ReaperofInterest, post: 79736722, member: 309377 Wrote:

So how does ranking up work?

Like, in Hacking Reality, it sounds like M.A.D.s have a certain maximum level they can get to that's predetermined, but is that just a M.A.D. thing they have to deal with in exchange for their power, or does every Deviant have a predetermined max level they can get to? Or can every other Deviant theoretically become a S Ranker if they're willing to put in the time and effort to improve themselves?

There are several ranking systems for a number of factors with everything existing on a 1-21 scale that most people translate into the letter grades, to establish tiers of sorts to the scales. These systems can range from a scale of power, to threat, to a measurement of skill within a known field of study.

Due to the actual difficulty of measuring power levels and ranks most people will drop the + or - at the end of a rank or simply refer to Deviants as low Rank (F or E) Mid Rank (D, C) or High Rank (B, A, and S) (Note: S Rank is considered it's own tier despite being marked as a 'high rank'.)

I broke it down a bit in one of my anthology episodes but I'll move the skill Ranks over here.

F- An absolute novice of a field.

E- A beginner of a field.

D- A intermediate of a field.

C- A professional/practitioner of a field.

B- An expert of a field.

A- A master of a field.

S- A grand master of a field.

Now most threat levels can be broken down like this, based on how much damage they can do in a 24 hour time frame if they set their minds to it:

F- A household/individual level threat.

E- A street level threat.

D- A neighborhood level threat

C- A town or city district level threat.

B- A large city level threat.

A- A national threat.

S- A global threat.

Last of these categories would be power levels, but given how subjective that one can be with the scale shifting based on whoever is currently considered the highest known threats I'm only giving the first four ranks which are:

F-Non-Combatant/threat

E-Average Civilian

D-Trained Civilian/Lesser Mask

C-Average Mask

B-???

A-???

S-???

(Note: This next bit is known but not common knowledge in setting. And is also mostly in reference to skill/power level rather than threat levels.)

Theoretically there are no predetermined max levels, even if different people have different growth rates, meaning that with enough time most people can reach any rank though with each rank becoming notably harder than the last, with their growth rates slowing down as they run out of drive, inspiration, interest, or just hit the limit of their resources. Because of all of this, most Deviants tend to plateau around C Rank during their more active years and with most accepting that don't bother discovering they've hit B Rank (power wise) in their later years despite just doing more of the same. Alternatively some Deviants may want to keep their ranks low -which results in holding themselves back- because that implies they'll plateau at too low of a rank to be worth anything to the government or gangs, and thus allowing them to live relatively normal lives.

Lastly, there is also technically an X rank that marks people and entities who can't be measured by the standard systems, be it due to the fact that their skills are fundamentally indecipherable or because the entity in question cannot be accurately observed at the current scale.

Xevan, post: 79736884, member: 487791 Wrote:

Has anyone tried combining all the power types?

Of course, though it's extremely difficult since most energies resist merging or eat each other.

Xevan, post: 79736884, member: 487791 Wrote:

What would happen if they combined?

If you merged everything equally instead of leaving an imbalance one energy could use to usurp the rest in the reaction? Anything, everything, nothing. Turn everyone into chipmunks, nuclear explosion in the middle of a black hole, brick reality until something fixes it, the list goes on and is completely random.

rush99999, post: 79743175, member: 380992 Wrote:

Once the Social Slasher's commands have worn off, does the target realize that Deviant powers have been used on them?

The scariest part of a Social Slasher's persuasion is the fact that they convince you it was all your idea and as such unless the Slasher is outed by observers of their interactions their victims often won't realize they were under the effect of a Deviant power even if they realize the Slasher was verbally manipulating them.

rush99999, post: 79746349, member: 380992 Wrote:

Would the Punks be assisting them in this endeavour or are they off doing their own thing?

Punks are those jocks who are friends with the nerds and protect them from bullies while the M.A.D.s help them with their homework.

rush99999, post: 79749424, member: 380992 Wrote:

We should definitely get Maya to look into the Punk field at some point. Card Waifu would most certainly benefit from that arrangement.

Maybe, but we might just want to trick her out by giving her a bunch of tech rather than replacing her organs with metal and splicing her DNA.

Xevan, post: 79754059, member: 487791 Wrote:

Does any form of power cancelling exist? Like, someone or an object, magical or scientifical, able to stop a Deviant from using their power?

Is there a way to erase powers completely?

Going to be honest due to setting possibilities this is a tricky one for me to answer in a way I find satisfactory.

For the most part there is no way to permanently remove a Deviant's powers without killing them, and though certain powers/energies may interact in a way that makes it more difficult to use a specific energy type or two power concepts may cancel each other out in a fire vs ice kind of way, there isn't really a true 'cancellation' of powers. (Though technically you could remove them before someone unlocks their powers in rare cases, such as someone with the potential to use Anima ingesting the Malice drug. (If their powers were 'unlocked' it'd just cause spontaneous combustion.))

