Gnome BODY (important!)

Those are great things to say, but they're not backed up by gameplay. Even a piddly 6d6 Blast rolling average will put a bystander in the hospital for a month. A 12d6 will slam them straight down to Dying. And when's the last time you saw a villain carting around less than 15 RDEF? I skimmed a villains book just now and it went 20 35 20 15 Whatever the PCs have 20 Regeneration yadda yadda. A 4d6 is going to put a bit of BODY through but not accidentally kill a villain. KAs are less nonlethal but they're not big scary murderattacks unless the GM decides to throw a guy in just to **** the players. And we all know how Gilt Complex went over.

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.

I'm not sure what this thread is for. The title doesn't tell me much. Are you asking for feedback? Using this as a place to store characters you've linked to elsewhere?

It's got 17 pregen characters split across 15 archetypes and a quick-creation section where you or the dice make a handful of decisions and get your own version of 20 different archetypes. It then has two different adventures for those characters, or any other characters of about the same power. For all its other sins, M&M does a very good job of letting people go from book to game quickly and easily.

FRED page 357, right under the BEGINNING COMBAT heading.

My FRED says "If combat begins with a Surprise attack, the targets don’t get to act on Segment 12" But the adventurers are presumably doing something. Pitching tents, dumping that pile of gold in a Sock of Containing, recanting their adventures to each other, briskly striding down the trail, something. It's just not anything of any particular relevance to the combat so it's pretty safe to skip it. Or maybe it is relevant! If the adventurers are climbing a steep hill when they get ambushed, knowing who was climbing and who was waiting at the top/bottom could be very important.

If you make it a Full Phase Action, then it's useless unless you happen to already be right next to your buddy. I can't speak to how common that is in a Heroic game, but in the Superheroic games I'm used to that's basically never thanks to Knockback.

I like the idea on paper of helping a buddy get unStunned. It's very supers, seems fitting. I worry that it would break down badly though. Giving up your turn to give an equally-powerful friend their turn back AND remove the 1/2 DCV status is generally going to be the optimal move. Worse yet, what about villain groups of disparate strengths? "Huzzah! I Stunned Doctor Destroyer!" leading to "Destroyer Jr shakes him back to his senses" or god forbid "A Destroyergoon shakes him back to his senses" is probably not the intended result. A lot of care will have to go into constructing the action to make sure it isn't a mechanic that allows "trading up" a mook's Phase.

The first solution to come to mind is to houserule that the END for Constant powers is paid upon activating the power and every post-12 thereafter instead of every Phase. Add an END cost multiple if desired, you might not want to slash END/turn costs for the SPD 4 guys just because the SPD 8 guy is getting END-hammered. This would make it so both Fast Frank and Slow Sam get to pay the same END every Turn and do so at the same time.

How do you solve the problem of the player being out of the combat?

Crossbow. RKA. Physical item that can be bought, sold, made, lost. Can go away in a single disarm or object-targeted attack. Easily taken away and costs coin. Talisman of Aether Arrow. Physical item that can be bought, sold, made, lost. Can go away in a single disarm or object-targeted attack. Easily taken away and costs points, despite your defense of costing points being the "untakeawayability" of magic. You're getting blinded by SFX here. "You can deny an archer the ability to shoot by taking away their bow, but you can't destroy his archery." perfectly mirrors your stance on spellcasting. Consider very carefully why you think there's a difference. The "Magic" that can't be taken away is CSLs with magic, the Magic skill, etc. Just like the "Archery" that can't be taken away is the CSLs with bows etc. If the spell requires an extrinsic item, it's not an intrinsic part of the character like you claim it is. Take away the item they need to use the spell, duh.

Then you're contradicting yourself.

So if Sally builds her Aether Arrow as requiring a Focus or components that can be taken away, she can have it for coin instead of points?

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."?

D&D is actually worse. Every bloody spell is its own unique snowflake that every bloody caster will have to look up every time they cast it. Every bloody class feature has to be learned all over the instant anyone changes class. Every bloody monster ability has to be looked up by the GM for each new monster. Every bloody feat etc etc you get it by now. D&D's design is "Let's build everything out of exceptions!" and means that learning D&D is im-expletiveing-possible. People just get used to "Caster = look stuff up" or ignore their abilities.

Foolish Champions, I happened to Steve Long! Even now he languishes under the barrel of a slowly charging deathray! Unless I grant him mercy, Steve Long will be dead at midnight! Now, pathetic do-gooders, you will break into his secret lair for me, and return with the fabled 7th Edition Manuscripts if you value your friend's life! Muwahahahahahaha!

If you're using NCM as a strict cap on characteristics, why should a pet wolf be able to outdo all the PCs? If you're using NCM as a cost-increase above certain points, why should a pet wolf get away without paying the extra? Would you allow an NCM exception for a human Follower? Orc Follower? Elf Follower?

Bolding mine. Some UOO constructs require LOS. 6e UBO does not.

It's utterly unintuitive, but this is incorrect. In 5e, the grantor cannot voluntarily reclaim the power except by breaking LOS or switching Framework slots. If Shirley has some way to prevent you from breaking LOS (say, using that Flight power to keep pace with you) or if you bought the UOO as Persistent, you're not getting it back soon! I don't see any grantee consciousness clauses either. In 6e, if Shirley controls the granted power you're outta luck until Shirley gives it back or is KO'd. Unless of course you paid the +1/4 surcharge to be able to recall the power.

Ah, yeah. In that case it works exactly as though they were the one who'd bought that focus. You can get KO'd, mind controlled, killed, transformed into a frog, have a radiation accident, whatever. The ring Just Works.

This depends on edition. In 5e, a UBO power turns off if the grantor is KO'd or loses LOS. This can be avoided by making the UOO Persistent. In 6e, a UBO power doesn't care what happens to the grantor after it's been granted.

That is, alas, the hardest part.

Correct. The exact line where "Here, use my ring!" goes from "minor perk of Focus" to "Needs UBO" is vague and in GMrulingland. I've heard rulings ranging from "Once is fine, twice is UBO" to "Once every couple sessions is fine, more than that is UBO". It won't really hurt balance either way, but if you think it might be important, sit down with your group and talk it out.

Well that's your problem right there! If you don't have any way to know how much is enough and how much is too much, you'll never be able to find the right numbers. I'd recommend sitting down with your friends and figuring some guidelines out. Your book should have a handful of suggested guidelines, but my experience is that they're way too loose to be useful. Pinning down some more exact numbers is far more useful.

Contact: Myself in the future and past (Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact is slavishly loyal to character) 14- (11 points)