Question 16

[Citadel16 he/him]

I….I never thought I'd say this about a human character, but that's too OP. 

 

83 Epics is a pretty high number, and although we don't know for sure how many Epics the Reckoners have killed, it's implied to be nowhere near that high. We know very little about how motivators work at this point, but they can't be easy to make, given that the Reckoners don't keep the genetic material of the Epics they kill but rather sell them on the black market. So one man experimenting on Epic genetic material on his own in a post-apocalyptic wasteland seems a tad implausible. 

 

I think a more realistic bio would put his kill count at more like 10 or 15  at the most, cut out the experimentation portion, and have him experience semi-frequent technical difficulties with his gear. If he's on his own, no matter how well he cares for his equipment, it's going to break down on him and he'll either have to rig up a repair or do without. 

...

...

okay consider it edited

[Edgedancer he/him]

We also have better maths scores. Unfortunately Germany beats us so I guess Edge wins that round.   

For now.

I always had excellent grades across all subjects, thank you.

 

Introducing: Australian!ShinySparkle!

Now with water teleportation instead of sparklesplosions and a teleporter for hire who can be summoned by tossing gold bars into the oceans around Australia. (She's NPC so anyone else who wants to use her feel free, she takes offers in the form of cute young girls who she abducts and does... something with.)

And my characters are already getting stolen. A pitty they will never meet up.

 

Okay. this is the final draft for the Hunter.

 

Mark Joshua West(though his name is unknown to almost everybody, so don't use it often. or at all even) aka The Hunter is among the most naturally intelligent humans in recent history. little is known of The Hunter except of his epic kill count of 83 and a few confirmed abilities. Very few people actually know that he is not an epic, but uses epic tech (which he does swap when it will give him an edge) his favorite weapons include a gun that fires "portal rounds" which can open a portal on almost any surface, and a personal single use force field that recharges every fifteen seconds (quirk about the force field, as long as there is continuous damage, i.e. a building falls on him or he's on fire, the shield will stay up, then shatter when there is no longer any continuous damage being done). he also has some more plausible non-epic tech including curving bullets, grenades, HUD facemask and a UAF stealth drone.

 

he invents his own epic tech, often taking samples from living epics personally and experimenting on them in his personal hideout. (location: not telling)

 

and yes, he roams the world, taking down epics.

 

I'm kind of wondering why no one ever braught it up but weren't we trying to stay away from motivator tec, given that there only two known sources, one of which is an enigma and the other in direct contact with Calamity. Even ignoring that, I'm still not sure if this is possible for a singular person. I mean simple question, where does he get his money from? Because he's going to be frigging rich to afford producing all this stuff.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Edgedancer

[Citadel16 he/him]

I always had excellent grades across all subjects, thank you.

 

And my characters are already getting stolen. A pitty they will never meet up.

 

I'm kind of wondering why no one ever braught it up but weren't we trying to stay away from motivator tec, given that there only two known sources, one of which is an enigma and the other in direct contact with Calamity. Even ignoring that, I'm still not sure if this is possible for a singular person. I mean simple question, where does he get his money from? Because he's going to be frigging rich to afford producing all this stuff.

I've edited it. look again.

 

edit: epic tech comes from a piece of there mitochondrial DNA, which is used as a sort of access key to that particular power.

Edited November 12, 2015 by warriormark16

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I'm kind of wondering why no one ever braught it up but weren't we trying to stay away from motivator tec, given that there only two known sources, one of which is an enigma and the other in direct contact with Calamity. Even ignoring that, I'm still not sure if this is possible for a singular person. I mean simple question, where does he get his money? Because he's going to be frigging rich to afford producing all this stuff. 

 

 

That's why I suggested the technical difficulties, so he'd have to rely on other gear at least until Calamity comes out and we'll be able to incorporate more details on motivators into the RP. Though you're right and it might be better to just have this guy rely on non-motivator tech. Even the Reckoners, who use the closest thing to motivators we've seen, have a living, breathing gifter Epic to draw from. 

 

...

...

okay consider it edited

 

 

My concern here is just that he'll be game-breaking powerful. A character with access to motivator tech, knowledge of how to make it, and 23 Epic kills (which is higher than my maximum of 15) under his belt will have no good reason not to swoop into Portland, kill all the Epics there, and leave whistling with a dozen fancy new motivators under his belt. 

