Mu Factor/Character Creation
In the Mu Factor character creation system, as with most MMOs, players are presented with a handful of choices at the outset. More choices and options to customize their characters will be presented as they play.
Appearance
Players may choose a variety of human body shapes, skin colors, hairstyles and colors, and preferred clothes, but as mutants they are also encouraged to choose ways in which their mutation manifests, making them visibly different. Players may change these later, but the cost of doing so will be higher the more they wish to change their character appearance.
Players may appear completely human if they wish, but they can never completely eliminate visible manifestations of their powers when using them-- at the very least their eyes or hands will glow.
To give some ideas, here are some random tables for selecting appearance:
Gender
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | Ambiguous (androgynous or deliberately mysterious) |
| 3 | Female (butch or tomboyish) |
| 4 | Female (ladylike) |
| 5 | Female (professional) |
| 6 | Female (flirty) |
| 7 | Male (macho) |
| 8 | Male (professional) |
| 9 | Male (gentleman) |
| 10 | Male (scruffian) |
| 11 | Male (bishonen) |
| 12 | It's Complicated |
Skin Color
| Roll 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pale White |
| 2 | Healthy Pink |
| 3 | Asian/Indian |
| 4 | Burnished Bronze |
| 5 | Black |
| 6 | Other. Roll again: 1. Red, 2. Orange, 3. Green, 4. Blue, 5. Purple, 6. Roll Twice. |
Body Build
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | Short and squat, midget-like |
| 3 | Significantly obese |
| 4 | Slightly obese |
| 5-6 | Slim and gracile, dancer-like |
| 7-8 | Muscled, movie star-like |
| 9 | Tall and thin, beanpole |
| 10 | Heavy-set, muscled build |
| 11 | Charles Atlas muscles |
| 12 | Brute-like physique, hulking and hunched over |
Body Form
| Roll 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Practically human except for glowing eyes or hands when using powers |
| 2 | Normally human but transforms visibly when using powers i.e. 'Flame On!' |
| 3-4 | Near-human, proper clothes or simple disguise could conceal differences |
| 5 | Demi-human, would require poor lighting and heavy disguise |
| 6 | Obviously not human, practically impossible to disguise |
Hairstyle
| Roll 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Military crew cut or even bald |
| 2 | Short pageboy or bob |
| 3 | Medium, swept over one eye |
| 4 | Medium, curls, braids, or dreadlocks |
| 5 | Long and straight |
| 6 | Masses of flowing curly or wavy hair |
Hair Color
| Roll 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Black |
| 2 | Brown |
| 3 | Golden |
| 4 | White or silver |
| 5 | Auburn |
| 6 | Roll again. 1. Bright red, 2. Orange, 3. Green, 4. Blue, 5. Purple, 6. Roll Twice. |
Regional Stereotype
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | Roll again. 1-4. Isle of California, 5-6. Hawaii |
| 3 | China |
| 4 | Japan |
| 5 | Australia |
| 6 | New England City i.e. Chicago, New York |
| 7 | Wild West i.e. Arizona, Texas |
| 8 | Europe; roll again. 1. UK, 2. France, 3. Portugal, 4. Spain, 5. Germany, 6. Greece, Italy, etc. |
| 9 | Southern or Cajun i.e. Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee |
| 10 | Canada |
| 11 | Africa |
| 12 | Mideast |
Outfit
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Archaic costume or uniform |
| 4-5 | Heavy armor/combat loadout |
| 6-8 | Standard uniform |
| 9-10 | Light armor/combat loadout |
| 11-12 | Wildly designed personal uniform |
Note: these randomizers are designed for random NPCs encountered. Players will be much more likely to choose distinctive personal outfits but it should be possible to recognize the faction of most powered beings at a glance even if one has never encountered them before.
League uniforms are blue with gold trim, while Rogue uniforms are black with silver trim. Even when wearing armor, the armor will be painted with appropriate colors.
Archetypes
Players select a major archetype which represents how they most want to play. They are not restricted to taking powers from this archetype, but these powers will be the most effective for them.
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | Summoner (uses pets or conjured entities) |
| 3-4 | Controller (manipulates the environment to attack or hinder one's enemies) |
| 5-6 | Scrapper (strong melee damage, medium defenses) |
| 7-8 | Blaster (strong ranged damage but weak defenses) |
| 9-10 | Guardian (strong defenses but medium attacks) |
| 11 | Defender (buff allies, debuff enemies) |
| 12 | Healer |
Players then select from a range of supported 'Elements', which reflect the special effects of their power. Elements are stronger or weaker against other elements, i.e. a mutant with fire-based powers would be weaker against one with water-based powers, but their relative levels and strength with any given power will weigh more heavily, so a strong fire attack might be able to reduce a water shield to steam. Players may choose only one Element. Not all Elements are compatible with all Archetypes, i.e. many Elements don't offer obvious ways to heal others.
