The Secret Origin of... the Sentinel!
One of the things you'll find in Mutants & Masterminds 2e is an example of hero creation--two of them, in fact. In this installment, we're going to get some insight into how a Second Edition hero is made:
Mark wants to create a hero who’s a dark avenger type, someone with no super-powers, but great training and skill, along with various crime-fighting gadgets. The hero is intended for a power level 10 game, with 150 starting power points.
Abilities
Mark starts out with the ability scores. He wants his hero to be capable both physically and mentally. So he assigns 18s to Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma, to make his hero quick, agile, perceptive, and imposing, with a forceful will. He puts 16s in Strength, Constitution, and Intelligence, making his hero well above average in those abilities, but not quite as much as the others. Each ability point above 10 costs 1 power point, so Mark has spent 42 of his 150 points.
Skills
Next, he looks at skills. He wants his adventurer to be quite skilled and makes a wish list of all the skills he wants. He starts out assigning 8 ranks to each skill--knowing skills cost 1 power point per 4 ranks--but then shifts a few of those ranks around, decreasing some less important skills and increasing others. When he’s done, Mark has assigned a total of 120 ranks in skills, quite a respectable amount, and spent another 30 power points (120 ranks, divided by 4). That leaves 78, or a little more than half, of his 150 power points remaining.
Combat
Since Mark wants his adventurer to be a capable fighter, he looks next at attack and defense bonus. Since he doesn’t envision his hero either doing a lot of damage or being especially tough, he asks for, and receives, permission from the GM to lower his hero’s damage and Toughness save limits by 2, raising his attack and defense limits by the same amount. Mark then buys his hero’s attack and defense bonus right up to the limit of +12 each (10 for the game’s power level, +2 more for the trade-off). This costs 2 points per +1 to attack and 2 per +1 defense, or a grand total of 48 points. That leaves Mark with only 30 points, and he still has to buy his adventurer’s feats, powers, and saving throws.
Saving Throws
Fortunately, Mark has decided his hero doesn’t really have any powers, relying on skills, feats, and equipment (from the Equipment feat). So he first looks at his character’s saves. He buys up his Reflex save from +4 (for his 18 Dexterity) to +10 for 6 points and his Will save from +4 (for his 18 Wisdom) to +10 for another 6 points. He could increase them as high as +15, but that wouldn’t leave him many points for anything else, so he decides +10 is enough. He increases his hero’s Fortitude save from +3 (the basic bonus from his 16 Constitution) to +6, not quite as high, since he decides his hero relies more on reflexes and strength of will. Mark has spent a total of (6 + 6 + 3) or 15 points on saves, half of what he has left.
Now he looks at his hero’s Toughness save. Mark can’t increase that directly by spending power points; you can only improve Toughness using feats and powers. His hero has a +3 bonus from his Constitution score and his Toughness save can be up to +8 (it would normally be +10, but Mark lowered his Toughness save limit to raise his defense bonus limit). Since Mark doesn’t envision his hero having any powers, he decides it’s time to look at feats.
Feats
The Defensive Roll feat immediately catches Mark’s attention: it grants an improved Toughness save by using agility to "roll" with attacks, perfect for Mark's hero! He could take up to 5 ranks in it, for a +5 bonus to Toughness, but Mark is a bit concerned with both spending a third of his remaining points on one feat and with the fact that his hero loses the Defensive Roll bonus whenever he loses his dodge bonus. So he looks over the equipment in Chapter 7 and decides to split the difference. He takes 3 ranks of Defensive Roll (for a +3 Toughness save bonus) and he’ll give his hero some armor built into his costume to make up the difference.
That brings Mark to equipment. He picks out the equipment he wants for his hero, using the information in Chapter 7. It adds up to 20 points worth of equipment altogether. That requires 4 ranks in the Equipment feat (5 equipment points per feat rank), so Mark assigns 4 more points to that. He’s now spent 7 points on feats, leaving him with 8 more. He makes a list of other feats he wants and whittles it down to a total of 8 ranks, dropping Improved Initiative to get Surprise Strike instead, which he feels best suits his character. His final feat list is: Defensive Roll 3, Equipment 4, Evasion 2, Jack-of-All-Trades, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Stealth), Startle, Surprise Attack, and Uncanny Dodge.
Drawbacks
Mark looks over the list of Drawbacks in Chapter 6, but he doesn’t think any of them suit his hero, so he doesn’t take any. He does, however, note some Complications he thinks might apply, getting some ideas he can give the GM so he can earn some extra hero points during the game. He also decides his hero has an Allegiance to Justice over all else, which may provide some story hooks, and even some conflict with his fellow heroes in the future.
Mark goes back and adds up his costumed adventurer’s points, coming up with the starting total of 150, so he presents his new hero, "the Sentinel," to the Gamemaster for approval and he’s ready to play!
The Sentinel
Power Level: 10 (150 power points)
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 18
Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+12), Bluff 8 (+12), Climb 7 (+10), Computers 5 (+8), Disable Device 8 (+11), Drive 6 (+10), Escape Artist 6 (+10), Gather Information 6 (+10), Intimidate 8 (+12), Investigate 8 (+11), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Notice 8 (+12), Search 9 (+12), Sense Motive 8 (+12), Sleight of Hand 8 (+12), Stealth 10 (+14)
Feats: Defensive Roll 3, Equipment 4, Evasion 2, Jack-of-All-Trades, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Stealth), Startle, Surprise Attack, Uncanny Dodge
Equipment: Commlink (1 point), Costume (Protection 2), Grapple Gun (Super-Movement—swinging 1), Utility Belt (array): Flash-bangs (Dazzle 3, Visual and Auditory, 15-ft. Burst), Alternate Powers: Boomerangs, Smoke Bombs (Obscure 4, Visual, 20-ft. Burst), Stun grenades (Stun 3, Ranged, 15-ft. Burst)
Combat: Attack +12, Damage +3 (unarmed), +5 (boomerang), Defense +12, Initiative +4
Saving Throws: Toughness +8 (+5 flat-footed, +3 without costume), Fortitude +6, Reflex +10, Will +10
Abilities 42 + Skills 30 (120 ranks) + Feats 15 + Combat 48 + Saves 15 = 150
Next: Mutants & Masterminds 2e Secret Origins continues with the origin of... Lux, Lady of Light!
