Zapdos

Rise of the New Heroes

@Izurich it's too bad you're leaving, but I wish you luck with whatever you do next.

Rise of the New Heroes

It is an ordinary summer Friday night in Lafayette City, with perfectly temperate summer weather, perfect for relaxing outside or enjoying the night life in the city’s bustling downtown. Or at least it was. The news has spread all over the city; the Precious Metal Vault, located in the basement of the Lafayette Financial Tower, is being robbed! Located in the urban downtown of the city, this treasure trove of gold, silver, and platinum is often a target of crime. However, this time the theft was far from ordinary for a few reasons:

One: this is the first time it happened since all the people with powers died, and
Two: the group responsible for the robbery is the Storm Troopers, a gang led by Thundercloud, a well-known supervillain who should be dead right now.

Thundercloud himself looks like an actual thunder cloud; he is a fat man, weighing in at over 300 pounds, and his clothing is a dark gray jumpsuit that covers his whole body. Oddly enough, there is what looks like matching gray cotton balls attached to the jumpsuit as well, completing his look. Despite his ridiculous costume, he is not one to be trifled with, as he can create and control electricity, among other things. And while his two dozen men don’t have powers, they are capable of holding off the police officers that showed up to create a perimeter around the area while the theft takes place. These Storm Troopers aren’t from a sci-fi film either; they’re dressed in black leather jackets with a yellow lightning bolt on the back, along with matching pants.

As time passed, about half of the thugs were engaged with the authorities, while the other half helped load the metals into the getaway box truck through the tower’s lobby. It is a typical office lobby, with a receptionist’s desk, chairs for waiting business clients, and a vending machine that used to have intact glass. Thundercloud himself relaxed, lounging on a beige cushy chair eating potato chips while supposedly “keeping an eye out for trouble.” He didn’t really expect much; since all of the heroes were dead, who was going to stop him? Even so, it was a good enough reason to eat instead of help, so there he was.

However, unknown to the villain, a local meteor crash awakened powers in several people a week ago. And wherever those people are right now, this is when they decided to help the city and stop the malcontents responsible for this. However, when these heroes arrived in the building’s lobby, they were not expecting to find other people who want to fight these villains as well. At least bypassing the authorities was fairly easy, as they were too distracted by the Storm Troopers to really notice much else.

Will these new heroes be able to prevail against this threat? Why is it suddenly raining downtown right now? And will Thundercloud be able to finish his chips?

The city will soon find out!

Rise of the New Heroes

@Guccicorn nice work! You are approved, go ahead and post her in the Characters tab and I'll send you the link to the Discord.

@Medili I like your CS and it is approved. The only thing I'd say is swap out the gun for a knife or something similar (so the problems aren't all solved by shooting at them) and you're good to go. The Discord link is already sent!

Rise of the New Heroes

@Medili I appreciate your interest, but I will be making the first post on Thursday night or Friday of this week, so if you could make the CS earlier than Sunday that'd be great. It'll still be early in the roleplay so it'd be fairly easy for you to jump in, but I don't want to delay the roleplay either.

Rise of the New Heroes

<Snipped quote by Zapdos>

I think it's a fun limitation to work with, not entirely sure where I want to take it yet but I suppose it's something to work out naturally in time? It's usable in combat via the ability to manifest melee weapons, shields, lockpicks...Whatever happens to be useful? I suppose you could argue it's very Green Lantern-y just with a considerable drawback and consequences. Of course she's not trained in martial arts or anything of the kind so at least at the stage where the story begins it would at best be very archaic 'street fighting' if that. But I can also imagine she could fit into some support scenarios by conjuring objects for others though this again, is limited and has drawbacks. Objects that do not have physical contact with her don't stay around for very long unless that's where she focuses her power and even then that's an exceptional 'exertion' at this stage, so something like conjuring pieces of armor for someone else in order to protect them could be life saving but not without risk.

As for recovery it's more of a time based thing. Being unable to sleep means she's somewhat less effective and has to be more useful as a 'competent normal person' as opposed to straight up superhero in the moment. At the same time I view the recovery 'meter' on a sort of 1 to -1 scale. 1 being fully capable and at 'maximum capacity', 0 being in a sleep deprived state where using her abilities starts to be actively risky and -1 being at a point where hallucinations and nightmare manifestations happen, I imagine those as 'rogue powers'. Objects created more on subconscious instinct versus thought out planning. Objects that aren't fully being controlled or less conventional things like tendrils of energy.