[Edgedancer he/him]

I've edited it. look again.

 

edit: epic tech comes from a piece of there mitochondrial DNA, which is used as a sort of access key to that particular power.

So he gets his money from semi handwaving now. I mean stealing money is actually of fairly little use, given that the economy collapsed. Meaning that high amounts of money that are portable will be fairly local and as such also not very hard to track down, when used to acquire millitary grade tec.

 

That's why I suggested the technical difficulties, so he'd have to rely on other gear at least until Calamity comes out and we'll be able to incorporate more details on motivators into the RP. Though you're right and it might be better to just have this guy rely on non-motivator tech. Even the Reckoners, who use the closest thing to motivators we've seen, have a living, breathing gifter Epic to draw from. 

 

 

 

My concern here is just that he'll be game-breaking powerful. A character with access to motivator tech, knowledge of how to make it, and 23 Epic kills (which is higher than my maximum of 15) under his belt will have no good reason not to swoop into Portland, kill all the Epics there, and leave whistling with a dozen fancy new motivators under his belt. 

I dunno, tecnical difficulties won't explain anything if it turns out that Calamity needs to actively reanimate the tissue for a motivator to work.

 

About the power level, he asked me if he could join Astoria, so that would be less of a problem. I'd still like a more defined list than "his favourites" though.

[Citadel16 he/him]

That's why I suggested the technical difficulties, so he'd have to rely on other gear at least until Calamity comes out and we'll be able to incorporate more details on motivators into the RP. Though you're right and it might be better to just have this guy rely on non-motivator tech. Even the Reckoners, who use the closest thing to motivators we've seen, have a living, breathing gifter Epic to draw from. 

 

 

 

My concern here is just that he'll be game-breaking powerful. A character with access to motivator tech, knowledge of how to make it, and 23 Epic kills (which is higher than my maximum of 15) under his belt will have no good reason not to swoop into Portland, kill all the Epics there, and leave whistling with a dozen fancy new motivators under his belt. 

in answer to your first reply, David used the

water jet tech in firefight

. which proves that particular person is not their only source of power.

 

to the second I say this: killing epics is hard! no matter what new tech you have, taking down an epic requires extreme planning by a master strategist, proper weaponry (which can be hard to come across). and mind blowing coolness!

and when you say "epic kills" do you mean High epic, or a regular epic? because I'm saying epics in general.

and is he a Game breaker? or a Game changer?

 

And, as a fellow writer and RP player, I promise to make each and every kill a crazy intense challenge for him (as long as it is within my ability)

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

So he gets his money from semi handwaving now. I mean stealing money is actually of fairly little use, given that the economy collapsed. Meaning that high amounts of money that are portable will be fairly local and as such also not very hard to track down, when used to acquire millitary grade tec.

 

I dunno, tecnical difficulties won't explain anything if it turns out that Calamity needs to actively reanimate the tissue for a motivator to work.

 

About the power level, he asked me if he could join Astoria, so that would be less of a problem. I'd still like a more defined list than "his favourites" though.

 

Good points, both about the money and the motivators. warriormark, I think that if you want to have this character be reliant on motivator tech, wait to introduce him until after Calamity is released and we have solid details on how motivators work. Otherwise, just have him use regular tech. 

 

Astoria would be less of a problem for this character, yes, though I'm concerned that the focus is still in the wrong place—on making him a powerful character instead of an interesting character. That isn't to say that powerful characters can't be interesting—heck, look at Astoria and Corvallis—but in a character-driven game, the focus should be on interesting first and powerful second. 

[Citadel16 he/him]

So he gets his money from semi handwaving now. I mean stealing money is actually of fairly little use, given that the economy collapsed. Meaning that high amounts of money that are portable will be fairly local and as such also not very hard to track down, when used to acquire millitary grade tec.

 

I dunno, tecnical difficulties won't explain anything if it turns out that Calamity needs to actively reanimate the tissue for a motivator to work.

 

About the power level, he asked me if he could join Astoria, so that would be less of a problem. I'd still like a more defined list than "his favourites" though.

In Astoria he will be using the Portal gun(im calling it a PG from now on) and the force field.

