B-B-B-Buff Me, I Wanna be Dirty!: The TELLURIC BOUNTY powerset is ready to rock!

[AspieAnarchy]

TELLURIC BOUNTY (Buff)

Available to: Defenders, Corrupters, Controllers, Masterminds

Set Color: Sand-on-Hazel

 

You can direct earth, stone, dust, clay, and minerals to fortify those you favor, and bring low those you don’t. This set is slower overall than some other Buff sets, but offers a strong and diverse array of hampering debuffs, (mostly) defensive buffs, and a few surprises sure to either keep enemies on their toes, or to sweep them off. The ability to control and shape the environment is a strong suit of this set, offset by the shortcoming of being much less effective against airborne or teleporting enemies (and to a certain extent, less useful to airborne or highly-mobile comrades).

 

1) Mudball – You hurl a generous glob of heavy, gooey, blinding mud at your target, briefly immobilizing it, impeding its endurance recovery, and reducing its chance to hit. All but the most vigorous of fliers will be brought down and struggle to go aloft again.

Recharge: Fast

 

2) Stone Plating – You encase your allies in sturdy but light stone, increasing both their defense and resistance to Smashing, Lethal, Energy, and Toxic damage.

Recharge: Fast

 

3) Mineral Infusion (Defenders, Masterminds) – You fortify a single ally with vital minerals, briefly both granting temporary hit points, and increasing its resistance to Toxic and Energy damage.

Recharge: Moderate

OR

Scouring Sands (Corrupters) – you assail foes in a cone with an agonizing sandstorm, greatly lowering their damage resistance.

Recharge: Medium

OR

Plume of Dust (Controllers) – A mighty plume of dust erupts from beneath your target and every other foe in a substantial area around it, causing moderate slowing, reduced perception and chance to hit, and a weaker chance to render them choking and helpless.

Recharge: Slow

 

4) Loam Layering – You insulate your allies in a layer of hard-packed soil, providing good protection in the form of resistance to Cold, Fire, Smashing, and to a much lesser extent, Energy and Toxic damage.

Recharge: Fast

 

5) Wall of Stone (Defenders, Controllers) – You raise a thick stone wall to impede your foes and shelter your friends, about tall and wide enough to block most but not all of a typical hallway. Being a stone wall, it doesn’t move once created, cannot be moved through, and blocks line of sight, but you may dismiss (as one would a pet) it at any time. The wall can be destroyed by damage, and can neither be healed nor buffed save by other Telluric Bounty powers (including those not available to your Archetype); it has very strong hit points and resistances to all damage, but little defense.

Recharge: Slow

OR

Quicksand (Corrupters, Masterminds) – as Controller

 

6) Mega Mudball (Defenders, Corrupters) – You blast enemies in an area with an explosion of mud, immediately knocking them to the ground and also leaving them with greatly slowed endurance recovery and reduced accuracy for a short time afterward; all but the strongest fliers will find it difficult to take to the air again.

Recharge: Moderate

OR

Cleansing Clay (Controllers, Masterminds) – You bring forth a patch of clean, aromatic, invigorating wet clay in a targeted area; you and any allies gain a modest amount of damage absorption so long as you are in the area, while enemies in the same area suffer a small amount of slowing and become more susceptible to knockdown effects and endurance drain and debuff effects.

Recharge: Slow

 

7) Mineral Orb – You raise a spherical formation of rare minerals to follow along near you; it can be targeted and damaged by enemies, but naturally is very hard to destroy; it can be buffed, but can neither be healed nor regenerate health. Its complex and mysterious properties serve to deflect incoming psionic power in a large area around it, thus granting you and your allies greatly increased defense against Psionic attacks. Furthermore, it causes irritating psychic feedback that is likely to goad enemies into attacking it directly.

Recharge: Slow

 

😎 Fossils (Defenders, Masterminds) – You dredge up a layer of ancient fossils, creating a large area in which all allies receive a small resistance and moderate defense bonus against Negative Energy damage, and in which enemies touching the ground face a periodic chance to suffer immobilization should it run afoul of one of the fossils; while the latter effect is not especially accurate, it is quite strong if it connects and even deals a bit of damage. Damage: Minor Lethal/Negative Energy

Recharge: Slow

OR

Pave the Way (Corrupters, Controllers) – You sculpt the earth beneath your feet and the structures and land around you for the convenience of yourself and your compatriots; so long as this power remains active, it generates a colossal area in which you and your allies gain increased ground speed and ranged defense, and to a lesser extent jump height and area defense, and your enemies suffer a lesser degree of the opposite.

