Big Eyes, Small Mouth 3e by WhitemageofDOOM

Part 1

posted by WhitemageofDOOM Original SA post

Big eyes, Small Mouth 3e, Part 1

Seeing as I did BESM 2e, I should probably review 3e after having some time to digest it.
Spoilers: It is bad.

It should be noted that Tristat DX came out before this and is apparently even rules heavier. But we are not here to insult that.

The Foreward: There's actually a lot in the foreward that BESM1e was made for the writer and BESM2e made for people who wanted more complexity and cleaner rules, and that the only way to make a system that is simple and complex is to present the complex thing in a simple manner. (...I play cortex, it is not. You can present a lot of options in a simple game by MAKING EVERYTHING RESOLVE THE SAME). It says you can individualize your attributes or you can just take a racial and occupational template and your character will work of course that is bullshit, this is BESM, we will be BREAKING THIS GAME OVER OUR KNEES.
Still the forward says a lot.

We then after some what is anime standard issue stuff get to the major changes of 3e with a nice bullet pointed list
Switching to a roll high system.(Purely positive)
Increasing character point values and rebalancing stat and attribute costs.(Attributes are still too cheap btw, seriously the solution was to SEPARATE STAT AND CHARACTER POINTS LIKE 1e. Not up the point totals.)
More expansion of add-ons to attributes(oh boy...)
Discarding skill points and converting skills to attributes.(which would have been fine, if they felt like attributes and not skills. If the charisma skill added +1 to those kinds of roles and ate up stuff like appearance and art of distraction frex.)
Changing how damage is calculated and applied.(......oh boy, this is going to be a thing.)
Nerfing item of power into oblivion.
Outlining methods to make paranormal and other effects. (wha?)
Increasing the number of combat options available. (Hahahhahahahaha, combat isn't an option as we will see later.)
Standardizing difficulties/modifiers. (should really mention this with switching to roll high, but again positive.)
detailing the anime multiverse. (It's a basic cross over setting to just run games in, sure.)

It then goes into the 9 steps of character generation, which is a lot of blah blah blah.
Step 1) GM discussion, how many points do you get.
Step 2) Character outline, in what way will you destroy the world.
Step 3) Assign stats, at 10CP a pop.
Step 4) Consider templates, then realize that is fucking stupid.
Step 5) Choose method to ruin campaign, I mean assign attributes
Step 6) Implement method of ruining campaign, I mean customize attributes
Step 7) Consider skill specializations, then remember you have no skills because you took dynamic attribute(skills)
Step 8) Select defects....which give 30% of a stat at the top end these are NOT a way to easy power more likely a few scattered points for "Shit you were going to do anyways."
Step 9) Calculate derived values- ACV= Stats/3, DCV=Stats/3-2, HP=Body*5+Soul*5, EP=Mind*5+Soul*5, Damage Multiplier 5(That last one.....oh boy that last one.)


Right so now we get into campaign power levels aka GM discussion
Human 100-149 Points, normal everyday people well not really Seeing as 4 in all stats is 120 already, then skills...
Heroic- 150-299 Points, this says action movie hero, my arse.
Mythic- 300-499 Points, supposedly people with powerful abilities or might represent ordinary people in a post human world
Super Human- 500-699 Points, A human built with this would have legendary abilities such as the world's greatest thief or best martial artist...So basically this SHOULD be the starting tier.
Super Powered- 700-999 Points, Something about normal people seemingly like ants underfoot. This is probably where you want to set a mecha game since a bog standard grunt mecha is around 400 points to own.
Godlike- 1000+ "powers that could change the world" honey i was doing that since 300 points with the write build

It then mentions advancement, about 1-5CP a session if you want to play with advancement, this is a significant bump from previous editions.

Step 3 stat time. As noted stats cost 10cp per point, the game uses a 1-12 scale with 4 being human average still but the range of 5-12 means a lot different. 12 is now maximum human potential. Bruce lee or Einstein, not Goku or Washuu.
It suggests Washuu would have a mind of 25-30....but you can't play her because that would take away the humanity of your character and you should take attributes instead. Oh you also need your GM's permission to take attributes above 8, I will go into this later.

