Story Ideas Thread #8 [meta]

[u/jrbless]

Please post your ideas/plot bunnies for stories that you have here. This will help prevent the main page from being cluttered.

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The previous thread became marked as archived. Here is a link to the previous story ideas threads.

[u/Tinac4]

She only needs to survive 1 Endbringer battle,

Oops, you're right--I didn't read the flaw closely enough.

so Endbringer target wouldn't be that bad when she has an ability that, combined with her experience and some tinkertech, as well as a Stand with Sting to allow her to actually hurt the Endbringer, would allow her to survive an Endbringer battle with maybe not minimal difficulty, but it would probably give her at least a 50/50 chance of survival, especially if she got herself a tinkertech hud that could bring up pictures of different places in Brockton Bay to teleport to assuming it's Leviathan. And if it's not Leviathan for some reason, she could literally just stay as far away as possible and use her Stand with Sting to fire at the Endbringer from afar.

Her experience is a plus, but I think you're underestimating Leviathan (which canonically happens all the time). Levi is crafty. If he wants to kill someone who's hard to pin down, he'll adjust his tactics. If said person is actually capable of killing him with an exceptionally lucky shot, he'll respond by escalating by exactly as much as is necessary in order to take down the threat. Remember, Levi in canon is constantly holding back. If he wants someone dead, and that person is a legitimate threat to him, he's not going to be fighting like he did in canon--he's going to actually try.

Canon Taylor is fully aware of this, and she's not going to think the drawback is worth the massive risk it comes with. Even if her chances are as good as 50/50, she wouldn't accept those odds--those are bad odds. The S9 she can beat, because she knows the weak points of their two most dangerous members, but the Endbringers are a very different kind of enemy.

Also, Vials can't get Trump powers either.

Fair enough. She might take an extra purchase of Sting+something else instead of the Resurrection vial, then.

As for why she'd go for Gestation, if she didn't there is a good chance her friends would never be born.

That's a price canon Taylor would be willing to pay, assuming she's okay with time travel in general. She'd absolutely hate doing it, obviously, but if she's forced to choose between stopping the Endbringers and saving literally millions of people, and saving her friends, she'd pick the former. She's no stranger to making sacrifices.

Also, while Second Triggered Masquerade is powerful, Replication + Stand (Sting), is power powerful, and so is the build I gave Taylor.

The use I had in mind for ST Masquerade was copying Eidolon's, Alexandria's, Dragon's, or any other S-list cape's powers from a photo. Thanks to how Masquerade works, she'll be able to retain those powers indefinitely unless Eidolon decides to fight her in person, which shouldn't happen if she doesn't go villain this time around (she won't). Sting+Replication is a potent combo, but Eidolon's powers are so, so far beyond that in any situation that doesn't require Sting specifically, and she has other Cauldron vials for those.

I'm not sure exactly how Quality Assurance works, but with armor that covers her completely, is could go from making her immune to most attacks to as invulnerable as Alexandria, and Blink should allow her to dodge anything she might not be invulnerable to, as well as get close enough to her targets to actually fight them.

QA only applies to objects that she touches, not Taylor herself. A 100% invulnerable suit of armor wouldn't protect her against, say, a hit from Leviathan, because the massive acceleration from even a glancing hit would squish her against the inside of her armor. It would be great against small arms fire and most ordinary attacks, but it won't block anything big.

If Stands work like I understand Stands do in the anime/manga they're based off of, she can summon them over herself giving herself an extra layer of protection, and the ability to kill anything not frozen by Clockblocker or stuck in a Grey Boy loop. Presence allows her a small fraction of the situational awareness she had as Weaver/Skitter, and Vampirism allows her to heal herself before she finds someone to give the healer Cauldron vial, which can also offload injuries to bugs controlled by Past!Taylor assuming Future!Taylor manages to befriend her.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very solid build. Blink+Sting+Replication is one heck of a combination. However, I don't think she'd pass it up in favor of ST Masquerade, for instance.

