Dani Moonstar: Mirage Appreciation 2019

[Arachne]

As I've said before, I have mixed feelings about them. I'm happiest when she doesn't just use them. Let's see her use guns and illusions, too.

There's a good article on maintaining a good balance in Dani's abilities. Doesn't actually mention the bow, but it's so really interesting.

“Those are white man’s totems”: The Complex Identity of Dani Moonstar

[JudicatorPrime]

Ha! No. I'd much prefer that she was using psi-bolts again. Maybe soon.

I wouldn't mind if she used something other than a bow, too. It's such a stereotype. I like that she's proud of her heritage, but there's got to be a better way to show it than resorting to clichés.

I figured integrating her Cheyenne and Asgardian backgrounds would be difficult. But someone should probably get the Marvel writers a history book. The Cheyenne also used long rifles at one point in their history, not just bows, spears, war clubs, etc.

If anything, Dani's mutant ability should allow her to create a psionic version of any weapon that her enemies fear, with comparable effect as the real thing. Why weapons? Well, that could be her Valkyrie nature making that determination. (Make her the Asgardian goddess of weapons for all I care.) But her mastery of the weapon, of any weapon, could maybe tie back to her Cheyenne heritage.

And I would probably go pretty far in establishing the types of weapons she could create using pure psionic energy. Fighting a symbiote? No problem, psionic sonic cannon coming right up. Dracula stopping by for a bite? No problem, here have a couple of psionic stakes and a psionic garlic bolo to tie you over. The Blizzard giving you the cold shoulder? A few Greek Fire grenades should keep things toasty. And when you're back in Asgard and Thor wants to start some static just because? Well, last I heard, the Destroyer armor is one of Asgard's greatest weapons and something Thor doesn't particularly like facing. Psionic Destroyer armor Dani would become a thing.

Too deus ex? Maybe. But that has to be better than Dani running around with a conventional bow and arrow.

[Beetle]

I like the aesthetic of the psi-arrows but if she's going to use them again, I really hope they'd play up how they are manifestations of her psychic powers instead of just using them as regular arrows except glowy.

They should make her enemies feel fear, or inspire her allies with hope. Tie in her animal empathy and psychometry too.

[Arachne]

I figured integrating her Cheyenne and Asgardian backgrounds would be difficult. But someone should probably get the Marvel writers a history book. The Cheyenne also used long rifles at one point in their history, not just bows, spears, war clubs, etc.

If anything, Dani's mutant ability should allow her to create a psionic version of any weapon that her enemies' fear, with comparable effect as the real thing. Why weapons? Well, that could be her Valkyrie nature making that determination. (Make her the Asgardian goddess of weapons for all I care.) But her mastery of the weapon, of any weapon, could maybe tie back to her Cheyenne heritage.

And I would probably go pretty far in establishing the types of weapons she could create using pure psionic energy. Fighting a symbiote? No problem, psionic sonic cannon coming right up. Dracula stopping by for a bite? No problem, here have a couple of psionic stakes and a psionic garlic bolo to tie you over. The Blizzard giving you the cold shoulder? A few Greek Fire grenades should keep things toasty. And when you're back in Asgard and Thor wants to start some static just because? Well, last I heard, the Destroyer armor is one of Asgard's greatest weapons and something Thor doesn't particularly like facing. Psionic Destroyer armor Dani would become a thing.

Too deus ex? Maybe. But that has to be better than Dani running around with a conventional bow and arrow.

I like how you think. It would probably be too much (getting too powerful gets characters nerfed and limboed), but you're right - it's better than what we've got now.

I like the aesthetic of the psi-arrows but if she's going to use them again, I really hope they'd play up how they are manifestations of her psychic powers instead of just using them as regular arrows except glowy.

They should make her enemies feel fear, or inspire her allies with hope. Tie in her animal empathy and psychometry too.

That's how they're supposed to work. When she first reappeared and shot Sam, he experienced his worst fears and Dani knew exactly what his fears were. And we've seen her illusions tired into desires and memories, too. There's no reason the arrow shouldn't do the same.

[Beetle]

That's how they're supposed to work. When she first reappeared and shot Sam, he experienced his worst fears and Dani knew exactly what his fears were. And we've seen her illusions tired into desires and memories, too. There's no reason the arrow shouldn't do the same.

That's how they're supposed to work, but writers haven't been using psychic weapons like that for a while. Look at the hammer that Teen Jean made, Quentin's shotgun, or Betsy's psychic arsenal.

Usually they're just glowy weapons like what a Green Lantern might make. Betsy has used her knife to end possessions and brainwashing, but that's about the extent of its use as a specifically psychic weapon

[Arachne]

Yeah.

