dsatow

#1 I have no issue with any of the solutions presented thus far and I think everything is well discussed.  I have nothing against creating two new stats or not creating two new stats.  The specific GM knows how much those stats will be applicable and used.  I am only suggesting an alternate solution.
 
#2 If the you want to reduce the stat's effect on perception (since by design you can't generally lower the perception below 9+ unless you allow negative stat effects), you could always use a physical limitation.  I would guess at least a -2 PER per 5 point limitation. To be honest, I would make it -2 @ 5pts, -5 @ 10pts, and -8 @ 15 pts.  Similarly, you could use buy it as a limitation on special senses too: -2 @ 1/4, -5 @ 1/2, and -8 @ -1.  Note different GMs would weigh these differently, but I would not go below -2 per 5 pts of physical disadvantage as it becomes less disadvantage and more of a cheap way to buy INT.

Sorry, very late to this thread.  Been concentrating on other things, like getting a job.  
 
1) I think a lot of official villains which hit a defense wall are designed like that because they are designed to be challenging to the 12d6/60 act heroes.  They can be taken out by these heroes but are very dangerous to the same heroes due to the high amount of damage they throw.
2) Having been in several very high damage limit campaigns (over 15d6), the defenses generally goes up as damage goes up. So if your dice start at 12d6 and 27 def, it goes up as your dice goes up: e.g.: 14d6 and 35 def, 16d6 and 40 def, 18d6 and 48 def, 20d6 and 55 def, etc.  CVs are also similar, going up at a similar rate.
3) One of the biggest problems with getting to the high levels of powers is that you can never do a story with them at the lower scale again.  From 12-15d6, you can still have police, robbers, and governments step in and still be a bother.  But at some point, usually after 15d6, these things are quite silly.  It ain't like the comics where you can have a human interest story where the Justice League solves Santa's murder or where the Avengers takes on the Kingpin or the Circus of Crime.  It seems like the OP is fine with this, but it can be limiting.

Let me clarify number three.  Any game can have poignant, emotionally driven stories.  All I am saying is that there is a difference between saving a city or planet vs. a home or a homeless person's encampment.  Both can be emotionally well driven stories but they are driven from different perspectives.   Also, some players and GMs may not want to play games in that small scale.  That's just fine. 
 
In a similar vein, too small a scale, say a street level campaign, would have issues on a galactic level threat.  Batman stories are a good example of this.  A common complaint with Batman is he's fighting with Superman against the forces of Apokolips where one parademon fights with power of 3 squads.  And then has problems with the Penguin.
 
Apples and oranges can both be sweet, but they are still apples and oranges.

I think thou doth missed the broader point I was making about levels scaling up / staying relatively equal / keeping the ability to have heart-touching, humanitarian stories...
 
As has been mentioned a gazillion times, in the comics, everything is relative to the story - so if the writers wanted to have a Punisher / Iron Man crossover, they'd make it happen - whether it made sense or not.
 
And yes, if the Punisher knew Tony Stark was Iron Man, and was seriously going after him; Stark should worry, in the broader sense.
 
But, if like in most comics, Iron Man ran across the Punisher in the midst of a story; and the Punisher had no time to prepare - Tony would have nothing to worry about...
 
All of that wasn't the point however...

Sorry, very late to this thread.  Been concentrating on other things, like getting a job.  
 
1) I think a lot of official villains which hit a defense wall are designed like that because they are designed to be challenging to the 12d6/60 act heroes.  They can be taken out by these heroes but are very dangerous to the same heroes due to the high amount of damage they throw.
2) Having been in several very high damage limit campaigns (over 15d6), the defenses generally goes up as damage goes up. So if your dice start at 12d6 and 27 def, it goes up as your dice goes up: e.g.: 14d6 and 35 def, 16d6 and 40 def, 18d6 and 48 def, 20d6 and 55 def, etc.  CVs are also similar, going up at a similar rate.
3) One of the biggest problems with getting to the high levels of powers is that you can never do a story with them at the lower scale again.  From 12-15d6, you can still have police, robbers, and governments step in and still be a bother.  But at some point, usually after 15d6, these things are quite silly.  It ain't like the comics where you can have a human interest story where the Justice League solves Santa's murder or where the Avengers takes on the Kingpin or the Circus of Crime.  It seems like the OP is fine with this, but it can be limiting.

Sorry, very late to this thread.  Been concentrating on other things, like getting a job.  
 
