So You Want To Make A Superpower
The superpowers and the fact that everyone has one are the main draw and unique aspect of SOTF: Supers compared to SOTF Main and the various Minis. In order to facilitate the most fun roleplaying experience possible, instead of being assigned powers, everyone is allowed to come up with their own powers for their characters and submit them for approval.
Due to the powers being the main tool in the character's arsenal when it comes to fighting and surviving in the context of the death game and the sheer impact they can have on scenes, they will receive by far the most scrutiny during the profile approval process. This is necessary in order to create the best experience possible for everyone, as allowing any power to make it through could potentially create a bad experience for both the person submitting the power and the others having to roleplay around it.
In order to help you make sure that your character's power can make it through the approval process with little to no alterations, this guide has been written to help you know what to expect and how to approach the creation process.
Creation
To begin, you need to come up with a power and a name for it. This power needs to be fairly unique in some capacity, as no two powers that any characters possess will ever be wholly identical. While many powers can be similar to one another, and can often achieve the same ends, the exact specifics of how they work and their various limitations differ from individual to individual. Make sure not to copy any other approved character's or NPC's power wholesale. In order to help make sure that powers remain unique, all approved Player Character and Non-Player Character Gifts will be documented in this repository here.
Additionally, make sure that your character only has one power. While a given power may be flexible and have a variety of different applications, and the approval process can be flexible on what exactly counts as just one power, nobody in the setting ever has more than their own individual Gift. For instance, your character would not be able to have the same abilities as the X-Men's Wolverine, because he has three, unrelated powers - his claws, his regeneration, and his metal skeleton. Any one of those three would be theoretically acceptable on its own, but not together.
If you're having trouble coming up with something and need inspiration, feel free to ask for suggestions in chat or from the gamerunners, or visit
this link to browse random powers on the Superpower Wiki.
While describing your character's powers in their profile, remember to keep the language used direct and informative, as if your character's power was being described by a scientist trying to precisely define how your character's power works. For examples of this in practice, please refer to the example powers in the "Examples" section below.
Finally as the last step in the initial creation process, once you have the idea of a power settled on, come up with a name! Generally, shoot for no more than one to four words, and if possible try to come up with something fitting for your character and their personality. Make sure it's not too jarring, however, as this name will be the name that others will use to refer to your character's Gift in specific!
Balancing
Once you have the general idea on what power you want your character to have, now it's time to figure out how to balance it. To help with this, here are a handful of hard guidelines, expectations, and suggestions that you should keep in mind.
To start, in order to keep power scaling in line, the raw abilities of characters will be capped. Nobody in this setting has world-shaking or even city-busting levels of power. Characters generally are limited to (to use a comic book term) street-level powers, meaning that while they may be exceedingly useful and dangerous under the right circumstances, they are nowhere near the level that they can influence the world at large all by themselves, and they can always be overcome under the right circumstances. As a rule of thumb, nobody's Gift should make them any more dangerous than a well-trained and well-armed person.
This power cap can theoretically be exceeded, but it would require heavy scrutiny through the approval process, quite a lot of justification, and quite a few appropriate limitations and drawbacks built into the character's Gift. As a rule of thumb (that is by no means hard and fast and can be worked around easily), generally no character's power should be capable of achieving tasks that could not be theoretically achieved through more mundane means possible in real life (even with much, much greater difficulty).
On that note, that brings us to the most important part of the approval process, the drawbacks/limitations of your character's power. Every single Gift in the setting (besides the most mundane and useless ones) must necessarily have built-in weaknesses and circumstances under which they are less effective.
The form that these drawbacks and limitations take ultimately varies from character-to-character and power-to-power. However, there are a few general ideas that you can keep in mind when designing the weaknesses of your character's power.
