Slaying Multiple Avians with Singular Projectiles

As I was driving around (I had a lot of driving to do today), I thought about two problems that persist. One is that I don’t know how to present character generation options… because there are a lot of ways to generate a character, and I didn’t know whether to include one option in the rules, or to give lots of options. Too many choices is as bad as not enough.  

I keep moving abilities around, including things that were slotted for origins. Some things end up being purely cosmetic. You get a +1 to CON for being a construct? Great. I mean, I could just give you a general +1, because you can already move attributes where you want them, so that +1 may or may not end up really affecting CON. And that +1 to Feats for being a mutant gets more and more powerful the more I rely on Feats to solve problems. It has to go. 

But what if your origin determined how you roll dice?

1. A superhuman rolls 3d6, rerolling 1s, arranging as desired. This is the basic origin, and the basic generation process. This gives an average of 12. It protects you from having very low results (you will not get lower than 6), meaning that you are at the very least slightly above average in everything. (Also, see my edit at the bottom)
2. A mutant rolls 4d6, taking the best three, arranging as desired. You are going to end up with more variety in scores - a little wider range for mutants; a mutant could have a 3, which fits the idea of those with INT 3 or CHA 3 (or DEX 3, like Professor X). This gives an average of 13.
3. An outsider (godling, alien, amazon, mermaid) rolls 3d8, arranging as desired. This gives an average result of 13.5, with higher and lower options. You COULD hit 24 here… 
4. A construct is going to be a point build (because that thematically fits that origin - see?). You start with 60 +2d6 points to place where desired. This gives an average result of just over 11, but gives you total control of your character.
5. A bearer has something that comes through them. Roll 1d6. This might be sorcery [1-3] or a mystical, alien, or other-dimensional object of great power [4-6]. Bearers roll 3d6 straight up for STR, INT, DEX, CON, and CHA (arranging as desired), but roll 12+2d4 for PWR. This results in lower general stats (average of 10.5), but in exceptional power (average 17). 
6. A prodigy rolls 3d4 for STR and CON (arranging as desired), has PWR 4, and rolls 3d6, rerolling 1s, for INT, DEX, and CHA (arranging as desired). A prodigy also rolls 1d6 and gets a battlesuit [1-2], utility belt [3-4] or trick weapon [5-6] automatically.

Let’s Try It Out...

1. My sample superhuman is 9, 13, 9, 13, 10, 10, 11. Kinda meh. Don’t love it. I mean, these are kind of Captain America numbers (maybe), but he’d be a prodigy (with a trick weapon of the shield) and not a superhuman…. Maybe I could see Doctor Octopus or Green Goblin having these numbers. I can’t think of too many heroes that are mostly human that don’t at least have a 15+ range of Power. Human Torch, Invisible Girl… they are mostly normal humans, but their PWR rating is 18+. This character would need to put a 13 in PWR and start building it up right away. These are a little low, but not unbelievably low results. A lot of players are going to end up here. Hmmm. The idea is that this gives you the most chance for customization. You can drop some of the lower scores (2 for 1) to bring up scores you want. So, in the example here, the two 9s could drop to 7s without losing a +1 modifier, pushing both 13s to 14s, or one of the 13s to 15. Now I can see this as a Power Man type of guy… able to lift a few tons. Give him some growth or shrinking, moving one of those to Power, and you have a decent starting build… or now he could be Reed Richards with the hyper intelligence. I can see making this work once you consider min/maxing.  
2. My sample mutant is 13, 12, 7, 12, 16, 15. I could make anybody with these numbers; a starting Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler… 
3. My sample outsider: 8, 15, 16, 16, 22, 12. That is Superboy at Level 1. 22 STR, 16 DEX and CON, 15 PWR, 12 CHA and 8 INT seems pretty solid as a starting Kryptonian.
4. My sample construct rolls 68 points, so I’d distribute 19, 16, 13, 10, 5, 5. This puts the upper points at point breaks, and puts the lower results as very average human (maybe CHA and INT end up with the 5s, if I’m going for battle-readiness).
5. My bearer ends up with PWR 18 and other stats of 13, 9, 15, 13, 11. This could easily be Green Lantern or Doctor Strange as a level 1 character. Not bad at all. Just for fun, I roll for what the source of power is and get 4: they carry an object of great power. (Again, I go random to the list that I gave and get mystical. Okay, my character is a bearer of a mystical item of power. Nifty.
6. My prodigy ends up with PWR 4 (by default), with STR/CON options of 11 and 5, and with INT/DEX/CHA options of 9, 12, and 15. This could totally be Iron Man. INT 15, CHA 12, DEX 9, STR 5 and CON 11. That completely works. Could also be Hawkeye (swap INT and DEX). Heck, I could almost start to cobble together Batman out of this, but that 5 in STR or CON is a problem… I guess if I go with Martial Arts (swapping DEX for STR to hit and damage in melee), then STR 5 is not necessarily a deal breaker. But it’s close.   

Edit: I keep thinking that I need to give the superhuman something to balance it out: what if the superhuman gets one 'wild die' - you get to add 1d6 to any one attribute after you've set them up? This brings the superhuman in line with others, and makes sure you can shine. That solves all of my problems. :)