Recharge: Long

 

9) Move Mountains (Defenders, Masterminds) – You imbue yourself and nearby allies with the power of the mountains, granting the following benefits to all affected for a moderate amount of time: Increased maximum hit points and endurance, strong protection from knockback, knockdown, repulsion, pull, and defense and resistance debuff effects and boosts to all such effects when the affected themselves use them, and a further universal knockdown and/or resistance debuff “proc” to all attacks. When the effect wears off, you (and only you) will suffer some immediate endurance loss and a brief period of reduced endurance recovery, damage resistance, and movement speed; the penalty is small, but cumulative and a tiny amount longer for every other beneficiary.

Recharge: Very Long

OR

Boulder of Doom (Corrupters, Controllers) – You unleash a spherical boulder to harass and terrorize groundbound enemies for several minutes. It can be targeted and damaged by enemies, but naturally is very hard to destroy; it can be buffed, but cannot regenerate health nor can it be healed save by other Telluric Bounty powers (including those not available to your Archetype).

Boulder of Doom:

Bruising Bludgeon – quick single-target attack deals minor Smashing damage but also debuffs resistance

Bowl Over – melee cone attack that deals minor Smashing damage, knocks back, and may disorient enemies

Invoke Panic – as Presence Pool

Spring Attack – as Leaping Pool

Fracture – as Earth Manipulation

Boulder-Dash – greatly increases land speed, limits jumping ability

Recharge: Long

 

Example Character Concept: The Vengeful Cornerstone! (Villainous Thugs/Telluric Bounty Mutant Mastermind)

 

Edited April 7 by AspieAnarchy
#1/6.a: added -fly; #3.a: narrowed resistance-buff; #3.b: expanded resistance debuff; #4: diminished Ene/Tox resistance buff; #6.b: simplified benefits to absorption; #7: added taunt effect; #9.a: replaced resistance buff with debuff resistance/buff

[Saiyajinzoningen]

so like a stone support set?

i can dig it

get it, dig it

nvm ill show myself out

[AspieAnarchy]

23 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

so like a stone support set?

 

No, it's not like a stone Buff set, it is a stone Buff set!

[Haijinx]

22 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

so like a stone support set?

i can dig it

get it, dig it

nvm ill show myself out

 

The name kinda digs at me

 

Maybe make it "Muddin" and have Hick Hop beats play as you buff.  

 

 

[Lazarillo]

4 hours ago, AspieAnarchy said:

No, it's not like a stone Buff set, it is a stone Buff set!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! That'll never fly.  You have to insist they're totally different, like how "Seismic" blast can't be "Stone" blast and "Symphonic" control can't be "Sonic" control.

[CrusaderDroid]

This looks pretty neat!

 

I really like the theming of the set and how it moves away from "throw another rock" to the more esoteric properties of earth and the contents therein. There's a lot of fun potential with that concept, and I'd love to see more along those lines.

 

My main concern is that the current set isn't very strong or practical for the most part. It's overly focused on resists to the detriment of everything else. In order...

 

Mudball: Not super exciting, but I appreciate the practicality. You can very easily have this ground fliers.

 

Stone Plating: This is bigger than you might think since it boosts both resist and defense simultaneously, when most buffs pick one. It makes me a bit worried about room for numbers. Still, it works and is pretty typical of the usual powers in the set.

 

Mineral Infusion: Here's where things start to get weird, since you're now able to double stack your own resist buffs on allies, on top of the max health boost. I think if you only had this or Stone Plating, it would be fine, but together may be too much for one person to give - or worse, you need both to match just one cast from another power in a different set.

 

Scouring Sands: Curiously, this doesn't lower smashing resist. Trying to do Seismic Blast with this set for the traditional mono-element would leave you with a resist drop you can't actually use yourself. This is very bad for a Corruptor. You might just want to make this a universal resist drop, but honestly it doesn't seem particularly novel to me. Definitely high on the list to cut.

 

Plume of Dust: This looks fine to me. It's a good suite of debuffs and CC.

 

Loam Layering: This is your third +resist power. I think you're giving up too much utility in this set by focusing so hard on resist. Would definitely cut for a better option.

