powerset suggestion New Powerset ldea - Armor Defense (hi-tech theme)

[Rudra]

8 minutes ago, Tattooist said:

 

 

When I think of "power armor", I think of Master Chief from Halo. Or Gordon Freeman from Half Life. None of those power sets really fit the power armor bill unfortunately. A power armor set that focues on the theme of technology suit would be pretty dope, in my opinion.

EDIT: Energy Aura would probably fit the most if we want power armor, since one of the abilities gives you an energy shield as if you had power armor.

Master Chief from Halo can be an Energy Aura character easily. His armor isn't doing anything other than being worn metal that also has a shield. And his shield does almost all the work. (I don't know anything about Half Life.) Iron Man from Marvel is just an Invulnerability character. His armor is just a worn focus that grants him the powers of flight, damage resistance/avoidance, super strength, and assorted ranged attacks, most notably his repulsors. In a super hero game, you need to look past "power armor is an advanced body armor that provides benefits" to what the armor actually does and what powers accomplishes what you want. Just like how in HERO system, GURPS, and other super hero roleplaying games, there is not a power armor power. There are powers that you use to build your power armor based on what you want it to do. City of Heroes gives us the ability to make power armor characters that have a wide variety of available powers at their disposal and different means for those power armors to work.

 

So ask yourself, what exactly does your power armor do? How does that compare to existing power sets, are any of the existing power sets of the correct type? And build your power armor character.

 

As for a dedicated power armor power set? I will always oppose that because it forces players to limit their creativity to use the power set. Now if the OP was not specifically designed to be 'the correct power set for power armor characters that requires a power armor be worn' but was instead a themed power set that was different from the existing power sets? It would have my support. Keep proposed power sets as open as possible so you aren't requiring others to play to your preconceived notions of what constitutes "correct" play for a concept.

[megaericzero]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

(I don't know anything about Half Life.)

To purposely undersell it, the HEV suit is an armor-plated hazmat suit with a built-in fitbit that's allowed to administer morphine.

 

It gets its own health bar but I don't think the games ever explain why since it doesn't appear to have an energy barrier yet it recharges its protection. (Black Mesa has a suit-up sequence that mentions barriers but that game's a fan remake so it may not be canon.)

 

Funny enough, Half-Life 2's anniversary is in two days so the internet is abuzz with chatter about the game right now.

 

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

So ask yourself, what exactly does your power armor do? How does that compare to existing power sets, are any of the existing power sets of the correct type? And build your power armor character.

 

Not to sound like a broken record but I think we could focus on the fact that power armor usually has built-in tools and contingencies (separate from their actual weapons). Mechanically, it would look like the original Stalker version of Ninjitsu - some base protections and the rest being active defenses.

 

Thematically, of course, we'd make it more generic where it could also be used for things like an artificer with enchanted equipment, a wizard with self-protection spells, a soldier who brought the whole arsenal, etc. Basically the armor-cousin to Traps and Devices.

[biostem]

IMHO, a "power armor" set would basically be a tweaked version of the sentinel version of invulnerability;

 

1. Resist physical damage - Represents the base level of protection you get just for wearing it.

2. Temporary Invulnerability - Simulating something like reactive armor plates or maybe some sort of active structural reinforcement that requires energy, (endurance) or activate.

3. Durability - The enhanced energy core of the suit.

4. Dull Pain - Emergency protocols/nanobots/medical stims to repair damage done to the wearer.

5. Unyielding - A suite of combat stims or maybe some type of neural interface that keeps you in the fight, despite mez effects.

6. Environmental Resistance - An improvement to the outer armor layer that can handle more exotic forms of damage.

7. Invincible - An advanced combat computer that aids in target acquisition, (+tohit), while also aiding in tracking potential vectors of incoming attacks, (+def).

