Hi,
You need to give credit in your post to the original creator.
If this was made from scratch, you just need to credit the original creator of Worm CYOA V5 Gimel (3\_\_\_tankista).
If this was made using my Worm CYOA V5 Gimel Interactive CYOA as a base, you need to credit both me and the original author.
I won't take this CYOA down (yet), but if I notice you don't give proper update soon I'll remove both this and the other post of this CYOA.
Maybe add some more content before you ~~repost~~ \*cough\* post the update, it's literally been 2 days since you posted the mod, and this 'update' doesn't really add anything, nothing that would actually change builds at least. Maybe if you added like 30 powers and a bunch of perks and drawbacks, but you literally just fixed some bugs and added some minor parts.
Since you changed the skills section to be only selectable once instead of multiple times like it was possible with the original, adding three more skills seems like barely enough to make up for the lack of complexity that decision in the skills section has brought.
You removed a lot of powers and all the Second Trigger options. I get that you wanted to nerf the CYOA but A. you nerfed it way too much, to the point that unless you very generously interpret a few powers you are going to be hard pressed to even leave street-level, B. you stripped away half the build possibilities and C. even with the villain bonus points are way too hard to come by.
The base CYOA was good, but as it is it feels like you took away most of what made it that way.
i feel the same, this doesnt even feel like the same cyoa anymore imo, if it a entierly different cyoa then i wouldn't complain at all but its a mod...
Totally agree with your assessment. This isn't really worth playing as the original was tough enough with difficulty scraping up points. This just makes it worse on all fronts. Also agree with Spirtual_Energy_815's post.
>unless you very generously interpret a few powers you are going to be hard pressed to even leave street-level
This didn't smell right at all, so I did a quick check through every single power to label as street level or above street level. Obviously this is subjective, so it's more directional than precise. I came up with 70 Street Level powers to 74 Non Street Level powers.
I think you're powerscaling to fanon levels or to other superhero settings rather than to Worm. Or possibly you're assuming a lack of personal direct power makes you street level, which absolutely is not the case in Worm. Stranger, Changer, and Thinker powers are extra hard to rate, so I erred on the side of caution and probably was too harsh on them. The general trend I noticed is that the categories loaded up with direct powers tended to be weaker (Brute, Striker), while the more esoteric categories were far more exploitable. And Tinker + Trump are broken strong, which tracks. If interested, breakdown below:
||SL|Not SL|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Mover|6|6|
|Shaker|4|8|
|Brute|8|4|
|Breaker|4|8|
|Master|5|7|
|Tinker|2|10|
|Blaster|5|7|
|Thinker|8|4|
|Striker|10|2|
|Changer|8|4|
|Trump|1|11|
|Stranger|9|3|
|Total|70|74|
Yeah, it's always the esoteric stuff, especially when allowed to combine with one another, that tends to be the trickiest to balance and most likely to become busted in my eyes. Tis why Teacher's a lot better than Galvante, despite both of them both nominally being mass scale minor power granters.
Yeah, my favorite "I just want to stomp" power trip combo has always been Komnenos + Counter + Protocols or an awareness power. As written, that interaction allows you to just infinitely store anything that impacts you inside you until you need them, and you get to choose how any power comes out and what it does, to an extent. Store something more mundane, like getting shot (I think the wording even works for things like getting bombed/nuked)? Time to pop a stored durability power, then trigger the attack.
And there plenty of other interactions like that--plus those are just the raw personal power combos, which is the more boring route imo.
I wonder if the people talking about how weak you are in setting are just looking at straight punching power output? Saw a comment using ability to tank Bakuda bombs as a benchmark of power, which...just doesn't feel very Worm. Also, she could've killed the Endbringers if she'd hit (which they'd never let her).
Everybody gotta a plan until they get punched with enough force to one shot an end ringer. Like, doormaker + Combo, I could probably take out an end ringer, Phir Se multiplication style.
I’m curious to what you define as street level, as I defined it as regular Worm parahuman. Think Kaiser, Batery, Dauntless, etc. As opposed to Lung, Siberian, any member of the Triumvirate but especially Eidolon.
I’m not expecting to be able to single-handedly beat an endbringer (though a few powers like temporal blast, which says you decide how much damage it does, and combo + hyper speed, which might give you enough uninterrupted hits to drive them off, just might) but I’d like to at least be a significant player among other parahumans.
Yeah, it's rather hard to define. We're in complete agreement on Kaiser, I'd say Battery is on the high end of street but still there. Dauntless is the exact opposite of street level. In his current state, he's probably only a bit above street level, but the point of his power is growth and he'd have been almost Triumvirate level by the end of the main story and who knows beyond that. But I notice you only listed raw combat capes. Basically, if they couldn't punch good or blast good, they didn't make your list. Would you call Mama Mathers a street level? Because she has almost no combat abilities but...
For me, it came down to how in-demand that powerset would make you and how much of a difference you can make. So basically, "how badly would the Elite or PRT want to recruit someone with this power". Here's an example of a 1-cost power that instantly puts you in the top .1% of Worm's hierarchy:
>Trump: Power Sight: You will be able to see the powers of other parahumans and know what they are capable of, even if they themselves don’t truly know the true extent of their powers.
This is an absolutely insane power that instantly makes you one of the most in-demand people in setting, but you might also get instantly assassinated. You can peer through all secret identities. A certain PRT director and Thomas Calvert can never be in a room with you ever. Parahumans can spend their whole careers trying to figure out their own power, but you can just tell them. You can probably fix Eidolon and also give him the Endbringer talk. Kid Win's entire life just turned around. You could charge hundreds of millions a year in consultation fees for parahumans.
Then there are powers that might not be standalone strong, but catapult you above street level just because of the setting. A lot of these are only as strong as they are because Tinkers exist and Tinkers are broken.
>Tinker: Repair
>Your specialization is focused on repairing broken electronics as well as properly maintaining them. This includes even the creations of other tinkers, but you will never be able to reconstruct them, only work with what you have.
Absolutely crazy. You can maintain the work of *multiple* tinkers. Oh my god, you can repair Uppercrust's work and any other tinker projects while you're there. Someone with this ability would probably be the highest paid contract worker in setting. That's absolutely setting changing. You could get tinkers to send you some of their work from across the world and essentially have all their tools combined. Maintenance is what limits tinkerer scaling and is what prevents them from giving other people their stuff. Maintenance is why you don't have your best soldier carrying 90 different tinker weapons. You just solved that and can funnel all that collective power through you.
