As the title implies, I was curious about ways to make a telepathic (psychic blast/barrier generation) character more compelling as a potential superhero.
Feel free to throw in ideas or thoughts.
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Well, without any character info, I'd start with making the power origin more interesting than just "I got blasted by a thing" or "my parents were psychics."
Symbiotic alien brain slug, super-drug that must be taken for the power to continue, early attempt and inducing psionics through cybernetic implant, power origin is completely unknown but accompanied by voices speaking in an unknown language, got hit by an alien guitar that caused a dimension rift in the forehead.
Okay, that last one would be copyright infringement, but you get the idea. Psionic powers are one of the most common things in comics, so it's gotta have an uncommon origin to be interesting.
Admittedly I kinda want to go for the mutant route, perhaps, but without making the character a ‘Jean Grey’ Cline or something.
Give their backstory something compelling, like perhaps the involvement of a malevolent group of mutants, or a funded experiment with a group of hospital age newborns or something, like the Nuclear 98 in City of Heroes (Faultline and Fusionette).
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John Grey?
Be Well!
Fireheart
Well, here's one I enjoyed, and in fact, was the original concept behind my main (Brand X) which was in turn taken from a character I had created long before CoH was ever a thing (writing and RPGs and all)...
Mutant telepath is killed by an advanced bio/cybernetic hybrid AI that was targetting her father. However, when the body died, the telepath transferred her body into the assassin android. She kept the psychic abilities, gained skills from the assassin droid's knowledge and the benefits of the bionic body, but suffered amnesia from the whole ordeal.
Which, I still think, imo of course (it goes without saying), is a great concept for comic character or a pen and paper RPG character, or a character background for a MMO character that you don't RP. The reason I say don't RP, is because telepathy imo is the worst power to RP in a MMO community. There will be times a telepath will have to dig deeper, despite convictions not to, and the other players, with their weak minded concepts maybe even normal human with no powers or training characters, will just say "Nope. Can't get anything." which would just make no sense. And even if you accept such a comment, they can get upset for even trying to do what makes sense.
Best to avoid the whining and potential name calling.
Gladatoria, have you ever heard of Nephilim?
There are lots of interpretations of them but basically they are children of Angels. Most of these Nephilim were cast into the abyss but some were allowed to remain on earth as a temptation or corrupting force for mortals. The offspring of the Nephilim are called the Elioud. As the Elioud have angelic bloodlines it would not be implausible that they possess special powers.
Your character could be one of these Elioud who, after learning his heritage, is rebelling against his destiny to corrupt mortals. This opens interesting avenues in character development such as evil compulsions to fight against, a family or even angels as enemies or maybe a point where redemption is found and the character changes physically.
If you are heavy into RP you could even decide that the character has not yet learned the origin of the powers and the arc the character embarks on is first of discovery, then rebellion and finally redemption. Alternately you could switch it up and turn rebellion or redemption in a kind of acceptance allowing your hero to fall from grace, forgive the pun.
Names of your character and the NPCs that surround him/her could have a biblical tilt to them.
Could be a vampire that has the supernatural ability to hear other people's thoughts. Maybe he falls in love with a girl and keeps putting her in danger. Maybe it's a terrible story and a worse movie.
This is an original idea.
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Please don't ban me.
Compulsively clicking the refresh button until the next update.
I had an idea for a duo recently where one of them is a psychic/telepath/telekinetic.
Mutant, found out they had powers went out to fight crime (as you do) with encouragement to do so from the other member of the duo. Does not go well. After getting shot the psychic ends up paralyzed from the waist down, still wanting to do good the other member of the duo starts training (martial arts etc). The psychic can astral project themselves around the other in the duo, and use them as a focal point to chanel their powers through.
Now they fight crime together as Body and Mind.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
How about as a simple piece of the background, the teen witnessed the death of a parent (or both), or a close friend, lover, or sibling, or some other loved one. When this person (or people) died, the teen was psychically linked and experienced it as it was happening. The experience was simultaneously horrific and enlightening.
They now have some issues caused by extreme emotional trauma from the incident, but it has driven them to seek revenge on the killer(s) or people like them. They can’t sleep peacefully and are haunted by the memory of dying but it fuels their psychic attacks as they are able to project those feelings into enemies.
