M&M 2E GeneForce

This is the page for the GeneForce setting for Mutants&Masterminds, second edition. The campaign is run as a Play-by-Post game on RPG.net by The Gamesman. The players are.

Rules

The campaign uses a slightly expanded ruleset with house rules invented and ordered by The Gamesman.

Character Creation

Mutants&Masterminds is a point-based creation system. You have a number of power points (pp) available, depending on the campaign's power level (PL) and the GM's discretion. This amount is usual 15pp per PL. So a PL 6 campaign should allow 90pp. You spend these pp on Abilities, Feats, Skills, Powers and Saves.

Abilities

There are primary and secondary abilities. You buy all the primary ones and some of the secondary. The primary abilities are:

• Strength (STR)
• Agility (AGI)
• Constitution (CON)
• Intelligence (INT)
• Wisdom (WIS)
• Charisma (CHA)

As you see, all the normal d20 abilities, no further explanation needed. Each character starts with rank +0 in each. To increase the rank you pay 2pp per rank up to +6. (Yes, I use the 3E style of abilities, sue me. I just find it faster, because you don't need the exact number.)

Rank +6 is the normal maximum for a typical human, marking him as one out of millions. For example Strength +6 would mean you're the strongest person of your generation.

Now to the secondary abilities. These are:

• Base attack
• Base defense

These show how good you are in combat. Their limits will be explained later. You can raise them for 2pp per rank. They can also be raised by feats and power feats.

A normal civilian with no martial training should have a Base attack of +0 to +1,a police officer has around +3 (with higher attack for ranged combat, see Feats), Elite soldiers (Seals, Rangers, Marine Raiders etc.) clock in at about +5 to +6.

• Toughness
• Initiative

These abilities are not bought directly, but derived from your primary abilities and your powers.

Toughness is your ability to withstand damage. You roll with it against the damage an attack made on you. The result of that roll depicts the severity of your injury. You start with a Toughness equal to your CON-rank.

Initiative determines how fast your reaction timeis. Mostly it shows your standing in the combat order. Initiative starts equal to your AGI-rank.

Now to a slightly more complex part, the offensive and defensive limits: M&M pairs two abilities in two pairings. You have Attack/damage and Defense/Toughness. The sum of each pair cannot exceed the PL times 2. So in a PL 6 campaign, the sum of attack and damage cannot exceed 12. How this is split is up to the player.The same goes for the defensive pairing, defense/toughness. The exact split should be clearly marked on the record sheet and have the GM's permission.

For example: Marvel's The Thing (Ben Grimm) is quite strong and where he clobbers, no grass grows anymore (=high damage). But he is not the most accurate fighter (=low attack). If Ben Grimm was build as a PL10 character (cap 20), his stats could look like this: attack +7, damage+13 Ben Grimm also possesses a rock-hard skin (=high toughness), but is a bit clumsy and easy to hit (=low defense). His stats here could be: Defense +8, Toughness +12

In this campaign I allow such trade-offs up to a 6 rank difference between the two paired abilities.

Skills

Skills show what you have learned. You can buy them with pp. One skill rank costs 0.25pp, or easier said 1pp grants 4 skill ranks.

Here is a list of the skills available:

• Acrobatics
• Appraise
• Bluff
• Climb
• Computers
• Concentration
• Craft
  • Craft, Artistic
  • Craft, Chemical
  • Craft, Electronic
  • Craft, Mechanical
  • Craft, Structural
• Demolitions
• Diplomacy
• Disable Device
• Disguise
• Drive
• Escape Artist
• Forgery
• Gamble
• Gather Information
• Handle Animal
• Intimidate
• Investigate
• Knowledge
  • Knowledge, Arcane Lore (all kinds of mystic lore)
  • Knowledge, Art (history, artists, techniques, value etc.)
  • Knowledge, Behavioral Science (Psychology,
  • Knowledge, Business (Economics, stock market, management tactics etc.)
  • Knowledge, Civics (Law, Bureaucracy, Politics etc.)
  • Knowledge, Current Events (Current news, current official people, etc.)
  • Knowledge, Earth Sciences (Geography, geology, etc.)
  • Knowledge, History
  • Knowledge, Life Sciences (Biology, Genetics, Medicine, Ecology etc.)
  • Knowledge, Physical Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics etc.)
  • Knowledge, Popular Culture (trends in pop culture, pop idols, current trends, superheroes and villains etc.)
  • Knowledge, Streetwise (Underworld, Gangs etc.)
  • Knowledge, Tactics
  • Knowledge, Technology (current trends in science, inventions etc.)
  • Knowledge, Philosophy (Philosophy, theology etc.)
• Language
• Medicine
• Navigate
• Notice
• Performance
• Pilot
• Profession
• Research
• Ride
• Search
• Sense Motive
• Sleight of Hand
• Stealth
• Survival
• Swim

