Character Superpower Workshop

Yeah, I don't really like superpower being limited by character flaws either. I hate it when a character, often times villain, who refuses to use his/her extremely strong power to just finish off his/her opponent. Also, I have a problem, mainly that I do NOT know my physics.

So, what kind of limits would be good?

For additional info, before he got his power, he was a martial artist, whose style is a mixture of muay thai and capoeira, and involves devastatingly powerful kick to the head (like Cro Cop). What are some ways that he can use his power to control friction to aid fighting? He doesn't like grappling, even though if he was a grappler he would have been absolutely unstoppable.

Doing flash steps and mainly focusing his ability to a defensive one?

So, in my universe, gangsters use magic alongside cars, guns, switchblades etc., and I need to know if this magic system I've developed adequately explains why they have fantasy Schizo Tech instead of just using magic for everything:

Does this create any problems in your opinion?

I was thinking up an idea for a character who can teleport objects from one place to another, when I got to wondering what would happen if they teleported air. Obviously, if a big chunk of air is teleported away, there's going to be a vacuum left behind, and the surrounding air will rush in to fill it. What I'm not clear on is just how powerful the inrush of air would be.

Suppose they teleport away one cubic meter of air: what would that be like for someone standing a few feet away? Would they just feel a sudden, strong breeze, or would they be sucked towards the vacuum along with anything else that isn't bolted down?

Ok, I'm going to pretend I can apply Bernoulli's principle to the above (you can't, but let's not dwell too much on it). At sea level, with 1 atm pressure and 1.227 kg/m^3 density, I guess it comes to around 813 miles per hour.

Edit: It is highly unlikely that this is correct and it doesn't take into account the volume that was displaced.

edited 13th Sep '14 1:35:21 AM by Elfhunter

I have a strong principle againts trying to calculate this kind of things. However, I would imagine that, even if the sudden absence of air did create a small implosion, with the amount of air you're talking about the forces we're dealing with would hardly be meaningful.

A lot more interesting question is: where is the air teleported to? Even the smallest air bubble in the human bloodstream can cause a heart attack. Now imagine what would happen if you teleported that one cubic meter of air inside someone's body... or if you teleported the air out of someone's lungs, collapsing and crushing them. I don't know what the limitations of your teleporter's powers are, but using them this way is far more efficient.

edited 13th Sep '14 1:08:42 PM by Paradisesnake

How it works is, while the character can teleport objects into other objects, the object being teleported must have a density equal to or greater than the object it's being teleported into. So they could teleport solid objects into someone's body, and maybe teleport liquids into their lungs, but the only thing they could teleport air into would be another patch of air.

I've been working on a character who can control sound. I've been trying to balance him out so that he will be strong enough to be put into the big leagues(it's a superhero setting) but not too OP. There are a few things I though might be possible with his power that I'm worried would be pushing the limits.

He can for sure:

• Enhance or lessen any sound within a certain range (probably around 50-70 meters)
• Is aware and can interpret of any sound within 100-150 m whether he can actually hear it or not(so loud sounds aren't a guaranteed weakness because even if he went deaf he probably wouldn't know the difference).
• Can contain sound (whether through will or just a clever use of destructive sound waves I never decided)
• Can, upon contact with a solid, find its resonant frequency.

What I'm not sure about:

• If he can steal the source of energy for his power from what's around it, He could theoretically take the rotational and directional kinetic energy away from liquids and gasses and turn them into solids. This would only be true if we took sound control to actually be the vaguer vibrational control. (He would use this primarily to walk on water/air as a simulation for flying).
• This could also be reversed, he could turn solids into liquids or gasses so long as he got close enough, essentially letting him disintegrate anything on contact.
• Using constructive interference to create a vibration in the ground large enough to throw himself forward. Essentially giving him the running speed of a character with super strength but not super speed.

On an unrelated, personal note, maybe it's just me but I've always found sound-based superheroes to be a tad bit underwhelming. I mean, you know these guys are just gonna get destroyed by anyone who can fly to the scene of a crime in a timely manner or run faster than a speeding bullet (which is pretty much everyone in comics).

Just as a personal suggestion (so don't take me too seriously), I would avoid using sound for superpowers, because unlike literally everything else in the universe besides light, sound has a fixed speed at which it always travels barring a sudden change in medium. Kinda makes it hard for people with sound-powers to stay relevant when their powerlevels have already been capped off from the beginning.

The main reason I chose sound is because it is initially underwhelming. And that's why I have him aware of sound in a particular area, you can run faster than the sound gets to him, but he knows the moment you hit the ground within his range.

Also this is a slightly more realistic super setting, while super speed is a common power, it requires some sort of physics manipulation to pull off, and actually running faster than Mach 1 is rare, but still common enough that it caused problems for him when he was starting out.

edited 14th Sep '14 10:25:23 PM by kingandcommoner

Well, control over sound also requires control over waves. I don't think need explanation on how utterly destructive and versatile this can mean. Also, depending on how large or fine your character's control is, s/he can either blast sonic waves or make a person a die in a slow and painful death via sound-weapon.