8. Tough Hide - Improved servos that improve your ability to avoid damage.

9. Unstoppable - You temporarily remove the limiters on your armor for a boost in overall combat effectiveness.

 

The only changes I would make would be to replace Unstoppable with something that also boosts your own damage, and maybe replace Invincible with something closer to targeting drone from devices.  I could also see an argument to add in some absorption to better simulate a form-fitting energy shield instead of a "bubble" one.

[Rudra]

39 minutes ago, megaericzero said:

Not to sound like a broken record but I think we could focus on the fact that power armor usually has built-in tools and contingencies (separate from their actual weapons). Mechanically, it would look like the original Stalker version of Ninjitsu - some base protections and the rest being active defenses.

What built in tools? Remember, not every power armor is built with the same devices. One person's power armor may include a force field generator, built in medical system, oxygen supply, and grapple for reaching difficult places. Someone else's power armor may include a star flash (tm) system for blinding, enhanced perception, olfactory boost, integrated claws, and hydraulic leg supports for better jumping. (No force field system at all.) And yet someone else's power armor can include anti-gravity thrusters, beam weapons, mini-missiles, ultrasonic scanner, thermograph and infrared systems, and even an x-ray scope. And someone else's power armor could be generating shadows that hides their presence and makes it difficult for enemies to pinpoint him/her/them, while carrying all their weapons and tools. So what built in tools and contingencies do power armors have that are all shared? I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall, but a suit of power armor can be literally anything the creator chooses it to be. It is not a single all-encompassing secondary power set. It is a selection of abilities with a power armor visual. And we have the visual already in the costume creator. Want more visual options? Ask for them. And the powers the power armors have are a question of what exactly do they do.

 

For that matter, what do you call the existing power armor characters should a power armor power set be made? Pretenders? Characters that couldn't afford real power armor? Imposters?

 

Edited Thursday at 11:31 PM by Rudra
Edited to correct a period to a comma and a question mark to a period.

[Super Atom]

I see people with "Atom" all the time who aren't radiation anything. They've colored their fire or energy melee or any number of things to be radiation. This is the kind of creativity some players work with.

I support the idea of a new armor set that is mostly tech based because we just don't have any. It being designed to be a companion armor to Traps or devices is a wonderful idea. It would probably need a lot of fleshing out and testing, but overall the concept of "Power Armor" as a new armor set would be a great addition. If they ever get around to Gadgetry power pool, it would go wonderfully with the concept.

 

quick tidbit; i know you can force the tech concept yourself by using other armor sets, but having one designed around Tech like other power sets have been would be nice too.

Edited Thursday at 11:37 PM by Super Atom

[GM Tempest]

I think power armor would be neat 😆

[megaericzero]

41 minutes ago, Rudra said:

What built in tools? Remember, not every power armor is built with the same devices. One person's power armor may include a force field generator, built in medical system, oxygen supply, and grapple for reaching difficult places. Someone else's power armor may include a star flash (tm) system for blinding, enhanced perception, olfactory boost, integrated claws, and hydraulic leg supports for better jumping. (No force field system at all.) And yet someone else's power armor can include anti-gravity thrusters, beam weapons, mini-missiles, ultrasonic scanner, thermograph and infrared systems, and even an x-ray scope. And someone else's power armor could be generating shadows that hides their presence and makes it difficult for enemies to pinpoint him/her/them, while carrying all their weapons and tools. So what built in tools and contingencies do power armors have that are all shared? I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall, but a suit of power armor can be literally anything the creator chooses it to be. It is not a single all-encompassing secondary power set. It is a selection of abilities with a power armor visual. And we have the visual already in the costume creator. Want more visual options? Ask for them. And the powers the power armors have are a question of what exactly do they do.

 

For that matter, what do you call the existing power armor characters should a power armor power set be made? Pretenders? Characters that couldn't afford real power armor? Imposters?

 

I think you missed my point.

 

I was saying we still have an available niche in having a defensive arsenal which could be made into a thematically-generic armor set that covers both that type of power armor as well as other, non-tech concepts. Other [power] armors could create/use fire, ice, energy, darkness, etc. or even just be durable while this hypothetical would be a swiss army knife of gadgets.

