# Creating superpower limitations



## theoddone

I'm working on a story about some characters who are genetically altered and gain "superpowers". The powers they obtain are human disease resistance, endless cell regeneration, greater resistance to harm (being able to withstand more physical abuse), and telekinesis. Of course, I promise, in the story, I will word this much much better.

In this story, there are three characters who obtain these powers, and then there is a fourth character who has had them for a couple hundred years. Naturally, I want to show a tremendous difference in the younger characters and the matured one. How quickly their cells regenerate is not something that will change much as they grow older; however, their telekinesis, I believe, will definitely change. So, it would make sense that the older character is far more powerful than the younger ones.

At the moment, the main thought that has come to mind would be that the younger characters cannot do as much at once as the older one can. For example, a less experienced individual would not be able to lift a million bricks at once, whereas the more experienced could completely dismantle a house in a matter of seconds.

Does that seem like a logical limitation? Am I missing something else that should be obvious?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## TJ1985

That seems like a good tactic. You might use a "they must learn to focus the power before it can be fully potent." I know, it's a slight take from Jedi, but it makes sense to me.


----------



## Morkonan

theoddone said:


> ...Does that seem like a logical limitation? Am I missing something else that should be obvious?..



You've got the right idea!

Any magical or "superpower" like ability is defined by its _limitations_. That's important for a story. You can't have characters who are instantly able to solve any problem they encounter by snapping their fingers and saying "Abracadabra." Yes, you're on the right track.

But, explore this idea of limitations, further. Go deeper and as complex as your story's setting allows. So, think on this telekinesis ability, for instance - What limitations could you add that would truly make this fourth character a Power in his world?

Telekinesis moves things. OK, you've got mass as the limitation. But, readers who are going to like your genre will also like "complexity" in your "magic system." Just having one limitation might seem too simple for them. What can we do with telekinesis that adds to the complexity of it, not only in its limitations, but the uses that those limitations act upon? 

Here's an example of a think-through. It's just meant to feed your imagination.

Telekinesis moves things. It's limitations might be:

1) You can only move mass equitable to your power's strength.
2) You can only move what you can see.
3) You can only move non-sentient objects.
4) You must concentrate in order to achieve telekinesis, relative to the expenditure of your Power. A powerful practitioner may move multiple objects up to the mass that they can handle. But, the more objects they move in different ways, regardless of mass, the more they must concentrate.
5) Just like an athlete will expend themselves during strenuous competition, a telekinetic will expend themselves during vigorous use of their Power. When they approach the limits of their Power, they must rest to regain it. If they continue past a certain point, they risk severe injury or death.
6) The use of telekinetic abilities threatens the fabric of existence! Because the practitioner manipulates mass, they manipulate gravity. Some believe that there is a point past which the fabric of reality could be torn or mangled in unthinkable ways. However, no practitioner has reached this level of mastery or Power....yet.
7) Two practitioners who struggle against each other, using this ability, place themselves in peril. The forces act to multiple their efforts, rapidly increasing the amount of concentration and Power necessary to maintain their efforts. It is common for participants in contests of will to fall unconscious. Some have even been driven mad...
8) etc..

OK, now you have some limitations and such that increase the depth of this ability. You can play with these "rules" of your magic-system to produce interesting situations for your reader. Your reader will enjoy a bit of theorizing on your telekinetic hijinks, but only if they have a logical framework to play with. Provide that framework and the experience you're communicating to your reader will be much richer. 

But, where does this power come from? Your reader is going to eventually want to know that. If that, itself, is a plot-piece, so much the better. But, if it's not, then you should probably make some attempt to provide an answer for the reader. Providing that answer can also help you determine what other limitations you can place on your magic-system/Powers.

For instance, Superman has lots of superpowers, right? Where do they come from? Wiki-Superman's Powers - That's a very detailed list of stuff, isn't it? A great deal of Superman's powers come from the interaction of his body and the Sun. So, let's say that's where they all come from, just for the sake of this example.

If we determine that, like Superman, your super-powerful humans get their power from exposure to the Sun, you can add even more complexity to your magic-system.

1) If the practitioner isn't exposed to the Sun during a twenty-four hour period, their telekinetic powers will diminish.
2) Exposure to certain other radiation sources could hamper their telekinetic ability. Strong microwave radar has been shown to hinder a telekinetic's ability, drastically reducing the Power that they can manifest.
3) Contact with certain heavy elements, like iron, has shown to increase/decrease a telekinetic's capability in certain situations. It's is thought that these heavy elements act to amplify/reduce the telekinetic's ability to manifest their Power.
4) etc..

So, you wish to make this Fourth Character truly powerful, right? Take a look at the limitations above and those effected by the origin of this Power. Now, start crossing some of them off the list of limitations for this powerful Fourth Character. Reduce the impact of some of them, but still leave them present, just so your Fourth Character doesn't end up "breaking" your magic system. It's important that your extremely powerful character must still obey some of the most sensible and "logical" restrictions, at least to a point. No telekinetic or "magic" character should ever be allowed to exist that is completely free of the limitations of the magic system you have constructed. Once that happens, your magic-system will fall apart and it will be useless to you. So, make sure that, no matter this character's extreme power, the character _must_ also have limitations and vulnerabilities.


