Arctic_Princess

The woman in black smiled as the doors split open, slivers of ice tinkled on the cold floor. She felt the pain of the boy, a new servant perhaps, and issued a command to her slaves to take two steps backward.

Raising her left hand up and back behind her she made a motion as if she were cracking a whip. To the magically inclined, tendrils of dark energy flew at the prone figure of the boy - eager to nurse his pain and make him hers.

As the fronds of the magical cat-o-nine-tails sailed silently through the air the woman spoke to the figure of Dire Lament:

"You wouldn't want to harm any innocents now, would you? And as for stripping me of my power, I'm prepared to make a deal."

The air around the woman grew sharply cold as her right hand, unengaged for the moment, balled into a fist. She was drawing power from some other place.

"Bring me the congressman - the man who cut me down in the prime of my life and who took from me my most precious thing. Let me have my vengeance and then do with me as you will."

I like psychics! Nay I love them!

Therefore I propose there be an episode showing Sister Psyche and Malaise's story - if Sister Psyche were to be a main character then I think people need to see the extent of her power and just how good she is. Battling Malaise and winning would be a good way to do this.

Context-wise, if it were to be set after the first Rikti War, then there could be a bit of back-story at the start followed by Malaise breaking free from Sister Psyche's care and running amok.

Just a thought.

Much as I have lol'd at the responses to the OP, what costumes do you actually want?

Have you seen the Official Costume Request thread?

Or checked out the Going Rogue stuff?

Or was it a simple "I want stuff"?

((I have a little time and I thought the best way to use it would be to recap!

((action is on hold for a little bit - not too long - RL has cropped up again, so whilst I chase it round the room with an inflatable hammer you may all relax and not have to think about political/magical conspiracies and villains with a Wicked Witch complex ))

Also my point was answering Pious's question too which was, "Would the authorities sanction super-powered operatives/is it a feasible idea?" I say no. It's all too risky.

Recluse's idea of 'legally-sanctioned' is undoubtedly very different to a Paragon Police approach so if the sanctioning was done by him then I can see characters becoming agents of his.

That's not the same though as a group of psychic heroes helping out in an investigation on behalf of the FBI/CIA/Police. If said heroes were part of some psychic assassination programme then that raises a whole heap of moral problems.

I suppose there is one exception though - superhumans enlisted into an army to fight a war. Vanguard, a UN-sanctioned body, has superhumans in its ranks to fight back the Rikti. It's a war situation and that changes things (for me).

Outside of the RWZ though, unless Longbow/Arachnos decide to make overt moves in the Isles then we haven't got another war situation.

Finally, I suppose if someone wanted to pursue a conspiracy theory style line in RP (i.e. the FBI have hired supers and are tapping your phone!) then they're free to do so. But rather them than me: that'd take some really good justification of having superhumans under government employ, able to kill *potentially* civilians involved in organised crime as well as the usual threats.

Right, I'm fast losing the thread of my argument. So I'll stop.

I think licenses to kill should be reserved for NPCs - when a player's character kills, regardless of flavour (redside/blueside) it's still an abhorrent act.

It's very difficult to justify killing someone. Films and telly does it but not, as far as I'm concerned, without glamorising it in some way.

The death of somebody at the hands of the police/government should be dealt with like any other case of death by unnatural causes - with a full investigation into the practices and events that caused a superhuman to kill someone.

Therefore if it were to happen I think it would make more sense and be more believable if it were part of a one-off plot that explores those issues. To have it as something more commonplace would, in my opinion, be an exploration of total fantasy and not a particularly healthy one.

Hello all

I'm busy enjoying my Ice/Pain Corruptor and managed to level her to 35 last night.

I was quite proud of the fact that I managed to not take a travel power until about level 32 (i.e. I respecced into one at that level) thanks to Mayhems, Marshal Brass and Lt. Chalmers.

I've taken all of Ice Blast (except Ice Bolt) and I've skipped Soothing Aura and Share Pain, which so far has given me a good balance between teaming and soloing without the need to spend a lot on enhancements/crafting for two builds.

Power Pool-wise I have Fitness, Hasten and Super Speed.

So, to my point (!) - how useful is Anguishing Cry? I've only just got it and slapped an available end red in it. It seems to recharge fairly quickly, even without Hasten active.

I have already garnered one opinion from a teammate last night who said they had the same sets and didn't find the power particularly useful.

Thoughts and opinions please.

These are the Origins as I see them:

Natural - no super powers, an alien whose powers are totally natural to them, relies on training to advance.

Most sensible powerset selections - Archery, Trick Arrow, Assault Rifle, Traps, Devices --

Wait a minute!

Technology surely has a role to play here?

Categorising Origins is a tiring and thankless task and is ultimately down, imho, to the individual to justify their origin.

For example, any psychic characters I have tend to be Mutants. This is due, no doubt, to the influence of Marvel on me and especially due to the X-Men: The Animated Series that was on when I was 12 (back in the early nineties).

Another example comes from the confusing nature of Science Single Origin Enhancements: I always used to wonder why I didn't pick Science as an Origin. Have you read some of the names of its enhancements? And the art (i.e. the colour of the enhancment) is sometimes so obscured as to be of no use when deciding if you've just picked a Defense Buff or a Resistance Buff.

The Inventions system has helped tremendously with this problem, for me.

Plus there are all sorts of quandaries involved with, if you like this sort of thing (and I do!), the justification of Origins such as Magic and Technology:

With Magic it's a case of - A Wizard Did It.
With Technology it's a case of - A Wizard with a Spanner Did It.

***

To finish, we do currently have (minor) nods to our Origins. We have starting temp powers and a whole arc called The Origin of Power.