We are then introduced to the "Keeping it simple rules" a 300 point system where you get an amount allocated to stats, attributes, and skills automatically. For stats it's a 5/6/7 spread here. It should be noted that 300 is a 25% dip in CP from BESM2e assuming CP are worth 1/10th as much(largely, since we should be comparing shit you would take. hint: It isn't combat ability.)

Then we come to attributes, and I probably won't cover EVERY attribute as much.... I leave upon this gem.


Have you....looked at your system? It's point buy, and effects based at this point...
Game breaking nonsense IS the spirit of the rules.

Part 2: Attributes

posted by WhitemageofDOOM Original SA post

Big Eyes, Small Mouth 3e, Part 2 : Attributes

Oh thing I forgot, and one thing to talk about.

The I forgot is it is the attribute benchmark table, which alters the attribute caps based on tier, and has some suggested minimum/maximums for combat values and damage multipliers. But it tells you not to use this table because it reduces player freedom...Please ignore that it raises the baseline attribute cap for superpowered and godlike games. Or that it tries to impose some sanity so your mythic character doesn't become ultra instinct goku, limit players freedom.

The thing to talk about is except for weapon/special attack attribute modifiers are flat cost modifiers(to a minimum of 1cp), this is going to do....hilarious things. Keep that there are generic modifiers in mind as you read these.


So first up Item, which is sort of an attribute... you tie a bunch of attributes into an item which because the GM can randomly deny it to you, costs 1/2 as many points. This is why robots are so drat expensive btw, you need to buy up everything the robot does. Hp, movement, etc.

Alternate Form: Costs 9 points/level and gives 10 points/level, there's no restrictions on your alternate form you can literally just grab 6 free points here. But it's pretty obvious this is designed to have a bunch of defects slapped onto it to give you magical girl mode. It's still a cap of 60 points. If you want to go all ben 10 or kamen rider you can just buy this attribute at 1 a bunch of times, rip it out of the other forms except the prerequisite of it's own form, and there you go.

Alternate Identity 2 points/level, each one gives you a different identity, the stats are the same except any social attributes/defects and appearance. They are completely siloed idenities. It's cheap.

Armor Attack Combat Mastery and all similiar attributes will be saved for the big ol' "Why we ignore combat" post.

Aura of Inspiration Is bard song, it lets people resist despair and fear and spend energy points to perform dramatic feats at non-dramatic moments. Translation, ignore.

Block Power It is counterspell, it only works on a select category of powers based on the cost/level, it's 12/level for everything when used on an offensive power you roll soul vs. whatever stat their power uses and they get a penalty equal to your level of block power. Oh but it only protects you not anyone else, so this is basically more like omni defense than block power.

Combat Technique for 2points/level there are a grab bag of minor combat features, god i wish skills worked like this.

Companion A combination of servant and flunkies. The higher the points per level cost the more points your slaves, i mean pokemons get, and the higher the level the more of then. To be exact It's 1point/level for each 10 points they have over 100 to a minimum of 2points/level, with the amount of them doubling each rank after rank 1.
So, with rank 4, and 20points/level you get......8 300 point mons.
God i love point whoring attributes.

Computer Scanning Have you ever wanted to make your GM cry? With 4 points/level and 5 levels you can! And there's very little reason your hacker character shouldn't have this. This attribute let's you read ALL the data on every computerized device in range, no check needed. Now Level1-3 not much of a difference going from 10cm(so touch) to 10m(in the same room), but rank 4 gives you 100m. Just walk past places you think the villains are and get their secret plans. Rank 5 gives you 1km, rank 6 will get you 10km. You do not even have to look, you will just know by being in the same general area.

Dimensional Portal and Walk Let me summarize both of these, they let you get to other dimensions, albeit in different ways. These aren't things that should cost massive investments, they are plot devices, magical kiko should not need to throw 8 points at "get to bug land", oh and you need to use dimensional portal to get to your pocket dimension for some reason.

Divine Relationship 1 reroll/session! That one attribute that was worth stat points without breaking the system......2cp/level. Right, 12 point tax got it.

Dynamic Powers Is the old dynamic sorcery, ie do whatever but you roll Stat+Attribute Rank after the GM assigns a rank to whatever you want to do....and it costs 20, 30, or 40 depending on how large a scope you can BS powers in. Ergo there is never a reason to raise the attribute rather than the stat.

