User:Sirrus/Testbed
Contents
This news file covers how we handle Advantages; our means of universally encompassing all the powers, skills, assets, etc. that a fictional character might have. If there's something in this page or not in this page that you aren't sure about, please ask a staff member or fachead for clarification!
Advantage Creation and Classification
All Advantages are first given a classification based on the Advantage's power, scope, and narrative relevance to the character. The core classifications fall into three tiers: Defining, Significant and Minor. A character breaks the totality their powers, skills, assets, etc. into sensible pieces, and then places them into these three tiers. The general idea behind these tiers follows.
Defining
Defining Advantages are the skills, powers, and assets so centrally iconic to the character, and so vital to their tackling obstacles or living their lives, that the character would no longer be the same character without them. They don't have to be really powerful or flashy, but they represent the core of the character's abilities, and where they would be sinking their metaphorical XP into. To a certain extent, Defining Advantages will get a little extra respect in play, and in some situations, the Defining classification will allow a greater ceiling of power for certain beefier Advantages, and so consideration should go to how much an Advantage is used and how important it is to the character, rather than what their strongest technique is.
Examples: Wolverine's Regeneration and Adamantium skeleton, Magneto's Electromagnetic control, Darth Vader's cybernetics and telekinesis / telepathy, Megaman's power copy, Himura Kenshin's swordsmanship, Willy Wonka's candy-making acumen, C3-P0's vast communications library, Link's Master Sword, Ganondorf's Triforce of Power, Batman's investigative skills.
Significant
A Significant Advantage is an important and effective part of a character's arsenal. The character may use them all the time, or only very rarely, but they are go-to tools for the situation that calls for them. These are areas where the character is highly skilled or specialized, and have much greater potency than the average person, but are not their core identity, and are generally greater in number and less vital than Defining Advantages. These are usually where the greatest volume of a character's abilities will be, or sometimes lesser used extensions of Defining ones.
Examples of Significant Advantages: Wolverine's special ops training and enhanced senses, Darth Vader's piloting and mechanical skills, Magneto's technical skills which allow him to construct an anti-telepathy helmet or machines that boost the magnitude of a mutant's powers. Link's inventory of gadgets like the hookshot and boomerang. Batman's Batmobile.
Minor
A Minor Advantage is something useful, but often more of a passive perk or situational tool that the character doesn't really focus on, and rarely seeks to significantly improve. They typically provide thematic flavour, unique conveniences, or occasionally allow for a very niche application. They likewise don't have much narrative potency, and shouldn't be expected to tackle major obstacles. Minor Advantages may also be lesser versions of a character's Significant and Defining Advantages that simply aren't conceptually related.
Examples of Minor Advantages: Wolverine's physical traits are generally superhuman but only really on the order of you might expect of a larger animal. Darth Vader showing up with a team of Stormtroopers is certainly something he does, but they rarely accomplish much more than menial tasks and adding scenery to a fight where he does all the heavy lifting. Link accrues a number of items that are important to game progression, but rarely all that important otherwise, or else eclipsed by later acquisitions, such as the ability to hold his breath longer underwater, or fire a slingshot in addition to a bow.
Advantage Structure
As MCM is an environment where an enormous variety of characters are possible, and which supports those characters growing from exposure to other themes and plots, the primary thing we look out for in a character's Advantages is the point of “conceptual fullness” where the character has slipped from reasonable into ridiculous. Even in cases where a character picks up new tricks, talents and gear from other worlds over a long period of time, where each upgrade and acquisition was well earned and sensible, there eventually comes a time where a long-running character who was originally well-designed, has become the time-manipulating psychic dragon slayer and pokemon trainer who pilots a super robot and uses three different kinds of magic and a lightsaber, and everyone begins to roll their eyes.
Where our basic policy is geared towards managing the wide vertical scope of Advantages that can be played on MCM, for managing their theoretically infinite breadth, we employ these Defining/Significant/Minor classifications in a “Slot” system.
Put simply, each player character is limited to a grand total of:
Two Defining Advantages.
Four Significant Advantages.
A reasonable number of Minor Advantages, subject to request of being condensed.
Each of these Advantages is meant to be a concise chunk of a character’s overall abilities and toolset, containing a handful of conceptually related “tricks”, “stunts”, “applications”, “roles”, “talents”, or whatever you’d like to call them. These are almost never defined power by power, but are abstract representations of “as many of the character’s abilities as contribute to a single narrative niche”. For brevity’s sake, we call these areas of capability “Points”.
Each Advantage contains a total of one to three Points, making for a maximum grand total of:
Six Defining Points.
Twelve Significant Points.
Again, a reasonable number of Minor Points.
We find that this balance allows the overwhelming majority of characters to begin play with little to no adjustment to their toolbox of powers, talents, and equipment, and creates a generally acceptable ballpark of how far certain characters can expand and accrue new major abilities before they have to slim down again. To be transparent, a conceptually very simple character will have an easy time accumulating new skills and toys on-grid than an already highly developed and powerful character. We’ll cover what constitutes an Advantage Point in just a minute.
Omnicompetent FCs
It is rare, but technically possible, for an FC to be so broad in their capabilities that they do not completely fit within these parameters from the start. In this case, the player should app something like “the movie version” of that character, which focuses on what the character would actually use in play, rather than various powers that may have been stapled onto them through their published lifetime. It bears mentioning that these changes are RETROACTIVE to the character's source. That is, if Superman as apped on MCM cannot hurl planets out of orbit (likely because it would never come up), he COULD NOT in his own world before it unified. This is basically to prevent “I'd kick your ass if the Multiverse hadn't nerfed me!” attitudes.
On Specialism and Multiple Slots
In many cases, a character will have an ability, or conceptually related set of skills or items, that is broad enough that it cannot be encompassed in a single Advantage slot of three Points. These tend to be things like a wizard's ability to cast magic, or a mad scientist's arsenal of inventions. This is perfectly fine, and intentionally accommodated for by the system, being easily worked with by simply filling up multiple Slots to encompass the full range of the Advantage's capabilities. e.g. a wizard might have a Defining Advantage for their blasting spells, buffing spells, and status infliction spells, and a Significant Advantage for summoning spells, defensive spells, and enchantments.
Conversely, characters who are extremely specialized in a particular area, or famous for a particular skill or power, may wish to intentionally not fill an Advantage slot up to capacity. This is also perfectly okay, and though we don’t offer any hard, mechanical benefits for doing so, it is to be understood that a character whose entire Defining Advantage comes down to “sword mastery” has a level of skill with swords that is more narratively effective than when another character with a Defining Advantage that encompasses a much wider variety of weapons uses a sword.
Advantage Slots and Points
With the nearly infinite variety of characters and their capabilities that can be brought to MCM, it can be difficult and confusing to both break up their narrative toolkits into an easily readable and consistent format, and just as difficult to figure out where to draw the line on when various skills, powers, and items cease to really be related to one another. Rather than leaving this to a selective process where our staff are forced to debate over and approve each individual player character on an inconsistent, subjective, and potentially biased basis, we’ve boiled down the vast majority of Advantages that we see applied for on MCM into a number of categories that any and all players have full access to, within the objective standards of the rules. These categories are intentionally very broad in what can go inside them, and very concise in what their actual function amounts to in roleplay. This is both to make it easier for a player to figure out how their character’s Advantage space works, and easier for a fellow player on the MUSH to read through a character’s Advantage and understand what it is they do, without staff being forced to heavily dictate the writing style of each individual player.
Essentially, each Advantage Slot is comprised of one to three Points, gathered together by a common conceptual thread, and put under a single thematic header. Each of its Points is made up of two parts: a designation selected from the following list, and an associated “trapping” written by the player. The designated Points found on the list are quite literally “the point of having the Advantage”, and are universally accepted. The trappings of an Advantage are the general details of how the Advantage uniquely achieves that point, and contain the descriptive and mechanical details of the Advantage, as well as whatever fluff and minutiae the player would like to include with a certain level of brevity. Trappings should use concise language and be free of theme-specific jargon, or else briefly explain the terms where that isn’t possible. Under 150 characters per Point is ideal. Over 250 is really pushing it unless the Point itself is very complicated. For each Point on the list, we’ve included examples of what kinds of tools and abilities might find themselves within each category, and any details of what a player should or must include in its trapping in addition to its general description, if there are any.
