Looks like a good guide Enantiodromos.
This will definatly help people trying to make a natural character. Btw what about travel powers would you suggest not getting them and get swift or hurdle to use with sprint just to complete the natural feel?
Nice guide. I run a MA/Invul "natural" scrapper, and find that it's all in how you backstory. The Invul set is a bit hard to explain sometimes, especially with the aura from temp invulnerability. I did take SS as a travel power, just so I wouldn't have to constantly explain why I had no travel power. Good job!
While in the context of this post it is obvious what the phrase "Natural Concept" means, and I really appreciate that, I would once again like to recommend the term "Skill-Based" to refer to a character of this type.
In fact, I believe that a Science (Captain America) or Mutant (Gear, from Static Shock) can be "skill based", as well as those of the Natural origin. However, skill-based is a natural fit (pun intended) for the Natural Origin, and makes up a good portion of those who are Natural, along with the aliens and the "chi powers" martial artists.
Other than that, not a bad overview. 
I will mention that my psychotic Mastermind, Psycommando, has Super Speed, but it's because he apparently takes drugs.
I'll add that you left out the dubious but workable explanation of Teleport being hacking into the Emergency Medical Transport system. Since there ARE no other travel powers in your list, outside of Invisibility, it can be useful to have one, in case you don't want to go so far as sacrificing a travel power for concept. A lot of Naturals also pick Super Jump, as jump boots are a lot easier to imagine than a jetpack for Flying. (Or can be built into the costume)
Also, I explain Joe Everyman's Transfusion as a medikit. Even though he doesn't pull out a "tricorder", it's healing, and I can explain his use of it in combat as it has only limited "charges" and thus is for emergencies (i.e., when you are taking damage) only. The End reduction is a totally separate tactical effect. And while I'm on the subject of Joe...
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If you're a normal looking Joe in plainclothes, this could make a lot of sense for you, too, as somebody who's invisible.
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Heh. That sounds familiar.
Natural is appropriate to every powerset; all of them.
Heimdall (from Thor) is natural.
Superman is natural.
Thanos is natural.
and, until his terriblly narcissistic, three-card monty act, Statesmen was natural.
Natural does not mean non-superpowered human. It means no external, nor non-mutation inborn powers has granted you super-human power.
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Natural does not mean non-superpowered human.
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The origin explicitly and emphatically did refer to ordinary humans without powers mysterious or secret in basis. (It existed exactly because the natural concept character, as I've outlined it above, is a staple of the genre. Anybody who appreciates the genre gets the difference between characters like, to use the perennial example, Superman, and characters like Batman.)
Then the canon game was otherwise-needlessly and nonsensically changed to accomodate Peacebringers.
Regardless, your remarks go wide of the topic of the Guide, which is natural concept characters as I defined them, to whom not all powersets are equally appropriate.
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters
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Then the canon game was otherwise-needlessly and nonsensically changed to accomodate Peacebringers.
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Actually this whole discussion came up in beta long ago. Generally aside from a few purists, people said that things like aliens were Natural origin since from their planet they are nothing special. I beleive even a dev posted in that thread agreeing with it.
Now does this mean all aliens are natural? Hell no, plenty would use technology to boost their own abilities or undergo a mutation, maybe even find a magical item or simply be a science expirement gone wrong.
Hell, my character Ryko is a natural but he is not human or alien and came into his 'powers' by act of magic so why is he a natural? Simple, the magic created a new species and the result was Ryko so he is completely normal just that it started with magic.
It does all depend on what perspective you are looking from. My Robotics/Force Field Mastermind is 'Natural' because she believes herself to be the norm and everyone else as alien, even though she is cybernetic 
And a Kheldian would believe he/she is 'Natural' and everyone else alien.
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Natural is appropriate to every powerset; all of them.
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More or less, I agree to a point.
I think it's easier to handwave some powersets into a Natural origin. I also subscribe to the approach that aliens can be considered Natural.
The key to playing the Natural origin, in my opinion, is the quality of the backstory and its ability to suspend your disbelief. It's harder to suspend that disbelief with certain powersets.
I have a Natural Broadsword/Regen scrapper, with Flight and Fitness pools. No issue with Broadsword. Regen I handwave with an uncanny ability to bounce back and a little psychology to convince one's foe you're more wounded than you really are. Flight -- he just "borrowed" a magic ring of flight from Azuria, security at M.A.G.I. being what it is. Fitness is easy, although you're still able to run at like 27 mph...
My philosophy on Natural origin is probably why I don't have many heroes or villains that use it. Three, if memory serves -- the BS/reg scrapper, a MA/SR scrapper, and a mercs/traps mastermind.
But hey, it's your character. My limitations towards suspension of disbelief need not hold you back.
If you can explain the powers, it always fits.
ATs to 50 - TA/A Def, Nrg/Nrg Blaster, EM/EA Brute, WS,ELM/ELA Stalker
Agreed. There's a big difference between saying, "Here's a list of helpful information for naturals", and "Natural origin means you can't play X, Y and Z." Kudos to Enantiodromos for managing the former.
Martian Manhunter is an excellent example of an alien Natural. His powers are standard for his kind, but they don't drive him to be a superhero. In the comics and the animated series, he's often the guy figuring stuff out or pointing out the moral course - which is another big task of Natural superheroes: The Control.
