special assignment.  Frank plays an alien from another world who gets his powers from Earth's reflected moonlight or something.  And Sarah wants to play an anime character she really likes.  She's got a teenage girl who changes into a super teenage girl and shoots rainbow beams of power.  She does this to fight off the evil queen from Planet X.
 
What do you do?  Well, you've got two characters with asian themes, so that'll probably feature heavily.  We know that ninjas are real.  You've also got two different alien races (Planet X people and also Frank's character, though you might tie them together somehow).  The government has advanced enough tech to hand out a power suit to Corporal Moron.  And we've got shadowy demon creatures running around in the background thanks to our cynical mage, Harry Trainspotter.  That gives you a lot of possible enemies for these guys.  Then you can gradually build out the world based on what happens with these characters.  Just go with the logical conclusions of their actions and how they describe their backgrounds.  It sounds to me like evil cults should be a thing, maybe they hire ninja clans to guard their meeting places?  And if the governments of the world know that aliens are real, perhaps they are trying to use their super-suits to prevent possible invasion.  That sounds like a good reason for them to build a lot of different experimental units, many of which can get stolen.  And then sometimes Planet X could send some advanced scouts to Earth, and maybe they get captured or they drop an important alien tech thingy  (and somebody else finds it).
 
Anyway, when you introduce a new villain, it can help to tie it to one of the characters.  Sorry Bob, but the cyber-ninja that tried to kill the mayor seems very familiar to you -- he reminds you of a dead man, someone you once killed.  You're honor bound to investigate.  And Ricky, that laser sword he used looks like something you saw in the testing center when they gave you your armor.  You're almost afraid to ask your superiors where it came from.  Something is definitely up.  You don't have to resolve the problem immediately, in fact it may be better if you just let it linger for a while.  Bob can get revenge and knock the villain off a building into the river (where he disappears), but Ricky is still left wondering who he can trust within his own organization.  Each game session, you might have a villain that is related to a different hero, or maybe multiple heroes at once.  The players end up being tied together by circumstances, because all the villains link back to their own backgrounds.

Hard to look at a complicated power build without some description of 'how' things are supposed to work.
 
But some commentary:
 
Multiform is of characters who transform into different 'selves' not make multiple copies of themselves.  Making a copy of yourself is Duplication, or Images, or Summoning, or Followers or something like that, depending on your implementation.
 
Also, multiform is generally for characters who have different mentalities and skill sets.  For example, your your 'base form' character is a surgeon who wants to help all the peoples and your multiform is a werewolf who wants to eat all the peoples (and also can't perform surgery).  If your character keeps the same mind and skillset, (Only in alternate ID (-1/4)) is probably the disadvantage to use.  Though note that there has to be some limitation between switching between IDs for this disadvantage to apply.
 
I'm not exactly sure what the self Aids are supposed to be, and why you would use them over just buying more stats with additional limitations.  In general, power constructs like this are frowned upon because they cause additional book keeping and make it look like you are trying to get those stat points through some power construct that makes them cheaper.
 
A 75 point multipower for movement powers is way overdone.  75 points is larger than most 'normal heroes' main attack abilities (which would be 50 or 60 points, usually).  Tone it down to 40 points or so.
 
Your are not using the linked disad correctly.  Linked applies only when there is some disadvantage to linking the powers together.
 
Example: I can only do X when my fire aura (that sets most things around me on fire) is active
 
So you can't, for example, link your movement multipower to your instant change.  That sounds like Only in Alternate ID, which you already have. 
 
Your low CON and low Def means that you will be stunned almost every time you are hit.  Especially if you have low Def, you need a high CON to prevent being stunned when hit.  Exactly what CON and Def totals are required are in the Stun Avoidance table I did up in the other thread.
 
------------------------------
 
So lets look at build a basic sorta ninja character.  He'll be a bit based on Might Gai, from Naruto.  In his non-heroic form, he's a super human ninja, but below super-hero powerful.  He's able to hulk out and gain lots of boosts to his stats (Only in Hero ID).  To satisfy the requirements of OHID, he has to make several ninja hand signs (and use, I dunno a few full actions) to hulk out.  So if his hands are restrained, or damaged, or something, he can't hulk out.
 
His power balance will be:
DC 10 (average (+0))
CV 9 (high (+1))
Def 20 (low (-1))
SPD 6 (high (+1))
 
High un hulked stats  will be something like
STR 25 (assume +2 DC from martial arts, so expected un-hulked DC is 7)
DEX 18
CON 15 (plus an additional 15-20 CON (Only for stun avoidance (-1/4))
Def 15 (with around 8 resistant defense)
OCV 8 (rem: this is after the changes for whatever martial maneuvers are chose, if any)
DCV 8 (rem: this is after the changes for whatever martial maneuvers are chose, if any)
MDCV 9
 
Then, he'll have a bunch of stats bought with Only in Hero ID (-1/4), and maybe a few other limitations (one recoverable fuel charge? side effects? some cost END? i dunno)
 
And his hulked out stats will be:
STR 40 (assume +2 DC from martial arts, so expected un-hulked DC is 10)
DEX 23?
CON 15? (plus an additional 15-20 CON (Only for stun avoidance (-1/4))
Def 20 (with around 12-15 resistant defense)
OCV 9 (rem: this is after the changes for whatever martial maneuvers are chose, if any)
DCV 9 (rem: this is after the changes for whatever martial maneuvers are chose, if any)
MDCV 9
 
Then, you have maybe a 30 to 40 point pool movement multipower
 
Then, you need to add around 30 points of skills, and then spend you last 30 or so points on making your character able to do something other than move and punch people.
 

