Powers and Abilities?

Fame<Infamy · Jul 9, 2010

I'm working on the powers and abilities for some of the Angelic and Demonic characters in my novels. Right now I am looking at possibly some kind of blood control ability.

I was wondering what kind of unique or interesting powers others here used, have come up with or just like?

Kaiser-Kun · Jul 9, 2010

I can tell you that I dislike it when characters are revealed to have been impersonating others, to the point that you never know who's who. Like the latex masks in Mission Impossible II.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 9, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
I can tell you that I dislike it when characters are revealed to have been impersonating others, to the point that you never know who's who. Like the latex masks in Mission Impossible II.

That was just really silly though, especially when someone doesn't have the ability to read minds and shape shift or something.

The closest thing I have to that is someone pretending to not be herself, but she's not really impersonating someone.

LynnKHollander · Jul 9, 2010

What is 'a blood control ability'?

Fame<Infamy · Jul 9, 2010

LynnKHollander said:
What is 'a blood control ability'?

Basically she will have the ability to control blood, reshape it, use it as a weapon and other things like that.

I played with the idea of water control too, nature controlling powers and some other things like that. Though I am trying to go more original than just simple elemental control, I might end up settling for using the elements in a unique way.

Anaquana · Jul 10, 2010

Fame, I don't know if you've read Ilona Andrews' Magic series, but there's a character whose family can do exactly that with their own blood. One character even crafted a sword out of their own blood.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 10, 2010

Anaquana said:
Fame, I don't know if you've read Ilona Andrews' Magic series, but there's a character whose family can do exactly that with their own blood. One character even crafted a sword out of their own blood.

Never heard of that series, but there's another show with a whole bunch of tricks like that, including someone turning their severed metal leg into a sword, then wrapping the sword around to hit a target.

Miranda Lois · Jul 10, 2010

Blood control ability = awesome!

For human characters, I like powers that are just a hair above normal - someone who is just weird enough to have a hard time blending in.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 10, 2010

Most of my characters are at least partly Human, half or something like it. The Blood Control is probably going to end up being her thing. But as an added bonus she can pretty much bleed herself out endlessly to create more power for herself and I planned a situation where she can't use her own blood for a reason and because of the vows of marriage, (one flesh and one blood) she's able to borrow from her husband.

Other abilities I use are like the Angel of Might's control of water, and the Angel of Music's control of sound waves (which is my favorite because she can actually create walls of sound).

Lucifer can control and reshape light, to the point he can create illusions and even copies. The Angel of Love can cause spontaneous pain with a touch (because love is painful), but the pain is related to the person's own pain in the heart.

sunandshadow · Jul 10, 2010

Naruto had a villain-of-the-week who had a bone control ability - he had an awesome fight scene, you could probably watch it on youtube if you wanted. Half of his fight his opponent is a kid who accidentally got drunk by mixing up a bottle of sake with the bottle of medicine he was supposed to be drinking. Drunk fu vs. high-precision bone control was an amusing matchup.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 10, 2010

sunandshadow said:
Naruto had a villain-of-the-week who had a bone control ability - he had an awesome fight scene, you could probably watch it on youtube if you wanted. Half of his fight his opponent is a kid who accidentally got drunk by mixing up a bottle of sake with the bottle of medicine he was supposed to be drinking. Drunk fu vs. high-precision bone control was an amusing matchup.

KImimaro, yeah I remember him. He really lasted more than a weeks time, he was like three different people's fight and he is easily the most impressive hand to hand combat in the entire first part of the show.

While that power isn't new, its definitely never been used in such a deliciously disgusting way. The sounds it makes when he masses the bone out and the way it ripples under the skin creeped me the Hell out. I considered the bone thing, but I felt odd using it.

Kaiser-Kun · Jul 11, 2010

Fame<Infamy said:
Basically she will have the ability to control blood, reshape it, use it as a weapon and other things like that.

I played with the idea of water control too, nature controlling powers and some other things like that. Though I am trying to go more original than just simple elemental control, I might end up settling for using the elements in a unique way.

Fame<Infamy said:
Never heard of that series, but there's another show with a whole bunch of tricks like that, including someone turning their severed metal leg into a sword, then wrapping the sword around to hit a target.

Have you played the videogame Prototype? Alex Mercer's superpowers seem similar. You might get some good ideas.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 11, 2010

Kaiser-Kun said:
Have you played the videogame Prototype? Alex Mercer's superpowers seem similar. You might get some good ideas.

Actually I haven't, but I am open to looking at ideas that appear anywhere, usually I find that I get some unique take on it rather than just the same old thing, when I use it.

The thing I talked about with the leg happened in Full Metal Alchemist, it was probably one of my favorite fight scene parts.

Otterella · Jul 12, 2010

There was an episode of Nikelodeon's Avatar where one of the characters learned to control blood. She could control water already, and learned that since blood was mostly water, she could control that, too. It was a very dark and creepy and awesome episode.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 12, 2010

Otterella said:
There was an episode of Nikelodeon's Avatar where one of the characters learned to control blood. She could control water already, and learned that since blood was mostly water, she could control that, too. It was a very dark and creepy and awesome episode.

Looks like that idea was taken, I actually thought about having this character just control water and then going with it from there.

defcon6000 · Jul 12, 2010

Fame<Infamy said:
The thing I talked about with the leg happened in Full Metal Alchemist, it was probably one of my favorite fight scene parts.

FMA has some great transmutation abilities! Like how Sloth could turn into liquid or Lust and her wicked set of nails. Scar's technique was pretty cool too, he would deconstruct things, which was pretty gross when it came to living beings.