You’ll see that some Advantages have a category descriptor in (parentheses), in which case the Advantage is broad enough that it is limited to a single categorical descriptor per-Advantage (for instance, the Advantage Point “Resistance” has to choose a thing to be resistant to each time that it is taken, otherwise the character could technically be resistant to everything). You’ll also see that some Advantages possess a Standalone or Consent notation. These are explained afterwards. The Required Text field outlines the bare minimum of things staff needs to see explained before an Advantage can be approved. An entry of “None” doesn’t mean the Advantage doesn’t need to be explained at all, but that it is relatively self-explanatory or its particulars don’t matter as much, so please still include a trapping. A Minor, Significant or Defining note indicate that the Point should always occupy that tier of Advantage Slot. Italicised designations indicate an Advantage stub: something that exists on the table solely for convenience or explanation.
IMPORTANT: If you don’t see anything that adequately describes something your character has on the list, don’t fret! We’ve included a Wildcard option for especially strange or finicky abilities. These do require much more clear and mechanical explanation in the trapping, but we try to accept these as often as humanly possible.
Accepted Advantage Designations and Trappings
| Designation | Trappings |
|---|---|
| Agelessness | The character does not age in the conventional sense, or ages at an arbitrarily extremely slow rate, such as with robots, Tolkien elves, and various immortals. Minor |
| Analysis | The character has the ability to intentionally examine a target and gain useful information and details about its nature and capabilities. High-tech scanners, classical psychometry, and magic detection spells are frequent examples, but determining someone’s recent activities by smell or instantly analyzing a machine’s function with raw intellect are equally valid ones. Consent when studying PCs and/or their stuff. |
| Anti-(Power Genre) | The character can dampen, counter, or nullify the use of a certain kind of other power by their interference. By far the most common example of this in fiction is the concept of an anti-magic field, as well as counterspells and disenchantment, but other incarnations might include suppression of psionic powers, or use in wards or technology that block teleportation. Consent except against other Consent Advantages. |
| Attack List - (Melee/Ranged) | The character has a variety of damage-dealing abilities or weapons that are generally too numerous and relatively similar to deserve separate entries. This is a very common Point, seen everywhere from elemental JRPG spells, to Pokemon moves, to the high-tech arsenals of shooter or mecha protagonists, to the ki techniques of anime martial artists. For the purposes of Advantage notation, Ranged indicates attacks that happen, deal damage, and stop, even if they can or are used at point blank range. Melee is reserved for forms of attack that allow for complex close combat, usually being actual weapons, not not always. Basically, if you can stop a sword with the attacks on your list without an extraordinary feat skill, it’s probably Melee. Otherwise, it’s probably Ranged. Some bleed between the two is fine when a character has both, such as enchanting their weapons with attack magic. |
| Attack Redirection | The character can redirect one or more kinds of incoming attack attack in some fashion, commonly including things like reflective barriers, absorbing and re-firing energy. Well known examples include Zuko from Avatar redirecting lightning, and the deflective properties of lightsabers from Star Wars. Extremely simple examples of this idea, like using judo moves to use an attack’s weight to throw someone, are likely just part and parcel of their relevant Advantage. Note: This Point alone doesn’t reduce the damage the character takes! If the character prevents the attack from harming him as well as sending it back, see Damage Reduction or possibly Improbable Defense. |
| Bane - (Target) | The character has immediate access to the typical weaknesses of an archetype of enemy, in as far they help in killing them, or a particular weapon or ability that is especially lethal against a specific class of foe. Typically, this Point is meant to indicate that the character probably has the necessary knowhow and gear on hand to exploit a weakness or Disadvantage that harms or weakens an applicable target (such as a werewolf and silver, a vampire and garlic, a fairy and cold iron, etc.). A World of Darkness Hunter carrying silver bullets and possessing True Faith to hunt modern-mythos supernatural evil is an example, as is Geralt of Riviera from the Witcher and his encyclopedia of tactics and poisons to use against monsters of classical folklore, both of which should be taken as an indicator of the maximum breadth of this Point. Required Text: A clearly defined and coherent archetype of applicable enemy. The criteria that define a valid target should be narrative and descriptive where possible; a vampire in one setting may be unholy and undead, but someone infected by nanomachines in the other, and merely share the name. |
| Binding | The character employs a means of restricting, imprisoning, depowering, or otherwise rendering another entity a reduced or non-threat for a prolonged period of time. This is a flexible Point, broadly incorporating things like a Shinto priest binding/sealing spirits, a witch turning people into newts or a basilisk turning someone to stone (in a reversible fashion), an evil anime organization injecting the hero with phlebtonium power suppression serum, or rare cases where characters can disrupt, damage, or steal powers within their theme. Consent, always. |
| Buffs |
The character can, through means magical, scientific, or otherwise, improve the effectiveness of others applied to a task in a general sense. The character does not grant new abilities wholesale to other characters, but rather enhances their existing abilities and basic performance within a given area, typically being combat, though not always. This always expires at or before the end of a Scene. Most videogame buffs fall under this banner, but other incarnations could be things like a technopath increasing the performance of their allies’ gear, or the trope wherein a character with unusually high magical energy serves as a battery for a proper spellcaster. |
| Conveniences | The character has access to one or more convenient gadgets or powers, defined as being not significantly greater than “what a middle-class citizen of New York would be able to do with what they have on the street”. For the most part, it is absolutely unnecessary to note that a character has a phone or a laptop, but using telepathic messaging to communicate, or having a memory equivalent to a quick Google search of information, are flavorful alternatives with occasional niche benefits. Minor |
| Crafting | This Point is a pseudo-stub, mostly for reference to the Share Powers Point, since PC crafting typically works in the exact same way. Overall, the ability to (re)build the character’s own equipment is a non-Advantage, so crafting only becomes relevant when they produce it for use by others. Just as how its parent Point can be used on the character themself by the inclusion of a second Point, doing the same assumes that the character Just Has any of the stuff they usually build and give to others, and can make use of it themselves. |
| Cure | The character can heal or dispel abnormalities and afflictions that negatively impact another character, which fall outside the purview of the natural result of having taken a bunch of damage. Final Fantasy’s Esuna spell and Pokemon’s status clearing items are familiar examples, but this can be more realistically grounded in things like extensive surgical or toxicology skill. The affliction being cured need not be physical, so breaking curses and dispelling debuffs are far game too. This Point is effectively the direct opposite of Debilitation. Required Text: The scope of abnormalities and afflictions that the character can cure. |
| Damage Reduction | The character can survive significantly greater amounts of damage than a normal person, due to anything from armor to energy shields to protective wards to supernatural toughness. This is an extremely broad Point, and intentionally encompasses as many sources of “surviving damage” as possible, with the assumption they are relatively effective against almost all types of damage to some degree. Required Text: None. |
| Debilitation | The character can inflict temporary or expediently correctable maladies and afflictions on other characters that significantly hinder or harm them. The video game versions of poison, paralysis, freeze, etc. as well as most kinds of debuffs are the usual suspects, but this Point is intentionally extremely inclusive. Naruto martial arts pressure point tomfoolery and powers such as Prof. Xavier’s psychic seizure field from X-Men qualify, as do very realistic ideas of targeted crippling and riot control tools, and weird/exotic ideas such as found in various tabletops, like magically sticky floors. Required Text: The overall thematic of the debilitations the character inflicts. Not necessarily exhaustive, but should have clear bounding. |
| Destruction | The character has an ability, tool, or talent for accomplishing targeted and extremely thorough destruction of selective targets. This is assumed to be very different from the usual destructive effects of hitting people with missiles and fireballs, which exist to Deal Damage and Defeat the Target (though this Point will typically wind up being harmful to people anyways). This Point exists to represent the ability to do things like destroy equipment like a D&D Rust Monster, annihilate set pieces with controlled black holes, or turn someone to a pillar of salt like Drakengard’s Legion as an extremely binary way of eliminating all remains or useful salvage. Consent when used on possessions of consequence belonging to other PCs. Being used on PCs themselves is just subject to normal combat exchange. |
| Disguise | The character can effectively assume the form of something or someone else, whether via expert makeup and impersonation, magical shape changing, optical camouflage, etc. This Point does not cover gaining any Advantages associated with the new persona or form, but solely passing as them to avoid suspicion, gain access to their things, or what have you. Sometimes this Point comes down to simply adopting an alter ego or identity on a day to day basis, like Batman with Bruce Wayne, sometimes with minor cosmetic changes, in which case this Point qualifies for a Minor slot. Consent to impersonate another PC. |
| Elemental Bullets | This is deprecated terminology. This stub exists to direct seekers to Attack List. |
