Soltares

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I haven’t goon into great detail on them, but from the story line I would hazard to guess that they are oxygen breathers that are very advanced in both the ways of genetics (moving plants, hibernate in vacuum, etc...), and physical science (a method of keeping atmosphere inside the Mare Vaporum, teleportation (SG1 wormhole?) between planets). So both their sciences are equally advanced.

Perhaps aliens with advanced weapons (energy) along with genetically advanced abilities to do Toxic and Psychic Damage or even to Shape change.

Just a thought.

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My suggestion was that since Psychic powers and high-tech were both heavily represented in the Rikti / Lost, to have the *new* aliens be something a little newer, basing them heavily off of organic technology (and being responsible for the rampant flora, for one thing).

Being based on biotech, they would be less likely to be responsible for any sort of teleportal to other places. They quite possibly arrived as seed-pods, took root on the moon and began to 'grow' an area suitable for their type of life, with an atmosphere, before decanting and starting to intelligently change things. The teleportal would be something they found, and are trying to seize control of, so that they can reach the *much*-tastier Earth...

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But the TF aliens would ideally be something new. I'd love to see a race of what looks like seven foot tall, skeletally thin big-headed large-black-eyed 'grey' aliens, but instead of using Psionics (like the Rikti), they use advanced Shapechanging powers. Upon aggroing, the lower-ranks transform into monstrous creatures, all crab-like exoskeleton and big claws (bulky, like a WarWolf, with one huge left claw, and one smaller piercing claw, using Lunge / Swipe like attacks). The mid-ranks stand back and transform also into ranged combatants, spewing cones of acid (Toxic attack) and / or throwing spines at foes engaged with the front ranks. The higher ranks would be a mixture of both, close in tanks with chitinous armor, a toxic spew and dangerous spined attacks that inflict both lethal and toxic damage. The leaders might be surrounded with a close range toxic version of the Spines PBAoE effect, representing their acid blood spewing out over close-in attackers.

Some specialized servant creatures might float into the midst of battle and just explode (like Embalmed, but using a Rularuu-like graphic) in a toxic explosion of acid and venom, while others would sit in one place (some rooted the ground, others rooted to the walls, or even hanging down from the ceiling!) and spit toxin-coated Spine attacks at intruders, a living defense turret of sorts.

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But the idea of a silica-based race that appears crystalline and uses blinding flashes of light to debuff Acc and possibly Disorient, and then laser beams (Energy damage, -Acc secondary effect) from their eyes and hand to hand lethal attacks with their crystalline claws, could be neat as well.

But the silicon-based option doesn't work so well with the plant infestation and oxygen-based atmosphere. Perhaps these crystal-dudes could be the tweaked Moon Igneous...

More advanced silicates could avoid melee combat, and have the ability to whip up 'dust storms' of silicates that act like the Waterspout pet, but do lethal DoT from the razor-edged crystalline shards.

Still awesome, I'd love to see this.

Any thoughts on the aliens themselves?

Back around page nine, I had some ideas or them, but I'd like to hear yours. Psi based? Tech based? Crystalline silica-based critters with light / laser powers?

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(I have in mind something like an Ancient Alien artifact that Causes the Mare Vaporum to have a livable environment) Discover the secrets of the Mare Vaporum

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You could craft an incremental mission arc into the lifeless area of the moon, opening up a special subzone only to those who have completed the first mission and gotten a sample of the Mare Vaporum-sustaining technology. This ancient base could only be explored by those heroes who bring their own atmosphere generator with them. Basically it would create an in-game reason why the Task Force area wouldn't be accessible until the first missions are completed.

Unfortunately, the return of breathable atmosphere to the base would cause the hibernating creatures within it to awaken as well, hungry for food after their long slumber...

I'm in the middle of the Terrance Dobbs missions, and I think I'm at the choice point where I could get Arachnoid Appetizers or Building a Better Vermin.

I *want* Building a Better Vermin, for the Temp Power, but am not sure which mission to follow to get there;

My choices are;

Speak to Regent Korol

Stop Arachnoid Invasion (I think...)

Anyone done this and have a hint as to which one I need to pursue to get the Building a Better Vermin story arc?

Thanks in advance!

