Dragonfly's Nest: FIREFIGHT!

[AslanC]

*Blush*

[Dragonfly]

as far as Troyus is concerned i would expect ether to do fine , the skill descriptions seem to overlap and bash tends to be inclusive rather than exclusive in nature

Cool! Thanks for the feedback, gryfn!

Best,

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Okay, this is only my impression and I could be way off base, but when I see Immunity to Temperatures, that implies something like "environmental temperatures". I can stand on the equator or the north pole, and neither bothers me. You hit me with a flame thrower, though, or a super-science cold ray, and I'd still be fully affected. So I'd say that Immunity to Fire and Temperatures are not redundant, and go fine together.

If you are way of base, then so am I! That's exactly the reasoning I used when suggesting that build to my friend. Again - I just wanted someone (or several someone's) who know the system well as a sounding board.

Thanks for the feedback on the immunity vs. resistance thing. I think I'll suggest to my player that he stick with the immunities.

Best,

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Hello once again, Lindharin!

I'd turn that around a little, and say that the Hulk and Batman have MORE than just Frightening Presence. Batman has Frightening Presence on top of a high Mind, plus skill picks (maybe even multiple picks each) in Deception (Detect Deception), Investigation (Questioning), and Streetwise (Intimidation), etc.

Yes, I totally agree with that.

The Hulk is harder to represent in game mechanics, since he really doesn't TRY to be intimidating (at least the classic "temperamental child" version). He just IS, partly due to your own knowledge of how powerful he is and knowing that there isn't a reasonable person in control of all that rage.

So in your estimation, classic "temperamental child" Hulk doesn't have frightening presence? I'd be tempted to say he does, even though he usually doesn't TRY to use it. Once he starts roaring in anger, it's just freaking scary. You are right, though. If he is just finished with a fight, hanging out in the desert, about to calm down but still big and green, he seems like a "gentle giant" - enough so that kids, animals, or pretty girls might gently approach him.

Anyway, since Frightening Presence adds a bonus to your attempts, but still relies on your base intimidation ability (ie, Mind, Skill picks, etc.) then I'd say it can apply equally well to a small-time intimidator or a master like Batman. If Arrowhead has a x1 Mind and no skill specializations in it, even with Frightening Presence he'll be nowhere close to as good at it as Batman.

Edit: More relevant would be whether there is something about him (his attitude, demeanor, appearance or reputation) that makes him deserve more than his default Mind when it comes to intimidation. If the answer is yes, then sure, Frightening Presence is appropriate. If not, then I wouldn't give it to him just because he is big or strong..

I like these guidelines. Using them, I'd say Hulk does have it. There is something about his APPEARANCE that is intimidating. It isn't just that he's big and strong. It's that he's inhumanly so. Superman has the build of a body builder. The Hulk is a foot taller (at least) and has muscles that have muscles. Right off the bat he is intimidating in a way that Superman is not. Once he goes berzerk, you add the qualities of attitude and demeanor.

More importantly here, Arrowhead should probably have it. He normally tries to affect an erudite, gentle, diplomatic demeanor, but simmering under that is the fact that if you don't do what he's asking of you, he WILL rip your arms off. On top of all of that, he's got musculature that comes close to rivaling the Hulk.

Thanks again for helping me think though this!

Best,

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Fancy meeting YOU here!

Okay, we are thinking along the same lines with regards to Esper's beauty, and so far she hasn't been able to hide her disdain in the campaign, so I'm opting to NOT have her take the Advantage.

As for the Mind Blast situation ... I agree with you that most comic books have higher physical soak characters than mental soak characters, but I think it's also true that when a mental combatant shows up they can often wreak havoc, precisely because all the bruisers are not prepared for it. The way it's currently set up, with mental blasts topping off at x5, when a mental combatant shows up its only "highly annoying" to the bruisers, if at all. Mind Blast isn't cheap, so a character who purchased a Mind Blast with x3 damage has paid as much (or more) for the power than a person who purchased a Special Attack with x3 Damage, but the Special Attacker gets to add his Mind to the Damage, and has the option of buying Boost for even more damage. Sure, the Special Attacker can be foiled by high Brawn, scads of Armor, etc., but the Mental Attacker is far more easily (and even unintentionally) foiled by a person who bought a Mind 2 just because his character is good with computers.