| Entry Methods | The character is exceptionally talented in gaining physical access to places that are difficult or restricted in entry. This is differentiated from various forms of stealth, in that the character is not necessarily sneaky about it, but through skills in break and enter or typical “dungeoneering”, or perhaps shrinking to a tiny size, turning into mobile mist, or some other trick, they are very good at reaching where they’re going without having to force down the front door, as well as potentially opening the way for others. Required Text: What entry methods are available to the character. |
| Environmental Protection | The character can act with some significant degree of safety in hostile environments that would otherwise pose a significant or severely dangerous obstacle to a normal person. Hard vacuum, crushing pressure, high radiation, lethal heat or cold, extreme gravity, and other associated background hazards can be cited as things the character is prepared to deal with, as well as highly theme-specific threats, like Toukiden’s Miasma, the Abyss of Dark Souls, or the Wyld from Exalted. Required Text: What environments the character can mitigate. This list should actually be more comprehensive than implicit where possible. |
| Exotic Damage | The character possesses a means of dealing damage that, due to how it works, interacts with unusual or niche defensive Advantages more than it does relatively universal ones. While MCM expects that a suit of armour is typically a fine way to help survive the overwhelming majority of threats, there is a point at which anyone understands that a shield is the wrong Advantage to employ against psychic brain damage, a soul-draining ghost, or objects being teleported into a character’s body. Worth repeating: Exotic damage does not equate to unavoidable damage, and attacks using this Point resolve with the same logic and rules any other attack does. Required Text: What kind of damage it is, and the delivery mechanism, which must at least implicitly convey what kinds of defenses help, or else what “Save” applies. |
| Extraordinary Senses | The character’s senses are so finely tuned that they can pick up cues that no normal person would be able to, or the character possesses senses beyond the customary five that allow them to pick up cues that similarly would be otherwise undetectable. Feeling vibrations through the earth like Toph Beifong from Avatar, picking out someone’s appearance from listening to rain like Daredevil, the D&D “Detect” spells, or sensors that search an area for specific criteria like sonar or infravision, fit this bill. Required Text: What additional sensory acuity the character has, and some examples of what they might pick up. Common, real life technology may not require examples. It’s expected that everyone knows what night vision goggles do. |
| Field Shaping | The character has the ability to alter large portions of the scene itself in the physical sense. An Earthbender from Avatar raising structures out of the terrain, a D&D Wizard laying down grease spells and walls of fire all over the battlefield, a giant monster or super robot leveling buildings or creating massive craters, and a skilled demolitionist collapsing caves or creating new passages around an area are all equally valid examples. This can also cover leaving the effects of other Points as traps or remote fixtures. Required Text: The general extent to which the character can manipulate the field and a clear idea of the maximum range and spread of its effects. |
| Flash Movement |
The character has the ability to move from one point to another instantaneously. For all intents and purposes, the character does not actually traverse the space in between, however, the character can only use this Point to move to somewhere they could already physically move without it. This Point is always the basis for a teleportation ability, though by itself the character can only teleport where they could end up normally (think “flash steps”).
|
| Flight | The character, put simply, can fly. We really don’t care to differentiate between different arenas of flight (mostly air and space), and so they can be applied for under one Point, but it still should observe canon/implicit limits. Hovering or slow non-combat flight typically occupies the Minor tier.
Required Text: Where the character can fly. |
| Hacking | The character can take over digitally controlled machines. It is generally understood that characters with this Point may use it to substitute for a variety of other Advantages where hackable items appears appear in a scene, and so this breadth should be counterbalanced by respecting the bounds of the genre that the hacking applies to. Hacking cyborg/android/AI PCs plays out as combat does, and is not a binary win-lose state. Characters like the Major from Ghost in the Shell, Sombra from Overwatch, and Cortana from Halo, are examples. Consent where it concerns dictatorial effects, outlined later in this section. |
| Hammerspace | The character has a pocket dimension, Bag of Holding, a videogame inventory, impossibly roomy clothing, or something else that allows them to carry an unrealistically large amount of stuff very conveniently. Minor |
| Healing (Self/Other) | The character has the capacity to heal others or themselves of damage at a speed that is useful within the timeframe of a single scene. “Damage” in this case is more or less defined as “lost HP”, so this Point is all that is technically sufficient to prevent a character from becoming incapacitated through combat and dying, but it doesn’t extend into purging other harmful or inconvenient effects. Healing used on other characters is most straightforwardly exemplified by video game mechanics such as Final Fantasy’s White Magic or the healing technology of Overwatch’s support characters. Self-healing often takes more niche forms, like Wolverine’s regeneration from X-Men, or a vampire’s ability to restore itself by drinking blood, and self-healing is almost always something they can do on their turn alongside other actions. Required Text: None. |
| Hint | The character has some sense or ability that they can invoke to gain useful insight regarding a situation or course of action, such as future sight, divine inspiration, or some spark of unusual genius. This Point is essentially requesting that the runner of a scene or plot give your character some form of information that will help move events forward to a desired conclusion, or present an actionable opportunity to gain something. Though this Point is not technically tagged with Consent, in practice it’s pretty much impossible to do it without. Defining where the Hint provides useful and actionable information one or more scenes in advance. |
| Home Base | This Point is a stub. “Having a place to live” in of itself is a non-Advantage. In the vast majority of instances, a character’s home village or apartment or the like doesn’t merit a Point at all. In instances where the people who live there or the facilities it incorporates might be significantly useful, see NPCs, Field Shaping, Share Powers, Environmental Protection, etc. Essentially, pick Points that represent what the location can actually do. |
| Illusions | The character can create convincing facsimiles of people, objects, scenes, et. which can pass for the real thing, usually for purposes of deception and misdirection. Holograms, magically conjured phantoms, or direct psychic impressions are common ones, but regardless of the means, the illusions are insubstantial and harmless. Consent along the same guidelines as Disguise. |
| Immortality | The character does not die, or does not stay dead, when injured it ways that should be instantly or irreversibly fatal. Voldermort from Harry Potter, Alucard from Hellsing, Cell from Dragon Ball Z, and the Chosen Undead from Dark Souls are various examples. This Point, regardless of its tier, absolutely requires a “Catch”; a set of criteria in which the character faces the very real risk of permanent death, or a permanent state wherein the character is no longer playable. Depending on this Point’s tier of Advantage slot, this could be relatively easy to fulfill, or much more specific and difficult, but the Catch must always be something that the overwhelming majority of PCs could feasibly do if they put in the extra time and effort, and preferably something that could feasibly happen more often than very rarely in high-danger GMed scenarios. Required Text: The Catch, as well as when and where the character comes back to life, if it is somewhere else. |
| Improbable Defense | The character is able to apply their defensive options on an extremely implausible scale or basis, or the character possesses exotic defensive options that apply to esoteric or niche threats. Examples include Raiden parrying Metal Gear RAY and hellfire missiles with his sword in Metal Gear Rising, Avalon’s active defense from Fate/Stay Night, or Exalted perfect defense Charms. This Point is for evading active, rather than passive, threats to the character. Punching apart a tornado with their fists, parrying a volcanic explosion, or blocking a magical curse with a shield is a valid use of this Point, but “I dodge the background radiation” is not a valid way to get around the scary bits of the Fallout ‘verse (which would instead work off of Environmental Protection). This Point will generally not be necessary for characters who perform implausible feats that are justified by other Advantages. Vergil from Devil May Cry is justified in deflecting bullets with his katana by having superhuman swordsmanship and speed in his Advantages. Required Text: What kind of situations the character’s defenses apply in, and what drawbacks or holes they may include in the case that they are overwhelmingly broad. |
| Incapacitation | The character is highly capable of incapacitating opponents without seriously injuring or killing them. This is assumed to be something most characters can attempt if they have to, using rubber bullets or the blunt side of the sword for instance, but their chances of success are entirely left to the whims of the plot. This Point represents a greater and more effective way or talent in doing so, such as the Sleep card from Card Captor Sakura, knockout weapons and takedowns used by Snake and Corvo from Metal Gear Solid and Dishonored respectively, or phasers set to stun from Star Trek. Required Text: None. |
| Intangibility | The character has the ability to pass through solid objects. This could be a typical ghost phasing through walls, a Fate/ series Servant or Exalted spirit dematerializing, Kitty Pryde from X-Men, or as part of a teleportation ability in tandem with Flash Movement, as examples. An extremely important point is that MCM does not allow invincibility to be an Advantage, and so any long-lasting or permanent form of this Point automatically comes with the caveat that any other PC possesses whatever criteria is necessary to physically harm the character while they are intangible. Brief Intangibility may be a reason for an attack to have missed, but only within the confines of what the character could already avoid, otherwise the character needs Improbable Defense. Because this Point often allows the user to basically go wherever they please, it may be subject to the same preventative measures that keep out Flash Movement and similar. Required Text: None. |
