Telekinetic Blast

[Replacement]

This is only slightly tongue-in-cheek.  The core notions of building an entire Blast set based on (Gravity Control's) Propel assets is ... serious enough.  And feels like a glaring omission.

 

Set type: Blast.  For all the blasting ATs, duh.

The fiction: You summon/create/procure stuff and launch it at your foes.  Hard.

The central premise is that each power looks up potential junk from a table of objects, which are themselves mostly just diced up versions of the Propel table.  Most powers first run a /random to determine an appropriate table to roll on, then roll objects on that table.  This will probably make more sense when you read the powers descriptions.

 

Gimmick: Premium.  Whenever you use a TK Blast power, you gain a number of Premiums equal to the % of Defiance the power provides (For this reason, I'd make the Blaster version first, then just remove the Defiance amounts when copying to the other ATs).  Each stack of Premium does nothing by itself (is instead used by the powers themselves) and wears off over time.  If possible, I'd like to see stacks disappear from movement, so that you could have players just running all over the environment to represent scavenging stuff.

Alternatively, gives a scaling chance to instead launch a t1 power effect instead of the power you actually used.  Meaning the more Premiums you have, the more likely you are to fire a weak "dud."  If going this route, obviously, the T1 itself has no chance to dud out, but does continue to build Premiums for your other TK blasts.

 

Premiums are obviously meant to refer to Insurance Premiums because I think it's funny, but it could refer to how much you've used up your premium positioning if you're simply procuring things from the environment in your fiction, or whatever other headcanon you develop.

 

T1 - Launch (ST) - You launch a small object.  It deals either Smashing or Lethal damage.

 

T2  - Lob (ST) - You launch a decently chunky item, such as an office chair or CRT TV.  It deals Smashing and Lethal damage along with a proc of additional smashing, lethal, or energy (electric shock from appliances) damage.

 

T3 - Flak (Cone) - You shotgun out several small items from the T1 list in a cone, dealing moderate Smashing and Lethal damage, with a chance for additional Smashing or Lethal damage.

 

T4 - White Elephant (targeted AOE) - You launch a volatile object at your target, dealing minor Smashing damage to them and causing an explosion at their location.  From transformers to propane tanks, the explosion deals fire, energy, or toxic damage.

 

T5 - Dig Deep (Self) - Build Up clone.  Purchasing this power gives Premiums a benefit:

 

As Premiums rise and corporate entities begin to cut you off from access of everyday objects, you have dug too deep like the Dwarves before you.  All your powers gain a chance (%=number of Premium stacks) to instead summon something unfit for the streets of Paragon City.  All the weird stuff from the Arcane/magic sets of bases, or of Circle of Thorns maps, basically.  Stuff like sacrificial tables, The Necronomicon, Banished Pantheon zombie corpses, etc.  The random damage components of all your powers have a chance to instead come out as Negative Energy, Cold, or Psychic.

 

T6 - Launch Novelty (ST) - You launch a small item that is cherished, expensive, or otherwise unique and meaningful to someone.  It deals minor damage and causes either a disorient from head trauma (are there any trophies in the game?), a Hold effect (syringes, capsules, Enrich, etc), or a Fear effect (from Dig Deep objects).

Because the status effect is random, it's probably best to not allow Enhancements for any of them, but to compensate with stronger base effects.

 

T7 - Sky strike (Snipe) - A large object appears in the sky and drops on your target, dealing Smashing and Lethal damage and procs an additional amount of Smashing or Lethal damage.

 

T8 - Hazardous material (narrow cone) - You emit a stream of hazardous material in a narrow cone, dealing Extreme Fire, Energy, or Toxic DoT.

 

T9 - Vandals Are Causing Mayhem! (Location AoE, special) - You create a car at location, which taunts nearby enemies.  You can also attack  your car.  After a time limit (or when its health drops to zero), it explodes, dealing extreme Smashing, Lethal, and Fire damage.  If Dig Deep triggers, this power instead summons a large and terrifying artifact, which deals psychic damage when detonated.

 

---

You will notice there aren't a lot of secondary effects included here, outside the obvious Mez power.  I would consider giving all of these powers a low-to-moderate chance for a very short duration (like 2 seconds) Disorient effect.  Maybe something like 2 separate 40% chances at Mag 2 Disorients, which works out to a 16% chance of mezzing a lieutenant.

Alternatively, Propel sets a strong precedent for Knockdown/Knockback.  I just felt like we have enough Blasts that do that already.

 

Inspiration: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Dakota_Berg

Seriously, read this Contact's bio.  I love it.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Replacement

[biostem]

What would be interesting would be to base the set around different directions or ways in which you can summon & propel objects.  For instance, (in no particular order):

 

Death from below:  You summon an object right under your opponent, knocking them up into the air.

 

Heads up:  You summon a heavy object above your target, knocking them down.

 

Caught in the middle:  You summon 2 objects from either side of your target and crush them between said objects.  Deals moderate smashing damage and disorients the target.

 

Rain on your parade:  You drop a series of moderately sized objects in an area, dealing smashing damage, slowing the targets, and reducing their defense and movement speeds.

 

Bouncing Betty's: You cause a series to objects to rapidly rise from a given location then fly off in random directions, causing smashing damage and knocking down enemies in the area.

