Alternative terms for archtypes?

[Trebuchet]

Pursuant to the idea proposed in the "Jane's Superhuman" thread, I'm trying to come up with some quasi-military terms to use for our major metagaming archtypes. Would a Martial Artist be plausibly called a "Light Close Combatant"? Somehow "Brick" just lacks that unique military cachet. :nonp:

So I put it to Herodom assembled: What better non-metagamed terms can we come up with for:

Bricks
Martial Artists
Energy Projectors
Mentalists
Speedsters
Stealth-types
Miscellaneous (Teleporters, etc.)

[Hyper-Man]

Pursuant to the idea proposed in the "Jane's Superhuman" thread, I'm trying to come up with some quasi-military terms to use for our major metagaming archtypes. Would a Martial Artist be plausibly called a "Light Close Combatant"? Somehow "Brick" just lacks that unique military cachet. :nonp:
Bricks Armor/Tank
Martial Artists Infantry/Soldier
Energy Projectors Artillery/Air-Support
Mentalists Psi-Ops
Speedsters Cavalry/Recon
Stealth-types Spec-Ops/Recon
Miscellaneous (Teleporters, etc.) Smart-Bomb/Weapon

Maybe oversimplified but it is consistent (I think).

HM

[OddHat]

Pursuant to the idea proposed in the "Jane's Superhuman" thread, I'm trying to come up with some quasi-military terms to use for our major metagaming archtypes. Would a Martial Artist be plausibly called a "Light Close Combatant"? Somehow "Brick" just lacks that unique military cachet. :nonp:

So I put it to Herodom assembled: What better non-metagamed terms can we come up with for:

Bricks
Martial Artists
Energy Projectors
Mentalists
Speedsters
Stealth-types
Miscellaneous (Teleporters, etc.)

Bricks
Type A Metahumans
Physically Enhanced Metas - PEs
Tanks
Beach Boys
Muscle Beachers
Roiders

Martial Artists
Type B Metahumans (assuming that normal MAs do not require a special designation)
Trained Metahumans - TMs
Bruces
Chans
Chop Sakis

Energy Projectors
Type C Metahumans
Photokinetics/Pyrokinetics/Electrokinetics/Psychokinetics/Whateverkinetics
Shockers
Burners
Icers

Mentalists
Type D Metahumans
Telepaths
Brainiacs
Eggheads
Berkleys

Speedsters
Type E Metahumans
Accelerated Metahumans
Indis
Speedos
Quix

Stealth-types
Type F Metahumans
Stealth Metahumans
Griffins
Snarks
Spooks

Miscellaneous

Type A/C Metahumans, Type D Primary E Secondary Metahumans
Pan-Psionics
Jaberwoks
Alphabet Supes

[Agent X]

I like the idea of a typology although I think the military would try to be precise as possible. Considering the possibility that a super fulfills a combination of archetypes or classes or what have you, I could see the military designating a hero a Type AB, BD, etc.

The designations might not completely correspond to normal archetypes. The classifications could be a bit different:
Ranged Threat - A
Close-In Threat - B
Ranged and Close-In Threat - C

Superhuman Durability - D
Superhuman Evasion - E

Flight - F
Superhuman Ground Movement - G
Teleportation - T

Superhuman Stealth - S
Aquatic - Q
Space - K

Telepath - P1
Telekinetic - P2
Psychic - P3

Enhanced Senses - H

Advanced Technology - M 1
Superhuman Intelligence - M 2
Highly Trained - M 3

Vulnerability noted - V "insert vulnerability here"

Superman would be a CDEFGQKHV"kryptonite" (That's a bit complicated but he's a special case.)

Defender would be a CDFM1M2

Anyway, I'm not really happy with this code but I do hope it helps when thinking about how the military would work this out.

[Publius]

Brick: Physically Enhanced Combatant, Kinetic & Energy Resistant (PECKER)
Sorry, I had to do that. G'night folks!

I like the idea of a typology myself. You just have to figure out what you are going to type them on: power level, abilities etc. You could have a multiple typology going on as well (the following designations are just off the top of my head):

"Zippy" Kress, Class II Translocator (Green)

The Class II might be the threat level, as a Class two he is neither a world class threat (Class I) nor a Tactical Null (Class V) but probably pretty powerful, "Translocator" of course refers to his abilities (Teleportation) and (Green) might indicate his status, Green=loyal to gov't, Blue=friendly to gov't, Red = Hostile etc.