| Invisibility | The character has powers of concealment that are potent enough for the default assumption to be that the character simply will not be found unless he does something obvious. This could be actual invisibility, chameleonic camouflage, a psychic compulsion to ignore the character, etc.; all are considered Invisibility. Grades of this Point based on the tier of slot they use are relatively concrete. Defining Invisibility is at near enough to flawless that the character flat out won't be found out until they do something overtly noticeable, or are contested by a great deal of effort put towards finding them. It may conceal them in multiple ways beyond purely vision, or naturally resist methods that would normally be expected to reveal the character, and it likely continues to function in combat. Examples are Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, Kusanagi Motoko's opticamo, the Invisible Stalker from D&D, or Toru Hagakure from My Hero Academia. |
| Knowledge - (Field) | The character is exceptionally knowledgeable about a particular field of something, whether that be science, social interaction, tactics, etc. The Knowledge is broadly useful in enough circumstances that it still deserves to be called an Advantage, but it cannot grant the character the use of another Point implicitly (for instance, choosing “computers” as a category of this Point does not suddenly make the character capable of Hacking). This Point is effectively a differently flavored mirror of Miscellaneous Skill. Required Text: The character’s Advantage-worthy area of knowledge, with at least two example applications. |
| Low Intake | The character has little to no need of one or more typical biological necessities, such as food, water, sleep, and similar. Regular maintenance of their person is not a notable consideration. Minor |
| Mind Manipulation | The character can somehow forcibly influence the thoughts, memories, and/or feelings of others to the point that they can heavily dictate their actions. This Point goes beyond the bounds of persuasive speaking or evocative performance, and assumes that the subject will act on the given compulsion as a default outcome, whether that be a command, an urge, an altered memory, a set of emotions, etc. Examples include Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass, Xavier from X-Men, the Imperius Curse from Harry Potter, various supernatural entities from the Harry Dresden books, or even very benign or positive users, such as Nilin from Remember Me or Raz from Psychonauts. Consent always. |
| Mind Reading | The character has the ability to perceive the thoughts, feelings, intentions, or immediate future actions of a subject. Usually this is some form of Telepathy or “Aura” reading such as present in X-Men or Vampire: the Masquerade, but it can encompass things like astrological prediction or computer analysis and simulation that effectively reads into the target’s inner intentions indirectly. Consent always. |
| Miscellaneous Skill - (Skill) | The character is exceptionally skilled or capable in an area of expertise that is not encompassed by another Point, but is broadly useful in enough circumstances that it still deserves to be called an Advantage. The skill in question cannot grant the character the use of another Point implicitly (for instance, defining “programming” as a category of this Point does not suddenly make the character capable of Hacking). This Point is effectively a differently flavored mirror of Knowledge. Required Text: The character’s Advantage-worthy area of expertise, with at least two example applications. |
| Mobility | The character can adroitly get around complex, dense, and/or hazardous environments by means of superior mobility, such as parkour, jump packs, wall climbing, grapnel hooks, hand gliders, video game double jumps and air dashes, etc. They may also perform such feats as briefly running across water, balancing on clotheslines, or clinging to ceilings. Examples are Spider Man, Batman and Catwoman, Mario and Luigi, Faith from Mirror’s Edge, Genji from Overwatch, and almost any Wuxia theatre fighter. Required Text: None, but examples are encouraged. |
| Multiple Discrete Actions | The character is able to split their attention, physically as well as mentally, to the ends of pursuing several different major courses of action at the same time, allowing them to accomplish more in the same amount of time and possibly in different physical locations. This often, though not nearly always, applies to character bits that are made up of multiple entities, though it can also apply to characters that create doubles or projections. For the most part, the typical JRPG party sticks together and tackles the same obstacle as a unit, and is frequently not an example of this Point. Conversely, the typical super AI forking its personality off to be in multiple places and manipulate multiple system almost always is. This more likely to be something possessed by a bit that is The Payday Gang or Master Chief and Cortana rather than a hypothetical team of Power Rangers or the appable cast of a Fire Emblem game.
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| NPCs | The character can command one or more other entities who will usually try to comply to the best of their ability. The NPCs may be fully realized characters, or simply generic monsters or drones, but overall their relationship to the Player Character is a subordinate one, and were they to leave or die, the character concept would not be overwhelmingly changed. The Advantages that an NPC can possess are limited to those the PC already possesses (for instance, a knight skilled in swordsmanship and riding might command a unit of cavalry skilled in the same), unless more Points are given over to the NPCs’ use, though it’s very rare that an NPC possesses all the Advantages of the PC and vice versa. Grades of this Point based on the tier of slot they use are relatively concrete. Defining-Grade: The NPCs are essentially at the same tier as PCs. They are serious combat entities, may be stronger or more capable than the character themselves in some areas, and can generally expect to viably compete with PCs in relevant situations. Usually, some Advantage space is dedicated to fleshing out their personal abilities. An example is Paine and Rikku being taken as Yuna's Defining NPCs in Final Fantasy X-2. |
| Oration | The character has exceptional social skills, has extraordinary charisma, is trained in diplomacy, persuasion, and deception, uses some kind of magical glamour, or otherwise has some means to make them an unusually effective speaker. Significant or lower. This Point cannot be a Defining Advantage solely for the difficulty of portraying and respecting it in play. |
| Power Copy - (1/2/3) | Because Power Copying is an Advantage that can be almost any other Advantage, and often several at once, the way that Power Copying works is not covered here, but in its own article. Defining |
| Proxies | The character has the option of working through an expendable and sometimes remote actor, minimizing risk to themselves while still allowing them to employ the bulk of their Advantages. Examples include Warframes, remote bodies from Ghost in the Shell, as well as swappable/expendable bodies from it and similar Transhuman themes, and the typical depiction of avatars such as in Accel World and other video game-inspired series. Possession, in the sense of ghosts, demons, body snatching, etc. is also considered a Proxy, but will usually require a Point to allow forcible acquisition and control of Proxies, such as Mind Manipulation.
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| Quantum Solution | The character has a knack for occasionally producing unique, irreplicable, and incredibly situational solutions to various problems they encounter, through MacGyver-esque ingenuity, arbitrary access to mad science gizmos, absurdly flexible but situational magic, miraculous luck, or some other similar bag of tricks. Once per scene, this Point allows the character to produce a solution to a single, discrete obstacle or challenge. As per this Point’s name, said solution essentially doesn’t exist until it suddenly does. The form this solution takes and how effectively it solves the problem are up to the discretion of the scene or plot runner, but in a situation where no agreeable compromise can be reached, this Point is not “used up”. Defining |
| Remote Manipulation | The character can physically manipulate objects at long distance, whether through telekinesis, magical puppet strings, manipulation of an element, sticking their hands through tiny portals, etc. Universally, this Point is a utility, covering practical tasks that can be done with physical manipulation, and typically not effectually imitating other Powers. Telekinetic flight and barriers and powerful attacks require other relevant Points. The default assumption is that the character manipulates objects as they could with their hands, or appropriate mundane tools in the case of things like water or sand. Required Text: What the character can manipulate and how. |
| Remote Viewing | The character can surveil a place extremely far away, or which they are otherwise unable to view normally, even with enhanced senses. Extremely mundane examples are the classical hidden camera and microphone, with fantasy equivalents being the crystal ball or Scrying spell, though this Point can also represent familiars or drones the character can see through, to name a few. This Point presumes that characters being watched are reasonably capable of realizing they are with mundane attention, unless appropriate concealment Points are taken alongside it. Consent when spying on PCs. |
| Repair | The character is able to repair various equipment, devices, or structures, to working condition. This is very often a mundane skill assisted by tools, in which case there is typically a more narrow field, but it can also use sci-fi reprocessing or powerful supernatural means, such as in Starbound and Eclipse Phase, or Josuke’s Stand, Crazy Diamond, from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. How well the object functions when finished typically corresponds to the Point’s slot tier. Required Text: What sorts of targets the character is able to repair, and broadly in what general timeframe. |
| Resistance - (Source) | The character has a natural resilience to, or a powerful preventative measure against, a specific category of harmful or unwanted influence. This can be almost anything, from a red dragon having a Resistance to fire, to a psion having a Resistance to mind control, but this Point has variable usefulness when it comes to PCs. As a general rule, a Resistance to a type of damage or harm can scale all the way up to an immunity to a natural or mundane source (such as a forest fire or black plague), provides a degree of utility based on its tier of Advantage slot against major plot obstacles (a melting down reactor or a super virus bioweapon), and only as much effect vs another PC as they are willing. How well this Point is respected by another PC is largely a matter of strongly encouraged etiquette.