[Edgedancer he/him]

to the second I say this: killing epics is hard! no matter what new tech you have, taking down an epic requires extreme planning by a master strategist, proper weaponry (which can be hard to come across). and mind blowing coolness!

and when you say "epic kills" do you mean High epic, or a regular epic? because I'm saying epics in general.

and is he a Game breaker? or a Game changer?

 

And, as a fellow writer and RP player, I promise to make each and every kill a crazy intense challenge for him (as long as it is within my ability)

There is a point to that. Killing someone like Curveball really isn't impressive in the slightest. Then again, if you're going to buffer it with small fries, why bother including a specific count in the first place instead of keeping it vague and only specifying a couple that lead to motivator tec?

[Voidus]

I always had excellent grades across all subjects, thank you.

 

And my characters are already getting stolen. A pitty they will never meet up.

 

I'm kind of wondering why no one ever braught it up but weren't we trying to stay away from motivator tec, given that there only two known sources, one of which is an enigma and the other in direct contact with Calamity. Even ignoring that, I'm still not sure if this is possible for a singular person. I mean simple question, where does he get his money from? Because he's going to be frigging rich to afford producing all this stuff.

Unfortunately they are separated by both time and space and teleporting can only move through one of those. Though I don't mind if you want to throw a cameo for her in a Shiny post at any point.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

In a character-driven game, the focus should be on interesting first and powerful second. 

 

[Citadel16 he/him]

There is a point to that. Killing someone like Curveball really isn't impressive in the slightest. Then again, if you're going to buffer it with small fries, why bother including a specific count in the first place instead of keeping it vague and only specifying a couple that lead to motivator tec?

...

you know what. you have a very solid point there...

[Citadel16 he/him]

Good points, both about the money and the motivators. warriormark, I think that if you want to have this character be reliant on motivator tech, wait to introduce him until after Calamity is released and we have solid details on how motivators work. Otherwise, just have him use regular tech. 

 

Astoria would be less of a problem for this character, yes, though I'm concerned that the focus is still in the wrong place—on making him a powerful character instead of an interesting character. That isn't to say that powerful characters can't be interesting—heck, look at Astoria and Corvallis—but in a character-driven game, the focus should be on interesting first and powerful second. 

don't worry, I never do these kind of things half way. in fact its one of my hobbies...

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

...

you know what. you have a very solid point there...

 

 

I think what will help is if you take a few steps backward and focus on who he is rather than what he does. Answer these questions: 

 

1. What did he do before Calamity? Did he have a family? Was he married, and if so, did he have kids? If not, did he want to get married, and did he want kids? What is his orientation? 
2. What did he do in the immediate aftermath of Calamity? What city was he in? If he wasn't in a city, was he in a small town or was he holed up in a bunker somewhere, awaiting the apocalypse? 
3. How did he respond to the Capitulation Act? What were his emotions regarding the Annexation (revulsion, horror, sorrow, something else entirely)? 
4. What did he do for fun before Calamity? What does he do for fun now? 
5. What does he miss most about the pre-Calamity world? 
6. Why did he decide to start hunting Epics? What were some of his early successes and failures? 
7. If an Epic in this game were to capture him and have him executed, what mistake would he have made to have led him to that point? 

[Edgedancer he/him]

In Astoria he will be using the Portal gun(im calling it a PG from now on) and the force field.

In that case I don't think him being too powerful would be a problem.

 

Unfortunately they are separated by both time and space and teleporting can only move through one of those. Though I don't mind if you want to throw a cameo for her in a Shiny post at any point.

I'll think about it once I actually managed to read that post. Maybe she's Shiny Sparkle's much loved aunt that i wanted to establish since a while ago.

 

Yay! *Hides all the powerful Epics he made in a corner* It's not like they happened on purpose.

[Citadel16 he/him]

<p>oooooo... a test.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>let it begin.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>1. he was a physics student at Yale with a photographic memory. He would have graduated with his Masters had the government not collapsed a a few weeks before his last semester. He was married had two kids and was living a <em>freaking dream </em>before his family and entire city block was destroyed by an epic called Longshot, who had the ability to open portals. he mainly killed by opening portals into orbit sucking his victims in a vacuum.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>2.crushed by the loss of his family, Mark withdrew from the world, becoming a sort of homeless person with severe ptsd. he rarely spoke, he never laughed, he never cried, all he did was survive on the crumbs of life and <em>stare.</em></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Then came Apex*</p>

<p>apex was a vicious epic, a murderer for the fun of it. he had come to the streets of New Haven to have a little fun, and as he went into a house near Mark, and pulled out a screaming wife with her two kids... </p>

<p>well, something snapped. and it was probably apex's neck as Mark bashed him in the face with a brick.</p>

<p>over...</p>

<p>and over...</p>

<p>and over again...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>3.after the death of Apex, Mark became lucid again to the real world, catching up with current and past events, learning hand-to-hand combat, sharpshooting, war tactics, epic theories--which he studied most-- parkour, anything that would give him an edge against the monsters who now ruled the world.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>4. On a happier note! he loved baseball and Fencing and owned a motorcycle which he loved to ride. he also read every thing that he could conveniently.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>5. his Family.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>6. well apex was more of an accident in his life, pure coincidence, right place, right time sort of deal. but yes. that was when he decided to hunt epics.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>starting with the one who killed his family.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>longshot. High epic with the ability to open portals to almost anywhere on or above earth. Defensive capabilities where class B precognition.</p>

<p>his weakness... his powers where useless against someone who he had specifically meant to kill, but survived.</p>

<p>it didn't go well for him.</p>

<p>at the end of it he was captured, experimented on, tortured and killed by Mark.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>his first failure was against steelheart the next year, which put him out of commission for several months.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'll answer the last one later, I have to leave.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>*Apex was an epic with enhanced reflexes, but no other abilities. his weakness was to be killed by someone who owned  nothing.</p>

Edited November 12, 2015 by warriormark16

[Edgedancer he/him]

oooooo... a test.

 

let it begin.

 

1. he was a physics student at Yale. he would have graduated with his masters had the government not collapsed before hand. He was married had two kids and was living a freaking dream before his family and entire city block was destroyed by an epic called Longshot, who had the ability to open portals. he mainly killed by opening portals into orbit sucking his victims in a vacuum.

 

just a sec...

Just out of curiosity, that's not the Epic he made the PG from, is it?

[Citadel16 he/him]

Just out of curiosity, that's not the Epic he made the PG from, is it?

just wait, we're getting there.

 

RAFO!

Edited November 12, 2015 by warriormark16

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

just wait, we're getting there.

 

I think it'd be better to leave that detail fuzzy for now. We know so little about motivators that we don't even know if the idea for them existed when Calamity first rose. It's entirely possible that Epic powers are a vast conspiracy (that went horribly, horribly wrong) to harvest their DNA and use them as motivators, but it's also possible that motivators are a fairly recent invention. Given how hard it is to preserve Epic genetic material, it seems implausible that the means to do so would've existed when Calamity was still new and no one knew what the heck Epics were. 

 

And would you mind consolidating all of your answers into a single post? It keeps the thread from becoming too cluttered.  

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Yay! *Hides all the powerful Epics he made in a corner* It's not like they happened on purpose.

 

As Twi said, powerful comes second. There's nothing wrong with being powerful so long as you're interesting as well! I think you've got both covered. 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

As Twi said, powerful comes second. There's nothing wrong with being powerful so long as you're interesting as well! I think you've got both covered. 

 

Agreed. Epics in this game with big powers have big personalities to match—as well they should. A powerful character should have an unforgettable personality. Then again, all characters should have unforgettable personalities, and I don't think you struggle with that at all.  

[Edgedancer he/him]

As Twi said, powerful comes second. There's nothing wrong with being powerful so long as you're interesting as well! I think you've got both covered. 

Agreed. Epics in this game with big powers have big personalities to match—as well they should. A powerful character should have an unforgettable personality. Then again, all characters should have unforgettable personalities, and I don't think you struggle with that at all.

Thanks guys.

 

<p>his first failure was against steelheart the next year, which put him out of commission for several months.</p>

 

Congratulation, your character just died in his backstory! Not many people manage to do that without having a resurection PI.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Thanks guys.

 

Congratulation, your character just died in his backstory! Not many people manage to do that without having a resurection PI.

 

Compliments are compliments, regardless of the misunderstandings it took to get them.  