In the language of science, the Control is the unmodified base state; An individual or group used as a standard of comparison. In any supergroup, you have the person who remembers what it's like to be unpowered; to be helpless in the face of adversity; to have others speak and act for you. The Control, in many ways, is the heart of the Supergroup. He's there to keep everyone else sane. Being the "average joe" and yet still, somehow, equal with people who fly, sweat fire and throw big rigs around is a tricky business, and it often requires not only intellect but an uncanny grasp of how people work emotionally. When blowing up the enemy planet seems like the simplest solution, the Control is there to point out that not everyone on that planet's an enemy.
This isn't necessarily something EVERY Natural does; and it certainly isn't limited to Natural origins, but it's yet another theme for Natural characters to explore.
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Then the canon game was otherwise-needlessly and nonsensically changed to accomodate Peacebringers.
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Actually this whole discussion came up in beta long ago. Generally aside from a few purists, people said that things like aliens were Natural origin since from their planet they are nothing special. I beleive even a dev posted in that thread agreeing with it.
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QFT
Also, Batman is borderline Technology origin. Could go either way with him.
edit: Sorry, forgot to mention that other than the misconception of what "natural" origin is, this is a very good guide for playing a natural human.
As others have said it is a great guide. (I knew what you were talking about when you used the term "Natural Concept")
I would like to know your opinion on taking Hasten. It seems to me that for certain things like AR/Katana/Martial Arts/Mace, and others that it is quite possible to become faster through sheer repetition.
Here's a couple of other "heroes" that fit as well:
[I realize you couldn't possibly mention them all, I can't even remember all of them myself]
The Shadow
Green Hornet
Great guide IMO...YMMV
Love this guide!
I would like to see several things added to the game to enhance immersion.
They (the devs) are always pushing immersion. I would like to see backpacks, holsters, quivers, scabbards, jetpacks, etc.
The fact that so many people have requested these items for the last few years should give the devs some idea of how the player base feels about them.
I know they take time, but at least give us an idea of when or even if we can expect them.
The pets have rocket boots (MM's Robots)
The pets have quivers (MM's Ninjas)
The pets have scabbards (MM' Ninjas)
The mobs have holsters (Malta Gunslingers)
The mobs and pets have backpacks (Malta, Mercs from MM set)
The mobs have jetpacks (Sky Raiders, Gold Brickers)
My Natural Blaster has Super Jump, and I explain it as anti-grav boots. I'd love to take Flight, but just slapping on a high-tech looking belt isn't my vision for him.
Just my .02
super man would be considered a "natural" origin. he was born that way, and he's not mutated. so if it's some kind of alien type then it would be of "natural" origin. also an elf type or demon type could be considered "natural". so "natural" isn't as limited as just being a "normal" human as you think.
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aside from a few purists, people said that things like aliens were Natural origin since from their planet they are nothing special. I beleive even a dev posted in that thread agreeing with it.
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If a Dev said so at that time, I wonder why they turned around and published a manual definition that explicitly referenced humans and the limits of human ability. Anyway, fortunately, comittees don't do the creative work of establishing genre conventions.
The natural origin originally meant something-- it originally referred to natural characters as you find them in the genre and as I've outlined here.
Now, of course, since robots, people born to magic powers, tentacled aliens born with optic blasts, and people obtaining their powers from the strange radiation of an alien sun, are all 'natural,' the term means nothing at all-- neither with reference to anything we expect in the comic supers genre, where every knucklehead knows there's a genre-defining gap between a Batman an a Superman-- nor as part of the game, where it's implicitly a category contrastive with the other four origin categories-- except it isn't.
We can all agree that natural no longer means "human," I'm sure. We only differ on whether that lack of meaning is a good thing, or laughable. Me, I find it laughable to bother ourselves with a category defined as: "Anything! Anything at all! [ zombo.com ]"
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters
Well, all of the origins were intended to mean something at some point. That was largely ditched in beta. Now it isn't much more than a roleplaying tool with minor gameplay impact -- initial contacts and missions, location of enhancement shops and type of foes that drop yours, and recently your minor origin power.
I seem to think along similar lines as your guide, Enantiodromos. Good, succinct coverage of what "natural" should entail, without sounding like origin police. It's the sort of thing that the game manual (someone still reads these?) should say.
