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Welcome to City of Champions Online!

Please read and confirm the following:

End User License Agreement (EULA)

Information Security Warning

Adult Content Consent Warning

OK, so I’ll admit it. I didn’t read the forms. After all, who EVER reads those forms? They all basically boil down to “don’t be stupid, and if you are stupid, you can’t sue us for it.” Nothing to get worked up about, IMHO.

Once I’d cleared away the forms, I was taken to a white room, where character creation was supposed to happen. And right at the start, I was confronted by something I did not expect.

Welcome to character creation for City of Champions Online!

City of Champions uses the Mutants and Masterminds®, 2nd Edition system with minor changes to fit an MMORPG setup. You use Power Points (PP) to buy Attributes, Feats, Skills, and Powers. You can take Drawbacks and Complications that negatively affect your character to gain bonuses.

All characters have Hero/Villain Points. Hero Points are used to exceed your character’s abilities. This can be used to save yourself from certain death, to temporarily grant yourself a related ability to one of your existing powers, to push a power beyond its rank and the Power Level limits, and more. All characters begin with 1 Hero Point.

Hero Points are gained in several ways. The simplest (and hardest to accomplish) is to perform high-risk, high-reward activities successfully and stylishly enough that the governing AIs award ‘style points’. Next, you can earn Hero Points while on a mission with a team or pick up group. At the end of a mission, the group will vote on an MVP, who will gain a Hero Point for their hard work. Finally, you can earn Hero Points when your Complications cause significant problems for your character (for instance, a Mutant running into a crowd of anti-mutant bigots).

THAT was something I hadn’t heard about. I mean, what kind of MMO deliberately injects that kind of randomness into their game? The potential for abuse was staggering! But still, it definitely encouraged people to do the kind of crazy, over the top things you saw in comic books, rather than just playing it safe and doing the time-honored cycling of attacks until you killed the boss.

Power Level (PL) determines caps on attributes, skill ranks, and power ranks. Note that while Power Level is an approximate determination of a character’s raw power, their actual abilities may be substantially different. You can increase your PL in play for the cost of 15 PP. City of Champions Online has three different ‘tiers’ where new characters may start.

PL 8: Street-level heroes. Typically low-powered Supers or peak-condition Normals, more likely to be stopping bank robberies and mob bosses than actual superhumans. Start with 165 PP.

PL 10: ‘Standard’ Superheroes. Characters at this level are distinctly superhuman, or have access to superhuman gear and training. While they still may get involved in stopping ‘Normal’ crime, mostly they fight other Supers. Start with 150 PP.

PL 12: High-powered Superheroes. Characters at this level are the go-to guys when there are regional or national problems that need to be handled. They rarely get involved with ‘Normal’ crime, except in extreme cases, or when they happen to be on the scene. Their fights almost always involve other Supers, or Normals equipped specifically to take on Supers. Start with 135 PP.

So you could start at a lower power level, but have more PP to spend, making a ‘jack of all trades’ character, or you could start at a higher power level, but have fewer PP to spend, encouraging you to be a one-trick pony. Neither were really my thing, so I decided to go for PL 10.

You have chosen PL 10 (150 PP).

You Pre-Ordered the Supreme Edition of City of Champions! You gain 10 PP to spend on your character. Other bonuses will be delivered to your character in-game.

City of Champions offers several modes of Character Creation.

Customizer Mode: For those players who know the system, and want to create their character just they way they want it, Customizer Mode allows players to directly allocate all of their starting PP. All choices are subject to AIGM approval. Completed characters will go through a generic beginning sequence.

Guided Mode: For players who are unfamiliar with the system, or who want a more organic experience, Guided Mode gives players partial control over their PP, as they work with an AIGM to create a character that fits them. Guided characters gain +5 PP, and start with a personalized beginning sequence.

