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 ..................................................................................... | First and foremost, every parahuman develops superpowers during a trigger event. This event is when they're brought to the lowest possible point they may ever experience when they can't take it anymore, and something finally gives. The specifics of this incident dictate the nature of the granted powers. All powers originate from entities referred to in canon as Passengers, Agents, or Shards. Shards are fragments of incomprehensible, abstract lifeforms that exist in a separate layer of reality, disconnected from our own. This fact is entirely unnecessary for the working knowledge of Earth Drega, but the important takeaway from it is that the powers granted by them do not line up with our reality. The powers that parahumans receive are foreign, have their forms of logic that they play off of, and are rarely as simple as they appear. Most powers tend to have an "And" or a "But" associated with them, having a degree of depth and complexity that goes beyond the surface. An example of this would be a teleporting mover cape, someone who can go from point A to B in an instant with some effect connected to this power. The teleporter may not have any issues appearing somewhere on the other side of the country, regardless of sight or distance. Still, the catch to their power is that they can only teleport so often, so many times in an hour before their power stops working, and they must wait again. Or, they may be strictly limited to extreme distances, only able to teleport a minimum distance of a mile. These complexities are what set most powers apart and tend to play into the way they are applied and the way the PRT classifies them. The PRT has a system of 12 classifications they assign to any known powers, used to identify the broad expression, how it behaves, and the potential their users can get out of it. Powers can have multiple classifications and often have subratings derived from them. For example, if the teleporter produces an explosion upon arriving at their destination, they would be classified primarily as a Mover, with a shaker subtracting. |
Movers are capes with powers related to forms of mobility. These include teleporters, speedsters, and fliers of all forms. These powers have additional stipulations involved based on their use. Some Movers affect the environment at various points during their travel, such as disorienting anyone who attempts to look at them while they move. The Mover rating often overlaps with other powers, with examples being a changer who grows wings or a tinker who specializes in jetpacks. Movers are triggered by circumstances where they experience a great need to escape. The nature of this need, as well as what the Mover is specifically running from, influence the power.
Example: A child lives with an overly controlling parent and tries to move out but is caught triggers during the parent's latest tantrum. Their powers allow them to produce a smokescreen and teleport to a random location not being observed by anyone.
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Shaker is a rating that's granted to capes with a broad field of influence tied to their power. These capes affect their environment or have a blast radius associated with their powers that others must know, if they plan to enter the area. The shaker rating encompasses forcefields, pyrokinetics, and environmental hazards, to name a few. Shaker powers come from trigger events with an environmental threat. The danger does not come directly from an individual and only vaguely involves people. These threats are not pinned down to one specific factor and encompass the whole area.
Example: A woman's car crashes while evacuating a flooded area during a hurricane. She travels on foot to the nearest shelter, but the world around her only gets worse. The road is flooded, trees are falling apart, and her clothes are soaking wet from rain. She triggers and can produce energy barriers that burn anything around her.
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Brutes are capes with an ability that enhances their strength or physical ability to survive things. Almost every Brute can be summed up as a form of regenerative healing, physical durability, or super strength. Brutes are about as simple as powers get in Worm or Ward, but as with all powers, the specifics depend on what the cape went through. Brute is often a secondary rating for more accurately describing other powers. A cape who grows stony armor over their skin would be a changer with a Brute subtype. These capes trigger from physical harm, with the exact nature of the harm influencing the power itself. Being beaten to the edge of death, being poisoned, or set on fire are just a few examples.
Example: A woman is attacked by her crazy boyfriend and is chased out to a frozen lake after she gets stabbed in the ribs. She runs across the ice, thinking he won't follow, but she falls through. She triggers before freezing to death, gaining a personal forcefield that layers over her body to absorb impacts.
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Breaker is typically the weirdest classification. Breakers are identified by their ability to shift into an alternate state of being that "breaks" away from the standard rules of reality. All powers defy the rules of reality by their very nature, but this does not define most powers. Movers are defined by their ability to move, and Changers are defined by their ability to change. Breakers access their powers by entering their altered state, which follows its own rules. Typically, the Breaker rating comes with one or multiple sub-ratings, as the Breaker form inherently operates with its logic. A Breaker who turns into a living fractal of alien material might be able to regrow parts of itself and be considered a brute. Breakers and changers tend to overlap but are often distinguished by the strangeness of their forms and their relationship to them. Breakers are simply in one state or another, while changers have to go through a process of changing.
