User:GuyPerfect/Bob the Biohazard

To Gimp or Not to Gimp

The question passed down through the ages is "Why make a Mastermind with no Henchmen?" The answer, quite unsurprisingly, is generally "Because I can." It's something different to do, and after making a few characters that completely demolish anything that manages to squeeze its way into the targeting reticle, it's a welcome change. The game's been in easy mode for the last few years, so why not do something people think is impossible and make a decent character out of a Mastermind with no Henchmen? The initial knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion is typically that such a character is doomed to fail. Even after being presented with evidence that it may be closer to "limp out of it barely breathing" rather than "fail," people still seem to insist that it's a dead end and the only way it can end is if you wind up dead. Well, that's their problem, I suppose. If I can prove otherwise, I just might have my chance of making history in the course of character builds in the community.

Combat effectiveness is a two-fold interweaving of one's survivability and aptness to dispatch one's enemies. If you can take a hit and dish one out, you'll come out on top. Masterminds have a different approach to this equation than any other archetype, however: they come in seven distinct pieces, and any one piece will be terribly inadequate in battle by itself. To remove all six Henchmen from a Mastermind, therefore, is to trim off six sevenths of what the Mastermind as a class was designed to be in the first place... and that's a lot to make up for. Fortunately, it's not as hopeless as it seems. A lot of a Mastermind's potential is lost due to babysitting the Henchmen, so they generally underperform compared to what they're technically capable of. Set bonuses also give a convenient way to buff one's base stats, and as I've come to find out, a Mastermind with no Henchmen can actually be made more effective than certain other stock archetypes.

I've chosen Thugs for the Dual Pistols attacks, as at the time of this writing, it is still prior to the release of Dual Pistols and I wanted to be the one who says "been there, done that" when it's all said and done. Now that I know about Swap Ammo, it's a bit of a different story, but I already got to 50, so nyah! I also opted for Poison, because it's a really cool concept and powerset design and you simply don't see a lot of it. Besides, it's the only buff set that's currently exclusive to Masterminds. If I'm gonna be different, I'm gonna be different, darn it! So I had Thugs and Poison and no Henchmen and I got to see what I could do with it. Sounds like fun, eh?

Now, Masterminds are severely clamped down in both the survivability and damage output scenarios since they're designed to work with Henchmen, and those are the problems that need to be addressed. The hit points are the lowest in the game; two-thirds that of Blaster. The best counter for this is +HP and +Damage Resistance, since the longer that green bar stays above 0, the longer you'll survive. Knockback protection is good to keep from taking unnecessary damage too. As for damage output, the Mastermind's attacks deal so little damage anyways that slotting Enhancements to boost it won't get you anywhere fast. However, since the damage is so low, damage procs do just as much if not more every time they fire off than the Mastermind's attack total.

Bob's build takes all of these into account. So what's the character like with all that stuff on it? Awesome, that's what. When facing foes that deal primarily Smashing and Lethal damage such as Malta Operatives, Council or Longbow, Bob steadily cruises on through like a melee class with dedicated defensive powers. The AoE debuff and attacks make for good damage splash, and the multi-proc'd / low-endurance / fast-recharge melee attacks make an unorthodox warrior that nonetheless works out very well. The character can tackle groups set for more than one player as well as single-handedly take down select Elite Bosses.

Character Details

Statistics: Name:   Bob the Biohazard Server: Triumph Alignment: Rogue Archetype: Mastermind Threat Level: 50 Primary: Thugs Secondary: Poison Epic: Leviathan Mastery

Powers: (Hover mouse)

Media

I know, I know: pics or it didn't happen. Well, I can top that: here's a video! --Note: This is terribly out-of-date

Character Background

Word on the Street

Rachel Biggers grew up in the unassuming suburbs of Paragon City. An extremely intelligent young woman, she was confident in her abilities and was well aware of what she was capable of. She generally kept to herself, except when she was out having adventures, and the people who knew here always regarded her as a somewhat quiet individual... This all sounds rather bland and mundane except when taken in context: her adventures typically involved antagonizing gangs and drug dealers and taking their stuff. Rachel developed remarkable accredidation on the streets, and eventually became known as "Bobbie" Biggers to those whose respect she earned--be it by influence or brute force.

Rachel was handy with a gun, and was often slinging her way into trouble with the local bruisers and moneymakers. In her mind, bad people do bad things, so doing bad things to them in return serves as delightfully poetic justice. Two wrongs may not make a right, but the irony more than makes up for what's lost from a moralistic perspective. Gangs would beat down their clients to claim payment for any services rendered, and Rachel would break into those gangs' hideouts to steal those riches for herself. Dealers and "economic figureheads" procured a lot of money through questionable means, and Rachel in turn procured that money straight into her bank account. She never took money that belonged to innocent victims, however; she let the heroes of the city return that to its rightful owners.