Again, these specific designations are just off the top of my head, the point is that there does not have to be just one typology, we can use more than one of them to get more specificity without being clunky.

[Hyper-Man]

I like the idea of a typology although I think the military would try to be precise as possible. Considering the possibility that a super fulfills a combination of archetypes or classes or what have you, I could see the military designating a hero a Type AB, BD, etc.

The designations might not completely correspond to normal archetypes. The classifications could be a bit different:
Ranged Threat - A
Close-In Threat - B
Ranged and Close-In Threat - C

Superhuman Durability - D
Superhuman Evasion - E

Flight - F
Superhuman Ground Movement - G
Teleportation - T

Superhuman Stealth - S
Aquatic - Q
Space - K

Telepath - P1
Telekinetic - P2
Psychic - P3

Enhanced Senses - H

Advanced Technology - M 1
Superhuman Intelligence - M 2
Highly Trained - M 3

Vulnerability noted - V "insert vulnerability here"

Superman would be a CDEFGQKHV"kryptonite" (That's a bit complicated but he's a special case.)

Defender would be a CDFM1M2

Anyway, I'm not really happy with this code but I do hope it helps when thinking about how the military would work this out.
some people take this stuff so much more serious than I do... :nonp:

I like your take.
It reminds me of the Psi-Cop designations for Telepaths (P 1-12). I would maybe add that type of detail for all the relevant categories. I think the total number of different categories is a little too high though since what you have is more of a background file format whereas, I think, Treb was looking for more combat situational catch phrase terminology that agents would use amongst each other. I also think characters like Superman would get their own type of designation like WMD or something which means that they can virtually do anything short of mental powers on the battlefield.

If we were to combine your detailed approach and my very simple take you might get the following:

The Flash: Class 12 Calvary/BEG

Another take might be to incorporate Chess Piece designations.
Example:

Queen: (Superman)
Queen-side Rook: Speedster
Queen-side Bishop: Energy Caster
Queen-side Knight: Special (teleport, desol, etc.)

King: (Batman/Captain America)
King-side Rook: Brick
King-side Bishop: Martial Artist
King-side Knight: Mentalist
HM

[Agent X]

some people take this stuff so much more serious than I do... :nonp:

I like your take.
It reminds me of the Psi-Cop designations for Telepaths (P 1-12). I would maybe add that type of detail for all the relevant categories. I think the total number of different categories is a little too high though since what you have is more of a background file format whereas, I think, Treb was looking for more combat situational catch phrase terminology that agents would use amongst each other. I also think characters like Superman would get their own type of designation like WMD or something which means that they can virtually do anything short of mental powers on the battlefield.

If we were to combine your detailed approach and my very simple take you might get the following:

The Flash: Class 12 Calvary/BEG

Another take might be to incorporate Chess Piece designations.
Example:

Queen: (Superman)
Queen-side Rook: Speedster
Queen-side Bishop: Energy Caster
Queen-side Knight: Special (teleport, desol, etc.)

King: (Batman/Captain America)
King-side Rook: Brick
King-side Bishop: Martial Artist
King-side Knight: Mentalist
HM Yeah, the categories need to have catch-alls that cover a good deal of ground and then codes for more precise detail allowing troops the luxury of the most basic info and slightly more detail when time allows.

[Reneshat]

Brick-GI Bob
Energy Blaster- GI Dave
Martial Artist- GI George
Speedster- GI Chuck
Mentalist- GI Francis
Various- Maggot

Or is that not what you were asking?

[Hopscotch]

The Millitary alphabet soups everything. I actually like how you started.

Martial Artist = Skilled Hand Combatant or SHaC

Brick = Heavy Close Combatant or HeCC

Energy Projector = Energy Projector or EPRO

Speedster = Accelerated Combatant or ACC COM

Mentalist = Psionc or PSI

Stealth Type = Concealed Operative or CON OP

Miscellaneous = Unclassified or UNCLe

These are just ideas. Remember that any group of millitary classifications will avoid terms that rhyme or sound alike to avoid confusion in the field.
The millitary should always have some alphabet soup name for everything, because the real army does.

