Ashen_EU

I'm in. I can bring my Robot mm again. Since he's the only one I have that wouldn't be a burden.

Just to reply, many thanks to all that tolerated my somewhat "odd" humour. Was a laugh, great fun and a good team. Really shows me why I keep playing the game.

Honestly? I'd like to never see a villain themed MM set. EVER.

Even the ninja MM isn't overly blatantly Tsoo based.

Making a villain group themed MM would just be far too much of a "niche catering" style move to me. After carnies were done, the freak lovers would complain. Then malta. Then blades. Then Rikti. Then CoT. It wouldn't end.

The MM sets need to be at least partially original just to stop some minor amounts of the complaining.

EDIT: Besides. I HATE carnies.

Juuust one problem with an arena fight doomsy. I don't pvp.

I have at least one character that could be considered as "Evil". He's a mastermind called Mr Hoke.

While he's a robotics mastermind he's one of those types that's willing to take whatever he wants (including biological components), whenever he wants from whoever he wants to complete his plans. He is aware, on some level, that what he does is wrong, he just chooses to ignore it.

The whole "He's too evil" problem has never really come up for me. He is who he is, who I made him. He's a psychotic, self obsessed, multi-specialisation genius with no care for humanity.

When it comes to "getting into character" I never have. I let him do it for me, I've known him so long I can tell what he'd do.

He started off caring for people, now he just doesn't care.

While many might consider this a Two-dimensional character I still see a lot of room for expansion. Reasons? Beliefs? Origins? All mainly untouched.

In general I believe it's not the character, but the thought behind them and the thought and progression that goes into them that counts.

Daaaaayum.

Sorry to see you go Reclaimer (S'what I know you as anyway.) Had some decent times, you helped my blades/will brute to no end. Made me enjoy her again whan you invited me to team. (If you wanted to know it's Celenia Steel. Also did the leviathan SF with you as Mr Hoke)

I'll tell the brother you've gone as well, best of luck to you.

To be fair if you want a mastermind I'd recommend Doomsy. His primary/secondary power choices beat either of my masterminds in several places.

I can bring one of three:

A dual blades/Willpower brute (28)

A Sonic/Sonic corruptor (24)

Or a Robot/Force field mastermind (45)

I SHOULD be available at seven, though some circumstances may forbid it I'm normally free by then.

If I'm around you can catch me at @cacophony.

Either post here or tell me what you want when I'm on.

EDIT: Make that 4. Also have a Thug/Dark mastermind. (22)

Ooog. Typical.

The day AFTER I make my character I get a nasty case of the flu (The full deal too, world spinning, no appetite, everything). Kind of puts a downer on your life in general. SO, I shall endeavour to get in touch forthwith.

Hmmm, such is a good point.

It IS union right? If not, meh, I'll just remake. (Please be union. )

EDIT!: Looking to apply an ice/ice tanker I've used several times in different incarnations. I have literally only just re-made him because this idea sounded too fun to pass up. His name's Asmodaeus. If he's too low, I understand, but I'm going to be working pretty furiously to level him at the moment.

I'll try to get in touch asap, if you want to get in touch first I can be contacted on @Cacophony or, obviously, on these boards.

This is my first offering into the creative forum and surrounds one of my characters, Aspel. I haven't quite decided yet what he is though he appears at least to be a fallen angel. This was something I wrote in a 15 minute period of interest and I hope you will gain some of the measure of the enjoyment reading it as I had writing it.
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He gazed down at the trolls dispassionately. Grotesque green things, heavy of stature and long in the teeth with thick skin calloused and hardened through weeks, months, maybe years of fighting. A pair of them sprawled on the ground, clothed in the soiled remains of what passed as clothing. Wrinkled sheets of materials coated in food stains, blood and who knew what else. They were a pitiful sight when like this. Unconscious, helpless, alone. Enough of the human remained in them to rouse pity, yet too much of the beast was there for true sympathy. They were gone now, gone from their own kind, drawn in by an Eden of their own making. A drug filled, chaotic wasteland they saw in the darkest recesses of their minds and yearned now to bring to the world.

He stood there now, a pair of them helpless before him, already incapacitated. They could do no good, they could not be retrieved into the bosom of humanity. In truth they were detritus, no more, a waste upon society. Upon all those around them. He could end this, take their burden away from those that were forced to shoulder it. He had the power to condemn them to the fate they truly deserved. Yet he hesitated.

