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41
Original Characters / Guide: Balancing Powers & Abilities
2015 Mar 14, 20:31:42
Disclaimer: This is my own personal guide book when applying powers to OCs. This is merely opinion and should not be taken as law. You may have different processes as well as boundaries, which is fine. Your OCs may not fit with the power limits, but if their story is well written enough, it can be balanced. But then again, anything, if well written can be acceptable. This guide applies to OCs in general, not just pony OCs.
If you're reading this, then you're probably here for one of the following:
Powers
What to think about in terms of supernatural powers
Powers can be a key trait in an OC to differentiate itself from other OCs. It can treated as either a natural talent or something that's unique to them. They can quite useful not only in combat but also outside of it when your OC is in a situation where they require certain attributes. For example, they can use magic or telekinesis to grab a set of keys outside of their jail cell. Powers are not limited to combat, but also to minor tasks or just for some fun. So something such as mind reading may get a couple of laughs when interacting with other characters. So when you're applying powers to your new OC, keep in mind not only the scale of it, but also how they will use it in the future in terms of escaping situations and how they will use them in terms of social interaction. Not only that, but also keep the theme of your OC consistent. What I mean by this is that their power should match their personality and/or back story. So a power befitting a thief OC would be along the lines of illusion, darkness, and speed due to their occupation. But this does mean that all thieves must have them. It can also depend on what their backstory is. For example, a young farmer boy may be gifted in fire magic, but becomes a thief to help pay for his family. The possibilities of combinations are endless so long as the story for why the power matches the character makes sense. In the case of the fire-magic wielding thief, he may use fire to create panic in one part of town as a distraction while he sweeps a nearby house of valuables (but is not limited to just as a diversionary tactic).
What about natural abilities like strength and agility?
These are perfectly fine to use so long as they're within the boundaries of mortals. Allow me to clarify, they can be physically stronger than their peers, but as strong as Hercules (Greek god). They can be as fast as rabbit, but not as fast as The Flash (super hero). How strong or agile they are should depend on their story from how they attained it and how they train to keep it. Now say that your character can bend metal and maybe even throw cars. Here is where we get into the restriction section of this guide.
Restrictions
Physical Constraints
It can be simple as that. You can limit your OCs powers with physical constraints such as exhaustion. Everyone has a limit on what they can do, but not in the same way. For example, human characters with super strength can easily be constrained with physical limitations from muscle exhaustion, overheating, dehydration, or even physical conditions like asthma. Making your OC a cripple also helps balance out their power and may even boost them in character development. Other more permanent constraints may also be birth defects (ie deformed limbs). So afflicting an agile OC who is a master at parkour with random leg muscle cramps will definitely set a limit on how much they can move, thus rendering them with little to no power when they are at their maximum threshold. Another example is when they've been hopping over rooftops and swinging on cables for so long that it triggers their asthma, thus placing them into a vulnerable state and forcing them to rest.
Mental Constraints
Personally, I highly recommend using mental constraints over physical constraints as they are much stronger for character development and sometimes require deep analysis in order to be detected by others. They are more arduous to overcome and can be just as permanent as being crippled. Mental constraints are more effective in balancing physical powers as they give your OC more in depth scenarios. For example, your OC can easily defeat and then slay a dragon in order to claim a massive bounty, but refuses to kill it because it would be against your OCs morals or because they can't bring themselves to take a life. Now, in this situation of refusing to slay the dragon, it can work both ways. They refuse to kill it because they're not strong enough to do it or hey're strong enough not to. Other factors may apply too such as backstory, empathy, and maybe even special situations.
Here's a sample situation:
Daniel is an orphan who has struggled throughout his childhood because he didn't have the comfort of a parent. Now, fast forward about 20 years where he has children of his own. One day, his children becomes ill and but he cannot afford the medicine to cure them. The king has placed a bounty on a dragon who is dwelling in a nearby cave. The bounty is more than enough to pay for their children's medicine and on top of that, Daniel is more than capable to slay the dragon. Fast forward to the scene where the dragon is at his mercy. Right as he is about to end the dragon, he spots 2 hatchlings hiding in the back of the cave. Because he knows how painful it was to be an orphan, he empathizes with the hatchlings and spares their mother. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.
In an alternate situation:
In this one Daniel was not an orphan and practiced hunting in the woods. One day, he takes down a wolf in order to claim the bounty on her. A few days later, he finds out that the wolf was a mother of 2 now orphaned pups. He realizes the pain he has caused and regrets his actions. From that day on, he refused to pick up his sword in fear of causing more pain to the innocent. Fast forward to where his children are ill and the mother dragon has a bounty on her. In this situation, he refuses to slay the mother because he doesn't want to experience the guilt he did when he slew the mother wolf. Daniel does not want to repeat the past. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.
