Comartemis wrote:Unless they've got the Zombie status.
I'm looking at M9 more like one mother of a status ailment; Hotaru's healing powers, when backed up by 20-30 cartridges, are like an Esuna that overpowers Nine's attack.
*EDIT*
If Hotaru has been angsting about being little miss Death Star (which she probably will, if I can pull it off without making the angst nauseating), this is also her chance to prove to the world and to herself that she is not just a weapon.
Well, my opinion? She already proves that she's not just a weapon by
saving Usagi instead of killing her.
Think about it. She actually puts
effort in to prove herself 'not a weapon'.
If she uses 'Generic Healing Beam of Purity and WUV!', it's easy. Simple. And therefore without meaning.
But if, on the other hand, she attacks with
pure destruction... She smashes the opponent down with that very same 'power of destruction' that people fear. And yet, even against the toughest opponent possible, she controls it, well enough that she doesn't even kill. Just beats the opponent, renders them helpless, and then
saves them.
(Side note: 20 to 30 Cartridges? I don't think that's even
possible. I've never seen a clip bigger than six, and I don't think the power burst would last long enough to reload and make it bigger - even assuming the Device didn't erupt in a nuclear firestorm. Even 'Let's shoot it' Raging Heart never dared to go with all six, I believe the most done was five.)
No, Hotaru actually killing herself is not on the agenda. Besides, even if it was, why would I tell the Saturn fanboys about it? I rather like my head where it is, thank you.
Hm, odd, I thought you
were one of the Saturn fanboys...
Not completely; if Serenity's memories have awakened at this point, then canon Serenity will do just fine.
I considered this, but I also consider it a cheap plot device.
Even if they haven't, I doubt Usagi - even crybaby Usagi - would just stand by and let someone kill themselves if she thought she could do something about it.
Possibly, but giving her the strength of character to actually do something about it... Well, it gets close to the Usagi worship that makes me hate the character.
Alright, I've just had the oppourtunity to watch a few episodes of Nanoha StrikerS and I thought I'd put this question up in the air; what do you guys think of giving Hotaru a Revolver Knuckle (or two) for her device?
Okay, the idea has potential, but I'll note that it might be 'interesting' to mesh a polearm style and a punch-based one... I mean, when you think of Hotaru fighting,
usually you imagine her prime weapon being the glaive.
(Side note: apparently Subaru's Revolver Knuckle is half of the total Device, and her sister has the other half)
Now before I get booed off the board for trying to make Hotaru into a martial artist, let me explain where I'm trying to take this. Besides being powerful melee weapons, like all devices the RK has an arsenal of spell templates for Hotaru to draw from (at least I think it does; I've only seen the first three episodes of StrikerS). For her first few battles, Hotaru relies completely on those spells despite her greatly enhanced strength and speed because frankly Hotaru can't throw a punch to save her life. This changes on the night she passes out; rather than simply being found and taken in, Hotaru comes to Makoto's rescue and fights one last battle on her own before her body gives out. When she comes to, Makoto is taking care of her and the two of them hit it off quite nicely with Hotaru telling Makoto her story and Makoto allowing (more like ordering) Hotaru to stay with her. Mako can tell that Hotaru is much stronger when she's transformed and offers to teach her what she knows of the martial arts. Even after this, however, Hotaru is still going to prefer the use of her ranged attacks, she's just not going to be much fun to deal with up close either.
I've got a few scene ideas that tie into this. The first is Hotaru punching through a brick wall and getting her arm stuck during training. The second is Hotaru using an Amaguriken knock-off called Buster Drive (I'll probably toss this one). The third is a not-so-subtle reference to Ranma 1/2 and a clue as to who Mako-chan's infamous "sempai" is, which has Makoto and Hotaru facing a daimon and knowing they're outmatched, so Makoto makes a big production out of using the Saotome Final Attack. Yes, this demands that Makoto know a bit about Anything Goes; it's a concept I've seen before and I like it, and I don't know enough about the arts to identify Makoto's official style anyways.
Okay, I actually rather like how you meld it with one of your planned routes.
Couple notes:
One thing to remember is that a freaky-powerful mage like Hotaru is going to be better off with an Intelligent Device that can make up spells on the fly. This would cause problems with the Cartridge System, but unless either A: you made the Armed Device's last user another freaky-powerful mage, and thus it's tuned for high power or B: you later give Hotaru the chance (and knowledge) to program in her own spells and revise the systems... there's a very real chance Hotaru will be limited to using her immense reserves but casting spells rated to be possible for a weak generic mage. There're ways around it if you wish to use the Armed Device (and honestly, I prefer option B).
Next fits in with that: The spells that'll be preprogrammed. Other than the muscle (which is likely the
focus of the Device, given what we know of Velkan philosophy), there might not be much, even if you go with a different list than Subaru has.
Remember, Revolver Knuckle in StrikerS is a
Modern Velkan System Device. In other words, it's likely melded with the Midchildan style in things like its shooting attacks. But you're looking for an
original Velkan Device.
The original style is almost
totally on enhancing physical attacks. Look at Signum - she's almost
all melee and muscle, there's literally not one of Signum's techniques Hotaru could do without getting physical. Even Vita, who's like the closest thing the Velkan System has to a shooter, is highly physical.
Though, you could have the last user be either a 'heretic', or not actually Velkan, and just added in various spells in a semblance of the Modern Velkan System.
Armour's a given. At least one shooting spell of some kind is another given. But the problem is that unless it's a
very high-rank mage, a lot of the other standbys you aren't going to be seeing.
Auto-guards and general force fields? You'll note that Subaru, who is an above-average mage herself, doesn't have one - she totally relies on her armour and evasion.
Flight? Generally need to be A-rank-potential to even
think about it.
Smasher spells? You're
joking, right? (Though ironically, a collection-type like Starlight Breaker isn't as out of the question)
But one plus side of this is that you'll get to work with the lower power levels. The oddball spells that you don't tend to see much of. Things like Subaru's 'I-propel-my-roller-blades', Tia's anchor, Yuuno's binds and kekkai... (For that matter, Shamal's Scry-and-Linker-Core-Grab, the cheapest move in all of Nanoha)
(In fact, I'd say that if you figure out how to have a Velkan Device with shooter spells, I'd like this route. A low-power old user with a lot of inventive stuff programmed on, and then the chance for Hotaru to later program in higher-level spells that
she can handle. This works well for power progression, too. She's basically constrained to the power level of the last mage who had the Device - she's got a
huge well of power, but the funnel that brings it out is too thin. In many ways, she'll need to be working on pure skill. And then, when she gets it tuned to her
own capability...)
Third, Subaru's strength, ie what the device can do: 'Enhanced' may not quite cover it. Did you realize she can throw a Gadget single-handed without much effort? As in, a chunk of heavy metal more than twice her size.
bissek wrote:On turning 9 into a Cartridge - no. Does anybody remember the Spirit rounds from Chrono Crusade? The moment they were fired, the demon sealed in the bullet came out of the bullet and started wreaking havoc (In the anime version, the power of the demon in the bullet was absorbed by the demon being shot, making it stronger). It was ultimately worse than useless in both cases.
While the idea was
mostly facetious, that's not quite an applicable comparison. Cartridge system
detonates the cartridge, it doesn't fire it. In other words, M9 would basically get turned into lamp oil.
There is no problem that cannot be solved through the proper application of immense levels of firepower.
- Finally promoted to Spammaster Indeterminate Rank as of June 18, by Stratagemini
<Stratagemini> My Titanium Anus Armour will repel all challengers!
Would you believe this is one of the more tame bits of dirt I've got for him?
