Adaptation + Force Field + Noncorporealness is the best combination of defenses on the Basic Combat chart in the revised rules, although Noncorporealness is more vulnerable to Emotion/Mind Control.

From this list, Adaptation gives you the most zeroes,

Display Name wrote on Feb 11^th, 2015 at 5:20am:


Does anyone else see a glaring disparity in how good some defenses are compared to others? 

BTW: Baretta, can you elaborate on why you added Regeneration to this list?  I *think* I've seen it used as a defense in X-Men 162 when Wolverine fought off the Brood infection.

Display Name wrote on Feb 11^th, 2015 at 8:05pm:


I think of the ability to heal quickly as an inherently defensive ability.

I voted for Willpower, though I nearly went with Adaptation.  The reason I went with Willpower over Adaptation was that:

a) Willpower defends really well against HtH, the most common method of attack in the game (where Adaptation does nothing).

b) Willpower gives a great defense against mental attacks, and Adaptation does nothing.

FWIW I too don't see Regeneration (which, as written, is close to worthless) as much of a defense, being as it happens after one has been hit (so it's sort of defensive, but not very good at it), and think Non-Corporealness and Vibratory (two of the best defenses in V&V) should have been included.

Majestic wrote on Feb 12^th, 2015 at 1:43pm:


What made you say this?  I mean the "close to worthless" part...

xhaosdaemon hit the nail right on the head.  For years I've liked Regeneration and it was a power I always 'kept' (rather than discarded, at character creation).  But more and more I came to realize that it almost never gets used, and for characters that use it, it ends up being a wasted action (so they heal 4 points of damage, then get hit with 12).

And I began to notice that it became a 'throw-away power' for people rolling up characters, treated often like Speed Bonus or Water Breathing.

Lately I've house ruled it as a free action (often between-turns) and I think it works much better.  Still a fairly weak power, ordinarily, but at least not a complete waste any more.

xhaosdaemon wrote on Feb 13^th, 2015 at 3:13pm:


Now that I think about it, it occurs to me that the GM will likely allows days to occur between battles to allow other players to "catch up."  This neutralizes the advantage of healing in minutes...

Display Name wrote on Feb 13^th, 2015 at 7:52pm:


Exactly.  Don't forget that you get to multiply anyone's Healing Rate by 1/10th the doctor's Intelligence (the Guardians have a team doctor with an I of 30, so they get their Healing Rate x3) if they get personal care (hospital or the equivalent), so as long as a few days go by most heroes are probably going to be just fine.

AlabasterKnight wrote on Feb 11^th, 2015 at 7:04pm:


The short answer is "Not Really". I looked into the matter a while ago and found that (not surprisingly) Non-Corporealness is the best defense with and averaged to hit roll against all attack types of 4 or less on 1d20, or 20% chance of being hit. Then as follows:

Astral Projection      21%
Force Field            24%
Adaptation              25%
Chemical Power      36%
Magnetic Powers      36%
Life Support              38%
Vibratory Powers      41%
Willpower              42%
Ice Power              45%
Gravity Control      46%
Sonic Abilities         46%
Stretching Powers      47%
Telekinesis              47%
Disintegration Ray      48%
Lightning Control      48%
Power Blast              48%
Flame Power              50%
Android Body              53%
Robotic Body              53%
Bionics                      54%
Light Control              56%

While I agree that there is a pretty good spread of 36% from best defense to worst defense, I'm not of the opinion that each power should have equivalent defensive capacity. After all, the nature of the power does have something to do with how well it works as a defense (or offence for that matter).

Of course this does not take into account Solid Illusions or Magical Spells, nor does it take into account the creative use of such powers as holographic illusions or animal/plant control.

Majestic wrote on Feb 13^th, 2015 at 2:52pm:


I had the luck to roll "Heightened Endurance B" plus Regeneration (reaching 100% HP regen.) among other powers, and even if that would benefit me A LOT, i think it won't be fair if i used it as a free action, i'd be nearly invincible

In my opinion a fair middle way would be to place it as a movement action, so you can at least decide to move (possibly away from danger) or regenerate.

By the Way i chose Invulnerability, it's true that you need good rolls with d10, but if you get a good defense you can mitigate heavily the damage recieved, and in the end it will be hard for you not to be the last one standing.

I like the "-30 inches of movement" for Regen.  That precludes any "normal" from moving while regenerating.

I have a question: what if the character had a movement rate of 29"?  Would they be unable to regen at all?  Or would they be limited to non-combat regen?

It occurred to me that one of the advantages of Heightened Defense is that applies to limitless number of attacks per turn and doesn't have a PR cost.