1) I think a lot of official villains which hit a defense wall are designed like that because they are designed to be challenging to the 12d6/60 act heroes.  They can be taken out by these heroes but are very dangerous to the same heroes due to the high amount of damage they throw.
2) Having been in several very high damage limit campaigns (over 15d6), the defenses generally goes up as damage goes up. So if your dice start at 12d6 and 27 def, it goes up as your dice goes up: e.g.: 14d6 and 35 def, 16d6 and 40 def, 18d6 and 48 def, 20d6 and 55 def, etc.  CVs are also similar, going up at a similar rate.
3) One of the biggest problems with getting to the high levels of powers is that you can never do a story with them at the lower scale again.  From 12-15d6, you can still have police, robbers, and governments step in and still be a bother.  But at some point, usually after 15d6, these things are quite silly.  It ain't like the comics where you can have a human interest story where the Justice League solves Santa's murder or where the Avengers takes on the Kingpin or the Circus of Crime.  It seems like the OP is fine with this, but it can be limiting.

Great analysis Dsatow, particularly part 3.

Sorry, very late to this thread.  Been concentrating on other things, like getting a job.  
 
1) I think a lot of official villains which hit a defense wall are designed like that because they are designed to be challenging to the 12d6/60 act heroes.  They can be taken out by these heroes but are very dangerous to the same heroes due to the high amount of damage they throw.
2) Having been in several very high damage limit campaigns (over 15d6), the defenses generally goes up as damage goes up. So if your dice start at 12d6 and 27 def, it goes up as your dice goes up: e.g.: 14d6 and 35 def, 16d6 and 40 def, 18d6 and 48 def, 20d6 and 55 def, etc.  CVs are also similar, going up at a similar rate.
3) One of the biggest problems with getting to the high levels of powers is that you can never do a story with them at the lower scale again.  From 12-15d6, you can still have police, robbers, and governments step in and still be a bother.  But at some point, usually after 15d6, these things are quite silly.  It ain't like the comics where you can have a human interest story where the Justice League solves Santa's murder or where the Avengers takes on the Kingpin or the Circus of Crime.  It seems like the OP is fine with this, but it can be limiting.

You are absolutely correct, but I have found it is easier to make naysayers comprehend that in whole numbers:
 
"Your odds of catching it go from one in one hundred to one in one thousand.'
 
Only a couple of the people that get actually die.
 
"The odds of a vaccinated person dying drop down into the one in hundreds of thousands.  Between ten and fifteen percent of the people that catch it (one to two people out of ten that have it) will suffer lifelong debilitations, respiratory and or neurological.  None of the vaccinated people who have contracted it have been reported to have such problems affect them."
 
Things like that.  Throw a decimal into a conversation anymore and people just automatically assyne you are talking about a hypothetical population of numbers living on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy....
 
 

 
 
 

In case anyone wants to know:
 
