Help me make these characters a reality
By
Bionic_Flea,
Posted on: 2010-09-01 09:50 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Well, the way I started was thinking of what a lizard is. They are cold-blooded, love heat (and pretty darn resistant to it). Some can regenerate, and the ones that fight are vicious.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
These lieutenants, whom I have not made yet, include:
Shaffakoom: This titanic lizardman was the champion and strongest fighter of his entire race. Incidentally, he is also the last of said race, thanks in large part to their aggressive, unrelenting aggression and defiance of Cedric's rule. If you can't beat 'em, kill 'em all. The only reasons Shaffakoom is still alive is because Cedric could never find a way to actually kill the beast, but years of torture and conditioning have turned this once proud warrior into an unquestioning servant, though he still lays claim to his old pride and dignity. I don't know what AT and Powersets to make this guy. I don't want to go Tanker "just because," but I can still go Brute. Question is, what powersets do I give him? I kind of want to avoid repeating Super Strength for both of these guys, and I ESPECIALLY don't want to go Super Strength/Invulnerability because I already have a Brute like that. I'm really open to suggestions on this guy. |
Spines/Regen Scrapper? Even though he is wearing thick armor, spines seems like something that could be natural for his race (plenty of lizards and dinosaurs have spines...just not as depicted in this game).
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Iprit: This pile of putrid, rotten flesh is actually an entire ecosystem of micro-organisms living in symbiosis in the shape of a walking, talking creature. One of his kind, Iprit is a walking, talking pile of poisons and toxins, killing and mutating living creatures and sometimes even animating the carcasses of the dead with sentient bacteria. His homeworld proved to be far too uninhabitable for Cedric's empire and the entire planet was cleansed by fire and quarantined, but Cedric kept this particular creature for himself. Despite its revolting appearance, Iprit is a highly intelligent, driven creature which chose to follow Lord Cedric for no reason other than because this gave it free reign to spread its evil diseases on worlds which opposed his master. I have a fairly good idea what I want to make this guy. I'm thinking Necromancy/Poison Mastermind as that fits both Iprit's appearance and the theme of being poisonous and toxic, and I'm not sure what else can accomplish this. One point of fact is that I don't want to play team support, so ATs with team-support powersets do not apply. I don't know if Corruptors also have access to Poison, but even if they do, I don't want to play a Corruptor. |
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Duriel: Duriel is, or rather was, the queen and hive mother of an entire star system of worlds colonised by physically evolved but technologically inferior insects. Recognising the overwhelming might of Cedric's armies as well as the opportunities his sciences and technologies offered her kind, Duriel offered to become his thrall, placing her spawn at his service. Duriel's loyalty has never been called into question, in part because the fate of those who would is grim, but her motivations are rather less than idealistic. I'm not sure where I want to go with this one. My basic inspiration for her was Infested Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, but I don't want to shoot for a ripoff and I don't really know what her powers are, anyway. For this one, I was thinking something like a Stalker, either with Dark powers or some kind of Claws, but I just don't know. I guess I could go Scrapper, but I have so many of these I'm bound to repeat myself no matter what I choose. Any advise here is appreciated. |
Nice pics Sam.
As for choices, I will just give first impressions after reading the descriptions and the looks. Could be way off but how I feel. 
Shaffakoom: WM/FA brute.
You said he was strongest but not want SS. I thought what better way that smashing with a big old mace. Claws seemed a bit not so strong to me. I picked FA, but thought EA could work too. Sorta of a rage theme where he is really mad and intense heat/energy comes off of him.
Iprit: plant/TA controller
The plant part sounds in line, and the /TA has those powers that give me the same impression (entangling arrow, poison gas arrow, etc.).
Your idea for necro/poison MM sounds spot on too. But this is just a suggestion.
Duriel: Grav (or mind)/Thorn (metal ones) dominator
Sorta off the wall-ish here. This is the from the technology angle and using it to manipulate gravity. I thought mind too since she was queen/hive mother of a large colony.
Thorns because I felt it matched the outfit.
Shaffakoom: You say you're not interested in another Super Strength character, but what about Stone Melee? A name like that and the character had to boom when he fights, and that's the only other set that does so. Gehnen's comment about lizards loving heat has me thinking Stone/Fire, if you don't mind a character of that size without KB, or can easily mitigate. Also, the first thing I thought of when I saw the name was the WARRIOR comic.
Iprit: I've got nothing. Your Necro/Poison seems spot on. If it wasn't for you saying 'no corruptors' I'd suggest switching /Poison to /Rad to weaken entire groups, but that's about it. 'Spreading diseases' is probably best defined in this game by the debuffing classes, /Dark /Rad /Poison. Even /Kin in a pinch, since the big powers are making them move slower and hit weaker.
Duriel: I'm sorry. I'd feel I was doing you a disservice if I didn't mention it. I don't think the character had anything to do with yours, but the simple fact is, that hasn't stopped the GMs in the past.
