@Keksalot What Tsukune was tryna say is that there's no way in hell that he should be able to absorb absolutely all heat from the environment (at least without ashing).

My problem is that I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm asking that you give him some meaningful/exploitable weaknesses.

My problem is that I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm asking that you give him some meaningful/exploitable weaknesses.

The weakness is what i was getting at in the previous post - when he draws too much energy from the enviroment, his power automatically enters the over-the-limit overdrive state and he is indeed at the risk of ashing out.

If I may add my two cents on the subject, I think you might be better served by including a weakness beyond going 'over-the-limit', for two reasons - exploit-ability and reliability.

If your only weakness is something that happens when your character overuses his powers, then that's not something anyone can actually use against you. Take, for example, our dear lord GM's character Meifeng and her primary weakness - electricity. That's an active weakness, something another character, if they knew about it, could actually use against her - if some dude rolls up with a lightning gun, she's up shits creek without a paddle. That's clear, it's exploitable, it makes sense.

Which ties into the second reason I've never really liked 'overheating' weaknesses in this sort of RP, which is the fact that it's not a weakness in practice at all. Be honest with yourself - are you ever actually going to say "Oh, well, I guess that's too much heat, he turns into a pile of ash and dies" ? No, nobody ever actually overheats their characters, they just make DBZ-like declarations of 'tHe PoWEr iS bEcOMinG tOo MuCH! I aM SEConDs FrOm OVerHeATIng! WHaTEvEr wiLL I dO?', but they never actually cross that threshold, just teeter on the edge of it to highlight how rad and dangerous their character is. This isn't an indictment of you or me accusing you of attempting to cheat - I used to do it when I used that sort of weakness. Everyone does it.

My recommendation, just make it so that he can't reach absolute zero, can't drain heat quite as fast, and give him an active weakness like, I don't know, maybe he's extraordinarily vulnerable to cold temperatures. Then, in my opinion, he'd be good to go, but then again my opinion's not the one you need to fuss about.

I will think about it, then, and write when i think up a good weakness that'll make sense for his power. I guess i'm not quite used to low-powered games, but i will try my best. It's just whatever i have at hand rn seems like unfitting for how i envision my guy or maybe farfetched, i guess? It might be not the best word, but still.

I probably won't even try to get in with the miserable amounts of experience i have, but i still wanna ask, sorry if i'm getting in the way.

Do all powers in here have to have an obvious easily-exploitable weakness? It makes it look like the world is somehow trying to be fair towards all who don't have a superpower by mercilessly balancing the stronger metahumans.

Also, what weakness would you give to a person whose power is, for example, adaptive regeneration? Like, whatever does not kill him makes him stronger and also partially immune to whatever he survived. So for example after being once debilitated by strong pain he would become numb to it and after getting shocked very hard he will grow insulated scales. Would you simply prohibit even having a power that has a potential to overcome weaknesses? Or is it just the Player Characters who are supposed to be the small fry amongst actually powerful metahumans?

@TheWizardLizard Nice post, I like it when we get community input (Especially when I'm off playing games!).

But, @Keksalot pretty much everyone has a risk of dying when they overuse their powers. That means it isn't really a valid weakness. You should probably just cut down on his heat absorbing properties, and add something like what me and Tsukune suggested in other posts.

Do all powers in here have to have an obvious easily-exploitable weakness? It makes it look like the world is somehow trying to be fair towards all who don't have a superpower by mercilessly balancing the stronger metahumans.

Yes.

I'd prefer if characters had weaknesses in order to keep things from getting out of hand, and to allow me to provide tension when necessary.

Also, what weakness would you give to a person whose power is, for example, adaptive regeneration? Like, whatever does not kill him makes him stronger and also partially immune to whatever he survived. So for example after being once debilitated by strong pain he would become numb to it and after getting shocked very hard he will grow insulated scales. Would you simply prohibit even having a power that has a potential to overcome weaknesses? Or is it just the Player Characters who are supposed to be the small fry amongst actually powerful metahumans?

The first thing that comes to mind is that if your character strengthens himself against one form of damage, he weakens himself to another. Like, if you break his bones and he gets durable, you could electrocute him, or set him on fire. Another weakness would be lasting biological damage. Such as weakening him, or possibly making him sensitive to the small things like heat/sunlight/electricity.

I see. Thank you for the reply, i hope i didn't come off as rude or anything!

I see. Thank you for the reply, i hope i didn't come off as rude or anything!

I'm personally wondering where you got some of your conclusions from.

There are a few powerful characters within the cast. lol

Many of the NPC's in the cast do seem quite powerful, yes. Though i might be biased because they don't have their weaknesses described - except Phoenix's and Toro's weaknesses, which are pretty unrestricting.

PC's powers, on the other hand, all with a couple exceptions seem very mediocre even though most of the weaknesses are of the "they get really tired and have strong migraines/vomiting bouts after using their powers a lot" sort.

Do all powers have to be on roughly same level or is it possible to make a character with incredible capabilities if he has a weakness to match?

add something like what me and Tsukune suggested in other posts.

Yes, i am just pondering on what exactly the weakness should be.

Many of the NPC's in the cast do seem quite powerful, yes. Though i might be biased because they don't have their weaknesses described - except Phoenix's and Toro's weaknesses, which are pretty unrestricting.

PC's powers, on the other hand, all with a couple exceptions seem very mediocre even though most of the weaknesses are of the "they get really tired and have strong migraines/vomiting bouts after using their powers a lot" sort.

They're only mediocre if you're applying DC/Marvel power levels instead of thinking about how they'd be in the real world. ;)

The main thing is that power levels don't really matter in an RP like this - since it's less about who's the strongest when it's more about who's the smartest. In the previous installment some of the villains were defeated not by raw power, but by being outsmarted. Then again, this RP is faaaaaaaar from a standard superhero romp/wank, it's more about the characters themselves rather than their powers (Or fighting each other). It's about their story and development, and how they are going to cut their own piece of the world, and survive against the constant threats. The NPCs are just going to be side characters/villains to help advance the PCs.