Errata:
Dubious Sets:
<ul type="square">[*]Speed
Speed is the best super-movement set for a natural concept character-- none are ideal, and probably a minority of players will really want to cope with getting around the city with swift, sprint, and hurdle. Flurry and Hasten (despite hasten's annoying animations) work just fine for naturals. Indeed, neither claims to be superhuman in any way. Superspeed itself, though, is the major movement power of the set, and running *that* fast with a glow under your feet is pretty hard to take seriously as a natural power. You can always claim you're riding a motorcycle while using the power, but the lack of a motorcycle emote is sad, truly sad. Whirlwind needless to say is also hard to explain as a natural power.[*]Jumping
Jumping is a set with three great powers for a natural-- combat jumping, jumpkick, and acrobatics. You get a lot of status protection and some defense out of combat jumping and acrobatics. Jumpkick is an adequate single target attack with a fair chance of knockdown. But the animation's slow and it's lackluster compared with Air Superiority. The big problem with the set is, again, the major movement power. Vertical jump ability tends to be one of those things that people have a good intuitive sense of (Spud Webb and Michael Jordan, anyone?). Superjump handles more like flight, and is hard to take seriously as a natural power.[/list]
Nonviable Movement Sets:
<ul type="square">[*]Teleportation
Teleportation is sometimes mentioned by fans of natural concept characters as plausible via the "hospital grid teleportation" theory. This is a good theory, as far as it goes, and as an organic explanation of a unique character's powers, it works great. It's a poor fit to natural concept characters, however. The original definition of the Natural origin captured this concept well: technology that's still secret or guarded is something that belongs in the purview of a seperate kind of character: the Tech character. Teleportation technology, like for example nuclear fusion technology, relies not just on 'gear,' but on relatively exotic physics and carefully *controlled* technology.[*]Flight
While Air Superiority is a perfectly plausible overhand smashing attack that comes recommended for filling out the attack chain of any natural origin character you need another attack for, the remaining three powers involve lifting you off the ground completely for extended periods of time. The closest "off the shelf" technology comes to permitting such powers is helicopters-- which are still much faster and less maneuverable than fly or hover. And much like superspeed and motorcycles, in the absence of a chopper emote, this one just fails to satisfy.[/list]
In discussing Money and Recognition as motives for natural concept heroes:
<ul type="square">[*]I meant to say it's *not* hard to imagine superheros fight crime for the pay and praise they receive for it.[*]It may have been naive or at any rate inappropriate for me to remark that policemen and firefighters are paid "well." I don't think I'm qualified to figure out how much somebody in such a profession should be payed, and I really have no idea how well they are paid.[/list]
Re: Costumes for Invulnerability
I meant to mention that for natural concept characters who have invulnerability, the "plate" armor skin on chest, gloves, pants, and boots, as well as a sturdy looking helmet, are ideal. Also, tips on building armored costumes: if you want to make your toon look like a real guy in a heavy armored suit, try turning the physique and waist (and on males chest) slider up, and the shoulders down. Also experiment with largest head and cranium sizes if your armor suit includes a full helm head-- this helps make it look like the helmet is wrapped around a normal sized head, and it looks cool, too. Finally do choose the "armored" rather than the "tight" upper and lower body types, and consider "large" gloves and boots.
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters
Not bad. My own concept of what a "natural" hero is someone who does things that any member of their species can do given enough practice and training. I wouldn't consider an artificial being like a robot or an statue brought to life by magic to be natural, since it is not a species (that would be technology and magic, respectively), but an alien would fall into my defenition. I could see some of the more exotic powers being explained as "ki attacks" like Ryu's Hadouken from Street Fighter, or natural abilities of an alien race. It does require a little more suspension of disbelief, but it's still somewhat reasonable. But then again, this is just my own two cents.
I personally never build a new character until I have a good concept for it. But though my characters powersets are determined by concept, the individual powers within them are more strategic decisions for me.
That said, it's good that there's at least one guide for concept building out there. I've seen a lot of bios that don't even try to be consistent with their origins, like "naturals" being born with special abilities, or "mutants" getting powers from accidents.
Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.
My character Sovereign Savior (BS/Regen) is natural based on the fact that his original body was a typical human. It was the brain transplant thing that put him into another person's body that had powers to work with. So he combines both the new body's density manipulating capabilities given powers by this sword that is inseparable from the body...
The sword is a manifestation of Sov's passion to achieve his goal. His powers are a reflection of that in a sense...
Plus I chose Natural as a reflection of his orientation.
1396 Badges... here's hoping this won't be the end! SAVE PARAGON CITY
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Nonviable Movement Sets:
Teleportation
Teleportation is sometimes mentioned by fans of natural concept characters as plausible via the "hospital grid teleportation" theory. This is a good theory, as far as it goes, and as an organic explanation of a unique character's powers, it works great. It's a poor fit to natural concept characters, however. The original definition of the Natural origin captured this concept well: technology that's still secret or guarded is something that belongs in the purview of a seperate kind of character: the Tech character. Teleportation technology, like for example nuclear fusion technology, relies not just on 'gear,' but on relatively exotic physics and carefully *controlled* technology.
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So, you're telling Manticore he shouldn't be a Natural, and instead should have been Technology... Solely because he was given access to the hospital grid teleportation, even though the rest of him is 100% Natural Archery?
Damage Proc Mini-FAQ
Just noticed Damage Proc Mini-FAQ wasn't working with new forums, it's been updated.
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So, you're telling Manticore he shouldn't be a Natural, and instead should have been Technology... Solely because he was given access to the hospital grid teleportation, even though the rest of him is 100% Natural Archery?
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I was actually thinking about this, and aren't Trick Arrows sorta tech? He uses some very expensive gadget arrows in the comics as I recall.
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My character Sovereign Savior (BS/Regen) is natural based on the fact that his original body was a typical human. It was the brain transplant thing that put him into another person's body that had powers to work with. So he combines both the new body's density manipulating capabilities given powers by this sword that is inseparable from the body...
The sword is a manifestation of Sov's passion to achieve his goal. His powers are a reflection of that in a sense...
Plus I chose Natural as a reflection of his orientation.
