Conditional Superpower

[Deleted member 53101]

I've read a similar thread with this in the writing prompts. But I'm still posting this thread here because I got stuck with my story and needed some tips.

So here's the rule. Basically, characters in my story have a superpower that could be used after fulfilling certain conditions. Or maybe, they have a limitation upon which the superpower would work.

For example, MC's adoptive sisters. The elder sister has a superpower that can generate wind whenever she jumps/hops from the ground, how strong the wind generated depending on the time needed for her to reach the maximum height. Yeah, I kinda scribble it carelessly. And the condition is too nonsensical and illogical. And then the little sister, she has a conditional superpower that only works at certain times, that is at midnight until dawn. I call it a nocturnal condition.

Another example is a woman who can see a system when wearing special eyeglasses. There's this man who has invisibility super-condition but he must hold his breath to activate the power. And there's also a girl who can be inhumanely strong but in return, she lost all sense of direction. I only write this much, and now ..., I'm kinda stuck about what is the condition of their superpower or anything like that.

And that spell disaster ..., the entire concept of the world that I write is based on that, the super-condition. And if I can't think of a condition, then the fighting scene and the conflict will be a complete mess. I don't want that.

Now, there are a lot of characters that I already envisioned their superpower but haven't thought about the conditions.

Such as:
1. Magic String - can conjure string and rope made of magic.
2. Color Ball - can conjure/cast colored balls which has a debuff effect upon contact.
3. Clay Metal - can turn solid metal to be moldable just like a clay.
4. Microscopic Eye - can zoom as tiny as if using a microscope.
5. Aura Perception - can see the aura of a person. Don't know what that is, but the character with this superpower used the power to detect lies.
6. Telekinetic Ability - your classic telekinesis.
7. Electric Discharge - kinda like Mare from Red Queen. I still don't know what condition to write for this type of superpower. Maybe he needs to eat more or something, there's also some electrical current in the human cells after all.
8. Telepathic Communication - yeah, there's no need to explain this. My thought is that the condition of activation of this super is to have her mouth shut and don't talk for some time, but that's just too cheap as a condition.
9. Thought Hearing - your favorite, better known as Mind Reading.
10. Ability Steal/Plunder/Cut/Devour - an ability that let you grab other superpower ability.
11. Material Transmutation - fantasy transmutation of an alchemist, like FMA.
12. Spatial Distort / Spatial Crack, Space Gate - all of that fancy teleportation and stuff.
13. Time Revert/Travel/Tunnel - all of that game-breaking time traveling.
14. Elemental Power - I almost forget this, basically it's like how the elder sister that can generate wind ..., or the supers with the ability of Electrical Discharge. But it's for other elements, of the classic four elements or five elements system.

..., and many other conceptual superpowers that's still in my mind.

Give it some thought and please leave a reply, As I really need some tips on how to establish a condition that is relatable and not just randomly thrown like invisibility by holding breath.

 

[Vaxel00]

Make the limit based on their physiology.

For example, a character has teleport but not omniscience so he is limited to where he can see.

A character has telepathy, but can't turn it off at will and has to constantly listen to white noise to focus their thoughts or else they would go insane.

A character has super strength, but his muscles are so dense that his weight is multiplied, so he has a phobia of large bodies of water since he cannot swim and will sink like a rock.

 

[CheertheDead]

/ Become invulnerable if he/she holds their breath.
/ any body parts that are cut off from the character turns into a minion with 3 days lifespan. Depend on how big the body part, the minion are exponentially stronger.
/ character can see a future vision when they sleep
/ character gain immense strength for 24h but they have to become a fish after that for 24h

 

[Kilolo]

why it have to be conditional though?

 

[Szaku]

i think i see the problem here..

So here's the rule. Basically, characters in my story have a superpower that could be used after fulfilling certain conditions. Or maybe, they have a limitation upon which the superpower would work.

this is wrong to begin with. this isnt the "rule" your entire premise is the catch or a gimmick.. you've made your gimmick into your standard and therefore everything ends up being random because its just thrown together "cuz it has to be"

if everything needs to be conditional, then those conditions need to be based on something, and whatever that something is, becomes "the rule". you don't have any rule or standard here, you just have a bunch of effects with no cause.

example: like the person just above me asked "why does everything have to be conditional?" within the story logic. when you can answer that question, it should become exceptionally easy to come up with conditions for each power, because it's no longer a gimmick but a necessity.

 

[Deleted member 53101]

why it have to be conditional though?

In the story, human got their superpower after injecting serum which awakens some part of their body cells into a Supercell. While it's true that they can gain this strength, the serum itself is not yet perfect, so it still has some limitations. And that is the condition of activation or other kind limitations.
Though the origin of the serum itself is questionable and who knows what alien civilization smuggle it to the earth.

i think i see the problem here..


this is wrong to begin with. this isnt the "rule" your entire premise is the catch. the gimmick has become your standard and therefore everything ends up being random because its just thrown together "cuz it has to be"

if everything needs to be conditional, then those conditions need to be based on something, and whatever that something is, IS "the rule". you don't have any rule or standard here, you just have a bunch of effects with no cause.

example: like the person just above me asked "why does everything have to be conditional?" within the story logic. when you can answer that question, it should become exceptionally easy to come up with conditions for each power, because it's no longer a gimmick but a necessity.

Okay, I can't agree more than that. And yes, it's true ... there's no set of universal rules of the conditional superpower that I've been trying to write. Because just like how twins can't be identical even though they look similar ..., the, this Supercell ..., which was the base of human conditional superpower is also different in every individual. That's why I throw up random conditions and all.

The rule is ..., there must be some limit and condition to make that power works. Yeah, it's kinda vague, but ... that's the premise I wrote at the start of writing this story. Though, at first, I never thought of diving into it in-depth because it's a smutty shitty story ..., however, I put more thought into it again to make it more ..., I don't know, maybe to make it easy to digest and not that shitty.

 

[Kilolo]

In the story, human got their superpower after injecting serum which awakens some part of their body cells into a Supercell. While it's true that they can gain this strength, the serum itself is not yet perfect, so it still has some limitations. And that is the condition of activation or other kind limitations.
Though the origin of the serum itself is questionable and who knows what alien civilization smuggle it to the earth.

this actually made less sense tbh, if it's a Supercell, then it wouldn't asking for limitation. but at the furthest it would be compensation/remuneration.

if you want the power to have weird activation or limitation, then it should've coming from a fickle external source of power instead of coming from within. then you should start to explaining from the external source itself.

there's an order for these such of things, start comparing to real life as reference, then imagine what's your end goal would be (in this case, is the conditional superpower with weird activation or condition), from there as your layout; you can tweak the pattern as many as you like, the limit is your imagination.

do remember though, those kind of explanation are only to make your reader to stop asking question for things that doesn't make sense to them, but it doesn't mean that every writer doing that and can't be popular.

take redo healer for example, his healing skill is doesn't make any sense one bit, yet it's still had plenty of fans.

 

[nosinkarma]

I don't know if I got much of what you said, but here is a idea I have.

Coin flips or random card selection. I remember reading LOM (Lord of Mysteries.) Where the MC uses coins and card to predict future or certain psychological traits and actions. This can be a high risk high reward condition.