Snake Gandhi Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 I'm working on a character for a PbEM game, a suit of powered armor, and I was looking for some advice. I was thinking about going for a different feel than your standard 'Iron Man' style armor maybe giving the armor a theme of some kind. One that popped into my head was a scorpion styled armor, it could have Hardened Armor, some Super Leap and a Tail Blaster. While I don't think I'd use that one specifically it gives you the idea of what I mean. I was wondering what other themes folks could think of for a set of high tech power armor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' You could always go with the Wildcard's: The Turtle theme. He basically had very light telekenisis IIRC and he took reinforced armor from a battleship, mounted it to a VW Beetle and installed camera systems to give him the ability to view outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' I was thinking about going for a different feel than your standard 'Iron Man' style armor maybe giving the armor a theme of some kind. One that popped into my head was a scorpion styled armor' date=' [/quote'] There is plenty of scope for other animal themes - birds, bugs, etc. You could also use: * armour optimised for a particular environment: water, underground... * armour with a limited power set. For example, armour that doesn't enhance strength, or doesn't have blasters. * armour with a specific special effect: magnetic powers, flame powers, etc. * armour with weird powers: mental powers, magical powers, growth(!?) etc. * armour with an archaic appearance: medieval knight, 17th century cavalier, etc. * relatively light armour, where the abilities of the person inside it become important. * clumsy or defective armour. I'm sure other people will come up with some others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baphomet Jones Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' I only have two ideas right now, more as they come to me... Electric Eel: Electric Damage shield, high swimming, and Life Support (self contained breathing, safe environment: high Pressure), sonar or other sense for use underwater Chameleon: Invisibility (or other convenient stealth power build), plus Clinging and extra Leaping (instead of the normal flight one sees a lot in power armor guys) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Quadruped armor, or perhaps even more legs. Some aternate mode of movement (tunneling, teleporting, etc.). Perhaps multiple tentacals instead of arms (the armored cephalpod!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' While not high-tech, I plan on someday making an alchemist/mage with an elemental battlesuit. Earth for armor and str, air powers to fly, various elemental EBs/effects. Armadillo is a good non-standard battlesuit - tunnelling vs flight. As notes, various animals, etc. An eight-limbed web-throwing wall-crawling spider-suit for example. Minotaur suit with lots of runnig, extra recoil absorbers for move-throughs, big axe w/blaster attached. For my ASGARD group, I had THOR and VALKYRIE battlesuit agents. Norse-theme design, THOR suits had a hammer they could throw and magnetically control, VALKYRIE suits had a spear that doubled as a blaster and could exlode on command. Large construction suit - steam shovel, rivet gun, saws, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Whammewhamme is playing a PA character with an unnusual motifin a PBEM if mine. His "armor" looks like a giant spider. The character sits in the main body, possible since he doesn't have legs. The effect is pretty cool, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garou Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' You could always go with the Wildcard's: The Turtle theme. He basically had very light telekenisis IIRC and he took reinforced armor from a battleship' date=' mounted it to a VW Beetle and installed camera systems to give him the ability to view outside.[/quote'] Well, by the point the series ended, Turtle could only move a bowling ball or so when outside the shell. When inside the shell, he still had an effective teke STR of about 100-110. (He lifted a battleship out of the water as a demonstration, and held it there for about a minute before he set it back down.) Concerning powered armor ideas: Animal-themed (scorpion, as you said, but also crab/lobster, wasp, gorilla/ape, etc) Stealth suit (Chamelion, enhanced senses & fast) Aquatic suit - underwater use, strong & tough, but not very fast, and probably little ranged weaponry. Versatility suit - some added str, decent protection, but a lot of little tools for various jobs - ie welding torch, cutter, some enhanced senses, net projector, etc - not the best at anything, but almost always useful. Think of it as a utility belt made into a suit. Stealth suit II - invisible powered armor or camoflaged. It looks like a jogging suit, or the standard-issue skintight spandex, but functions as normal powered armor. Mobility suit - wearer is para- or quadraplegic. Without suit, cannot move. As an added bonus, suit enhances natural psionic abilities. Transformer suit - suitable only for larger suits, consider a multiform - one form is normal powered armor, one is a robotic animal, one is a motorcycle-style vehicle, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' (the armored cephalpod!) Oh man -- you almost made me spit coffee all over the monitor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Transformer suit - suitable only for larger suits' date=' consider a multiform - one form is normal powered armor, one is a robotic animal, one is a motorcycle-style vehicle, etc.