Help me make a goddess

I have a VERY ambitious project for a character, and coming from me, that's saying a lot. I want to make an actual, literal goddess. Actually, rather a lot more than that, but may get into this farther down. Yes, I'm aware this is overkill. Yes, I'm aware this is a Mary Sue. No, it wasn't First Ward that inspired me, but rather this story that I wrote for Kim which I keep self-plugging all over the place. Don't worry, I have a reason why she'll be starting at level one, and again - I might get into this. Her story and her personality really isn't in question here - Nuclear Toast already helped me with this by a great deal.

What I need help with, and a LOT of it, is actually bringing this "thing" into City of Heroes proper. I have no idea what AT I want to use, what powersets to pick or, hell, even what kind of look to go for. If any of you have gods or goddesses of your own that you'd like to share, that would be very welcome, specifically what ATs and powersets you chose and whether those look or feel like godlike powers.

I do have a few limitations in regards to what I will and won't use. In terms of ATs, I will really only use one of the following four: Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Mastermind. My reasons for doing this are simple enjoyment - I've tried all of the ATs and those are the ONLY four I've consistently enjoyed playing. I say this because I know the first few suggestions will be for Controller, Dominator, Corruptor and Defender. Sadly, I just don't enjoy those ATs and I'll have to make this work with one of the four I do enjoy. When it comes to powersets, the only thing I outright REFUSE to play is Stone Armour. I played it to 50 once, and once in a lifetime is enough for that confounded powerset. That's just personal opinion, but I simply don't want to bother.

Beyond that, though, the sky's the limit. I'll see if I can't provide some extra backstory in a follow-up post to give a tad more background.

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.

Don't see why it would be a Mary Sue.

I'd go Electric Melee. Lightning Powers just seem all god like (Zues, Thor), and then pick a Secondary you enjoy.

In my book, if you present the character with "she is a goddess and that is why she is facing these unique difficulties" then she's not a Mary Sue. (She would be if you would be presenting her as "she is a goddess and that's why she's more interesting than your character".)

I find most of the concepts I can fit into Brue, Scrapper or Stalker are fairly up-close-and-personal types, for obvious reasons. I don't immediately associate any of them with the idea of a "goddess", unless she's a warrior goddess, or one whose powers are significantly reduced by design or accident and she's really enjoying wading right into things for a change instead of always sending out her influence from afar.

Thugs/Soldiers/Beast Mastermind would fit the type of goddess who needs worshippers, either literally to survive, or just is very used to them and can't imagine life without them. You could easily pretend her power grows because she adds more devout followed to her cadre, not the other way around.

Necro/Demons/maybe Robots Mastermind would be something in-between, the goddess who doesn't need worshippers following her around everywhere, but doesn't just want to go at it alone, and so surrounds herself with her own creations.

Gotta second Electric Melee, for one reason: Lightning Rod. That power both looks and sounds awesome, as in the classic "inspires awe" sense of the word. Maybe go with Shield Defense, too, as a holy shield with her icon on it is a classic piece of divine equipment.

Alternatively, got with Beast Mastery in Masterminds for that nature goddess look. Storm Summoning, Dark Miasma, or perhaps Time Manipulation would work as a secondary. Depending on the flavor of goddess, of course. But you want something spectacular for a character like this, "subdued" doesn't exactly say goddess to me.

As far as costumes go, well, do you have Celestial Wings or Phoenix Wings? The Phoenix Wings in particular are very spectacular, might want to get the tail that came with it, too. Other than that, I'm the classical type when it comes to goddesses, unfortunately, there is a lack of full length robes in the game. An Aura is a must, of course. If you have the Salute to Statesman aura, try that. I haven't seen it in action yet. I'd probably go for a golden colored theme, for some reason divinity is often portrayed as golden. Might also try a light blue, or green in case of a Beast/Storm Mastermind.

