Mastermind’s Manual Design Journal: Powers

As you might expect for a game of super-powered action like Mutants & Masterminds, the powers chapter of the Mastermind’s Manual is a meaty one, featuring—among other things—guidelines for creating your own super-powers, using the powers in the core rulebook as examples. It provides new sample powers, and tons of power options and variants you can use to customize the way powers work in your game.

Power-Ups

Characters in comic books and fiction often have higher levels or ranks of power they can only access with difficulty, or that have particular limitations to them. One way M&M simulates this is through extra effort (and the additional options for it given in Chapter 6): in exchange for some fatigue (or a hero point), the character gets a small boost in power or a power stunt. However, some concepts and games may call for additional options for "power-ups"—ways characters can push their powers to the limit. A power-up is essentially additional ranks in a power (applied on top of the power’s usual rank) with one or more power flaws governing them. When the character accesses the extra ranks, the flaw comes into play. So, for example, a character might have Blast 8 and, as a power-up, Blast 4 with the Distracting flaw (see the Powers chapter of M&M). When the character "powers-up" to use his full Blast (at rank 12) he has to concentrate more than usual and loses his dodge bonus for the round. He can use his normal Blast rank of 8 without being distracted.

This makes power-ups cost less than the regular power, but also limits their usefulness. Good flaws for power-up ranks include Action, Distracting, Fades, Limited (by time, circumstance, etc.), Side-Effect, Tiring, Uncontrolled (the power-up only happens at the GM’s discretion), and Unreliable (the power-up doesn’t always work).

Example: Mind Mistress has Mental Blast 6. In times of great stress, when a friend or loved one is threatened, she’s capable of throwing out a rank 12 Mental Blast, but she has no control over when this happens (Uncontrolled) and doing so fatigues her (Tiring). The additional 6 power-up ranks of Mental Blast cost only 12 points, or 2 power points per rank, since there is a total –2 power modifier on the usual 4 points per rank cost.

Power-Ups and Power Level

It’s up to the Gamemaster to decide whether or not power-ups in the campaign are affected by the power level limit and, if not, what the limits on them actually are.

If power-ups are affected by the campaign’s power level, then the power’s total rank, including all power-ups, should be taken into account. For example, a Blast power with a power-up should use the total maximum damage, including the power-up, for determining if the power falls within the limit. This tends to make power-ups rare, since players are less likely to create characters that are routinely weaker than the power level limits.

If power-ups can exceed the campaign’s power level limits, you need to decide by how much. This makes power-ups more like extra effort, which can also exceed PL limits. A good guideline is to set a fraction of the normal power level, such as one-quarter or one-half, and allow power-ups to go up to that limit. So in a PL 10 game, for example, power-ups might be able to go up to PL 12 or 15, while the normal powers are limited to PL 10.

Power Boosters

The extra effort rules describe specific ways of improving a hero’s traits in exchange for a measure of fatigue, limiting how often heroes can push themselves. Hero points can help alleviate this fatigue, encouraging players to use extra effort more often.

This option allows for further uses of extra effort by substituting some component for the fatigue normally required. The exact nature of this component is left up to the Gamemaster, but it should be something rare and kept under control, so as not to become too easily accessible in the campaign. Examples of power boosters include designer drugs or biochemicals, mystic crystals, super-science energy sources, and so forth.

Example: Chris decides certain rare crystals act as boosters for psionic powers in his campaign. Focusing power through the crystalline matrix causes it to crack and "burn out," however, so each crystal is only usable once. A psionicist using a booster-crystal can apply extra effort to his powers without suffering any fatigue.

Note that power boosters only allow certain uses of extra effort; things like improving carrying capacity or movement speed may not work, depending on the booster and the kind of traits it affects.

Several things can limit power boosters in a setting, including rarity, cost, and side-effects.

• Rarity: Power boosters shouldn’t be easily available at any corner store. Consider making them things heroes need to specifically seek out and acquire. Getting the booster can be a challenge for heroes to overcome in an adventure just like any other hurdle. Supplies should also be limited enough so heroes can’t stockpile a lot of boosters; they should have only a little on-hand at any given time. Boosters aren’t quite as valuable as hero points (they can’t do as much) but should be provided on a similar basis.
• Cost: One way of making boosters rare is by making them expensive. A purchase DC of 25-30 makes getting boosters difficult for most people. Unless a hero is wealthy, or has a patron with extensive resources, boosters will tend to be in short supply. Expensive boosters may become valuable contraband and the targets of theft.
• Side-Effects: Some power boosters may cause different side-effects, ranging from the relatively harmless to serious problems like addiction, ability damage, and such. Fatigue is obviously a poor side-effect, since power boosters are supposed to substitute for the fatigue caused by extra effort. Other side-effects should usually be less severe, or more long-term, offering the trade-off of short-term advantage (not suffering fatigue) for long-term disadvantage (like addiction to the booster). One possible side-effect of a power booster is taint (see Taint in Chapter 6).