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| Resurrection | The character has the ability to bring back the dead with the functionality they had in life. For the purposes of this Point, “dead” is when a target is going to stay dead unless someone brings them back to life full stop, not clinically dead or a state a scene runner would be explicitly allowing to “come back to life” anyways, such as with defibrillation or Phoenix Down. Defining |
| Riding | This Point is a stub. See Vehicle Mastery. |
| Skeleton Catch | The character kills people dead, period. They automatically fulfil the Catch associated with another character’s Immortality without having to go to extra lengths, users of Proxies always receive full deadly harm from their attacks equivalent to that suffered by their Proxy, and killing someone may very well prevent their return through Resurrection. This Point is an explicit exception to the general notion that no Advantage automatically trumps another Advantage when contesting an Advantage of equal or lower tier. This may, in certain cases, extend to fulfilling conditions regarding a plot NPC who cannot be harmed normally, if a plot incorporates such a contrivance. Required Text: None. |
| Share Powers | The character can grant the use of one or more of his Advantage Points to other characters, such as by handing out equipment, bestowing magical enhancements or blessings, synchronizing minds or abilities in some fashion, etc. Having this Point means that the character is able to provide others in the same scene with the benefits of their other Advantage Points of an equal tier or lower. In cases where the Point affects the self, such as Healing, the character can now affect other characters, such as by casting healing spells. In cases where the Point is targeted at others, such as Attacks List, the recipient gains the use of a similar ability for the scene, such as by handing them a raygun. In cases where the Point already affects others, such as Buffs, the character is now able to use it on themselves, such as typical RPG moves. In cases where the Advantage is Standalone or incorporates Flash Movement, others can only benefit from it by coordinating together with the character, such as huddling together under Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, or setting up fixed teleportation pads.
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| Shapeshifting | Shape shifting is not actually considered an Advantage Point. The power to change forms is a trapping. It is the fluffy dressing on the actual point of taking a new form. This stub exists to guide people looking for shape shifting into checking out Disguise, Superior (Attribute), Environmental Protection, Entry Methods, Flight, Water Functionality, and other such things that different bodies might do. |
| Stealth | The character is skilled in getting around unseen and undetected. This may be a enhanced by, or a result of, things like camouflage technology, magical silence, extremely small size, and the like, but this Point is sharply differentiated from Invisibility in that the character can always be detected by sufficient mundane effort or attention, no matter the circumstance, and must actively avoid notice, instead of being presumed unnoticed until they engage in a competitive task, or something does something special. Users of this Point include Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, Altair from Assassin’s Creed, Garrett from the Thief series, and James Bond, though they rarely use only this Point. Required Text: None. |
| Superhumanity | The character has a “generic” kind of overall above-human physical aptitude, typically encompassing some combination of superhuman strength, speed, resilience, reflexes, stamina, etc. This is an unbelievably common package in anime, comic books, and martial arts films, and incredibly common among non-human races in fantasy and sci-fi books, games, and movies. This can all be represented as a single Point simply because it would be prohibitively unwieldy to do otherwise, however, some small amount of emphasis can go to particular traits if the character is only superhuman in a few areas. Required Text: None. |
| Superior - (Attribute) | The character has a single physical trait, such as those outlined in Superhumanity, which vastly exceeds the norm to the point of becoming one of the character’s primary tools.The Hulk would take this Point in “strength” instead of Superhumanity, which Superman might take instead, representing that all of his metaphorical “XP” is loaded into being really really strong, and that his strength is more relevant than a generic superhuman’s in solving problems. Required Text: Which of the character’s attributes is exceptional, and at least one example of a feat they can perform with some, but not exceptional, effort. |
| Survival Skills | The character is well-versed in what it takes to provide for themselves and possibly others in situations far away from civilization and dependable infrastructure. This Point typically represents an abstract collection of abilities such as navigation and foraging suited to particular environments, but which rarely have central relevance, given that MCM’s structure makes it difficult to really be stranded anywhere for long. Minor |
| Teleportation | This is a stub. Teleportation is almost always going to be represented with Flash Movement, which elaborates fully on how teleportation can be represented on MCM. |
| Temporal Acceleration | The character can accelerate the passage of time for other things. This could cause plants to grow, weapons to rust, food to rot, creatures to mature, machines to work faster, stone to wear away, etc. so long as it is naturally affected by the progression of time. How much what target can be accelerated almost wholly depends on how useful it is to actually do it. In any tier of Advantage slot, rusting away the blast doors of a sealed starship bridge would be more difficult than ageing a bottle of wine by the same amount of time. It is understood that many problems may simply be beyond the scope of being solvable by any practical amount of time passing. Consent when applied to PCs, or possessions/NPCs of consequence. |
| Time Loops | The character can create closed time loops with themselves, wherein an iteration of them from the future briefly returns to present to assist them in some task, and then at the same point in the future, the character undertakes the same action of returning to the same point in the past in order to keep causality happy. This is the only form of personal time travel that MCM accommodates. Future selves are primarily useful for already knowing of dangers ahead of time, having partial or full solutions to puzzles, or items that make a problem easier which lie beyond the problem, and so frequent consultation with a scene runner is usually necessary to be playable. Required Text: None. |
| Time Stop | The character has the ability to stop time, or else somehow act outside of time, such that they are able to act literally instantly. This is differentiated from slowing down time, in that their actions take place without significant opportunity for other characters to follow them until they’ve already happened. Grades of this Point based on the tier of slot they use are relatively concrete. Defining Time Stop is extremely reliable and easily used, allowing the character to enhance nearly everything they do, often to the point their actions become difficult to follow. Similar to Defining teleportation and invisibility, the character often Just Shows Up out of frozen time. Examples are Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou, Dio Brando from JoJo's Bizarre Adventures, Shadow the Hedgehog's Chaos Control, and Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. |
| Transfiguration | Just like Shape Shifting, turning people into things is not an Advantage Point in of itself, but the trappings on one. This stub serves a similar purpose, except also to note that any power which transfigures someone into something else, whether transforming them into a squirrel, ageing them 50 years, or turning them to stone, is automatically Consent noted. |
| Transportation | The character has some means of getting from point A to point B in a highly day-to-day fashion, with no applicability in combat or with significant obstacles in play. This is effectively a non-Advantage, because we always assume that players should have access to what they need to Get To The RP, which is why Warpgates exist in the first place. This stub exists to affirm this. If the transport method has some basic utility, it may instead qualify for a Minor level of a Point like Flight. |
| Vehicle Mastery - (Vehicle) | The character has a high degree of personal skill with operating a certain class of vehicle or in control of a certain kind of mount. When at the wheel/saddle/etc. they are capable of performing a variety of uncommonly skilled and/or unusual stunts. Due to the way Advantage Redundancy works, as highlighted later in this section, this Point can valid grounds for associated instances of “free” Points, such as Flight for mastery of personal aircraft, solely containing mundane/typical examples of the vehicle. Vehicles that perform outside of highly ordinary parameters, including most military vehicles, still require Advantages paid in full for the character to possess. Required Text: The category of vehicle or mount the character is extraordinarily skilled with. |
| Water Functionality | The character has some combination of traits, equipment, or abilities that grant them comprehensive functionality on and under water. This Point effectively always includes the ability to breathe underwater in some fashion, as almost always incorporates a high degree of water mobility and lack of impediment in fighting or performing tasks. Required Text: None. |
| Weapon Mastery - (Style) | The character has a high degree of personal skill with a certain category of weaponry or in a certain style of combat. When using those weapons or within their arena of combat expertise, they are capable of performing a variety of uncommonly skilled and/or unusual stunts. Due to the way Advantage Redundancy works, as highlighted later in this section, this Point is valid grounds for an associated instance of Attack List as a “free” Point, solely containing typical weaponry fitting to the combat style. Weapons with special traits well outside the norm for their type still require Advantages to be paid in full, though some synergy with other Advantages is acceptable as usual (for instance, this Point dedicated to swords, and an Attack List - Ranged that shoots fire, could be grounds for “a sword that is a sword but it can also shoot fire”). Required Text: The field of weaponry or style of combat the character is extraordinarily skilled in. |
| Wealth | The character is fabulously wealthy or has access to incredibly abundant resources of a generally valuable rather than immediately practical nature. This Point doesn’t represent things that the character happens to own because they are wealthy, which would simply be a trapping. It represents an amount of liquid assets or useable resources they can throw at a problem by itself, such as bribing guards for entry, paying off politicians for info, hiring local help for a task, or local mercenaries to fight, investing capital in an ongoing project, taking ownership of set pieces to use immediately within the scene(s), reserving public spaces for Elite use, etc. Required Text: None. |
| Wild Card - (#) | The character has an Advantage that isn’t sufficiently covered by anything else on this list! Human decisions made by staff on what may be required of this Point are unavoidable, and so the Point may wind up being considered Consent applicable, or may be asked to be tweaked in some other fashion to remain consistent with MCM’s universal rules. Wildcards are given a number instead of a category in their designation. Required Text: A very clear and detailed explanation of what the Point is supposed to do and how, as well as any information required for others to known how to interact with, around, and against it. |
Standalone Advantages
Some abilities that characters have access to have such broad power, extreme volumes of possible applications, or narrative-bending weight, that their Point fills up the entire Advantage slot it is assigned to by itself; that is to say, they effectively count as three Points each. Unless the Point also indicates a specific tier, they may still be taken at Defining, Significant, or Minor levels.
