Required Secondary Powers for Fire Related Powers

Well, I have been see-sawing between fire or the character just being able to produce super heated ash. Though I'm leaning on the latter mainly because I feel that there are lot more creative uses for being able to manipulate ash (like creating shapes, better shields) than manipulating fire.

I also want to avoid magma powers because that would simply be too over powered and he is the MC so he can't be too strong and I'm saving that for a special character.

The character got his power through magic and there is another spell casted on him to keep his clothes from being affected. But I don't really want to use that as an explanation as to why he won't get burned by his own ash or why he won't get burned by other fires. I find the concept of Required Secondary Superpowers to be interesting and I want to play around with the concept a bit more.

So what would be the required secondary powers on being able to produce super heated ash? Invulnerability is one thing but are there any others?

Not necessarily invulnerability but at least great resistance to high temperatures. (His clothes will need it too.)

Some sort of controllable delivery method. Can he only manipulate ash? How does he distinguish it from other small particles? (If it's because of the high carbon content, for example, he might also be able to control graphite or diamonds. If it's because of temperature, he'll have to get new ash periodically but he can also probably control some other things of sufficient heat)

Resistance to high temperatures, obviously. And there's his Achilles Heel...

edited 31st Mar '12 8:59:36 AM by judasmartel

Well, his archenemy is an Ice-Man.

Well, it's more like he produces it from his body. Given that there are characters with magma powers in other works that's basically producing molten rock from their body, I figured being able to produce ash from your body wouldn't be too far fetched. I'm on the fence on whether he can control fire/ash that's not form his body.

So far, he can burn people by hitting them with burning ash, produce shields, soothe, create pathways (once it's cools down a bit which he can do with his powers) and stuff. He can control with it his will so he can hold them together so they don't break apart easily.

I once did change it to fire powers but changed my mind and went back to my idea that he controls ash. His archenemy using ice powers, I felt that the audience would end up being more drawn towards his fights because he will be doing all sorts of creative stuff with ice whilst the MC would just be shooting fire balls. That didn't seem right and fire-shields and stuff never really worked for me and I thought the will-controlled ash was a better idea.

He also has a secondary form where he basically becomes this walking skeleton that's on fire and he can produce even greater amounts of burning ash and is immune to injuries. Basically, he can stabbed, blown up etc, etc but he would just reform back. Mind you this form still has it's limitations.

I'm thinking of keeping the magic explanation for his clothing since he's down in the dumps and poor at the start of the story.

I'll think about him having some control over carbon. That sounds like an interesting idea.

Also the guy is also a chain smoker but I want him to be immune to the effects of smoking due to the effects of his powers. I mean not completely though, it's more like the effects show up a lot later on him than normal people who smoke.

This is completely out there and I want to provide at least some explanation as to how that might work. I'm thinking that the whatever process is automatic though not a healing factor, since I'm not a big fan of that trope. Anyone has any ideas?

Gee, why does it remind me of something?

I can see why you would think that but this isn't exactly 'FLAME ON', Johnny doesn't really gain any additional powers or a boost in power levels, and part of writing is taking one used idea and trying to apply in a different and hopefully interesting way.

I've got a fire-controlling MC, but he goes in a different direction; there it's a sort of elemental control of heat, and as a secondary power he's completely immune to heat-based damage. (The clothes are a matter of fine control, leading to some occasional awkward situations and a general reluctance to channel the power through anything except his hands.) If you've got controlling ash, then it's going to be visually quite a bit less impressive than controlling heat or plasma, both of which would actually glow like flames; not sure how much that matters if you're in prose, but keep it in mind for descriptions. Also, if I recall correctly ash as in the result of combustion actually contains very little carbon; the carbon mostly goes into the air, and the ash is a sort of composite of the non-combustable things that made up the fuel, altered by the heat. (Hence why flammable gases don't leave ash behind.)

Well, the possibility that whatever causes the fire to ignite is in and of itself a collection of minor yet significant and discrete powers is a distinct and viable one.

Actually it's burning ash and depending on how hot it is, it can even set things on fire. He can also use normal, harmless ash to blind opponents and stuff. I'm writing it in prose but it would be nice if I get to do a comic book on it aswell. Though given that 'uncombustible bits' part, I may have to do a little more thinking on this.

What?

Spontaneous heating and/or particle acceleration of nearby inflammable gases. That's a pretty awesome power.

If they are inflammable how would they be effective?

And what kind of gases are we talking about? And what are the most common places that they are found in? I should mention that my character lives in a tropical setting and there are no volcanoes in the area he works in.

Inflammable.

Woops Mixed up my terms there.

I'm gonna go crawl into a hole and die.

Please don't. We need you for a new punching bag.