Avoiding an Overpowered Character

The protagonist of my urban fantasy trilogy, has the ability to control werewolves. For context, in the story's setting, werewolves live in packs that are headed by an Alpha who has the ability to psychically compel the other members of the pack to do his/her bidding through the mental connection they all share. However at the end of the first book the protagonist, who is not a werewolf develops the power to take over the minds of werewolves and make them follow his orders, albeit in a very basic sense—-an example being him accidentally forcing a group of them to dog-pile and eat a vampire threatening him.

What worries me about the power is the fact that I feel it could be a story-breaker if I'm not careful how I handle it. It's pretty central to the plot and history of both the story's world and the character and his family but I'm still a little worried. Another reason for the worry is how all-consuming it is—-for example, while the "Alpha" power just inflicts an overwhelming desire to do the user's bidding, the protagonist's power literally overwrites the victim's will and makes them into a puppet.

I guess what I'm saying is that I can't just erase the ability from the story; it's too central to the structure and plot, but I wonder if I should handle it in a different way. I already play up the drawbacks (it causes physical damage to the user's body) and the fact that the protagonist doesn't have real mastery or control over it, but should I go further?

edited 14th Jul '17 5:23:24 PM by Swordofknowledge

One easy way to prevent a character from being overpowered is to introduce antagonists that can hold their own against them. For instance, are there other characters with this power? Maybe ones that have a better mastery over it than your protagonist. Or, is there someone or something in your universe that can easily defeat werewolves?

Well, merely being powerful in and of itself isn't a problem. Ultimately, the problem is more thinking a firefighter and a cyromancer are on the same level. So basically, trying to convolute a reason why a cyromancer isn't flawlessly superior is just nonsensical and a waste of time.

So personally, I would suggest figuring out reasons why "Absolute Control of Werewolves" doesn't solve all of his issues. For example I have a character who, despite being one of the more physically powerful things around, is unable to solve his existential issues with that fact.

Then there's the logistical angle, of course: If the protagonist can violate the wills' of werewolves, there will naturally be people who hate and/or fear that fact. Could easily get stuck as a MacGuffin Super-Person to those who are racist to werewolves, while also having to avoid people out for blood just due to possessing such a power.

Overall, just because you're superpowerful doesn't mean you have no issues or problems to deal with.

@Shark Toast: Not exactly other characters with that same power, but there are those who have abilities related to it, yes. And many of them do hate him and pose a threat. As for the physical part, not really; transformed werewolves are the most physically powerful supernatural beings in the setting.

@ Kkutwar: You actually bring up some good points. The MacGuffin Super-Person angle actually is a large plot point, as are those who want him dead because they view his power as an abomination and danger. I'd hoped that those elements, coupled with the physical threat it poses to his body and the fact that there are those who are physically and politically superior to him who want him dead or used as a weapon balances things out. So maybe there's nothing to worry about?

edited 14th Jul '17 6:50:27 PM by Swordofknowledge

Well, if werewolves can learn magic and use it in their transformed state, that would make him more of a threat. Though since I doubt he's a Villain Protagonist, nobody has any reason to proclaim "he could just force them to become uber-wizards and solve everything for him".

A good way to avoid an overpowered character is understanding the scale of the story.For example the strongest character in Naruto is only as powerful as Nappa or not even if I'm remembering incorrectly about the former so even Krillin would be considered overpowered in Naruto but far from in his own universe.

I think it really depends on the character. Like Kkutwar said, really powerful characters can have characteristics that hold them back somehow - being Afraid of Their Own Strength, for instance. Another possibility, while I'm not sure of how it will play into your setting, is to have other werewolves be jealous of your character's ability and stand up against him. Also, if the character has a specific weakness or Achilles' Heel, simply give the antagonist an ability that caters to that.

I've actually been wondering about this myself, as I gave a character in the story I'm writing now a potential Story-Breaker Power on purpose and put her in a higher Super Weight tier than the Big Bad, but gave her Afraid of Their Own Strength as a key characteristic, as a result of Bad Powers, Good People combined with The Fettered. And I had her Trapped in Another World for a huge chunk of the story, pulled a Deus Exit Machina and Heroic BSoD resulting from the above flaws, and gave the villain the exact type of magic she's weak against. Of course, having the character in question holding the Idiot Ball for a brief while couldn't hurt either.