Fellow Fantasy writers, how powerful are your characters?

Well, I have basically Superman. Er, Superwoman. Eh. Superman if he were a woman, I guess. Juggle planets and all that. The scale slopes down from there. Since the only superhero who's new to the trade in the story is a gadgety, super-power-less dude, they're mostly there for spectacle

xYinxx said:

I was considering making my protagonist as powerful as Superman, but I think that's boring unless the hero is interesting. For example, Spider-Man is pretty much an ant physically compared to big guys like Hulk, Thor, Superman and pretty much anybody with 100+ ton strength, but he's still one of my favorite superheroes. Hence why my superhero can lift 50 tons.

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I think that applies to anyone though. Spider-Man wouldn't be a popular character if he himself weren't interesting and the whole thing just hinged on the spider gimmick.

I have a character that uses other's lives as fuel for magic. Too many lives could tear his soul in half. The more lives you take, the more powerful the magic; the more lives you take, the harder it is to stop.

The magic itself has limits of course, but who knows how far you could go with one more life?

*takes a life*
That's it.

*takes another*
Ah, yes...power.

*takes another*
One more! I can taste it! Maybe just another...maybe...one more...bow to meeeee!

*explodes*

My MCs are relatively weak, but they deal with a set of very powerful characters. I find it much easier to write the MCs, a couple of bandits or a chasm in the road presents interesting problems for them. Occasionally the story focuses on the powerful characters, I have to create with more elaborate problems for them, ones that they can't smash to pieces or fly right over.

I feel this is a topic I could use advise on.

My WIP is set in a fantasy setting where most people inherently have considerable power over real people, some modestly, some immensely. Now a lot of people are basically saying that characters should have powers for a reason, or have flaws/shortcomings to their power.

But what about when everyone is ramped up fairly equally? Is the mindset that there's no point then? I tend to like the nuances of magic/ability/superhuman action and how characters have to contend with another.

Obviously the fact that people are somewhat stronger changes some things from the real world. Women aren't nearly as much at a physical disadvantage, for an example.

How many fantasy settings have characters who might have normal personalities/what you would expect, but are roughly at least two to three times faster, stronger, and more durable than human beings? Is this odd? Or perfectly acceptable?

In my WIP, all my MCs have a insanely high level of power. But there is a catch - magic uses up energy that you have (too many spells can leave you bone-tired) but the more powerful magic uses up their life force.

The more powerful you are, the more 'life force' you have (It's the amount of life force that you have that determines you power level) but it caps at a certain point. But with training, you can use less energy/life force with the spells you cast.

So the most powerful people are the ones who can cast the most powerful spells with the least amount of energy/life force.

Well, those are the rules for now. They may change (as they have before) as I work through my story.

My MC, a bard, doesn't have any power. His job is boosting the reputation of another character, a knight's son, who is also powerless. Basically, they travel and bluff their through tight situations. Eventually, they grow in strength but in the beginning their reputations are based on a well told story.

Dawn Wolf said:

I feel this is a topic I could use advise on.

My WIP is set in a fantasy setting where most people inherently have considerable power over real people, some modestly, some immensely. Now a lot of people are basically saying that characters should have powers for a reason, or have flaws/shortcomings to their power.

But what about when everyone is ramped up fairly equally? Is the mindset that there's no point then? I tend to like the nuances of magic/ability/superhuman action and how characters have to contend with another.

Obviously the fact that people are somewhat stronger changes some things from the real world. Women aren't nearly as much at a physical disadvantage, for an example.

How many fantasy settings have characters who might have normal personalities/what you would expect, but are roughly at least two to three times faster, stronger, and more durable than human beings? Is this odd? Or perfectly acceptable?

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I was considering doing something a lot like this, where everyone is basically superhuman as a normal level, but I found it was hard to do subtly and I didn't want to have to infodump on how unusual my world was, so I gave it up and left most of my people basically normal. Then again it wasn't the point of my story, just some side flavor, and it felt distracting, but if it was more of the point then it would have stayed in.


My cast of characters is I think too mage-heavy. I just don't like writing about warriors, knights, paladins, or any other dumb-muscle type. I do, however, have a magus who uses his power primarily to enhance his physical abilities, because he was a 40-year-old mercenary before he ever learned any magic. He's super powerful, for this world, although he won't be destroying any solar systems or anything.

I have another magus who is actually a shape-changing sentient animal; she's so powerful she can control the weather or, in an emergency, kamikaze nuke a city. Generally she does not do these things.

My favorite character gets the ability to absorb souls (and power) from people he kills... gain the abilities of other wizards, magi, and magic races... absorb ghosts... He just snowballs until he becomes the scariest thing the world's seen in a couple thousand years. And "with great power comes great insanity" I lurves him.

They have their strengths and weaknesses. No one is overpowered. Just like in life.

Eh its a bit mixed.
I have a few demons that probably are considered strong and some of my 'wizards' characters too(they're not really wizards but people that can talk to animals that can get possessed by animals spirits)
The most powerful one are this new character I'm developing is being from some netherworld that grants wishes and wrecks your day.

In my current WIP, my protagonist is also the villain. The story starts off with him at 17 years old attending his final year in an academy for the magical race in my world. He's quite the prodigy and extremely powerful for his age, but not as powerful as some of the more older and experienced characters. He makes up for that with pure cunning and wit.

I'm a huge fan of Metal Gear Solid. I know, it's not a fantasy, but I love the formula. The main character, and mostly everyone else, are just regular humans. But then there are these other characters, for the most part villains, that are results of experiementing, like gene manipulation or whatnot, perhaps a touch of supernatural. And the MC has to go up against them, using whatever means possible.