In terms of how the usage drainage works I imagine it to be more based on volume and focus currently? (Unless that's too vague?) So to conjure a crate for example that would be fully within her current limit of an object that's about half her size wouldn't result in too much exertion, but to conjure about a house or two worth of crates over the entire day would be quite a lock. Similarly, conjuring and maintaining for example a weapon or two for the entire day wouldn't be very detrimental, but keeping someone else on the team equipped with a set of weapons for the entire day would be far more costly in terms of energy.

Does that help at all?

@threetoads

Hmm, I see. It seems a little limited in my opinion, but if that sounds like something you'd enjoy writing, I'll approve it. Feel free to post your CS in the Characters tab and I'll send you a link to the Discord server.

Rise of the New Heroes

@threetoads regarding her general aptitude, I think that's fine.

Regarding her powers, I'm not sure if you're limiting yourself here or what, just because it's very unique. How would it be usable in combat? How does she recover from overexerting herself if she can't sleep? And how much or what usage causes her dreams to be limited? Is it based on the size of the object, the utility of it, or something else?

I'm just trying to understand here so I can give the proper feedback.

Rise of the New Heroes

<Snipped quote by Zapdos>

Yeeey, that's certainly good to hear, and that's what I was going for. I guess I was just worried that the particular min/max way that I'm looking at her powers might have loopholes that could be op. I was tryna walk that line with her being tough against the effects of her powers, but not actually 'tough' tough.

NOW QUESTIONS ANSWERS:
1) Oh, I forgot, I'm renaming her 'The Streaker' lol, no, I don't think she's a nudist, but this was intentional. I think I saw like a clip of the flash where he was talking about having to make a suit that would stand up to the wear and tear of moving so fast, and I really liked that idea, it made him seem more like he had day-to-day problems. I also like that gear can be a way of like leveling her abilities as the story progresses, because she doesn't really know how to homebrew anything better than her current uniform of a racing skin-suit and lightweight running shoes. I also worry that being able to take object along into time dilation is just like a buncha questions and probably op :P This makes me git creative.
2) Nono, you aren't overanything, I was trying to sound fancy with her limitations. Basically I wanted to make it clear that she can't stop time, or if she can, she becomes useless instead of like super OP while doing so, like ant-man going quantum small.

I hope that clears stuff up, I gotta go eat but I'mma try to finish my backstory and post tonight!

@Guccicorn

No worries! Yeah, I think you did a good job with balancing, super speed is good but by itself it isn't going to beat extremely powerful enemies.

I think the answers to your questions were good for the purposes of addressing my concerns; maybe edit your CS to add that information and that part will be good. I look forward to reading the rest of your CS!

By the way, I'm going to try posting the first post on Thursday night or Friday of this week. I'm not going to close it at that point, but it will be much harder to join after that, as I will have to think of a good way to get your character into the story. So if you have not done so already, I encourage you to get your CS in by Thursday morning so you'll have plenty of time to make changes as needed.

Rise of the New Heroes

I'm on my phone right now, so apologies in advance for any spelling or grammar errors.

God it's been forever since I did forum RP.

Here goes nothing

Name: Kestrel Beringer

Hero Name: The Conjurer

Age: 24

Gender: Female

Family: The only daughter of two loving if overprotective parents, both of whom have been devoted school teachers. Kestrel's parents fostered a love of reading and seeking knowledge while their overprotective nature resulted in her always pursuing her curiosity at any cost, to their chagrin. Their relationship remains good, if a little strained.

Occupation: History Student

Appearance: Her auburn hair is complemented by her light green eyes. A faint splash of freckles covers a small portion of her nose and cheeks. She doesn't stand too tall at 5'5" though her blue and white sneakers give her an extra inch or two. Kestrel's typical attire includes the aforementioned sneakers, dark jeans, a light blue t-shirt with an abstract print and a grey jacket.

Superpower: Kestrel's superpower manifests itself with the ability to conjure ethereal objects though currently no larger than half her size. These objects dissipate not long after losing physical contact with her meaning they are only occasionally viable as thrown weaponry, and objects which 'make use of' other objects can be created but their 'secondary' objects cannot be, meaning that guns or bows would be functionally useless. This superpower is, essentially, fuelled by dreams. Meaning that prolonged use can cause bouts of insomnia, hallucinations and in extreme cases, the manifestations of nightmares.

Skills: As a student of history and the daughter of parents who took pride in imbuing their child with knowledge, she has plenty of information on a broad range of subjects and can pick up new skills with some degree of efficiency.

Equipment: None to speak of.

Personality: Kestrel is a little shy thanks to her parents' overprotective nature though her curious side tends to shine through often. She's approachable, if somewhat reserved and while her intentions are always good and she enjoys helping others, the clash between her own personality and what her parents instilled in her can sometimes result in her locking up, unsure of how to act.

