Super Weight in your stories

So...what kinds of characters do you write? Where in the scale? Strong or weak for their class? Kind of interesting trying to categorize the different power scales in various settings.

My stories...in Rogue Power, the main protagonist is a strange sort of II; he's got a power, call it a cross between Super-Reflexes and Bullet Time, but it doesn't directly help him in any way as a power; it simply lets him be the best martial artist, best mobile gunfighter, and among the best snipers ever known of. The person he's guarding is (initially) more or less useless in a fight, and her power, while mostly a sort of support thing, has the occasional application in combat far beyond its apparent ability. The main antagonist is class III and just about unstoppable; he works for a guy who's a fairly unimpressive II that just happens to have a power that goes right though the III's weakness.

In another story, the hero gets root access to the computer that runs reality, which I suppose puts him at class IV or V, but on a local scale he's hardly more than a II; fighting isn't what he's optimized for.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Hmm...Super Weight?

Since I tend to stay with more human characters, I don't stray far from the center. The most powerful protagonists I get to are Class 2. Antagonist? Most likely no more than Class 3.

High-level conflicts don't appeal to me as much.

edited 10th Dec '11 9:33:13 PM by chihuahua0

1-2: Normal humans are capable of using magic, as can every other species besides Takguri, some protagonists.

3: Demons, Spirit beings and takguri (Demon/Human hybrid).

4: Most villains.

5: Avalon and Shadowheart

edited 10th Dec '11 9:37:56 PM by RagnaTheSaviour

"Hey you! Nano-something or other!"

I think the most powerful I ever get is Level 4 and even those guys are pretty rare. The most powerful of those rare characters isn't even round till the 24th century.

Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.

Super Weight isn't something I think about much unless I'm in the RP forum. This thread has made me start thinking about it, and I've noticed that the average weight of my main cast has dropped from a 3/near 4 during middle school to 1/2. Vinicio Acquati goes all the way through the scale from -1 to a freaking 5, but this is unfortunately not a good thing for anybody.

edited 10th Dec '11 10:06:55 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

Haven't truly gotten started, but the main piece of "super-literature" I have planned places most powered individuals at a maximum power of mild level three (consequentially, the lowest a character will be placed in my story is a low level 0; there should be few to no real one-hit-killers in the cast).

Most are concentrated at low level 2, many who would really be level 1 or 0 if not for a Boring, but Practical ability.

Let's see...

Knightfall: Most of the main characters are 4's and essentially untouchable by most conventional weaponry; they fight each other, though, and there are things that can kill them that the average person can use (though then it becomes a question of "can you hit them?").

Soul: Most of the main characters are between 2-3, but it's fairly understated.

Innocence Lost: Most everyone is a 0 or -1. The protagonist is a 1. The Anthem of the Angels is a 3, but it only shows up for one chapter to avoid overshadowing everything else.

Crossover: Main characters are mostly 2-3, and are facing similarly powerful opposition. The surrounding bit characters are generally between -1 and 1, as this is a video game concept.

American Armor: The four protagonists are between 3-4. Everything else is a 0 or -1.

Midas: This is a very new idea, but I'd peg the eponymous protagonist at a solid 2, most of her 11 co-main characters at between 2-3, and their enemies at a general 4, with lackeys running from 1-3.

I am now known as Flyboy.

I'm going to hold judgment on this until the pure madness that the Super Weight TRS thread has descended into calms down a bit. Not that I think about this much anyway - I've never understand the urge to measure the "Power Levels" of one's characters.

@Crystal Glacia: What do RPs have to do with it?

Huh, never thought a lot about this. If I were to make guesses...

Muggle Weight - Well, most people outside The City.

Iron Weight - EVERYONE in The City. A city where paranormal events are almost norms and is frequently invaded by space travelling horrors can do that to people. The police force is armed and particularly aggressive. Also, most Augmenters.

