Editing DOGFACES Rule Alterations (section)

==HIGH AND LOW LETHALITY==
Mutants & Masterminds is set up so attacks generally do nonlethal damage, which never seriously hurts characters. Even the most powerful nonlethal attack can’t do anything more than knock you out, so heroes and villains can pound on each other all day long without any serious effects. The occasional lethal attack seems that much more dangerous by comparison, although many heroes have high enough Fortitude and Toughness save values to avoid the worst effects of lethal attacks. Some games, however, particularly those with a more grim and gritty style, may call for a different approach. In these games, lethal attacks are the norm and the default is to have all super-powers do lethal damage. Characters are much more likely to end up disabled or even dead in combat, and a high Toughness saving throw is vital to help characters survive. Minions don’t get knocked out. They die by the dozens in various spectacular ways. Effects like Healing and Regenerate become very important for keeping heroes alive in high-lethality games. On the other side of the coin is the low-lethality series in which characters almost never suffer serious injury and nobody really dies. In this case the lethal attack option (see page 163) isn’t available. Therefore the worst that can happen in combat is getting knocked unconscious. This may strain some players’ suspension of disbelief, however, and make certain types of characters inappropriate for the game. Like style of play, the Gamemaster should explain to players in advance if a series is high or low lethality so they know what to expect and can create their heroes accordingly. <br> Readers will note that the rules in Mutants & Masterminds reflect the “reality” of the world of the comic books, not the real world (where people can’t fly under their own power or bend steel in their bare hands). For example, is it realistic that someone able to bench press a tank doesn’t put his fist right through normal people when he hits them? Is it realistic that a man (no matter how strong) can pick up a building without it collapsing under its own weight? Of course not, but that’s the way it works in the comics. The same is true of many other super-powers that violate physical laws as we know them. The goal of Mutants & Masterminds isn’t to rigorously simulate the real effects of super-human strength or heat beams capable of melting steel, it’s to simulate how these things work for comic book superheroes. <br> To inject more realism into your Mutants & Masterminds game, however, keep the following tips in mind: