First Time GM Questions 3e - Attack Checks

[Nagganooch]

Hi everyone, this is the first time I'm GMing a Mutants and Mastermind game (in fact, it's the first time I'm GMing/DMing period), and I'm a little confused on something I can't quite find in the heroes handbook. One of my players is making a character with Cosmic based powers, and he took the Cosmic Blast power from the 3e Cosmic Power Profile (Ranged Damage). He took 10 ranks in it, and also has 2 ranks of Ranged Attack 2 and a total of 7 ranks (including ability modifiers) of Ranged Combat: Energy. So my question(s) are this:

1) Does this actually give him a 19 bonus in attack bonus when using this power, essentially turning the check into a d20 + 19 vs DC? This seems ridiculously high to me as a first time GM, and provides extremely little room for him to actually miss.

and

2) Is "Energy" too broad of a category for the Ranged Combat skill? Should I have him trim it down to a skill for each of his ranged attacks?

[JDRook]

Flying Cobra actually made a quick cheat sheet for things like this. Check this thread.

To address your specific issue, you need to remember that almost all attack come in two parts: the Attack check, which tells whether or not the attack hits; and the Effect check, which gives how much the attack affects the target.

For the Cosmic Blast, the 2 ranks of Ranged Attack 2 and 7 ranks (including ability modifiers) of Ranged Combat: Energy would add up to +9 to Attack. The 10 ranks of Range Damage is the Effect.

In combat, he would roll an Attack check as d20 + 9 vs DC10 + the defender's Dodge rank, since it's a ranged attack. If the attack check succeeds, the defender would the roll a resistance check as d20 + defender's Toughness vs DC15 + the attacker's Effect (in this case 10 ranks of Cosmic Blast).


As for the "Ranged Combat: Energy" question, it depends on how broadly he can apply the bonus. If the attacks are a relatively tight group of attacks, it should be fine. Without seeing the sheet, I would assume he has several powers in an array, and if the bonus only applies to attacks in that array, that's a reasonable limit. He wouldn't be able to, say, pick up a villain's drop ray gun and use that extra +7 to hit.