Anyway, I know I'm preaching to the choir just a little bit. I just needed to vent.

BTW, is it a problem that Mentalists can pretty quickly become immune to each other's powers? A mentalist with a Mind 3 and a couple of levels of Mental Defense is pretty much going to fend off ANY Mind Control or other mental attack without even trying. I'm not sure this is a problem, as Mentalists in genre tend to focus their powers on non-mentalists, but it seems like a POTENTIAL problem to me. What say you?

Best,

Dragonfly

P.S. I'll probably post this over on another thread as well.

[Lindharin]

So in your estimation, classic "temperamental child" Hulk doesn't have frightening presence? I'd be tempted to say he does, even though he usually doesn't TRY to use it. Once he starts roaring in anger, it's just freaking scary.

Sorry, I didn't really finish my thought there. Yes, I agree that the Hulk does have frightening presence. What I meant by the "Hulk being harder to represent" is that Frightening Presence isn't enough in his case. Depending on what version of the Hulk you're talking about, he could actually have a Mind 0. Just adding Frightening Presence on top of that doesn't represent him. Buying Skillful to add ranks of something like Streetwise (Intimidation) or something doesn't really make sense either, because he isn't really trying to intimidate you anyway.

Part of his intimidation is his appearance, but I think a lot of it is is his reputation and is all in the mind of the person seeing the Hulk, rather than something the Hulk is trying to do. I don't think there is a way to represent that in game mechanics, it is a roleplaying thing.

My friends and I had a saying back when we were reading Marvel in the 80's and early 90's. "You aren't a hero in Marvel Comics until you've fought beside Spiderman or against the Hulk."

BTW, is it a problem that Mentalists can pretty quickly become immune to each other's powers? A mentalist with a Mind 3 and a couple of levels of Mental Defense is pretty much going to fend off ANY Mind Control or other mental attack without even trying. I'm not sure this is a problem, as Mentalists in genre tend to focus their powers on non-mentalists, but it seems like a POTENTIAL problem to me. What say you?

I think that is partially a case of needing benchmarks / example characters, and then building to concept. Why does he have "a couple levels of Mental Defense"? (Mind Shield, I assume?) Given the way mental powers in Bash work, with a cap of x5 in most cases, does the character concept really deserve that high of a Mental Defense?

I think this is partly a matter of benchmarks, and the benchmarks for mental powers are different than the benchmarks for the physical powers.

When I decide on a character's Brawn or Mind, I'm comparing him to my own personal benchmarks. I think about how does he stack up against Spiderman (Brawn 3), Rogue (Brawn 4), or Thor (Brawn 5)? How does he stack up against Bruce Banner (Mind 3), Tony Stark (Mind 4) or Reed Richards (Mind 5)?

For me, in Bash, it is a little less clear when I'm trying to decide how much Mental Defense is appropriate because those benchmarks aren't as clear cut, at least for me, and because of the scale of mental powers in Bash is a little different than the scale of physical powers. Knowing the way mental powers work in Bash caps them with a x5 multiplier, a x5 mental defense is really excellent, and a x6 is the psychic equivalent of the Juggernaut's physical invulnerability, so that's what I'll use as my guide.

I haven't tried to stat up Professor Xavier, but off the top of my head he'd have a high Mind (either 4 or 5), and either no Mind Shield or at least no more than one level of Mind Shield, because his Mind is already covering the main part of his mental defenses. And that is the most powerful psychic in the world! And if my benchmark is that the best psychic in the world has a Mental Defense of x5 or x6, then any other characters I build will be measured against that.