Super Weight - The Exorcists, aka the countersupernatural military force that undergoes some of the most lethal training regime in the whole world. Highly competent Augmenters.

Deus Weight - Strongest Augmenters and the Cores of the Deviation

Author Weight - The main character when tapped into his full potential

Rought outline.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Muggle Weight - Well, to be perfectly honest, most Muggles. They tend to be squishy and die in droves

Iron Weight - Michael, at least initially

Super Weight - Kali tends to waver between this and lower Deus Weight when sufficiently de-powered

Deus Weight - Most Vergers, as well as Michael once he becomes one

Author Weight - Kali

edited 10th Dec '11 11:14:50 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

I find it counter-intuitive as well. I mean, the various characters I listed are at various points on the scale provided, and yet set against each other could vary widely (i.e. the people from Knightfall would demolish the people from American Armor, and they're both at approximately the same super weight).

But, the OP asked, so, I'll humor him.

I am now known as Flyboy.

In some Troper RPs that I've seen, Super Weight is used as a universal indicator of power level. I've seen a few signups include entires in the character sheet for the character's Super Weight class or say things in the rules to the effect of "Your character's Super Weight must be between 1-3" or "No Super Weights over 3/4/etc." So, yeah.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

Most of mine vary between 1 and 2 for most of the plot time. Though a few peak a 4 briefly.

• Marc, the protagonist starts off 0, building to high 2/low 3.
• Pela, the MacGuffin Girl, a bound 4, spends most of her time as a high 0/low 1. 'Cept for that bit where she is released, goes on a minor rampage, and dies.
• Dorian, the mentor, wanders around as a definite 2, hints at being 3, then at the end goes full out 4.
• Adel, the knight, is 1 but has battled plenty of 2s and 3s. And probably survived a 4.

I have to admit that I feel the scale is a bit vague. Marc may become a 2 as a magic user, but I hardly would think he's more capable than Batman. I guess it's always meant to be calibrated a little to work in question.

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

Funnily enough, I did calculate the Super Weight for my manga for my own purposes as a (snicker) storyteller. The catch? All of the characters so far are Muggles. Well, there's a "civilian" class and a "martial artists" class. From there, it spirals into God Tier... I don't think I'll actually use those kinds of characters, however.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

Most characters in my shonen are between 0.5~1.5, only few (big bads and shifu) can reach 2.

Not to mention the male protagonist, who is a distressed dude.

╮(╯_╰)╭

The scale is bizarrely skewed for In The Service/A Numbered Existence, since the vast majority of important characters in the former are mid-to-low weight 3, while in the later most of them are about 2.5. In both cases this was inherited rather than a complete choice of my own, and I usually end up treating them as much more normal than their super weight would suggested, since to the setting they are. (Amusingly godlike in the context of the story is really super-ultra-awesome 3; they don't truly bend reality for the most part, they just have obscene amounts of firepower compared to other weight 3s.)

Night Life and Ten Years Late are 0-to-1 stories, although this is only because I've decided not to touch upon the subject of Rei's powers for Ten Years Late stories.

I'm reasonably sure I've never written a -1 character, and I rather hope I never do.

edited 11th Dec '11 2:27:52 AM by Night

Nous restons ici.

The thing about the SW of my main character is that while he can become Class 5, because it puts so much toll on his body and soul so he avoids using it. As a result, he sticks with his regualar, very basic magic and martial arts skills, which puts him in Class 2.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

So I figured I may as well humor the OP as well. Generally speaking, characters of weights 3 and up are very rare in my works - there's perhaps a dozen 3s and maybe one or two 4s in my comics. I don't think I've ever written a character at Author Weight. -1s are also pretty uncommon, if not unheard of.

This is, incidentally, a good indicator of why I don't care much for RPs.

My GURPS campaign is a World of Badass, with just about everyone being at least a level 2. That said, the peak is a low 3. The players are a high 2 (expert psionicist and monomolecular-swordsman), the villain is a low 3 (high durability but not quite invincible, crack shot), and the Postmasters, four disinterested principle zealots, are a very high 2 (not actual supers, but absurdly skilled in combat).

