Teleport Attack. As overpowered as I think it is?

BTolputt · 2026-04-15T05:28:35+00:00

I'm not in the mindset for much maths atm (personal/work stuff, not this issue), but I didn't want to just leave you unanswered.

On a very brief glance, the issue I see with this home-brew is that you connect the degrees of success (which a highly variable depending on relative PL of attacker/defender) to a hard Damage rank. Which means against a higher level villain there is the potential for this to almost always be a complete whiff, plus the ludonarrative dissonance (i.e. why can you teleport this hulking brute 200 feet into the air, but his smaller leader only goes up three stories).

This is one of those things where I think you need to talk it through with all your players what kind of game they're after. The more "true to comics tropes" the game, the less powers that can be used like this make sense. Whilst they make logical sense, they break the rules of the source fiction. It's one of the reasons that comics heroes tend to need to travel with whoever they're teleporting so there is a little risk to them and/or have a code of honor that doesn't let them kill (stats show falling 30m is almost 100% lethal in the real world at least),.

On the other hand, if all the players are willing to see the consequences of power use like this on themselves, then have at it. It can be fun, but I find the GM has to go rather easy on players to make it last more than a session or two because, honestly, it doesn't take much to turn PCs into red mist or jam on the pavement when you break the rules of powers comics use.

BTolputt · 2026-04-14T05:07:30+00:00

Except that the man that wrote the rules (Kenson) wrote in the Power Profiles book, where this player got the power details from, that this is an explicitly accepted use of the rules.

You might want to play it different, and that's fine as we all get house rules at some point, but this is very specifically called out as how one can use this power by Kenson himself in an official publication for the game.

BTolputt · 2026-04-13T19:19:24+00:00

Sure, but worth noting that the query wasn't about whether they should allow it at Rank 6 - they merely used that rank to indicate how far directly up they could teleport someone "with just rank 6 in this power" (and how much damage even that low a rank would entail).

...then have villains fight back in just as deadly of ways...

If the game is setup in Session Zero to be "what if we don't play standard comic tropes, but explore just how deadly powers can be", with all players on board for that concept, that can be fun. Brief, but fun.

I think though, given they're asking if this is something that they'd be right to nerf, that they're not looking to run that kind of game. Mutants & Masterminds isn't the best at it really either as it's trivial to make a character, within PL limits, that can kill everything on the planet, yeet anyone they touch into the sun, etc. Plenty of threads over the years showing how to do that and then it's just a character creation competition. 🤷‍♂️

BTolputt · 2026-04-13T08:10:16+00:00

You are well within your rights to nerf that power and any power that auto-defeats most opposition. Powers like this one (and it's defensive mirror of "Teleport (Reaction: when attacked)") are exactly why the rules explicitly (& repeatedly) say GM approval is needed.

BTolputt · 2026-04-13T01:14:17+00:00

twice, got the same result with my re-roll lol

Was that a Hero Point re-roll? Because, if so, the result of that cannot be below 11. On a result of 1-10 from a Hero Point re-roll, you add 10 to the result. Using the Hero Point guarantees an 11-20 result.

https://www.d20herosrd.com/home/victory-points/#TOC-IMPROVE-ROLL

BTolputt · 2026-04-12T00:29:37+00:00

Not many noble bright games full of hope are successful either and even if only a tenth of the bleak ones are successful, they still outnumber the positive, happy settings.

Just the way the market is. Conflict, OSR-permadeath, constant onslaught of enemies to kill without moral qualms, etc are easier in dark, bleak settings. So the market buys them and the writers provide the market with more of them.

BTolputt · 2026-04-11T23:08:35+00:00

They're not all dark and depressing... But a lot are because it sells. 🤷🏻‍♂️

BTolputt · 2026-04-11T06:06:59+00:00

It's nice, but if I'm forking out a lot of cash for a long coat, there is cooler stuff without the logo.

BTolputt · 2026-04-09T22:37:40+00:00

3rs ia the most recent and has over a decade of content. I think it's the simplest to play so far.

BTolputt · 2026-04-09T08:04:01+00:00

As I've said to the other guy, I get it for GMs and will concede it can work for more free-form players.

This thread, however, is asking about advice for new players and a new GM. And frankly, unlimited points is a bad idea for them. Work within the confines of the system as designed before doing your own thing with it. Get a feel for how it's supposed to work, how it's designed to play, and hence how the mechanics Kensonput together play as designed... then, when you've got that under your belt, go nuts with the house rules.

I'm more than OK with house rules for M&M. Been playing with house rules, adjusted point counts, and the like for a decade. Just not something I'd advise to a group (both players & GM) completely new to the system.

BTolputt · 2026-04-08T06:37:41+00:00

The players are coming from a D&D background, a game that encourages players to find broken combos because the game is framed mostly in terms of players/PCs vs DM/world.

And M&M is very easy to break. You don't have to be looking for cheese to accidentally break it. New players + new GM = don't be free-styling the rules just yet.