<Nod> Very true!
 
In prepping for "Keystone Konjurors," I *deliberately asked* for players to give their PCs "plot breaker" mystical powers such as Telepathy, Retrocognition, EDM and Astral Form. What you can look back in time to see how something was done? You can go anywhere in the world, at will, invisibly and intangibly? You can vanish to another dimension when things get hairy? How can a GM possibly run excition scenarios under such conditions?
 
Well, you do it by accepting that the PCs have these abilities -- and you build scenarios that not only *accept* these abilities, they *require* them. Like, yes, the PCs *will* look back in time and find the next plot coupon. Oh, and occasionally give them chances to be cool by using their powers to effortlessly solve problems that other people find impossible. (A good story technique to keep in mind for any Champions campaign. The PCs are super, so let them show it off!)
 
Dean Shomshak

I know this is going to sound odd, and I'll try to get something more explanatory up tomorrow night (too late tonight), but I would like to offer something that has served me _wonderfully_ over the years:
 
If the players, by accident or by intent, offer up a better plot, better twist, or better behind-the-scenes activities than you had planned-- and _especially_ of they are surprised (in a positive, excited sort of way) that either they have "figured it out" or that you "really managed to pull that off without us knowing!", then _by all means_ abandon what you had planned and run with it.  Even if you worked two weeks on your idea, and you actually like it a bit better, if the players are stoked by something they _think_ you're doing, then do that thing.  Always.  Excited players are happy players, and have solid, positive memories of their time at your table.  Plus, since they really think that they-- either as themselves of as their characters-- were invested enough and clever enough to figure it all out---  well that just increases their willingness to invest themselves in the game.
 
Steamroller them into what you had planned, and-- while it may be an even bigger success-- you are risking two things:  their disappointment at being wrong (and perhaps being wrong "yet again") and the possibility that what you had in mind ends up having less appeal to them.
 
 
Hell, I've built my entire setting that way, over the years.  I've got two players left from our original "'82 Crew" that have been adventuring in Campaign City (on the shores of Lake Campaign) since Day One, and while there are, _today_, maps, institutions, cultures, backstories, people and personalities and venerable old traditions-- even those two players from way back when have no idea just how much of this place they built themselves.  The best part of that is that they _like it_ here.  
 
The same can (just "can;" it's not a regular thing) happen with your plots and stories as well.

Completely agree with Massey. In addition to the amazing Wolfman/Perez run on New Teen Titans, I would also recommend the following trade paperbacks:
 
- Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Marvel)
- Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past (Marvel)
- Infinity Gauntlet (Marvel)
- New Warriors Classics v1(Marvel)
- Avengers Assemble v1 - 3 (Marvel)
- Avengers Forever (Marvel)
- New Teen Titans v1 - 10 (DC)
- Justice League: The Darkseid War (DC)
- Justice League (2018) v1 - 4 (DC)
- Justice League Dark (2018) v1 - 2 (DC)
-  Young Justice (2019) v1 (DC)
- Legends (DC)
- Invincible (Image)
- Dynamo 5 (Image)
 
As far as worldbuilding goes, I always suggest History of the DC Universe, as well as The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and Who's Who in the DC Universe (the latter of which is available on Comixology). Welcome to the game and hope you have fun with the system.

If you aren't that familiar with the superhero genre, I'd suggest reading some classic comic books to get a feel for what superheroes are all about.  My own tastes lean towards the late 70s through the 1980s, but it kinda depends on what you're going for.  There's a website called Read Comics Online that has a huge storehouse of comics.
 
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/The-New-Teen-Titans-1980
 
The early 1980s Teen Titans storyline is a great team adventure.  It's got a mix of "woe is me" teen angst, characters balancing their super lives with their secret identities, one-off fights with villains, and overarching plots that the characters will encounter again and again.

You have your fingers in too many pies. 
You're trying to be a super-fast ninja and have every imaginable form of super-movement and have multiple self-buff supermodes and have both martial arts and special attack powers and summon magic swords and have super-senses and have a giant pile of skills.  You're not going to afford all that. 
And right now, in trying to do so, you've made a character who can't fight.   He hits for 6d6.  He can't take a 10d6 hit much less a 12d6 hit.  He's got absolutely no place on a 12DC stage.  Because he can't afford combat when he's trying to figure out how to put his ten fingers in a dozen pies. 
 
