Make breakaway an independent action, available to all characters, as follows:

BREAKAWAY: POWER: When adjacent to one or more opposing characters, roll a d6. On a result of 4-6 give this character may move up to its speed value.// When adjacent to one or more opposing characters, this character may not move unless successfully given a POWER action to BREAKAWAY, and may not activate other standard powers during that action.

The goal here is to minimize HSS and Running Shot shenanigans, and even the rare tactic of Super Strength/Charge breakaway, grab object, charge smash. Phasing would need an update to simply Protected: BREAKAWAY, but otherwise I think the bonuses to plasticity, HSS, Leap/Climb, etc, would not only be good enough, but would actually become instantly more valuable.

Thoughts?

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too complicated

Really? What's tripping you up about this?

"HSS [for range attacks] and Running Shot shenanigans" might be inconvenienced, but they would still have the advantage of range. Charge and HSS for close attacks would be nerfed hard because you have to get closer a d therefore more vulnerable to tie-up. Your suggestion would make melee figures less viable.

-J

I sorta see the opposite. Melee is incredibly powerful. Why does a regular figure need to BREAKAWAY from a token generated? And with everyone having sidestep, it's a bit crazy.

Did you see some of the new figures like the new joker? Leap Climb Stealth Plasticity Sidestep on 1 power!

That is where the tactical side of the game lies - and where the fun (and admittedly frustration) is.

While the Bystander token may be 2-d, it represents a 3-d character - with just one click of life. What I personally do is use an old figure or custom because I sometimes forget the bystander is there.

You do get a bonus to breakaway from a character of smaller size. So you aren't as easily tied down by an insignificant gnat.

As far as JLU Joker goes, he is a real pain - as a wacky Joker should be. It is frustrating - Pro Tip: NEVER stand in or near hindering terrain if you are facing one!

I don't think melee needs the help at all. It is functioning just fine. Both range and melee have their own weaknesses, and pieces exist that counter their strengths.

Just play WWE figures. Range problems solved!

I get the feeling the OP just wants 2 figures standing two to two punching each other (just like wrestling). He does not like that characters can breakaway from standard characters - hence turning breakaway into a POWER instead of something you have to do when you want to move (HSS, RS, Side-Step, Charge, L/C etc).

Oddly, the OP then states how melee is so powerful and how dumb it is that a bystander token prevents a figure from just moving past them. So I think what the point of this thread is:

A) Make breakaway harder - so you have to fight who you are next to

B) Unless it is a bystander token - then you shouldn't need to breakaway at all

At least that is what I got from this.

Want more melee focused gameplay? Every figure has Charge, the ones with Charge have it full speed.

I don't think there needs to be any changes, with one exception. And I say that as a player who prefers the melee parts of this game. Charge, Plasticity, and Sidestep provide sufficient options.

The exception is to Object actions. I don't like the changes that were made to object rules and they should go back to what they were.

Plasticity already exists

Personally, I think bystander tokens really should be "bystanders," not simply an aetherial representation of another warrior. They are so consistently not-bystanders that the name should really change at this point.

What did you read? I never said anything about bystanders whatsoever, nor about how melee is super powerful.

My general experience with the game is that range characters dominate roughly 90% of the matches I play, and I find many potentially fun melee characters just wrecked on approach. So I though maybe some kind of grapple-like mechanic might be able to solve that. Judging from the responses, however, either my experience with game is not the general experience for most people, or my proposal is simply unsatisfying. Fine. But I'm super confused about your response. Are you confusing someone's reply for my op?

I crossed your original post with Faster Than Flash's. Apologies.

To your original concern that range is too strong (and it is heavily relied upon by a lot of players), I will say Stealth and Barrier is supposed to be the main counter.

When I run a close-combat team (which is nearly always), I have to make them a themed team to win map. That is key - although I often roll like crap and I face hordes of support pieces driving up their map numbers.

Getting indoors is incredibly helpful and make sure you ALWAYS use objects. ALWAYS. I can't count how many players I face that skip standard objects.

A) Light Objects can be used by anyone. They always need to be included for extra damage potential.

B) Heavy objects are hindering for LoF. Place 2 heavies on top of each other and the ranged piece can just blow it up (Object Destroy) and get you in clear terrain.

After that, tie-up figures - cheap mobile pieces need to get into position and hold the ranged pieces down and / or force breakaway rolls.

I used Common JLU Wonder Woman last night. She flew in, attacked and rolled the 1 for breakaway 2 out of 3 times.

The one thing I HATE about the great size rules is how much they support ranged attacks. That is an area I eagerly await fixing.