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OK when PU2 first came out I read it over inparticular the Eugenics and then came on here and disagreed that it could be construed as potentially overpowered. I was wrong through and through.

Uesterday evening I rolled up a price for the Eugenics and got the 13 million and ended up with a guy with like 480 sdc, Rechannel and expel Energy (makes him all but impervious to energy), Impact resistance(Half damage from kenitics), Enhanced Leaping and a high PP buy that ended up with Dodge and Parry Bonuses at 13 each and a strike bonus at 10. That with the lung enhancements make him really resistant to gases and hold breath for like 24 minutes. Oh and the bonuses were bumped by the lightning reflexes and one of the speed things as well. Now that don't even include the Psionic Sensitive package with sixth sense some others and the Super of Invisibility for stealth.

The reason I am mentioning this is simple. I argued that it ain't all that powerful without actually doing one up to see and was WRONG.
I also appologize to anyone who I argued heatedly with.

One way I thought could bring it under control is with a maximum money cap like the following.

Genetic Construction Budget :
01-10% 2 million
11-20% 3 million
21-35% 4 million
36-50% 5 million
51-65% 6 million
66-80% 7 million
81-90% 8 million
91-00% 9 million

Instead of the one in the book.

Genetic Construction Budget :
01-10% 7 million
11-20% 8 million
21-35% 9 million
36-50% 10 million
51-65% 11 million
66-80% 13 million
81-90% 15 million
91-00% 17 million

Again I stand corrected.

Preacher wrote:One way I thought could bring it under control is with a maximum money cap like the following.

Genetic Construction Budget :
01-10% 2 million
11-20% 3 million
21-35% 4 million
36-50% 5 million
51-65% 6 million
66-80% 7 million
81-90% 8 million
91-00% 9 million

Instead of the one in the book.

Genetic Construction Budget :
01-10% 7 million
11-20% 8 million
21-35% 9 million
36-50% 10 million
51-65% 11 million
66-80% 13 million
81-90% 15 million
91-00% 17 million

Again I stand corrected.

I did something very similar:

01-10% 3.5 million
11-20% 4.0 million
21-35% 4.5 million
36-50% 5.0 million
51-65% 5.5 million
66-80% 6.0 million
81-90% 6.5 million

Frankly I just cut them in half. Let them take advantage of the misprinting and such cuz I have cut them down.
91-00% 7.0 million

I'm of the mind that Eugenics is best suited for creating NPCs/villains... mainly as pawns of the evil scientist uber-villain.

However, depending on how high-power one wants to go with his/her campaigns, it could also be used for PCs.

How about rather than halving the budget, what if the GM just put a budget cap on any eugenics PC?

I look at the eugenics class and just laugh and laugh
then I rub my littel GM hands together and laugh some
more.

Remember whats good for the goose is good for the gander.

Chopping budgets is a quick-fix at best. Prices need to be adjust a whole helluva lot in preference to limiting what can be bought from the category. Specifically, any super ability, psionic package, or anything on its own that rivals a super ability/mainstay of another category should cost millions as a single package. A eugenics character should be built in layers (yes, like an ogre because some will be that powerful) with bunches of small bonuses adding up to one powerful character. I made the Perfect Humans for the rejected Nightbane tech book and the genetic for the GG this way. Any single powerful augmentation should cost a nice chunk of the budget while minor aspects should be relatively cheap (but not as cheap as some of the stuff in eugenics) so that when grouped together they add up not only to the equivalent of bigger powers, but also to a more customized character.

Wayne_Breaux wrote:Chopping budgets is a quick-fix at best. Prices need to be adjust a whole helluva lot in preference to limiting what can be bought from the category. Specifically, any super ability, psionic package, or anything on its own that rivals a super ability/mainstay of another category should cost millions as a single package. A eugenics character should be built in layers (yes, like an ogre because some will be that powerful) with bunches of small bonuses adding up to one powerful character. I made the Perfect Humans for the rejected Nightbane tech book and the genetic for the GG this way. Any single powerful augmentation should cost a nice chunk of the budget while minor aspects should be relatively cheap (but not as cheap as some of the stuff in eugenics) so that when grouped together they add up not only to the equivalent of bigger powers, but also to a more customized character.

So Wayne... are you saying that Eugenics characters stink, make people cry, and sprout those little brown hairs if you leave 'em out in the sun? How about parfait, Wayne? or cake? Cakes have layers...



Sorry about that... was watching that movie last night again with my son.


Anyway, chopping budgets may not be an ideal solution for those of us who feel Eugenics is far too susceptible to abuse (a.k.a. Munchkin's Paradise)... but until the category gets completely overhauled (not likely any time soon, at least not officially) it's probably the best available option short of banning the category entirely from your campaigns. Although I haven't yet had a player field a Eugenics character, I would most likely limit the budget to $9 million or less. In the event that this is a high-powered campaign with several Mega-Heroes/godlings/Cosmo-Knights/etc., then I might allow a higher budget (still wouldn't be maximum though).

Well I am not big on limits as a GM myself but if someone wanted to run a Eugenics hero in my adventure then he would need a definite theme and I would probably cap the money at around 5 million which to me could be a fine way to control this character class.

I alwyas figured Eugenics, and other powerful categories, are just available in case you want a higher powered campaign. They just shouldn't be made available in regular campaigns.

Even so, another way is to remove all Chimera modifications, ruling they are too advanced to be viable at the campaign time. Or you can limit the super power type options so a char can only take as many of those as a mutant would have available as powers. For those who also take psionics, use the random power generation tables and limit the maximum amount of psionics and powers to be roughly equivalent of what can be rolled up by any character.

Even with that option, you can still make some tough chars. If you really don't want a player making one, but they are extremely persistant, then give them the option o coming up with a theme for their character. With that theme in mind, and also your game balance, you(the GM) buys the options that fit the theme, leaving the rest of char creation up to the player. They may not be happy, but at least you have a way of controlling munchkins.

Personally, I just tell my players they cannot make them.