Who Was that Masked Man? (RAR!)

[Ahriman238]

I'm just left with the eternal question... teleportation or flight? Teleport seems far more practical but flight would be fun...

Also how does Scavenging work - do you actually have to kill them or can they just die around you from other causes? If so I'll choose it and healing and work in a hospital. Those too far gone for my help will fuel my reign of terror.

No, you don't have to kill someone to use the Scavenging power. Though it's an odd reign of terror that starts with healing the sick.

I know what you mean. I figure flight, just because the ability to fly free would be awesome.

[Darth Tanner]

Though it's an odd reign of terror that starts with healing the sick.

How else to get close to my deliciously terminally ill victims. *maniacal laugh* *maniacal laugh* *maniacal laugh*

I choose

Healing
Scavenge
Possibilities
Translation
Biomechanics
Teleport - I'll just teleport straight up and pretend I'm flying...

If I truly want to be an evil overlord though I'll drop heal and translation for shield and mind control.

EDIT: The speed power would make you nearly 2 and half times the speed of sound right?

[Raw Shark]

How about, "CTRL ALT DEL"?

I don't know. It's kind of too 90's.

Is that not the decade that you hail from? You can say that you were a prodigy and chose it at the age of 3 when it was more relevant.

Definite +1 for CTRL ALT DEL. It has that great overbearing caps / boom-boom-boom cadence BTK vibe to it. The Programer just isn't scary enough for what we're talking about here.

[avatarxprime]

A few questions
1)How does Kindred work exactly? If I copied a spider would I get Spider-Man level powers, or if I copied a rhino would I become nearly invulnerable or would it be a more direct copy where I would only be as tough/strong/fast as the animal I copied?

2)What about Probabilities? Can I deal with the assorted future seers by increasing the probability that say, I still get whatever it is I want, or can I just ignore their plans by increasing the probability that I don't get hurt or have some negative event happen to me?

3)Is Dimensional Gates something that can be controlled, or do you get a random alternate reality/dimension each time? If it can be controlled, do you get some knowledge of the other dimensions and realities out there so you can pick which one to open a gate to?

[Jub]

I think these are the six I'd want to go with.

Possibilities - 98% chance of a thing I want happening. Sign me up.
Alternate Futures - Making sure that any changes I try to make with the first power have the desired effects. Also good for doing things like picking stocks.
Healing - Why not keep myself healthy in the event that anything bad does happen.
Teleportation - Just an all around handy power. It's straight up better and faster than flight for getting around especially if you use conjure to make yourself immune to the effects of high altitude/space jump up as high as needed and then back down to your desired location.
Intangibility - In case teleportation just isn't enough to get someplace or dodge something.
Conjure - This is good for that limited but specific use sort of situation. I can also teleport before using it so nobody is around to hear the weakness that I set. It might be good to have something like mind control or charisma for longer than 15 minutes and without the limitations, but you can't have everything.

My mask would be the color of polished brass and be engraved with a series of impossibly detailed geometric patterns. These patterns would keep revealing new designs even if viewed under powerful microscopes.

If I was forced to choose a name it would be the Master of Secret Ways. It doesn't really describe my powers in the way you might think, but I would be the master of getting into places and ensuring that things go my way once I arrive.

[Raw Shark]

2)What about Probabilities? Can I deal with the assorted future seers by increasing the probability that say, I still get whatever it is I want, or can I just ignore their plans by increasing the probability that I don't get hurt or have some negative event happen to me?

Why do you think so many of us are snapping up both?

[Ahriman238]

A few questions
1)How does Kindred work exactly? If I copied a spider would I get Spider-Man level powers, or if I copied a rhino would I become nearly invulnerable or would it be a more direct copy where I would only be as tough/strong/fast as the animal I copied?

2)What about Probabilities? Can I deal with the assorted future seers by increasing the probability that say, I still get whatever it is I want, or can I just ignore their plans by increasing the probability that I don't get hurt or have some negative event happen to me?

3)Is Dimensional Gates something that can be controlled, or do you get a random alternate reality/dimension each time? If it can be controlled, do you get some knowledge of the other dimensions and realities out there so you can pick which one to open a gate to?

You'd normally be as fast/strong as the creature you're aping, unless that would be a downgrade. Using your powers on a spider wouldn't make you exactly Spider-Man, but you'd probably get wall-crawling, amazingly quick reflexes, the ability to sense movement of air currents say if something is incoming fast, venom and webbing.

Probabilities doesn't really work on the most complex things, you can alter the probability of specific events in your immediate vicinity. So rigging a coin toss or a dice throw is easy. Avoiding a car crash is easy, so is making someone trip, slip or stumble on demand, but you're not Marcus Ayers with absolute control over the future, not without a ton of preplanning anyway.

