Powers: Characters: Power Level
Power Level
Almost every campaign has a fixed starting PC point level. That special powers are available does not mean that the campaign must have a high starting value. It's possible to run very interesting powers-heavy campaigns with the starting point level set deliberately low. A PC with a low-strength, short-ranged, or unreliable power must use it cautiously and inventively. Every couple of experience points spent on it will likely make an important difference. Genre fiction is full of such characters – young psis discovering their powers, trainee martial artists, apprentice space knights, and so on. On the other hand, impressive and colorful powers do tend to be expensive, so many powers-oriented games work best with substantial starting totals.
100 or fewer points
In games where PCs start with 100 points or fewer, powers and exotic abilities will be low-powered or limited, especially if the PCs are supposed to be competent in other ways; 100 points (plus a few disadvantages) can buy moderately respectable powers, but these won't be much use if the character is hopeless at everything else. A well-balanced team can get around this problem, if the players are willing to run highly specialized PCs.
That doesn't mean that powers are useless in low-points games, especially if they are rare in the setting. An ordinary person with the ability to fly, however slowly, can accomplish plenty. Someone with just enough natural armor to stop pistol bullets and sword cuts can survive incidents that would kill ordinary mortals, even though he must watch out for heavy weapons. Powers in such campaigns often need extra time and special procedures to activate, making them useless in combat – but someone who can see through walls, predict the future, or talk with spirits can avoid many fights, or ensure that they only happen on favorable terms.
150-250 points
"Real" powers usually require starting levels of at least 150-250 points. This doesn't produce superheroes, but it does enable PCs to be capable adventurers, with an array of advantages and skills, and still manifest a power or two. "Empowered" PCs on this level still find ordinary humans of the same point level – who are merely tough, smart, and good with weapons – to be useful partners and dangerous opponents. PC parties may well consist of a mixture of types – psionic adepts and their warrior bodyguards, meditative monks who have refined their control of chi, brethren who concentrate more on martial arts, or cyborg warriors and their support technicians.
300-750 points
"Real" powers-focused campaigns may require several hundred points – exactly how many depends on the intended style. Just 500 points buys someone who can pass fairly convincingly as a comic-book superhero, but who may not quite be able to emulate the feats seen in four-color comics (appropriate for a stories about the gap between the myths of heroism and harsher realities). A well-designed 750-pointer can probably defeat any number of normal human opponents. In all cases, much depends on the balance of defenses, hit points, and regenerative abilities, and also on just how exotic the available powers are, compared to mundane technology.
1000+ points
For PCs who can pass as gods, starting point levels in four figures are essential. At this level, however, the GM needs to set very strong guidelines as to how points should be spent, and what PCs should be capable of accomplishing. An invulnerable individual who can slaughter whole human armies might be able to demand worship, and could be created with less than a thousand points, but if he can't answer prayers or travel to the heavens, he's rather unconvincing in the role.
Disadvantage Limits
Character disadvantages have a large effect on the style of any campaign. The guideline of no more than 50% of base point levels holds fairly well for PCs in the 100-300 point range, but outside this range, different limits may well be appropriate.
In a game with 50-point adolescents just discovering their unreliable powers while hunted by sinister forces, mandatory or logical disadvantages – Social Stigma, low Wealth, Enemies, and so on – may exceed that 50% even before the players start individualizing their characters. Conversely, if the PCs are built on 750 points, letting them have -375 points in disadvantages may leave them virtually unplayable, and certainly incapable of following interesting plot leads. Indeed, for a four-color superhero game, the GM can enforce a disadvantage limit as low as -50 to -100 points, ensuring that the heroes have no problems beyond the traditional high-mindedness and a couple of enemies.