Designing a Game: I need a word that means...

[Mordaenor]

No idea what other forum to put this under, so I'm putting it here.

Hey Inter-nuts!
As the title suggests, I'm in the midst of designing a board game, and need some help.

The game is Superhero themed and I have 5 classes. Classes are based on the Heroes origin. I have

Paragon: A Hero who has no powers but is just really good at doing stuff. I.E. Batman, Hawkeye or Black Widow.
Mutant: Heroes who were born with powers
Gifted: Heroes who were given Powers (intentionally or not)
Alien: Heroes not from Earth

And my fifth class is where I need help. The fifth class describes characters who have Special Powers, but attained them through intense study or specialized knowledge. This could include Technology types such as Iron man or wizard types such Dr. Strange. More powerful than Paragons, but without the external influence of Gifteds. I've been going with "Advanceds" but I don't like the sound of that.

Any living thesauruses out there have any ideas?

[thorgrim29]

Ubermenchen maybe?

[Mx.Silver]

Would savant work?

[Cristo Meyers]

Would savant work?

I'm with him, 'savant' has a nice ring to it.

[thorgrim29]

Agreed, way better then my thing

[Mordaenor]

Would savant work?

Yes. Yes it would.

[Xuc Xac]

Savant sounds fine for a class name but I have to disagree with those classes.

Shouldn't the way the powers work be more important than where they come from?

A member of the X-men is a mutant because they have genetic powers from birth, but Spiderman and the Hulk are Gifted like Green Lantern because their mutations were given to them after they were born?

I'd rather see something more like X-men and Hulk have intrinsic powers that are part of who they are, Iron-man and Green Lantern have powers from their equipment, etc. Maybe separate heroes like GL who have to answer to a patron that can revoke their powers.

Why should "alien" be it's own class? If they have powers intrinsic to their species, then make them mutants. If they have powers because they just have super alien tech, make them the equipment based class.

You can allow multi classing to allow for things like Batman (mostly skill with some cool toys), Captain America (imbued with power but with some special gear), etc.

[Ares B]

How about Parvenu? Especially if those who have inherited their powers have trouble accepting the "wannabes" who have gained them by themselves.

[Mordaenor]

Savant sounds fine for a class name but I have to disagree with those classes.

Shouldn't the way the powers work be more important than where they come from?

Not for my purposes. The current way the game is working (which is still in very early stages of development, so things may change) is that the game involves recruiting heroes to teams, and then sending them on missions. Certain teams get bonuses/discounts for recruiting certain types of Heroes. I.E. if this game were set in the Marvel-verse (it is not) the X-men would get bonuses/discounts for recruiting Mutants.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Gifted sounds wrong, since that's usually used for born talents in real life so would imply the same thing as mutant.

Savant could equally mean the same thing as paragon, but the whole idiot savant term confuses things since the old general use of savant for a skilled person is out of fashion.

I'm pretty sure City of Heroes used a system similar to this.

Only one I can think of right now is Aspirant but I don't like it that much.

[Tvtyrant]

Sage, Enlightened, Inspired, Atlantian, Promethian, Elevated, Ascended.

[Lissou]

My first thought was Scholar although Savant is similar and probably better. I agree that "Gifted" sounds to me like people born that way. What about "Bestowed" instead? It seems less confusing to me

EDIT: Oh, and I find it really weird that Batman and Iron Man would end up in different categories. They're kinda the equivalent of the other. Then again with this classification, Superman and Captain America would also be in different categories since Superman would be Alien and Captain America Gifted (or whatever other word you decide to use).

[Mordaenor]

My first thought was Scholar although Savant is similar and probably better. I agree that "Gifted" sounds to me like people born that way. What about "Bestowed" instead? It seems less confusing to me

EDIT: Oh, and I find it really weird that Batman and Iron Man would end up in different categories. They're kinda the equivalent of the other. Then again with this classification, Superman and Captain America would also be in different categories since Superman would be Alien and Captain America Gifted (or whatever other word you decide to use).