In 1985, the United States created the Sentinel program.  A civilian military unit which employs paranormals.  It is the premier super powered group in the United States.  It ranks supervillains/superheroes by category.  Category 1 is the weakest while the highest seen so far is a category 8 which killed several superheroes before being driven off.
Local Supers
Lodi Official Super Enemies and Rebels Society (LOSERS)
The LOSERS are a group of third string supervillains who for one reason or another can’t make it in normal supervillain society.  The LOSERS are very open to supervillains joining their group and do not judge other supers for their disabilities.  They are a cat 3 group.
Lube – Lube is the primary leader of the group.  His power produces a sticky, slimy gel which constantly excretes from his body.  The gel is slippery, slimy, and gets everywhere.
Flat – Flat is the lieutenant of the group, primarily because he was the second person to join.  Lube was the first.  Flat wields the awesome U-Lance, a HTH device which channels Flat’s chemical gas generation.
Ruby Tuesday – Ruby has probably the most socially acceptable power in that she is a shape changer.  Unfortunately, she can not hold any shape more than a day and her base shape changes every time she sleeps.
Bludgeon – Ruby’s best friend.  Bludgeon is very strong and has huge forearm like clubs.  Unfortunately, this has the effect of not letting her grab or manipulate anything (no fine manipulation).  This makes her life pretty hard (has a hard time getting dressed, can’t eat using finger or utensils, etc).
Kafka – The cockroach powers super guy.
Postal – A postman with the superpower of sending a properly addressed package anywhere in the world.  Some restrictions do apply. (Can’t send live animals, no solvents, no contents under pressure, etc.)
??? – an unknown member not encountered by the PCs.  He funds the LOSER group.
Scylla
Scylla is the name of an eco-terrorist group and the ship they sail on.  They attack any ship they feel is polluting or exploiting the seas.
Kraken Joe – Leader of the group and Captain of the Scylla.  He is half octopus on his right shoulder and face.
Tsunami – a Japanese ecoterrorist who can control the water.
Mako – a supervillain who has the looks, powers and abilities of a Mako shark.
Seadawg – Members of the Scylla group.  They are eco terrorist pirates who can’t spell.  They man the Scylla and are cat 2 threats.  They have no powers but the Scylla ship is a heavily armed military vessel.
The Syclla – Is a ship stolen by the Seadawgs to replace the Flotsam, an armored tug boat/fire boat.  The Scylla was a fully armed vessel with light missiles, machine  guns, and a small recoiless.
??? – several other cat 3 members have not been met by PCs.
Zukünftiges Deutsches Reich (Future German Empire)
The ZDR are based on the moon and are planning to retake the Earth.  They have begun supporting existing groups with similar ideological viewpoints on Earth and secret missions to destroy those who might oppose their rule.
Ubermensch – “Superman”, a flying brick.  Considers himself an invulnerable, immovable brick.  Others consider him just a prick.
Die Gratin – “The Countess” is a 400-year-old blood mage/vampire.  Uses blood in interesting ways including magical blood spears and swords.  She’s a bitch but not really a Nazi.  She just works for them for her benefit.  She keeps a list of people who pisses her off but seldom remembers them after a while.
Blitzableiter – “Lightning Rod” is a relative newcomer to the ZDR group.  He’s good friends with his co-recruit Entzünden.  He turns temporarily into a living lightning bolt which he uses both to move and to attack but the drawback is that he needs to land after each move.
Der Überreder – “The Persuader” has the ability to make suggestions to people.  He is not well liked by his peers who do not like how he plays with people, enemies or not.  He seems to need to be close enough to his targets to tell them what to do.
Ein-Mann-Armee – “One Man Army” has the ability to summon clones.  The clones will pop if they take too much damage.  Taking out Ein-Man-Armee will take out his clones.
Entzünden – “Ignite” is a new recruit.  He has amazing control of fire and can even sheath himself in fire to protect himself and fly.  His fire requires oxygen to create the fire and was defeated by Sabre holding him in the cold water of the Monterey Bay.
Jägermeister – “Hunt master” is a master martial artist.  Technically, a normal, he is an expert in Kampfrigen both the tradition and new maneuvers he has added to the Lunar branch.  He has taught most of the ZDR’s military martial arts.
Überschallknall – “Sonic boom” A sonic energy master and former boxer. He’s a bit overconfident and thinks he’s a better soldier than he is.
 
