Making better custom characters w/o being "overpowered"

[_l____l_]

So, I want to make custom characters that are as good as some of the built-in characters, but I still want to earn chicken nuggets! For example, if I were to make something that was equivalent to the soldier, it would be considered way overpowered. I don't want characters that are genuinely overpowered, but I do want more creative control without sacrificing the ability to make game progress along the way.

Are there any files I can modify, or any mods I can use, to accomplish what I'm looking for? (for example just raising the total point allowance from 20 to something larger)

Thanks!

[khuaqualla]

That sounds like a trick question.

You can't go beyond 20 points. And the reason for that is to limit your ability to create overpowered characters.

I also don't understand what does a character as good as the soldier mean. If you want a character that is comparable in every way to the soldier, then that would be the soldier.

If you want to reach the power level of the soldier, then just do that. They may be over 20 points, but a 20 point custom character can be more powerful than a 20 point official character. In some cases, ridiculously so. I understand that you don't want to do that. Although you kind of want to, because you already chose a top-tier character as a reference.

Anyways, since we already know that you can reach a way higher power level than you have in mind, I don't see the problem. Or let's say I see it, but there is a solution in plain sight so obvious that you can hardly miss it.

If you already have a character in mind, then I guess the title is a bit off. I actually expected a suggestion thread.

[Charybdis136]

Best advice is to give negatives that go with your style of play to balance out the total cost to get what you want. It is easy to make a character who is max in all fighting situations and healthy, as long as you can give up some social options to balance. I made a hitman based character and it is really easy to win because i have 4 speed, 4 firearms, and 4 melee. I also start with a pistol and a silencer. even with all that it is not listed as overpowered because i took negatives like no computers and not speaking english.

[Ansam]

Used to be cases like with Cannibal, that if you made a custom character exactly, you'd have room for more perks. Silly isn't it?

But with Custom Characters you can make absolutely dumb combos. Like a Chloroform Zombie who knocks piles of people out, then raises them all at once for an instant horde. Add Shop Drops for tons of free items from shop keepers and theives you knock out.

For what you're looking for, just take a few easy to ignore negatives. Like Sucker and Antisocial are my go to.

[Pixel Peeper]

Choosing "negative" traits that won't matter to the character already allows you to far exceed 20 points at virtually no cost. Then you can choose abilities and items that synergize well together.

The game won't consider your character overpowered even though it's going to be far, far, far stronger than any of the premade classes.

[Kittenpox]

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

Choosing "negative" traits that won't matter to the character already allows you to far exceed 20 points at virtually no cost. Then you can choose abilities and items that synergize well together.

The game won't consider your character overpowered even though it's going to be far, far, far stronger than any of the premade classes.

Personally, I think that's kinda the point. The premade characters are there to show you different ways to play - and part of the fun is mix+matching parts to make up your character.
Kinda like a trading-card game, the starter sets are not meant to be the strongest. (Though results may vary.)

[Charybdis136]

Well I do understand OPs point that some characters are "overpowered" as pre set characters so you could not replicate them, but they are all built with flaws (meaning they aren't efficiently statted). The soldier would be much stronger if you swapped some stats. So it is ok if you have to be confined to tighter limits than the normal characters, you are still able to be much more effective by statting well. You can make a character with 4 fire arm, 4 speed, and 4 endurance. No normal class can compete with that level of raw strength. Plus you get other points to do other things.

[letran.thai]

A lot of the difficulty from the pre-set characters stems from their Big Quests. Some are downright awful, like Sobriety is Super (Investment Banker), Hack the Planet (Hacker), Fire Watch (Firefighter) or Purveyor of Peace (Doctor).

My recipe for making fun custom characters is matching Big Quests and Special Abilities that synergize well with each other. That will give you a steady supply of experience and lots of fun. A few examples:
- Sticky Glove + Movin' on up (rob people blind and just chuck the cash into the nearest ATM)
- Toss + Harmless Pranks (the funniest way to destroy stuff is to throw it at someone)
- Chaaarge + Power Struggle (take the shortest path to the generator, as long as you don't directly run into it)
- Chaaarge + Rubble Rouser (there isn't any easier way to destroy walls)
- Laptop + Hairy Justice (most Gorillas are behind PC-controlled doors)

The rest is assigning items that go well with the combination, and choosing enough traits to offset the point cost.

[Pixel Peeper]

Interesting, I've always thought Purveyor of Peace was the easiest Big Quest. It was the first one I completed, the one I completed most often by far, and one that you don't really have to even think about. I've literally never failed it.

[Charybdis136]

I think the big quests are only easy or hard based on the character. If we are talking about with pre gen characters, then the zombie is pretty easy. You can't beat a level without the big quest anyway. With created characters you just have to build into it. Although there are no super special abilities for created characters so you only get xp for doing big quests anyway.

[Pixel Peeper]

It's true, with custom characters the only reward for Big Quests is EXP. And EXP isn't very useful, in fact it can be best to delay level-ups for when you need the HP refill.

I will strongly consider purposefully failing Big Quests in the future.

[Dlanor]

Custom characters aren't in game to be obscenely OP while also giving you nuggets, that's WHY they don't give you nuggets if you make them OP. The game has plenty of built in cheating mechanics, if you want nuggets make an OP 20 point character and then give yourself positive Mutators, like Continue which is literally just free revives.

The reason why some characters like Soldier are over the 20 point system is because you want to minmax and the Devs simply built logical fun characters instead of designing broken ones. The Soldier passes 20 points, yes, but hes weaker than some characters with under 20 points because most of his points go towards items, often redundant ones. A character doesn't need land mines, grenades, AND door detonators all at once, a min-maxed character would just take 1 or rarely of those 3 because they all do very similar things. An ideal custom character has a couple items that carry through early floors with traits making up most of the points, because items are plentiful and traits are not.

[khuaqualla]

Also, a loadout machine can only hold up to 5 consumables+weapons+guns+armor. The soldier already starts with that amount, so if you buy an extra piece for the run, you will get an unreliable supply.

[Joe Black]

I made a Hitman - 47 / Deus Ex - Adam Jensen (A super assassin)
Having camouflage + bloodlust is pretty OP, 4 speed, 4 Melee, then minus everything necessary to make it balanced. (like speak no English, scientists hate you - being enemies with a relatively weak class, all the negatives that don't really matter)

So you can heal yourself simply by making stealth kills. It makes pretty easy to win tbh. I've managed rack up tonnes of money and items throughout the game.

The Savage Chameleon and Slinky level upgrades make the character very OP - so you can stay invisible while beating up people and not have your invisibility turn off in case you miss.