There were many times when the police were involved at the same locations that Rachel had her eye on, and she found a certain thrill in raiding gang wares while the cops were out to do the same thing. She never once got caught, but decided it was time to stop once she was exposed to non-lethal riot control toxins such as tear gas and pepper spray. The way such harmless chemicals so efficiently subdued a hardened street warrior like herself took her by surprise, and she was immediately overwhelmed with curiosity about how these chemicals worked and what other possibilities were out there. Since she had a fortune in "repurposed" goods, she decided it was time to take a detour in life and follow a scientific path for a while.

Unlike the world of street thugs and substance negotiations, playing things above the table was quite a bit more difficult. Rachel wasn't able to get her hands on the fancy knowledge and equipment she wanted to use by just barging in and asking for it; she had to go through the normal channels. And normal channels have a way of keeping inquiring minds at bay... Just to get your foot in the door, you need a lot of specialized training, and that training takes a lot of time and money. There's no single task you can simply carry ou to get the job done, and Rachel was left searching for whatever opportunity she could that would get her as far as possible in the fewest number of steps. She found such an opportunity in an internship at WetWare Engineering, so she applied with a handsome bribery check stapled to the application and unsurprisingly got the job.

She was in, now: she was going to be a scientist. At least until she got the knowledge she was after, at any rate... Well, that was the idea, but it didn't play out very well in practice. When Rachel would rather be subjecting organisms to chemical treatments just to see what would happen, she ended up instead refilling the senior researchers' coffee mugs and filing all manner of paperwork. She never got to do any actual research herself, but since she had access to all her mentors' reports, it was basically as though all the work was done for her by someone else. A few little snapshots from her cell phone camera worked wonders when she set aside time at home to look things over. Those reports were extremely insightful, and Rachel leeched as much information from WetWare as she could without them having the slightest hint of what she was up to. By the time the internship had ended, Engineering Associate Biggers had much more knowledge in the field than her mentors expected her to have, and she intended to make the most of it.

Super Stupor

Before long, Rachel had a makeshift laboratory set up in her apartment where she conducted her own experiments and research. She became obsessed with the idea of short-term, non-lethal chemicals and narcotics that she could use in her gang raids to have even more fun on her adventures. In fact, she wound up with a few choice concoctions that would let her take out trained soldiers or some of the lesser super-powered villains in Paragon City. Once she got everything ready to go, she went out to see how well it would work.

It was a standard-issue warehouse raid; nothing fancy. There were Outcasts in the building, and they were after some kind of relic for whatever reason. Rachel went in with her trusty handguns and a handful of experimental potions, and subdued them all while causing no permanent harm to any of them. When the police arrived, they stormed the building armed and armored, looking for any signs of danager and found only unconscious would-be criminals. Once Rachel steped forth told them what had happened, she was taken in for a quick briefing. Since she prevented a crime, Rachel was released without incident, but she received a warning about doing similar things in the future. Since she was a civilian, putting herself in danger to stop criminals can actually get her into trouble. The police gave Rachel orders to let the authorities handle situations from now on.

The authorities apparently included meta-humans, according to the Citizen Crime Fighting Act. Rachel is demonstrably more powerful than a selection of the meta-human population in Paragon City, but since she's not a registered hero, she's not allowed to arrest criminals? Tempting fate with the police during raids against the city's gangs was an exciting and enteraining way ot spend her time, but try to help the city and she just gets herself into trouble... Still set on making the best of it, Rachel decided to relocate to a place where anyone and everyone can take matters into their own hands and no one will ever toss them a suspicious glance. Rachel found such a place in the Rogue Isles, and began putting plans together to head there.

Turns out the Rogue Isles aren't very easy to get to since the government there has a bit of an agendum about taking over the world. None of the self-respecting transport agencies will take you there, so you either have to know someone or have someone come and get you. Rachel's connections with the shady underground led to an opportunity for one of those scenarios. Turns out a fellow who conveniently goes by the name Shady Mac was on his way to Paragon City to pick up a new round of wares for the Rogue Isles black market, and arrangements were made for him to take Rachel back with him. Mac has a policy about only transporting goods, however, so Rachel had to be clever. She got herself listed as an item, then paid the purchasing and shipping fees. Mac saw right through the ploy, of course, but since Rachel was someone who's obviously willing to go through the necessary channels to get somehing to happen, he made an exception in her case.

Once she first set foot in the Rogue Isles, Rachel was ready to start the next chapter of her adventures. There were so many evildoer heads to bust, so many evil labs to plunder... so few people to care. It was like a paradise in some ways, and there lay nothing but opportuniy ahead.

