Have you ever made a Praetorian version of your existing characters (or vice versa)?

[ZorkNemesis]

Here's a random discussion idea I had.  Given that Praetoria is established as a mirror universe similar to that of Star Trek's mirror universe or Sealab's Superman's Bizarro world, it's a given that many major characters have alternate selves with different personalities and lore, and sometimes even different powers altogether (Siege for instance who upgraded from Citadel's body style to that of a War Walker).  But what about mirror versions of your own selves?  Many of us have numerous characters that originate from Primal or Praetoria, but have you ever made a character meant to be the alternate universe of one?  If so, what's different about them?  Is your best Hero's counterpart in league with the Big Dogs?  Maybe your Villain is carrying out missions with the Resistance forces?  And of course if you had one that started in Praetoria, what of their Primal counterpart?

[biostem]

I did make a Praetorian version of one of my characters, but TBH, I just wasn't that interested in seeing them through the entire Resistance/Loyalist story arcs...

[Apogee]

Almost all of my 100+ characters are a Primal/Praetorian mirror combo.  Yes, I have run through 1-20 Praetorian content a lot.

[cranebump]

I have. Made Acrobattle’s counterpart. Different powersets, though. He was Resistance, but I don’t recall which wing or anything. 

Edited March 19 by cranebump

[Lockely]

Yes! I used Keith Nance's arc as a base for it.

Lockely, my Praetorian hero, fled to Primal Earth for *reasons* where he then had to take on his Primal Earth counterpart, because he kept getting arrested for the other's crimes. During Keith's arc I made the other's costume and I would load into the mission so the doppleganger would have that costume, then swapped back to my normal so the two could have a showdown. Later I made his counterpart (now known as Clocke) as a villain broken out of the Zig by Arachnos, who is trying to gain enough power in the Rogue Isles to take out his Praetorian counterpart and re-claim his name.

I later needed to unlock Mace Mastery on Lockely, so I modified my original villain-side costume with Lockely's clockwork prosthetics and RPd it as he was going undercover in the Rogue Isles to stop a Crey->Malta plot that Longbow had discovered, as it was easier to deal with *one* Black Scorpion rather than an entire army of them. Lockely then absconded with the plans once they were wiped from Malta's drives and used them to improve his own armor and bots (hence the Scorpion Armor power).

Clocke got blamed for the betrayal until he was able to point out that the version of him in the security footage had a holographic shimmer on his fur, and he, very clearly, doesn't have any robotic limbs.

Edited March 20 by Lockely

[High_Beam]

No.  Back on live when CoV was introduced I created a "twin" of High Beam named Low Beam, I explained how her personality was copied but just the bad girl part.  Science or some BS like that.  Corruptor.  Ran her to 50, bored and essentially shelved her.  No Praetorians though.

[ZekeStenzland]

I have an Archery/Ninja Sentinel, Eleusis, who is a Rogue, but is really an undercover agent pretending to be his twin brother. He is trying to get deep intel on what Arachnos’ latest plans are, and if possible, trying to stop them.  I’ve had the character for a few years and he’s high 30s I think. 
 

His Praetorian counterpart is Bone Arrow, an Archery/TacArrow blaster who seems to be a Loyalist, but is secretly feeding intel to the Resistance. He’s only level 8 or so and I just made him this month. 
 

Neither one particularly likes the activities they must undertake to maintain their cover, but understand that how personal ethics must sometimes give way to higher concerns. 
 

[Lockely]

55 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Nope.  I don't like repeating power sets usually (I know I wouldn't have to, of course), and and I just don't care for red side - played there a bit on Live when it came out, got real tired of being squashed like an damned bug all the time.  Maybe I'm a better player now, but still have no desire to go back to face that possibility of irritation ha ha

That's why my hero main is a bots/ff MM and his redside counterpart is a Brute. I do the squishing.

[Lines]

Yes, and then the Praetorian version became my main. I body snatched myself.

