Toughness is a little stronger than defence I have to say, and it is easy to abuse the system by having a very low Defense cap and a very high Toughness cap, before getting high Impervious (or whatever it was called, where attacks need to have a modifier equal to or greater than the level of impreviousness to actually get a chance to roll damage) Toughness, but by its nature M&M requires a more proactive GM to demand the players rationalize their characters' stats, and also stop them doing shit too far like I just described. But yeah, toughness fails can lead to a spiral of suck but that's why there's a party, you need them to keep guys off your back.

>>9309
I'm playing a Toughness 6 Defense 10 character with unmaxed Defense. PL 8.

This is particularly why I'm worried about it, since I was already playing a glass-cannon type in the game we're converting.