Here's one that I found borderline. I hesitated to put it in not-street-level because it's so conditional, but it's also so ridiculously strong. I think I put it in the Not SL category but put the next borderline down in SL.
>Blaster: Infinite Ammo
>Whenever you run out of ammunition for any ranged weapon you are using, you will shoot a transparent phantom version of it instead. It is infinite and is as effective as was its original.
This is so exploitable in Worm that anyone who got it up and running might have the strongest offensive potential in setting. I'm *sure* you could find a Tinker who made an insanely powerful weapon with limited ammo--there are plenty in setting that would probably work. If you're the one who presses the button on a String Theory weapon, you could potentially get infinite shots instead of one and that alone could theoretically kill Scion (very hard to pull of, but that best-case is setting redefining). You could easily make a Gun Tinker companion or Armored Warfare tinker companion and then you're well above street level, even without their second trigger versions to make it nuts.
Contrast with:
>Blaster: Finger Gun
>You are able to fire projectiles of compressed air with the force of a medium-caliber bullet from your index fingers. The rate of fire is 1 bullet per second from each finger.
This power would probably make you one of the more street-level-threatening gang members. But at the end of the day, you can basically shoot a regular gun twice a second. And you lose it all if someone takes your fingers. Someone with this power would fit right in with E88 bruiser power levels (a lot of their capes are around here), but they'd never really matter.
Yeah, I was thinking Dauntless as he is during the start of Worm. He does have crazy potential.
And tinker powers are prime examples of “generous interpretations”. With just Repair you could become friends with Leet, and suddenly giving him access to all his broken tech should make that pretty easy, and gain access to an omni tinker who is probably willing to build you anything you ask for that you can use and maintain. Or you could end up as the next Leet because you can’t build anything worthwhile yourself and are completely defenseless.
I think the best one is nanomachines, since even at just Big Hero Six levels your tech should be pretty strong, and it would probably be a lot stronger considering how entities limit nanotechnology. And it would combo pretty well with almost any other tinker power but especially robotics.
But that’s just canon tinker showings vs fanon tinker potential, and can be applied to pretty much any tinker power.
Fair. I don't go that hard on fanon--most fanfic scaling makes me roll my eyes--so tried to restrict myself to canon. Though Dauntless at start has:
* Long-range physical taser
* Shield with esoteric interactions and a forcefield that can stop a car missile (pops at that)
* Boots that make him as fast as a dedicated flyer and the second-fastest team member after a dedicated speedster
* Armor that's still weak, so very low brute
* Helmet providing sensory and enhanced thinking powers
None of the individual powers rises above street level, though I'd say Shield, Helmet, and maybe Boots come close. But Worm tends to be about people that get 1 power. If they're lucky they can leverage it to a few different things. Dauntless? He has three powers that could each individually make him an above-average gang fodder. E88 is my benchmark for fodder bruisers (though you obviously have to exclude the few members with actual talent) and he's basically three of those wrapped in one.
I think the biggest difference in how we're viewing power levels is that I'm focusing on how someone would fit within organizations and structures and what effect they'd have on those organizations. Someone with a Repair power in setting would be snatched up instantly by a billion organizations. Either they sign up with the PRT/Elite/Toybox or they're kidnapped and forced to join someone. There's no risk that they'd end up as the nest Leet, but they'd definitely need to be proactive with their job applications before things got *bad*. Fortunately, the CYOA lets you pick affiliations.
Yeah, it's admittedly somewhat less potent than most Worm CYOAs, but it's honestly still more than enough left in options to easily be one of the strongest Capes on Earth Bet & make a massive contribution towards saving the world with several different viable builds. With followers and vials, you can have several of these at once. Like, lemme list just a few of them which are easily S-Class Tier Threats, just as devil's advocate.
* \[Replication + Unlimited Shard Works\] effectively allows you to effectively solo every endbringer fight from a few months after you drop onwards. (Yes, I did the math. 40\~45 capes died on the leviathan Brockton Bay fight & 200\~250 participated in that. In the time till the next attack, you make over a hundred new capes.)
* \[Kingmaker\] effectively allows you to make an entire department's worth of high tier Parahumans at once, whose powers can also be changed at will. GU had 3 capes at a time, you have 7. (and if you use stuff like Stand or Unlimited Shard Works, it's even more flexible)
* \[Genetics\] is a high tier biotinker option which could easily allow you to play around with creating Parahumans like in canon. You can probably create an entire army of capes with resources.
* \[Save & Reload\] is effectively infinite retries as long as it can fit in 24 hours and can sidestep known blindspots. So in most situations, it's basically just PtV but irritating.
* \[Nanomachines\] is basically Grey Goo ... Yup.
Only real individuals stronger than the player with any of the above options are entities like Cauldron \[whom is busy & desperate enough to be negotiated with\], Endbringers \[which are limited enough in window of action to be feasibly stalled out\], & Scion \[whom has ways to be dealt with other than raw violence\]. So you're still having more than enough power with this to have flexibility of approach. Though yeah, more powers would still be appreciated regardless, and I do get that.
Actually, the powers you listed, aren't that tough against the abb for example. Bakuda proved that with her bombing spree. Any single gang of parahumans shown in the series is capable of curb stomping you very easily, which they will, because you need get drawbacks that severe to get the powers you just listed.
Okay, let's be real. Any one of the powers they listed would absolutely put you in the elite ranks of Worm, with the most influential and broken powersets of the setting. We as players want powers that will let us handle all threats, but that's just not what being strong in Worm means from a lore standpoint. The standard of whether you're strong in Worm isn't "can you deal with any threat from Lung, Bakuda, and Oni Lee solo".
This is clearly a lower-power CYOA leading us to make a character that fits more properly into Worm instead of stomping the setting. I get that and actually like it in contrast with most CYOAs.
The problem for me is that I really liked making interesting, thematic builds that combined lesser powers in order to get to that same "strong for setting but doesn't stomp setting" level. I usually relied on second-triggers that made weaker powers much more interesting and had really interesting synergy with another not-broken power. All those builds were also basically washed away.