A psychic with Mind 3 could certainly buy one level of Mind Shield, for a x5 mental defense, but I wouldn't add a second rank of it unless his mental defenses really are supposed to be better than Xavier's.

I guess what I'm saying is that, for me and my interpretation of the rules, and the way Bash models mental powers, I'm really pretty conservative when it comes to Mental Defense. I don't use the Mind Shield power in the same way that I use the Armor power for physical characters. Unlike Brawn plus Armor, a mental powerhouse doesn't need a high Mind plus Mind Shield, just one or the other. As I see it, Mind Shield is there to help make the lower Mind characters who have some weird resistance. So Rogue with a Mind 1 or 2 would have one or two ranks of Mind Shield because of her resistance to psychic powers.

That doesn't address all the issues, though, and I definitely know where you are coming from. Because mental powers are on a scale of 1-5, where physical powers are on a scale of 1-10, that does have a lot of implications that do not favor mentalists. The best maximized mental attack with a x5 multiplier has less "overkill" against a "typical" x2 defense than a maximized energy blast that might reach x9 or x10 against a goon's x2 soak. Heck, the "average" damage multiplier of the archetypes in the book is probably higher than the "best" possible psychic damage multiplier of the new Mind Blast power, so it will take the mentalist much longer to whittle down the target's hits, and doubly so if the mentalist isn't made with max ranks to represent being the best in the world.

On the other hand, mentalists don't have to defeat foes by wearing down their hits. Remember the segment on "Victory without Violence" on page 23 of the book. A mentalist is much more likely to have powers that can take out targets without needing to chip away at their hits, and in that sense can quickly swing the odds in battle. If your mentalist is using something like a Mind Blast power to defeat enemy minions by going after their Hits, rather than taking them out with status effects like Daze, they are probably handicapping themselves.

P.S. I'll probably post this over on another thread as well.

That's probably a good idea, this is a topic that is a little thorny and easily deserves its own thread.

[BASHMAN]

Here's something from Legends of Steel that could be applied to BASH! UE I think that would solve this:

Intimidation
Sometimes enemies don’t want to have to harm each other—simply to scare the opponent. When a lion roars at an approaching stranger, or the Thieves’ Guild makes a veiled threat about the safety of a person’s loved ones, they are trying to use intimidation. Typically Intimidation is made in lieu of attacking. Start by rolling a Stat check based on the type of intimidation used—an act of physical intimidation, such as the lion’s roar, is made by rolling Brawn (and adding any size modifiers as with any other Brawn check) or possibly Agility (as in the case of a swordsman showing off a flurry of moves to his opponent). An act of verbal intimidation is made by rolling Mind, or maybe using an appropriate skill—Streetwise, Deception, or Society could all be used for this. The target rolls a Mind check against this intimidation check—higher number wins, ties go to the Hero. If the target succeeds, it indicates no effect. If the target fails, means the target is scared—and has a -2 Dice penalty to all rolls made against the source of fear. This includes social interaction as well as combat. The state of fear lasts for the rest of that scene.
Note: The Frightening Presence Advantage gives you +2 to your Multiplier to intimidate. Fearless characters are immune to the effects of Intimidation (and have a +2 Dice bonus to intimidate others themselves). Craven characters can be intimidated, but if their cowardice is triggered via damage, intimidation has no additional effect—they are already scared.

[Lindharin]

Oh, cool! Thanks Bashman!

One question: is the target always using Mind to defend? For example, could a Brawn 3 character (like maybe Spiderman) really use a feat of strength to consistently intimidate a more powerful but low-Mind character like the Hulk, Juggernaut, Thing, Colossus, etc.? They can't all be Fearless, can they?

Could it be a contest of Intimidation vs. Intimidation, where their defense roll is based on their own intimidation factor? So Spidey trying to intimidate the Hulk is probably going to backfire...

[Dragonfly]

Hey Lindharin,

Thanks for finishing your thoughts with regards to the Hulk. I agree with you wholeheartedly on this, and I love the 80's / 90's adage that you guys had about the Hulk, Spidey and Marvel.