The first, and easiest drawbacks to come up with are the logical consequences to use of the power itself. While characters can have fantastic abilities, ultimately they are still the same fragile humans that we are in real life. This type of drawback can take various forms, like kickback on the user (such as a fire power that burns the user), difficulty making the power work as intended (such as a power to manipulate water requiring fine control the user doesn't have), or logical consequences to the nature of the power (such as the power of tough, rocky skin making it difficult for the user to move).
The second, more complex drawbacks are specific, situational limitations where the power either fails to work or does not work as intended. These drawbacks need to be carefully considered, as failing to do so can lead to a power being potentially far stronger than it otherwise would be under reasonable circumstances. This type of drawback can take just as many varied forms, such as the power only working under specific circumstances (such as a character's powerful voice not working over recording), having very specific means of activation (such as an electricity power requiring the character to make full body contact before it works), or requiring certain materials or tools that the character is not guaranteed to have access to (such as a power to manipulate metal only working on Tungsten).
Third, it is good to keep in mind the raw, numerical limits of your character's power, whatever it may be. For instance if they are super strong, what's the maximum amount of weight they can lift? Or if they can run really fast, precisely how fast can they run? If your character's power has potentially unchecked limits to what it can do, regardless of what it is, always make sure to include some kind of numerical limit, and try to keep these limits reasonable (if superhuman).
Generally, all drawbacks should follow logically from the nature of the power itself, and shouldn't seem to come out of nowhere or be nothing other than a joke. A good way to come up with drawbacks for your character's power is to consider the consequences of someone in real life having and using the power. For instance, the power to fly might be cool and all, until you consider how thin and cold the air gets at high altitudes, and how the effect of wind blowing on your character's skin could easily cause them to develop hypothermia.
Should you, for whatever reason, want to make your character's power be actively detrimental to them for very little upside, you are free to do so. However, should your character's power be so tremendously hazardous to themselves or others that they would not be able to go on the trip and therefore wind up in the game, their power will not be approved.
Finally, keep in mind that regardless of how powerful and special and amazing your character's Gift makes them, they are just as capable of being rolled to die (and more than likely will). Always keep in mind ways that your character could be killed when the time comes, especially if their power is entirely defensive (such as regeneration, tough skin, and the like).
Consequences
Finally, once you have come up with a power that is both unique and balanced, consider the impacts that the power would have on a character's life (and other aspects, such as their appearance). These powers manifest very early in a character's life, and due to the inherent uniqueness of a character's power, often or not they will not be able to immediately understand how their power works and how to use it. As a result, unintended consequences are quite common!
While this might not be an issue for powers that are mundane or very simple, powers that are incredibly dangerous would need more careful consideration. Accidental injuries and deaths due to a child's Gift raging out of control are fairly commonplace in the setting, and that would need to be kept in mind during the submission process. If your character has a powerful, hard-to-control, inconvenient, disfiguring, or dangerous Gift, you may need to address how it impacted their life (and if they accidentally hurt themselves or the people around them) in the character's background.
Should the person reviewing your character's profile not believe that this aspect of your character has been properly addressed, your character may be temporarily denied and additions/changes requested.
Finally, keep in mind that the powers are a part of a character's very being, not dissimilar to how your own arms and eyes are. They are fundamental to their existence, and as such every character has some intuitive understanding of how their Gift works. However, actually utilizing their power in a practical manner will usually take practice (provided it's not an entirely passive effect), just like practicing any skill. Unless they have actively trained their abilities in a way not dissimilar to training their mind, dexterity, or strength, most characters will be inexperienced at using their Gift in a fight.
Examples
Here are some sample powers, filled out to meet the guidelines above. These powers are not permitted to be submitted for approval, as they are reserved for various Non-Player Characters.
Gift: Suggestion
Power Details: Suggestion allows [REDACTED] to influence others to do her bidding. When a person is looking into her eyes and not consciously resisting, she can tell them to perform an action or agree to something, and they will do so without fail. The person will then believe this action or agreement was done of their own free will, and if questioned will react the same way as they would for any other action they undertook or decision they made.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Suggestion fails if the affected person is unable to understand what [REDACTED] is saying, if they are not looking at her eyes when she is giving them an order, or if they are aware of her Gift and consciously resisting being influenced by it. Suggestion additionally only works when a person is face to face with [REDACTED], and will not work through audio and video recordings. Finally, Suggestion cannot be used to alter a person's personality or memories, only influence their decision making.
Gift: Warping
Power Details: Warping allows [REDACTED] to instantly teleport herself and any objects or creatures in direct skin contact with her of her choosing to a nearby location that she can see. This appears as her disappearing from her current location and immediately appearing in her chosen location. Any air that is displaced by [REDACTED] and any objects or creatures that teleport along with her is similarly teleported, in reverse, to her prior location, resulting in a slight puffing noise that is audible to nearby observers.
Limitations and Drawbacks: [REDACTED] cannot teleport to areas that she cannot see. She cannot teleport objects or creatures to other locations without teleporting herself with them. Teleporting is disorienting to [REDACTED]'s senses, and teleporting too many times in rapid succession leaves her feeling dizzy (this also applies to any creatures teleporting with her). There is a mass limit to how much matter [REDACTED] can teleport in addition to herself when she uses her power, being roughly four times her own mass (240 kilograms).
Gift: Deadeye
Power Details: Deadeye allows [REDACTED]'s brain to precisely calculate the trajectory of thrown objects and projectiles fired from weapons, allowing him to accurately hit any target that he aims at and can see 99.6% of the time within effective range of the projectile, and 49.8% of the time outside of effective range of the projectile.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Deadeye fails to function if [REDACTED] cannot clearly see the target he is aiming at. While Deadeye allows [REDACTED] to accurately hit targets with thrown objects, these objects are thrown with no additional force and never exceed a velocity of 65 mph. If [REDACTED] aims at a target outside of the projectile's effective range, chaotic factors such as wind and spin make it so he only hits targets half as often as he would within the projectile's effective range.
Gift: Synthesis
Power Details: Synthesis allows [REDACTED] to produce any organic compounds that he thinks of in his saliva, so long as he understands the compound's chemical structure and his body possesses enough of the compound's constituent elements.
Limitations and Drawbacks: [REDACTED] cannot produce compounds if he hasn't memorized their precise chemical structures and makeup. [REDACTED] cannot produce compounds if his body either does not have enough of the required elements or does not have enough water to produce saliva. Any produced compound takes the compound's constituent elements from [REDACTED]'s body, causing potentially deleterious effects depending on the element used and the quantity of compound produced. [REDACTED] can produce no more than a maximum 0.8 kilograms worth of organic compounds in a day. [REDACTED] is no more immune to the toxicity of compounds he produces than the average person, and can poison himself with compounds he produces.
Gift: Tranquilizing Gas
Power Details: Tranquilizing Gas causes [REDACTED] to excrete an aerosolized tranquilizer in his expelled breath. This aerosolized tranquilizer induces loss of consciousness and potentially death in creatures that inhale sufficient quantities of it. When he so chooses, he can intentionally expel much larger amounts of this tranquilizer than he would normally.
Limitations and Drawbacks: [REDACTED]'s expelled breath always carries the aerosolized tranquilizer regardless of whether or not he wants it to, and any creatures exposed to his unfiltered breath for extended periods can suffer loss of consciousness and even death, forcing [REDACTED] to wear a mask to protect those around him. This aerosolized tranquilizer is visible in the air, especially so when [REDACTED] breathes out significant amounts of it, and has a similar appearance to steam.
Gift: Shrapnel
Power Details: Shrapnel allows [REDACTED] to prime chunks of ferromagnetic metals he touches for detonation, only detonating when [REDACTED] chooses. When [REDACTED] detonates a primed chunk of metal, it instantly fractures into small (<0.5 mm) chunks that then move in random directions at an average velocity of 2500 m/s.
