Help With An Empathic Mimicry Build (like Peter Petrelli from Heroes)

benoitsean · January 2021

This is for all you Heroes fan out there. I was wondering if it was possible to create an empathic mimic (able to mimic the powers of others simply by being near them). I want to combine abilities (or at least most of them) like what Peter Petrelli originally had in the show.

Here's a list of the abilities that he used in the show:

Precognitive dreaming (don't know about this one)

Flight

Precognition (not sure about this one either)

Space-time manipulation (maybe some kind of hold)

Rapid cellular regeneration (maybe DE or LE and also Conviction)

Telepathy

Invisibility (I was thinking Night Warrior's sneak ability)

Telekinesis (no tk blades just purely moving objects with the mind)

Induced radioactivity (maybe some kind of beam attack w/ plasma burn from PA)

Enhanced strength (INT pss for the Enlightened specialization to increase all non-super stats, STR being one of them and EGO being another for Telekinesis and Telepathy)

Electric manipulation (perhaps Ball Lightning)

Phasing (not sure)

Pyrokinesis

Intuitive aptitude (again not sure)

Enhanced speed

For the role I was thinking maybe playing in Hybrid.

I know I wouldn't be able to get all of these but if I can get as many as I can that would be great. I know this is a tall order but if it can be done then let's make some magic.

Thank you in advance for this. I really appreciate it.

flowcyto · January 2021

General mimicry? Not really. I guess you could just sample from a wide array of powersets, but that's going to make a pretty inefficient build overall. If you are using NW and mostly (or all) ranged powers, then I'd prob use the Ranged dps role instead of being a Hybrid.

Anyways, you can use Telekinesis (the power), and maybe Hurl in Might to represent super-strength (w/o having to waste an SS slot on Str as a ranged unit). The fact that you'd use Int PSS can cover more abstract things like precognition. Stuff like phasing or enhanced speed can be done via the travel powers. And yea, you prob can't stick everything that you want into one build, regardless.

Here's a stab at it:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform (Ranged Damage)
v3.44:36

Super Stats
Level 6: Intelligence (Primary)
Level 10: Endurance (Secondary)
Level 15: Constitution (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Cybernetic Warrior (Con: 10, Int: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
Level 6: Investigator (Int: 5, End: 5)
Level 9: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)
Level 15: Coordinated (Dex: 5, Int: 5)
Level 18: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Force Blast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Concentration
Level 8: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3, Silent Running)
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Hurl (Hard Fall, Didn't See That Coming)
Level 20: Conflagration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 26: Thunderstrike (Recharge)
Level 29: Chest Beam (Rank 2)
Level 32: Force Shield (Rank 2)
Level 35: Ego Storm (Rank 2, Malevolent Manifestation)
Level 38: Telekinesis
Adv. Points: 33/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Teleportation

Specializations
Intelligence: Preparation (2/2)
Intelligence: Enlightened (3/3)
Intelligence: Detect Vulnerability (3/3)
Intelligence: Expertise (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (3/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (2/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Intelligence Mastery (1/1)

The last 1-2 powers aren't quite as important as the others, and could be changed up.

TStrike's adv, Conviction, and Resurgence can help you heal and emulate some regen effects. Hurl and taps of Chest Beam can both put up Crushing debuffs to boost charged Force Blast's single-target dmg (and you can always tap the blast to build up knock immunity on trash, so charges of the blast don't knock them back). Conflag is your main AoE attack here, and you'll prob want to throw in some of the cd powers to keep MSA rolling while using it. Telekinesis is more of a flavor power here, but you can throw nearby objects w/ it too. Ego Storm can cover the hold and Telepathy effects, and is also a cd for MSA. The block enhancer could also be changed to another powerset's version, if you want more representation from that set. Regardless, it gears mostly for Int, w/ some Con and End_Dex.

benoitsean · January 2021

Cool! Thanks Flow

flowcyto · January 2021

Sure thing; hope it works well for you.

rajakaji · January 2021

I'd been wanting to do a Peter and/or Syler build since I came here but yeah, as Flow said, power stealing isn't really a thing in CO (which also cancels out Rogue unfortunately) and the closest is a sampling of their established power list.

