Character Superpower Workshop

How did the bullets spawn inside in the first place - teleportation? How did the bullets have enough energy to blast themselves out of the target?

The user has a form of causality and position manipulation ability that allows the bullet to be spawned inside the opponent before it travels back into the gun, instead of the gun firing the bullet into the opponent. It's like events happening in reverse, but not quite- the only event in reverse is the position of the bullet. (It's probably a form of teleportation, though)

If it's a form of time travel... afraid I'm not good with the time & space stuff

So I have this character that can control dolls. She uses Mana strings in order to control them. Her main method of fighting are using dolls, but she will occasionally use them as Razor Floss, and attaching them to people in order to use [[People Puppets them as puppets. She can even control herself even if she has injuries.

But the above is not the point. You see, Marionette Magic has a Secret Art, so powerful that the art had to be erased. The name? Idolatry. The basis comes from the practice of worshiping gods in the form of figurines. It was also believed that an idol contained a shard of a god's power.

This is where Idolatry comes in. Users of Idolatry would take a symbol/connection of one person and by performing a ritual is able to create a construct under their own control that has powers similar to the original. These ingredients don't even have to be physical, it can be a spiritual bond, like friendship/hatred/any emotion as long as it is significant. Once created, these constructs can be called upon at anytime, as well being able to repair themselves by using their controller's Mana reservoir and they can't truly be destroyed unless their user dies.

Masters of Idolatry are able to create constructs without using significant connections, but they are considerably weaker than they are intended. They are also able to convert the constructs into Mana and rebuild them.

Once a Puppet Master has been using their Eidolons (the constructs) and forming bonds with them, they can either remake them into even stronger forms of themselves or turn them into armaments to do battle against their enemies. Or better yet, both.

So any thoughts?

P.S. In case you are wondering, I just thought about this today viewing the People Puppets tropes.

edited 13th Dec '15 1:49:44 PM by SkyHavenPath13

To be honest, I don't really see how a bullet travelling backwards changes anything at all. Most people can't move quickly enough to dodge bullets anyway. Also, people who are generally immune to bullets (like ones with a Healing Factor) can regenerate the damage all the same... in fact, they might even do it easier than usual since the bullets are not left inside the target.

edited 24th Dec '15 4:54:35 AM by Paradisesnake

"Most people can't move quickly enough to dodge bullets anyway."

Huh. It sounded like the backwards bullet doesn't have to be aimed...

edited 24th Dec '15 8:29:18 AM by hellomoto

That sounds like a great counter to them. The good guys do have regenerators on their side and they'd make a pretty good counter against these "backwards bullet" guys. (The shots are part-physical part-energy damage, but regeneration really helps a lot against them either way)

It doesn't have to be aimed indeed. Said attack is mainly used against speedsters or armored opponents to guarantee a painful hit. But like says, regenerators would be a good counter against that.

edited 24th Dec '15 9:07:37 AM by ironcommando

What are some applications to the ability to manipulate wave and particle?

Isn't literally everything in universe one or the other? In that case, you're pretty much Reality Warper.

Off the top of my head, with just waves, you can manipulate light and sound (invincibility, stealth, illusions, spying, Light 'em Up...), create shockwaves, emit gamma rays and microwave radiation, receive, jam, muddle up and send out radio and mobile signals, see in ultraviolet and infrared, see and fry people with X-rays, knock electrons out of their atomic orbits (you'd need someone better-versed in physics than me to tell you consequences of that), have magnet powers, fry electronics with EMPs...

I'm not quite sure what you mean by particle manipulation, but if you mean ability to manipulate single atoms, then you can cause fission and fusion, remake one substance into other, turn bodies into liquid and into gasses and vice-versa, suck energy out of everything you're surrounded in, change temperature of objects, control computers by changing positions of electrons...

IMO literally the only thing that could stop your character would be putting them in cold vacuum of space, and even there there's some space dust and electromagnetic, gamma, radio, light and microwave rays can be sent out.

Also, magnetic and seismic wave. Control over most metals and earthquakes.

So, a character of mine has the superpower of relatively minor enhanced abilities (e.g. he's better than Captain America, but not by an huge margin), but if he's fighting something that's stronger than him physically, he suddenly becomes slightly stronger than him. He also gains the RSP's to handle the sudden increase in power.

This effect is cumulative, so if a superhero team consisting out of a Stone Wall, a Fragile Speedster, and a Glass Cannon challenges him, he becomes a Lightning Bruiser who is even better than them physically.

I'm kind of worried that this power is overpowered. Any help?

Does his power increases skill level? If not, any opponent with greater combat experiance has good shot at winning. Also some powers may be good counters to physical bruiser: flight, ranged attacks like fireballs and lightning bolts, telekinesis, illusions, teleportation and bullets.

How does his power know who's fighting him? Can they game this by not fighting him but still finding ways to impede him?