As far as the character itself, my first thought would be Dark Blaster, probably with Mental manip as the secondary. Really, the character is open enough with the description to have any combination of powers. The only real suggestion I can offer is to get the Flies aura. The combat version, if it has one. If you want to avoid being a Kerrigan rip, you will probably want to avoid Claws Stalker with a Psi APP. It's the closest I can think of, but anything else should be good.
The Abrams is one of the most effective war machines on the planet. - R. Lee Ermy.
Q: How do you wreck an Abrams?
A: You crash into another one.
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I really don't want to go Scrapper on Shaffakoom. I know Scrappers are just as able as fighters as Brutes are, but the guy is supposed to be a "heavy." He may look tiny in the pic, but that's because I zoomed out and because he has short legs. He's otherwise about 7/8 of the way to max height. I realise the old CoH manual paints the Scrapper as the big burly half-naked dude and the Tanker as the skinny dude in power armour, but I just want something for this guy that feel "heavy" before it feels "lizard."|
Originally Posted by Gehnen
Well, the way I started was thinking of what a lizard is. They are cold-blooded, love heat (and pretty darn resistant to it). Some can regenerate, and the ones that fight are vicious.
Spines/Regen Scrapper? Even though he is wearing thick armor, spines seems like something that could be natural for his race (plenty of lizards and dinosaurs have spines...just not as depicted in this game). |
However, I do know I set myself up for regen with my description of "hasn't figured out a way to kill him," because that's pretty much how Tyrant's relationship with the Hamidon is described. It was unintentional, however.
Actually making the guy to reserve the name and have a character ready to pick up, I looked through the sets and went with a Stone/Invulnerability Brute. I realise I only ever made one Stone anything - the Stone/Stone Brute who was my flagship villain - so I decided to give it a go. That doesn't mean the character is set, it just means I had to pick SOMETHING when I made him
I am still very much willing to change his powers if I can make a convincing argument for it. Or, alternatively, I'd love it if you can help me form a convincing argument FOR Stone Melee Quote:
| I think you're going in the right direction here. The only thing I could think of is a Radiation/Fire Blaster. Colorize both sets to appear grossly toxic. Of course this foregoes his cool Necro abilities. I definitely wouldn't want to be near a Rad/Fire Blaster (especially if he looked like that). |
Iprit was the inspiration that finally got me off my butt to make these three characters. I was watching a WW1 documentary which mentioned mustard gas, which got translated in my subtitles "iprit" (or rather, иприт), which I looked up and transformed into this toxic monster. I'm not sure if it's in very good taste, but he IS a bad guy. Pretty much pegs him as a Poison dude, though.
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| I wish I could suggest something that isn't a repeat, but all these guys speak "melee" to me. If you go with Claws on her, I must recommend pairing Organic Armor Gloves (if you have the Mutant Booster) with Villainous Claws. They pair up so very well, and would look great on a bug. |
As far as melee goes, I currently have her pegged as a Stalker. I did not, however, opt to go with Dark/Dark for Stalker, simply because that's more magical or scientific and less "insectoid." I went through a few iteration for a secondary, but the only one I could justify was Regeneration. I did Willpower recently, and nothing else seemed to "fit." I didn't want to go with Super Reflexes, partly because she has wings and I just don't want to, and partly because I already have a SR Stalker. I'm still open to suggestions, though.
For a primary... That's a complete toss-up. Originally I wanted to go with Spines, but I can't since they look terrible on those legs. They're designed to jot out from the shin, and sine she has empty air where her shin should be, they hang in mid air. I tried Claws, and those weren't TOO bad, but... Well, they're a bit unrefined, and I'm not a big fan of the flip in Eviscerate when I have wings. Still possible, though. I tried Energy Melee coloured pure black, and it kind of looked like some kind of evil plague. Not too bad, but it was a bit stiff. For a laugh, I went Dual Blades (you know, queen of blades and all that) and went with those ginormous Mutant Pack swords, coloured jet black. It actually looks kind of cool, and they look like they're an extension of her. On the other hand, they're really bulky, so I don't know.
Not really sure what to do with this one, I'm afraid. The wings she has now are place holders, as well. I'll give her either the dragon or burnt wings when I get the chance. Or you know what... I might actually give her the INSECT wings
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Thank you kindly for your help
All of these guys are still open to interpretation and aren't likely to be sealed soon, so any arguments I make are more principle than anything else. I'm not rejecting anything just yet.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Shafakoom - Claws/SR His gauntlets look like they could sheath blades in those cylinders going up his forearm.
Iprit - As soon as I saw the picture and you mentioned toxic, I thought spines. I think Dark Armor's wispy clouds could be toxins swirling around him. Soul transfer would count as his necromancy and maybe get a Loa Bone.
Duriel - Needs to be a flyer because of her wings and that always makes me lean towards a ranged character. Her emphasis on technology suggests traps or devices, but those are better suited for ground-based play. TA/A or A/TA would be a good marriage of the simple technology of bows augmented with the more advanced weaponry attached to the arrowheads.