Golden hair swirled in the light breeze as he shifted his head left and right, as though scenting the air. He couldn’t see, this was readily apparent through the thick brown sacking chained over his eyes, and as such he must rely upon some sense outside the human realm. Rough brown bindings of the same material were all that covered his hands and feet, though scantly, at the extremities of a pure white robe lined with blue and tattered trousers of a similar hue. While in stark contrast a dark twisting tattoo danced it’s way down one side of his face, seemingly spreading across his chest, hidden though it was by his robe, and down his uncovered arms in patterns unknown to any before or since him. Most striking of all a thick set of wings expanded from his back, comprised of the softest of feathers and a brilliant shock white, fading to a light sky blue at the tips.

Yet despite his blindness he watched, for this was all his actions could be described as, he watched the two unconscious unfortunates and somehow delayed their transit to the waiting care institutes. He could release them from this, yet something gnawed at him. He could prevent others from suffering their burden, yet in his heart of hearts he knew that would be wrong. He could condemn them to his former masters judging, yet he knew that for his own arrogance though he cared not to admit it.

He glanced once to his hands and the quicksilver claws extending from between each knuckle. A brilliant silver beyond the dull tone of steel, the sunlight seemingly danced from them throwing sparkles of light glinting along their whole. He winced once and disposed of them, the liquid metal bubbling and vanishing into his own flesh. He could not stand the sight of blood tainting such holy objects, all he had left of his home, even if the taint remained solely within his mind.

Silently he rose into the sky, wings moving far to slowly to raise something of his bulk aloft while equally as quietly the two defeated villains were deposited where they were supposed to be. Drifting along silently, a single angelic figure against the azure blue of the summer skyline, he wondered to himself just how the humans could resist such temptation as he had felt. Wondered where they got their strength. Silently he shrugged to himself. It was no matter. He had all eternity to find out.

Darkness. Pain.

I should be free.

For as long as he could remember darkness and pain had been his only friends, his solitary companions.

I want to be free.

Others had come, figures, shades and shadows. They had spoke, asked things he couldn’t possibly know. They had hurt him when he couldn’t answer.

She said I’d be free.

Weeks, months? Of pain had twisted him, bent his will, stretched it. But he was not broken, far from it. He was different to them, all of them, he knew, better somehow. Where they would have succumbed he held firm, he clung to his few memories. His allies. Friends? Perhaps they were. They had helped, would help, him.

She promised.

He felt their minds, a dull throb, an ache in the back of his head that could never be extinguished. They had done things to him, unspeakable things. He was altered, changed and not for the better. Outward he pushed, forcing his mind to its limits and beyond. Yet as he travelled he felt stronger not weaker. She was NEAR, and another so familiar. Linked by blood.

She will come.

This thought filled him for a moment with forbidden cheer before he quashed it ruthlessly. Anything could be found here, anything not ordinary. But he could hope now. She would come, and his kin. They would help if none others would.

Pistol.

Whispers beyond the veils of reality echoed throughout the dreams of many, yet none that belonged to Arachnos, the spiders. Animals awoke, children cried out in the night and those sensitive to such things were chilled by a mental touch colder than the grave. In one however they would echo more firmly than others, solid and whole. Pistol, the leader, the don of the self proclaimed new mafia would hear clearly in her sleep, the speaker a tantalisingly familiar figure. Even in her dreams a name sprang to mind. Mob-Mentality.

Help me.

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Outside the don’s room a solitary figure waited, leaned apparently nonchalantly against a wall, though he was as tense as he had ever been in his life. Somehow he had known this was coming even before the don. Had known one of their own needed aid beyond even him. One of his own beyond even the ties The Gang wrought. He had waited since dusk and through the night to present his case to she who led The Gang, hoping she would see fit to help him. This was a matter of blood.

Long before Pistol would emerge Bunji had made up his mind. He would save him with or without her help even if it meant his own death, no matter the decision of the don. Blood came before contract, no matter what he, or she, said.

He hadn’t been here long and his reputation hadn’t seemed to count for much with her before. But for this…

He couldn’t do this alone.

The thought almost brought tears to his eyes.

He waited in darkness.

Darkness. Pain.

For the first question, yes. I see no reason why you cannot bring NPC's into storylines, the main problem would be the handling of this. Since, obviously, you can't get an NPC to battle you on request (and I'm going to assume you don't have a mission for each NPC permenantly on standby in case you DO want to fight them) it would have to be handled "off screen" so to speak. The handling, again, is delicate. You'd need to ensure you could stay true to their character as well as that of your own and, more importantly, not do anything that really has an overt lasting effect on them. The other problem would be the "beyond mere rumours" part since, a lot of the time, it'll just be your word against theirs about what happened. If other PC's are involved in the story, and give consent, that's just more grounding as to the acceptance of the result. As long as it's handled delicately I see no problem.

