Character creation, UNKNOWN power origin?

[Menelruin]

Just a fun thought, it might be interesting to have an option for characters who literally don't KNOW how they got their powers initially, and their origin (and the appropriate Enhancement options) are only revealed as they get to a certain level.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

Like they have memory loss as a result of gaining their powers?

[Menelruin]

12 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

Like they have memory loss as a result of gaining their powers?

Or they don't even know when/how it happened.  Like, imagine Peter Parker was asleep when he got bitten, and just suddenly started having powers and assumed he was a mutant or something. 

[Saiyajinzoningen]

iirc the bite hurt peter so he would woken up and slapped the arachnid. Can i get another example please?

[MTeague]

Chloroform Man!   Passed out from being abducted.  Woke up in a bathtub full of ice, missing both kidneys, but, now had superpowers allowing him to manipulate ice! 

He just also has to have a pack strapped around his waist to handle his dialysis needs....

Edited May 21, 2020 by MTeague

[Troo]

1 hour ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

Can i get another example please?

Mutants.

[Menelruin]

You could also THINK you're a mutant, but actually an alien, or descended from demons?  Maybe your parents made a deal with an Eldritch abomination and it's manifesting in you gaining powers?  Maybe you THOUGHT you had natural abilities, but a mutation is giving you an extra edge?  Maybe you were a soldier, but the government was using your troop as test subjects without telling anyone?

[MTeague]

I guess I'm still stuck on the Why.  

 

It's very easy to headcanon / RP that your character doesn't know.... but I mean, you are the person creating the character.... you probably would know the truth of your own characters fictional history, whether or not that character know it?  Or are you doing method-acting RP, so you can't allow yourself to know what your character shouldn't know?

[Blackfeather]

Definitely makes sense - I'm pretty sure origins are designed IC as something that you register yourself up as: the FBSA probably wants at least some label to categorise heroes with. Or, going the villain route, have profile tabs on potential Chosen Ones, speculating on their origins.

 

And if all else fails, just go with Magic: a wizard did it explains everything. 😉

[Solarverse]

26 minutes ago, MTeague said:

I guess I'm still stuck on the Why. 

Same here. How does this add to the game in any way? What origin enhancements would you use? All of them? Random surprise? Would the devs have to create a whole new origin enhancement store? Seems more trouble than it is worth.

[Greycat]

There's not a lot in the game that Origin affects - but it is there. Off the top of my head, DOs and SOs and some dialog choices/results (the Origin of Power arc, for one, will change how one character responds to you, as well as which symbol you get after facing Trapdoor.)  We (sadly) are no longer sent anywhere based on origin, like the old starting contacts - but that sort of functionality *is* still in the game and could be used in the future.

 

Basically, I think this is one of the things that could really *break* a lot more than we suspect. 🙂

 

If you don't want your origin *seen,* an option to "Hide origin from other players" might be a good compromise. You'd still know what it was as a player, but RP wise could feign ignorance.

[Zeraphia]

I can see an argument for a very powerful being type of character. Akin to Kheldians but not quite, their powers aren't "natural" they're sort of like Rularuu, not really mutants, not necessarily "magic" either. I think that also a character that doesn't want to reveal its true intentions/identity to others, hence, "unknown" origin, would be a neat concept. 

[RiotAce]

You could easily just write that into your own bio w/o your suggestion. I DO believe that origins need a little attention, maybe add Origin Specific Superior enhancement sets. That would be neat.

[Player2]

On 5/21/2020 at 8:29 PM, Menelruin said:

You could also THINK you're a mutant, but actually an alien, or descended from demons?  Maybe your parents made a deal with an Eldritch abomination and it's manifesting in you gaining powers?  Maybe you THOUGHT you had natural abilities, but a mutation is giving you an extra edge?  Maybe you were a soldier, but the government was using your troop as test subjects without telling anyone?

Marvel has a character called Ultragirl who started out thinking she was a mutant but then learned she was actually an alien (mutant Kree).

[Greycat]

10 hours ago, RiotAce said:

You could easily just write that into your own bio w/o your suggestion. I DO believe that origins need a little attention, maybe add Origin Specific Superior enhancement sets. That would be neat.

I don't know about origin specific sets - it's one thing to do melee or AT, as there are some specific definitions to abilities, but origin... doesn't really do anything. They'd have to be fairly generic.

 

That said, I'd requested (in the past) more "origin attention" by villain groups. Crey could be very interested from 1-50 in this new tech hero coming up and try to ... er, borrow... their stuff, for instance, or convince them to work on their behalf while trying to undermine or blackmail them. Give them all something to work trhough all the way up.