Demons, Thugs and Spiders

There was a clever mystic in St. Martial who stole an artifact from the Wailers, then used his magical expertise to cast the blame on someone else. The target was the leader of a local gang of ruffians, since, frankly, no one would miss him after the Waliers got ahold of him. The gang only consisted of six people, won few successes and was not very dangerous, so it only seemed a natural choice. Once the Wailers started causing problems around town, Arachnos decided to investigate and found out whom they were after. A strike team was quickly sent in to capture the gang leader and to learn why the Wailers were here and what it will take to get rid of them. Of course, the gang leader didn't know anything about the situation, so things just went from bad to worse.

The other gangsters, stripped of their leadership, rallied together and planned an assault on the Arachnos base where their boss was being held captive. Once inside, they succeeded in breaching base security and recovered their leader, but there was a hot trail of spiders following them on the way out. They fled to a nearby, abandoned laboratory, which proved to be a mistake: they were trapped within the walls of the building as scores of armed and angry Arachnos personnel went in after them. After brutal incapacitation, the Arachnos commander ordered an Omega Bomb be placed within the lab, and once it was evacuated of Arachnos forces, the bomb was detonated. The Wailers, sensing that their bounty was killed, left the scene and St. Martial returned to normal... or, at least, as normal as you could expect from such a place.

As luck would have it, one Rachel Biggers was browsing the selection of the black market just a few dozen yards away from that laboratory. After seeing the explosion, she decided to check the place out to see if there was anything laying around that could be salvaged. Somehow or other, one of the gang members survived the blast and, crippled and bleeding, managed to crawl outside to find help. His hand covered the wound where he had been impaled by an Arachnos assault rifle, and he collapsed at Rachel's feet as she approached. Kneeling beside him and assessing his wounds, Rachel took some supplies from her duffel bag and mixed up a healing potion to administer to the fallen gangster. The gangster was revitalized to full health and told his savior the whole story of the arrest and failed rescue attempt.

Inside the laboratory, there were four other injured survivors. Apparently, the gang leader threw his great mass of muscular bulk over the bomb in an attempt to save the lives of his comrades. Though it did not protect them from harm, his action did appear to spare their lives. A few more rounds of the healing potion did wonders for the survivors, but the slain hero of this gang of thieves was arguably out of luck. On the other hand, Rachel wasn't out of ideas just yet. She was, after all, within the confines of an abandoned laboratory. The gangsters cooperated anxiously with her as she ordered a workspace to be set up and a gurnee to be constructed for the dead gang leader. Using the materials and equipment in the lab that had not been destroyed or otherwise made useless with time, Rachel mixed together an experimental elixir that she believed would be able to revive someone with the gang leader's injuries. The concoction was tainted and notably unhealthy, but the gang leader certainly didn't have anything to lose. Being poisoned at the expense of being brought back to life would more than likely strike him as a fair trade.

The potion worked and the gang leader was resurrected. A few minutes later, the effects of the mixture kicked in and the gang leader became very ill. However, just a few minutes after that, he recovered and everything was back to normal. Since the life potion worked and had no permanent negative side effects, Rachel wrote it off as a success and never bothered to revise the formula to remove its imperfections. Seeing their leader revived, the entire gang swore their allegiance to Rachel in expression of gratitude, and the gang now had a new leader.

Overcoming the Shortcomings

In the months that followed, the gang recovered their sense of confidence under the new leadership of Ms. Biggers. The laboratory was fixed up and made their own, and Bobbie fitted the thugs with new firearms. She also taught them better techniques to keep from having another accident like the one that nearly cost them their lives. One of the gangsters became proficient in fire bombing while bruiser, who was the former leader, continued doing his part by smashing heads through the pavement with his extraordinary strength. The gang--now regarded as more of a mercenary force--became quite noteworthy in the Rogue Isles and no one seemed to remember the laughing stock that they once were.

Rachel became intrigued at the bruiser's sheer force and effectiveness despite not being armed, and requested that he teach her some of his fistfighting techniques. She was only able to make use of a few of his moves, because her smaller stature and inferior physical strength made many of the more devastating blows nearly impossible for her to pull off. Nonetheless, she became as proficient as she could and, to the amazement of her followers, joined the fray during their operations as one of the fighters herself. The unit's threat level was heightened and they were able to take out much more powerful foes than they could when they started back in the abandoned lab.

Retaining her unusual sense of justice, Rachel always selected targets that were involved in shady dealings, extortion or otherwise intimidating others to receive goods or services. She was particularly fond of targets that had access to laboratory materials and equipment, since taking over those facilities always rewarded her with new toys and substances to experiment and play with. She greatly increased the size and variety of her chemical arsenal; eventually creating such toxins as a temporary paralytic, a debilitating neurotoxin, a hyperstimulant for her troops, and even a caustic substance akin to shark bile. All of these new inventions were used to great effect in battle, and the gang continued on to see many victories.

