archtonis

The Mastermind is one of my favorites archetypes. I won't go into the powers in any detail. This is not a power training session, nor is it a tactics and strategy lecture. This thread is about ideas, brainstorming and imagination that would lead to the renovation of a very cool archetype that has grown stale and dry over the years. Let us begin storming our brains, because it will be very important for any who reply to this thread to take the ideas here and post their own. I will address The Mastermind Archtype as a whole and categorically address each minion set.

Mastermind: Everybody knows you don't get to choose their appearance. You either get Zombies, Ninjas, Mercenaries, Punks, Beast or Demons and they are what they are. I would like to see the ability to customize their appearance. Not all soldiers wear gray/black, not all punks look like a retro 80's rock band and not Necromancy is strictly limited to zombies. I will make two main points

1. I would like to see customizable choices for minion appearance i.e. costumes

2. I would like to see genre specific minions with powers unique to their type.

Beastmaster: The beastmaster is a great idea that flopped on introduction. You have a sad mixture of North American winter wolves, African Lions, and a fantasy Winter Wolf that looks like it came straight out of the Dungeons and Dragons monster manual. It is such a bad blend of creatures the whole set makes no sense. The bees and ravens are ok, take it or leave it. But this set falls flat on its face. My ideas to improve the set are.

1. The way it is now the Beastmaster is a huge anachronism, the creatures are out of place. Make the creature specialize like the villian epic sets do at 24th level. at 24th level you can pick a genus/class of creatures like Simian, Canine, Feline, etc...Example being if you choose Simian you get 3 monkeys, 2 baboons, and a an exotic boss type like a Mountain Gorilla for a boss. If you choose Feline you get 3 Jaguars, 2 tigers, and a Male King of the Beast lion with a huge main and a paralyzing roar. At least they will look like they belong together. If not genus/family animal types then pick an environment type, Jungle, Savanah, Mountains, Desert, etc....North American Woodlands should include Wolves, Bears, Pumas and a Boss Grizzly or something. I would like to see Avian choice so you could birds. Even Fantasy creatures like griffons, gargoyles and dragons and the like would be awesome.

2. Wild Zoo: You need a power like the thugs have. They have gangwar. The beastmaster needs "WILD ZOO" that releases 13 enraged animals. I would love to see 13 angry poop flinging monkeys getting aggro. lets face it even a chimp is 4x stronger than a man, they should be able to do some amazing melee.


Necromancy: I would love to see a way to evolve this set that includes more undead types, like vampires, werewolves, and ghouls (have you ever noticed its ALWAYS a full moon in Paragon.

Robotics: cool idea, but they are soooo dang loud when they run, improve them like you did clockwork in Praetoria. bring them up to the 21 century and give them treads, wheels or a sound that is not so obnoxious, I know they will always block doors but they don't have to drown out the sounds of the glowies in the missions, its uncalled for.

Ninjas: Not much to say, but they need to use more caltrops like the knives of artemis does, they drown you in caltrops. and perhaps some status attacks with flash and smoke bombs from the ancient world. give the ninja some teeth and allow them to use some status attack methods, you will see more ninja in the streets.

Demons: They look like somebody took the head of a cow from the desert from an old worn out Western movie and stuck it on a 'thingy' for a body type. the underling demons should look like gargoyles or at least (given the nature of hell) you should be able to customize your demon types. I just like gargoyle appearance. I even like the otherworldy human appearance with exotic black skin, pointed ears, glowing eyes, etc.... right now all we have are a bunch of screaming, farting, burping obnoxious beasty types that nobody wants to listen to for more then a few missions, let alone an entire task force.

Thugs: Awesome Set, well done, we just need choices in how they dress and be able to customize their appearance

Mercenaries: Another Awesome set, same thing, customize their appearance. Be nice to have a gangwar type power with this one instead of "serum" just let them have "RAID". 13 soldiers armed with rifles and flashbang grenades, just a thought.

Im done...anybody that wants to elaborate please do.. these are just ideas and I look forward to any and all who want to add to it. Thank you for your time.....Im done.

I am currenlty developing a hero base. I am a vigilante. I have had a goal of making a base with both hero and villian side ports. My question is this.

1. If I go villian get the beacons for the ports, and once in place, go hero than back to vigilante again. will I and other vigilantes be able to acces all red and blue ports freely?

Any input is most welcom.............Me

I stand as a novice to your 18 thousand some odd posts, compared to my 20, and apologiez for any breaking of unwritten protocol. I was directed to this post from the general discussion board to make my suggestions. and since Im not a beauracrat, I'm not going to post it anywhere else or in some esoteric posting. However, I will take your .errr.. advice and try to research where to put my ideas in the future. Since Its been like 2 years since my last post? it may be another two before I make another one after this.

I heard a passing rumor today that blasters may be getting a dual pistol powerset of some kind, any input from the devs or other sources would be nice. Let me add a few things I would like to see. Feedback more than welcome.

1. Western Costumes: like gunbelts, much better looking cowboy boots than what you have, western attire and a zone that accomadates it. you did it with Rome, now do it with Dodge City.. or FT. Worth Texas. yes. it can be a time travel thingy in Ouroborus to. But I feel we have forgotten our American folklore in our quest for heros. I realize this could open doors for a major task. so Im thinking big picture here. This could be a whole new expansion pack worth of stuff and may not be able to be fit in an issue. Perhaps those vehicles we been talking about for years may have to start with horses. Ive seen lots of cowboy/cowgirl hero attempts but the tailor falls way short of bringing dignity to the costume genre'. if not a zone/ or expansion pack. let the tailor reflect weapons/costumes/ that will bring justice to the concept.

2. Water Powers: I.E. water bolt, water spout, geyser, wall of water, healing showers, spring flood.... use your imagination... I guess in kings row it would be sewage backup, but what the heck why not!!

3. Magic....real magic... not little packages of special effects. Powers like
Polymorph other ( for cripes sake we do it to the lost when we have to cure them).
Polymorph self granting movement powers of the form assumed. It would be an awesome accompanyment to all the medieval swordswingers out there.
Magic projectiles of some kind. turning objects into creatures.

Beastmaster: a spin off of the mastermind except you deal with animals and/or monsters. let your imagination run with that one.

Guys!! Jonah Hex is in the making and its gonna be a transitional movie from heros to westerns, start thinking bout it now!! or you'll be behind the 8 ball.

I'm done I don't have a real scientific number crunch for any of these. Im waiting for the fellas out there to wade in with their skills of logic and reason to do so. However I think it would be awesome to see more variety, colors, creatures, and it would add so much more depth to the game.

Architect is fun but kinda shallow in concept. Its a bunch of real people sitting down to a game of heros, who go to the AE building to play a virtual reality game of heros who can level themselves to 20th level in two missions. not a lot of depth there. And it totally destroyed the fun of the Sewer Missions I have so much fun at to level though your beginning levels. not a lot of folks doing mishes anymore. Just power leveling and farming.....shallow. its fun but it gets old really fast. I used to make long lasting friendships the old way. now its like "Chuck E. Cheese in hero land.....OMG. I got more tickets!!!!

Ciao Bella.......