Morpheus Unbound  |  House Rules

Guidelines for Training and Inventing Points in Revised Villains & Vigilantes

Training and Inventing Points can be used for any of the following:

• Gain or lose weight
• +1 “to hit” with one attack
• +1 damage with one attack
• Reduce the PR cost of one type of use of one power by 1 point.  For example, the cost to take control of an object with Magnetic Powers could be reduced from PR=5 to PR=4, but the cost of a Magnetic Blast remains PR=5.
• +1 to any Characteristic
• Power stunt (new use of an old power)
• Permanently increase the range of one natural power by 25%
• Learn martial arts training so foes are -2 “to hit” the character while she is conscious and mobile. (A lesser version of Heightened Defense, inspired by the Intercrime Assassins.)
• Train an animal - teach an old dog new tricks
• Permanently add “+1d10” to Initiative rolls.  This is literally +1d10 and not a one-time fixed value.  For example, “Initiative = Agility +2d10, roll each turn.”

Training can be used for:

• If a character trains in Inventing, she is  able to add a number of Inventing Points equal to 1/10th of her Inventing Percentage. Thus, a person with an average Intelligence of 10 (and thus an Inventing Percentage of 30%) gains 3 Inventing Points after training in Inventing for one level. A brilliant scientist who has an Intelligence of 30 (and whose Inventing Percentage is 90%) gains 9 additional Inventing Points when he trains in Inventing for one level. (Source: Doug Taylor)
• Education - gain a new background
• Permanently add +3 Hit Points (like a Body Power)
• Permanently add +5 Power Points (like a Body Power)

Inventing Points can be used for creating devices.  Devices created with inventing points can provide any of the following, as long as the character still has access to the device.  If the character wants to improve or modify an existing device, the new invention could be a modification of that device, or could be a new piece of equipment that works with the device (e.g. a “power amplifier that attaches to the barrel of my Power Blast device, but because it’s separate, I could move it to my Disintegration Ray wristband.”).

• Increase the range of a power (natural or device-based) by 50%
• +2 “to hit” with one attack
• +2 damage with one attack
• Duplicate any existing power at one-quarter to one-third efficacy.  Since V&V is predicated on geometric progression, this usually means three or two die steps smaller.  For example, one-third of a Power Blast is 1d12, because that is two die steps below 1d20 (aka 2d10).
• Duplicate a Heightened Characteristic power at one-quarter to one-third efficacy.  As noted above, this means 1d12 or 2d8 for a Heightened Characteristic B ability.  As a general rule, I might allow players to roll 3d4 or45d4, respectively, because those generate more satisfying results for the cost and hassle of one or more Inventing Points (statistically speaking, a character with an Int of 12 will burn 3 IP, on average, per invention).  If a character already has one or more Heightened Characteristic powers, I usually let the invention stack, but restrict it to 1d12 and cap the final result at 8, in any case.  This helps limit abuse without making players feel too arbitrarily restricted (“I have Heightened Strength B twice, now I’m going to burn a lot of IP on power armor with battle computer to give me more Strength and Heightened Expertise and Natural Weaponry…”).
• Devices that cannot be taken away from the character, e.g. secretly hidden brain implants, can be developed with Inventing Points, but the benefits are restricted.  Because they are not really devices, the benefits are limited to what can be gained through Training (e.g. +1 Intelligence).
• Permanently increase the Hit Points of a Pet, Animated Servant or similar by +3 (like a Body Power)

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