BASHMAN - the Intimidation bit you posted is perfect! It solves the issue entirely. It's a good, oldfashioned Champions "Presence Attack," but better. I love how the mechanic allows you to use Brawn OR Mind, depending on the circumstances. I too am curious about Lindharin's question regarding the Defense against such an attack. It makes sense that in some cases Brawn can be used to defend...

Without this ruling, I was going to suggest that Hulk has Boost 3 (Mind, Only for Purposes of Intimidation).

Best,

Dragonfly

[BASHMAN]

Oh, cool! Thanks Bashman!

One question: is the target always using Mind to defend? For example, could a Brawn 3 character (like maybe Spiderman) really use a feat of strength to consistently intimidate a more powerful but low-Mind character like the Hulk, Juggernaut, Thing, Colossus, etc.? They can't all be Fearless, can they?

Could it be a contest of Intimidation vs. Intimidation, where their defense roll is based on their own intimidation factor? So Spidey trying to intimidate the Hulk is probably going to backfire...

Excellent point. Yes, I think that would be fair!

[Dragonfly]

Hey again, Lindharin!

Interesting thoughts on the Mentalist situation. I'm not sure about this either. I too have been wondering if it's a matter of benchmarks, and I won't make up my mind until I've played with some numbers, but the more I think about it the more I'm beginning to think it is more than just a matter of benchmarks. Your own examples, for instance, present a problem for me. If Reed Richards has a Mind 5, there is definitely a problem, as that alone makes it harder than it should for someone like Charles Xavier to affect him with a mental attack. My read on Reed could be wrong, but I see him having less than even odds to resist a mind control from a mentalist of the caliber of Professor X, let alone the power of most mental blasts.

Then again, my benchmarks for Mind are significantly lower than yours. I wouldn't give Bruce Banner a Mind 3. He'd have a Mind 2. Tony Stark would also have a Mind 2 (or a Mind x2+3 using my house rules). Reed Richards would top off at a Mind 3. Heck, even Professor X would get a Mind 3 from me, with a Boost 2 (Mind, Only for Use with Mental Powers). The Same would probably go for Doctor Strange, who I would give a Mind 3 (maybe x3+3), with a level in Mind Shield and a Boost 2 (Mind, Only for Sorcery). Who gets a Mind 4? Dormammu would. Who gets a Mind 5? The Watchers would, as would The High-Evolutionary. Who gets Cosmic Level Mind scores? Galactus and The Celestials.

Why so low? Well, part of it is that Mind represents so much. It is IQ, Spirit, Charisma - the whole works. Someone like Doctor Strange probably merits a Mind 4 in terms of willpower and/or psychic energy, but his IQ and Charisma, although not deficient, simply don't merit such a high Stat.

Using my benchmarks, I can live with a x5 cap on Mental Blast and other Mental Powers. This gets confused, however, when printed material suggests otherwise. Again, if most people think that Reed Richards should have a raw Mind 5 (rather than a lower Mind with skills and advantages to compensate) the x5 cap becomes unworkable in my opinion.

Anyway, your thoughts are helping me to clarify my own. Right now I'm thinking that there isn't a problem, as long as I set the benchmarks for my campaigns as I've described just now.

Best,

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Okay, let me finish off these write-ups. The next batch are VIPER operatives that are NOT part of the Man-Mutation Project.

Blue Jay hasn't even become a supervillainess yet, (but is about to), and Death Commando hasn't revealed himself to the heroes yet (although he was involved in the recent abduction of Troyus' family). His origin is incomplete right now. I'm waiting for a few plot points to develop before I flesh it out. Anyway, here they are:

Blowtorch (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177291/Blowtorch-Canon

Blowtorch (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177559/Blowtorch-House

Bluejay (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177293/Blue-Jay-Canon

Bluejay (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177568/Blue-Jay-House

Cheshire Cat (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177301/Cheshire-Cat-Canon

Cheshire Cat (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177589/Cheshire-Cat-House

Death Commando (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33252378/Death-Commando-Canon

Death Commando (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33252380/Death-Commando-House

Blowtorch:
What do you think of his Dodge ability? He’s losing points on it now, because conceptually I don’t see it going any higher than +1 Defense, but if he had another level of it he’d be saving a point. I’ve wanted to come up with a way to raise defense that didn’t involve raising agility. BASHMAN pointed out that Boost 1 (Agility, Only for Defense) wasn’t a good idea because it was less efficient than Deflect 1, so this is my solution to that problem.