Most skills are self-explanatory with one exception: Language. Every rank in Language represents another language you speak. For the sake of comfort and due to current education systems we assume that with knowledge of a language, you can also write in it.

Feats

Feats are small benefits that individualize the character. They don't replace powers, but sometimes are equal to them. A (+) mark indicates a ranked feat. Feats cost 1pp per feat or rank of feat.

Combat Feats

• Accurate Attack

-Reduce damage bonus by a declared amount to increase attack bonus by the same amount, has to be announced at the start of your turn.

• All-out Attack

-Reduce defense bonus by a declared amount to increase attack bonus by the same amount, has to be announced at the start of your turn.

• Attack Focus (+)

- +1 bonus to melee or ranged attack rolls, must be assigned to melee or ranged.

• Attack Specialization (+)

- +2 bonus to attack rolls with a specific attack or weapon group (includes powers)

• Blind-Fight

-Re-roll miss chances from concealment, halve speed penalty in darkness

• Chokehold

-Cause an opponent you grapple to suffocate

• Combat Driver (+)

- +1 attack or dodge bonus with a specific type of ground or water vehicle

• Combat Pilot (+)

- +1 attack or dodge bonus with a specific type of flying vehicle

• Combat Reflexes (+)

-Increase number of attacks of opportunity by 1

• Counterattack

- Gain an attack of opportunity against an opponent that missed you

• Critical Strike

- Score critical hits against targets normally immune to them

• Crushing Pin

-Inflict grapple damage on any target you have pinned

• Damaging Escape

-Follow a successful escape from a grapple with a free attack against the grappler

• Dedicated Dodge

-Increase defense bonus against one opponent, reduce against others

• Defensive Attack

-Reduce attack bonus to increase defense bonus, has to be announced

• Defensive Roll (+)

- +1 Toughness save bonus

• Defensive Strike

- +4 attack bonus against an opponent that missed you in combat

• Defensive Throw

-Trip an opponent that missed you in melee

• Dirty Fighting (+)

- +1 damage bonus when fighting in close quarters

• Dodge Focus (+)

- +1 dodge bonus to your defense

• Elusive Target

-Double penalties for ranged attacks against you while you're in melee

• Evasion (+)

-Suffer less damage from attacks allowing a Reflex save

• Fast Overrun

-Make multiple Overrun attempts in a row

• Favored Condition (+)

- +1 attack or dodge bonus under specific conditions, can't exceed PL caps

• Favored Environment (+)

- +1 attack or dodge bonus in a particular environment

• Favored Opponent (+)

- +1 damage or interaction bonus against a type of opponents

• Finishing Blow

-Perform a coup de grace as a standard action

• First Strike (+)

- +2 damage bonus when you attack a flat-footed opponent

• Follow-up strike

-Follow up a critical strike with a free standard attack action

• Grappling Block

-Initiate a grapple as a free action after blocking a melee attack

• Grappling Finesse

-Use Dex for grapple checks and retain dodge bonus while grappling

• Improved Aim

-Double normal aiming bonus

• Improved Block (+)

- +2 attack bonus on attack rolls to block

• Improved Critical (+)

- +1 critical threat range with one specific attack

• Improved Defense (+)

- +2 dodge bonus from the total defense action

• Improved Disarm (+)

- +2 bonus on attack rolls to disarm an opponent

• Improved Flank

- +4 attack bonus when flanking an opponent

• Improved Grab

-Start a grapple attack as a free action after a successful melee attack

• Improved Grapple

-Make grapple checks with only one hand

• Improved Initiative (+)