[NotsoevilDM]

Not Praetorian, but back in the day I did have a couple of villain versions of my hero toons:

 

Flitz MA/SR scrapper <-> Ztilf MA/SR Stalker

Lead Hose AR/Dev Blaster <--> Black Stock AR/Traps Corruptor

 

Dang, now I have even more alts to make!

[Marshal_General]

Playing in Praetorian is almost playing a single player game.

 

I have never made it through yet.

[lemming]

I've made a few of them.

[ZemX]

I expect a lot of people have done this just because of the whole mirror universe thing, but I also just do this anyway.  I might create different versions of the same character simply to try out different powers or even ATs with the same concept.   I don't see all my toons as belonging to a single "canon".  I am not even that much a roleplayer that I'd care.

 

I recently started two versions of the same Tanker with only the secondary powerset being different and assuming I'd drop one or the other when I decided which one I liked better.  To my surprise, they both ended up 50 Incarnate.  I put them on different servers. 🤪

[huang3721]

I have one who started in Praetoria and the "double" from Primal Earth. They are far from alike. The difference was due to the destruction of Shroud City and the Hamidon War, changing the Praetorian's family tree compared to the Primal's. Different families led to diverging upbringings. One trained to serve the Emperor from an early age, while the other had a more normal childhood, fighting evil only after the first Rikti War a decade later. 

The only similarity between these two characters is they don't like the celebrities. Athanasia loathed Reese (and the Top Dogs) and joined the PPD to avoid seeing his face too often. On the other side of the rift, Namanari wasn't happy with Freedom Phalanx's handling of the war. 

[cranebump]

59 minutes ago, ZemX said:

I might create different versions of the same character simply to try out different powers or even ATs with the same concept.  

I'm with ya. I've made 3 different versions of Whipsmart, tracing how he might've developed as he matured. I abandoned the Bots MM early though, because Masterminds aren't in my fun zone. 

 

Related note - and I'm POSITIVE people do this - I've made different costumes that reflect different eras in a character's career, especially if it is a long one. EX: My Patriotic Cap like toon is Major Victory. His basic rags are the ol' Red, White and Blue (predominance of colors in that order). I whipped up a WW2 version (greens & browns, to be more "camo-ey"), and a black and white version (to mimic his "Nomad" phase).  He's SJ/WP, so no fiddling with a shield or anything (though I'd probably have him carry guns in his B&W gear, throw in Temp Revolver attack every now and then). If I reimagined all this as different toons I'd run, then I'd make some different powersets to reflect evolution. I can see Maj having to wear power armor late in his career. He might be a Sent by then, relying more on gadgets.

 

You know...this could be my next little stupid project...hmmmm...:-)

[sbloyd]

Not usually, but I do have an Energy/Energy Sentinel who is a Legacy hero - she's the third in her family to carry the mantle of Captain Andromedae.  The Praetorian version of "her" is is mother, whose daughter was killed by the Devouring Earth and took the mantle back up.

[Mister Mass]

5 hours ago, cranebump said:

I'm with ya. I've made 3 different versions of Whipsmart, tracing how he might've developed as he matured. I abandoned the Bots MM early though, because Masterminds aren't in my fun zone. 

 

Related note - and I'm POSITIVE people do this - I've made different costumes that reflect different eras in a character's career, especially if it is a long one. EX: My Patriotic Cap like toon is Major Victory. His basic rags are the ol' Red, White and Blue (predominance of colors in that order). I whipped up a WW2 version (greens & browns, to be more "camo-ey"), and a black and white version (to mimic his "Nomad" phase).  He's SJ/WP, so no fiddling with a shield or anything (though I'd probably have him carry guns in his B&W gear, throw in Temp Revolver attack every now and then). If I reimagined all this as different toons I'd run, then I'd make some different powersets to reflect evolution. I can see Maj having to wear power armor late in his career. He might be a Sent by then, relying more on gadgets.

