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Rate My Build (Heroes)

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MindWanderer
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Gatekeeper: Strong but limited.  In Green he can only Attack and Hinder, or Hinder and Attack--good choices but limited ones.  A mass Boost/Hinder in Yellow is an amazing support move, he has great ally defense, and he can outright erase a d6 or d6 Minion (although he can't do much to Lieutenants and Villains).  Summoned Allies is always OP, and I like the flavor here, but I'm not sure about the other two choices.  You have no way of using Aware Response and Reach Through the Veil on the same attack, so you have to pick one (although Aware Response is easier to trigger).  Eruption damages yourself; it's a great choice if you can heal self-damage, but you can't, so I'm not sure why you'd pick this over Powerful Strike for offense, or any of the other great support abilities you have access to.

Barracuda: I'm concerned about his fighting ability.  Like any other Armored character, he has lots of Green options to attack with Mid and do another thing.  He can hit two targets in Yellow, but only if one is a Minion.  In Red his attacks hinder a little bit, and he can Overcome and support allies, but in a big fight where there's basically just a big bad to pummel (Lieutenant(s) or VIllain(s)) he's just making Mid attacks against a single target.  He's durable but I see the scene tracker running out on him frequently.

Aura: I'm confused.  Why do you have two abilities that attack multiple targets with your Min die?  Area Assault does nothing for you since you already have Danger Zone.  Then you have Heedless Blast but nothing to heal or mitigate damage to yourself until you're in Red (and see below).  I also don't see Exploit Vulnerability doing you a lot of good--it's only helpful if you attacked or hindered one target on round 1 and then use Exploit Vulnerabilty on that same target on round 2.  After (or possibly during) round 2, Imbue with Element is strictly better, so at most you'll get one use out of Exploit Vulnerability--and none at all if you didn't attack or hinder in round 1, or that target goes down, or the scene tracker advances before your second turn.  As for your Red abilities, I've not held back about how useless I think Red "I'm not doing anything helpful but you can't hurt me either" abilities are, and forcing an enemy damage reroll at the cost of 1 HP can help, but it's unreliable.  I think there are better choices.


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catDreaming
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AURA

First impression: Aura is able to hit large groups of foes with ease.

In the Green Zone, Aura is able to rejuvenate allies while striking at a single foe, or use her Flight to strike down multiple foes simoutaneously. Green Zone area of effect isn't easy to come by, making Battlefield Control pretty good, but I have some misgivings much like MindWanderer. More on that later. Hard Hitting Hard Light is excellent for beating down on a single target, but it doesn't seem to fit the rest of her green zone kit.
In the Yellow Zone, Aura gets a sizable increase in single target firepower with Moving The Pieces with the possibility of setting up an ally in the process, as well as a neat bit of insurance against surprise attack with Intuitive Force Walls. Smahing Light Construct and Reckless Blast are where I have some misgivings, mechanically. They both make sense with what you've said, but Smashing Light Construct is going to be essentially the same as Battlefield Control for dice results, and it's almost always going to do less damage than Reckless Blast. If I had to recommend getting rid of one, I'd say Battlefield Control or Smashing Light Construct, leaning towards Smashing Light Construct.
In the Red Zone, Aura's abilities kind of work against one another. Aerobatics is extremely risky, and I speak from rolling dice for villains, because rerolling a villain dice pool is likely to balance out the reduction on one effect die with an increase on another effect die. Force Wall is a logical use of her powers, but if she has Aerobatics, it's extremely niche. It's best use would be a narrative taunt on a foe, to try and buy time for another hero. While I don't think that's the worst thing, it doesn't feel like it really connects with the rest of her kit that well.

Overall? Aura has a lot of different ways to hit multiple targets, and otherwise feels kind of like she's trying to do a bunch of different things at once.

In terms of a team setting, Aura can definitely serve to blasting down multiple foes at once. As far as single targets go, she has good options, but they feel somewhat disjointed from the rest of what she does. It could make for difficult narrative choices to use a strong single target attack when there are multiple targets running around.

--

As for her Roleplay Quality, maybe Radiant Idol? Even if her powers are hard light, people will connect her with the idea of the light they give off. And if she's meant to be an icon for heroism in the city, that could be construed as being an idol. Just a thought.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

drkrash1969
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Thanks for the useful comments, especially on Aura.  Three brief things in my "defense."  First, I am not interested in fully maximized characters.  Based on actual play evidence I've read, this game may be particularly susceptible to breakage with fully maximized PCs.  While I appreciate them, I sometimes perceive MindWanderer's observations as failures of an optimization test.  Second, they were designed as a team.  If one of them has a liability as a solo act, I'm OK with that.  Third, and most importantly to me, since these are converted characters, not brand new ones, my primary design consideration was to enable them to do the things they could do in Champions in SCRPG.  If a player asked, "Where is my X power?" I wanted to be able to have an answer.  

This was the case with Aura.  Now that I've looked her over again in light of your comments (also, fun fact: she is the first one that catDreaming and MindWanderer borh agreed that she had issues), I see that she's a little lopsided: not much variety in Green and nothing to bring to the party in Red.  I will look her over and re-submit a new version, along with the 4th character.  Thanks.

Also, catDreaming, thanks for "Radiant Idol."  I will write that down as another idea to present to the player.


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catDreaming
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No problem with the Roleplaying Quality, it came to mind when reading the backstory. As for the 'where's my X ability' aspect, that's understandable. Converting characters from one system to another can be extremely messy, and it doesn't always work out in optimal ways. An optimal character in one system can become merely average in another, or even severely underpowered.

It is interesting that both MindWanderer and I agreed that there were issues, since we seem to have very different perspectives.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

drkrash1969
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Not ready to post the 4th character, but here is my re-do of Aura.  Changes are highlighted.

AURA

Law Enforcement/Genetic/Blaster/Natural Leader

Health 30

Principles: Detective, Hero

Hard Light Force (Radiant) d10, Hard Light Finesse (Telekinesis) d10, Flight d8, Presence d6

Conviction d10, Criminal Underworld Info d8, Ranged Combat d8, Investigation d8, Beautiful Icon d8

GREEN

Team Tactics (Rally) Conviction

Battlefield Control (Danger Zone) Flight

Hard Hitting Hard Light (Exploit Vulnerability) Radiant

YELLOW

Force Construct Positioning (Adaptive) Telekinesis

Intuitive Force Walls (Danger Sense) Presence

Moving the Pieces (Imbue with Element) Telekinesis

Pushing the Limits (Heedless Blast) Radiant

RED

Force Wall (Impenetrable Defense) Telekinesis

Full Force Force Smash (Charged-Up Blast) Radiant

OUT – Conviction

Force Construct Positioning gives her a bonus and some recovery and she uses her constructs to put her into a safe place.  Full Force Force Smash can use that bonus as she takes the constructs that she used to move herself to safety and smashes them onto an opponent.