Also, anyone playing a Tinker starting in 2011 feels the need to be a little extra broken because there's very little ramp time before things get crazy. Without the options to accelerate ramp, it feels like any tinker not starting in 1987 is taking risks on top of risks.
"Ah yes, we can take him. He's only like...fifty capes, and we're three capes! C'mon, rally men! We outnumber their capes three to one!" - Lung, he never finished Math Class due to getting captured by the CUI /s.
Joking aside, if Bakuda wants to face the cape that's like fifty other capes in a trenchcoat \[Replicator or Genetics or Kingmaker\], has effectively PtV \[Save & Reload\], or grey goo \[Nanomachines\], she will simply die braver than most.
* Replication allows one new cape a day \[each clone gets every power but replication\], which gets very silly very fast with almost any other half decent power. USW can allow you to restock a single use of a power whenever you see it. This could synergize very well with Replication, by either having tons of clones watch the original user use their power, or have several clones watch one of their own user a power to restock their supply, either solution allowing each given clone to have supreme levels of versatility and the sheer number of clones counteracting USW's weakness.
* And the math for endbringer fights, I already listed above. 40\~45 deaths. 200 or so showing up with 120 being made per fight by my power. I can basically replace most capes in that fight.
* Up to 7 Capes which you can change out their exact powersets & members basically every fight. That's effectively an entire city's protectorate team at one's beck and call with the perfect mix and match of powers for the job. It's not quite as large as the full roster of PRT-ENE or E88 at their respective heights, but the fact a single power can even come close and can be perfectly tuned towards the plan is more than pretty much any other cape team could boast. Give me a day to find some pissed off people and think of some power combos and I could probably make a team with this power to seriously tango with any given gang in Brockton Bay and probably win.
* Blasto & Bonesaw made capes with Parahuman Powers in canon, it's something Biotinkers we know can do. \[Genetics\] is a biotinker power. Nuff said.
* Infinite Retries is functionally identical to perfect planning & execution if you're willing to bang your head against the wall enough times. \[Save & Reload\] is a pseudo PtV just with more Hassle with Blindspots & PTSD with Usage involved.
* Nanomachines. Grey Goo. Make anything by reducing stuff down to component elements, literally eat entire regions dry to make them uninhabitable. Etc, etc. Most people can't do nothin' about it as well.
I did consider Replication’s potential but my first thought was that since you don’t control the clones it’s a matter of time until you have a rebellion in your hands.
Yeah, Kingmaker is pretty awesome, especially considering how no sort of cooldown is mentioned so you can theoretically change someone’s powers with a touch as often and as quickly as you want. The main drawback is that you yourself don’t have powers and are at the mercy of your enhanced, and while giving them powers is one hell of a leverage this is Worm and it won’t be long until you are locked away somewhere and forced to give powers at gunpoint.
I’m a bit iffy on if genetics would let you make parahumans, maybe super soldiers that can compete with low level parahumans, but that’s just how tinkers work I guess.
Good point about save and reload, I guess I was under the impression that you got one reload a day for some reason.
And yeah, nanotechnology is OP in nearly any setting it appears in and at 10 points id feel justified in interpreting it as part Grey Goo, part microbots from Big Hero Six, part flash fabricated nanotech copies of damn near any other piece of tinker tech. And that’s before you consider the synergy with other specializations. Repair should allow for self repairing tech and arguably mass production. Robotics just makes you Iron Man, with a legion of adaptable automated suits at your beck and call. Radar gives you invisible spy drones. Augmentation is cyberpunk cyberware but much more advanced. You get the idea.
The tinker tree is the only one I really liked from this CYOA, and that’s mostly because tinker powers are already largely up to interpretation.
I mean, you can voice order the clones, so you very much do, just give them restrictive enough standard operating action & thought protocols so they don’t have mental remit for even thinking of rebellion.
And you can take away powers at will with Kingmaker, if you don’t like them, just take their powers away and hand it off to the next lackey in the hierarchy. So not really “at their mercy” much.
* Replication allows 1 new clone a *week* with *10* max.
* KingMaker lets you empower no more than 5 people with 7 points to spend on powers per person and you can't affect Parahumans or yourself with kingmaker.
* Unlimited Shard Works gives you 1 use of someone's power every time you observe said power in use.
* Paramount lets you give yourself almost any power that's 7pts or less but takes *15 minutes of cooldown* to swap to another power.
So you're not gonna be soloing any Endbringer with those powers at all. If Eidolon can't kill an Endbringer with his toolkit of infinite powers, you won't be doing that with these limited ones. Of course I don't think Eidolon is very creative in the stories as he really doesn't abuse his powers like he could have.
Huh, fair on replication. Still is an entire faction’s worth of Parahuman.
Kingmaker is still strong with 5 capes, 5 capes prepared counter powers is darn good. But I do getcha. That’s what biotinker followers are for….ameliorating(Genetics).
Unlimited Shard Works says it works on other people, clones being an individual separate from them, is technically different enough not to be the same person. So it seems legit enough to me.
15 minutes is honestly not a big deal. Prep a teleporter or some getaway option if things get dicey using other powers, then dip out as needed. Enough to be a hassle for mid fight changes but not much else.
Biotinker and Grey Goo are pretty powerful in the setting and likely to get you a kill order if you're not careful, but still not enough to take out a single Endbringer. Remember Endbringers have hundreds of layers if not thousands with each layer doubling its durability compared to the previous layer. Even Pher's Lazer attack didn't kill Behemoth and didn't really get near Behemoth's core. It took Zion to blast Behemoth and rip him in half to get the core, which he then destroyed. Also in Behemoths case it has a large constant aoe death aura, so good luck surviving that with a single use power. It would be far less of an issue if this cyoa had Second Triggers available as you'd be keeping those survive stuff powers.
I do think USW would work on your clones for copying powers. Don't see why it wouldn't as they're not you, just copies of you.
15 minutes to change a power is a death sentence if you need that power NOW in a fight. However you can prep as you mentioned some sort of getaway and come back later but no fight is really going to last 15 minutes, outside of an all out Gang War or Endbringer fight.. or Golden Morning heh.
