I had a fire-based character (he was a fire/invuln brute, but I deleted him and if I were to recreate him I'd probably go with a fire/fire blaster) who was a Natural origin.
The concept was that he was a virtuoso fire-dancer. Mastering sleight of hand allowed him to create optical illusions with the fire (the sword), and dealing with hundreds of burns and toxic fluids made him quite resistant to pain (invuln).
I felt it was plausible, as the context goes.
I think this guide was just suppose to be about building a 'natural' concept (not origin) based on what natural means in our world, not the CoX world.
So no flight packs because flight packs in our world are still very high-tech (and still fairly impracticle).
That said, I do kinda wonder how useful this is, given CoX characters live in the CoX world and are therefore confronted with a whole bunch of concept-breaking temptations. If you took a 'natural' hero from our world, ran them through a CoX mission that resulted in a flight pack - how do you explain not using it?
In the CoX world, this guide would have you building a Luddite (who, it is worth noting, can breath fire *smiles*).
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That said, I do kinda wonder how useful this is, given CoX characters live in the CoX world and are therefore confronted with a whole bunch of concept-breaking temptations. If you took a 'natural' hero from our world, ran them through a CoX mission that resulted in a flight pack - how do you explain not using it?
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No matter how open ended CoH is, it is a video game. And, as such, there are rules that have to be layed down, and there is only so much time that the devs can spend on things. Guides, such as this one, serve only to show people how a concept they like in comics, (which is not nearly as limited as a video game), can fit into the CoH/V world. As said, I thought the guide was great.
To further explain, let's take Batman. For this purpose, let's throw out the argument of whether he is "tech" or "natural" origin, and just focus on the fact that he is a mortal, a human being who has pushed himself to the limits that can be reached.
There have been many instances in the comics where Batman got ahold of a magic talisman, or some exotic weaponry, and used it to defeat the villain. Does this mean he is no longer of "natural concept"? Not at all. He was granted an extra piece of tech, or magic, that would normally be outside of his reach. Nothing wrong with that. He is still the same human that pushed himself to the limits. And, in next months episode, he more than likely wont have said tech or talisman.
This is no different from us getting a temp power in game. My Earth/FF Controller can summon wolves. Could he do that on his own? Nope. But he was given a whistle as a gift, so he can use it. If you get a jetpack, you can use it. If you really don't want to, then you can delete it. (shrugs)
Now, if these abilities were permanent, THAT might raise some eyebrows. But they aren't, thus, the core of the character remains, even after the temp power is gone.
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In the CoX world, this guide would have you building a Luddite (who, it is worth noting, can breath fire *smiles*).
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In the CoX world, this guide would have you building a Scrapyarder (who, it is worth noting, cannot breath fire *smiles*) 
Seriously though, you replied to Contempt, who just explained how he had a natural hero with fire powers. And, I think that's a very neat, (did I just say "neat"?), take on it. After all, fire dancers, and yes, fire breathers, have been around for centuries. I would say that his character, as described, DOES fit the natural concept, and in rather interesting fashion, I might add.
We often sit and think of you,
We often speak your name;
There is nothing left to answer,
But your photo in the frame.
-Anon.
I can't believe I read the whole thread. OK, I skimmed some parts.
Enantiodromos, great guide and an interesting read. If you decide to post a new version some day, I'd suggest rethinking the term "natural concept". If you could rewrite it without using the words "natural" or "origin" at all, a lot of idiocy could be avoided. Maybe put a very clear disclaimer at the bottom, too, saying something like: "NOTE: While many Exceptional Human (or whatever) concepts work well with Co*'s Natural Origin, there is no direct relationship between the two. Not all Exceptional Humans must be of Natural Origin, and not all Natural Origin characters must be Exceptional Humans."
"Exceptional Human" is pretty lame, but there must be a phrase out there somewhere that still sounds cool without causing all this confusion.
I'd also recommend your upcoming Science Accident guide, if any, try to work around using the word "science". That's even harder to come up with a lame substitute for. Maybe just Bizarre Accident. Something like that. Just a suggestion. Don't want all this stupidity happening all over again, even if Science is a much less controversial Origin.
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My thoughts on /Ninjitsu, having a (Natural Origin, not that it matters 
) Ninja/Ninja Stalker myself:
Eh, I think it's fine as part of a "natural origin" concept. It doesn't fit 100%. I guess I would call it "appropriate" but not "ideal", because of the Kuji-In powers. They're a tidge pseudo-mystical for my tastes, what with the spellcasting-type gestures and glowing light. But really, even those can count as natural concept. What is a self heal, but drawing on inner reserves of fighting strength? On one hand, it doesn't make sense that you can now get hit a couple more times with a 50 pound sledgehammer before getting knocked out, but then again, it doesn't make sense that you can get hit 6 times with that same sledgehammer without dropping in the first place. Going from 6 to 9 hits doesn't break the concept. As for Retsu (though I don't have it yet), same thing.
All the other powers in the set, no problems. Heck, maybe it's "ideal" after all. Those two powers just look a little weird ... they don't require any more suspension of disbelief than, say, Rain of Arrows.