Elasticity Let's you strech your limbs, it also provides +1 bonus to unamed combat for, so if you want to punch people you better be piccolo or dhalsim.

Energy Bonus For 2 points you get +5ep, this is a MUCH better value than buying stats. Sadly the main use for EP 10ep for +1 to a roll is better done by divine relationship.

Enhanced Stat If you want your stats to be magical....It then references maximum stats of the campaign(namely this can't be used to bring it over them). I am pretty sure that thing about attribute caps used to include stat caps and was a bigger part of the design just from this. But "Player freedom".

Environmental Influence This is weather control, you control one part of the enviroment per level for 2cp/level....out to 10m.

Excorcism It cures mind control and metamorphosis. No praying the demons away in 3e.

Extra Arms This gives you extra arms but importantly not extra actions, you can still manipulate more stuff. Only costs 1point/level if you have telekinesis and you are using it to be able to manipulate more things via telekinesis.

Extra Actions Another attribute that was worth it compared to stats, giving +1 action per 4 points.....15points/level

Extra Defenses It's extra actions but for defenses.

Features Extra minor shit we didn't come up with, 1 point per feature.

Flight It uhhhh lets you fly. Costs 8points/level and each rank ups the speed pretty significantly. There's some specific downsides but like...hovering used to drop the cost by half now it's -1 point total that should explain everything.

Healing For 4points/level you can heal any target upto 10points/level which is...actually the cost of just having more hp dear god healing doesn't suck. At level 3+ you can restore the clinically dead, at level 5+ you can regrow limbs, at level 7+ you can sew back on their head or similar revivals. The only problem being the attribute cap being, you know, 6. (Once again proving attribute cap variability was probably a bigger feature before.)
I really like healing, it has a clear progression and they show how you improve at tiers.

Heightened Awareness/Senses These add bonuses to perception checks, they feel more like skills.

illusion Blew massive chunks in 2e, in 3e it is amazing. for 2points a level you affect sight, and raising the level raises the maximum area. It has two extra variables "Extra senses" and "Multible illiusions" both a measly 1 point/level.

Insubstantial For 8points/level you can move through progressively denser materials....Except iron is level 7, let that sink in. Iron is above the level you can reach. Ghosts apparently cannot haunt skyscrapers.

Invisibility Is not stealth, for 6/points level pick one sense or method per level and tell it to fudge off.

Item Oh look it's a more in depth look at items. Lemme just quote the most relevant part.
So your mecha WILL be stolen.

Jumping This multiplies your jump distance for 2 points/level, if it's faster than your ground movement it can take multible rounds....
OK, LOOK, This should have a flat speed progression and say every 2 levels let's you stay in the air one more round. None of this calculate my normal jump distance, multiply it, compare to my speed shit. I should be able to leap X speed, for X rounds.

Land speed for 2cp/level makes you...at 3+ rather fast, level 1-2 are only 8 and 15 KPH

Metamorphasis This changes someone into something worth upto between 10 and -10 points per rank, it also overwrites any attributes from their species/form(take human as a 0 point form, aim it at dragons and shit.) If they resist they roll body against your mind or soul with a penalty equal to your attribute level. It's 10 points a level if you can only turn them into toads or whatever, 20 points a level if you can do a related group, 30 points a level if you can do "whatever". REMINDER! If your entire party is human, someone could slap 60 points of metamorphasis "Robot" and give every one else 60 free points.
You can also pretty much cripple people with a -10 point template ANYWAYS if you do it right.
Oh combining is still robot only and listed under metamorphosis, for some reason.

Mimic Powers This let's you copy powers upto it's level but only from one source(this is why all your characters have different power sources kids!), 15points/level copies one power, 20points/level copies all of theirs or from multible people. Mimic powers has no listed duration, so apparently if you take the 20 point version you are a blue mage, and will just eventually have everything at 6.

Mind Control You can make one person you can see your mind slave for one minute by rolling their mind or soul vs. your mind+attribute, the cost per level is based on what you can affect, from very specific at 4 points, dogs at 5 points, males at 6 points, 7 sapients, animals or AI, 8 for fucking everything. At the point of costing 8 why put more points in this, you shouldn't just buy a mind of 12.

