RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books King Snarf's Natural 20!: Ultimate Power!

Ultimate Power is the sourcebook that expands the rules for superpowers found in Chapter 5 of the Mutants and Masterminds core rulebook. Essentially, it's an expansion (or replacement, depending on your point of view) of that chapter.

Normally, sourcebooks that are nothing but rules bore me to tears. I like sourcebooks that have stuff on characters, settings, themes, etc., stuff that can fire up my imagination. Stuff that's nothing but lists of rules, spells, equipment, what have you, is about as fun to read as a cookbook. Combined that with the question that if all this stuff was so great, why wasn't it in the main book? Bottom line, a book like Ultimate Power has to be very good for me to consider this anything more than an occasional necessity, the RPG equivalent of toothpaste. Luckily, this book delivers in spades.

Chapter 1 is about the practical concerns of handling superpowers in general. Things like the range of powers, how to counter them, how to notice them, and other factors are all delved into. It's all very handy.

Thank you, bsams and nowie, for helping to up this thread's view count. I can't do it without you!

Story of your life!

Popularity does not equal quality. Just look at your president.

Hey hey hey I'm not a dope.

And I'm no dummy.

So how come your posts

are really crummy?

Did Nader just get put into office?!? Awesome!

Chapter 2 takes the various super powers and boils them down to their bare essentials. Basically, this chapter asks what does any particular super power actually do? When you get right down to it, each power has a base effect, and that's what a good chunk of this chapter is devoted to.

For example, let's look at the X-Men. Both Cyclops and Wolvie can tear up the bad guys, Scott with his eye beams, and Logan with his claws. In M&M terms, these are representations of the Blast and Strike superpowers, respectively. However, when you parse it down even more, both the beams and the claws are effects that do damage. Hence, the base effect for building the Blast or Strike powers would be the Damage effect.

Another example, using DC this time, both Deadman and the Psycho Pirate can make folks act out of character. While the details and methods are wildly different, both use the Mind Control Effect. Deadman can only use it one person at a time, whereas PP's is limited to Emotions Only, and only really works if someone can see him.

Essentially, if it can't be done within the range of a standard human's skills or abilities, it's an Effect, and it's listed in this chapter. Pretty much everything you can think of is here, from Enhanced Abilities to Movement powers (like Flight or Speed) to Teleportation. With each Effect is listed several appropriate Power Feats, Extras, Drawbacks, and/ or Flaws, collectively known as Modifiers.

After the Effects comes the aformentioned Modifiers. As mentioned in my M&M corebook review, Feats and Extras are bonuses to give the Effect more options, whereas Drawbacks and Flaws limit the Effect in some way, but also make it cheaper. There are many, many options given here to customize the various Effects you might want to make your hero a super-powered dynamo.

This chapter finishes up with a few words about power structures, a group of Effects that are linked together almost all the time. To use yet another comic example, Green Lantern's ring is a device with numerous effects built into it, most notably Damage and Move Object effects among others.

When all is said and done, this chapter is remarkably thorough. However, once your done reading it, you might be asking how do you fit all those Effect and Modifiers together? Well, that's where Chapter 3 comes into play....

the sad part is the dumbass doesnt realize everyone skims past his posts to get to the good stuff.

Chapter 3 takes all the building blocks from Chapter 2 and makes actual superpowers. Similar to the Effects chapter, each Powers has a listed point cost, description, and lists of appropriate modifiers. The entries also include a breakdown of which effects and modifiers make up the power in question. Furthermore, each power lists a number of associated effects, powers that aren't linked to the main power (as an Alternate Power would be) but often are linked due to descriptors. For example, Jean Grey's Flight and Telekinesis are two separate powers, as she can use them at the same time, but both spring from the same telekinetic source.

Pretty much every power that's been shown in comics has a write-up here, from Bouncing to Magnetic Control to that most ridiculous feat of the Silver Age Superman, Super-Ventriloquism.

The book finishes up with two Appendices. The first has notes from the designers detailing some of the rationales behind some of the design choices, as well as some suggestions for how to handle problems that might come up due to super powers. The second Appendix has a full list of all the Effects and Powers from Chapters 2 & 3, providing a handy reference.

The art, for the most part, is awesome. Of all the M&M products I've reviewed thus far, this one wins hands down in the art department.

Overall, is Ultimate Power necessary to run an M&m game? However, this book is incredibly useful for a game system that has such a large focus on superpowers. Not absolutely necessary, but strongly suggested.

Snarf's escaping! Someone call Dave!

the tard can't even shit right.

No, stupid. The tard IS the shit. That's the fucking joke, you drooling mongoloid. Piece of advice: If the choice is to no-sell the joke, or just don't fucking post, just don't fucking post. Idiot. Fuckhead. Take a lesson from Ricky Roma:

I suppose, since you said "pwease."

egg and shoes deep beside my shirt sleeve