Power-ups

Hello this is a game called Power-Ups.

If you're not sure what this is you can check the original thread on the other forum to see what it's all about. This'll be a fresh start with more optimized fun times and, hopefully, me not being a massive scumlord and not updating for months on end.

SO ANYWAYS. Power-Ups is a fun little dungeon crawler type game where you are a blank state of a character. Everyone has has five active slots which you can put Power-Ups in to alter your character. They can range from stat boosts to spells to crazy shenanigans. When you level up those Power-Ups will lock in and you get a fresh five slots to put more Power-Ups in!

There is also the ability to mix and match Power-Ups with links for more fun times!

Here is an example of a character sheet. Everyone starts with super basic stats, five active slots and ten slots to carry around spare Power-Ups. You also come with a Inventory slot to carry around one time use items such as health drops, antidotes and other ammunition.

Now, BACK IN THE HALCYON DAYS Power-ups was pretty popular. So instead of a first come first serve basis which will bring chaos to the Eagle lands. There's going to be a mini competition of sorts to decide who's gonna take up the seven open player slots.

SO HERE IS A BUNCH OF POWER-UPS.

And here is what they do (going from left to right)

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Spoiler
Strength +3: Increases your attack power by 3.

Ability: Steal: Potentially steal a Power-Up from an enemy. Has a 2 turn cool down.

Spell: Icicle shot: Shoot a razor sharp icicle at an enemy. Water elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Speed +3: Increases your speed by 3.

Equip: Bow and Arrow: Bow and arrows that can be used from range. Comes with 5 arrows. +2 ATK.

Link: Links two Power-Ups together to create a new Power-Up.

Ability: HP attack: Sacrifice some HP to temporarily increase attack power. Can choose how much HP to sacrifice, every 5 HP increase ATK by 1. Attack increase only effects next attack Has a 1 turn cool down.

Defense +3: Increases your defense by 3.

Ability: Hit all: Divides attack to hit all enemies on screen. Has a 2 turn cool down.

Spell: Earth splinter: A shard of compressed ground strikes up to hit an enemy. Earth elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Magic +3: Increases your magic power by 3.

Equip: Battle shield: A basic shield used by soldiers. +2 DEF +1 ATK.

Ability: Toxify: Has a chance to poison an enemy. Has a 2 turn cool down.

Spell: Heal: Basic healing magic. Light elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Equip: Iron armour: Sturdy Armour that offers good protection. +4 DEF -1 SPD.

Spell: Fire ball: Shoot a blazing ball of fire from your fingertips. Fire elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Health +10: Increases your maximum HP by 10.

Equip: Giant hammer: A large, heavy hammer used for smashing peeps. +4 ATK -2 SPD +2 Bonus damage to machines.

Link: Links two Power-Ups together to create a new Power-Up.

Equip: Gnarled staff A old staff which emanates a magical aura. +3 MAG +1 ATK.

Equip: Katana: A slender blade from a distant land. +3 ATK +1 SPD

Spell: Dark pulse: An explosion of evil energy attacks the enemy. Dark elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Mana +10: Increases your maximum MP by 10.

Spell: Mini tornado: A small tornado rips into the enemy. Wind elemental. Costs 5 MP.

Ability: Attack break: Has a chance to lower an enemies attack power. Has a 3 turn cool down.

Now if you guys would come across these Ups while playing which 5 would you choose and why? When it comes to the Links you'll have to assume what they will make when combined with the other Ups.

I'll be looking for imaginative combos and all that. I know this seems a little essay-y and it's gunna suck being a judge but this seems like a fairer way than 'first people to see it get in'

Oh right and also give a name for your character. That's fairly important too.

So yeah if your interested take that little hypothetical Power-Up test and post it here. I'll decide who gets through a couple of days later. Hopefully this will be pretty fun! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Players:
1: GenetiXientist as Ug-Grag
2: Ouroboros as Kellander
3: Qualien as Ralyk
4: Plet53 as Nathaniel
5: Schazer as Trout
6: ICan'tGiveCredit as Krawdrie
7: Not The Author as Jack

YESSSSS I AM SO KEEN AS BEANS. Nostalgia being quite the powerful beast, I'm at least going to give a nod to my first run and call this guy Trout.