Mind Shield This gives you a bonus to the guy who took the previous attribute. 2cp/level.

Nullify This negates attributes upto it's level in one power source (Seriously, this games obsession with power sources is staggering nullify only tech should be a defect.). 14 points/level if you can nullify one attribute of a touched target, 24 if you can nullify all, +6 if you drain attribute levels rather than nullify upto(always take this.).

Organizational Ties Hooray it has full attribute status, oh god...it's borked. It's based on an absolute rather than how much control you have scale, and always costs 2cp/level, it also has a chart upto level 10. So while it's totally ok to literally own your provincial town in a highschool game, you can never be president or galactic emperor no matter how hard you try.

Plant Control Weirdly it's own attribute, the area you can affect is based on level, and how quickly/much you can make them grow is a variable.

Pocket Dimension You get a personal pocket dimension for 4cp/level, it's still hillariously tiny at lvl1(10cm) upto 10km at lvl6, of course....
What because my pocket dimension can't be linked to an explicit place and just be bigger on the inside or whatever? The old method of "Locked to one place" "You can access from a general thing" "You can access" affecting the price per level was so much better.

Power Flux Oh hey something actually new. This is dynamic powers with rules basically, each attribute rank gives 4 flux points which you can change on the fly(upto once per minute), the cost per level is based on theming/restrictiveness, if it's very limited(like cats) 5 points/level, 10 points/level for reasonable restrictions(cities), and 15 points/level for a theme so broad it won't restrict you. It then gives the two best examples.
Power Flux-creation is for gadgeeters, summoners and green lanterns, you can only do item or companion and it gives examples of 5 and 10 point versions and 15 being like "I can make any enchanted item, yeah."
Skill Flux is a power flux dedicated to skills, and they suggest it for characters who have lived centuries or can download skills or just is batman, and should nominally have basically every skill, this way instead of tracking them you just go "Yeah ok, I learned to do that 300 years ago."

Power Variation A more limited version of flux, it costs 10points/level, and affects 1 attribute+1 attribute/level, allowing you to move points between those attributes freely. Meh cost too high.

Projection It's illusion, there's some nominal differences(like you can't choose to not affect people and don't need to buy up senses besides side) but it's illiusion. 6points/level illiusion.
Stick with illusion.
Why are these separate....

Reincarnation If you die you reform, for 5 points a level this is easy to stop, for 10 points it isn't. Higher levels take less time, with level 1 requiring a MONTH. This is a toy for if you have way too many points.

Resistance This gives you protection from all non-mind attack save or sucks like nullify, to the tune of +1/level.

Sensory Block AoE invisibility is cheaper to the tune of 2cp/level.

Sixth Sense for every 2/cp you get a sixth sense, which the GM will have to track, doesn't that sound fun?

Size Change It turns out 25/cp and 30/cp a level to be giant man is a terrible idea.

Skills for 1-3 cp a level you get a bonus to some relevant non-combat related attribute rolls....why is that not the sum of it with a bunch of examples and probable costs? Why do we have a chapter of skills?

Spaceflight You can fly through space, oh and star flight is gone, so the Space flight 8+s you will need to hit light speed? yeah those are banned.

Special Defense Has nothing to do with combat! this basically makes you immune to basic stuff like "The need to breathe" or "Aging"(who fucking cares, it's not like aging will come up.)

Special Movement A list of minor movement modes like wall crawling, 2cp each.

SuperSense Pick a sense or make one, this gives you a distance you detect shit at. Level 6 hits 1000km, just in case you want to literally hear them all.

Super Speed Land Speed, meet the flash. This starts at 100kph and goes upto 30,000Kph, while giving +2 init per level...12cp/lvl, so for one level of this you could max out land speed and be at 250kph, but hey sometimes you just got to be that fast.

Super Strengh 8points/level let's you carry lots of stuff, and gives +2 to body stat rolls that involve strengh. A bit expensive...
It also gives you +1 damage multiplier for unarmed attacks and weapon attacks with the muscle variable. So basically "to melee". It really shouldn't, it absolutely shouldn't then this could cost less!

Swarm Let's you transform into level*current hp critters and scurry away.

Telekinesis This costs as much as super strength and can't lift nearly as much. Oh you can also pay 4cp/lvl to only do things like control air, or earth, etc.