 

To assert that we'd have to cover all conceivable gadgets is like saying we'd have to cover all conceivable uses for a given element. We would never have any power sets to begin with if that were the case. The number of uses for fire, or ice, or electricity, or darkness that aren't explored in existing sets are just as numerous.

[Rudra]

4 minutes ago, megaericzero said:

we still have an available niche in having a defensive arsenal which could be made into a thematically-generic armor set that covers both that type of power armor as well as other, non-tech concepts.

This is all I was asking for on this thread. Something open enough to be usable by any character concept, not just power armors or those wearing armor. So if that was your point, then yeah, I completely missed it.

 

7 minutes ago, megaericzero said:

To assert that we'd have to cover all conceivable gadgets is like saying we'd have to cover all conceivable uses for a given element. We would never have any power sets to begin with if that were the case. The number of uses for fire, or ice, or electricity, or darkness that aren't explored in existing sets are just as numerous.

Sure, but sets like fire, ice, et al follow a theme that can apply to every character that uses those powers. Building a specifically power armor set is ridiculous because what is the constant of power armors? They are some form of armor with a power supply. That's it. Everything else is subject to change. So if the author were to propose a generic armor set that fits what (s)he/they wants? No problem. It is the presentation that this is the power armor set that I have issues with.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

How about this:  Don't call it "Power Armor"  just call it "Suit of Armor."  Then your costume defines your suit:  You can look like Iron Man, or a Gundam, or a Knight, or wear a business suit.

[biostem]

1 minute ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

How about this:  Don't call it "Power Armor"  just call it "Suit of Armor."  Then your costume defines your suit:  You can look like Iron Man, or a Gundam, or a Knight, or wear a business suit.

The name isn't a big deal to me.  What I want to know is how would this set work when compared to others, and what would it do better?  worse?

[Rudra]

6 minutes ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

How about this:  Don't call it "Power Armor"  just call it "Suit of Armor."  Then your costume defines your suit:  You can look like Iron Man, or a Gundam, or a Knight, or wear a business suit.

How about something that doesn't revolve around it having to be worn? What about my naked lizard running around smashing things? Or my robot on a human murder spree? Will my energy being have to figure out how to don a suit to make use of the power set?

[Super Atom]

6 minutes ago, Rudra said:

How about something that doesn't revolve around it having to be worn? What about my naked lizard running around smashing things? Or my robot on a human murder spree? Will my energy being have to figure out how to don a suit to make use of the power set?

 

The same exact way you create concepts for the gigantic shield on your arm. If you don't want the shield, you don't make a shield.

 

You don't want to be covered in rocks, you don't make stone. You don't want to be covered in fire you don't make a fire. so on and so forth.

 

Edited yesterday at 01:27 AM by Super Atom

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, Rudra said:

How about something that doesn't revolve around it having to be worn?

But what if the "armor" doesn't need to be worn?  Or real.  It could be "suit of metaphorical armor located at some indeterminate location" armor...

[Rudra]

4 minutes ago, Super Atom said:

 

The same exact way you create concepts for the gigantic shield on your arm. If you don't want the shield, you don't make a shield.

 

You don't want to be covered in rocks, you don't make stone. You don't want to be covered in fire you don't make a fire. so on and so forth.

Again, that is the problem I have with the proposed set. That I can have a character that the power set mechanically suits, but it conceptually requires that character be wearing a suit of something. My robot is walking armor, but I have to don a suit to make use of the proposed power set. My lizard is extremely resilient with adaptive defenses, but has to put on a suit to use the set. Why?

[Super Atom]

Just now, Rudra said:

Again, that is the problem I have with the proposed set. That I can have a character that the power set mechanically suits, but it conceptually requires that character be wearing a suit of something. My robot is walking armor, but I have to don a suit to make use of the proposed power set. My lizard is extremely resilient with adaptive defenses, but has to put on a suit to use the set. Why?