For the second question, yes AND no. It really relates to the handling of the thing, as in the first question. Stating "I dropped Back Alley Brawler like a bad sack of manure in one punch. Now he hides from me constantly." Isn't going to cut it since he is, quite plainly, standing in the open in Galaxy and no matter how long you stand there he isn't going to run off screaming. That's an extreme example of bad handling (Not least because you would need to be a hero to stand in galaxy and beating on the Brawler isn't going to win you any awards on that front), but I'm always surprised the amount of people that will state things like that. On the other hand stating that you got into a fight with one of them but leaving it vague enough to be interpreted broadly is less of a problem in my eyes. So you got into a fight with Black Scorpion. You beat him. How? When? Maybe he was winded before hand, maybe you had help. Maybe he had the flu. Leave it obscure. Fill in what's needed but don't make it overly life-changing for the NPC involved.

For all we might wish it differently theirs is a static world compared to our dynamic one. Nothing can change them or their personality whatever you may write and should you attempt to I would wager more people will ignore that portion of the story than not.

If this sounds overly preachy or like a rant at your topic, it isn't (and I apologise if it does). This is just how I write.

To be honest for me it would depend more on the secondary than primary power set in that if the dark abilities are internally contained, literally a part of her, then there is no reason she shouldn't be magic. In fact I'd recommend it.

Even though she may be kept alive by technology and utilise technological creations as footsoldiers these can be classed more as external factors. Just because she's able to keep herself alive with technology doesn't mean she's any less a magical creature for it. Rather it shows she's willing to utilise any means necessary to keep herself alive.

Personally I'd lean towards magic origin, it just happens she currently has a need of technology. The technology may keep her alive but it doesn't change the core of her being.

As MaXimillion said, the only addition I would make is that while you CAN respec later in the game it's best to plan your build anyway as you need to do a mission to gain the respec.

Well, unless a new patch comes along with a freespec. But that's another story.

These are just my opinions.


Insps really depend.

Firstly are the universals: Assorted healing balms/easy use enchantments/tech items. The sort of common use items made easy to use for anyone. So a spray on healing agent is a good example.

For a tech I see them as a temporary power boost from some central reactor. As an example my blaster would benefit from extra accuracy and/or damage (or anything else) due to overpowering his reactor and siphoning extra power into the needed areas. Also, extra gadgets. You can never have too many throw away gadgets.

For natural it's extra training kicking in, adrenaline or other bodily chemicals, plain and simple. Just because you're natural doesn't mean adrenaline (or desperation) doesn't have more of an effect on you physically than normal people. There may also be gadgets here.

Magically it can be a variety. The temporary favour of an extra dimensional/godlike being, the crossing of ley lines, ancestors granting a temporary power, disposable charms, spells or enchantments. Anything like that.

Science wise? Chemicals, either injected or released from unnatural organs implanted in the character. Maybe something similar to the tech examples, but that improves the characters body or other scientific augmentations. Perhaps a temporary trigger releasing the full power of the augmentations (or one doozy of an amount of combat drugs) that has a cut off time as if it didn’t it could kill the subject. Sometimes technological gadgets also turn up (see a theme? ).

Finally comes mutation. Probably the most varied. Dependent on how the primary mutation works any of the above could work for a mutant. Other than those I look at temporary secondary mutations or “super adrenaline” created from mutated organs. That sort of thing.



When it comes to enhancements I see it a lot more simply:

Tech: Upgrades to equipment or new equipment.

Natural: Combat training. Maybe gadgets or force of will.

Magical: Training or blessings/curses/gifts. (Bear in mind this can be a grey area. As an example a demon may “curse” you to live forever which also increases your physical strength. It‘s down to the individual.)

Science: Any combination of natural/tech/mutation. Or a halfway house of any two/all three, as an example a mutation augmented both chemically and technologically.

Mutation: Combat training or growth of mutations/development of secondary mutations.

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...I need a kebab.

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Seems correct enough to me.

Eh, to be honest not bothered about X-men 3. Never read a superhero comic in my life, I only went to see the others cause they got good reviews. Also uber powers = neat. This movie has got somewhat less than glowing reviews so far. As such I may well wait for the DVD.

As for the geek out option, I REALLY don't think it makes a difference.

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not that he's had much chance to get on lately anyway

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Uni work is over now however so he may have more time.