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Cool concept, and has a few elements in common with natural concept characters, sounds like. The concept is pretty far removed from the natural concept, but that doesn't make it any less cool. Some of the best science, tech, and mutant concept characters mix in elements that naturals focus on, for the same reasons naturals themselves are interesting-- we can identify with them better.
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So, you're telling Manticore he shouldn't be a Natural, and instead should have been Technology... Solely because he was given access to the hospital grid teleportation, even though the rest of him is 100% Natural Archery?
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- When was I talking to Manticore? Wouldn't talking to a character from a video game make me crazy? Why would somebody in-character have a conversation with Manticore about traits of characters in some video game?
- Why are you pretending I've said anything about whether an in-game character has the 'wrong' origin? (Hint: I discussed appropriateness of particular powersets to certain concepts, not characters-to-'Origins.') How did you miss the part where I made this clear about what I'm talking about: "...natural concept characters as I defined them, to whom not all powersets are equally appropriate."
Teleportation is inappropriate to natural concept characters-- it's an exotic power deriving from a guarded/secret technology, which divorces it from natural concept characters, but leaves it plenty of room among high-tech, gadgeteer, hard-science-fictinoney, iron-man-like character concepts, just the same way, for example, tactical nukes or powered flight would. Natural concepts revolve around a *lack* of powers that are rare among everyday humans from planet earth, early 21st century-- a definition which is extremely important and resilient regardless of nonsequitur objections like "Well, couldn't lazer eyebeams be 'natural' to people from the planet Zeist?" or "Well, isn't it just possible that an average joe could find a tactical nuke rifle on his front porch, delivered by mistake?"
Also, BTW, since you solicited it, yes the implicit question: If Manticore teleports despite being intended (I assume we agree on this) as a natural concept character, it definitely weakens his concept. Another good example, if you'd wanted to raise this (non-)objection, would have been Statesman, who I get the impression was intended as a natural concept character. But invulnerability is extremely inappropriate to natural concept characters clad in just spandex and an aluminum mask-- for exactly the same reasons you'd never see Batman try and go toe to toe with Superman under the marquis of queensbury. Manticore and States are weakened conceptually to the extent that they try to draw on the natural concept mystique-- because in practice they don't manage to do it (actually, I thought Manticore did fine in the comic, but I don't recall him teleporting). I think they're better showcased as intermediate concepts, and as such are not weak at all.
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters
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aside from a few purists, people said that things like aliens were Natural origin since from their planet they are nothing special. I beleive even a dev posted in that thread agreeing with it.
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If a Dev said so at that time, I wonder why they turned around and published a manual definition that explicitly referenced humans and the limits of human ability.
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Just to provide factual context, I believe this is the in-game description of Natural origin:
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A natural hero isn't "super" at all; his amazing talents are derived from intense training and innate abilities. He may have been guided since birth to become the physical specimen that he is, or perhaps some tragedy has driven him to seek perfection.
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While I can certainly see the genre "staple" of a non-superpowered human in this, nowhere does it mention humans explicitly.
I suspect it is the "innate abilities" part that many (including perhaps the redname from long ago) pick up on to explain the more super superpowers.
My 2 cents on travel powers:
Take whichever one you want. Explaining it away, is of course, on you...but since the origens are all single-cast, I feel there's some wiggle room.
Cable is a mutant. I'd use Mutant as his origen. However, his principle form of transportation for most of his early career was contacting his Orbital Satelite and saying "Bodyslide by one," and teleporting. Just saying, though his teleporting was becasue of technology, he's still a mutant.
It's also not completely unreasonable, especially on Virtue or RP based communites (where this whole thing is pretty much implied towards anyways) to simply default to "magic shoes. They were a gift." Or "Legion Flight Ring." Or...spring boots...or something.
The point is, as long as you're patient enough to explain yourself again. And again. And Again. It's all gravy.
Enantiodromos' Guide to Making
A Natural Concept Character
I. Introduction
II. Power sets
.... Whole Builds List
III. Story
.... Drive
.... Other Traits
.... Assembly
IV. Costumery
INTRODUCTION
This guide is advice to help you build a concept-character natural for City of Heroes. The two key things to a character in city of Heroes are Power sets, and Story. It's understood that this is not a guide the average starting player is desperately seeking-- mainly because nobody really cares about the origins *or* about the "Natural Concept Character" as I discuss it here. This guide is more of an end unto itself.
POWERSETS
First of all, let's talk about what makes a power set what it is, for the purpose of concepts. Three things contribute; appearance, which is to say the animations the set has, and function-- what it does in the abstract-- that is, hurts a lot, tips battles in your favor, bamboozles the enemy, and finally, how the power set is traditionally portrayed and self-described in the manual.
While it's true, for example, that the "Radiation Emission" power set describes itself as superhuman powers involving emission of hard radiation, we don't have to think about it this way. For example, if we can imagine magical spells involving green bubbling light (easy), and can imagine them healing, buffing, and debuffing (easy), then we should have no problem building a magical spell using character who takes the radiation set.