Better? :)


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catDreaming
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AURA

(Second) First impression: Aura is a flexible blaster, able to burn down foes in singleton or groups with relative ease.

In the Green Zone, Aura is able to rejuvenate allies while striking at a single foe with Team Tactics, or use her Flight to strike down multiple foes simoutaneously with Battlefield Control. Battlefield Control is excellent being green zone AOE without the risk of hurting yourself or an ally in the process. Hard Hitting Hard Light is a good way to press the advantage on a foe who's already taken some damage, especially if her teammates aren't in their yellow or red health zones yet.
In the Yellow Zone, Aura get's a series of upgrades on what she already does. Force Construct Positioning is a decent way to boost herself up for a big attack on her next turn, with some self healing on the side or removing a persistent penalty without overcomes or rolling high on boosts, giving her some resiliency. Intuitive Force Walls let her focus on the task at hand, reducing the odds of her getting ambushed by a hostile force or an environment target. Moving The Pieces allows Aura to focus on a single target, and with some planning can also give an ally a helping hand on their next action. Reckless Blast can wipe out a bunch of foes at once with a little support or preparation, and Force Construct Positioning gives Aura a straightforward way to recover from it if she's burned out too much.
In the Red Zone, Aura's getting desperate. With a boost from Force Construct Positioning or an ally, she can absolutely annihilate a target with Full Force Force Smash. Or, if she needs to get rid of a penalty alongside weathering powerful attacks for a round, Force Wall ensures that she'll be able to emerge still combat capable. 

Overall? Aura is a powerful blaster who can confront most forms of foes with relative ease. I'm not convinced that Force Wall is the optimal choice of move for her in the Red Zone, but there's definitely worse options to have there.

In terms of a team setting, Aura can definitely serve to blasting down foes regardless of numbers. She'll want to watch her health if it comes to unleashing Reckless Blast more than once in a scene though; That's the kind of thing that tends to grab the attention of evil-doers who don't like interrupted plans.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

drkrash1969
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Last one!

DESTINA

Dynasty/Genetic/Close Quarters Combatant/Distant

Health 28

Principles: History, Veteran

Deduction d10, Agility d8, Colada (Signature Weapon) d8, Vitality d8

History d12, Close Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Technology d8, Genetically-Perfect Genius d8

GREEN

Advice Out of Time (Growth) History

Hapkido Master (Defensive Strike) Close Combat

Expert Swordplay (Offensive Strike) Signature Weapon

Quick Thinking (Flexible Stance) Deduction

YELLOW

Two Steps Ahead (Adaptive) Deduction

Excellent Constitution (Danger Sense) Vitality

Crafty Fighter (Precise Strike) Acrobatics

RED

Great Under Pressure (Reliable Aptitude) Deduction

Past Lives (Specialized Info) History

 

Dalianis Rodriguez del Castillo has an unusual background.  The only child of brilliant geneticists, her parents modified her in utero to be genetically “perfect.”  She is a super-genius, but also trained extensively in martial arts.  Her family line is also magically blessed; Dali can visit and possess any of her ancestors or past lives (she’s not really sure which term is accurate) and her future selves can possess her.  Her family line traces back to El Cid.  Her sword Colada was his short sword.  When Aura started recruiting a new team, Destina sought her out to join. 

Destina was originally generated using the MSH Ultimate Powers book.  If you’re familiar with that supplement, her weird background makes a lot more sense.  She’s essentially a martial artist, but I wanted to give her abilities that also took into account her genius, her genetics, her past lives, and her magic sword. 

 

 

 

 


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PlatinumWarlock
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I decided that a few heroes on their own weren't good enough; it's time to make a mystic-themed team...

Verhexen first, then The Gatekeeper, and now:

---------

Janelle Downing knew she was on the verge of a breakthrough.  Finishing her post-doctoral studies in mathematics at Overbrook University, her work on fifth-dimensional mapping of irrational constants was derided by nearly all of the mathematics faculty, but none could deny her raw talent and mastery of mathematical principles.  Proofs and theorems that took others hours or days, Janelle could calculate in mere minutes, with naught but a pad of paper and a click of her seemingly omnipresent lead pencil.

Her goal, however?  Not just a publication in some journal, not just a footnote in a high-school textbook; Janelle's goal was nothing short of universal truth.  And, one late latte-fueled night, she found it.  In that moment, her mind was opened to new vistas of possibility, hardly even theorized much less realized.  Taking up the name Axia, she delves deeper and deeper into sacred geometries, irrational mathematics, and multi-dimensional calculi, seeking the Universal Truths.

catDreaming
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DESTINA

First impression: Destina is a duelist, able to engage one foe effectively and control the flow of battle in her own favor.

In the Green Zone, Destina is able to draw on her past lives for a lasting benefit with Advice Out Of Time, and can leverage that to bash down a foe with Expert Swordplay or maintain her defenses with Hapkido Expert. Quick Thinking is an interesting ability, since it allows her to take two basic actions with the same effect die. However, unlike the Wild Card version, Flexible Stance allows you to use the same basic action twice! This gives Destina an extreme amount of versatility, and makes excellent use of a narratively appropriate benefit from Advice Out Of Time (and I might have a character who uses Flexible Stance in a similar way).
In the Yellow Zone, Destina adds some utility to her fighting style. Two Steps Ahead allows her to rebound from persistent penalties and possibly set up for a future turn in the process, while Excellent Constitution gives her the ability to stay on her foes against ambush or a situation spiraling out of control. Finally, Crafty Fighter allows her to make sure that whatever she able to land a blow on whatever she attacks; Whether it does damage is another question entirely.
In the Red Zone, Great Under Pressure gives Destina added reliability in her actions, and Past Lives ensures that if she knows how to confront a challenge, it will cease being a problem. Seriously, Max+Min overcomes are beautiful things.

Overall? Destina is able to adapt to a changing battlefield with ease, and can fill in any number of roles without too much difficulty. However, she will have difficulty truly excelling at a chosen role prior to the Red Zone.

In terms of a team setting, Destina's at her best when she has the freedom to choose what she's doing in the moment. 

 

AXIA

First impression: Axia is an apt controller, able to manipulate the battlefield in her favor.

In the Green Zone, Axia is able to do a bit of everything. With Higher Mathematics to give herself a lasting advantage and Exponential Downfall to inflict a last disadvantage on a single foe, Axia will be able to make sure whatever she does counts. Carry The One is a sneaky way to manipulate how the flow of action goes, and has the potential to disrupt the flow of a villain's well coordinated plan.
In the Yellow Zone, Axia expands her options to her allies and multiple foes. Fractal Assault gives a potent, albeit painful, way to strike multiple foes at once. Dimensional Remainders ensures that Axia can maintain momentum if she takes down a minion, while Check Your Work gives another way to help an ally out with whatever task they are pursuing. She'll need to be careful with her health if Fractal Assault and Check Your Work show up often, as both have drain on her own health each use.
In the Red Zone, Axia is able to completely shut down massive built up attacks or weaken hordes of amplified minions with Zero Sum. Balanced Equation offers the ability to weaken a target (minion, lieutenant, villain with a defensive reaction), and Prime Factorial gives Axia a way to hurt that irritating villain who just won't drop their guard.

