Incarnates for non-elementalists?

First and foremost, I want to say that I don't intend this as criticism. I'm well aware of the stigma my name brings with it, but bear with me. I'm not complaining here. This is a genuine question.

I've looked through the lists of Incarnate powers and their effects for a while, and I kept thinking "well, this character could have that, that character could have this" and they always seemed to fit... Until I started wondering what the eponymous Samuel Tow could potentially take. And I started drawing a blank.

I want to restrict my hypothetical scenarios to just the Judgement powers since those are what I'm most familiar with, but feel free to bring up the others just the same.

To put down a little context, Samuel Tow's powers are, essentially super reflexes, katana and guns, in that order. Granted, I can't give him guns in City of Heroes, so that's Super Reflexes and Katana. He's the result of a genetic experiment which gave him super-human cognition, bordering on precognition, which in turn makes him deadly accurate with a very special sword which can cut through anything (the nature of which I never committed to writing).

So what do I give him? I'm aware that there are four Judgement powers - Fire, Energy, Ice and Darkness. Neither of those powers really works in-concept, as they all revolve around manifesting elemental (and I count "dark" as an element in City of Heroes) powers to shoot from his hands, essentially. Originally, way back when, I was speculating about what a "weapon-based" Incarnate AoE could represent and... I was and am drawing a blank. A sort of really fast slash in all directions, maybe? I don't know.

And thinking about Sam got me to thinking about a few other characters. Like Brutticus, my alternate-Earth woman whose powers revolve around her being amazingly strong and so tough as to be next to unkillable, and her powers manifest as axe and shield. For her, I could kind of see a power that's a punch/stomp to the ground causing a massive tremor, or even a People's Elbow to the ground that does the same. Then I remembered Xanta, my "Troll girl," who's also super strong and very invulnerable. Similar concept, really.

Then there are the odd ones, like Inna, my Energy/Energy character. I didn't actually see a "pure energy" Incarnate power (though I could have missed one), and electricity... Doesn't really feel right for her. I mean, when she was a Blaster, she took Foce Mastery, and now that she's a Brute she's looking at Energy Master, speaking of Epics. And then there's my "Kung Fu Robot" whom I made after Resurrection Rise 2's Rook, who might do well with a pure energy kamehamehadouken, but really not very well with electricity, either.

And, yes, I know I've said I'm not interested in Incarnates, and I'm generally not. Probably not for a year or two, or at least a few months. But this doesn't mean I can't speculate, and I expect that at least sooner or later I'll get off my lazy *** and get at least the Judgement slot opened up and filled in. But this really does beg the question of "With what?"

And, finally, I want to head an argument off at the root: No, I'm not looking to rewrite my characters into somehow developing supernatural powers and suddenly manifesting the ability to shoot "Incarnate Fire," not am I looking to explain why they suddenly have the unrelated ability to do so. I COULD write that into their concepts, yes. It would be relatively easy. But then those won't be the characters I wanted to make, those I fell in love with and kept close to my heart even when I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep playing the game.

Consider this a purely theoretical discussion. I'm not advocating change or condemning additions. Just discussing concepts and stories.

*edit*
Oh, right, before I forget - there's my flagship villain: Ezikiel. He's a Stone/Stone/Earth (to be soon) Brute whose entire power spectrum revolves around controlling earth, rocks and crystals. Jane Temblor's "rumble" would be perfect for him - and I thought so the moment I saw that - so wouldn't that make for a cool Judgement power? Sure, yeah, physical damage, but I'd pick it.

Quote:

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.

To be honest I didn't read all of your post but here is a thing or two...

1.) The Judgement powers can be customized so for a 'pure energy' feel you can take fire's powers and just color them to the blue/white that energy blast is now (or Void's, etc...).

2.) The devs did mention that they do plan on expanding the trees/slots; biggest example was Lore since there was a huge outcry from most that didn't want praetorian pets; so maybe in the future there can be a gun judgement tree/slot or what have you...I'm all for more options

Not that either suggestion really helps (especially the "just wait and hope you get gun judgement powers" one) but it's the best I got.

I've seen a few people pass off Void as "concentrated anger", a few spine/thorn users pass off Cryonic as more spikes, and I've even seen a few Arachnos Soldiers/AR Blasters pass off Pyronic as a high-output incendiary grenade.

I've been considering Pyronic for my Brute as being her white hot rage manifesting as explosive flame.

After seeing a friend/sgmate use the Void judgement ability; you might be able to pass the Void off for the energy user/toon as well (coloring it to whatever you want)....I don't remember hearing any sounds (could have been too far away) but the animation is kind of cool and just has 'energy (or rage like the person above said)' whipping all around the toon and then somewhat 'exploding' upwards.

A question becomes relevant when we talk about void. I've seen videos of it, and it looked pretty clear to me that it's using a dark colour theme, which could be a problem for a bright energy user.

So the question is: Are the Incarnate powers customizable between both Bright AND Dark themes? I know we have precedent for Dark Fire, but I also know we LACK precedent for bright darkness (silly as that may sound) as well as ice powers colourable anything outside a very limited colour pattern.

Quote:

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.

My ion judgement had a light and dark option.

Nice thing about the color tint interface on the Judgement powers...get one power, and you can see what *all* of them look like. Every single Judgement power.. core, radial, partial revamp, total revamp, final, for all 4 trees are in the tailor menu once you get one.....and that means if you're not careful you can end up getting charged for changes to powers you don't even have

And they all have color tintable,dark and bright themes. 3 themes apiece.

I would think that Cryonic could be explained away as "throwing a bazillion knives/shuriken."

Well, I'd like to see an "Orbital Cannon" Judgement- using a mix of the initial animation for Surveillance and then the targetting reticle for the Warwalker Orbital Lance.

Would fit for Natural and Tech characters nicely

Interesting thread. Been wondering what to do for one of my more naturally tanker types.

I hope we'll get a weapons based judgement and might looking judgement eventually, similar to how they've hinted at other Lore trees eventually.

Would love to see a PBAoE power that pummels the ground with knock up and stun chances on one side of the tree. Or as I was telling a friend earlier, your character cannonballs onto the ground shaking it and everyone nearby.

Till then an effectless as possible void power may need to do the trick for one of mine.