Telepathy No longer has weird combat rules, only for mind reading and probing, 2-6cp/lvl based on what you can poke. Only bonus to more levels is a bigger bonus to opposed rolls.

Teleportation 10cp/level, starts at 10m and tops out at 1000km

Transfer For the low low price of 20cp/level you can hand out attributes upto your level of transfer. It is not like you lose them or anything.

Transmutation Expensive and fiddly, for 6-12cp/level you can make items worth upto 2cp per level. Just....take power flux creation.

Tunneling You tunnel, Look, bluntly, special movement modes should have ALL been under a single attribute and speed be a single attribute, but noooo.

Unknown Power Give your GM X points get X*1.5 points for back that he spent, probably not well.

Water Speed

Wealth 5cp/level starts at 300k$, and ends at a measly 100m$ no being batman apparently. Ok, to be fair this is your liquid assets, it states you have non-liquid assets that are appropriate.

Great lovely, That's everything but the combat attributes. Next time Combat Attributes and why combat is absolutely fucking stupid.

Part 3: Combat is stupid

posted by WhitemageofDOOM Original SA post

Big Eyes, Small Mouth 3e, Part 3: Combat is stupid

First let's go down some skipped attributes.

Attack and Defense Combat Mastery for 10 points/level these raise ACV or DCV by 1, this is as bad a deal as ever compared to raising stats(30CP for +1 to each and +3 to a stat) EXCEPT defense combat mastery stacked with shield and other factors if you want to go ultra instinct.

Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, Melee Defense, Ranged Defense Now you are probably thinking these cost some reasonable amount less than Combat mastery and specialize you but hey paying 6 points for melee attack is still actually a good deal for the melee fighter. No these are more specialized than that requiring you to Pick a specific combat mode under them why the melee and ranged distinction is even there I have no idea. At 3cp/level Attack is worth it "Hmmmm my swordsman only gets a bonus with swords? sign me up!"

Tough For 2cp/level this gives you 5 hp, which is about half what it needs to be since you get 5 damage for 2/points level. This also means your hp not from stats cap is 30 not 60.

Armor For 2cp/level gives....2 damage reduction. Armor is best at shutting down small attacks or combined with health. It also has a max level of 24, so 48 points Which is...much lower numbers than we are used to seeing in BESM, and we will get to scaling when we get to the damage. You can make your armor homogenous for 4 points, aka no called shots to hit the weak point, for -2 points you can make it emphasized x2 vs. category, 1/2 vs. everything else now why would you do that? Well you could have another 24 levels of armor that way, explicitly. Optimized armor is -4 points gives double protection against whatever you pick and no protection against anything else...why would you take this when Empasized exists?
Oh and if you are wondering how an attribute with more than six levels works with higher caps, multiply. So armor with a cap of 8 would be 32 capped. Or they could have just raised the cost to 5 points/level for 10 armor and capped it at 6 levels or something.

But armor is made worthless because of....

Forcefields for 3points/level you get 4 armor, this has a max level of 12. Anything that penetrates your forcefield drops the level by 1...except...that only drops the protection by 4 points not the 15 points from 2e. There is also a string of shield modifiers like blocks incorporeal and negates shields, they are 1 point each.

But forcefields are made worthless because of....

Shield The pinnacle of defensive attribute technology! is long Shat on shield, for 4cp/level you get +1DCV/level or they can ignore your shield then you get 2 armor/level, now this sounds AWFUL worse than armor in every way right? Well you can pay 1 point to add another 2 armor/level if they ignore your shield...with no cap. 60 Armor Shield is 32 points vs. 48 points for 48 armor. Stack this with defense combat mastery and you can render combat pointless.

Damage Absorption This is basically crack armor, For 10points/level it absorbs the first 5damage/level and converts it to hp or ep. So half as efficient as armor and smack gobs less than shields...unless you stack them, then if anything doesn't one shot you it does jack diddly.

Damage Conversion Not nearly as good as absorb. For every 5 damage you take, you get 1cp/level to add on based on the current fight. It's 10cp/level if you have to take the hits, and 20cp/level if blocked damage counts. At "reasonable" point values of combat(ie 300 or so or having things that just shit on the idea of it), this is terrible if you actually were to face some planet crackers this would get kind of nuts.