You've probably seen this anime before, but Trinity Blood has some unique abilities as well. My favorite was the puppet guy who would reanimate a corpse and basically use it as his personal drone, even having access to the powers the original person had.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 13, 2010

defcon6000 said:
FMA has some great transmutation abilities! Like how Sloth could turn into liquid or Lust and her wicked set of nails. Scar's technique was pretty cool too, he would deconstruct things, which was pretty gross when it came to living beings.

You've probably seen this anime before, but Trinity Blood has some unique abilities as well. My favorite was the puppet guy who would reanimate a corpse and basically use it as his personal drone, even having access to the powers the original person had.

Ah that was the old FMA, they explained it differently this time around, but yeah all those abilities were interesting. If I felt I could do something new with it, I would probably introduce versions of the Sins in my writing.

But really, I don't watch much anime and I am pretty picky, recently all I have watched is Evangelion and FMA.

WritingDemons · Jul 14, 2010

Fame<Infamy said:
Ah that was the old FMA, they explained it differently this time around, but yeah all those abilities were interesting. If I felt I could do something new with it, I would probably introduce versions of the Sins in my writing.

But really, I don't watch much anime and I am pretty picky, recently all I have watched is Evangelion and FMA.

The way I have it set up is the sins are different types of demons. Kind of like separating out the elements, only into categories of corruption. It works well for my world set-up.

Seen a lot of TV references (just skimming through), but one of the most interesting book "abilities" is in Brand Sanderson's Mistborn. I forget all the names, but some people can "burn" metals in their stomach, giving them the ability to do different things. Each metal does something different. There's a metal you can push yourself against, a metal to pull, one that lets you sense others burning metals, and one that hides people burning. Usually a person can only burn one metal, but there are some that can burn all of them (those are the Mistborn.)

Really interesting concept, and he writes it really well. It's pretty hardcore fantasy, but still a great read.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 14, 2010

WritingDemons said:
The way I have it set up is the sins are different types of demons. Kind of like separating out the elements, only into categories of corruption. It works well for my world set-up.

Seen a lot of TV references (just skimming through), but one of the most interesting book "abilities" is in Brand Sanderson's Mistborn. I forget all the names, but some people can "burn" metals in their stomach, giving them the ability to do different things. Each metal does something different. There's a metal you can push yourself against, a metal to pull, one that lets you sense others burning metals, and one that hides people burning. Usually a person can only burn one metal, but there are some that can burn all of them (those are the Mistborn.)

Really interesting concept, and he writes it really well. It's pretty hardcore fantasy, but still a great read.

That does sound very interesting and different, I will have to check that out.

And the reason why I kind of shrugged off the sins thing is because I saw it done over and over and I realized I didn't have any real use for them or any good ideas that were fresh and worth writing about them.

WritingDemons · Jul 14, 2010

Fame<Infamy said:
That does sound very interesting and different, I will have to check that out.

And the reason why I kind of shrugged off the sins thing is because I saw it done over and over and I realized I didn't have any real use for them or any good ideas that were fresh and worth writing about them.

There aren't many "new" things in literature anymore. It's all a matter of presentation. But I agree. If the idea doesn't feel fresh, then it's probably not worth agonizing over.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 14, 2010

WritingDemons said:
There aren't many "new" things in literature anymore. It's all a matter of presentation. But I agree. If the idea doesn't feel fresh, then it's probably not worth agonizing over.

Well that was the thing, if I felt like I was bringing something new or writing them in a special way or even like they were important to the plot, I would have gone on with it.

third person · Jul 15, 2010

What you have kind of sounds like "Thaumaturgy", or blood sorcery from from Vampire: The Masquerade, and it also seems to touch on the "Vicissitude" ability as well.

MissMacchiato · Jul 16, 2010

you might find this link helpful - I certainly have, it gave me a ton of ideas for random abilities!

ArthurW · Jul 16, 2010

Oh man, I LOVED Vampire the Masquerade.

Blood boil is ridiculous. You get to make people's blood boil, and, like, explode from the inside!

But yes, someone else suggested that you have this person's abilities be just a bit above normal. Not something like "oh no! It's that mage-thing from the other dimension!" but more of a "It's HER, I heard she once made Alex cough up blood at the movies" or something.

WritingDemons · Jul 16, 2010

ArthurW said:
Oh man, I LOVED Vampire the Masquerade.

Blood boil is ridiculous. You get to make people's blood boil, and, like, explode from the inside!

But yes, someone else suggested that you have this person's abilities be just a bit above normal. Not something like "oh no! It's that mage-thing from the other dimension!" but more of a "It's HER, I heard she once made Alex cough up blood at the movies" or something.

And because I'm the biggest nerd ever, my first thought was "Death Knight!"

I should probably do something about this WoW addiction.

MissMacchiato - That link went directly into my favorite folder. That'll be so very helpful, and not just for my current project. Thanks for that.

Powers and Abilities?

Fame<Infamy

Kaiser-Kun

!

Fame<Infamy

LynnKHollander

This space intentionally left blank

Fame<Infamy

Anaquana

needed a good laugh today

Fame<Infamy

Miranda Lois

I like stuff.

Fame<Infamy

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal

Fame<Infamy

Kaiser-Kun

!

Fame<Infamy

Otterella

Fame<Infamy

defcon6000

Fame<Infamy

WritingDemons

Reclusive doesn't begin to cover it

Fame<Infamy

WritingDemons

Reclusive doesn't begin to cover it

Fame<Infamy

third person

She blinded me--with magic!

MissMacchiato

Bring on the Sweet, Sweet Coffee

ArthurW

Full of it

WritingDemons

Reclusive doesn't begin to cover it