I love my Earth/Rad. Earth Gnome's background is quite similar to yours actually 
Pros:
- Excellent crowd control
- Great debuffs, always welcomed to any team
- Self-heal (if you do consider this a pro, that is. I don't, but it's always handy)
- Lovely pulse hold (works pretty much like Spectral Terror from Illusion.
- Animated Stone can work pretty much as a Tanker whenever you need. IIRC Animated Stone and Jack Frost will get a new brain when I10 comes out, making them go more into melee (which is good).
Cons:
- I don't see any, really. If you're intending to solo, then this is probably not the best combo you can get since Earth's damage is rubbish. You're meant to shine in teams.
That said, it's more than an "alright combo". For me it's one of the best. Give it a try 
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
Wished i have choosen Rad instead of Emathy with my Troller,
Pros:
- youre the Man
Cons:
- System error.... reboot now....
It's a very good combo...the only thing you'll be missing is, as False said, damage.
Solo'ing won't be a problem but it'll just take some time
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
Nice combo. Good control, excellent debuffing. Very good in teams, boring safe but very slow solo.
And the AoE hold is imo the best of any troller primary, but it doesn't work like Spectral Terror at all. That's a fear, gasses is a hold. 
[ QUOTE ]
And the AoE hold is imo the best of any troller primary, but it doesn't work like Spectral Terror at all. That's a fear, gasses is a hold.
[/ QUOTE ]
It does work the same way as ST as it pulses the holds and damage just as ST pulses the fear....difference is just the type of control.
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
Aye indeed. And fear can be broken, holds not.
Spectral Terror pulses in a close AOE (cloak of fear really) and casts single target Fears as well across a wider area. ST also comes with a handy accuracy debuff on Feared foes.
Gasses is has a wider area than the "pulse" of Terror but no single target mez attack, its more like a placeable Choking Cloud really (I wouldn't really bother with Choking Cloud on an Earth/Rad, you've plenty of other mezzes and you won't be melee based).
One important point though is that Spectral Terror is a very low aggro move. I'm not sure Gasses comes with the same low aggro footprint. So as an opener it may not be as good.
Just remember the holy 3 in Rad, Radiation Infection, Enverating Field and Lingering Rad and you'll be laughing. An Earthquaked, Quicksanded mob with those 3 debuffs on em too is going nowhere! If they look like they are Gasses or Stalagmites will keep em put while you figure out how you're going to actually kill em (Earth/Rad would be failrly low damage).
*coughs* "Fire/Rad" *looks round all innocent like* "OK I like to burn stuff"
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*coughs* "Fire/Rad" *looks round all innocent like* "OK I like to burn stuff"
[/ QUOTE ]
Ignore him. Guffies know nothing
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
So there I was writing on my superhero stories, as always, my awareness of what I am doing dissepears and I just type, and this is what I came up with:
Pedro Gonzales, a hard working man hired all the way from Spain too help out rebuilding Paragon City, he was working along in Faultline when it happened..A hero with the power of radiation was duking it out against a monster nearby and accidently shot Mr. Pedro with a high doze of radiation while he was holding a sandbag. His cells were spliced with with the sand molecules, and his body became a mass of a sandlike substance. He would soon realise that he could control and manipulate the earth around him, and so, he became *****!
And the combination I am thinking of is earth/radiation. Would it be an alright combo?