I'd strongly recommend you wipe the slate clean.  Start by putting him at combat readiness.  Then add one thing, say stealth skills since he's a Ninja.  Check cost.  Add another one thing.  Check cost.  Once you're low on points, stop.  The other things just won't fit. 

You may also look into the X-Men books of the same era.  Claremont, Byrne & Austin were an amazing combination of storytelling strengths bolstering weaknesses each would show when they each left the book a decade later.
 

If you aren't that familiar with the superhero genre, I'd suggest reading some classic comic books to get a feel for what superheroes are all about.  My own tastes lean towards the late 70s through the 1980s, but it kinda depends on what you're going for.  There's a website called Read Comics Online that has a huge storehouse of comics.
 
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/The-New-Teen-Titans-1980
 
The early 1980s Teen Titans storyline is a great team adventure.  It's got a mix of "woe is me" teen angst, characters balancing their super lives with their secret identities, one-off fights with villains, and overarching plots that the characters will encounter again and again.

Our group has some basic guidelines we try to follow.  This has proven helpful over the years.  We don't always stick to it though.  Note that these are 5th edition standards, but they should generally apply to 6th as well.
 
--Spend about 10% of your points on skills that can't be used in combat.  Not combat skill levels, not martial arts, not autofire skills, I'm talking about science skills, knowledge skills, mechanics, stuff like that.  Characters shouldn't be sitting around scratching their butts when not in combat.
--The slowest guy in the group should be no more than 3 Speed slower than the fastest guy in the group.  So if the slow guy is a  Speed, the fastest could be a 7.  But don't let some horse's ass of a player screw the rest of the group by not buying it up at all.
--A difference of 3 in OCV/DCV is significant.  If I've got a 10 OCV and the group average is a 7 DCV, then I'm going to hit on a 14-, which is like a 90% chance to hit.  Likewise if I have a 10 DCV and they only have a 7 OCV, they only have about a 20% chance to hit.  This site has probabilites listed:  http://www.thedarkfortress.co.uk/tech_reports/3_dice_rolls.htm#.Xbn_9VVKiUk .
--A normal character should have enough Defense and Stun so that they can stay conscious through about 3 average hits.
--A normal character should have enough Defense and Con so that they don't get Stunned (damage exceeds their Def+Con and they lose their next phase) by the average attack.
--For superheroic games, characters generally want to have at least one offensive power, at least one defensive power, and at least one movement power.
--For an average game of 350 points (400 in 6th ed), it's fairly normal for the damage limit to be 60 active points (12D6 normal, 4D6 killing).
 
So an anime swordsman character might look something like this:
 
Captain Ninja Sword (350 points, 5th edition)
 
Str 20 (very strong for a normal human)
Dex 26 (much faster than a normal human, not technically "superhuman" yet)
Con 23 (damn tough for a normal person)
Body 13 (you don't actually take much Body in a normal Champions game, so we've only bought it up a little)
Int 13 (he's smarter than average, kinda)
Ego 15 (decently strong-willed, but not a telepath or anything)
Pre 20 (an intimidating guy)
Com 10 (just average looking)
 
PD 15 (at the very limits of human toughness -- guy can smash face first into a tree and not lose any teeth)
ED 15 (same -- a hot frying pan to the face will leave a comedic red mark, but he's probably okay)
Speed 6 (he can fight multiple opponents at once, like Bruce Lee in the movies)
Rec 9 (starting value with his Str and Con)
End 46 (starting value based off his Con -- as a martial artist he won't need much more)
Stun 40 (bought it up a bit, to show resiliency)
 
General physical abilities
--9/9 Combat Luck  (shooting him with a gun will basically never really put him in danger -- note this gives him a total of 24/24 Defense)
--Rapid Healing (even if he takes Body, he'll walk it off in a few hours)
--12" of Running (twice as much as a normal man, without even accounting for his high Speed stat)
--20" of Leaping (120 foot jump)
 
Kickass ninja sword
--3D6-1 HKA (4D6 with Str), 0 Endurance, OAF
 
Martial arts package
+2 OCV with martial arts
Weapon element with sword (note: none of these maneuvers are going to add damage to the sword, only martial strike really makes sense as a sword maneuver anyway)
Martial Strike
Legsweep
Martial Grab
Martial Block
Martial Dodge
 
Acrobatics 14- (kinda combat related)
Breakfall 14- (kinda combat related)
Climbing 14-
Concealment
Conversation
Disguise
Instructor
Interrogation
Persuasion
Paramedics
Stealth
Streetwise
Survival
Tactics (kinda combat related)
Teamwork (kinda combat related)
 
 
Scholar
KS: Ninja stuff 12-
KS: Martial arts world 12-
KS: World history 12-
KS:  Ancient legends 12-
 
 
 
That's 308 points so far.  Your basics are covered.  You've got an 11 OCV with your sword (at 4D6 HKA it's at the top end of a normal starting game), so you'll hit all day long.  Your defense is still pretty good (an average 12D6 attack will do 42 Stun, which means you're taking 18 past defense, not enough to Stun you).  You've got enough skills that you're useful in the right non-combat situations.  You've got 42 points left to spend to give yourself stronger willpower, various ninja tricks like smoke bombs or invisibility, maybe make yourself smarter or branch out into another skill area, or to give your sword some cool magic tricks.  Maybe you can swing the sword and launch an energy beam or something (cutting at range), so you want to turn your sword into a multipower.  Those are all fine.  This should give you a basic idea on what a normal character looks like.