Next, to identify natural power sets, we need to cover what a natural is: a natural is a person without access to distinctively, impressively superhuman abilities. That's correct, it's oriented to humans-- not at all because there are no nonhumans in the setting, but only because we, the players, are human. The category exists because we all love a story about a hero who is, ability-wise, an average Joe like ourselves-- somebody we can imagine actually being. The concept has all sorts of precedent in the superhero genre and others. Natural concept characters do not have access to technology or bodily powers that are emphatically beyond that of normal humans. They definitely carry gadgets. They do not carry super-science gadgets (energy-creating transistors), which are the purview of technology. They may be amazingly strong-- world-class power lifters are-- but not superhumanly strong-- able to pick up cars one-handed.
So, as far as power sets go, we're looking for sets that have animations and/or function that best fit the kinds of things we expect a normal human to be able to do.
Ideal Sets:
Archery is a perfect set on any natural. Though it implies some dabbling in chemical munitions (Flaming Arrow, Exploding Arrow), and sometimes makes teammates wonder where you carry all those arrows (hey, we can't help it if they won't give us a quiver costume option!), all the powers in the set basically involve you using your impressive archery skills to shoot somebody down. Damage is lethal, which at high levels can be a touch annoying, but the set has great range and very good AoE damage capacity.
A flawless natural set-- lot of kicking people, basically. Has some nice built-in controls-- the disorients particularly in Cobra Strike and Eagle's Claw, and the immob/slow in Crippling Axe Kick. The damage is all smashing, and its only AoE is Dragon's Tail. Still, it's a single-target powerhouse.
Another flawless set for a natural, you sling a huge sword slowly but devastatingly. Broadsword is all about burst lethal damage. With Whirling Sword and Headsplitter, has some nice opportunities to hit several badguys at once. Also has a nice defensive bonus in Parry.
Another flawless set for a natural, Katana is a lighter, straight, chisel-point sword of the sort we can all picture a Ninja or Samurai using. Nice defensive bonus in Divine Avalanche. Comes on a little lighter, but faster, than broadsword.
Another flawless set for naturals to take, Battle Axe has solid single target and area lethal damage for a tanker, with a lot of knockdown, which is itself pretty nice mitigation.
Another set that works fine for a natural, but widely regarded as relatively weak as tanker secondaries go, with slow animations and weak damage. Has some fair stuns and knockdowns though. Involves whacking people with a big stick.
Everything in Super Reflexes makes perfect or nearly perfect sense for a natural. Even evasion, lucky, and quickness are fine on a natural. The set's oriented to defense and gives up nearly all resistance for high defense. You need to take most of the set to have good defenses. Not the set to take if you want to be super-tough to start with, but very effective in the long run anyhow, especially in conjunction with ATs with a touch of healing to spam.
This pool, which offers the nigh-universally loved benefit of stamina, is extremely appropriate on any natural character. Moreover, the first three powers in the pool, though not flashy, are more useful than most people make them out to be. Swift is a nice way to improve your speed on foot in indoor missions unless you're a super-speeder. Hurdle is a great addition to any super-speeder. Health , though unlikely to save your life, is great for incrementally reducing downtime between fights. Finally, Stamina is a much-sought-after boost to your endurance recovery. Naturals often take either superspeed or no movement power, and are not typically running self-heals.
Leadership is another great pool power for naturals. All the powers in it make sense for a natural to have. Maneuvers is fairly weak except for team play where many people are using it at once. Assault is a nice bonus to your team's damage. Tactics is a great way to add a little extra accuracy to yourself and your entire team. And vengeance, can be quite powerful-- though only assuming you expect to often have a dead teammate to work with. First priorities are Assault and Tactics.
The presence pool makes perfect sense, for a natural character, as well. A mix of taunts and fears, presence is really the only pool method for adding mezzes to a character. However, none of the powers is overwhelmingly powerful, so I wouldn't build them into a character without a good reason.
Completely appropriate sets:
Invulnerability is a good set on a natural, making one HUGE assumption, which is that your character's costume includes some sort of suit of heavy armor to explain his invulnerability. The only power in the set that is a little odd for a Natural is Dull Pain, the self-heal. I think you can still take the power without breaking a Natural concept. You *can* also get away with an invulnerability build that doesn't use DP, though you're hurting yourself a bit.
Devices is, in the main, a great set on a natural. There're a couple powers in the set-- cloaking device, targeting drone, autoturret, that seem to push the envelope a bit into the science-fictioney territory of Tech. Still, it's probably the best set for a Natural blaster secondary.
Trick Arrow is, a lot like archery, a great set on a natural defender or controller. The only difficulty comes in with the questions of EMP arrow and Disruption Arrow-- which, rather like some of the Devices powers, look more like Tech powers than Natural. You can skip them, or, if you take them, I don't think they by themselves ruin a Natural character.
Assault Rifle is a great power set for a natural, with one drawback, which is the thing everyone complains about with AR anyway: the appearance of the weapon you draw. It's sort of dorky looking. And when you come right down to it, a touch exotic to have all that functionality in one weapon. Still, there's nothing really super-science about any of the AR powers, and you have great area and good single-target damage, mostly lethal and fire.
Claws can work for a natural character, especially assuming your character has some sort of brass knuckles with big claws on them, and is a practiced knife-thrower. I find the claws redraw and shockwave slightly bothersome on a Natural, but for the most part, this set is great. Has decent single-target and good area lethal damage.