Consent-Based Advantages
Overall, MCM is a consent-based MUSH, and there is exceedingly little that can be done to another player character without that player’s consent, but MCM does have a general stance that when players interact, “something happens” is better than “nothing happens”. When an Advantage features one or more applications tagged with Consent above, it means that particular use of the Advantage does not benefit from this guideline. The other player is completely free to have their character avoid the effect altogether, and attempting to pressure them into accepting it can be considered abuse.
The Consent tag is applied to Advantages that can be considered “dictatorial”, in that they strip control of the situation away from a player, are highly invasive of their character, and/or heavily dictate the outcome of events, which is why no player is obligated to humor them. Things like mind control, instant incapacitation, removing PCs from the scene, taking away powers, heavy transformation, etc. are some examples of this. To be transparently straightforward this does mean Professor Xavier will have a harder time using his abilities than Magneto, and Magneto should expect that controlling the iron in another PC’s blood to puppet their body will only go as far as other players find it fun.
Advantage Category Examples
Several Advantage Points allow the player to define their own categories wherein they take effect. These are left wholly up to the applicant to decide on, but there are still limits to the acceptable breadth they can encompass (Weapon Mastery - Everything is not a real Advantage, sadly), which are judged by how clearly and sensibly they define a limited set of narratively related examples, either explicitly or by way of obvious extrapolation. For the sake of applicants being able to judge their own categories at a glance, we have listed a number of examples below. These are not complete entries we want to see exactly copied and pasted, but a typical example of a category name, in cases where they have one, and then the kinds of examples that might show up in its trapping, in order to give the reader an idea where the bounds are.
Bane
Modern Mythos Supernaturals -- Werewolves, vampires, zombies, famous regional monsters such as yeti or chupacabra, most ghosts, some instances of demonic possession, etc.
Classical Folklore Monsters -- Gorgons, basilisks, sea serpents, banshees, hydra, faerie, most dragons, etc.
Eastern Tradition Creatures -- Youkai, Ayakashi, spirits and gods of individual objects or locations, evil ghosts borne of improper burial, archetypes of Kitsune, Yuki Onna, etc.
Undead -- Ghosts, vampires, liches, skeletons, zombies, various necro-horrors, etc. up to and including “technically dead” targets, such as zombies by lethal infection rather than necromancy.
Mechanical Beings -- Cyborgs, androids, most robots, various forms of AI with relevant physical access, etc. Does not cover robots too simple to be called beings or that are clearly accessories, like a manufacturing arm or a tank.
Divine Power Users -- Gods, demigods, avatars of such, typically all kinds of angel and equivalent divine servant, priests/clerics/shamans/monks, etc. that directly invoke a divinity’s power.
This Point may contain categories that are extremely variable on a theme to theme basis, or categories that are so narrow they apply with a great degree of cross-theme lenience, such as:
Profane -- Creatures declared anathema by a primary divine power and which are subjugated, harmed, or repelled, by divine power. Depending on theme, this could be almost anything. Though very common subjects are demons, vampires, evil spirits, corrupt gods, the undead, various eldritch monsters, and some kinds of dark magic users, the fact that it has such an incredibly broad reach into so many themes means that it is entirely at the mercy of any particular theme’s conceits. A vampire might be cursed and unholy in one world, but what is blatantly a vampire in another may be some kind of disease or mutation and have no such stigma, and the Bane is required to respect that.
Dragons -- If it’s a big, scaly, winged and tailed, flesh and blood creature, likely with some sort a damage dealing breath, it probably counts. It doesn’t matter whether it’s called a Drake or a Wyvern or a Lung or a Fell Beast; a dragon is a dragon is a dragon. Conversely, this sometimes might not apply to some entities that use the name “dragon” only in metaphor or homage, as clearly some kind of elemental or space god, or something like a dragon-shaped rock golem.
Immortality
Immortality is concerned with acceptable Catches rather than a category itself. Some unofficially named examples are:
Extreme Overkill: The character is killed for good when hit with unreasonable amounts of firepower in a short period of time, making killing them an exercise in “killing them really really dead”. A Defining example might require them to be completely obliterated to an extremely fine level. A Significant example might only require “enough” firepower that someone would have to intentionally go the extra mile in most cases. A Minor example would be a level of overkill that could frequently happen by accident, and so only helps in surviving casual threats or battles with enemies not serious about killing them. Cell from Dragon Ball Z, the Thing, and many iterations of Godzilla, are examples.
Immortality Juice: The character keeps coming back to life until they can’t anymore. The character could have extra lives, a lottery on whether it works, resurrecting could be draining to their soul or magic reserves, or maybe dying enough times in a short enough period of time just leaves them so exhausted and beaten that they can be finished off with a mundane action anyone could pull off. A Defining example would probably take a concerted effort to trap/track and kill the character over a long period of time. A Significant example has a plausible chance of wearing out in an especially prolonged fight, or has enough of a failure chance that the character thinks twice about dying in general. A Minor example will typically only work to stabilize a character they go a few metaphorical HP negative, and they could still be easily finished off by someone paying attention. Alucard from Hellsing and Fujiwara no Mokou are examples of this Catch.
Minimum Bar: The character only returns from death if specific circumstances are met. They may have had to die while acting a certain way, in a possession of a certain object, in defense of a certain cause, or only if they can pass some sort of bar of entry that a character could reasonably interfere with, such as retrieving their corpse as a spirit, or needing to hold on with sheer will that could have been broken by dying. A Defining example would rarely ever happen on its own, and likely require deliberate and intentional effort and setup on the part of another to enforce a scenario where it would fail. A Significant example could provide broadly useful arenas where the Immortality is basically guaranteed to work, but leave its reliability sorely lacking in other, very important situations which the character will inevitably end up in. A Minor example would only save the character from an especially pointless, trivial, or ignonimous death, and certainly not of their own devising. The God Tier mechanics of Homestuck characters fall here, as well as the Undead from Dark Souls, or any number of characters that carries some kind of self-resurrection mcguffin.
Achilles Heel: The character is killed for good when exposed to or killed by a certain class of attack, object, stimuli, etc. They might only die when burned to death, by a silver blade, under the light of the sun, specifically when decapitated, or something similar. This one is very straightforward, and is graded entirely by how obscure or difficult to obtain the killing mechanism is. A Defining example presumes that it could almost never happen unintentionally; someone would have to know the Catch, and go the extra mile to carry or plan for something few people normally do. A Significant example presumes that the fatal threat won’t usually be present on its own, but may still turn up from time to time in regular scenes, and that even though few characters may actively carry the countermeasure, it wouldn’t be hard to acquire it if necessary. A Minor examples presumes that the character’s final death is a matter of “when” and not “if”; chances for it to happen are abundant in everyday adventuring, and any character who doesn’t have access to the Catch could gain it trivially easily. A massive list of classical monsters could go as examples, such as vampires and stakes to the heart, as well as the Highlander series, and every other boss from the Resident Evil series.
Note: Past a certain level, a mechanism can be considered too obscure or difficult, and thus not acceptable (for instance, Ganon only dying if killed by the Master Sword).
