M&M 3rd ed. How to edit an existing power

[SeeleyOne]

I am sure that this is already somewhere on the list, but a search I did yielded no actual answers.

If I want to edit an existing power, say Flight, and I want to change its cost or perhaps the rate at which you fly (so that it does, say two less speed ranks than normal), how would I do this? The method that I tried was to have it preclude the flight power and then I added in a modified copy of it. It didn't work as the ID was the same; I didn't want it to mess up anything that already might look up the Flight power.

 

[Duggan]

The best way to do it is to create the new power (generally by copying it and then modifying it), assigning it its own unique ID, and then setting its "Replaces Thing Id" with the original power's ID. One drawback is that it will replace all copies of Flight that you load, and will cause bad behavior when you remove the custom rule.

Frankly, your better bet, if you don't want to risk applying it universally, is to create your own power with a slightly different name and then just use that one.

 

[SeeleyOne]

Wouldn't it only work on a character that has the particular user file selected? I was figuring that it would only work on a character that has a particular house rule set checked in the options box. Are you saying that once edited, it always goes into effect?

 

[SeeleyOne]

OK, I have figured out what you mean, and even more importantly, why.

For reference to others, it is a good practice to make things that are being added to a User file have a source that indicates it is for that user file. This way it shows up on the available lists only when that user file is selected on the Hero Options tab thing. This makes them appear when it is selected, and disappear when the box is left unchecked.

An artifact of doing this does have one effect. I tried to have it replace the id of the pwFlight. That was ok, but it turns out that Flight would disappear when I had it unchecked. So in order to not mess up with builds that do not use your house rules you need to have a new power. In my case I went with Flight (Reduced) as I opted to reduce the speed by 2 ranks. If I wanted to have builds have it in the future, first I would select my user file, then I would add the Flight (Reduced) power (and delete the original Flight from the device or power).