Lorehunter

No, more like "I try to knock out my target with my blast" and instead of doing some damage to the target past their defenses you did no damage at all because you didn't do enough to knock them out.  Its not the same or equivalent to damage at all.
 
Like Steriaca noted, there needs to be some lesser effect if you didn't quite get what you want, not ZERO effect.  OK I cannot get Grond to put on a tutu and dance for me, but maybe I can get him to shuffle in place a moment or hit me in a rhythmic manner.

In the spirit of inclusiveness, I won't point out the number of times you've called me out for refusing to accept that the Champs III / 5e / 6e shapeshift rules are both horribly kludgy and completely unnecessary.    That, and, in spite of the fact that we rarely agree, I do appreciate the amount of thought that you usually put into your ideas. 
 
 
 
 
All times can be those times, so long as we can all accept that not all cows are sacred to all people.
 
Now forgive me for skipping the details of your suggested change: you've laid it out clearly enough, and Hugh has re-listed the relevant parts, so I'm going to skip straight to the conversation:
 
 
I don't think you're alone in being unhappy with the EGO powers rules.  I think the "+10" rule itself was the first attempt-- the first "coded into the rules" attempt, anyway-- to fix the problem.  Remember the early editions?  INT x1; INT x2; INT x3; etc?  Those early rules meant that your Mentalist was going to be very effective against "normals" at a lower power level, but was going to have to become an absolute specialist to have anything more than the most minor effects on supers.  As a correction, the +10 replaced the multiples.
 
I'd like to say it made a difference, but really, it only seemed to make a difference for NPCs. I have yet to see a supers player want to really emulate the source material super mentalists: incredibly mental powers; normal or even feeble physical stats.  They want the super Characteristics and defenses and movements, etc-- _and_ the high-level mental powers. Now I will say these characters _might exist_ in the source material, but not at such a high visibility that non-comicbook guys like me have ever heard of them.  I am passingly familiar with the X-man in the wheelchair with powers so strong they rotted away his hair or something.  I am familiar with the Spiderman villain who was just a _normal guy_ with lots of SFX and hypnodrugs witch which he created illusions (even the movie decided he needed powered armor.  Hunh? ).
 
I am more familiar with the pulps and the movie serials of the crazed hypnotists and mad swamis and fakirs-- all of whom were far less physically-impressive specimens than our hero, and accordingly had specialized in refining their craft to nigh-miraculous levels of effect.
 
 
With those source examples in mind, I think the current system _does_ work quite nicely for emulating those examples.
 
Still, it kind of fails in as much as it doesn't do what the players would like to do:  be powerful mentalists with SPD 5 or 6, enough resistant defenses to bounce machine gun fire, powerful blasts of energy from their eyes, and the ability to fly at Mach 6.
 
I can argue all day that the current system _does_ emulate nicely what it should emulate-- that is, examples from the source materials-- but really, if it doesn't let the player build the character he wants, then it really _doesn't_ succeed, does it?
 
My counter to that is, of course, that he "grow into the character he wants to be" using EP as the campaign progresses.
 
I won't, because I have learned over the years that this idea-- while it is pulled directly from the source material at the time I learned to play-- is popular almost exclusively in my groups (admittedly it's likely influenced by the fact that I taught the majority of my players how to play), and it anathema to most others who want to start out with demigods and perhaps build them up to legitimate godhood.  This is, of course, also valid.  It's not my own style, but if that's how another group has their fun, then they should be able to do it that way, correct?
 
 
Like Hugh, I have found "Cumulative" to be the solution to a lot of things: Aids, Drains, Transfers,....  and Mental Powers.
 
Just as an insight as to how my games have evolved to the point that I don't post builds:
 
I have always had an issue with Advantages, Limitations, and Adders.  I've always felt that if it's an Advantage, it should be able to apply to more than one Power or Power Type.  If it cannot do that, then it should be an Adder.  If an Adder can be applied to more than one power or power type, then it should be an advantage.  If something can only apply to _one specific power_, (my go-to example for this is Teleport "facing," which was a non-issue until someone thought it should be), then it should be assumed to be a basic part of the power, and characters may opt to apply a Limitation that deprives them of it.  (Thus, in my games, any Teleporter may choose to face any direction when he reappears, unless he has taken a Limitation that prevents that.)
 
It has lead to some minor power re-writes (Change Environment now affects a single "point," and is increased with the existing Advantage: Area of Effect), but nothing so drastic as to really change the game or even greatly alter the points totals.
 
 
That leads to this:
 
I have found Cumulative to be an _excellent_ workaround for lots of "how do I make this more effective without having to dump eleventy-nine points into it?" problems.  Cumulative, and a bit of patience-- you didn't get them this Phase, but next Phase they will be yours! 
 
And as for controlling runaway "cumulation:"
 
There are lots of ways to do that, too.  There is the built in limits of Cumulative, but if you feel that is not tightly-controlled enough, consider this still-experimental option I am currently playing with in a fantasy game:
 
The character is required to spend Sway (sorry: in this current fantasy game, "Sway" is the user's ability to influence magic and bend it to his will.  For supers, think "END."  Sway isn't exactly END, but this is the model we are running right now, so it's the medium in which I have to test this idea) to cast his spells, and Sway costs-out in a fashion like END: the more dice he wishes to cast, the more Sway he must put forth.
 
_However_, on cumulative spells, he must continue to exert Sway for the previous dice as well any additional dice he wishes to add at his next opportunity.  He must exert the Sway for all dice until the final effect is achieved.
 
Moving that to an END model, let's take four dice of Mind Control, which the 4e and beyond cost at 2 END, if I remember correctly.  So the Mentalist spends 2 END to use his Mind Control, but if he is looking to accumulate it, he must continue to spend that 2END even as he spends the 2 additional END for his next roll.  If he wishes to go higher still, then he must still maintain that 4 END and spend 2 more, etc.
 
 
I'm not saying that this is a _must do_ thing; it's something I'm currently play testing because I was curious to see what effect it would have on the game.
 
Still, it's a valid control over anyone intentionally "buying low" then upping his cumulative limit, etc, if that should become a problem in your game it (for what it's worth, it's not a problem in my game; I was looking to build a magic system that made "big" magic extremely difficult and extremely tiring while making "small" magic relatively common).
 
 
At any rate, 
 
I have now tossed it out there.
 
In summation:
 
Go, Cumulative!  You can do it!
 
 

 
 

As an up front note, I find rigid limits tend to create a "sameness" of build as they incent some approaches over others. Assessing synergies is pretty tough.
 
More tone than content, but "They WILL be used against you and will haunt you." sounds pretty adversarial.  To me, a -1/4 limitation will crop up on occasion but not often. The more challenging it is when it does crop up (Unified Power is very challenging), the less often it needs to crop up.
 
I like phrasing like "When you spend points, you are directing me to include challenges that those points will make it easier for you to overcome.  When you save points, you are directing me to include challenges that those points will make it tougher for you to overcome.  The more points, the greater the frequency and/or impact."  That means that you need to write scenarios that make those 20 points of skills just as useful as 20 points spent on, say, exotic defenses.  One reason many players don't like spending points on skills is that they see their combat abilities benefiting them in play, but the GM adjudicates non-combat challenges based on "role playing" (e.g. resolving social interaction based on the GM's arbitrary assessment of the player's social skills, rather than the points spent on the character's social skills; "where do you look for traps", etc.)  Should prudent play be awarded bonuses?  Sure.  If a description that great would merit +2 OCV or +1 DC in context of combat, it should merit a +2 bonus to the skill.
 
Overall, I'd also build a "max in all basic categories" character.  How many points do they have left over?  If I can spend half my points and be "campaign maximum" across the board, then expect everyone to be at "campaign maximum" across the board.  Hmmm...spend Campagn Max across the board, buy an exotic Targeting Sense and a No Range, broad coverage Darkness Field, or just be Invisible...
 