[Trebuchet]

I think the terms used need to be self explanatory to a certain degree. "Class A" or the like doesn't really tell the reader anything. We're trying to recreate the feel of a "Jane's Fighting Ships" or "Jane's Military Aircraft". Jane's is a non-military publication, although widely read by militaries worldwide. Publius has come up with the title of "Blackstone's Metahumans" since "Jane's" is a registered trademark.

[freakboy6117]

Military terms would tend towards the military tactics that that power set would be used for and a designation used in abbreviation or slang

Short-range movement powers speedsters short ranger teleporters
Tactical delivery AKA TD

Long-range movement long-range teleprocess flight suitable by others etc
Strategic delivery AKA SD, travel agent, deuce and a half.

Energy projector non-flying
Internal ordinance [tactical for small arms level damage heavy for anti material or higher] AKA blaster cannon zapper flamethrower

Flying energy projector
Tactical air support AKA mini B pocket air support

Super strength
Structural damage specialist AKA smasher

Super toughness
Ordinance neutralization AKA bullet sponge bomb magnate, tank, Sherman.

Martial artists

Close range combatants, infantry neutralization, silent take down AKA Bruce designated jap-slapper

[tinman]

In my campaign UNTIL has three general categories for threat ratings: Offensive Ability, Defenses and Difficulty to Restrain. Each is rated from 0-3 (where 0 is a normal unarmed human).

A light brick would be 2/2/1 (able to kill easily at close or medium range, ummune to standard small-arms fire, must be held in a reinforced structure). A teleporting martial-artist would be 1/1/3 (able to kill at close range, difficult to target, cannot be restrained while conscious). Superman would be a 3/3/3 (able to kill hardened targets at long range, immune to all conventional weapons, cannot be restrained by any known method).

More detailed explanations of the individual's abilities would be available in their dossier of course, but the three ratings are easy for agents to remember and refer to if they should find themselves facing someone without having been briefed first.

This also provides each superhuman a "power-level" rating which is simply the three threat levels added together ("In other news, a class 7 metahuman was killed in a prolonged battle with UNTIL agents in Hannover today. The incident left six agents dead and seventeen wounded.").

[Trebuchet]

In my campaign UNTIL has three general categories for threat ratings: Offensive Ability, Defenses and Difficulty to Restrain. Each is rated from 0-3 (where 0 is a normal unarmed human).

A light brick would be 2/2/1 (able to kill easily at close or medium range, ummune to standard small-arms fire, must be held in a reinforced structure). A teleporting martial-artist would be 1/1/3 (able to kill at close range, difficult to target, cannot be restrained while conscious). Superman would be a 3/3/3 (able to kill hardened targets at long range, immune to all conventional weapons, cannot be restrained by any known method).

More detailed explanations of the individual's abilities would be available in their dossier of course, but the three ratings are easy for agents to remember and refer to if they should find themselves facing someone without having been briefed first.

This also provides each superhuman a "power-level" rating which is simply the three threat levels added together ("In other news, a class 7 metahuman was killed in a prolonged battle with UNTIL agents in Hannover today. The incident left six agents dead and seventeen wounded.").Interesting system. I'll give that one more thought. (A 1 -5 or 1 - 10 system might work better, with the overall rating being the average of the three individual categories: "He's rated 8.2 on the Power Scale. We're in deep doo-doo, Agent Smith."

It still doesn't provide catch names or acronyms for the archtypes, though.

[tinman]

Interesting system. I'll give that one more thought. (A 1 -5 or 1 - 10 system might work better, with the overall rating being the average of the three individual categories: "He's rated 8.2 on the Power Scale. We're in deep doo-doo, Agent Smith."

Yeah, it could probably stand to be a little more fine-grained.


It still doesn't provide catch names or acronyms for the archtypes, though.

I've never been able to come up with anything that sounds like something real people would actually use. The PC agents in my campaign generally just refer to all supers (regardless of powers) as "heavies".

[Trebuchet]

I've never been able to come up with anything that sounds like something real people would actually use. The PC agents in my campaign generally just refer to all supers (regardless of powers) as "heavies".I'm trying to come up with "official sounding" terms for the archtypes as would be used in an identification manual or doctoral thesis on metahumans. I suspect your typical agents on the street and normal military types might just end up calling them "bricks" and "speedsters" just like we do. Or a collective term like "supers" as used in The Incredibles.

Problem is, I don't think much like a bureaucrat. (Or at least I hope not.) :eek: