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Good job...shall we start a comprehensive list of the ones we want then?
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A Master list will be included in the aforementioned "Back Story Power Pools V. 2.0".
Off the top of my head, here are the ideas:
Rogue: Increases Newspaper Mission fun.
Student: Dedicate one's self to sidekick.
Mentor: Dedicate one's self to teaching others.
Genius: Receives Items at an increased pace.
Lone Wolf: Excellent for Soloing Missions.
Divine: Receives minimal punishments for death, enabling a "reckless" playing style.
Merchant: Favors Story Contacts, with whom purchases and sales are very profitable.
and more when I think of them...
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Not a bad concept. They're independent of combat and largely innate and you've kept their proposed values to be moderate, yet valuable rewards. I'd only be concerned that the absolute lack of combat value may make anyone spending 3 slots here to be labled "combat gimp" by some groups. I think THAT would be unfair... I don't doubt that the hero could still function well on some difficulty levels, but the impact of these selections will have to be weighed to insure that players aren't paying too high a price in combat performance for their out-of-combat benefits
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That was a concern of mine as well. My counter-argument to the "power-gimp" idea is that some players would be ingratiating themselves through the clever use of these powers.
Rogues would be invaluable to any pick up group that wants to do a Safeguard/Mayhem mission, and would you say "no" to a Student that has buffed out their "Protective" power? Merchant powers would be moot either way, unless of course a clever Merchant leveraged their powers into constantly green SOs. At which point, who would complain?
As far as Lone Wolf? That power pool is in there for people that don't want to put up with pick up groups.
Speaking from the perspective of someone who is a Mastermind dedicated to their pets, I often finding myself staring at the Power Selection screen thinking "But I don't WANT more fighting skills."
They aren't a great idea for those that are combat oriented. They will, however, promote Alt-itis to the nTh degree.
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Hmm, maybe these could be a set of 'inherents' you get at various levels to expand and diversify your character. Maybe have 5 powers to each backstory and then you get them at lvls 5, 15, 25, 35 and 45 (Or maybe somewhat earlier as they are backstory feats). One could call them 'feats' as to differentiate them from the "real" powers.
Torden - Lvl 50 Electric blast / Electric manipulation / Electric mastery Blaster - Triumph
General Thrax - Lvl 50 Mercenaries / Poison / Mace mastery Mastermind - Freedom
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Hmm, maybe these could be a set of 'inherents' you get at various levels to expand and diversify your character. Maybe have 5 powers to each backstory and then you get them at lvls 5, 15, 25, 35 and 45 (Or maybe somewhat earlier as they are backstory feats). One could call them 'feats' as to differentiate them from the "real" powers.
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This idea has been proposed, but I don't begrudge you for not reading 6 pages of month old post. 
Yeah, the common consensus is to make them inherents that are optional. A powerfully recommended idea by Empress is that these be Origins, alongside Magic, Science, and Natural.
Either way, the popular vote has people gradually and naturally learning them, as oppossed to choosing them over other powers.
Simply one of the best ideas I've read about for CoX. It will add so much more colour and flavour to your Heroes and Villains that Biographies and Background Stories will mean something not just in our imaginations, but rather also affect gameplay in a sense that still will not break the current gameplay mechanics.
I'd like to see these power pools implemented even before I9's Invention System, however, I'd also like these power pools to not come at the expense of the normal powers and certainly not at the expense of slots.
/signed-to-the-Nth-degree!
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
I'm shooting for i10. If it gets accepted, the Merchant can get a discount on the Consignment prices!
This is an exceptional idea, much in the vein of having a power pool that is associated with your origin (magic, tech, etc.)
The idea of Combat gimp is of a concern but I think secondary.
What if these 'Powers' were also availiable instead of 'x' number of slots. You can argue what 'x' should be and could be variable.
Obviously some builds are slot starved and others are power starved. If you keep these bonuses from these powers small I could very well see picking up some of them instead of adding more slots.
Now for my flame part (putting on flame shield on!). I think they should be set at character creation which pool you have access to and can't be respecced. (unless there was a cool accolade or TF like somekind of Time Warp thing which would give a roleplaying reason why your origin changed).
Otherwise I see some toons trying to use this in a PL way and once hitting 50 changing to the "Instructor" for instance.
Adding real abilities for roleplaying is the big step towards making a great game.
I really like your concept, a lot. Very well thought out indeed.
