Toptomcat

I read "attacking her without endangering any bystanders would be very tricky" as Grab having cover from the bystanders, and attempted this strike-from-above stunt as an attempt to bypass it. Should you decide that the cover bonus remains, wholly or partially, I'll make my attack an Accurate Attack for two, making the attack a 25 rather than a 23 and letting the damage be +8 rather than +10.

Also note that any knockback will be applied downwards to avoid endangering pedestrians.

Shinken explodes off of his feet, dashing after Grab's rubbery form. As he enters the alleyway, he turns the momentum of his sprint into a series of quick leaps off of the opposing walls, carrying himself higher and higher until he reaches the end of the alley- in a perfect position to strike from above. Pushing off of the wall in a final jump, he whirls in midair to avoid a pedestrian's umbrella and strikes at Grab with a rolling slash accompanied with a piercing kiai.

Keep in mind that despite being the most successful person in the room, and despite being quite a smart cookie, Benjiro is also the dumbest one here, both by raw Intelligence modifier and Knowledge: Technology bonus.

Also: is Dart, Inc. publicly traded? And, if so, is Eric Micheals a majority or merely a plurality shareholder?

"Please- if he's busy, I can..."

Benjiro trails off as his protest comes too late: when the secretary comments on her boss' dislike of being bothered in the lab, he nods with an apologetic smile.

"Well, then. How do I get to Conference Room A?"

The pale man's bodyguard doesn't need to be told to take his time getting to the conference room so as not to appear to have been kept waiting. Benjiro arrives at the door just as Mr. Michaels and Dr. Archeville do so, and he rises out of his wheelchair delightedly if a trifle unsteadily to greet them. The sight of such a young and bright-eyed man having difficulty rising to his feet causes a moment of queasy awkwardness, but one that is quickly banished by his amicable manner and surprisingly strong handshake.

"Hello, Mr. Michaels! I'd hoped that I wouldn't be pulling you out of anything too important-"

A glance at Dr. Archeville, a flash of recognition-

"-but it looks as if my hopes are going to be disappointed on that front. The famous Dr. Archeville! I must confess, I have not read as much of your work as I would have liked, but I was fascinated by your series of papers on the applications of electromagnetic metamaterials with negative refractive indices. It's wonderful to meet you here."

The solid man behind Benjiro pushes the wheelchair aside, opens the door to Conference Room A, and ushers everyone inside.

And making the Drain an aura may possibly make the character survivable despite the lack of anything traditionally recognized as a defense.

I'm pretty sure that's more by accident than by design, though.

I'm not sure about that. It sounds like what is desired isn't an automatic dual effect like Linked is designed for, but an if-then sort of situation: if the first attack hits, make an attack roll for the second. If that hits, make a roll for the third...and so on.

Like many things, this combination is technically rules-legal, but has about the same chance of getting past the Refs as a snowball does in Hell, unless it's got some kind of *serious* balancing factor.

Is Conference Room A where the two of you are already, or is it an empty room where Benji is being asked to wait as you two come to him?

A car pulls up outside of the Dart, Inc. building- a sleek black limousine with oddly thick windows that rides low on its stiff suspension. A solid-looking man steps out of the driver's seat, then goes to the back, where he rolls out an elegant mahogany wheelchair. He then opens the passenger's side door and helps a frail-looking but extremely well-dressed young Japanese man out of his seat and into the chair. The big man takes a long look around, nods as if satisfied, and wheels the chair up a long ramp next to the stairs and through the main entrance. The chair's occupant glances at the magazines in the waiting room and flushes to see his own face on the cover of the top of the stack. Being a public figure is still new enough to him that he's still shaking his head in wonder as he's wheeled to the receptionist's desk.

The young man gives her a glowing smile, voice and manner all politeness.

"Hello. My name is Benjiro Fujisama. I wonder if I could have a moment of Mr. Micheals' time?"

You told me yourself that Geez3r would be away for a few days, I think...

That is, indeed, the net modifier. Damage is +12, Defense is +8.

The strike is from the bokken, hence 'blunt sword'.

