Andreah

I'd make a "Feats of Strength" power-pool, and move [Rage] into that, and then offer a mutually exclusive similar power as a toggle in the pool called "[Determination]" that gave a time-averaged damage boost at a level fair to not having Rage's crashes. Then we could put a few other cool things in the pool, too. What I love about the game: The breadth of the comic-book setting that allows for so many different character concepts AND the synergy of the many powersets that makes almost any random team a formidable group of Superheroes.

Using an AI to help structure and format the results, and even using it as an iterative sounding board for ideas helps quite a lot. I caution against using the AI's too much, because they're not very imaginative or clever on their own. So far.

1980's style skin-heads could be cool. Good low-level adversaries. Give them a opposite-ideology rival gang of communo-anarchists, and they could do street-fights council v. fifth column style. I imagine my "Infernal Hellions" could do the same against the Circle of Thorns.

An extension of the Hellions group; a splinter off-shoot, that scales up into 40-50 and incarnate threats. I drafted an outline of the group and had chatGPT format it and flesh it out. This is a fire heavy group, and as such they need to have secondary damage types and special attacks to not be trivial for maxed fire defense/resist builds. 🔥 Enemy Group Name: The Infernal Hellions Enemy Type: Magical Cult / Devilkin Hybrid Level Range: 40–50 Zone Presence: Peregrine Island, Grandville (offshoot), new Hellion Strongholds in Hazard Zones Special Tags: Magic, Fire, Demonic, Controller-Heavy, Stealth Elements, Group Buffs 🔥 Core Theme: "We are not possessed. We are perfected. We chose the flame." The Infernal Hellions are not your old street punks. They are fire-worshipping zealots who embraced a ritual of self-immolation and were reborn as devilish hybrids under the guidance of their dark matriarch, Inferna Regina. Every one of them chose this path—making them terrifyingly devoted. They blend the reckless chaos of the original Hellions with the structured cruelty of infernal military discipline. Combining Circle of Thorns-style summoning with Hellion-style flame aggression, they aim to transform Earth into a plane of fire and devotion. They literally seek to create Hell on Earth. 🔥 Hierarchy & Structure 👑 Archvillain: Inferna Regina Archetype: Fire Control / Dark Blast / Leadership Aura Abilities: Emberheart Sigil (AoE Confuse/Control) Charm of the Flamebound (mass Dominate-style Hold) Covenant of Ashes (mass Heal + Rez allies) Hellfire Queen Aura (team-wide +ToHit, +DMG aura) Tactics: Summons elite flame spirits; buffs all nearby Flamebound; devastating in groups Visuals: Volcanic red succubus-derived armor, long horns, glowing infernal runes across her skin, floating, 🔥 Elite Bosses (Inferna Regina's Named Lieutenants – appear rarely) 1. Ash-Blood Rhozan Type: Demon Brute Power Sets: Fiery Melee / Willpower Abilities: Flaming Axe cleaves, AoE Fire Smash, Unyielding Demonic Aura Lore: Demon of conquest, bound by infernal pact 2. Cindersong Yvette Type: Infernal Pyromancer Power Sets: Fire Control / Empathy Abilities: Fire traps, Confuse songs, AoE healing flames Lore: Former Hellion arsonist turned flamewitch musician 3. Molgrim the Maw Type: Demon Tank Power Sets: Fire Armor / Super Strength Abilities: Cone Devour (drains HP), Fear Roar, Knockback Slam Lore: Infernal devourer, bound within a cursed suit of iron 4. Scoria Hex Type: Infernal Glyph Blaster Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Miasma Abilities: AoE glyph mines, Fear Blasts, Fire/ToHit debuff zones Lore: Graffiti mystic who uses art to channel hell 🔥 Standard Enemy Ranks 🔥 Bosses (5–10% of spawns) 🔸 Flamebound Ascendant Power Sets: Fire Melee / Fiery Aura Description: Former high-ranking Hellions who survived the Rite of Ash. Heavy fire hitters. Powers: Fiery melee combo attacks, Burn patch, Fire Resistance Aura 🔸 Hellion Pyrewalker Power Sets: Fire Control / Thermal Radiation Description: Channelers of flame spirits and keepers of the Emberheart Sigils Powers: Flame cages, summon burning spirits, buff allies' damage/resistance 🔥 Lieutenants (20–30% of spawns) 🔹 Ashveiled Stalker Power Sets: Claws / Super Reflexes Stalker Description: Stealth assassins who burn the shadows they walk through Powers: Stealth, Toxic Fire Strike, Quick Strike with -DEF proc 🔹 Infernal Enforcer Power Sets: Fire Blast / Dark Armor Sentinels Description: Standard ranged specialists; powerful but reckless Powers: Fireball, Fear Burst, Shadow Lash (ranged cone with -ToHit) 🔹 Covenant Binder Power Sets: Leadership / Thermal Radiation composite of archetypes Description: Chanting lieutenants who project infernal blessings Powers: Buffs team with +ToHit and +Damage, can Rez 1 fallen ally 🔥 Minions (60–70% of spawns) 🔸 Hellion Emberblade Power Sets: Fire Sword / Brawl Scrapper Description: Low-level melee units with flaming machetes Abilities: Fiery Slash, Ignite Weapon (DoT) 🔸 Flame-Kissed Acolyte Power Sets: Fire Blast Blaster Description: Basic ranged attackers, often chanting or laughing madly Abilities: Fire Bolt, Fire Ball 🔸 Pyre-Blood Zealot Power Sets: Dark Melee / Resistance Aura Brute Description: Suicide-charging berserkers who glow with unstable fire Abilities: Infernal Lash, Deathburst (fire explosion on KO) 🔥 Special Units (Rare Spawns / Boss Events) 🔹 Hellspawn Warbringer (Boss-tier demon summoned mid-battle) Large fire demon that appears from Emberheart Gate portals during Inferna Regina or Rhozan fights AoE fire damage, stuns, and resists crowd control 🔹 Sigil of Binding (Environmental Object) Glowing rune that buffs nearby Infernal Hellions Destroying it weakens their regeneration and damage output 🔥 Gameplay Design and Strategy Control + Fire Synergy: Expect Fire Cages, Burn patches, AoE fear/confuse from mid-tier units upward High Team Buffing: Leadership/Thermal Radiation synergy from lieutenants and named bosses Dangerous On Death: Many units explode or debuff on defeat, encouraging tactical engagement Summoning Mechanics: Pyrewalkers and Delilah summon flame spirits or lesser demons as support Thematic Map Ideas: Infernal temples, subway sanctums turned lava-cathedrals, Emberheart Sepulcher dimension