 
 So I can have a 12d6 Blast, or a Multipower of a dozen different 12 DC attacks.  Why would I not choose flexibility? You recognize this for the isolated case of the Brick, but not for anyone else.
 
 
How do things like Hardened, Damage Negation, Damage Reduction factor in?  What about limited defenses (my character is more resistant to fire)?  Ignoring point costs, may as well make 24 defenses resistant, and Harden them, so KAs cannot harm me.
 
And I can be invulnerable to exotic attacks, since there is no limit there.  With a 12DC standard, 25 Mental Defense and Power Defense seems like it should generally do the trick.  Maybe 30 just to be safe.  Probably some Flash Defense in there as well - do I just want to avoid blindness or should I avoid damage from AVADs as well?  Decisions, decisions.  I'd probably cap these at about half the PD/ED caps.
 
With 12 DCs and 25 defenses, I can expect an average attack to pass 17 STUN past my defenses.  If I choose a 30 ED and a 20 PD, I'll need a pretty high CON, or some way to avoid physical attacks.
 
 
So 5 AP is +1 OCV, +1 DCV or +1 Skill Level, and I can have 20 x 5 = 100?  Did I get that right?  This is the only one with a "per" definition instead of a flat amount (60, 50, etc.)
 
Define "within reason".  +6 PSLs against Range is a pretty effective DCV enhancer for a fast flyer, and I see no restrictions on movement.
 
Why would I take 10 OCV/10 DCV when I can instead choose 3 OCV/3 DCV and 14 CSLs for massively improved versatility?  Can my Mentalist have a 3 OCV, 17 DCV and 10 mOCV and mDCV?  One hex accurate AoE is also looking pretty good if I want a high DCV character (or want to trade points into other categories - a 12 OCV, 3 DCV and 25 more points into defenses, say).  And I may as well max out both DCV and Defenses, and OCV and Attacks, as there are no tradeoffs in there.
 
 
Again leaving point costs aside, why would I choose a 5 SPD?  I can have a 6 SPD and lose nothing else.  Why bother including this when it is static?  Everyone has 4 - 6 SPD, so there's no way to add to or subtract from that 50 points.
 
 
I've never liked paying to exceed the campaign limits.  Tradeoffs are a lot more palatable.
 
As I look at this, I finally realize the nomenclature issue.  Rename the "points".  Call them Campaign Limit Points (CLP) or Character Maxima Points (CMP).  Pick ANYTHING that does not have the same acronym as Active Points, Character points, Experience Points or Real Points.
 
Speaking of Experience Points, do my maximum CLP increase?  I count 260 for these characters (60 + 50 + 100 + 50)
 
 
60 STR and a huge multipower of 3 DC No Range Attacks is looking really good right about now.  That depends, of course, on where you are drawing the line.  A 75 STR and some Stretching, or very high movement, is looking pretty good as well.
 
 
Sounds like a good buy.  Defensive Strike is +1 OCV and +3 DCV.  That would cost me 20 for the CV bumps.  Do I read this correctly that the +x DC attacks are over and above the 12 DCs (15 DC if I am slow with no range) that I could start with?  No point buying the "extra DC" maneuvers otherwise, but moving my skill levels around to effectively suffer -3 DCV for a +4 DC Offensive Strike to hit 16 (19?) DCs seems like a pretty good tradeoff, especially if the typical enemy is sitting at 25 defenses and 20 - 30 CON.  That Slow Brick just cries out for Martial Grab!  Martial Block (especially with Deflection) would be great if I can move most of my skill level CVs into OCV - one phase lasts a lot longer at 4 SPD.
 
Toss in the UMA maneuvers, and this is a must-have for any HTH character.  And I really need to review Ranged Martial Arts as well!
 
ADDENDUM:  The challenge of balance in Hero is the dizzying array of options.  More variables increase the complexity of any "balance" geometrically.

I'm new again to the 6e Champions game, but I"ve played 4th ed quite a bit... so I'll take a quick look.
1. First off, what are the campaign's limits on AP, OCV, SPD, DEF?
2. Where will these adventures be taking place.  I live around Chicago and can say there is probably only one day a year where the temp is > 100F.
3. I've never heard of anyone pushing a multiform, and wouldn't allow them to magically get points in the middle of the adventure for their alternate form, so talk to GM about that limitation.
 
That's just the main guy.  I didn't dig much into the spirit form.
 
Okay, quick look at the ice form.
#1. You can't take  (I would not allow) OIHID for a multiform.  You are, by definition, in the alternate id by being a multiform.
#2. Under multiform, it defines how focus interacts.  You cannot take more limitations for a focus, if your multiform originates from a focus, b/c it's understood that your multiforms will already have the focus with them. 
#3. You've taken three levels of characteristics, some with expendable focus.  I would allow that, but it might just be cheaper (less of a headache) to add another multiform, and have THAT multiform defined as needing some expendable ingredient so that it can be stronger.  It would be easier for everyone to track what form you are in with this method also.
#4. Again, what is the maximum Active points allowed in your game?
 
Summary, yes, you've cheesed the rules a bit.  Revise and return, and pull the lever again to see how it looks.

This is what I would do. Multiple Attacks and Combined Attacks cover a lot of situations.  To avoid or minimise the penalties of multiple attacks, I would take inspiration from Two-Weapon Fighting, Rapid Attack and Penalty Skill Levels. As an example:
 
Automated Targeting Systems: While using ATS, ranged Multiple Attacks take a half phase and OCV/DCV penalties are reduced by 4 each (33 CP)
 
You might want to add a condition or two like "Requires a Computer Operations skill check at -3 to activate" or "Drains Battery (Cost 3 END each phase)" both a -½ limitation which would bring the cost down to 22 CP or 17 CP if both are required.
 
Sub elements come from:
a. Ignores -2 OCV, allowing to make an additional attack at no penalty (based on two-Weapon Fighting) - 10 CP per level
b. Counteracts 1 DCV penalty imposed by the Multiple Attack maneuver. It can never raise DCV above the character base value - 2 CP per level
c. Multiple Attack only takes a half phase (based on Rapid Attack) - 5 CP for HTH or Ranged only; 10 CP for any kind of Attacks.
 
 

So far, so good. White Phantom is a very nice twist.
 
Fist of Hou
 
This member of the group is Chinese. The ninja clans decided that they needed an ethnic Chinese operative for espionage and assassination in China and amongst Chinese communities and they recruited accordingly. Trained from childhood he is only ever called Wei. Whenever someone is needed to infiltrate Chinese organisations, Wei is the one that is used when just another Chinese face will not be noticed. His code of honour lead to him being given the name Fist of Hou and he lives upto the ideal whenever he can. He feels a great satisfaction in killing Chinese officials who abuse their power or making sure evidence arises that leads to them being publicly disgraced or executed. He knows Kung Fu in several different forms as well as Ninjutsu.
He does not like the Japanese members like White Phantom or Silent Assassin both of whom frighten him. He is appalled by Iron Hawk not because she is a woman but due to her zeal in killing people.

Nothing against you, but I’ve heard this proactive vs. reactive argument before.  
    Let’s remember the Police and Fire Department are also “reactive” by this definition.  There are examples of Supers being more proactive about the world and its problems.  Squadron Supreme, Authority and also the Justice Lords from Justice League animated series.  If that’s the game you’re looking for than that’s great. And it could be a lot of fun.  But without very powerful characters I don’t think you can pull it off.
  This is not to say that your PLAYERS shouldn’t be more active in the game.  Encourage them to come to you with plot threads they’d like to follow up on or Searches for/Hunted by’s they want to see more of. Maybe try out some “blue booking”  (writing in story form or simple listing what their character does) for an investigation on their own. 
   This not only takes some of the creative load off you but also gets the other people in the game more involved and thinking about what their character wants out of life.  And if they still want to take over the world, then have at it.  
   They couldn’t do it any worse.