I'd want to see Rikti *and* other aliens (like the ones I proposed in my first post, the spiny toxic shapshifters with organic technology). Add 5th, radioactive 'moon igneous' and Circle of Thorns, and it would make for a nice mix of enemy types.

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I would love to hear any suggestions and ideas from you for new badge ideas.

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I don't know why, or in what context, but some mission must involve you 'zapping' some sort of enemy units, to culminate in the 'Moon Unit Zapper' badge.

Awesome awesome ideas!

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followed by a discovery of an ancient alien base Filled with a new race of aliens that have been here for a while with a nice book entitled “How to serve Man”. This new race has been kidnapping people from the earth using Teleportation for hundreds of years.

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What sort of aliens? Rikti seem likely to be present, along with the 5th (I'd use only the 'tech' based 5th, with WarWolf leaders, but none of the Vampyrs, and tie it into the 5th AV on the moon, a WarWolf with Dark powers and a circle of Dark mystics who serve her, who hates the vampyrs) and radioactive Moon Igneous, and perhaps even some CoT, exploring an Oranbegan 'moon temple.'

And then there's the plants. Some sort of Devouring Earth variations, or completely new? Fields of these plants could lie between the starting areas and certain mission objectives, and barring travel powers, the heroes / villains may have to 'tunnel' their way through hostile plant critters to reach the downed shuttle or whatever.

There could even be a few Aberrant Lost, the remnants of the original Alpha Base crew (and a major nuisance for the villains currently occupying said base). The Rikti base could be near the villain-occupied Alpha Base, and villain-based missions could involve them.

But the TF aliens would ideally be something new. I'd love to see a race of what looks like seven foot tall, skeletally thin big-headed large-black-eyed 'grey' aliens, but instead of using Psionics (like the Rikti), they use advanced Shapechanging powers. Upon aggroing, the lower-ranks transform into monstrous creatures, all crab-like exoskeleton and big claws (bulky, like a WarWolf, with one huge left claw, and one smaller piercing claw, using Lunge / Swipe like attacks). The mid-ranks stand back and transform also into ranged combatants, spewing cones of acid (Toxic attack) and / or throwing spines at foes engaged with the front ranks. The higher ranks would be a mixture of both, close in tanks with chitinous armor, a toxic spew and dangerous spined attacks that inflict both lethal and toxic damage. The leaders might be surrounded with a close range toxic version of the Spines PBAoE effect, representing their acid blood spewing out over close-in attackers.

Some specialized servant creatures might float into the midst of battle and just explode (like Embalmed, but using a Rularuu-like graphic) in a toxic explosion of acid and venom, while others would sit in one place (some rooted the ground, others rooted to the walls, or even hanging down from the ceiling!) and spit toxin-coated Spine attacks at intruders, a living defense turret of sorts.

When City of Heroes was first bandied about, I had an idea of creating all of my favorite super-characters, that I've played under Villains & Vigilantes, Aberrant, GURPS Supers and even Mutants & Masterminds. After the game came out, I realized that most of them weren't really doable, and even if they were, their backstories didn't mesh really well with the CoH backstory.

Instead, I ended up making all new concepts, based on the setting, tied to the Circle of Thorns, or Sky Raiders, or Devouring Earth, or Skulls.

Ultimately, I'm playing in someone elses City, not my own setting, so making a character who's the son of a diety, or a shapeshifting alien, or a sentient ball of energy, and has enemies among the rakshasa/unseelie fae/atlanteans is pretty pointless when there aren't any available as NPCs...

Unless they were to create a 'make your own zones, costume sets, missions and powersets!' expansion, it would be kinda silly to make any of my traditional tabletop RPG superheroes, since this world / setting / system isn't the one I made those characters for, nor was it meant to be, nor was it sold to me as such.

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In comparison, SWG changed their whole class system over 2 years after release. So I guess it could be worse.

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Don't even get me started on the SWG changes. Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death.

Heh, a Doom post on how Doom posts aren't Doomy enough.

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Diviner Maros - i before e, except after c. 3 errors in one paragraph!

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Five, actually.

Ended a sentence with a preposition he has. Yoda, he is not.

Plus, submarines don't 'know' much of anything, although they can wait for you 'now.'