Bluejay:
Do you think being blackmailed by VIPER deserves any Disadvantage points? I’m going to add Moral Code after Lindharin reminded me about it.

Cheshire:
His Champions Disadvantages include a “Protective of Wife,” which is covered by In a Relationship. He was also pathologically competitive with other martial artists (which I may drop or simulate through AslanC’s Obsession). Finally, he was Susceptible to being teleported by others. I was going to drop it, but I think I’ll keep it, just in case Nightshift stumbles across that little Weakness. I’ll use Lindharin’s suggestions regarding Susceptibilies.

Best!

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

FINALLY (for now) SAT, UNTIL, and VIPER agents. These guys are all minions. Just because I was curious, I bought all of their high tech equipment as gadgets. Let me know what you think of it. I suspect I may need to tone these guys down, but maybe not. Again - give me your feedback. (Oh, and I realize that some of the multipliers should be listed as flat rolls, given that they are minions. I'll do that for a later version.) Here they are!

SAT (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33179023/SAT-canon

SAT (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177636/SAT-house

UNTIL (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33179079/Until-Canon

UNTIL (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177663/Until-House

VIPER (canon)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33179092/Viper-Canon

VIPER (house)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33177665/Viper-House

Questions:
What do you guys think of my construction for the visored helmet?

When you add range to Confusion and Daze – what is the level that determines the range? For now, I’m assuming that it’s simply based on the Enhancement. Long range is just 10 squares, etc.

How do you get Special Attacks to go autofire? Do you think this can be an enhancement?

What do you think of the weapon construction? Specifically, what do you think of the “no mind” ruling?

What do you think of stating out agents in this fashion? Anything that wasn’t conventional was bought as a power.

Well, that's it! Thanks for indulging me by looking at these, and I hope they are enjoyable and/or useful to somebody out there.

Best,

Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Hey guys!

I’ve been busy on a new project that came out of my Classic Champions efforts and my discussions with Lindharin in particular. That is – I’ve decided to develop my own in-house benchmarks to help guide my players in making characters for our own games. In order to do this, I decided to use SAGA’s Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game as a guideline as I’ve always thought that their interpretations of the Marvel Characters were generally pretty thoughtful.

Mind, in particular, was difficult to convert because it covers so many bases in BASH!. As such, you’ll find that most of these characters have relatively low raw Mind stats, modified up for their particular talents. Reed Richards, for instance, has a Mind 2, but still manages to be a super genius. I think it works pretty well, but I’m anxious for your feedback.

I made all of these on my own first, and then referred back to BASHMAN’s excellent archetypes to see if I missed anything obvious. I did, of course, and whenever that happened I cribbed his stuff shamelessly.

One last thing: I know these characters (or versions of these characters) could be made on far fewer points, but I wanted to come as close to representing them as they are in the comics, rather than watering them down for the sake of playability.

Anyway, what follow are my Benchmarks (canon and house versions), along with a few conversions. The conversions are only presented in my house rules. You can bring them in line with canon BASH! simply by dropping the Heightened power and its effects wherever it appears.

I do have some questions and/or comments regarding some of these builds. You’ll find those after the following links:

DRAGONFLY'S BENCHMARKS (CANON)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428101/BENCH-Canon

DRAGONFLY’S BENCHMARKS (HOUSE)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428092/BENCH-House

CAPTAIN AMERICA
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428052/Captain-America

HULK
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428074/Hulk

MISTER FANTASTIC
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428083/Mister-Fantastic

SPIDER-MAN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428055/Spider-Man

THOR
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33428063/Thor

QUESTIONS:

CAPTAIN AMERICA
None. I’m pretty happy with this one.

