((Side notes:
* As a Vault Hunter, you're physically stronger, more agile and more resilient than the average person. As a result, it takes a considerable amount of firepower to take you down, you can sprint extremely long distances without getting too winded and you can fall from incredibly high heights without breaking your legs/ankles. You aren't immortal or a god, though. You can still die.
* The weapon manufacturers vying for control of Pandora each have certain 'gimmicks' in regards to how their guns operate and what they excel at. The companies are:
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Hyperion: The former encompassing powerhouse that controlled Pandora has lost a considerable amount of money, personnel, customers and trust ever since Handsome Jack's reign of terror came to an end. As the mysterious new CEO struggles to save face and rebuilt the company's image/practices, a large collection of rogue robotic LOADERS, relics from Jack's army still occupy now abandoned Hyperion outposts and facilities.
Hyperion still is the name to trust in terms of accuracy, however. All Hyperion guns are equipped with stabilizing fins which make your bullet placement better and better with each shot. Think of it as "reverse recoil." Hyperion makes pistols, SMGs, shotguns and snipers, and all of their weapons sport a yellow and black colour scheme, with the guns themselves bearing very corporate sounding names, like the "Conference Call (Shotgun)" or the "Deductible Wholesaler (SMG)."
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Dahl: The name to trust for military experience, resource gathering and trained mercenaries, unless their soldiers defect, or they accidentally trigger a planet-splitting earthquake, or the mercenaries they train go insane... But hey, no one's perfect. Still, many an aspiring soldier/commando/military-person has had some involvement in the Dahl corps in some way, shape or form.
As a result, all of Dahl's weapons sport various camos and boast militaristic names, like the "Repeater (Pistol)" and "Desert Fox (SMG)." They also all have a burst-fire mode when aiming down the iron sights with fairly tight grouping and low recoil. Between 2-6 bullets can be burst-fired, depending on the weapon. Dahl manufactures pistols, SMGs, assault and sniper rifles.
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Vladof: A militaristic company of a different sort, Comrade Vladof is always warning of the coming invasion. The invasion of who or what is unknown, but it's coming!!! And the people need you! Your people need you!!! Take up arms against the proletariat regimes that threaten your very existence!!!
Ahem, sorry... got a little carried away there... anyways, Vladof guns boast the highest fire rate of any manufacturer and decent ammo capacity. If you need suppressing fire, look no further than Vladof. Their guns have a very 'Russian style' look to them, with the hammer and sickle present on almost all of their guns, and with a very Revolutionist naming scheme, like the "Anarchy (pistol)" and their snipers bear 'Nadsat' names, like "Horrorshow" and "Lyuda." Vladof makes pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles and rocket launchers.
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Maliwan: Elegance... perfection... permeance... big words... all of these describe Maliwan, the premier name in elemental tech. If you need something to burn, electrocute, corrode, slag or freeze, then Maliwan is what you want.
All Maliwan weapons are elemental, no exceptions. The only element they don't deal with is "Explosive." A certain company cornered the market on that...
Maliwan weapons look beautiful and are designed with that in mind, with bright colours and an almost 'mech-like' design. 'Form meets function' is one of their mottos. In keeping with that, their guns have unique magazines and reload differently than other guns. As a result, their reload speed is slightly slower, but in terms of elemental damage, you can't do better than Maliwan. Their names have a very 'poetic/surrealist' naming scheme, like the "Shocking Aegis (pistol)" or the "Florentine (SMG)." Maliwan makes pistols, SMGs, snipers and rocket launchers.
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Jakobs: Remember back in the day when all a man needed to make his name in the world was a fistful of bullets, a scowl on his face and his sidearm at the ready? Jakobs remembers...... And they still do. If you're not one for all of that fancy new tech they've got out there, like electrocuting bullets, guns that shoot rockets or teleporting missiles, then you've come to the right place. If you wanna watch someone suffering from third degree burns or explode into pieces, that's fine, but if you want to put someone down in one shot, look no further.
In keeping with its 'Western' theme naming system, all Jakobs guns are almost like bygone relics of the past: worn appearance, no paint job, wooden stock/handle, etc... And they handle as such, encouraging a 'fan the trigger' style of firing which has you shooting as fast as you can pull the trigger. They have the highest base damage and fair accuracy, but also have a greater recoil from the kickback. Jakobs
never makes elemental/explosive weapons (with the exception of the unique guns 'Greed [fire pistol],' 'Twister [shock shotgun],' 'Stinkpot [acid 'grenade' assault rifle]' and 'Cobra [explosive sniper rifle]' respectively). They make pistols, shotguns, assault and sniper rifles.
