Rudra

Lore friendly (possibly kinda): Blue Soldiers and Widows of Arachnos: Longbow found and raided an Arachnos training facility. Starting character is a convert using retained armor and weapons. Character is from a copycat group hoping to use Arachnos' methods against them. Character is from an alternate dimension where Arachnos are the good guys and the character accidentally found his/her way to Primal Earth with no means of return. (The only starting level SoA I saw followed this, except the character was an orc using native armor and weapons that simply looked like Arachnos gear.) Character is a mercenary or rogue Arachnos fighting for Paragon City. Red Peacebringers and Warshades: The kheldian race is not a monolithic race any more than other race. Evil kheldians found their way to the Rogue Isles to start their lives merged with a human (or other Primal) on their quest for power. The vigilante kheldian has decided the best way to fight the evil of Arachnos is from within the Rogue Isles. Arachnos captured a kheldian that they released into the Rogue Isles to see how pliable the character is if indirectly controlled/manipulated. The merge went poorly and the psychotic Primal has mentally dominated the poor kheldian now trapped in his/her body. Gold: Not seeing any real justification for an epic AT to start in Praetoria. No real point in it anyway since the game guides your Praetorian into becoming a villain or hero at 20. (Though you can ignore the mission and just keep playing through First Ward and Night Ward.) I do not recommend allowing the epics to start on whatever side the player wants because they were designed as hero/villain epics. I also don't really care if they do. Like you said, players are already doing so. This post is just to present possibilities without the mental gymnastics or renaming of the OP. ... though there is still quite a bit of mental gymnastics involved, it just feels less torturous this way.

Well, ninjas weren't known for pinning groups in place. Unless, of course, they set a trap and cut the retaining line so something like a group of stacked logs fell on the targets. Or by poisoning the group's food in advance so they would be too sick to go anywhere or do anything. So I don't really have any idea how a ninja could pin a group in place using given stories/lore. I guess you could simply declare the ninja set as dabbling in taoist sorcery or drawing from fox spirit teachings instead of tengu teachings to have a shadow pin ability. (Though fox spirits weren't exactly known for teaching anyone anything except frustration, regret, and humiliation. ... so probably stick to your ninja set as dabbling in taoist sorcery.) The idea of a neurotoxic breath on a ninja doesn't really work. They would poison themselves. They have been known to keep a mouthful of tiny darts to spray in a foe's face as a last resort, sure, but never poison. (And the darts could only be used against a single target within spitting distance. Like literally that close.) They risked any mouth held poisons leaking and affecting them instead, so they didn't use it. Hence, ninja were known for poison gas bombs instead. (Poison gas capsules actually, but they were called bombs.) (Edit: You could get away with a ninja imbibing a poison and then immediately spraying it on nearby foes. Imbibing fluid to spray in a foe's face is a common enough martial arts trope that extending it to ninjutsu is not a problem. So just have the animation include imbibing a vial of poison as the attack's opening. Why the imbibed poison doesn't affect the ninja? I have no clue. It should. I'm trying to find a plausible reason for the cone.) I'm just asking questions because of the given lore compared to the suggested build.

It does help. In PvE. It doesn't contribute a great deal to the set's survivability, but as a hodge-podge set, it does contribute enough to help keep you alive. It does absolutely nothing in PvP because it is always getting shut off by opposing players' mezzes. That said, it would work just as fine if it were an equal defense buff instead, and then you wouldn't lose it when a mez gets through. (Unless, of course, you're one of those players that figured out how to cap your defenses as a /Willpower. I am not one of them.)

You lost me with Shuriken Pin. Ninjas were never attributed to pin targets with shuriken. The pinning was a sorcery bit attributed to fox spirits and various martial arts mystics or taoist sorcerers, and was called a shadow pin. A small knife of some type was thrown at the target's shadow to stop them from moving, and it did not typically affect anything flying. Though in a few cases where a flier was mentioned, the target retained its position in flight. Shadow pinning a target did not stop them from taking actions, just from moving from where they were. (Immob like you listed, but not -fly.) (The knife in the shadow kept the target from moving because the shadow was part of the individual and could not move from its current location. The arms and head worked just fine, it's just the legs [or wings if applicable] could not move the target away from their current location.) (Now, if the shuriken pin is a more traditional 'lots of projectiles pinning target to surface bit', that can work. Though technically you would need a teleport component to move the target to a convenient wall. And it would technically be ST. And it would be a hold.) The Poison Gas ability would make more sense as a targeted AoE. Poison gas capsules were typically tossed or dropped, not expelled. Though I guess it could be a sleeve-mounted projector instead of a poison gas bomb. (That would be more of a gadgetry or gimmick character than a ninja, but that is being a bit too nitpicky.) Call Genin raises the question of whether they would be the basic genin ninja MMs start with or if they would have any of their upgrades. Aside from those three questions/concerns? Proposed set looks interesting. (Edit: For clarification, the target's torso was shadow pinned and could not be moved. Not even to turn around. Limbs were all fine though.)

Never played a WS, just tried a PB. Not a fan of Kheldians. So please take my suggestion with a grain of salt. Since Dark Extraction is a large portion of the WS's single target damage, and you are making it possible to summon them from live targets instead of defeated ones, as well as making them untouchable so they live long enough to be of use, then why also flag the extraction to do heavy damage to the target? If the summoned pets are the primary source of damage and are untargetable, plus can now be resummoned at will so long as a live enemy is present to use the power on, then shouldn't the extraction portion of the damage be light or moderate? After all, you're already getting the pets for their full damage and they can't be killed, they only go away when they time out now. With the ability to re-summon as needed. You may be tearing away a part of the target's soul for the summon, but if it is only a fragment, it need not be particularly damaging. Especially since that fragment/those fragments are now going to be trying to eat him.

Actually... if you drop the -ToHit from RttC... yeah... Willpower is a comic book regeneration set. You have the resilience the typical comic regen' character has shows in the damage resist... you have the quickness/agility of the typical regen' character in their defense bonuses... and you have the regeneration with no active heal component.... (Thinking of Wolverine, Sabertooth, and Deadpool here.) That was a very good point. (Now... about that danged -ToHit component of RttC that forces the best regeneration in the set to shut down when mezzed....)

Only way I can think of is to convert some of the damage to untyped. Edit: Before anyone gets out the torches, pitchforks, rope, burning oil, tar, feathers, or what have you, I am not advocating for untyped damage. I am just answering a question.

If all you're looking at is Aim, here's a couple wild or dumb ideas: 1) What if Aim gave a recharge reduction like a weak Haste when used? Justification: Ancient war archers had to be able to accurately rapid fire multiple arrows back to back. (See old stone carvings showing archers on chariots holding three arrows with their bow hand while firing another.) Why give a haste effect to archery and not other sets? Firearms have their rate of fire built into them. Inherent blast attacks are dependent on the individual's body to be able to produce the effect. Fast archery depends on technique and training. 2) What if Aim gave a temporary range boost? Justification: During the 100 Years War between France and England, English longbowmen consistently out ranged their French crossbowmen counterparts. (Until late in the war when crossbows got much better range, but at the cost of rate of fire. See idea 1 above.) Increasing a bow's ability to hit accurately at longer distances requires training on the archer's part and reflects how bows were used historically compared to other ranged weapons. Honestly, neither option I provided would make archery as a set fun for me. (Please, someone make archery as a set fun for me. I really want to like it.) Either could meet your need for an Aim tweak though that fits the theme of archery without relying on only archers being keen-sighted and all archers being keen-sighted. Edit: A large part of archery was training, not keen-sightedness. That was the advantage of the crossbow and then the gun. They required much less training to be used. However, a skilled archer could perform feats pushing the capabilities of their weapon that would not really be matched until individuals started pushing what their guns could do, such as with palming the hammer on a pistol to rapid-fire a weapon not designed for that rate of fire.

According to the meme, it's red lasers and blue lasers.