I'll include these things in the notes for my Invisible Castle rolls from now on, I suppose: easier to keep track of.

Attack is a Power Attack and All-Out Attack for two. It's pretty low, but presumably catches Grab off-guard, and so I won't give up hope on it. Additionally, the Gather Information for Well-Informed on Grab is 18, and on Red Star is 15: note that the descriptors for this involve Shinken's suit querying a database of notable personages in Freedom City and automatically providing him with dossiers in a heads-up display whenever he encounters them.

With shocking suddenness, a red-and-gold blur whirls from the top of an office building, streaking past the fast-moving Grab and landing with an impact that cracks the asphalt. A masked figure clad in gleaming red-and-gold armor, holding a blunted sword of dull grey metal, becomes suddenly visible in the shallow crater.

Damn, still not used to the leg servos letting me jump like that! Did I get her...?

As he sees Red Star following in hot pursuit, his request is simple. "I'm with you. Fill me in!"

Simply patrolling works, I think.

Well, that's why I thought of helping with Grab. She's bouncing off of cars, buildings, sidewalks and streets at 200 mph- obvious and loud. All it takes is a pair of eyes and ears.

Hey, all. I've been starving for a thread or two to get in on, and Shadowboxer informs me that this superhuman throwdown is the embryonic stages of a team he's forming. Got room for one more? I could give Red Star a help with Grab.

I've noticed the same thing, and just want to let you know that I'd be eager to get in on whatever you start if you don't find anything.

Shinken is Japanese, but, being in the arms-dealing business, spends most of his time over in the States, where the military is big and the budgets are bigger.

This is my hero Shinken's headquarters. Villians wishing to attack it, as Shinken's headquarters, will need to do some legwork first: it's fairly well-hidden, with most coming and going occurring underground and by a very stealthy airplane. Probably the best way to figure it out would be digging around in Ares Macrotechnology's books. [if they just happen to start rampaging in the general area and attack it indiscriminately, that might happen too.] Heroes, on the other hand, don't neccesarily need to have so specific a reason to investigate this somewhat inherantly suspicious place. Misunderstandings welcome. :D

Can this thread still be used for its original purpose? It seems mainly to be used for announcing updates to the list, now...

I think you mean Connected; Contacts just lets you make Gather Info checks faster. And weapons laws can only be bent so far. Yes, you can reasonably expect to come under supervillain attack, but you can just as reasonably expect superheroes to come to your aid.

That being said, your feature will work (and the gun allowed) if the HQ is either outside of (or at closest just on the outer edge of city limits), and not within the city itself.

You've mentioned "property line" and "grounds" a few times: how big are you wanting these grounds to be? I believe that HQ just covers the building itself (and maybe a sidewalk around it).

There is one other thing I meant to mention earlier (and I do apologize for letting this slip 'til now): I'm not sure your HQ can actually hold 100 soldiers. The Living Space features lets (your PL) in people live there comfortably, "possibly more, at the GM's discretion," but holding ten times that is a big stretch.

Making the headquarters Large should be enough to address both concerns, adding enough grounds to establish a kill zone for the autocannons and sufficient space for outbuildings to house the personnel.

As for the city limits, a call to a senator or two should ensure that if it wasn't technically outside of city limits before, it damn well is now.

Stunned by a lethal or nonlethal attack. Since we try and keep things at least a tad Silver Age-y here, any and all damage (including from things like daggers) is considered nonlethal unless the player explicitly says otherwise during combat (or the attack is bought with the Lethal Only drawback).

Fair enough.

One thing not directly linked to anything you posted above: Connected is not a ranked feat, so you don't need/can't have it twice.

An excellent example, thank you; if you can stick that under the VP in a lil' quote box that'd be perfect.

But that seems to add up to 17 points, and so is 2 over what VP 3 could get. A suggested fix: go with Super-Senses (Communication Link w/ HQ), bringing it down to 14 points; this'd mean you'd also need to add that same Power as a Feature to the HQ.

That would seem redundant with the extant Communications power. I lowered the ranks on the Datalink and Enhanced Fortitude Save slightly, instead.