No, he does take focus.  But Captain Flagsuit doesn’t have a super special one-of-a-kind vibranium/adamantium shield (unbreakable, OAF).  Instead his shield is just a regular metal discus.  He buys the power the exact same way (Energy Blast, levels in DCV, Force Field, whatever), he just makes sure that his shield can be easily reproduced.  It’s still OAF, it might even still be unbreakable.  It’s his amazing skill with this run of the mill shield that makes it powerful.  In someone else’s hands (without his ultra specialized training and experience) it would just be a 8/8 Def piece of metal.  Same exact character build, different description.  

The problem of course, is what in the world does Focus Man do when his Focus gets taken away?  All his Super-ness was in that Focus!  Without it, anyone tougher than a street thug is going to slap him silly.  He can't superfight supercrime! 
This is, admittedly, the fault of the way the character was made for not having a backup in case of Focus loss.  But it's a very common issue.  Look at Defender's 5e writeup.  Without his OIF suit, he's throwing 3 DCs at 5 CV, has 3 SPD and 5 PD/ED.  Most instances of battlesuit users and Super Because Of This Object Man cease functioning in combat if the Focus becomes a Limitation.  That's fine if it just becomes a combat loss condition, but if it's not fixed/returned by the start of the next fight they're going in already having lost. 
Does the player just sit out combats until the GM tells them they can be Super again?  Does the plot get put on hold while everyone goes and fights non-super enemies?  Are there suddenly no combat encounters until the Focus is restored? 
If the GM has permitted Focus Man, then the only Appropriate Time is "until end of scene".  The only alternatives are to disallow Focus Man or to make Focus a non-Limitation. 
It's a terrible situation, and I'm ranting because my M&M group has a Focus Man in it and I expect things to go badly. 
 
Fragile just means it's easier to take away via damage.  Fragile has nothing to do with permanence of loss. 

See, all that’s gonna happen when you start taking away somebody’s special focus is that they begin redefining their characters.
 
Captain Flagsuit doesn’t have a rare, one of a kind invincible shield.  He’s got a regular shield, and he’s just that damn good with it.
 
Albino Sorcerer Man doesn’t have a unique soul-sucking sword.  He’s haunted by a demon that gradually transforms any sword he uses into a demon blade.  
 
Functionally there’s no difference here.  The guy is just going to have a different explanation for why his weapon will always come back.

I think that my response here is, of course you will get the value of the points back but we are going to have to talk about how that happens.
 
There are no more items like Stormbringer in my campaign world, so that is not going to happen.  If you want a similarly unique item we will need to think about what it is and how it might end up in your possession...that will not be immediate and you will be missing a chunk of ability until it is.
 
I agree, doing a stupid thing deserves punishment.
 
I have often given players the ability to travel back in time when they do something stupid.  So after he threw Stormbringer in the volcano, I might say, you have accurately imagined the likely outcome, you still want to throw it in?  Gives them a second chance.
 
Doc

See, all that’s gonna happen when you start taking away somebody’s special focus is that they begin redefining their characters.
 
Captain Flagsuit doesn’t have a rare, one of a kind invincible shield.  He’s got a regular shield, and he’s just that damn good with it.
 
Albino Sorcerer Man doesn’t have a unique soul-sucking sword.  He’s haunted by a demon that gradually transforms any sword he uses into a demon blade.  
 
Functionally there’s no difference here.  The guy is just going to have a different explanation for why his weapon will always come back.

See, all that’s gonna happen when you start taking away somebody’s special focus is that they begin redefining their characters.
 
Captain Flagsuit doesn’t have a rare, one of a kind invincible shield.  He’s got a regular shield, and he’s just that damn good with it.
 
Albino Sorcerer Man doesn’t have a unique soul-sucking sword.  He’s haunted by a demon that gradually transforms any sword he uses into a demon blade.  
 
Functionally there’s no difference here.  The guy is just going to have a different explanation for why his weapon will always come back.

See, all that’s gonna happen when you start taking away somebody’s special focus is that they begin redefining their characters.
 
Captain Flagsuit doesn’t have a rare, one of a kind invincible shield.  He’s got a regular shield, and he’s just that damn good with it.
 
Albino Sorcerer Man doesn’t have a unique soul-sucking sword.  He’s haunted by a demon that gradually transforms any sword he uses into a demon blade.  
 
Functionally there’s no difference here.  The guy is just going to have a different explanation for why his weapon will always come back.

Ah, then that's easy.
 
