A Multipower shows at a glance what powers can be used; what have been purchased by the character. A VPP is just that- variable. Not everyone is comfortable having to decide what powers are going to be chosen during a game. This has been echoed in past previous threads. People on the boards report that some times, players whose character have VPP actually slow down the game. So, a Multipower may be an easier choice for a character with different powers.
Generally, unless you have a really generous GM, you will have more active points available for a multipower than a power pool as well, because of how expensive power pools can be. Also, people who build multipowers usually have less flexibility and "open endedness" than a power pool provides. In other words, they have a specific, limited group of abilities in mind rather than "whatever I can come up with in the moment"
Also remember that the base VPP does not allow powers to be changed during combat. To get there, you need to put an advantage onto the control cost; I usually find "requires a half phase" is more cost-effective while getting the job done. THEN you have to buy a skill roll to do it. With a multipower, you pick whatever you want up, each phase, without losing the half phase.
A decent rule of thumb is, if you're using more than about 5 fixed slots, you're getting to the point where you may want to consider a VPP. I *rarely* use variable slots; they're quite expensive, and if you're looking at 3...perhaps even just 2...then a VPP may be preferable.
If the concept you want for your character involves a relatively small number of Powers, and you want the character to have access only to those defined Powers, a Multipower can be more economical in Character Points than a VPP, and sufficient to match the concept. OTOH if the concept is that the character has a very large range of Powers, and/or is able to improvise new Power constructs to fit changing circumstances, a VPP is more flexible and may actually cost fewer points than a multitude of Multipower slots.
Yes, this is getting impious even by my standards, not to mention completely silly....but I couldn't resist.
Omnipresence: (Total: 217 Active Cost, 199 Real Cost) Immanence: Growth (+15 STR, +3 BODY, +3 STUN, -3" KB, 800 kg, -2 DCV, +2 PER Rolls to perceive character, 4 m tall, 2 m wide), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), MegaScale (1" = 100 billion lightyears; +6 1/4) (127 Active Points) (Real Cost: 127) plus Transcendence Desolidification , Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); Linked (Immanence; Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time; -1/4) (Real Cost: 72)
Omniscience: (Total: 246 Active Cost, 246 Real Cost)Knows All: KS: Everything, Uncontrolled (+1/2) 50- (Real Cost: 61) plus Understands All: Universal Translator 40-, Uncontrolled (+1/2) (73 Active Points) (Real Cost: 73) plus Sees All: Spatial Awareness (Unusual Group), +20 to PER Roll, Discriminatory, Analyze, Microscopic: x10,000,000,000, Perceive into any dimension, Rapid: x100,000 (Real Cost: 112)
Omnipotence:
Omnipotence: Variable Power Pool, 500 base + 937 control cost, Inherent (+1/4), Persistent (+1/2); all slots Cosmic (+2) (1437 Active and Real Points)
plus
Eternal Omnipotence: Succor Cosmic Power Pool and all Slots 5d6, Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Transdimensional (Single Point in Time: Moment of Creation; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Can Apply Adders (+1), All Powers Simultaneously (+2) (156 Active Points)
NOTES
The first attribute listed, Omnipresence, includes Immanence and Transcendence. The former is Growth, Megascaled, sufficient to cover the entire observable universe as of the most recent scientific cosmological theory, as I understand it. The latter is bought as Desolidification.
The second attribute, Omniscience, sort of assumes the first: If a Deity is not Omnipresent for example but wishes to be Omniscient, it would be necessary to buy 360 degrees, Range, and lots of Telescopic on the Cosmic Awareness. An Omnipresent Being need not have Ranged senses, since by definition nothing is ever at range from an Omnipresent Being.
The third attribute, Omnipotence, includes both a Cosmic Power Pool and an Eternal Succor that applies to the Cosmic Power Pool at the moment of Creation, and that goes off automatically and without effort each phase - Forever. Even in the unlikely case of a SPD 1 Being, and even over the course of, say, a normal Human lifetime of three score and ten years, that's an enormous amount of 5d6 Succors - and a zero END Succor basically goes on forever. Even though it costs less than 1600 points, I'd say this constitutes effectively unlimited power for any Being that endures for eons.
Don't ask why I did this. I don't understand it either.
edit: Might as well add this:
Deus Absconditus: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Mental, Radio, Smell/Taste and Touch Groups and Spatial Awareness , No Fringe, Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (135 Active and Real Points)
