MTAM - Did I Borked It?

[stsisyphus]

Rules Hacks

I'm running pretty straight M+M at this point, but I have implimented the following house rules. Gonna slip this behind a cut 'cause it's not vastly important although there was a customization I'd like input on...

Comments

[benhimself]

Hmmm. Your players might be different... but I haven't seen a single one of my PCs try the "Aid Another" action in combat, yet. So, yeah, I wouldn't see Gauntlet Defense as something I'd ever need to explicitly give a villain.

To be fair, most of the villains I've thrown at them have been skewed more towards "easier to hit, harder to hurt" when fiddling with power level caps than the opposite, with one exception in the first session with Lightning Powers Dude (who, now that I recall, gave them more trouble than anyone else, although that might have also been the selective area effect blast, too).

But yeah, I also discovered, just before last session, the "combined attack" option, which is great for minions against someone big and clunky with low defense but high impervious toughness/protection (like, oh, 3 out of my 4 PCs)

[benhimself]

Regarding the hero point house rule, well... I guess I don't see how it fosters team play, much? If anything, "Everybody uses their own hero point, so everyone gets at least one moment to Do Something Cool" seems like it would encourage teamwork more than "Hey, do you guys mind if I use all five team hero points to totally rock out this fight? KTHXBYE"

Plus, there's already a power (Luck Control) that lets you use your hero points on other people. Bump it up with "affects others" and "area of effect" and you've got a power that lets you create a "field of shared destiny" where everybody can do that! That would actually be kind of cool.

[stsisyphus]

I think the Hero Point change is more of a reaction to how our group tends to operate. I was afraid that we would have a session where one particular player/PC would use up all their hero points, bork a roll, and possibly break the session as that PC would be needed for something down the line. Meanwhile, you have other PCs who still have hero points that they would be unable to contribute for the benefit of the team and to keep play together ("you have to resurrect me, you're all lawful good"). So far I haven't seen anyone monopolize it for their own gain and permission has been asked of the group in order to pull more than one at a go.

At this point, the Hero Pts have mostly been used to pull ass out of a fire, and one or two limited power stunts.

...there's already a power (Luck Control) that lets you use your hero points on other people.

Sigh. See, these are the oversights that kill me when they occur.

By way of comparison, how many Hero Points are you handing out per session?

[stsisyphus]

I haven't seen a single one of my PCs try the "Aid Another" action in combat...Nor have I, and that might be because they don't actually know the option exists. But then again, I'm not entirely certain when exactly this option would be better than having three or four PCs independently attacking the same target on most occasions. I plan on telling them about this option (and possibly making the action mandatory when attacking the same target), but I'm still shaky on its utility