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Ashen has prolly filled up his social calendar too.

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I have a social calendar? Why wasn't I told?

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Maybe we can plan for Sunday around 1pm UK

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Sounds good to me, I don't THINK I've got anything on sunday.

Very few people knew enough of what Mob Mentality could do to fear him. For most people he was just a moderately built normal human in his mid twenties, no real threat to super powered folks. Normally not really a threat to the guards either. Unfortunately Mob Mentality could hardly be called “normal”.

Currently he sat across from a young blonde male reporter. Of course there was the token guard in the room, and a second in attendance only temporarily while Mob himself was handcuffed to a rather sturdy wooden chair. A dull plastic table kept the reporter and subject apart, the only objects on it a tape recorder, a pad of paper and a pen. The basics required for recording the subjects audio testimony.

The reporter looked as though he was about to start, which was why Mob chose that precise moment to speak up. “Oh, Mr Waller?” He put on his best “sincere” face as he spoke. “Could you perhaps take this to Mr Cruise?” Mob slipped a small folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to a smaller, bald guard.

“What’s that?” The other intoned. “Prisoners aint supposed to pass messages. Prisoners aint even supposed to be able to write messages.” His face was twisted in a scowl, Waller appeared to waver under his gaze as if stuck between two conflicting priorities.

“Ah.” Mob retorted quickly. “But this is a special case Mr Curtis. I’ve been a model prisoner. Kind, courteous, co-operative. Why I even give a weekly report on my fellow prisoners, to help the staff. Which is precisely what that is, correct Mr Waller?”

“Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, that it is. Orders from above you see. None of us are supposed to look at it.” Waller glanced sideways at Mob who merely inclined his head slightly. A minute gesture of appreciation.

“Hmm.” Curtis eyed Mob as he thought. “Fine. Don’t wanna get in trouble with the boss. But just this once ya hear? Any more and I’ll get rid of ‘em the instant I see ‘em.”

“As you wish Mr Curtis.” Mob bowed his head in confirmation as Waller scurried out of the room.

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Just outside of Pistol’s cell Waller found “Mr Cruise” as Mob referred to him. He strode up to him rather matter-of-factly and handed him a piece of folded paper. “Weekly report from Mr mentality.” He repeated, voice strangely monotone, before turning and leaving as abruptly as he had come.

Had the gathered group not known of Mob’s specific ability they may have been surprised at Waller’s behaviour. Not the least because Mob had never, as far as anyone knew, written any kind of “weekly report”. That said a select few had been granted insight into Mob Mentalities little secret and the precise effects it had. In exchange they would help him escape and he, in his way, would help them.

Written on the front of the note is simply “Pistol”. The letter itself read as follows.


Pistol,

I hope this letter finds you in good health and good memory. I am currently being interviewed about my past, a pleasant past-time but no replacement for freedom. As such I do hope you remember our agreement, mutual aid in escape.

I am currently isolated in a cell with a reporter and a single guard, as expected. It shouldn’t take me long to extract myself from my current situation so I do hope all will be ready soon. Nevertheless I will soon make my little “bid for freedom” and rendezvous with you. I believe my aid could be helpful in releasing our mutual undead friend.

In anticipation of our impending early release,
Faithfully,
Mob Mentality

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Meanwhile within the small room Mob had turned his attention back to the reporter. “I take it you are here for my life’s story, eh?” He inquired, feigning interest, “That you went to Mr Furr first? I’m guessing he wasn’t too sociable. No, no, don’t worry about it. He doesn’t like to talk much. Actions speak louder than words and all that. Oh and don‘t worry about how I knew. Word travels fast in here.”

“Now then.” He canted his head to one side, a predatory grin lighting his features. “Where do we begin?”

“My name? Mob Mentality.”

Really, meh. Not an expert so I wouldn't know. Just thought you'd need all the ones in the set.

Actually, since there's 2 teams and 13 of us I believe that leaves 3 free spaces.

Dr. Trevor Seaborn, Hayley Phillips and Hugo Redding.

Also for that we would need to do "Break up the fight", from Paula Dempsey, Maurice Feldon or Tony Kord. At lvls 5-10. For the negotiator Badge I believe.

It's a once a week in character rather than hardcore roleplay thing. Toons used can't be used outside of it after they hit the level cap (6-7 in the case for this week.). It's completely seperate from galaxy girl and has been arranged by a single forumite Battleflag (with input from others) here:
http://uk.boards.cityofheroes.com/sh...fpart=1#505120

(Note I don't know the code to make (clicky) style links.)