HULK
What do you think of his Fast Runner power as it is done? I’m stuck, because I think he merits the low Agility (relative to the other characters), but I need to boost his running. I think this is a little clunky, but what do you think?
I’ll probably get him Skillful, just so that I can boost his Athletics.
How can I get him to Jump as far as he does in the comics? In the comics he can Jump as far as 3 to 5 miles in a single bound.

MISTER FANTASTIC
I bout Reed a Boost 2 (Brawn, Only for Elastic Related Feats). This is his ability to be used as a slingshot for an I-Beam, or his ability to wrap around someone and constrict them, or to hold up something that is falling (like the ferris wheel in the second movie), etc. I know that BASHMAN accomplished some of this with Immobilize, but I thought I’d play around with this option. The power doesn’t add to Brawn or to his Special Attack, even though I could get away with justifying it, perhaps. What say you?

SPIDER-MAN
What should he use for his photography skill?
His web-shooters should be ammo gadgets, but I think the rules for ammo gadgets would cause them to deplete more often than they do in the comics. Has anybody play-tested this? Am I wrong?

THOR
I have a question about resistances: are you supposed to halve the damage taken before or after subtracting soak? I suspect that the intention is BEFORE, but I think it SHOULD be AFTER. Otherwise, I think it would be difficult to do any actual damage EVER to characters with Resistance – especially to a character that has a high soak. Halving it after would be enough of a benefit, IMO.
What do you think of Thor’s Immunities? Does he need more? Should he be able to survive in space? If so, what do you recommend?
Weapon Technique doesn’t really benefit him in day-to-day play, but I bought it for him just in case he is ever stuck w/out Mjolnir and needs to use common weapons. He is supposed to be very well-trained in all things martial.
There is a lot of debate regarding what he can do with the hammer and what he can do without. Thor is a character that isn’t written very consistently, so I decided to go with what is most iconic about him. I decided to compromise on his Flight. We all know that he needs Mjolnir to fly, but he throws it around sometimes even while flying. I’m choosing to say that he must initiate it using the Mjolnir, and that he can only change directions and otherwise control his flight movement with Mjolnir. He can, however, throw it and hover in place until it returns to him.
Also, how do you model someone who can fly as fast as he can? I’ve chosen to give him the same limited Super Speed that jet airplane write-ups have. What say you? How fast does this allow him to travel?
Question regarding Multi-Powers and Special Attacks: Thor’s Multi-Power currently includes 2 Special Attacks. The first is to simulate his ability to summon Lightning. The second is to simulate his ability to bash people with Mjolnir. Let’s take the ability to bash people first. I purchased this as a single Special Attack with the ranged advantage. As a thrown and/or hand held weapon, it adds Brawn to the damage. Is this legit, or would you guys rule that I had to buy this twice – once with Range and once without. I’m hoping that I can simply choose whether or not to use Range and leave it as is. Now let’s take his Lightning Bolts. I purchased them with Variable because I figure he can do all sorts of combinations: chain lightning, a specific bolt centered on a single person, etc. Would you guys rule that this build could also do double duty and represent Thor’s ability to channel cosmic and magical energies into attacks? Here is the big question: given that this Lightning Bolt attack has variable, could he just use this Special Attack to represent ALL of his Special Attack abilities, including his held and thrown hammer strikes? This last bit seems too much of a stretch for me, but I’m wondering what you guys think.

I know all of this can be overwhelming, and I'm sorry about that. I get a little ... obsessed. Even if I don't hear back, I hope you guys enjoy these.

Best,

Dragonfly

[Lindharin]

First, I think this is a great idea!

I don't have time to look at all the characters in depth tonight, but I'll focus on the questions you brought up.

Captain America: I think his shield multipower should be 6 pts, not 12, right?