Overall? Axia is a versatile and powerful battlefield control specialist. She excels at controlling the effectiveness of a single target at once, and while she can deal with multiple targets at once, she does run the risk of burning herself out.

In terms of a team setting, Axia will want allies who can take to the front lines of a fight and deal with multiple targets to reduce Axia's need to burn her own health in a blaze of glory.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

MindWanderer
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Destinia:

I'm once again at a loss to understand what Destinia is supposed to do.  In Green she can give herself a persistent boost, and then Offensive Strike is probably going to be her bread-and-butter action.  Defend with Mid + an action with Min is one of the least useful ability types out there, and two actions with Min is rarely going to do anything useful.  I'd favor Dual Strike, Precise Strike, or Throw Minion over either of those.  In Yellow she has another one of my least favorite abilities (take a basic action and remove a penalty on yourself or recover with your Min), and it's a version even more restrictive than usual since it can only boost herself.  It'll be valuable if she picks up a -3 or -4 persistent penalty, but that's only going to happen so many times.  Danger Sense is okay but also may or may not see frequent use.  Meanwhile the "multiple targets" ability, which are great, especially on heroes who boost themselves, wasn't taken.  So once again we have a hero who'll spend most of their time in Yellow using Green abilities--and Destinia doesn't have a lot of great Green abilities either,  Then once in Red, you have Specialized Info, which is pretty great, but then Reliable Aptitude, which can't be used with Specialized info and will therefore be used with... again, mostly just Green abilities, and not even all of them.  This is a hero who starts off with a lot of options, if not great ones, but falls behind at lower Status, especially with her Distant personality.

Axia:

Persistent boosts and persistent penalties are a great way to start off an encounter, and controlling positioning and turn order can be unexpectedly valuable.  Then in Yellow you have a mass attack, albeit one that comes with self-damage (though not usually too much of it--and the more you take, the more valuable the action was anyway).  You'll be taking out lots of minions, so boosting yourself when that happens will be helpful.  Unfortunately, Reality Shaper comes with only Reactions, which will conflict with Absorb Essence; not sure Helpful Analysis is the best choice here given that you're already taking self-damage, and this one can be pricey.  Unerring Strike is a great offensive ability, and Purification can be a handy get-out-of-jail-free ability, though I'm not sold on Ultimatum--a single-target -4 Hinder and a self-only ~+2 boost is pretty weak for a Red.  Unfortunately you don't have much available to you in the way of defense or healing, or I'd recommend that to make up for your self-damage.  I'd probably take Inspiring Totem to add a Defend or maybe a Hinder (but then I always try to take Inspiring Totem!). Give Time or Reliable Aptitude would be thematically appropriate.


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catDreaming
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Slight correction on Ultimatum MindWanderer, it can boost Axia or another hero.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

MindWanderer
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Ah, so it is.  I wonder why it specifies a target at all.  Doesn't change my feelings about it much, though.


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catDreaming
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It probably specifies a target because the Boost action can normally target anyone, even a foe. Ultimatum inspiring a foe to action just doesn't make much sense to me.
Although, speaking of characters with Flexible Stance, here's the character I built a while back who uses it to consistent and pretty impressive effect.

The Black Swordsman
- Background: Unremarkable
- Power Source: Training
- Archetype: Close Quarters Combatant
- Personality: Apathetic
- Powers:
-- Agility d10, Strength d8, Vitality d6, Speed d8
- Qualities:
-- Alertness d10, Insight d8, Close Combat d10, Acrobatics d8, Fitness d8, Alter Ego d8
- Abilities
-- Green: 32-25 Health
--- <Vertical>(Defensive Strike) (A): Defend using Close Combat. Then, Attack using your Min die
---  <Skill Connect>(Flexible Stance) (A): Take any two basic actions using Agility, each using your Min die
---  <Vorpal Thrust>(Precise Strike) (A): Attack using Alertness. Ignore all penalties on this Attack, ignore any Defend actions, and it cannot be affected by reactions.
--- Principle Of Detachment
--- Principle Of The Everyman
-- Yellow: 24-12 Health
--- Twin Sword Stance(Always Be Prepared) (A): Boost using Agility. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. Then, Attack using your Min die. You may use the bonus you just created on that Attack.
--- Artificial Reinforcement(Area Healing) (A): Boost another hero using Transmutation. You and other nearby heroes Recover health equal to your Min die.
--- <End Revolver>(Reactive Field) (R): When you are attacked by a nearby enemy, the attacker also takes an equal amount of damage.
--- <Horizontal Square>(Offensive Strike) (A): Attack using Strength. Use your Max die.
-- Red: 11-1 Health
--- Phantom Wound(Endurance Fighting) (I): Whenever you Attack a target with an action, also Hinder that target with your Min die.
--- Faster-Faster-Faster(Inspiring totem) (I): When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one basic action using your Mid die on the same roll.
--- <Starburst Stream>(Finishing Blow) (R): Attack using Close Combat. Use your Max die. Remove any number of penalties from the target. Add your Min die to the the Attack each time you remove a penalty

 

In a corner of the Multiverse where technology went in a slightly different direction, there was a certain incident where thousands of people were trapped in a virtual reality game, unable to log out on the threat of death until the game was beaten. After two long years however, the players escaped the game and returned to every day life as best they could. When Oblivaeon came to all realities though, the people of that world were surprised to see the supposed avatar of the player who had beaten that game fighting against a Scion alongside other heroes. With minimal vocalization other than frustrated wordless shouts, the avatar contributed as best it could against the horrors assaulting their world.
When the fighting concluded, the avatar was nowhere to be seen, and it was conclusively proven that the original player had been somewhere else at the time of the fighting. People are left to wonder where will this enigma wearing a past heroes face appear next, and whose side it will be on when it does.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

PlatinumWarlock
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As you might have figured, I went ahead and built out a full eldritch-themed team:  The Armitage Society

In addition to Verhexen, Gatekeeper, and Axia, we also have:

  • Heiress--the last genetic heir of dreamwalker Randolph Carter and wielder of the The Silver Key
  • Ward--a globe-hopping adventureress/archaeologist and expert on doomsday prophecies
  • Gallowglass--the inheritor of Cuchullain's spear, Gae Bulg, which infuses him with power
  • Rocky--a living grotesque, brought to sentience by an unknown sorcerer.