/signed
/signed
/signed
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Now for my flame part (putting on flame shield on!). I think they should be set at character creation which pool you have access to and can't be respecced. (unless there was a cool accolade or TF like somekind of Time Warp thing which would give a roleplaying reason why your origin changed).
Otherwise I see some toons trying to use this in a PL way and once hitting 50 changing to the "Instructor" for instance.
Adding real abilities for roleplaying is the big step towards making a great game.
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Your example is a good one, and I appreciate it. If you look back, you'll see that Empress has been suggesting that the BSPPs be part of the origins for a while now. It's a heavy belief of hers, and it interesects with this fear quite nicely. I think, in the previously mentioned V. 2.0 of this idea, I will mention in length the idea of this being an Origin story thing.
Heh, a Time Warp respec. I like the justification. It's amusing. It would still open the fear of abusing this, though. I do have to fear that.
As far as the idea of rewarding for roleplaying, I do think that this will reward that, and it will be an awesome thing, but my original concept was to allow players to explore the game in a nonconventional way. People like to solo, so I made Lone Wolf. Some people are addicted to Mayhem Missions, so I made Rogue. That was the original idea, but I do very much hope that this will strengthen roleplaying. 
/signed
/signed
First off, I'd like to say that I do like these ideas.
Secondly, I had a specific comment/suggestion regarding the "Student" pool:
As it's every student's aspiration to one day become the master, why not have the 4th (And 5th, and 6th, if they go that far) Ability in this pool give a bonus when SKing someone else? Alternatively, they could give bonuses when Exemplared. In this fashion, the pool would still be relevant at higer levels.
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Secondly, I had a specific comment/suggestion regarding the "Student" pool:
As it's every student's aspiration to one day become the master, why not have the 4th (And 5th, and 6th, if they go that far) Ability in this pool give a bonus when SKing someone else? Alternatively, they could give bonuses when Exemplared. In this fashion, the pool would still be relevant at higer levels.
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It is a good idea, and I will note it in thread 2.0. As my personal opinion, however, I was using Student to represent people that love learning more than mastering. A monk, who spends days studying the words of his holy text. A researcher, who travels the worlds, seeking knowledge of lost civilizations. A college student, who is undeclared in major. Those are the people I chose to represent.
Now, there have been several interpretations of this idea that allow for multiple BSPPs. What if one were to take Student and Instructor? That would work, would it not?
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/signed
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/signed
I'm sorry... Luminum, did you just bypass supporting the idea, opting instead to support the support?
Important
I have not yet made the V 2.0 of this suggestion, but the forum trims are coming soon. If you are an active fan of this thread, please post something, so as to keep this from being deleted.
Please, if possible, make it something of value, as filling this with fluff would be an equally bad move. Thank you.
Tobay:
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"...A powerfully recommended idea by Empress is that these be Origins, alongside Magic, Science, and Natural.
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Just to clarify.. I actually said the reverse.... that, infact.. Origins would be a part of the BSPPs, alongside Lone Wolf, Rogue, etc...
basically, at level zero, you get a "free" BSP, out of the BSPPs we currently can choose from called origins.
I want to make origins a part of the BSPPs, not BSPPs a part of a character's "Origin"
the logic, is that... for a new hero, the most important thing about him/her, is how they derived their powers (the current definition of "origin"). So, the first thing the common folk of Paragon/Isles would know about the latest bad bargin would be their classic origin.
however... for some characters, that origin just enabled them to do hero-work at a super human level (a long time cop getting cybernetic arms, for example)
where as other characters, their origin is their defining characteristic, and everything else is based on that (A young boy finding an ancient grimoire that enables him to cast elemental magic)
so, we need to have the (BSP) option to "evolve" the origins... to deepen their relavence to our characters BackStory.
thus... the origins each need their own BSPP along with the other, play style, BSPPs.
Origin's would now have meaning and relavence, to a certain degree, because when you get to whatever milestone enables you to first aquire BSPP's, you will already have the first level BSP for your origin pool. following the agreed upon "unlocking progression", this free power would enable you to take the 3rd power in your origin pool from the get go (basically giving you a jumpstart in that pool)
Of course, this would enable you to choose from Multiple origins (as all other origins would appear in the BSPPs) so you could "flesh out" the BackStory of, say A Magically Imbued Robot Ninja..... without being "stuck" with a single origin...
however, you dont HAVE TO evolve your origin, or select other origins at all... as there is still the full list of "play style" BSPPs, that you can use to better define your character...
with the limited number of BSPs selectable, and the system of unlocking, you are able to restrict mini-maxing behavior, while still allowing players the freedom to choose anything they want.