I have never considered an untrained egghead with a rocket-powered invincibility suit that shoots laser, missiles, and generates force fields to be the equivalent of a super-ninja with a grappling hook gun and a cool car. But that's just me.

You are correct, I would put Batman as a Paragon. For all his cool gadgets, he doesn't spend a whole lot of time breaking the laws of physics the way Ironman does, who I would qualify as a Savant (although, again, early development, categories may change if I decide they aren't working)

But I'm also not going to be using any established Heroes, I'll be building more-or-less from the ground up, so any character concept that is too muddy to fall into one category or another will simply not be used in my game.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

The game is Superhero themed and I have 5 classes. Classes are based on the Heroes origin. I have

Paragon: A Hero who has no powers but is just really good at doing stuff. I.E. Batman, Hawkeye or Black Widow.
Mutant: Heroes who were born with powers
Gifted: Heroes who were given Powers (intentionally or not)
Alien: Heroes not from Earth

Your divisions seem...a little odd. Have you considered reclassifying things? I'm really surprised that Iron Man and Batman, for example, aren't on the same level as Hawkeye and Black Widow. All seem to be "badass normals" with outside help (varying in degree based on the hero's own resources and intelligence, but still...take away the fancy suits and most of them go "squish" just as easily as the next one). Iron Man just seems to have invested a little more in Knowledge: Obscure Physics.

Heck, I'd even put Captain America in the same category: he's peak human physical condition, but that still seems more Paragon than any of the other options, especially when compared to Gifted heros like the Hulk, Quicksilver, or Scarlet Witch (speaking of...have you considered Enchanced instead of Gifted?).

[Mordaenor]

Your divisions seem...a little odd. Have you considered reclassifying things? I'm really surprised that Iron Man and Batman, for example, aren't on the same level as Hawkeye and Black Widow. All seem to be "badass normals" with outside help (varying in degree based on the hero's own resources and intelligence, but still...take away the fancy suits and most of them go "squish" just as easily as the next one). Iron Man just seems to have invested a little more in Knowledge: Obscure Physics.

Heck, I'd even put Captain America in the same category: he's peak human physical condition, but that still seems more Paragon than any of the other options, especially when compared to Gifted heros like the Hulk, Quicksilver, or Scarlet Witch (speaking of...have you considered Enchanced instead of Gifted?).

I do appreciate the input, but for my purposes this is what made the most sense at this point in development, in terms of making the mechanics of the game fit together. I'm not designing an RPG, so whether Batman and Ironman would go squish without their outfits does not make a difference within the context of the game mechanics. Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne may both be billionaire CEOs, but I believe any similarities end their. Moreover, while the Batman/Ironman comparison is a helpful reference point, dwelling on it too specifically is a waste of time, since neither will actually be appearing in the game. I will be building my heroes from the ground up, so will be tailoring their abilities/backgrounds to meet my needs.

If any one out there has played "Lords of Waterdeep" you are familiar with the different Quest-types: Commerce, Arcana, Warfare, Piety, and Skullduggery. These simply give a guide for which heroes are most needed to complete them and given bonus points at the end to certain characters. The class system for my heroes will work in a similar fashion. Each player will be in charge of a team of Heroes, and certain teams will get benefit from recruiting Heroes from certain backgrounds. As an example I have a team entitled "Second Home" which is mostly comprised of Heroes who were not born on Earth, whether they originated from the Crab Nebula or the Eight Level of the Abyss. They get a bonus when they recruit Alien heroes.

[Jay R]

First, I would separate technology powers from mystical powers. I group that's looking for Iron Man isn't looking for Dr. Strange.

Then I would call them technos and mystics.

[Fri]

Guys, I know his classification might or might not make sense from your opinion, but I must remind you that he's making a board game, not an rpg, and from his purpose of his gameplay it's the hero's origin that's matter, not the power. That might or might not make sense from rpg perspective or storytelling perspective or what else, but it might makes sense from this specific board game's gameplay.

A slightly related example, in lord of waterdeep, there are several factions you can play, like the harper, the city guard, the silverstars, etc. You might think that each of them might have differences or something. But for the purpose of the game, they all are the same (it's the lords behind them that have differences, and any lord can control any faction).