Things like this are why I don't really talk about the power level of the universe that much.

Do all powers have to be on roughly same level or is it possible to make a character with incredible capabilities if he has a weakness to match?

You can make some pretty strong characters long as they have matching drawbacks.

>They're only mediocre if you're applying DC/Marvel power levels instead of thinking about how they'd be in the real world.
It's more "thinking about how characters of DC/Marvel power level would be in real world", really.

>about the characters themselves rather than their powers
Not to say that it's a bad thing but i've always imagined that with superhumans, their powers often define and shape their characters and personalities to a great degree.

>The NPCs are just going to be side characters/villains to help advance the PCs.
In that case could you perhaps help me understand this whole thing better by explaining (if it's not a spoiler) the weaknesses of Jade West, Mannequin, Bison, Toro and Phoenix, the guys who, at least from my point of view, seem to posess powers on a level quite different from the PC's? I think i can guess that Jade's primary weakness is that she refuses to use most of her powers, but that does not really relate to the power itself.

>They're only mediocre if you're applying DC/Marvel power levels instead of thinking about how they'd be in the real world.
It's more "thinking about how characters of DC/Marvel power level would be in real world", really.

>about the characters themselves rather than their powers
Not to say that it's a bad thing but i've always imagined that with superhumans, their powers often define and shape their characters and personalities to a great degree.

>The NPCs are just going to be side characters/villains to help advance the PCs.
In that case could you perhaps help me understand this whole thing better by explaining (if it's not a spoiler) the weaknesses of Jade West, Mannequin, Bison, Toro and Phoenix, the guys who, at least from my point of view, seem to posess powers on a level quite different from the PC's? I think i can guess that Jade's primary weakness is that she refuses to use most of her powers, but that does not really relate to the power itself.

But they're NPCs. Their power level is irrelevant. The events in Verthaven were caused by a metahuman of godlike power, are you suggesting that the ultimate threat to human life on earth, a major plot point, should have an equal weakness?

It sounds like you're having a go at the GM for wanting to create a legitimate story, in which characters are frequently outclassed. I'd suggest you think carefully before continuing with the passive aggression.

Wanted to ask pretty much the same about the NPC weaknesses, yes.
I know that these probably won't come up in-game but it'll be nice to know for reference.

>about the characters themselves rather than their powers
Not to say that it's a bad thing but i've always imagined that with superhumans, their powers often define and shape their characters and personalities to a great degree.

That is correct, but you missed my point.

What I'm saying is that it's about developing the characters, and their story, opposed to, you know, just fighting and wanking about who's the strongest. That's why I gave my characters an actual story, rather than just coming up with a cookie cutter personality and just focus on power. lol

>The NPCs are just going to be side characters/villains to help advance the PCs.
In that case could you perhaps help me understand this whole thing better by explaining (if it's not a spoiler) the weaknesses of Jade West, Mannequin, Bison, Toro and Phoenix, the guys who, at least from my point of view, seem to posess powers on a level quite different from the PC's? I think i can guess that Jade's primary weakness is that she refuses to use most of her powers, but that does not really relate to the power itself.

Does it really matter? Three of those characters are in a prison cell, the other will only be a convenient way to heal some characters (And explore a certain story), and the other probably isn't going to participate much (If not at all, unless I really need to fill out a scene with some RAVENs - which I didn't have to do). But, they do have weaknesses, I just don't see the point of adding them since they're most likely not going to come into play, or they're something that's going to be explored on the IC.

But, if you really want some weaknesses for them, sure, I'll definitely give them to you.

>about the characters themselves rather than their powers
Not to say that it's a bad thing but i've always imagined that with superhumans, their powers often define and shape their characters and personalities to a great degree.

So im gonna add my two cents here. While someone's power will undoubtedly effect how they are I wouldnt say that they define a character. Most characters are born with their powers, and some have powers that'll let them fit in ect. Also, a power doesn't have to be powerful or anything to be interesting? The point about the rp being more about it being about characters was in response to them being mediocre. My most interesting character has a mediocre power. Take, for example, my character Rori. They have a very obvious power - part bird - but it hardly defines their personality and who they are. So I don't think powers define personalities that much in the case of your 'average' metahuman

@Nosuchthing
NPC's powers and their weaknesses would be really helpful for me to come up with a sensible weakness for a character of lower power. I am not arguing with the fact that characters might and should be outclassed - there is always a bigger fish and the PC's are not gods after all - but it'd make sense for the NPC's to work by the same rules as PC's even if they are on a whole different level, no?

@Nosuchthing
NPC's powers and their weaknesses would be really helpful for me to come up with a sensible weakness for a character of lower power. I am not arguing with the fact that characters might and should be outclassed - there is always a bigger fish and the PC's are not gods after all - but it'd make sense for the NPC's to work by the same rules as PC's even if they are on a whole different level, no?

You don't need to know NPCs power levels, there are multiple characters already posted, and dozens, if not scores, hidden away in the older RPs that were accepted. Look at them, why do the NPCs (who your character will likely never meet) matter at all?

But, if you really want some weaknesses for them, sure, I'll definitely give them to you.

Me too please, if it's possible.

I don't get this whole conversation, I'm just going to be blunt here when I say not going to start enforcing weaknesses to NPCs. Because it's honestly fucking redundant. And it's going to get even more redundant as I start introducing more villains/etc.

I'm going to be blunt here and say that it really feels like you two are coming after me to have some argument because I pretty much won't let your characters have whatever you want. If you guys don't like it, then I don't care.