Here's a bit more backstory, and keep in mind that this is all straight out of the depths of my head and born out of my own fictional universe. If it contradicts established City of Heroes canon or other people's characters, I apologise. Either I can work around that, or we can just say this is some sort of elseworld character that doesn't really exist. Here's what I have, as a general description however.

The character in question is Tirin Praxis, a deity... Actually two separate deities... Of an ancient race that no longer exists. But Praxis is no god. No, she is something much more ancient and much, much worse. Old even when all of existence was still young, Praxis followed the Creators here, challenged them for all created things, and nearly wiped them all out. These creators are themselves unimaginable beings, existing outside of conventional reality, seeing everything all as just a small subset of their own higher reality. And still it took all of them and their combined power to oppose Praxis alone, and even then the most that they could do was imprison her by scattering her essence throughout all of reality. Though this should have destroyed anything which exists, Praxis still remains, trapped but still very much active.

Despite being flung into an abyss, her essence scattered and her energy constantly drained, Praxis cannot be stopped, and her corrosive influence still spreads throughout the universe, manifesting as gods, and more. This creature is no god, but it has the power of one, and then some. When allowed to manifest fully, it seeks to be to the literal gods of myth what they are to mortals - a being of cosmic power that lays claim to all creation and asks for servitude and obedience in return, all for the sake of breaking its eternal prison. To what end? That may not even be possible to explain.

Throughout eternity, Praxis has subjugated and consumed many literal gods, bringing them into its essence and transforming them into its agents. Some have done so willingly, to escape the shackles of their need for worship. Others have been drained and defiled. They all now exist as spectres, aspects of Praxis' greater being, incapable of being truly destroyed. Though they may be dispersed, Praxis will always bring them back in time, to fight and die for her cause again and again until all of creation is lost once more.

Though Praxis has laid waste to world in many of her manifestation, sent entire galactic civilizations to their doom and even reshaped some laws of reality, she has done so with only whatever minuscule fraction of its powers that seeps through the prison bars. None have ever seen the full scope and scale of this creature, and I pray none ever do.

But Praxis' prison still holds, and her power is still limited, more so since her last defeat. When fully powered, her avatar is nearly unstoppable and her divine lieutenants innumerable, but at the moment, her power is dispersed, enough only to create a weak manifestation with which to subvert, plot and regain her position of power, only able to summon a few of her strongest lieutenants at a mere shadow of even the power they once had, let alone the power they wield as agents of Praxis. And yes, I say "her," because time and again, Praxis chooses to manifest as a goddes. Why, no-one can really say any more than why she does anything she does. All we know is she CANNOT be allowed to get free.

---

Do you see now why I say she's a Mary Sue? And, as usual, I can't make just ONE character, oh no. I have to make five. I have to make Praxis and another four subject gods. However, the other four I'll deal with on my own. It's Praxis herself that I really don't know what to do about. I need something that seems ethereal and super-natural more so than just a person with powers.

*edit*
I should point out that I'm specifically looking to make a VILLAIN here, as that really didn't come across from my original post. I also want to make her something of a "spirit of corruption." She's the kind of evil that, everything she touches turns rotten. That's why my immediate thought was actually Dark something, but I don't know yet.

I'm also thinking of using the "fireplace hat" or the Chinese antler helmet I'd probably go for something that's overall "weird" looking more so than Tielekku, though.

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.

Yeah, going to say Mastermind now. Demons or Beasts, depending on what form her followers take. The secondary should be destructive as well. A calamity made flesh. I'm thinking Dark Miasma. Draining the enemy to heal herself and her followers, Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze are also somewhat topical here, plus, you know, Dark Servant.

Could go with Poison for a secondary, but that doesn't really have the oomph a goddess needs. Maybe Pain Domination over Dark, too. Still, Dark is very spectacular...

I'm somewhat dubious on Masterminds, to be honest. I mean, I like the AT. Love it, in fact. But Masterminds are presented as relatively weaker individuals who gain strength from having assistence, whereas Praxis is kind of a lot like Mot, unintentionally, in the sense that she's personally amazingly powerful and cares less about having allies to help as she is having servants who keep out of her way.

