I've been thinking on freeform characters, in anticipation of possibly getting a subscription in the coming month. Going through the powersets, I've been thinking I might enjoy a hybrid melee/ranged character with a focus on critmonkeying and survivability, loosely inspired by the idea of an Ork Warboss from Warhammer 40k.
SUPER STATS: STR, EGO, END
SPECIALIZATIONS:
STRENGTH: Aggression x2, Swole x3, Overpower x3, Brutality x2
VINDICATOR: The Rush of Battle x3, Aggressive Stance x2,
WARDEN: Slaughter x3, Ruthless x2, The Best Defense x3, Tenacious x2
MASTERY: Vindicator Mastery
Lv1: Power Bolts, Laser Sword
Lv6: Invulnerability, Super STRENGTH
Lv8: Gauntlet Chainsaw
Lv10: Super EGO
Lv11: Form of the Tempest
Lv14: Overdrive
Lv15: Super ENDURANCE
Lv17: Field Surge
Lv20: Energy Shield
Lv23: Lock N Load
Lv26: Gatling Gun
Lv29: Conviction
Lv32: Bionic Shielding
Lv35: Palliate
Lv38: Resurrection Serum
The idea is that he starts fights from a distance and gets steadily nastier as the battle closes, until he's ripping apart enemies in melee reach with an energy sword and the giant chainsaw built into one of his gauntlets.
Power Bolts: Nothing!
I'm hoping once you've got Overdrive, you can forget this exists.
Laser Sword: Rank 2, Particle Acceleration (4 points)
The idea here is that you whack an enemy three times with this for the defense debuff, then unload repeated Gauntlet Chainsaws on him.
Invulnerability: Rank 3 (4 points)
It helps you not die. Scales with your super stats, too!
Gauntlet Chainsaw: Rank 2, Ripsaw, Challenging Strikes (5 points)
Your bread-and-butter. It's a maintain, so it procs Overdrive to help keep your energy high, and with Ripsaw it gets nastier as enemies lose health. This lets you finish off enemies weakened by your Laser Sword quickly, as well as making it a good boss-killer. Stop chainsawing only to replenish the Laser Sword debuff on your victim.
Form of the Tempest: Rank 3 (4 points)
Since Form of the Tempest doesn't ALWAYS grant a stack on a crit, it's important to rank this up, both for the passive stacks and the greater proc chance.
Overdrive: No advantages
Every time a maintain reaches half duration, you get an energy restoring buff that ticks every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. Gauntlet Chainsaw will be proccing this constantly.
Field Surge: Power Swell (4 points)
It's an active defense. I would've taken Resurgence, but this character doesn't have CON, and I don't like Unbreakable. Field Surge gives you a nice thick absorption shield and with the advantage, a 15% boost to damage output.
Energy Shield: Laser Knight (3 points)
Not only is it a nice strong block, but it's also another layer of constant defense. Laser Knight will be procced constantly by either Laser Sword or Gauntlet Chainsaw - losing out on a little damage is fine for the extra survivability.
Lock N Load: Two Smoking Barrels (2 points)
Sure, you miss out on the melee damage boost with Two Smoking Barrels, but your constant melee attacks will ensure that you never stay held very long, and being able to use Lock N Load constantly will help Overdrive keep your energy consumption in check. Gauntlet Chainsaw hits 9 times over 4.5 seconds, cutting 18 seconds off Lock N Load's recharge each time you fully maintain it, per opponent caught in the saw. Muahaha!
Gatling Gun: Rank 3 (4 points), Optionally, Rank 2 w/Listen to Reason for the same cost
The reason this set has Ego as a super stat. Gatling Gun on a critmonkey build inflicts stupid-ridiculous amounts of damage to a crowd of enemies. Vindicator Mastery, plus all the crit and crit severity boosts in your specializations, should turn this thing into a real crowd-shredder. It's a maintain, so it also procs Overdrive, which coupled with Lock N Load, should ease the unforgiving drain this attack puts on your energy.
Conviction: Rank 3 (4 points)
A spammable click self-heal, great for keeping yourself in the fight. It's not gonna save you from big hits though, since you lack Presence.
Bionic Shielding: None
Automatic heal-support for Conviction. Between this, Invulnerability, and Conviction, you should be able to keep yourself in good shape.
Palliate: Rank 3 (4 points)
Your "oh crap" button. If it gets past Invulnerability and Field surge, you hit this and then spam Conviction.
Resurrection Serum: No advantages
Share the fightin' juice with downed buddies in need of a pick-me-up! Can be easily replaced with just about any other power, this one's mostly here for flavor.
Any suggestions?