Dealing with super strength

efreysson · Aug 11, 2009

My new, still-in-the-planning-stages fantasy trilogy features a super soldier with inhuman speed, durability, and most importantly: strength. The way I picture it now, she can snap human limbs with ease, high jump several times her own height, cleave people down the middle with her sword, and lift a grown horse over her head, just to name some examples.

What I'm kind of wondering at this stage is, well . . . just how strong is she, overall? If she can snap a human limb with ease, or crush a small rock in her hand to show off, what other feats of strength can I have her be capable of? And perhaps more importantly; what can I NOT have her capable of, if, say, she can barely lift a one-ton boulder?

I realize there aren't any real-life situations to compare to, but I'd still appreciate any theories or suggestions.

Also, I'm going to make the super strength pose a bit of a problem at times: Each super soldier needs to be specially trained to handle their strength, to avoid breaking things and people by accident. For instance, she has to be careful during sex, so as to not injure her partner.
Any suggestions for other mundane situations a superpowered person would have to approach very gently?

ChristineR · Aug 11, 2009

Well, if she lifted one ton boulders, she'd break all her own bones and tear all her muscles. So I'd say her first priority would be dealing with the medical requirements of her new enhanced bones and muscles. She probably weighs a lot more, simply because a normal weight skeleton would be too fragile, and maybe she's too huge to function in normal human spaces. Or if it's just magic giving her some sort of boost, maybe there's a way to control the boost level so that she doesn't accidentally crush her friends.

efreysson · Aug 11, 2009

ChristineR said:
Well, if she lifted one ton boulders, she'd break all her own bones and tear all her muscles. So I'd say her first priority would be dealing with the medical requirements of her new enhanced bones and muscles. She probably weighs a lot more, simply because a normal weight skeleton would be too fragile, and maybe she's too huge to function in normal human spaces. Or if it's just magic giving her some sort of boost, maybe there's a way to control the boost level so that she doesn't accidentally crush her friends.

Well, she's normal-sized, and the source of her power if magical, so I'm (OOPS; EDIT=) NOT trying to be totally scientifically accurate regarding torn ligaments and such: She's just abnormally strong all over. Maybe I could handwave it away by saying the magic effect constantly boosts and supports her anatomy.

Summonere · Aug 11, 2009

Well, I once saw the bionic man hold up the collapsing ceiling of a cave with only his super-strength bionic arm, attached to his human, all-too-human, shoulder and body, supported on his equally bionic legs. I suppose this means that whatever your super-strength character does, or cannot do, must make sense in the story.

Kind of like how that whole "Why doesn't Steve Austin's bionic arm shear off his non-bionic shoulder?" question got swept under the rug of incredulity. This simply wasn't the kind of story in which the audience really wanted to ask those questions. They were just happily along for the ride, so seeing Bigfoot in the same story made sense, too.

But if it's important to the story, you got some 'splainin to do... Probably why you posted. Man, I'm no help, today. Checking out...

ChristineR · Aug 11, 2009

Yeah, I think Summonere has it right. Think about it in terms of the story, try to feel out its internal logic, and then you can decide what she might have issues with.

I never "bought" the bionic man, for just the reasons given though.

RJK · Aug 11, 2009

Yeah, the above posters have identified the problems. If the character is built of materials that enable her to be that strong, even if they were exotic alloys, she'd be on the heavy side. No gettng on top for her.
Perhaps she could engage some force that allows her to lift or crush things, or jump high. Something that surrounds her, that she can control and project. That way, she's just a reqular Jane, until she turns on the force.

RainyDayNinja · Aug 11, 2009

Well, the women's record for the "clean and jerk" is about 400 lbs., so it looks like if your character can barely life a 1-ton boulder over her head, she's about 5 times as strong as the strongest female weightlifter. I think at that point, she could do just about anything she wants to the human body.

efreysson · Aug 11, 2009

RJK said:
Yeah, the above posters have identified the problems. If the character is built of materials that enable her to be that strong, even if they were exotic alloys, she'd be on the heavy side. No gettng on top for her.
Perhaps she could engage some force that allows her to lift or crush things, or jump high. Something that surrounds her, that she can control and project. That way, she's just a reqular Jane, until she turns on the force.

