posted
For my Legion of SuperHeroes game, I have three types of sources in which powers derive from, Internal, such as that one is normally born with or results from an accident and is more physial oriented, such as Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Chameleon Boy.
The second type of source I have is Mental, such as Saturn Girl or Dream Girl, the power originates from their mind.
Finally, the third is Magical. These would consist of characters who actually cast magic, such as Mordru or White Witch.
What I'm wondering is given the origins of Princess Projectra and White Witch (of which I'm not very real familar with the details of either individual) would they be Magical or Mental? Also do they refer to magic as "Magic" or more so as "Arcane Arts" or something else?
White Witch was pretty much just coming into the comics when I had stopped reading so many years ago, thus I'm not real familiar with her.
All I know of Princess Projectra is that at her christening, a witch gave her the powers of illusion. So would you consider her mental or magical?
Also I need to determine how magic will work in the game. Based on what I've read, the authors pretty much allowed the characters to do what they needed to do for the story, so I don't think they had any guidlines they followed for how magic works in the DC Universe or at least the 30th-31st century.
Does anyone want to offer some ideas of how to utilze magic in the game? I would like magic to be very versitle, this allowing the character access to a lot of power like effects, yet I do want restrictions as well. At this point in time I expect magical characters will generally be more powerful than other superheroes/villains. What is your opinion?
posted
In the origin story she recounted to Blok, the White Witch spent years studying magic - spells - on the Sorcerers' World. Some of the spells she later used would take days to prepare or require particular ingredients.
Good question about Projectra, though. I'd call the illusion casting a mental power but she also used some techniques that we would probably classify as magic, such as calling up spirits.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: In the origin story she recounted to Blok, the White Witch spent years studying magic - spells - on the Sorcerers' World. Some of the spells she later used would take days to prepare or require particular ingredients.
Good question about Projectra, though. I'd call the illusion casting a mental power but she also used some techniques that we would probably classify as magic, such as calling up spirits.
My original thoughts were to make Princes Projectra's power mental as well, but after learning she acquired them from a witch (at least that's what it said in the Illustrated Index Legion of Super-Heroes issue #3, page 1. So after reading that I started to question my line of thinking.
I do have two other sources of power I forgot to mention, one of which is spiritual. I can't really think of a being in the Legion comics who would be considered spiritual however, but I figured it might eventually come up or that a player would want to create a character that logically uses such energy. Spiritual meaning that they have some tie to deities or spirits.
As for Princess Projectra dabbling in summoning spirits and that sort of thing, I was going to include a power for it, but in Projectra's case I thought I would have it be a Area of Expertise (skill) that she learned. Generally speaking, the power would be similar but far more powerful than what the Area of Expertise offers.
The other source I forgot to mention was training, such as Karate Kid.
-------------------- I have lived for the Legion and one day I shall die for the Legion.
From: Bgztl | Registered: Feb 2008
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posted
It's a fine line between magic and mental in Projectra's case. Her powers came from a witch but there may have been some purely hereditary/genetic thing involved, just as in the 3boot, Projectra's powers were triggered or activated when her parents died. I suppose it could come down to what sort of balance you want in your characters' powers.
quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: It's a fine line between magic and mental in Projectra's case. Her powers came from a witch but there may have been some purely hereditary/genetic thing involved, just as in the 3boot, Projectra's powers were triggered or activated when her parents died. I suppose it could come down to what sort of balance you want in your characters' powers.
I have yet to figure out the illusion casting power, but as mentioned, my first thought was mental and not magical. I don't think it would be spiritual either, because she never received anything or was connected to a divine/supreme being before. I think her occult powers wouldn't be a power per say, but more of a skill.
Really, the illusion power in itself could be tied to mental, magical, or spiritual energy depending upon the background of the individual. Any one of those would still (or could) require training to develop and hone the power. If I make the power magical, my guess is Projectra will be considerably weak for a being with that type of energy, as she would be limited to illusions. My thoughts on magical were to be a lot more powerful than just one type of magic and that they could tap into large assortment of power effects.
Do we know anything about the witch that gave Projectra her power? Did she grant the power, introduce her to the idea, or what? Is the term witch being used loosly with this individual? If that is the case it could be mental. The book states witch, but again, I've no information about her.
Do we have an issue that goes into some detail about her? Perhaps I have it in my collection and don't even know it.
How about White Witch or Mordru do they have any kind of limitations on their magic?
-------------------- I have lived for the Legion and one day I shall die for the Legion.
From: Bgztl | Registered: Feb 2008
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I would definitely characterize original-recipe Projectra as deriving her powers from magic. Wasn't Orando established a Sorceror's World colony? So, even if it is genetic, there's probably magic in the background.
White Witch's main limitation is that she can only keep a limited number of spells prepared at a time, and it takes her some time to prep a new one.
Mordru's power was pretty much unlimited, his weakness being that burying him would cut off his power.
One interesting sidenote on magic: Superboy's Legion incorporated the traditional idea that iron provides protection against magic to establish the Ferro Lad was basically immune to all magic in iron form. I thought it was kind of neat little point.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: I would definitely characterize original-recipe Projectra as deriving her powers from magic. Wasn't Orando established a Sorceror's World colony? So, even if it is genetic, there's probably magic in the background.