Of course that arc, depending on who you speak to, could contradict what you, as the player, consider to be the reasoning behind your choice of Origin. Blueside, for example, Manticore makes no mention of Aliens in his stance as the Natural contact for the arc. However, the text on the 'Choose Your Origin' screen does. Sister Psyche (and her counterpart, the Russian guy in Cap Au Diable) allude to the fact that even psychics may be, or have been, their own unique Origin. They also place Mutant activity/birth at the time of the first Atom bomb or thereabouts. It's considered a 'newer' origin than, say, Magic, which has been around for a looong time.

To ask the Devs to either rewrite or modify this open, story-telling device for our characters would be, in an ideal World, okay. But I think there are more pressing projects that they're working on right now.

The woman in black finished her story and not a moment too soon: her head jerked as she sensed something.

“So he’s here.” She said aloud, to no one in particular. “Then perhaps—“ she hesitated, as if disappointed by something, “—I will no longer be in pain. Once justice has been served there will be no more need for this madness.” The woman softened for a moment, her features almost returning to her guise adopted for this series of events.

The children stood listlessly in front of her, arranged like a terracotta army. There were four of them but unlike their adult counterparts, frozen in terror and subordination near the doors to the morgue, their faces were blank. But they were under some kind of spell, to be sure.

The woman dismounted the gurney and walked slowly and purposefully to her, as yet, untamed captive. She stood over him and he stared straight back.

“Feeling a little woozy?” she mocked. “Sleeping Dust will do that to you- oh but the men in the next room already know that, don’t they Doctor Carson?”

“It was necessary. They had become suspicious.”

“What about the good Matron? Is she suspicious yet? Does she realise the kind of man you are?”

“I…I don’t know what you mean—“

The woman smiled her cruel smile and slapped the Doctor across the face. It was with a surprisingly hard force, considering her diminutive frame.

“I’ve spent months planning this, Doctor. I know who you and the good Matron work for and I also know about power. The Congressman offered you power, didn’t he? Not magical power – no that’s not what you’re in this for – political power, the power to rule, to practice without question.”

She walked to the back of the morgue and turned a corner, returning a minute later with a Gladstone bag. She tipped its contents on the floor revealing a small armoury of magical trinkets and charms.

“I must say I was tempted to join the Midnight Squad after seeing what kind of goods they had reserved for their members. No doubt there’ll be something in here I can use to break you.” The woman sifted through the contents of the bag, occasionally showing her cruel smile to her captive.

The Doctor was verging on utter panic, adrenaline coursing through his system. The sleeping powder was wearing off and he felt some life return to his limbs. He tried to stand up.

“Nurses! Children! Restrain the bad man!” The woman was quick and her slaves were fully under her control. It didn’t take long for them to pin the Doctor by his arms and legs against the wall.

The woman brandished an ornate dagger.

“Hold steady, Doctor. This won’t hurt a bit.”

*sues Motorheart for having an ecologically-unfriendly life support system*

Multiplicity


Krakatoa

Not sure if this has been mentioned before (A lot of pages and posts) but I wondered if Hasten had something to do with the endurance quandary, especially with Tankers (okay, all ATs ).

Tanker recharge can be very slow. Folks might not want to waste (I use the term knowingly) a slot (or two) on recharge and, besides, I've never found much use for recharge TOs/DOs.

Hasten, at face value, seems like a nifty choice when it comes to increasing your attack rate. But when you're plowing through a mob and endurance is running low, then Hasten's endurance drop occurs, it can lead to trouble.

I think a loading screen tip that mentions considering recharge and end red enhancements in attack powers could be a good thing. It's by no means totally prescriptive, just a hint on what to consider if you are having those endurance issues.

Another issue I've experienced either as a Scrapper/Brute/Tanker/Stalker is that, early on, you don't always need all of your toggles on, but sometimes you stick them all on anyway (!). Perhaps another tip/hint highlighting that, with the odd exception, enemy groups in the lower level ranges don't always require all of your toggles to be switched on is a good idea?

As for various suggestions about either making Stamina an inherent (or similar) or changing the endurance costs of powers, that's a big no from me. When it comes to build planning and slotting I feel that's a matter for the players to work out amongst themselves, not for the devs.

Valor Bridge, 02:45


Charlie was being tossed around like a ragdoll and, for the moment, it was the best position to be in: from the direction of the confetti had come a device which was spewing acid. Droplets of the stuff had singed his suit jacket and burned through to the bullet-proof vest he wore underneath, before the force field employed by Acid Zero had rolled his body gently away (at first) from the estate. Now he was barrel rolling towards the deep, western side of the bridge and he was getting dizzy.

Before the force field had been erected a few stray drops of acid had hit the side of the estate car, the smell of burning paint filled the immediate area. The back tyre on the driver’s side of the car came into contact with the hazardous liquid and slowly deflated.

The force field buffeted the acid spraying device sending it off course. More drops of acid fell on the exposed tarmac, littered by the bodies of the Circle mystics and combining with the blood from the were-girl, providing yet more interesting aromas.

The last of the demons fell in the air, dissolving mid-flight, pierced by bullets from the cake device and shards of wild magic from Dire Lament.

Charlie collided with the concrete wall of the western edge of Valor Bridge, hitting his head and very quickly fading out of consciousness. He thought he saw one of his colleagues lurking way behind the robot, not daring to make a move with all this metahuman activity in the vicinity, as his eyes closed and his brain switched to standby.

((WARNING: Loooong post!))

The Mac (Valkyrie) Pac gave us the Mission Transporter so I thought 'Why not have a TP to contact power?'

Make it the same click duration as the Mission Transporter but with the same cross-zone 'range' and the job's a good'n.