 

Wall of Stone: Innovation! I love the idea of a wall, except...it's just a wall. In a game where enemies can fly, a bunch of rocks in a row is a woefully inadequate defense. Not just that, it doesn't do anything - it just sits there and can't even draw aggro to itself. This is not a good choice even before the logistical issues of blocking your own teammates with your creation. There's totally room for "big rock creation", but it's probably in the form of an obelisk or pillar with an aura or active effect, not a wall. 

 

Mega Mudball: It's Mudball++. Not entirely sure this is what your kit needs - this is a support set, not a control set. I'd look for other ideas, or move things around so you have a different power instead of Mudball at tier 1.

 

Cleansing Clay: I like it for the most part. Debuff resistance reduction is a nice thing I've thought about before. I don't believe there's a difference between normal damage and DoT damage, so you might want to sub in a small damage absorption effect instead to get similar results.

 

Mineral Orb: I'm not super experienced with endgame stuff, but I don't think anyone is so desperate for Psionic resistance that they'll take this power, when that's its only function and it can be destroyed. Floating orb is cool, but this needs an entirely new effect.

 

Fossils: Love the theme. Very tired of +resist at this stage. I think it's got a weird identity crisis here - I think you want this to be more ally support instead of enemy control. An immobilize at this point isn't as valuable when control sets have had similar powers much earlier, and the resist you're granting is rather narrow.

 

Pave the Way: Yeah, see, this one? Give me more of this. This is a genuinely neat trick. I don't know if it's top tier (although it's +defense so probably), but it's innovative and cool and thematic. That's the kind of stuff to go for.

 

Move Mountains: Oh come on. Look, even Stone Armor isn't as obsessed about resists as this set. Whether or not you keep this depends on how much of the other +resist stuff you keep.

 

Boulder of Doom: This is hilarious. I love it. My only concern is that pets have generally been the domain of the Controller and Dominator primary sets, and this feels like it should be there instead of on a support set.

 

---

 

In short: Great theme, some creative stuff at play here. It's both too focused on resists and suffering a bit of an identity crisis on whether it's support or control.

 

My suggestions would be to strip away some of the +resist buffs and make up for it with damage absorption instead, which is a rare mechanic that works well with +resist. I'd also suggest maybe granting an ally a damage boost combined with a knockdown aura - knocked down enemies can't do damage, which is better than resists while they're floored.

 

Would definitely love to see more. Keep up the good work! 

[AspieAnarchy]

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Mudball: Not super exciting, but I appreciate the practicality. You can very easily have this ground fliers.

 

Yeah, I thought about the latter; it should. I just wasn't ready to do more work on it, but now that I've gotten feedback, I guess I can.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Stone Plating: This is bigger than you might think since it boosts both resist and defense simultaneously, when most buffs pick one. It makes me a bit worried about room for numbers. Still, it works and is pretty typical of the usual powers in the set.

 

I figure an earth/stone Buff set SHOULD be especially good at defensive buffs, so that was my thinking (as well as struggling to settle on just one); think of it like some of the Shield Defense powers, which also grant both.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Mineral Infusion: Here's where things start to get weird, since you're now able to double stack your own resist buffs on allies, on top of the max health boost. I think if you only had this or Stone Plating, it would be fine, but together may be too much for one person to give - or worse, you need both to match just one cast from another power in a different set.

 

I'm trying to make it different from just a heal, is my thinking - and that may be where your complaint about too much resist-buff may be coming from. Other sets (e.g. Thermal Radiation, Pain Domination) heal AND buff resistance, and since protection is "preemptive healing", I figured I could exchange healing for more resistance buffing; since you make it so clear I overdid it, I accept that, but does my explanation make sense at least?

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

 

Scouring Sands: Curiously, this doesn't lower smashing resist. Trying to do Seismic Blast with this set for the traditional mono-element would leave you with a resist drop you can't actually use yourself. This is very bad for a Corruptor. You might just want to make this a universal resist drop, but honestly it doesn't seem particularly novel to me. Definitely high on the list to cut.

 

I don't care to cut it, but sure, I can expand the resistance types it affects; my thinking was 'what kind of damage would a blast of scouring sand make someone more vulnerable to?' (e.g. not Psionic), but in hindsight I could include Smashing; the idea was also, if I didn't make it a universal resistance debuff, that would allow the resistances it DID debuff to be debuffed MORE; Semper Quid Pro Quo.

