Trickshooter's Symphonic Inspiration Powerset Suggestion!

[Trickshooter]

What is Symphonic Inspiration, you might ask?

 

Well, first, the idea is that it's the support counterpart to Symphony Control.

 

Wouldn't that be Sonic Resonance? No! During the beta testing of Symphony Control, it was made clear that Symphony Control was NOT intended to be Sonic Control, the point being that Sonic Control was still a set that could happen. But what I took that to mean was that within the CoX world, Sound and Music are essentially separate "elements," so to speak: 'Sonic' powersets deal in vibrations, decibels, force, and the physical effects caused by them; Symphony powersets, on the other hand, deal in manipulating emotions.

 

Second, it's inspired by my favorite D&D class, the Bard and their familiar Bardic Inspiration ability! (Unrelated sidenote: Bard is my favorite D&D class, BUT my favorite tabletop class is Pathfinder's Witch.)

 

Bards use the power of words and music to both inspire and manipulate and that's kind of the idea behind this set. And much like a higher Charisma will improve Bard abilities, the buffs in this set can be improved by strategic use of it's debuffs, with each of them granting at least one stack of an ability called Charm. What is Charm? Well that takes us to...

 

Thirdly, this set is a bit of a rework of my old Hyper-Intellect powerset. I did really like that set, but I did struggle with what it should look like visually and some powers really were pushing the limits of creativity when it came to explaining how someone super smart could do them. But I think the idea behind that set, namely that using 6 of it's powers improved Leadership-esque toggles, could really work for a music-based support set based on Bards.

 

So let's get in to it. Numbers reflect a level 50 Defender's values.
 

Symphonic Inspiration
Music has a powerful ability to influence the feelings of those that hear it, and that's how you utilize your musical talents. You can both inspire your allies or discourage foes in battle with your melodic performances. Symphonic Inspiration mixes a variety of debuffs, which grant stacks of Charm (up to 5), and area of effect team buffs, which receive small bonuses to their effects for each stack of Charm you have.

 

 Curtailing Canticle

You perform a quick tune that afflicts a single enemy with over-encumbrance, slowing their movement and action speed, as well as reducing their damage output.

 

Click Single-Target Foe: -Speed, -Recharge, -Damage

 

-87.5% Speed
-87.5% Recharge
-25% Damage(All)

 

Charm: 1 Stack for 20s
Recharge: 15s
Debuff Duration: 20s

Endurance: 10.4

Animation: 1.0s (Subdue)

 

 

 Rondo of Restoration

You perform a song of restoration that heals a single ally's hitpoints and rejuvenates them, increasing their endurance recovery.

Click Single-Target Ally: Heal, +Recovery

 

176.698 Heal
+50% Recovery

 

Charm: 1 Stack for 20s
Recharge: 4s
Buff Duration: 60s

Endurance: 13

Animation: 1.53s (Come Hither)

 

 

 Scherzo of Surety

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' defense, allowing you to more easily avoid attacks. Affected targets are also more resistant to Holds and Stuns. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Scherzo of Surety will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to Defense for a short while.

 

Toggle Team: +Def(All), +Res(Hold, Stun), +Special

 

+10% Defense(All)
+216.25% Resistance(Hold)
+216.25% Resistance(Stun)

 

Charm Bonus: +1% Unenhanceable +Def(All) per stack (Up to 5)
Recharge: 15s
Buff Duration: 2.25s every 2s

Endurance: 0.208/s
Animation: 1.87s (Steamy Mist)

 

 

 Minuet of Mettle

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' damage potential, allowing your abilities to do more damage. Affected targets are also more resistant to Taunts and Placates. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Minuet of Mettle will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to Damage for a short while.

Toggle Team: +Dam(All), +Res(Taunt, Placate), +Special

 

+25% Damage(All)
+216.25% Resistance(Taunt)
+216.25% Resistance(Placate)

Charm Bonus: +2.5% +Dam(All) per stack (Up to 5)
Recharge: 15s
Buff Duration: 2.25s every 2s

Endurance: 0.208/s

Animation: 2.03s (Snow Storm)

 

 

 Arresting Aria

You perform a commanding tune that stops a single enemy in their place. They are left Held and with weakened resistances.

