Heroic Masterminds?

The Shadow was a kind of Thugs Mastermind - he had a small group of normal non-military followers (and two pistols).

Any Mastermind can be explained by robots, by the way. Your robots may look like Ninjas, thugs, demons or zombies of course...

Of course, what's really tricky is justifying Detonator. On non-robots at least.

I'm really tempted to try to rig macros where activating Detonator causes the triggered henchman to yell "I got 'em, boys! Make me proud!" before he explodes, followed by falling to my knees and crying out NOOOO.

My first Praetorian character is a Ninja / TA Mastermind that I'm playing out as a group of Samurai lead by my character.

Since first tier Ninja's don't have swords, I consider them to be apprentices who haven't earned the right to wield a blade. And the 2nd and 3rd tier are increasingly skilled/veteran Samurai.

They aren't being compelled to serve my character, its a voluntary thing, its a group of characters who all have a shared history and family connections.

If we ever get minion costume customizations, it will work out better thematically, but the Ninja minions look at least decent, even though they are clearly Ninja flavored they aren't too bad for a Samurai theme.

Agree with the OP.

Thugs, zombies, and demons aren't heroic.

Furry Mastery for MM's!

Zombies...

One Zombie going all Stubbs on 'the man' that is Emperor Cole and bringing his zombified friends with him on an Undead march of FREEDOM!

Besides lets be honest, could you imagine the [censord]Storm that would come about if the devs said...

"Oh yeah any of the villain ATs can go to Paragon from Praetoria or side switch from the Isles to Paragon...apart from Masterminds...they're naturally evil..."

So your answer is...that its a game and Stubbs will eat your face in the name of Freedom.

Good Zombies? Say it ain't so!

My demon MM guards the gates of hell, but you occasionally need to take the boys out for a walk. Otherwise, they will ruin your carpet.

I don't think a Thugs concept it too far fetched at all. I think of my Thugs/Traps MM 'Unlicensed Uzi' is the head of a small band of Vigilantes fighting against 'The Man' and operate with a bit of a maniacal crusader mentality. A little chaos and mayhem follow in his wake, but he's not evil to the core by any means. It's a little more like 'Chaotic Good' for those of you familiar with PNP game alignments. He's not an outright upstanding hero to be sure, but he's no villain.

Cheers

Well, I have a zombie MM who will likely go blueside-ish. Commissar Menshikov, I think it works pretty well, although I'll eventually make him a Vigilante for the Fear Incarnate ability, since it pwns with his other abilities... Thats how it works right? I'd go.. from Villain to Rogue, to Hero, then to Vigilante. I think Like a loop. Or would I go back to rogue? Only time will tell.

Anyway, he was a Commissar in the red army during WW2, and, at the time, a young practicing necromancer. At one point he gets told to hold a position, to resist the fascists, at no matter the cost. Well, he uses his necromancy to do what he is told and eventually things work out for the best

His zombies and other minions are essentially warriors sworn to fight fascism or other forms of tyranny -- in essence they are volunteers from beyond the grave.

He's portrayed as being somewhat ruthless and single-minded, but ultimately has good intentions. His time on the redside is fairly easy to explain: most heroes would find him fairly repulsive and it would be only after he is proved himself they'd be willing to co-operate with him.

He's gonna be fun to play now that Rogue is out, since pretty obviously he is going to view Pretoria's leadership has being rather similar to his old enemy.

Double unique points for having a Russian as a good guy Never happens in cinema!

Desdemona is the cover girl of a Demonic Mastermind. She's also a hero. Demon Summoning/Dark Miasma MM. She redeemed herself. Her demons are loyal to her. They won't turn and attack innocent civilians unless she lets them.

I have a Demon/Traps mastermind whom I intend to take blueside; Professor Perdition. Although as it happens he doesn't actually believe they are demons; they are just unruly but useful extradimensional entities that the scientifically unsophisticated might label demons due to their appearance. And no, he is not summoning them with "magic gestures"; those are somatically mediated manipulations of the transuniversal field, thank you; he did the calculations himself.

Heck, go with a Johnny Cage movie-style bit and make a Ninja MM with the pets as Extras, Stunt Doubles, and Pyrotechnicians.

Minions are not inherently evil or good, just as a hammer is not inherently evil or good.

Both can be used for evil or good depending on the intentions of the handler.

Game on!

Make a Punks/Traps MM based on Dog the Bounty Hunter! >_>

My personal Heroic Mastermind is Dr. Henry Armitage a professor of Miskatonic University and one of the few individuals who have read the Necronomicon and instead of using it for his own personal goals has taken it's power and uses it to summon forth help in defending Paragon City knowing fully well that the box may eventually consume him but viewing the good he can bring in the interim is worth it.

My bot/ff MM is named Technopath Alpha, so she's just a sweet little mutant gal with a penchant for making machinery to her bidding.

My bots/ff mastermind was a good character right from the begining, where she sees herself as a squad leader that utilizes robotic troops as need be. She uses her built robots because they are more expendable than human lives, and do not carry the risk of devouring earth infections. The drones and robots aren't anything worse than say the US airforce using predator drones, so why would they be considered inherently "evil"? Zombies and demons are a bit ambigous, ninjas and soldiers could be good (howabout a sensei of a good ninja clan? Or an A-Team style band of rag tag mecernaries that save the day? Or a squad of footsoldiers from FREEDOM?), thugs could be members of the Resistance fighting the good fight while under cover.


As for the "role" of a mastermind, I like to think of them as the "Paladins" of COH. They are amazing for tanking lots of little minions/LTs, and carry a variety of buffs/debuffs/heals that benefit not only the henchmen, but the rest of the team as well. Of course, this could just be my POV from playing a bots/ff mastermind extensively, as those who play say ninja/dark or zombie/poison may have different experiences, but that seems to be the intended use of the mastermind as according to the devs.