Basic Action Super Heroes!

So I compiled some interesting statistical data. I made a spreadsheet of the 500-ish BASH characters I have, noting their point totals, Brawn, Agility, and Mind, and their max multipliers in ideal situations for Attack, Defense, Damage, and Soak. I then divided them into Heroes, Villains, Minions, and Templates (such as are found in the main rules). Aside from clearly noticing that different players have wildly different benchmarks, and that BASHMAN himself creates pretty conservative characters, I thought I’d share some findings.

Heroes (222 total)
Average Attack: x 4.2 (mean: x 5.5)
Average Defense: x 3.4 (mean: x 4)
Average Damage: x 4.9 (mean: x 5.5)
Average Soak: x 3.8 (mean: x 4.5)

Villains (130 total)
Average Attack: x 3.9 (mean: x 5.5)
Average Defense: x 3.2 (mean: x 4.5)
Average Damage: x 5.2 (mean: x 5.5)
Average Soak: x 3.9 (mean: x 5)

Templates (81 total)
Average Attack: x 3.8 (mean: x 6.5)
Average Defense: x 3.0 (mean: x 3.5)
Average Damage: x 4.5 (mean: x 7)
Average Soak: x 3.5 (mean: x 5)

Minions (68 total)
Average Attack: x 2.6 (mean: x 5)
Average Defense: x 2.1 (mean: x 3)
Average Damage: x 3.7 (mean: x 3.5)
Average Soak: x 2.7 (mean: x 4)

A lot of observations could be made here. I’ll offer a few. First, BASHMAN’s established benchmarks from another thread are well-represented here. That’s good. Second, people may like to take templates and then power them up. Third, Damage is more important than Soak, which makes sense. Fourth, people like their villains to be scary…but only if they hit.

What else do people think?

Oh, I suppose it's relevant to cite my sources for data:

BASH core rules
Vengeance is Nigh
Ho Ho Ho Heroes

All the characters on the rpg.net archetype thread.
Just about all characters with color pictures on the forum here.

A series of comic book write-ups, none of which are my own.

In fact, not a single one of my own characters (which are very few) are in this data.

so those are max values even from different attacks?

I think the 4 to 5 in most things is about right on average. The system allowing 5 max for stats just seem to encourage that. And you are past the really steep multiplier curve of x1 - x3.

dugfromthearth wrote:so those are max values even from different attacks?

I think the 4 to 5 in most things is about right on average. The system allowing 5 max for stats just seem to encourage that. And you are past the really steep multiplier curve of x1 - x3.

Yes. I took the highest possible damage in the best possible circumstance. I did NOT include non-damage attack forms (so mentalists appear to be numerically weak).

I think it definitely reveals that the game's sweet spot is in the x3 to x5 for most things.

I have a problem with benchmark. 5 is the top, the fastest man alive, the strongest man on earth and so on. But a rifle does 5 dmg, every character does 5 damage... and many templates from the book do 5 dmg but have 8 soak.

The superman example only does 5 dmg, the same as a tommygun. Is this a streght capable of lift a boat?

maybe the superman should have special atack 3; at least ha colud do the same dmg he can soak.

I dont know, i love the game and the powers system but this is a problem for me. What do you think?

VanMaddle 5 is average, not the top

so Superman probably has a 7 or so dmg, but may have a lower to hit. Like his soak is very high but his defense is not

of course if you play full on superman with the speed of the flash he has great defense and to hit, but then he is a cosmic character

I don't think the benchmark comparisons are even fair. I see one of BASH's strengths is that it's concerned more about gameability than realism. I chose "gameability" rather than "playability" (which it also has), because I'm saying there are enough rules so that you can have fun playing a game at the same time as you are telling a story. That's something I personally love that sometimes gets lost in a lot of these narrative style games (and yeah, I'd include Icons in that boat as well).

Anyway, floating around the x4 - x5 benchmark makes for a solid game. To paraphrase a D&D reference, that seems to be the game's "sweet spot," though it still works at higher and lower numbers.

VanMaddle wrote:I have a problem with benchmark. 5 is the top, the fastest man alive, the strongest man on earth and so on. But a rifle does 5 dmg, every character does 5 damage... and many templates from the book do 5 dmg but have 8 soak.

The superman example only does 5 dmg, the same as a tommygun. Is this a streght capable of lift a boat?

maybe the superman should have special atack 3; at least ha colud do the same dmg he can soak.

I dont know, i love the game and the powers system but this is a problem for me. What do you think?

A real easy attack power if you want to beef up his punches is Weapon Technique (unarmed) +2DM.

Don't forget this is the "i'm standing still and not moving first, punch". If he has momentum, he can POUND somebody.

If you want to go even more than that, buy up Special Attack. There's no reason you can't have him do x10 damage with every punch if you wanted to (that's what the Behemouth builds up to). That's just not my building style. I always look at things in relative terms.