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I'm sorry... Luminum, did you just bypass supporting the idea, opting instead to support the support?
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Who supports the support, if not the supporters themselves?
Sounds pretty good.
/signed
I like the idea.
I'd want to see it in addition to the current powers structure; not as an alternative to existing pools. Some powerset combos are very slot-unforgiving - why should these characters have less "background" than others?
I agree with Crawler that Merchant is ... to put it bluntly ... bad. Anything that incentivizes switching alts to maximize profit = sucks. Muling is at a minimum in Co*; please please PLEASE don't give higher profits to people who mule.
Good luck. I wonder how similar this type of thing is to the old skills system that got scrapped.
Don't forget a skill somewhere in there for detecting enemies ... i.e. finding that last mob in Defeat Alls.
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Don't forget a skill somewhere in there for detecting enemies ... i.e. finding that last mob in Defeat Alls.
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It would either be in Rogue in Lone Wolf. I am also going to include, in V 2.0, Olympian (less fear of exp. debt and dying, nice for PvP and higher difficulties), Gadgeteer (Invention related, pending public release of information), Instructor (Student, but in reverse), and anything else people want to recommend.
Thank you all for your continued support! It's amazing to me that people still discuss this idea, more than a full month after it was put up!
Put this idea in your sig if you like it! Let's see if we can get a Dev to discuss it with us before I10 takes off!
/signed
Member: Mutant Force Five, Chaos Legion & Team Awesome
One thing I'd love to see is Origin-based power pools, but this is also beautiful! I think there should be a more categorised set of Background Power Pools and the powers you suggest are a little too strong for a power pool that might advance and be enhanced.
However, perhaps these Background Pools could be simplified to be somewhat like existing superhero RPG standards and traditions, rather than D&D RPG feats -- GURPS, White Wolf, and Hero Games (as well as Central Casting) have better systems anyway. This game is too much like a graphical LP-MUD anyway.
I'm not sure that these should operate as "click on" powers, but rather as alterable structures, sort of like enhancement management or base construction, except one alters ones characters situation in the civic sense.
Imagine either an enhancement set that does not permit powers but rather makes small adjustments to existing gameplay such as permitting a monthly influence revenue. An alternate concept is that one may begin with cards or tiles and place them around a square track or linear route boardgame-style. One may gain new cards/tiles as rewards or on a monthly basis. This would not overtly deal with subjects such as family and friends but generalised wealth, fame, study focus (not educational background), and what sort of activities a character might be doing when off-screen, off-duty so to speak (such as serving the FBSA, patrolling a district, smoozing at the nightclub, secretly helping Arachnos, spying on villain groups, etc.).
This would permit a TF to respec ones Background, which might occur as encounters with time fluxes (preventing a scheme to alter the past), alternate dimensions (saving a replica of oneself), rescuing ones own winning lottery ticket, salvaging a portion of the city (or secretly conquering a rural area near Paragon), etc.
you really need "2.0" Tobay.... we still have a lot of "these shouldnt be powerpools" comments...
you need to quell some misconceptions.
To those of you that have read Empress's comment but are just joining us, allow me to explain:
This idea has received a great support, except for one thing: How the powers are obtained. Even its most loyal supporters feel that I need a better system.
Although I haven't officially changed it from Power Pools, I agree that a much better system needs to be in place. Empress spearheads one of the most complete systems for this project.
In summary, please don't explain why Power Pools is a bad system for this power, as I've acknowledged that it isn't the best, and have been working on it for well over a month now.
Thanks!
~Marcian
P.S. Any, every, all ideas for new powers under this and alternate methods of obtaining this should be posted here. I promise V.2.0 on Friday! (3/30/07)
True...the mark of a truly good idea is how to make it work. Whether or not it's desired becomes moot when people stop saying why and start asking how?
I like the idea as amended to small things picked up over the course of time. So many builds are so tight now and I see too many chances at abuse if some of these were slottable.
As earned, inherent abilities on the other hand I like the idea. You could try a few (those that appeal to the widest player base) to start and then add more later as the system gets tweaked. I could easily see your base ideas to start and then another one with each new Issue.
Good job...shall we start a comprehensive list of the ones we want then?
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"