Character Superpower Workshop

@Inceptiond

I've had a similar idea myself for a character who could conjure any given weapon. Though in my case I explicitly made it melee only as, due to the nature of the setting's powers, there was a limited range that could be maintained and if her weapon got too far from her it would vanish. So ranged weapons were out unless she had her own ammo with her.

Inspired in part by the Naginatas Are Feminine trope, I made the character, Casey, prefer spears or polearms as her preferred weapon, though her fighting style revolved around being able to change weapons on the fly, even mid-swing, as a kind of Confusion Fu.

Of course, as was mentioned, having a "main" weapon for a character whose ability is to use any weapon is a bit contradictory. But if there's a weapon your character generally prefers most, and uses others as the situation arises, then I think it may be a matter of working out which weapon is most "in-character" for your person.

I had an idea for an shonen anime inspired series that's based around real world mythologies and the characters getting the powers of various gods. I was thinking about power creep and having a sense of tension in the series since the characters begin at a "Sneeze and level a city block" level of power.

So I had this concept where Earth and the dimension it resides in is basically one giant power limiter the gods created so that they didn't accidentally destroy their fragile creations. So for example, Odin in Asgard is all powerful and nothing can touch him, Odin on Mount Olympus is still powerful but can be beaten by Zeus one on one. Odin comes to Earth or Midgard as he likes to call it and he's dropped to planet buster which is still plenty strong.

In this fashion can I have my character's powers fluctuate? Where on Earth they tear up cities but in dimensions of gods and magic their power grows to compensate and they can take on the gods themselves? Does it make sense? I assume we could even play around with it and pull a strong monster to Earth where it becomes weaker and more manageable.

edited 3rd Jan '16 1:37:26 PM by SmokingBun

One or two twists in a story is fine, Shyamlan-esque even. But please don't turn the poor thing into a Twizzler!

Yeah, seems like a good idea to me. You could include dimensions where powers disappear entirely, and use them in parts of the plot where you see fit.

"Doki Doki Lit. Club" is a happy game where nothing bad happens. seriously tho? not for the faint of heart.

Sounds like you can have a villain who grows godly strong even on earth by abusing the restrictions.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

That would make for a very interesting universe (multiverse?), since the characters can actually use and abuse the mechanics of them to get an advantage over their opponents.

...eheh

How would you assign superpowers based on Tarot Cards? Like what superpowers would you associate based on Tarot Cards?

I'd advertise you this link - it was made for 40K fandom, but it does a good job of introducing all Major Arcana meanings in a way that should give you something to work with (I... think. Correct me, someone, if I'm wrong). For my ideas:

• The Magus/Magician - either Awesomeness by Analysis or Seer of some sort.
• The High Priestess - if the Magus is Seer, the High Priestess has Awesomeness by Analysis and vice versa.
• The Empress - The Social Expert, Charm Person or someone with any kind of art-based powers.
• The Emperor - something heavily combat-oriented.
• The Lovers - Super-Speed
• Justice - Technopath or Playful Hacker
• Strength - Healing Hands or Barrier Warrior
• The Hanged Man - Nigh-Invulnerable or immortality
• Death - Telepathy, The Empath, Talking in Your Dreams
• Temperance - Thinking Up Portals
• The Tower - Super-Strength
• The Moon - Casting a Shadow or Power of the Void
• The Sun - Playing with Fire maybe?
• The World - Healing Hands or medium
• The Fool - Reality Warper

edited 25th Jan '16 7:20:21 AM by Kakai

Rejoice!

A list of the powers assorted so far:

• The Fool- Discard and Draw mixed with All Your Powers Combined, capable of using the Arcana's powers described below, but one at a time. Really it's any magic spell in existence that they can use, at the Fool's full potential
• The Magician- All Elemental Powers
• The High Priestess- Awesomeness by Analysis
• The Empress- Imagination Based Superpower
• The Emperor- Mind Control taken Up To Eleven, including inanimate objects
• The Hierophant- Summon Magic
• The Lovers- ???
• The Chariot- Bare Fisted Monk
• Strength- Healing Hands
• The Hermit- ???
• The Wheel of Fortune- Winds of Destiny, Change!
• Justice- ???
• The Hanged Man- Immortality/Healing Factor
• Death- Anti Magic
• Temperance- Yin-Yang Bomb
• The Devil- ???
• The Tower- ???
• The Star- ???
• The Moon- Master of Illusion/ Mind Rape/ Attack Reflector
• The Sun- ???
• Judgment- ???
• The World- All Your Powers Combined

That's all I have for now.

edited 25th Jan '16 2:54:16 PM by SkyHavenPath13

I may be thinking too literally, but Star could be Gravity Master powers. Justice could be something that's stronger or weaker based on how its wielder views his opponent (or based on how guilty they actually are). But that may not work if you're going for something more consistent or reliable.

