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Balance
Post originally by Buzz at 2003-03-25 08:53:07
Converted from Phorums BB System
Excellent review.
I own both games, but have only had a chnace to play M&M.
I've noticed that the PL cap in M&M doesn't necesasrily eliminate the balance issues you note with SAS. Yes, there is an upper-level limit, but there's also no level-based progression of abilities (like saves and such). I.e., no "bottom" limit. Consequently, PC will have saves and attack bonuses all over the place.
For example, an early version of a PC I have in our current campaign (I've gone through three drafts of him in the process of learning the rules) actually had *more* defenses than he was allowed by his PL. But, even with that, I don't think he made a single damage save the entire session, because his Damage save was so low, and saves for Damage *start* at DC 15. Even though his Protection was cutting his opponents damage in half, he still was constantly having to roll 20s to avoid taking damage. I was kind of amazed, considering that I blew so many points on various defenses that I didn't have enough for other powers I had in the character concept.
I guess I just find M&M a bit "tricky" to ge the hang of. SAS is like HERO, in that buying powers is fairly straightforward; you pretty much make a laudnry list and spend points. With M&M, just making the brick I describe above took some work. Just making a laudry list will eat up your points in a hurry; you need to look at buying powers as extras, and balance putting points in your stats as opposed to powers and skills, and make sure you consider your saves and attack bonuses (since you start at zero in all of them, unlike HERO, in which even a normal has some PD/ED and a minimal CV).
I dunno. These are the issues I've discovered so far. It may simply be that my HERO mindset is incompatible with the M&M mindset, and it's going to take me time to adjust.
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