If you'd like, oh optimizers of the board, to take a look at the rest and, perhaps, give some thoughts on how they look working as a team, I'd certainly appreciate it.

And, for what it's worth, anyone is free to use The Armitage Society for their own home games.  I built them specifically with one-shot, convention games in mind, so that they'd be easy to sit down, understand from the outset, and have their own unique 'schtick'.  In my estimation, the two most similar are Axia and Gatekeeper, but they each have their own feel for things (esoteric mathematics and necromancy, appropriately).

drkrash1969
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I like the concepts, PlatinumWarlock! I'll take a closer look at them.

As for my team, I'm going to wait until they actually hit the table before I tweak them any further.  I have limited experience, but I think they're going to do just fine.  


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catDreaming
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First, I love the general theming of The Armitage Society. The unknown eldritch forces waiting in the shadows, or hovering just out of understanding of the world as we know it, is a concept that always grabs my attention. In lieu of doing individual breakdowns of the remaining four members, I'm just going to run over all 7 in terms of working as a team.

VERHEXEN: Verhexen fills the bruiser role on the team, able to wade into the fight and break down whatever foes present themselves. The rest of the team will be able to mostly leave him to his own devices, although I doubt he'll ever turn down the offer of a Boost action from an ally; Some monsters just need more than one man to fell them.

GATEKEEPER: Gatekeeper is very much a command and control hero for the team, providing his allies on-site assistance while being able to remove weak targets to save the rest of the team time. He'll probably want another team member to handle large single targets or swarms of foes, but that's fine; Death comes to everyone in the end.

AXIA: Axia seems to fill a saboteur role on the team, taking actions that might seem to have no immediate benefit. However, when the villain's are ready to put their plan in motion, vital parts will be missing or crippled. Or, simply not there at all. Axia will simply have to find the desired equation of the villains; Once she has it, any errors present will be brought into the harsh light of logic.

HEIRESS: Heiress definitely fills a sniper role on the team, able to strike at a foe from cover or in ways that mislead and disrupt their operations. As a fight goes on, villains will find that the strikes from the Silver Key are able to find them regardless of how they defend themself or hide. Heiress will always be able to find the villain in the end; It is in dreams that they will be put to the test.

WARD: Ward fills a sort of dungeons and dragons bard role on the team. With her range of options, Ward is able to locate the back entrance and clear it out of opposition as she goes, leaving it available for her allies as an entry point or escape route. At the same time, her expertise ensures that they'll be able to deal with the various debilitating effects of dealing with eldritch forces. No intelligent foe will let Ward escape their notice; She will always have a way to change things up.

Gallowglass (an editorial note): I only really know about Cu Chulain and Gae Bulg from the Fate series of works by Kinoku Nasu, so it was interesting to see them mentioned here. I feel like you understand them much better than I do, and Gallowglass shows that.

GALLOWGLASS: Gallowglass will the bruiser role on the team much like Verhexen, but he approaches it from a different angle. Where Verhexen digs in his heels and refuses to die, Gallowglass welcomes the approach of death with devastating blows. With his strikes increasing in power against a foe who attempts to prevent him from fighting at full strength, he'll be able to tear asunder foes who get in his way. The Wild Hunt is coming, indeed.

ROCKY: Rocky functions easily as the team's shock trooper, flying in out of nowhere and making his presence known. With his resistance to physical damage and flight capabilities, the less eldritch inclined among the team's foes will be hard pressed keep him from becoming a thorn in their side. Add in his observational skills, and even his time spent observing foes will prove a boon to his team. A stone sentinel is a powerful guardian; Sentience makes Rocky a force to be reckoned with.

 

As a team, they are pretty well balanced. I'm going to assume a 4 hero team for this (although 2-6 is apparently the nominal range) and go from there. No team member strikes me as more powerful than the others, or as making another pointless. Verhexen, Gallowglass, and Rocky all at first glance are capable bruisers, but each approaches it differently. Verhexen has the durability to go toe to toe with a powerful foe, while Gallowglass will be tearing foes asunder with Gae Bulg and his physical might. Rocky is more mobile than either of the other two, and can swiftly relocate to where he's needed.

Ward is definitely a bit roundabout on first glance, and she might require a bit of thought when played. With no green zone attacks, a first time player might assume that she can't attack until the yellow or red zones. In a lot of ways, how she plays will depend on who else from the team is present. Her kit is versatile enough to make that a viable option.

 

Overall though, The Armitage Society get's good marks from me. No obvious weaknesses, no overwhelming strengths that make members less useful than one another, and reasonable amounts of redundancy with some careful play makes them a solid team in my book.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

MindWanderer
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WIthout going into depth on each of the new members, The Armitage Society strikes me as a team that doesn't necessarily work together very well.  They have a few abilities that defend each other, but they don't have a lot of support, especially mass boosts/hinders.  Several of them sacrifice health and none of them have any healing, and none of them have heavy-duty defense.  They have some good Overcome abilities in Red, but not a lot of heavy-hitting offense, so I see boss battles being a weak point for them.  Some of them can handle waves of minions, but only with good strategy.  None of them are bad, per se, but this is one case where the whole really is equal to the sum of its parts.


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drkrash1969
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How do we account for the interesting differences catDreaming and MindWanderer have to the exact same characters? :)

And what would it take for MindWanderer to unequivocally like a build? :D


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catDreaming
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MindWanderer and I have different critique styles, and I am of the opinion that's a good thing.

What would it take for MindWanderer to unequivocally like a build? *shrug*


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

PlatinumWarlock
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To go to bat for my team a bit here, there are only 6 (of 20) power sources and 4 of 20 archetypes that provide a non-conditional Recover as part of a green or yellow action (i.e. doesn't require you to be hit by a certain energy type or shift zones or such).  That's not a lot of option for healing/recovery.

Gallowglass certainly has the most in the way of healing, as he gets it from both his Relic power source and his Physical Powerhouse archetype.  But, pretty much every other character has some way of mitigating incoming damage while still contributing to the fight: Verhexen and Rocky both have damage reduction; Ward has a number of defensive options in red, especially considering she could take a free defend every round with Inspiring Totem; Gatekeeper has Reach Through Veil, which gives another ally an out of turn defend every round in yellow.

Admittedly, Axia and Heiress are more glass cannon-y, but I also look at it this way:  a Hinder action is, by nature, a targeted Defend action.  You lose the global flexibility of "I take less damage on the next thing that hits me" in favor of "the next time it tries to hit me or do anything else, I'll take less damage". Yes, it's a bigger liability in minion heavy fights, but several heroes (Rocky, Gatekeeper, Heiress) have attacks that reliably neutralize minions. 

As for low damage output, I just don't quite see it. Provided that theycan get one bonus from a teammate (like Gatekeeper,  Ward, or Rocky, who can give them out like candy) Gallowglass and Heiress are throwing Charged Up Blast every round, with a free Hinder on Gallowglass, while Heiress gets to start on the damage earlier with Exploding Ammo in yellow. While nominally defensive, Verhexen even gets in on the party with Reactive Strike, Field of Hazards, and Combustion.  