First, make sure your PCs have their total bonuses calculated and easy to see on the character sheet.  Let's say Bob the Fighter has a base OCV of 5.  He has 1 level with longsword, and he knows 3 martial maneuvers (defensive strike, fast strike, martial block).  Just go ahead and write his Defensive Strike OCV as 7 (base 5 + 1 with longsword + 1 maneuver bonus), and his Fast Strike OCV as 8.  While the players are still learning, it's fine to tell the player what number he needs to hit.  "The orc has a DCV of 4.  You'll need a 14 or less to hit him, 15 or less if you use your fast strike."  As they figure it out, they'll get faster and you'll be able to surprise them with enemies that are unexpectedly tough.  A martial arts villain can often move around his combat levels and be much more effective with clever use of maneuvers.  Don't do that when the players are still new -- it's a cheap shot on new players and they won't know how to handle it when they're still figuring out what "OCV" means.
 
Second, learn the hit location chart yourself.  There's no need for every player to look at the chart every time they hit somebody.  Instead, they can just say "I hit location 14" and you know that's the thigh.  So you say "you got him in the thigh, that's x2 Stun.  How much Body did you roll?  7?  Okay so he takes 14 Stun, minus his Defense of 8.  He loses 6 Stun."  Just kinda narrate it as you go.  Do that for a few sessions and they'll understand much better.  Give them a copy of the hit location chart, so they can follow along, but make sure you know it (Note:  I don't know it, I had to look it up for this example.  But we don't play heroic level games or use the chart).
 
Third, if you're using partial coverage armor for your villains, have a big note on their sheet about it.  "Doesn't have armor on locations 6 -- Hands, 7-8 -- Arms, or 14-18 -- Thighs, Legs, and Feet".  That way when the players hit your mook, you'll be like "oh yeah, that's the unarmored part".  I'd write both the number and the body part description to jog your memory in the midst of combat.  That can speed things up because it increases the amount of damage the bad guys are taking through their defenses.  Also, as people start taking Body, they may want to run away.  I don't care if he's still got 8 Body left, that bandit just got stabbed in the arm.  He may not want to stick around.

Perhaps you should have two or more stages of magic.  The first stage is the simple stuff that any beginning mage can do.  It doesn't cost points, other than a magic skill roll and maybe a weapon familiarity with that type of spell.  You pay money for your spellbook or scroll, but the spells themselves are just like mundane weapons.
 
So we've got Bob, a wizard's apprentice, who has snuck out of the tower and made off with a book of magic, a couple of scrolls, a talisman, and about a year's worth of training.  He's got Magic Skill at 12-, and has to make this any time he wants to cast something from his book of magic.  He's got WF: Fire Magic, WF: Divination Magic, and WF: Transmutation Magic.  Since these are "categories" of magic they cost 2 points each.  It's the equivalent of having WF: Swords or WF: Bows.  So Bob has spent a total of 11 points to know how to do basic magic, and he'd have to spend however much money the book is worth to replace it if he lost it (he begins with it as starting equipment).  Unlike a warrior, Bob has to make a skill roll to do anything, and the spells that this works for are all created by the GM and balanced as if they were mundane equipment.  An arrow from a crossbow may do 2D6 damage, while Bob's Spell of Fiery Bolt does 2 1/2D6 but requires a skill roll first.  You can take away the warrior's crossbow, but you can also take away Bob's spellbook.  Perhaps you can raise an undead skeleton warrior if you've got WF: Necromantic Magic, and all you need is a dead body and 10 gp worth of rare powders (which might be enough money for a normal person to hire a generic mercenary for a week).  Magic is a bit more powerful but also a bit less reliable.
 
Eventually Bob has gained some experience and wants to be a more successful wizard.  So he buys Deadly Blow or whatever it's called with his Fire Magic.  Now instead of a 2 1/2D6 Fiery Bolt, he does 3 1/2D6.  Now he's cooking with gas, and he's actually pretty impressive.  He can reduce an orc to cinders with one shot.  But he's also poured quite a few points into that ability, and he's gonna be similar to a fighter who has a weapon he's specialized in.  If this were a video game, the archer character would be shooting arrows at enemies while the wizard is shooting glowing energy thingys at them.  Functionally they're very similar.
 
The final level of magic would be to just buy your spells outright.  Things like this probably shouldn't duplicate normal powers.  Raising the dead, creating an undead legion, now you're into what we might call "strategic level magic".  You can bring down the walls of a castle, or summon a storm.  They aren't necessarily things you'd use in combat, and they aren't necessarily spells that you'd have a lot of.  A full-scale wizard who can change into forest animals, mesmerize people with his voice, and knows how to build golems is a devastating opponent even for a kingdom.  He's just not the kind of guy who goes running around dungeons.

Perhaps you should have two or more stages of magic.  The first stage is the simple stuff that any beginning mage can do.  It doesn't cost points, other than a magic skill roll and maybe a weapon familiarity with that type of spell.  You pay money for your spellbook or scroll, but the spells themselves are just like mundane weapons.
 