Ok so: My first choice would've been a build to utilise Thief-ing, because Power-Up stealing is great because it a) nerfs enemies who needed that power-up to be a credible threat, b) even worthless powerups you have three of like "spark attack" are good for selling/trading. I was also the Thief last time haha nope, turns out Slorange was the thief, I was the cleric, but either way I really liked the mechanic.

Then I realised that the thief build was hella fragile and (despite speed investment) didn't work fast enough to be any real use. Its core ability's inherent unreliability didn't help matters, either.

I then realised a fatal flaw with our last team and all its highly-specced archers and ninjas and rogues and other fragile builds was that the tanks were kind of useless. If everyone had to congregate on the Boss each turn to land a hit on it anyway, it would usually do the expected minimal damage on the tanks, and rip all the casters/rogues/rangers new arseholes. What made matters even worse was that it'd take the Tank a couple extra turns to get in the firing line anyway, because between armour and specialised weapons they weren't built for speed.

So this is my solution: A tank that can actually tank.

Hit All Linked with Battle Shield creates the Interceptor, a shield which can draw All Enemy Attacks (albeit with a cooldown, which makes it a strategic decision about when it's best to use this ability).

The last two slots could be any of:
Iron Armour, Health+10, or Defense+3 so I can actually take hits. Iron Armour could also be Linked with the Interceptor to make me into some kind of living statue.

Heal and Mana+10 is another valid option, if I'm exclusively relying on others to kill the monster in question. Heal also has good synergy with Hit All; a second Link lets me cast Heal All as well as Tank All.

Ffffffffffffffyes

This seems kinda neat I guess I am a little
INTERESTED

Gelato Guy George

Heal + Link + Attack Break
Seriously? You're hitting a guy who just handed you a bowl of gelato? Heartless, man. Just heartless. I know I'd take a turn to eat that gelato before I could really hit him and mean it. It's real energizing stuff, too. All those sugars and flavorings your body needs.

Mana + 10
This cart here holds lotsa gelato

Iron Armor
Whoa there fellas, there's plenty of gelato to go around

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SpoilerStrategy? what's a strategy?

Augh shitfuck yes please

Okay

Okay

So

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SpoilerAbility: HP Attack | Link | Strength +3 | Equip: Katana | Spell: Dark Blast

This build is focused on guerilla-style combat and single-target damage.
The core of the build is HP Attack, which allows me to do nominal amounts of damage at the cost of my own survivability. It's linked to Strength +3 in the hopes that this will act as linking Heal and Magic+ did the first time around. Plus there's the extra damage regardless of what the Link does.
Katana's equipped both so my base attack's not abysmal and so I can escape a bit easier after killing myself.
Dark Blast is present so my MP doesn't go to waste, so we have some source of elemental damage, and so I can soften up enemies while closing in and running off.

Other options include:
HP Attack-Link-Health +10, for slightly more survivability/HP Attack ammo, and in the hopes of reducing the cost of HP Attack.
HP Attack-Link-Mana +10, because MP Attack. If that doesn't happen, though, the bonus Mana's a bit of a waste, which is why this'n's not at the top.
Heal, but I figure Heal would be better spent on someone not designed to run up to enemies and proceed to stab themselves in the foot.
Katana-link-Toxify, so if my HP Attack fails to kill them, there's a chance they'll get offed by poison.

Due to the endlessness of the possibilities, I opted to focus on HP Attack to make shit a bit easier. Though... in retrospect HP Attack doesn't really have an appealing cost-reward ratio. Whopf. I'll just pray for a dedicated tank and/or Healer. Or for MP Attack to be a thing.

While the above is my preferred build, I can make some other builds if you like. Would you prefer just the one? 'Cause I had this other one I kinda liked too...


