Handling Weaknesses

I find myself in something of a dilemma and, as the title implies, it's to do with finding a somewhat believable and creative weakness for a few characters who share a common origin and similar power sets. Usually this wouldn't be a problem as most of the casts' weaknesses lie in their own personalities, but with these characters being homages to the Superman family, I know that I need something with more substancein order to pose more of a challenge.

My original idea was that the same substance (Amazium) that gave the characters (Penny, Marnie and Scott) their abilities would harm them the same way Kryptonite does Superman, by essentially inundating them with so much radiation that their cells would start breaking down. The only problem with that is Amazium is rare. Really rare. So rare, I'd rather not nerf it.

Which leads me to this posts. Any tropers have any suggestions for other weaknesses I could use in conjunction or how they themselves handle such issues and tropes?

You can try disabling one of the Required Secondary Powers, that alone handicaps what the Flying Bricks can do by a lot.

Make them need to eat a lot or something. Possibly let them fight enemies with comparable power levels.

Limit Removal: It's an interesting idea, though I'm not too sure how I would get something like that to work. Hmmm. Thinking.

Fillerdude: Unfortunately that weakness is already taken by a speedster superhero :( I think I might have that covered enemy suggestion to some degree too. Penny ,the central character, has a rogues list that includes Mad Scientist in Powered Armour, Golems and Alien Conquerors. Scott himself is actually Bizarro/Kryptonite Man type villain, with powers similar to (but not exactly like) Penny's with the added bonus/trouble of being radioactive. The longer Penny fights with him, the more damage she does to herself

Hmm. Well, two semi-obvious solutions pop to mind immediately; first, if it's the radiation from the Amazium that causes problems... maybe make radiation in general a problem for the characters. That would continue the Superclan shoutout (red sun radiation, natch), and would make a believable, readily-available weakness that would remain uncommon enough that it wouldn't be crippling (I figure most thugs aren't too likely to risk radiation sickness and/or involuntary sterilization to stave off a jail term... assuming that the homage continues far enough to include the no-kill policy, anyhow).

The second would be that a hard enough hit would make the super-shoutouts both radioactive themselves and more vulnerable, since they would take cellular damage and start 'leaking', as it were.- maybe even to the point of granting temporary superpowers to random people in their general vicinity (and, if you feel like really torturing them, granting powers that are temporary because they're lethally degenerative and cause violent insanity).

-*shrug* I suppose it depends on the tone of your work

Well... my go-to options when my superheroes become too powerful is either to scale them back and fix it on the narrative side instead, or to scale the enemies up instead.

I generally avoid direct, mechanical limitations on my characters' powers (i.e. I don't do silly things like Kryptonite), though. I prefer to give them weaknesses on the emotional side. That is to say, most of my super "heroes" tend to be psychological wrecks of some variety, as part of the territory.

All the power in the world doesn't help you if you aren't in any shape to be using it properly.

edited 29th Jun '12 9:47:54 PM by DerelictVessel

There's also the whole issue of knowing how to use those powers properly.

Their powers are sentient; they'll go on strike it the character does something that offends them.

Their powers seem to wax and wane, changing in strength or ease or even function. While it seems random, in reality their powers are changing relative to the positions of several celestial bodies.

Superman's basically solar-powered. You could just run with that, like Apollo in The Authority.

I think superman's powers and weaknesses, though stupid, are kind of interesting thematically. He was powerless on his home world, and only gained powers when he came to Earth. It's well-established that superman is something of a wish-fulfillment fantasy, so I think what we have is essentially a metaphor for someone who's escaped the trauma of their past and been given the opportunity to live as their 'ideal' self by exposure to a positive environment (Earth's 'yellow sun').

But it all seems a bit too good to be true. So, what better to pierce the fantasy and render him vulnerable than literal fragments of his past, steeped in the contamination others tried to shield him from? Even though the justification is explicitly scientific, the motivation is clearly symbolic.

Maybe you could find some kind of substance representative of the dark or helpless side of your characters that could act as their kryptonite? One that's more common than Amazium but still rare, and somehow related to their origin.

edited 30th Jun '12 6:47:09 AM by Kesteven

One thing to remember - super-strength, invulnerability, and non-human biology make it bloody difficult to get medical care. Major injuries, consequently, could be rather tricky to heal.

Thanks for the help guys!

@Te Chameleon: I really like the idea of radiation being a weakness. As soon as you mentioned it I immediately thought of using UV radiation that same way Red Sunlight is used against Kryptonians. I know that its found in sunlight, but is it found in higher concentrations or in different wavelengths in something like a black light? I also like the idea of other temporarily gaining supwerpowers, though it sounds like something that would better fit other characters within the same work. Thanks alot for the suggestions!

@Derelict Vessel: Giving characters emotional or psychological weaknesses is something I agree with entirely, in terms of the superhero genre and with fiction in general. Since I intend the work to be a reconstruction of the genre, I wanted to give the characters the same level of depth and sophistication found in Watchmen or Superman & Batman: Generations while still having the fun of the Silver Age.

Just to use one of the characters above as an example; Penny suffers from an inferiority complex prior to gaining their powers. The meek, overlooked and quiet Penny using her powers to make something out of her life only to develope a more confident and out-going persona as Ms Amazing with the two slowly merging together as she developes and matures. Her weakness to Amazium aside, her greatest achilles heel is her bouts of over-confidence and moments of self-doubt and worth.

Hopefully its stuff like that which makes the works theme (the nurturing and encouragement of creatives and intellects lest the world suffers from their lost potential) all the more poignant. Thanks alot for the suggestion!

@JHM: I don't want to spoil it, but theres a scene where Penny tries to save a cat in her first outting. It doesn't go well.

@Matutes: I think that might be a little too silly in what is supposed to be a reconstruction of the Silver Age. Thanks for the suggestion though.

@Kesteven: You know I've been a Superman fan for years and I've never thought of it that way before. That is just fucking brilliant! I just wish I could do something to give that concept the justice it deserves, but I dont think I can.

@Iaculas: Hmmm very interesting point. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.