Space Nazis from the Moon
February 16, 2020
Roll Call
Mayhem (played by James Kletzing) Doc Paladin (played by Vernon Putnam) Mr. Powersuit Guy (played by Brian Lienhart) The Human Torch (played by Tony Morreto) Cybrite (played by Isaac Bolmen) A-ko (played by Bruce Hahne) Freedom Belle (played by Barton Bolmen)      Space Nazis from the Moon are planning to destroy California by mind controlling a space monster sleeping in deepest part of the trench in the Monterrey Bay.  Their first step is to get the latest in mental control of giant lizards technology in Silicon Valley.  They outsource this task to Lodi’s Official Super Enemies and Rebels Society (L.O.S.E.R.S.), a group of supervillains (cat 3) who for one reason or another could not cut it in Northern California’s super scene.
     The LOSERS strike a technical company working on high tech animal control techniques.  They get instructed to steal a mind control device which operates on reptilian brains.  They were able to disable the general alarms and security systems, but the restricted lab area was not disabled, and an alarm went off.  The sounds of the alarm, surprised Flat who released a toxic cloud in the company.  The LOSERS evacuate the building only to run into several superheroes on the street.  A quick fight occurs, and the LOSERS lose.  Only Kafka escapes capture but Mayhem allows both Ruby Tuesday and Bludgeon get away.  In exchange, they find out about the tech being stolen and the destination address for the stolen goods.
When they get to the destination address, they find out it’s a motel room.  Inside the room, a Nazi spy is taking pictures of the device and is sending the information in a narrow beam up to a cloaked Nazi saucer hovering 1 mile above.  The saucer, hidden from sight and radar, relays the information to the second saucer which is running the operation to capture Scylla.  The first couple of heroes who arrive at the motel decide to track the radio signal to its destination and accidentally crash into the cloaked saucer following the beam.  The saucer attempts to see what hit it and opens a hatch when Powersuit and Sabre, the two heroes, enter the saucer.  The Nazis fire assault rifles against the invaders but the guns are to no avail.  Ubermensch who is on board attempts to pull the heroes off the ship but also to no avail.  With reinforcements of the heroes on the way, he makes the decision to scuttle the UFO and drop its payload of bombs on the city of Santa Cruz.  Unable to use high explosives against the invading heroes because of the confined space being their saucer and the bullets being useless, they attempt to hold the invaders down with grappling holds and use shaped charges against the two heroes.  One hero gets grabbed and a shaped charge is set.  Meanwhile to protect the control center, they set up a 50 cal. Machine gun with AP bullets.  Powersuit Guy tosses off the grab and rips off the shaped charge.  With only seconds to spare, he throws the shape charge at the machine gun setup and on phase one, it explodes.  The explosion takes out most of the control center and the gun nest as well as most of the Nazi officers.  The saucer spins out of control and begins to fall to the Earth.  The Powersuit Guy, Sabre, and CyBrite, who joined them, push the saucer into the bay to prevent it from crashing into the beach.
     Meanwhile, the heroes at the motel quietly surround the room.  Mayhem sets himself up in the only possible escape route and meets Stan Lee walking the dog at night past the motel.  Doc Paladin knocks on the door to the room with the spy but Freedom Belle doesn’t want to wait and screams down the door, or at least attempts to.  The door is battered but is not knocked down.  The Human Torch purposely sets off the sprinklers which causes a big ruckus in the motel with people in other room screaming about the noise and unanticipated rain in their rooms.  CyBrite kicks in the door and the spy attempts to fight back.  Freedom Belle covers the spy, but given the spy’s orders, decides to take the damage and escape.  This fails, for while the damage doesn’t do much, the spy is knocked back into the room.  On the ground, Freedom Belle blasts the spy into the ground and into submission.  With nothing much else to do, CyBrite starts flying to where Powersuit Guy and Sabre are fighting.  The human torch soon follows afterwards.  After ensuring the spy is out, Doc Paladin and Freedom Belle join in the flight to the saucer.  They all come to the saucer after the saucer loses control and begins its plummet towards Santa Cruz.  As the saucer is falling, its bomb bay doors open, and Nazi soldiers and bombs drop out.  Everyone but Cybrite that are in flight deal with the bombs and Nazi soldiers.
The saucer crashes into the bay, its nuclear fuel cracked.  The water cools the small nuclear reactor, but the heroes lift the saucer out of the bay and onto the beach.  The fuel begins to heat but before it can begin to meltdown, Doc Paladin stabilizes the core and repairs the saucer to a semblance of stability.  They get the manual coordinates from the saucer and prepare to head out to the sea.
     Early the next morning, a call comes out from the Eiko Maru, a science vessel for NOA.  They are under attack from Scylla, eco terrorist/pirate group.  The call gets cutoff after the SOS is sent out and nothing is heard from them again.  The coast guard, already with the players because of the saucer on the beach, have asked the heroes for help dealing with the Scylla.  The players agree and they take the boat out in the early morning hours to meet up with the Eiko Maru.  About a half a mile way, they see smoke coming from one of the boats.  Using binoculars and supervision vision, they find out the Eiko Maru has been taken over with hostages by Nazis!  The boat on fire is the Scylla.  All its missiles have been fired and non-essential parts of the boat are on fire.
     The hero plans a surprise attack/rescue.  This is for the most part successful as half the villains (not counting the clones) do not see the heroes coming.  The fight is touch and go for a while, but the hero appears victorious. Die Gratin sees the writing on the wall and leaves combat.  Mako gets called back by the heroes and does not awaken the monster sleeping in the chasm at the bottom of the Monterey Bay.  The heroes find out that the only ones in the ZDR Nazi’s group that could survive at that depth is Ubermensch and Die Gratin.  Die Gratin refuses to do something so unseemly and Ubermensch could not go for a reason not disclosed.