So let us talk about WEAPONS and DAMAGE.

Now there was a stat called damage multiplier and it was set to 5, and i mentioned getting +5 damage for 2 cp so you probably think "Oh hey maybe unweaponed characters are relevant and the damage formula is something like" (Acv+Massive Damage+Weapon ranking)*Multiplier, or maybe (Acv+Massive Damage)*(5+Weapon Ranking). No, No, those would be not completely sucky.
The damage formula is Weapon Ranking*Damage Multiplier+Acv, what if you don't have a weapon attack on your sheet? Then you do ACV+1/2 multiplier with your fists, and remember there is no personal gear, your samurai can't just have a sword with 15 damage on it.

Massive Damage For a whopping 10cp/level this raises your damage multiplier by whopping 1, why do you CARE?! Until your weapon level reaches near cap(weapon levels go up to 48.) this costs more than just raising your weapon, ofc you can lower the cost by reducing what it applies to, massive damage "Swords", "Fists" or "Fire spells" is only 4cp/level....which is basically all you need, 7 gets you melee or ranged.

Weapon Attack Costs 2cp/level to do damage equal to multiplier*level as noted, there is a giant list of weapon modifiers. Now unlike EVERY OTHER TYPE OF COST MODIFIER weapon modifiers are per level, though not generic modifiers to weapon attacks. This means adding accurate +3 to a lvl20 weapon costs 60 points....you could buy +6 ACV for that much.
This blatantly encourages what it always did, stacking the fuck out of irrelevant negatives, and makes some positives 100% worthless frex aura.
Aura- can be used at it's normal level but if someone touches you while it's activate ONLY DOES DAMAGE EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF AURA STACKS IN LEVEL, now if this was a flat +1CP per aura stack this would be fine it isn't.
And the great big fucking game breaker of weapon attacks.
Incapacitating- See incapacitating has to be taken in ranks like aura, each rank adds +1 to their body or soul stat check they need to make to survive the attack. Here is the thing, incapacitating costs 1 point PER LEVEL OF THE ATTACK. Level 0 attacks are totally legal, allowing arbitrarily large DCs for 1 point attacks. Spend an action they make a stat roll or die. It should be noted things like flare have the exact same difficulty to resist and just blind not insta kill.

Ofc you might be thinking "Well with 48 levels I can cleave a building in half at least right?" No, no you fucking can't. Because they rescaled the SHIT out of damage. Lemme just quote the book.

Mecha Weapons? Outside the allowed league, As is the dragon slave. The same is true for armor.
And damaging objects? destroying a small office building now requires 250 damage. The earth? 2200.
So you do less damage and need more to actually do fun shit weapons are good for.

So yeah, combat is entirely out of whack and you can't even blow up the scenery properly.

Join me next time as we make game busting powers for 40Cp or less via generic variables.

Part 4: Generic Variables or How to crack the game wide open

posted by WhitemageofDOOM Original SA post

Big Eyes Small Mouth 3e, Part 4, Generic Variables or How to crack the game wide open

There are Four generic positive variables
Area, Duration, Range and Targets.
There is even a helpful chart to show the base levels of every attribute that has these things baseline so you can know how much you can skip.

Let us, for a moment consider telekinesis, it has a default range category of 1 or 10m, which like it's weight capacity is not so hot, but throw 6 more points into that and you can now reach the other side of the earth. Tune into a political debate live on TV and start chucking chairs around for shiggles.

Oh but stop there if you hit rank 16 in any category it becomes yes. Infinite Area, Permanent Duration, Infinite Range, or Infinite Targets.
So even with rank 15 area of effect enviromental manipulation is ONLY 10k km, enough to shroud the world in eternal night but not to shut off the sun itself so fuck it, TURN OFF ALL THE LIGHTS, AND SNUFF OUT THE STARS THEMSELVES.....for 18cp. Throw in making shit cold for 2 points if your GM insists throwing the universe into darkness isn't enough to snuff out the stars.

