So here we are at part 3:Defense powers. Lots of changes here.

First, A quick review of the new action types for easy reference:

Actions:

There are 5 differant types of actions now instead of 3 in the original rules. They are:

Free actions: Free actions are provided by certain powers and do not count towards your allotment of actions for that turn, and they do not, in themselves, give figs action tokens.

Move actions: Same as before. Simply move a figure.

Close combat/Ranged combat actions: No change from the original rules.

Power actions: Some powers require the use of power actions. These do count towards your action total.


And on to part 3 of my review:

Defense

Super Senses (optional) :When this character is successfully hit by an attack, you may roll one six-sided die. On a result of 5 or 6, this character avoids the attack.
How many times can I say “No change. Moving on.”?

Toughness :Damage dealt to this character is reduced by 1.
Short, but not so simple as it first seams. A couple of questions arise from this one. What about pushing, crit miss, and knock back damage? Well, this is covered in the new rule book in the new ‘Glossary’ section. “Damage Dealt” is equal to the damage value of the attacking character plus any powers that increase damage dealt. So, does that mean that pure knock back damage(in the case of Force Blast) gets by Toughness?

Defend (optional) :Any friendly character adjacent to this character may use this character’s defense value instead of its own.
Once again(say it with me folks!) No changes here. Moving on.

Energy Shield/Deflection :Increase this character’s defense value by 2 agains ranged combat attacks.
Yep. Moving on.

Barrier (optional) :Give this character a power action. This character may create up to 4 squares of blocking terrain anywhere within its range. Place up to four barrier terrain markers on the battlefield. Each barrier terrain marker must be adjacent to another barrier terrain marker created by this character. These terrain markers remain in place until the beginning of your next turn or until the power is countered or lost.
A lot of changes here, all very similar to the changes with Smoke Cloud. First, it’s a power action. Just like SC, it seams that you do not need to use all 4 barrier markers, and the barrier goes away when Outwitted or lost. Very interesting.
This also means that BARRIER can be placed atop of hindering terrain and all squares must be placed within the character's range.

Mastermind (optional) :Each time this character would be dealt damage, you may instead choose to have this damage be dealt to an adjacent friendly character with a lower point value than this character.
A big rewrite here. You no longer need to be the target of the attack, just be dealt damage. This changes how this power is dealt with in a major way. EE splash damage can now be MMed, same with Poison. A similar question arises when considering knock back damage. (see Toughness above)

Willpower (optional) :This character does not take pushing damage.
Once again, no changes.

Impervious (optional) :When this character is dealt damage, you may roll one six-sided die; on a result of 5 or 6, the damage is reduced to 0; on a result of1-4, the damage dealt is reduced by 2.
Big, BIG change here. This truly is the Invulnerability+ that people have been clamoring for! The question on knock back is still here. (ref Toughness above). But wait, there is more. Impervious no longer avoids attacks, just reduced the damage dealt. This means there is no dodge roll for attacks like Mind Control and Incapacitate. EE still hits, so it can still damage characters adjacent to the Imp. character. So, Imp is Inv.+, but it is not Inv.+Super Senses.

Regeneration (optional) :Give this character a power action. Roll one six-sided die and subtract 2 from the result. Treat a negative result as 0. The result equals the damage this character heals.
Only change here is to make it a power action. No more confusion on if you can regen for free.

Invulnerability :Damage dealt to this character is reduced by 2.
Same questions here as with Toughness above.

So those are the defense powers. A lot of clarification, but a lot of new questions as well. The main question is: How do the above noted powers interact with knock back damage? I guess we have to wait for the FAQs on this one.

Questions? Comments? Anything I missed?

Again very cool, im just bumping these for you, so people can see the hard work you have done, good job psy.

thnx for doing all this psy lets keep the ?'s here than a million threads

These are so good and so concise that I'm going to print them out for other players to read as a quick reference on what's changed and how it affects game play.

The biggest example in this one is Impervious. That's a great catch that Imp no longer has the dodge roll associated with non-damaging attacks!! Go mind control!

I'm going to guess that any damage from being Force Blasted is reduced by damage reduction powers. From the listing for Knockback in the new rules:

As the rulebook clearly classifies this as damage dealt, it would have to be reduced by damage reduction. If it was meant to bypass it, then they would have said that this character "takes 1 knockback damage." No longer will Superman shrug off a direct hit from Doomsday, yet take a click of damage when Flash pushes him into a wall.

The rulebook specifically states, "powers that reduce damage dealt (...list of powers...) reduce knockback damage." So, all three powers still reduce knockback damage.

The real question (for me anyway) is: Is knock back counted seperately from the normal attack that generates the knock back?

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see anywhere that it addresses this question.......

I originally though of the original rules that knockback damage was separate. But, the FAQ stated that it was all damage from the same attack.

Now the question is back again. Everything in the existing FAQ is completely obsolete and must be reissued.

I would say it is counted separately because it says knockback damage is "damage dealt". It does not say "extra damage dealt from the attack." Because it lacks the word "extra" I'd call it separate until proven otherwise. Because it is in the old FAQ the other way still presents a strong case, though. I'm going to take the rules at face value, though, until stated otherwise.

That pretty well sums up my opinion on the matter as well, Keleko.

So much has changed that we cannot fall back on the previous rule set to determine what will be the way things are in the new set.......

Oh yeah, the current FAQ does have one use, though. The figure errata won't change.

I'm not sure on how I feel about Barrier being able to be "countered" now. We used to play it that way, but it almost made Barrier pointless if your opponent has Batman, or any other mobile Outwitter. When I finally discovered that when Barrier is Outwitted, it can't be used on the next turn, it made the barrier seem more... Barrier - like.
Eh. Nothing major, though. I'll deal.

It keeps turtling from being a completely overwhelming tactic, especially given the new taxi rules. Now you can drop a whole barrier in a free action. Add to that being able to targer over grounded barriers from elevated, and it becomes more difficult to hide away.

K - has it been verified that grounded barriers can be shot over? I know that there was some confusion - maybe on another thread.

If so, does that mean a Sentinal can fire over a grounded barrier? If someone on a roof can, and he can't, that's a lttle wacky...

Why do all squares of barrier have to be within the characters range again?

It specifically states in the elevated targeting rules that you can shoot over grounded blocking terrain when the attacking and target are on different elevations. A Barrier on the ground is grounded blocking terrain. So, that says to me that you can shoot over it. Looks pretty darn clear.