I've been thinking a lot about the future of Borderlands between DLC releases and waiting for news on Borderlands 3, and during this time I've come up with a couple potential Vault Hunters that I would love to play. Irwin the Gunslinger. Tell me what you think and show me what you want to see! (Long read but hopefully worth while.)
Irwin is an Aussie cowboy and a gentleman hunter. He specializes in guns, mainly pistols and shotguns. For his Action Skill he summons his old friend Skango: a Skag/Dingo genetically engineered hybrid. His look would be somewhere between Hammerlock and Crocodile Dundee with one Bionic eye (luckier than Hammerlock in the loosing body parts area), and his melee weapon is a skinning knife.
Backstory: Irwin is one of Hammerlock's old Hunting buddies. When the rest of the vaults are revealed at the end of Borderlands 2, the vault hunters (to Brick's disappointment) decide they need extra help so Hammerlock calls in his old pal Irwin. On Irwin's first day on Pandora (assuming thats where the 3rd game starts) his pet dingo, who's already ironically named Skango, is killed by a Skag. After killing the Skag in return, Irwin cuts off the skags head as a trophy and takes his poor pup to Doctor Ned. Ned brings Skango back to life by creating a Skag/Dingo hybrid and implanting Skango's brain into the body. Making Skango an armored beast would make him tough enough to survive on Pandora. Skango's original pelt is also worn on Irwins person as a memorial to his pups original body.]
Skill Trees:
⦁ Pistolera (Or something that doesnt sound Spanish but means pistols, though nonsensical Spanish for an Aussie might be funny): Most of the skills in this tree would build up on his ability to use pistols and a bit for guns in general such as bullet damage and velocity. His Melee override skill could be Throwing bolas which tie up an enemy's legs forcing them to the ground or even throwing a boomerang which could hit multiple enemies before returning. Final skill of the tree could be Dual Wielding. Whenever Irwin uses a pistol a copy immediately digistructs into his other hand. This is not gunzerking as there is no time limit and it only applies to pistols.
⦁ Hunter: Skills in this tree build on Irwins ability for shotgun usage and close quarters combat such as shield bonuses, double firing chance, faster reloads, etc. His main health regeneration skill would be Good Meat: a melee skill that allows him to skin and remove flesh from corpses to immediately consume with multiple levels increasing the percent health gained. The final skill would be Slugger (Hunters don't like buckshot in their meat): This skill forces all shotgun spreads to be decreased by a massive amount (70%-90%) to mimic a slug allowing for longer range firing and potentially catastrophic critical hits.
⦁ Skango: Of course the last tree has to be augmenting his trusty sidekick. The basic skills here will add to Skango's time limit for damage and life. One could even give Skango the same amount of health as the vault hunter. The rest of the skills would be teaching the "dog" new tricks such as: Go for the Leg - Skango latches on to the ankle of an enemy slowing or crippling the enemy and doing damage each time Skango thrashes his neck; Venomous Fangs - certain change that his bite poisons an enemy doing damage over time; Take down - Skango tackles smaller enemies to the ground and attacks their jugular for constant critical hits until dead or knocked off the target; and the final skill could be Super Charged - Skango is released charged with the element the target is weakest against for the duration of the summon. Target is whoever is in Irwin's crosshairs at the time his power is used. If there is no target, Skango is charged with explosive.
I have another written up that I'll post if this gets some love! Marvin The Mad Physicist.
Irwin is an Aussie cowboy and a gentleman hunter. He specializes in guns, mainly pistols and shotguns. For his Action Skill he summons his old friend Skango: a Skag/Dingo genetically engineered hybrid. His look would be somewhere between Hammerlock and Crocodile Dundee with one Bionic eye (luckier than Hammerlock in the loosing body parts area), and his melee weapon is a skinning knife.
Backstory: Irwin is one of Hammerlock's old Hunting buddies. When the rest of the vaults are revealed at the end of Borderlands 2, the vault hunters (to Brick's disappointment) decide they need extra help so Hammerlock calls in his old pal Irwin. On Irwin's first day on Pandora (assuming thats where the 3rd game starts) his pet dingo, who's already ironically named Skango, is killed by a Skag. After killing the Skag in return, Irwin cuts off the skags head as a trophy and takes his poor pup to Doctor Ned. Ned brings Skango back to life by creating a Skag/Dingo hybrid and implanting Skango's brain into the body. Making Skango an armored beast would make him tough enough to survive on Pandora. Skango's original pelt is also worn on Irwins person as a memorial to his pups original body.]
Skill Trees:
⦁ Pistolera (Or something that doesnt sound Spanish but means pistols, though nonsensical Spanish for an Aussie might be funny): Most of the skills in this tree would build up on his ability to use pistols and a bit for guns in general such as bullet damage and velocity. His Melee override skill could be Throwing bolas which tie up an enemy's legs forcing them to the ground or even throwing a boomerang which could hit multiple enemies before returning. Final skill of the tree could be Dual Wielding. Whenever Irwin uses a pistol a copy immediately digistructs into his other hand. This is not gunzerking as there is no time limit and it only applies to pistols.
⦁ Hunter: Skills in this tree build on Irwins ability for shotgun usage and close quarters combat such as shield bonuses, double firing chance, faster reloads, etc. His main health regeneration skill would be Good Meat: a melee skill that allows him to skin and remove flesh from corpses to immediately consume with multiple levels increasing the percent health gained. The final skill would be Slugger (Hunters don't like buckshot in their meat): This skill forces all shotgun spreads to be decreased by a massive amount (70%-90%) to mimic a slug allowing for longer range firing and potentially catastrophic critical hits.
⦁ Skango: Of course the last tree has to be augmenting his trusty sidekick. The basic skills here will add to Skango's time limit for damage and life. One could even give Skango the same amount of health as the vault hunter. The rest of the skills would be teaching the "dog" new tricks such as: Go for the Leg - Skango latches on to the ankle of an enemy slowing or crippling the enemy and doing damage each time Skango thrashes his neck; Venomous Fangs - certain change that his bite poisons an enemy doing damage over time; Take down - Skango tackles smaller enemies to the ground and attacks their jugular for constant critical hits until dead or knocked off the target; and the final skill could be Super Charged - Skango is released charged with the element the target is weakest against for the duration of the summon. Target is whoever is in Irwin's crosshairs at the time his power is used. If there is no target, Skango is charged with explosive.
I have another written up that I'll post if this gets some love! Marvin The Mad Physicist.