Origin Story Mode: For players who are looking for a unique immersive experience, Origin Story Mode gives players little control over their PP. Instead, they work with an AIGM to spend no more than 20 of their starting PP. The AIGM discusses the Player’s goals for the character, and then creates a personalized Origin Story scenario based on that discussion, as well as the player’s browser history and Amazon store algorithms, that the player will run through prior to beginning the game proper, which the AIGM will use to spend the rest of the available PP. Origin Story characters gain +10 PP, but some origins may include graphic content, and as such are restricted to players who are 18+. Origin Story characters may have significant drawbacks to balance any advantages they have.

Legacy Mode: Restricted to Beta testers or players who have characters that died or were retired for some reason. The Legacy mode allows a player to enter the world with the name of a fallen hero or villain, and they get a personalized Origin Story as they work with the AIGM to create their characters. Legacy characters gain PP equal to 5 + 80% of the PP the original character earned in play. Legacy characters may be helped or hindered by the public’s perceptions of the original character.

Geez, this keeps getting more and more interesting! The Min-Maxers would all go for the Customizer mode, since they could control where the points went. But for players who wanted a more immersive experience, Guided and Origin Story modes looked to be really attractive. You might lose some control, but the AIGMs would give you a personalized story to start the game. This must be something they came up with for the full release, as nothing had been said about things like in the Beta.

It was a risk, picking a character that had been basically designed by someone else. If there were crippling flaws and weaknesses in the character, you wouldn’t know it until it was too late to do anything but reroll. And that was a pain in the ass. But the personalized Origin Story was a really cool idea…

I made my selection, and then the scene shifted from a featureless white room, to what looked like a private office. Sitting behind the desk was an older black man wearing a stylish suit. He looked up as I appeared, and motioned to one of the chairs in front of the desk, “Ah, welcome. Please, take a seat. You may call me Morgan. I am the AIGM assigned to help you with your Origin Story. How might I address you?”

I blinked at the smooth tone of the AI. Damn, I’d listen to him read the dictionary! I coughed, and said, “Jackie is fine. Nice to meet you, Morgan. So you’re going to help me create my character, right?”

Morgan smiled. “Yes, that’s right. To start with, I see that you have 20 extra points due to your pre-order and choosing the Origin Story mode. Let’s start with what role you want to play in the game. While the traditional MMO roles of Tank, Healer, DPS, and Support/Control are not really applicable to a game with supers, it does give us a good place to start.”

“Yes, I would like to have some healing powers. Something like being able to drain energy from living creatures, and use it to heal myself and others. And maybe use it for other things as well. Oh, and I’d like to be able to sense ‘life force’.”

Morgan nodded. “So, a kind of vampiric healer, then?”

Vampiric, huh. Maybe I shouldn’t have been reading all those supernatural romance stories? Oh well, too late for that! “Uh, yeah, something like that.”

We worked on the powers for a while, until we got it to look something like this:

Life Force Drain (Linked Power) – Action: Full, Range: Touch, Duration: Concentration

*Feats: Alternate Power 4

*Cost: 15 PP

>Linked Power

>Drain STR 12

>>Feats: Accurate 2

>>Extras: Duration (Concentration)

>>Flaws: Action (Full), Distracting, Limited (Only living creatures), Side-effect (Stun if power fails)

>>Drawbacks: Power Loss (Must have skin to skin contact)

>>Total: 4 PP

>Snare 12

>>Feats: Accurate 2

>>Extras: Engulf, Transparent

>>Flaws: Action (Full), Distracting, Limited (Only living creatures)

>>Drawbacks: Power Loss (Must have skin to skin contact)

>>Total: 7 PP

With a touch, Isoke is able to forge a link between her life force and that of another creature, draining away their strength. This link also locks the target in place, connected to Isoke. She must have skin-to-skin contact to initiate the link. Once ensnared, the victim is only released when they break themselves free, or Vampyra lets them go. STR drained in this manner returns at a rate of 1 PP per round once the drain is stopped.

