PaxArcana

It's free. Install it, and try it for yourself. 🙂

No, of course not. But they do have to SUPPORT the story. That's not how it works. Conveniently, the 5th edition of "DC Adventures" - the official RPG for playing in the world of Batman, Superman, et al - uses the third edition Mutants and Masterminds rules. Nightwing - Dick Grayson's adult heroic persona - is PL 10. His activities are focussed primarily in a single city, Bludhaven. He is at the upper end of "street level" heroes. Robin (Tim Drake) is PL 8; Batman is PL12. Meanwhile, the Joker is PL 11. A decent match for either Batman or Nightwing, but for young Tim Drake? Seriously hard. And that's just the Joker. A one-city villain. So, a "Street Level" Archvillain. ... Meanwhile, Darkseid is PL 16. If Robin had to face him, Darkseid's only real challenge will be deciding which minion to order to wipe Tim's remains off of his boot. Rularuu coming to Paragon City, would be like Darkseid coming to Gotham. Out of Batman's league - he would have to put out a desperate call for help from his SG - and hope more than two of them show up; Superman and Wonder Woman are both PL 15, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the Martian Manhunter are PL 14, Aquaman and the Flash are PL 12 ... Whether a hero is "street level" or "global" or "cosmic" has to do more with the relative power level of who he or she faces (and how broad of a threat they ultimately pose), than with the particular theater of the conflict.

^^^ This.

Let me draw an analogy, using a tabletop pencils-and-dice RPG in the same genre: Mutants & Masterminds If you're playing "street level" heroes, who faces city-wide gangs and maybe the occasional out-of-town mid-powered "hit man", then you're talking maybe a Power Level (PL) 8 to 10 game. If you're playing "Justice League" heroes, who face global organisations and frequent encounters with high-powered threats from space and/or other dimensions, then you're talking a PL 15+. If you take a character who is built to PL8 using 120 Hero Points, into a game with PL18 characters built with 270 Hero Points ... you're not even going to qualify as "capable sidekick". You will essentially be one of the Innocent Bystanders the actual heroes have to rescue. (Those numbers are taken directly from the 3rd edition rules, page 24, by the by.) It's the same with a "street hero" who faces Family, Freakshow, and maybe some Tsoo or Council ... versus the Global or Cosmic hero who faces the Rularuu or similar.

Relevant ... but not achievable. A 50th level character should have the power of a 50th level character, period. If you think that's too powerful for your concept, then you are going to have to pick some earlyer level, say "this is the peak for that concept" ... and stop there. Before 50. Because there is literally no other way for you to NOT be as powerful as the "cosmic hero" concept character is at level 45 or 50 or whatever.

/ 1 three second pause for animation 2 three second pause for animation 3 three second pause for animation 4 5 6 three second pause for queued power 7 / Even at two entire seconds per keypress (vastly overstating how long they would take, that's ... ::counts up:: ... 21 seconds. And my Endurance is irrelevant, as I won't be using it for the rest of the mission. Nor is anyone asking MMs to dismiss pets EVERY time they leave a mission (though, personally, I _do_, just because I don't want to drag the pets through the entire zone on the way to the next door). Just, if you are going to a store or a trainer (which is not "a mission"), be courteous to your fellow players. It's a direct equivalent of asking people to turn off their bright-and-loud auto-firing PBAoEs at trainers etc.

... do you not pop an EndRedux into your upgrade powers' default slot? 😕 Maybe it's that you didn't play MMs in Issues 6 and 7, so you never experienced the bad-old-days of resummoning? Every mission, EVERY MISSION, my 32+ Robo/FF mastermind: Summon Battle Drones Summon Protector Bots Summon Assault Bot Equip Protector 1 (I started with the ProtBots so they would get going with their bubbles ASAP) Upgrade Protector 1 Equip Protector 2 Upgrade Protector 2 Equip Drone 1 Upgrade Drone 1 Equip Drone 2 Upgrade Drone 2 Equip Drone 3 Upgrade Drone 3 Equip Assault Upgrade Assault :: REST :: ... time passes ... ... time passes ... ... time passes ... FF-Bubble Assault FF-Bubble Protector 1 FF-Bubble Protector 2 FF-Bubble Drone 1 FF-Bubble Drone 2 FF-Bubble Drone 3 Toggle: Dispersion Toggle: Tactics Toggle: Maneuvers Toggle: Assault ... Begin actually playing. Whereas, NOW ...? Summon Battle Drones Summon Protector Bots Summon Assault Bots Equip Upgrade Bubble Toggle Toggle Toggle Toggle ... Commence butt-kicking Seriously, the second sequence is SO much shorter, I just cannot conceive of it being "a hassle". 26 actions (and a delay for END recuperation), versus 10 actions (and NO delay) ... and that's at level 32+, with a full Leadership pool. At lower levels, the difference is even more dramatic.

Then lock it at 40. Round number, voila.