Breaker triggers are equally as complicated. A mix of mental and physical trauma is necessary for the trigger. Those two things are the requirements for thinkers and brutes respectively, but what separates Breakers from either is that there is no clear distinction between physical and mental. The lines are blurred. The conflict can be felt on an existential level or a tangible one, and it is not clear which is which.
Example: A man is in a coma and knows it. He is fully lucid and spends weeks unconscious, roaming the abstract world of his head after a horrible concussion. He is desperate to wake up but can't. The desperation grows endlessly, and he triggers. He can enter a mental state like hypnosis, where he can perceive everything around him up to a mile away, while his physical body becomes untouchable. Attempts to make physical contact result in being flung backward by an unseen force. This is made clear by the veins of blue light that spread across his skin and warp the edges of his limbs.
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Masters are typically the most problematic capes by default. Master powers involve the control of other entities. Most commonly, this results in manipulating the free will of others through various forms of mind control, but it also includes abilities that influence emotional constructs and make a person more suggestable. Masters work through others by assuming control of them or creating entities that act as vessels for their power. Some fringe cases include empowering entities and giving them abilities, such as Rachel Lindt's ability to mutate dogs. The PRT treats capes with this rating with a remarkable degree of caution, going as far as to make protocols so effective that non-powered officers can outright resist human-manipulating powers. Masters are triggered by instances of isolation and being left behind. They are betrayed, and the source of the betrayal is the variable that affects the nature of their powers.
Example: A child is hated relentlessly throughout his life and lives with a single parent who neglects him, never being in his life. He has no one to turn to. No friends, no other family members who care for him. He is alone in a world that seems to hate his existence and doesn't feel safe anywhere he goes, no matter how hard he tries. He triggers and can create sapient beings out of energy, which slowly duplicate themselves over time and obey his every command.
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Tinker is highest priority classification as listed by the PRT, and my favorite of the list. Tinkers have powers that allow them to build alien technology that would otherwise be scientifically impossible. These capes are inherently the most diverse in terms of what they do, but they always work through their tech rather than simply willing it into existence. They are essentially the superhuman engineers of the world. Every Tinker has their specialty, the general field of tech they make, and the methodologies that they work with. Methodologies define how the Tinker makes their tech. A Tinker specializing in energy doesn't just build anything related to energy; they might build it into weapons and create lightsabers or railguns. These elements make a Tinker unique, even among Tinkers with similar abilities. Tinkers trigger from situations where every option results in failure, a lose-lose situation that slowly builds up with a big emphasis on time. The problem itself and the dilemma they've been struggling with affect the form of tech they can build, as well as what specialty they can work with.
Example: A woman suffers from a chronic condition requiring medication. She physically cannot live without it, but the medicine is so expensive that she struggles to pay for her necessities. Worst of all, her car broke down recently, and she can't afford to fix it. If she buys another month of her medicine, she can't afford repairs for her car and can't go to work to earn money. But if she fixes her car so she can go to work, she won't be able to get out of bed in the morning. She could take a bus, but then she'd be late for work and would get fired. She doesn't remember exactly when she triggered, but the woman can suddenly build cybernetic augmentations out of absurdly cheap parts, which replace the need for functioning organs.
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Blaster Is one of the more straightforward ratings. Blaster powers emphasize range and projectiles. These are your optical laser capes, your living flamethrowers, and your grenade-hurling maniacs. All Blasters have a medium they use to attack from range, such as a sphere of light they make out of thin air and an effect attached to it. The light sphere might fire laser beams that break up atomic bombs or drain energy from an environment. Or, the Blaster might throw the sphere, causing it to expand outwards into a small gravitational field. These capes are essentially the living firearms of the world, and they trigger from situations where the threat is obvious and defined but not immediately in their face. A danger coming from a crowd, as opposed to one person, for example, would influence the exact nature of the Blaster's power.