My favorite charm of all charms. I have used that incantation many times for many different things. 😄

Okay, I was going to do all this long-hand, but it's after two-AM my time (new blood pressure meds are screwing up my sleep rhythms), so I am going to do it this way:
 
 
To help those folks still wrestling with the difference between what Panpiper is talking about and a house rule that says your powers have to be prebuilt, I offer this:
 
I have a Pool with fifty points in it.
 
I have the following pre-built powers because my GM doesn't want me to waste valuable table time building powers mid-game:
 
Energy Blast: 50 pts
Flight 25 pts
Flight 50 pts
Force Field 30 pts
Force Field 25 pts
Entangle: 25 pts
Swimming 25 pts
Desolidification 40 pts
Enhanced senses 15 pts
Images 25 pts
 
 
 
What we have here a long, long list of things that totals a bit more than 50 points.  However, they are all built and spec'ed out nicely, and the GM has approved them.   At any point during the game, I can use some portion of my Phase to switch them around:
 
I respond to the sirens dumping everything into Flight-- I take the 50 point built and run with it.   As I approach, I decided I need to be careful about what I'm getting into, so I change to the 25 pts of flight and the 25 pts of Forcefield.  As I survey the scene, I want make sure I get all my PER bonuses, so I find a perch and trade Flight for the Enhanced Senses, leaving the FF active.  I see the bad guy, and decide to Entangle him.  I don't want to drop the senses, but I have to drop something, so I switch the FF off, use the Entangle, and hope for the best.
 
 
Should the need arise, I can keep doing this, through all three-hundred-and-one points of powers that I have pre-built per House Rule or, if you must, "mandatory -0 Limitation."
 
 
This is _not_ what Panpiper is wanting get a discount for.  The last bit of the discussion makes that more clear than ever.
 
What Panpiper is proposing is that I leave my lair having selected up to my pool max in powers-- let's say I took Flight and Force Field, and that's all I have, no matter what I opt to turn off.  There is nothing else for me to turn on until I have satisfied the condition of the Limitation-- say "returning to my lair."  I can turn off the Flight and the FF, but I can't turn on the Desolidification because I "don't have it with me" for whatever SFX-appropriate reason.  Even if I turn off Flight and Forcefield, the only thing I can turn on is Flight or Forcefield-- if I chose correctly, then Flight _and_ Forcefield.  I must satisfy a condition of the Limitation to change my actual preloaded powers--
 
 
That's it!  That should help keep this more understandable: we need to denote a difference between "prebuilt" and "preloaded."  Personally, since I swear I have seen it more than once in the published material (and even if I hadn't, it's undeniably a limitation of the usefulness of the power pool, even if the powers it builds still work as perfectly as they were built to work), I can see zero problems with allowing such a limitation.  Honestly, if the pool is particularly small and all the prebuilds are large (say the character would realistically be able to only use two or perhaps three on any loadout), I might even go lower than 1/4.
 
At any rate, "must have powers pre-built" and must have powers "pre-loaded and can't change them until Condition X" are vastly different things.
 
 
Good night, Amigos; I'm going to try the bed again.
  
 
 
 

The Hardest Lessons (Warning; Potentially 'dark champions' disturbing.)
 
Morgana was a mere seven years old when she encountered her first predatory pedophile. The fellow saw the strange-looking, but still quite attractive child running around the carnival alone. He figured he got lucky when she chanced past the shadows he was lurking in. He grabbed her from behind pinning her to his chest far more strongly than she could resist while covering her mouth, her muffled screams utterly swamped by the noise of the carnival.

By this point in her life, she had been introduced to most of the spells that were in the grimoire but had little experience with casting any of them, so she could do nothing while he carried her off. In the back of a van, he tied her up, gagged her, and most worse of all, covered her head in a sac. That done, he drove off to some unknown destination.

The drive was a good twenty minutes, during which time she was able to calm herself to concentrate. She spent her time remembering everything she could about the "Ghostly Chill" spell her mother had tried to teach her. Her mom knew there were dangerous people in the world and had tried to convey that lesson. But sometimes lessons need to be learned the hard way so they really sink in. That lesson now learned, she recalled all the instruction with deadly seriousness, rehearsing it repeatedly in her mind.

She whispered the old words over and over like a mantra, invoking their power to aid her memory, "Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis ’s bethad, do chél dénmha!"

The ride done, her abductor carried her into a room where he took off her hood, preparing to do his worst. She didn't scream, she didn't struggle, she just took a good look at him. The predator was confused at her odd lack of apparent terror. Then her eyes went white as she looked into his soul with Blindsight. She wanted to see what such a person truly looked like, so she could more easily identify such dangers in the future.

At the sight of her eyes suddenly going white as she stared at him, the villain stood with a start! He opened his mouth to speak, but Morgana had seen enough. She nailed him with Ghostly Chill and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, right on top of her! She was trussed up too much to use her arms to get out from under him and struggle as she might, she couldn't wiggle out.

Again she calmed herself. There was another spell, "Spirit of Akasha" that she had studied but not yet accomplished. Now her life might depend on it. Once more she recalled her lessons, again with the mantra, and while it took some time, the seriousness of her plight catalyzed her success. She phased to spirit. Her ropes fell through her as she glided up and through the unconscious body of her abductor.

She looked around the room, a large closet really. There was little in it save a mattress and a bucket, no window. There was a pile of discarded children's clothing in a corner. Then she noticed that the mattress was covered in bloodstains, and the pedophile had a big knife sheathed on his belt.

It was a day for lessons, there are some truly dark evils in the world as her mother had warned her. She understood what had happened here, apparently at least several times. Morgana was torn now with a hard ethical choice, a really tough choice to face at the young age of seven. 

Her mother had long counselled her on the extreme necessity of their hiding their magic from the world. She had learned the histories, especially of what was done with those simply suspected of witchcraft. She dared not go to the authorities to report this man, there would be too many questions she could not answer. Yet if she simply left, he would continue to perpetrate this extreme evil. She nailed him again with her Ghostly Chill, just to be sure he stayed down. She wasn't going to take any chances.

She stood there and stared at him for a long while, just wrestling with her choice. It was a futile struggle really, as she knew pretty much right away what she had to do. The time was spent convincing herself she 'could' do it. It was during this mental struggle that she discovered a few more of her cantrip magics, as the room glowered from her mood, and as she got closer to her resolve, her eyes started to burn and her hands started to crackle with red arcane lightning.

As her resolve to do what needed to be done reached its fruition, she invoked the Charm of Making once again to catalyze her Arcane Lightning, "Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis ’s bethad, do chél dénmha!"

A red lightning bolt erupted from her hands and with one fell stroke, killed the monster as he lay. He would harm no more.

Morgana searched the house, in case there were any other kids he had kidnapped still there and alive. She found none. She resolved to hide the evidence of how this monster died by setting fire to the house. She'd already ascertained it was in the middle of nowhere.

Not more than a couple of hours had passed in the evening since she's been taken. The carnival would be in operation for a few more still. They didn't drive so far she couldn't maybe see the carnival lights from a height. This one she had done before, I mean what child wouldn't learn to fly first and foremost. The "Wings of Aether" bore her aloft. She had to fly quite high up to see more than the occasional street lamp, but soon enough fortune shone upon her, and she did indeed see the telltale light shape of the carnival's Ferris wheel.

She flew home while pondering what she should say, or if she should say anything at all. She knew now that she could take care of herself. She feared though that her mother might overreact and seek to curtail her freedom so as to "keep her safe". In the end, she resolved to say nothing. No one would know that this night, she had killed someone. She knew she had done the right thing, and as long as no one knew, there would be no consequence.

She slept soundly that night. Her demons were already defeated that day.

