Power Creep: Is This Egregious?

Well, I try my damndest to keep my characters from wandering into Mary Sue territory. But when fighting gods, this can be difficult.

My rationalization (or justification from a more cynical standpoint) is that the story really hits the accelerator once the Eldritch Abominations begin making appearances, so one quick power-up may be necessary. I've balanced out the pros and cons and tried to give it a rational explanation to avoid heavy doses of Deus ex Machina.

Still, I'm wondering how I balance the newly-powered up hero with the rest of the relatively-normal human cast. The only other character capable of taking him in a fight after this power-up would be the immortal living virus who is basically Scar on crack.

So, I want your opinion. Is further work needed?

It would help if you described what the power up did.

The main character is a telekinetic. Pre-power up, he can lift cars, people, punch harder, faster, and will generally wreck a city block's shit in one sitting.

Post-power up he's graduated to entire cities, and is capable of thrashing demi-gods.

edited 13th Dec '10 8:52:06 PM by KSPAM

OK, that's pretty extreme. But if he can have powers like that and still be challenged by his opponents, it might be OK. It depends on how well you set up his power-up, though. Does it come out of nowhere, is it something that breaks the pre-existing rules of your verse, is it caused by Heroic Willpower - those kinds of things can really ruin a power-up.

Alternately, just go the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann route and have the enemies power up suitably to face the hero! It'll maintain the drama/tension and won't seem like the hero is a Mary Sue.

The powerup comes from a drug called The Cure. It boosts psychic abilities but as a side effect induces insanity and the victim pretty much breaks down mentally.

The main character is able to adapt to this due to pre-existing knowledge he possessed that he regained after overcoming artificially induced amnesia. The information stems from the journal of a mad prophet, whose sister journal presented the recipe for The Cure. While the recipe was translated, things fell apart before the missing piece could be fully translated. As a result, only he knows it.

Even then, the result isn't perfect. The protagonist still experiences gradual and inevitable Sanity Slippage and the massive power it grants does not discriminate between enemy and innocent. So he opts to have a Power Limiter placed on him, to control his usage of it.

^Antagonists from here on out are pretty much demigods to near omnipotent Eldritch Abominations.

edited 14th Dec '10 8:52:29 AM by KSPAM

It sounds okay to me. I think the main problem with superpowered Mary Sues is that they're overpowered in comparison and everything is easy for them. If you can keep him away from that, you should be good.

My biggest advice is to make sure the Sanity Slippage is credible and serious. If most people go insane from this power-up, then if you're going to avert him going insane, you should at least get him pretty darn close to it. And the power limiter shouldn't cure his problems, just lessen them - or else be really difficult to put on and remove.

The limiter can't be undone by his own hand. It measures heart rate and other vital functions and determines if lifting one level of a limiter is necessary to deal with the present threat.