This might be relevant:

I agree, and it's also not important to underestimate sound if you take it up to a high enough level. Sound is waves, but it's also vibrations, and resonant frequencies at the proper amplitude can be scary.

But like I said, I'm mainly concerned about using sound on a microscopic level, which like I said could make him seriously OP, which is my main concern.

Kind of a silly question.

I'm writing a scene where a girl with power to manipulate ice was taking a bath, and suddenly needs to come out.

As for the clothes, I think you can make a chainmail dress out of microscopic ice rings. But how can one dry her hair with ice power?

How physiccy is the power? Does she actually move the heat away from water and make ice that way, or does she just generate ice? (Does she need active moisture from the air/her body to make the ice?)

Both. And while she does need water, she can make disproportionate amount of ice with little moisture.

I hoped that would help me think of something, but I'm coming up blank. Most i can say is, at least she won't get a cold.

There's always the option of just freezing her wet hair in the desired condition, though that could damage her hair if left like that for too long, or if struck while frozen.

That does qualify for a certain definition of dry

I wonder if turning the moisture into a whole pile of tiny ice bits and shaking them off is an option. I'm spending more time on this idea than necessary. XP

Speaking of ice, has anyone ever seen a work of fiction, where someone with power to control ice turn rain into a rain of projectiles? That would be awesome.

Well, Waterbenders of Avatar: The Last Airbender have the ability to turn water into ice as a part of their Making a Splash powerset, and Katara used rain to create a bunch of icy spikes in the episode, The Southern Raiders.

This thread seems to be halted and we can't have that.

So little bit of context may be warranted. In my setting reality has been damaged which causes some unexplainable, supernatural and often destructive events called phenomenon. Conveniently one of the (ongoing) events is some children being born as physical manifestation of phenomenon (nicnamed fours because fourth registered phenomenon event) who have some immunity against other phenomenon.

Main character is four of level zero (later gets redefined as level one) with no powers and theoretical but not practical ability to ignore causality. Cosmic being who has no love for broken reality offers main character a weapon made from alternative, undamaged universe. Using such weapon ("concentrated reality") against phenomenon deletes it. This universe is reformed in to "perfect singularity" in shape of the (bigass) sword. Since main character is manifestation of impossibility and sword is made to suit him, he can use it without, you know, making timespace to collapse on it. But sword does show some properties of object with practically infinite mass (deflecting cannon fire like it wasn't there, ridiculous downward swings, practically indestructible) and sometimes (you know those special angry hero moments) main character forces sword to interact with laws of physics on greater scale. Not to mass destruction level, but significant.

So, what is the potential?

I haven't seen it myself, but Darker Than Black has similar scene.

edited 19th Oct '14 3:29:31 AM by Prany

Hey there. Is a conversation ongoing or can I post something I'd like help on?

Thread has been rather sleepy so don't be shy to liven it up.

Alright, here goes.

Most of my character powers revolve around Crippling Overspecialization. They're very, very good at a few things, but terrible at others.

Here's the first character, Recon.

1. Air manipulation. He has the ability to push air away from himself and encase himself in a vacuum, negating air drag. He can walk, run and jump on air, essentially flying. He can compress and explode air from around his fists and feet. This is powerful enough to vaporize most organic matter (literally all that is left is a red stain). Not something as powerful as atomic dismantling. Just a gibbing effect, basically. Same thing you would get from a bomb. This ability has a point-blank range, so he cannot fire air cannons.

2. Gravity redirection. He can make his own personal gravity and the gravity of whatever he touches go whatever direction he wants it to go. He cannot strengthen or weaken the gravity.

3. Charles Atlas Superpower of speed, perception, and agility. He can move very, very fast without his powers, but when combined with no air drag/no gravity can move faster than the naked eye can see. He can easily dodge bullets and explosions and Flash Step with startling efficiency and precision.

They way he dodges bullets does not usually revolve around actually dodging the bullets themselves. His most common method is to look at where the gun/cannon is pointing and simply move out of the way. He's also very good at noticing tiny details, and reporting those tiny details to whoever needs the info (hence, Reconnaissance).

That being said, his durability is sub-par. He cannot take hits. Unlike his opponents who can shrug off entire artillery barrages he can't even take a stab through the chest before dropping like a fly.

He needs to concentrate fiercely to not eff up. Sometimes he needs to focus on speed instead of agility for a desperate situation (e.g. pushing a friend out of the way of an attack) and gets hit because he wasn't focused on dodging. Emotional unbalance can also upset him, so he spend hours trying to rein in emotions if they get too out of hand.

So, in essence, a Fragile Speedster Glass Cannon.

edited 7th Nov '14 7:03:16 PM by gameknight102xx

How long does gravity redirection last? If it's long enough for affected opponent to leave planet's orbit, we have a gamebreaker right here. If it only lasts as long as there is physical contact, nothing to worry.

Another thing about gravity redirection - can he, say, affect man's upper upper body while lover body remains unaffected?