Adequate sets:
Energy Manipulation works better than you might at first think, essentially because all the powers are either boxing-like with oddball side animations similar to Dark and Energy Melee, or they're self-buffs that don't do anything clearly superhuman by themselves. Not really a bad choice at all on a Natural Blaster. Also widely considered the strongest blaster secondary.
Empathy is an odd but mainly tolerable power to include on a natural character. In a perfectly realistic world, the notion of a natural doctor running ranged single-target massive heals, or point-blank area heals, is more than a little awkward. But these powers tend to slip under the radar with the help of the long convention/tradition of people playing nurse-so-and-so, doctor so-and-so, as a natural empath. Many of the powers work fine-- clear mind, fortitude, and adrenaline boost. The worst of the natural-breaking powers in the set, absorb pain and regeneration aura, can be skipped, though. Empathy's a reasonably effective all-buff set that requires a lot of clicks and is seriously overestimated by most players.
Kinetics is an interesting choice for naturals; it doesn't include a lot of super-bright glowy animations-- certainly nothing beyond the marginal effect cues we expect out of powers like leadership and tactics. Most of the power in most of the set can be construed as tactical advice, planning, and on-the-fly team coordination. The worst offenders in the set, with an interpretation like this, are probably transfusion, repel, inertial reduction, and transference. You could perhaps explain repel (the most skippable power in the set) as a specialized martial art. Kinetics is a set you have to decide for yourself how much you can take and suspend your disbelief. On the up side, it's probably one of the most powerful sets in the game, whether on a defender or controller, in a team or solo. Given this, surprisingly few people are really aware of its ubarness.
Energy Melee is a great set for a natural, that has a lot of punching moves making you look like a boxer, which is fantastic on a Natural concept character, especially if you can sort of get over the fact that your hands are glowing. (Hey-- Martial Arts makes your feet glow in the game, too, so, deal with it.) There's no one thing in the set you really need to avoid, and it has great damage and great mitigation via its disorients.
Mind Control's a great set for a natural character; most of its animations are short and slight, if not completely invisible, and most of them lend themselves pretty strongly to interpretation as persuasion, intimidation, trickery, and mesmerism. The two powers that don't particularly fit this mould, Levitate and Telekinesis, are very skippable.
Illusion Control slides by because it describes itself as involving stealth, trickery, deception, smoke, and mirrors. Between masterful trickery and low-tech gadgetry, a few of the powers in Illusion-- Blind, Deceive, Flash, and Superior Invisibility, are pretty believable as natural powers. The rest are less so, and push the envelope on being magical powers. If group invisibility is careful deployment and group coordination, I can also see it fitting in. Also, if you're always playing in teams anyhow, phantom army and phantasm work very well as simple misdirection based on your other teammates; a point that goes over well if you don't make a point of advertising how well you solo.
Superstrength is a set that can work for a natural character. There's a lot of outright brawling to it without weird animations. There're a few powers-- handclap, hurl, and footstomp, that don't make quite as much sense, but aren't terrible and are largely skippable (I wouldn't really skip footstomp). Gives you some tools to control the enemy, too, with a hold in KO blow, and knockdown in Punch, Haymaker, and Foot Stomp.
Medicine is an interesting set that, technically, seems awfully tech, but hey-- it's called medicine for a reason-- they have, of course, an animation that involves getting out a medical "tricorder" (is what it looks like to me, anyhow). All the powers are essentially fine for a natural with medical training to take. None of them are overwhelmingly strong, though situationally, they can definitely have their uses.
Dubious sets:
Fire Manipulation. You carry around... a tank of kerosene and a bunch of matches. Oh-- and a sword wrapped in kerosene waiting to be ignited. Convinced? Well, I'm not either, entirely, but I can't really call this one totally out of the question. Blazing Aura and Hotfeet probably make even less sense on a natural. It might be well to try and make yourself look like you're wearing a haz-mat suit if you want to play a /fire manip natural blaster. Anyhow, you still get buildup and the marginally plausible fire swords. It's not a complete waste-- besides which, I think most people skip most of the stuff in /fire anyhow.
Like Fire Manipulation, Fire control requires a lot of suspending disbelief, but can still be weakly doable, especially if you have a strong secondary in mind. Again, probably a fireproof suit and/or a pyromaniac personality helps this seem plausible. Some of the least plausible powers, though, are some of the best in the set-- hot feet and fire imps. The most plausible ones, Ring of Fire, Char, Smoke, Bonfire, really can't make a strong controller by themselves. If you want to do this, I recommend RoFire, Char, Fire Cages, Smoke, Flashfire, and Bonfire, and infinite patience dealing with people freaking out about why you didn't take Fire Imps, if you plan to play the character past 32.
Dark Melee, especially if you look past the smoky wisps it generates, is a pretty nice set for a natural. The first three powers, much like some of Energy Melee, make you look like a boxer-- one of the best natural looks there is. Touch of Fear and the Taunt can both probably be construed as forms of personal intimidation. Siphon Life, Dark Consumption, and Soul Drain are all a little harder to explain on a natural-- they might thematically work on a character that always fights against impossible odds and never gives up, but the animations may not totally support that interpretation. Of the three, I get the impression only Siphon Life is very skippable. Midnight grasp is even harder to live with, as an animation on a natural, and I don't think it's especially skippable.
