Story Power Ideas

[GruntLordRyan]

This is a thread to share ideas for fictional powers, ones that exist already in fiction and even CYOAs. Post ideas have others help refine them. Looking for something that exists and even share stories using said powers.

They can be superpowers, magic, martial arts, etc.

 

[GruntLordRyan]

I'm looking for help to refine 2 powers for potential stories or for others to use.

First is a variant of plains walking im currently calling fiction walker until I find something better to call it.

The power is the ability to travel through the multiverse/omniverse but can only do it through fictional materials like video games, books, comics, manga, aime, TV shows, movies, ttrpgs, etc. The ability to gather powers, artifacts, gear, vehicles, etc. But it comes with a cost. For powers and abilities gained only from birth one must insert into a character be they main, side, or background characters. Otherwise one must learn or gain it the natural way.

Inserting as a video game character gives you their power system of status menus and abilities, like gamer.

Pros - gaining powers, gear, vehicles, waifus/husbandonos etc. Even permanently leaving original world.

Cons - mental/soul corruption as inserting into characters gives you their body, memories and experiences. Continued stacking causes lose of self. Also inserting as characters fuses bodies/appearance etc( example think destiny guardian Awoken, with potters scar and green eyes, along with quality horns and inquisition mark)

I'm not sure what rules there should be for companions/party members. You could possibly insert them along with you in other characters etc.

Also vehicles, ships, etc. Must you be riding it? Own it? Can you take a fleet or army with you?

Should I have a variant of linds system like plains walker summoning from magic the gathering?

Will post 2nd idea in a bit as I'm working night shift.

 

[GruntLordRyan]

2nd idea is an inspired inventor build
Its for a story idea where mc is reincarnated by the sith god that created the sith race and the dark side of the force about 30 to 50 years before prequels. Sith God is a equivalent of morgoth from lots. He is marked by this on his soul and body as a sithari as all past ones have. Only known one is Adas and theory of either Darth vitiate or Bane being one.

I was thinking of sparks being given once a month increasing until once a week by age 20.

What rules should I set for inspired inventor as there are many variants out there. I was also thinking of being more realistic on build time then being overpowered of the bat. As everything takes time to build.

 

[Soupervan]

Cons - mental/soul corruption as inserting into characters gives you their body, memories and experiences. Continued stacking causes lose of self. Also inserting as characters fuses bodies/appearance etc( example think destiny guardian Awoken, with potters scar and green eyes, along with quality horns and inquisition mark)

Also vehicles, ships, etc. Must you be riding it? Own it? Can you take a fleet or army with you?

Click to shrink...

The cons seem on the harsh side- I'd adjust it so the other person's memories and personality are only a problem until MC fullfills whatever the person's request is, let the MC go to bodies that have been murdered and have to find out who done it and bring them to justice, those driven to suicide and have to live a happy fullfilling life- perhaps with the winning condition being getting rich or getting married- let those that died before becoming rich and famous need to become the greatest scientist, actor, and such. It'd not only lessen the con but give your story some additional plot.

As for taking stuff with you... Why not an inventory that grows slowly with each person you possess having their wish fullfilled, maybe a square foot per world, that way you have to have your character carefully figure out what's most valuable to bring along, whether it be gold or some super rare metal only in that world, USB drives full of scientific knowledge/books and other media to use or sell at need, the best handgun you can have custom made with a very limited number of bullets, and so on, another interesting addition for your story so long as you avoid worlds that would allow you to cheat the inventory. (Naruto for sealing scrolls, a cultivation world for a space ring, DBZ for capsules and such things would need to be out until near the end of your story)

 

[GruntLordRyan]

The cons seem on the harsh side- I'd adjust it so the other person's memories and personality are only a problem until MC fullfills whatever the person's request is, let the MC go to bodies that have been murdered and have to find out who done it and bring them to justice, those driven to suicide and have to live a happy fullfilling life- perhaps with the winning condition being getting rich or getting married- let those that died before becoming rich and famous need to become the greatest scientist, actor, and such. It'd not only lessen the con but give your story some additional plot.

As for taking stuff with you... Why not an inventory that grows slowly with each person you possess having their wish fullfilled, maybe a square foot per world, that way you have to have your character carefully figure out what's most valuable to bring along, whether it be gold or some super rare metal only in that world, USB drives full of scientific knowledge/books and other media to use or sell at need, the best handgun you can have custom made with a very limited number of bullets, and so on, another interesting addition for your story so long as you avoid worlds that would allow you to cheat the inventory. (Naruto for sealing scrolls, a cultivation world for a space ring, DBZ for capsules and such things would need to be out until near the end of your story)

Click to shrink...

Nice idea! But what do you mean by possessing those that died and fulfilling something? Could you give me a example? Do you mean a au reality or an outsider trying to fix a story/reality to their preference?