[/quote'] Like the...what did they call them...uh..."Armored Cyclones"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starblaze Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Well, by the point the series ended, Turtle could only move a bowling ball or so when outside the shell. When inside the shell, he still had an effective teke STR of about 100-110. (He lifted a battleship out of the water as a demonstration, and held it there for about a minute before he set it back down.) Yeah, I think he had some kind of psychological block about using his TK when outside the suit but when in it he was more secure. I seem to remember him and Dr. Tachoyn going on an adventure together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterD Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' I myself have 2 power armor cahracters. C.A.T. Cyber Augmented Tactical suit. Obviously cat motif. Tech Knight Just protective armor, force weapon, force shield and a robot horse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' I'd Cast my vote for the Cyclone of Robotec Fame. I played one for about a year, and boy was it a blast. I steered away from the Vehicle build, and simply made the Motorcycle part a slot in the Multi-power (Running w/OAF) I had 2 Multi-Powers one for the Armor/Bike & one for the Weapons. He worked out GREAT. Another kool aspect I added, that the GM loved & really ran with was that he only knew how to operated the suit... I had a DNPC who built & maintained the suit. the GM took that character and gave me many a headache, and tons of RPing goodness - it was a really fun run while it lasted. Wildcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperKlaus Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' If I may? The Argent Apostle of my group wears a suit of strange silver "life-metal" found in an alien wreck. It absorbs electricity and channels his own bio-electricity to blast people or heal them or stimulate them and improve DEX. It is also very receptive to brain-waves, giving the user a Mind Link power but a Vulnerability to Mental Powers. Cold Steel is a vaguely Mr. Freeze villain who combines the traditional armor with traditional ice concepts. I got the idea after seeing the note in Dark Champions about strengthening the metal in guns by subjecting them to low temperatures. He ices himself over and gets Hardened defenses as a naked Advantage that Costs END (provided I can do that, I haven't actually checked the book and made him yet). A currently unnamed armor hero (maybe Ironhide, after the Transformer) would have a suit built on steam principles with lots of nifty gas-venting pneumatic pumps and stuff. He'll be able to jump really high and use the pumps in the arms for mad crazy punches not unlike the Big O robot in the anime of the same name. As a bonus his "lower-tech" feel could make him a Golden Age or even Pulp character. Speaking of Golden Age, check out the Knight Owl in the old Golden Age Champions book if you can. He's a rockin' clockwork armor man with a name I honestly wish I'd thought of first. I like to tell myself these are all quite un-Iron-Manly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baphomet Jones Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Partly stealing from Supreme Serpent's Elemental Armor idea, an Occultist/magic type who can physically merge with a statue of some sort to amp up his lacking physical abilities could be an option. He'd have a totally different skill set than a "standard" PA guy, and possibly some inherent abilities as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Gandhi Posted October 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Cool ideas guys:) A little info on my character, as I've got her pretty much done except for the actual suit and a few skills. She's the neice of a genuis who founded a high tech company. She assisted him with his work and handled the business side of things for him. A powered suit was his next great design, and he planned for it to help a lot of people, but as he was finishing it her died a tragic death. he neice decideds to finish the suit and use it to help people just like her uncle would have wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' "Power Armor" is really an ORIGIN (or Archetype if you prefer), not a power set or SFX, similar to MUTANT, ALTERED HUMAN, GADGETEER, ALIEN, MYSTIC, etc. Thus just about any SFX you can think of can be modified to suit. It's really kind of a non issue. Here is the last stab I took at doing a "guy in a machine" idea: http://www.killershrike.com/millennialmen/characterfiles/Goodspeed/GoodspeedTmp.