And see, here's a key example. It's no longer a pain, Capo. Summon all your pets, use one of your upgrading powers - and ALL your pets are affected by it. Poof. I use a variation of the old NumPad pet controls - I have a "summon mode" version, I get in and out of it with the / key. 1 (summon tier I pets), 2 (summon tier II pets), 3 (summon tier III pets), 4 (target nearest pet), 5 (upgrade A), 6 (upgrade B). Optionally, 7 8 9 for buffs, like a Forcefield Bubble. It's really that easy. Especially with the new location-based power-execution /command. 🙂

I wonder if those MM players have adapted to the New Age of pet summoning cycles: it's fast and easy nowadays! When MMs were shiny brand new? You used to have to Equip/Upgrade your pets one at a time. Literally, one individual pet at a time. My main was a Robo/FF/Leadership, "my pets do all the heavy lifting" sort of MM. I'd summon my robots, then: Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Equip, Upgrade, Bubble ... Toggle, Toggle, Toggle ... and finally, FINALLY, be ready to roll. I had my Equip and upgrade powers five slotted - three Recharges, two Endurance Reductions - to be able to get that done in a reasonable amount of time. With three-slotted Stamina. And I'd still have to chew a blue inspiration or two. But now? Summon all three, Equip once, Upgrade once, Bubble once, WTH are we just standing around for, GO GO GO!! ... If they haven't cottoned to the new paradigm, then they may be keeping the pets around to avoid the absolutely gargantuan-ly tedious hassle of resummoning those pets. (Of course, I also remember when you HAD to do that, every time you entered a new map ...)

... 'cause, you know, Batman and Superman have NEVER fought each other ...

Speaking as a Mastermind (especially Robotics) who is scrupulously conscientious in actively sending my pets out of team-mates' way, clearing doors and narrow spaces as a #1 priority ... YES, PLEASE...!!

The realities of GAME over STORY. In the comics, Squirrel-Girl can be absolutely far less powerful than, say, Thor or the Hulk. Because the writers don't have to worry about making sure that Squirrel Girl's player is having as much fun, and feeling as much like a hero, as Hulk's and Thor's players are. Even when they're on the same team, facing the same opponents. But in a game, we absolutely do need to be sure of that. And so, all the heroes need to be on the same power-curve, from start to finish. And no, having multiple different end-game scenarios isn't feasible. Each of them takes a certain amount of man-hours to craft ... and then, you need to spend more time building ways to make sure your players know which one they are heading for. You don't want someone to wind up in an end-game state and find out it's not the one they hoped for, after all. ... honestly, if you want to stay a street-level hero, whose biggest challenge is the thug who brought an automatic weapon to the bank robbery today ... turn off XP around level 15 or 20. Poof, there you go. You'll probably never see "end-game" stuff, but then, you'll never be able to handle "end-game" level threats either.

Not something that can be done, without completely wrecking many powersets - and at least one archetype: Mastermind. Yes, my MM can focus all his pets on a single target. But, he cannot tell them not to use their AoEs if a Team-mate gets close to them. Also, when someone is in melee range of the enemy when my Force Bubbles wear off ... they're not getting rebubbled, because then the ENEMY would get bubbled too. ... And what about toggles? Would my Leadership toggle benefit the other guys, too? How about Repulsion Field, am I going to shove the rest of the team off a cliff if I turn it on? Can the Empath use their PBAoE heal to keep the Brute and the Scrapper on their feet, mid-battle, or will he be healing the enemy at the same time?

+1

Exactly what GM Sijin says. If you want a "Petless MM", just roll a Corruptor and call it a day.

AHEM ... the Dubstep Gun would like a word with you ...

So, basically, a group arch-nemesis system? I'd be down with that. Even better, make it part of character creation - with much of it being determined automatically bu things like your chosen Origin, Archetype, and even Powersets. You get to name them, and have at least some limited control over their appearance. And the group-nemesis grows as you level (exact mechanisms for this TBD of course).

Formatting with (most) BBcode seems to also work - you can get bold text with [ b ] (no spaces obviously), and similar. The forum parses it out, applies the correct formatting, and removes the tags themselves. So, [ b ]bold text[ / b ] just comes out as bold text.

Indomitable is "the unofficial PvP server" only in the sense that people who DO like PvP will tend to congregate there, providing their community with a better population who will go into the PvP zones. PvP, mechanically, will work the same there as anywhere else. Most of the zones will be pure PvE, just like the other servers. There are, by the by, four PvP zones, not three: Bloody Bay - available at level 15; everyone is sidekicked or exemplar'd to level 25; Siren's Call - available at level 20; everyone is sidekicked or exemplar'd to level 30; Warburg - available at level 30; everyone is sidekicked or exemplar'd to level 38; Recluse's Victory - available at level 40; everyone is sidekicked or exemplar'd to level 50; In most of the zones, PvP is along Faction lines: Heroes (and Vigilantes) versus Villains (and Rogues). The exception is Warburg, which is a Free-for-all zone; people on your team are friendlies, everyone else is a target. (You may only form teams with people from the same Faction, however - no mixed groups allowed.)

Translation: I want this thing and I don't care how many other people dislike it, I want it and that is all that matters. :sigh:

No worries, you won't get an argument from me - I think your list is a damned fine one. The OP is the one who dismissed them all out of hand. He doesn't want things that make him less than The L33t Uber Best-of-the-Best-of-the-Uber-est. I remain convinced that he just wants content that ONLY such a manly, uber-being such as himself could even attempt, let alone succeed at. So that he can prove his uber-superiority. Which, thank heavens, just isn't going to happen.

... you may have been joking, but that is absolutely 100% accurate. Without any personal investment in the discussions themselves, impartiality would be MUCH easier to maintain.

Frosty, he has already rejected each and every one of those as "nerfing himself".

... what about those of us who like sets like Force Field? Those of us who want to make YOU untouchable (on top of your existing protections) ...? We are rendered irelevant everywhere by plentiful and strong Set bonusses to defense.