Fellow Fantasy writers, how powerful are your characters?

My protagonist, and other characters, can only metamorphisize (is that a word?) that which is already there. Some are better at it than others, which is mainly determined by bloodlines. No changing mountains into butter. My protagonist starts out barely capable of changing a pebble into a brownie.

There are no negative effects, personally, for the wielders of this power. The only catch is, every time something is changed, something else in the world is utterly annihilated.

And then there are the ultra advanced AI's, which, to a late-nineteenth-century-Russia-style society, seem to posses their own brands of magic.

Hmmm. My initial trilogy is kind of a series of "origin stories," people finding their strengths and powers.

In the beginning, no main character is that powerful. They all have their "gifts," if you will, their talents. And they struggle with those, struggle to make sense of things, struggle to learn balance.

There is one super, all-powerful minor character, who could probably bring end to most nations, people and political factions in the world--but he is old. Super old and not interested in the world of men or in those types of problems. And he's not showy about his abilities. He manipulates to get what he wants, uses people, and then moves on.

At some point, though, he will encounter a "foil" of sorts. Not an enemy, but someone who challenges him and his awesomeness on a very different level.

Only a few of my characters have 'powers'. The others rely on good ol' steel.
That said, the ones I have are something to reckon with. Or rather, that is their potential. Only one of them (the bad guy, as it were) actually has the experience and the ability to be 'all-powerful'. His power is almost god-like. But again, he's limited to his element, and you can stick him with a stiletto as easily as anyone else. Same goes for the others.

The main character hasn't had a formal education with her own element. Thus, she isn't as powerful as she could be. But, once she gets in contact with someone who can teach her, she picks it up pretty quick.

When characters are too powerful, things are easy. When things are easy, conflict suffers. Conflict is what make a story compelling, so any power I give my characters is either bought with a price or it carries a cost.

I like my (written) characters to lean closer to the realistic spectrum in terms of powers, ideally. Superhuman is okay, but not invincible. I like to have the main characters struggle and have to use their powers creatively to take down their opposition.

Hawkes said:

When characters are too powerful, things are easy.

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Only if you write conflicts easily solved by superhuman powers.

They don't make relationships any easier.

It's been pointed out that the very strongest magic is the ability to be immune to magic. Discuss.

Reziac said:

It's been pointed out that the very strongest magic is the ability to be immune to magic. Discuss.

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I present Kamijo Touma. AKA TouMAN.

His right arm negates both magic and *ahem* science.



He is also protected by ridiculous layers of plot armor.

Realistically, a single bullet would do the job.

Kuwi, I think there was an episode where someone got around that by throwing things at him.

I have a bunch of powerful characters in my stories but they never have it easier than my less powered characters because they still have to deal with politics, relationships, and not pissing off mages higher up in the food chain. I guess I never felt that being powerful equated to boring stories because I grew up watching shows like Slayers and Trigun. With Lina Inverse, she was likely to destroy the village she was hired to help, and it was funny watching her friends try to stop her from using a ridiculously powerful spell against a regular human bandit. Trigun had a more serious approach with the big baddies, and I think Vash being so powerful is why it had memorable villains like Legato Bluesummers and Knives.

Reziac said:

It's been pointed out that the very strongest magic is the ability to be immune to magic. Discuss.

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This is only useful in a world with magic to be immune to. In a world without magic, it's about as useful as a herring-deboning machine in the middle of the Sahara. It might be the most marvelous thing ever invented by the hand of Man, but if it has no purpose it's just so much scrap metal and wasted grant money.

Don't watch anime, so nothing to add there.

But, yeah, I think having immunity to magic in a magical world would be something pretty big.

Sam Argent said:

Kuwi, I think there was an episode where someone got around that by throwing things at him.

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Well, like I said, you could just shoot him, but plot armor.

Brightdreamer said:

This is only useful in a world with magic to be immune to.

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And in which magic is the only form of technology.

Stop an arrow or a bullet or a spear with your anti-magic powers.

