Devices
The skills required to create a super science device are more varied than just Knowledge: Technology. Listed below are examples of the additional Knowledge specialty to build a particular effect into a device or invention.
- Energy Weapons, Force Field, Teleporter Physical Sciences
- Healing Tank, Super Soldier Serum, Strength Booster Life Sciences
- Earthquake Machine Earth Sciences
Most super science devices will utilize Physical or Life Sciences. Staff might rule that you need more skill or additional skills to create devices at their discretion.
Mystical Devices or Rituals require Knowledge: Arcane Lore and might require other Knowledge skills for their design phase such as Theology & Philosophy, or even Art.
What can I build?
The Mutants & Masterminds core rulebook has guidelines for temporary inventions on p. 131 that are a good guideline to use to figure out what level of skill is required. Essentially if your skills aren't able to hit a DC equal to 10 + the effective Power Point cost of a given ability then you don't have the skill needed to make it without aid.
Example The Neuron wants to make a device to read people's minds and alter their memories. The device has the following powers:
- Telepathy 10 (20 effective PP)
- Transform 10 (Mental, Change Memories/Recollections, Continuous duration; 20 Effective PP)
The GM rules that the knowledge skills that apply are Technology for the overall design, and Behavioral Sciences for the mental powers. The DC would be 30 for either power in the device, meaning that The Neuron would need a skill of 20 to have a 50% chance to succeed with the design. This is a good benchmark to aim for when making a design.
Drawback: Normal Identity
Your normal identity is built on half your points and limited to half your power level. You may have no extraordinary powers or abilities that violate your normal identity's level caps. For example, you could have Strike with the source Training to represent martial arts expertise, but you could not have Super Strength, or the ability to fly.
As a 3 point drawback your transformation takes only a free action; the drawback is worth 4 points if it takes a full round, and 5 if it takes longer than a full round.
Remember that there must be a reasonable means of preventing your transformation for this flaw to be approved. DC's Captain Marvel had to speak a magic word, while Marvel's Thor had to strike his walking cane against the ground to transform into his heroic form. Your character stats should be those of the powered form and your normal form a viewable +note.
Headquarters Feature: Computer
If you wish to have an AI computer it costs an additional feature for the Headquarters. An AI computer can be built on 10 power points per level of the character that purchased the feat. For example, a PL8 character would make their AI with 80 PP using the rules found on page 148 of the Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition rulebook. The AI has the same level limits as the character that purchased it, so in the example cited above the AI is limited as if a PL8 character.
Mass Combat
We will be using the Mass Combat Rules from the Paragons adventure A More Perfect Union by Steve Kenson for combats involving large numbers of NPCs or minions. These rules essentially treat a force of multiple units as a single entity to simplify large scale fights. The rules are reprinted here: Paragons-Mass-Combat-Rules
For fights involving 10 or less units use standard combat rounds instead of the longer ones listed in the Mass Combat Rules.
Skill Difficulties
The above skill difficulties were taken from Chris Finney's compilation document Benchmarks Guide V2.
Teams
Two or more player characters may form a team, and to encourage this teams get three benefits:
- Teams can apply for a private Channel.
- Teams can apply for a team Bulletin Board.
- For every two members of the team they get an Equipment feat that applies only to their team Headquarters. So if a team has four members they get two equipment feats applied towards the HQ they wish to build.
Alternate Initiative
Choose either Wisdom or Intelligence, from this point on you substitute the one chosen for your Dexterity bonus when calculating your base initiative. Intelligence based initiative stems from quick wits and the ability to anticipate probabilities. Wisdom based initiative is based off of being perceptive and having the self control to react decisively in a crisis situation.
Artificer, Inventor & Ritualist
You start the game having researched Rituals or Inventions (Super Tech or Magical) numbering half your power level and with a maximum power point cost equal to your PL. A PL10 character could therefore start with 5 Rituals or Inventions that simulate powers with an effect that would cost up to 10PP each. With GM permission you may spend a Hero Point to invoke one of these rituals at the start of an encounter or to say you have one of the inventions on hand without having to make a normal jury rigging check and without taking the normal time to ready the rite or invention for that encounter.
Benefit: Famous Super (New)
You are quite famous and well thought of in your area of influence. The authorities are generally helpful to you, and most people know your name. Almost everyone in your area of influence starts with a Friendly attitude towards you (see Diplomacy, p 46 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition), though there are exceptions. Rank 1 in this ability allows you to benefit from your fame within your base of operations. Rank 2 extends the area affect to your home country, and rank 3 extends it globally.
Benefit: Freedom Brigade (New)
As a member of the Freedom Brigade, you have wide-ranging jurisdiction in investigating metahuman-related threats, and power of arrest. You can assume cooperation from local law-enforcement branches, but at the same time any abuse of these powers or law-breaking will be looked at seriously, possibly leading to expulsion from the ranks and loss of this feat - if not jail time.
Equipment
You need not allocate equipment points for any equipment that is commercially available and within your financial means. Armor, Criminal Gear, Headquarters, Surveillance Gear, Vehicles and Weapons are specifically exempt from this. Staff might rule that other gear requires the expenditure of equipment points.
Favored Enemy & Favored Environment
These feats are allowed to exceed PL limits by up to +3. Please note that the choices made have to be specific rather than broad—choices that would allow you to use these feats in almost every situation will be disallowed.
Virtuoso Performer (New)
Your mastery of the performing arts allows untrained use of any of the specialties of the Perform skill as if trained in them. For those specialties that you have trained ranks in you gain a +4 bonus. This bonus cannot increase your total effective skill rank higher than the campaign’s power level limit.
Corrosion & Disintegration
Corrosion is a very powerful attack as it links a Drain: Toughness effect with a Strike Effect while Disintegration adds Range to the mix. The Drain: Toughness aspect of each of these abilities is subject to the house rule on Drain listed below, though the damaging aspect functions normally.
The Secondary Effect extra must be applied twice if you want the attack to both drain Toughness and do additional damage on the next round. If you apply it once then you must choose which effect is affected from that point forward.
Use the costs from Ultimate Power when buying Corrosion & Disintegration; Corrosion is 3 points per rank, and Disintegration 5 per rank.
Drain
Drain can be a very nasty effect and as such it needs careful moderation in a MUX environment. Much like Transfer and Boost only the highest Drain effect will affect the victim.
So if Captain Viper uses his Viper Sting attack on Max Freedom for a loss of 10 CON then the hero's CON score will be reduced by 10 if he fails his save. Having failed the save, a round later Max Freedom recovers 1 point of the lost CON. When Captain Viper stings him again it reduces his CON by only 1 since the 10 point Drain will override the existing 9 point Drain condition.
There are exceptions to this via the Extras Secondary Effect, Poison, and Disease. A particularly virulent toxin for example might have both Secondary Effect and Poison. This would have the net effect of the initial Drain, followed the round after by another Drain of equal intensity that stacks with the first, and followed a minute later for a third application of the effect. Note that each time the effect triggers the target gets another saving throw.
Growth
Use the cost from Ultimate Power when buying Growth. Each rank of Growth costs 3 power points instead of the 4 listed in the Mutants & Masterminds rulebook.
