Masterminds and their tragically sad 7 primaries.

[Hex]

Now, don't get me wrong - I love me some MM action. I've played most of the combinations, but it's always felt sad that of all the archetypes, they've only got 7 primary power sets (I put the blame on the original creators as MM's were a Villain class originally, and we all know they hated the villain side of things).

SO!

I have a couple of primary (and a secondary) power sets that would be cool if they got made up.

Before any comments like "dude, it takes ages to create and animate models for pets" etc, I'm pretty sure most MM players wouldn't mind if the powersets just had re-used assets like shrunk down rikti's or something - even as a stop gap measure until some real modelling and whatnot can get done.

So here's the first:

Aliens.

Yep, we have most of the other bases covered with magical demons and necromancy, ninjas and bots, mercs and thugs, which only really leaves a few "thematic" options uncovered, one of which is our xeno (non)friends!

How the set would work is to cut down the already existing Beam weapon powerset, like assault rifle was for mercs, so that there's some basic attacks in there for the MM's to fire off while hiding behind their minion meatshields.

I won't lie - I was inspired by ufo/x-com when I thought of this powerset. I just thought it'd be cool to have like your own squad of mutons or sectoids doing their thing!

Anyway during this creative process, I thought "those early pets, sure die alot. Perhaps a little too much." and I began thinking of ways to mitigate or slow down the minion bodycount, particularly for those early levels (oh medic, why'd you have to run in like that?!). The primary reason seems to me to be this whole "3-2-1" system the MM is built around - MM's are masters of minions, there's no real reason the first "blob" of summons they can do should be forced into the same mould. Why not summon only 2 that have more HP or even 1 if they're fun and themed properly without being pure dps monsters.

So what am I getting at?

My thought for this set was that each "tier" of summon only brings out 1 minion. - and that minion is "flavoured" (namely their powersets are determined by) by your alien "pick choice" - much like how dual pistols gets 3 different ammo types, except this is permanent (i thought about it for a while, but figured it'd probably be best if the MM couldn't chop and change pet types).

The three different choices:

1. Alien Raiders - this is basically a bunch of cut-down scrappers with the high end guy either a sentinel or corruptor of some kind.

2. Alien Hunters - think "predator" and you'll know what this is - cut-down stalkers, with the last being a brute or tanker of some kind.

3. Alien explorers - okay I couldn't think of a proper name for them, they're similar to controllers/dominators - they have one or two single target control abilities, with maybe the last one either bringing out their own pets like some of the illusion powersets stuff, or just having an aoe. (This third group was the sectoids btw!)

 

The second powerset idea was dinosaurs. This has probably already been suggested elsewhere, but my feelings on the matter was that the early "tier 1" summon being a single dilophosaur that spits toxic damage, who gets a chum at the level MM's tier one's get that 3rd guy, and the "tier 2" being the 3 person set - they get it a tad earlier to compensate for the only 1 dilophosaur, but it only creates 1 *VELOCIRAPTOR* at the beginning, upgrading a certain levels to add more raptors until they get 3 total. The "tier 3" summon being a bigger carnivore like a carnotaurus or something (again, i cant remember if there are dinosaurs in this game - i've played lots of MM's, but that doesn't mean I know every mission inside and out!). As far as MM attacks that go along with the theme? You can do some "big game hunter"-esque stuff with a rifle (the single shot stuff from assault rifle), or go primal with a bow or heck, you could even have a melee set for the MM's that love to live dangerously!

 

Anyway, I mentioned a secondary set:

Psychic. (Yep, those sectoids again!)

As an MM player, I feel there should be some kind of psychic powerset option. We dominate our minions somehow, and when our overwhelming charisma fails? We MAKE them do it >:)

So this is pretty much stacked with psychic shields, debuff removal, heals and a placate thrown in for good measure, with the higher tier powers dominating an enemy for a minute or two (AV's etc being immune (darn you plot armour!)) and the last one being a reanimation of sorts with Psychic Puppetry - you reanimate a fallen individual who fights like a brute for a couple minutes regardless of their powersets (some SS/street justice knockdown fun with a rage mechanic), in fact, why not have this affect living allies too? maybe they get some heavy damage buff or damage mitigation or something while its active.

 

These are just a couple of suggestions. Those MM's need some options :)

Thanks for reading!

[Hex]

Oh right. I was going to also suggest something along the lines of the xenomorph or chryssalid - instead of a pet summon power, they get a special attack that "zombifies" an enemy or "bursts" a minion from a corpse, but that can probably get out of hand really quickly with a small army of freshly hatched minions and would probably be considered "overpowered" by all the whiney non-MM classes that are just jealous of our awesomeness... 🙂

[arcane]

I still want lawyers/politicians with shrieks and screeches and deceives/confuses, but yes I’ll happily settle for just any new MM set.

 

Thinking more logically here... magic, natural, and technology seem to be the themes most clearly represented so... maybe we need some mutants/freaks/lab accidents?

[Hex]

2 minutes ago, arcane said:

I still want lawyers/politicians with shrieks and screeches and deceives/confuses, but yes I’ll happily settle for just any new MM set.

 

Thinking more logically here... magic, natural, and technology seem to be the themes most clearly represented so... maybe we need some mutants/freaks/lab accidents?

 

We could also get police minions too - what MM would be complete without the local law in their pocket?

 

And I agree - just more. MOAR! powersets! The freaks/mutants/lab accidents? Totally doable too, but there'd have to be some sort of overarching theme: are they animal hybrids, ooze-based monstrosities, cyber racoons or living trees? I mean, that alone is technically 3 different powersets from just "lab accidents"!

[arcane]

2 minutes ago, Hex said:

 

We could also get police minions too - what MM would be complete without the local law in their pocket?

 

And I agree - just more. MOAR! powersets! The freaks/mutants/lab accidents? Totally doable too, but there'd have to be some sort of overarching theme: are they animal hybrids, ooze-based monstrosities, cyber racoons or living trees? I mean, that alone is technically 3 different powersets from just "lab accidents"!

Nevermind that, now all I want are TREES.