I think that it must be looked at in the context of other -1/4 limitations.  Yes, "magic only" is very versatile.  Remove the -1/4 limitation and it is fully versatile - it can do absolutely anything.  If the VPP could only be used when in alternate ID, or when the character is wearing a very nondescript token, or would fail in an intense magnetic field, would it be less useful than being limited to magic only?
 
The value of the limitation does not vary with the base utility of the underlying ability it limits.  It varies with the extent to which it limits that underlying ability.  "Magic only" does not limit what the VPP can do by very much.  If it limited what the VPP could do by a lot, it would not be a -1/4 limitation.
 
How much of "absolutely any power that could possibly be achieved, with any SFX" has been removed?  Certainly not "most" or "half" of its effectiveness.  But slightly limited.  Well, that "slightly limited" is what a -1/4 limitation is.

First off, I would strongly encourage you to let your silver age heroes be 400 points.  If you are used to older editions, now that 6th doesn't have figured characteristics or elemental controls the points don't go as far as they used too (Multipowers are still a thing, but unless you can afford some powers outside it your characters can feel anemic).  In general, 400 point characters feel more like comic heroes.

As to your real question: the biggest thing to sort out in a Hero team vs. Villain team vs. Mega villain fight is how long do you want a fight to last. 
You decide this when setting campaign limits.  How many attacks are getting thrown around, how many are hitting, and how much damage is getting through?

If a hero with a 12d6 attack, 5 speed, 23 Def, 8 OCV and DCV and 40 stun fights a mirror image of himself, he will
- hit about (edited) 62.5% of the time (because his OCV and DCV match)
- on an average roll his 12d6 attack will do 42 stun against his 23 def, allowing 19 stun though
- Assuming he isn't con stunned, he will drop on the 3rd hit (having *just* avoided going down after the 2nd hit)
- Given that he has a (EDITED) 62.5% chance to hit, he will likely get that third hit near the end of his first turn or early in the 2nd turn of combat (if he is unlucky).  If it goes into the 2nd turn of combat, post segment 12 recoveries will mean he some stun is recovered, meaning you may or may not need an extra hit to drop the opponent depending on how high their recovery is.

This is what happens if the character and his mirror just stand there and hit each other.  If folks start dodging, blocking, multiattacking, etc things get complex.
If someone rolls above average to hit, more hits happen faster.  If someone rolls above average for damage, it may only take 2 hits instead of 3 to drop their opponent.  This leads to a fight that is over in phase 5 or 8 instead of 12 or on the next turn.  That is probably fine if the player feels like their good rolls are resulting in their character defeating enemies faster (which they should!)
If you want fights to last longer, reduce damage, reduce the chance to hit by limiting OCV/increasing DCV, or increase defenses.  If you want combat to go faster, reverse that.

I personally like combats to last from 1 to 1.5 turns (10-18 segments).  If an enemy goes down in less than 6 segments they feel weak, if it takes longer than 2 turns people get bored.

In general, for new players I like to have villain teams that match the PCs pretty well but have one fewer member, that way the individual fights are pretty even but the extra manpower means the PCs are likely OK.  An actually even fight will usually go the PCs way as they are usually much more focused on getting the most out of every action than you are as the GM running the Enemies.

If you want a group of PCs to fight a master villain, that villain needs to be able to take hits from *all* the PCs and last for as long as you want the fight to last.  So their Defenses need to be higher.  Higher DCV means fewer hits land, but that can be frustrating for players.  High enough Def to allow just 5-6 stun past defenses instead of 15-25 goes a long way to making it feel like attacks matter but that you need the team to take this guy.  Lower defenses combined with Damage Reduction can be good for master villains as it allows weaker attacks to matter but doesn't allow one really lucky roll from doing too much damage & ending the fight quickly.
While the PCs are fighting the bad guy, that bad guy needs to be doing enough damage to drop a PC in 1-2 hits.  The bad guy is unlikely to be getting nearly as many attacks as the whole PC team, so they need to be able to make it matter when they do get an action.  It is *very* common for master villains to have attacks 6-8 DC higher than the PCs for this reason.

Re: What would you put in this Multipower?
 
Invisibility or a limited shapeshift- the nanites reconfiguring skin color, adding or subtracting tattoos or facial structure
 
Universal translater, only usable for electronic media- nanites building a datajack and interface with the brain
 
Unusual senses- ability to detect em fields or chemical traces
 
Aid or healing that takes extra time- nanites building up specific muscles or repairing damage
 
A little extra armor
 
A low level eb or hand to hand attack- nanites building an electrical charge and releasing it on contact, maybe only usable to harm sensitive electronics
 
Clairsentience, retrocognition, only to detect past prescence of an electromagnetic signature or detect the "fingerprint" of a specific device or weapon
 
A low level of dispel or suppress vs another host's internal nanites ie yours fighting his
 
A low level transformation attack that gives someone else your chr's abilities by some of the nanites transferring to a new host and slowly reproducing there, hard if not impossible on 10 points I know
 
 
 

At various times I've mentioned here that, since the official Champions Universe is a hobby of mine, I found myself becoming a sort of unofficial "lore-master" to the Champions Online player community, answering their questions on the game's forums about elements of the setting. That has sometimes prompted me to compile information on particular topics for their easy reference. Occasionally I've transcribed some of that info here for our tabletop gaming community when I thought it might be of general interest, and that has been received positively.
 
The Champions Universe, being inspired by the major mainstream comics companies, embraces the full range of classic super character origins you see in those comics: mutagenic accidents, genetic mutation, radical scientific inventions, mystic martial arts, aliens, sorcery, gods and supernatural creatures, cosmic entities, etc. However, there are a number of origin concepts described in Champions  books that IMHO are more original and distinctive to the setting, but don't require characters with backgrounds so unusual that players would need a lot of information or elaborate setup to use them. Even if you don't use the official CU, these origin concepts can be inserted into most original four-color super campaign worlds without much effort. So I thought outlining origins in that category might inspire some of my fellow Champions gamers.
 
I'd be happy to flesh out more details on any of these origins if anyone asks; but every entry cites the published books in which folks can read more about them. I hope some of you find this useful.
______________________________________________________
 
Alien Gene-Tampering:  Superhuman powers resulting from aliens mucking with Human DNA is a well-established comic-book trope. On Champions Earth the repeatedly-invasive Qularr are one likely candidate. The main reason the Qularr invaded Earth in the first place was so they could study the Human genome on a large scale, to understand why and how Humans manifest superpowers with greater frequency and average power than nearly any other species, including the Qularr. They hope to engineer that capacity in themselves. At least one experiment along those lines has yielded a super-powered hybrid, although by accident. It's highly likely other similar experiments are being conducted by Qularr currently on Earth, or perhaps on Humans kidnapped and brought back to Qularr space.
What virtually no one knows is that one reason Humans do manifest powers more often, is because that genetic potential was placed in them by incredibly ancient and advanced aliens called the Progenitors. Two million years ago the Progenitors advanced the evolution of Humanity's ancestor species to the next stage of sapience. Half a million years ago they experimented on Homo erectus, creating the first of the ageless superhuman Empyrean race. Champions Universe suggests they might also be responsible for the creation of the Birdpeople of Thaar twelve thousand years ago.
In any case, the Progenitors still exist, continuing their experiments and periodically monitoring the progress of past ones. It's not unreasonable to assume that they would do some "followup" work on Human DNA.
You can read much more about the Qularr and Progenitors in Champions Beyond. The Birdpeople of Thaar are described in Champions Universe.