So we've got Bob, a wizard's apprentice, who has snuck out of the tower and made off with a book of magic, a couple of scrolls, a talisman, and about a year's worth of training.  He's got Magic Skill at 12-, and has to make this any time he wants to cast something from his book of magic.  He's got WF: Fire Magic, WF: Divination Magic, and WF: Transmutation Magic.  Since these are "categories" of magic they cost 2 points each.  It's the equivalent of having WF: Swords or WF: Bows.  So Bob has spent a total of 11 points to know how to do basic magic, and he'd have to spend however much money the book is worth to replace it if he lost it (he begins with it as starting equipment).  Unlike a warrior, Bob has to make a skill roll to do anything, and the spells that this works for are all created by the GM and balanced as if they were mundane equipment.  An arrow from a crossbow may do 2D6 damage, while Bob's Spell of Fiery Bolt does 2 1/2D6 but requires a skill roll first.  You can take away the warrior's crossbow, but you can also take away Bob's spellbook.  Perhaps you can raise an undead skeleton warrior if you've got WF: Necromantic Magic, and all you need is a dead body and 10 gp worth of rare powders (which might be enough money for a normal person to hire a generic mercenary for a week).  Magic is a bit more powerful but also a bit less reliable.
 
Eventually Bob has gained some experience and wants to be a more successful wizard.  So he buys Deadly Blow or whatever it's called with his Fire Magic.  Now instead of a 2 1/2D6 Fiery Bolt, he does 3 1/2D6.  Now he's cooking with gas, and he's actually pretty impressive.  He can reduce an orc to cinders with one shot.  But he's also poured quite a few points into that ability, and he's gonna be similar to a fighter who has a weapon he's specialized in.  If this were a video game, the archer character would be shooting arrows at enemies while the wizard is shooting glowing energy thingys at them.  Functionally they're very similar.
 
The final level of magic would be to just buy your spells outright.  Things like this probably shouldn't duplicate normal powers.  Raising the dead, creating an undead legion, now you're into what we might call "strategic level magic".  You can bring down the walls of a castle, or summon a storm.  They aren't necessarily things you'd use in combat, and they aren't necessarily spells that you'd have a lot of.  A full-scale wizard who can change into forest animals, mesmerize people with his voice, and knows how to build golems is a devastating opponent even for a kingdom.  He's just not the kind of guy who goes running around dungeons.

I've gone on this rant before, but why should spells that duplicate the effects of equipment be treated any differently than equipment? 
Why does Wally Warrior get his RPD and HKA and RKA for free while Sally Sorceress has to buy the spells of Arcane Plating and Flesh-Burning Touch and Aether Arrow? 
Why not say "Here's a suit of armor.  It's RPD 9 with -1 in Limitations.  Here's the talisman you need to cast the spell of armor.  It's RPD 9 with -1 in different Limitations.  They won't stack.  Buy whichever, or both if you've got the coin."? 

How many points would the equipment that the warrior has access to through coin cost?  Armor, weapons, horse, etc.  Is it equivalent?  Because he's not paying one single character point for that suit of plate armor.

My thoughts on Duke Bushido's concerns (most of this is extremely basic and everyone already knows it, I'm just outlining my philosophy on it):
 
Playing an RPG is a cooperative task.  We get together and agree to what we want to play (Hero System), where we want to play (at Bob's house), when we want to play (Saturday afternoons), and who we want to play with (Bob, Joe, Steve, and Mike, but not Dave -- he's not invited anymore after the incident with the tuna fish).  The Hero System takes the position that the players should have more control over what kind of character they play.  Ever played D&D and you really wanted to be a Paladin/Ranger/whatever, but you rolled crappy stats and were stuck as a cleric or something?  Ever thought it would be neat to play something unique, like a farm boy who found a magic hat that gave him unusual abilities to compete with the big sword/big fireball crowd?  Well the Hero System allows you to do that.
 
In the Hero System, you can take powers and abilities through something called a "focus".  A focus is an object that is required to use the power.  This gives you a discount because the object can then be taken away from you.  If they take away your suit of armor/magic hat/special shield/freeze ray, then you can't use the associated powers.  But one of the inherent assumptions of this particular game is that you have a degree of control over your character concept.  If you want to be the farm boy with the magic hat, then you get to be the farm boy with the magic hat (subject to the agreement of the rest of the people in your group, of course -- I'm sorry Wayne, you can't play Captain Bitch-Rape in a game based on Saturday morning cartoon characters).  That means that even though a focus can be taken away, you can be secure in the knowledge that you're going to get it back at some point soon.  Yes, the orcs can capture you and take away your magic hat.  But normally they aren't going to send it away to the evil wizard on another continent, not before you manage to escape the dungeon and find the hat carelessly left sitting in a storage room.  The magic hat, you see, is an integral part of your character concept.  The discount you received for taking a focus is based on the problems you incur for losing it temporarily, not permanently.
 
Now, as I said, games are a cooperative effort.  You have some degree of control over your character, but not total.  In some circumstances, the GM may decide that the story demands you spend a period of time without that hat.  You've got to go on a quest to reclaim it or something.  And it's entirely possible that halfway through that quest, you say "screw the hat, I want to do something else".  And that's fine too.  But generally you'll get your focus back, because this is a cooperative game we're playing, and it's not real life.  The genre you're playing should have more influence on what happens than what would "realistically" take place.  In real life if you lose your special hat, there's very little guarantee you'll ever get that exact hat back.  But in a cartoon, the animators always draw you with that same hat, so you're probably gonna get it returned pretty soon.
 