50s: Inv/SS PB Emp/Dark Grav/FF DM/Regen TA/A Sonic/Elec MA/Regen Fire/Kin Sonic/Rad Ice/Kin Crab Fire/Cold NW Merc/Dark Emp/Sonic Rad/Psy Emp/Ice WP/DB FA/SM
Overlord of Dream Team and Nightmare Squad
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Originally Posted by PennyPA
Shaffakoom: WM/FA brute.
You said he was strongest but not want SS. I thought what better way that smashing with a big old mace. Claws seemed a bit not so strong to me. I picked FA, but thought EA could work too. Sorta of a rage theme where he is really mad and intense heat/energy comes off of him. |
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Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Shaffakoom: You say you're not interested in another Super Strength character, but what about Stone Melee? A name like that and the character had to boom when he fights, and that's the only other set that does so. Gehnen's comment about lizards loving heat has me thinking Stone/Fire, if you don't mind a character of that size without KB, or can easily mitigate. Also, the first thing I thought of when I saw the name was the WARRIOR comic.
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On the other hand... I'm not confident that there's a mace big enough to really impress me. Given that this guy is Huge, I can't rely on Legacy weapons being very big, and the options available for War Mace are all relatively short and one-handed. The War Hammer really should look cool, but it's way, WAY too short and stubby to do so. I could go with something like the Fantasy mace or some such, but really - that kind of a huge frame seems a bit... Too big for a one-handed weapon with no shield. And I already have a Mace/Shield Brute (a butler, no less).
Stone Melee isn't half bad as an idea, especially because it has that pounding, reverberating high impact feel. More so than Super Strength, ironically. And the name does seem to suggest that, doesn't it?
I actually pilfered it right out of a Spoony review of the Warrior #1 comic book, where Warrior jumps up to fight a bunch of Jawas with that precise sound effect - SHAFFAKOOM! I just thought it was too cool to not use somewhere, but I'd have used Skronk if that was taken I currently have the dude using the lava-style stone melee powers, but I don't have pics of that. I'm content with leaving him with Stone Melee if only I can come up with a reasonable explanation as to why he's able to conjure up rocks at will. He's Natural (not that I couldn't change it) so I'd like to work off that, but right now I'm drawing blank. Why would a lizard be able to manifest volcanic rocks?
The Secondary I went with is Invulnerability. I've lost count of how many characters I have with that, but he. Why not? It's a solid set and it fits the guy's concept. Plus, I don't have a SM/Inv combo so far.
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Originally Posted by PennyPA
Iprit: plant/TA controller
The plant part sounds in line, and the /TA has those powers that give me the same impression (entangling arrow, poison gas arrow, etc.). Your idea for necro/poison MM sounds spot on too. But this is just a suggestion. Duriel: Grav (or mind)/Thorn (metal ones) dominator Sorta off the wall-ish here. This is the from the technology angle and using it to manipulate gravity. I thought mind too since she was queen/hive mother of a large colony. Thorns because I felt it matched the outfit. |
Right now, I've restricted myself to five ATs that I can play without reservations: Scrappers, Blasters, Brutes, Stalkers and Masterminds. Any combo of powersets for one of this I am game to try, provided I haven't already.
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Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Duriel: I'm sorry. I'd feel I was doing you a disservice if I didn't mention it. I don't think the character had anything to do with yours, but the simple fact is, that hasn't stopped the GMs in the past.
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I've been using the name Duriel on an off in various stories for some time, so I name-checked it as a joke. Turns out it was free on Pinnacle. It ain't no more I figure that as long as it's free and I'm not doing a Duriel ripoff (which I'm not), I shouldn't have anything to worry about. If anything, I'm more worried about being accused of a Kerrigan ripoff, which this one totally is Quote:
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Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
As far as the character itself, my first thought would be Dark Blaster, probably with Mental manip as the secondary. Really, the character is open enough with the description to have any combination of powers. The only real suggestion I can offer is to get the Flies aura. The combat version, if it has one. If you want to avoid being a Kerrigan rip, you will probably want to avoid Claws Stalker with a Psi APP. It's the closest I can think of, but anything else should be good.
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Can't say I'm a fan of the Flies aura, and for a couple of reasons. Flies indicate something rotten, especially the way ours are made, which isn't my design. If I had a swarm of bugs which looked more like they were under my command, I might consider it, but the flies aura just looks putrid. As well, I'd lose my eye glow, which I think is a very important aspect of the character. I have Alpha set to that so far, but that's more for lack of options. If and when I get her to 30, I'll reconsider it. I can't actually use Flies now even if I wanted to, since that too is locked to 30.
So you're saying I should avoid Claws. OK, done. I wasn't too hot on the idea, myself, but your suggesting it seals the deal. No claws. OK, so that's no Claws to avoid Kerrigan, no Spines because they look bugged, which leaves me with what? So far, Dual Blades and Energy Melee that I can see. If the choice is one of those, I'd probably go with Blades. Be interesting to see a female character swing around those two construction steel girders
And I'm highly unlikely to ever get another character where they fit at all, to boot.Hmm... One step closer to having solid concept. I like it! Thanks a bunch, guys
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Hah! I thought so. it is such a unique sound that it's hard to misplace.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Stone Melee isn't half bad as an idea, especially because it has that pounding, reverberating high impact feel. More so than Super Strength, ironically. And the name does seem to suggest that, doesn't it?
