A World Gone Mad: Advent of the Clown Apocalypse (Discussion Thread)

Well, this is probably the most useful combat ability I could get right away.

Major Power

• Spuit Lance - This is Shalltear's signature god-level weapon, a big 300 lb lance in the shape of a pipette. This weapon resides in extradimensional space most of the time. To take it out or put it away Shalltear needs to hold her hand out which creates an expanded white object that forms into the weapon (or deforms from the weapon) taking 10 seconds to do so.
  • Striking - This weapon comes with the Striking enchantment. A form of micro-homing, this allows the weapon to strike true against mesh targets. This is such used for hitting enemies with many gaps, such as a skeleton like Ainz. When it would strike into a gap in the target of no more than 6 inches it will magically attempt to strike the target directly instead. This doesn't have an effect if Shalltear is actively aiming for the gap, nor does it have any effect should the target dodge, even when its a near hit or.

edited 23rd Sep '17 10:09:34 PM by StephanReiken

@StephenReiken: The mesh-aiming thing slightly concerns me. I don't have too much of a problem with it adjusting its aim when it slid through a gap in a person or thing, though I'm not 100% sure I'm keen on its auto-aim features if a person would otherwise just barely able to dodge out of the way. Additionally, because of the sheer survivability the lance would grant her (even though she's connected to Ainz), I'm hesitant to grant the aim-adjusting property.

I also request that the life-stealing function only work when applied to animals, Clowns, Tulpas, and magically-produced familiars, and that the healing performed cannot exceed the damage necessary to kill a given thing (even if the damage inflicted would be much greater). I mostly don't want her to abuse this power by attacking random objects to restore herself to full health when I can't mentally justify why attacking these objects would restore her health.

I also recommend toning the weight down, as something that heavy would do a lot of hypothetical damage (and would logically keep Shalltear at full health almost constantly). I might also set the lifesteal to a fraction of the damage inflicted (25%-40% maybe), as I can see this ability as potentially turning Shalltear into a hard-counter against mook-maker-type enemies as opposed to something that simply increases her survivability overall.

I should also mention that any health that might be regenerated must come from the lance itself (and most likely via thrusting), and cannot be regenerated if an enemy is damaged/killed by something else (like a Clown exploding on its own volition).

I'm not opposed to a character having a lifesteal mechanic, though it has the potential to be very overpowered in-game.

The aiming doesn't apply to almost hits, barely dodged. Its supposed to bypass skeleton resistance to piercing weapons by making it count as bludgeoning, in Dn D terms. It is a very specific minor utility.

Mmm, basically it wouldn't life steal from machines that aren't Tulpas/Clowns? It should apply to humans though there would be problems if she attacks humans. Perhaps the aim should be more it only applies to 'living' objects in the broad terms that includes sentient machines or golems. Something with a soul. She can't attack buildings to regenerate.

The weight was taken almost entirely on her own easy lifting. She can lift 300 lbs with ease so using a 300 lb weapon shouldn't be an issue for her. A lighter weapon could mean she could strike faster. 200 lbs?

Naturally only damage dealt (and only dealt from the lance itself). Pretty sure that's the balance for most games these days, that it doesn't help to lifesteal ants. She is supposed to be a hard counter for mass mass mooks in this fashion, a lot in part that she'll probably be faster than mass of mooks and take little damage before killing them.

Alright, upgrade time. I wanted to keep the theme of Nep's powers being very well used in conjunction with others, and I think I came up with just the thing. This would certainly be a major power.

• Perception Link: Neptune can project herself into a person's perspective, appearing as either her human form, an alternate outfit, or her older human form. Here, she can be seen by and communicate with that person and that person only, and look around the area in the range of their eyesight (she must constantly maintain eyesight with the person she's put herself onto, and would be pushed back into their sight if they were to look around, away from Nep). She cannot cause them actual pain, but can cause the placebo effect, to those who believe she is here, where they feel the sensation, which can provide a vital distraction. People cannot hurt her directly, but she will feel any pain dealt to her true body (the bike) but cannot see what's going on with the bike while she's in another person's perspective. This ability is effective within 100m of the bike, and constantly drains her energy to use.
  • When fused, a body double of Jaroline (or what/whoever she's fused with) can appear for one person's perspective, this one controlled by Nep. Same restrictions and abilities apply for this, but the effective range for her is only 10m.

edited 24th Sep '17 9:47:53 AM by Boomer75

@StephenReiken: I'm still a bit iffy on the balance of this power, and I still want something of a concrete percentage of health acquired based on damage dealt. Also, since you mentioned that the weight would likely affect how often she can strike, I'd also like for you to provide an approximate swinging speed/rate with the weapon, (and also a speed for what it would be at 300 lb).