 

My solution to this would be "Min FX" For those who want a customized looking power armor through the costume system. Simple, clean already in use'

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

12 minutes ago, Rudra said:

How about something that doesn't revolve around it having to be worn? What about my naked lizard running around smashing things? Or my robot on a human murder spree? Will my energy being have to figure out how to don a suit to make use of the power set?

 

How about using the Power!  What power, you ask?

 

[Rudra]

3 minutes ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

 

How about using the Power!  What power, you ask?

 

That is my point. That the proposed power set, by virtue of being defined as worn armor, restricts imagination.

 

Edit: With how the set works, it could just as easily be Adaptive Defense or anything else, and still fit as a power armor concept without a)denying that power armors already exist in the game as both PCs and NPCs or b)requiring that characters that wish to use the set have to wear armor for it.

 

Edited yesterday at 01:38 AM by Rudra

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

Only you can restrict your imagination.

 

Quote

My lizard is extremely resilient with adaptive defenses, but has to put on a suit to use the set. Why?

 

Your lizard is merely wearing his birthday suit!  Problem solved through the Power of Imagination!

Edited yesterday at 01:49 AM by GM_GooglyMoogly

[Rudra]

14 minutes ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

Only you can restrict your imagination.

 

 

Your lizard is merely wearing his birthday suit!  Problem solved through the Power of Imagination!

I'll make you a deal, GooglyMoogly. I'll say "okay, sure, let's have a dedicated power armor set", but I never again want to hear anyone, especially anyone that has or will post in favor of the OP, say that they want a weaponless weapon set ever again. Use your imaginations. Deal?

 

Edited yesterday at 01:53 AM by Rudra
Edited to add "that has or will".

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

People want weaponless weapons?

 

Oh!  Beam rifle powers but shooting through my hands or eyes, for eg.

 

And no deal.  People are free to recommend stuff and you are free to disagree with them (as you are wont to do).  Assuming, of course, that everyone is being excellent to each other. 

 

Besides, I can't make promises about other peoples' actions.

[Owl Girl]

imo the only way to do justice to a power armour set would be to lean in heavily towards a tech theme, which is great for that specific power but bad for overall design philosophy.

[srmalloy]

17 hours ago, Super Atom said:

I see people with "Atom" all the time who aren't radiation anything. They've colored their fire or energy melee or any number of things to be radiation. This is the kind of creativity some players work with.

This is what I did with Toksichniy Podlesok ('Токсичный Подлесок', 'Toxic Undergrowth'), a Dark/Plant Blaster; I colored all of her Dark Blast attacks a black/green color to suggest firing off blasts of various plant toxins. I also have characters with Fire blasts that are recolored to a blue-white color, because the color of a fire is black-body emission, and red/yellow is relatively low energy, while blue-white is much higher energy, so it represents them firing higher-power blasts than just ordinary flame.

 

The only issue I have with someone recoloring other sets to look like radiation is that the vast majority of them accept the incorrect color of the Radiation powersets as what their color should be, the bright green 'radiation glow' is a false association that comes from luminous radium paint, and the green color is the color of the light the phosphor emits, not the radium itself. Radium by itself actually has a light blue glow:

Most radiation is invisible, but emitted radiation traveling faster than the speed of light in whatever medium it is passing through emits Cherenkov radiation, which is a bright blue -- the reason the radium sample above glows; this is most commonly seen in water-bath reactors:

But someone's choice of color for their powers is a stylistic thing for that character, and while it may grate with me to see lots of characters running around with green radiation powers, I'm not going to tell them they're wrong for doing it (don't get me started about the buoys in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, though; in the entire live run of CoH, I was the only one who brought it up with Positron as a mistake and provided him with documentation about it).

[Super Atom]

@srmalloy I don't judge them either' , a beautiful glow is a beautiful glow!

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Super Atom