Forum:Downloadable Character Ideas/Tyson

Tyson is a proposed DLC Remnant class character in Borderlands 2.

Background
Tyson was an engineer for Dahl during the company's search for the vault. During the chaos of Dahl's sudden departure from Pandora, Tyson had been taken captive by the Bloodshots to give them an edge over other Bandits, through having access codes for Sanctuary’s doors, and minute technical advancements that would make the difference on the battlefield. As such, Tyson is the one behind the blueprints for the armor that Armored Psychos wear, and the base concept for the shields that Nomads carry. Choosing to play a gamble for his escape, Tyson developed a chainsaw-machete that later took the form of the saws that Psychos gleefully brandish. Using this blade, Tyson murdered the Psycho guarding him, donned his mask, and snuck out of the city under the cover of night, mere weeks before Roland and the Crimson Raiders pushed the Bloodshots out of the city. While he wishes for Pandora to become peaceful and can agree with Handsome Jack’s goals to some degree, he knows that Hyperion obtaining the Vault’s secrets and bringing order will likely result in his permanent, non-returning to a New-U Station death. After getting word of Sanctuary’s new occupants, the Crimson Raiders through Crimson Radio, Tyson embarks on a train to begin his exodus back to his former prison, and try to aid the Raiders in any way he can.

Active Skill
Shredder

When Shredder is activated, Tyson revs up his trusty machete and wields it in his left hand while still wielding his equipped gun in his right. Pressing L1/LT/Right Mouse Button results in Tyson holding the machete out to do continuous melee damage. As such, it is impossible to use sights with the active skill in effect, and Gun Accuracy and Reload Speed suffer a 50% debuff.

Psycho
Tyson had been tormented by the Bloodshots enough to know that the brutality of the Psychos is effective in battle, when put to proper use. Using his trusty Shredder Machete, Tyson uses this tree's boosts to Melee Damage and Movement Speed to become a veritable storm of brutality.

Notable Skills:

Active Skill Override - Ripper: While Shredder is active, Tyson’s player can use their regular melee attack to do a thrust with the Shredder. This attack deals massive damage to a foe, but ends the active skill as soon as the attack finishes. Positioned on Tier 3 - Requires 1 Skill Point.

Active Skill Override - Hack and Slash: Sets a second Shredder to Tyson’s right hand, disabling his gun during his Active Skill. Melee Attacks are stronger, and Cooldown between melee attacks is decreased by 50%. Pressing R1/RT/Left Mouse Button allows Tyson to do slashes with his Shredders, in case the player has the Ripper skill. Positioned on Tier 5 - Requires 1 Skill Point. If One in the Chamber is active, the skill only applies to the left-handed Shredder.

Engineer
Considering his background, its no question how Tyson can keep his gear in tip-top shape at minimal cost. With the Engineer tree, Tyson can upgrade the general performance of all of his firearms, along with a strange change to his Shredder.

Notable Skills:

A Bird in the Hand…: When Tyson throws a grenade, he throws two grenades at once, at the cost of one grenade. Positioned on Tier 3 - Requires 1 Skill Point.

Active Skill Override - One in the Chamber: Passively, this skill reduces Melee Damage and increases Melee Cooldown by 50%, even when Tyson’s Shredder is not active. During Tyson’s Active Skill, the player may tap their Active Skill button again to fire an explosive round from the tip of the machete, ending their Active Skill. This attack does lackluster damage, but also features the ability to knock back foes caught in the blast while applying the Daze status effect, much like Lilith could with Phasewalking in Borderlands 1. Offers a visible change to the Shredder, adding a trigger to the grip and replacing the actual blade of the Shredder with a gun barrel. There still is a chainsaw-like edge on one side, but due to it’s decreased size, the reduce in melee performance would be obvious, due to the added weight and reduction of blade surface area. Damage for this skill is proportional to the time remaining on the Active Skill, performing better when used earlier, rather than later. Increases Active Skill Cooldown by 15 Seconds. Positioned on Tier 5 - Requires 1 Skill Point.

Challenger
Life is all about challenges. Sometimes a brave hero has to tune themselves down to make the adventure more fun in the long run, just to make it all a good challenge for them and their friends. With this tree, the player goes along a linear path of debuff skills for 20 levels, ending in a new Active Skill that makes the challenge all the more worthwhile.

Skills: Tier 1: Faulty Maintenance - Each rank reduces Gun Damage by 15%. Tier 2: Blunt Blades - Each rank reduces Melee Damage by 15%. Tier 3: Short Circuit - Each rank reduces all three Shield stats by 15%. Tier 4: Wrongshot - Each rank reduces Accuracy by 15% Tier 5: Active Skill Override - Overcome: Disabling Tyson’s ability to use the Shredder as an Active Skill, Tyson gets a 30-Second Rage Mode where all of his stats are boosted by 325%, totaling to 250% after calculating the Challenger Debuffs. Cooldown is set to 10 minutes to balance out the insane stat boosts.

Challenger Tree
On note of the third tree, it is literally intended to offer more challenging gameplay to players who find Borderlands 2 far too easy while also offering an incentive Active Skill to both balance out the skill loss from the tree, and to encourage players to try their hand at a tree that makes gameplay harder without Active Skill reliance.

Class Mods
Tyson's Class Mods take the from of a new backpack to wear, to somewhat further push that he values preparedness and survival. These are proposed Class Mods for the Remnant Class.

Jakobs manufactures the Camper Class Mod, which offers general boosts to Tyson's accuracy at the cost of firing speed and movement speed. It replaces his backpack with a comically large Camper Pack.

Tediore manufactures the Generator Class Mod, which boosts the rate at which Tyson can switch weapons. It replaces his backpack with a portable Digistruct module.

Torque manufactures the Blastman Class Mod, which boosts the power of Tyson's grenades. It replaces his backpack with a fake jetpack.

Vladof manufactures the Technician Class Mod, which offers random skill point boosts to Tyson's Engineer Tree. It replaces his backpack with a portable tool kit.

Maliwan manufactures the Weight Class Mod, which further adds points into Tyson's Challenger Tree, while offering a random buff to balance out the sudden stat penalty. It replaces his backpack with a "Challenge Simulator" from Maliwan.

Dahl manufactures the Employee of the Month Class Mod, which also adds points into the Engineer tree, much like the Vladof Class Mod. It replaces Tyson's backpack with a military-style backpack.

Bandit offers the Hacky Slashor Class Mod, which adds bonus points into Tyson's Psycho Tree. It replaces Tyson's backpack with a dead midget.

Hyperion offers the Opportunist Class Mod, which increases Tyson's efficiency with Hyperion-brand weapons. It replaces Tyson's backpack with a Hyperion Soldier backpack.

Psycho Mask
Tyson has kept his stolen Psycho Mask as a trophy of sorts, a reminder of his escape from Bloodshot-occupied Sanctuary. He wears this mask on his head in a similar fashion to Tiny Tina. During his Active Skill, he takes a moment to put the mask on his face before he gets to Shredding. When his Active Skill ends, he does a quick upwards jerk of his head to flip the mask back onto the top of his head.