@Witch Cat Sorry I couldn't answer that for you... Yes, what @Treue said is what I was thinking. Once a character learns a certain task, they will be able to do more powerful things, and so on and so forth. In the same way that babies need to learn to stand up before they can walk, the characters will need to focus on what they have before they can learn something new.
Personally, I'd suggest a level system for powers, circa Raildex or something. To give an example, (this powerset was rejected in the original incarnation of Malfunction for being one of the "powers that would cause the gov to kill them," but it's what I've got written up already so it's easiest to illustrate with) here would be the levels for a vector control power set.
Tier Zero: Many drawbacks and none of the power. See Drawbacks below. This was her level when she was captured. Has a natural vector-altering field that extends two inches (5.08 cm) from her body that reduces all vectors within it to zero. Any vectors applied to this field from outside that aren't zero are reduced to zero and rejected from the field. Or rather, since their vectors become zero, they simply stop at the field's edge. Things are allowed into this field when she attempts to touch them. In practical terms, anything that touches her is stopped dead in its tracks, but anything she touches acts as normal. - "Annoying, but useful."
Tier One: All Drawbacks now apply to her. Field increases to five inches. (12.7 cm) Can control up to three vectors within her field up to the level that they would naturally be if not for her field reducing them to zero. Can allow things with vectors that aren't at zero into her field at will. Naturally and unconsciously uses her power on herself as necessary to survive. The multitude of vectors this requires implies that she will eventually grow much more powerful, and/or that she would be much more powerful already if she didn't need to control the vectors required to allow air in and out, breathe, have her heart beat, allow electricity and chemicals to flow through her body, etc. Can use her control of vectors to alter locational vectors, allowing for minor teleportation so long as what is being teleported is within her five inch field before teleportation. Can teleport things up to 10 feet (3.048 meters) away from her in a spherical radius. - "Getting that teleportation was the greatest thing ever. I don't have to go to the bathroom anymore, I can teleport waste directly into a toilet or underground. It's the best."
Tier Two: Can now extend her field up to three feet (0.9144 meters) in any single direction as a three foot in diameter cylinder with extreme focus. Teleportation range increases to a 15 feet radius. (4.572 meters) Can now teleport things that are within seven inches (17.78 cm) of her body. Can now teleport somewhat larger objects like televisions. - "A simple upgrade, but nice all the same. Sucks how hard it is to manipulate my field, though.
Tier Three: Can now extend her field up to three feet (0.9144 meters) in every direction as a spherical form with intermediate focus. Can now teleport anything within 10 inches (25.4 cm) of her body to anywhere within a spherical range with a radius of 25 feet. (7.62 meters) Can now teleport medium sized objects such as bookshelves. Vectors applied to her natural field (not her extended field) are now displaced elsewhere within the range of her teleportation instead of being rejected. For example: a gunshot to his head might create a bullet hole in a nearby wall or the force may be applied to somebody else within this range. - "Getting better, if slowly. The omnidirectional upgrade and downgrade in effort needed were definitely nice."
Tier Four: Can now extend her field up to five feet (1.524 meters) in every direction as a spherical form with mild focus. Can now control a fourth vector at a time within her field. Can now teleport anything within her field to anywhere within a spherical range that is 30 feet (9.144 meters) beyond her field. Can now teleport other people. Things with total vectors of zero are rejected by her field as if they had vectors. Can now choose whether or not vectors applied to her natural field are displaced elsewhere within her teleportation range or are simply rejected. - "Hell yeah, real progress, finally."
Tier Five: Can extend her field to up to 0.310686 miles (0.5 km) from her body. Can now manipulate five vectors at a time within her field. Can teleport anything within her field to anywhere within 0.621371 miles (1 km) from her body. Can now choose where vectors displaced by her natural field to within her teleportation range are displaced to. Can now teleport things the size of a small building. - "Mhmhmhmhmhmhmhm. Very nice."
Tier Six: (Final Tier) Can now extend her field to 0.621371 miles, (1 km) from her body. Can now manipulate all vectors simultaneously within her field so long as she has sufficient focus and skill. Can now teleport things within her field to anywhere within 1.24274 miles (2 km) of her body. Can now alter her own locational vectors to teleport herself. Can now turn her power off. This does not affect her internal vector homeostasis. Her internal vectors are now perfectly maintained subconsciously. In effect, this means she's immune to diseases, chemicals, radiation, etc. that manages to get through her field or that enters her while her field is down. - "World, say hello to your new goddess. Give me cute girls and nobody gets hurt."
Drawbacks:
Tier Zero: Can't turn it off. All vectors within this field (natural field only, not consciously extended field) are zero. Things with total vectors of zero applied to her field are allowed through without being rejected. Her weight vector is zero, making her totally weightless so she has to wear super-heavy anklets and/or wristbands that are large enough to escape her field. - "Damnit. These weights are annoying. They chafe."
Tier One: Can only teleport small objects such as cups or books. Things that enter her field are immediately stuck to her due to the displacement vector being zero. Must constantly use her power to consciously manipulate vectors on herself in order to move. Otherwise her velocity vector of zero would prevent her from moving. Must move at a consistent velocity or use her power to consciously manipulate vectors on herself in order to move. Otherwise her acceleration vector of zero would prevent her from moving/moving at varying velocities. Must constantly use one slot of her controllable vectors on herself in order to move, otherwise she wouldn't be able to move because her force vector is zero. Has to use all three of her conscious controlled vectors in order to move. (Force, Velocity, Acceleration.) - "Daaaaaaamnnnniiiiiittttt. I may as well be powerless."
Tier Three: Vectors applied to her natural field are displaced elsewhere. She cannot control where these vectors are displaced to. - "This is really dangerous so hopefully nobody tries to shoot me or anything."
Weaknesses: Things with zero vectors. (Pretty much nothing unless it was engineered to be that way, and even then making something have zero vectors is incredibly difficult if not impossible...) Scalars. Lack of weights to keep her from flying into space. (Technically she could alter her own weight vector to prevent this but she wouldn't be able to move since she wouldn't have all three slots.) Own self. Anything that would alter her homeostasis as this could easily kill her. - "Why are you telling them my weaknesses!?"
Anyway, that's my input. I'll go with whatever everyone officially decides on.
Thanks, @DarkwolfX37! I'm sure @SecretlyDiscord will appreciate the input. The only problem I see is that it'll require a lot of preplanning, but I'm sure we'll be able to handle it we chose to adopt your method.
@DarkwolfX37 Hi! As far a the logging system goes, it looks good. I think that that could work so long as everyone keeps track of their own progressions and is active in alerting everyone else as to when the progressions are made. I'm up for at least trying it out to see how it works.
So in that case, let's say one of our characters were to develop a part of their power deemed too strong, which they would want hidden from the facility, as Discord was previously speaking of. Would that develop in a certain tier, or separate from the tiers?
Also if anyone happens to spot any spelling or grammar issues in my posts, I'd love it if you could point them out to me. I'm always open to constructive criticism.
So, our characters will obviously gain higher and higher tier powers with training, correct? Well, my question is, how much training is needed exactly? Will everyone need to train, for example, five times before advancing to the next tier? Will everyone advance a tier together after a major plot point in the story? Will it be up to the players when and how their characters will advance?
Sorry to pelt you with so many questions lately! Just wanted to get everything cleared up before the RP starts rolling.
@Witch Cat It will be up to the writers, what happens to their characters as far as training and "leveling up" goes. Some training will be required to progress in powers. How much, exactly should be different for each character. We will have to keep each other in check, of course, so that no one becomes OP.