1. NightRogue

    NightRogue New Member

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    eI need some help coming up with powers for characters in my story.

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by NightRogue, Feb 12, 2019.

    I'm writing a story and need help giving powers for two characters. The others can use fireballs, hidden weapons and make energy fist, so I'm looking for low-level/moderate powers around that which are offensive. I was wondering, anyone have any good suggestions? Here are there personalities:

    B: I figured he could fill the role of being like the 'nerdy' guy, say has an interest in the science fields in that regard and is voice of reason or tries to be. Has a quirky personality

    Y: I see him as the most laid back, more like go with a flow kind of guy, even more than R. He has a 'Brilliant but lazy' demeanor to him at times, like he comes across as easygoing but has a lot of hidden depth and surprising talents(i.e knows another language or mythological references)

    it's an adventure story so they aren't super heroes or anything.
     
  2. Azuresun

    Azuresun Senior Member

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    It's hard to say for sure without knowing a bit more about the setting, or the sorts of challenges or enemies that the characters will be expected to use their powers to deal with. One approach to be to give them powers that are relatively weak in a straight fight, but they can apply creativity to them to use them in unpredictable ways. It makes fights more than "whose power level is highest" and gives you more scope for keeping the fight scenes fresh.
     
    DK3654 and Iain Aschendale like this.
  3. NightRogue

    NightRogue New Member

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    Well, I already gave examples of fireballs, hidden weapons and energy gloves as an idea
     
  4. J. J. Wilding

    J. J. Wilding Member

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    The first thing that springs to mind is using kinetic energy, perhaps through an open palm strike in the air that knocks enemies back at a considerable speed. Could also be used to solve puzzles if their adventure takes them into such settings (tombs, labyrinths, etc...)

    Beyond that, because they aren't necessarily superheroes, it's kind of difficult to imagine what powers they might have beyond the standard fire, lightning, kinetic, pyschic and energy based attacks. If I were you friend, I would have my nerdy character come up with some kind of device that can take energy out of the air and redistribute it in one of three energies; kinetic (or force), fire (check Dark Souls for inspiration for fire based attacks!) and electric (the power fist would fit in here!). As for hidden weapon... perhaps some kind of birthrite of the main characters?

    It's tricky to visualise but I would totally recommend a system with which these things can exist, either magic, mutation, birthrite or technology as in my example. Hope this helps, happy writing friend!
     
  5. Maggie May

    Maggie May Active Member

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    Possible the opposite of their description, the Nerdy guy becomes like the Hulk. The laid back guy is like the Tasmanian Devil (cartoon)!
     
  6. NightRogue

    NightRogue New Member

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    Hi, sorry for the late response. Its sound kinds of cool your idea. I have 4 powers: fireballs, hidden weapons, power fist and the power to change type of blast from ones hands(standard, gravity for example)

    Is kinetic energy too similar to the last one?
     
  7. NightRogue

    NightRogue New Member

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    Hi, sorry for the late response. Its sound kinds of cool your idea. I have 4 powers: fireballs, hidden weapons, power fist and the power to change type of blast from ones hands(standard, gravity for example)

    Is kinetic energy too similar to the last one?
     
  8. J. J. Wilding

    J. J. Wilding Member

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    It might be, yes. Unless you come up with some sensible way to enable these powers though, they'll all come off a little ridiculous. Like I said in my original post, you need some kind of technology or magic that enables these powers, then that system will naturally open up lots of avenues to go down. Technology can communicate with other technology for example, while magic would be able to turn one kind of energy into another by way of spoken spell. I like the idea of your characters being born to a particular community whose birthrite is the harnessing of flame... hidden weapon through training might explain that talent and other two sound very technological. But anyway, I'm riffing, hope these ideas help!
     
  9. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    Mind-reading, mind-manipulation, 6th sense, animal/weather control
     
  10. LastMindToSanity

    LastMindToSanity Contributor Contributor

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    How about the laid back guy can force things/people to slow down, like a weak version of time dilation?

    The nerdy guy could see a couple of seconds into the future (Not sure where I saw this one before, but it'd be a cool ability to have.)
     
  11. Infel

    Infel Contributor Contributor

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    One of the things I guiltlessly do when I need to know what kind of low-level powers a character I'm creating might have is check out what Cantrips and 1st level spells exist in D&D. I love writing, and I obsess over magic systems, but there are people on this beautiful earth who have devoted years of their lives to coming up with mathematically balanced spells and abilities for wizards of all levels. I'd be foolish not to peruse. If you need to know what 'type' of powers, or what sort of magic qualifies as 'low' or 'medium' levels, you could do a lot worse than giving those spell lists a gander!

    Here's one for Wizards: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/spell-lists-and-domains/spell-lists-sorcerer-and-wizard

    My favorites are Mage Hand and Prestidigitation!
     

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