 

[Soupervan]

Nice idea! But what do you mean by possessing those that died and fulfilling something? Could you give me a example? Do you mean a au reality or an outsider trying to fix a story/reality to their preference?

Click to shrink...

Guess I didn't describe it well, I'll try again.

It's seen often in light novels, where in the protagonist gets a system- a higher dimensional computer program housed directly in their soul or something of the sort- that sends them from world to world.

They get placed into the target person- usually it's by theme, they get sent to the heroes of the story, the cannon fodders, the vicious step mothers- then in exchange for getting to live in that body- and sometimes also in exchange for things like luck or power from that world- they have to fulfill the body's last wish, their obsession.

Said wish can be anything at all- just find a character that died, wanted to die, or that you want your MC to become and kill them off then consider what they'd wish for. For example: Tony Stark could be killed by the terrorists instead of captured and want revenge, the system senses that and offers him a deal, allow the transmigrator to live his life and he'll get his revenge. Then the MC becomes Tony Stark and has to kill the terrorists and whoever sent them after him, becoming him just before his death or maybe you'd wake up in that terrorist cave and have to use your prior skills- or his- to fullfill his wish, with him yakking in your head until you send the terrorists and ole Obie to their deaths.

If you want to read more examples- as in the actual stories, light novels like that are generally called 'quick wear', so googling 'quick wear light novels' ought to do, they're not all exactly as I've described but the majority are close enough- sometimes they've got to either follow or destroy the plot, ruin cannon pairings, and do all sorts of weird things instead of fullfilling the hosts wish though, still it's good stuff for a world hopping fanfic writer to read.

 

[humon]

When it comes to jumping between fictional worlds, I would lean into the fictional aspect of it. Such a power would never make any sense when framed in real world terms, but it works as something that takes place entirely within a shared mindspace that the man-of-culture protagonist shares with other people who are similar to himself. Think of it like Last Action Hero meets Sword Art Online and Shadowrun. In order to enter a world and possess a character, he must first do his research on that character, reading all of the fiction that was written or produced in that world. His ability to manifest powers depends on his knowledge of how they manifested in canon, and this could lead to plotlines where he has to track down rare early prints of a comic book or collector's edition content in order to get an edge over a rival who has the same fiction-walking abilities. He might need to play a video game and figure out how to access a secret level, that sort of thing (although streaming might ruin this line of plotting, if he can just watch someone else do it). A battle between rival fiction-walkers may come down to some obscure knowledge about the mechanics of a particular setting, or some special fanon or retcon that gives one strategy an edge over the other (like all the myriad Batman vs Superman scenarios--"If I pick Superman, I know the other guy is gonna go for a kryptonite batarang, so how can I disarm him at a distance before he can throw it?"--and then the guy who picked Batman flips the script entirely by putting a kryptonite hood ornament on the Bat-Plane).

one must insert into a character

Click to shrink...

....ehehehehehe....
Wonder Woman said, "What the hell was that?", and the Invisible Man said, "I don't know, but my ass hurts like hell"


To bring up an interesting power that I encountered in fiction, there's a VN out there called Wayfarer, where the world is full of magic and much of society's infrastructure depends on magic to function, but the protagonist's power is that he's one of the few natural mutants in the world who are completely immune to all magic. The downside is that he can't use magical healing and has to be very skilled in conventional medicine to keep himself alive. The upside is that he can walk right through security wards, shrug off fireballs and lightning bolts, be completely invisible to magical sensors, and so forth. In the game, he and a fellow mutant are hired for a heist job, to steal a powerful artifact that is stuck inside a disaster zone where a magical rift in that location would annihilate any normal magic-using person who tried to go in there. But for someone immune to magic, it's more like an urban salvage run... some hazards in the form of monsters and a crumbling physical structure, but no instant annihilation to worry about... although rival factions in the city are all intent on getting that artifact for themselves and have spies everywhere looking to intercept it or sabotage the operation. So playing politics and checking ya neck is just as important as being handy with a sword and quick on your feet.


Let's see... oh, there was also a set of powers I developed for a story I wrote on another site, where angels and demons walk among humans in the modern world. The rules were that these were both extradimensional beings which were incorporeal by nature, feeding on sunlight and other forms of energy, but they could create and shape matter in the material world, to possess human bodies or create bodies for themselves. Having such control over matter, they could heal their physical bodies from injury very quickly, and also move rapidly in 3 dimensions using ethereal propulsion structures in the upper back that look like wings made of light. They fight each other with blades of energy that they project from the hand, which are meant to rend the opponent's ethereal form and scatter it so that it can no longer influence material things. So you have the classic image of a winged angel with a sword, like St. Michael, but what separates angels from demons is the degree to which they succumb to the base needs of their corporeal forms. Demons are angels who gave into the impulses of their physical bodies and used their powers to satisfy those appetites: seizing power over others, acquiring food and wealth, promoting their egos, and having lots of sex. Angels are the ones who formed a code of conduct amongst themselves to resist such temptations and remain pure to their spiritual nature. They recognize the need to police the demons constantly to keep them from throwing the human world into chaos, just like the demons had done back in the Bronze Age when they had first made contact with humanity and created all kinds of monsters and disasters in their pursuit of power. And so this war plays out secretly, out of view of ordinary humans who think these creatures are only fairy tales, but every horrible event like WW2 or the Black Death is the result of demons momentarily gaining the upper hand in this conflict, then met by the work of angels to restore order and clean up the mess.