Which would bring us to my preferred method of taking out mages:

I've come to the conclusion that the most powerful magic power is plot armor.

kuwisdelu said:

I've come to the conclusion that the most powerful magic power is plot armor.

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That stuff's riddled with convenient holes...

Brightdreamer said:

That stuff's riddled with convenient holes...

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Have you ever noticed how once a character racks up enough death flags, they eventually become immune to them?

kuwisdelu said:

Have you ever noticed how once a character racks up enough death flags, they eventually become immune to them?

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It's almost like Death decides; "You know what? Fuck this guy."

Brightdreamer said:

This is only useful in a world with magic to be immune to. In a world without magic, it's about as useful as a herring-deboning machine in the middle of the Sahara. It might be the most marvelous thing ever invented by the hand of Man, but if it has no purpose it's just so much scrap metal and wasted grant money.

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This is true

Tho it might be pretty funny to put someone who knows himself immune into a situation of "any sufficiently advanced technology" which he then believes is magic... ooops, not so immune today, let's not walk in front of cars, shall we??

My main character got changed into a neko. It really just means heightened senses and if you can changing into a housecat or a big cat at will.

I have a wizard who suffers from bipolar, which is also affected by the magic he uses. He's been sprung from a mental institution by the government (Hi! We're here to help you!) and has a handler whose job is basically to keep him from using magic at all.

King God Kong Zilla said:

Notice how they are all extremely powerful but they all have their weaknesses. Superman would be superboringman without kryptonite.

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I still think superman is the worst superhero ever. I mean think about this guy, he is bullet proof, can fly, can outrun a train, has laser sight that can see through walls, can freeze water with his breath, is super powerful, can reverse time, upright with impeccable manners, everyone loves him.... talk about wish fulfilment.

"It's actually hard to reverse time."

~My STAT 532 (Stochastic Processes) Professor.

ave said:

I still think superman is the worst superhero ever. I mean think about this guy, he is bullet proof, can fly, can outrun a train, has laser sight that can see through walls, can freeze water with his breath, is super powerful, can reverse time, upright with impeccable manners, everyone loves him.... talk about wish fulfilment.

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All that power doesn't bother me because it comes with its own problems. I think the 90's cartoon and Justice League Unlimited did a good job with him, especially JLU for having a realistic response of how the government would prepare if someone that powerful became a threat. Also, I think the boyscout personality is interesting when he fights people like Lobo. That kind of opponent takes Supes out of his comfort zone against someone that unpredictable and he has to go all out. Superman becomes boring in the movies because they keep focusing on his secret identity, Lex, and his romantic relationships.

I've been reading a comic about a character called Pete Wisdom, who at one point confronts a man who is holding hand grenades. To stop him blowing them up, Pete cuts off his hands with magical fire!
At that point, my own magical character who uses fire looked over my shoulder, his eyes wide, and muttered "I can't do that!" Last I saw of him, he'd taken a joint of pork into the kitchen to practice!

xYinxx said:

Thanks.

:O Ooooooo. *explores new forum*

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You should check out the cantina while you are here!

My characters have somewhat limited powers, my female MC is a shape shifter, but is limited to turning into birds, insects, or trees. My protagonist is a sociopath with psychotic tendancies and has figured out how the harness the chi of others and is growing stronger by the day. A kid I keep trying to kill off has been reincarnated due to nanobots and is slowly becoming a terror in his own right and also growing more powerful.

The rest of my characters are mere mortals, the one character his super power is his ability to think clearly and logically in all situations.

Excellent question, I'm off to see what others have written.

milkweed said:

my female MC is a shape shifter, but is limited to turning into birds, insects, or trees.

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Oh there's a lot she could do with insects! One well placed tse tse fly could kill your antag, albeit slowly. Is she restricted to just one insect or can she be a swarm/whatever? I mean, a hundred wasps/locusts/fire ants/army ants might put a real crimp in Bad Dude's day, you know?


There are some fab insects....I love the Bombardier Beetle myself.

And ofc a surprise eagle will always shake things up a bit.