Mental Constraints vs Physical Constraints
As stated earlier, mental constraints are more effective at portraying and conveying your OC as it shows the background as well as the internal motive of your OC. Compared to a physical constraint, which can sometimes be cured using third-party influences such as medicine or artificial limbs, mental constraints take root within the mind and as a result, are much harder to overcome, especially if your character is afflicted by stubbornness. In the situation where your OC receives the option to receive limit-breaker for their constraints, physical conditions can be removed quickly as opposed to mental constraints which must be carefully pulled by the roots. While physical constraints can give your character a form of vulnerability (ie unable to walk), mental constraints give a different form of vulnerability. Allow me to elaborate, compare an OC who cannot walk and an OC who is a coward. Both of them are armed with a sword, but neither can defend themselves from incoming hostiles unless special conditions are met. You may even associate both constraints if you please. For example, you can have a super strong OC who cannot tap into his strength because of his lack of confidence in his own abilities. A mental barrier is also causing a physical barrier and can also be vice versa if you can write it.
If you're reading this, then you're probably here for one of the following:
- I'm creating a new OC, but I need help balancing them out.
- I want to read this to review and better my own OCs.
- I'm just interested in your opinion on the matter.
Powers
- Do: common magic such as ordinary fireballs, healing cuts and bruises, above average strength, create a sword, acrobatics and lightning reflexes
- Don't: call down a meteor, revive the dead, throw buildings, create an endless armory of swords to rain down upon their enemies, moves faster than light
What to think about in terms of supernatural powers
Powers can be a key trait in an OC to differentiate itself from other OCs. It can treated as either a natural talent or something that's unique to them. They can quite useful not only in combat but also outside of it when your OC is in a situation where they require certain attributes. For example, they can use magic or telekinesis to grab a set of keys outside of their jail cell. Powers are not limited to combat, but also to minor tasks or just for some fun. So something such as mind reading may get a couple of laughs when interacting with other characters. So when you're applying powers to your new OC, keep in mind not only the scale of it, but also how they will use it in the future in terms of escaping situations and how they will use them in terms of social interaction. Not only that, but also keep the theme of your OC consistent. What I mean by this is that their power should match their personality and/or back story. So a power befitting a thief OC would be along the lines of illusion, darkness, and speed due to their occupation. But this does mean that all thieves must have them. It can also depend on what their backstory is. For example, a young farmer boy may be gifted in fire magic, but becomes a thief to help pay for his family. The possibilities of combinations are endless so long as the story for why the power matches the character makes sense. In the case of the fire-magic wielding thief, he may use fire to create panic in one part of town as a distraction while he sweeps a nearby house of valuables (but is not limited to just as a diversionary tactic).
What about natural abilities like strength and agility?
These are perfectly fine to use so long as they're within the boundaries of mortals. Allow me to clarify, they can be physically stronger than their peers, but as strong as Hercules (Greek god). They can be as fast as rabbit, but not as fast as The Flash (super hero). How strong or agile they are should depend on their story from how they attained it and how they train to keep it. Now say that your character can bend metal and maybe even throw cars. Here is where we get into the restriction section of this guide.
Restrictions
Physical Constraints
It can be simple as that. You can limit your OCs powers with physical constraints such as exhaustion. Everyone has a limit on what they can do, but not in the same way. For example, human characters with super strength can easily be constrained with physical limitations from muscle exhaustion, overheating, dehydration, or even physical conditions like asthma. Making your OC a cripple also helps balance out their power and may even boost them in character development. Other more permanent constraints may also be birth defects (ie deformed limbs). So afflicting an agile OC who is a master at parkour with random leg muscle cramps will definitely set a limit on how much they can move, thus rendering them with little to no power when they are at their maximum threshold. Another example is when they've been hopping over rooftops and swinging on cables for so long that it triggers their asthma, thus placing them into a vulnerable state and forcing them to rest.
Mental Constraints
Personally, I highly recommend using mental constraints over physical constraints as they are much stronger for character development and sometimes require deep analysis in order to be detected by others. They are more arduous to overcome and can be just as permanent as being crippled. Mental constraints are more effective in balancing physical powers as they give your OC more in depth scenarios. For example, your OC can easily defeat and then slay a dragon in order to claim a massive bounty, but refuses to kill it because it would be against your OCs morals or because they can't bring themselves to take a life. Now, in this situation of refusing to slay the dragon, it can work both ways. They refuse to kill it because they're not strong enough to do it or hey're strong enough not to. Other factors may apply too such as backstory, empathy, and maybe even special situations.