I think Akharist says it best when he explains why the Envoy of Shadows requests a sacrifice - it's less because the demon needs it and more because it shows just how far people are willing to go and gets them to commit to the cause. The thing with Praxis is she doesn't derive power from her followers - she's not a god, just a massively powerful being. Most of what she needs followers for is just to keep them out of her way. She does have "literal gods" enslaved to her essence, but even at the best of time you won't see more than four or five of those, serving more as semi-independent agents than direct followers.

Besides, none of the Mastermind primaries really fit the bill Demons are kind of biblical and specific, beasts are even more so, and zombies are very specific to humanoid people. I guess if there were some kind of Dark Servant primary for Masterminds like what Black Swan has, then maybe. But if I'm going to make her a Mastermind, her "henchmen" would have to be a pure manifestation of her raw power, more so than drafted assistants.

*edit*
That's not to say I'm rejecting Masterminds. Far from it. I'm just trying to work out what I can do to the concept and how much I can bend the game so I can meet somewhere close to a middle ground.

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.

Necro/dark is raising the dead.. pretty godlike..

Energy/energy blaster is like a living star...

Fire/fire in any form makes a perfect 'Pele' .. Volcanice Fire goddess

Ninja will make good followers
Beastmastery makes a great Earth goddess

Before reading anything I was planning to say Illusion/Storm controller.

After reading the limits, I would have said super strength / electric brute. I would have warned you away from electric melee unless you were a stalker because the single target damage is so slow.

But reading the back story, I guess it would have to be a mastermind. Demons or Necromancy would work best. Demons are more powerful. I woud suggest Demons/Time. The primary reflects "her" nature, and the secondary seems to be something an imprisoned meta-god would want to master, in order to have one or more of its shadows/reflections erode the boundaries of reality in order to fascilitate her freedom.

So, yeah. I recommend Demons/Time.


Lewis

I have to confess - my first idea was a Dark/Dark Brute. I know I don't have one, Dark powers are abstract enough to be godlike (but colour terribly) and they have a corrupting nature to them, with the various drains, debuffs and the fear effect. Sadly, I don't think Brutes have a Dark Epic, plus I don't like Dark Armour very much. It's a mixed bag of mostly single-target damage with relatively "weak" visual and audio effects. The new Dark Blast is kind of awesome, but that didn't carry over to old Dark Melee/Armour/Miasma/etc., which is unfortunate.

Then again, perhaps I should go with something less evil and more "abstract" as an incomprehensible cosmic being. I don't know...

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.

In response to demons being too biblical, that depends. You could certainly take the view that demons are non biblical and that abrahamic religions with demons are just tacking their own lore onto something that was already around.

Also modern depictions of devils and demons come less from the bible and more from the imaginations of writers such ad Milton, and other later church musings. And plenty of other religions have stuff not unlike demons.

Plus, even "biblical" demons may be mere servitors of a greater entity.

Lewis

The problem with a dark/dark brute is that its kinda low rent. I mean, melee characters dont work in the slightest, frankly, even as a fragmentary aspect. Not of the being you have described. I have to say that "punching things in the face with Darkness, because I am evil, but slumming it" just doesnt cut it. Thats minion work, for one of her lieutenants.

If you want your powers to match your concept, that concept, you have to go with masterminds, controllers, or dominators. Maybe certain corruptors like fire/dark.

Otherwise, just accept that your melee AT options are a mismatch, and an excuse, and a placeholder for greatness and that you just want something as a tourist in a dress wearing a "Hello, my name is Praxis" sticker on there while you drive to 50.

Or get on the "fundamental powers of the universe" bandwagon and make a real goddess (mastermind, controller).