I actually pilfered it right out of a Spoony review of the Warrior #1 comic book, where Warrior jumps up to fight a bunch of Jawas with that precise sound effect - SHAFFAKOOM! I just thought it was too cool to not use somewhere, but I'd have used Skronk if that was taken I currently have the dude using the lava-style stone melee powers, but I don't have pics of that. I'm content with leaving him with Stone Melee if only I can come up with a reasonable explanation as to why he's able to conjure up rocks at will. He's Natural (not that I couldn't change it) so I'd like to work off that, but right now I'm drawing blank. Why would a lizard be able to manifest volcanic rocks? |
Well, thinking about the powers, I can't really explain a Lizard calling volcanic rock. Anything else could be something like excess calcium the body generates. Wait...it's not exactly volcanic, but there are animals that produce a phosphorescent glow...what if the rock is calcium, veined with such a chemical?
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Yeah, Dark Blaster would be cool. If it existed
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The Abrams is one of the most effective war machines on the planet. - R. Lee Ermy.
Q: How do you wreck an Abrams?
A: You crash into another one.
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Hm... "Secreted chemical rocks." Sure, why not? I've done weirder things |
Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Well, thinking about the powers, I can't really explain a Lizard calling volcanic rock. Anything else could be something like excess calcium the body generates. Wait...it's not exactly volcanic, but there are animals that produce a phosphorescent glow...what if the rock is calcium, veined with such a chemical?
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After all, I can latch onto the "Salamander" angle and go with natural exothermic chemical reactions that produce this. After all, it doesn't have to be scientific and doesn't even need to be believable. I just need something. And considering I already made the dude red... Again, why not?Be a bit interesting how I can justify him not having overt fire power or fire defences, but I guess I can restrict myself to just chemistry more so than open flames. Well, I guess that's settled
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Sounds good Sam. GL on the toons.
I did some more experimenting around with costumes for Duriel, largely fiddling around with her wings, and I came up with this:
Originally, I figured... Hey, I have an insect lady. When else am I going to get to use insect wings? Never, really. But the problem is that... I'm not sure I like this look better. What do you think?
Here's the deal - the bat wings were always just temporary. I never intended to keep them. I just needed wings to put on her back until I could get the actual unlockable wings and use a pair of them. However, because they're unlockable, I'm pretty much SOL right now. I can't sit in the editor an just tab through the winds, looking for the set that fits best. Oh, no, I'll have to sit down with a level 50 and buy all the wing recipes and salvage off the market and mail that to myself. Do you see why I hate unlockable costumes now?
Anyway, let me know what you think about the insect wing swap. If you feel that's a bad call, I'll swap out with Dragon wings or Bone wings or Burnt wings... I'm not sure what else yet, but there are options.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Instead of making each piece, have you considered the Mission Architect? It takes a bit of doing at first, but one you have all the costume pieces unlocked in the Architect, you can take the character you have, toss it in the costume creator there, and change around at will.
The Abrams is one of the most effective war machines on the planet. - R. Lee Ermy.
Q: How do you wreck an Abrams?
A: You crash into another one.
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Yeah, I thought of that half an hour ago. Then the servers went down |
Originally Posted by M_I_Abrahms
Instead of making each piece, have you considered the Mission Architect? It takes a bit of doing at first, but one you have all the costume pieces unlocked in the Architect, you can take the character you have, toss it in the costume creator there, and change around at will.
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Will look into more options when they come back up.Thank you for bringing it up regardless
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Duriel:
 Duriel is, or rather was, the queen and hive mother of an entire star system of worlds colonised by physically evolved but technologically inferior insects. Recognising the overwhelming might of Cedric's armies as well as the opportunities his sciences and technologies offered her kind, Duriel offered to become his thrall, placing her spawn at his service. Duriel's loyalty has never been called into question, in part because the fate of those who would is grim, but her motivations are rather less than idealistic. I'm not sure where I want to go with this one. My basic inspiration for her was Infested Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, but I don't want to shoot for a ripoff and I don't really know what her powers are, anyway. For this one, I was thinking something like a Stalker, either with Dark powers or some kind of Claws, but I just don't know. I guess I could go Scrapper, but I have so many of these I'm bound to repeat myself no matter what I choose. Any advise here is appreciated. That's about all I have for the moment. Let me know if you can help me out with any of these. P.S. Yes, I seriously got and used those names. |
Have you considered a Night Widow or Fortunata for this one....Stalker like Night Widow with some mental powers, Mind Link for the Hive mind, all the leadership toggles dovetail with the Queen aspect...you unlock the second costume early and never look back.
