First of all, welcome to the fold!  V&V is my favorite superhero RPG, and it's a great game.

Jeff Dee used to have the V&V rules upgrade on his website, which included point buy for powers.  Here is a link to the site http://www.io.com/unigames/vandv.html
That should still be a good link, can't verify it at work though.

But, let me just mention, V&V isn't a game about point balance.  I never found trying to make it point buy work any better than just eye-balling it.  It might take a little experience with the system, but don't be afraid to say "I think that power is a little weak compared to the rest of the group, so let's soup it up some".

The biggest screw-over my group ever felt with powers was when most folks rolled on the high-side of powers, and then one guy rolled the minimum.  A good way to get around that is to just let everyone have X number of powers - heck, as the GM, you could roll the d6+2 and say "here is the number of powers each person gets for this campaign".

On the actual power generation side, our fix was this:

Pick 2 tables and make the power roll.  Record both options, and what tables they came from.  Do this for all of the powers you generated, then go through and pick one from each set.  Our group typically picked skills as the second table, since it gives you the best option on not rolling duplicates (as well as giving you heightened stats to help round out concepts).

I allow my players to purchase powers.   THey spend their experience points.

If they have four powers and which a fifth, then they have to be atleast fifth level and spend 50,000 experience.

If they have five powers and which to have a sixth, then they have to be atleast sixth level and spend 60,0000.

They can cut the cost in half, if they choose to get a weakness with the power. ( I pick the weakness..hehehe.)

My only rule is that the new power has to fit the character.  Spider Man will never get flame powers.

Yes I know, if you have 50,000 experience you have to be above 5th level, but I added that in so that when you get to the 17 level range, you need some sort of control or players will just buy powers rather than go up levels.

And yes, you can have 100 experience and be 5th level in my game.  Once you level up,  you retain the level even if you spend your points buying a power.

Also, I forgot to add, each weakness cancels a power in terms of the cost.

So if you have five powers and two weaknesses, then its the samd as three powers.  5-2=3.  So in that case, it will costs you 40,000 experience to buy a power.   The more weaknessess you have the easier it is  to get more powers.

I think the question was referring to initial character creation. I'm not a big fan of  a point system but I guess I can see whre it would be useful to level out the campaign. If someone is familiar with the game then having the characters randomly generate their powers or even choosing them based off what type of character they would like to play should not be an issue. The character with 200 Hits may not be able to hit the broad side of a barn while the character with 35 Hits, Heightened defense and High Agility may be the real dangerous one more often than not.

I have used John's house rule once for buying a power and bought WillPower type A because the Character needed it and it fit. I think that was around 8th level.

To answer the initial question, I would encourage you to at least try the random approach (as it gives some really fun results).  As the GM, you're not stuck with anything you roll (you can always boost a power, change one, insert one, etc.).  Eric's method of picking on two charts is a good one too (I rolled up a character with my son last night and we looked at that as we rolled, just to see what options he would have had).

I wouldn't go with choosing your own until you have a little bit more experience with the system.  Some things that might look powerful really aren't, and some that look pretty inoccuous are beastly.   

Some more than others.....

Interesting concept... power buying. How do you prevent power creeping? Keeping balance... (meaning a guy who has had Uberlad since 1st level and is now 19th with 10 superpowers) against John Doe the first level crime fighter with 4 or 5?

John wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2010 at 10:10am:


Which makes it that much harder on the new guy 

John wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2010 at 12:00pm:


Actually, it wasn't really that bad. I knew coming into the game that I would be underpowered compared to the rest of the team. I kind of enjoyed playing the inexperienced hero. The character went into the situation brimming with confidence that his armor could handle anything, and ended up feeling totally out of his depth by how powerful the astronauts were. I found it a great opportunity for character role play, so it worked out well.

besides, I did end up 4th level afterwards from all the xp, and that bonus was a nice surprise (as I didn't think I had earned one, but since everyone agreed that I did, felt  that the old "ring rust" had worn off).

If I survive long enough, I need to boost my armor's ADR though. Just watching the damage Modi and Marshal Strong were dishing out made Glare piss himself 

I think the best way to create a character is to first develop a concept. What kind of character do you want to play? What is he capable of? What is his achilles heel? What's his background? Does he have family, friends? etc...
Once you know that you can work with the GM to assign a group of powers and weaknesses that make sense, are balanced and offer a few story hooks into the campaign.

With this method no player should ever feel underpowered or cheated as he will be playing what he wants to play. If he likes "Batman" type characters and makes a character based on that I doubt he will be upset that he's not as powerful as another character's "Superman" type character. Just make sure all your players get opportunities to shine in the spotlight from time to time.

Even as a first time GM you can try this with the understanding between you and your players that 1. More powers means more ability and will result in more difficult challenges and 2. tweaking will be necessary if balance becomes an issue.

Don't try to get it perfect..just DO IT!1 Pick up the pieces afterward if something gets broken and make improvements that suit you and your players.