I quite like Atama's idea because it's psychological. But I'd add another layer than just traumatized in general.
I think the character would have severe trust issues and wouldn't be able to ever get close to anyone. The fear of that event repeating would just be too great. Plus, they felt what it was like to be murdered, by hand, by a person. You don't end up trusting people after that. Think Jessica Jones levels of anti-social, but instead of only being unable to get emotionally close to anyone, they can't get emotionally or physically close to anyone.
The fact that the powers will be blast and barrier is just too perfect. Barriers to keep people from getting close. Blast to push them back. The powers are coming from the brain so they match what's going on in there.
From an RP standpoint, that sounds like the type a player would then complain about how no one tries to take an interest in them. :p
Do you think they would be raised in maybe South Titan, away from the clean and shine of the Northern part of the city?
Would a low socioeconomic background be more compelling than a well of lifestyle story wise?
I was thinking this character becomes a hero either reluctantly or at least not without prompting or a catalyst.
Ideas for more on background and a name?
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How about “Trauma Queen” for a name?
Mindstrike?
Brainwreck?
Mentalator?
Mind Maul?
Personally, I think a low socioeconomic background is almost always more compelling.
The first person suffers a tragedy, but has a therapist, can go on vacations to clear their head, and can take take time to deal with something without getting fired.
The second suffered the same tragedy, but can't afford therapy, the quietest time they get is when only two neighbors are being loud, and they have to be back to their 9-5 job the day after a loved one dies.
Yeah, I'd say the second story is more dramatic. There are always exceptions (eg Stark), but I digress.
For background, first who was killed, and why? It has to be someone they'd be comfortable mind-linking with. A BFF, sibling, or parent, or (if older teen) first lover. Whoever you decide, the character mind-links when they're spending time together, then when they're apart, the link lingers for an hour or so. That link is what allowed the character to feel the death, even though they weren't in the same place anymore. That trauma also scorched the part of the mind that allows links (hence projection/barrier but no telepathy). They're driven to get revenge, but the police can't figure out who did it, and the character can't read minds anymore so can't just figure it out, so goes to the streets to find who's responsible in a blind rage.
You could go the original Batman route and say that it was a random mugger and no one ever is able to figure out who did it, so the character just tries to stop any criminal and lives with the guilt of never catching the one they experienced kill their loved one. Or, you could go the traditional route and the character finds the individual responsible after busting some heads, then kills them with a massive psionic blast (awakening that power). Not really sure which option would be worse for the character, psychologically, but both are bad.
They probably ran out of cash completely on their first rampage (may have taken weeks to track the person down or realize it's all dead ends). If a young teen, skip the next part, because: guardians. If they're finished with high school, however, then they have to be a squatter for a bit before getting a job and then getting a place to stay. This leads to the low wage superhero job (eg Spiderman pizza delivery). Either way, after high school, they would eventually take on a job where they can secretly exploit a power to make it easier. Barrier, for instance, would make working with dangerous substances safe but you'd still get hazard pay (esp if employer doesn't know). Exploiting their power like that is pretty much their only way to make ends meet, given a lack of opportunities coupled with occasionally spending weeks crime fighting or in recovery. But if they're still in high school, this is just on the future agenda, not something they'd be doing at launch.
As for names, I'm having a hard time coming up with a good name for a psionic character that isn't taken.
Have you decided on an ethnicity and/or race? If you went with someone who's at least a quarter Native American, you could excuse a call sign that has nothing to do with the power. The character's real name could be something generic (a "Smith"), but their super identity could be Winter Fox or Savage Hawk or something.
This inspiration for this character comes from characters like Cloak and Dagger and the Outsiders. I feel like while they still have the ability to read thoughts and such, they’ve tucked that ability away mentally after the incident.
Low socioeconomic does sound more compelling story wise and I’ll most likely do an older, well to do sibling who maybe got out of whererver they were living, and had big dreams and plans that were cut short in a robbery gone wrong.
As for names, moniker wise I was thinking either Brainstorm or something like that, at least maybe initially since their powers aren’t focused and seem scattered.