Limitations and Drawbacks: [REDACTED] cannot detonate chunks of metal that he has previously primed if he does not at least know their approximate location relative to himself. Non-ferromagnetic metals are unaffected by Shrapnel, and [REDACTED] cannot prime or detonate them. [REDACTED]'s body is no more resistant to the chunks of metal accelerated through the use of his Gift than the average person. [REDACTED] can only have a maximum of 48.5 kg worth of metal primed at any given time, and Shrapnel fails if he tries to prime more metal beyond this limit.
Gift: Interfacing
Power Details: Interfacing allows [REDACTED] to manipulate the operations and calculations of nearby (<2.3 meters) computers and computational systems, flipping bits and altering data as she so chooses.
Limitations and Drawbacks: In order to utilize her Gift in any other way besides simply crashing nearby computers and corrupting their data, [REDACTED] has to have an extensive understanding of Computer Science and Engineering alongside the inner workings of any operating systems and programs being run by computers she wishes to use her Gift on. If [REDACTED] attempts to utilize Interfacing to manipulate a computer program that she is unfamiliar with or a computer running an operating system that she is unfamiliar with, her efforts will nearly always fail and result in the program or computer abruptly crashing.
Gift: Fixer
Power Details: Fixer allows [REDACTED] to induce rapid regeneration in creatures that he touches and in himself, causing them to quickly heal from injuries and recover from illness.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Fixer cannot create or destroy matter, and if a creature physically does not have enough required matter within their bodies to regenerate from their injuries or recover from their illness, Fixer cannot heal them. Fixer cannot be used to induce cell division in cells that have died. Any exposure to Fixer doubles the risk of a creature developing cancer at some point in its natural lifespan, and repeated exposure to Fixer quintuples the risk of a creature developing cancer at some point in its natural lifespan.
Gift: Multi-Eye
Power Details: Multi-Eye causes [REDACTED] to have thirty-two additional eyes of varying sizes scattered across various parts of her skull. These eyes can all move and focus on different objects independently from one another (similarly to a chameleon's eyes), and [REDACTED]'s brain is capable of processing the information from all of her eyes simultaneously without any additional strain.
Limitations and Drawbacks: The additional eyes are just as sensitive as normal human eyes, and cause [REDACTED] significant pain when poked or struck. Due to the placement of [REDACTED]'s additional eyes around her skull, she has deformed ear canals, sinuses, and jaw muscles, and thus has impaired hearing, smell, and ability to eat. The additional eyes have deformed [REDACTED]'s face and skull significantly, generally provoking reactions of revulsion and horror in onlookers when they see her. [REDACTED]'s additional eyes have no special properties compared to average human eyes beyond their quantity and ability to move and focus independently from each other.
Gift: Telekinetic Grasp
Power Details: Telekinetic Grasp allows [REDACTED] to move objects he can see as if he were physically pulling, pushing, or holding them with his hands. Telekinetic Grasp requires no movement from [REDACTED], and can affect any number of objects at once, so long as [REDACTED] can see them.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Telekinetic Grasp cannot affect objects that [REDACTED] cannot see. Telekinetic Grasp cannot be used to produce more force on a given object than [REDACTED] is capable of physically producing with his body. Telekinetic Grasp uses up energy from [REDACTED]'s body as if he were physically pushing, pulling, or holding the object he is affecting with his Gift.
Gift: Foresight
Power Details: Foresight allows [REDACTED] to simultaneously experience all possible futures for himself up to five seconds from the present moment whenever he so chooses, and then act accordingly with this information.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Foresight puts immense strain on [REDACTED]'s nervous system when he chooses to use it, and causes his brain to use several times as much energy as he would normally use. If [REDACTED] uses his Gift for more than 464 seconds in a 24 hour period, he suffers from symptoms similar to those of a concussion, and this worsens with further use, with him outright losing consciousness should he ever use it for more than 649 seconds in a 24 hour period.
