Powers that really don't make sense
By
beyeajus,
Posted on: 2010-09-13 08:05 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
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Well, there's the argument that if the ghost can turn solid enough to hurt you, you can hurt it back. I recall an amusing scene where the two main characters in the fantasy novel Beyond the Blue Moon used that principle to beat up a ghost.
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Originally Posted by beyeajus
honestly though, as soon as I learned that I could punch a ghost in the mouth I stopped asking questions of logic.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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What if they aren't doing smashing/lethal damage but negative energy damage?
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Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
Well, there's the argument that if the ghost can turn solid enough to hurt you, you can hurt it back. I recall an amusing scene where the two main characters in the fantasy novel Beyond the Blue Moon used that principle to beat up a ghost.
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They seem to do a mix. And given that CoX ghosts slam into walls if you knock them back instead of passing though them, they do appear to normally be tangible.
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Originally Posted by BunnyAnomaly
What if they aren't doing smashing/lethal damage but negative energy damage?
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Apart from the weapon based sets (mostly) nothing makes sense. There isn't any conceivable way you could logically explain how the human body can generate enough energy to create a 80 foot long burst of flame out of thin air. Unless you go with magic (but that's not really logic anymore is it?) or technology-so-advanced-it-might-as-well-be-magic.
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
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Well, Shockwave shows your character tossing a giant bladed thingy at your enemies. Focus, yeah, is a little weird, since it's just a little glowing ball. I just say it's a throwing knife.
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Originally Posted by DrMike2000
Focus and Shockwave. I have no idea how my claws character can knock people over from 40 feet away using his claws. They're great powers, but why this set gets ranged attacks is beyond me. This bugged me enough to start a thread on it once.
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
Ghosts with no legs...slipping and falling on ice patch.
**Damien**
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss.
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. "
Fear powers that work on (some) robots, which led to this exchange at one point:
"How did you just terrify those things?"
"Two words: Windows. Vista."
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IDzLBJ2WdE#t=5m30s|
Originally Posted by HelinCarnate
The aggro cap. Similar to what BrandX was saying.
OMG its SuperVillianDudeMan. Lets all get 'em.... Well execpt for you guys. No no its ok we got it. But if 4 of us drop then 4 and only 4 of you can start fighting. The rest of you just stand there and watch. |
GL: "Hawk, Dove, and Vibe - you're with us."
Booster: "What about me? I was thinking maybe I'd go out on point."
Batman: "Crowd control."
Booster: "Crowd control...who says you don't have a sense of humor?"
Batman: "Crowd. Control."
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Super Packs Done Right
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If you get too concerned about "reality" and "immersion" in this game, you are either going to be greatly disappointed or really really amused.
The Mission Rep system was always pretty suspicious to me. I could go talk to some weirdo on a street corner, and they would instantly convince the ENTIRE CRIMINAL underworld I was stronger/weaker than previously thought, causing the powers-that-be to send more or less minions to the warehouse/office/cave/lab I was about to go bust up.
Or police drones. Paragon City has the technology to make legions of robots that can teleport anything from a zombie to a giant robot directly to prison. So what do you guys need me for again?
And here was a bit of metaphor shear; the other night I was on a PuG, and or mission was to Stop a Jailbreak. While in the cellblock of the Paragon PD, I KB'd a minion into a cell, through the solid door. We could not "arrest" this last minion because he was stuck in a police jail cell...
Stay Gold, Paragon. Stay Gold.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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A good way for the thermal is to not see it as thermal! >_>|
Originally Posted by Edana
Radiotherapy is the closest I can think of and even that is basically just targetted killing of stuff you don't want to be there.
Heals in general are a bit odd though, "I burn you back to health." from thermal, "I feel your pain, now get up." from empathy and "You think it hurts now?!" from pain dom. |
My Elec/Thermal is a telekinetic who's perception of her abilities, cause it to look like flames.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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Was in a group with a /DP defender, someone said "switch to healing bullets!"|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
... I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Healing Flames.
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I still suspect there are people who think that Trick Arrow actually has a power named "healing arrow".
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Three words: Adamantium Laser Blade|
Originally Posted by DrMike2000
Focus and Shockwave. I have no idea how my claws character can knock people over from 40 feet away using his claws. They're great powers, but why this set gets ranged attacks is beyond me. This bugged me enough to start a thread on it once.
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Kinetics - I still don't know what this powerset is meant to represent. Its partly power absorption (Siphons and Fulcrum Shift), partly superspeed (the only way to get unsupressed speed in combat), allows you to increase ally's density and heal them? Transfusion's enemy-based AoE heal that can miss is probably the most mysterious. No idea what's going on when I use that. Radiation Emission is kind of similar. Very useful set, but I've never explained it as a character using radioactivity to do all that. Reality altering like the Scarlet Witch of Mad Jim Jaspers maybe, but not radiation. This set also fits Element Lad style transmutation quite nicely if paired with Ice or Earth control. |
Kinetics' feel as a "jack of all trades" set, though, I used as a Gadgets set before Traps came out. I explained all of my Illusion/Kinetics Controller's powers as either devices he carried around with him to produce the given effects, to his understanding of human nature allowing him to throw people off guard. So Siphon Power, for instance, was his ability to make his foes confused about who was friend or foe and thus not hit as hard, or keep their guard up. Transfusion was just a medical healing device, like the one in Medicine.
And my Illusion/Rad Controller, Genie Gold, does not control radiation, she has the ability to merge her body with the air around her, and shapeshift her environment into different forms. It's her own shapeshifting power expanded to the air around her. So she can turn the air into smoke or a choking gas, or even extend her power into someone's body and either heal them, or weaken their armor. In keeping with the concept, when Power Customization came out I turned all her powers into a bright, golden light, and it actually made her powers feel like it was all light and air based, unifying it with her Illusions.