Also Jack because Jack is still the best name. Besides, what better to call an empty shell with unlimited potential?

in
LAWRENCE THE PALADIN
Equip: Iron Armour
Equip: Giant Hammer
Equip: Battle Shield
Mana + 10
Heal

Lawrence is built to be a tank. He's got literally every piece of defense i could pile on him right now. The Iron Armour, Giant Hammer and Battle Shield all make him a defensive powerhouse, and the heal and mana add to his bulk (i decided that being able to cast healing spells more often was probably going to be more useful than just having more health, and even if my current heal translates 1mp-1hp, i'll be able to do more with it in safer situations) That said, he can't go fast.

Lawrence... has protective instincts. It basically overrides rational thought nine times out of ten, and he'll throw himself into danger to protect anyone. He sees a threat or a perceived threat, and he will do anything to protect those he cares about from danger. Unfortunately, he's a little paranoid, and can at times go completely over the edge even about the tiniest threats.

Quote:
"YOU WILL NOT DRINK MY FRIENDS' BLOOD, YOU DISEASED VAMPIRE!" (said to a small insect Lawrence thought was a mosquito. It turned out to be a plain-old fly.)

YESSSSS.

Wooot! Best game that ever came out of the other forum.

..Turns out I'm extremely boring. Don't like being attached to mana, or arrows or anything. Once it's gone you're screwed.

Strength +3

Speed +3

Equip: Iron armour

Link:

Equip: Katana

I'd probably honestly use no links and get either defense or Health boost, but hey, gotta use at least one. Here we have katana armour. Probably damages attackers? course then I have no weapon any more. Or maybe it's a heavily armoured sword... what would that even do?

How about Eleka for a name. (see what I did there?)

Ok, down to business.

Name: Ug-Grag

Equip Giant Hammer-Link-Equip Gnarled Staff: Ug-Grag (Greg to his friends retaking Cave Art 101) is highly proficient in the use of a huge wooden club. The fact that it is magical and makes pretty lights every so often just makes Greg like it more when it goes smash on something.

Defense +3: Greg, being rather low on the evolutionary tree, has more skull than brain in his head. He likes using his head as a test to see how hard something is, usually via headbutt. (Greg, sadly, probably has CTE by now. )

Strength +3: Greg hit HARD. When Greg hits you, you will probably stop moving. Whether by huge club or by thick skull, Greg will hit you with something and scream incoherently. It's kind of his thing.

Ok, I figure I should explain my choices beyond "Greg the Caveman SMASH."

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SpoilerThe linked weapon is something I'm intrigued by, as it would presumably add a magical element to any physical attack, thus giving Greg the ability to deal with rather physically strong enemies without resorting to "help me, oh mighty wizard around 5 rooms away!" The defense and strength are each to help shore up deficiencies in his physical stats: his speed suffers terribly, but he's strong and can take hits without immediately needing to heal, again giving him survivability.

A few other options, while still keeping the weapon (I like the idea of a caveman swinging a club around, sorry,) would be speed +3 to compensate for the loss of speed from the weapon, heal to improve Greg's ability to survive on his own, or dark pulse to deal damage that doesn't involve being nest to the enemy.

Name: Barista

Equip: Iron Armour
LINK
Equip: Battle Shield
LINK
Equip: Bow and Arrow

Okay okay so stay with me here
The armour is all like, it's basically like a giant wearable wall
except there are holes in it
and out of these holes arrows fire out
brilliant

Name: Flam

Spell: Fire
LINK
Equip: Iron armour
LINK
Speed +3

At first I wanted to have Armour + Fire, which would basically cause me to be on fire like all the time, which sounds pretty cool. But then I wanted to go really fast. So what we're left with is a guy who can run really fast, leaving a trail of fiery death behind him.

So anyway Flam would work as some kind of fire scout. He would basically be a hit and run type of character. He would be able to block off enemies by making a trail of fire behind him.

Aw man, are we doing this again?

Okay, uh...

Spell: Fire Ball (5 MP)
Spell: Icicle Shot (5 MP)
Spell: Earth Splinter (5 MP)
Mana +10
Mana +10 or Magic +3

Now, I know it's really simple, and it's not my game-breaking mass-buff strategy from the last time we did this, but this is exactly the sort of thing we needed more of in the last game. Last time, everyone loaded up on weapons and ended up equipped to deal with one thing really well. But as soon as we split the party and had to start leaving people on buttons, people ended up screwing themselves over because only one guy could deal with fire enemies and they were in another room. What we really needed was someone who had a whole mess of different spells for dealing with different types of enemies in different situations.