Diviner Maros needs a visit from Captain Pedant and his sidekick, States-the-Obvious Lad. A few rounds of Conjunction Junction and Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here and he should be back on track.

Gosh, I'd still love to see some weapon styles for Brutes.

Ball and Chain, or Halberd / Poleax would make my day, something big and impressive looking.

That and Shapeshifting or Duplication-based power-sets for Scrappers / Stalkers. Mmm...

Thugs definitely sounds interesting. I've been wanting to make a mafia-themed Mastermind.

It would be preferable if certain story arcs, missions, badges or 'events' opened up new costume options (and / or animations, like the various Prestige Sprints or Prestige Brawl animations speculated about on the CoV forums), only available to people who had completed this content.

I don't like the idea that where I shop limits my options for character appearance.

Will we see more female villains in the future?

I'm not sure we need female Trolls (yikes!), but the lack of female Hellions, Skulls, Outcasts, Tsoo, CoT, etc. seems a little odd.

I still think Defiance is *exactly* backwards.

Low level Blasters, the ones most likely to be at low-health and not insta-killed, are the only ones to benefit from this effect, and they have the least need for it. At the levels where a Blaster begins to faceplant excessively, he is being one-shotted consistently, and with the reductions in Pool defenses, that problem is only going to be *worse* post I5.

Blasters could make better use of an exactly reversed version of Defiance. Instead of the power being useful when he's dying, it would give him a damage buff on an alpha strike. He'd target a mob and sit, his Defiance meter (change the name, obviously, perhaps to 'First Strike') would slowly start to fill up. At any time he can fire, but unless he waits, his 'First Strike' bar would remain empty.

Basically, the power would only be useful on the initial attack, since he will rarely have a chance to stand around, otherwise. If he is attacked, the bar immediately empties, his concentration is broken, the power stops building up, his aim is lost, whatever.

So even someone trying to use Phase Shift to sit out a part of combat while he 'powers up,' wouldn't be very successful, since he may well take damage between turning off Phase Shift and cycling his attack, losing the 'First Strike' bonus.

Plus, IMO, it would reward more intelligent tactics, carefully approaching enemy forces and setting up ambushes and the like.

Defiance, as designed, is a reward for getting your butt kicked, and that makes no sense.

It's not like Blasters need another 'I'm getting my butt kicked' meter...

Already been asked a lot, but I'll pee into the wind by repeating it;

Will we see options other than Hamidon for high-level content? Ideally, IMO, there should be one for each Origin type, and even more ideally, different tactics / team compositions / strengths should be required for each one.

Not just other raids, but also other systems of reward, such as custom HO's, new auras, costume options and badges, temporary powers (jetpacks, medkits, one-shot gizmos that allow one to teleport to the nearest hospital without dying, etc), and so forth?

1) Perhaps an enormous kraken / sea-serpent as part of a Coralax-unlocking epid raid, with a horde of aquatic humanoid 'minions' that have to be held back while the level 50's tackle the beast itself.

Those who complete the raid can create a Coralax character, or perhaps gain access to new powersets, such as Water Control or Ice Melee / Ice Armor for Scrapper characters or just a new Inherent power that allows super-swimming, to better explore the new Coralax specific undersea zone?

2) Or the Rikti mothership could stagger into the air, surrounded by dozens of smaller flying Rikti attack sleds, and a few smaller assault craft that attempt to protect it while it makes it to space, forcing the heroes to divide into teams, some tackling the smaller craft and sky-sleds while other teams assault the ship itself, taking out weapons, etc. as individual mobs until they can land on the ship itself and zone into a final conflict with the crew inside the ship itself, running through and disabling as many integral ship's systems (reactors, shield control, warp drive, communications) as possible, while fighting off waves of Rikti crew.

If they fail, they are emergency beamed out of the ship as it leaves the atmosphere, if they succeed, they are beamed out as it crashes back into it's crater, unable to leave orbit and temporarily defunct.

Survivors could be mutated by the warp reactor, not just being able to respec, but perhaps being allowed a /Secondary respec, allowing them reselect their Secondary powerset (but not their Primary, and certainly not their AT).