Click Single-Target Foe: Hold(Mag3), -Resistance

 

11.92s Hold (Mag 3)
-25% Resistance(All)

 

Charm: 1 Stack for 20s
Recharge: 18s
Debuff Duration: 20s

Endurance: 8.528

Animation: 1.5s (Clarity)

 

 Sapping Strain

You perform a song that drains the endurance from a single enemy. Additionally, their recovery is slowed and their abilities cost more endurance to use.

Click Single-Target Foe: EndDrain, -EndDiscount (PvE Only), -Recovery

 

-20% Endurance
-50% Recovery
-50% EnduranceDiscount

 

Charm: 1 Stack for 20s
Recharge: 12s
Debuff Duration: 20s

Endurance: 8.528

Animation: 2.17s (Sonic Siphon)

 

 

 Sonata of Skill

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' chance to hit, allowing your abilities to hit more often. Affected targets are also more resistant to Fear and Confusion. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Sonata of Skill will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to ToHit for a short while.

Toggle Team: +ToHit, +Perc, +Res(Fear, Confuse), +Special

 

+15% ToHit
+432.5 ft Perception Radius
+64.875% Resistance(Perception)
+216.25% Resistance(Fear)
+216.25% Resistance(Confuse)

Charm Bonus: +1% Unenhanceable +ToHit per stack (Up to 5)
Recharge: 15s
Buff Duration: 2.25s every 2s

Endurance: 0.208/s

Animation: 2.7s (Disruption Field)

 

 

 Muddling Madrigal

You perform a cacophonous song in a cone in front of you, overwhelming the senses of all foes hit. They will suffer from reduced chances tohit and reduced defenses. Some weaker foes may even suffer confusion and attack their allies.

Click Cone Foe: -ToHit, -Defense, Confuse(Mag2, 50% Chance)

 

-15% ToHit
-20% Defense
4.47s Confuse (Mag 2) (50% Chance)

Charm: 2 Stacks for 20s
Recharge: 90s
Debuff Duration: 30s

Endurance: 15.6

Animation: 1.87s (Psychic Scream)

 

 

 Demoralizing Dirge

You perform a disheartening song all around you, severely affecting nearby foes for a good while. Foes exposed to your Demoralizing Dirge will have reduced damage, regeneration, endurance recovery, and most will be left trembling in fear. Additionally, the strength of all their secondary power effects will be weakened.

Click PBAoE Foe: -Damage, -Recovery, -Regeneration, -Special, Fear(Mag3)

 

-50% Damage(All)
-50% Recovery
-200% Regeneration
-37.25% Special
17.88s Fear (Mag 3)

Charm: 3 Stacks for 20s
Recharge: 120s
Debuff Duration: 40s

Endurance: 26

Animation: 1.97s (Psychic Wail)

Edited June 24 by Trickshooter
Added numbers!

[Trickshooter]

Work is slow today, so I finally got around to adding numbers to everything.

[Razor Cure]

Looks cool! Maybe 3 songs going all teh time is a bit much? How do you sing/play 3 tunes at the same time (whistle, hands on a guitar, feet on a drum? haha)? Not only that, but 3 toggles on a support class might be a bit end heavy?

[Rudra]

36 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

Looks cool! Maybe 3 songs going all teh time is a bit much? How do you sing/play 3 tunes at the same time (whistle, hands on a guitar, feet on a drum? haha)? Not only that, but 3 toggles on a support class might be a bit end heavy?

Agreed. Even using bards as the basis like the author does, it just doesn't work. A single person cannot sing multiple songs at the same time. And if the toggles are mutually exclusive to reflect being sung, then you're going to run into a lot of upset players just like back in the bad old days of only being able to have single armor toggle active at a time.

[Trickshooter]

49 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

How do you sing/play 3 tunes at the same time

 

very skillfully 

[Vanden]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

A single person cannot sing multiple songs at the same time.