Coruscations of Power:  In the worldwide accidental cataclysm which devastated the alien planet Ashraal centuries ago, and gave birth to the awesome cosmic villain Xarriel, discreet bursts of energy from the main explosion were cast across space and time, emerging in random locations in the space-time continuum. To date at least five of these "coruscations of power" have appeared on or near the Earth in recent years, and affected humans in their vicinity, creating the supervillains Photon, Stareye, Sunspot, and Vector, and the superhero Victory.
The coruscations can manifest as bursts of light from space, but in the past have been mistaken for solar flares or lightning storms. Powers induced by them can, but not must, include various forms of energy projection, flight (usually very fast), mind-affecting abilities, enhanced physical strength, speed, and durability, and the ability to survive in hostile environments (even space).
Xarriel is fully detailed in Champions Beyond, while the other villains mentioned are in the Champions Villains trilogy, and Victory in Champions Universe.

DEMONic Experiments:  One of the classic superhero origins is the person unwillingly subjected to villainous scientific experiments who uses their newly-gained powers to escape. In the CU quite a few official supers came about that way, particularly due to actions by VIPER and ARGENT. But DEMON, the worldwide supernatural villain org, often conduct their own magical analogues to scientific research, which have spawned magical superhumans.
One official villain, named Riptide, was a young runaway girl before a member of DEMON found her and turned her over to his Morbane. The Morbane attempted a magic experiment to bind the girl to a water elemental, hoping to create a strong but mentally pliable minion. But Riptide's crazed fear at what was done to her was now backed with elemental powers, enabling her to force her way to freedom. The supervillain now called Morningstar was the result of a tactic that DEMON often uses since it became estranged from the rulers of Hell: forcing a summoned demon to temporarily occupy the human body of a DEMON Brother, giving the Brother a measure of demonic power but with the human personality in control. For unknown reasons, Morningstar's possession proved permanent. He fought DEMON's enemies for some time, under enchantment to ensure his loyalty, until a battle with magical heroes severed the control spell and returned his free will. Morningstar left DEMON to become an independent supervillain. (Both characters are detailed in Champions Villains Vol. 3.)
Another villain in the service of DEMON, Professor Samedi, was a minor DEMON member, and lackluster musician, before his Morbane had him try to play an enchanted fiddle the Morbane had acquired. Samedi found he could cast several potent spells with the fiddle's music, but it changed him physically, making him look almost skeletally gaunt; and changed his personality, to more actively, confidently malevolent. So there's precedent for a Morbane to have one of his disposable minions "test drive" a magic item. Perhaps a given item would change the wielder's personality in a more positive way. (Prof. Samedi is detailed in DEMON: Servants Of Darkness.)

Department 17:  Since World War II, the United States government has researched ways to safely and reliably create superhumans, as well as to more effectively control them, with few successes. Their efforts have often resulted in severe, even fatal physical and mental side effects to their subjects, and produced as many supervillains as superheroes. During WW II the US military set up Project Rainbow for this purpose, at Fort McLaughlin (now McLaughlin Air Force Base) near the small town of Haynesville, Kansas. After the war the Project was declassified and officially shut down, and McLaughlin AFB appears nearly abandoned today.
This was a ruse. Project Rainbow was never shut down. Still secretly based at McLaughlin, what is now titled Department 17 is the Defense Department's hub for research into superpower generation and superhuman control. Under its current director, General Clarence Smith, it conducts a wide variety of research involving drugs and chemicals, radiation treatments, genetic engineering, and other exotic methods. Much of the Department's current research focuses on refining the Cyberline procedure used for PRIMUS's Avenger program. The Department's scientists are also very interested in investigating any reports of new manifestations of superpowers.
General Smith might go to great lengths to keep 17's existence and activities secret.  He's also used some "creative" accounting to keep his department funded. Department 17 is described in Champions Universe, as are PRIMUS and Cyberline.

"Divine" Intervention: In the Champions Universe, all the gods and demons of myth and religion that humans still remember actually exist. Although very powerful in their home astral dimensions, a metaphysical barrier called the Ban prevents them from manifesting on Earth with their full power. But there are a few ways divine beings can create lesser-powered Earthly agents to champion their causes.
One of these ways is to infuse some of their power, and sometimes personality, into a deserving human host, creating a superhuman reflecting the qualities of his or her patron deity. Quite a few official Champions heroes and villains have been empowered in this way. In keeping with comic-book origin conventions, their empowerment typically comes under unusual and dramatic circumstances, often at a key turning point in the life of the hero. For example, the first Johnny Hercules was given an amulet by an "apparition" of Zeus when the circus he worked for toured Greece, containing the "Hercules Force," the power of Hercules as a demigod which he abandoned when he became fully a god. The Nigerian hero Ogun gained power over metal after being beaten near to death by criminal thugs, when he received a vision of the Yoruba god of the forge of the same name.
Ogun is thoroughly detailed in Champions Worldwide, while the current Johnny Hercules is featured in the PDF book The Hercules Force, available from the Hero Games website store. Much more on CU gods and the Ban can be found in The Mystic World.

Empyrean Heritage:  For hundreds of thousands of years, the immortal superhuman offshoot of humanity called Empyreans have existed alongside their human cousins. While they maintain their own city of Arcadia in Antarctica, hidden from human discovery by advanced devices, the majority of Empyreans choose to live incognito among humanity. The general population is ignorant of their existence; only a few superheroes have been trusted with the secret, although the Lemurians know of Arcadia and have been enemies of the Empyreans for many millennia. A few Empyreans have acted as superheroes or villains in the modern era.
Empyreans sometimes have children by humans, who are always either normal humans or full Empyreans. These children may grow up unaware of their true heritage; but the Empyreans' leaders scan the world for any new Empyrean offspring, and when they discover one induct him or her into their society. But individual Empyreans can follow whatever activities they like, provided they don't reveal their race's existence to mankind.
All Empyreans are ageless, physically superhuman to a greater or lesser extent, and can fly. They can manifest a wide range of mental or energy powers, although the type and degree varies based on innate ability and the interest a given Empyrean has in developing specific powers, usually related to their preferred pastimes. The Empyreans and Arcadia are extensively described in Hidden Lands.

Golden Age Legacies:  In the real world the earliest comic-book superheroes appeared starting in 1938, and continued to be created over the course of World War II. Champions Earth's first actual superhumans also began to appear during this period. Most of those heroes eventually retired, to be replaced by newer generations; but often those newer heroes were inspired by their predecessors, in many cases even to the point of adopting their code names as an homage. Most such "legacy heroes" were either the relatives or proteges of the originals, or sought their blessing to carry on their names. However, certain lineages originating in the Golden Age have been particularly fertile in continuing to produce new heroes to uphold the family tradition.
In the winter of 1939 Kiril Lenskii was a young officer in the Soviet army serving in his country's war against Finland. Badly wounded in an attack that wiped out the rest of his unit, and overcome by the severe winter cold, Lenskii collapsed unconscious over underground caverns which released strange gasses. As they entered his lungs his body began to change. He awoke to discover that not only was his body healed and stronger than before, but he was now immune to the cold, and could even create intense cold, snow, and ice over limited areas. Given the code name, General Zima ("winter"), over the course of World War II Kiril Lenskii became the Soviet military's leading superhero, and remained so for many years.
The three sons of fisherman and former naval sailor Morimoto Takashi (by a mysterious woman who may have been a supernatural spirit) were each born with extraordinary abilities: enormous strength and durability (Ichiro); incredible speed (Jiro); and probability manipulation (Saburo) manifesting as phenomenal luck for himself, and phenomenal misfortune for his opponents. The three young men were recruited by the Japanese government to fight their country's foes, first China in the 1930s, and later the Americans and their allies during WW II. They were among Japan's most prominent superhuman champions during and after the war.
Each of the three Morimoto brothers had more than one superhuman offspring, while all seven of General Zima's children developed super powers. Today there are over two dozen "super" members of the extended Morimoto family, and descendants of General Zima, active in their respective homelands. It would be reasonable to expect a few of their relatives to have emigrated to other countries at some point.
Although the histories of these characters don't explicitly state it one way or the other, there's no reason to assume superhumans from their lineages necessarily manifest the same types of powers as their ancestors. The mutations of all three original Morimoto brothers were radically different from each other; while General Zima's origin implies his abilities resulted from his body adapting to a specific environment.
The full write-ups for General Zima and the Morimoto brothers appear in the latest edition of Golden Age Champions (for Hero System Sixth Edition).