Alternately, they might automatically gain an Accolade power, something unique and perhaps even AT-specific, like a Radiaoactive Field that acts as a weak damage shield for a Tanker or Scrapper, or increases the effects of secondary effects / status attacks for Defenders / Controllers / Blasters.

3) An enormous Magmite could dwell at the center of a volcano (perhaps the one in Striga?), and torrents of lava force the teams to travel up each pathway seperately, clearing all of the four to six entrance points of Magmites and CoT (who are sacrificing in an attempt to summon the spirit of the volcano, so they can steal his power) before they re-unite at the central caldera for the final battle with the creature itself. If they fail, not only do they wake up at the hospital, but the volcano erupts and that zone is not available for a set period of time.

After the volcano-spirit is felled, the eruption subsides and all present for the mission are rewarded by a spirit of land and sky, who can take any two SO's handed to her and merge them into a custom HO that must be slotted before the possesser leaves the zone, or it is lost (so no making them for friends who aren't high enough to enter the zone!).

Good luck to your brother.

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And there's honesty vs. raw honesty. I'm not asking for PR spin. I'm asking for professionalism.

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I'd rather have honesty vs. spin.

I'd rather have the unpolished developers who know and love the game answer our questions than some obseqious, butt-kissing and *completely useless* PR flak who knows nothing about the game, doesn't even play it and thinks gamers in general are whiny geeks who collect Babylon 5 plates and live in their mom's basements.

If you want polished prose from a form-letter-bot, and not a single ounce of honesty (or helpfulness, or even admission that something hasn't worked for the last 16 months...), play SWG or EQ2. Sony makes no pretense of having human interaction with their customers.

Adding a PR flak just puts one more level between us, the players, and them, the developers. One more chance for our input and observations and requests to be distorted or mislaid.

Telling Jack that he needs to go to some sort of sensitivity training to post on the message boards for his own damn game is telling him to go away from fixing this game, maintaining this game and working to make this the best game he can, just to appease a few oversensitive yobs whose mommies should have said 'No' to them a few more times instead of convincing them that they are somehow precious flowers in need of a gentle touch because they are so speshul.

I'd rather he continue working on the game, than attend some sort of sensitivity training to deal with people who are going to be very, very sad when they go out into the real world and learn that 99.9% of the people out there don't realize how unique and precious they are and start treating them like any of the other 6 billion faceless strangers out there...

Respect is earned, if it came free to everyone simply for figuring out how to mash the Submit key, then it wouldn't mean anything, would it? Jack doesn't seem to be 'snarking' on people who submit pages of Herostat data on how Force Fields are working in Issue 5, or provide similar in-depth and well-reasoned analyses on their powerset. Perhaps he finds that more useful than, 'I'm gonna convince all my friends to quit because I can't herd an entire island of Dreck by myself anymore!' posts.

My brief testing of Defiance led me to the following thoughts;

1) I hate the bar. It squishes the Endurance bar awkwardly. Just get rid of it. A Scrapper doesn't get a 'Critical meter,' I don't think Blasters need a seperate bar telling them how badly they are getting their butt's kicked...

2) It seems like it would be most useful at levels 1-20, when incoming damage can rarely one-shot a Blaster. Exactly the levels when my Blaster was a god and *didn't need anything.*

At the higher levels, when a single return volley could send me into the dirt, Defiance wouldn't do a darn thing.

It's designed exactly backwards, IMO. Extra Alpha Strike potential, some sort of bar that builds up and gives me up to 20% extra damage for standing near a mob and 'aiming' for that one initial strike before the mob starts shooting back and it all goes to heck in a handbasket, would be more useful to me at higher levels, when it becomes a matter of who hits who first and hardest.

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You'll be glad to know that I've decided to leave my hair long in the future. No more short hair.

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Every interview / seminar he gave at Origins last year he was up on a stage looking down at us, so his hair was *always* in his eyes. He ended up standing around with one hand up trying to keep his hair out of his face. I can understand him wanting to chop it off.

But it did make him look more like a real person and less like a suit.

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And I haven't lost any weight, though the Cryptic team has a personal trainer that we started working with in January.

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A personal trainer? At a software / game development house? Yikes. My heart goes out to the sucker they get for that job... The last software company I worked at just gave us all Gold's memberships and let us deal with it ourselves.

