Local_Man

Overall, I thought it was good, but I must admit I was a little disappointed with the one big scene I was looking forward to . . . the "get away from my daughter, you <you know the word>!" scene. The book had a lot more build-up, leading to an epic fight between a truly crazy evil witch and a fierce mother protecting her kids pulling out all the stops. When reading the book, I exected a different end for Bella (at the hands of Nevel). When I read that moment in the book, I envisioned something a lot, well, MORE. Instead, it was pretty minor.

I was also sad that Kreacher's redemption was left out of the movies. No leagion of house elves coming to help defend Hogwarts. No Grawp showing great heroics. No Centaurs coming to help Hogwarts.

I use invisibility on most of my controllers. The */Stormies all use Steamy Mist+Super Speed or a Stealth IO. */Cold uses Arctic Mist in the same way. The non-Illusion controllers mostly use Super Speed+Stealth IO. The advantages can be significant . . . I can lead pets into battle to take the aggro. I can get in the best position to maximize my initial control. On teams, I can get in position for my best powers, while I wait for the tank to take the initial aggro.

Plant relies heavily on Seeds of Confusion. Invisibility lets me get in just the right position to hit the largest number of foes. Then I can throw out Roots, use Freezing Rain and Creepers, and then back off to scoot around the edges to see where my remaining powers will be most effective -- a little bit of Hurricane can push foes around the edges into the AoE damage powers being used by the rest of the team while debuffing that foe's ToHit. I can get in just the right position for Lightning Storm to make good use of its knockback.

I seem to manage endurance OK with an EndRdx in Super Speed, the Numina and Miracle procs and the Cardiac Alpha. I still have a few endurance issues once in a while, but turning off Super Speed during longer fights seems to be enough to manage it all.

Coming up with a theme for Illusion can be based on Magic, Mutation, Tech or Science . . . anything that will let you mess with people's minds and cause them to see stuff that isn't there.

Personally, I usually go for puns. My Illusion/TA needed a name that brought in both the Illusion and the Bow and Arrow end of things. He ended up being a stage magician/entertainer for the French Foreign Legion. Ever heard of "Beau Geste?" He is "Beau Jester."

My Illusion/Cold is pretty simple. I live in Florida, and we don't have snow down here. Any "Florida Snowman" would have to be an Illusion, so his name is "Florida Snowman."

Your concepts could cover a wide range of areas. Any kind of mind control or summoning concept could work. You could have powers that affect a foes' optic nerve or nerves in general. You could have a paranoid guy who has mind powers to project his paranoia onto others. You could have a wizard who reaches into other dimensions to pull out spirits for a short time.

Then figure out a secondary. I recommend Rad first (see the guide in my sig). The next ones I would suggest considering is Cold (for more teaming, but works great solo; late blooming) or Storm (better for solo or small teams due to the chaos). Then consider TA or maybe Therm or Kin.

Just because it is called "Radiation" does not mean you have to follow that concept. Rad powers could be explained as the transfer of mystical energies (magic) or absorbing energy from the life around you (Tech, Mutation or Science). Cold, Storm and TA are more limited in concept, but Therm and Kin can also be pretty open.

There were plenty of Perma-PA builds long before the Incarnate Alpha Slot. You can find a very, very effective Perma-PA build in my Illusion/Radiation Guide, linked in my sig. In the many posts after the guide, folks have posted a variety of other perma-PA builds.

My build does not include the Fighting Pool, which I consider unnecessary on a Perma-PA build since PA and Phanty should be drawing the aggro most of the time.

Got mine today. I'll probably give up some game time to read tonight.

So many folks say "Time Bomb is worthless." I find it to be a somewhat useful power solo, mostly for giggles. It takes a long time to set up and you really need invisibility. But it can be fun to set up a zone of Trip Mines around a corner, then run into a group and set Time Bomb in their midst, then back off behind your trip mines and throw down Caltrops towards the back of the mines. Back off and let the Bomb go off. The survivors aggro to me, and run right into the Trip Mines. I'm able to make my own Michael Bay movie.

A buddy of mine really likes it, too, so there are at least two of us out here that actually like and occasionally use the power.

I wouldn't mind Flash becoming a targetted AoE Hold instead of PB AoE. And I would like to see Phanty fixed where he doesn't run into melee.

The build needs work. You need to decide what bonuses you want to build for. If you want defense, then get sets that focus on Defense. I think many of the powers are improperly slotted. Take a look at the Earth Control part of my Earth/Rad guide for how those powers should be slotted. See the link in my Sig.

Personally, I consider Earth/Emp to be a low damage controller that is best suited for team play, and I would build for Recharge to maximize your ability to control foes and buff the team. Empathy substantially benefits from high Recharge. Earth is a low damage primary and Emp provides no damage and few self-buffs, so its not great solo. However, if you decide to build to be able to solo, then you should reconsider some of your choices.