- +4 bonus to Initiative

• Improved Overrun

- +4 bonus on trip checks while overrunning, Opponent can't avoid you

• Improved Pin

- -4 penalty on grappling checks against you to escape

• Improved Ranged Disarm

-No penalty on ranged attack rolls to disarm

• Improved Sunder

- +4 bonus on attack rolls to hit an object

• Improved Throw

-Opponent uses lesser of Str or Dex to defend against trip attacks

• Improved Trip

- +4 bonus on trip attacks, opponent doesn't get to trip you

• Improvised Weapon Mastery (+)

- +1 damage bonus with improvised weapons per rank

• Martial Artist

-Treat your unarmed attacks as armed

• Martial Strike (+)

- +1 unarmed damage per rank

• Move-by Action

-Move both before and after a standard action

• Opportunist

-Gain an attack of opportunity against a target affected by an ally

• Power Attack

-Reduce attack bonus to increase damage bonus, has to be announced

• Precise Shot (+)

-No penalty for shooting or throwing by obstructions

• Precise Strike

-Ignore anything than total cover when making a melee attack

• Prone Fighting

-No penalty to fighting while prone

• Quick Draw (+)

-Draw, ready or reload a weapon as a free action

• Rage (+)

-Gain bonus to Str, Fortitude and Will saves, and a penalty to defense

• Ranged Pin

-Make grapple attacks with ranged weapons.

• Redirect

-Trick an opponent into hitting someone or something else

• Reversal

-Follow a successful escape from a grapple with a free grapple attempt on the grappler

• Set-Up

-Transfer the benefit of a combat bonus to an ally

• Sneak attack (+)

- +2 damage when you surprise an opponent, has to be announced

• Speed of thoughts

-Use your Int bonus for initiative checks

• Stunning attack

-Your unarmed attack can stun an opponent, has to be announced

• Sweeping Strike

-Combine a successful melee attack with a free trip attack

• Takedown Attack (+)

-Gain a bonus melee attack when you drop an opponent

• Throwing Mastery (+)

- +1 damage bonus with thrown weapons

• Unbalancing Strike

-Remove an opponent's dodge bonus with a melee attack, has to be announced

• Uncanny Dodge (+)

-Retain your dodge bonus while flat-footed

• Veteran Fighter

-After a critical hit, you can choose a different effect for a hero point

• Weapon Bind

-Follow a successful melee block with a free disarm attempt

• Weapon Break

-Follow a successful melee block with a free sunder attempt

Fortune Feats

• Beginner's Luck

-Spend a hero point to gain 5 temporary ranks in a skill

• Inspire (+)

-Grant allies a bonus to attack rolls, saving throws and checks

• Leadership

-Spend a hero point to remove adverse conditions from an ally

• Luck (+)

-Gain an additional starting hero point

• Rallying Cry

-Spend a hero point to grant allies in hearing range a new Will save against fear or lasting mental effects

• Seize Initiative

-Spend a hero point to go first in combat

• Ultimate Effort (+)

-Spend a hero point for a 20 result on the die for a particular task

General Feats

• Almost Human

-You look like a human or only with slight, easily concealable deformities

• Ambidexterity

-Eliminate off-hand penalties

• Assessment

-Know a subject's relative combat ability

• Benefit (+)

-Gain some minor but significant benefit, for example: Wealth (ranked), Diplomatic Immunity, Weapon Carry License, Access to certain locations, Top Secret Clearance etc.

• Challenge (+)

-Gain the benefit of a specific challenge without the penalty

• Dedication

- +4 bonus on Will saves and Sense Motive checks when your allegiance is challenged

• Diehard

-Automatically stabilize when dying

• Eidetic Memory

-Perfect recall of everything you've experienced

• Endurance (+)

- +4 bonus on checks requiring endurance or stamina

• Environmental Adaption

-Suffer no penalties from a particular environment

• Equipment (+)

-Acquire 5 points worth of equipment

• Fearless

-Immunity to fear effects

• Fearsome Presence (+)

-Inspire fear in others

• Improved Concealment

-Improved Miss chance from concealment

• Improved Mental Grapple

- +2 bonus on mental grapple checks

• Instant Up

-Stand up as a free action

• Interpose

-You can trade places with an adjacent ally subject to attack

• Light Sleeper (+)

