Mutants and Masterminds Addendum

 Notions I stole from Mutants and Masterminds to use in D&D.

While I have only participated in the barest of play with the Mutants and Masterminds system (2e/3e), I have spent a lot of time with the game.  I was fascinated with the way it broke down the d20 system into its part and figured out how to re-arrange them.  

1. The "value" of certain abilities.  While not a universal constant, it gives a good idea of what Darkvision is likely worth vs Low Light Vision.  An Attack Bonus increase vs a Saving Throw increase,etc.

2. Flattening of Modifiers.  The bonuses/penalties/modifiers for various combat maneuvers, situational conditions, etc. were reduced to gives a +2 bonus or +5 bonus.  It reinforces the idea that +1 or adding up random bonuses is not worth the trouble of tracking.  Something either gives a little bonus or a big bonus.  It also had the advantage over "Advantage" in that it is more granular, and you can firmly account for the impact on success probabilities.

3. Reduction of the skill list/ general "Expertise":  3e has a lot of skills, some of them more fiddly than needed (as seen when they got reduced for 3.5).  Now, 3e had the  unenviable task of trying to unify % based Thief skills, Demi-Human skills, random class knacks, and a bajillion proficiencies into something managable, and it did a good job.  M&M is the first game I saw that refined the list down further, figuring out how to fold most of those other corner skill into a main set.  It allows for more customization of characters that a straight Ability Check would, but not as fiddly as what came before.

4. Effects Based design: A special ability or power does not mean much if it does not happen "on screen".  Example, Immorality: a huge deal, but not in game, when how would it come up?  Worth something, but not much compared to a Fireball (in game).

In the ensuing years many of these innovations have found there way back into main line D&D and related games, so clearly there is some value to it.