Lewis

Just a heads up Sam, my character creation process is nothing like yours. Generally, I pick the power sets I want to play first, and then build up a story around them(if I bother with a story at all)

Just before incarnates hit, I wanted to give a fire/traps corr a go, specifically to run incarnate content. Considering up to then, all my ranged toons withered and died usually before I could even get to SO levels, it was kind of out of my comfort zone. I knew however, that it was a potent combination, and I was pretty sure I would be able to handle most things the game could throw at me, I was confident I would be able to deal with most of the yet unreleased incarnate content even if it was expected to be more challenging.

At the time, as I understood it, most incarnates were influenced largely by Greek mythos so I googled a bit and reacquainted myself with Greek mythology.

Specifically the Moirae. The gods don't even **** with the fates. So Atropos promptly rolled up, and she has never disappointed. It was not a far stretch for me to be able to justify using modern day devices to assist in cutting the thread of life of modern day gods. Fire is fire. It never needs to be justified. I don't think of her as a Mary Sue though.

As for power set selections, I don't have much for you as I would still recommend a corruptor even though you specifically asked people not to.

zombie/dark

You'll literally be a god as you can solo everything under the sun

It's a shame controllers are out for your project. An illusion controller (I'm thinking the classic ill/rad with primal or psi APP) sounds like it would fit your idea of "personally amazingly powerful and cares less about having allies to help" but still has minions to summon and handle the petty work. It's not so reliant on it's pets to be awesome (but hey 3 indestructible tanks come in handy eh?).

As for a valid suggestion... maybe an energy melee/willpower/energy mastery Brute?
When I think of an immortal type of character I think "this guy/gal can do lots of different things"

Why energy melee? The glowing super smacks of doom fit nicely for an omnipotent being.

Why willpower? Not many clicks to manage... just raw in your face sturdiness in a wide variety of flavors without much conscious effort. (regen, defense, resistance, status protection that includes confuse and fear, oh crap button, self res).

Why energy mastery? Again, I think of immortals as having a wide array of abilities, melee and ranged. Energy mastery adds for physical enhancement with superior conditioning and physical perfection (just sounds like a god to me). On top of that laser beam eyes and energy torrent add ranged abilities.

Now some of my power choices might not be "optimal" because of trying to stick to the concept but that is probably be what I'd go with within your constraints.

I've run with the God theme a little. My last two mains were both modeled after gods.

My DM/Shield Scrapper was named "Dis Pater", named after the Roman god of the underworld (it also means father of wealth, because I intended to use him as a sugar daddy). He isn't evil, because the underworld wasn't associated with evilness, but rather with the power that came from the ground: mineral richs, agriculture, etc. However, his powers reflected the belief in him, and he became a god of death, rather than simply prosperity, when became began to associate the underworld with death.

His ambitions were simple: gain followers. I theorized that the power of a lower-case god is based on the magnitude of belief in the god. Because Dis Pater hasn't been worshiped for centuries, his power started as that of a fledgling hero, a fragment of his strength. However, before the last of his followers died he managed to steal the Aegis of Mars, whose divine power allowed him to survive until he could find a way to regain his strength without followers. The shield adapted to him over the centuries, eventually becoming an embodiment of the underword (dark elemental shield).

That power came in the form of the Well, which promised to make him strong irrespective of the belief in him. The catch is that he would still gain strength by converting followers, which would be easier with incarnate abilities, and the two sources of power would feed into each other.

On the other hand, my TW/Elec Brute was named Teshub, and was based on the Turrian god of sky and storms. He is usually depicted with a weapon, generally an axe or mace (I used the electric mace from the TW pack, which fit perfectly with electric armor and made for a nice "godly" weapon). His name comes from the Hattian tarh- meaning "to defeating, conquer". When I changed servers, I changed his name to Tarhunt, another name for the same god. He is a villain, because he is consumed solely with usually power to conquer his enemies, unlike Dis Pater, who simply views power as a way to survive and maintain a balance between the riches of the world and the danger of death.