So it's not fancy, but in my opinion, it's the character we needed last game.

Edit: Also he is Wizardbeard the Wise

I think I'd try building a spellsword type for this game, considering all the possible links and spells and such. I don't typically play magic users unless there's some kind of metal between me and my foes, and even then I prefer rangers or fighters. But it seems like magic would be really fun to play here, and it's always good to broaden one's horizons, I think (even though I'm the pickiest eater in the world). I could play a supportive and offensive role with magic, and if mana becomes a problem, I'd always have my trusty blade to help out. The best defense is a good offense, right?

My character Ralyk would have..
Equip: Katana - The main component of my build, and of my offensive capabilities.
Link - To imbue my weapon with spells and abilities, and possibly mix spells up. Experimentation is a wonderful thing!
Spell: Dark Pulse - Dark magic is always fun to mess around with, and I'd like to try it out with my katana first.
Spell: Earth Splinter - Because why not choose the under-rated element? It could also make an interesting combination with the katana.
Spell: Heal - For support and sustenance in and out of battle.

P.S. I've followed the first game fairly closely and I've always been interested in it, and getting the chance to actually play is just really cool in of itself!!

Let's face some facts here. A lot of the time, arrows have two main problems in range and requiring ammo. To this issue I present...

dramatic pause

THE BOW OF THE WINDS
Equip: Bow & Arrow
Link: Link
Spell: Mini Tornado
Besides shooting arrows imbued with extra range provided by tiny tornado thrusters, this magnificent little beast has the ability to cast a mini tornado... arrow... thing for the low cost of 5 MP. Truly a versatile weapon.

Despite having many (2 is more than one and therefore many) great functions, the BOW OF THE WINDS is not enough for a character. This is why I've selected...

Ability: Steal
Ability: Attack All

They would call him Nathaniel. And he would be the greatest wind thief-ranger to ever do that unless thieves also use bows in which case he would be the greatest wind thief to ever do. Besides, long range provides opportunities for sniping. The best job on any team.

Yeah yeah yeah! I will profile when it's not shitlate

Name: Robin

Spell: Heal
Ability: Toxify
Ability: Steal
Link
Link

Steal + Link = Combo (Temporarily link a skill with an ally's)


Alternate Combos:

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SpoilerHeal + Steal = Drain Life (because nobody f*cks with the White Mage)
Heal + Toxify = Cure Poison
Toxify + Link = Toxic Ability (Small chance of causing poison when using an ability)

I'm so glad to see this thing again. The old game was great.

Name: Chypre

Ability: Steal - LINK - Mana +10

Equip: Gnarled Staff

Spell: Fire ball

Assuming that the Steal - Link - Mana +10 actually allows you to steal Mana, you've got a basic mage that has a way of replenishing their ability to keep shooting fireballs. As builds go it's not very versatile in terms of spells, but hypothetically once they level up they could get around to fixing that. The Gnarled Staff was chosen for the +3 MAG, and seemed like a better choice than the Magic +3 power up because you also get the +1 ATK and something to bash enemies with if everything goes horribly wrong.

:O i srsly just read the whole gogdamn thing. I want to be the eternal slave of a devil god SO BAD

I have a question.... WHY AREN'T THERE ANY FEMALES?! Do these blank state characters even have genders? If so, this one shall be the first female one.

Now presenting...

THE ANGELIC HOUSEWIFE COMBOOO

Name: Krawdrie (Audrie except with that classical "Stone Age" feel to it)

Equip: Iron Armor
Power-ups: Wind Tornado
Link
Steal
Speed +3

I would Link the Wind Tornado with the Iron armor: means enemies can't really touch me since I can FLYYY weeeeee. Plus, it offers good protection overall! /pun "protection"
Speed is gonna mean I always get the first shot to do whatever. Due to the fact that I could utilize the Steal to make sure the enemies don't pose too much of a threat. I may not have much in terms of attack but atleast it's ranged! They can't catch me but I can still hit them without even laying a finger with Wind Tornado.