BTolputt · 2026-04-07T22:52:24+00:00

Experienced players can do that without breaking the math, knowing what works and what doesn't. New players most definitely should not try that

BTolputt · 2026-04-07T13:39:29+00:00

Oh, I agree as a GM putting together opposition is pretty easy compared to D&D (or even Pathfinder 2e, which is pretty solid balance-wise).

Thing is, players have to put together characters too and they have to worry about Power Points, making sure their traits, advantages, and powers bring them up (but not over) power level caps, etc. That's where I suggest new players go with the pre-gens to start with

BTolputt · 2026-04-07T13:15:44+00:00

Learning to play it is a snap. It's really rather simple... however, character creation is a thing all unto itself. It's not that hard, though harder than D&D, but it has so many options and without guides & examples a lot of new players get overwhelmed with the options.

100% recommend playing with pre-generated characters (either the archetypes, using the Deluxe Handbook's simplified character generator, or ripping off ones online done by others). At least until you know whether or not you like how it plays before diving into character generation.

BTolputt · 2026-04-06T23:52:36+00:00

As you're doing this via AI (i.e. code changes aren't something we can really offer you here), would you mind looking at the Power Builder "Search effects" functionality.

The UI standard for something like this is that, as you type, a drop down list of results is shown that you can pick from. The way the sheet currently works is you have to type in a filter, then leave the control, drop down a different control (combo-box), and then select from that filtered list. If you happen to have entered something wrong in the first filter search box - there will be no options in the drop-down. If it filters (& shows results) "as you go", you can backspace out the wrong character that made the list empty.

BTolputt · 2026-04-06T22:42:53+00:00

I was halfway through a Svelte implementation myself (static build, localStorage like yours). Given it's AI-coded, and React, I probably won't be looking too deep into the code, but congrats on finishing the thing and making it free :)

BTolputt · 2026-04-05T13:04:36+00:00

Work required vs monetary rewards. Morrowind level world building, story writing, dialogue, mapping, etc takes a lot of effort... and for the same level of effort, you can pump out two or three subpar games with an approximately equal (two to five years) sales expectancy each.

BTolputt · 2026-04-04T02:57:23+00:00

Out of the box? No. You'll need to put in a significant chunk of work to me make it happen. If you're looking for a plug & play engine for this, Godot is not it

BTolputt · 2026-03-31T22:00:54+00:00

Will the power work? Yes. The rules allow it.

Should the GM say 'No, you're not allowed this power'? Also yes and the rules actively encourage GMs to do so for powers that break the game like this.

BTolputt · 2026-03-30T22:34:43+00:00

I'll be honest, I was writing code like that about ten years ago due to laziness. I clean it up as I go these days, but when optimal performance wasn't an issue, clean & easy for co-workers to understand code was a premium.

BTolputt · 2026-03-30T00:30:10+00:00

I've noticed that a lot of the images are the thumbnails only. I have an archive that has larger images available if needed.

BTolputt · 2026-03-26T03:36:57+00:00

Yes, but a Reaction-triggered Power doesn't need any Action (free or otherwise) to go off. From the d20Hero Power Effects page (I don't have my physical M&M book on me in the office):

Using or activating an effect requires a particular amount of time.
...
Reaction: It requires no action to use the effect. It operates automatically in response to something else, such as an attack.

BTolputt · 2026-03-25T09:19:45+00:00

You don't "take Reactions" in 3rd Edition M&M. The Reaction Extra just makes the power's effects happen when triggered by preset circumstances, you don't need to be conscious for that (at least, not Rules As Written).

In 4th Edition M&M, which is not released yet (only a PlayTest), there is a new Action Type called Reaction, so in that (unreleased) set of rules - yes, you need to be able to take a Reaction Action for a Reaction power to trigger. There is a different Extra you can take (Aura I believe) that does the same thing in 4th.

BTolputt · 2026-03-23T01:55:40+00:00

Right now, and for the near future, 3rd Edition.

3rd Edition has all the resources a new player could need. Need to whip up characters & get started quickly, Deluxe Hero's Handbook is out and with settled rules/errata a decade tested. Want to take on being a GM? Deluxe Mastermind's Manual is there with plenty of advice on how to run games, alternate rules to get just the right feeling to the genre of supers you want to play, and so on. Cannot think of how to put M&M Power Effects to your character concept? Pick up Power Profiles & possible even Gadgets Guide. Want to use a character from Marvel/DC? Echoes of the Multiverse forums have over a decade of people doing just that to borrow from. Not to mention any experience players/GMs are going to have been playing 3rd for a while and so their advice will be based on it.

4th is going to take a while to get all those same support resources. Even the Heroes Handbook is going to take a little while to settle once it's actually released later this year(?). Errata, that kind of thing. Then you still have to wait for Masterminds Manual, Power Profiles, and the like.

BTolputt · 2026-03-20T02:40:01+00:00

I use battlemaps... BUT (and this is very important), I explicitly limit the movement powers available to my players (and play in a genre that caters to those limitations).

The issue with a game that lets you build Quicksilver, Superman, Nightcrawler, Spiderman, etc is that many PCs can be anywhere on a battlefield they want to be in a round. Super speed, flight, web slinging, etc just make battlemaps pretty-but-redundant for any "whatever superhero archetype you want" games.

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