I doubt the usefulness of the scale (a Postmaster could probably bring down the antagonist, for instance), but there you go.

edited 11th Dec '11 2:45:54 PM by Muramasan13

Smile for me!

Turns out almost all of my characters are either Weight 1 or Weight 0*

. In a particular story where magic is totally overpowered, there are some Weight 2s, and a few (three, at the moment) Weight 4s, though none of them are protagonists.

I pretty much go up and down the entire scale. Power levels are fun.

oddly

Yeah...strangely enough, Super Weight is only mildly coupled to 'who would win in a fight'. I would butcher the old military saying and say "there are no dangerous powers, there are only dangerous people," but it's not entirely that, either; you don't get more dangerous than Alexander, the strange I/II I mentioned, and he couldn't get a crack in at Gravity until Katherine, who's a civilian with a mostly combat-useless power, gives him an opening. It's...strange.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

My villains are usually 3s or 4s, but my heroes go as low as -1, sometimes tripping over their own feet when attempting basic combat maneuvers. (This is a major part of why my heroes tend not to fight fair.)

edited 11th Dec '11 3:52:20 PM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

-1,0,1. No magic or superpowers in Endless Conflict. Just raw determination, skill, and sometimes a little bit of luck.

Hmm, let's see...

Mythology 101 Cycle:

-1: Victims of the Dark Lord's forces, most non-gladiator slaves

0: Nathan, William, Carrie, Binky, Jane, Professor Banks, Tamara, and Jennifer (at the beginning of the first book); Jessica; most human royals and politicians; King Quentrius and Director Wietenhiller, due to age (they were 1s in their youth); Goblins; all other non-gladiator slaves

1: Normal-powered soldiers, cops and FBI agents; King Seamus; Prince Andrius; gladiators; Dwarves, Orcs and Harpies; Professors Scott and Flynn; Kylie, Jeff, Andrew, and Jason (at the beginning of the first book; Princes Andrius and Pernius; William, Carrie, Jane, Binky, Nathan and Professor Banks (eventually, with a little training)

2: Male Elves; Mark and the non-human races also endowed with Super-Strength (Ogres, Centaurs, Minotaurs, etc.); younger or non-magic-using vampires (Alessandro, Tessa, Stephenie Meyer, Jason from book 8 onward); younger (not yet capable of Voluntary Shapeshifting) werewolves (Sirius, William in book 4; Kylie in books 4 and 5; Chris, Beth and Clay; Seldona and Malinza, since they don't have the combat training of the other female Elves; wizard apprentices (including Tara)

3: Dragons, most fully-trained wizards (including Zugema and Tara in book 10), older (Count William III) or magic-using (Baron Devincenzi, Kylie from book 6 onward) vampires; werewolves who can transform at will (Donatella, Ciluffo, William in book 5); particularly powerful psychics/empaths (Guillermo, Chris after about book 7); female Elves; Jim from book 3 onward

4: Lord Morbaruk, the gods (including Chosen Ones who die and then ascend to godhood)

The Sex Star:

0: All non-Action Girl abductees, until such time as they become Action Girls; the slaves and the non-guard crew members; Amanda and Brooke

1: The guards; Melissa, Priscilla, Lorraine, Danielle, Lena, Leigh Ann, Jenny, Janet, Lynn, Shawn, Lisa, and Stephanie (possibly moving to a 2 due to Unstoppable Rage when her daughter is in danger); all cop characters; Sarah and Jimmy

2: The Commander, Dr. Wang, Catherine, Jimmy's Superpowered Evil Side

In my other, not even remotely close to being finished, works I stay away from 4s and 5s whenever possible, but do include them to challenge the 3s from time to time.

edited 12th Dec '11 8:28:33 AM by EnemyMayan

Jesus saves. Gretzky steals, he scores!