 

 

<p>oooooo... a test.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>let it begin.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>1. he was a physics student at Yale with a photographic memory. He would have graduated with his Masters had the government not collapsed a a few weeks before his last semester. He was married had two kids and was living a <em>freaking dream </em>before his family and entire city block was destroyed by an epic called Longshot, who had the ability to open portals. he mainly killed by opening portals into orbit sucking his victims in a vacuum.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>2.crushed by the loss of his family, Mark withdrew from the world, becoming a sort of homeless person with severe ptsd. he rarely spoke, he never laughed, he never cried, all he did was survive on the crumbs of life and <em>stare.</em></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Then came Apex*</p>

<p>apex was a vicious epic, a murderer for the fun of it. he had come to the streets of New Haven to have a little fun, and as he went into a house near Mark, and pulled out a screaming wife with her two kids... </p>

<p>well, something snapped. and it was probably apex's neck as Mark bashed him in the face with a brick.</p>

<p>over...</p>

<p>and over...</p>

<p>and over again...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>3.after the death of Apex, Mark became lucid again to the real world, catching up with current and past events, learning hand-to-hand combat, sharpshooting, war tactics, epic theories--which he studied most-- parkour, anything that would give him an edge against the monsters who now ruled the world.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>4. On a happier note! he loved baseball and Fencing and owned a motorcycle which he loved to ride. he also read every thing that he could conveniently.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>5. his Family.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>6. well apex was more of an accident in his life, pure coincidence, right place, right time sort of deal. but yes. that was when he decided to hunt epics.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>starting with the one who killed his family.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>longshot. High epic with the ability to open portals to almost anywhere on or above earth. Defensive capabilities where class B precognition.</p>

<p>his weakness... his powers where useless against someone who he had specifically meant to kill, but survived.</p>

<p>it didn't go well for him.</p>

<p>at the end of it he was captured, experimented on, tortured and killed by Mark.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>his first failure was against steelheart the next year, which put him out of commission for several months.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'll answer the last one later, I have to leave.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>*Apex was an epic with enhanced reflexes, but no other abilities. his weakness was to be killed by someone who owned  nothing.</p>

 

 

He sounds a bit too….larger than life. I mean, a student at an Ivy League university, with a photographic memory, who captured and tortured a superpowered demigod and later went up against Steelheart and survived? That's too much. To be painfully honest, I'm having difficulty taking him seriously. 

 

An Epic hunter is fine. I have a character who killed a High Epic and freed the town from his tyranny—but that's the thing. He killed a High Epic, whose healing and resurrection made him a genuine threat to the town, but compared to Steelheart or even some of the in-game Epic despots here, he was kind of pitiful. This character, Remington, uses conventional weapons (which he's storming good with, having hunted big game and shot rifles as a hobby before Calamity), has no advanced scientific knowledge, and if he went up against Steelheart, he'd die. Quickly. 

 

Crafting a character is about balance. If you give him a special attribute, be sure it's balanced by something more realistic. 

[Edgedancer he/him]

Compliments are compliments, regardless of the misunderstandings it took to get them.

 

 

He sounds a bit too….larger than life. I mean, a student at an Ivy League university, with a photographic memory, who captured and tortured a superpowered demigod and later went up against Steelheart and survived? That's too much. To be painfully honest, I'm having difficulty taking him seriously. 

 

An Epic hunter is fine. I have a character who killed a High Epic and freed the town from his tyranny—but that's the thing. He killed a High Epic, whose healing and resurrection made him a genuine threat to the town, but compared to Steelheart or even some of the in-game Epic despots here, he was kind of pitiful. This character, Remington, uses conventional weapons (which he's storming good with, having hunted big game and shot rifles as a hobby before Calamity), has no advanced scientific knowledge, and if he went up against Steelheart, he'd die. Quickly. 

 

Crafting a character is about balance. If you give him a special attribute, be sure it's balanced by something more realistic. 

Daww.

 

Yeah, taking away my sarcasm from just now. (Apologies, by the way, if that was a tad to overdone.) Going up against Steelheart and surviving really is on an entirely different level. Sparks, stiring up enough trouble in the city to even have him confront you in a 1-on-1 is a pretty big number but getting away after he and Enforcment are on your trail? That's the point plausibility has to say goodbye.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

Leaves the shard for a while because life stuff... comes back.... Oh god look how many pages of random stuff and q16 there are now  O.O

 

You have no idea.

 

One time I came back after a two week absense and there were 2 entirely new question threads...