I used to run Teen Champions at Cons.  I did a lot of summer movie style games.  The kaiju game with Sharkoctopus.  The Jason Vorhees game.  The Christmas theme game with Krampus.  A lot of teen horror movies turn into great combat fodder, especially when mixed together (imagine fighting Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, deadites/zombies, and Edward Cullen! XD )
 

The weirdest characters I ever played as a player is the Ze Giant Robot and the Coca Cola Kid.
 
Ze Giant Robot is a 3' Gundam suit wherein a 6'6" man contortion-ed himself into.  The idea was, the French became enamored with the idea of giant robots and took scale model designs from the TV to make the suit but the error in scaling made the suit 3' tall.  Not to let good equipment go to waste, they got a contortionist to enter the suit and pilot it.  Those crazy frenchies.
 
The Coca Cola Kid is a walking advertisement for Coca Cola.  He's essentially a martial artist with Coke Can nunchuks.  When he was feeling tired, he'd pop open a can of Coke and get refreshed (END and STUN aid).  He lost his job at Coca Cola when New Coke came out.
 
A friend of mine played the Mime, super powered mime.  Basically, anything he could pantomime became real (though invisible).  If he pantomimed a wall, then an invisible 12def wall appeared.
 
PS: we made much weirder villains, but I don't have enough space.

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.

My first step usually is to find out the power level of the game.  In this example, I'll assume a standard superhero game which would be 400 pts with 75 points in complications. 
 
The power level is basically the average number of dice thrown at what CVs and at what speed.  For our example, the average power level is 12DC, at an 8 CV and 5 Speed. 
 
Sometimes, GMs will give you a maximum power level.  If the GM gives you this, they generally don't want you to make all your abilities hit these maximums on a regular basis.  This means, that without pushing, using maneuvers you will be using often, your damage and CV should not exceed these numbers.  As an example, say a GM has denoted a maximum of 15DC at a 8CV.  You create a character with a 60 strength.  This is well within the power level right?  But you add 60m(30") of flight and you move through targets a lot doing 18d6 of damage, the GM might have issues with that amount of damage despite the penalties to your CVs.
 
At 12d6 average damage, if we assume about 15 stun on average past defenses, that would mean 27 points of defense.  This is calculated by multiplying 12 by 3.5, the average on a 1d6 and subtracting the amount of stun we would take on an average hit.  The big takeaway from this is that we should have 27 PD/ED on average.  For more on this calculation read the next paragraph, but all you really need to know is the number 27 for defenses.
 
15 points of stun done on average is in most games a good gauge as to the amount of damage the GM wants to occur.  This makes about 3 hits on a player with 40 stun on average before they go unconscious.  Let's look at what happens if you increase your defenses to 30.  At 30 points, only 12 will get through on average.  A 40 stun PC would then expect to take about 4 hits.  Go to 33, then it's about 5 hits.  At 35, only 7 points of stun is leaking through and it would take 6 hits before going unconscious.  Now this is all well and good from just calculating damage, but you need to remember that most attacks will have around a 62.50% chance to hit if you are at average DCV.  So you can effectively double the amount of hits to attacks.  So at 30 points of defense, 4 hits would be about 8 attacks or about 2 turns of combat.  Most combats last about 1-2 turns, really.  Combatants start to run out of end, charges, and/or stun by the second turn on average.  You can do better calculations at 62.50% but for the most part doubling works fine.

OK, so we know what our power level is.  We start to buy characteristics.  The first characteristic I buy is OCV/DCV.  It's your main mode to hit in combat.  In games prior to 6th edition, this would mean buying Dex.  In 6th edition, OCV and DCV is separated out.
 
We are using an average of 8 in both CVs.  So we set the value to 8.  We have a starting value of 3 and it costs +5 points to go up or -5 points to go down.  To go up to 8 means paying 25 points for OCV and 25 points for DCV.  
 
This is great for this example, but what if we want to hit a little more often or be more nimble and not be hit?  Well, you could add one or two more OCV.  In general, when you go up in CV, the GM expects you to give a little in another way.  So, if you go up in OCV then most GMs will expect you to go down in the number of dice you do.  Thus, in this example, if we wanted to have a 9 OCV, the GM might expect us to lower our damage from 12d6 to 11d6.  With a 10 OCV, the GM might be expecting us to lower our damage to 10d6 and so on.  Some GMs might allow a drop in speed so that you can hit more often but have less chances to do so.  In comparison, if you want to raise your DCV, you should lower your PD and ED.  Every 1 you increase your DCV over average, your PD and ED should drop about 3.5 on average.  So for a 9 DCV, your PD and ED should be about 23-24.  A 10 DCV and your PD/ED should be 20.
 