Hzeel Biomatter:  Champions Earth has experienced several alien invasions in the past, and is currently dealing with renewed intrusions by the Gadroon and Qularr. What no one on Earth knows yet, is that another aggressive species, the Hzeel, also have the Earth in their sights. These short, blue-skinned humanoids have scouted Earth for nearly two decades, wanting it as an advance staging area in their war against the Dorvalans (Ironclad's race).
At least two Hzeel scout craft have crashed on Earth and been discovered by humans. One of these was salvaged by Roger Warwell, aka the Warlord, and its technology became the basis for his own weapon designs. Hzeel technology is partly biological, and can have radical unpredictable effects when it comes in contact with human tissue. Two humans, the solo supervillain Howler, and the Warlord's minion Warcry, gained superhuman vocal powers when Hzeel communications devices were implanted in their throats (this happening spontaneously on contact in the case of Howler).
The effect also extends to tissues from Hzeel themselves; VIPER's staff supervillain Oculon gained his powerful eyebeams from eyes from an Hzeel corpse transplanted to his sockets. (Hzeel don't have eyebeams, they're the result of interaction between the two species' biologies.) Anyone using recognizable Hzeel materials would undoubtedly be of interest to both the Hzeel and the Warlord.
The Hzeel have a whole chapter in Champions Beyond,  as do the Qularr and Gadroon, and the Dorvalans are also described there. The other villains mentioned are in the Champions Villains trilogy, except Oculon who's written up in VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent. Ironclad and the rest of the Champions superhero team get full write-ups for their beginning careers in the Champions genre book, with more experienced versions in Champions Universe.

Kelvarite:  This mysterious, green-glowing extraterrestrial mineral has been found in meteorites from several falls. It's a powerful source of energy, but is extremely unstable and prone to explosion when disturbed. Some people who have been bombarded by radiation or fragments from exploding kelvarite have gained superhuman powers, typically (but not exclusively) superhuman strength and durability, and some type of enhanced movement capability, e.g. super-running or -leaping, flight, or teleportation. They also acquire a susceptibility to radiation from other samples of kelvarite. Known superhumans with this origin include the solo villains Tachyon and Thunderbolt II,  Dr. Destroyer's servant Meteor (all in the CV trilogy), and the African superhero Gazelle (in Champions Worldwide).
Large organizations such as the US government and UNTIL have secured all the kelvarite they can find, but sometimes lend samples to research laboratories. Other kelvarite meteorites remain to be discovered. However, what no one is aware of is that what they call kelvarite is actually impure samples, which is why it's unstable. Pure kelvarite doesn't resemble the impure mineral, and is extremely rare on Earth. Its energies respond to the will of intelligent beings in physical contact with it, allowing them to wield formidable and versatile energy-projection powers. (It isn't obvious that the power comes from the kelvarite itself.) The only pure kelvarite discovered so far was made into rings worn by the four men who have used the superheroic identity, Meteor Man.
Kelvarite is described in Champions Universe, while the first Meteor Man is written up in Golden Age Champions.

Martial-Arts Temples:  For centuries, hidden enclaves have existed in the Far East where dedicated monks have practiced the most advanced physical and spiritual martial-arts techniques, including virtually superhuman abilities for those with the skill and determination to master them. Several official Champions heroes and villains were trained at such enclaves. The most legendary of these sites among  knowledgeable martial artists are Yengtao Temple, somewhere in the mountains of China; and the city of Shamballah, in a cave beneath a mountain in the Himalayas. Both sites are hidden from the outside world both physically and magically, so that only those already highly disciplined in body and mind can find them. But those who do can study almost any martial art that has ever existed, and perhaps achieve abilities like the heroes of legend.
Various students at Yengtao Temple have returned to the outside world to become heroes, or villains. In the present day the Millennium City superhero Nightwind, his bitter rival Jade Phoenix, and the Hong Kong hero Golden Dragon Fist, all learned their extraordinary skills and ch'i powers from Yengtao. Jade Phoenix was responsible for the destruction of Yengtao Temple and murder of the monks in 1996, but there may be other former students alive in the world. And Shamballah, second only to Yengtao as a repository of mystic martial-arts secrets, still stands.
But Shamballah also guards a dark secret even further beneath the mountain: its evil twin city, Agharti, prison of the Dark Monks, also extraordinarily skilled but utterly corrupt. While the Shamballans prevent the Dark Monks from escaping, they don't forbid outsiders from visiting the city, or leaving afterwards. The villain Zhua Teng ("grasping vine") received training in Agharti.
The story of Yengtao Temple, and description of some of its unique techniques, appear in Champions Universe. Shamballah and Agharti are described in considerable detail in Hidden Lands. Nightwind's latest write-up is in Millennium City, while Jade Phoenix is in Champions Villains Volume Three. Zhua Teng is fully written up in Martial Enemies Volume 1.
 
Mythic Forces: Under the entry for "Divine" Intervention, above, is the story of how circus strongman Johnny Hercules received the Hercules Force in an amulet bestowed by Zeus. Johnny died in the Battle of Detroit, and his amulet, apparently powerless, was buried with him. But the Hercules Force continued to exist, and over a decade later "chose" another human vessel for its power, a student of Classical culture, who became the second and current Johnny Hercules. One of his greatest foes is the monstrous Typhon, once a bitter, angry archaeologist who was the recipient of the Typhon Force, a sort of balance to the Hercules Force.
The PDF book, The Hercules Force, which fully writes up both characters, suggests that other "forces" could exist based on other gods, demigod heroes, or divine-level monsters. The examples imply that these would be mythic figures who are either dead or imprisoned, e.g. Achilles, Python, Baldur, or Ymir. Powers granted would be consistent with the legendary abilities of those entities. The forces are most likely drawn to people with personalities similar to the original source being and/or familiarity and strong attachment to the culture it comes from. They would differ from empowerment directly by a mythic god in that there would be no potential meddling in the character's life by their patron divinity.

Professional Armorers:  One of the staples of the superhero genre is the gadget-using super, with no actual super-powers but employing equipment made of special materials and/or incorporating advanced technology. Most comic-book heroes build their own gadgets, or have them designed for them by benevolent patron inventors or agencies. Some heroes acquire prototype devices by accident, including "liberating" them from their villainous makers (often earning them pursuit by the vengeful villain). But it's not unheard-of in comics for a scientist -- usually one of criminal bent -- to sell his technological services to whoever will pay.
In the official Champions Universe there are several possible sources of scientific expertise for hire to aspiring supers. Most of these are considered criminals by most world law-enforcement, so don't typically contract with anyone of obvious heroic bent who might cause them trouble. But for another criminal, or a mercenary or vigilante of grey morality, they're often the route to quick super status.
Millennium City is the home base of Wayland Talos, a brilliant inventor with a pathological hatred of superheroes. To strike back at them he supplies villains with everything from questionite hand weapons, to energy blasters or jet packs, to full suits of powered armor. He's considered one of the underworld's premier armorers, with few individual competitors. One of those competitors is known as Brainchild, a telepathic gadgeteer who primarily supplies tactical and technical support to other criminals, rather than take the risk of committing his own crimes.
On the international front, the Warlord is a powered-armor villain and would-be conqueror who's also a major dealer in high-tech armaments, and who has created super-class weaponry and armor for individuals for the right price. The unscrupulous corporation called ARGENT does a thriving business in service to criminals; not just supplying gadgetry, but even physically augmenting a person through bionic implants or experimental biochemical treatments. The independent city-state of Larisagrad was once a center for the USSR's classified scientific research, including advanced weaponry, and experiments to create true superhumans. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and thus their funding, the scientists of Larisagrad chose to freelance to the highest bidder.
The only truly benign inventor engaged in remotely similar activity is named Ralph Polarewski. Formerly the full-time technical supervisor to the famous Sentinels superhero team, Ralph left them after a bitter argument with the team's leader. He's become a well-known freelance contractor to members of the superhero community who use gadgets but have no technical skills of their own. As written he primarily works for people already established as heroes (and would never sell his services to someone of questionable morality), but would be well able to supply an equipment-based origin to someone who could convince him of their sincerity and dedication.
ARGENT  and Larisagrad are described in Champions Universe. The Warlord and his organization are fully written up in Volume One of the Champions Villains trilogy, while Brainchild and Wayland Talos get the same treatment in Volume Three. Ralph Polarewski is detailed in the book, Everyman.