For example, Fossilize and Stone Prison, Air Sup and Boxing all have the same base damage, but Fossilize and Stone Prison can be cast from range. Also, both set Containment while Boxing and Air Sup do not. As an Earth/Emp, you really have no business being in melee. So Stone Prison should be slotted as a damage power before Air Sup or Boxing.

Fossilize is a Mag 3 hold with a 20% chance of an "overpower" chance for an extra Mag. So it will hold minions and lieutenants if it hits, and hold bosses 20% of the time on its own. Even if those "chance for Hold" procs activate, the vast majority of time they will proc on a foe who is already held, so the procs will do nothing other than add a pretty graphic. The procs will only have an effect on the 80% of bosses that were not held, and then each proc has a 15% chance to hit. So you are using two enhancement slots for a pretty low return. Consider an alternative slotting of 4 Basilisk's Gaze and then an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage. That gives you 7.5% Recharge with some decent damage. (My favorite way to deal with bosses when solo? Lead Rocky into the fight, letting him draw aggro. Then I have time to hit the bosses twice with Fossilize. Having invis is very handy for this, so I have a stealth IO + Super Speed.)

Healing Aura: This is your personal heal, so you want it up a lot. Plus, you can get some added recharge if you 5-slot it with Doctored Wounds. Heal Other is significantly underslotted for a team build, but marginally useful to heal Rocky when solo.

Personally, I don't like the Fighting Pool on most Controllers -- it provides minimal benefits for using up 3 power slots. I can see taking Fighting if you have really high defense, but not otherwise. Thus I would get rid of Boxing, Tough and Weave.

You skipped Stone Cages -- ugh. Stalagmites+Stone Cages is one of the three key AoE control combos for an Earth Controller. (The other two are Earthquake and Volcanic Gasses.) Stone Cages is your fastest recharging AoE control that sets up Containment, which is key to getting more damage out of your AoE damage power later in the build. Plus, Stone Cages can be slotted with a couple of damage procs to add a decent amount of damage. Procs will actually do more damage than slotting the power for damage.

And you took Stalagmites at 38?? This is a power that should be taken at level 12 on any Earth control build. And don't slot it for damage as the damag is minimal -- slot it for Acc, Stun, Rech and maybe EndRdx. Your slotting for Stalagmites has NO ACCURACY in a power with a 20% Accuracy penalty -- it will miss way, way too often. Stalagmites should be used as an opening control power most often, and needs at least 50%+ Accuracy.

You devoted 5 slots to Salt Crystals, the power most often skipped for Earth Controllers. Take a look at my Earth/Rad guide (link in my sig) for why. With three ranged AoE controls, you probably don't need a PB AoE sleep. Admittedly, it has more use solo than on teams, but still you shouldn't need it. I can see taking it as a "I'll throw it in because I don't have anything better to take" power late in the build, but not this early.

The Kismet Acc proc is mostly wasted for an Earth controller, since most of the powers have a Defense Debuff. Quicksand alone has a 25% debuff. Instead, you could slot a Luck of the Gambler +Recharge to get more benefit.

Earthquake should be slotted for Recharge first, then ToHit Debuff. By the way, the Dark Watcher proc is mostly useless.

Volcanic Gasses: Slot for Recharge and Hold, not for damage. The damage is minimal. Procs will do more damage here than slotting the power for damage.

Recovery aura: Slot for Recharge, then EndMod. That Perf Shifter proc has a chance to go off only when the power is cast . . . not worth a slot.

Animate Stone: 6-slotting the Expediant Reinforcement set is decent slotting here, but consider replacing the End/Dam/Rech with the Sovereign Right Resist proc. This makes Rocky much more durable.

Regen Aura: This is another one that needs Recharge first, then Heal. 5 Doctored Wounds is good slotting.

APP/PPP: there is a lot of debate here, so your choice isn't necessarily bad. I prefer the Ice APP, with Hibernate, two AoE damage powers and a s/l defense based shield.

6-slotting the Posi-Blast set really isn't needed. Drop the Dam/End or Dam/Range for an extra common Recharge.

You just reminded me of how long it has been since I got myself to one of those. My last one was Worldcon #50 in Orlando in 1992. Jeeze, I'm old.

I didn't realize that Connecticut has a Convention now-a-days. I have some family near Hartford.

A buddy of mine just got one of these with Hero Merits. I think it cost 35 and not 30. He chose to earn all the merits rather than buy any of them, so it took him 70 days of doing 5 Tip missions per day. If you have enough regular Reward Merits, you can buy a Hero Merit for 50 Reward Merits and 20 Mil, so you can increase to getting 3 every two days, so you can earn/buy one in 12 days.

I've saved up about 12 Hero Merits on one character so I'm thinking about doing it myself. (I'm too cheap to spend 2-3 bil on one enhancement, but I don't mind taking the time to earn one over a long period of time.)

I agree that Scirroco's story is pretty good. He is almost likeable (from the point of view of someone who almost always plays blue side).