SSB_Kal_El

I have an answer to that question (actually, I've had it since soon after 6E was released):  While Steve, you, all of SETAC, and I have those formulas memorized and can tell at a glance where the old Figureds 'should' be, a new player doesn't have that.  New player - "Okay, I'll make a Brick so 60 STR for a 12d6N attack... hmmm, where should PD/ED/REC/END/STUN be?" 6E made it more difficult for a new player/GM to answer that question.  Same with DEX and OCV/DEC, but to a lesser extent.
 
Completley minor quibble here (I *like* being able to buy CV separate from DEX) but pre-6E you could technically buy DEX, Only For [OCV, DCV, or OCV and DCV].  I've never seen it, and without an official Limitation value the debate on the correct value would be hurricane-strength, and it gets klunky with Aids and Drains... but it was RAW-legal.
 
Side note:  I think the authors forgot the severing of DEX and CV, at least for a while, in 6E characters.  Kinetik's Dizzying Spin DEX Drain?  Sure, it makes the opponent slower to react each Phase, but doesn't do a thing to OCV/DCV like it would have in 5E and earlier.
 
Also, thanks for all the behind-the-curtain thinking in your post! 👍

But it's not a Side Effect. Those occur simultaneously or after the Power goes off. Without the minion, the Power can't be used in the first place here.
 
This is an Expendable Focus. Using the Power uses up the minion, you'll need another to use the Power again.

I ended up building everyone's characters, then we had one test run, tweaked the characters then resumed our campaign. We've had about 4 sessions with a cadence of buildup session then fight session that seems to be working for everyone. I totally did the plastic speed chart thing and it makes combat flow very quickly, thanks for that!
 
In case anyone else stumbles across this in the future in terms of my original question about AP limits, I ended up going with the defaults (60 AP attacks/ about 8-12 resistant defences / points for equipment) from the champions setting book and basing the characters off of the champions book templates. My villains for now are also drawing from the champions math. I just reflavored the viper agents as magically enhanced shock troops of the evil empire. For the spell casters, we are currently using a regular multipower with fixed slots, until the players get comfortable with the character points part of the game math.
 
Everyone's having a good time with the new ruleset. All the players' minds were blown when the bad guy wizard haymakered a fireball and I described it as spending extra time to gather magical energy. The real "whoa" moment was telling them that they could do that too.

Hello, all. I've been GMing a group for the past 2 years playing 5th edition D&D but we've decided to jump over to 6e Hero. I have never run Hero before and I am trying to decide between running the game with heroic 225 pts and a 40 AP limit or superheroic with 400 pts and a 60 AP limit. We are reimagining the players' characters in Hero so I'm not looking for conversions like what's on Killer Shrike's site, I'm more curious about maintaining a similar feel in terms of power level as well as manageable combat times.
 
We played from 3rd level to 12th level but started running into the normal problems that occur with high level D&D characters. The player running the Fighter wanted to use his strength to toss enemies around and utilize improvised weapons but those actions aren't well supported by the rules. The Wizard player felt she had analysis paralysis every turn as she consulted all her prepared spells each turn before acting. The Rogue wants to have some fire magic but the multiclassing rules left him feeling underpowered in exchange for having more flexibility. For my part, after about level 8 it was hard to challenge all four characters because at 2.5 hours per session, we generally have time for about 4 encounters, including 2-3 talky scenes, 1 puzzle or skill type challenge, and 1 fight. With access to 8 encounters worth of resources for a single battle, the PCs could walk over most monster manual monsters, and the ones they couldn't usually were written up with attacks that could one shot a character on a lucky roll. So for the past year I have had to homebrew all the opposition anyway. We tried switching to Mutants and Masterminds a few months ago but the players felt like it was bit too vague/abstract. The tone of the campaign is lighthearted pulpy noir, sort of fantasy Godfather meets Ducktales with a dash of Lord of Light.
 
At level 12, the characters already feel like fantasy super heroes. If I go with the 400 pt superheroic option, how long should I expect combat to take with 4 players and appropriate opposition? Alternatively, if I choose the heroic option, will the characters feel "fragile", always close to dying? 

I ended up building everyone's characters, then we had one test run, tweaked the characters then resumed our campaign. We've had about 4 sessions with a cadence of buildup session then fight session that seems to be working for everyone. I totally did the plastic speed chart thing and it makes combat flow very quickly, thanks for that!
 
In case anyone else stumbles across this in the future in terms of my original question about AP limits, I ended up going with the defaults (60 AP attacks/ about 8-12 resistant defences / points for equipment) from the champions setting book and basing the characters off of the champions book templates. My villains for now are also drawing from the champions math. I just reflavored the viper agents as magically enhanced shock troops of the evil empire. For the spell casters, we are currently using a regular multipower with fixed slots, until the players get comfortable with the character points part of the game math.
 
Everyone's having a good time with the new ruleset. All the players' minds were blown when the bad guy wizard haymakered a fireball and I described it as spending extra time to gather magical energy. The real "whoa" moment was telling them that they could do that too.

I ended up building everyone's characters, then we had one test run, tweaked the characters then resumed our campaign. We've had about 4 sessions with a cadence of buildup session then fight session that seems to be working for everyone. I totally did the plastic speed chart thing and it makes combat flow very quickly, thanks for that!
 
In case anyone else stumbles across this in the future in terms of my original question about AP limits, I ended up going with the defaults (60 AP attacks/ about 8-12 resistant defences / points for equipment) from the champions setting book and basing the characters off of the champions book templates. My villains for now are also drawing from the champions math. I just reflavored the viper agents as magically enhanced shock troops of the evil empire. For the spell casters, we are currently using a regular multipower with fixed slots, until the players get comfortable with the character points part of the game math.
 
Everyone's having a good time with the new ruleset. All the players' minds were blown when the bad guy wizard haymakered a fireball and I described it as spending extra time to gather magical energy. The real "whoa" moment was telling them that they could do that too.