Here's a sample situation:
Daniel is an orphan who has struggled throughout his childhood because he didn't have the comfort of a parent. Now, fast forward about 20 years where he has children of his own. One day, his children becomes ill and but he cannot afford the medicine to cure them. The king has placed a bounty on a dragon who is dwelling in a nearby cave. The bounty is more than enough to pay for their children's medicine and on top of that, Daniel is more than capable to slay the dragon. Fast forward to the scene where the dragon is at his mercy. Right as he is about to end the dragon, he spots 2 hatchlings hiding in the back of the cave. Because he knows how painful it was to be an orphan, he empathizes with the hatchlings and spares their mother. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.
In an alternate situation:
In this one Daniel was not an orphan and practiced hunting in the woods. One day, he takes down a wolf in order to claim the bounty on her. A few days later, he finds out that the wolf was a mother of 2 now orphaned pups. He realizes the pain he has caused and regrets his actions. From that day on, he refused to pick up his sword in fear of causing more pain to the innocent. Fast forward to where his children are ill and the mother dragon has a bounty on her. In this situation, he refuses to slay the mother because he doesn't want to experience the guilt he did when he slew the mother wolf. Daniel does not want to repeat the past. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.
Mental Constraints vs Physical Constraints
As stated earlier, mental constraints are more effective at portraying and conveying your OC as it shows the background as well as the internal motive of your OC. Compared to a physical constraint, which can sometimes be cured using third-party influences such as medicine or artificial limbs, mental constraints take root within the mind and as a result, are much harder to overcome, especially if your character is afflicted by stubbornness. In the situation where your OC receives the option to receive limit-breaker for their constraints, physical conditions can be removed quickly as opposed to mental constraints which must be carefully pulled by the roots. While physical constraints can give your character a form of vulnerability (ie unable to walk), mental constraints give a different form of vulnerability. Allow me to elaborate, compare an OC who cannot walk and an OC who is a coward. Both of them are armed with a sword, but neither can defend themselves from incoming hostiles unless special conditions are met. You may even associate both constraints if you please. For example, you can have a super strong OC who cannot tap into his strength because of his lack of confidence in his own abilities. A mental barrier is also causing a physical barrier and can also be vice versa if you can write it.
Spoiler: Example from my own OC • show
42
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 14, 15:59:19Quote from: Midnight Breeze on 2015 Mar 14, 14:21:34
Bronies who act like coming out of the brony closet is some kind of big courageous act. Melodramatic much? Get real, folks. It's no big deal, really. As someone who never hid it from anyone to start with, I can say telling others about it goes a little something like this:
^This. So much this.
Those moments when someone is being a massive jerk and yelling at everyone. During those times, I become conflicted between either controlling myself from throwing logs into the fire or shoving a tree into the fire in hopes of smothering it out.
43
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 09, 19:36:55
Making OC (Original Content) as a present for someone:
Me: Phew, finally done. I hope they like it! *Sends*
Moments later...
Me: Wait...I just realized there was an error, new ways to improve it, and they might end up hating it based on those two.... *Panics and looks for an unsend button*
Me: NO! NO! NO! HOW DO I UNSEND?!
Me: Phew, finally done. I hope they like it! *Sends*
Moments later...
Me: Wait...I just realized there was an error, new ways to improve it, and they might end up hating it based on those two.... *Panics and looks for an unsend button*
Me: NO! NO! NO! HOW DO I UNSEND?!
44
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 08, 01:51:59Spoiler: Alot of Text • show
TL;DR Human Stupidity is the reason why I believe in natural selection.
45
Video Games / Re: Most annoying things in video games
2015 Mar 07, 20:56:06Quote from: Midnight Breeze on 2015 Mar 07, 19:34:25
That game must have been Korean.
Actually, they're Japanese. I spent hours studying, farming, and raising the perfect team composition to get through the boss's stage. Then when the minions were out of the way, the boss himself was the equivalent of walking in a mine field.
When the overseas version of a game is 20 updates/1-year ahead of the NA version. All of the unreleased content teases me.
46
Video Games / Re: Most annoying things in video games
2015 Mar 07, 19:32:44
Grinding down a boss for hours only to end up dying from a misclick and lose all the progress.
47
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 05, 10:18:02Quote from: Chishio Kunrin on 2015 Mar 05, 09:42:58
Some guy tried to sue Applebee's because he got burned by the grease from the fajitas he ordered because he leaned his head down too close to them right after the waitress put the plate on the table. Thankfully, the court was like "Y'know, that was a pretty obvious danger, so we're not letting you sue them because this is just stupid."
It's like if someone orders a hot coffee, spills it on themselves, and then tries to sue because "That coffee burned me! You should've warned me that the hot coffee I ordered was really hot!"