Project Sunburst:  In 1994 a group of American "rogue generals" assigned over 200 volunteer soldiers to what they were told was a war game. In fact the generals were experimenting to try to create superpowered soldiers resistant to radiation, by detonating a nuclear device near them while they wore protective suits. Most of the volunteers soon died of radiation poisoning, while a handful slipped into comas. Most of the comatose were placed into a secret holding facility, codenamed "The Crypt," while a few were stored at other sites.
In the intervening years, several of these survivors have developed superhuman physical and energy powers. A few, such as the master villain Sunburst and his follower Radium, awakened spontaneously. Others, like Dr. Destroyer's security chief, Gigaton, were aroused with help from other villains. Some escaped the Crypt on their own, while others were "liberated." All the active survivors except Gigaton and the powered-armor villain, Armadillo, have joined Sunburst. However, the remaining comatose subjects are still being kept in secret in the Crypt, not just from the public but from the generals' own superiors.
Most of these villains are fully written up in Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains, although Armadillo is in Vol. 3

Radium-X:  This radioactive element has been known to science on Champions Earth since at least the 1930s. It's well known for its radiation's mutagenic properties, able to induce radical, even super-empowering mutations in living organisms under certain conditions. For example, it's a critical component of Dr. Phillippe Moreau's process for creating Manimals. The late superhero Tiger, a former leader of the famous Sentinels superhero team, was a former UNTIL agent who became a man-tiger hybrid through accidental exposure to radium-X and some of Moreau's chemicals during a raid on the Doctor's lab. In 1940 a Bulgarian laboratory researcher gained formidable magnetic powers after the failure of an experimental magnetron being powered by radium-X flooded her lab with radiation. She took the code-name Leitstern ("lodestar") and was drafted to fight with Germany during WW II.
The preceding examples suggest that the specific mutations caused by radium-X are thematically linked to the environmental conditions applying at the time. The origin of Leitstern also highlights another major use for radium-X, as a concentrated high-energy power source for various devices. The Golden Age villain Liquifier needed that element to power his Matter-Liquifier Ray, which could change any inanimate solid matter to a liquid state. It's possible that other radical technology can only be powered by radium-X's unique radiation.
Radium-X can be purchased legally. Various research laboratories are noted as studying or using it. However, the clear implication of references to it is that it's rare and expensive, leading to attempts to steal it by people with less than upright intentions for it.
Dr. Phillippe Moreau and his followers are fully written up in Champions Villains Volume One: Master Villains, while both Leitstern and Liquifier are detailed in Golden Age Champions. Tiger has never been given a full background story or Hero System character sheet, but is mentioned and briefly described in CV Vol. 1, Champions Universe, and Book Of The Destroyer.

The Swords of Nama:  During the Dark Ages the serpent-god Nama, who is today the patron deity of VIPER, set out to become a great power among Men. He gathered six mighty warriors from across Eurasia to be his agents and generals, to conquer an empire in his name. For each warrior he forged a powerful enchanted sword. But before they could achieve any major successes the warriors quarreled, which ultimately led to all their deaths. The Swords of Nama were scattered. Over the intervening centuries some of these legendary swords reappeared, and a few were destroyed; but others remain to be discovered in ruins across Eastern Europe.
The story of the six "vipers upon the land" appears as a small part of the history of Nama and VIPER, on p. 6 of the book, VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent. Aside from being called "serpent-blades" the Swords of Nama aren't described, nor are any of their qualities defined, which leaves a player free to imbue a particular sword with any powers desired. Note that Nama is neither good nor evil, and has helped heroes or villains as the mood struck him; so there's no inherent reason for his Swords to be one or the other.

Teleios, the Perfect Man:  The foremost genetic engineer on Champions Earth today, Teleios is infamous for being a cloner of people, and a creator of animalistic monsters, but the range of his genetic expertise goes far beyond that. More than half a dozen official supers, villainous and heroic, owe their powers or very existence to The Perfect Man.
Teleios has the skill to induce almost any super power in any human, whether or not that person already has powers or the potential for them. Teleios will do this for pay, or in exchange for services or favors, as he did for the supervillain-turned-hero Flashover (Champions Universe: News Of The World), and her brother, the villain Hurricane (Champions Villains Vol. 3: Solo Villains). Teleios has been known to bestow powers on someone on a whim, whether or not they want them, like after a dalliance with the Indian woman now known as Monsoon (Champions Worldwide).
The Perfect Man can grow completely original, humanoid or human-looking superhumans with any abilities he chooses. He sometimes sells his creations, as when he supplied VIPER with the powerful monster named Obelisque (Champions Worldwide). Sometimes Teleios turns a creation loose in the world uncontrolled (although not unmonitored), to see how it responds and develops. He did this with the beings labeled the Landsman, and the Lodge (both in Champions Of The North).
The master geneticist can program his creations with whatever skills he or his employer desires. He can even implant elaborate false memories, to the point where the person has no idea he or she is artificial or has any connection to the Perfect Man. This is how Teleios programs the cloned soldiers he sells to other villains and groups. The superheroine called the Teen Dream (Teen Champions), whom Teleios designed as an experiment in social manipulation, is unaware of her real origin and considers herself a true hero. When he makes a creature Teleios implants controlling genes that make it psychologically impossible for that creature to harm him, or may even make it a loyal follower (although those controls have been known to fail on very rare occasions). Those controls can be so subtle that a person isn't consciously aware of them. Although the lore doesn't specify it, it may be possible for Teleios to do this to humans he augments. He definitely is known to build exploitable secret weaknesses into their genetic code, should they turn against him.
Teleios is fully written up in Champions Villains Vol. 1: Master Villains.

Vandaleur Bloodline:  Founded a thousand years ago by their immortal progenitor, Adrian Vandaleur, this widespread clan of sorcerers is one of the premier occult dynasties in the Western world. Although the majority of Vandaleurs have no more talent for magic than most people, the gift for spell casting is far more common among them than in the general populace; and their ranks include some of the most powerful mages in the world.
Members of the family are aware of each other, and sometimes cooperate, sometimes conflict. But Adrian Vandaleur, whose power dwarfs that of his kin, keeps any factionalism from descending into violence. Otherwise individual Vandaleurs are free to follow whatever activities they like. Their personalities and morality vary widely. Some are benevolent, even heroic; others are amoral and ruthless, up to megalomaniacal psychopaths. Most are simply concerned with their own interests.
Any Vandaleur with magical ability and desire to develop it could find family members able and willing to train him. The Vandaleur family are described in detail in Champions Villains Vol. 2: Villain Teams.