 

Science says they could! A song is just a soundwave with a particular pattern.

 

A different song has a different soundwave with a different pattern.

 

If you combine the two songs, you get just one soundwave!

 

One mouth, one soundwave, two songs! Could a singer perform such a feat? A superhuman one, perhaps.

 

While not typically performed by a lone singer, combining multiple different melodies into one is a real thing in the world of music called a polyphonic texture. For a real life example of this technique in use, check out the end of Disney's "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto, where all the various singers sing their part of the song all at once.

 

 

[Rudra]

15 minutes ago, Vanden said:

 

Science says they could! A song is just a soundwave with a particular pattern.

 

A different song has a different soundwave with a different pattern.

 

If you combine the two songs, you get just one soundwave!

 

One mouth, one soundwave, two songs! Could a singer perform such a feat? A superhuman one, perhaps.

 

While not typically performed by a lone singer, combining multiple different melodies into one is a real thing in the world of music called a polyphonic texture. For a real life example of this technique in use, check out the end of Disney's "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto, where all the various singers sing their part of the song all at once.

 

 

A song is a specific range of vocalizations performed in a specific sequence. A single person cannot combine two different vocalizations at the same time. It isn't the same thing as simply digitally mixing two different sounds. And even when you just mix two different sounds, unless they are done to the same specific pattern/intent, all you get is garbage sound. So no, it cannot be done even by a superhuman unless that superhuman possesses 2 different mouths with separate vocal cords.

 

Edit: And even in your example, they are all singing a single song. Each one is singing their part of that song when it is their time/turn to do so, but not singing more than 1 song and not from a single person at the same time.

 

Edited June 29 by Rudra

[Trickshooter]

it's magic

 

or its their mutant power

 

or it's technology

 

or they grew 3 mouths from a science accident

 

or their alien species can naturally sing 3 songs at once

 

[Trickshooter]

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

A single person cannot sing multiple songs at the same time

 

maybe she could https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Irina_Clayton_(Earth-616)

[Rudra]

35 minutes ago, Trickshooter said:

 

maybe she could https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Irina_Clayton_(Earth-616)

 

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

So no, it cannot be done even by a superhuman unless that superhuman possesses 2 different mouths with separate vocal cords.

Your provided example matches what I said. A character with multiple mouths, presumably with as many sets of vocal cords as mouths and also presumably with a brain capable of independent mental processing for each mouth.

 

Edit: And even at that, singing more than 1 song at a time results in a jumbled mess where either 1 song is performed in a manner that overpowers the others or is just a discordant array of garbage. Having had the misfortune of being at a gym where multiple radios were blasting completely different songs, (each of the guys had his preference for metal to power through their workout with) I can assure you that the only thing your character will inspire in others is rage at your character for the horrific array of sounds. (I can't describe how bad the rest of us forced to listen to the sounds wanted to shove those radios down each of those individuals' throats. We even asked them to pick just 1 radio, but they each preferred their own music and their own music was easy for them to hear since the radio was at their heads.) (Edit again: And yes, after mandatory PT, we each went back to our supervisors and complained, getting more than 1 radio being played at the gym banned. Policy became choose 1 radio or bring your own headphones and keep your music to yourself.)

 

Edited June 29 by Rudra

[biostem]

This set gave me Castlevania flashbacks, lol!

[Trickshooter]

39 minutes ago, Rudra said:

 

Your provided example matches what I said. A character with multiple mouths, presumably with as many sets of vocal cords as mouths and also presumably with a brain capable of independent mental processing for each mouth.

 

Edit: And even at that, singing more than 1 song at a time results in a jumbled mess where either 1 song is performed in a manner that overpowers the others or is just a discordant array of garbage. Having had the misfortune of being at a gym where multiple radios were blasting completely different songs, (each of the guys had his preference for metal to power through their workout with) I can assure you that the only thing your character will inspire in others is rage at your character for the horrific array of sounds. (I can't describe how bad the rest of us forced to listen to the sounds wanted to shove those radios down each of those individuals' throats. We even asked them to pick just 1 radio, but they each preferred their own music and their own music was easy for them to hear since the radio was at their heads.) (Edit again: And yes, after mandatory PT, we each went back to our supervisors and complained, getting more than 1 radio being played at the gym banned. Policy became choose 1 radio or bring your own headphones and keep your music to yourself.)