Hulk: Personally, I wouldn't link his Super Running and his Boost Agility. The nature of Boost is that is self-limiting; if the limit is that it only applies to running speed, then it really isn't "activated" per se so it doesn't need to be linked. It's always on, it just doesn't always apply. It could apply to his normal running speed even if he didn't activate Super Running itself, right? In fact, I might go so far as to say drop the Super Running and just go for a higher Boost (and maybe Fleet of Foot), since I don't see it as him really having super running, but more that his strength means each stride can carry him many yards. But that just's me, and your way seems valid too. As for Super Jump, how about adding the Extra Effect enhancement? It's pretty flexible about just how it gets interpreted. Hulk is just about the best (and most iconic) super jumper I can think of.

Mister Fantastic: I think a boost to brawn for elastic stuff is certainly appropriate. It's one element of the power that is easily overlooked, but definitely comes up sometimes. Of course, you could also say that it comes up rarely enough that it may just be him power stunting Boost, rather than having it all the time. That's a judgment call.

Spider Man: I would say Humanities (Photography), or if you don't like adding custom specialties then Humanities (Art). I would consider putting a Gadget/Ammo limitation on one of his web shooter multipower slots, whichever one uses the most web fluid (probably Immobilize). And then put the a Same Source limitation on the other slots of the multipower and his Swinging power. He can swing all day long, but once he starts using lots of web fluid for the big immobilizations, etc., then once he's out of fluid he can't swing either.

Thor: Lots of pieces here, so I'll split them up:

Resistances: Bashman has said that Resistances halve damage before soak. I kind of agree with you that after might be better, and have been flip/flopping about whether I want to house rule it. My groups been distracted by some other stuff the last month or two so I haven't had to commit yet.

Immunities: I don't think starvation and thirst are two separate immunities (see Unliving for example).

Mighty Fists: I'd just use the +1 attack, +1 damage from your broad HtH Weapon Technique, myself. Not sure that having a +2 Special Attack that doesn't stack is needed for the concept or worth the points.

High Flight Speed: I'm not convinced I'd give him the Super Speed trick; he has really fast out-of-combat speeds, but I don't see him having really fast in-combat flight or multiple panels. To represent his out of combat speed there are two solutions. The standard response to this is to put Flight in a multipower with Teleport [Limit: Only places you can fly to]. That works fine. Personally, for the same cost, I just put the Space enhancement (from the Cosmic powers section) on the Flight power. It's long distance speeds are exactly what I think of for the really fast speeds some fliers reach, including Thor. It's the same cost, and just feels more appropriate to me. He really doesn't teleport from Chicago to NYC, even if he can fly it in a few minutes at most. The Space enhancement models that really well, IMO.

Stats for Special Attacks: The book does say that thrown weapons use Brawn even though they are ranged. And Bashman recently clarified in another thread that which stat you should use for special attack is partly based on the nature of the attack, rather than just whether it is ranged/area or not.

Combining Lightning with Hammer attacks: The book allows the Narrator to have the final say about whether a variable attack can have multiple descriptors (like fire and ice, for example). I gave my personal opinion about this general topic in another thread. Specifically for Thor: I'd probably use two Special Attacks, one for his melee/ranged hammer attacks, and the second for his Lightning. But ultimately it is up to the narrator.

Finally, regarding your benchmarks, I believe that will be very helpful for you when making characters, and when working with players to make their characters. I definitely think it is a really useful tool for me and my group. And in my opinion, exactly where you place a character on the benchmarks is much less important than having the benchmarks.

Comic book geeks (which I have been/still am, although I'm a decade or two out of date) can have hours of fun debating exactly where a character fits on the benchmarks. Personally, I agree with many of your choices, though there are a handful I looked at and said "*?!?". But it really is irrelevant to this thread, although if its the type of thing you enjoy and you'd like to engage in that (maybe in another thread?), I'm ready to rumble!

More later, but from what I've seen on a quick look, great job all the way around!