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So which is it then?

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Planescape. AD&D setting.

Planescape: Torment. Computer game based on the AD&D setting.

AFAIK, Mr. Cook worked on the former, not the latter.

If he really loved me, he'd have brought Jeff Grubb (al-Qadim, Spelljammer) along with him, then my two favorite AD&D designers would be designing CoV content...

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A Kitsune would be very cool, tho. It'd be cool to see the undeveloped wildlands next to Croatoa turn out to be filled with Shinto-style nature spirits... it'd be Princess Mononoke in Paragon City.

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A 'Chinatown' section of Paragon City would be cool (perhaps called 'Little Asia' and sharing a blend of Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cultural motifs), with the possibility of displaced spirits, Tsoo gangs, etc running around.

A 'concerned ancestor' mission giver could appear at night in the graveyard, asking heroes to rescue her grandson from a Tsoo recruitment party and guide him back from his lawless path, and similarly protecting her neighborhood / family from their depradations (stopping a Tsoo ambush at a particular shop, with a wave of them arriving to torch the store and beat up it's owners for not paying their protection funds), or from the actions of hostile spirits.

A tricky kitsune could give a riddle challenge, and perhaps even a visit to a spiritual version of the section of town could exist as a 'train mission' where the people appear as ghosts and hostile spirit forces prowl the streets, appearing as coiled black dragon-serpents nesting at certain confluences of ley-lines, attended by chittering hordes of finely-dressed bakemono goblins that appear as short inhuman robed courtiers until they unfurl their claws to attack.

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instead of a full powerset for growing/shrinking, why not make it a power pool.

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My thoughts in that vein;

Growth

6 – Ogre - +1 ft. height, +bulk, +Melee Defense, +1 ft. Reach for Melee range powers (such as Brawl, Boxing, Dark Melee, Broadsword, War Mace, Energy Punch, etc).

6 – Giant’s Vigor - +50% self-heal and self-purge removes status effects. Seems to swell in size momentarily to break free of effects and revitalize life-force.

14 – Jotunn - +3 ft. height, +bulk. Moderate Melee Defense buff, +3 ft Reach to Melee range powers, speed increase as Swift.

20 – Titan - Double height, +bulk. Moderate Melee Defense and Resist Physical Damage buff, double reach for Melee range powers, speed increase as Swift.


Shrinking

6 – Dwarf - Shrink to 4' or 3/4 of current Char height, whichever is less, Reduced run speed, reduced damage, but lower Aggro range and minor Defense buff. Another version of Stealth, essentially.

6 - Mighty Mite - Toggle, when activated drains some Endurance, but allows full movement speed and damage when Shrunk.

14 – Imp - Shrinks to 2 ft, increases reduces Defense and reduces Aggro more than previous version, but also reduces movement and damage dealt commensurately (unless Mighty Mite is active).

20 – Pixie - Shrink to 1 ft height, increases Defense and reduces Aggro more than previous versions but also reduces movement and damage dealt commensurately (unless Mighty Mite is active).

Pool power notions;

Growth

6 – Ogre - +1 ft. height, +bulk, +Melee Defense, +1 ft. Reach for Melee range powers (such as Brawl, Boxing, Dark Melee, Broadsword, War Mace, Energy Punch, etc).

6 – Giant’s Vigor - +50% self-heal and self-purge removes status effects. Seems to swell in size momentarily to break free of effects and revitalize life-force.

14 – Jotunn - +3 ft. height, +bulk. Moderate Melee Defense buff, +3 ft Reach to Melee range powers, speed increase as Swift.

20 – Titan - Double height, +bulk. Moderate Melee Defense and Resist Physical Damage buff, double reach for Melee range powers, speed increase as Swift.


Shrinking

6 – Dwarf - Shrink to 4' or 3/4 of current Char height, whichever is less, Reduced run speed, reduced damage, but lower Aggro range and minor Defense buff. Another version of Stealth, essentially.

6 - Mighty Mite - Toggle, when activated drains some Endurance, but allows full movement speed and damage when Shrunk.

14 – Imp - Shrinks to 2 ft, increases reduces Defense and reduces Aggro more than previous version, but also reduces movement and damage dealt commensurately (unless Mighty Mite is active).

