When should an OP character fail?

[CheertheSecond]

My character is strong. She is strong. However, she is not perfect and I want to illustrate this point by making her fail for making a stupid decision. How early should such a character fail? First 30 chaps? First 50 chap?

 

[AYM]

Whenever it feels right she should fail. If it's a catastrophic failure I wouldn't recommend any time before the first 15 chapters/before the character is well established.

 

[Anon2024]

Fail at having sex.
Ugly. something liike that

 

[3guanoff]

OP is not perfect. The most common imperfection for genius muscular mana-rich ex-assassin doctor type characters is social incompetence. Craziness, insomnia, and PTSD are also popular.
An OP doctor is not necessarily a good match for a genius strategist. Focus on your character's domain. Instead of dumbing them down for a chapter, make their imperfection consistent. It should be a part of every chapter.
As long as you do that, it does not matter where you put the failure. Be it the prologue or the epilogue, readers won't complain about the sudden IQ/EQ loss since it will not be sudden.

Example:
Why is no one angry at the author for letting the protagonist pass out from drinking and getting abducted? The alcohol problem has been a part of the whole story. The powerful mage needs alcohol to sleep. Of course, if this happens a lot and the protagonist does not change his behavior, you need a good explanation or I will get annoyed reading your story. Perhaps the mage enjoys being abducted?

 

[KingRaisinXIV]

Make him fail the moment he attains what he wants. Then keep breaking him down.

 

[CheertheSecond]

Make him fail the moment he attains what he wants. Then keep breaking him down.

What depression shit did you want me to do?

 

[TsuruI_am_a_bot]

My character is strong. She is strong. However, she is not perfect and I want to illustrate this point by making her fail for making a stupid decision. How early should such a character fail? First 30 chaps? First 50 chap?

Tip (for all series) : Read more, more more more more more more more


Look at onepunchman, could have them have flaw, or fail for a mundane thing (killing mosquito saitama)
or
Failing at the worse possible time and causing bat shit crazy stuff. (Sealing something but somehow it fail and big plot happen) (very dark vibes)
Just read.
Unless someone is trying to very original, most tropes and stuff were done.
And 199#-200# mangakas, all were mangaka-assistants before becoming one. Even the big popular ones, were assistants in the past.

 

[TwistedRomcom]

Give them a problem that requires in-universe knowledge to solve. This lets the character develop by learning they aren't omnipotent, while also letting you introduce some worldbuilding flavor in a natural way.

Maybe a certain type of monster is nearly invincible unless you use a specific weakness against it. Stake through the heart for a vampire or silver bullets for werewolves are two classic examples. Maybe the enemy is something noncorporeal like a ghost and it requires an exorcist to get rid of. Or it's weakness could be a rare type of magic or potion, requiring the aid of a specialist mage or alchemist.

Whatever it is, your MC goes up against it unprepared and overconfident because of how strong they are. They suffer a defeat and are forced to retreat until they come back later with the right help and/or preparations.

The right time to do this is early on, but not their very first fight. Their first fight should be a stomp because they're OP. That's what causes them to become overconfident in the first place. So maybe the second or third fight. Perhaps its the first time they go on a 'solo mission'.

 

[NotaNuffian]

My character is strong. She is strong. However, she is not perfect and I want to illustrate this point by making her fail for making a stupid decision. How early should such a character fail? First 30 chaps? First 50 chap?

If her OPness is in her fighting prowess, then put it into her character flaws?

Overly arrogant? Believing only her own opinion and not how others would react? Trusting others too much that when it backfired on her, the situation is barely salvageable with her fighting prowess, but the damage irreversible?

 

[xuduxixi]

Fail her in a way that seems like it's not a failure at first.

Example is like when fighting big bad guy she defeated him, but unknowingly cause a massacre or killed some child's mother—after knowing that it would test her humanity and morals blah blah blah.

 

[Thraben]

Depends on the way someone is OP.

"Monstrously Overleveled/Overgeared/Overstatted" = Any situation wherein none of these actually help should be a failure.

"Astronomical amounts of pure bullshit/cheats" = Here's a rule you can't break, circumvent, or undermine. A limitation that cannot be overcome could cause a failure.

"Mental Health" = Doesn't matter if you can kill gods and lay universes low. In fact, I'd bet being able to do that would make depression a much, much deeper hole. Less morbidly, lines someone won't cross could cause failures.

"The Superman Problem" = Situations too complicated for any amount of power or competence to make a difference could cause a failure. Superman can't fix the American economy. He can't solve world hunger. What good is a god to those too far from the light?

"Amon Lee Hughman" = Basic human needs are inescapable unless you aren't human. What, fundamentally, is your character going to do on 0hrs sleep and no food in the last week? Not much, I'd bet. Doesn't matter if you can rip apart buildings with your mind, if someone shoots you with a 50. bmg while you're distracted, game over.

"Live Long Enough..." = Solving previous problems has turned the character into the problem. Something that no matter how many inches of OP-nis are applied, isn't going to change on its own.

 

[Verdant]

My character is strong. She is strong. However, she is not perfect and I want to illustrate this point by making her fail for making a stupid decision. How early should such a character fail? First 30 chaps? First 50 chap?

Have the protagonist get tricked into banning human rights.

 

[KingRaisinXIV]

What depression shit did you want me to do?

Like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, but did not just melt his wax wings but also burned everyone close to him

 

[CheertheSecond]

Like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, but did not just melt his wax wings but also burned everyone close to him

So do I need to put a warning "This is a fictional character. All coincidence with reality is not intentional?"

 

[Sabruness]

"The Superman Problem" = Situations too complicated for any amount of power or competence to make a difference could cause a failure. Superman can't fix the American economy. He can't solve world hunger. What good is a god to those too far from the light?

crapsack country or world is good for that. where the country is so bad that the only options for super powerful OP is bad or worse. either kill absolutely everyone with any power (in which case the country falls to anarchy and things actually manage to get worse in a different way) or do nothing and maybe suffer a butt ton of guilt for not being able to do anything that wont break the place completely.