So, we're done with Power Advantages and Limitations, but there's one small thing left. Actually, it's not that small. The next page has a table that was very helpful for calculating the various limitation point reductions. It's a table with a horizontal line of Active Point costs, and a column of total Limitations from +1/4 to +3. You cross-reference the active points of the power with the total limitations and you get the actual cost of the power. As I said, very helpful for the math-challenged.
Okay, there's one more thing to do for character generation: Disadvantages. These are weaknesses the character has. They provide you with additional points to buy more powers, skills, etc. while simultaneously giving the GM ways to torment...I mean challenge your character. Examples of Disadvantages would be Superman's vulnerability to Kryptonite and magic, Wolverine's berserk rages, Spider-Man's devotion to his feeble Aunt May, and Batman's Rogues' Gallery that makes his life difficult.
The more debilitating the Disadvantage is to the character, the more points you get for it. However, if you take multiples of the same type of Disadvantage (such as multiple Hunteds or Psychological Limitations), there's a diminishing returns thing going on; the first two disads are at full value; the third and fourth are at half value, 5th and 6th for 1/4, and any further disads of the same type don't get you anything. The example is a character who takes three Hunted disadvantages; the first two (the ones worth the most points) are full value, the third Hunted is worth only half the points.
The first Disadvantage is Berserk. This one is more suited to villains than heroes, Wolverine being the obvious exception. Basically, with this disadvantage your character loses control in combat and attacks everyone indiscriminately, closest target first. No pulling punches, no esoteric attacks; your strongest attack, full power, until there's no one left standing or until you're not standing. But combat isn't the only time you'll lose it; you have to define a non-combat circumstance that will trigger the berserk, such as the sight of blood or a woman screaming. There are three levels of berserk; you roll 3 dice, and if the roll is lower than your target number, you're berserk. The levels are 8 or less, 11 or less, and 14 or less. Once the combat is done, you roll to see if you come out of the berserk rage; again, three levels at 8, 11, or 14 or less. And the commonality of the non-combat circumstance will also affect your point bonus from the disadvantage, but it's the GM who decides what level it is. Your chance to go berserk is checked once per incident, not repeatedly. The chance to recover is rolled every phase, and you get a free roll when you run out of END, knock out or kill the opponent, or someone tries to snap you out of it.
The next disadvantage is Dependent NPC. This one is mostly on the next page, but I'll summarize it a bit. Basically, this is your Aunt May, Alfred, or Lois Lane. It's someone who matters to you who sometimes (or often) gets involved in your adventures, either deliberately or unwittingly. The more often they get in trouble, the more points they are worth to you. The rolls are 8 or less, 11 or less, and 14 or less, each worth an increasing number of points. So Lois Lane, who is constantly getting into trouble needing Superman to pull her out of it, would probably be a 14 or less. By contrast, Jarvis, the Avengers' butler, is around but generally isn't involved in the team's adventures all that often, so he would be an Infrequent DNPC, with an 8 or less roll.
I'll continue with this disadvantage next time. Until then, Excelsior!
By the way, if all this talk about superheroes has stirred your interest in reading about such characters, I do happen to have a book about that, called The Awakening. Set in the Gilded Age, this is the beginning of a series of stories about the genesis of superheroes in a world slowly preparing for what will become a world war. Check it out!
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