For my part, I'm currently looking into a way to spice up a Kung-Fu Wizard some. One of the tricky factors is the reason my character, Lei (as in melee) is a Kung-Fu Wizard in the first place, which enforces Weak, but Skilled on her. If it helps, the whole thing's inspired by this scene from the series One Piece.

Long story short: Lei starts out your typical Squishy Wizard, makes a Magically-Binding Contract in exchange for a power up and joining the group fighting the Big Bads, but sides with the protagonist in such a way as to break her oath, robbing her of the lion's share of her magic. In terms of raw power, she's rendered about as strong as a magically inclined, untrained child and what magic she does have can't be used very far from her body before it dissipates, giving her zero magical range. To this end, she takes up hand-to-hand combat to best utilize what power she still has.

A few basic ideas I had, going by Elemental Powers:

Earth and Fire enhanced attacks to either make her kicks/punches/etc hit harder or cause burns. Water magic being used to make her body slick/slippery or for mid-battle healing. Pockets of air or wind immediately by parts of her body to push her around in such a way as to mimic martial arts moves she hasn't conditioned herself to do on her own yet. Later maybe adding electricity/lightning to that repertoire. Less on the elemental side, perhaps things like enhancing her eyes or hearing to better anticipate something coming to her or give herself Bullet Time vision.

Essentially I'm trying to think of ways a very small amount of magic can be used to enhance physical combat and/or make up for the fact that Lei is still a beginner martial artist.

Remembering the Golden Sun series, which in the first game differentiates between magic (Psynergy) and Ki Attacks, I'd also thought of having her mix her magic with a more physical aspect of power. That's still in the early stages of consideration though.

edited 12th Feb '16 10:18:04 PM by sgamer82

I don't suppose cheating is an option?

I'm joking, but only a little bit. If she started out with a focus on magic, then I'd think that pretty much all of her martial arts moves — and winning even a single fight — would be done with cheating. Breaking the rules and such, instead of fighting fair or relying on years of training. Obviously you've already thought of that, but if I was in a situation where I had to go hand-to-hand? I'd give myself every advantage under the sun.

To that end? If you haven't been following Street Fighter V — available in stores February 16th! — then that might be a surprisingly good place to start looking for inspiration. One of the new mechanics is that the fighters (most of them, at least) can power up mid-battle and alter the properties of their attacks. The effect varies, but off the top of my head? There's one guy that surrounds himself in poison, another guy who turns red and can shrug off most attacks without flinching, and a third guy who basically goes into an evil Super Mode. So if you're looking for ways to have Lei upgrade her arsenal, then maybe she could internalize the properties of magic and/or the elements to boost her stats. Abstractions, instead of concrete materialization. That'd certainly help her deal with the range issue; imagine if she could drop her body temperature so that her throws and grapples could inflict frostbite. Or if she could increase her density in an instant to ward off incoming attacks. Or if she gave her blows the stunning power of a Taser. Or, failing that, she could just use the wind to spin around a whole bunch. Works for Zangief.

Alternatively, you could say nuts to all of that and have her harness magic in its purest form. This arguably feeds into the Ki Attacks you mentioned earlier, but speaking personally? I've been toying around with a guy whose key ability is Playing with Fire combined with Bare-Fisted Monk. He can toss flames around as needed (and generate waves/bursts of heat), but he can also directly use the energy that makes his power possible. So he can punch, he can punch with fire, and he can punch strictly with that energy — stocking it in his arm, then releasing it in one explosive blast. It boosts the punch's damage, but more importantly? It sends that energy straight into his enemy, which boosts the damage even more and sends a stunning shock through their system. (And/or blows them back; I haven't decided yet.) Admittedly that's something he gained from extensive training, he's only just learned how to use it, and it takes a lot more energy/focus than just shooting fire from his hands. So yeah, it's not always practical. Or safe.

But with Lei? I'd bet you could take it even further. She's got magical aptitude, but I'm guessing not everyone she faces does. If that's the case, then she can take advantage of it; by making close physical contact, she could shoot her magical energy directly into someone who wouldn't even begin to know how to deal. Shoot fire magic into a person, and he'll heat up. Shoot earth magic, and he'll slow to a crawl (either from excess weight, or being crippled by all sorts of nasty plant life). Shoot water into him, and he'll be the one that gets slippery — which means he'll constantly fall over, or his body will go completely and uncontrollably limp for a short while. Granted some of those options (and others) are more gruesome than others, but hey. No doubt you'll be able to find something that suits your character and your story.