Backup Box: The character dies, but reconstitutes at a remote object or place, usually heavily defended for obvious reasons. The success of the mechanism is rarely ever a question. Disabling or destroying it is the obvious method to fulfil the Catch.A Defining example means that the character is almost never in danger unless an enemy actively plans for his demise, and even then they will have difficulty, though there should still be some pertinent reason they hesitate to throw their life away whenever convenient (no suicide to fast travel). A Significant example includes that the process could be damaged or compromised in some way other than an enemy intentionally going to its physical location and sabotaging it, through a means most characters could acquire with some effort, or else it is solely secured by its obscure location. A Minor example has some intensely limiting factor that makes it easy to locate and destroy, such as having to be kept within 100 meters, or opening a portal directly to itself the character’s soul slips through. Character examples include Voldermort from Harry Potter, 2B and 9S from Nier: Automata, and every single Lich ever.
Note: A Catch like this must be wholly and entirely secured by the character’s own means. It cannot ever be defended or secured by a conceit or fixture of the theme at large. Requiring an enemy to turn a landmark upside down or inflict mass casualties to threaten a PC is not something MCM permits, since it effectively “hides behind” extra layers of consent and dissuasion.
Knowledge
Computers -- Finding evidence of forced entry, learning how to operate unfamiliar systems, analyzing the capabilities of robots by their programming, tracking by someone’s internet activity, etc.
Occult -- Knowing favored items to negotiate with spirits or things that repel them, resolving the unfinished business of a ghost, decoding ciphers in arcane texts, etc.
Psychology -- Attempting to ascertain someone’s honesty, psychological profiling, finding the right approach in interrogation or negotiation, dealing with victims of traumatic events, etc.
Tactics -- Anticipating an ambush, predicting an enemy’s movements ahead of time, reading into a goal or strategy through a group’s actions, picking naturally defensible places to build, etc.
Miscellaneous Skill
Architecture -- Building useful structures, reinforcing existing ones to combat readiness, renovating a ruin into a home base, finding structural weak points for demolition, discovering secret rooms, etc.
Mechanical Engineering -- Assessing the purpose of an unknown device, manually operating things like bridges, hangars, and generators, performing standard manual repairs, salvaging for useful parts, performing tuning, upgrades or restorations, etc.
Scouting -- Tracking quarries, finding secret passages, discovering or making shortcuts, erasing tracks, picking up on environmental signs, etc.
Spelunking -- Navigating, map making and reading, climbing and rappelling, squeezing through small spaces, reading air currents and natural signs, finding things in the dark, etc.
Resistance
Each example includes examples of things a Resistance could reasonably claim immunity to, and which could reasonably provide useful protection from. Obviously, any and all of these examples are subject to the tier of slot incorporating this Point, and any special factors that make the source important. They are automatically trumped by PCs according to the rules expressed in the table, and which examples apply to the character should be made clear in their trappings. No Resistance may be so broad that its environmental examples functionally eclipse Environmental Protection (such as Resistance - Space Hazards).
Fire and Heat -- Immune: Natural heat such as the air of a desert or volcano. Forest fires, burning clothes, or a naturally occurring magma pool.
Resistant: Flamethrowers, plasma guns, critical reactor heat, fire spells, stellar exposure, etc.
Toxins and Disease -- Immune: Ordinary diseases and infections, and toxins that are “bad for you” but don’t have consequences that would manifest within a scene, asides maybe throwing up.
Resistant: Supernatural or magical diseases or illnesses, curses of poor health, chemical weapons, weaponized viruses, animal venoms, lethal poisons, etc.
Magic -- Immune: Extremely mild or benign local effects, or Consent effects such as transformation. Magic resistance is such a broadly reaching genre of Resistance that it is very rarely going to provide immunity.
Resistant: Curses, passive local hazards, “magical radiation”, and highly subjective and variable grades of non-PC attack magic, depending on the tier of Resistance and potency of attack. This example is so broad and capable of shutting down an entire genre of threats that a dedicated caster attempting to hurt the character through magic is always going to succeed to a decent degree, unless they are effectively a mook.
Mind Control -- Immune: Any of it the same tier and below.
Resistant: Any of it of a higher tier. This is always a Consent Point to use on anyone to begin with, and so the threats it protects against are not something a player is nearly as obligated to respect. In the extremely niche and unlikely occurrence a non-Consent effect could be considered Mind Control, see the previous example.
Vehicle Mastery
Aerospace Superiority -- Jets, combat planes, bombers, starfighters, VTOLs, etc. Works for equivalent flying riding animals such as pegasus knights, griffons, and dragon riders, etc. so long as air combat is happening. Would need an additional Point for exceptionally skilled ground riding.
Air-Ground Support -- Helicopters, gunships, landing craft, space troop transports, etc. Likewise large, low-flying riding animals can work here, like dragon strafing runs.
Watercraft -- PT boats, hovercraft, jet skis, speed boats, kayaks, amphibious vehicles, etc. Practically any marine creature significantly smaller than a whale.
Fully Staffed Ships -- Destroyers, frigates, battleships, etc. of the water, space and air varieties. Riding equivalents are usually colossal war beasts or flying whales or the like.
Multi-Wheeled -- Cars, trucks, ATVs, jeeps, tractors, APCs, armored vans, etc.
Heavy Military Ground -- Tanks, APCs, self-propelled guns, drawn siege-engines, war elephants and similar big stompy monsters, etc.
Single Riding -- Motorbikes, jet skis, snowmobiles, horses, etc. Most mounted ground combat could be covered.
This Particular Point allows for extremely limited selections with broad roles, such as:
Flying Cavalry Beasts -- Would allow solely for things such as pegasi, griffons, etc. but would cover all aspects of riding them, air, ground, support, dogfighting, mounted combat, etc.
Humanoid Mecha -- Similarly, this allows for mecha combat in space, in the air, on the ground, etc. so long as it’s a giant metal person and acts like one.
Weapon Mastery
Hilted Slashing -- Most swords and daggers, glaives and naginatas, axes, sickles, most vibroblades, some energy swords or psychic/magic blades, etc.
Polearms -- Spears, pikes, halberds, glaives, naginatas, polehammers, scythes, shock staves, etc.
Heavy Striking -- Maces, hammers, war picks, polehammers, clubs, batons, realistic flails, suitably sized improvised cudgels, etc.
Hand-To-Hand -- Claws, powerfists, knuckle weapons, pile bunkers, etc. May include unarmed combat itself, or things such as knives used as CQC enhancers.
Modern Infantry Firearms -- Typical rifles, shotguns, handguns, submachine guns, etc. May include somewhat more specialist weapons used in a generic role, up to and including basic grenades.
Flexible Wire -- Whips, weighted chains, mono-wires, lassos, tentacle spells, etc.
Martial Arts Sticks -- Various staves, escrima sticks, tonfas, nunchaku, three-section staff, etc.
Mounted Heavy Weapons -- Missile launchers, miniguns, autocannons, ballistae, mangonels, etc.
Archaic Hand-Powered Projectile -- Bows, crossbows, javelins, throwing knives, shuriken, etc.
This Particular Point allows for extremely limited selections with broad roles, or extremely broad selections with limited roles, such as:
Knives -- Just knives and that’s it, but the character would within their rights to use them as a melee weapon, CQC enhancer, and thrown weapon, as per their roles in Hilted Slashing, Hand-To-Hand, Archaic Hand-Powered Projectile. The extreme focus affords versatile capabilities with that weapon.
Personal Sniping -- Just about any weapon that could be used by an individual to believably engage in sniping, from marksman and anti-materiel rifles to longbows or lasers, but no matter what they use, any of these weapons will fill the role of “sniper”, with their other qualities mostly being perks and window dressing. The extreme focus affords a versatile selection of of weapons in that role.
Redundancy and Prerequisites
One of the core concepts of the Point system is to avoid judging a character’s conceptual fullness by how many toys they have, but by the scope of what they can accomplish in a scene. Most Advantage Points encompass and compress what might otherwise be extensive lists of individual powers or items, because they do roughly the same thing. Sometimes a character ends up with multiple different Advantages that happen to share some of the same Points. In these cases, the same Point recurring at the same tier or lower effectively becomes a “free” Point. It is still noted in the Advantage slot, but it no longer costs any space.
e.x. A character has an Advantage slot that gives him sturdy, environmentally pressurized power armor, represented by the Damage Reduction, Environmental Protection, and Superhumanity Points. He also has a giant mecha, which occupies a different Advantage slot. His mecha may then have any or all of those same Points, listed alongside the 1-3 unique things it does, for free.