That'd work. However, like any sort of Minion, their PL is limited to half of what your is. I'm guessing you'd want them based off the Soldier archetype from the core book, which coincidentally are PL 5. There is a small snag, though, in that they could not fully benefit from the "Commercial Battlesuit" you have written, not unless you reduce their Attack and either their Constitution or their Defense. As taken straight from the book, though, they could fully benefit from something like this:

Device 5 (Shinsengumi-class commercial battlesuit; 25 points; Hard to Lose) [20pp; brings Soldier to 59/75pp]

[Enhanced Strength 3 (to 16/+3)

Enhanced Dexterity 3 (to 15/+2)

Protection 4 (to Toughness +5)

Integrated assault rifle: Blast 5 with Autofire extra]

Add four ranks in Notice and Stealth, as well as Improved Initiative and Improved Aim, to the Soldier archetype, as well as your revised battlesuit, and that will work fine by me.

I'd be inclined to allow that, sure.

I'm much less inclined to allow the external 20mm external autocannon (which is or can be pointing out towards the city?) on the HQ, though. That's pretty much a military-grade weapon, and as such should only be allowed on military installations, not private security firms. Would his HQ be classified as a military installation? (The internal .50 caliber autoturrents get a pass since they're internal; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.)

That's what Contacts are for. Weapons laws can be bent, especially for facilities owned by private military companies that can reasonably expect to come under supervillian attack.

If you like, a feature can be included that causes the cannon rounds to harmlessly self-destruct before passing the property line. Making everything that happens effectively 'in Vegas', as it were.

Note that this isn't a residential neighborhood- it's a converted auto factory in a bloc of abandoned auto factories.

I'd say an Injury, not Disabled; that seems to be how bite-delivered toxins are stated for the Serpent Men. Though biokinetics who can transmute some of a target's blood into a toxic substance, or who can directly manipulate a living being's nervous system (which, while rare in FC, would balance the non-heroing ingestion of toxins so it is worth that extra point), would be a different matter.

Most heroes don't have the vast majority of their Toughness coming from a suit of armor, such that any significant injury to the man inside would require a major breach of integrity. However, I didn't actually mean Disabled: that was a misreading of the tables. I meant Stunned from a lethal attack.

Additionally conceding the point about biokinetics, I will add a point to the Drawback.

Alrighty. What about other software-based attacks? Would a digital entity/ghost in the machine controlling/possessing your suit (with effects like blinding you or shutting down the targeting system by setting the sensors into a feedback loop, or crippling you by shutting down/interfering with the strength or dex enhancers, or Paralyzing him by altering the software so it locks the nano-musculature) count?

Absolutely.

I'd still really like to see some examples of what sort of modules the Variable Power can get him. Letting us know exactly what some 'common' settings are would both let the Refs know what sort of things he can bring to a game, and what sort of things he might bring. In other words, having something like a sample suite of super-senses already "established" will make it more likely that a Ref would approve an all-new configuration that you come up with during play. VP is such an open-ended power that the Refs need examples of what to expect.

Nearly any combat feat or physical skill. Most non-magical Sensory effects. Most Movement effects not including dimensional travel or teleportation- including Flight if truly necessary, at rank 3ish, but mostly acrobatic/super-ninja effects like Leaping, Speed, Slow Fall, and the like. No Mental effects with the possible exception of Confuse drugs and a significantly flawed Mind Shield.

Typical patrol configuration:

Speed 3

Leaping 3

Super-Strength 2

Datalink 8 (Flaw: Headquarters computer only)

Enhanced Fortitude Save 3

This still doesn't work: M&M doesn't get into this fine a level of granularity. Attack focus (melee) and Attack Specialization (own weapons) are the only options open to you in this game system. (If it were the HERO System, that'd be a different story, because that system does get into that fine a level of detail.)

Bollocks. Mutants and Masterminds is as flexible as you want to make it. Edited to a more technically legal structure.