Example: A terrorist is destroying a street armed with a grenade launcher, and a child crosses paths with him. Buildings are smoking, and the explosions grow closer until the madman points his grenade launcher at the child, who triggers when he realizes he is in danger. The child throws his hands up in fear, and a glowing disc of green energy flies toward the bomber, arcing like a boomerang before hitting him square in the jaw. The disc explodes in a light shower, as his target is suspended in a bubble of frozen time. He throws another that glows red, which curves and hits a crumbling building. The disc explodes, and the building is no longer there.
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Thinkers gather information and deal with extrasensory perception or specialized forms of knowledge. Some Thinkers have powers that alter their senses, allowing them to see the world with heat vision or see things before they happen. It should be noted, however, that there has never been a precognitive Thinker whose power was 100% infallible, as they require knowledge to derive predictions and may not always have the whole picture. Some Thinkers are also supernaturally adept in one skill, allowing them to leverage martial arts, record-shattering accuracy with guns, or learn any language within seconds. Thinkers are triggered by mental stress. This often comes close to Thinker's powers in concept, but the difference comes from the buildup. Tinkers triggers are slow and snowball over a long period, while Thinker triggers are immediate and traceable to one event.
Example: When discovering that his brother ran away from home, a teenager feels anger unlike anything he felt before. He spends hours trying not to think about his brother abandoning his family. But when his mother comes home and learns about it, he can't take it anymore. All his rage spills out, and he triggers, suddenly understanding how to wield any form of close-quarters weaponry with terrifying mastery.
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Strikers are capes with powers based on touch, or have particularly close range. These capes usually fall into one of two categories; Their powers affect their environment, but have too little ranged to be considered a shaker outright, or they apply some sort of effect upon touching a person or an object. Strikers are a relatively low-priority classification in terms of general threat, but don't be fooled. All it takes is one touch, or for the striker to ambush you, and you'd be at their mercy. Strikers trigger from direct threats that get in their face, make themselves known, and can easily be traced to a single instance or person. What this threat does, and how it presents itself tend to affect the expression of the striker power.
Example: A young girl is cornered by an intruder who broke into her house. He's waving a knife around and no one is coming to help her. She triggers when he steps too close, and she's suddenly holding a white object, which looks like a mix between a spear and a tree branch. She stabs him with it, not fully understanding what it is, and the man is vaporized from the inside out.
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Changers are one of the least immediately dangerous classifications. They are the shapeshifters, the werewolves, and occasionally the healers. Changers are often confused with breakers, who also access alternate states. But changers have to physically undergo the process of stepping from one instance to another, if their powers are based on forms. Changers also do not revolve around divorcing themselves from conventional reality, and simply mutate to access other powers. Most changers typically trigger from an identity crisis, concerning who they are as a person, their physical image, or the image that others have of them. This crisis determines what changers the changer can undergo, and what secondary powers are attached to it.
Example: A teenager is pressured into criminal activities by his friends for long enough that he finally caves. He tries to tell himself that he won't do it again, and will instead focus on living an honest life, but he doesn't feel like he really belongs in either life. It eats away at him, feeling like he doesn't know what he's supposed to do, until the day his crimes are revealed to his family after he crashes a stolen car. In the hospital, he triggers. He can shapeshift into a large, bear-like monster that rapidly heals, but only after sustaining serious wounds in his normal form.
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Trumps are the wild cards. The trump rating describes parahumans with the power to manipulate powers. This includes capes that can shut down other powers, copy them, temporarily out give out new ones, and more. As a classification, the trump rating is incredibly vast, with the only requirement being the ability to directly impact powers themselves. As a result of this, the PRT’s standard procedure for dealing with trumps is to put friendly parahumans as far away from them as possible, lest they give their target extra powers or have their own taken away. Ironically, trumps trigger from a crisis involving powers as the main source of stress. The relationship to the power in question, what it does, and the strain caused all affect how the trump can affect others.
Example: A young girl has grown up with an abusive, former Protectorate hero for a single father. Fallen from grace, he turned to alcohol after losing his job. One day, he gets especially angry and beats her beyond reason. His powers cause him to grow stronger when his skin is cut, and she triggers when she claws at him. Her power allows her to generate medium-sized forcefields that nullify instances of powers they come into contact with.