 

Razor Rain:  You launch a series of sharp & jagged objects at all enemies in a cone in front of you, dealing moderate lethal damage and applying a DoT effect.

 

Adventurer's Folly:  You summon a massive object and slowly drive it forward, dealing heavy smashing damage and knocking down any enemies in its path.

 

Debris Field:  You levitate and rapidly swirl many sharp pieces of debris around yourself, dealing lethal damage to any enemies that come near you, with a slight chance of knocking them down.

 

Show of Strength:  This power would act similar to build-up or aim, except that when you activate it, several medium-sized pieces of rubble quickly rise up from the ground around you, dealing minor smashing damage and knocking back any nearby enemies.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by biostem

[Alchemystic]

Could be interesting!

 

I imagine this powerset using many of the animations from Kinetic Melee and Force of Will, plenty of hand movement to display momentum and force.

[Replacement]

1 hour ago, Tyrannical said:

Could be interesting!

 

I imagine this powerset using many of the animations from Kinetic Melee and Force of Will, plenty of hand movement to display momentum and force.

I would be happy with 8x Propel animations and SFX and 1 Build Up. But yeah, those other things would all be gravy.

 

Kinetic Launch might be a better set name, so there aren't implied mental powers.

 

... Or Kinetic Kill Missile.

[Razor Cure]

Sky Strike NEEDS a 'Concrete Donkey.' ANyone who has played Worms will instantly see the appeal!

[biostem]

36 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

Sky Strike NEEDS a 'Concrete Donkey.' ANyone who has played Worms will instantly see the appeal!

Also a Tanuki statue for us anime fans...

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by biostem

[Shadowsleuth]

On 3/17/2020 at 4:26 PM, Replacement said:

The core notions of building an entire Blast set based on (Gravity Control's) Propel assets is ... serious enough.  And feels like a glaring omission.

Can the art assets of Propel be re-skinned to be translucent & slightly glowing to resemble something created from your mind (Mental Construct ala Psylocke/Green Lantern)?

 

 

Or Translucent with no glow.
 

 

And have every weapon from Weapon Customization as a projectile (also re-skinned to look the same as above).

[Replacement]

@Shadowsleuth Obviously I'd be all for that, but I was trying to keep it to stuff that's already in-game - though maybe there's some VFX magic the system allows, such as lowering the Alpha on textures so they're translucent, without creating entirely new textures.

 

Likewise, I'd enjoy hitting someone with a concrete donkey, but unless the asset is already in the Propel/alakhazam/base building libraries...

[Chrome]

i would love it if they also added a reverse wormhole/savage leap type power would be so sexy for a t9

[Communistpenguin]

You could probably poach a few other powers from grav control and tweak the numbers to make it more blast than control. All in on repel seems a bit much, but I’d say maybe 3 or 4 repel based powers seems reasonable. You could do 

 

 

Power 1: Lift

power 2: minor propel

power 3: telekinetic blast, but a cone. Think of a force push from a jedi

power 4: aim

power 5: major propel

power 6:  wormhole clone that just sucks the mobs to the center and does smashing damage (simulating smashing your foes into each other)

power 7: propel snipe, use a random melee weapon model

power 8: epic aoe repel

[Snowdaze]

Perhaps some refinement on design, but I'm here to say I like the concept of the set, and I support this idea. I would like to see some more blast and control sets.

 

I will however point out one "problem" with this powerset. In the flavor of propelling summoned objects, the game doesn't like showing the same object to all players on a team, this would likely have to be worked out for the attacks that have "special items that deal other damage types." Something to think about.

Edited May 27, 2020 by Snowdaze

[Replacement]

On 5/26/2020 at 9:35 PM, Chrome said:

i would love it if they also added a reverse wormhole/savage leap type power would be so sexy for a t9

Thanks for the bump!

On 5/27/2020 at 11:09 AM, Communistpenguin said:

You could probably poach a few other powers from grav control and tweak the numbers to make it more blast than control. All in on repel seems a bit much, but I’d say maybe 3 or 4 repel based powers seems reasonable. You could do 

 

 

Power 1: Lift

power 2: minor propel

power 3: telekinetic blast, but a cone. Think of a force push from a jedi

power 4: aim

power 5: major propel

power 6:  wormhole clone that just sucks the mobs to the center and does smashing damage (simulating smashing your foes into each other)

power 7: propel snipe, use a random melee weapon model

power 8: epic aoe repel

I can see that.  I obviously don't have a problem with going all-in with Propel.  What I like about your suggested list here, is that I could still build a propel-only character, which I think is important for concepts like Gambit or Green Lantern.

On 5/27/2020 at 11:33 AM, Snowdaze said:

Perhaps some refinement on design, but I'm here to say I like the concept of the set, and I support this idea. I would like to see some more blast and control sets.

 

I will however point out one "problem" with this powerset. In the flavor of propelling summoned objects, the game doesn't like showing the same object to all players on a team, this would likely have to be worked out for the attacks that have "special items that deal other damage types." Something to think about.

Yeah!  I thought about this problem.  I feel like this would be mostly circumvented if there are 2 random rolls per execution:

First roll: determine additional damage type.  This determines which limited pool of items can be spawned.

Second roll: determine actual object (this occurs on the client, which is why it's different for everyone).

 

This means, for example, I might see a gas grill explode while you see a motorcycle.  But we're at least both consistently seeing items from the "fire damage" table.