What am I missing?

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True, there aren't many abilities that heal other heroes, but there's also plenty of abilities that heal yourself, or defend yourself, or defend others, and if you have heroes who burn themselves out, especially with abilities they're likely to want to use often, then you really want some sort of mitigation that applies to those heroes.

Charged-Up Blast is strong, if you can be assured of having boosts all the time, and I don't see them being handed out "like candy" by anyone here.  Ward can hand out a single boost as an Action, although she could use Inspiring Totem for another if she really needed to.  Rocky has Aerial Surveillance--and now that I think of it, I have no idea how that interacts with Charged-Up Blast--but then he isn't using his own offensive Red ability, Take Down.  Gatekeeper's Mass Modification is the only move I see handing out lots of bonuses frequently, and in Red that'll only be after she's spent a round or two using Summon Allies.

Exploding Ammo only works on environmental targets, and the environment typically isn't introducing Villains, and rarely Lieutenants.  Verhexen is actually the most offensive of all in Red, although he has to be careful not to burn himself out (the GM would have to decide whether his reflavored Power Armor deals Infernal damage).


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Rabit
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drkrash1969 wrote:
How do we account for the interesting differences catDreaming and MindWanderer have to the exact same characters? :)

Oh, I think that's easy, especially looking at this most recent example. :-)

catDreaming looks at the theme, then digs into the mechanics of each of them. (The first sentence shows that pretty clearly, I think.) MindWanderer has always been very focused on the mechanics, the "crunch" of the game. (That's my perception, anyway! :-)

This is actually why I don't participate in these discussions. :-) There's nothing wrong with them at all! Don't get me wrong! :-D I just don't look at a character and want to optimize or rate it. I create my characters with a specific theme and go from there. (I'll even put in completely non-optimized aspects purely because it's appropriate to the character.) It's just a different way to approach character builds. ;-)

And I love that folks here are willing to participate in the discussion without saying anyone else is "wrong". :-D


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PlatinumWarlock
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MindWanderer wrote:
True, there aren't many abilities that heal other heroes, but there's also plenty of abilities that heal yourself, or defend yourself, or defend others, and if you have heroes who burn themselves out, especially with abilities they're likely to want to use often, then you really want some sort of mitigation that applies to those heroes.
Charged-Up Blast is strong, if you can be assured of having boosts all the time, and I don't see them being handed out "like candy" by anyone here.  Ward can hand out a single boost as an Action, although she could use Inspiring Totem for another if she really needed to.  Rocky has Aerial Surveillance--and now that I think of it, I have no idea how that interacts with Charged-Up Blast--but then he isn't using his own offensive Red ability, Take Down.  Gatekeeper's Mass Modification is the only move I see handing out lots of bonuses frequently, and in Red that'll only be after she's spent a round or two using Summon Allies.
Exploding Ammo only works on environmental targets, and the environment typically isn't introducing Villains, and rarely Lieutenants.  Verhexen is actually the most offensive of all in Red, although he has to be careful not to burn himself out (the GM would have to decide whether his reflavored Power Armor deals Infernal damage).

I'll really concede that actions that provide a Defend are fairly common, but the numbers I cited above regarding Recover are accurate. Healing self or others is *not* common by any stretch, and most reliable way it seems to regain health is either between scenes or hoping an enemy attacks you with an element that you're attuned to.

Regarding throwing down Boosts:
Heiress has two abilities that grant a Boost (1 green, 1 yellow)
Ward has 3 (1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red)
Verhexen has 1 (yellow)
Axia has 2 (1 yellow, 1 red)
Rocky has 2 (1 yellow which attracts all heroes, 1 red)
Gallowglass has 1 (yellow), and can turn a penalty to a bonus if he attacks the one who inflicted it.
Gatekeeper has 1 (yellow, but affects all nearby allies)

I mean, if Heiress and Gallowglass can't get 1 bonus per turn to burn for Charged Up Blast, there's some serious lack of teamwork going on.

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Well, there are a couple of ways to think of "teamwork." One is, "Can I do a thing that helps my partner do a thing they want to do?" Another is, "Can I do what I want to do, and thereby help my partner do what they want to do?"  When it comes to feeding Charged-Up Blast, they can do the former, no problem, but the latter not so much.  In Red, Rocky can only boost himself, Axia would have to forego her own offense, and Ward's ability is only useful if the subject has already gone that turn (which can be arranged, but comes at the cost of options).

That said, if I can be a more catDreaming-ish for a sec, maybe that's more desirable.  Maybe the team dynamic you want is that the members have to make an effort to help each other out.  Thematically, that's fine.  From a sheer output optimization perspective it's not as great, though.


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PlatinumWarlock
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MindWanderer wrote:
Well, there are a couple of ways to think of "teamwork." One is, "Can I do a thing that helps my partner do a thing they want to do?" Another is, "Can I do what I want to do, and thereby help my partner do what they want to do?"  When it comes to feeding Charged-Up Blast, they can do the former, no problem, but the latter not so much.  In Red, Rocky can only boost himself, Axia would have to forego her own offense, and Ward's ability is only useful if the subject has already gone that turn (which can be arranged, but comes at the cost of options).
That said, if I can be a more catDreaming-ish for a sec, maybe that's more desirable.  Maybe the team dynamic you want is that the members have to make an effort to help each other out.  Thematically, that's fine.  From a sheer output optimization perspective it's not as great, though.

That's a fair distinction to make, and is appreciated.
After the 2nd or 3rd Hero, I really tried to design them to complement one another, in the "You set 'em up, I'll knock 'em down" mindset.
I'm also of a mind that a given hero isn't Always going to want to use their Red abilities, just because they are/the scene is in Red. If the option to use something in Green or Yellow is more useful in the situation, that's a better option, even if it's not mechanically the strongest possible option.

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True, but Red abilities are designed to be the most powerful abilities available.  Once a character has been made, a Red ability isn't always going to be the best one to use at any given time--or, necessarily, ever.  But the more use you can get out of your Reds, generally speaking, the more of an impact you'll have.


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catDreaming
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The point on Ward's Red Boost ability fits into my point of Ward requiring a bit more thought than the others to play at first glance. She can be picked up for casual play just fine, but to really make the most impact with her requires coordinating with the rest of the team. Inspiring Totem and Give Time are powerful abilities, but they both require a bit of forethought and situational awareness to get the most impact out of.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

Trappit
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I have really enjoyed seeing Catdreaming and Mind rate these builds so I used Beeromancer's Google sheet to make a character I had rolled up months ago.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QP7hIMRVdmyiMLpVXK5o__sZwwQUaxlJ/view?usp=sharing

No one knows where Son of Poy comes from but he harassed heroes for a while. After OblivAeon came though, something changed. It almost feels like he now has recovered his(her?) mind. His actions are now in the defense of all life instead of the attacks that were directed at people who had encroached on the natural world.