I miss writers with a imaginative sense of tactics.

[Heroine Addict]

I also feel that the effects of her psi-bow/arrows and/or other weaponry manifestations, should be unique to her specific TP abilities, and not just the ambiguous, generic 'stun' they've usually been shown to be. As already stated, it's boring & uninspired, but could be so much better/SO much more. Time to up the ante, Marvel, and get the hell off cruise control. You claim to be the House of Ideas, now put your $ where your mouth is.

[norj]

Stumbled across a site called Writeups.org where profile numerous fictional characters and create rpg sheets for them, the have two profiles of Dani based on her original powers and her Valkyrie ones.

Psyche (year one)
Dex: 05 Str: 02 Bod: 04 Motivation: Responsibility of Power
Int: 06 Wil: 08 Min: 06 Occupation: Adventurer, Part-time X-Man
Inf: 07 Aur: 04 Spi: 05 Resources {or Wealth}: 003
Init: 022 HP: 020
Powers:
Mind Probe: 10, Phobia: 10, Illusion: 10, Telepathy: 08

Bonuses and Limitations:

Mind Probe only allows her to Probe for a target’s greatest fear or desire (-2). She herself doesn’t know what it is until she sees the Projection (-1).
Mind Probe and Illusion are Combined (+1), with Mind Probe being the main power in the array – targets of a successful Mind Probe then see an Illusion based on what Dani found in the probe, without need for Dani to make another action to project the illusion.
Phobia: Combined with Illusion (+1), with Phobia being the main power in the array – targets of a successful Phobia Attack then see an Illusion based on what they fear most, without need for Dani to make another action to project the illusion.
Illusion only seems truly real to the target or targets (-1) – as opposed to normal Illusion, which appears real to everyone who sees it. Anyone not the target of Illusion/Phobia can tell it’s a holographic projection.
Phobia & Illusion can only be used after a successful Mind Probe attempt (-1).
Illusion can only project what she finds with Mind Probe or Phobia (-2).
Telepathy is only effective with animals or people shapechanged into animals (-2).
Skills:
Animal Handling: 05, Acrobatics: 04, Medicine (First Aid): 05, Military Science (Camouflage, Danger Recognition, Field Command)*: 04, Military Science (Tracking): 06, Thief (Concealment, Stealth): 04, Weaponry (Melee Weapons, Missile Weapons): 04

Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Colorado Rockies near Boulder), Language (Cheyenne), Lightning Reflexes, Sharp Eye.

Connections:
X-teams (Low), Cloak and Dagger (Low), Spider-Man (Low).

Drawbacks:
Mistrust (Mutant), Secret Identity.

Fear and Desire
Dani’s somewhat unusual combination of Powers deserves some clarification, as the Combined Powers Bonus is a list development and may be a tad confusing to people not used to it.

Basically, Dani in this incarnation has two different attacks: she may pull images of a target or targets’ greatest fear or desire from their minds (either Mind Probe or Phobia, at her choice). She rolls for this attack, then applies the RAP’s earned to the Illusion Power as well, which will determine how “realistic” the Illusion is to those seeing it.

At this point in her career, she has difficulty pulling any other sorts of images from people’s minds. GM’s should be ready to apply a difficulty penalty from the Universal Modifiers table to any attempt to procure an image that does not have a strong emotional attachment to it.

[norj]

Mirage
Dex: 06 Str: 03 Bod: 04 Motivation: Responsibility of Power
Int: 06 Wil: 08 Min: 06 Occupation: Adventurer, student
Inf: 07 Aur: 04 Spi: 06 Resources {or Wealth}: 003
Init: 021 HP: 030
Powers:
Mind Probe: 10, Phobia: 10, Illusion: 10, Telepathy: 8, Detect (Imminent Death): 20

Bonuses and Limitations:

Mind Probe only allows her to Probe for a target’s greatest fear or desire (-2). She herself doesn’t know what it is until she sees the Projection (-1).
Mind Probe and Illusion are Combined (+1 to Each, see Combined Powers, New Powers section, Below), with Mind Probe being the main power in the array – targets of a successful Mind Probe then see an Illusion based on what Dani found in the probe, without need for Dani to make another action to project the illusion.
Phobia: Combined with Illusion (+1 to Each, see Combined Powers, New Powers section, Below), with Phobia being the main power in the array – targets of a successful Phobia Attack then see an Illusion based on what they fear most, without need for Dani to make another action to project the illusion.
Illusion only seems truly real to the target or targets (-1), as opposed to normal Illusion, which appears real to everyone who sees it. Anyone not the target of Illusion/Phobia can tell it’s a holographic projection.
Phobia & Illusion can only be used after a successful Mind Probe attempt (-1).
Illusion can only project what she finds with Mind Probe or Phobia (-2).
Telepathy is only effective with animals or people shapechanged into animals (-2).
Detect is Always On (+1).
Skills:
Animal Handling: 05, Acrobatics: 04, Medicine (First Aid): 05, Military Science (Camouflage, Danger Recognition, Field Command)*: 04, Military Science (Tracking): 08, Thief (Concealment, Stealth): 04, Weaponry (Melee Weapons, Missile Weapons): 04

Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Colorado Rockies near Boulder ; Asgard), Language (Cheyenne), Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Sharp Eye, Pet: Brightwind.

Connections:
New Mutants (High), Valkyrior (High), X-Men (Low), Cloak and Dagger (Low), Spider-Man (Low).

Drawbacks:
Mistrust (Mutant), Secret Identity, Strange Appearance (to Asgardians Only).

Fear and Desire
Dani’s somewhat unusual combination of Powers deserves some clarification. The Combined Powers Bonus is a list invention and may be a tad confusing to people not used to it.

Basically, Dani in this incarnation has two different attacks: she may pull images of a target or targets’ greatest fear or desire from their minds (either Mind Probe or Phobia, at her choice). She rolls for this attack, then applies the RAP’s earned to the Illusion Power as well, which will determine how “realistic” the Illusion is to those seeing it.

At this point in her career, she has less difficulty pulling other sorts of images from people’s minds. GM’s should still be ready to apply a diffculty penalty from the Universal Modifiers table to any attempt to procure an image that does not have a strong emotional attachment to it, but such adjustments should be less strict as long as there is *any* emotional attatchement at all.

Images that have no emotional significance for a target (such as a projection of a neutral memory) should suffer no more than a +1 CS to OV/RV.

Staving Off Death
Dani’s images often seemed real and tangible when fighting Death and typically conformed her own self-image to something similar to the image Death came in – for example, illusory images of pistols appearing when Death came in the form of a gunfighter, allowing her to battle Death on his/her/its own terms.

All of this would not be played, but rather roleplayed, but the scene itself should be played out in detail, with Dani struggling valiantly to deny its prize (or not… she has in the past chosen to allow Death its victim for various reasons).

If the player or the GM insist on a mechanic for determining whether or not she *can* stave off Death (remember that in the Marvel Universe Death is a person of cosmic power and significance), Dani can have a specialized form of Leadership allowing her to pay her own HP for a Desperation Recovery even if the other person has already done it and failed, and even if the person is at negative Body.

Success on the check indicates Dani can successfully keep Death away.

Brightwind
Dex: 05 Str: 06 Bod: 06 Motivation: Serve and Protect Dani
Int: 02 Wil: 02 Min: 02 Occupation: Flying Steed of the Valkryior
Inf: 04 Aur: 04 Spi: 04 Resources {or Wealth}: NA
Init: 011 HP: 010
Powers:
Running: 05, Flight: 07, Danger Sense: 06

Bonuses and Limitations
Danger Sense also applies to danger to the usual rider, with a +10 Special Range Bonus if the rider is not close to Brightwind when in danger.

Brightwind is a mystical steed of the Valkryior, bred to carry Odin’s Choosers of the Slain in their missions to collect the dead of Asgard and bring their souls to Valhalla.

Brightwind has a deep connection to Dani, even sensing when she is in Danger or being attacked. He is a fierce fighter, able to quickly reduce a Jeep to parts and junk with a few kicks. He is strong enough to carry at least four of the New Mutants with no difficulty, and swift enough to reach Manhattan from Xavier’s in minutes.

[Havok83]

She's baaaaaaackkkkkkkkkk!

[Arachne]

Yay! But it doesn't sound like her appearance is worth running out to grab. (Which is good, actually, because I can't.) Have I misinterpreted the spoilers?

[MYCMTSC]

She was a non-factor. Wolverine said welcome back to her ironically enough and she stood around in a fight scene.

[Arachne]

In other words, Warlock's in control. At least for the most part.

[Kurolegacy]

In other words, Warlock's in control. At least for the most part.

Don't know about Warlock being much of a factor there aside from the speech bubbles showing that they're talking with a Warlock based accent. Compared to Guido displaying Warlock's style of talking, Danny and Shan were talking normally.

[Heroine Addict]

Yay! But it doesn't sound like her appearance is worth (it)... to grab. ...

Yep, gotta give me more Dani (doin' somethin'), or it's a no-go.