Comments on: How creative do your superpowers need to be?

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:29:32 +0000

"And if he can control how much oxygen is in a place then all he has to do is suffocate the attacker/victim." Possibly, but I got the impression that his ability to control the air composition might not be that precise. For example, maybe he couldn't suffocate someone in the room without suffocating everybody else (including himself) because he can't control just one person's air supply at a time.
The invisibility sounds believable. The flight, maybe less so. Is the flight really important to the plot? If not, one related ability that might be more believable would be the ability to safely fall great distances. He could do that by dramatically increasing his air resistance* or by thickening out the air enough so that the impact of him hitting the ground was drawn out as long as possible. (It hurts less to fall onto a bed or trampoline than concrete because the springier surfaces distribute the force over a greater period of time). Levitation would also be believable, I think.
...
If this is for a comic book, one concern I'd have if this were the main protagonist is that these powers don't seem to lend themselves well to interesting visuals. (If it's a novel with a heavy action component, the powers would probably not make for the most epic action sequences, but you could write around that pretty easily).

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*I suspect that 99%+ of readers won't catch the friction problem here. If you think physic-minded readers are a major portion of your audience, you could briefly explain how he keeps the heat from melting him.

By: Nicholas Case

Nicholas Case — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:21:22 +0000

Well it is too vague. And if he can control how much oxygen is in a place then all he has to do is suffocate the attacker/victim. Those sub powers are a bit too much.

By: haha... no.

haha... no. — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:05:35 +0000

i’m still on the drawing board for my book at the moment, but my main character has the ability to control the air around him (eg. in a small room). I know that sounds rather vague as its main description but there are various sub powers that come as part of it which manifest sporadically throughout the book a) can influence air temperature; b) air composition (eg. amount of oxygen etc.); c) manipulate refraction of light around him to become invisible (sounds kind of corny but based on scientific theories) d) fly by creating air currents… just wondering if it’s kind of overkill? :S haha

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:54:43 +0000

It’s reminiscent of Jinx’s abilities in the Teen Titans Animated Series, but I don’t think the idea is unoriginal. I’m still not exactly sure of her capabilities but the ability sounds doable.

By: xmarks

xmarks — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 06:28:35 +0000

I got an idea for a new power. Psionic disruption, gives the power to cause disturbances in matter including, making things freeze or heat to extreme temperatures. It also allows the user to rearrange atomic particles. Not sure about it tell me what you guys think.

By: Wings

Wings — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:12:27 +0000

At the beginning, both of them main characters are nearly omnipotent- but bear in mind that they live in a world inhabited by people with that are equal to theirs – and in some cases, more powerful than theirs (A Greek goddess, the personification of vengeance, and a demonic Evil Counterpart come to mind). Recently, both have been brought down to normal, with one’s powers being greatly diminished and the other one only retaining Batman superpowers (Money, resources and a faithful butler).

- Wings

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:23:05 +0000

If reality warping is something like “My character can do anything he wants to do,” I think it would be a problem. It’ll probably feel like the author is just making up stuff as he/she goes along (i.e. why a character is able to get past some situations but not others). If readers know what the limits are, it might not be. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to challenge the character without readers wondering “Umm, he can bend reality! Why can’t he get himself out of that one?”

By: Wings

Wings — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:51:09 +0000

I participated in a collaboration in which the main characters were Reality Warper gods. However, they existed in a universe where almost everyone had equal or greater power than them. Would they still be considered overpowered?

- Wings

By: TheNewHero

TheNewHero — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:42:45 +0000

Yo guys, as a possible strategy for those of us who like to come up with unique powers (like Ragged), how about using simple logic. Identify a problem, fix it. All you need is a basic knowledge fo scientific principles I say. e.g No fire underwater? YOu could use the lame excuse about how your character is SO powerful, or you could look at fire and what it’s all about. It’s energy, essentially. And if you could continue that energy… Okay, that’s not really my idea. (http://www.superheronation.com/ – look for energy continuation or something) but it works! Your ketchup/tomato sauce is too slow? Have a hero that can manipulate the viscosity of liquids (Then put some limit like what he is in physical contact with) and viola! He could do stuff like run on water, make his saliva sticky, swim faster than most, make water thick etc.

And how would you explain that in 2 sentences? “I can manipulate viscosity. Basically, my ketchup.tomato sauce is never runny – so long as I can touch it.”

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:55:11 +0000

I used to (and still do) suffer from the problem in #2. I’m always trying to come with inventive, original powers. I doubt it’s something I’ll train myself out of, though. I have a lot of fun coming up with unique powers. Although, water manipulation is a bit generic for Showtime, but I feel it’s very malleable to my creativity. Also, I added that he could control its properties for a little extra kick. I think a writer’s creativity is also a very important factor in writing powers. A good writer can take a generic power and use it interestingly.

By: Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:10:04 +0000

In my ongoing…thing, I do use some standard powersets, but I also have some I think are unique:

The main character can manipulate momentum and inertia (if something is already moving he can change it’s direction, speed it up, stop it, etc.) of inanimate objects that aren’t moving too fast and aren’t too heavy. Sort of a limited telekinesis for mobile objects.

Other powers are:
Musclemass manipulation. The character can move his muscles around his body so if he wants to run faster he’ll make his legs more muscular, if he wants to hit harder he’ll increase his arm strength, etc. He can only work with what he has, so he can’t spontaneously create muscles.

Unlimited metabolizing of alcohol. Essentially the guy can drink all he wants and never gets drunk or impaired. He’s used as a sort of spy; he’ll infiltrate an organization, go partying with the people, and get them drunk to try and get information out of them.

And a few others.

By: Gurion Omega

Gurion Omega — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:33:40 +0000

Don’t forget this: readers are often even MORE thrown into the story if the see character struggle; that is, they’ll keep thinking: “Cool, but I wonder what’ll happen if the character has to fight someone who is good at there weakness?” Make sure the weaknesses balance out the strengths. One shining example is Ender’s Game . Ender was a born leader. But Bonzo cornered him alone in the bathroom. Yes, Ender kicked his jass, but the danger was, NOBODY ELSE WAS WITH HIM! Or Bean, a loner, buuuuuuuttt he manages to get five other people to witness Achilles’s confession.

By: Lighting Man

Lighting Man — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:44:14 +0000

I think it might be a short-story or small graphic novel from his description, not an ongoing series. I think there is a market for it, and without achieving months, years, or even dozens of pages of continuity that is constantly being remolded and needing to be kept in mind, most of the common concerns don’t really apply, as plenty of Philip K. Dick-ian type stories of altered histories, unreliable narrators and drug addicts have worked, even from first time writers.

By: Contra Glove

Contra Glove — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:36:15 +0000

@ Brontes

I dunno…it still seems like it would be confusing.

By: Brontes

Brontes — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:33:59 +0000

My character is able to produce a virtual reality based upon his perception of time. The reality he creates is not concrete, but is a maleable substance. This is true only after his power is activated. It takes a independent course which can be altered.By each sentient individual
based upon their own perception of the past and their immediate time. He is vulnerable and dies because of the side-effect of another character’s power. When this happens reality is restored to its original state.