Power Profiles: A Mutants & Masterminds Sourcebook

Fast delivery and very happy with items I ordered would use them again

1) Book was packaged in super-thin card, with nothing between it and that card, so arrived with corners dented in.2) Unlike the core book, this had zero gloss to the very 'dry' cover. The cover feels strangely rough.3) Paper quality is low, and this whole book seems like a POD copy, rather than an offset copy.4) The material in the book is incredibly useful, and for some people, it will be essential.

I primarily run the DC Adventures roleplaying game, which uses the same rules as 3rd Edition Mutants and Masterminds-- the two games are so nearly identical that they're practically carbon copies of each other! This book, Power Profiles, is an incredibly useful reference for either system.If you played 2nd Edition Mutants and Masterminds, you may recall that the Ultimate Power Sourcebook essentially replaced the rules for powers from the core rule book. This means that characters created using only the 2nd edition core rules might or might not be fully compatible with characters created using the Ultimate Power Sourcebook, and vice-versa. Fortunately, the 3rd edition avoided this contradiction; the third edition core rules provide a system for creating and modifying or limiting powers, along with a few examples of powers created using these rules-- and then Power Profiles compliments and expands that material with dozens and dozens and dozens of additional examples.This book isn't required to play the game, but it's helpful in a couple of different ways. For one thing, it makes it much easier for new players who aren't familiar with the rules to create characters-- if you want to make a character with fire powers, for example, you might select a couple of powers from the "Fire" chapter, perhaps take a power from the "Weather" chapter and re-name it to 'firestorm,' and take a power from the "Armor" chapter to describe the way that the mystical flames which wreathe your character protect from physical damage. With this many examples to choose from, conveniently categorized for easy browsing, it's a simple task for new players to shop for power ideas during character creation (with a little tinkering assistance from the GM, perhaps, to tailor these selections to the player's concept). Easy peasy!This same principle also makes Power Profiles a quick reference for GMs to use when creating non-player characters. With a little experience, it becomes really easy for GM's to select a few powers from this book "on the fly" to form the basis for an NPC which, if needed, can be more fully-developed later.It's worth mentioning that the 3rd edition Mutants and Masterminds rules treat powers and gadgets the same way, and that the Gadget Guide does the same thing for gadgets that Power Profiles does for powers-- it adds page after page of gadget examples, categorized by the type of game effect they create, making it a very similar type of resource for gadgeteers. The out-of-print version of the Mutants and Masterminds GM's Kit and the deluxe version of the Mutants and Masterminds core rule book both provide quick-start instructions for randomly generating player characters or NPC's; if you have these quick-starts, along with Power Profiles, you have everything that you need so that players who already have a great character concept in mind can "shop" for powers in the 'Profiles' book, while players without that solid concept can create their character by rolling a few dice.All in all, this is an incredibly useful supplement for your Mutants and Masterminds or DC Adventures roleplaying games.

This book should be required for any player of Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition. Within the pages a player can find powers already built and ready to use, plus advantages, drawbacks, and other useful things players will find handy. Better still, the book is broken into themes that make building a character easier. Need an air-based blaster? Got it covered. Want a gadgeteer but Gadget Guides (another book that should be required) not quite offering enough Fire power for you? Peruse the Fire Powers section. But the book provides more than character use, as it can serve as inspiration and more. For new players especially, it offers many ready-made powers that show how the powers were built, giving a guide how to tweak or build powers in the game. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone playing this game, regardless of which side of the screen they sit on.

This is a really nice collection of how to create powers in specific groups that will help you make the character you want. I found this to be chock full of ideas that I wouldn't have done quite as well, but more importantly, power ideas that I NEVER would have thought of.I especially liked the section about how to deal with powers that players love and GM's hate. Some really nice ideas.Definitely recommend for pick up.

Does for 3rd edition what Ultimate Powers did for 2nd, but much better organized.

Good RPG.