I see them living in South Titan, having spent all their money after moving off the Reservation for the older sibling’s Esphesus scholarship on investigators and lawyers and petitioning help.
I think making them full native is more compelling than half, as it adds a bit of distrust to being a mutant, having strange abilities, or what some would consider a curse.
Any more thoughts on a potential name, or how they get set towards being a hero?
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If the character is a native then why not a name like Vision Quest. Seems more fitting for a character thats trying to figure themselves out.
EDIT- This might be a bad idea in retrospect. An appropriation of heritage like I just suggested is something that can be offensive to others. You may be capable of treating the subject with care and sincerity (at least better than I just did) but I think advising caution isn't out of order.
I respect the fact that you edited and apologized for the mistake, it means a lot. And yeah, I want to be careful with creating a character that appreciates a culture or shows respect for it, while vetting my sources and information.
My character’s family are not poor because they are Native, they are poor due to spiraling into grief and unhealthy habits, their living on the reservation was a choice rather than confinement, and it isn’t some dusty hovel, so on and so forth.
I thought about giving him the name Dreamwalker perhaps? Dream catcher seems a bit too derivative or rather not fitting the concept and a misuse of what is a sacred part of Native tradition.
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I was just replying quickly to your last post.. In truth I know very little about about the subject or even my vision quest suggestion. It was just a term I heard in a movie and I repeated it without thinking.
That's why I suggested given nature names like Winter Fox. I got that directly from a local Massachusetts list of old native names (Spring Fox). Savage Hawk is not a realistic name, but at least doesn't take directly from some pop culture thing. A more realistic name would be Only-A-Hawk or Yellowhawk or something, but that doesn't sound very super-hero. As for the real name being an english name, that's pretty much the norm now. The native sounding names may be retained as a sort of nickname, but name on a birth certificate is often a "modern" name, especially in the north-east. In my region, what would have been the individual name has become an inherited last name. I stayed away from religious names (like vision quest) precisely because I don't know which tribes had that practice and which didn't. Native Americans were never one solid mass with one solid myth or religion. Their beliefs varied greatly. Whenever someone says "native americans believed..." you can ignore the rest of what they say. If they knew what they were talking about, they'd state the tribe that had that belief.
The reason I said half or quarter is because full bloods get rarer over time. Quick survey: Masachusset: less that 500 as of 1631, and that was before smallpox. Nauset: all mix-blood by 1930 census. Nipmuc: last full blood died in 1930's or 40's. Pocomtuc: less than two dozen individuals as of 1900. Wampanoag: 40 full bloods as of 1807. Making the character full blood could be seen as rewriting history and saying that none of the disasters ever happened.
If you really want the character to be full blood without running that risk, maybe be from a region that has way more Native Americans left, and a higher concentration of tribes (Oklahoma) and then the family moved to the NE. Maybe they got in trouble locally and had to move. Maybe they had a job offer, but once they got there, it fell through. There's lots of reasons. Or a way simpler option I only just thought of... the character could just look full. Genetics can be funny like that.
Then again, maybe I'm overthinking this. History has already been rewritten by there being an additional massive city on the coast. Where did all those people come from? Obviously the time-line's not identical. So I guess anything goes.
I was thinking they either moved from somewhere like Oklahoma or New Mexico, or rather were maybe half Native from somewhere near NE.
I do like the name dreamwalker, but yeah I don’t want to bastardize what could be something religiously significant.
Any name ideas you think stand out in the vein of being native names or names that pay tribute to his native heritage?
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I spent some time looking into it and came up mostly blank. I learned a lot of cool culture and history, so it wasn't a wasted hour. The best concepts just don't have english names that translate well, and the native terms are unrecognizable to most anyone (I'll probably forget them by tomorrow).
The only aggressive name that's catchy and related to supernatural stuff that I came across was Raven Mocker. This is a Cherokee name of a specific killer witch/evil spirit, described as being truly wicked. Needless to say, this name would only make sense of the character either wanted blood, or wanted to scare the living daylights out of their enemies. If the character had psychic powers at a young age, I could imagine other kids calling them Raven Mocker, like a kid being called the devil.