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Strangers play dirty. These are the capes with powers that allow for infiltration, distraction, highly effective stealth and subterfuge. Strangers are one of the more naturally dangerous classifications not for raw power, but because of the fallout that strangers can cause. These capes can render you unable to use any of your senses, assume your identity, or subliminally convince you to trust them with no justification. Never fight a stranger alone. These capes trigger from instances of emotional insecurity, and cases of unwanted attention. In a way, these triggers overlap with movers. But strangers feel a need to simply hide and be left alone, rather than to run or flee.
Example: A woman moves to a new city after her ex had been stalking her for weeks. She learns to relax and move on with her life after a while, but comes home from work one day to find a camera hidden behind her refrigerator. In a paranoid frenzy, she tears her house upside down, revealing more and more cameras in places she thought were secure. She no longer feels safe, and triggers. Her power produces an effect in a small area, where all evidence and memory of her presence is erased, prevent her from leaving behind any trace.
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Example: A child lives with an overly controlling parent and tries to move out but is caught triggers during the parent's latest tantrum. Their powers allow them to produce a smokescreen and teleport to a random location not being observed by anyone.
.
.
.
Shaker is a rating that's granted to capes with a broad field of influence tied to their power. These capes affect their environment or have a blast radius associated with their powers that others must know, if they plan to enter the area. The shaker rating encompasses forcefields, pyrokinetics, and environmental hazards, to name a few. Shaker powers come from trigger events with an environmental threat. The danger does not come directly from an individual and only vaguely involves people. These threats are not pinned down to one specific factor and encompass the whole area.
Example: A woman's car crashes while evacuating a flooded area during a hurricane. She travels on foot to the nearest shelter, but the world around her only gets worse. The road is flooded, trees are falling apart, and her clothes are soaking wet from rain. She triggers and can produce energy barriers that burn anything around her.
.
.
.
Brutes are capes with an ability that enhances their strength or physical ability to survive things. Almost every Brute can be summed up as a form of regenerative healing, physical durability, or super strength. Brutes are about as simple as powers get in Worm or Ward, but as with all powers, the specifics depend on what the cape went through. Brute is often a secondary rating for more accurately describing other powers. A cape who grows stony armor over their skin would be a changer with a Brute subtype. These capes trigger from physical harm, with the exact nature of the harm influencing the power itself. Being beaten to the edge of death, being poisoned, or set on fire are just a few examples.
Example: A woman is attacked by her crazy boyfriend and is chased out to a frozen lake after she gets stabbed in the ribs. She runs across the ice, thinking he won't follow, but she falls through. She triggers before freezing to death, gaining a personal forcefield that layers over her body to absorb impacts.
.
.
.
Breaker is typically the weirdest classification. Breakers are identified by their ability to shift into an alternate state of being that "breaks" away from the standard rules of reality. All powers defy the rules of reality by their very nature, but this does not define most powers. Movers are defined by their ability to move, and Changers are defined by their ability to change. Breakers access their powers by entering their altered state, which follows its own rules. Typically, the Breaker rating comes with one or multiple sub-ratings, as the Breaker form inherently operates with its logic. A Breaker who turns into a living fractal of alien material might be able to regrow parts of itself and be considered a brute. Breakers and changers tend to overlap but are often distinguished by the strangeness of their forms and their relationship to them. Breakers are simply in one state or another, while changers have to go through a process of changing.
Breaker triggers are equally as complicated. A mix of mental and physical trauma is necessary for the trigger. Those two things are the requirements for thinkers and brutes respectively, but what separates Breakers from either is that there is no clear distinction between physical and mental. The lines are blurred. The conflict can be felt on an existential level or a tangible one, and it is not clear which is which.
Example: A man is in a coma and knows it. He is fully lucid and spends weeks unconscious, roaming the abstract world of his head after a horrible concussion. He is desperate to wake up but can't. The desperation grows endlessly, and he triggers. He can enter a mental state like hypnosis, where he can perceive everything around him up to a mile away, while his physical body becomes untouchable. Attempts to make physical contact result in being flung backward by an unseen force. This is made clear by the veins of blue light that spread across his skin and warp the edges of his limbs.
.
.
.