My Wattpad — A haven for delightful degeneracy

Thanks for the suggestions, Voltech44. To be honest I hadn't seriously considered fighting dirty before now; mostly because I have a protagonist in another setting that absolutely thrives on it so I would've made a point of avoiding the overlap (Seriously, he's the kind of guy who'd Groin Attack a female opponent primarily on the logic they'd never expect it).

Still, it'd be a simple matter for Lei to pick up the idea. I have her characterized as the type who best learns through doing and experimentation, so an early idea for her once she had the idea of using hand to hand combat would be actually getting involved in street brawls, with mixed results and plenty of chewing out by her companions. She could definitely see how Combat Pragmatism would work for her while she fine tunes her skillset.

Internalizing magic into herself is definitely one I've thought about and should develop more, since another aspect of Lei's abilities is her Weak, but Skilled situation puts her in a unique position amongst wizards. No normal wizard would ever even consider internalizing magical power in themselves as suggested here because the it'd be the equivalent of trying to put a gallon of milk into a thimble. Along with the slippery-when-wet idea, your post also had me thinking suddenly increasing density/weight when grappled could prove a nasty surprise for someone holding her. I had something similar to the frostbite idea in mind, since the scene that inspired Lei's concept (see youtube link in first post) had something very similar, though petrification is reserved for someone else. Doing it to others like that on more than a surface level may be trickier to do. But whether I use it or not I can definitely see Lei experimenting with it to see what would work.

Mind if I sneak one in?

I have a supervillain protagonist, Pyrexia, who has the ability to manipulate heat, and I want to make sure it's not Misapplied Phlebotinum.

Here's what I have so fat:

• Can sense heat
• Can deflect heat away from herself, making her immune to fire and the heat, if not the force, of an explosion. Likewise, can draw heat from the area to stop herself from freezing: human air conditioner.
• Can shoot out beams of heat, or make fields of heat that burn anything within them. This included around her own body.
• Can make objects and people freezing cold: Note that in this case Snow Means Cold does not apply.
• Can effectively make a barehanded Hot Blade
• Can disable any machinery that needs cooling by stopping it from releasing heat: alternately she can improve their heat efficiency by ducting heat out of it.
• Can trigger hypo/hyperthermia in people over an extend period.
• At the absolute maximum, she may be able to force enough heat away from the sky to start a thunderstorm, but only if it was humid enough for the storm to occur anyway.

Did I miss anything?

Also, the Limits so far

• Limited by the amount of heat in an area, limited maximum area she can affect/draw from. She only moves heat: she doesn't generate any faster than a normal human.
• Excessive use of powers will make area abnormally cold, revealing her presence and/or causing other chillu problems.
• Power limited by range: highest heat would be a "blowtorch" effect within about of inch or so from her hand.
• You can feel it when her powers are about to hit you, averting Invisible Means Undodgeable

edited 19th Feb '16 2:56:16 AM by doorhandle

Generally only a few things:

• It's probably obvious that she can set flammable objects on fire by transfering heat into them (heat+air+fuel = fire), and her heat rays let her do this from distance.
• She can boil liquids, which has both some Mundane Utility and can be a pretty effective method to combat enemies who'd like to fight her in or with water.
  • Remember human body is 80% water. That's some Nightmare Fuel material right there.
• I understand she's not powerful enough to melt metal (although the fact that she can kick off a thunderstorm would imply quite some power), but she's probably powerful enough to be able to make it more plastic and bend it.
• Some metals fall apart in cold temperatures.
• Some substances, such as vinyl or even re-used cooking oil, start to let out really dangerous fumes when too much heat is applied to them, so that's something she has to look out for if using her powers in closed environments.

edited 19th Feb '16 6:19:22 AM by Kakai

Rejoice!

I'm partial to the idea of Heart Is an Awesome Power. For example, I came up with an assasin for the villain in the 1930s Prohibition Era. He's an alchemist who can control only an ounce of iron at a time. The human body has seven grams of iron. Do the math

Nice. I'd be surprised if that killed a person instantly though- wouldn't they have a sort while before the malntuciton killed them.

Thank you! And she can melt metal, but she would require sustained period of exertion to build up enough heat to do it to anything significant, let alone over a long distance. The blowtorch thing is an exception, but that's more "cutting" than "melting" per see, like a normal blowtorch.