When Rocket Pack Man gives the alien rocket pack that he found on the street to Gary Groundpounder, and Gary flies off, that focus may be gone until the GM and the player have a conversation.  Things like "why did you do that?  Do you want to change your character?  You know he wasn't planning on coming back, right?"  And the player is like "I dunno, I didn't think about it."  One of the guidelines for playing in a cooperative game is not to try to ruin the fun -- don't do things that put the other people at the table in a difficult situation (as opposed to putting the characters in a difficult situation, which is fine).  If you wanted to keep your irreplaceable rocket pack, why did you give it to the alien who was going back to his home planet?  Now the GM has to come up with some kind of in-game excuse for how you get it back.  Or he can let you change your character.
 
--
 
The most important thing to realize is that the game rules exist to give us options for playing.  "Focus" is a limitation that generally reflects people being temporarily deprived of an ability.  The easier it is to deprive them of it, the more points it is worth.  But that doesn't mean that everyone with a sword has a focus.  Let's look at some examples.
 
He-Man has a sword.  He-Man is almost never deprived of his sword.  He almost never gets disarmed, though it may happen very occasionally.  Of course, He-Man almost never hits anyone with the sword anyway.  The sword is really He-Man's method of transformation.  He-Man's player and the GM talk about this before the game begins, and they decide that Only In Hero ID is the appropriate limitation here.  The sword is basically an infinitely durable thingy that he holds in his hand and uses to change form, but it doesn't actually do any real damage (because it's a Filmation cartoon and he isn't allowed to stab people).  The sword isn't a focus, it has no powers.  He just has a big boost to his stats with -1/4 "Only in Hero ID" written beside it.  And the way to change is to hold up the sword that nobody ever pays attention to you carrying around.  It's occasionally possible to get stuck as Prince Adam, but it'll be rare.
 
Joe the Fighter is just a standard heroic fantasy character.  He has a variety of swords, some better than others.  They aren't really a focus, they're just a weapon he found.  He didn't pay points for them, he can't sell them for points.  It doesn't matter if Joe is carrying a +2 longsword or a two-handed sword, no particular sword is a core part of his concept.  He is a more normal RPG character, where his equipment is gained or lost entirely through the events of the game.  None of his equipment has "plot protection" where you know that's his special weapon and he should always have a version of it (I'm looking at you, Simon Belmont from Castlevania with that whip you always have).  Nope, Joe the Fighter just uses what's available, and even if he likes a certain weapon, it isn't special enough to him to become a part of his character concept.  If it were, he'd have spent points on it.
 
Darth Vader has a red lightsaber.  Vader is so good with his lightsaber that nobody can ever disarm him (unless, you know, you actually cut his arm off).  Vader may not have actually put the focus limitation on his sword power.  He may not have any limitation on it.  While it looks like a lightsaber and he wears it on his belt, he never loses it once in the entire trilogy.  He just always has his sword when he needs it.  "But couldn't he be captured and the lightsaber taken away?"  Mmmmmaybe.  But he probably cleared that with the GM first.  "Don't worry, you aren't gonna be captured.  This isn't that kind of story."  Vader doesn't get the focus limitation, but also no matter how many times you try to disarm him, it won't work.  He can just use the Force and now it's back in his hand, no questions asked.  Vader comes up with a semi-plausible reason for why people can't take it away from him and therefore they don't.  Remember, there's cooperation in this between the player and the GM.
 
 

My thoughts on Duke Bushido's concerns (most of this is extremely basic and everyone already knows it, I'm just outlining my philosophy on it):
 
Playing an RPG is a cooperative task.  We get together and agree to what we want to play (Hero System), where we want to play (at Bob's house), when we want to play (Saturday afternoons), and who we want to play with (Bob, Joe, Steve, and Mike, but not Dave -- he's not invited anymore after the incident with the tuna fish).  The Hero System takes the position that the players should have more control over what kind of character they play.  Ever played D&D and you really wanted to be a Paladin/Ranger/whatever, but you rolled crappy stats and were stuck as a cleric or something?  Ever thought it would be neat to play something unique, like a farm boy who found a magic hat that gave him unusual abilities to compete with the big sword/big fireball crowd?  Well the Hero System allows you to do that.
 
