Sidearm power pool

[Starhammer]

@Tyrannical posted

Sidearm

You possess a small caliber sidearm that you can use as a backup weapon, allowing you to fire on enemies at range.

 

 - Single Shot: A single target ranged attack that deals moderate lethal damage.

 - Covering Fire: A single target ranged attack that deals light lethal damage and reduces the target's recharge and speed.

 - Ricochet: A chaining power that ricochets a bullet between multiple foes dealing moderate lethal damage.

 - Point Blank Shot: A close range power that deals high lethal damage and knocks the target back.

 - Rapid Reload: A click power that instantly recharges all of your Sidearm powers, and grants them an endurance discount for a short duration.

 

The inclusion of a dedicated mini-blast set seemed apt, since we have Fighting as a mini-melee set. Ranged damage is key, and just like Fighting, an abundant damage type was chosen; Lethal.

 

Who doesn't want a handgun? Okay, maybe a few people, but for characters that have few options to attack at range, a sidearm like this is perfect, it works for a nice thematic piece for edgy broody types, or for those who want a simple option for defending themselves.

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So this was in the Discord posts on making power pools. It's awesome, and I wanted to acknowledge it, though I had some different (not necessarily better) ideas.

T1 - Pistol Whip - a Boxing clone, with a handgun

T2 - Pistol Shot - this power is basically the core of the pool. It's a little experimental, based on the new Combat Teleport functionality. This is a medium ranged (50ft) rapid ranged attack. It has a very quick activation (not "I'll go grab some coffee while I wait for Project Will to activate"), minimal endurance (maybe 1 end/shot), no/insignificant recharge time... until it's been used a few times in quick succession, we'll say 6 times, and does light damage. Once it's been used 6 times, it has a 15 second recharge, with 6 seconds of that being immune to -recharge. If 15 seconds passes with out firing a shot (all 15 immune to -recharge), the count resets to 0. Otherwise, it's basically the Pistols power from DP, slightly lower damage, and only fired from a single pistol in the right hand (thereby usable with Shield defense).

T3 - Extended Magazine - Extended Magazine increases the number of times you may use Pistol Shot without/before recharge. It takes Damage enhancements, but instead of modifying damage of the power, these enhancements (and if you've taken this power, other +damage effects, which add to this instead of altering Pistol Shot damage) increase your ammo count by that percentage, rounded up to a minimum of +1. (Maybe there should be a "Remaining Ammo" counter under the health bar kinda like where "Hidden" and similar effects are noted, showing if ammo is anything less than max.)

T3b - Covering Fire - If you have Extended Magazine, you get Covering Fire for free. Covering Fire is a toggle that alters the effect of Pistol Shot. While active, Pistol Shot still activates/recharges the same way but instead of basic damage/-def it applies -tohit and a stacking mag1 terrify effect, and a mild taunt. Then it has a small (10%) chance to do normal damage/-def. Covering Fire takes no enhancements, costs no endurance, has no (appreciable) recharge.

T4 - Gun Kata - Gun Kata is a toggle that gives you increased Defense (against all but Psionics) and ToHit. Say about 2.5% Defense and 10% tohit, at significant end cost, like .52/sec. It takes ToHit and Defense sets. (Amounts modified by AT to whatever you'd see from Combat Jumping and Tactics)

T5 - Dive For Cover - Dive For Cover is a lunge (Teleport) to a location within 25 feet. It also gives you a 3 mag break free effect and +10% defense for 10 seconds (Modified by AT... basically 2x whatever you get from Weave). It has a 2 minute recharge. It accepts defense and movement sets.

So my set is basically completely different in function from what Tyrannical offered... enough so they could probably coexist as options. But like I said, given the similarity of theme, I wanted to acknowledge it. Like it, the point is basically a backup ranged attack that is compatible with Shields. With the speed of Pistol Shot attacks, the attack animation needs to be very simple and quick, though a standard redraw seems reasonable. I also wanted to create a more tactically realistic version of Suppressive Fire with Covering Fire. Some of the numbers may need to be massaged a bit to keep it appropriate It would be interesting to see what kind of "Bullet Hell" could be created by Brutes and Kins, though I wouldn't want the effectiveness to be so great that they could just skip other attacks without taking some cut in overall effectiveness.

I'm also not opposed to making it an energy blast pistol instead of a bullet pistol, just to further separate it from Dual Pistols (and compliment Beam Rifle), though optimally it would allow the player to choose between them... just hesitant to add a second "free" power to the set, though code withstanding I don't suppose it would be a problem to add such a freebie to Pistol Shot as a T2b.

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EDIT: Sorry, my BBCode Fu is not strong tonight, kinda failed at trying to post a quote from a different thread...

Edited February 25, 2021 by Starhammer

[Starhammer]

So, some questions that come to mind...

If you have Extended Magazine, should the recharge timers on Pistol Shot be increased proportionally to the new ammo count? Essentially, each shot adding 2.5 seconds to the recharge timer, 1 second of which is immune to -recharge. Should this also affect the 15 second time to clear shots fired timer?

My initial thought is no, extra ammo should not increase the time it takes to change a magazine, which a trained professional should be able to accomplish in well under 15 seconds whether dealing with a 7 round magazine for a 1911A1, or a 60 round banana clip in an AK-47. That said, I can also see the value of such an increase from a balance perspective, which is not crippling to the power since the increased time intrinsically accompanies increased attacks. Both perspectives have merit.

Should Pistol Shot accept Fear sets?

I'm not sure about the coding complexity behind it, but optimally, I would allow Pistol Shot to accept Fear sets, but disable associated set bonuses if Covering Fire has not been taken or is not available. That seems like a lot of work on a potentially finicky subsystem for minimal reward however. The alternative would be to either ad a small fear effect to Pistol Shot even without Covering Fire... maybe a 10% chance to trigger, comparing to the 10% chance to do damage in CF... or to just not allow Fear enh/sets at all. Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I think I enjoy adding a 10% chance for a Mag 1 terrify to the basic functionality, increased to 100% using Covering Fire. It may not be consistent with other firearms powers in game, but I like the idea that "Hey, someone is shooting at me, maybe I'll panic and hide a little." It's a street level kind of reaction, but this is a street level kind of power pool.

Not a question, but yes, Dive for Cover could actually be used to close with a target to set up a melee attack. This is not the described purpose, but that's fine, I'm sure John Woo would approve, and that's more important anyway.

Underpowered as Boxing is on it's own, having two of them could get obnoxious quickly. Maybe Pistol Whip and Boxing should share a cooldown if you have both? Their cooldown is pretty fast, so this doesn't seem like much of a drawback, but might head off potentially freakish combo behavior... Or is that sort of combo exploitation something we'd rather encourage? It *probably* wouldn't actually break anything...

[Herotu]

I really like this idea. It's what I believe pool powers *should* be!