Hmm. I've considered making her abnormally dense and heavy, to make the strength seem a little more plausible. But wouldn't that make jumping difficult for her? Or would the extra strength nullify that problem?
As for her employing a field, no. I want her, and the rest of her kind, to be personally powerful at all times.

But I'm not really trying to make it all make sense, I'm just trying to figure out how to make her strength consistent, and maybe get some suggestions on everyday things she would have to approach differently than the rest of us.

efreysson · Aug 11, 2009

RainyDayNinja said:
Well, the women's record for the "clean and jerk" is about 400 lbs., so it looks like if your character can barely life a 1-ton boulder over her head, she's about 5 times as strong as the strongest female weightlifter. I think at that point, she could do just about anything she wants to the human body.

I'll have to use that as a line at some point.

"There is nothing in your body that I can't destroy with my fingers . . ."

StephanieFox · Aug 11, 2009

Fine. But can she dance?

benbradley · Aug 11, 2009

This little essay describes some of the practical and unique life problems Superman might have (it's rather explicit about sex), though it doesn't try to explain his strength:

"Man of Steel,Woman of Kleenex" by Larry Niven

http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html

efreysson said:
Hmm. I've considered making her abnormally dense and heavy, to make the strength seem a little more plausible. But wouldn't that make jumping difficult for her? Or would the extra strength nullify that problem?

I'm thinking the extra strentgh would PARTIALLY nullify it. If she's four times the strength of an ordinary woman and weighs twice as much, she can still jump twice as high.

efreysson said:
As for her employing a field, no. I want her, and the rest of her kind, to be personally powerful at all times.

But I'm not really trying to make it all make sense, I'm just trying to figure out how to make her strength consistent, and maybe get some suggestions on everyday things she would have to approach differently than the rest of us.

Nivarion · Aug 11, 2009

since you mentioned a sword I'm going to guess that its a Medieval setting.

Its quite possible for a normal person to cut through an unarmored opponent with a European sword. However, a normal person can't, or barely can, get through a breast plate. They also can't slice through chain mail.

With the added strength, she just might. Will most likely go through swords a lot
Or, if your able to pick up a ton, then you should be able to lift a 250-300 lbs fully armored knight by the ankles and use him as a leathal weapon on his friends.

She would be able to wear extra armor, making her harder to kill. Break down a castle door by herself, wearing her uber armor.

can't walk on ice, or in thin mud if you make her heavier.

Super strength has a lot of fun things that go with it. I think that's why its so common.

dgiharris · Aug 11, 2009

RJK said:
Yeah, the above posters have identified the problems. If the character is built of materials that enable her to be that strong, even if they were exotic alloys, she'd be on the heavy side. No gettng on top for her.
Perhaps she could engage some force that allows her to lift or crush things, or jump high. Something that surrounds her, that she can control and project. That way, she's just a reqular Jane, until she turns on the force.

Not necessarily. Pound for pound, aluminum alloy is LIGHTER than bone yet 10 times as strong.

Also, the strength of spider's silk is like a factor of 10,000 times stronger than its weight.

If done right, and with the right references, you can come up with a scheme to give her the same weight yet be stronger. Especially if magic is involved.

I think the main thing is consistency. One of the things that annoys me to no end is a character with a super power that later doesn't use that super power to solve a problem that is SOOOO obvious.

Lastly, the human mind/body has an incredible range with senses. We can pick up an egg shell, tissue paper, even butterfly wings without damaging it despite our immense strength in comparison to those things.

With her, she could manage her strength without crushing everything by accident. All it would take is the right training.

Mel...

hammerklavier · Aug 11, 2009

Trained knights routinely sliced completely through armored opponents: chainmail and the earlier plate armor, but not the later heavy plate armor. When that was developed crushing weapons like the mace and morning star became popular. Not to mention bows, which didn't have much trouble with armor.

However, knights were definately not "normal people", with all the heavy armor and long heavy weapons they trained with, they were the original body builders.

ChristineR · Aug 11, 2009

dgiharris said:
Not necessarily. Pound for pound, aluminum alloy is LIGHTER than bone yet 10 times as strong.

Also, the strength of spider's silk is like a factor of 10,000 times stronger than its weight.