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Gandhi Posted October 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' "Power Armor" is really an ORIGIN (or Archetype if you prefer), not a power set or SFX, similar to MUTANT, ALTERED HUMAN, GADGETEER, ALIEN, MYSTIC, etc. Thus just about any SFX you can think of can be modified to suit. It's really kind of a non issue. Oh, I know. Thats what I'm looking for, some ideas for a cool collection of powers that fit a general theme. I posted a little background to say that , while fairly cool, the ideas about magical armor and the like didn't quite fit. I thought that THOR armor idea was interesting, and I had the idea of an ORCA armor designed around underwater use, but the campaign is set in Millenium ity so I don't know how much use that would get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' A little info on my character' date=' as I've got her pretty much done except for the actual suit and a few skills. She's the neice of a genuis who founded a high tech company. She assisted him with his work and handled the business side of things for him. A powered suit was his next great design, and [b']he planned for it to help a lot of people[/b], but as he was finishing it her died a tragic death. he neice decideds to finish the suit and use it to help people just like her uncle would have wanted. Howabout a suit designed around emergency response? One of my friends' characters is CRISIS - "battle"suit designed for fire&rescue. Tough, LS, fireproof, strong+axe, water cannon, tow cable, flashing lights on shoulders, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' The power suit I am currently working on is intended to be a very simple jump-suit with built-in electronics (think Tron). All the effects are field-based... Armor is all built using force-fields (requires END, has visible effects, etc.). Weapons are also field-effects. Sensors are modified field effects. My intent in play (campaign hasn't started yet) is to play up the blurred field aspect and the general flashy aspect. She's designed to run stealth most of the time (complex invisibility effect with sfx of a simple EM-bending field) but when she's visible and actually being shot at things that hit her will give off lots of light (actually probably high-energy, not visible) radiation as it shed's energy. Etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' The power suit I am currently working on is intended to be a very simple jump-suit with built-in electronics (think Tron). All the effects are field-based... Armor is all built using force-fields (requires END' date=' has visible effects, etc.). Weapons are also field-effects. Sensors are modified field effects......[/quote'] Nice....Reminds me of my own, still unplayed character Sekkou. Grav based fields, using TK as the primary power base. -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' The power suit I am currently working on is intended to be a very simple jump-suit with built-in electronics (think Tron). All the effects are field-based... Armor is all built using force-fields (requires END, has visible effects, etc.). Weapons are also field-effects. Sensors are modified field effects. My intent in play (campaign hasn't started yet) is to play up the blurred field aspect and the general flashy aspect. She's designed to run stealth most of the time (complex invisibility effect with sfx of a simple EM-bending field) but when she's visible and actually being shot at things that hit her will give off lots of light (actually probably high-energy, not visible) radiation as it shed's energy. Etc. Yeah, I made a character like that back in 94 or 95 called Discus. Basically a powerarmored stealth/speedster Move By expert with a FF, and wrist mounted force plane discs Multipower that could be used as HKA's, RKA's, extra def, or missile deflection. My exwife played the character and was very successful with it in my NewGen campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WhammeWhamme Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' One idea I had that I never used was 'FiXiT - the Ultimate Repairman'. Designed (probably in the future, for the game I thought it up for, it was in the present) to allow a single man operation to construct an entire house, conduct any kind of home repairs, and just in general be an efficient construction device, this battle suit has been taken on a test run as a superhero for some reason.... Flight, assorted HKA/HA effects, armoured in case of accidents, 'ranged nail gun' (autofire RKA), 'ranged hammer/sledgehammer/jackhammer' (EB), probably stretching/extra limbs (probably tentacular), increased STR. Maybe welding gear, soldering gear... also easily able to make 'on the spot' personal repairs more easily than some designs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted October 21, 2005 Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Along those lines, one of the players in a past campaign played a Mr. Fixit concept character called Doc Sparx. In a later campaign he was talking about playing Allen Wrench, with a similar character concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Gandhi Posted October 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2005 Re: Power Armor 'themes' Howabout a suit designed around emergency response? One of my friends' characters is CRISIS - "battle"suit designed for fire&rescue. Tough' date=' LS, fireproof, strong+axe, water cannon, tow cable, flashing lights on shoulders, etc.[/quote']Hmm Super fireman meets EMT? Thats an interesting idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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