This is the way. Some streamer did this a while back, and called it "The Iron Man/Woman Challenge", or something like that. It just takes a few self-imposed rules. Here's the link: Their rules aren't hard to follow, and though they're designed for streamers, anyone could follow them.

Streamers often play with viewers, and that can be a lot of fun

Harvest of Shame and Tears

"Critter Storm" -- bats, butterflies, locusts, frogs, rats, baby turtles, mosquitos/flies, faeries, cogs, tiny racing cars, mini-drones, roaches, fireflies.

In lieu of respeccing, one can use an alt-build.

Both Black Hole and Dimension Shift remain "Please kick me off the team" powers.

You can also enable chat logging per character, and the saved chatlogs in your homecoming folder will contain all the NPC chatter you overhear in-game.

Powersets should be within a stone's throw of each other within the same role. The problem we have is a few Archetypes share the same powersets in the same role. The answer there is to radically differentiate or retire one of the AT's. This endless balancing will go nowhere on its own.

I can routinely heavily challenge teams doing PI radios at +2 to +4 x8, just by aggro-ing extra groups and bringing them to the team quickly. Ordinarily, I try to pace this at a rate that the team can handle, but it is not difficult to overwhelm them with numbers. A team of eight can, in principle, aggro 8x17=136 mobs at the same time, this can quickly lead to a TPK for even a strong team if they're not working together tactically at a high level of skill.

I will nominate the ruined hospital maps (like the one Mother Mayhem and Malaise hide out in). Junk and curtains scattered in the hallways everywhere, that even my superpowered character can't brush aside! :O

You can get those in hard modes, certain special situations with particular team compositions, and in custom AE missions designed for difficulty. And I think that's okay, because those situations in comic books aren't common.