-Reduce Notice penalty by 5 for being asleep. Act immediately upon waking

• Lionheart (+)

- +4 bonus on Will saves versus fear and fear effects per rank

• Low Profile (+)

- -3 reputation bonus per rank

• Master Plan

-Gain a bonus in situations where you have a chance to plan in advance

• Minions (+)

-You have one or more followers

• Monkey Climber

-Use your Acrobatics instead your Climb skill for climbing with rudimentary handholds

• Niche Protection

-Ability or skill bonus beyond power level limits

• Quick Change (+)

-You can change clothes as a free action

• Renown (+)

- +3 reputation bonus per rank

• Second Chance (+)

-You get a second check or save against a particular hazard

• Sidekick (+)

-You have a sidekick

• Teamwork (+)

- +1 bonus to aid actions

• Trap Sense (+)

- +1 bonus to Reflex saves and defense against traps

• Trance

-Go into a deathlike trance that slows breathing

Proficiency Feats

• Archaic Weapons Proficiency

-Use archaic weapons without penalty

• Armor Proficiency

-Use armor without penalty

• Exotic Weapons Proficiency (+)

-Use an exotic weapon without penalty

• Improvised Weapons Proficiency

-Use Improvised weapons without penalty

• Special Aircraft Operations (+)

-Pilot different specialized classes of aircraft (heavy aircraft, helicopters, spacecraft, VTOL jets, dirigibles)

• Special Surface Vehicle Operation (+)

-Drive different specialized classes of surface vehicles (heavy wheeled, tracked, trains, hovercraft)

• Special Watercraft Operation (+)

-Pilot different specialized classes of water vehicles (large ships, sailing ships, submarines)

Skill Feats

Acrobatic Bluff Feint and Trick using Acrobatics instead of Bluff Animal Empathy Use Handle Animals to affect the attitudes of animals Artificer Use Knowledge (Arcane Lore) and Craft to create magical devices Attractive (+) +4 bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks with people affected by your looks Connected Make a Diplomacy check to call in favors Contacts Make a gather Information check faster Distract (+) Make a Bluff or Intimidate check to daze an opponent for one round Fascinate (+) Hold a subject's attention with an interaction skill Hide in plain sight You don't need cover or concealment to hide Improvised Tools No penalty for not having the appropriate tools for a skill Inventor Use Knowledge and Craft to create devices Jack-of-all-Trades Use any skill untrained Ritualist You can create and cast arcane rituals Skill Mastery (+) Choose four skills you can take 10 with even under pressure Startle Feint using Intimidate rather than Bluff Taunt Demoralize using Bluff rather than Intimidate Track Use Survival to follow tracks Well-Informed Make an immediate Gather Information check when meeting someone

Inherent Arrays

Agonizing Strike Inflict pain rather than damage, Nauseate power Bank Shot You can bounce a projectile off a convenient surface, Ricochet extra Blinding Strike You aim for the eyes, Dazzle power Blur of Steel Your speed with armed attacks is uncanny, Autofire extra Combat Intuition You're a tactical savant, always prepared, Nemesis power Crippling Blow You aim to wound and cripple, Paralyze power Deadly Aim You aim so carefully that you deal more damage, Autofire extra with different trait Find the weak spot You can find the chink in any armor or defense, Penetrating extra Flurry of Blows Your speed with unarmed attacks is uncanny, Autofire extra Godlike Presence Your interaction skills are awesome to behold, Emotion Control power Hunter's Eye You can reconstruct recent events by examining the tracks left, Postcognition power Jaded Nothing fazes you, Immunity to interaction skills power Perfect Aim So long as there are no obstructions, you hit what you aim at, Perception Range modifier Rain of Arrows Your speed with ranged projectile attacks is uncanny, Autofire extra Sniper You can shoot much further when focusing on the shot, Improved range power feat Two-handed attack You fight with a weapon in each hand and can attack multiple targets, Split attack extra Wallop Your blows carry greater force and send others flying, Knockback power feat