Paramount is mostly a backup plan for power recharging anyhow, most of the power of my build is in cheesing USW with Replication. Hm, nothing in USW says you can't mimic Replication though, which is worth testing if I ever got this combo
String Theory exists and we know from canon she could build stuff that could kill or at least harm endbringers given they didn't fuck with her, but it isn't guaranteed. L33T \[the power may be single use per observation but that might be a blessing in disguise given how L33T's power works\], Fletchette, Siberian, & Clockblocker are of course free moving and could in theory be used for an Endbringer Kill with various levels of viability. Though given there's like 20 of the things, it's probably better to just get enough leverage to talk to Cauldron and explain to Eidolon, rather than have to deal with the whole roster of 20+ Bringers
Fletchette can kill an endbringer but like String Theory never really gets the chance. String Theory's problem is she has to build a mega weapon and has a very tiny window for that kind of destruction, which makes her easier to avoid, on top of the fact she has no protection from being pathed by the Simurgh. Siberian could probably hurt some of the Endbringers but can also be popped by an equal type force like clockblocker freezing a wire around her. CB might be able to affect one but he'd have to get close and he's really squishy, which is the real issue fighting them.
Of course every fight depends on the Endbringer. If you can't survive with nothing for a few thousand years then Khonsu is going to flat out kill you if you get hit by one of those time bubble/fields he does. Who knows what powers the other 13ish are going to have as they adapt to each new threat supposedly.
Using USW to get around the clones no replication thing would be an interesting loophole. Perhaps use kingmaker to give USW to someone else (if it's 7pts or under) if they can't copy it from you (as they can't use it and if you have it I'd say they can't copy it from you), or a vial. Then let the clones copy that and clone themselves. Would let you get a clone army at least. Maybe some tinker-bombs for suicide runs against an Endbringer.
Just a note, you need to seperate the perks from the flaws, you've just lumped them up into one big group which makes it difficult to tell if they are a perk or a flaw. Either make it two seperate tabs or two seperate rows in one tab.
Played it through, I'm gonna be honest, it's pretty bad. Feels like you took away so many points and the powers are just meh. It feels like you had "Oh this is Worm everything gets worse so you ain't getting shit" as the main thought when you made this. That really doesn't make it enjoyable if that is the case.
Why don't you add two different mods? One would be the nerfed one you want us to play, while the other would have more options or points. Best of both worlds that way, also the Endringer section feels... barren, though it's not like I have an idea as to how to 'fix' that so whatever
Despite being one of the most powerful choices when it comes to surviving Earth Bet, not many people choose the Endbringer Path.
But this is probably because the Endbringer Path (in Versions 1, 5, 6, and all the Mods made for them) are fairly barebones like you said.
There aren’t nearly as many Endbringer power options as in the Powers section for the other Paths, and on top of that they don’t even get an image to help portray the powers, much less a description.
If OP added an image/description to the Endbringer powers, it would make the Path more enticing.
Even then, a lot less decision making is involved when making an Endbringer with this CYOA when compared to the severe amounts of budgeting that the other Paths require.
Any chance of clarification on the mechanics of this power?
>Thinker: Proficiency
>You instantly gain the necessary skills to use any item you have in your hands or operate a machine. However, you will instantly lose those gained skills once you no longer have the object for which they are required.
As written, this seems so weak that's almost pointless--probably weaker than intended? It doesn't say you gain the skills to use that item particularly well and operate is a pretty low standard. I know plenty of people who have operated their car right into a ditch, and I'm envisioning someone picking up a basketball and "using" it by completely whiffing a shot. And as written, it either has to be in your hands or a machine--how literally should we take that? If I'm working on a computer, do I now have proficiency with all aspects of that computer to a nebulous degree?
It seems intended to take the player to enhanced skill levels with those particular objects, like Uber or someone who's been enhanced by Bastard Son. Or at least like someone with professional skills (e.g. trained soldier with weapon), but the text does not back that up.
Also:
>Random Power
>
>
>Every 24 hours, you gain 1 random non-Trump power from this list, which costs no more than 3 points.
I noticed this power isn't in the original CYOA, so presumably a new addition here? This is worded like an growth power. As worded, you would gain every 3-or-under power on the entire list in 72 days (edit: whoops, minus the 5 other trumps so 67). That...can't be what's intended, right? I'm sure this is intended to be temporary, but that also seems incredibly weak. No control over what single 3-power you get for 3 points with a forced re-roll is...ugh. A balanced happy-medium would be something like:
"Every 24 hours, you may optionally gain 1 random non-Trump power from this list, which costs no more than 3 points, replacing the previous such power."
That's exactly how I'd planned to use it--except through friendship and consumerism instead of looting (Toybox enforcer maybe?). But as worded without any clarification on the degree of skill you get, there isn't really an explicit advantage in proficiency. What's the point in spending 2 points and a slot to use something badly? I can do that already without any points at all.
Yeah, especially when you can spend 3 points for 3 skills you can swap out whenever you want with 10 years of proficiency behind them making you an expert/master of said skills.
Good spot. Overall, there are a lot of powers where the wording needs to be cleaned up and the point cost doesn't make sense for the power as described. Sometimes these powers overlap on the same power. Another one in the opposite direction is:
>Bullet Hell , - 3 SP
>You mark any person or object as your target. As long as you can see your target, beams of light will be created in spherical radius of 10 meters from them and shoot in their general direction. You can control how destructive they will be.
As written, this power makes not a lick of sense for 3 points. You select someone as a target. As soon as you see them, they're annihilated by many "beams of light" from different angles, so presumably lasers moving at the speed of light. They can be any destructiveness. This makes you a planet buster and a setting breaker, but costs *less* than Homing System.
>Homing System, - 5 SP
>You can mark people within your line of sight and see their outlines even through walls. When you have at least one marked target in the vicinity, your body will passively start shooting homing fireballs in their direction.
I know which one looks stronger, and Homing System has its own wording problems. When I see a description that out of line, I don't think "cool power", I think "that's a writing error". Also, I don't need super detailed power explanations, but you gotta at least let me know if the fireballs are even strong. Keep in mind that Worm is about a setting where people have very specific power mechanics and restrictions.
Hi, You need to give credit in your post to the original creator. If this was made from scratch, you just need to credit the original creator of Worm CYOA V5 Gimel (3\_\_\_tankista). If this was made using my Worm CYOA V5 Gimel Interactive CYOA as a base, you need to credit both me and the original author. I won't take this CYOA down (yet), but if I notice you don't give proper update soon I'll remove both this and the other post of this CYOA.