20 – Pixie - Shrink to 1 ft height, increases Defense and reduces Aggro more than previous versions but also reduces movement and damage dealt commensurately (unless Mighty Mite is active).

*Optional power for Shrinking

Uppercut - Character shrinks to smallest size in a second then enlarges suddenly, striking the target under the chin and knocking him into the air with the force of the punch, possibly also disorienting him when he lands.


Clinging / Friction Manipulation

6 - Wall Climbing - Allows full normal move up walls and across ceilings. Stacks with Swift or Super-Speed.

6 - Frictionless Defense / Slickskin - +Defense buff, as skin becomes smooth and attacks slide off harmlessly. While Toggle is in effect, character also is prone to 'sliding,' which can result in increase Knockback from enemy effects, and make movement at speed problematic (similar to the effect of a Flier overshooting his target).

14 – Glue Trap (AoE Immobilize) - small AoE 'sticky patch' within short range.

20 - Oil Slick - small PB AoE 'slippery patch' causes foes around the user to repeatedly fall to the ground in the area. (as Ice Patch from Ice Manipulation)


Transubstantiation (or Elemental Form)

6 - Form of Water / Sea Change - +high Defense against Smashing, +minor Defense against most other forms (but not Fire or Energy). Doubled movement speed in water. Toggle, not usable with other elemental forms.

6 - Form of Air / Cloud Leaper - fly at Hover speeds, instead of Defense Buff of Hover, add minor Damage Resist buff, as attacks are less likely to miss, and more likely to pass through the airy body. Toggle, not usable with other elemental forms.

14 - Form of Earth / Stone Soul - High physical Damage Resist and Dull Pain-like hit point increase when activated, as body turns to earth with overlapping plates of stone (use Devouring Earth Bedrock graphic, not 'poo armor' graphic, please?). Toggle, not usable with other elemental forms.

20 - Form of Fire / Blazing Fury - High Defense Buff and moderate Damage Resist to all types, 5 ft' Blazing Aura does moderate Fire damage, high Endurance cost. Toggle, not usable with other elemental forms.

Force Blast (primary for Blasters, secondary for Defenders)

* Force Blade – Lethal + Energy (small chance to disorient or small DoT)

* Force Sphere – Smashing + Energy (knockback)

* Immobilization Spheres – hurls small force globes that surround the targets feet / lower torso and pin it to the ground, Immobilizing it.

* Aim – Aim.

* Force Rush – creates a vertical pane of force that rushes forth from the user in a 10 ft wide by 60 ft long path, inflicting Smashing + Energy to everyone in that path, and doing knockback.

* Battering Globes – fires a stream of Force Spheres, inflicting Smashing + Energy damage over a 5 second period, and completely Disorienting (and knocking back) the target during that time.

* Force Storm – creates a spiraling storm of snowflake-like blades of force that cover an area, doing Lethal + Energy damage with a small DoT effect.

* Barricade – creates a 20 ft cube of force with 90-95% resistance and hit points equal to the user. It can be targeted and must be destroyed to be bypassed. Attacks and mobs cannot pass through it, and must go around, or beat it down.

* Force Explosion – as Nova. A massive sphere of force appears around the user, and expands out, damaging and knocking back all nearby foes, exhausting the user in the process.


Shapeshifting (Secondary for Scrappers)

* Chitin Armor - insect-like armored skin-plates give moderate protection from Smashing and Lethal damage.

* Transformation - can assume the outward appearance of a targeted NPC mob, and creatures of that mobs faction type will not attack the user while he is in that form. Cannot be used while any other Shapeshifting power is in effect and any attack will end the transformation. Does not reduce movement rate, and cost is negligible.

* Spined Armor - creates spines and spikes from the users’ skin that cause a minor increase to hand-to-hand damage and accuracy, and also cause foes striking the users body to suffer light damage. Those striking the user with hand-held weapons, such as Knives or Bats, are also affected, but suffer only trivial damage. Ranged attackers are not affected. (8 foot radius?)

* Slippery Skin - gives moderate protection from Smashing damage (but not Lethal) and also strong protection from Immobilization and Hold effects. Not usable with Chitin Armor or Spined Armor.