 

 

I don't think it's too big of a problem, it's all make believe, lots of unbelievable stuff going on in this game. If I just change the names of the toggles to the same song name, but different vocal parts, like soprano, alto, tenor, bass, etc. Then it's not a jumbled mess anymore if all are going, but even then I don't think the name of any power holds that much weight for most players.

 

Here's another example character who can do this, but with no extra mouths or extra vocal chords: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Joshua_Guthrie_(Earth-616)#Powers

 

Doesn't even need to be a character with a mouth, honestly. Could be a robot who has a speaker in their chest or something. You could tell yourself it's just... musical telepathy or something, I dunno. It's all up to whatever the player wants it to be. And it's all just as plausible as being able to have multiple sonic resonance toggles on.

 

What's important is whether it looks like a fun set or not.

[Rudra]

9 minutes ago, Trickshooter said:

And it's all just as plausible as being able to have multiple sonic resonance toggles on.

With Sonic Resonance, the sounds themselves don't matter. With music, it does.

 

9 minutes ago, Trickshooter said:

If I just change the names of the toggles to the same song name, but different vocal parts, like soprano, alto, tenor, bass, etc. Then it's not a jumbled mess anymore if all are going,

This is true.

[CrusaderDroid]

Discuss the actual mechanics of the proposed set? Nah, let's just clown on the thematics! Surely that's the quality feedback OP is looking for! 

 

Unbelievable.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Curtailing Canticle

You perform a quick tune that afflicts a single enemy with over-encumbrance, slowing their movement and action speed, as well as reducing their damage output.

Looks brutal. I like it.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Rondo of Restoration

You perform a song of restoration that heals a single ally's hitpoints and rejuvenates them, increasing their endurance recovery.

This one's weird since it's your only heal and it's a single target affair. I'd imagine with the natural properties of sound, you'd have an AoE of some sort, like Nature's cone heal.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Scherzo of Surety

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' defense, allowing you to more easily avoid attacks. Affected targets are also more resistant to Holds and Stuns. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Scherzo of Surety will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to Defense for a short while.

This is fantastic. The Charm mechanic boosting that defense up further is good stuff. Generally, sets should have something unique to them to set them apart from the rest. The sheer power on this toggle coupled with the mez resist is a great way to hit that uniqueness.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Minuet of Mettle

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' damage potential, allowing your abilities to do more damage. Affected targets are also more resistant to Taunts and Placates. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Minuet of Mettle will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to Damage for a short while.

This one is tricky. It's actually a really powerful buff since at max charm stacks it's got a big damage boost for your entire team. The problem there is, well, Fulcrum Shift, which blows this out of the water. This isn't normally a bad thing, except that it's a toggle constantly draining your endurance, and the taunt/placate resist is mostly flavor rather than useful.

 

I don't think it's bad, but the optimal build probably skips this and hangs with a /Kin Corruptor. If you want to keep it relevant even then, it could grant resistance to damage debuff effects.

 

(Damage buffs are always unenhanceable - there are no +DMG buff enhancements in the game.)

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

 Arresting Aria

You perform a commanding tune that stops a single enemy in their place. They are left Held and with weakened resistances.

I don't think support sets get mezzes like this, actually. Ah well. This is actually cracked because it's a mag 3 hold with 18 second recharge, giving you the perfect combination to proc this out with Hold's amazing set of procs. I like it, accordingly.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Sapping Strain

You perform a song that drains the endurance from a single enemy. Additionally, their recovery is slowed and their abilities cost more endurance to use.

Skip. Endurance only effects are generally forgettable if you're the only one that can use them. The vast majority of enemies will die well before your sole debuff can bring them down.