Spoiler: An excerpt from my story, as an example

There was a low growl, a brief snarl, but Roxanne's blood froze over again. A wight, she gasped, why now? The bum morphed into something foul before her eyes. Like her, this man was a child of a human and an angel, but they had no powers. For whatever reason, being in the presence of a Nephilim made wights change into horrid beasts and they went berserk. She'd encountered only one other in her life, but Torachiel had slain it before it drew its fangs.

Wights came in many different forms. In the most ancient eras, when angels were still adapting to this world of humans, the world was crawling with great and monstrous creatures: one-eyed giants; men with the heads of animals; great feathered serpents; fiendish hounds with multiple snarling heads; and all manner of creatures that were a composite of different types of animals. As millennia passed and human civilization became more powerful and widespread, the more outrageous forms of wights were hunted to extinction, their deaths bolstering the legends sung of the great warriors who killed them. The wights who survived were the ones that could be subtle, and could blend in easily among human society.

One of the more pernicious types of wight in this modern age was known as the shadowbeast. It had a sleek and panther-like body, powerful and agile, and coated with a rubbery jet black hide that seemed to suck all the light out of a room, like a living black hole. Unlike your typical jungle cat, a shadowbeast moved on six legs, the hind four of which had digitigrade paws for sprinting and springing, while the foremost two legs ended in long razor-like finger-blades that were equally suitable for climbing, grasping, and slicing through flesh. The beast's maw was like something out of a Lovecraftian nightmare, bristling with a curtain of dark pseudopods that obscured rows and rows of piranha-like teeth. Its jaw was as flexible as a snake's, able to distend to grotesque proportions to swallow a human's entire head in one bite, which was exactly what this creature would have done to Roxanne if she had not dodged at the last second.

Staring it down, she drew a sword of darkness right as it pounced up onto the side of the building, its sleek black hide reflecting the red dusk rays into her eyes. When it lunged, she dodged to the side, a clawed hand smacking against her shoulder with a force that put her into the wall. The skull cracked against the bricks and she raised her blade in defense, her ephemeral black wings flaring out to the sides to steady her vessel. Vision swimming, she struck, the blade was refracted and the wight bent and twisted away by a strange force. It quickly made work of putting her on the ground, unable to match its speed as it drove her further into the alley.

The spirit-blade gave the creature only momentary pause as it seemed to recoil from the refracting light, like it was merely a bad smell, or the flame of a torch. As it recoiled, it emitted an ear-piercing and unnatural shriek that echoed off of the alley walls and carried on the wind. Any human near enough to hear this was in no hurry to approach. Homeless guys tucked deeper into their blankets, and the silhouettes in the windows hurriedly shut their blinds. Her taser had about the same effect, keeping the monster at bay only for a brief moment before it delivered a vicious slash to her wrist to knock the weapon out of her hand. By a hold on her pant leg, it dragged her along the asphalt like a dog's chew toy, her skin scraping and bumping painfully while her clothes tore open in one or two places. Roxanne's purse went flying in another direction, its contents spilling out over the alley floor.

The beast gave Roxanne a moment's reprieve as it repositioned itself to pounce directly on top of her while she was still stunned from her stint as a rag doll. The weight of the creature soon bore down directly upon her shoulders, pinning them firmly into the asphalt. She had an opportunity to look directly up at and see the horrible slathering maw that awaited her, its dark tentacles wriggling and flaring out to expose its myriad of razor teeth. There were not even any eyes for her to look at, only rows upon rows of teeth. Bits of saliva dribbled and sprayed upon her face as the beast roared.

Abruptly, the alley was flooded with bright light. The beast instantly recoiled from it, being clearly irritated by its harsh intensity. Shadowbeasts belonged in the shadows, and they took to bright places like any subterranean creature would. The light was enough for the creature to take its focus off of eating Roxanne and raise one claw up off of her shoulder to shield its face from the source of the light. The slam of a car door came next.