The Vita-Man Clan:  Percy Yates was born in Los Angeles in 1910. Brilliant but sickly throughout his youth, he studied biology, chemistry, and nutrition to find ways to improve his own health. In 1939 he discovered a compound which when administered in a pill had a miraculous effect on him, transforming his body to one of perfect health and exceptional physical vigor. Further experimentation led to additional pills granting him true super-powers, including X-ray vision, invisibility, flight, growth to giant size and strength, or shrinking to the size of a mouse.
Yates's discoveries had two major drawbacks. Their effects were only temporary -- his main vitalizing pill lasted about an hour per dose, while his additional abilities endured for only a minute. Yates was also unable to make them work for anyone else -- they interacted with his own unique physiology. Nonetheless he used his new abilities to fight crime under the costumed identity of Vita-Man. Vita-Man was recruited by the Drifter as one of the founding members of the Justice Squadron superhero team, protecting the west coast of the United States during WW II.
Percy Yates's health continued to deteriorate over time, leading to his retirement as Vita-Man in 1948, and his death in 1964. But in the intervening years he learned that several of his family members shared the biological factors which would allow them to use his empowering treatments. Today half a dozen of his kin are using "variations of his discoveries" (wording suggesting that other powers are possible).
Vita-Man's full background and character sheet are included in the Golden Age Champions Secret Files, a PDF collecting outtakes from the manuscript for the latest edition of Golden Age Champions.

The Zodiac Working:  In 1979 the late master villain Archimago, greatest sorceror of the Twentieth Century, attempted this fearsome ritual, to impregnate twelve women by twelve powerful demons. The resulting hybrid children could be used by the demons as hosts to incarnate themselves on Earth with all their power. The ritual was interrupted and the women rescued by the superhero team, the Fabulous Five. The women seemed unharmed and weren't pregnant, so returned home.
Two years later one of these women married and gave birth to a girl who later manifested powers of destructive energy, as well as a propensity for rage and vandalism. She grew up to become the supervillain Frag (fully written up in CV Vol. 3). She has no knowledge of her true origins, thinking herself a mutant. Although she usually appears human, when enraged her form becomes more demonic-looking.
Another of these women gave birth to a son, who now acts as the superhero Pagan (described in the book The Ultimate Mystic). In his superhero identity (resembling a satyr) he's physically superhuman and can project powerful mystic light. Pagan discovered his true heritage when his demonic father Belial attempted to seduce him to his service. Although his diabolical inclinations are strong, Pagan's inherent decency has so far won out.
To date nothing has been revealed about the other ten victims of the Zodiac Working.

Re: Create Hero/Villain link thread
I have to reread a lot of descriptions to get this up to date but hints like the above are appreciated. I am updating the potential links and ideas that have not appeared yet atpresent

Re: drain and supress
 
Look for the Expanded Effect and Variable Effect Advantages in 6E1.

Hello all. Quasi-lurker here and just joined after getting HD. Made my 1st Sup with and got very confused with how it made its calculations. I will post it separately to get your learned opinions. 
 
Oh... and a long time ago I played Champions E1, (then life blindsided me) so a lot had changed since then. 

And he tied a yellow ribbon ‘round the old oak tree.....if you know what I mean.
              “Hoot man, I don’t know where ‘ye been, but ‘ye won first prize!”

Hindu female Jiera Anand

I wan this to have a more.... international flavour.  I like the Vietnamese or maybe Moroccan?

Didn't he used to team up with Downtown and Gentrification?

D stands for Delta of Venus who projects love to calm opponents down.

No, C stands for Cookie. That's good enough for me. 

C Stands For--Caterwaul
 
Catlike speed, agility, and senses with a sonic shriek attack that can shatter steel and pulverize stone.

For the next few stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Ego, Presence), your value will be probably somewhere from 8-20.  If you were designing prior to 6th edition, you already set a value for Dexterity as part of setting your base OCV/DCV.  We are designing a 6th edition character for now.
 
An average, run of the mill human has a value of 10 in these stats.  A value of 13-15 get you noticed with comments, "that person's fairly smart" or "they go to the gym".  A value of 18-20 makes that one of the characteristics which kind of define you.  Comments like "that ones a genius" or "they are a professional body builder/athlete" come up.  Again these are levels for a normal person or even a heroic person.  But for our example, Chill is a superhero.  If you've read comic books, the smartest superhero there make a normal human genius look dumb by comparison.  In those stats, you better off upping those comic book stats by about 10.  This doesn't mean that if Chill isn't exceptionally smart, he should have a 20 Intelligence.  No, rather, if he's noted in that characteristic, you should probably set the value 10 over normal.
 
There are 3 stats where a value of 13 or 18 make more sense than a 15 and 20 respectively due to cost savings.  Those stats are Dexterity, Intelligence, and Presence.    The reason these stats can save you points is because they are the primary stats for skills.   Especially for Intelligence.  A Presence of 15 is a little more useful because it gives you a better Presence attack   And a high Dexterity means you go earlier in a phase, but these aren't essential.  In skills, a value of 13 or 15 (likewise with 18 or 20) are equal; they both give the same benefit to skills relating to those values.  While there is not an urgent need right now on saving points, it helps to be prepared.  So at times, I will choose a 13 or 18 for Chill just because its more efficient.
 
One last note.  In the first paragraph in this entry, you'd note I stated your values is somewhere between 8-20.  What about that below average 8?  If you want to be below average in a stat, 8 is probably the lowest you should go.  8 is a value where you are not considered disabled but your ability is mediocre at best.  The overweight person who gets out of breath going to the refrigerator to grab the last piece of cake probably has a Constitution of 8.  The person who barely graduated high school with a GPA below 2 and thinks the chicken of the sea is actually chicken is probably an 8 Intelligence.  A value of 8 is substandard yet still functional.  I would not suggest going below an 8.  An 8 is effectively a disadvantage in play.  Going less than that can severely hamper you in many ways.  If you still want to go that route, in 6th edition, the two characteristics that you can probably go below that amount is Dexterity and Intelligence.  Again, I would warn you not to do it though.
 
Going back to Chill.  I see him drawn as fairly buff and going routinely to the gym.  He doesn't look like an professional body builder but you wouldn't think him physically weak in any sense of the word.  So, I'd give him a 15.  In comic book terms, he isn't doing any type of physical fighting or doing heroic feats of strength, so there isn't really a reason to bump this up any higher.  He's not known for his strength, so no +10 here.
 
Dexterity helps people go first before others.  It helps set your initiative.  So, in general, the higher up on the initiative table you are, the sooner you get to go or react to situations.  Dexterity is the main stat which represents how graceful you are and how much balance you have.  Chill isn't a klutz and I can see him dance pretty well on the dance floor.  He isn't an Olympic gymnast or professional dancer but he has better reaction times than a normal person.  I'd give him probably a 13.
 
Constitution is very superheroic.  If they didn't have super hero levels of Constitution, then every time they get hit with an attack, they'd just crumple up into a ball and wait till combat is over.  Given that, if he wasn't heroic, I'd probably give him a 15.  He goes regularly to the gym and engages in strength and endurance exercises.  So, being in a superheroic game, I'd buff this by 10 giving a final stat of 25.
 
Intelligence is hard to quantify for some people.  Just using IQ score would probably put most people around 8-13, but it isn't relative to heroic action movies and comics.  Besides which, Intelligence is not just about memory recall and logic.  It also represents speed of learning and attention to details.  I see Chill as being capable of going to college and probably a college student.  He's probably quick on the uptake as far as more mundane things, but can't wrap his head around more esoteric items.  I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and place him at 13.
 
Ego is strength of will.  While not impulsively buying stuff from the home shopping network, I don't see him resisting strong temptations or shrugging off mental controls either.  I'll just leave him as average at a 10.
 
Finally Presence.  Presence is the ability to take command of a room just by entering it.  The ability to face fear in the eye and not blink.  Chill is a comic book character and is probably less afraid of being hurt.  He has the confidence of his powers.  So a base of 15 + another 10 since this is a superheroic stat.  A 25.  This is a very good presence but in concept he could probably be toned down by 5 compared to other heroes.  For now, we'll keep him at 25.