Masters are typically the most problematic capes by default. Master powers involve the control of other entities. Most commonly, this results in manipulating the free will of others through various forms of mind control, but it also includes abilities that influence emotional constructs and make a person more suggestable. Masters work through others by assuming control of them or creating entities that act as vessels for their power. Some fringe cases include empowering entities and giving them abilities, such as Rachel Lindt's ability to mutate dogs. The PRT treats capes with this rating with a remarkable degree of caution, going as far as to make protocols so effective that non-powered officers can outright resist human-manipulating powers. Masters are triggered by instances of isolation and being left behind. They are betrayed, and the source of the betrayal is the variable that affects the nature of their powers.
Example: A child is hated relentlessly throughout his life and lives with a single parent who neglects him, never being in his life. He has no one to turn to. No friends, no other family members who care for him. He is alone in a world that seems to hate his existence and doesn't feel safe anywhere he goes, no matter how hard he tries. He triggers and can create sapient beings out of energy, which slowly duplicate themselves over time and obey his every command.
.
.
.
Tinker is highest priority classification as listed by the PRT, and my favorite of the list. Tinkers have powers that allow them to build alien technology that would otherwise be scientifically impossible. These capes are inherently the most diverse in terms of what they do, but they always work through their tech rather than simply willing it into existence. They are essentially the superhuman engineers of the world. Every Tinker has their specialty, the general field of tech they make, and the methodologies that they work with. Methodologies define how the Tinker makes their tech. A Tinker specializing in energy doesn't just build anything related to energy; they might build it into weapons and create lightsabers or railguns. These elements make a Tinker unique, even among Tinkers with similar abilities. Tinkers trigger from situations where every option results in failure, a lose-lose situation that slowly builds up with a big emphasis on time. The problem itself and the dilemma they've been struggling with affect the form of tech they can build, as well as what specialty they can work with.
Example: A woman suffers from a chronic condition requiring medication. She physically cannot live without it, but the medicine is so expensive that she struggles to pay for her necessities. Worst of all, her car broke down recently, and she can't afford to fix it. If she buys another month of her medicine, she can't afford repairs for her car and can't go to work to earn money. But if she fixes her car so she can go to work, she won't be able to get out of bed in the morning. She could take a bus, but then she'd be late for work and would get fired. She doesn't remember exactly when she triggered, but the woman can suddenly build cybernetic augmentations out of absurdly cheap parts, which replace the need for functioning organs.
.
.
.
Blaster Is one of the more straightforward ratings. Blaster powers emphasize range and projectiles. These are your optical laser capes, your living flamethrowers, and your grenade-hurling maniacs. All Blasters have a medium they use to attack from range, such as a sphere of light they make out of thin air and an effect attached to it. The light sphere might fire laser beams that break up atomic bombs or drain energy from an environment. Or, the Blaster might throw the sphere, causing it to expand outwards into a small gravitational field. These capes are essentially the living firearms of the world, and they trigger from situations where the threat is obvious and defined but not immediately in their face. A danger coming from a crowd, as opposed to one person, for example, would influence the exact nature of the Blaster's power.
Example: A terrorist is destroying a street armed with a grenade launcher, and a child crosses paths with him. Buildings are smoking, and the explosions grow closer until the madman points his grenade launcher at the child, who triggers when he realizes he is in danger. The child throws his hands up in fear, and a glowing disc of green energy flies toward the bomber, arcing like a boomerang before hitting him square in the jaw. The disc explodes in a light shower, as his target is suspended in a bubble of frozen time. He throws another that glows red, which curves and hits a crumbling building. The disc explodes, and the building is no longer there.
.
.
.
Thinkers gather information and deal with extrasensory perception or specialized forms of knowledge. Some Thinkers have powers that alter their senses, allowing them to see the world with heat vision or see things before they happen. It should be noted, however, that there has never been a precognitive Thinker whose power was 100% infallible, as they require knowledge to derive predictions and may not always have the whole picture. Some Thinkers are also supernaturally adept in one skill, allowing them to leverage martial arts, record-shattering accuracy with guns, or learn any language within seconds. Thinkers are triggered by mental stress. This often comes close to Thinker's powers in concept, but the difference comes from the buildup. Tinkers triggers are slow and snowball over a long period, while Thinker triggers are immediate and traceable to one event.