 

You know...this could be my next little stupid project...hmmmm...:-)

 

Yup, I use the additional costume slots to show different eras of the character's career, along with costume variations for different alignments so that, when I swap sides to run missions on the other side, the character is dressed appropriately.  The villain costume for my main Mister Mass is that of his Praetorian duplicate Master Mass - who is a character that actually showed up in our last P&P Champions campaign.  When I ran the Praetorian arcs in Ouro on that character, I alternated between whether I was roleplaying Master Mass's history or whether I was roleplaying Mister Mass disguising himself to infiltrate Praetorian Earth, depending on just how despicable the actions required in the arc were.

Edited March 20 by Mister Mass

[twozerofoxtrot]

I have two characters who have Praetorian versions that I occasionally play. The only clue they are versions of my main characters (besides one looking somewhat similar to the other) is that their bios are nearly identically written, but with key details changed around.

[Oubliette_Red]

Only once. My MA/Ninja Stalker went through Praetoria with her brothers back on Legacy. On HC I started her out in Primal Earth as a continuation of her journey (after leaving Praetoria back on Legacy). Never felt quite right and I re-rolled her and restarted in Praetoria, she's back in Primal Earth now having escaped the Tyrant and his mad band of henchmen.

 

[Frozen Burn]

Yes, I have.  Love Praetoria!  My favs are below.  Similar background and skills, but slightly different.  Different worlds = different problems, which shaped how they grew.

And I love playing both equally.

 

 

Techno-Bunny (Primal) Archery/Devices Blaster   Kelly Kane, super model and former Paragon Playmate of the Year, was hired to model for well-known photographer, Lamont Bannon.  Unbeknownst to Kelly, Lamont was a super-villain mastermind who turned the models he hired into his minions to infiltrate Paragon’s elite society and rob, black-mail, and even murder them.   However, with Kelly, Lamont was in love, so he never used his powers on her as he wanted her to fall in love with him for real too. But being unattractive, creepy, smarmy, and rude - he was unsuccessful at seducing her but persisted relentlessly. Kelly had enough and finally told Lamont off and refused to ever work with him again.   Furious, Lamont tracked her; stalked her; chased her; and finally, he sent his other minion models after her to “convince” her to come back. he even tried to use his mind control on her, but she resisted.  However, she did get a glimpse into his mind and finally saw Lamont for the criminal he was. Kelly vowed to take him down and free all the innocent models under his control. Plus, she also knew he would never stop stalking her despite legal action.   Having amassed a vast fortune from being Playmate of the Year and and using her multiple advanced degrees in engineering, physics, and ancient literature (a girl’s gotta have hobbies) – Kelly is able to afford and develop the latest in technology and weapon systems. But Kelly’s favorite weapon is the bow and arrow – it's silent, deadly, and just plain sexy.  So, with weapon in hand and many technological gadgets at her disposal, Kelly grabbed a random bunny costume out of closet and registered as a hero with the city to track down Lamont and free her super model friends, as well as stop anyone else who oppresses others.

Deadly Nock (Praetorian) Archery/Tactical Arrow Blaster   Kelly Kane, like her Primal Earth copy, is the daughter of affluent parents and made a name for herself as a model and actress. However, Praetorian Kelly's parents fought in the Hamidon Wars and with the Devouring Earth mere meters away outside the sonic fences of their idyllic city, they made sure Kelly was extremely adept in some sort of martial skill. Kelly chose the bow and arrow.   During an interview with John Houston of TPN after the success of her film, "The Hunger Wars," Kelly's natural deadly and precise skills with a bow was made known. Truly believing in the ideals of Praetoria and with encouragement from her fans, Kelly joined Powers Division to protect the city and its people. It's said, "Once she nocks an arrow, someone's gonna die." So they gave her the name, "Deadly Nock." She, of course, is ever in the limelight and handles the publicity cases of Powers Division, but with her specialized training from Praetor Sinclair, there are also many missions that are classified and even unknown to Praetor White himself.   With Longbow and Arachnos invading Praetoria, Kelly hoped to stop the invasion by de-stabilizing all Primal factions making them focus on fighting themselves instead while at the same time eliminating as many "heroes" and powered people along the way who threaten her beloved city.   But when she found out Emperor Cole only made a deal with Hamidon and didn't defeat him like he swore and is invading Primal Earth for his own ambition, Kelly felt betrayed. Knowing this will be the destruction of her home city and many innocent lives, she now fights the very same regime she grew up with and was loyal to her entire life in an effort to end the war and save as many people as she can from the Emperor's madness and those who remain loyal to him.

