Okay, so last time we went over Skill Levels. That section continues on this page with some more details. Specific Levels can be applied to Energy Blast, or Punch, or Shield, or Flight, or Defense in Melee, etc. Basically, it's one action, and you can't switch it to something else. So this would be a good level to get for someone who is average at pretty much everything, but excellent at one thing, such as shooting an energy blast. A character with a 15 DEX would have a CV of 5, which isn't very good. But if you add three levels to that Energy Blast attack, suddenly the CV jumps to 8, which is much better.
General Levels apply to a group of actions or skills, such as Martial Arts, or Guns, or Movement, or Ego Powers. In this case, the levels can be applied to one action within that small group; a kung fu punch or a flying side kick, for example, could both benefit from a General Level applied to Martial Arts. Likewise, a General Level applied to Ego Powers means that the character gets to add that level to Ego Attack, or Telepathy, or Mind Control (assuming the character has those powers). However, it can only apply to one at a time; or, not and.
Overall Levels can be applied to any action or skill. That's why they're so expensive. But it's still cheaper than buying a +1 in every skill.
One of the examples indicates that Skill Levels can be applied to Range Modifiers as well, making an attack more accurate at longer distances. That's something that got switched in later editions; Range Skill Levels were a separate skill, as I recall. But for now, Skill Levels have a wider application.
Alright, that takes care of skill levels. Next up is Stealth, yet another 'Batman' skill. Did they expect anyone to play a character other than a Batman-clone in this game? Stealth is self-explanatory; it's the art of not being seen. Or heard. Or detected at all. It costs 5 points to get the base Dex roll, and 2 points to increase the roll by one. Stealth doesn't help against unusual senses like Radar, Sonar, IR and UV vision; it's just good for sneaking around.
The last skill in the list is...Swinging. Like Spider-Man. Or Batman with a batarang. Neither of those seems to be a mere skill; swinging would require some sort of line to allow for the swinging. It costs 1 point for every 1" of swinging, with a starting minimum of 5 points. There has to be an attach point for the swingline, and the maximum distance is equal to the maximum height (so the swing is a standard parabola, which isn't surprising). And yes, like Missile Deflection, there is an implement required for using this skill, and no, you don't get the Focus limitation.
So, that brings us to the end of the Skills available to 1st edition Champions characters. It's a pretty thin list, to be honest, skewed heavily toward the sneaky detective characters. So, Batman. And Daredevil. And Spider-Man would have a bunch of these skills as well. But mostly Batman.
Now, we get to the first Powers. As the book states, Powers are special abilities that characters have. They can't be learned, at least not normally, but are acquired by design or accident. Alright, then. Let's see what we have. The Powers are all listed alphabetically.
First up is...Armor. Armor is fully resistant defense that adds to your existing PD and/or ED. Every 2 points you spend gives you 1 point of fully resistant defense. However, it's not for both types; you pick PD or ED for each point of defense you buy. Again, this is an addition to your normal defense, so if you have a PD of 10 and you buy 10 PD of Armor, you now have 20 PD against normal attacks, and 10 PD against killing attacks. You can, of course, buy both types, so having 10 PD/10 ED armor would cost 40 points. Armor is passive; it doesn't cost END to use it.
Next is Characteristic Defense. This is a new name for a power I'm familiar with from later editions, Power Defense. Characteristic Defense, however, is restricted to...well, characteristics. If someone drains your STR, this power lessens or eliminates the effect. Like Armor, this costs no END to use; it's another passive power. It costs 1 point to get 1 point of Defense, with a minimum of 5 points spent.
Characteristic Drain follows; this is the power that the previous one defends against. For 10 points times the characteristic multiplier, you drain 1d6 points of an opponent's characteristic. So, a 1d6 CON Drain would cost 20 points (CON costs 2 points per pip). You choose the characteristic to be Drained when you purchase the power. This power doesn't last too long; the target gets the points back once the draining character reaches their next action phase. You can lengthen this duration by one phase per 5 additional points spent. And this power has no range; you have to touch the opponent to affect them. Easier said than done, sometimes. Finally, draining a primary characteristic does not affect figured characteristics; draining 4 points of CON will not affect the target's END or STUN.
Lastly, we have Characteristic Transfer. this is similar to Drain, except that you transfer the drained characteristic points to your own characteristics. This costs 15 points per 1d6 of effect, times the cost of the characteristic, so it gets expensive in a hurry; a 1d6 DEX Transfer will cost 45 points. Note that like Characteristic Drain, you choose the affected characteristic when you initially buy the power; you can't switch it from turn to turn. This power works the same as Characteristic Drain in virtually every way, except that you get to boost your own abilities at the same time.
And that's it for another page. We're into the meat of the character creation section now: Powers. It's going to be a fun ride.
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