How do I make this character...?

[Ultimo]

So, many moons ago, I created a character for the old Champions pen and paper game.  The concept of the character is this:

 

He's a child, perhaps 10 years old, with a mutant power that allows him to alter his physical form and powers; a shape-changer of sorts.  However, he has no real control over this power, which causes him to change form when he shifts to one of his multiple personalities.  When he changes form, he takes on the attributes and personality of the character he's turned into, believing himself to BE that character.  He has several personalities.

 

Hercules.  Greek demi-god, possessed of great strength and durability.

Horus.  Egyptian god of the sun, possesed of the power of flight and the power to project light and heat effects.

Thor.  Norse god of thunder, possessed of the hammer Mjolnir, and the power of the storm.

Sherlock Holmes.  Victorian detective, gifted with great powers of observation and deduction.

Robin Hood.  Medieval archer and rogue, the greatest archer in England, and a fine swordsman.

 

In theory, he could transform into other characters... all fictional, except to him, when he BECOMES them.

 

The difficulty is in trying to create a character that kind of emulates these abilities.  Some things can be captured by pools (eg. Hercules' super strength might be simulated with Air Superiority and the Fighting Pool), but other things, like Thor's hammer or Horus' light powers... I'm not sure about.

 

So, as a challenge to the community, how would YOU go about creating this character for City of Heroes?

[lemming]

Multiform would be a hard thing to do with a character.

You could of course just have "different" characters and switch between them.  A bit of awkwardness since they don't share the same leveling, missions, etc, but you can cover that via roleplay

 

Looking over my Champions chars that I have homages to, nothing is very firmly translated. 😉

[Neiska]

I use different costume slots for such a theme. You could use different slots to make entirely different looks and swap between them when needed. Powers are another matter though, as you can only have one AT, one primary and one secondary. The only option for that is to make different versions of the same character, using different powersets and so on, and swap to whichever version you were in the mood for. I have done similar with a tech/cyberware based character, where i wanted to try new powers and builds, but wanted to keep my roleplay and friends, so i just explained it icly as "trying a new loadout" or "cyberware upgrade" etc.

 

But doing all of that on one character? Not really possible I'm afraid. You are talking Superstrength, Flight (that ones easy), Mace, Sword, Archery, and im not sure what powers you would use to represent observation. But with SS, Mace, Sword, Archery you are talking 4 different versions of the character at least, on 2 different ATs.

[biostem]

Here's an idea:  Roll a war mace/elec armor scrapper.  Take the fighting pool as well.  As hercules, you use only the fighting attacks and the auto powers from elec armor.  For Horus, take the blaze mastery ancillary power pool, tinted white or gold.  Thor would utilize all your war mace and elec armor abilities.  Sherlock would be more of an RP form, unless you wanted to dip into the experimentation pool for toxic dart, experimental injection, and corrosive vial.  You could take stealth from the concealment pool and utilize a different war mace model or go with battle axe and give Thor the celestial axe, then Robin Hood one more suitable to a woodsman - choose the natural origin for the throwing knife to add to the mix.

[Nyghtmaire]

I like @biostem’s idea. With three builds, you’ll have some flexibility. For example, the Sherlock Holmes character might be built like a pool power build only on level 25 IOs taking almost none of the primary and secondary (mandatory level 1 and 2 picks notwithstanding). Supplement with temp powers for theme. Bonus points for tray switching binds for each change. Damn that’s a cool idea - tempting!!

[biostem]

3 hours ago, Nyghtmaire said:

With three builds, you’ll have some flexibility

I don't know if you'd even need to dip into the other builds - clever use of power tray switching binds, that include toggling powers on or off, could get you most of the way there.  I mean, some of these personas would be "gimped" insofar as they wouldn't take full advantage of your powers, but that's kind of the idea, right?

[Ultimo]

I did create the character for Champions Online, but there was better power selection flexibility.  My plan was to do something like Biostem suggests, to take a "base" powerset, then supplement with pools for all the other characters.  Naturally, the costumes would reflect the various characters.

 

Is there a bow attack temp power?  I could do Robin Hood with that.

 

Anyway, some good thoughts here.

[biostem]

On 5/22/2023 at 2:26 AM, Ultimo said:

take a "base" powerset, then supplement with pools for all the other characters

Would you be comfortable with doing a version of Thor without the hammer?  If so, you could do an archery/electricity manipulation blaster - Still take the fighting attacks for Hercules, use the elec melee attacks for Thor, you could take sorcery for Horus, and of course the archery attacks for Robin Hood.  Sherlock could still dip into experimentation as well.

[Ultimo]

I don't think I'll be making him, alas.  The name he had (and has had for nearly 30 years since I first created him) was Mythos, but that name isn't available.  I could try renaming him something else, but it wouldn't be HIM anymore, if you see what I mean.

 

I'd thought to make him a Willpower/War Mace Tanker.  This would suit both Thor and Hercules (Thor with his hammer and Hercules with his club).  Pools would include Medicine and Leadership for Holmes, Fighting, which would suit both Hercules and Holmes, Flight, so I can give Hercules Air Superiority, and Flight for Horus, then the Flame-based Epic pool for Horus' stellar powers.  I couldn't come up with anything for Robin Hood, but there are other mythological characters he could become... Medusa, or something from some other pantheon.

 

Anyway, I appreciate the ideas, and I hope it posed a fun problem for everyone.