 

It's different if you use Electric Blast or have allies that do, of course, but otherwise you probably drop this. If you're not okay with that outcome, you're best off giving it more universally applicable effects, such as -defense.

 

(This is also single target in a set about music, which is still weird.)

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Sonata of Skill

You maintain a song around yourself that improves your and your allies' chance to hit, allowing your abilities to hit more often. Affected targets are also more resistant to Fear and Confusion. For each stack of Charm, up to 5, Sonata of Skill will give a bonus, unenhanceable, buff to ToHit for a short while.

Obsoletes Tactics. Awesome.

 

...I just noticed all three of your toggles are upgraded Leadership toggles. That's funny. Still a good power.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Muddling Madrigal

You perform a cacophonous song in a cone in front of you, overwhelming the senses of all foes hit. They will suffer from reduced chances tohit and reduced defenses. Some weaker foes may even suffer confusion and attack their allies.

Woof. This holds a lot of procs. It's an all around good power, but that 30 second recharge coupled with some very fun proc options means this is also a hilarious nuke roulette.

 

The confusion duration is so bad that it's not even appreciable when it triggers. Bring It up to 10 seconds as a minimum, especially at mag 2.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

Demoralizing Dirge

You perform a disheartening song all around you, severely affecting nearby foes for a good while. Foes exposed to your Demoralizing Dirge will have reduced damage, regeneration, endurance recovery, and most will be left trembling in fear. Additionally, the strength of all their secondary power effects will be weakened.

Ooh, a debuff nuke. I like this - it's tailor made to flip fights in your favor. The only downside compared to a big buff is that the debuff dies with your enemies, so in most cases you get less mileage out of it than buffing your team. It's still great to have for those big AV fights though.

 

Overall: This is a really fun set, with its big auras helping to keep it apart from the other sets. Keep up the cool work.

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, CrusaderDroid said:

Discuss the actual mechanics of the proposed set? Nah, let's just clown on the thematics! Surely that's the quality feedback OP is looking for! 

 

Unbelievable.

Then you're missing the point of the comments. I'm not trying to stop the OP, I'm trying to make it make sense. And the author acknowledged that the three songs can be 1 song instead with different parts that achieve different effects. That works.

[biostem]

On 4/29/2024 at 5:05 PM, Trickshooter said:

stacks of Charm (up to 5), and area of effect team buffs, which receive small bonuses to their effects for each stack of Charm you have.

Could you elaborate upon what the specific bonuses would be from this 'charm' buff/effect?  Would it be per-power or is it a general buff of some kind?

 

EDIT:  I re-read the OP and it seems it would be per-power.  Cheers!

Edited June 29 by biostem

[biostem]

15 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

Maybe 3 songs going all teh time is a bit much? How do you sing/play 3 tunes at the same time

Is your character literally singing, though, or are they simply causing the various musical effects to occur?  If you wanted to get more specific, a tech-origin character could have devices produce the songs, a magical one could call upon spirits to produce the effects, a mutant one could possess multiple mouths, a science origin could have some kind of specialized serum that allows them to generate multiple soundwaves at once, and a natural-origin character could simply be a 1-man band...

 

15 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

3 toggles on a support class might be a bit end heavy?

This is a much more valid critique, IMHO - Either the toggles could be adjusted to account for this, or one simply needs to prioritize which toggles to run and when...

[Trickshooter]

16 minutes ago, biostem said:

This is a much more valid critique, IMHO - Either the toggles could be adjusted to account for this, or one simply needs to prioritize which toggles to run and when...

 

Since they're more or less single-effects per toggle, their endcost is discounted like the SoA Leadership toggles. So running all three would cost less than a Sonic running Sonic Dispersion and Disruption Field.

[ExeErdna]

3 toggles personally that's easy to mitigate Rad has 3. That's what it reminds me of, its Radiation with a Leadership twist and works well with its sister control. Since the pet isn't as aggressive as it once was it's gonna be in the range of the toggles thus being very buffed. This would also be fun with Thugs, Mercs and Robots. Hell I would honestly reroll my Demon/Sonic into this