 

I appreciate your remarks about how a Corrupter SHOULD be able to directly exploit its own debuffs; notice how I've generally tried to differentiate Corrupters from Defenders by making the former more debuff-focused (but not without the occassional variation/deviation)?

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Plume of Dust: This looks fine to me. It's a good suite of debuffs and CC.

I think it was one of the first things I came up with when conceiving of this set, too.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Loam Layering: This is your third +resist power. I think you're giving up too much utility in this set by focusing so hard on resist. Would definitely cut for a better option.

 

Well, that's not too out of line, is it? Some Buff sets (e.g. Force Fields, Sonic Resonance) are meant to emphasize defensive buffs and give several; surely you'll agree this is still more eclectic than either of those.

 

I do understand what you mean about Mineral Infusion (again, see my rationale), but Loam Layering and Stone Plating were specifically meant to be akin to the two defense buffs in both Cold Domination and Thermal Radiation; view Mineral Infusion not as a third, but as a heal that's been adulterated with +resist (like Alkaloid from Poison, but moreso). 

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Wall of Stone: Innovation! I love the idea of a wall, except...it's just a wall. In a game where enemies can fly, a bunch of rocks in a row is a woefully inadequate defense. Not just that, it doesn't do anything - it just sits there and can't even draw aggro to itself. This is not a good choice even before the logistical issues of blocking your own teammates with your creation. There's totally room for "big rock creation", but it's probably in the form of an obelisk or pillar with an aura or active effect, not a wall. 

 

Yes, I felt a wall was kind of mandatory for an Earth-Buff set, glad you appreciate the idea! Like I said in my OP, it's meant to be big enough to block most but not all of a typical indoor hallway, so that makes it more useful indoors where fliers are more restricted anyway.

Of course it just sits there and doesn't do anything; you've seen walls before, right? It's supposed to be good for those who can get tactically creative with it, like in various puzzle-games where you can accomplish all sorts of things simply by knowing the right place to throw a wall.

You could, for example, use it to:

- create a chokepoint to really restrict how many enemies can come at you at once

- throw it up as an "Oh Shit Button" when you're forced to retreat, or to give you even a moment's respite while you use the Physician Accolade power to raise allies

- not totally block, but simply reduce the amount of fire you're taking

- divide and conquer! Yes, some enemies can fly, but many others can't!

 

An aggro-draw mechanic might not be bad; seems like the sort of thing that could be tested for necessity and added during playtest if this were to actually be accepted by the devs.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Mega Mudball: It's Mudball++. Not entirely sure this is what your kit needs - this is a support set, not a control set. I'd look for other ideas, or move things around so you have a different power instead of Mudball at tier 1.

 

Notice how many Buff sets (coughcoughSTORMS!coughcoughTRAPS! - sorry, all this working with rock and dust must be getting to me!) already dabble in more fields than most other Powerset-categories do? Besides, this is still primarily a debuff, totally in line with existing things; it doesn't deal damage, mass-knockdown is a pretty tame form of "control", and otherwise its main appeal is the debuffs it leaves. I like it the way it is.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Cleansing Clay: I like it for the most part. Debuff resistance reduction is a nice thing I've thought about before. I don't believe there's a difference between normal damage and DoT damage, so you might want to sub in a small damage absorption effect instead to get similar results.

 

Well, my thinking regarding DoT was it's like a condition - when you're suffering DoT, you'll see an icon of the DoT effect in your buffs/debuffs lineup, so I thought it could periodically remove such effects; if I'm wrong about how that works or what's possible, your "small damage absorption" idea is a good alternative (maybe better, I'll admit - means the power could take Heal/Absorb Enhancements).

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Mineral Orb: I'm not super experienced with endgame stuff, but I don't think anyone is so desperate for Psionic resistance that they'll take this power, when that's its only function and it can be destroyed. Floating orb is cool, but this needs an entirely new effect.

 

Think of it like Force Field Generator from Traps, but more specialized (and hence granting a bigger boost); perhaps more obviously, it's like Minerals from Stone Armor, but adapted to a Buff set; I did think about making it do something more, so if you think what it offers as is isn't good enough, maybe I will - hmm, maybe a weak taunt so it also actively draws fire?

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Fossils: Love the theme. Very tired of +resist at this stage. I think it's got a weird identity crisis here - I think you want this to be more ally support instead of enemy control. An immobilize at this point isn't as valuable when control sets have had similar powers much earlier, and the resist you're granting is rather narrow.