As a niche but universal rule, characters with special skills, equipment, and talents, are always assumed to have access to the basic items required to exercise that skill, or the basic skills required to properly utilize that item. Many Points already explicitly note this (such as 'Weapon Mastery - Sword giving a free Attack List - Melee with the trapping of “ordinary mundane swords), but it should be assumed that any that don’t still have this rule applied. A powerful weapon comes with a passable level of skill in wielding it, a knack for medicine comes with a kit of medical and surgical items, the ability to cast magic comes with the mana bar and wand as required, etc.
Advantage Standards
While MCM leaves the standards of writing trappings and designing Advantage space relatively freeform, there are certain stylistic guides that should be adhered to as a matter of policy. These rules are few, and not mere suggestions. These decisions exist in order for Advantages to do exactly what they say, and maintain a minimum level of sanity in play. Applications have been turned around for wildly diverging from these precepts.
"Conceptual" and "Molecular" Terms
When an Advantage is asserted to work on a “conceptual” level, it is all too often used as shorthand for the Advantage having massively reaching control over a thematic space that can be stretched and extrapolated with no clear limits. “Molecular level control” is understood to be effectively the comic book equivalent. While we allow for Advantages that incorporate these mechanics, such as in Fate/ and DC series, we don’t want to see this terminology appear in their writeups. Advantages are predicated on clear and understandable language, without cleverly hidden gotchas or secret extra utility obfuscated to the reader, and these terms run counter to this goal.
The Et Cetera Rule
For the same sake of Advantage clarity, using “etc.”, “and so forth”, and other thought extenders, should only be done in the context of a tight grouping of examples that relate in an obvious fashion.
-Acceptable: “Black Mage has the magical power to fire blasts of elemental energy (fire, ice, lighting, etc.)” The “etc.” clearly indicates extra elements, but the magic itself has a clear and sufficiently narrow scope. Black Mage could shoot dark or water or earth element attack spells, but it doesn't expand on the utility of the Advantage, merely the VFX.
-Unacceptable: “Doppelganger has the ability to completely transform his body into that of a different creature, such as a bear, spider, dragon, werewolf, android, etc.” The “etc.” has no clear bounding or obvious continuation. None of the listed examples are intuitively related, and the entry could spiral into turning into planet-sized space whales for all the reader knows. This forces other players, not to mention staff, to consult a wiki to understand what the character does in the case of an FC, and leaves them completely in the dark in the case of an OC.
Implicit Limitations
For simplicity and accessibility, MCM allows a lot of functional breadth in most Advantage Points, and prefers them to be explained in useful narrative terms rather than hard and comparative numbers. However, there are certain expectations that Advantages be played to what they say, especially in the case of FCs with a defined canon. Essentially, “my Advantage doesn’t explicitly say I can’t do it” doesn’t mean you can.
As an example, Cloud Strife, an Adeptus Astartes, and Superman might all take the Superhumanity Point, but if said Adeptus Astartes suddenly begins bench pressing locomotives just because Superman can, he is reaching far beyond the implicit scope of his Advantage, constituting abuse. Likewise, a Black Mage, Link, and the Doom Slayer might all take Attack List - (Ranged), but there is a serious problem when Black Mage pulls a BFG out from under his hat because it would technically be permissible under the same Point. This does not enforce a hierarchy of usefulness within the same Advantage outside of its tier of slot. Even if Superman can objectively lift more weight than Cloud Strife, if both of them have their Superhumanity at the Defining level, for instance, them applying their Superhumanity to a task that requires it should yield results that are similarly helpful. Superman might casually deadlift what takes Cloud involving leverage with his giant sword, but the description is immaterial to the fact they both got the job done.
On a related note, there are no such thing as Advantages that implicitly exist. A character seldom or never using an ability means that the player has a choice of cutting it from the character entirely until a time that they want to start using it, or applying for it and waiting for a dramatic moment to use it. They do not have the choice of writing it in as a footnote for when it becomes convenient.
Advantage +1
Lastly, design space to be aware of is that MCM does not consider Advantages recurring multiple times equal to “Advantage but better”. A natural superhuman might put on a suit of powered armor that further enhances his superhuman physical abilities, but Superhumanity is Superhumanity, and its is as useful as its slot. They are both contributing sources of Superhumanity, not Superhumanity+1, double Superhumanity, or Superhumanity squared. The most MCM allows for an Advantage to be emphasized is for its slot to contain fewer other Points to heighten the relevance of what it does have. This is frankly in place to prevent silly arms races of stacking Advantages more than everyone else to achieve dominance in a field, and thus everyone else having to stack a minimum amount to stay relevant. This extends to not considering Advantages that hard trump other Advantages until a trump is devised in return, which gets us the Unblockable Attack -> Unblockable Attack-Blocking Shield -> Unblockable Attack-Blocking Shield-Piercing Attack -> Unblockable Attack-Blocking Shield-Piercing Attack-Blocking Shield, etc. escalation.
Advantage Policy and Limitations
As MCM allows an extremely wide variety of characters and character abilities, for the sake of keeping things sane, there are a few universal rules that Advantages must abide by, in order to keep things fun and relatively straightforward.
Player Character Glass Ceiling: In general, we don't allow for entities that flat overpower or supersede PC action, and so MCM is not a game where Cthulhu or Cain will simply defeat you automatically for challenging them. That said, we can play looser with this regarding things that aren't meant to be a permanent fixture on the MUSH. If a plot demands that ghosts need to be dealt with by resolving their issues instead of re-killing them, we may decide that you won't be able to re-kill them in a fight like you would a ghost PC. It's both impolite, and incorrect, to speculate how beyond a PC your Plot Boss is, and it discourages staff from greenlighting those concepts for you if you do.
Threat to Player Characters: MCM requires that all player characters are capable of being threatened by physical danger under reasonable circumstances, though reasonable degrees may vary somewhat from character to character. This is to maintain a consistent tone of enemies and hazards being able to present as credible risks to PCs regardless of theme, or else conflicts quickly lose their integrity in a story. This is already present in several types of Advantages outlined in our Advantage Points section, such as Immortality and Proxies, but should be understood to be a general consideration regardless.
Intensity of Effect: Almost no Advantages are absolute. Defensive Advantages acting against highly dictatorial effects can be, but when someone “attempts to do a thing to you”, it's preferable for “something to happen” rather than “nothing to happen”, although the specifics are in your court. For example, in Harry Potter, the Avada Kedavra spell kills anyone it hits instantly. On MCM, Avada Kedavra would be a powerful attack, but nobody would expect you to automatically die from it.
Range of Effect: Any Advantage that targets another PC is assumed a delivery mechanism that is avoidable, even if it doesn't in the source material. To put it another way, Everyone Gets A Save Against Everything. All combat powers are assumed to function with range and methodology which permits meaningful interaction between all players. That means if you are attacking another PC, that PC can fight back somehow; otherwise a scene just becomes tedious and one-sided.
Scope of Effect: In day-to-day use, Advantages shouldn't exceed a Scope of Effect of one city block, the upper end of which we identify as Kowloon Walled City. When mass destruction happens, we want it to be a plot-significant event, such as when Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star; not Nappa blowing up a city for giggles. If an environment has little narrative weight or doesn't map to realspace, we don't mind if destruction is abnormally upscaled there. Blowing up a mountain in the boonies or a pocket dimension just doesn't matter that much. This is to keep the stakes of conflicts roughly within a ballpark that most PCs can interact with.
Interaction with MUSH Meta-Elements: Advantages that interact with natural Warpgates, Unification, or any other element of the MUSH's back-end, are not possible to have. You can't "de-unify" or leave the Multiverse or MUSH setting.
Conservation of Ninjutsu: It's possible to create PC-class power. It isn't possible to mass-produce PC-Class power. Cloning Superman once might get you another Superman, cloning him a hundred times gets you Superman-flavored mooks.
Patch Notes 2/22/17 7:15 P.M.: Edited the Conceptual file to encompass another form of broad shorthand: Molecular-level control.
Patch Notes 1/16/2017 6:18 P.M.: Edited Minor NPCs to clarify that they cannot have a PL, and how two minor NPCs of different specialties might interact.
Patch Notes 1/12/2017 8:31 P.M.: Edited out Monsters of the Week as a standalone advantage. A MotW would be a "blank" Defining NPC entry with possible advantages fleshed out as a mix'n'match package defined as a part of the character's other advantages.
Patch Notes 6/14/2017: Edited to flow better for learning the new system.