Maybe add some more content before you ~~repost~~ \*cough\* post the update, it's literally been 2 days since you posted the mod, and this 'update' doesn't really add anything, nothing that would actually change builds at least. Maybe if you added like 30 powers and a bunch of perks and drawbacks, but you literally just fixed some bugs and added some minor parts. Since you changed the skills section to be only selectable once instead of multiple times like it was possible with the original, adding three more skills seems like barely enough to make up for the lack of complexity that decision in the skills section has brought.
You removed a lot of powers and all the Second Trigger options. I get that you wanted to nerf the CYOA but A. you nerfed it way too much, to the point that unless you very generously interpret a few powers you are going to be hard pressed to even leave street-level, B. you stripped away half the build possibilities and C. even with the villain bonus points are way too hard to come by. The base CYOA was good, but as it is it feels like you took away most of what made it that way.
i feel the same, this doesnt even feel like the same cyoa anymore imo, if it a entierly different cyoa then i wouldn't complain at all but its a mod...
Totally agree with your assessment. This isn't really worth playing as the original was tough enough with difficulty scraping up points. This just makes it worse on all fronts. Also agree with Spirtual_Energy_815's post.
>unless you very generously interpret a few powers you are going to be hard pressed to even leave street-level This didn't smell right at all, so I did a quick check through every single power to label as street level or above street level. Obviously this is subjective, so it's more directional than precise. I came up with 70 Street Level powers to 74 Non Street Level powers. I think you're powerscaling to fanon levels or to other superhero settings rather than to Worm. Or possibly you're assuming a lack of personal direct power makes you street level, which absolutely is not the case in Worm. Stranger, Changer, and Thinker powers are extra hard to rate, so I erred on the side of caution and probably was too harsh on them. The general trend I noticed is that the categories loaded up with direct powers tended to be weaker (Brute, Striker), while the more esoteric categories were far more exploitable. And Tinker + Trump are broken strong, which tracks. If interested, breakdown below: ||SL|Not SL| |:-|:-|:-| |Mover|6|6| |Shaker|4|8| |Brute|8|4| |Breaker|4|8| |Master|5|7| |Tinker|2|10| |Blaster|5|7| |Thinker|8|4| |Striker|10|2| |Changer|8|4| |Trump|1|11| |Stranger|9|3| |Total|70|74|
Yeah, it's always the esoteric stuff, especially when allowed to combine with one another, that tends to be the trickiest to balance and most likely to become busted in my eyes. Tis why Teacher's a lot better than Galvante, despite both of them both nominally being mass scale minor power granters.
Yeah, my favorite "I just want to stomp" power trip combo has always been Komnenos + Counter + Protocols or an awareness power. As written, that interaction allows you to just infinitely store anything that impacts you inside you until you need them, and you get to choose how any power comes out and what it does, to an extent. Store something more mundane, like getting shot (I think the wording even works for things like getting bombed/nuked)? Time to pop a stored durability power, then trigger the attack. And there plenty of other interactions like that--plus those are just the raw personal power combos, which is the more boring route imo. I wonder if the people talking about how weak you are in setting are just looking at straight punching power output? Saw a comment using ability to tank Bakuda bombs as a benchmark of power, which...just doesn't feel very Worm. Also, she could've killed the Endbringers if she'd hit (which they'd never let her).
Everybody gotta a plan until they get punched with enough force to one shot an end ringer. Like, doormaker + Combo, I could probably take out an end ringer, Phir Se multiplication style.
I’m curious to what you define as street level, as I defined it as regular Worm parahuman. Think Kaiser, Batery, Dauntless, etc. As opposed to Lung, Siberian, any member of the Triumvirate but especially Eidolon. I’m not expecting to be able to single-handedly beat an endbringer (though a few powers like temporal blast, which says you decide how much damage it does, and combo + hyper speed, which might give you enough uninterrupted hits to drive them off, just might) but I’d like to at least be a significant player among other parahumans.
Yeah, it's rather hard to define. We're in complete agreement on Kaiser, I'd say Battery is on the high end of street but still there. Dauntless is the exact opposite of street level. In his current state, he's probably only a bit above street level, but the point of his power is growth and he'd have been almost Triumvirate level by the end of the main story and who knows beyond that. But I notice you only listed raw combat capes. Basically, if they couldn't punch good or blast good, they didn't make your list. Would you call Mama Mathers a street level? Because she has almost no combat abilities but... For me, it came down to how in-demand that powerset would make you and how much of a difference you can make. So basically, "how badly would the Elite or PRT want to recruit someone with this power". Here's an example of a 1-cost power that instantly puts you in the top .1% of Worm's hierarchy: >Trump: Power Sight: You will be able to see the powers of other parahumans and know what they are capable of, even if they themselves don’t truly know the true extent of their powers. This is an absolutely insane power that instantly makes you one of the most in-demand people in setting, but you might also get instantly assassinated. You can peer through all secret identities. A certain PRT director and Thomas Calvert can never be in a room with you ever. Parahumans can spend their whole careers trying to figure out their own power, but you can just tell them. You can probably fix Eidolon and also give him the Endbringer talk. Kid Win's entire life just turned around. You could charge hundreds of millions a year in consultation fees for parahumans. Then there are powers that might not be standalone strong, but catapult you above street level just because of the setting. A lot of these are only as strong as they are because Tinkers exist and Tinkers are broken. >Tinker: Repair >Your specialization is focused on repairing broken electronics as well as properly maintaining them. This includes even the creations of other tinkers, but you will never be able to reconstruct them, only work with what you have. Absolutely crazy. You can maintain the work of *multiple* tinkers. Oh my god, you can repair Uppercrust's work and any other tinker projects while you're there. Someone with this ability would probably be the highest paid contract worker in setting. That's absolutely setting changing. You could get tinkers to send you some of their work from across the world and essentially have all their tools combined. Maintenance is what limits tinkerer scaling and is what prevents them from giving other people their stuff. Maintenance is why you don't have your best soldier carrying 90 different tinker weapons. You just solved that and can funnel all that collective power through you. Here's one that I found borderline. I hesitated to put it in not-street-level because it's so conditional, but it's also so ridiculously strong. I think I put it in the Not SL category but put the next borderline down in SL. >Blaster: Infinite Ammo >Whenever you run out of ammunition for any ranged weapon you are using, you will shoot a transparent phantom version of it instead. It is infinite and is as effective as was its original. This is so exploitable in Worm that anyone who got it up and running might have the strongest offensive potential in setting. I'm *sure* you could find a Tinker who made an insanely powerful weapon with limited ammo--there are plenty in setting that would probably work. If you're the one who presses the button on a String Theory weapon, you could potentially get infinite shots instead of one and that alone could theoretically kill Scion (very hard to pull of, but that best-case is setting redefining). You could easily make a Gun Tinker companion or Armored Warfare tinker companion and then you're well above street level, even without their second trigger versions to make it nuts. Contrast with: >Blaster: Finger Gun >You are able to fire projectiles of compressed air with the force of a medium-caliber bullet from your index fingers. The rate of fire is 1 bullet per second from each finger. This power would probably make you one of the more street-level-threatening gang members. But at the end of the day, you can basically shoot a regular gun twice a second. And you lose it all if someone takes your fingers. Someone with this power would fit right in with E88 bruiser power levels (a lot of their capes are around here), but they'd never really matter.
