Character Points

You design a hero by spending Character Points on various traits. Each ability, skill, advantage, power, and other trait has an associated Character point cost.

Starting Character Points

The game's power level provides a guideline for how many Character points you get initially to design your character, as shown on the Starting Character points table (Character points = power level x 15). The Gamemaster can vary the starting Character points as desired to suit the series.

The minimum power level (for everyone) is 1 and there is no maximum. The minimum starting Character points for player characters is 15. NPCs have a minimum of 0 Character points. There is no maximum number of Character points.

Table: Starting Character Points

Spending Character Points

Each trait costs a certain number of Character points. You "spend" or allocate your points to give your character different traits. Once spent, Character points cannot be reallocated without the use of a variable power or the Gamemaster's permission (see reallocating below). The basic costs of traits are given on the Basic Trait Costs table, with specific costs for powers given in Powers.

Table: Basic Trait Costs

Gaining Character Points

The Gamemaster awards heroes Character points over the course of a series. This represents the experience and confidence the heroes have gained, along with other factors contributing to an increase in their abilities, skills, and powers. The Gamemaster decides when and how often to award Character points at his discretion (see awarding character points).

Players can spend their heroes' awarded Character points in-between adventures to improve the heroes' traits, limited only by the series power level. You can also choose to save up unspent Character points, waiting until the power level increases, in order to spend them to improve a trait already at its maximum rank. Players spend Character points on new or improved traits for their heroes just the same as spending them to create a hero. So if your hero has a power costing 2 points per rank, and you want to improve it by 1 rank, spend 2 of your earned Character points to do so.

Just like starting Character points, once earned Character points have been allocated to a trait, they remain that way, unless some effect causes the character's point allocation to change (see Reallocating Character points for more information). Weaken can cause a temporary loss of points but once the effect wears off the Character points return exactly as they were before.

Reallocating Character Points

Normally a hero's traits are fixed. Once Character points are spent on them, they remain there. In some cases, however, the Gamemaster may allow players to reallocate their characters' points, changing their traits within the limits of the series power level, perhaps even losing some traits and gaining entirely new ones. This is typically a result of encountering a transformational effect (intense radiation, mutagenic chemicals, cosmic power sources, and so forth). It's up to the GM when these character-altering events occur, but they should be fairly rare unless their effects are intended to be temporary complications or the player requested it.

In order to have fun it's important to play a character you enjoy so you may ask for a point reallocation to correct mistakes. However such reallocations should be within reasonable limits. If you want to change everything about your character it would be better explained that this is a different person. Additionally you should not be able to change powers every single adventure, for that see Variable.

Note that when an Ability is changed Skills and Defenses are affected. Also see Changing Descriptors for more details.

Character Points of Non-player Characters

While the GM should keep the power level guidelines and suggested starting Character points of the series in mind while creating villains and members of the supporting cast, non-player non-combatant characters do not need to be so carefully tracked simply build with as many Character points as the GM wants to give them. In other words, there is no need to add up the "cost" of a non-player character. Just assign the appropriate traits at the desired ranks. The Character point total may also be less than the recommended starting Character points for that power level, especially for animals which frequently have unspent points.

This is done to simplify some work of the Gamemaster: if it doesn't need an exact number then don't bother counting it. Some NPCs don't need a character sheet beyond concept and name.