This was brought up in a recent episode of Mutants & Masterminds Monday, where Alex Thomas and Steve Kenson responded on the topic.
Alex Thomas
What I would do in that situation is I would ... have them, if they don't have a Nullify power for it, I would have them power stunt a Nullify for the effect that they're trying to switch off ... and have that be an opposed check by the ranks of the power that they are trying to switch off of the device total so if they're trying to switch off the device's force field it would be their Nullify rank versus the force field's Toughness rank and just handle it that way. That seems like the easiest way to me.
Steve Kenson
Yeah, I agree with Alex. I think that a lot of it depends, like a lot of things in Mutants & Masterminds the answer depends on what it is you're trying to do exactly. If ... you're trying to attack a smaller part of a device in order to disable it then I agree with Alex's solution, basically what you're trying to do is Nullify a device's power essentially so you should probably go with something like that...
He then went on to discuss the use of alternative defenses and Power Attack because the scenario raised in the chat was of a "giant robot" rather than the intended powersuit/comprehensive Device.
After rereading your question, I think there may be a more basic answer to your question.
So far the power is Leaping 1, Damage 4, Ricochet 1, and Improved Range for a total of 11pp. His Close Combat ranks are 6 for fighting stat and another 4 in "unarmed" skill for a +10 attack bonus.
At a power level 11 character, is that Attack/Effect balance based on the ranks of the total Homing attack, ie the 11, just the power effects (so leaping and damage for 5 allowing more distance/damage), or just the damage effect specifically; again leading to room for more power?
It looks like you're treating the 11 PP spent as the "effect rank" for the PL check. That is the cost of the power, not the effect rank. Right now, in that power, your only effect rank is Damage 4, which (assuming it's not Strength-Based, and you have nothing else adding to it) is "effect rank" 4, which is then combined with your +10 attack bonus for a total of 14, which is a PL 7 attack.
As I noted in my other answer, you could be talking about a Slam Attack, where you could use Leaping (or your base speed) to add +1 to +2 Circumstance Bonus on a Charge (using either your movement rank or your Damage), with the drawback that you have to make a save against half of your damage on impact. For a Strength-based Damage attack, you could also be adding your Strength bonus to your effect rank. So, if your guy has Strength 4, and you're using this power, they could have an effective Damage 8 effect rank, which would then be summed with the attack bonus to determine if the attack is within PL.
Best Answer
I can't access my 3E book to see if they restated it, but from the 2E FAQ:
So yes, you essentially are adding it to your Stamina cost, although the way it's offset in the power section makes it more of an Enhanced Trait which is able to be Nullified and might have its own descriptor (for example, I had one Powerhouse build who naturally had 12 Stamina, but his Impervious Toughness had a magic descriptor).