Steal
Magic +3
Dark Pulse
Gnarled Staff
Speed +3

Name: Renji (For old time's sake)

In this incarnation, Renji is going to build more towards a spellrogue playstyle than the more traditional sneaky thief from last time. The ability to steal is useful, and frankly fairly necessary to keep the team as a whole strong and supplied with good powers-up, but it needs to be backed with some damage-dealing potential so he's not a fifth wheel when the boss rolls around or an enemy has had all its stuff stolen already.

To that end, he's linked steal with a dark-element spell, just because it seems like the most appropriate element for being a thiefwizard. He originally considered Linking steal with Dark Pulse for a damaging spell with a chance to steal, but decided not to tie his stealing ability to his limited MP pool. He likes the idea of being able to cast less often but more powerfully more than having a larger MP pool that would hit harder over the long term, because a few good hits up front is THE ROGUE WAY, not some big battle of wizardly attrition, so he went with MageUp rather than MP+.

All in all he'd be a first-tier thief and a second-tier caster, primarily focused on roguing until he couldn't rogue no more. As he leveled, he'd balance his advancement between other ways to steal and cripple enemies and expanding his elemental repertory to diversify attack types. He should have decent damage-dealing potential for those times he's not busy enriching his allies with a treasure trove of stolen powerups, but it's not his focus.

I have a question!

Even if I don't get in (I don't think I will, I'm not creative :( ) a problem with the last game, at least in my mind, was that it started out as a "first come, first serve" game in terms of actually grabbing things. Will there be a greater variety of powerups and/or a greater ability for each person to access them? Like, maybe, the ability to choose a power-up or 2 to start with, so that no one feels left out when the drops begin appearing?

I have a question!

Even if I don't get in (I don't think I will, I'm not creative :( ) a problem with the last game, at least in my mind, was that it started out as a "first come, first serve" game in terms of actually grabbing things. Will there be a greater variety of powerups and/or a greater ability for each person to access them? Like, maybe, the ability to choose a power-up or 2 to start with, so that no one feels left out when the drops begin appearing?

There's going to be a lot more Power-Ups hanging around in the beginning to get people started. I can understand the whole 'someone ninjas all the cool stuff' thing can suck sometimes.

There's going to be a lot more Power-Ups hanging around in the beginning to get people started. I can understand the whole 'someone ninjas all the cool stuff' thing can suck sometimes.

Ok, thanks for answering so quickly!

Name: Valerie

Equip: Gnarled Staff
LINK
Spell: Mini Tornado
Mana+10
Magic+3


LINK: FLYING STAFF: It's not quite as witchy as a flying broomstick, but I work with what I have.

Can you have a link in the last slot of the set of five, and connect it with the first slot of the next level's five? If so, I'd instead of what I've got down I'd put Mana+10 in 4th and another LINK in 5th, and then put Ability: STEAL in the first slot of the next set of five to create STEAL MANA

Can you have a link in the last slot of the set of five, and connect it with the first slot of the next level's five?

Nope sorry. Any more than 2 links in your active slots would not be very useful.

All these are great so far! I'll probably give it one more day and then I'll choose who gets in.

Hmm...

I have no idea how this works but I shall give it a try~

Name: Libra

Hit All - Link - Steal

Libra had her place in the annals of thievery. A high place; one she stole, in fact, right under its rightful owners' nose at the very time it was presented to him. She also stole everyone else's places as well. No one graduated from the Academy that day except for her.

It was said, if you gave her two seconds, she could steal the hair out of your nostrils. And everyone else's. Except who wants a huge pile of nose hairs, honestly?

Speed +3

Not to mention she had some of the fastest times ever recorded. Perhaps it made her less strong or sturdy than some of her compatriots, but -

Equip: Katana

-who needs that when you have a sword that seems to cut the air itself? A solid whip of metal, 'bequeathed' involuntarily to her by some old foreign fart who never noticed his saya empty until she was long gone.

Libra: The balancer of wealth.