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Torgue: OH F*CK YEAH!!! The Torgue Corporation is responsible for anything that is badass and f*cking explosive in the world! So says Mr. Torgue, the muscle-bound, slow-witted man of unbridled F*CKING ENERGY AND INTENSITY that represents the Torgue Corporation!!! What little control the CEOs have over Torgue comes in the form of a vocal censor embedded in his voicebox which automatically filters any profanity that he'll undoubtedly spew. Despite his initial appearance, Torgue is shown to have a heart of gold and is ironically one of the few 'company men' the main Vault Hunters could trust.
All Torgue weapons are as loud and destructive as possible. Keeping with Mr. Torgue's love of explosions, they
all are Explosive element, which deals additional damage on top of the base damage. While they're technically stronger than Jakobs due to the added boom, the bullet speed is much slower because of the 'gyrojets' powering each explosive round, so you need to lead more with Torgue guns than any other at range. Reload is also longer. The guns are known for their wide, thick barrels, racing/sport paint jobs, brand stickers and innuendo-named guns with exception to their rocket launchers which instead use explosion onomatopoeia. Examples are the "Pocket Rocket (pistol)" and the "Badaboom! (rocket launcher)." They manufacture pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and rocket launchers.
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Tediore: The name to trust for affordability, Tediore is like the Walmart of gun manufacturers. All of their guns are smaller and cheaper, but undoubtedly weaker in more aspects. Still, you can probably pick up 2-3 Tediore guns for the price of a single Hyperion rifle. And it's not like Tediore isn't without their own gimmicks. For example,
all Tediore guns feature digistruct technology, which allows the gun to re-materialize back into your hand if you were to lose track of it/throw it away, which leads to the next thing about Tediore...
all of their guns explode like grenades when thrown. Depending on how much ammo your clip has left, the explosion will be greater and more damaging. So that means when your clip is out, just throw your gun at whatever you're shooting at and PRESTO! It's back in your hand, fully loaded before you could even miss it. How cool is that?!
Keeping up with the affordability model, Tediores have a basic, boxy design with a 'plastic' feel. Their colors are stamped on a Fibreglass casing, often boasting a very boring palette. When it digistructs, the Tediore brand logo appears for a moment in its place while it loads. And because you throw your gun, they have the highest reload speed around. They've got very 'convenience store' names, like the "Subcompact MG (SMG)" and the "Home Security (shotgun)". Tediore makes pistols, shotguns, SMGs and rocket launchers.
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Bandit: Even the crazy, murderous bandits who're trying to kill you have started making their own weapons. Overall, their stats are pretty poor, considering their shoddy construction by less than experienced gunmakers, but they do have the largest ammo capacity of all of the manufacturers. Their guns usually have some sort of 'nose art' on the barrel, like shark teeth and most of their guns are misspelt as bandits aren't the more literate folks, so look for guns like the "Slagga (slag SMG)," the "Magamum (pistol)," "Rokets! (rocket assault rifle)," and "bombabarbardeer (rocket launcher)." Bandits make everything except for sniper rifles (pistols, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, rocket launchers).
* In addition to your guns, you have your own personal 'melee' weapon you can use in case enemies/you get too close, a shield to absorb some bullets for you until it 'breaks' and recharges, and grenades. Everyone starts with the same basic Tediore shield (Capacity [Shield health]: 100 Recharge Rate [How fast it recharges {rate/s}]: 30 Recharge Delay [How many seconds it takes to start recharging]: 2.58), three grenades a melee weapon and two gun slots (how many guns you can equip and use at the ready. You can wield more as you progress further.)
* You can only equip 1 shield, 1 grenade 'mod' (different things which augment and affect grenade behavior), 1 'class mod' (specialized equipment which boosts your skills and abilities. Unique to your specific Role), and 1 Relic (mysterious artifacts which augment your abilities) at a time and have a maximum of four guns equipped at a time. You find grenade mods, class mods and Relics as you progress.
* Your skill is your unique power/ability which you possess. Whether it's a deployable sentry turret, a trained attack creature, a radial explosion centered around yourself, a transformation, digistructed robots/holograms, a healing field for allies, temporal cloaking, dual-wielding guns, whatever it is, it gives you an edge when you need it. You can only use your skill once before having to wait for it to 'cool down' for use again. Don't wanna overexert yourself now!