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I find scaring robots just a tad more believable than scaring ghosts. |
Originally Posted by Mister_Fetch
Fear powers that work on (some) robots, which led to this exchange at one point:
"How did you just terrify those things?" "Two words: Windows. Vista." |
Of course, in most cases I explain it as my frightening vigilante knowing some things about computer programming, and uploading a virus into the robots. The same with Taunting robots, on my character that is a robot herself. I actually have unique binds she uses specifically for robots, in which she connects to them through the network and reprograms them to attack her.
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I bound almost every key on my numpad to a different Placate quip on my Stalker.|
Originally Posted by beyeajus
these are not the droids you are looking for?
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"I am not the droid you're looking for," "Time out, I just lost a contact lens!" "Here's mud in your eye!" "Oh my god, what's that behind you!?!" (followed up with an AS and "Oh right, it's ME!"), and "Open your mouth and close your eyes, and you'll get a big surprise..." are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. :P
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Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Group Flight. Oh yeah, maybe back in the inaugural year of 2004 from the inception of CoH when all the programmers, developers and creative types are all going over the final pieces before CoH became live. It was probably late on a Friday afternoon. Some new guy sitting at the back of the table said "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if we could get Group Flight? You can endow your nearby teammates with flight and let your friends fall if you run out of endurance or if they travel too far away from you. Granted, your travel speed is slower than Fly and flying allies will suffer from reduced accuracy and you must be at least level 20 and have two other flight powers before selecting Group Fly, but wouldn't that be just great?"
All Powers defy logic, but even so, we prefer to think that in a super hero world, normal physics still basically works unless being acted on by Super Powers. ie. Superman can fly by unknown reasons, nevertheless, gravity is still expected to work normally in normal everyday situations. So, when we see 'Powers' that defy Physics in irrational ways, we have disconnects...
More examples of powers that do such:
Superjumping on Water.
Pulling Rocks Slabs out of metal scaffolding (Hurl). Perhaps transmuting elements is also involved.
Taunt as a Power. Anybody can 'Taunt'. "You suck!!!!". Mind Control Powers better describe how the power currently works
Most MM Pet Summoning animations: "Wow, a Sewer lid up here in the hills, and my Thug henchman happened to be in it...What are the odds?"
Damage AoEs only effecting unfriendlies: talk about selective nuking...
Most of the weapons sets, the draw and re-draw don't make much sense . . .
"Oh, hello bad guy. I'm gonna pull out this huge Battle Axe out of my . . . er . . . "
"And then every time I move 2 inches, I'm gonna shove it back to where I had it, wherever that was (sounds painful), and then I have to pull it out again . . . "
If it was a kind of magic sword or something that just appears, OK, but for a Natural character that's a little hard to explain.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Taunting robots is easy "Yo mama was a toaster"
The more people I meet, the more I'm beginning to root for the zombies.
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Ahh what you refer to is known as hammer-space:|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Most of the weapons sets, the draw and re-draw don't make much sense . . .
"Oh, hello bad guy. I'm gonna pull out this huge Battle Axe out of my . . . er . . . " "And then every time I move 2 inches, I'm gonna shove it back to where I had it, wherever that was (sounds painful), and then I have to pull it out again . . . " If it was a kind of magic sword or something that just appears, OK, but for a Natural character that's a little hard to explain. |
http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...hammer%20space
commonly used by today's cartoon characters and pioneered by the Warner Bros. Toons.
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Yo dawg...|
Originally Posted by HelinCarnate
Guess Ill have to sit here doing nothing while I wait to sit there and do nothing more efficently.
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I HATE this power. Not just for the fact that you can lift a chunk of earth from non-earth surfaces but because once you've ripped up that hunk of rock, there is no pit, or hole or any kind of evidence over what has happened. The ground is still just as smooth and unaltered as it was before you used this power.
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Originally Posted by Socorro
Pulling Rocks Slabs out of metal scaffolding (Hurl). Perhaps transmuting elements is also involved.
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Hehe - I can just imagine you shooting someone in the back with a healing arrow. If they survive the shot then they get healed|
Originally Posted by seebs
Was in a group with a /DP defender, someone said "switch to healing bullets!"
I still suspect there are people who think that Trick Arrow actually has a power named "healing arrow". |
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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Why in the world would you remove the perception debuff (literally, you must get closer for the enemies to see you) for a smoke grenade?|
Originally Posted by Soulwind
For Smoke Grenade, I'd just to a bigger -ToHit DeBuff and drop the -Perception (SG's "stealth" effect) or even leave both, but drop the "no aggro" effect.
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Originally Posted by Fulmens
... I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Healing Flames.
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Originally Posted by Kelenar
Well, Shockwave shows your character tossing a giant bladed thingy at your enemies.
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I gotta say, though, Fallout is especially amusing. Aaaand... corpseplosion!!
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
I'm ok with weird animations. I see them more as suggestions of what might have happened (You used your strength to hurl "something" at the enemy) rather than what literally ocurred.
Some of the descriptions are funny to me though. Seeds of Confusion is explained as: "You hurl seeds from the rare Baffle plant at your foes." The plant is apparantly so uncommon that you're able to throw a handful of the stuff every 45 seconds.
Comic books are a weird place, so I can accept some of the stuff that goes on. Radiation and Thermal heals are a stretch (though I too tend to see Thermal as more of a mental or spiritual "Phoenix" kind of fire than literal flames.) Controller pets strike me as ridiculous, and I hope if we get a City of Heroes 2 they're removed. Willpower as a Tanker or Brute powerset is really silly if played as if it is actually Willpower.
honestly though, as soon as I learned that I could punch a ghost in the mouth I stopped asking questions of logic.