I could see that, but as the character isn’t actually vengeful and through using his powers to help actually overcomes his grief, I feel like aside from taking back a name of derision it wouldn’t quite fit.
Ravenspeaker is okay, but it’s taken by a champions universe character, and aside from that is associated with a different Free Nations culture.
Raven Mocker has potential, though. Do you believe this character should be on a more gritty Titan South path or a more true blue Titan North Hero path?
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If we already know that in the Titanverse, 9/11 never happened, then why worry about rewriting some other history, especially when it's not likely to have any effect on any other player, except the ones you may RP with, if the person actually RPs outside of just detailed backgrounds for their character?
Brand X: Yeah, that's why I typed that last sentence that you quoted. I just thought of it after doing the research and figured to leave everything in and let Glad make a decision.
The devs said you can move between paths, so it's not a super important decision, but I'd say south at least for starting.
Real, personal psychological trauma is gritty. Add in low income and it just makes more sense starting south.
I agree.
Can you link me to the list of native
names you found and what tribe exactly (if you have that information?
I feel like this character would fit as a part of a young team of mutants, a la New Mutants or All New X-Men
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If you're going with Raven Mocker, it has to be Cherokee, because as I said, all nations have different beliefs. A Shawnee wouldn't have any idea who you're talking about, for example.
The name list was from the Mass region so wouldn't be of any use.
For that info, it's best to go straight to the source, their own website (rather than one written by an "expert"). [url]http://www.cherokee.org/About-The-Nation/Culture/General/The-Traditional-Naming-Process[/url]
The first page says what I already did, that most of them have a "modern" name (any generic white name, hispanic name, etc), but also says they have a native name used internally. The generic last name can also be an English translation of a native name, though, in which case the last name will be a plant or animal or element. First name could also be the english version of one of those things, or a regular english or hispanic name. I don't want to list the names here because the best lists I could find were from the news section of the site, and are all people currently part of the nation, and literally stealing one of their names won't do.
Once on that page, click on about the nation (on the left), language, then Dikaneisdi (word list) then you have a straight up english to cherokee button. They made it easy. That would be for the second, tribal name, if the character has one. As the front page says, if their appropriate relative died before giving them a name, then they only have their modern name.
I’m wrestling now with second whether to make him half Hopi from Northern Arizona, or potentially half Sioux from possibly Nebraska or Minnesota.
I was thinking making his native side more prominent and the driving force behind his morality, and especially liked what the ‘Hopi Way’ mentions about living with the intention of peace for all people and resolving conflicts, making his alignment most likely lawful/merciful.
It could also connect him in a way to an existing City of Titans character, Lady Latoki, a superhero healer and assistant biology professor who teaches at the Alexadnrian Institute of Technology and has the same alignment.
I’m spitballing here, though. Thoughts?
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Anyone have anything to add in terms of name suggestions and such?
I was also thinking that perhaps his older brother was an empath, either knowingly or unknowingly, which is what contributed to the extra shock and hurt from his death, a literal emotional vacuum and source of happiness was ripped from the family.
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Only thing I could add on the subject of naming, is that I wouldn't give them a name until you settled on the tribe/nation/region of where they're from.
Agreed. Not only would the language be potentially different, but there is wide variation in the folklore/mythology (which may not be so mythological as we palefaces thought, in a supers world). Careful research is indicated.
Unless, of course, you are willing to let the name dictate the origin. ^_^
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
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I want to make him most likely Half Hopi, and Half Mexican, but he was raised on a Hopi reservation in Arizona before abruptly moving to Titan City recently for his father’s job.
Ideas now?
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There's also a page on [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi_mythology]Hopi Mythology[/url]. The footnotes on these pages may prove useful.
Then, of course, there's always the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_mythology]other side of his heritage[/url], which is likely considerably less Merciful in alignment...
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Reading on the Hopi Mythology page, a Kachina is a spirit of change and fortune that aids the Hopi people, a kind of demigod that has several different varieties and forms.
Perhaps he takes the name Kachina, as a Native American ‘Titan’ and may seem to be a Kachina to some of the more traditional elders and people in his family and reservation?
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