So how effective is +1 OCV or +1 DCV over the game average?  On OCV, +1 over the average means you will hit 12% more or go from a 62.5% chance to 74% chance( a difference of 11.5%).  But going to +2 OCV over average just means going to 83.8% (a difference of 21.3%).  And going +3 OCV over average is a difference of only 28.2%.  So what is happening?  Well, HERO uses a bell curve instead of a linear to hit chart.  In D&D/Pathfinder, a +1 means a 5% increase in a chance to hit.  This is a linear progression mainly because you are using a single twenty sided die.  So a +3 in D&D is a +15% increase in your chance to hit.  In HERO, the farther you get from a 10 on three dice, the less effective the bonus becomes.  You don't need major bonuses to hit to change the odds in your favor.  SImilarly, a +1, +2, +3 over average DCV will result in getting hit by an average OCV of 8 at 50%, 37.5%, and 25.93% on average.
 
It's a balancing game for the GM who wants to make sure everyone has fun and are about equal.  To be fair, this is much harder than just making a character.  A GM usually has to do this for EACH villain and also make sure the players do not run roughshod over the game.

This is just how I adjudicate complex gestures vs regular gestures.  Other GMs may adjudicate otherwise.
 
If you have no issues doing something else with your hands, it's not worth the limitation gestures.  
If you can do something else with your hands but it might ruin what you are doing unless you succeed on a Dex roll, its normal gestures.
If you can't do something else with your hands, its complex gestures.

I originally email this response to SinedOL back on Aug 23.  I am reprinting it here for informational sake in case others have similar issues.
 
 

Just as some side ideas for you if you don't like the entangle idea:
 
You could also create it as a gravitational effect as:
Strength Drain and/or Movement Drain, can also be treated as a suppress.   TK only to force things down Change environment Mind Control vs. Strength (Ok, this requires a bit of leeway from your GM but I would think they should be okay with it given Mind Control vs Con exists and people tend to have higher Strengths).

Just as some side ideas for you if you don't like the entangle idea:
 
You could also create it as a gravitational effect as:
Strength Drain and/or Movement Drain, can also be treated as a suppress.   TK only to force things down Change environment Mind Control vs. Strength (Ok, this requires a bit of leeway from your GM but I would think they should be okay with it given Mind Control vs Con exists and people tend to have higher Strengths).

I wouldn't say backwards, rather approaching from the traditional everything is pre-built RPG direction. 
 
Traditional RPGs try to be pre-balanced and present the players with all the choices canned and ready to use.  Since your options to build a PC are pre-defined, most people flip through the rulebook selecting "cool options" and then tack on as many as they can using them to "define" the character.
 
HERO is different.  I always advise new players to write up their character concept and abilities in plain language.  Don't look at the book during this process.
 
Once the character concept is established you can begin building.  The thing is there are so many different ways to build things focusing in on the "name" of the power can actually be wrong.  I never pick up the rulebook until I have a solid concept. 
 
Also, try to look at the characters powers collectively, not individually.  That will also impact how you construct things. 
 
A final thought.  HERO has few in stone rules.  Read the toolkit paragraphs.  It is like the killing attack multiple.  I haven't gamed with anyone that uses the 1d3 multiple.  it is great for accountants that like everything tidy and boring. 

I would give it +1d6 for an exhibition of power, and +1d6 for a good description.
 
Buying PRE will always be a better value (and less complicated) than buying other powers for the sole purpose of using them in PRE attacks. 

Regarding that gender-flipped Justice League, you should be able to find some more pictures from that if you google "gender bent justice league."
 
For instance:
 

If you are using your PRE attack to influence a person in a positive way or where appearance may make a difference.
 
Ex: Say your character is a Hollywood Starlet or Supermodel.  You need to rent a room for you and your party but you are in one of the hotel's servicing a convention.  You could use a presence attack (I am a star!) to cow tow the front desk manager into giving you the better rooms and denigrating the worse room to conventioneers who haven't arrived yet compared to persuasion which doesn't rely as much on sheer presence as compared to talking.

Another thing about Social Media is some Youtubers video do outrageous stunts for likes. So the Teen Villains do flashy crimes to take videos of themselves.