If I were choosing powersets for "godliness," I'd look at powers that can represent the most common godly forces. The ones most common in literature are sun gods (energy blast/manipulation, peacebringers, fire blast/melee/armor, etc.), moon or death gods, water gods (dark control colored), storm gods, and earth gods. I usually like to base my characters off of a real world god, but that isn't necessary. The important thing for me is that they cannot be omnipotent deities, and must be given actual goals, ambitions, and limitations to avoid being Mary Sues.

My scrapper is an example of how I tried to do this. While he has godlike potential, he starts weaker than almost any hero or villain, before gaining strength by strengthening belief in him. Simply appearing on the news can make him more powerful, but the belief can also change his basic identity. For example, he gained the ability to use fire powers late in his career when a news story was run over him "blowing up" a building on accident, creating the belief that he used fire to create an explosion. This gives him the ability to adopt new powers, but also means that his identity is constantly at risk of being changed without his control.

Comic books provide a large number of comic deities in a superhero world. Numero uno is Thor, but Zeus, Ares, Hercules, Isis, Odin, and many more populate the comic book realm. Personally, I prefer to use less known characters, often from Middle East origins. An eastern god would be easy to make with the new Imperial Dynasty pieces, and could be made by making a fire/fire brute or scrapper (example: Tai Yang Gong, the chinese grandfather sun, or Star Lord of the Solar Palace). If you want something more western, you could base a character off a lesser-known European culture, for instance Barsamid, the storm god of the pre-Christian Armenians (easily represented as an Electric/Electric stalker/brute/scrapper).

For a non-elemental god, you could use a god of war template, such as Cariocecus, the Lusitanian god of war. Said character could use any combination of a weapon set and shield, invulnerability, and willpower. If I were using such a character, I'd use a Mace/Shield Scrapper, and make use a hand motif in the costume (Lusitanians cut off the right hand of prisoners and consecrated it to Cariocecus). Said character could be run as a villain, as the Lusitanians also practiced human sacrifice to their gods.

Just some ideas I've had on a similar theme. Because you mentioned using a female character, I will stress that the gender of gods is one important variable you can change to create a new character. For instance, Cariocecus could become Cariocecia, goddess of war. This will allow you to have a decent mythology to expand/modify to create your character, and should give you a near infinite amount of resources to draw from.

Based on your earlier comment on using the "fireplace hat," I assume you have the Fire & Ice costume set? If so, I'd suggest a TW/regeneration brute using the elemental sword...nothing screams "power" like an unkillable avatar wielding a six foot tall pillar of seething, divine energy

It's already been mentioned, but Electric Melee with the colors tinted black may be exactly the sort of "Dark melee" you want, with the forks of the electric bolts resembling tiny tentacles. Electric Armor colored black may work for the same reason. You don't have to use both, of course, but either may actually be closer to what you're picturing than actual Dark powers.

And Energy Mastery is always good if nothing else seems to fit, if only for the nice Auto powers.

For appearance, I'm picturing something like Myria from Breath of Fire 1 and 3, who presents herself as an angelic figure:



But is really something far more monstrous, in both form and nature. (Though it's a little beyond CoH's costume creator)

To be honest, though, when I think "evil goddess", I also think Dominator (with some pool powers and eventually Psionic Mastery for defense, damage resistance and status protection).

I like a Mastermind with Demons/Time Manipulation.

The demons could be her bound versions of the gods she owns, and time gives you "reach around the walls" effects.

As for the look, I once made a "revived" costume for my magic character for use when rezzed or using an Awaken. The costume was all white, and I used the white glow aura. It had a very god-like feel and was almost painful to look at, especially on dark maps. But it allows for a very simple costume with stunning impact.

So much for my input. Apparently I'm better at questioning your questions than giving pure advice.

--NT

My main Liege Cheetatron X is a Technological "god" Bots/Traps/Mu, but for the more mystical "I have monstrous servants" god type I suggest Demons/ pair it up with Dark, Time or Storm for effects and animations that are up to par with the idea of a Physical God

Kat, BS, TW with a not too clicky res set

Fire/Ma/Soul or Leviathan tank though yoour not looking for tanks