You're welcome, but keep in mind that to make some metals elastic, there's not all that much heat necessary - on-land power lines stretch quite a lot in typical summer heat, and shrink in typical winter cold as well, and it's hardly Syberia where I live. I think that if, for example, your character was tied up with metal wire (following the logic that she can burn through anything weaker), she could heat the metal until it loosens enough for the knot to unravel.

Rejoice!

I'm reviving this thread.

I need to find a limitation to a guy that copies other people's power while inadvertently becoming just like them in appearance and personality.

Questions that immediately come to mind:

How much control does he have over that person's power while transformed? Also how much in control of his own actions is he when influenced by the other person's personality?

One possible limitation could be control of one at the cost of the other. Keep his own mind or control his powers more, but not both.

Edited by sgamer82 on Jul 21st 2018 at 10:20:50 AM

Perhaps have some kind of time limit? Stay copied for too long and risk becoming a clone of the copied person?

I've been thinking a lot about creating a character with eye lasers for either the Incredibles or Big Hero 6. For the former, it's a power he's born with, and in the later it would be from technology, and I'm wondering what sort of differences could come from each source.

Basically, the guy can beams from his eyes, and not just heat rays, but most of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is partially inspired by the idea that Superman's heat vision and X-ray vision are essentially the same power used at different settings. So, my guy could project ultraviolet, infrared, x-ray, and bright visible light from his eyes (like flashlight eyes), as well as possibly something more intense like gamma rays. Just to be clear, these aren't plasma bolts, just straight laser beams.

Now, for the guy using tech to do this, I had the idea that he was using either robot eyes or a special visor ala Cyclops, and wondered if over exposure would end up giving him some kind of brain cancer. Not sure about implementing that though. Also wondered if his lasers could allow him to interact with technology in more inventive ways, like data transmission, but maybe only if he were some kind of cyborg.

For the guy who was born with the powers, should his power source come from sunlight and ambient light, from his own metabolism, or both? If he exerts himself, he needs to recharge either way, but would it exhaust him?

For either, what are some logical weaknesses? Is this an interesting take on a usually one-note power?

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder...

I'm working on a character who can generate and control antimatter. He already has Superman level physicals, a prehensile tail and is a One-Man Army (He's the Big Bad and Final Boss), but he's also seen as a planet smashing god by his followers and a Space Satanic Archetype by his enemies.

How can I keep him utterly ridiculous but not completely unbeatable?

Realistically, having the eyes themselves emit light would blind him while he's using it, because it'd drown out all other light coming in (not to mention the possibility of permanent damage). You could get around this by having the light come from somewhere else, like a device or organ (depending on power source) near his eyes. But if you're not going for realism, you could just chalk it up to Required Secondary Powers. Aside from that, though, "same power at different settings" is an interesting way to look at it.

Perhaps defeating him wouldn't be a matter of overpowering him, but outsmarting him. Maybe a foe could exploit his flaws, distract him while going for a weak point, or trick him into basically destroying himself, for example. Get creative with it, and have your protagonist(s) do the same.

---

There's a character in my story with (rather Lovecraftian) shapeshifting powers, and I was considering having his alternate form's Bizarre Alien Senses carry over into his human form by giving him the ability to see ultraviolet light, but not much. Like, just enough that he might occasionally notice things the other characters don't, but he wouldn't necessarily know why. Question is, is it plausible to have a low sensitivity to UV light, or is it a "you either see it or you don't" kind of thing?

I also have the same question. My character is a Half-Human Hybrid who has biological manipulation abilities, accelerated regeneration, organic constructs, semi-eldritch physiology, shapeshifting and cloning. And she's the good guy of the story.

The problem is, how do I utilize her abilities to make her terrifying and interesting without making her invincible and overpowered. Additionally, I'm still pondering on the other applications of her abilities.

I need to think up of unorthodox applications of speed manipulation, instead of simply Super-Speed. Any suggestions?

First two ideas coming to mind: Super speedy dexterity, basically super fast sleight of hand, and super speed perception, going so fast everything else appears slow (like Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past

Edited by sgamer82 on Jan 11th 2019 at 8:00:57 AM

I got an idea of a pair of twin sister knights, older sister can turn into a shield, younger sister can turn into a sword, but not both at the same time.

They fight by constantly changing form to help each other, doesn't seem practical though.

Anyone got any ideas?

Edited by Andermann on Jan 13th 2019 at 4:49:16 AM

I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.