* Adaptation - when the power is toggled, the next attack striking the character inflicts only partial damage, and all additional attacks of that sort for the duration are protected against to moderate effect. No other attack forms during the duration are shielded against, and the power costs Endurance while in effect and has a Moderate recharge time.

* Formative Healing - reorganizes the users’ body to cleanse it of injury. Long recharge full healing effect. Also removes any DoT, debuff, Immobilize or Hold effect.

* Tower of Flesh - tentacles sprout from the characters lower body and anchor him to the ground, making him immovable and immune to knockback and most disorientation effects.

* Dispersed Organs - this effect is always on, and makes the user strongly resistant to Disorient attacks, and gives some resistance to many secondary effects, such as DoTs, debuffs (such as the slowing effect of Cold or the Endurance drain of an electrical attack) and chemical / poison-based attacks (such as from Spines or Cadavar acid spit-attacks), as the users body no longer contains vital areas or sensitive tissues that would be susceptible to those effects. Includes a minor resistance to some normally hard-to-resist attack forms, like Psychic attacks.

* Armored Abomination - the user grows massive plates of chitin, so much that he becomes all-but incapable of movement while this power is in effect, but becomes strongly resistant to all forms of damage, and immune to knockback and disorientation. (Replaces, doesn't stack with, Slippery Skin, Tower of Flesh and Chitin Armor. Stacks with Spined Armor.)


Duplication (Primary for Scrappers)

* Double Punch - a second instance of the character appears for a moment as the punch is thrown, and potentially inflicts twice the damage, if both succeed in striking. The new instance of the character is just a graphic, standing directly next to the character, but is not substantial. Moderate damage and Moderate recharge.

* Battering Fists - a small group of instances of the character appear to phase in and out around the target, striking him repeatedly for minor DoT damage. Fast recharge.

* Gang-Up - two instances of the character appear next to the target, which must be in close range, and hold him in place and significantly lowering his defense. These instances cannot be targetted or attacked, and are insubstantial. (Short range Immobilize plus Defense Debuff with a unique graphic.)

* Shadow Kick - a sweeping kick that strikes a single target for heavy damage, as ghostly instances of the character can be seen trailing behind and mimicking his kick, like a larger version of Storm Kick with a different graphic.

* Round-Robin - three instances of the user appear, surrounding his current target, and all strike consecutively, knocking the target from instance to instance and inflicting heavy damage and disorienting him (Stun Mag 3) for a short time. Moderate recharge.

* Storm of Fists - the user seems to explode into action, and a half-dozen instances of himself appear for a moment and attack all foes within the area for moderate damage. These instances are not substantial, simply graphical representations of the attacks effects. All targets within 10’ suffer multiple DoT like attacks.

* Twin - a second instance of the character appears, costing Endurance while it is in existence, but acting as the character in all regards (and taking damage normally). It automatically attacks whatever target the actual character is attacking, and uses only the Punch power (modified by whatever the user has modified it with, however!). If it dies, the user immediately suffers a loss of 50% of current hit points and power. When the power is ended, the Twin vanishes, and the user receives a percentage of its remaining hit points and endurance as a healing effect. Long recharge time. As this is a Toggle, no more than one can be active at a time.

* Improved Twin - a second instance of the character appears, as per Twin, but the instance is capable of using several lower level powers on this list (Double Punch, Battering Fists, Shadow Kick, Round-Robin and Storm of Fists), and activates them at the exact time that the user does. The Endurance cost is greater, and this power has a set duration, unlike Twin. Long recharge. (Yes, a Scrapper with a 'pet.' How weird is that?)

* One-Man Army - several instances of the character appear, as per Twin, and attack his foes as that power. Very Long recharge and short duration.

All very cool, but I have one quibble.

Sonic Debuff? What a LAME name for a powerset.

Acoustics, Harmonics, Disharmonics, Counter-Harmony, Resonance, whatever, just not 'Sonic Debuff.'

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He wasn't doing anything other than buffing and healing. If that's not being a buffbot... what is?

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That's called being an Empath (or FF Defender). If you don't like the way they work, avoid grouping with them.

I'm sure, speaking as someone whose played an Empath, they'll be thrilled not to be grouping with someone with your attitude as to their role in groups.