 

[Scarlet Shocker]

I've made various iterations of my "main" characters in the past, Villain versions, Praetorian versions, and sometimes even versions of themselves in the same scenario on the same shard (see my previous threads re Glass Fox & Vitric Vixen for more about that if you're interested.)

 

Ultimately I find it quite underwhelming and I'll try and explain why.

 

I usually create a character with a defined theme/back story - something that inspires me to roll them rather than simply rolling a character and playing it. Usually it has to have something going for it before I even log into the game. (Yes, I do spend time thinking about this game when I'm not in it. I'll leave it up to you to judge whether you consider that sad or amazing. Either way, keep your judgements to yourself 🤣 )

 

That then tends to mean that the character develops through playing it - rather than forcing it to fit to a pre-determined path - and making that character a reflection of another that I've already experienced a significant chunk of the journey with, often feels far more limiting than it gives benefits. I'm playing a shadow of the same character, rather than developing a character anew, from scratch.

 

I guess that is one reason why I dislike homages to other comic characters. Not because I dislike them, or reading their exploits in comicbooks, but simply because I want to write my script each time I click a button, not follow somebody else's creation. Even if that creator is me.

[Lockely]

3 hours ago, cranebump said:

I'm with ya. I've made 3 different versions of Whipsmart, tracing how he might've developed as he matured. I abandoned the Bots MM early though, because Masterminds aren't in my fun zone. 

 

Related note - and I'm POSITIVE people do this - I've made different costumes that reflect different eras in a character's career, especially if it is a long one. EX: My Patriotic Cap like toon is Major Victory. His basic rags are the ol' Red, White and Blue (predominance of colors in that order). I whipped up a WW2 version (greens & browns, to be more "camo-ey"), and a black and white version (to mimic his "Nomad" phase).  He's SJ/WP, so no fiddling with a shield or anything (though I'd probably have him carry guns in his B&W gear, throw in Temp Revolver attack every now and then). If I reimagined all this as different toons I'd run, then I'd make some different powersets to reflect evolution. I can see Maj having to wear power armor late in his career. He might be a Sent by then, relying more on gadgets.

 

You know...this could be my next little stupid project...hmmmm...:-)

 

I do this as well, as well as also having costumes for AU versions and one slot usually reserved for missions in Cimerora as to not pollute the time stream any more than it already has been.

[lemming]

I had a character that was first in Champions ttrpg.   Was originally a plant into a SV group.

With CoH, first ran as a hero with that as a background.  When CoV started them as a red sider.  With Praetoria, was a mole from Primal.  I did a second run on the CoV side as a Widow.

 

And a few other of my characters have different versions on different shards.

[Placta]

I have one and a half pairs of Primal/Praetorian counterparts:

 

My main is distantly related to the Cabal. The Primal version (elec/elec blaster) discovered her latent powers when she was attacked by a couple of Cabal witches. The Praetorian version's (elec/elec dominator) powers appeared like a mutation, probably caused by Cole and Diabolique's magical extermination campaign. The two meeting helped both put together the pieces and figure out where their powers came from.

 

The half pair is two sisters. On Primal Earth, older sister died trying to be a superhero and younger sister (db/sr stalker) took up the swords. On Praetoria, younger sister was killed in a Resistance terrorist attack leading older sister (db/wp scrapper) to join Powers Division.

[Greycat]

I have characters with alts from Praetoria, sure - they don't necessarily do the "Good character = evil alt" thing though. Not a lot of them, though.