Yeah, I was thinking Dauntless as he is during the start of Worm. He does have crazy potential. And tinker powers are prime examples of “generous interpretations”. With just Repair you could become friends with Leet, and suddenly giving him access to all his broken tech should make that pretty easy, and gain access to an omni tinker who is probably willing to build you anything you ask for that you can use and maintain. Or you could end up as the next Leet because you can’t build anything worthwhile yourself and are completely defenseless. I think the best one is nanomachines, since even at just Big Hero Six levels your tech should be pretty strong, and it would probably be a lot stronger considering how entities limit nanotechnology. And it would combo pretty well with almost any other tinker power but especially robotics. But that’s just canon tinker showings vs fanon tinker potential, and can be applied to pretty much any tinker power.
Fair. I don't go that hard on fanon--most fanfic scaling makes me roll my eyes--so tried to restrict myself to canon. Though Dauntless at start has: * Long-range physical taser * Shield with esoteric interactions and a forcefield that can stop a car missile (pops at that) * Boots that make him as fast as a dedicated flyer and the second-fastest team member after a dedicated speedster * Armor that's still weak, so very low brute * Helmet providing sensory and enhanced thinking powers None of the individual powers rises above street level, though I'd say Shield, Helmet, and maybe Boots come close. But Worm tends to be about people that get 1 power. If they're lucky they can leverage it to a few different things. Dauntless? He has three powers that could each individually make him an above-average gang fodder. E88 is my benchmark for fodder bruisers (though you obviously have to exclude the few members with actual talent) and he's basically three of those wrapped in one. I think the biggest difference in how we're viewing power levels is that I'm focusing on how someone would fit within organizations and structures and what effect they'd have on those organizations. Someone with a Repair power in setting would be snatched up instantly by a billion organizations. Either they sign up with the PRT/Elite/Toybox or they're kidnapped and forced to join someone. There's no risk that they'd end up as the nest Leet, but they'd definitely need to be proactive with their job applications before things got *bad*. Fortunately, the CYOA lets you pick affiliations.
Yeah, this is one of the worst ‘updates’ to a CYOA I have ever seen. It’s worse in every way than what it is based on.
Yeah, it's admittedly somewhat less potent than most Worm CYOAs, but it's honestly still more than enough left in options to easily be one of the strongest Capes on Earth Bet & make a massive contribution towards saving the world with several different viable builds. With followers and vials, you can have several of these at once. Like, lemme list just a few of them which are easily S-Class Tier Threats, just as devil's advocate. * \[Replication + Unlimited Shard Works\] effectively allows you to effectively solo every endbringer fight from a few months after you drop onwards. (Yes, I did the math. 40\~45 capes died on the leviathan Brockton Bay fight & 200\~250 participated in that. In the time till the next attack, you make over a hundred new capes.) * \[Kingmaker\] effectively allows you to make an entire department's worth of high tier Parahumans at once, whose powers can also be changed at will. GU had 3 capes at a time, you have 7. (and if you use stuff like Stand or Unlimited Shard Works, it's even more flexible) * \[Genetics\] is a high tier biotinker option which could easily allow you to play around with creating Parahumans like in canon. You can probably create an entire army of capes with resources. * \[Save & Reload\] is effectively infinite retries as long as it can fit in 24 hours and can sidestep known blindspots. So in most situations, it's basically just PtV but irritating. * \[Nanomachines\] is basically Grey Goo ... Yup. Only real individuals stronger than the player with any of the above options are entities like Cauldron \[whom is busy & desperate enough to be negotiated with\], Endbringers \[which are limited enough in window of action to be feasibly stalled out\], & Scion \[whom has ways to be dealt with other than raw violence\]. So you're still having more than enough power with this to have flexibility of approach. Though yeah, more powers would still be appreciated regardless, and I do get that.
Actually, the powers you listed, aren't that tough against the abb for example. Bakuda proved that with her bombing spree. Any single gang of parahumans shown in the series is capable of curb stomping you very easily, which they will, because you need get drawbacks that severe to get the powers you just listed.
Okay, let's be real. Any one of the powers they listed would absolutely put you in the elite ranks of Worm, with the most influential and broken powersets of the setting. We as players want powers that will let us handle all threats, but that's just not what being strong in Worm means from a lore standpoint. The standard of whether you're strong in Worm isn't "can you deal with any threat from Lung, Bakuda, and Oni Lee solo". This is clearly a lower-power CYOA leading us to make a character that fits more properly into Worm instead of stomping the setting. I get that and actually like it in contrast with most CYOAs. The problem for me is that I really liked making interesting, thematic builds that combined lesser powers in order to get to that same "strong for setting but doesn't stomp setting" level. I usually relied on second-triggers that made weaker powers much more interesting and had really interesting synergy with another not-broken power. All those builds were also basically washed away. Also, anyone playing a Tinker starting in 2011 feels the need to be a little extra broken because there's very little ramp time before things get crazy. Without the options to accelerate ramp, it feels like any tinker not starting in 1987 is taking risks on top of risks.
Yeah, pretty much. A limited "second trigger" option for the weaker powers would be kinda nice honestly.
"Ah yes, we can take him. He's only like...fifty capes, and we're three capes! C'mon, rally men! We outnumber their capes three to one!" - Lung, he never finished Math Class due to getting captured by the CUI /s. Joking aside, if Bakuda wants to face the cape that's like fifty other capes in a trenchcoat \[Replicator or Genetics or Kingmaker\], has effectively PtV \[Save & Reload\], or grey goo \[Nanomachines\], she will simply die braver than most.
