Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context PlayingWith / RequiredSecondaryPowers

Go To

1'''Basic Trope''': A character has a power that requires other, less obvious powers in order to actually work the way it does.
2* '''Straight''':
3** Alice's power is {{Invisibility}}. While it's never talked about, she also has [[BlindfoldedVision a sixth sense]] that allows her to perceive her surroundings while invisible, since having light pass through her without bouncing off her retinas means that she's blinded when using her powers.
4** Bob is a SizeShifter who can grow up to twice his regular size. However, he also becomes exponentially stronger in order to support his exponentially increased weight caused by the SquareCubeLaw.
5* '''Exaggerated''': Alice can become invisible. She also has a sixth sense to allow her to "see", an aura that allows her clothes to become invisible too, her symbiotic bacteria can also become invisible and will do so in sync with her, and so on.
6* '''Downplayed''': Alice has a sixth sense that allows her to see while invisible, but she still can't affect her clothes with her powers and must be an InvisibleStreaker.
7* '''Justified''': The people who gave Alice her powers made sure to include all the safety measures they could think of, like giving her a way to see while she was invisible.
8* '''Inverted''':
9** Alice has the secondary powers, but not the primary powers they are usually paired with, e.g., a sixth sense without invisibility.
10** Lacking secondary powers leads to some non-obvious but sensible weaknesses. It seems strange at first that Alice gets out of breath quicker when running when she has a HealingFactor and is in great shape. This is confirmed not to be shoddy writing but a result of a higher metabolism increasing demand for oxygen and causing her to overheat quicker.
11* '''Subverted''': Alice's lack of these is her LogicalWeakness -- she can't see when invisible because humans don't have a sense that acts like sight but doesn't require light to interact with the person.
12* '''Double Subverted''': Alice is later biologically augmented to gain echolocation abilities, allowing her to tell at least where walls, enemies, and {{bottomless pit}}s are.
13* '''Averted''': All powers were specifically chosen not to involve any burdens to be compensated for by other powers.
14* '''Parodied''': Alice bumps into and trips over things while invisible, cursing her lack of sight all the while.
15* '''Zig-Zagged''':
16** Alice can turn invisible, but it blinds her. She later gains echolocation abilities, but those require her to let out an audible call, giving away her position. Later, she learns to do it in frequencies that humans can't hear -- but dogs can.
17** Alice starts out running out of breath more quickly due to her metabolism. However, it turns out that not having to wait for muscles to heal means she can work out well enough that her body compensates for the breathing problems, leaving her able to keep up so long as she doesn't bulk up too much. However, [[SuperDrowningSkills she still drowns far more quickly]] since she can't breathe under water. Until she later gets a liquid breathing device that nobody else can use safely, due to the lung damage caused by hyperoxygenated liquids, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal which she can just heal anyway]].
18* '''Enforced''':
19** "A story about a superhero who's useless because of FridgeLogic isn't very fun to read."
20** A TabletopRPG has required secondary powers for taking more advanced ones in trees to prevent MinMaxing and logical nonviability and justifies it this way. Taking too high of strength without durability or massive regeneration would mean that the character would have killed themselves using it before starting. Being made of stone without the strength to move at least one ton would result in being effectively paralyzed.
21* '''Lampshaded''': "Oh, so I have a sixth sense. I was wondering how I could see things when light passed through me."
22* '''Invoked''': Bob the MadScientist researched the drawbacks to invisibility.
23* '''Exploited''': Alice uses her sixth sense as HeartIsAnAwesomePower, since it means she's basically clairvoyant and not at all hindered by the dark.
24* '''Defied''': Bob the MadScientist gave Alice her {{Invisibility}} as part of an experiment, and he deliberately does ''not'' give her any secondary powers so she will find it hard to use her primary power against him.
25* '''Discussed''': "Alice, how ''do'' you see things when you're invisible?" "Well, I'm ''guessing'' it's a sixth sense, but I never really thought about it before."
26* '''Conversed''': "I wonder what minor power Alice uses to see when she's invisible."
27* '''Deconstructed''':
28** The "required secondary power" is ''not quite'' required. For example, Alice is bestowed the power of invisibility without a sixth sense -- but rather than moaning that her power is useless, she learns ([[DisabilitySuperpower or already knows]]) how to navigate while blind.
29** Alice and Bob are the successful versions of a long line of {{Super Soldier}}s who underwent experimentation to gain their superpowers and discover what secondary powers were required; and the ones that did not have them tended to die horribly from the experiments.
30* '''Reconstructed''': The "sixth sense" she has could actually be a form or variation of life sensing or enhanced spatial awareness, making it viable enough to use on its own without necessarily being considered just a "secondary" power.
31----
32Back to Required Secondary Powers.\
33[-Wait, you're telling me I have to write out the trope name AND put it in [=CamelCase=]?-]

Top