Example: When discovering that his brother ran away from home, a teenager feels anger unlike anything he felt before. He spends hours trying not to think about his brother abandoning his family. But when his mother comes home and learns about it, he can't take it anymore. All his rage spills out, and he triggers, suddenly understanding how to wield any form of close-quarters weaponry with terrifying mastery.
.
.
.
Strikers are capes with powers based on touch, or have particularly close range. These capes usually fall into one of two categories; Their powers affect their environment, but have too little ranged to be considered a shaker outright, or they apply some sort of effect upon touching a person or an object. Strikers are a relatively low-priority classification in terms of general threat, but don't be fooled. All it takes is one touch, or for the striker to ambush you, and you'd be at their mercy. Strikers trigger from direct threats that get in their face, make themselves known, and can easily be traced to a single instance or person. What this threat does, and how it presents itself tend to affect the expression of the striker power.
Example: A young girl is cornered by an intruder who broke into her house. He's waving a knife around and no one is coming to help her. She triggers when he steps too close, and she's suddenly holding a white object, which looks like a mix between a spear and a tree branch. She stabs him with it, not fully understanding what it is, and the man is vaporized from the inside out.
.
.
.
Changers are one of the least immediately dangerous classifications. They are the shapeshifters, the werewolves, and occasionally the healers. Changers are often confused with breakers, who also access alternate states. But changers have to physically undergo the process of stepping from one instance to another, if their powers are based on forms. Changers also do not revolve around divorcing themselves from conventional reality, and simply mutate to access other powers. Most changers typically trigger from an identity crisis, concerning who they are as a person, their physical image, or the image that others have of them. This crisis determines what changers the changer can undergo, and what secondary powers are attached to it.
Example: A teenager is pressured into criminal activities by his friends for long enough that he finally caves. He tries to tell himself that he won't do it again, and will instead focus on living an honest life, but he doesn't feel like he really belongs in either life. It eats away at him, feeling like he doesn't know what he's supposed to do, until the day his crimes are revealed to his family after he crashes a stolen car. In the hospital, he triggers. He can shapeshift into a large, bear-like monster that rapidly heals, but only after sustaining serious wounds in his normal form.
.
.
.
Trumps are the wild cards. The trump rating describes parahumans with the power to manipulate powers. This includes capes that can shut down other powers, copy them, temporarily out give out new ones, and more. As a classification, the trump rating is incredibly vast, with the only requirement being the ability to directly impact powers themselves. As a result of this, the PRT’s standard procedure for dealing with trumps is to put friendly parahumans as far away from them as possible, lest they give their target extra powers or have their own taken away. Ironically, trumps trigger from a crisis involving powers as the main source of stress. The relationship to the power in question, what it does, and the strain caused all affect how the trump can affect others.
Example: A young girl has grown up with an abusive, former Protectorate hero for a single father. Fallen from grace, he turned to alcohol after losing his job. One day, he gets especially angry and beats her beyond reason. His powers cause him to grow stronger when his skin is cut, and she triggers when she claws at him. Her power allows her to generate medium-sized forcefields that nullify instances of powers they come into contact with.
.
.
.
Strangers play dirty. These are the capes with powers that allow for infiltration, distraction, highly effective stealth and subterfuge. Strangers are one of the more naturally dangerous classifications not for raw power, but because of the fallout that strangers can cause. These capes can render you unable to use any of your senses, assume your identity, or subliminally convince you to trust them with no justification. Never fight a stranger alone. These capes trigger from instances of emotional insecurity, and cases of unwanted attention. In a way, these triggers overlap with movers. But strangers feel a need to simply hide and be left alone, rather than to run or flee.
Example: A woman moves to a new city after her ex had been stalking her for weeks. She learns to relax and move on with her life after a while, but comes home from work one day to find a camera hidden behind her refrigerator. In a paranoid frenzy, she tears her house upside down, revealing more and more cameras in places she thought were secure. She no longer feels safe, and triggers. Her power produces an effect in a small area, where all evidence and memory of her presence is erased, prevent her from leaving behind any trace.
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