White Witch's main limitation is that she can only keep a limited number of spells prepared at a time, and it takes her some time to prep a new one.
Mordru's power was pretty much unlimited, his weakness being that burying him would cut off his power.
You know, now that you mention it, I think I recall reading that Orando was once a colony of Sorcerer's World. I'm not positive about it, but it did sound familiar. Eryk Davis Ester are you certain about this fact, because if it is true then I am inclined to go with magic. Of coarse that also means Projectra will be the second to last Legionnaire to work out, but that's ok. I don't have a problem with magic being genetically inherited. It isn't really a matter of doing what I want either, it's a matter of staying true to the original Legion.
Can anyone else confirm this or what to throw in their opinion?
Did Mordru ever max-out his power so that he became weak from casting to many spells? How about White Witch?
-------------------- I have lived for the Legion and one day I shall die for the Legion.
From: Bgztl | Registered: Feb 2008
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Phantom Girl: Did Mordru ever max-out his power so that he became weak from casting to many spells? How about White Witch?
The White Witch, on several occasions (both in her role in the Great Darkness Saga and in the current Lo3W) has seemed to draw from her own strength and weaken herself when she goes all out, or pulls a particularly impressive feat (such as teleporting three Legion cruisers half way across the galaxy!).
As for preparation of spells, she teleports herself from the Sorcerer's World to the middle of Legion HQ and tells Nura that it took her three hours to work up that entrance.
A quote from Mysa's internal dialogue during the GDS "Your spells will be in proportion to your will, Mysa -- and you will be mightly only if you master them individually, with proper preparation -- Attempt a great working without consulting the omens and readying the talismans, and you doom yourself. Worse still, commit more than a mere handful of spells to memory at a time and you shall forget them all -- research, child -- each and every time."
Based on that, it seems like her spells and magic work on a principle very much like that of a Dungeons & Dragons 'magic-user,' with verbal, somatic (physical / gestures) and material (items, talismans, reagents) components, and spells being prepared through study and then unleashed and expended in a rush later.
(She's even shown digging into a pouch at her hip to pull out a small box of sparkly spell components at one point. The spell she's casting is one to determine the cause of death of a body that has been found, and it seems unlikely, or perhaps just terribly convenient, that she'd just happen to have such a spell perpared, so perhaps the big fancy 'spell components required' is more for when she needs to cobble together something that she hasn't gotten prepared, and is a less strict requirement for things that she has prepared.)
Later showings (and wizards like Mordru) show a different sort of magic, which seems to be as innate and instinctive as the way that Sun Boy or Lightning Lad throws their power around, although it's possible that some uses of magic don't require 'spells' and that any proficient 'magic-user' can throw bolts of magical force around, or set up temporary magical shields, but anything else, such as teleportation or summoning entities or casting a 'spell of survival' to survive in space, has to be specially prepared.
I'd go with that interpretation, personally, as it would make the character more 'friendly' for a player to choose, if Mysa (or another mage-type) could do a few things automatically (blast, deflect incoming attacks, sense other magical forces) and then had to prepare a short list of other effects that they can only pull off once before having to spend anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours (depending on the power level of the magical feat) preparing. Once those big one-shot spells are prepared, 'though, the mage would be able to unleash them as quickly as any other super-character could unleash their powers.
Some of her finer moments are shown in the pages posted up for view here (particularly the 'detect how the dude died' spell, the teleportation of self across the galaxy, the teleporation of three Legion cruisers across the galaxy, the 'spell of survival' and her fantastic single-combat against a Khund cyborg, where the strengths of a character who can tailor specific spells to prepare for a single opponent, if she has the time, are showcased;
Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
On the subject of Projectra, she's a bit of a sticky character. The threeboot Projectra created psionic illusions, just like Saturn Girl can technically already do (by telling your brain that you are seeing something that isn't there, the same way she can tell your brain that you are hearing her words, when she's not even speaking).
Previous incarnations of Projectra seemed to create very real physical projections of light and sound, which meant that, technically, she could create light, like Sun Boy, or darkness, like Shadow Lass, or disguise her appearance, sorta like Chameleon Boy (although she wouldn't feel any different, if touched!). Making her powers into holograms of light and sound made her quite different from Imra, but ended up potentially stomping on quite a few other Legionnaires toes (particularly Shady, who, perhaps not-coincidentally, became more and more portrayed as a bare-knuckled brawler / barbarian princess, who also happened to be able to turn out the lights...).
As her powers have a mystical connection, perhaps there is some sort of mystical energy that she is forming into her illusions of light and sound.
Going completely sideways, perhaps into HP Lovecraft realms, perhaps she doesn't just 'create illusions' but actually shows people glimpses of other realities, or other *possible* quantum realities, parting some ephemeral veil to show someone a world where his allies have been defeated and his escape shuttle is in flames, or something. A massive enhancement to that sort of power might allow her to trap someone in another world entirely (or, on the brink of disaster, change reality completely in her immediate area, by creating an 'illusion' that everyone survived and then making it more real, while the 'reality' of her teammates dying becomes the illusion!).
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