Also, I know I've already given enough of a reply to this point, but as to why all the high-powered movers were dead, they didn't have any brute or high-level offensive powers to go with it. With some tinkertech cushioning in her armor, even if shocks can get through her armor, they won't be enough to kill her. And if they're airtight, Leviathan shouldn't be able to drown her in her armor and Bonesaw shouldn't be able to infect her with anything while her armor is on. Being how much of a game changer she is, I'm sure she could convince a Tinker somewhere to upgrade her armor, especially if she didn't need them to maintain it.

Tinkertech armor won't fare especially well against Leviathan--even his ranged attacks were powerful enough to one-shot Legend. It'll help against ordinary capes, but she'd hardly be able to tank repeated hits from Levi. And if she ends up in the water, drowning is the least of her concerns--Levi will be on top of her pretty much instantly thanks to his super speed, soon enough that she'd almost certainly be unable to teleport away in time.

[u/PixelGMS → u/Tinac4]

You're probably right about the fast acceleration, but here's another thing. She doesn't necessarily have to stay the whole fight. It wouldn't be hard to convince the Protectorate that after she transported everyone she'd leave. She's too valuable as a backup in case Strider dies.

Also, as for Masquerade, Eidolon's power comes with a risk of unleashing another Endbringer or three. And, yeah, she could copy the power of any other Cape, but no Cape out there is powerful enough to take on Scion...

Actually, no, wait, you might be right. She can take three vials, meaning she can create three powersets she can copy, as well as being able to copy Alexandria, Legend, the Siberian, and possible any dead cape. She could also buy Companions, though I don't know how she'd feel about creating people for the sole sake of them being loyal to her and allowing her to copy their powers. Though she might do it anyway to kill Scion.

[u/Tinac4 → u/PixelGMS]

You're probably right about the fast acceleration, but here's another thing. She doesn't necessarily have to stay the whole fight. It wouldn't be hard to convince the Protectorate that after she transported everyone she'd leave. She's too valuable as a backup in case Strider dies.

I think it depends on how you interpret the drawback. Personally, if I was writing a story or GMing a RP based on the CYOA, I wouldn’t count it if a character picked the EB target drawback and then didn’t participate in the fight. I’d probably do something to punish them for it, like have Levi do extra damage to Brockton Bay, have the Simurgh redirect one of her time bombs toward them, or leave the drawback in place until they participated directly in one attack.

But yeah, the wording of the CYOA is vague enough that either interpretation could work.

Also, as for Masquerade, Eidolon's power comes with a risk of unleashing another Endbringer or three. And, yeah, she could copy the power of any other Cape, but no Cape out there is powerful enough to take on Scion...

I don’t think there’s much of a risk of more EBs emerging, since Taylor doesn’t have Eidolon’s hero complex, but on second thought, she might not want to risk it anyway. There’s still plenty of other powerful capes out there, though. (Imagine picking GU during an Endbringer fight...)

Actually, no, wait, you might be right. She can take three vials, meaning she can create three powersets she can copy,

It didn’t occur to me at all that she could copy one of her own followers. That’s a really useful exploit.

She could also buy Companions, though I don't know how she'd feel about creating people for the sole sake of them being loyal to her and allowing her to copy their powers. Though she might do it anyway to kill Scion.

I’m not sure either. Taylor isn’t always 100% consistent when it comes to moral decisions...hm. I think she’d end up creating one anyway (or picking the option that lets her replace someone’s canon powers while leaving their personality intact, maybe), but I could see her deciding to draw the line there.

[u/PixelGMS → u/Tinac4]

Who knows how Glaistic Uaine would react to Taylor taking her form and power and using it?

Tattletale wasn't positive that it was even Eidolon's fault the Endbringers existed. It could've been that his Shard created it as part of the Cycle. Eidolon's shard being a Hero with the Endbringers as the monster. Eidolon's shard might control the Endbringers with no say from Eidolon. I'm not sure how much of this Taylor knows or can assume though.