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Son of Poy's pretty good.  In Green, he has the always-handy Max Attack, and if that's not appropriate he can Hinder for Max and maybe Attack as well.  And you wisely bound Banish to a smaller die, to increase the odds of rolling doubles.  In Yellow, Field of Energy is amazing, of course, and when it's not, Costly Strength is.  Cursed Resolve is...meh, but it does have uses.  In Red... looks like you gave up on outdoing what you were already doing in Yellow and made it so that you can be rolling as many d12's as possible, and have a bit of defense.  That's not the worst move, considering your Yellow and Green Abilities are pretty strong.

For a serious build, I nearly always go with the third Red ability over the larger Red die.  Given that this is a bit of a meme, though, I think what I'd really do differently is go with Academic, Interstellar, or Created as the Background, just so I could be rolling 3d12 all the time in Red (and trying for 13's!).  Also you have three Element/Energy Powers, which will limit your problem-solving options a fair bit; I'd take an Athletic Power at least to score some extra HP. (And if you gave up on the meme, Push Your Limits + Defensive Deflection is quite strong.)

Also it doesn't look like you quite finished.  You're missing your personal Quality, you never chose a Power for Powerful Blast, and your Out ability references a Quality you don't have.


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catDreaming
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I don't feel confident giving a proper answer, since the sheet definitely doesn't look finished me. That could be an error in whatever program was used to fill it out, but I'd prefer to see all of the parts before giving my analysis.

----

SON OF POY

First impression: Son Of Poy is overflowing with power

In the Green Zone, Son Of Poy begins with Mixed Blessing, emphasizing the extremes that he can reach. Darken The Doors is an extremely solid way to slow down a single foe, and is somewhat resilient against the negative effects of Mixed Blessing; Max dice and doubles are rarely 1s. Toxic Sludge will torment whatever foe it strikes.
In the Yellow Zone, Son Of Poy expands his abilities to catch multiple targets once. Infernal Blessing gives his allies a massive boost, which is practically guranteed to a +3 or +4, while only slowing him down momentarily. Toxic Waste gives Son Of Poy the ability to charge himself up for a future turn, and either regenerate some health or remove a penalty. The ability to remove a persistent penalty in pretty strong. Toxic Cloak will allow Son Of Poy to deal with multiple targets at close range simoutaneously; Mid die AOE is very strong, especially without downside.
In the Red Zone, Dark Forces ensures that Son Of Poy will always be able to use a power of his choosing at it's greatest potential. Defensive Deflection gives him some resilience, making sure that he'll be able to last through to the end of the red zone without going down.

Overall? Son Of Poy feels like he is bleeding power with all of his abilities, and he will never be out of combat options in a fight. I'd say that he actually might have difficulty picking out which option to use in a given situation, because multiple of them could be useful.

In terms of a team setting, Son Of Poy will appreciate allies who can fill in the gaps in his abilities. Without verging too much into the soft mechanics of a narrative, Son Of Poy might have difficulty finding a power to use for any particular situation. 


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

Trappit
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I apologize, I completely forgot about the Personal Quality and the toxic sludge I renamed, knowing what power I was using, but didn't type it in. As far as the out ability, I was making multiple characters yesterday and I happened to get Fast-Talking back to back so I forgot to change it.


Trapp

catDreaming
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With the sheet now appearing finished, I will give my analysis later today.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

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Just when you thought I was done...I went ahead and put together another team.

Introducing:  Ladies' Night.  A septet of heroines capable of taking on any villainous force, come what may!

  • Poniard--A former Olympic fencer and expert swordswoman, turned vigilante detective
  • Lady Evergreen--an environmental activist  and greenhouse owner capable of manipulating plants of all sort
  • Rebuild--a streetwise technology savant with two powerful cybernetic arms
  • Golden Grizzly--A former US Army Tank Commander imbued with cosmic power
  • Backbend--Once a darling acrobat and dancer, she can now stretch into impossible forms
  • Omen--an amnesiac telepath with a hidden history as a living weapon of war
  • Exodus--The survivor of a Cthulhoid apocalypse, she wields forbidden magic and pieced-together rituals

As with The Armitage Society, feel free to use these in your home games or as convention pre-gens.  Just please give proper attribution.

 

I promise, once the Villain sheets are up and online, I'll start statting up some (not ALL!) of the Villains of the Day.  I'll even take requests.  

catDreaming
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I edited my analysis of Son Of Poy into a previous comment I made. Considering that I have a long shift tommorow, there might be a day or two of delay before I can look at each member of Ladies' Night properly.

Edit 1: Oh boy, finally getting back to this. Alright, let's start with:

PONIARD

First impression: Poniard is, much like her former olympic sport would indicate, a duelist.

In the Green Zone, Poniard opens up with an array of options. Fleche ensures that she will be able to deal damage to most foes, while Prise De Fer gives her a way to knock aside a single strike while continuing the offensive. Pret Allez is basically the definition of mechanical flexibility (barring certain Red Zone abilities), and being tied to Alertness gives it plenty of narrative flexibility. 
In the Yellow Zone, Poniard sticks with her metaphorical guns. Remise gives her even more durability than Pret Allez, as well as providing bonuses to make her actions count. Redouble will lay down the hurt on a single target with ease, and maybe even patch up Poniard a bit. Coupe Pass gives her a limited degree of multiple target interaction, although Pret Allez is likely more reliable in terms of hitting two targets at once.
In the Red Zone, Poniard pushes herself to stay in the fight. In Quarta is a powerful defense for her, enabling Remise to be triggered in response to every single attack on her, with a health or twist cost if multiple attacks comes at her in the same turn (minion groups, certain villain abilities, etc). Botta Segrete gives Poniard a sizable bonus for her offenses to hit harder, and possibly to make her Remise more effective; That's on the narrative of what the bonus is. Finally, Corps a Corps weakens foes she engages with. With multiple Attacks from Redouble or Pret Allez, she'll be able to pin down one or two targets quite effectively. Important note though; The Hinders will not be applied until the entire Ability in question is finished resolving.

Overall? Poniard can close with a single target and maintain her superiority while whittling down them down. If I was going to point out a weakness though, Poniard has a lot of trouble dealing with penalties on her, and really with multiple targets. Pret Allez and Coupe Pass help slightly with the latter, but suffer a lot from the former.

In terms of a team setting, Poniard wants allies who can handle mulitple foes at once, remove penalties via boosting or other means, or arguably both. Poniard isn't the party member who can operate equally well against all manner of dangers; She's the party member who pays off in spades from solid teamwork and planning.