Or of course, you can take range infinity, targets infinity, and duration....let's say 100 years so 14. 43points with Mind Control's base duration of 1 minute and MIND CONTROL THE UNIVERSE, only use lvl1 mind control of course, spam this about 30 times at the start of the campaign to make sure you have everyone, I mean you only have rank 1 mind control after all and there's going to be some twat with mind 12, mind shield 6.(Exorcism takes a minute while mind control takes 6 seconds, anyone resisting who uses exorcism to try to save their friends is still 100% doomed.)
Cast it again every day to refresh the duration(since you can order your mind slaves not to resist) and catch all the newborn babies.

Just to use their own example, Take area 3, range 2, Targets 5 teleport. And you can target upto 50 people or 10 tonnes in a 10 metre area who area 100 metres away to a point within 10km of you. Oh yeah there is no listed defense for being force teleported, so their own example of using this system is chucking enemies no save 10km into the air to fall to their deaths, also apparently get fucked telekinesis. Because I'm just teleporting the congressional debate to my living room while I make dinner. For....about the same number of points.

Anime Beam Cannon and Destroying Buildings? FAR TOO POWERFUL TO LET PLAYERS HAVE. Mind control the universe? 4 stat points. No save 10km teleports? 5 stat points.

So you say, but woomod. These things cost far too many points and my allmighty GOD/WIZARD needs more than 2-4 ways to casually destroy the campaign. That is ok, BESM 3e has you covered, with generic defects.

Activation This is basically slow to use, but can be applied to anything -1 point off the attribute means you can't do anything else the round you activate it perfectly fine for something you only use out of combat, to -6 where it takes multihours to cast.
Assisted Requires you to have people to help you, -1 requires one person, -2 2-9 people, -6 10,000 or more.
Backlash If there is a roll to activate and you fail by -6(for 2cp), -3(for 4cp), or -1(for 6cp) your power blows up in your face.
Charges you can only use this 6(3cp), 3(6cp), or 1(9cp) times per sess...no the WEAPON version says sessions this says per day, and who needs to blot out the stars for eternity more than once per day ANYWAYS?
Concentration the continuous version of activation is it, slightly less auto include.
Consumable It has ritual components, how replaceable these are determines if you get a 1/2/3cp discount(only 3 for incredibly hard to replace but 1/day is 9 cp...), combine with activation, assisted and charges for ye olde ritual magic.
Delay Because really, it's not like you need the stars to go out RIGHT NOW. -2cp for an hour, -4cp for twelve hours, -6cp for a few days.
Dependent requires other attributes to be activated to use, of course it also let's you combine them so i'm not sure it's so BAD.
Deplete Pay -1cp per 10ep payed to activate the power, has a scaling cost for duration based powers.
Detectable YEP IF SOMEONE CAN ACTUALLY TELL YOU ARE MIND CONTROLLING THE UNIVERSE IT IS A DEFECT!
Emotional This is a limit break, just take charges it gives more points and you will get to use the power more.
Equipment It requires a specific item to use....Item rules exist...I am so confused. Not it isn't like "Oh I need a computer to use my computer sense." attribute, it is explicit THAT computer.
Environmental Reduces cost based on how often adventures take place there, take the -6 version, then induce it via enviromental controls!
Imbue Remember transfer? and metamorphasis? This is you pay -1 point to an attribute and you can hand it out, but you don't get it.
Irreversible It is very hard for you to undo this attribute, oh no I have trouble turning the stars back on, how awful.
Maximum You cannot use the attribute below level XCP off...it does note this should only be applied to attributes it should be a problem for such as super speed or flight....and dynamic powers which just gives a bonus to your rolls and costs more than stats....THAT must have had rules more similar to it's old rules.
Object This attribute to an item only boosts the item, ok that makes mecha SIG-NIFIGANTLY cheaper. There are still capped at 30hp lol.
Partial Only this finger has super strengh!....but it can still lift 100k km...That actually sounds more awesome than a defect but...ok.
Permanent You can't turn the attribute off, only applies if that would be an inconvenience like say incorporeal....or telepathy always on telepathy is hilarious.
Recovery You must wait at least X time before using the attribute, if it has an on/off switch you must wait X times minutes used. A great choice for your wizard toolbox!
Unpredictable If there isn't a roll to activate there is now, the difficulty is set by how severe the draw back is...in other words the cash back is set by how high your stats are.