The Dimensional Gates will send you to specified alternate realities, though sometimes it will send you to one "close enough" for your purposes and it may take three or four tries if it's important that you access a specific alt reality, say where you previously sent someone.

[Jub]

So, what would you do with your powers?

Me, I'd start by using future sight and thinking of all the the local lotto retailers nearby and imagining me using possibilities to pick the best 5 tickets at each store. Even if there are no big winners in scratch tickets I can do the same thing for lotto numbers as well. The take might be smaller if other people with masks do this off the start, but I should still get a pretty decent chunk of change either way. I can also use it to check up long odds horses and dogs to be on and future sight what would happen if if I bet on different sports teams to win championships.

With money solved I don't have to use my powers to do anything, but I could make money being the ultimate delivery man. I could use conjure to for short term scrying or invisibility, teleport as near as I can to the target location and walk through the floor/walls to get where the delivery is needed. The delivery could even be healing the rich and powerful if anything serious happens to them. In fact I might just start by doing what I can for Hawking though given the powers limit I might not be able to do much if anything, perhaps some combo of healing and conjure could provide a lasting quality of life benefit to him and others.

Beyond that, I could pretty much choose which jobs to take and it isn't like I'd be easy to get rid of if I annoyed certain people while in the course of doing my job.

[avatarxprime]

Hmm, so far I think I'd get:

Kindred: Basically gives me access to every physical power, just needs a bit of planning to use at its fullest
Dimensional Gates: I get multiple new worlds I can go to for new powers, abilities, and gear
Conjure: Another power that gives me a great deal of flexibility, and basically access to all the powers I can't duplicate by Kindred
Alternate Futures: Good for just about anything really, and will help me use my other powers better since planning is important for them

@Ahriman238
A quick question about Conjure, the description says that you need limitations and weaknesses, so does that translate to the same as the way the other mask powers say things like time limits, range limits, and things like that?

[madd0ct0r]

So I rolled a dice 6 times, each time the roll being the additional number of steps down the list I go.
1,5,2,4,1,6

Shield- personal forcefield, engages automatically to protect you from any threat you're aware of. Proof against lightning, mortar fire, multiple tons of dropping stones, immersion in lava. User can still get knocked around by sheer force, though impact won't hurt either, and still be entrapped. Also, the mask is useless against snipers or ambush unless you choose to walk around with it on all the time.

Animal Control- control any number of animals within the immediate vicinity, at least to the extent of basic commands "get him" "protect her" and so on.

Conjure- can create temporary mask powers, said powers last fifteen minutes and then this power cannot be used for half a minute. Temporary powers cannot be too powerful or out of line with what other masks can do. The wearer must verbally describe the power to the mask, including limitations and a built-in weakness, effectively announcing this information to all within earshot.

Regeneration- instantly repair/regenerate inanimate materials, like roads or machines.

Biomechanics- mentally interface with and control machines.

Sonar- grants ability to echolocate.



I'm Batman.

[Ahriman238]

@Ahriman238
A quick question about Conjure, the description says that you need limitations and weaknesses, so does that translate to the same as the way the other mask powers say things like time limits, range limits, and things like that?

Essentially. Imagine you're playing a superhero RPG and trying to justify an original superpower to a skeptical GM. You'd need to be very, very specific about what your temporary power can and cannot do.

For my own picks:

Speed, because that's still pretty broken. Just use your head and keep moving.

Shield, because it's a dangerous world, and only going to be more so with superpowers.

Sonar, because the biggest weakness of the shield and speed both are I might not have that moment's warning that I need to raise the shield or haul ass. That or Enhanced Senses.

Fate, because it's a great physical booster that also lets you pull insane gymnastics stunts, at super-speed with the first mask.

Conjure, it appeals to the power-gamer in me, aside from granting a degree of flexibility I otherwise couldn't have.

Detection, funny enough, countermeasures to invisibility and illusion are a lot more common in the Bionicle universe than invisibility or illusion. Still seems worthwhile. Which gives us three masks with secondary powers, truth-sensing, detecting masks, and x-ray vision. Close call but I'm going to go with finding more masks and the people wearing them.


So pretty much invulnerable speedster with mask-sensing and tailored temp powers. If I need to use Conjure, I'll speed out long enough to describe the power somewhere else, unless I really can't spare a second, which is probably the real weakness of Conjure, the prep time. I seek out other masks, hoarding ones that fall in the wilderness somewhere secure and quite separate from my home. And try and form a super-team with friendly mask-wielders.