| Roll 2d6 | Roll 1d6 | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1-3 | Light |
| 2 | 4-6 | Darkness |
| 3 | 1-3 | Nature (plant control or transformation) |
| 3 | 4-6 | Wildlife (beast control or transformation) |
| 4 | Ice | |
| 5 | Water | |
| 6-7 | Fire | |
| 8 | Earth | |
| 9 | Rock | |
| 10 | 1-4 | Air/Weather |
| 10 | 5-6 | Lightning |
| 11 | 1-2 | Metal |
| 11 | 3-4 | Machinery |
| 11 | 5-6 | Cybernetics/Computers |
| 12 | 1-2 | Gravity |
| 12 | 3-4 | Space |
| 12 | 4-6 | Time Control |
Affinity
Affinities affect how the players' powers operate, and thus how they can be opposed. These follow a kind of rock-paper-scissors logic:
magic characters are most effective (+33% effectiveness) against technology, technology is strong against natural , and natural is strong against magiccharacters.
| Roll 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Unpowered |
| 4-6 | Magic |
| 7-10 | Natural |
| 11-12 | Technology |
Unpowered persons are simply humans, but have access to a range of magical artifacts, technological gadgets, and natural training. Where other players would choose powers, they may add new abilities onto devices they're carrying, or acquire new devices and training. These devices will be sturdier, recharge more quickly, and hold a greater charge than store-bought or battlefield-acquired devices, and if lost, the player will be able to obtain a new one, while incurring a temporary debuff to gained XP and reputation. No affinity is particularly strong against them, and their devices will have no particular strength against any affinity.
Not all powers will be readily available as devices. Generally only the most common powers will be available, with more complex and arcane devices requiring research and development in order to construct them.
Powers
Players gain access to a set of powers based on their chosen archetypes and Element. Some powers will have prerequisites, i.e. before a player can select 'Fly', she must take 'Hover'. Powers may also have multiple levels, so 'Fly 1' could allow a player to move at running speed, but 'Fly 2' would boost their speed to 30mph, 'Fly 3' to 100mph, and so forth.
Note: telepathy, mind control, precognition, time travel, and many other 'gamebreaking' powers are not available in 'Mu Factor' to players.
Example powers:
- Scrapper
- Melee (single-target)
- Melee (cleave, hits up to 3 targets)
- Melee (player-based AOE)
- Cone (originates from player)
- Bomb (delayed damage or triggerable by player, must be placed by hand, does AOE damage)
- Blaster
- Ranged (single-target, requires line of sight)
- Ranged (chain, bounces from first target to a maximum of 5 targets total, requires line of sight to first target)
- Ranged (targeted AOE)
- Cone (originates from player)
- Bomb (launched at a fixed point, delayed damage or triggerable by player, does AOE damage)
- Guardian
- Armor (stops X amount of damage from every attack)
- Barrier (create shield which absorbs X total damage before shattering)
- Evasion (reduces opponent's chance to hit through deception or avoidance)
- Damage Aura (does X amount of damage persistently to enemies nearby, plus melee attackers take damage from successful hits against the guardian
- Controller
- Barrier (create free-standing wall which absorbs X total damage before shattering)
- Shape Environment (allows creating or destroying walls and surfaces i.e. a Nature controller could create or remove thick underbrush that would slow pursuit)
- (Remove) Entangle (attempt to wrap the target up in element which may slow or entirely immobilize them, or free the target if they are caught by the element)
- Sense Element (detect nearby concentrations of the element)
- Defender
- Empower (give stats buff to target, depending on elemental affinity)
- Weaken (reduces target's stats, depending on elemental affinity)
- Haste (speeds up the target)
- Slow (slows down the target)
- Grant Defense (elemental-based, may include armor, barrier, evasion, or damage aura)
- Amplify (channel power into boosting another 's ability, as long as they are compatible elements)
- Summoner
- Create pet (minion with set abilities)
- Control creature (any NPC with strong elemental affinity)
- Sense creature (any NPC with strong elemental affinity within range)
- Healer
- Direct heal (single target)
- Direct heal (player-based AOE)
- Heal over time (single target)
- Heal over time (player-based AOE)
- Clear debuffs
- Form-Related Powers
- Flight (wings)
- Superjump (powerful legs)
- Melee attack (fangs, claws, horns, tail spikes, etc.)
- Armor (scales, thick hide or fur, etc.)
- Elemental Affinity Powers
- Flight (affinity with air)
- Enhanced Speed (various)
- Teleportation (affinity with lightning or space)
- Superjump (various)
- Portal (various, requires presence of appropriate element)
- Portable Hole (affinity with Space)
Note that players are not prohibited from taking powers outside their archetypes, i.e. an Ice Guardian might find value in taking melee or ranged ice attacks. However archetype powers will be strongest for players having those archetypes-- the Guardian's attacks will always be weaker than the Scrapper or Blaster's.
A new player will have five abilities: at least one from Scrapper or Blaster, one from Guardian, one movement power, and two powers of any archetype the player finds useful.