Also overpowered only exists in games. Ask yourself instead: does this power break my story? You can have an arbitrarily powerful character so long as their abilities don't trivialize the conflict.

It kind of works like Spider-Sense; if he's targeted by anything, from bullets to laser blasts to a punch, his power triggers.

It doesn't necessarily strengthen his mind, though, so there's that.

What Prany said about skill experience. A weaker fighter still can beat a powerful one if he knows what he's doing with the skills while the powerful one has no idea and very little time to learn. Also, does your hero revert to the "baseline" after the threat passes, or is it a constant increase? Does it work on, say, behing hit by a naturally-falling boulder, making the hero more powerful than nature itself? What if he's hit by a drunk driver who doesn't even notice he's here, let alone target him? Those three questions could be quite limiting this power.

On another note, if your plot doesn't consist solely of people punching other people to solve their problems, then ability to punch harder is probably not a Game-Breaker power.

edited 30th Dec '15 4:49:00 AM by Kakai

Yeah, what a lot of superhero or supernatural story writers forget is that the most compelling stories regardless of genres have at its core emotional conflict among characters.

So I have these two characters who are vampires. No, they do not sparkle. But they do have a kind of unusual ability.

That is, they can each transform into a dragon about the size of a 2-story building. Yes, fire-breathing, flying, you know the kind of thing. This ability is unique to their family line, which for a lot of reasons now only really consists of them. That is, a woman and her son.

In an effort to make this not OP, I've worked out a few drawbacks. It takes a lot of energy to do it, so after turning back to normal they're pretty much out of action for a while. And will need some blood like right away.

They also have no other abilities that you might expect. They don't turn into bats, fire, fly, whatever. They are very fast and very strong, though.

Oh, and there's also the fact that turning into a building-sized dragon in the middle of a city is massively impractical for many reasons.

Does that balance it out? Or have I gone a bit far, really?

Say you have a guy who can manifest any weapon he imagines and it will appear in his hand, with ammunition as needed. Nothing uniquely special about the weapon itself- all it does is shoot normal bullets, cut, pierce or smash things you hit with it, et cetera. His weapons cannot break the laws of physics. The weapon will vanish when he lets go of the grip. Bearing in mind size, weight and practicality in an actual gun and\or swordfight, what would be the best thing for this guy to use as his main weapon?

Green Lantern powers, huh?

I would imagine being about to carry around weapons that are usually heavy, unwieldy and/or suspicious to carry in the open. He even can get guns on board an airplane (and other secure places) without setting off the metal detectors.

He could have a "typical melee weapon" and a "typical ranged weapon". I doubt he'll use swords though, especially in a modern setting with guns.

edited 3rd Jan '16 12:16:12 AM by hellomoto

Do they possess some traditional vampire weaknesses? Do these weaknesses apply to them when in dragon mode?

Picking main weapon for such versatile power feels counterintuitive. It all comes down to needs of situation.

edited 3rd Jan '16 12:15:32 AM by Prany

I imagine having a main weapon allows him to train in using that weapon, instead of being a jack of all trades, master of none. No point having 1000+ types of guns he can produce with a snap of his fingers, if he can't hit anything with those guns.

He doesn't have to be THAT specialized, either. Probably in the ballpark of "usually uses shortguns and rifles"? I lack gun knowledge, admittingly.

He might even be better off with learning non-combat uses for all those tools he can use...

edited 3rd Jan '16 12:20:42 AM by hellomoto

This is not quite a modern setting but a futuristic one where swords and bigass knives are pretty commonplace. No need to sweat the hows and whys.

And I think I understand, having him keep a small selection of simple, effective weapons is the best course of action here?

Most expected weaknesses apply, though I'll say that it's only direct sunlight that's actually dangerous. Staying in the shade and covering up makes it uncomfortable but manageable.

As for whether or not they apply in dragon mode, I'm not sure. I lean more towards them not applying, I think.

edited 3rd Jan '16 12:26:27 AM by Murataku

I suppose mastering one of these - handgun, rifle, shotgun - at the expense of others would be good, if mastery over jack-of-all-trades is goal. There however are some specialized weapons I would discourage forgoing, like sniper rifles and missile launchers.

Can this power manifest combat utility tools besides weapons themselves. Like flashlights on guns and shield to go along with sword.

He can only manifest one thing at a time, but I suppose utility tools such as drills are possible. I'm thinking of limiting the materials he can make these things out of to simple things- gunpowder, steel, aluminum, rubber, wood, what have you.

Thinking on it, I could have this man utilize a set of functionally different but very similar weapons. Say, a pistol, automatic pistol, shotgun pistol, Sniper Pistol, and so on.

And since I want to balance this power out by not having him be able to create electronics, he'd probably just carry any high-tech attachments he might need on his person.

edited 3rd Jan '16 12:47:51 AM by Inceptiond