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Are the powers of my characters too similar?

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Jumpingzombie Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Oct 19th 2010 at 11:12:04 AM

Ok, so I have this story focusing on a band a 6 super human type characters. They all have powers that render them pretty difficult to kill by normal methods, I guess it would be some levels of Nigh-Invulnerability.

Now three of them I'm ok with their powers because I think they're different enough. However, the other three I'm not sure if their powers are too close making them boring and/or useless.

So I got:

One girl who can split her body into many pieces; just popping off a limb or splitting herself into a bunch of pieces. She's vulnerably to body damage and dying pretty easily. Taking off limbs also causes a great deal of mental stress and she gets horrible headaches if she has, say, an arm off for a very long period of time.

A guy who's body regenerates. Get stabbed, it heals. Get an arm chopped off, he can grow it back, though the process is painful and a bit time consuming. In story, I wanted to have the antagonist develop a special type chemical that could destroyed his body and prevent him from regenerating from the wounds. The above girl and him it was sort of purposefully put that they had similar power types, but I'm not sure if they're too close.

Finally, the main leader of the group I wanted to actually be immortal. He'd be the smartest of the group because he had lived so long. He basically cannot die, even when he is in inflict with horrible injuries. If he got a limb chopped it stays that way.

So, yeah, what do you guys think? Are these three's power too dull, especially when compared to each other? Should I give them more weaknesses or go all the way back to the drawing board?

jewelleddragon Also known as Katz from Pasadena, CA Since: Apr, 2009
Also known as Katz
#2: Oct 19th 2010 at 2:22:21 PM

Iiiit's Arm-Fall-Off Boy!

I don't think there's a problem with them being too similar, but I'd wonder about the relative power of the first and third compared to the second. Detaching body parts is not generally a very useful skill, even if you have some sort of control over them (say, detaching an eye and then being able to see what it sees).

As for the last guy, immortality without regeneration is a bad combination. One of the big pluses to an immortal teammate is that he can be daring and risk death (Jack Harkness, for instance), but your guy would have to be really cautious, knowing that any major injury he takes will be with him forever. Plus he'd gradually get more and more useless as he accrued injuries until you ended up with a Black Knight situation.

Ettina Since: Apr, 2009
#3: Oct 19th 2010 at 4:46:54 PM

"Detaching body parts is not generally a very useful skill, even if you have some sort of control over them (say, detaching an eye and then being able to see what it sees)."

I disagree. There's one episode of Angel where they fight a guy who can detach his body parts and is a Stalker with a Crush towards Angel's client. He was pretty effective.

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.
FurikoMaru Reverse the Curse from The Arrogant Wasteland Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: He makes me feel like I have a heart
Reverse the Curse
#4: Oct 19th 2010 at 5:03:13 PM

I think you should worry more about their personalities being too much alike. Powers that have a common theme are usually a good thing for a team.

Also, seconding the awesomeness of that episode.

A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!
Jumpingzombie Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Oct 20th 2010 at 9:51:38 AM

"I think you should worry more about their personalities being too much alike.Powers that have a common theme are usually a good thing for a team."

I'm not too worried about that since I started developing the characters personalities, backstories etc. before I really started defining what their powers were.

"As for the last guy, immortality without regeneration is a bad combination."

Earlier I had him a bit different, where his body was also indestructible, but changed it because of some conflicting issues it brought up with another character. Now that I think about it, I could probably bring it back to his character since I got rid of that person as they were unnecessary to the story.

As for the girl, I've actually come up with a lot of ideas that make her detachment abilities pretty useful and it goes to somewhat extreme levels and not just limited to popping off an arm.

But, I guess I won't worry too much if these guys' powers seem close to each other. :P

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