Because of the lifesteal's potential, and even though the Striking might comprise a minor addition to the weapon's utility, I'm going to have to ask that you remove it from the weapon, simply because the weapon's weight and lifesteal (even if minor) make it strong enough as is.

@Boomer75: I don't see too much wrong with the power itself, but I would like you to clarify what you mean when you say, "she must constantly maintain eyesight, and would be pushed into it if they were to look around." I'm not sure what you mean when you say this.

For the Jaroline projection thing, can/does a projection appear when any person/object is fused, or only when Jaroline is fused? Or is it supposed to apply for some other condition.

Mmm, I don't know. Its a pretty big lance and to get a full thrust in is a pretty big motion to use it so it wouldn't be a fast weapon. Striking isn't that big a concern. I'm not sure what realistic numbers would be for weapon speed or where I would go to find out that kind of information.

I could go for something else, and leave the lance for another day. She has armor as well, and magical powers to acquire.

edited 23rd Sep '17 9:48:21 PM by StephanReiken

@StephenReiken: I mostly wanted a rough guess as to how fast you'd imagine she'd be swinging this thing (even though it's heavy, I was sorta under the impression she might be thrusting/swinging it somewhat frequently, a strike taking a second or so to execute each).

You might be better off designing a different power/utility, as the weapon is fairly difficult to balance and is a lot more useful/powerful than most other stuff.

Mmm, the Lance is really her though especially life stealing as a vampire.

What about just going with Striking, leave Life Steal to another level up.

@CathariSarad What I meant as "in persepective" is that Neptune must constantly be within the vision of whoever she is projecting herself on to. If they were to turn away from her, is as if an invisible wall would push her into still being able to be seen by the person, until she calls it off or runs out of energy.

Technically, what I meant for Jaroline's double was when she and Nepbike did a Tupla fusion, Jaroline could call for a fake double for one person's perspective that Neptune can control. If Nep can fuse with other things somehow, then they could produce a double, but that was written primarily for Nep and Jaroline.

edited the upgrade to make it more clear.

edited 24th Sep '17 9:14:37 AM by Boomer75

@Boomer75: Okay, I sorta get what you're saying now. Anyway, the power should be acceptable, and notify me when you've made the changes to your character sheet.

Garrus for 10 seconds enters "Calibrated Justice" mode, transforming into a new, lighter form. Now with armor that has less armor and lacks a shield, the level of damage that he can take is increased by a significant amount but this is balanced by the boons such a mode grants for Garrus. For these 10 seconds Garrus has highly enhanced speed, easily fast enough to keep up with a motorcycle, with the required mental speed needed to not run into walls 24/7 while using it. With the mixture of speed, training, equipment, and pure skill, this allows Garrus to pull off amazing feats of super-powered badassness for short bouts.

Now, even the boons aren't perfect. Things like ice or glue will of course hamper the modes speed, hits on his legs will cause truly awful whip-outs, and the time limit can leave Garrus hanging dry during moments where suddenly losing speed is not good. As well, the cooldown is fairly long at a hour and Garrus must take a few moments to transform, which leaves him wide open for an attack. Any and all damage done to Garrus in this mode will stick when he exits the mode and his normal armor will be the same shape as he left it.

And since this will be asked, no. Garrus will not dodge every single attack for those 10 seconds. He will dodge much more attacks for those 10 seconds yes but if he's getting fired from several different directions, he can only dodge for so long and. If he's got a Elite Clown like the Toad-Clown on him, this power will help him quite a bit but only if it's used with a plan. This ability is mostly about a tactically used burst power up, not going fucking Super Saiyan and destroying everyone.

@LightToAll: The power seems to be acceptable as is, though I'd like to get a more concrete number of how fast Garrus can go. Just notify me when the changes are made to the sheet.

So things I have in mind:

• Sky-Slasher (minor power; familiar) - It's a Ripper, but with wings! They differ from ordinary Rippers by being lighter and slightly more aerodynamic; their vestigial claws are also smaller and more or less unusable. To compensate, their teeth dig in much further in and hold on even stronger. Plus, they fly.
• Strangleweb (minor power; familiar) - A bio-organism fashioned from the Tyranid genus, but readjusted to account for the fact that in most cases, it will not be a Tyranid firing it. At its most basic, it's a spider-like gun that shoots web; said web quickly hardens around the target to further constrict them. Icky to the touch due to being a biogun and all, but could save one's life in a pinch or open an enemy to further blows.

@FergardStratoavis: Those seem to be acceptable additions. Just notify me when you've added them to the sign up sheet.