Biography: It came to her in a nightmare. A vision of a meteor splitting the sky and reducing the city to ashes. The sight of only impossibly dark shadows where buildings, and people, once stood. The reality was much different, of course, yet when she watched the news that morning the feeling of unease she felt after the nightmare turned to panic. It wasn't until she got to class and someone commented on her "cool new pen" that she realised something was truly wrong. She remembered then that in her panic she had left her backpack at home and the pen she was using was little more than slowly flowing blue energy taking on the shape of a pen, and it produced no ink...The week only got weirder from there and she realised quickly that the more she experimented with her newfound power the less she slept. Nights became exercises in simply laying there, half awake, praying for sleep.

Anything Else: Electric Pokemon

I hope it's acceptable. It really has been a while.

@threetoads

I'm kind of confused by Kestrel's powers. So she dreams of an object and then can create it the next day? And if she uses them too much, she can't sleep and suffers as a result? Also, I'm wondering how this would work in combat as a hero. If she can only create what she saw in dreams, that could leave her with a narrow amount of choices.

This is a very unique power you've chosen, but I just want to be sure it's something that is also usable in practice.

Also, for her skill, can she learn all new things equally quickly? I feel like it would take more effort to learn something like metalworking than, say how to use a new computer program.

Rise of the New Heroes

1. I wrote the backstory keeping that in mind. But for some reason I thought I remembered it being two weeks? I’ll change the times a little, my apologies. (EDIT: It should be corrected) And sorry for posting it in the wrong area.

2. I don’t think it would be easy for a possessed person to force her out. But since she is in contact with them mentally, perhaps a big mental assault would make her leave. Or alternatively, if she tries to make them hurt someone they really care about, perhaps the resistance would be really high. I think we should put the difficulty for “protected” NPCs in trying to possess them in the first place. Like maybe some people have a natural psychic resistance that is difficult for Sarah to overcome. Or maybe superpowered people are altered in some way that makes it hard for her to possess them. (She would require an extended time period to gain control over them, I think. Like if they were already defeated and in prison.) Maybe some people can’t be possessed at all. I’ll leave that up to you. I’ll just handle who she targets and why. But at any rate, injuring the possessed one is going to force her out eventually. Both because she shares the pain and because the body will become less effective.

3. As to the sword thing. Maybe the drawback for item enhancement in general should be related to how much her powers have protected the thing from abuse? So, if she’s a door or something and it is hit by an attack that wouldn’t have affected it to begin with, she’s fine. But if the attack would have broken the door, it puts a strain on her powers to be able to make it resist. If this happens enough, her powers wane and she can’t maintain the possession. I’m essentially suggesting an exertion limit rather than a time limit. Though in the case of Camille’s sword (which presumably would be under constant duress if we are in need of this technique), then there would be an effective time limit for activity.

@Olive Fontaine

1) Sounds good! I saw your changes and think they look good.

2) I think requiring an extended time period to gain control over those with superpowers, like if they were already defeated and in prison, or similarly significantly weakened is good. Maybe there will be people who can't be possessed for whatever reason, which I'll try to indicate somehow. Injuring the possessed to boot her is good too.

3) Yeah, endurance/exertion is fine like you said.

Just add that information to your CS and you're approved! I'll go ahead and send you the link to the Discord server.

Rise of the New Heroes

I'm so close to finished but I'm so tired QwQ I'mma finish the backstory tomorrow, but I wanted to run the powers past you cause I was reading over them and was like ... is this OP? This might be OP.

@Guccicorn

It doesn't seem OP since she seems to be a "regular person with super speed" who is in fact still vulnerable to being punched hard. I do have a few questions though:

1) If her power only effects Paige, how does she carry anything or keep any clothes on? I doubt she wants to be a nudist :P
2) If gravity is lessened, does she float in the air? Maybe I'm overanalyzing it

That's all I can think of for now, let me know the answers to those questions and let me know when the CS is complete

@Olive Fontaine I like your CS, though you should have posted it here instead of in the Characters tab since it isn't approved yet. I do have a few things that need to be changed:

1) Everyone has had their powers for a week at the most, as the meteor struck a week ago. You mentioned possessing the middle aged guy "a week later" and such. Maybe just condense the timeline of how Sarah got her powers and it should be fine.
2) You mentioned that Sarah is booted from objects when they break. How is she removed from people? Can they force her out at all? Or would they have to be injured to do so? What are your thoughts on this?

With regards to possessing Camile's sword, I think it could be a cool idea, but there'd have to be some kind of drawback so that it isn't OP. Maybe a time limit? Because if Sarah gets removed from an object by it being broken and the sword is super durable, possessing a super strong sword like that removes that limitation.

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!