I'd second that you're probably fine with Ranged DPS. I don't recall Peter having any heal others abilities because he didn't confront Linderman after his empathy manifested. I could maybe see him tanking but that'a a relatively small transition of putting your passive towards the end so you can swap it out later for a Defensive, or possibly going dual passive. Regen is more thematic with Claire's ability as far as Tank passives go but of course it's less favorable mechanically.

I'd definitely do Flight and Teleport for travel powers. On top of being thematic they're also imo the most functional tps in the game. Time travel is more of a story thing than a chatacter power as far as video game mechanics go but if you want to explore it do the Vibora Bay Crisis.

flowcyto · January 2021

Yea, I dunno the source that well, but if he could fly, then you could replace Athletics w/ a Flight-based TP just fine. Thanks for the extra info. Also, according to the wiki, apparently he has manipulated Ice and Earth before? (would make sense, if he can potentially mimic anything nearby) If so, then you could change Force Blast to something like Stone Shot, and/or use Ice Shield (or Stone Shroud) for the block enhancer:

Powers
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Stone Shot (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Concentration
Level 8: Night Warrior (Rank 2, Rank 3, Silent Running)
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Hurl (Hard Fall, Didn't See That Coming)
Level 20: Conflagration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 26: Thunderstrike (Recharge)
Level 29: Chest Beam (Rank 2)
Level 32: Ice Shield (Rank 2)
Level 35: Ego Storm (Rank 2, Malevolent Manifestation)
Level 38: Telekinesis
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Teleportation (Rank 2)

That's about as wide of a powerset selection as one can get into one build, and while still being pretty functional.

circleofpsi · January 2021

I'd say Precognition/Precognitive dreaming will fall under some kind of Psi Power, Psi-Sleep due to the dreaming part, or Psychic Vortex as it "Links" others to one another, I am sure you can Roleplay it out of your OC being able to link others for Information. etc.

Phasing sounds more like an Teleport of some kind of being able to "Shift" towards an hostile, Void Shift might be ideal for such, but the issue is it is used for Melee.

I don't watch movies anymore but with what I can read and see, it might fall under Psi like powers, as most of what you listed are Mental Powers related, If you like, you can try useing the TK-Tree and color the powers to be fitting of what he or she took, for your OC.

If you want a power that can "steal" I will also suggest Energy Storm perhas.

Edit: If you like I can share one of my own builds, cuz I tend to use powers that fit the theme (while trying) to make the build workable.

But really any power can work for the current set up you are going for, as you can always take a look at for example: "Fire" and color it to be a new color and just pretend it is made out of something else, like Ice Fire or Psi Fire, etc.

benoitsean · January 2021

Hey thanks for the info guys. That second one that you did Flow looks a little better. I did change a couple of things on it though. I changed Chest Beam to Plasma Beam with the Melta Cannon adv because Peter has never shot anything from his chest so I felt that Plasma Beam fit the theme better. On Ice Shield I added the Frigid Air adv so that way it can put the chill effect at a 50ft range instead of melee. I just took a point off of each travel power to get it.

flowcyto · January 2021

The problem is that Plasma Beam is a slotted toggle, so you can't use any other non-slotted PA powers when activating it, and it doesn't put up Burn Through, which also boosts the Crushing dmg from your basic attack. So, even if you don't take Chest Beam (imo, him happening to not fire something from his chest could be written off as a technicality; it sounds like he still could do something like that, even if it hasn't been shown- but again I dunno the source well), I prob would take a diff power (one that's not slotted PA) in it's place. Maybe use it to cover one of the other multiple power sources he could take (or maybe take a defensive passive if you wanted a dual passive build).

benoitsean · January 2021

What about using Energy Wave with the Recharge adv instead of Chest Beam? Would that work? It would fit with the theme.

flowcyto · January 2021

Sure EWave can fit in fine, though if you're not taking the Reverse Polarity adv to group up mobs (which can be pretty nice), then be mindful of scatter KBs if you have melee allies around (it could also fling enemies away from your own AoE follow-ups like w/ Conflag or Ego Storm). Also, you don't really need the Recharge adv on it when Thunderstrike has it already.

benoitsean · January 2021

Oh ok cool. Then I'll just switch the adv then.

Help With An Empathic Mimicry Build (like Peter Petrelli from Heroes)

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