Defiance 1.0 gave blasters a damage boost when their health was at or below 25%. Whenever your health bar was red, you got the damage boost. That was it. Edit: Or was it at 20% health remaining? Been a while and I preferred to keep my health up rather than ride the razor edge of doom.

A mobile glyph/sigil would work. That would make it an aura, but the name and appearance would still be whichever you prefer.

Mmmm... yes and no... yes because of the clarifying part "making them difficult to hit or untargetable". No because on my energy blaster I am specifically trying to get mobs stuck in the geometry. It makes fighting things like EBs so much easier when they are thrashing/spinning in a grate, a barrel, a wall, or whatever. When I knock them through it? Yeah, I curse myself for being an idiot, clear the rest, then exit map to let mob pop free if a defeat all or stuck target is the required defeat. (Edit: I really should grab teleport other for my energy blaster....)

Swap Ammo doesn't take enhancements. So the effects need to be slotted for in the (potentially) affected powers.

Apologies then. (Edit: Also, what scenario did I come up with?)

The main concern for me is Null the Gull. You want a new IO set that gives a global KB to KD? I'm all for it. Let's just stop running to Null for everything though, please.

Not gonna happen though....

That comment is a bit too much. I agree that the team as described is showing an amazing inability to cope with a situation, especially if the brute (or tank) can't just taunt the mobs right back. Belittling others to make a point is uncalled for though.

Having KD hardly makes a character subpar. Changing KB to KD doesn't make a character subpar either. My Bane Spider only really survives because of all the knockdown. (My energy blaster on the other hand? Will not slot the KB to KD procs. It's way too much fun to go "Bowling for Dollars with Group Du Jour". I change my play style when I team on my energy blast character, but even on TFs/SFs, noone has complained about my knockback.)

Yeah, that was the bonus damage from knockback I was thinking of. In the Champions pen and paper game, knockback only does damage if the target slams into something. Or half damage if it goes the full distance without hitting anything if they hit the ground. So using a variation of the fall mechanic for knockback was what I was thinking of.

I'm actually kinda envious of the knockback in that set you are not happy with. I can only get the Buckshot's KB to routinely trigger on my AR character. Every blue moon or so, Slug does too, but otherwise I'm screaming at the mobs "Stay away, you animals! In the name of all that is holy, STAY AWAY!!!! AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" Or something similar.

As far as modifying KB to KD, I am adamantly opposed to it being a Null the Gull thing. I was in favor of the current proc becoming a global, but thinking about it more, I prefer the idea of a new set. It has no KB to KD proc, but has a set bonus after 3 or 4 enhancements from the set are slotted of global KB to KD effect. (Edit: Like someone else posted earlier in the thread. Sorry, can't remember your name and currently disinclined to search the thread right now.) Edit (again): And just to keep things simple, this new set would be a knockback set.

Huh. I was going to say "Except you can't.", but then I popped in game and tried. I never knew the blaster secondary's T1 could also be used while mezzed. Live and learn, I guess. (Die and forget, but let's try and postpone that part for a bit.) (Edit: I died trying it out, but that's what happens when the only mobs you can think of where to find are all uber purple for your experiment. 😄)

Except that the KB powers like the energy blast set aren't lagging. I find energy blast to be insanely fun after I get out of the I can't hit anything levels, and does great damage in my opinion. Edit: "And today on bowling for dollars, we have Malta! Let's see how our intrepid hero does. Ooh. Bad shot! That Hercules didn't go too far. That Gunslinger on the other hand probably would have gotten decent distance if not for that pesky wall. Wait! Is he? YES!!! Ladies and gentlemen! Our hero earned bonus points! The Gunslinger is stuck! You keep going, you little psycho, you." 🤣

Ya see? This is why I only solo with my energy blaster. I enjoy sending mobs flying everywhere too much. (That said, on the rare occasions I do team with the energy blaster, I focus on things that can resist knockback like bosses or on eating a target before others have to chase it down.)

Actually, this I can agree with. Only concern is for those high knock powers that people want to keep the knockback on. Edit: Maybe make it so that if you slot any +KB into a power, it overrides the KD proc?