New Mastermind Primary - Law Enforcement

[TheZag]

With every archtype available to hero and villain from the start, I wanted to create something with a little more heroic inclination for masterminds.  Most mastermind primaries have a bad guy vibe to them.  While its possible to come up with a reason that your demons, thugs, and undead are heroic, they are still demons, thugs and undead.  But head-canon is a two way street and its just as possible for law enforcement to be red side as legitimate Rogue Island Police, crooked cops or whatever you decide as why.  This post will continue with blue side in mind so I will refer to the henchmen as PPD but they could possibly be R.I.P. when summoned red side (the backup radio temp power summons a different pet based on your alignment so maybe this could too).  I chose all powers from ones that already exist ingame except 2 of them would need an animation from 1 power and an effect from a different power to keep the set cohesive.  The less ideal solution is to just use the entire power with the needed effect but the player and tier 1 henchmen will draw a weapon that is less ‘law enforcement-y’ (a rifle instead of a pistol and dual pistols instead of a single pistol).  So without further ado, I present to you the Law Enforcement Mastermind.

 

 

Command a Squad of Law Enforcement officers and prepare to take back the streets.  No villain is safe from the long arm of the law.  Officers are trained for a variety of situations and respond with a variety of attacks.  When the situation is particularly fragile, call in some backup to tip the scale in your favor.  Police training makes them more resistant to fear and confusion and standard issue equipment gives them some smashing and lethal resistance.

 

Abilities

 

-Revolver

Your trusty standard issue police revolver. Average damage with a quick fire rate. Revolver reduces the remaining cooldown on your Call Backup ability.

 

-Call Officers

Calls one to three officers (depending on your level) to assist you. The third one will be equipped with the PPD Shell suit.

-PPD Cop

Pistol, Baton / Double Tap / Frag Grenade (Double tap uses pistol animation with Dual Wield effects)

-PPD Shell

Minigun Burst, Energy Punch / Minigun Heavy Burst / Whirling Hands

 

-Heavy Revolver

When additional stopping power is necessary, load a heavy round into your revolver and fire. Heavy Revolver is slower than revolver but does more damage and reduces the remaining cooldown on your Call Backup ability. (Heavy Revolver uses revolver animation with Slug effects)

 

-Equip Officer

Equip your officers with better ammo, weapons and training. This power permanently bestows new weapons and abilities to all of your officers. Equip officer grants Double Tap to your Officers, Minigun Heavy burst to your Shell Suit, Tactics and Subdue to your Psi Officers, and Tear gas and Protection shield to your Assault Suit.

 

-Flashbang

Throw a Flashbang to give your squad the upper hand. Flashbang does moderate damage in a small area and has a chance to disorient your foes.  It also reduces the remaining cooldown on your Call Backup ability.

 

-Call Psi Officer

Calls one to two psi officers (depending on your level) to assist you. Psi officers use mental abilities and leadership skills to weaken the enemy and buff themselves and their allies in the evolving tactical situation.

-PPD Psi Officer

Maneuvers, Psionic Dart, Mental Blast / Tactics, Subdue / Assault, Heal Other, Psychic Scream

 

-Call Backup

When the situation gets out of control, call in some backup to help restore order.  Call Backup brings in up to three additional officers to aid you, but only 1 at a time.  These officers arent under your direct control and cannot be be upgraded with Equip Officer or Advanced Training.  They will aid your squad for several minutes before returning to the precinct.  If you attempt to call more backup when you already have 3 backup officers, the power will fail.  Backup officers also return to the precinct when changing zones or entering/leaving missions.  Call Backup has a long cooldown but the remaining time is reduced every time you use your Revolver, Heavy Revolver or Frag Grenade abilities.

 

-Call Assault Suit

Call an officer using the latest in heavy assault suit technology to assist you.  Sometimes the best offense is more offense and the Assault suit has plenty of it.  Criminals wont know what hit them between the laser blast volleys and disorienting melee attacks.

-PPD Assault

Power Blast, Power Burst, Barrage(energy melee) / Tear Gas, Protection Shield / Total Focus, Power Crash

 

-Advanced Training

Provide advanced weapons and training to your officers.  The specially trained officers will gain new powers, weapons and abilities.  Advanced training provides access to Frag Grenade for your Officers and Whirling hands to your Shell Suit.  Your Psi Officers learn Assault, Heal Other, and Psychic Scream.  Your Assault Suit’s training allows it to use Total Focus and Power Crash.

 

 

Im not a number cruncher but all of these abilities already exist in the game (even call backup but it would need large adjustments) along with the character models that the officers are named after.  I have never tackled a powers suggestion before and starting with mastermind probably wasnt the easiest choice but I’m hoping I got somewhere close to balanced-ish abilities.  If you see a way to improve the set, I’m happy to consider changes.

 

 

To do list -

-Change frag grenade on the henchmen to something less militaristic 

-Choose what officer is summoned with call backup and their abilities

-Determine if henchmen have too many or too few abilities

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by TheZag

[Luminara]

[Player2]

Maybe call it "Security" so that it's also good for lawbreakers.

[Glacier Peak]

Not that this suggestion is terrible, but I can't support it until Clown pets are added to Masterminds. 

