Masterminds: Separating Attacks from Pets

[Charistoph]

I know this will probably be a devil and a half to program, but one thing I hate about the Mastermind class is that the Attacks of the Primary are indelibly linked to the Pets you summon.  Want to use Dual Pistols with your Soldiers?  Want to blast people with Shadows your Demons are attacking?  Too bad.  Get Soldiers, get automatic rifles.  Go Undead if you want Dark Blasts.

 

Barring the difficulty of programming this in, and assuming the level access stayed the same across the powers, who would be up for separating the Attacks from the Pets?

 

Another advantage of this would be increasing the number of Attack Powers available to the Masterminds, such as Fire and Electric.

 

Thoughts?

[Adeon Hawkwood]

While it's a nice idea in theory I think it goes to much against the core concept of a powerset being a fixed group of powers.

 

I think a better compromise would be more customization options for MM attacks although unfortunately most of the sets have weapons which limits options for customization.

[Super Homer]

What if Masterminds were redesigned to be like Arachnos soldiers? You roll a MM, pick your weapon (for your T1) and then at level 2 get to pick your Summon-sub-set (like Soldiers get to pick between Crab and Bane spider sets.

 

More than the implementation, I would be worried what would it mean for anyone that already rolled a MM. Would such a thing break their characters?

 

Another problem I see with this: Beast Summoning attacks actually are closely tied to the pets with the Pack Mentality mechanic.

[Charistoph]

While it's a nice idea in theory I think it goes to much against the core concept of a powerset being a fixed group of powers.

 

That's why I was suggesting it be split.  As Unknown was speaking of, it would be like the VEATs who have 3 separate primary powersets to choose from over the course of their character development.  And aside from a base thematic connection, which has easy reasons to be altered in some of my examples above, the Attacks and the Summons lines aren't quite as cohesive as the majority of Blaster's Manipulation lines are.

 

I think a better compromise would be more customization options for MM attacks although unfortunately most of the sets have weapons which limits options for customization.

 

Unless they're willing/capable of customizing damage type along with the colors, I don't really see how this would be anything different than what we have access to now.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be healthy to be able to customize the Summons more as well (Vanguard/Arachnos for Soldiers, the two types of Clockwork for Robots, etc), but that could also include more programming hurdles as well.

 

What if Masterminds were redesigned to be like Arachnos soldiers? You roll a MM, pick your weapon (for your T1) and then at level 2 get to pick your Summon-sub-set (like Soldiers get to pick between Crab and Bane spider sets.

 

That's the basic mechanic I was thinking about using, but I am not aware of the programming hurdles that would be needed to overcome to make this change in the system.  Obviously setting up the Sets to be accessible is something the Homecoming Team is more than capable of doing, but I'm not sure of the challenges of creating new sets and linking them up in that VEAT manner.

 

Personally, I would set them up as selecting either Summon or Attack at Creation and then selecting the other later on.  However, I do see an issue with that that I'll go in to a bit later.

 

More than the implementation, I would be worried what would it mean for anyone that already rolled a MM. Would such a thing break their characters?

 

This would be another programming hurdle to be implemented.  A script would have to be run accessing all the MM character profiles and adjusting them to fit the new system, but automatically connecting everything up as they are currently established.  In addition, a obvious respec would have to be implemented.

 

From there, would the respec allow them to alter their Attacks?  I haven't run any VEATs high enough to do a respec to know if they can alter which path they choose with a Respec or Build.  Would it have to be a special respec which allows them to adjust their Attacks this one time?

 

Another problem I see with this: Beast Summoning attacks actually are closely tied to the pets with the Pack Mentality mechanic.

 

I was not aware of this.  Beast Summoning is new and I have not taken time to play with it, as interesting as the concept is.

[kelly Rocket]

What if Masterminds were redesigned to be like Arachnos soldiers? You roll a MM, pick your weapon (for your T1) and then at level 2 get to pick your Summon-sub-set (like Soldiers get to pick between Crab and Bane spider sets.

 

More than the implementation, I would be worried what would it mean for anyone that already rolled a MM. Would such a thing break their characters?

 

Another problem I see with this: Beast Summoning attacks actually are closely tied to the pets with the Pack Mentality mechanic.

 

I'd support this, but the other way around please. Pet at level 1, weapon/attack/whatever at level 2.

 

Also, judging by past changes to powersets... It actually wouldn't do anything at all to existing characters unless/until they respec. Also I believe the game has provision for force-respec-on-login, so you could flag all existing MM characters with that.