 

I wouldn't call it an "identity crisis", I'd call it 'multipurpose'. Yes, it only grants one resistance, but it's the only source of Negative Energy resistance in the set. It's situational. An immobilizing 'trap-field' may be gilding the lily when you're on a team with plenty of control, but sometimes you're not, so here you have some when you'd otherwise have none (not to mention its use when soloing - Defenders will appreciate being able to keep melee bruisers at bay, and Masterminds will be able to provide their minions with a convenient shooting-gallery!). If you can think of any other way to improve it or manifest the theme, I'm "listening".

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Pave the Way: Yeah, see, this one? Give me more of this. This is a genuinely neat trick. I don't know if it's top tier (although it's +defense so probably), but it's innovative and cool and thematic. That's the kind of stuff to go for.

 

Glad you like it! This was one of my later ideas; think Invisible Woman or Magneto just striding through as their powers remake the world around them.

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Move Mountains: Oh come on. Look, even Stone Armor isn't as obsessed about resists as this set. Whether or not you keep this depends on how much of the other +resist stuff you keep.

 

It does more than grant resistance, though; what about the rest?

I admit, I had some trouble coming up with how to do this right; what I'd REALLY have wanted to do is right there in the name, but THAT level of terraforming is beyond the game engine, so I had to compromise. What would you think if I made it more offensively-oriented?

 

12 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Boulder of Doom: This is hilarious. I love it. My only concern is that pets have generally been the domain of the Controller and Dominator primary sets, and this feels like it should be there instead of on a support set.

 

...And a cyber-cookie if you can name the precise pop-culture inspiration for it! ;)

I'm glad you approve; as for your "pets" complaint, bear in mind that both only SOME Archetypes would get it, AND there is most assuredly precedent for pets/pseodopets in Buff sets (e.g. Storm Summoning, Dark Miasma, Traps) - in fact, when designing it and picking its powers, I specifically modeled it after Dark Miasma's Dark Servant.

 

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback!

[AspieAnarchy]

On 3/14/2024 at 1:25 PM, CrusaderDroid said:

...

Any more feedback to my feedback to your feedback?

 

It feels to me like one more round of processing is called for before I make edits.

[Lusiphur Malache]

I like the time and effort you put into this and I'd give it a go if it was available, BUT this is going to be paired with something.  I'm thinking a Tell/Fire defender doesn't need anyone else or Cat Five and Wall of Stone wait a couple of minutes or until nothing is standing, rinse and repeat.  I like to see a couple garbage powers swapped in that nobody in their right mind would pick. I love the Boulder of Doom

[AspieAnarchy]

23 hours ago, Lusiphur Malache said:

 I'm thinking a Tell/Fire defender doesn't need anyone else....

...Most characters can solo, sure, but why in particular?

ALSO:

- Heyhey, a sneak-preview of what the shorthand slang would be!

- Anyone else a little bothered by the fact that the "Thanks" Emote is on the far side of the menu?

- What the heck is your avatar??? Reminds me of the Maruchan guy.

[sbloyd]

As a side note, you can fly over the stone wall, yes - but if Mudball (and maybe another power) had -Fly maybe that's not such a big limitation.

 

Me, I'm imagining a couple Tellurics building deathtraps penning a group of foes in a corner or something...

[Lusiphur Malache]

2 hours ago, AspieAnarchy said:

but why in particular?

By level 12 a Tell/Fire offender would have access to Mega Mudball, Wall of Stone and at least 3 fire attacks including Rain of Fire, that is a lot of not getting nearby and even more dot.

 

2 hours ago, AspieAnarchy said:

What the heck is your avatar??? Reminds me of the Maruchan guy.

It is from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man.  The character's name is taken from the title of J. D. Salinger's short story, The Laughing Man. The Laughing Man logo is an animated image of a smiling figure wearing a cap, with circling text quoting a line from Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which reads: "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." 

Edited March 19 by Lusiphur Malache

[AspieAnarchy]

3 hours ago, sbloyd said:

As a side note, you can fly over the stone wall, yes - but if Mudball (and maybe another power) had -Fly maybe that's not such a big limitation.

It should; I do mean to fix that.

 

3 hours ago, sbloyd said:

Me, I'm imagining a couple Tellurics building deathtraps penning a group of foes in a corner or something...

 

[AspieAnarchy]

OK! Finally got around to editing per feedback!