Just a thought
Personally I would make a Warmace or Battle Axe/Shield Brute out of Shaffakoom. Crowd Control is worthy of the sound effect shaffakoom.
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Wasn't that precisely what I was told to avoid if I didn't want to rip off Sarah Kerrigan? I mean, it's not a bad idea, provided I can deal with being tied to Arachnos and having to make do with a Widow costume slot, but I really don't want to skirt that line.|
Originally Posted by Frogfather
Have you considered a Night Widow or Fortunata for this one....Stalker like Night Widow with some mental powers, Mind Link for the Hive mind, all the leadership toggles dovetail with the Queen aspect...you unlock the second costume early and never look back.
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Originally Posted by Death_Badger
Personally I would make a Warmace or Battle Axe/Shield Brute out of Shaffakoom. Crowd Control is worthy of the sound effect shaffakoom.
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But technicalities aside, yes, I would do that in a heartbeat.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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To avoid pic-spamming, I decided to go with links as I used to back in the day. Links to what, you say? To a few variations on Duriel's costume. The other two are pretty much done. Bada bing bada boom. Duriel's costume, however, being the most simplistic of the lot, is taking the most work and raising the most questions. So I decided to share a few pics to see if you guys can help me decide. I have three to offer:
1. Duriel with Dragon Wings - I figured that, rather than going insect all the way, I could go with something that's as "far out there" as I could manage, and slapping on a pair of THE biggest wings the game has to offer was a good way to do that. You be the judge.
2. Duriel with Insect Wings - this is what I'd originally intended to switch to, but to be honest... The effect is very subdued. I mean, yes, it's appropriate, but it seems a little... Too little. Again, you be the judge. Those are the wings she has now, thanks to a few generous donations from the people on Victory.
3. Duriel with Dual Blades (and folded Dragon Wings, for that matter) - I just wanted to show you guys, so you can fully appreciate the utter absurdity that I have going on here, and possibly appreciate why it has captivated me so much. I don't know who it was that greenlit those massive cleavers for Dual Blades, but THANK YOU SIR for doing it
All three are taking out of the Architect, hence the crammed nature of the third pic. The other ones were taken out of the costume editor at the power alteration stage, where it's easier to kill the interface and take pictures. Thankfully, unlike character creation, I was able to brighten the background on the character editor after the fact.
Let me know what you think about those, because this may be quite frankly THE most monochrome character I have ever made.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Having skimmed over the thread, I think most of the "obvious" picks have already been suggested. So, let's see what I can come up with in out-of-the-way ideas...
Shaffakoom: Discounting Scrappers, that leaves us with Tankers and Brutes. Anything else would be a disservice to his looming physique. Someone else suggested War Mace; have you toyed with the axe models for this character at all? Stone Melee might be a hard fit unless you alter the physiology of his race somewhat, but it does have such a satisfying "shaffakoom" sound to it, as Abrams pointed out. But with those gauntlets...perhaps an Energy Melee Brute? As far as secondaries go, Willpower is tough in game mechanics...if not in presentation.
Iprit: While everything about him screams "Necro/Poison" to me, too, I liked the Rad/Fire Blaster idea. Spines might work for this character; as a Stalker, I somehow see him materializing behind his opponents and absorbing them (" ime to di est!"), perhaps using a spine as a feeding tube. Then reconstitute them, add contagion, and..."deposit"...their remains elsewhere later to act as a disease vector.
Heck, Sam, if you don't use the "I-eat-you-through-my-hand-spikes" motif, I might.
Duriel: Okay. Can Fiery Melee be recolored to some sort of dull gray-green? Here's what I'm thinking: what if, on contact, she releases small swarms of insects on her enemies? They then begin to attack her opponents, causing DoT. That adds a whole new layer of squeamishness to the breath attack, which would imply she's hocking up a stream of her bestest little pals and spitting them on you. On the downside, the fire swords would need some form of explanation if you took them.
If you're looking for something really off-the-wall, how about Stone Armor? The crystalline look could be explained as her covering herself with a specific breed of her tiny friends.
She's actually the one I see as the most open-ended, though. For the record, I like the insect wings, but I generally prefer slim designs.
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Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein |
the Blades certainly look nice. I'm not so sure about the Dragon wings though(could be the wings,could be the colors you have on them)
The insect wings look far too small,
OH try either the Valkyrie wings or the Tech wings, both of those have nice looks and could easily represent Duriel incorporating Technology onto her person.You know her wings were either vestigial or injured beyond her ability to recover, but then she joined with Cedric and he helped incorporate advanced tech onto her wings making them functional again.
I think I like the dragon wings better Samuel, it comes across as more menacing. The insect wings are a little small in my opinion.
The dual blades do look pretty cool too.
