Thursday, November 6, 2008

M&M character 1 - Enigma

Here we go... our first Mutants and Masterminds character ever, thanks to the HeroLab demo (without which we never would have gotten the numbers crunched).

A mystery wrapped in an enigma masked in a mystification camouflaged in a conundrum circled in a secret encased in a puzzle cloaked in a riddle concealed in an illusion...

Enigma, PL 10, 150 points
Gender unknown, Age unknown, Height ~5'6", Weight ~150

STR 8, DEX 10, CON 10, INT 16, WIS 14, CHA 14
Tough +10, Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +12
Attack +8, Grapple +7, Defense +10, Init +20

Bluff +6, Concentration +10, Diplomacy +6
Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 5, Luck 5, Seize Initiative, Ultimate Save (Toughness, Fortitude, Reflex, Will)

AP: Shroud of Mystery (Confuse 12) - DC 22
- Subtle 2, Reversible, Area: Shapeable, Progression 2 (60 5-ft cubes)

Protection 10

Mind Blank (Immunity 10, mental effects)

I have no idea how he/she/it will play - there are places where I know we have no idea what we're doing. Did Toughness and Defense really need to be cranked to +10? Is Attack +8 good enough, will cutting it back hinder the Confuse attack, or does it not matter for an area attack?

It might have helped if we'd read the book first, but that sounds boring. Next up: Hwacha!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HeroLab is a life-saver when it comes to generating M&M characters. You just reminded me - I had planned to write a review of it at some point. Thanks for the nudge :D

I tend to use the Power Level caps for folks who are among the best in their league - so, for example, the character with +10 Attack will be the best PL10 fighter, +10 defence will be the hardest to hit, +10 Tough the Toughest hero on the block - or at least, in a very small elect crowd.

For example, if PL 10 represented the Fantastic Four, The Thing would hit the STR cap, the Human Torch would have Fire Control 10 and Reed Richards max out his INT. Sue Richards would have Force Field 10, etc.

Also, having max Toughness and Defense is unfun to both play and GM - I recommend to players than their make their character hard to hit, or hard to hurt, but not both. Unless you want to play an agile tank, of course :D

So for me, I'd suggest the Tough and Defense are probably too high for this character; I'd lower them to around +6 or +8 top and spend the points rounding out the character a little more. Some low-level Super-Speed (say, just PL 2 or 3) would be very interesting, especially given her awesome +20 Initiative :D That, plus Seize Initiative means she'll pretty much always act first in combat, and that's a good place to be.

Attack at +8 means Enigma is better than a professional soldier with any weapon. If that's the concept, cool - but if not, it might be worth lowering. As Confuse is a Mental Power, it doesn't require an attack roll at all, only a Will Save against DC 22. The poor victims don't even get a Reflex save against the Area Effect (page 160, last line of the Area attack details). Ouch.

With the points shaved off Tough and Defense (and possibly Attack), maybe buy a few more Alternate Powers. Mind Blast would be good if they target and fry a single foe. Or Paralyze, perhaps. Or get Confuse again as an AP with the Contagious Extra. That's particularly nasty!

Hope this gives you some ideas! Nice build.

ChaoticBlackSheep said...

Thank you for your suggestions. I like the Contagious Confuse idea. I probably don't need a super to hit or toughness or defense for this one. (Having not played yet, we didn't really know how important this is.)