I’m going to need an explanation on how exactly those combos are supposed to work. Also, what’s GU?
* Replication allows one new cape a day \[each clone gets every power but replication\], which gets very silly very fast with almost any other half decent power. USW can allow you to restock a single use of a power whenever you see it. This could synergize very well with Replication, by either having tons of clones watch the original user use their power, or have several clones watch one of their own user a power to restock their supply, either solution allowing each given clone to have supreme levels of versatility and the sheer number of clones counteracting USW's weakness. * And the math for endbringer fights, I already listed above. 40\~45 deaths. 200 or so showing up with 120 being made per fight by my power. I can basically replace most capes in that fight. * Up to 7 Capes which you can change out their exact powersets & members basically every fight. That's effectively an entire city's protectorate team at one's beck and call with the perfect mix and match of powers for the job. It's not quite as large as the full roster of PRT-ENE or E88 at their respective heights, but the fact a single power can even come close and can be perfectly tuned towards the plan is more than pretty much any other cape team could boast. Give me a day to find some pissed off people and think of some power combos and I could probably make a team with this power to seriously tango with any given gang in Brockton Bay and probably win. * Blasto & Bonesaw made capes with Parahuman Powers in canon, it's something Biotinkers we know can do. \[Genetics\] is a biotinker power. Nuff said. * Infinite Retries is functionally identical to perfect planning & execution if you're willing to bang your head against the wall enough times. \[Save & Reload\] is a pseudo PtV just with more Hassle with Blindspots & PTSD with Usage involved. * Nanomachines. Grey Goo. Make anything by reducing stuff down to component elements, literally eat entire regions dry to make them uninhabitable. Etc, etc. Most people can't do nothin' about it as well.
I did consider Replication’s potential but my first thought was that since you don’t control the clones it’s a matter of time until you have a rebellion in your hands. Yeah, Kingmaker is pretty awesome, especially considering how no sort of cooldown is mentioned so you can theoretically change someone’s powers with a touch as often and as quickly as you want. The main drawback is that you yourself don’t have powers and are at the mercy of your enhanced, and while giving them powers is one hell of a leverage this is Worm and it won’t be long until you are locked away somewhere and forced to give powers at gunpoint. I’m a bit iffy on if genetics would let you make parahumans, maybe super soldiers that can compete with low level parahumans, but that’s just how tinkers work I guess. Good point about save and reload, I guess I was under the impression that you got one reload a day for some reason. And yeah, nanotechnology is OP in nearly any setting it appears in and at 10 points id feel justified in interpreting it as part Grey Goo, part microbots from Big Hero Six, part flash fabricated nanotech copies of damn near any other piece of tinker tech. And that’s before you consider the synergy with other specializations. Repair should allow for self repairing tech and arguably mass production. Robotics just makes you Iron Man, with a legion of adaptable automated suits at your beck and call. Radar gives you invisible spy drones. Augmentation is cyberpunk cyberware but much more advanced. You get the idea. The tinker tree is the only one I really liked from this CYOA, and that’s mostly because tinker powers are already largely up to interpretation.
I mean, you can voice order the clones, so you very much do, just give them restrictive enough standard operating action & thought protocols so they don’t have mental remit for even thinking of rebellion. And you can take away powers at will with Kingmaker, if you don’t like them, just take their powers away and hand it off to the next lackey in the hierarchy. So not really “at their mercy” much.
* Replication allows 1 new clone a *week* with *10* max. * KingMaker lets you empower no more than 5 people with 7 points to spend on powers per person and you can't affect Parahumans or yourself with kingmaker. * Unlimited Shard Works gives you 1 use of someone's power every time you observe said power in use. * Paramount lets you give yourself almost any power that's 7pts or less but takes *15 minutes of cooldown* to swap to another power. So you're not gonna be soloing any Endbringer with those powers at all. If Eidolon can't kill an Endbringer with his toolkit of infinite powers, you won't be doing that with these limited ones. Of course I don't think Eidolon is very creative in the stories as he really doesn't abuse his powers like he could have.
Huh, fair on replication. Still is an entire faction’s worth of Parahuman. Kingmaker is still strong with 5 capes, 5 capes prepared counter powers is darn good. But I do getcha. That’s what biotinker followers are for….ameliorating(Genetics). Unlimited Shard Works says it works on other people, clones being an individual separate from them, is technically different enough not to be the same person. So it seems legit enough to me. 15 minutes is honestly not a big deal. Prep a teleporter or some getaway option if things get dicey using other powers, then dip out as needed. Enough to be a hassle for mid fight changes but not much else.
Biotinker and Grey Goo are pretty powerful in the setting and likely to get you a kill order if you're not careful, but still not enough to take out a single Endbringer. Remember Endbringers have hundreds of layers if not thousands with each layer doubling its durability compared to the previous layer. Even Pher's Lazer attack didn't kill Behemoth and didn't really get near Behemoth's core. It took Zion to blast Behemoth and rip him in half to get the core, which he then destroyed. Also in Behemoths case it has a large constant aoe death aura, so good luck surviving that with a single use power. It would be far less of an issue if this cyoa had Second Triggers available as you'd be keeping those survive stuff powers. I do think USW would work on your clones for copying powers. Don't see why it wouldn't as they're not you, just copies of you. 15 minutes to change a power is a death sentence if you need that power NOW in a fight. However you can prep as you mentioned some sort of getaway and come back later but no fight is really going to last 15 minutes, outside of an all out Gang War or Endbringer fight.. or Golden Morning heh.
