Overview
Have you ever been on a team that was... missing something? Not enough firepower to take on the A-list bad guys? Not enough defense to keep the frontliners alive? Maybe you're short on close-quarters offense or just looking for someone to keep those Rikti monkeys off your back. Budget Hero can help! Unlike "service-oriented" organizations like Hero Corps, which don't really do anything but make heroes' lives harder, Budget Hero offers services to help the working hero succeed.
That's what it says on the brochure, anyway. As a member of the Budget Heroes Service Group, LLC, your job is to develop your skills and abilities - and superpowers, if you have any - to the fullest possible degree, so that your services will be valuable to hero teams looking to fill gaps in their makeup. Or at least that's what you put on your resume.
Supergroup
The Supergroup for Budget Heroes is "Budget Heroes LLC" on Pinnacle. Budgetanker is the CEO; the other first-AT members make up the Founding Members. Other ranks are:
Senior Associate. These team members have been with the Budget Heroes for some time. The promotion to Senior Associate recognizes the team member's dedication and leadership abilities. Senior Associates are proven ambassadors of the Budget Hero ideal, showing the hero community at large that you can always count on a Budget Hero to provide quality service at a reasonable price.
Associate. Most Budget Heroes will hold this grade. Associates are the backbone of the Budget Hero organization, the foot soldiers in the trenches of Paragon City's constant war on crime and villainy.
Probationary Associate. PAs are newly hired Budget Heroes who are still testing the waters. Their early performance is being evaluated by the company's management to determine whether the Budget Hero experience is right for them.
Archetype
All Archetypes are welcome. Everybody has something to offer under the Budget Hero system!
Origin
Heroes of all Origins may become part of the Budget Heroes Service Group.
Naming
Budget Heroes come in seven varieties, each named in keeping with an Archetype: Budgetanker, Budgetblaster, Budgetscrapper, Budgetfender, Budgetroller, Budgetbringer, and Budgetshade. The base AT name for each type is reserved for the Founding Member of that particular type. Any further members should take the standard AT name and add a unique identifier to it, such as a number or descriptive term ("Budgetblaster 2", "Budgetanker Stone").
Starting Costume
Starting Budget Heroes must conform to a few basic uniform rules. All Budget Heroes must wear tops and bottoms capable of having the Pattern 1 color scheme applied. The primary color must be white, while the secondary color must closely approximate the color of the Archetype token shown next to the character's name in the Team window. Thus, Budgetankers' secondary color is steel blue, Budgetsblasters' bright red, and so on. Jacket tops and/or skirt bottoms are acceptable providing that the Pattern 1 top/bottom is shown underneath. Boots and gloves should be solid-colored and match the Archetype color, but may be of any type and can have graphics like lightning bolts, radiation symbols, etc. in white. Masks are optional. Shoulder items, belts, hats, and other such embellishments are also optional and may be of any type, but should conform to the color guiedlines. (Primary and secondary colors may be switched on these items to provide better contrast if desired.) Chest logo should be the starting letter of the character's AT (yes, that means C for Budgetrollers and D for Budgetfenders), in AT color with a black border for contrast.
Sample Costumes
Shown here are examples of the five non-Kheldian Archetypes as they might appear as members of the Budget Heroes Service Group. Note that these are examples only, and do not reflect the precise appearances of the actual founding Budget Heroes.
Bio
Budget Heroes aren't required to have self-promoting bios, but it's strongly recommended. As an example, here is the bio of Budgetanker, the team founder:
If you do go with an "ad" bio, please include the boilerplate from the bottom of BT's (starting with "Reasonable rates") for uniformity's sake.
Gameplay Policies
Though the supposed raison d'etre of the Budget Heroes Service Group is that they're heroes-for-hire, filling in gaps in teams for cash, it doesn't necessarily follow that you, playing a Budget Hero, have to do that. In fact, charging any actual in-game currency for helping out is against one of the few rules we have beyond costuming and whatnot. The Budget Hero concept is a joke on the developers' insistance that the game doesn't have an economy - therefore, we only charge non-existent "RP" money, NOT Influence, Enhancements, Inspirations, or Salvage.
You don't have to join teams at all, of course. You can, if invited, claim that you're off-duty, or working on "professional development" (i.e., leveling up), or what have you. Be polite, though. We don't want to give the Budget Heroes Service Group a bad name!
For similar reasons, stay away from Warburg. Hero-vs.-hero PvP is bad for our image.
Advancement
Most members won't really need to worry about this. It's a fairly informal, jokey SG, despite the corporate theme.
Roleplaying
Always optional, but the founders enjoy it. Just as all ATs and Origins are welcome to join the Budget Heroes Service Group, we expect all types of personality will come along for the ride, as long as it's at least vaguely believable that they'd have joined a paid superhero team in the first place. Lord Darkity McDarkbutte of the Ninth Circle of Hell would probably not do that, for instance, but a college kid whose mutant powers just manifested, and who wants to perform a public service but still needs to eat, might. Budgetanker's a business-school graduate who had the whole idea and is looking to get rich, but he isn't cynical about it; he really believes that he's serving the public in a good old-fashioned capitalist fashion. Budgetscrapper, on the other hand, is cynical about it; she's here for the check, and if it bounces, she's outta town.