Member of the Hyperion Force
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Easy things first: I don't really see any reason to not use Invulnerability on this guy. I don't want to do Willpower, because it'll be my... Let me think... Fifth character with it, and third Brute overall. I have a whole bunch of Invulnerability Scrappers, but only one Brute, and it fits the lizardman's armoured design. He's a big brute, so it makes sense he'd be invulnerable |
Originally Posted by vulpish_one
Shaffakoom: Discounting Scrappers, that leaves us with Tankers and Brutes. Anything else would be a disservice to his looming physique. Someone else suggested War Mace; have you toyed with the axe models for this character at all? Stone Melee might be a hard fit unless you alter the physiology of his race somewhat, but it does have such a satisfying "shaffakoom" sound to it, as Abrams pointed out. But with those gauntlets...perhaps an Energy Melee Brute? As far as secondaries go, Willpower is tough in game mechanics...if not in presentation.
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As far as Stone Melee being a "hard fit..." Dude, we were just talking about planet-eating parasites. I can work something out for a lizard who secretes lava
As far as Axe and Mace go, I did and have a look at the various options. I'm once again reminded why I hate unlockable costumes, because there's no way for me to check how the Roman axes look in action, and unless I can see that they look good, I won't ever unlock them. No reason to make this guy Axe if I don't think he'll have a decent axe in the future, and I can't, so I won't. That was actually the key problem with axes, as well - the only ones of decent size were the Roman ones, only the bigger one I'm already using on Alexander and the smaller one looks a bit... Small. I did really like the Rikti "axe" and would in all honesty have gone with that, but then I remembered it's unlocked by participating in Rikti Invasions and Rikti Invasions ONLY, and screw that!
War Mace looked a little more promising, at least at first glance, but ultimately, it was disappointing, too. None of the maces have nearly enough weight to them. I mean the guy is as wide as a garage door with ham hands like you wouldn't believe. It just doesn't fit him to be swinging around something like that. He looks like he'd do more damage punching you with the hilt. I tried a variety of weapons, but none of them really worked. Again, the Rularuu Hammer could have worked, but I couldn't try it. Can't customize powers in the Architect, don't have it unlocked at creation. And people wonder why I prefer costume packs to costume unlocks...
Really, though, both Axe and Mace suffer from the same essential problem when it comes to Shaffakoom - they're too small because they're one-handed. Something as fat as this needs to swing around a tree trunk (or a Buster sword), neither of which is really appropriate to a one-handed weapon, which ALL of our melee weapons are. Having actually gone into the editor to test this really put the weapon ideas to the grave. I can't make them work. I wanted to, but I just can't. Stone Melee just feels much more appropriate for his weight class. And his wrestling belt, though why I decided to put that there and KEEP that there is beyond me
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Iprit: While everything about him screams "Necro/Poison" to me, too, I liked the Rad/Fire Blaster idea. Spines might work for this character; as a Stalker, I somehow see him materializing behind his opponents and absorbing them (" ime to di est!"), perhaps using a spine as a feeding tube. Then reconstitute them, add contagion, and..."deposit"...their remains elsewhere later to act as a disease vector. Heck, Sam, if you don't use the "I-eat-you-through-my-hand-spikes" motif, I might. |
Because I don't think I can. Not with Iprit. The concept isn't bad as you describe it, not at all, but it's far sideways of what I really wanted to achieve with this guy. I wanted poison before disease, to be honest. My inspiration came from the very name: Iprit is one of a series of names for Sulphur Mustard Gas, an early poison gas first used in WW1. It's organic (as far as I can tell) but not biological, which is why I wanted to focus on this guy being less of a "creature" and more a walking... Well, Slag Pile. In a sense, where the Slag Golems are golems of trash, Iprit is a golem of toxic, corrosive chemicals.I will be perfectly honest here - I didn't have high hopes of altering much on Iprit, being that he was the only one whose concept evolved out of a powerset, rather than the other way around. The Rad/Fire idea had a lot of merit, and were it not for the fact that I can't make Blasters villain-side (not at level 1, anyway), I probably would have gone with that. As it stands, I CAN work around it, but it significantly lowers the worth of this as a solution as compared to a Poison Necro Mastermind who not only can be made a villain at level 1, but also features a powerset I've never played. Both Fire and Rad are things I have on other Blasters.
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| Duriel: Okay. Can Fiery Melee be recolored to some sort of dull gray-green? Here's what I'm thinking: what if, on contact, she releases small swarms of insects on her enemies? They then begin to attack her opponents, causing DoT. That adds a whole new layer of squeamishness to the breath attack, which would imply she's hocking up a stream of her bestest little pals and spitting them on you. On the downside, the fire swords would need some form of explanation if you took them. |
Now, I went the extra mile and tried to fit this into the overall design by painting the powers a flat Dark black. On the one hand, they don't look TOO bad... But on the other hand, they just don't look like swarms of bugs. I've seen swarms of bugs in this game - use a Necromancy upgrade from a tad far away and watch the ground. It's disgusting! This looks like... Well, it doesn't look like fire, but it looks like black turbulent smoke. Fiery Melee throws around these smouldering cinders all over the ground and it has the occasional convection plume carrying a stray bit of fire... Excuse me, "stuff" up. It just doesn't have the kind of look that would make me go "Yes! This!" And it also suffers from making me swap ATs when I'd rather not and it repeats what I did with Kragoss a few years back. It just doesn't have the right look, I'm afraid.
