Barnum - The Cursed Showmen

[Cardeiz]

Here's a crude - but fun - hero concept I've been theorizing for a while. I think Deadlock would greatly benefit from a another high mobility tank and displacement character. Almost a hybrid between Lash and Abrams, with some concepts pulled from Dynamo (stomp), Mina (umbrella), and the item Counter-spell. I didn't flesh out the damage scaling, as I'm more immediately interested in the functionality and "performance" of the character. Let me know what you think. This hero is more of a Deadlock centered mash-up of DOTA2's Ringmaster and the old strongman aesthetic of the early 1900s. Obviously early in design, but I wanted to share the concept nonetheless.

 

[Cardeiz]

Didn't know the .pdf would require a download to view. Here's the text from the "Barnum Hero Concept" PDF.

Barnum – The Cursed Showmen​

Role: Bruiser / Grappler / Skillshot
Mobility: Terrain-adaptive, high agility
Persona: Delusional | Wistful Performer | Cursed Strongmen
Style: Acrobat’s grace with a brawler’s grit; flair-drenched brutality wrapped in theatrical chaos.

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The Calliope Family Circus was once a legendary traveling act—equal parts dazzling spectacle and unnerving oddity. But under the bright marquee lights and booming laughter, fate had other plans.

One night, a witch wished to test their might, seeking the hand of one of the Calliope brothers while “prettified” only to reveal her true form after the show. Her offer was rejected upon truthful transformation—not with cruelty, but with bravado. She vanished. That very evening, a curse swept through the circus tents like fire through parchment. Acrobats twisted, clowns wept blood, and tightropes became nooses. All perished, save the greatest showman of them all.

Barnum, the charismatic ringleader, now stalks the battlefield wearing his family’s sins like a second skin. His mind fractured from the trauma, he performs not for glory or vengeance, but to restore their honor; if the Patron wills it, maybe even his glorious hairline will return.

He wears their masks, hears their voices, and fights with the muscle of a strongman and the precision of a seasoned showman.

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Personality Snapshot:

• He speaks in poetic riddles, makes stage cues mid-fight, and addresses enemies like they’re unwilling guests in a tragic comedy. He is absurdly theatric, to the point of agony.
• One moment, he’s calling for applause from ghostly crowds. The next, he’s bemoaning his fallen brothers in whispers only he can hear.
• He is not a villain, though not quite a hero. Barnum is a cursed echo still dancing to the beat of a broken Calliope.

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Barnum brings a dark whimsical archetype to Deadlock: an erratic bruiser who juggles spectacle, rabbits, and latent madness with every blow. He is both player and puppet. The haunted star of a personal tragedy performed nightly in arenas across the world, now lost in his own Big Apple circus.

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I will gladly VA him for free lmao​

 

[Cardeiz]

I wanted to flesh this out a bit more, so I've provided a Deadmock (thank you) interpretation of this with an updated character model/concept. "Barnum" is definitely not fine-tuned or balanced, but I wanted to get a conversation started to see what people thought. New to forum posting on here, so apologies for scattered presentation.

I'd still like for there to be an innate tightrope like option where you can suspend your height, with some limitations. Juggling Act would need some adult supervision to ensure that it doesn't become meta to spend 5 minutes throwing out objects to get a perfect set of props.