 

Edit 2: 

LADY EVERYGREEN

First impression: Lady Evergreen is a capable blaster.

In the Green Zone, Lady Evergreen begins with solid offensive options. Lash Of Thorns enables her to blast a target apart, while Grasping Vines allows her to pin down that same target with some possible damage. Hemlock allows her to strike a multitude of targets at once, a potent tool in the green zone.
In the Yellow Zone, Lady Evergreen expands for some utility options. Living Kudzu gives a flexible minion, while Cycle Of Life incentivizes her hunting down minions. Botanical Sacrifice is a straightforward way to execute a mid strength minion, and can also hit a second target at the same time.
In the Red Zone, Lady Evergreen puts down roots. Earth Arisen locks down a potentially massive number of targets, possibly taking them down in the process. Redwood Hart allows her to negate incoming damage, at the cost of taking a penalty instead. That is a very strong defense, especially combined with Tide Of Green giving her a chance to slow down for a turn and prepare for a big action on her next.

Overall? Lady Evergreen will be a potent force in most combat situations. She has mobility options to get from place to place on a chaotic battlefield, and will have no trouble taking down large targets. Redwood Hart will require some careful use though; Large penalties can still be crippling.

In terms of a team setting, Lady Evergreen brings heavy firepower to whatever team she is on. She'll benefit from teammates who can provide Boosts like anyone else, but especially so in the Red Zone should Redwood Hart see heavy use. She'll also benefit from teammates who can deal with opposing bonuses and remove penalties reliably. Both are often underlooked utility options in my experience.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

fjur
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I made a hero based off the Time-Crazed Prisoner from The Block: Link.

Rate away!


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catDreaming
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You need to get a sharable link.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

fjur
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Okay, try this one.


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catDreaming
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I'll provide my rating later today, or tommorow. I'll just edit it into this post.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

fjur
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Thanks, that will be appreciated.


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PlatinumWarlock
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Not mechanical in any way, but maybe revise the power names so that they're not just "Insane x" or "Y of Insanity"?

There are so many evocative words and phrases that you could use for a character rooted in madness:  psychosis, neurosis, derangement, lunacy, mania, and more. 

And, for that matter, archaic processes that fit the comic book idiom of an asylum (even if they don't fit any modern representation of mental health).  A red ability renamed Mass Lobotomy certainly packs more punch than a more generic name. 

Plus, it helps differentiate your power sets.  It'll be less confusing for you and your fellow players when you move further away from XXXXX of Madness. 

catDreaming
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Well heck, I sure didn't do a rating of Mad Seer yet.
Woops. Will have to come after sleep. Curse unexpectedly tiring work.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

fjur
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No rush. A delayed rating is better than a hasty one.


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catDreaming
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MAD SEER

First impression: Mad Seer is a generalist, able to function reasonably effectively in most scenarios.

In the Green Zone, Mad Seer opens up aggresively. Insane Assault allows them to probe a target's mind telepathically, while Precognitive Coordination gives them an effective way to empower all of their allies for a turn cycle. Psychic Alertness is situational, but when it trigger's, it could be the difference between dropping a zone and staying where you curently are.
In the Yellow Zone, Mad Seer doubles down on aggression. Aura Of Insanity allows them to engage multiple targets at the cost of some health, and Enjoy The Descent Into Insanity allows them to grow stronger still from taking out a minion while doing so, at the cost of locking out Psychic Alertness for that round. Precognitive Alteration is a potent reaction, allowing them to either convert a boost on themself into a boost for an ally, or get rid of a penalty on themself before their own turn comes back around again. Also, just generally useful for bumping a roll that last bit over to achieve a threshold. Finally, Telepathic Whammy is a brutal attack, full stop. If the target survives (which is somewhat unlikely), Mad Seer knows that they'll be hindered for the rest of the fight, unless villainous shenanigans arise.
In the Red Zone, Mad Seer trips down on the aggression. Reliable Insanity ensures that Mad Seer will have a minimum level of effectiveness, while Unstoppable Insanity tears into a single foe while tearing through defenses like a 1000 degree knife through butter. I think I missed the meme, but whatever.

Overall? Mad Seer is a force of destruction against foes who cannot deal with high damage output or persistent hinders, which is admittedly many foes. However, they will often want to weigh the benefits of using each of their three reactions carefully to make sure they get the most bang for their buck out of whichever one they use.

In terms of a team setting, Mad Seer will likely be trying to deal with the biggest foe, or take down others that could otherwise interfere with their teammates.

--

Now, I do have some thoughts on the names and Rp Quality.
- While I always love renaming abilities to serve their flavor needs, I do feel like the names for Mad Seer's abilities feel disconnected. That could be just me missing some pattern.
- Second, Insanity as the Rp Quality. I always encourage players in the Sentinels RPG games that I run to make their Rp Quality describe something fundamental about their characters that their powers/qualities don't portray immediately. However, I also encourage those Rp Qualities to mean something, to have enough concreteness that they can't just be used for any roll in mind. I'd recommend trying to make Insanity more descriptive.

--

Sorry about the massive delay on finally getting this rating out. 


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

fjur
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catDreaming wrote:
I think I missed the meme, but whatever.

Uh... I honestly was not aware that there was a meme that had anything to do with this character.

catDreaming wrote:
However, they will often want to weigh the benefits of using each of their three reactions carefully to make sure they get the most bang for their buck out of whichever one they use.

At first I hesitated to give a character so many reactions, but then I thought: "Characters only (usually) use one action per round, but most characters still have lots of actions. Why should reactions be any different?"

catDreaming wrote:
- While I always love renaming abilities to serve their flavor needs, I do feel like the names for Mad Seer's abilities feel disconnected. That could be just me missing some pattern.
- Second, Insanity as the Rp Quality. I always encourage players in the Sentinels RPG games that I run to make their Rp Quality describe something fundamental about their characters that their powers/qualities don't portray immediately. However, I also encourage those Rp Qualities to mean something, to have enough concreteness that they can't just be used for any roll in mind. I'd recommend trying to make Insanity more descriptive.

-Well... I renamed some of them insanity-themed because he's, well, insane. And others I just kept psychic-themed from the psychic archetype.
-Hmm, maybe I could do something like "Dangerous Insanity" or "Infectious Insanity"? When I first came up with this character, I wanted his main mode of attack to be "He uses his telepathy to open his foes mind to the insanity within his own, making his foe become incapacitated by being overwhelmed with madness". For that to work, I needed some kind of Insanity Die. I was thinking of renaming "Creativity" "Insanity", but I thought the RP quality would be better.


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catDreaming
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fjur wrote:
catDreaming wrote:

I think I missed the meme, but whatever.

Uh... I honestly was not aware that there was a meme that had anything to do with this character.
catDreaming wrote:

However, they will often want to weigh the benefits of using each of their three reactions carefully to make sure they get the most bang for their buck out of whichever one they use.