And, yeah, there are the fire swords
I COULD explain those with sentient bugs, but it's starting to cross over into silly territory, kind of like those bees in Bugs Bunny cartoons who form themselves into a cork screw to screw through a wooden shed or form themselves into a punch to hit people.Quote:
| If you're looking for something really off-the-wall, how about Stone Armor? The crystalline look could be explained as her covering herself with a specific breed of her tiny friends. |
Unfortunately, I don't think I can go with Crystal for her for the simple reason that I can't make it black, or indeed white. I can only ever settle for shades of grey, which I honestly don't want. I don't know why I can't make the crystals black (probably something to do with transparency) or white (I got nothin'), but without the ability to use either of those, I'm just not capable of using those.
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By the way, if it seems like I'm just shooting everything down, please understand that that's not the point. This is simply how my mind works. In order for me to be truly confident and unshakable in a decision, I need to know not only that it's right, but that all other choices are wrong. This is not always (or indeed, often) the case, but it does mean that knowing what I can't or won't use is as important, if not more important, than picking what I actually WILL use.
So if it looks like I'm just refusing everything and nothing is getting accomplished, that's not true. A LOT of work is getting accomplished and these characters, as well as my will to play them, are improving with each iteration. So, thank you, Vulpy, for your time and your help. I really appreciate it
She's actually the one I see as the most open-ended, though. For the record, I like the insect wings, but I generally prefer slim designs.[/QUOTE]
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Originally Posted by DMystic
the Blades certainly look nice. I'm not so sure about the Dragon wings though(could be the wings,could be the colors you have on them)
The insect wings look far too small, |
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Originally Posted by Manny
I think I like the dragon wings better Samuel, it comes across as more menacing. The insect wings are a little small in my opinion.
The dual blades do look pretty cool too. |
Just to note - I did try Bone, Burned and Organic Armour wings, and none of them looked good to me on that one. Bone looked too decaying, and I want this looking less rotten and more sleek. Burned were, again, too small and too tattered. Organic Armour I'm reluctant to use because I've already used them elsewhere, again with the Organic Armour tail, but also because they're a little more slender and work better on a more subtle design. This one needs something more substantial.
Demon Wings are... Actually, I don't know why I chose to not use Demon Wings. Would they look better than Dragon Wings? I know I don't want to use Angel or Valkyrie, however, as I'm going for a more... Scary skin flap over bones look. It just wouldn't look nice enough to have a bug lady with bird wings, even if they're back.
What occurs to me is that I'd easily use the Insect wings, but if two things were different. One, if they were about TWICE as big (think dragonfly wings) at around twice character height across in full spread. The other is if instead of hanging limply behind my back, they folded into a shell like on your typical beetle. I realise such long wings would be too big to fit inside a "carapace backpack," but I wouldn't mind them shrinking or actually folding. Not gonna' happen, though.
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Originally Posted by DMystic
OH try either the Valkyrie wings or the Tech wings, both of those have nice looks and could easily represent Duriel incorporating Technology onto her person.You know her wings were either vestigial or injured beyond her ability to recover, but then she joined with Cedric and he helped incorporate advanced tech onto her wings making them functional again.
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In fact, a large part of what makes Duriel's costume work for me is the fact that she's just a black indistinguishable insect with glowing eyes. That's basically how people tend to see insects in real life, even big ones - they're just one big pile of icky icky icky! If I start attaching tech to this one, yes she will become a lot more interesting, but she'll also lose a lot of that mystique that a black bug without a face brings to the table. I actually tried doing contrasting tech and it really ruined the whole look of the costume. Sure, it looked more interesting, but it had less... I don't know, spirit?
Now, just to go the extra mile (and considering I've been preparing these last two posts for close to two hours now, know that I mean this), I decided to check and see if colouring the tech parts black would help. And it did, but... They still look out of place. Let me explain something here - she looks all black, but she isn't. Insectorid costume pieces are tinted a little grey and a little brown. They don't colour the same black that metal does. So the metal parts still stand out, and they stand out A LOT. The only problem is I don't think they add to the appeal of the character, but only subtract from it. If they were bright, like yellow and white, for instance, that might make a difference, but it would make a completely different costume. With them black... She just no longer feels like some kind of alien bug monstrosity and feels like... Like... Put it like this - when I looked at the design with a metal arm, a metal chest and metal wings, MY reaction was "OK, so what is this thing supposed to be?"
My gut tells me to keep Duriel as basic and simple as I can. If I can cash in on that Aliens look and keep it, I'm in the money. The more I deviate, the more questions the look begins to raise. At this point I'm positive I want to go with one of the living wings, but I'm restricting myself only to the bat-style among them.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Question for you Sam: Why the hair? Not the color, but the fact that an insect has hair of any kind? Even the wild style seems like it's pulling away from the 'alien' look you're saying you want. If you really want that splash of white there, have you looked into the various horns, or the antennae option?