In the Hero System, you can take powers and abilities through something called a "focus".  A focus is an object that is required to use the power.  This gives you a discount because the object can then be taken away from you.  If they take away your suit of armor/magic hat/special shield/freeze ray, then you can't use the associated powers.  But one of the inherent assumptions of this particular game is that you have a degree of control over your character concept.  If you want to be the farm boy with the magic hat, then you get to be the farm boy with the magic hat (subject to the agreement of the rest of the people in your group, of course -- I'm sorry Wayne, you can't play Captain Bitch-Rape in a game based on Saturday morning cartoon characters).  That means that even though a focus can be taken away, you can be secure in the knowledge that you're going to get it back at some point soon.  Yes, the orcs can capture you and take away your magic hat.  But normally they aren't going to send it away to the evil wizard on another continent, not before you manage to escape the dungeon and find the hat carelessly left sitting in a storage room.  The magic hat, you see, is an integral part of your character concept.  The discount you received for taking a focus is based on the problems you incur for losing it temporarily, not permanently.
 
Now, as I said, games are a cooperative effort.  You have some degree of control over your character, but not total.  In some circumstances, the GM may decide that the story demands you spend a period of time without that hat.  You've got to go on a quest to reclaim it or something.  And it's entirely possible that halfway through that quest, you say "screw the hat, I want to do something else".  And that's fine too.  But generally you'll get your focus back, because this is a cooperative game we're playing, and it's not real life.  The genre you're playing should have more influence on what happens than what would "realistically" take place.  In real life if you lose your special hat, there's very little guarantee you'll ever get that exact hat back.  But in a cartoon, the animators always draw you with that same hat, so you're probably gonna get it returned pretty soon.
 
When Rocket Pack Man gives the alien rocket pack that he found on the street to Gary Groundpounder, and Gary flies off, that focus may be gone until the GM and the player have a conversation.  Things like "why did you do that?  Do you want to change your character?  You know he wasn't planning on coming back, right?"  And the player is like "I dunno, I didn't think about it."  One of the guidelines for playing in a cooperative game is not to try to ruin the fun -- don't do things that put the other people at the table in a difficult situation (as opposed to putting the characters in a difficult situation, which is fine).  If you wanted to keep your irreplaceable rocket pack, why did you give it to the alien who was going back to his home planet?  Now the GM has to come up with some kind of in-game excuse for how you get it back.  Or he can let you change your character.
 
--
 
The most important thing to realize is that the game rules exist to give us options for playing.  "Focus" is a limitation that generally reflects people being temporarily deprived of an ability.  The easier it is to deprive them of it, the more points it is worth.  But that doesn't mean that everyone with a sword has a focus.  Let's look at some examples.
 
He-Man has a sword.  He-Man is almost never deprived of his sword.  He almost never gets disarmed, though it may happen very occasionally.  Of course, He-Man almost never hits anyone with the sword anyway.  The sword is really He-Man's method of transformation.  He-Man's player and the GM talk about this before the game begins, and they decide that Only In Hero ID is the appropriate limitation here.  The sword is basically an infinitely durable thingy that he holds in his hand and uses to change form, but it doesn't actually do any real damage (because it's a Filmation cartoon and he isn't allowed to stab people).  The sword isn't a focus, it has no powers.  He just has a big boost to his stats with -1/4 "Only in Hero ID" written beside it.  And the way to change is to hold up the sword that nobody ever pays attention to you carrying around.  It's occasionally possible to get stuck as Prince Adam, but it'll be rare.
 
Joe the Fighter is just a standard heroic fantasy character.  He has a variety of swords, some better than others.  They aren't really a focus, they're just a weapon he found.  He didn't pay points for them, he can't sell them for points.  It doesn't matter if Joe is carrying a +2 longsword or a two-handed sword, no particular sword is a core part of his concept.  He is a more normal RPG character, where his equipment is gained or lost entirely through the events of the game.  None of his equipment has "plot protection" where you know that's his special weapon and he should always have a version of it (I'm looking at you, Simon Belmont from Castlevania with that whip you always have).  Nope, Joe the Fighter just uses what's available, and even if he likes a certain weapon, it isn't special enough to him to become a part of his character concept.  If it were, he'd have spent points on it.
 
Darth Vader has a red lightsaber.  Vader is so good with his lightsaber that nobody can ever disarm him (unless, you know, you actually cut his arm off).  Vader may not have actually put the focus limitation on his sword power.  He may not have any limitation on it.  While it looks like a lightsaber and he wears it on his belt, he never loses it once in the entire trilogy.  He just always has his sword when he needs it.  "But couldn't he be captured and the lightsaber taken away?"  Mmmmmaybe.  But he probably cleared that with the GM first.  "Don't worry, you aren't gonna be captured.  This isn't that kind of story."  Vader doesn't get the focus limitation, but also no matter how many times you try to disarm him, it won't work.  He can just use the Force and now it's back in his hand, no questions asked.  Vader comes up with a semi-plausible reason for why people can't take it away from him and therefore they don't.  Remember, there's cooperation in this between the player and the GM.
 
 

It is a problem in every game.  It is important for the GM to find ways to keep players involved, even if characters are not.  I have found that handing one of the players, whose PC is hors de combat, a villain to run for the duration of the combat keeps the player very much engaged.  I am content for those players to see the powers and skills of my villains (though I keep some of the the complications hidden) and I find that those players play that villain far more effectively than I would have.  There is obviously nothing more satisfying than driving your friend's hero through 6" of battleship plate armour...  🙂