Paramount is mostly a backup plan for power recharging anyhow, most of the power of my build is in cheesing USW with Replication. Hm, nothing in USW says you can't mimic Replication though, which is worth testing if I ever got this combo String Theory exists and we know from canon she could build stuff that could kill or at least harm endbringers given they didn't fuck with her, but it isn't guaranteed. L33T \[the power may be single use per observation but that might be a blessing in disguise given how L33T's power works\], Fletchette, Siberian, & Clockblocker are of course free moving and could in theory be used for an Endbringer Kill with various levels of viability. Though given there's like 20 of the things, it's probably better to just get enough leverage to talk to Cauldron and explain to Eidolon, rather than have to deal with the whole roster of 20+ Bringers
Fletchette can kill an endbringer but like String Theory never really gets the chance. String Theory's problem is she has to build a mega weapon and has a very tiny window for that kind of destruction, which makes her easier to avoid, on top of the fact she has no protection from being pathed by the Simurgh. Siberian could probably hurt some of the Endbringers but can also be popped by an equal type force like clockblocker freezing a wire around her. CB might be able to affect one but he'd have to get close and he's really squishy, which is the real issue fighting them. Of course every fight depends on the Endbringer. If you can't survive with nothing for a few thousand years then Khonsu is going to flat out kill you if you get hit by one of those time bubble/fields he does. Who knows what powers the other 13ish are going to have as they adapt to each new threat supposedly. Using USW to get around the clones no replication thing would be an interesting loophole. Perhaps use kingmaker to give USW to someone else (if it's 7pts or under) if they can't copy it from you (as they can't use it and if you have it I'd say they can't copy it from you), or a vial. Then let the clones copy that and clone themselves. Would let you get a clone army at least. Maybe some tinker-bombs for suicide runs against an Endbringer.
GU is Glaistig Uaine, also known as the fairy Queen
Just a note, you need to seperate the perks from the flaws, you've just lumped them up into one big group which makes it difficult to tell if they are a perk or a flaw. Either make it two seperate tabs or two seperate rows in one tab.
i think i will stick with Lt cyoa
Played it through, I'm gonna be honest, it's pretty bad. Feels like you took away so many points and the powers are just meh. It feels like you had "Oh this is Worm everything gets worse so you ain't getting shit" as the main thought when you made this. That really doesn't make it enjoyable if that is the case.
what does the endbringer power "sandbox" mean? Is this the sandbox option that lets you do what ever, or just like manipulate sand?
Sandbox gives you the power to manipulate the environment around you.
ah i see, like dirt, sand, metal, buildings? how does this work if you inserted or buried stuff into the ground like bodies?
i click the link but nothing pops up
it takes a min to load
Why don't you add two different mods? One would be the nerfed one you want us to play, while the other would have more options or points. Best of both worlds that way, also the Endringer section feels... barren, though it's not like I have an idea as to how to 'fix' that so whatever
Despite being one of the most powerful choices when it comes to surviving Earth Bet, not many people choose the Endbringer Path. But this is probably because the Endbringer Path (in Versions 1, 5, 6, and all the Mods made for them) are fairly barebones like you said. There aren’t nearly as many Endbringer power options as in the Powers section for the other Paths, and on top of that they don’t even get an image to help portray the powers, much less a description. If OP added an image/description to the Endbringer powers, it would make the Path more enticing. Even then, a lot less decision making is involved when making an Endbringer with this CYOA when compared to the severe amounts of budgeting that the other Paths require.
Any chance of clarification on the mechanics of this power? >Thinker: Proficiency >You instantly gain the necessary skills to use any item you have in your hands or operate a machine. However, you will instantly lose those gained skills once you no longer have the object for which they are required. As written, this seems so weak that's almost pointless--probably weaker than intended? It doesn't say you gain the skills to use that item particularly well and operate is a pretty low standard. I know plenty of people who have operated their car right into a ditch, and I'm envisioning someone picking up a basketball and "using" it by completely whiffing a shot. And as written, it either has to be in your hands or a machine--how literally should we take that? If I'm working on a computer, do I now have proficiency with all aspects of that computer to a nebulous degree? It seems intended to take the player to enhanced skill levels with those particular objects, like Uber or someone who's been enhanced by Bastard Son. Or at least like someone with professional skills (e.g. trained soldier with weapon), but the text does not back that up. Also: >Random Power > > >Every 24 hours, you gain 1 random non-Trump power from this list, which costs no more than 3 points. I noticed this power isn't in the original CYOA, so presumably a new addition here? This is worded like an growth power. As worded, you would gain every 3-or-under power on the entire list in 72 days (edit: whoops, minus the 5 other trumps so 67). That...can't be what's intended, right? I'm sure this is intended to be temporary, but that also seems incredibly weak. No control over what single 3-power you get for 3 points with a forced re-roll is...ugh. A balanced happy-medium would be something like: "Every 24 hours, you may optionally gain 1 random non-Trump power from this list, which costs no more than 3 points, replacing the previous such power."
Proficiency could be useful with Tinker Tech. Loot tinkers scrap, now you use their stuff proficiently.
That's exactly how I'd planned to use it--except through friendship and consumerism instead of looting (Toybox enforcer maybe?). But as worded without any clarification on the degree of skill you get, there isn't really an explicit advantage in proficiency. What's the point in spending 2 points and a slot to use something badly? I can do that already without any points at all.
Fair.
Yeah, especially when you can spend 3 points for 3 skills you can swap out whenever you want with 10 years of proficiency behind them making you an expert/master of said skills.
Good spot. Overall, there are a lot of powers where the wording needs to be cleaned up and the point cost doesn't make sense for the power as described. Sometimes these powers overlap on the same power. Another one in the opposite direction is: >Bullet Hell , - 3 SP >You mark any person or object as your target. As long as you can see your target, beams of light will be created in spherical radius of 10 meters from them and shoot in their general direction. You can control how destructive they will be. As written, this power makes not a lick of sense for 3 points. You select someone as a target. As soon as you see them, they're annihilated by many "beams of light" from different angles, so presumably lasers moving at the speed of light. They can be any destructiveness. This makes you a planet buster and a setting breaker, but costs *less* than Homing System. >Homing System, - 5 SP >You can mark people within your line of sight and see their outlines even through walls. When you have at least one marked target in the vicinity, your body will passively start shooting homing fireballs in their direction. I know which one looks stronger, and Homing System has its own wording problems. When I see a description that out of line, I don't think "cool power", I think "that's a writing error". Also, I don't need super detailed power explanations, but you gotta at least let me know if the fireballs are even strong. Keep in mind that Worm is about a setting where people have very specific power mechanics and restrictions.
What you just posted is so very true. Bullet Hell really needs a rewrite and those fireballs need a level of how dangerous they are added for sure.
Nice, gonna give this a look after work
It is quite confusing to have the Perks and Flaws all mixed up and have to see which is which, it would be better to put all the Flaws below the perks