Character Creation:
Since this is a campaign setting, I figured I`d put the character creation rules up for simplicity...
The Merge - Initial/ Earth Bound Setting
PL is 11, with 165 pp. You can trade up and down 1 PL for 15 pp. PL 12 would be at 150 pp, PL 10 at 180 pp.
Each rank of Presence nets you a social advantage.
Skill Points are 1/3 pp.
Cosmic Merge
PL will be 12, 180 pp, with the option of trade-off. PL 11 would be 195, PL 13 165 pp.
PRE gives you 1 additional social-related advantage per point.
Base Will save is PRE+AWE
Skills Points are 1/3 pp.
Agents and Powers
PL 7/105 pp with the option to trade-off. PL 8/ 90 pp, PL 6 / 120 pp.
PRE gives you 1 additional social-related advantage per rank.
Skill Points. Are 1/3 pp.
The Merge: Tales of London
PL 10, 180 PP.
1 PP gives you three skill ranks instead of two.
Each rank of Presence gives you one free rank of any interaction advantage (Attractive, Animal Empathy, Beautiful Voice (see below), Cult Hero (see below), Daze, Fascinate, Inspire, Second Chance (must be applied to Deception, Intimidation or Persuasion if gained this way), Startle and Taunt).
New Advantages Available: Beautiful Voice (Max 2 Ranks): As Attractive, but it's based on your voice instead of your appearance. Someone who's blind is immune to Attractive* (they really can't see what the fuss is about), but can be affected by Beautiful Voice. Modifiers from Attractive and Beautiful Voice do not stack.
Benefit: Dual Citizen: For one reason or another, you are legally recognised as a full and otherwise rightful citizen of two separate and sovereign nations, allowing you to travel (visa-free) to, live and even work and vote (if available) in those two countries. Not all countries allow dual citizenship, and some governments place specific restrictions on dual citizens (usually in the form of not being allowed to run for office).
Cult Hero (Max 2 Ranks): Choose a subculture your character is strongly associated with. At 1 rank, you're respected and well-known enough by members of that subculture to get +2 on Persuasion and Deception-based rolls when dealing with them. You also get a -2 penalty when using those skills against someone who opposes or works against that subculture. 2 ranks sets the modifier to +/-5. You can take this advantage more than once to represent being a Cult Hero in multiple subcultures. Bonuses gained from multiple instances of Cult Hero do not stack.
A Note About Minions
Regardless of game, Minions are created using the same rules as above.
They use the same PL trade-offs available to PCs. Rank in Minions or Summon is the PL divided by 15, regardless of the minion's PL.
A Minion (regardless of source or total actual PP) cannot be higher in PL than the character that "owns" it.
Multiple Iterations of the Same Character
Reposted from the intro post.
Ever played video games where you can fight your clone, but its not a clone? And there's no other in-game explanation for you to fight yourself? Well, in the Merge, it is known that multiple iterations of some characters have crossed over. For instance, there are at least six Batmen in contact with Oracle... There are at least two versions of Kara Zor-El, and they are completely different from each other... So if someone is playing your favourite character... feel free to pitch another version.
Note that it's not likely two of the same character would be chosen to play in the same game at the same time, but you never know...
Benefits that aren't anymore...
In many cases, the Rank and privilege of a character did not transfer over. Phil Coulson is an Agent of Homeland Security and no longer a high ranking SHIELD operative. The benefit of being a Jedi Temple Guard may mean something the group forming in Australia but really means nothing outside that area. Likewise military rank needs to be vetted and security clearance given all over again. All to say, you may bring someone who was a big deal in their universe, but many people are on equal footing now where they never would have been before...
Complications
It's worth noting that Complications require a little more thought in some cases.
Secret Identity: For Earth-bound campaigns, for instance, Secret Identities are mostly out the window. When a trip to the local comic shop or bookstore and a simple google search can give you the entire history of a character, knowing dark secrets, strengths and weaknesses makes the complication fairly worthless. (However, see below for "one offs and alternate realities.")
Earth Prime Counterpart: For characters that came from universes where their version of a character is from a TV show, there is often an actor or actress out there with the same face, voice and who is able to "mimic" the mannerisms of the character. The character may feel kinship or other sense of obligation to this person. At least
one character has developed a friendship with their counterpart...
Prejudice: Being an alternate reality counterpart - especially a good version of an "evil" character can cause many individuals to have preconceived notions about your character... Imagine Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Master, showing up...
One Offs and Alternate Realities
The Multiverse. Variant versions of our heroes. Some good, some bad, some just slightly different. The character
Nightwing, for instance, is from a combined universe and bears a lot in common with Spider Gwen in terms of powers but wears the Thrillkiller Batgirl costume... this gives her an edge as there is no literature on her...
Many such alternates aren't as far off though... Red Rain Batman, Speeding Bullets Superman... they may be out there...