By thinking in terms of Limitations and even Origins, you can work out a fairly complex and intriguing magic-system. When you have reader's arguing, amongst themselves, who would best who in a contest or how certain situations could effect certain types of results, you'll know that you've done a good job at creating a magic-system that enhances your story and that readers enjoy. 

Note: These are just examples of how one can delve deeper into their magic-system and what sorts of things one can use in order to enhance it and to make it interesting, providing a rich addition to the story.


----------



## John Galt

For the body strength one: 
A wave of fatigue/pain when the power's turned off. 
A lack of sensibility about your body's actual condition (ie over-confidence/estimation).
What makes them "strong"? Is it bone density, muscle strength, or even affecting the outside world? I always find it useful to ask what causes power X. 
On cell generation: Perhaps the generation isn't perfect. Some people could end up with mounds of flesh/limbs don't function at all etc. Or even a condition (caused by overuse or something) that removes the users ability to control it sufficiently, resulting in monstrous deformities.
On tele: Fatigue, I feel, is overdone (but don't let that stop you from using it!), and if it's used, there should be additional ones. 
Erosion of the mind is a potential one. Perhaps using the power forces the user to stop bloodflow to the brain and that'd obviously be a problem. That could be extended to other mental functions too; loss of mobility/senses to use that part of the brain for magic. Naturally, doing that too much could result in permanent loss of function. 
On disease resistance: You specified human disease, so cross-species ones would be lethal more quickly; ie the body's optimized to combat a set of diseases, but is helpless (more than usual) to foreign ones. That also brings in evolutionary logic too; if one group, say the native americans, isn't exposed to a disease (but have the magic disease resistance generally), they'd have an extra vulnerability because their environment didn't contain that disease. 
Perhaps the thing that removes disease could remove a "friendly" bacteria accidentally and cause several health issues. 
Those're just a few off the top of my head. Note: Apologies for poor grammar/spelling/formatting, I write this from phone.


----------



## OddEvy

The impact on their mind/outlooks. How they view the world, their place in it and their interactions with it. 

If you can heal from most any injury that should over time make them far more brazen because they no longer have that fear of pain or death. This can in turn become a weakness or an exploit that leaves the characters more readily lured into traps or so forth.

Telekinesis? How would your perception of your environments change if you knew you could move all of it with just some thinking and focus? Would you start viewing the individual parts? Unscrewing a nail to use as weapon? Dismantling buildings/doors/whatever by undoing those supports, etc. Or would you just see everything as one big obstacle that you simply break through haphazardly? Could start off that way, with the younger characters actually showing more raw power than the older one. Breaking down entire walls or so on, sending things flying because they lack the experienced perspective of how everything is connected. So as they mature they actually become more restrained - and more lethal. 

Things like that. They aren't outright weaknesses in the sense of, say, certain elements injuring them or so on. Rather its all in their perceptions of the world and how they view and think. A regular person granted powers would think of them, and the world around them with the context of their powers, radically different than a centuries old master would.


----------



## Ashley87

Limitations - same as any human. 

A track & field athlete whom is top of the world still has injuries, still has colds, still needs energy and sleep to feel good & perform 100%. 

Garry Kasparov & Bobby Fischer didn't pick up chess pieces and start beating people whom had years [or decades] of experience. They were naturally skilled however they had to be trained & work to perfect their game. 


That's one thing I didn't like about the X-Men films - and things like Mutant X, etc. - they seem to ignore the fact that their "superheroes" are human and are just as mortal [for some at least]. 


It sounds almost like mutant vampires - same sort of concept ... the older the vamp, the more powerful. 


It's workable but unless you want to make the old one - and how does he / she come to be if the others are from gene altering - a god he/she is mortal too.


----------



## K.S. Crooks

For any type of special abilities, whether you call it magic, super powers or something else, it is important for the author to know which characters can obtain the powers, how they get them, can the powers be taken away, what are the limitations of the magic/powers and what can other characters do to defeat the people with these abilities. 
Know what you want your characters to be able to do and their goals. Consider the obstacles you want them to face. The more powerful you make the magic/powers the more important the ways to counter them. It is all about being able to defeat people with powers. Whether they are being used for good or evil, otherwise the person with them always wins, which means a boring story.

For each category of superpower think of the weakest level and the highest level you want the characters to have. For instance:
Disease Resistance- Common Cold and Influenza --> Ebola and H.I.V.
Cell Regeneration- Can be a time frame change from taking a week fix a broken arm --> taking only an hour.
                           Can change what can be regenerated from only the skin --> regenerating nerves or an entire organ.
Resistance to Harm- Can withstand a normal punch and kick --> cannot be cut or break bones from conventional weapons. (you need to be careful with this one. 
                               If the character cannot be harmed then what danger are they ever in. Remember that they still need to breath, so drowning and suffocation are options.)
Telekinesis- Weight is an easy way to do this. They can only lift with their mind what they can physically lift --> lift 10x more.

Hope this helps.


----------

