Allow Masterminds to choose their weapons

[Rudra]

3 hours ago, FrozenSolid said:

As one could argue against the whole Demon Summoning power set because it's not really fitting for Heroes, but it's an option. Same with stuff like Radiation powers.

The problem I have with this statement is that it cuts out a massive slew of possible character concepts and stories. In one of the episodes of Teen Titans, Jinx and Kid Flash are talking to each other. Kid Flash asks her why she is hanging out with the rest of the Hive Five. To which Jinx answers that her powers are all about bad luck, so being good was never an option for her. Until Kid Flash gets her to realize that her powers don't define if she is good or bad, her actions and intentions do.

 

Declaring things as "hero appropriate" or "villain appropriate" hamstrings character design and development. A character wielding radiation isn't really fitting for heroes? What about heroes that use their radiation abilities with pinpoint accuracy to kill off things like cancer cells without subjecting the patient to the problems of radiation or chemo therapy? What about heroes that use their radiation abilities to kill off lingering bacteria or viruses in an area, sterilizing it, and then neutralizing their applied radiation making the area safe for others?

 

Demon summoning isn't appropriate for heroes? What about heroes like Infernal that summons and binds demons to do his will. He still summons demons, even before the MM AT and CoV was released, and he uses them to do good. Or King Solomon (if I'm not confusing references) who summoned demons and used what he gained from them to do good?

 

Or maybe light-based is viewed as not really fitting for villains? What about fallen angels wielding divine might to cause terror and suffering? Or a character wielding positive energy (typically portrayed as healing energy such as in D&D) applying so much positive energy to their victims that sure they get healthy at first, then the over-saturation of energy instead completely burns them out? (Edit again: Or maybe most disturbing? The character whose powers can only ever heal, never doing harm, who would be torturing his victims to death except that his powers keeps them alive so he can keep torturing them in ever more gruesome ways? All his powers can do is heal, but I'd say he is very much a villain just the same.)

 

What about, what about, what about?

 

You can't really say "this type power is heroic and this other type is villainous in concept/application" (to paraphrase) because it all boils down to how the specific character uses it and why.

 

Edited Saturday at 10:15 PM by Rudra
Edited to move "What about, what about, what about?".

[Rigged]

On 4/13/2025 at 2:35 AM, FrozenSolid said:

I think fitting thematically ultimately just comes down to how people play it... As one could argue against the whole Demon Summoning power set because it's not really fitting for Heroes, but it's an option. Same with stuff like Radiation powers.

 

Not only is it an option, both of the actual costumed supers using Demon Summoning (Desdemona and Infernal) are heroes, and the Demon Summoning set is inherently part of the original theme of Going Rogue where your abilities do not define your alignment.

 

EDIT: Additionally, probably the most famous comic character with Radiation powers is Captain Atom. The thing is, especially in early comics, most villains didn't have superpowers at all, only of superheroes did, and many have "evil" superpowers. From the earliest days of the genre there was no attachment between powers and alignment.

Edited Tuesday at 08:25 AM by Rigged

[Rigged]

It's just occurred to me actually... if the HC devs did decide to split the AT's primary into pets and attacks, this would actually make it easier to create new MM sets. You could proliferate existing ranged pools into MM attacks (take 2 single targets and one AOE). You would also alleviate having to come up with attack options on new MM pets, and perhaps even enable us to create lots of new MM pet pools out of existing enemy groups.

 

Not that it wouldn't be an incredible headache to split MM primaries into two pools, but it would enable some interesting options!

[TheMoneyMaker]

On 4/17/2025 at 4:57 AM, Rigged said:

It's just occurred to me actually... if the HC devs did decide to split the AT's primary into pets and attacks, this would actually make it easier to create new MM sets. You could proliferate existing ranged pools into MM attacks (take 2 single targets and one AOE). You would also alleviate having to come up with attack options on new MM pets, and perhaps even enable us to create lots of new MM pet pools out of existing enemy groups.

 

Not that it wouldn't be an incredible headache to split MM primaries into two pools, but it would enable some interesting options!

Imagine and savage critter attacks for a whole Birds/Night of the Dead crossover or thugs impressed with their beam rifle toting leader.

 

plus adding new ranged pools based on existing assets would be easy enough. We could have things like

• robots led by an electric blast hurling MM
• ninjas following a storm blast MM
• zombies and the MM has water blast attacks colored blood red
• beasts trained by a sonic blasting MM
• demons erupting out of the ground and the MM hurling lava colored seismic blasts
• thugs following a fireblasting MM
• mercenaries loyal to a psychic blast MM