That said, if we take into account the idea of making a situation where it is unfeasible for a Deviant to use their powers without great harm to themselves then that is technically possible, such as leaving a Deadman with so little ectoplasm that there blood turns red at which point using their powers runs the risk of killing them. Or Psionic scarring which requires ever growing levels of psionics to influence someone with psionic/madness exposure. And more in line with what you might be aiming for certain Arcane/Practitioners/Hex can create spell seals that would require a loophole or an obscene amount of power for the wearer to break through on their own. (Though it would still theoretically be possible to break through.)

Now in the same way there are seals there are artifacts and inventions that siphon off magic from the environment and store it in said object -this is actually how most practitioner foci work- and if you took these to an extreme you could theoretically leave an Arcane/Practitioner with so little Anima in the enviornment that the cost of their spells would increase exponentially.

Alternatively if you put someone in such a state that they are incapable of focusing then you could shut down most of their active abilities, which is a solution that would work for most Deviancies.

Basically what I'm getting at is that there's no hard cancel or complete power loss for someone who has unlocked their powers, but there are ways to make it so there powers are temporarily unavailable due to current conditions.

ReaperofInterest, post: 79817503, member: 309377 Wrote:

So how do most law-abiding Malcontent attempt to manage their hunger? Like, do they occasionally come to an agreement with morgues or hospitals that they keep quiet about, or do they occasionally get organ donor stuff that can't be used as intended for whatever reason?

There are probably a few Malcontent with deals like this, but at the same time the older the meat the less good it does them. Between this and the 'other self' occasionally pushing them to acts of violence, the 'good' Malcontent eat murders and such while the 'bad' ones eat whoever they can get their hands on. (Except children, Malcontent actually have really powerful parental instincts, especially the ones who were stuck in [Redacted]'s lab with the orphan Malcontent.)

Xevan, post: 79819213, member: 487791 Wrote:

So their Malice users like Slashers. With the difference of Slashers being horror movie killers expy of Friday 13th and Halloween, while Malcontent seem to be a combination of Tokyo Ghoul and The Suffering.

Pretty much but I'd add a bit of Silent Hill, Bioshock, and Hellsing to the mix of both to underline some of the other elements. Since most Slashers lack elemental powers.

(Note: While all Malcontent Transformations are based on their other self and their relationship with it, it should be pointed out that not all of their transformations are quite so horror themed in nature, even if some of them can be intimidating. For instance Ariel's is technically a dark knight with a cloak of shadows and this beaten up organic armor. (It was less beaten up when he was younger, but a rough life will do that.))

Xevan, post: 79819213, member: 487791 Wrote:

So there aren't any Deviants that use Necro?

Crazyone47, post: 79820587, member: 422818 Wrote:

I think Arthicern said that it is uncommon but that deviancy is more like necromancy but it is not widely known.

It's not really Necromancy (which is it's own thing mixing the modern definition with the pre-inquisition version and is decently known if viewed darkly).

Instead Necro typically isn't born due to the fact that it kills its user as soon as the develop the potential, even if long before they can ever unlock it. That said, there are a handful of Necro users in setting, though each of them has a tangible bond with the Pale Lady in the same way some people have with the Man In The Mask and its more her actively keeping them from dying than anything else.

The two users that I can talk about without heavy spoilers are Memento who can now see every death in existence and basically eats all magic around him if he ever runs low, and the Deathbringer who can kill and unkill anyone he comes into contact with and regularly drops a four digit body count.

Xevan, post: 79819213, member: 487791 Wrote:

Also, how is it that Malcontent have the best healing factor when Slashers are able to revive themselves? Is it about how a Malcontent heals faster but a Slasher would be better?

Well technically that depends on what you consider a healing factor.

For instance Slashers can resurrect themselves if they've gathered enough Malice before hand, but excluding Rippers it'll still take them a notable amount of time to heal from the injuries that killed them based on how severe the injuries are with those resurrections often being limited to mid-tier and higher Slashers.

By contrast a Malcontent is in a constant state of regeneration and can often keep moving even with their heads cut off and their spines broken should they push their transformation far enough with broken bones and missing limbs healing in hours even at their lower transformation percentages and power ranks.

What it essentially boils down to is a powerful Slasher can get back up after dying, but the Malcontent just won't die.

Xevan, post: 79819213, member: 487791 Wrote:

And now that I'm thinking about it, Josh would be more a Malcontent/Wonderlander hybrid. Without the need to eat people, right?

That's basically what the Mal-Corrupted influence has done to him, yes.