Regeneration, beginning to end, provides enormous health recovery power. A character can take inhuman amounts of damage, and just keep healing it back. The trick here is, you can explain some of it away, much as with Dark Melee, as cinematic "grit." You just keep coming back for more. Still, that only goes so far. IMO, Regeneration works best on a highly offense-oriented concept natural build. It's also, however, a darn strong secondary. I don't know the set well enough to make strong recommendations about what is skippable.
Concealment is a great natural pool, for stealth and/or invisibility. The powers are, conceptually, interchangeable for the most part, and either can be explained as either stealthiness or as having a "secret identity." After all, you don't see Behemoth Overlords harassing every stupid pedestrian that wanders by. If you're a normal looking Joe in plainclothes, this could make a lot of sense for you, too, as somebody who's invisible. Grant Invisibility and Phase Shift are a lot harder to explain, however, which is why the pool takes the category of "dubious."
WHOLE BUILDS LIST
Completely Appropriate Blasters:
Archery/Devices (A good soloist)
Assault Rifle/Devices
Archery/Energy Manip (Strong AoE and range.)
Adequate Blasters:
Assault Rifle/Energy Manip (Strong AoE.)
Archery/Fire Manipulation (Weird to play, lots of AoE.)
Assault Rifle/Fire Manipulation (Weird to play, lots of AoE.)
Adequate controllers:
Mind/Trick Arrow (Massive single-target control)
Illusion/Trick Arrow (Well balanced combo.)
Mind/Empathy (Heavy team safety)
Mind/Kinetics (Impressively powerful group or solo controller)
Illusion/Empathy (Newly popular build.)
Illusion/Kinetics (Potentially very powerful.)
Fire/Trick Arrow
Dubious Controllers
Fire/Empathy
Fire/Kinetics (Potentially extremely powerful.)
Completely Appropriate Defenders
Trick Arrow/Archery
Empathy/Archery
Kinetics/Archery (Potentially extremely powerful late-game lethal AoE damage offender.)
Ideal Scrappers
MA/SR
Broadsword/SR (Effective, but very gambler-ish)
Katana/SR (Effective, classy, very Ninja.)
Completely Appropriate Scrappers
Claws/SR
MA/Invuln
Broadsword/Invuln
Katana/Invuln
Claws/Invuln
Adequate Scrappers
Dark Melee/Super Reflexes
MA/Regen
Broadsword/Regen
Katana/Regen
Dark Melee/Invuln
Claws/Regen
Dubious Scrappers
Dark Melee/Regen
Completely Appropriate Tanks
Invuln/Battle Axe
Invuln/War Mace
Adequate Tanks
Invuln/Energy Melee
Invuln/Super-strength
STORY
Now we come to the other great half of building a Natural Concept character in City of Heroes. This aspect is a little harder to give great advice on. Let's start with some of our favorite Natural Superheroic characters:
Robin Hood
Yeah, he's pre-comic-book era. Robin Hood, as he's known in conventional retellings, is certainly a shoe-in for superhero; using trickery, skills as a woodsman and archer, in name of justice, righting wrongs. In genesis, the Robin Hood myth has to do with anti-monarchal banditry practiced by middle-class farmers, later distilled into a single character who later still was attributed many of the traits we think of today-- robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, being the dispossessed lord of Loxley and defender of the rightful king (Richard), when the latter was away during the crusades, as well as being a sort of Anglo-Saxon hero against the conquering Normans (a trait you don't hear as much about). Later reprised in the hero Green Arrow.
Jean Valjean
What? Another pre-comic-book character? Definitely. Jean Valjean is a Tank-like Natural hero, or anti-hero, before ever there was a Batman, Punisher, or anything of the sort. He rescues men he has good reason to hate from otherwise inevitable dooms in the septic sewers beneath Paris. He lifts a cart off an elderly man and saves his life. He has incredible compassion, incredible strength, toughness, agility, and willpower, he has incredible drive, and incredible guilt to match. He maintains a Secret Identity. He engages in daring rooftop escapes. He scares off a den of thieves armed to the teeth by pulling a hot poker from the fire and laying it to his own arm as he delivers his soliloquy. Jean Valjean is among the first and greatest superheroes, and he's a Natural Concept character.
Doc Savage
Doc savage, a Natural Concept character, arguably *is* the genesis of the comic-book superhero, who combines the natural abilities of Tarzan and similar "nature boy" physical specimens with the formidable intellect of a Sherlock Holmes, comprehensive scientific education, intensive martial arts training, and vast wealth.
Batman
Batman's a staple of the modern genre. Yes, he uses a lot of gear, some of it being so high tech that it borders on being more like an Iron Man or the like. But what makes Batman tick, not to mention victorious, is his brilliant mind, his intensive martial arts training, his relentless personal drive (or, personal demons), his wealth, his sneakiness, his powers of intimidation, his connections, his foresight, his patience-- all things we can imagine having ourselves without falling into vats of strange chemicals.
Ozymandias
Look on my works, ye mighty, and tremble! Ozymandias is a hero-- because there is, in the end, no morality that is not utilitarian. And like every hero, his efforts are indeed doomed to failure; the victory he achieves over human-made miseries of war and suffering, is clearly not to last. But his brilliance, his foresight, his intensive training and agility, his wealth and connections, seem until the very end to put him in the same league with vastly more powerful figures like Dr. Manhattan.