Any attribute can be easily slap 10-20 points on these with no loss in functionality. And as attributes only need 30-50 points to be game breakers with variables this each trick in your arsenol to about 10-40 points...not based on effectiveness mind, more flashiness.

Part 5: Skills & Defects

posted by WhitemageofDOOM Original SA post

Big eyes, Small Mouth 3e Part 5 Skills & Defects

Skills
They cost 1-3 points, the chart of point costs by genre is back but uhhhh not nearly as relevant as it's 1-3 points and not 1-6.
There are no more combat skills this time.
The keeping it simple rules have you spend 70 points here, more than on the actually expensive stuff. When I tried building a character with those rules i ran out of "Shit i cared about" at 6, by like 30 points.

Defects
As stated earlier no longer a road to massive point whoring(that would be attribute restrictions), but more like a way to scrounge up some leftovers to fill your build. You need to take 10 points in keeping it simple. These are old school "Give points for story stuff" defects half the time too.

Achilles Heel You take double damage from something.
Awakward Size You are huge, you have huge guts.
Bane Achilles heel for things that shouldn't do damage. For instance this game has bane: game balance.
Blind Fury Sometimes you go berserk.
Conditional Ownership Applied to a companion or item, that item technically belongs to THE MAN. How much leeway you have to use it determines severity.
Confined Movement You can't leave a certain area, ever. Well at least you are immune to pesky teleporters. Actually considering the first rank is 100km it is probably free points...any time this attribute isn't free points it instantly becomes a problem.
Cursed You are cursed and this is bad somehow.
Easily Distracted Thing causes you to go OOOOOO shiny!, how often it would normally come up is the point amount.
Girl/Guy Magnet Because sex appeal is a downside.
Hounded My Pc is hated by the authorities you say.....I think that is called being a PC.
Impaired Manipu.... Ok look it's just a long list of defects, most of which are boring as fuck, let's skip to the standouts.
Involuntary Change Requires you to have an alternate form....
Ism Let's you be a discriminated against category of people.
Less Capable holy sweet hell that's a lot of words for "I am less strong than my body stat indicates"...also not worth the points.
Marked Ah yes, cool features for points.
Nemesis Because having a sweet rival is a BAD thing.
Significant Other Your little brother has been kidnapped, again.
Skeleton in the Closet Combine with Ism to literally be in the closet.

How to fix character generation
Honestly? The benchmarks are more a limit than points, and since you need a gm to check this shit anyways....Rip out the points.
If human is limited to 3 and godlike to 8, and there are guidelines for Combat Values, HP/EP, and such, why even have the points? Does it matter if a godlike character grabs 2 ranks of environment control because he wants his SSJ aura to be cause heat and lightning? No not really, unless it pairs it with an increased area variable in which case those should be on the same scale of capping at 8 and say "yeah obviously you can't go above your cap here", but then it's less a party trick and more tool.
That would actually give players choices while simplifying creation greatly.

Then your creation advice would be like "If you are stumped on a concept, grab one attribute set it to max level. Then look for two attributes that you think would make sense to go with it, put them at max level. Then select 3-4 attributes you think it would be just fun to have, put them at half max. Or use templates. Then throw some defects on it"



The Resolution
You roll 2d6 and add a stat or combat modifier. DCs, Opposed rolls. There are some dumb optional mechanics like shock value(if you take any amount of damage over 1/5th your max hp ie a hit you will be stunned.)....
I mean bluntly? While you can break this way way harder, it is harder to do so accidentally and the ways that you do it are less hilarious, mostly for being repetitive.(what happens when THIS attribute targets the entire universe.)
This game has straight up lost all the spark of BESM1e&2e, like the forward is honest, you can FEEL the writer not giving a shit about this game. Which takes it from hilariously bad to....just plain bad.

I could go into the templates and mock the shit out of them for being super unoptimized....but why they are mockable for the same reason they were in 2e, taking broad abilities in a game that actively punishes doing more than one thing. I mean the half-dragon template is a giant waste of 80 points, but everything on it MAKES SENSE. You are tough&strong, armored espicially vs. fire, and breath fire...But you are wasting half of super strength basically by breathing fire instead of having fire punches. Again the game just punishes you for having characters and not piles of stats.

I could mock the setting in the back but....Why? It's just "Let players player whatever anime bullshit" it doesn't need to be good just THERE.