Powers as feats

Cat's feet You are so adept at sneaking, you are virtually undetectable by normal hearing. Combat Concealment Make a Stealth roll against Notice to acquire partial concealment Deflect Arrows (+) Make Block rolls to deflect thrown weapons and slow projectiles with +1 bonus per rank Direction Sense You always know which way is north and are able to retrace your steps. Eagle Eyes Your eyesight is sharpened and reaches much further. Extra Limb You have one extra limb (most likely prehensile tail or prehensile feet and toes). Eyes in the back of your head You have amazing awareness and are impossible to sneak upon. Hardy You are much more resilient to diseases and poisons, halving their effect. Immunity to Disease You are unaffected by diseases and pathogens Improved Strike Your unarmed attacks count as armed and do lethal damage. Lightning Calculator You perform mathematical functions in your head ten times faster. Low-Light Vision You can see twice as far in low-light conditions. Mental Grapple (+) You can reach out and affect others with your mental power. Powerhouse You have reserves of raw strength but must focus to use them. Rapid Healing (+) Your flesh heals better. You gain +1 bonus on recovery checks per rank. Rapid Recovery Your body recovers from being disabled much faster. A check every 5 hours. Steadfast (+) You gain +4 bonus per rank against attempts to rush, trip or throw you. Swift (+) You can move faster than the usual human Take it in at a glance You process visual information much faster, at a tenth of time. Talented You are adept at two skills. Both receive a +2 bonus. Tiger Leap You have exceptional ability in jumping and jump twice as far. Time Sense You always know what time it is and have a sense for time's passing. Tough (+) Gain a +1 bonus to Toughness per rank Wolf's Ears Your hearing is sharpened and reaches much further.

Setting

The world is not much different than our own. There are almost the smae problems. The biggest difference: Supervillains and -heroes. There are many inventions made by unscrupulous scientists that are exploited by either these scientist or other morally defunct individuals. Other people are the opposition, fighting these villains for ulterior motives like money from corporate sponsors, YouPipe Likes and, although rarely, for the general good. These gizmos range from simple blaster guns to De-evolution rays; from simple jetpacks to flying body armours, from rage- and strength-inducing pills to treatments that make you almost invincible. Most of these inventions were lucky shots and couldn't be reproduced, others were deemed to dangerous to be made public, others were too inefficient. But some advanced the general technology (more to that later).

Though the news are full with stories about these heroes and scoundrels, it is still a rare phenomenon. The typical civilian stands a greater chance to suffer from a car accident than being involved with a supervillain. Nonetheless, the society has fully embraced these "gifted" individuals. The heroic ones look down from billboards as they have overnight overtaken supermodels as advertising personas. Even some of the more rogueish criminals (noone officially connected to a crime, but there is a dark-grey area) are spokespersons for some products. Some hero outfits are government funded and controlled, others operate with only the accreditation of their local mayor and/or police force.

But as glorious and different these superindividuals are, they still look human. A few years ago, the first 'aberration' was documented, a soldier during the invasion of Iraq 2003. He reacted differently to the combat drugs his team was issued with and the effects stayed permanent. This case was in the military, so the general public didn't know about it. Two years later the first people began to change. Iron Eagle, staunch defender of Cincinatti and YouPipe vlogger with over 2 million subscribers, changed over the course of four days into a hideous creature with green-gray rubberlike skin, hairy warts and tentacles. No wonder his channel was flooded with hate-trolling. Soon other individuals changed, mostly people only peripherally exposed to any mutating agent.

Of course humanity is known for its tolerance and open acceptance of the strange and welcomed these poor victims of a random misfortune in its midst as equals.....I am kidding. Those suffering from the change were soon dubbed 'aberrations' and soon were pushed to the edge of society. In many countries they lost any claim to welfare, most of them lost their jobs or were demoted. In more radical countries they were even hunted and incarcerated. Demagogues canceled them out as being punished by God, Allah or whomever. Those looking different but still appealing to the human eye (most of them women with just unnormal skintones) found themselves subject of certain fetish scenes and there are rumors of a secret 'flesh trade' in the underworld. Only those of high stature and/or with money could soften the social stigma a bit, but even these were driven to a life as social hermits.

Still the numbers are low, for example there are about 500 known aberrations in the New York area.

The situation of the Changed was a problem for any government. In the US it was helped by the appearance of GeneForce, a team of aberrations fighting evil to improve their and their fellow changed image in the public eye.