If done right, and with the right references, you can come up with a scheme to give her the same weight yet be stronger. Especially if magic is involved.

This is what I mean by medical issues. If we transformed her bones into aluminum, then she'd have no marrow and no more red blood cells, unless you somehow rerouted the bones around. If you transformed her muscles into spider silk, her nerves wouldn't operate them properly anymore. So you're back to the original issue of whether any of this can make practical, rather than story, sense.

dgiharris · Aug 11, 2009

I'm not sure we are arguing the same point.

I was merely pointing out that there exists things that have certain strength characteristics.

Yes, we don't want to give her aluminum bones, but bones are composed of minerals correct? Calcuim is one of them. What about a mineral in this world of yours that is metallic? What if this mineral was part of her diet and her body just naturally assimulated it into her bone structure and thus her bones were quasi-metallic.

As for the spider silk. I was not proposing giving her spider silk muscle fibers. I was merely pointing out in nature that there exists a natural 'thing' that is 10,000 times stronger than its weight. So using that as an example and taking some creative license you should be able to come up with something that fits your needs.

that was my point, hope it is clearer now

Mel...

efreysson · Aug 11, 2009

dgiharris said:
If done right, and with the right references, you can come up with a scheme to give her the same weight yet be stronger. Especially if magic is involved.

I think the main thing is consistency. One of the things that annoys me to no end is a character with a super power that later doesn't use that super power to solve a problem that is SOOOO obvious.

Yeah, that's irritating. Which is why I'm going to have SO much fun with her crude but extremely effective manner of problem-solving.

Lastly, the human mind/body has an incredible range with senses. We can pick up an egg shell, tissue paper, even butterfly wings without damaging it despite our immense strength in comparison to those things.

With her, she could manage her strength without crushing everything by accident. All it would take is the right training.

Mel...

Hm. Good example. I'll probably use that as a line too.

ChristineR said:
This is what I mean by medical issues. If we transformed her bones into aluminum, then she'd have no marrow and no more red blood cells, unless you somehow rerouted the bones around. If you transformed her muscles into spider silk, her nerves wouldn't operate them properly anymore. So you're back to the original issue of whether any of this can make practical, rather than story, sense.

I'm pretty sure dgiharris was just mentioning an example, rather than suggesting a person made of silk and aluminum.
EDIT: Ah, ninja'd.

GeorgeK · Aug 12, 2009

If she has trouble toning down her strength for delicate things it would be difficult for her to cook a sunny side up egg. They'd get scrambled. Also don't let her pet a bunny. They have very fragile necks.

Smiling Ted · Aug 12, 2009

She'd have to relearn how to eat, hold a wineskin, clean herself, ride a horse.

Kalyke · Aug 12, 2009

If she's magical then she can do anything she wants without any change to her body.

efreysson · Aug 12, 2009

GeorgeK said:
If she has trouble toning down her strength for delicate things it would be difficult for her to cook a sunny side up egg. They'd get scrambled. Also don't let her pet a bunny. They have very fragile necks.

Heh. If it wouldn't clash so heavily with the tone of the book, I would now be tempted to put in slapstick-esque scenes of her interactions with people and objects:

-"Hey, you got something in your hair, let me get it . . ."(reaches over)
-"No, don't touch me-GAAAHHH! MY SCALP! GIMME BACK MY SCALP!!"

Chasing the Horizon · Aug 12, 2009

You already have a full explanation for her powers. "It's magic" is the ultimate explanation, lol.

Things that might be a problem for a person with super-strength:
She could accidentally shatter glass or ceramic cups/plates when she picks them up.
She could bend her silverware into bizarre shapes while trying to eat.
She could break the knobs off doors when trying to open them.
She could accidentally shatter/destroy an object when setting it down.
She could bang the table to get someone's attention and accidentally break the wooden slab in half.
She could tear her hair out while trying to brush it (assuming it isn't attached with extra strong roots) or tear her clothes while trying to get dressed.
She could grab someone's arm to keep them from running into danger and accidentally break their arm.

Also, unless the weapons are enchanted or made from a super-strong alloy of some kind, she's likely to bust them to pieces while trying to fight.

Dealing with super strength

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