I don't know about the gameplay he designed. Maybe it'll actually make more sense if he divide the heroes based on powers. But since he's the only one who knows the details, and for him it's the hero's origin that matters, it's the hero's origin that matters.

And anyway, in my opinion Savant has a nice ring for it. Expert might also work.

[Mordaenor]

First, I would separate technology powers from mystical powers. I group that's looking for Iron Man isn't looking for Dr. Strange.

Then I would call them technos and mystics.

Unless its a team that recruits Egghead, Genius level humans.

Guys, I know his classification might or might not make sense from your opinion, but I must remind you that he's making a board game, not an rpg, and from his purpose of his gameplay it's the hero's origin that's matter, not the power. That might or might not make sense from rpg perspective or storytelling perspective or what else, but it might makes sense from this specific board game's gameplay.

A slightly related example, in lord of waterdeep, there are several factions you can play, like the harper, the city guard, the silverstars, etc. You might think that each of them might have differences or something. But for the purpose of the game, they all are the same (it's the lords behind them that have differences, and any lord can control any faction).

I don't know about the gameplay he designed. Maybe it'll actually make more sense if he divide the heroes based on powers. But since he's the only one who knows the details, and for him it's the hero's origin that matters, it's the hero's origin that matters.

And anyway, in my opinion Savant has a nice ring for it. Expert might also work.

Thank you, someone understands! I think Savant is definitely the winner. And I do appreciate all the input from everyone and will keep it in mind as I work through the design process.

[Jay R]

Unless its a team that recruits Egghead, Genius level humans.

Which include Professor X, Batman, and Reed Richards, all of whom you have in different areas, and does not include Rhodey as War Machine, since he didn't build his own power armor.

Thank you, someone understands! I think Savant is definitely the winner. And I do appreciate all the input from everyone and will keep it in mind as I work through the design process.

A savant is somebody who designed the technology, not somebody who uses it. Tony Stark is a savant, and also happens to use the armor he built, but that's not the same thing.

[Lissou]

I don't think it matters much that Rhodes doesn't fit in any of the categories (even though he's pretty awesome), since the characters will be created with the categories in mind, not the other way around, so any character will fit one of the categories by design.

[Mordaenor]

Hey folks, back for more advise:

Building my roster of heroes, each one will have four attributes. Attack, Defense, Travel, and Utility
Each attribute will have a type, and need some help adding to the lists. The more choices I have the greater variety of heroes. The idea was that lower level Heroes would have one Attack type, one Travel type, and one or no Defense or Utility, while more powerful Heroes could easily have two or three types or more.

So far I've got


Attack Types:
Unarmed, Trained (i.e. Iron Fist or Black Widow)
Unarmed, Strong (i.e. Hulk or Thing)
Magic
Fire
Ice
Electric
Telekinetic
Telepathic
Slashing
Explosive



Defense Types:
Tough
Stealthy
Shielded
Telekinetic
Agile



Travel Powers:
Running
Flying
Teleport
Swimming
Vehicular (Which could itself have one the above types)

Utility:
Strong
Telepathic
Telekinetic
Heightened Senses


Astute readers will note that Telekinesis and Telepathy appear in more than one list, that's intentional. Feel free to suggest other power types that could have multiple applications

[Fragenstein]

What about some sort of Environmental Independence under Utility? It could represent heroes able to go into space or survive high radiation areas and such. That would allow you to randomly draw environmental-based barriers around the board during play. A group could only pass through such a space if someone in their roster has an immunity to that environment.

[Mordaenor]

What about some sort of Environmental Independence under Utility? It could represent heroes able to go into space or survive high radiation areas and such. That would allow you to randomly draw environmental-based barriers around the board during play. A group could only pass through such a space if someone in their roster has an immunity to that environment.

Nice one. That could potentially double as a Defense type to. "Immune to Radiation" good for going into nuclear wastelands and going up against Mr. Nuke-u-lar. Or something like that. Will hash out the details later. I like it. Keep 'em comin'.