First, these

don't work, because you're effectively buying Vehicles as Equipment for a Headquarters (which is bought with Equipment points), essentially using Equipment points to pay for more Equipment. (Plus, since they're bought as something with HQ points, they should technically only be used while inside the HQ. While an APC might be able to get around in a warehouse-sized facility, a jet and military chopper would have a far harder time.)

Very well. I will temporarily drop the transport jet, later paying for it with standard Equipment: for the security force's vehicles, reduce the discretionary point allotment for one out of every five of the guards from five to four, paying for the vehicles out of their pocket.

Also, I'm not seeing anything indicating how/why you have 100 power armored guards. I see a prior Ref indicated that they could be done with the Connected feat, but I heartily disagree. For one, the feat description says nothing to indicate it can be used for something that big and that long-term. Secondly, the feat description says it takes a few minutes to call in a favor, but you specifically said earlier in the thread that you "don't want them arriving one or ten or twenty minutes into a supervillian attack. I want them on the premises, at all times, available."

There is, however, a compromise of sorts: you can use the one point freed from combining the two workshops into one to get the Personnel feature, from Book of Magic.

The guards would stay in the HQ, but would not be accompanying him anywhere outside that structure.

An acceptable kludge, so long as you feel okay about a Benefit feat that allows the Personnel to assist in the event of alien invasions, mass supervillian attacks, and similar catastrophic, world-ending emergencies.

Lastly, the two drawbacks: I'd like a bit of clarification.

So would his suit be considered airtight or not?

Also, given the extensive damage to his nervous system, would you consider expanding the Vulnerability from "nerve gases" (which would include sarin and VX nerve gas) to "neurotoxins" (which would include those as well as black widow spider venom, botulin/botox, cobra venom, curare, fugu/pufferfish, hemlock, lead arsenate, some forms of rattlesnake venom, scorpion venom, sea wasp jellyfish venom, spitting cobra venom, tarantula venom, and wolfsbane)? It would seem to fit better thematically (and would net you an extra point as the Frequency would increase to Common), but it is up to you, I'm fine either way.

Also, a bit of warning (which you may be fully aware of): with his Fort save so fairly low (+4, -3 out of suit), even without the vulnerability a nerve gas/neurotoxin hit is gonna be nasty, since a nerve gas weapon would in all likelihood have the Poison extra (those snake venoms would definitely have the Extra), and so be hitting you twice.

The suit is airtight by any sensible definition, but no seal is truly, totally impermeable, and even the smallest quantity of poison will put a serious strain on Benjiro's system.

As for expanding the weakness, it would be fine by me- but any blood or contact toxin getting through the armor to actually physically touch Benjiro would have to be delivered by a lethal attack inflicting at least a Disabled status, and ingested toxins would be non-heroing territory, which would make the drawback debatably point-worthy and more Complication territory.

And yes, the exotic saves are a known weakness.

Uncommon frequency, yes?

What do you consider to be a "software-based attack"; can you give some examples? Would an electromagnetic pulse that wipes the system's software count?

Yes, Uncommon frequency. An EMP that relied on brute force, such as one from a villain with electricity powers, would probably not qualify: a pulse specifically designed to slag equipment, pulsed, and modulated to bypass simple protections, like one from an evil inventor's gadget, would.

Updated version up. This makes the modular systems something that requires hours of work in a dedicated workshop to reconfigure, uses the points saved on them to increase the ability score increases the suit grants, uses the Strength increase that brought to split the swords into two devices, increases the differentiation between the different modes of attack the swords offer, pays two points for Attack Specialization (sword), adds Knowledge (technology) to actually get some use out of that Inventor feat, and spends all available Power Points.

Submitted for your approval.

Not quite so. If facing a mixed group of mooks, some of which are robots and thus immune to nonlethal damage, and some of which are not, it could complicate a sequence of Takedown Attacks.

However, I agree. This does not limit me appreciably. That is why- look closely- the two abilities are functionally the same in utility and cost, regardless of how many 'drawbacks' they have semantically, with no actual point savings or extra power gained from the nonexistent drawback.

As for the Variable Descriptor power feat- good idea. That will be in the revision.