[JasperStone]

Make it so

[biostem]

Overall not a bad idea, but as @Player 2 suggested, making it a generic "security" set would probably be a better fit.  I'd also like to see more original minions, as making it PPD is hyper-specific.  maybe something like:

 

1. Pistol attack.

 

2. Security guards (with nightstick and single pistol attacks, upgrades add taser attacks and pepper spray attack that disorients).

 

3. Heavy pistol attack.

 

4. Outfit Security - 1st upgrade power.

 

5. Flashbang - Targeted AoE dealing smashing damage with a disorient effect.

 

6. Riot Control - Mainly uses nightsticks and riot shields, but can be upgraded to have tasers and flashbangs.  Can also weaken the resolve of enemies once fully upgraded.

 

7. Call for Backup - Calls in 3 additional but temporary security guards and 2 additional but temporary riot guards, (but only with their base attacks).

 

8. Security Chief - A heavy hitting security officer with a riot shield and an axe nightstick.  Uses shield charge when fully upgraded.  Can both provoke enemies and invoke panic when fully upgraded.

 

9. Militarize Security - 2nd upgrade power.

Edited November 22, 2022 by biostem

[TheZag]

I considered the more generic security but it ended up like a reskinned mix of thugs and mercs.  Even when trying to be unique,  this one still has several similarities.  I wouldnt be against security,  just if it were mercs or thugs rehashed,  it wouldnt be particularly new feeling.  So while security could be a solid set,  its just not what i was trying to make.

 

They are PPD in the description only because those are the initial units i started to model them after and the only law enforcement group with the needed variety of units.  If the team were to move forward with this im sure they would be stripped of specific PPD logos and coloration.  At any rate,  its a long shot and i still need to get clowns implemented to get Glacier Peak on board.

 

[Player2]

I will avidly protests AGAINST clown MMs at every opportunity, so let's just call Law Encorcement/Security DOA.

[srmalloy]

2 hours ago, TheZag said:

At any rate,  its a long shot and i still need to get clowns implemented to get Glacier Peak on board.

If Clowns ever gets implemented as a MM powerset, the tier 1 summons has to be a tiny car zooming in and the tier-1 clowns piling out of it.

[JasperStone]

18 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Not that this suggestion is terrible, but I can't support it until Clown pets are added to Masterminds. 

one word

...

Squirrels

[blue4333]

Ironically this set would work if the set had on option to replace the pets with arachnos equivalents. 

 

Police —> wolf spiders

psi cop —> fortunata/widows

Assault suit —> crab spider or arachnobot

in red side, arachnos is the law 🕷️🕷️

 

[Player2]

14 hours ago, blue4333 said:

Ironically this set would work if the set had on option to replace the pets with arachnos equivalents. 

 

Police —> wolf spiders

psi cop —> fortunata/widows

Assault suit —> crab spider or arachnobot

in red side, arachnos is the law 🕷️🕷️

 

That's why the set should be called Security.  Heroes and Villains can hire private security.

[Player2]

I think masterminds should be a bit more flexible with power selections considering we have so few MM primaries and an inability to customize the pets.  Maybe if they made it so that each primary had different pet choices for each tier, we could get more diversity out of the existing sets.  Like at level 1, you have two or even 3 tier 1 pet options...  for Mercenaries, you can have the standard paramilitary goons... and also law enforcement looking cops with dual pistols and maybe a third option with Arachnos minions.  You choose one and it blocks out the other options and the rest of the set you only have the same thematic options.  Cops gets you more cops and then one of those PPD Hardshell options.

 

I know there was another thread recently where someone commented on how out of place the Oni was in the Ninjas set.  Maybe they could have standard ninjas for the first 2 tiers and then choose either the Oni or a super ninja for the tier 3 pet.  For Thugs, keep them relatively the same but vary the pet colors so it looks like they've got some different gangs to draw from... and maybe vary some of the secondary effects with them.  For robots, imagine having your own clockwork pets doing your bidding.  Demons?  Let players tap into some of those Circle of Thorns magic and summon their demons as alternates.  Necromancy?  Let's give an option for standard and maybe Halloween undead with minions tapped from the zombie invasion event or just standard ToT zombies, ghosts, and vampires at tier 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

[MistressOhm]

I like the base idea (but agree that flashbangs would be better than frag grenades), and also think that having three different looks (PPD, RIP, and Praetoria Powers Division) would make the set really shine.

 

The question is though... this is a heroes and villains game.  While we can create characters with police uniforms, would it make sense that ANY police agency from the three represented factions would assign a squad to follow a character? 

 

So having them be private security is a bit more story-cohesive.  There's also a lot of overlap with Soldiers and Thugs, as well. 

 

As for a Clown MM set... umm... no mimes. That's all I ask, is no. mimes.

[TheZag]

I did want to make it with paragon, rogue isles and praetorian police but i was also trying to keep the set with as much that already exists as possible.  Only PPD had the variety of units and abilities to flesh out a set without having to add any new models or animations.

 

If the team sees this and makes security instead,  then thats still great.  MMs could use another set.  But from a reuse what already exists perspective,  i wouldnt be able to make security without it being almost mercs or almost thugs.  The team with new assets though,  of course they could make it work.