* When coming up with a skill, try not to make it too overpowered or cheap (e.g. "Instadeath: Instantly kills everything within a 10 foot radius." No... that's just stupid....
). All skills will have their cooldown rate and duration calculated based on its power (what it does), effectiveness (how strong it is), odds of being used (constant vs. rarely) and potential (what it could do when you get stronger/additional possible effects).
[ex. 1; Scorpio Turret (formerly Roland's action skill. Now considered 'default skill'
: Deploys a support-based sentry turret which auto-targets enemies in a 180° radius. Allies near the turret slowly regenerate health and ammo, and a small blast shield protects the front of it, absorbing some bullets. Can be destroyed.
Power: Support Turret
Effectiveness: 4.5/5
Odds: 80% (Very often)
Potential: Increased HP/Ammo Regen, Increased Turret Damage, Missiles, Energy Shield, x2 Guns, x2 Turrets. [These are all possible skill upgrades when you get stronger]
End result: Skill Duration: 20 seconds
Skill Cooldown: 120 seconds
Because it can damage enemies,
and heal friends,
and replenish ammo,
and slightly shield you from enemies,
and draw gun fire away from you, this skill gets a really long cooldown rate. Add in the fact that it has so much potential and you've got a crazy good, default skill. It lasts a bit, but not too long to maintain balance.]
[ex. 2; Dead-Eye: An ocular implant activates artificial neural receptors controlling your muscles, auto-aiming and granting perfect accuracy for a single shot. The shot becomes a guaranteed critical hit and deals bonus crit damage. Afterwards, the user's accuracy drops by half and they deal less damage overall as the skill cools down.
Power: Buffed Critical Shot
Effectiveness: 4/5
Odds: 95% (Almost constantly)
Potential: 3/5 (Reduced Cooldown, Reduced Debuff, Second Shot)
End Result: Skill Duration: 4 seconds
Skill Cooldown: 18 seconds
A perfect skill for snipers. Long-medium range is the perfect distance for this skill as the debuff will be an absolute hindrance when dealing with close foes. The cooldown is what helps keep it balanced as it would take a considerable amount of focus/concentration for the task and afterwards, one would surely be exhausted.]
[ex. 3; Resonance/Dissonance: A two-stage skill. Resonance draws small-medium sized nearby enemies towards you and deals constant weak Shock and non-Elemental damage to those affected. Large or boss enemies only take the damage. Non-gun loot (money, ammo, health syringes) is drawn in as well. Dissonance triggers after Resonance, creating an Explosive Nova centered on you, violently knocking back those affected by Resonance, including boss and large enemies. Resonance can be 'held' to increase Dissonance damage/force.
Power: 'Magnetic' Elemental Novas
Effectiveness: 3/5
Odds: 65% (More often than not)
Potential: 2.5/5 (Increased Nova Damage, Increased Knockback, 'Brainwash' Enemies, Detonate Ammo)
End Result: Skill Duration: Resonance: 5+ seconds (up to 10 seconds for double damage/knockback) Dissonance: Instant
Skill Cooldown: 36 seconds
If you've always wanted to be the center of attention, now's your chance. This is a good 'mystic/psychic' skill, but make sure that you're not drawing in stronger foes than you can handle. It's great for pulling aggressive foes off of your friends and sending them flying. It's more of a situational skill as flying targets usually stay out of range and large foes are mostly unaffected. Still, there's the potential for making enemies fighting for you temporarily, or detonating drawn in ammo to boost Dissonance's range/power.]
* As with any RP, it helps if you try and put yourself in your character's shoes... what motivates them? Why have the come to Pandora in the first place? Are they trying to bring order to the lawless wasteland? Are they itching to make their fortune no matter who they have to backstab to get it? Are you a stoic, silent bounty hunter who's only goal is to eliminate the target? A crazed psychopath who just wants a new human ear necklace? A fanatical supporter of the late Handsome Jack? Think of something creative and interesting when coming up with your character's backstory. Don't be afraid to get wacky or completely out there with your ideas.
* While I'm going to be controlling my Vault Hunter, I'll also assume the roles of various NPCs that you'll interact with on Pandora and help to give a bit more depth to the story. If anyone wants to assume any NPC roles also, feel free to, so long as you stay true to their character and you're not just doing it to mess around/give your character really powerful stuff.
End of side note.))