On one fateful operation, Rachel received a tip of an Arachnos base conducting unusual research on a mysterious substance; having great success and finding potential in their results. The opportunity was immediately desireable for her, as she would get to beat down evildoers and steal their science while she was at it. Without any further thought, she instructed her men to prepare for an assault on the Arachnos base where the research was being conducted.

Memories of the previous encounter with Arachnos rang loudly in the minds of the thugs, and they were immediately hesitant to go after the big spiders again. Fortunately, Rachel anticipated this reaction and had an idea. After several hours, she was able to produce an extremely powerful toxin by combining aspects of all her other recipes into a single package. The new poison was distributed as a cloud of gas, and she built a small emitter unit to house it. The unit was strapped to one of the bruiser's boots, and an antidote was administered to each of the thugs to protect them from it. They would be going up against Arachnos like before, but this time would be different: as long as the thugs stayed close to the bruiser, Arachnos wouldn't be able to harm them.

The operation was a success. Once the thugs took their antidotes and the noxious emission was triggered, the Arachnos forces were so subdued that they could hardly lay a finger on the thugs, let alone beat them down. And in the case they were able to land a hit, they were so weakened that they weren't able to hit with much force. It was almost laughable how pathetic the elite Arachnos forces had become, and the thugs had a brief catharsis as they stormed through the base at their leisure, picking off targets that so much as looked at them funny. The Arachnos research was secured and all records of it were destroyed. The gang members had overcome their fears, and Rachel had something strange and wonderful to play with.

Shards of a Goddess

Returning to their laboratory hideout, the thugs reclined and downed a few cold ones as they raved to one another about how the brutal force that nearly killed them once before was no longer any sort of threat. They were noisy and jovial, and seemed as though children again as they reenacted their favorite parts of the encounter with one another.

Rachel, of course, went right to work on the Arachnos research. What was this stuff, and what were they doing with it? The mysterious substance was the magical, living coral that is harvested in Sharkhead Isle. It was a precious commodity in the Rogue Isles for sure, but what made this particular research project interesting is that Arachnos discovered a procedure to synthesize the material, mystic properties and all. The only thing you need in advance is a small sample of the coral itself and you're good to go. What this means is that, so long as you keep a piece of it for later, you can make as much as you want whenever you want.

There were analysis reports along with the research data that suggested a few ideas for tapping the coral's mystical power to produce stronger Arachnos armor and weaponry. Rachel made these ideas her own, and decided to take it a step further: what if she could make a potion with this living coral? What would happen if she could empower her own body with it? The possibilities went racing through her head zillions per second, and the only way to find out was to do it and see what happens.

Synthesizing more than enough coral to last months and performing countless experiements with it, Rachel produced a substance that she believed would increase her physical strength and reslilence. Injecting it into her blood stream, she could feel the power of Merulina pulsating through her body and she immediately set out to find some goons to bust. The thugs went with her to protect her, but it turns out that no help was needed. Rachel's punches were far more powerful than before, and she was even able to pull off the bruiser's smashing uppercut on oversized targets. While her gangsters stood there in disbelief with their mouths wide open, Rachel rushed back back to the laboratory to find more uses for the coral.

Only a few days passed before Rachel had successfully produced new recipes for all of her combat narcotics and crafted a new type of ammunition for her handguns. Each was imbued with the mystic energies of the red coral, and now each can invisibly attack the target as though to hit them with an unseen weapon. The same phenomenon occurs when Rachel uses her punches, and she has worked with enough of the coral to make reliable use of this phantom damage that she otherwise shouldn't even have.

Going Home

With a magical source backing her scientific aptitude, Rachel now possesses superhuman capabilities and is preparing to return to Paragon City disguised as an actual super hero. She and her thugs worked together to create an outfit that would double both as a signature costume and as a combat suit for dispensing her potions in battle. Due to the nature of her "powers" and the presence of a gask mask to protect her from herself, the team decided on the name Bob the Biohazard, which is the name she uses even today in the Rogue Isles.

Coming full circle, Rachel decided it was time to release the thugs as thanks for everything they'd done for her. They helped her beat up the bad guys and take their toys, which is what she came to the Rogue Isles to do, and she got much more than she expected while looting enemy hideouts. The only thing missing now was the thugs' education, so as a condition of letting them go, Rachel instructed them to go to school and do well. She paid their tuition and sent them off to Paragon City, where today they study in appreciation of their savior and former mentor in the Rogue Isles.

Once she finishes practicing saving the day and heads back to the mainland, Rachel will undoubtedly meet up with her former comrades. Once that happens, what will the future hold? Will they team up again and fight crime together, or will they go their separate ways?