When I do get to writing my book it will be like that. Given how it's pretty much just the MC escaping, I'm looking forward to writing the fear he's experiencing as some bloodlusty maniac is trying to kill him.

My world is where mages draw energy from their air to fuel their weavings. They are limited by the amount of energy they can draw in at any one time.
My MC on the otherhand has a rare condition that she cannot draw from the air and is unable to touch anything without drawing in all their energy and killing them in the process. This makes her more powerful than those around her but it is rarely done because of the cost associated with it.

One fairly competent sorcerer, whose powers are suddenly very limited by the main problem that drives the plot.

One non-human, who did have quite significant powers, but has lost almost all of them through this same problem, and is (temporarily or otherwise) "human". And not doing a terribly good job of it.

One woman with some political power, who has magic ability (and a specific quite rare ability at that) but has refused to use it for years. During the story she is forced to start using it again.

One lad with mild psychic powers who is too scared to tell anyone else about them.

One antagonist with limited powers of sorcery but a nasty twisty devious mind and significant skill in getting others to do his dirty work for him.

One very powerful sorcerer (though no one else has quite realised this) with an even more devious mind who is not letting on to anyone else what he's capable of or what he wants. Yet.

They all have their other skills and weaknesses and character flaws, too.

My character, Jaden, can turn into a tornado with limitless magic. But he isn't immortal. Some of his enemies can penetrate through his attacks.

You know, I was thinking about this sort of thing today because I'm working on the final scenes of my current novel.

My characters started off much different then they ended up. Their journey brought growth as characters, and their power (as in abilities) varied. I have, over the last year, watched these characters I created become much more than I could have expected. Wizards. Kings. Soldiers.

I don't think the end result matters nearly as much as the journey.

Incidently, some of the most interesting superheroes are the weakest. Captain America. Hawkeye. Batman.

Remember D. P. 7? John Byrne's Next Men?

All extremely interesting.

Want to give a hero the power of superman? Make him autistic. Give him a split personality like Marvel did with Sentry.

Dare to be different.

I have a large number of superhero characters that are different from the norm. I plan to eventually use them in a story, but I have too many things to work on at this time...even though I've written a synopsis to get me started later.

xYinxx said:

Just wanted to get a discussion going. Just to start us off, I'll talk about mine. Mine vary.

My protagonist, who is a goddess, is capable of lifting 100 tons and has access to powerful magical attacks.

Another was able to defeat 1,000 swordsmen in a bloodlusted state. Think on a Naruto level of power, if you're familiar with manga.

Another is able to destroy a solar system with his weakest PSI attack.

And so forth. I'm curious to see what you guys have created.

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Interesting powers...

As noted already, having incredible powers can lead to continuity issues.

With your last guy, the one who can destroy whole solar systems just by thinking about it, I take it that he can travel instantaneously throughout the Universe. The power is of pretty limited use if you are restricted to travelling at the speed of light. [Ha - I will destroy this Solar System - Hum, just wait a year or so while I travel to the next one - now, where was I.] If he can travel anywhere, all at once, and assuming the Universe is infinite, what stops him destroying a solar system then travelling to one that is almost the same but has nicer cup cakes. What stops him being Evil?

I always had trouble with Superman. Why isn't he evil? If I was him, I'd first make sure all the Kryptonite was unobtainable then set myself up as God. People will do whatever I want. Doesn't that mean automatic goodness for everyone (in an Evil, twisted sort of way)?

And why masquarade as Clark Kent. Loise, here I am, your God. Worship me or I'll burn you with my laser vision. Don't try and run away. I can fly. And, hey, as if I really care if I kill you. You'll get old and wrinkled anyway. I live forever. I can always enslave your great grand daughter whose prettier than you. You never liked me as Clark Kent anyway.

So for me, the more powerful my characters become, the more corrupted and Evil. However, some have been burnt from too much power and now shun it.

I have a burnt out ex-queen, who can manipulate Love. In an effort to obtain the throne, she killed her lover, put her child in an orphanage and made the king fall falsely in love with her, all by magic. It gave her a bitter, false, ash filled prize. Now that her king whom she never loved is dead, she is uncertain who she is, what she wants, what she has become and how to make amends. She is very cautious in using magic ever again.

And now she is attempting to rob a bank in an effort to win the only man she really loved, the one she could never charm.

Anyway, enough about me. So why isn't Superman God?

(And yes, I know there are anti-superman comics where Superman is a USSR communist - Superman Red Son, or an old man. I find those far more interesting if not just as flawed by Superman's perfection.)

xYinxx said:

Just wanted to get a discussion going. Just to start us off, I'll talk about mine. Mine vary.

Another is able to destroy a solar system with his weakest PSI attack.

And so forth. I'm curious to see what you guys have created.

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And what happens if he accidentally dreams a solar system into destruction - 'Oopps, I really like that one an all. It's cup cakes had two cherries.' Maybe he never goes to sleep just so he doesn't. A sleep deprived solar system destroying being... whose parranoid about day dreaming... now you're talking.

Not that this is a competition or anything, but I think I have found the most powerful superhero in the Universe. I went through all my characters, comparing them in a Dragonball Z kind of fashion, you know, does the guy who can weld any two materials together with his mind beat the guy who can charm a flock of geese, and I've found my most powerful.


He only has one magical skill.


He can make it rain.




Beat that!

(Flea does snoopy happy dance )