At first I hesitated to give a character so many reactions, but then I thought: "Characters only (usually) use one action per round, but most characters still have lots of actions. Why should reactions be any different?"
catDreaming wrote:

- While I always love renaming abilities to serve their flavor needs, I do feel like the names for Mad Seer's abilities feel disconnected. That could be just me missing some pattern.
- Second, Insanity as the Rp Quality. I always encourage players in the Sentinels RPG games that I run to make their Rp Quality describe something fundamental about their characters that their powers/qualities don't portray immediately. However, I also encourage those Rp Qualities to mean something, to have enough concreteness that they can't just be used for any roll in mind. I'd recommend trying to make Insanity more descriptive.

-Well... I renamed some of them insanity-themed because he's, well, insane. And others I just kept psychic-themed from the psychic archetype.
-Hmm, maybe I could do something like "Dangerous Insanity" or "Infectious Insanity"? When I first came up with this character, I wanted his main mode of attack to be "He uses his telepathy to open his foes mind to the insanity within his own, making his foe become incapacitated by being overwhelmed with madness". For that to work, I needed some kind of Insanity Die. I was thinking of renaming "Creativity" "Insanity", but I thought the RP quality would be better.

Maybe for the ability names, try to figure out what the insanity comes across as telepathically. Is it the screaming of children? The dread of staring into the endless abyss? The cacophonous sounds of a thousand wind chimes in a tornado with an accompaniment of wolves howling while alien geometries warp and twist around you, hiding something that your brain refuses to give proper shape or form to?
Similarly, maybe try to make Insanity more specific. You could make an allusion to what caused the insanity in the first place for Mad Seer, or maybe how the insanity affects them as a person. There's plenty of room to expand there.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

PlatinumWarlock
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Just off the top of my head:

Psychotic Assault (for Insane Assault)

A Glimpse of Sanity (for Precog Coordination)

Behind Paranoid Eyes (for Psychic Alertness)

----

Neurotic Nightmare (for Telepathic Whammy)

Lunatic Fringe (for Enjoy the Descent...)

Manic Awareness (for Precog Alteration)

"We're All Mad Here" (for Aura of Insanity)

-----

Truth Behind the Chaos (for Reliable Insanity)

The Last Nerve (for Unstoppable Insanity)

 

I mean, that took me all of 8 minutes.  

 

Also, re: Reactions--I think the reason they're not as valuable as actual Actions stems from the fact that you can't necessarily tell when you're going to trigger them.  You 'might' be able to trigger that ability that boosts you, if you take out a minion, but if you do, you're giving up the possibility of using a reaction that boosts an ally or defends against an oncoming attack.  Plus, Reactions typically only use a single die, which makes them much swingier than Actions (which typically use the standard 3-die pool).  Yes that might incur a higher positive result occasionally, but you'll also get a lot of occasions where you get a 1-point Defend, which doesn't do much good.  

I'm no expert at optimization, but I've found that 2 Reactions seem to be a sweet spot, particularly if they do two different functions (a Boost and a Defend, or an Attack and a Recover, for example).  Having one open at Green and another open at Yellow, too, seems to be a good balance as well.

der andere Jan
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Hi all, 

I've been working on a character that would be deliberately rich on flavour, even if that meant somewhat disregarding combat 'effectiveness'.

The result is... Tesseract!

I went for a late-fourties labrat who invented a way of bending spacetime slightly, finding himself capable of quantum effects - that is, a real-life Schroedinger's Cat.
Narratively, his existence would spread over a few seconds into past and future, and into multiple possible paths of action before actually converging into one route again. (If you have trouble picturing the "not exactly here, and not precisely now" idea, remember the first Matrix Movie, with the agent dodging bullets: Moving into multiple directions simultaneously).
Outsiders might mistake it for speed, when it is in fact methodical try-and-error shortly before everybody else arrives.

Awkward moments of brain vs. brawn dialogue are definitely on the menu :)
"- And no, this glowy thing from that Avengers poppycock is just a basic cube! A proper tesseract is the same geometric principle but folded into a fourth dimension, integrating its spatial definition with a temporal aspect! People never get this right! Let me draw a quick sketch for you... - "

 

I found it not befitting to give him more power as GYRO progresses, so I ventured to increase his versatility instead - after all, this man is multitasking incarnate. So as things get more dire, he will not do things more strongly - but he will do quite a bit more of them.

 

Starting the game with an "Origin" collection seemed cheating without at least making up enough of that collection so that it might actually have happened. Since I had a little space on the sheet, I went and named all six issues of that collection, in a way that I hope would - if not actually telling the story - allude to some events that make for a nice and believable origin story.

 

You might find the approach a little unusual, but I'd love to hear your thoughts about it anyway!
Do you think he can pull his weight in a team? 

And, what I'd love to hear most:
Aside from game mechanics, does the overall design spark your imagination, so that you can picture what the character would be like? Does it all sound like stories to be told?

Many thanks!


There is no "I" in "vowels"

catDreaming
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Well, before I make any of my usual comments, I have a possibly dumb question: How did you embed the PDF?

Will Edit in usual comments here.

Edit: Ah, I somehow never saw the attachments option before when posting. Silly me.

Edit 2:

TESSERACT

First impression: Tesseract is an apt supporter.

In the Green Zone, Tesseract starts with boosting himself or any ally with the possibility of also dealing some minor damage with Probability Insight, while Uncertainty Absorber allows for some fine adjustment of outcomes.
In the Yellow Zone, Tesseract expands on his existing options. Custom Timezone can power up a bunch of allies at once, or weaken a bunch of foes all at once. Causality Override gives Tesseract the ability to enact larger scale effects on an ally than Uncertainty Absorber, at the cost of a bit of health. Recharing Cosmic Buffers is neat, but heavily situational.
In the Red Zone, Tesseract focuses on expanding his ability to act. Auxiliary Iteration giving a bonus basic action allows him to make maximume effect out of his Mid die, Manifest Hypotheticals gives a burst of actions (should the minions survive), and then there's Schrodinger's Dance. Schrondinger's Dance allows Tesseract to interact multiple ways in one turn, with a great deal of potency. 

Overall? Tesseract will be able to empower himself or allies quite effectively, and later back it up with extra actions or action focused minions. 

In terms of a team setting, Tesseract will be most effective boosting or hindering allies until the Red Zone, at which point they'll be rather effective at any given task.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

der andere Jan
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Hit me, I'm ready for it :)


There is no "I" in "vowels"

catDreaming
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... So, apparently my brain decided that forgetting about this thread was a thing.

In all honesty, I didn't have power the past few days. So give me a few minutes.


A single man
Standing alone in a field of swords
Blades borne to the unmoving air
An unchanging world as their sheathe
Preserved for eternity
This is my Origin
- Avalon, The Living Sheathe

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