No. Use common sense. If thing is hot, be careful because thing will burn you. You should know that. You learned that as a kid when your mom was like "No, don't touch this, it's very hot and will hurt you." It's why you don't touch fire. It's why you use oven mitts when you take a thing out of the oven. It's why you let freshly-cooked food cool or blow on it before you stick it in your mouth. The server doesn't need to tell you that food that just came from the kitchen is super hot, especially if it's covered in sizzling, popping grease that you can actually see and hear sizzling and popping.
Spoiler: Burn • show
When someone you watch is livestreaming, but you don't have time to watch them.
48
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 03, 19:13:23
The type of people who, when offended, make a huge deal out of it and goes out of their way to "make sure something right is done." If you are browsing content (youtube, forums, tumblr , etc) and you see something that offends you, just scroll past it, block it, mute it, unfollow the OP, exit the site, close the window, JUST LEAVE. No one is whispering into your ear, "You have to do something about this injustice!" Unless the offense was intentionally made to promote negativity, JUST LEAVE.
49
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Mar 02, 20:15:19
How someone people don't understand that people who live in geographically different locations tend to have different tastes (speaking from personal experience). Most of the people I know who live outside of the east or pacific coast dislike seafood, which is ok. But if you come to the east coast to visit, expect to see raw fish and live crabs everywhere.
50
Video Games / Re: Most annoying things in video games
2015 Mar 02, 11:09:01Quote from: Chromastone64 on 2015 Mar 02, 10:48:31
I actually sided with Stormcloaks, mainly because I hated those Aldmeri (I think that was their name)
I sided with them so that I can get the Hjerim.
Finally saving enough money to purchase an item on the free market/auction house only to find out it got inflated.
51
Off-Topic / Re: Today's Smile
2015 Feb 28, 18:46:24
I finally got to finishing the first chapter for my (non-pony) OC's (very long) story. Now to get to the other 4...
52
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 27, 18:06:22
I make a joke about topic A. From that point on, everyone is confused on my actual stance on it no matter what I say in the future.
53
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 25, 16:13:17
Work: Alright, Saiko, that's all for today! You can go home now!
Me: Finally! *anxiously awaits comfort on the way home*
Me: *Walks through the front doors*
Responsibilities: Sup.
Me: Finally! *anxiously awaits comfort on the way home*
Me: *Walks through the front doors*
Responsibilities: Sup.
54
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 24, 20:55:00Spoiler: Example • show
But in all seriousness, it pains me so much when another group is being stereotyped based on untrue facts or when people generalize a negative stereotype to an entire group and then question why I'm refuse to join in the slanderization or defend them.
Being a natural comedian is sometimes annoying.
65% of the time, people don't think I'm being serious.
20% of the time, people get that I'm serious.
15% of the time, they laughing so hard that they can't breathe.
55
Video Games / Re: What are you currently playing?
2015 Feb 24, 15:44:04
56
Off-Topic / Re: Today's Smile
2015 Feb 23, 20:44:2457
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 22, 21:48:15
Me greeting a close friend: "Hey, walking garbage, get out of my vicinity!"
What strangers assume: "This guy is such a jerk! They shouldn't talk to him at all!"
What my greetings meant: "Hey, I know you so well that I feel comfortable insulting you as a joke because we're close enough that I know you won't get offended and maybe return the thought with a similar greeting."
Close friends means we're comfortable enough to insult each other knowing neither of us will take it seriously.
What strangers assume: "This guy is such a jerk! They shouldn't talk to him at all!"
What my greetings meant: "Hey, I know you so well that I feel comfortable insulting you as a joke because we're close enough that I know you won't get offended and maybe return the thought with a similar greeting."
Close friends means we're comfortable enough to insult each other knowing neither of us will take it seriously.
58
Off-Topic / Re: Today's Smile
2015 Feb 20, 20:43:38Quote from: Ramisha on 2015 Feb 20, 17:02:48
(does that too)
so, uh...you can pick classes you will take?
Wait, are classes not optional outside of America?
Side Note: Fine Arts Schools ftw! (3rd year for me)
Day two of the New Lunar Year: still celebrating with the family.
59
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 17, 18:52:45Quote from: Ramisha on 2015 Feb 17, 13:57:16
I got a grade much higher than I deserved now I feel so stupid
Don't feel stupid, feel lucky. Getting away with something that only benefits you is a great feeling.
Spoiler: Example • show
People who have no sense of humor and especially the humor-less ones who also come with a "Offended by every small/harmless joke" trait.
60
Off-Topic / Re: Dumb things that annoy you
2015 Feb 11, 15:55:11
People who are offended by everything.
When someone posts an achievement they accomplished to motivate others who were once in the same situation to resolve it.
When someone posts an achievement they accomplished to motivate others who were once in the same situation to resolve it.
Spoiler: Example • show