And the list goes on-- Electra, the Punisher, Lex Luthor, the Kingpin of Crime, Rorschach, to name a few more of the ones I've enjoyed.
There're several things we see recurring in these stories. Intellect, intense martial arts training, money, sneakiness. To assemble our character's story, first we want a list of traits of this sort-- things all Natural Heroes have in common, so we can weave them together.
DRIVE
More than anything else, what these characters have in common is intense personal drive. Some, like early Doc Savage and archetypal Ozymandias, do what they do out of a sense of responsibility to what's right and good. Many others, though, have darker passions that, at least in part, drive them to push to the limits of what's possible. Frankly, we may sometimes wonder whether they're crazy. For good reason.
Robinhood, whose influence is felt in so many comic-book superheroes, is a plainly political, class- and even in fact ethnic-struggle oriented hero. Comicbooks proper have usually been politics-light, but the earlier Robinhood, in his truest sense, had intense motives like any political revolutionary, e.g., Guy Fawkes or even his modern descendant V (for Vendetta).
Valjean is pursued relentlessly by guilt over his initial imaginary crime-- which he himself can scarcely remember, and over his mistreatment of a chimney sweep. He's also pursued by his unquenchable gratitude to the man of the cloth who took him in and then forgave and protected him after he returned the kindness by trying to steal from him.
Batman is of course driven by the nightmare memory of the death of his wealthy parents at the hands of muggers in a crime-ridden and impoverished portion of the city.
Others, like Electra, Punisher, and Rorschach, more than toy with being outright insane, as do most villains (including Natural ones), owing to the lax imaginations of their authors.
Because motive is such a big part of a Natural concept character, it's important to find good ones and build them strongly into your story.
Possible Motives:
If the character is someone who's intensely aware that he can really enact change, this itself can become an almost irresistible urge-- an urge to express and enact one's own moral vision, because... well, you can. Megalomania with a conscience.
Most non-sociopaths like to be told that they're doing the right thing. If you frankly thrive on the heat of battle, the chance to really beat the tar out of somebody, at the risk of getting tar beat out of you yourself, there's pretty much one socially acceptable way to seek those kinds of thrills-- beating up criminals and other major threats.
It's hard to imagine that at least some superheroes fight crime because they're paid and praised to do so. There's nothing reprehensible about that. We don't look down our noses at cops and firefighters who risk their necks to save us-- and get paid well and rightfully lauded as Heroes to do so.
Lots of the most classic heroes are relentlessly driven to do something about the wrongs of the past, even and in fact *especially* if they can never really right those wrongs. The more out of reach fixing the original sin is, the more desperately they pursue it.
OTHER TRAITS
Among the other traits a natural character is likely to have:
It's usually well, if you want to say that such and such a character is unusually smart, that you either establish that he comes from unusually smart parents, or that his parents and background were (indeed painfully) lacking in anyone as smart as the character.
If a character is a brilliant forensic detective or battlefield tactician, the question you should ask is, where did he get that experience? The character may have fought in the Rikti wars, lived amidst crime all his life, been a soldier or mercenary or cop or police detective.
If you have great physical strength and/or stamina, how'd you get it? Running a treadmill hooked up to electrodes? Working out at Muscle Beach? Practicing for the Olympics? Studying under the grueling dictates of a traditional martial arts regime of exercise and practice?
If you're crazy, you should go do research on mental illness, so you can know what kinds of manageable insanity could be compatible with fighting crime. Delusional episodes, manic phases of a bipolar disorder, fugue states, are all possibilities. The titular detective from the TV show Monk is a great example. With only a slight stretch of the imagination we can imagine a character flying into murderous manic rage when confronted with injustice.
How'd you make your money? It's easy enough to say that you inherited a gold mine given to your father by grateful natives rescued in Central America, or that he was a philanthropist and successful industrialist. Or that your genius allowed you to make a fortune day trading on Wallstreet. Regardless, all these have implications for your back history and motives.
ASSEMBLY
By the time you have the basis of your motives and other traits assembled in a list, reverse engineering the basic outline of your back history is should be easy. This constitutes the plot of your background. Now, just lightly season it with tried and true details everyone finds juicy; clever deceptions, struggles with authorities, rescues, mistaken identities, conspiracies, unusual love affairs, crimes, deaths and suicides, gain and loss of honor.
COSTUMERY
For a natural toon, there's not much to this, with the caveat that you may as well stick to the male and female builds, eschewing the huge build, and that you can forget about a large portion of the head details, third eyes, horns, antennae-- unless they're part of a helmet, say-- as well as the bio, rock and probably most of the higher-tech textures for armor, torso, and legs. A skin color in the first three rows should be mandatory. But don't hesitate to dress up in heavy armor, weird leather, or weird spandex, to your heart's content. Being a natural does not mean having good taste-- in fact probably some Naturals, competing in the field of mutants, science accidents, wizards, robots, and power-suit guys, would be trying to stand out as much as possible, just to "fit in."
Choosing a Controller V2 | Splattrollers | Plant/Rad | Fire/Storm | Mind/Emp & Mind/Rad
Weird Controller Powers | Conf & XP/Time | Controller Damage
Being a Healer | The word Necessary | Natural Concept Characters