>Alternate Powers (11 PP for powers)

>>Darkbolt (Paralyze 10) – Action: Full, Range: Ranged, Duration: Instant

>>>>Feats: Accurate 2

>>>>Extras: Range (Ranged)

>>>>Flaws: Action (Full), Limited (Only living creatures)

>>>>Drawbacks: Power Loss (Haven’t drained Life Force for 24 hours)

>>>>Total: 11 PP

By concentrating a mass of Life Force energy and purposefully twisting it to be on an inverse harmonic, Isoke is able to create a paralytic feedback effect within a person’s body, overwhelming them temporarily and either slowing or paralyzing them. This attack only works on the living, for obvious reasons.

>>Lifebolt (Blast 10) – Action: Standard, Range: Ranged, Duration: Instant

>>>>Feats: Accurate 2, Incurable

>>>>Flaws: Limited (Only living creatures)

>>>>Drawbacks: Non-lethal Only, Power Loss (Haven’t drained Life Force for 24 hours)

>>>>Total: 11 PP

A more destructive version of Darkbolt, this attack is designed not to paralyze, but to hurt. It attacks the life force of a living creature directly, causing physical, if non-lethal, damage. It is ineffective against nonliving creatures.

>>Soul Flight (Flight 6) – Action: Move, Range: Personal, Duration: Sustained

>>>>Drawbacks: Power Loss (Haven’t drained Life Force for 24 hours)

>>>>Total: 11 PP

By forming Life Force energy into an aura, Isoke is able to fly at high speeds, reaching speeds of 500 MPH. Of course, this method of travel is very distinctive, as she is surrounded in a golden glow equivalent to a torch while this happens.

>>Soul Healing (Healing 10) – Action: Full, Range: Touch, Duration: Instant

>>>>Feats: Persistent, Regrowth

>>>>Extras: Energizing

>>>>Flaws: Distracting, Limited (Only living creatures)

>>>>Drawbacks: Power Loss (Haven’t drained Life Force for 24 Hours)

>>>>Total: 11 PP

With a touch, Isoke is able to infuse pure life force into a living creature, removing debilitating effects and healing damage, even causing people to regrow lost limbs!

Soul Sight (Super-Senses 15) – Action: None, Range: Personal, Duration: Continuous

*Flaws: Limited – Only Detects Living Creatures, Side-Effects (Stun when mass casualties in sensed area)

*Drawbacks: Noticeable, Power Loss (Haven’t drained life force for 24 hours)

*Total: 3 PP

Isoke is able to ‘see’ the life force of all living creatures for miles around her, from the lowest microbes to cosmic-level entities. This is a mental sense, which has a range increment of 2 miles. She is able to ‘see’ through Concealment and Illusion effects, but not Obscures and physical obstructions that block mental senses. She is able to target and analyze individuals, identifying them by their life force alone. Because of this, it is incredibly difficult for living creatures to surprise her. This is the Detect (Creatures) 2 Sense, with Accurate, Acute, Analytical, Counters Concealment, Counters Illusion, Extended 3 (-1 per 2 miles), Radius, and Uncanny Dodge (mental) senses.

Oh yeah, we decided that my character’s name was going to be Isoke Sandoval. Anyways, because of how the system worked, I’d gotten a lot out of 18 PP, but most of those powers were things I could only do one at a time. So I could fly, or I could heal, or I could shoot someone, but I couldn’t do any of them at the same time. Made it so I wouldn’t be completely helpless if I was on my own. Added in a Drawback on my main character, saying I had to feed on life force every day instead of eating food, too. Only worth a single point, since life force is everywhere, but still, it was a cool idea. Like recharging a battery. The last three PP I spent on buying up the Craft: Artistic skill, since I figured that being an artist would be a nice secret identity. No one expects artists to keep regular hours, unless they worked as graphic designers.

I was nervous, but I looked at Morgan, and nodded. The last thing I heard was him saying, “Good luck, Isoke.”

And then everything went black.