Crazyone47, post: 79820587, member: 422818 Wrote:

I think it is more that the Malice Awakened the Wonderland Josh already had ...... Although I dont know what effect on the genetic stability was I assume since Josh has not started cannibalism yet that it is the Wonderland that is using the Malice not Josh's body itself.

That's part of it, I think I talked about it in the Get Ink'd forum, but Malice to a Wonderlander would basically turn standard Alice's Wonderland into American McGee's.

As far as seeing how Malice really affected him, well we'd have to go down the Ink branch of his powers. At which point we might be tempted to... Feed the Ink Machine.

ReaperofInterest, post: 79826926, member: 309377 Wrote:

Interesting. If a bio-M.A.D was willing to clone human meat for them, would that meat be considered acceptable for their systems, or does the meat need to come from a actual, living and thinking human?

EDIT: To clarify, by clone human meat, I'm talking about using a DNA sample to grow limbs and organs that were never really alive, or maybe growing a brain-dead body if necessary, not full-fledged cloning a living breathing thinking person just to serve them as food to a Malcontent.

I'm going to give this scenario a fifty-fifty, because while the meat would do something for them it wouldn't be enough to sate them or stave off the degradation forever. At best due to their more mystical 'other self' it would count as dead meat to them, which can stave off the hunger for a time if they get the meat fresh enough, though what counts as fresh clone meat is debatable and may vary depending on how aggressive a Malcontent's other self is.

(Fun Fact: Malcontent claim to be able to taste Sin and that it makes things taste sweeter.)

ReaperofInterest, post: 79826926, member: 309377 Wrote:

Oh my...now I'm a weird combination of nervous and excited to see the full extant of how Josh has been affected by Malice.

[A sweet sadistic symphony of swing begins to play in the background.]

Xevan, post: 79828924, member: 487791 Wrote:

We haven't seen Josh go full American McGee as of yet,

Just wait until we get to the basement.

Xevan, post: 79828924, member: 487791 Wrote:

... I might be reaching with that last part?

Eh, the Ink is less connecting him to the Cabaret so much as it is a representation of the Malice's influence on him, because while the old boss had Ink powers they didn't quite function the way Joshua's does and the old boss didn't have nearly as many.

Xevan, post: 79828924, member: 487791 Wrote:

Though I also want to ask what happens if a M.A.D would turn another Deviant into a Punk?

It'd depend on the Deviancy in question but the ones with innate healing factors would end up rejecting any modifications done to them, with the rate of rejection being based on the strength of the healing factors.That said since Arcane and Psionics don't have healing factors they could become punks though depending on what kind of modifications are done to them it may cause their actual powers to weaken (or strengthen in rare cases).

For instance anything that effects the nervous system is probably going to weaken them/lower their max capacity, but they could get some kind of mental box to run calculations for them speeding up their cast time and gaining a sort of technopathy, though if that thing ever breaks there's no telling how much damage it could cause. From there an Arcane would also have their magic regen reduced the more parts they replaced with metal, and be more susceptible to that capacity limiters than Psychics.

Next a Bio-Punk's gene therapy might enhance an Arcane's animal/nature magics but it might also screw with any affinities they have related to the added gene's weaknesses. (I.E. Plant DNA reduces Fire and Ice affinities but increases the Nature/Plant affinity.) Alternatively with Psychics the alterations to their neuro-chemistry would make them better at power based psionics but weaken their focus based psionics in exchange.

Lastly for Death-Punks, Arcane would lose a large percentage of their magic regen but would be guaranteed a fairly powerful Death -related to Necro but not as powerful- affinity which would give them an edge against Deadmen and other Arcane as well as a sort of 'Drain' ability on other magic users. Psionics wouldn't get any major changes to their Deviancies -outside of the standard Punk advantages- but they would have their max 'focus' decrease the closer they get to a maintenance period.

Oh, and of course there's the fact that Punks have a natural dependency on their M.A.D.s to keep their bodies functioning.

rush99999, post: 79870252, member: 380992 Wrote:

What about the reverse? Would anything bad happen to a Deadman if they tried to eat a Malcontent?

Due to the fact that Malice is this weird mix of Emotional and Spiritual energy and that Malcontent give this energy physicality, a Deadman's Ectoplasm would react in such a way that it would multiply rapidly without having time to stabilize into the Deadman's system, and in turn would destabilize a portion of their existing Ectoplasm and force them to expel all of the destabilized Ectoplasm. (Note: This would happen if a Deadman tried to consume the Malice drug as well, if a little more immediately due to being purer/distilled.)

Basically, to make a long story short Deadmen would get a really bad case of food poisoning from anyone with Malice currently in their blood stream. (Note: Technically Slashers keep Malice in their souls so they're still free game. (Literally.))