The Abrams is one of the most effective war machines on the planet. - R. Lee Ermy.
Q: How do you wreck an Abrams?
A: You crash into another one.
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No, no. It's no trouble at all. Like I said, I saw a lot of other people had already suggested the ones that seemed obvious to me, so I was intentionally meandering around in left field, looking for anything that might work with a twist. (I liked the "Fortunata/Night Widow" suggestion someone else had, in that vein.) I wasn't married to any of the ideas I suggested, either. |
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
By the way, if it seems like I'm just shooting everything down, please understand that that's not the point. This is simply how my mind works. In order for me to be truly confident and unshakable in a decision, I need to know not only that it's right, but that all other choices are wrong. This is not always (or indeed, often) the case, but it does mean that knowing what I can't or won't use is as important, if not more important, than picking what I actually WILL use.
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Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein |
Now that I have a better idea of what you want I'll say that the Dragon Wings are probably going to be the best choice for the look you want.
Moving on to the power sets
DB/Dark might be what you want. I think with the right color tweaks Dark Armour could probably simulate insects crawling and swarming around her.
I'll say keep it with Stalker because Assassinations Demoralize combined with Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom could complete that insect feel.
Demoralize for that initial reaction and then Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom as her insects start swarming about.
It seems my inspiration works in fits and starts. Sometimes I'm hurting for new ideas and not having any characters I want to play and make, sometimes I'm deluged with more ideas than I know what to do with. This is the latter time. Since Going Rogue came out, I made four characters specifically for it, then a fifth one, and now I'm looking at three new characters to serve as the... Servants of that last one, so let me start off the top:
This is Lord Cedric:
Cedric is something of a childhood villain of mine: amazingly powerful, practically unstoppable and completely unrelenting. He fought to gain his super powers when he was a kid and then fought to conquer his world as an adult. He has since conquered many worlds, both across space and across dimensions, ruling his domain with an iron fist. As his empire spans so many different worlds, he has amassed a number of "lieutenants" to serve as his enforcers and rule in his stead, to keep a lid on corruption and illusions of rebellion.
Cedric is, as of right now, depicted in-game as a Super Strength/Willpower Brute with a "dark" theme to his power.
These lieutenants, whom I have not made yet, include:
Shaffakoom:
This titanic lizardman was the champion and strongest fighter of his entire race. Incidentally, he is also the last of said race, thanks in large part to their aggressive, unrelenting aggression and defiance of Cedric's rule. If you can't beat 'em, kill 'em all. The only reasons Shaffakoom is still alive is because Cedric could never find a way to actually kill the beast, but years of torture and conditioning have turned this once proud warrior into an unquestioning servant, though he still lays claim to his old pride and dignity.
I don't know what AT and Powersets to make this guy. I don't want to go Tanker "just because," but I can still go Brute. Question is, what powersets do I give him? I kind of want to avoid repeating Super Strength for both of these guys, and I ESPECIALLY don't want to go Super Strength/Invulnerability because I already have a Brute like that. I'm really open to suggestions on this guy.
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Iprit:
This pile of putrid, rotten flesh is actually an entire ecosystem of micro-organisms living in symbiosis in the shape of a walking, talking creature. One of his kind, Iprit is a walking, talking pile of poisons and toxins, killing and mutating living creatures and sometimes even animating the carcasses of the dead with sentient bacteria. His homeworld proved to be far too uninhabitable for Cedric's empire and the entire planet was cleansed by fire and quarantined, but Cedric kept this particular creature for himself. Despite its revolting appearance, Iprit is a highly intelligent, driven creature which chose to follow Lord Cedric for no reason other than because this gave it free reign to spread its evil diseases on worlds which opposed his master.
I have a fairly good idea what I want to make this guy. I'm thinking Necromancy/Poison Mastermind as that fits both Iprit's appearance and the theme of being poisonous and toxic, and I'm not sure what else can accomplish this. One point of fact is that I don't want to play team support, so ATs with team-support powersets do not apply. I don't know if Corruptors also have access to Poison, but even if they do, I don't want to play a Corruptor.
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Duriel:
Duriel is, or rather was, the queen and hive mother of an entire star system of worlds colonised by physically evolved but technologically inferior insects. Recognising the overwhelming might of Cedric's armies as well as the opportunities his sciences and technologies offered her kind, Duriel offered to become his thrall, placing her spawn at his service. Duriel's loyalty has never been called into question, in part because the fate of those who would is grim, but her motivations are rather less than idealistic.
I'm not sure where I want to go with this one. My basic inspiration for her was Infested Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, but I don't want to shoot for a ripoff and I don't really know what her powers are, anyway. For this one, I was thinking something like a Stalker, either with Dark powers or some kind of Claws, but I just don't know. I guess I could go Scrapper, but I have so many of these I'm bound to repeat myself no matter what I choose. Any advise here is appreciated.
That's about all I have for the moment. Let me know if you can help me out with any of these.
P.S. Yes, I seriously got and used those names.