Interesting how this thread has sucked me in. Probably since I started my natural concept toon (an archery/dev blaster)...thankfully I have a remarkable SG that puts up with my lack of travel power.
I was curious though. If the devs ever put in say store bought jetpacks with a usage limitation rather than a timed limitation. Would that crossover too much into tech origin to utilize. Note: that repurchasing the jetpack would translate to refueling.
Incidently, I'm just curious what your take would be. I'm actually happy with my 3 slotted sprint, swift, hurdle combo for the moment.
I like the post, I disagree with the title of a "natural" concept character. That's been re-hashed a lot, but it's really a natural HUMAN concept character. That's an assumption not every natural character has to make.
Superman is the obvious example. For a Kryptionian, he is natural. My Kinetic defender is 100% natural and training too. He's from a planet that is light years away from Earth. Not bashing your guide at all, it's a great one, and I play one of these types of characters (MA/Invuln, no travel powers, Pro Wrestler turned to all forms of Martial Arts to extract revenge). I find the most fun of the "natural", "skill-based", whatever you want to call it, is finding the ways in your character to explain your skills/powers. There's the rub, if you can find an explanation you like, it's all good.
a.k.a. Eagle_Thunder
Rule #1 - If your build is fun for you, it's a good build.
(Freedom)
Lord Magnuss - 31 Fire/Fire Tanker, Leader of Fireteam Magnuss
Eagle Thunder - 33 Elec/En Blaster
MediDroid DOC - 22 Emp/En Defender
(Justice)
Pax Imperia - 34 Merc/FF Mastermind
ICF_Zombra
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I'd suggest rethinking the term "natural concept". If you could rewrite it without using the words "natural" or "origin" at all, a lot of idiocy could be avoided. ...disclaimer at the bottom, too, saying something like: "NOTE: While many Exceptional Human (or whatever) concepts work well with Co*'s Natural Origin, there is no direct relationship between the two...."
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Lord_Magnuss
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I disagree with the title of a "natural" concept character. ... it's really a natural HUMAN concept character. ...Superman is the obvious example.[1]
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I appreciate the desire to see confusion avoided, but the job I set for myself is to clarify a concept that belongs very properly to CoH. Avoiding what's passed for 'confusion' here (which is actually, ranting about paranoia-conjured criticisms that were never made, and clinging to a patently meaningless concept when there's a meaningful one at hand), is *at best* a distraction from that job.
The situation was already confused-- by the change in the definition of the origin. I can't take the blame for it being confusing, but I can present naturals clearly, which is what I've done here. There really aren't two ideas of reference, "natural origin [current definition]," and "natural concept [my definition]," because the former is devoid of menaing, to the point that objecting that it's an idea worthy of even a footnote is nonsense. It's completely flimsy and beneath discussion, except as a distraction.
Meanwhile, the term 'natural' applies quite well to natural concept characters as I've outlined them, and is extremely relevant (witness CoH's inception w/ an explicit natural concept definition for the natural origin). I simply emphasize its relevance by talking about the concept directly, since it's what the origin was and should be.
[1] And natural concepts are oriented to familiar modern humans, and never aliens or anything else, and this isn't something you can disagree with me about since it's not an invention of mine, it's just a highly intuitive component of the superhero genre (although you're certainly free to sneer at the tendency of authors to create characers we can identify with on certain levels.) This doesn't mean people who're from other planets can't be natural concept characters-- only that their exotic alien-ness can't be the explanation of their powers if we're calling them natural concept characters (another good example of this is the defunct but fantastic comic "Alien Legion."). Characters with exotic powers derived from their alienness are *obviously* alien concept characters, which is what Superman is. Superman in fact is one of the best possible examples of what a natural is *not*-- he has utterly transhuman powers in such abundance that it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be him or identify with him at all-- which is exactly what natural concepts are about. This bit has been discussed previously in the thread, but I didn't want you to think I'd missed points you were making in the post I quoted.
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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If the devs ever put in say store bought jetpacks with a usage limitation rather than a timed limitation. Would that crossover too much into tech origin to utilize.
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Again, it's not so much a question of what's available per the game, but of what appears to be the norm. If there were any significant fraction of regular paragon residents evident on the streets operating jetpacks and flying cars, that's the point at which jetpacks would become off-the-shelf-ish for the purpose of knowing what fits a natural concept well.
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
It's also worth remembering that the origins aren't always clear-cut in the source comics, either. Beast was always a mutant, but a science experiment mutated him still further - is he science now, or still a mutant? The Scarlet Witch's mutation gives her the ability to use chaos magic. Red Tornado was, until recently, an air elemental in a robot body - is that technology, magic, or natural, given that he's literally directly created by the cosmos as a whole? Hell, how do you define a demon if its natural ability confers magic? Or what about (bleah) Cable?
My only comment is, Natural is something that comes natural to your character. If your character has developed psychic abilities, he can be considered a Natural. I consider Gravity Control and Mind Control to be Natural-able sets.
I have a fire/fire blaster who is "natural" because of the fruit from One Piece. The fruit occurs naturally, though rarely, and gives whoever eats it strange powers. Like stretching or turning into fire.