Down at the end of the alley, the gold lamborghini was angled sideways across the road so that its hi-beam headlights flooded the alley. The light was so blinding that only a silhouette of a man could be seen emerging from the vehicle, but soon that silhouette began to sprout wispy wings that distorted the light into a panoply of rippling shadows upon the alley walls. There was a rush of wind, and then a bright white energy-sword swiped through the space that the wight was occupying, causing it to shriek again and rear backwards. This was followed by a strong boot to its shoulder that pushed it the rest of the way off of Roxanne's supine body.

Standing above her was Ramiel, wings and sword fully extended. He cast a moment's glance down at Roxanne to see if she was still alive--even though he could already sense through their bond that she was--and focused his attention once more on the wight that was scrambling back onto its feet for a counterattack.

The beast lunged at him, but he shot up into the air using his wings like a jetpack. He kicked swiftly down at the wight's head to disrupt its charge, but the wight immediately responded with a whip of its sickle-like tail that carved a bloody gash across Ramiel's shin, slicing the fabric of his jeans right open while the angel's flesh swiftly healed. Ramiel faltered mid-flight and had to desperately reach out and grab onto the rail of a fire escape to keep from falling back down into the wight's clutches. The monster immediately gave chase by clambering vertically up the alley wall to snap its jaws at him.

The angel and the wight both tumbled to the ground, locked in a battle of strength as Ramiel vigorously beat his wings to interfere with the wight's movements while he struggled to gain control over just one of its muscular limbs.

While Roxanne was digging up her brother's rifle and attaching the suppressor, Ramiel continued to do battle with the beast of shadows. With all of his might he gained control over one of its limbs and bent it back, using his wings to push himself up on top of the creature so that he could have more leverage over it. The wight flopped on its side but retaliated with a whip of its bladed tail that tore a gash all the way up Ramiel's back from waist to shoulder and caused one of his photonic wings to go haywire, splaying and wobbling chaotically.

Ramiel stumbled sideways, and the beast leapt onto all sixes again, preparing to lunge at him, but the angel counter-charged, driving his energy sword forward and up under the wight like a great glowing spike. Though the beam refracted around its shadowy carapace as before, the proximity and intensity of it was like a plasma cutter, searing however shallowly into the wight's shoulder and greatly weakening one of it's front limbs. The beast wailed in pain again and stumbled sideways, just as Roxanne was leveling her aim.

Angel and monster stood side by side in the alleyway as the nephilim opened fire. The airy pops of the suppressed carbine echoed off the narrow brick walls while the flashes of her shooting sparkled amid the continuous beam of the Lamborghini's headlights. The way she was unloading on full auto, Ramiel thought for sure that she was meaning to hit both of them--it would not have surprised him if she did want him dead--and so he raised a barrier around himself to deflect away any bullets that came his way.

But this move left him unable to respond as the wight's tail came after him once more, wrapping around his ankle and tripping him up. Ramiel felt the sharp and sudden pain of his calf muscle being torn apart. His foot was inches away from being completely severed as his vision became a blur of sky and brick and asphalt. For the first time in a long time, the human body that was named Liam cried out in pain. The body cried out internally as well, begging Ramiel to stay down and hold still while the tendons and muscle fibers of his foot struggled to reattach themselves around the bloody mangled bone tips that were now exposed to the cool night air. For some reason, the beast had not followed up with a further attack.

Ramiel's eyes shot open, and he looked down the alley to find the creature charging headlong in Roxanne's direction. The wight's shadowy carapace was decorated with 5.56mm holes from which a disgusting black ooze was leaking out, but it was still moving. With an instinctive burst of his wings, Ramiel shot off the ground and after it, reaching forward and grasping his hand around its wavering tail. Before the sickle-tip could slide up and slice his tongue, Ramiel found the sudden strength and speed to wrap the whip-like tail twice around his wrist to secure his hold on it, and with his arm bulging and his wings firing with bright light he hauled the wight backwards like Superman pulling a runaway train away from a broken bridge.

The last few rounds in Roxanne's magazine lit up the now-stationary target's face, shattering its cephalopodine skull and finally ending the creature in a splatterfest of dark ooze and sulphurous smoke. It was going to be a hell of a crime scene for the police to discover, but no doubt once the Men in Black showed up, that would no longer be an issue.

 

[GruntLordRyan]

Power: Fiction walker V0.1

Source:

• R.O.B.
• Devil/Demon
• Angel/God
• Wish
• Soul

Control Method:

• Ticket
• Universal Remote
• Gamer Menu
• Mental control

Description:
The power to travel the multiverse through works of fiction. Be it Books, Comics, Manga, web novels, light novels, short stories, video games, TV shows, movies, short films, anime, cartoons, etc. Gaining powers, magic, gear, vehicles, ships, aircraft, spacecraft, artifacts, technologies, etc.

Insertion:
Character insert be it Main character, side character, background character, villain, or self insert.

Inserting as a character you gain their appearance, abilities, memories, knowledge and skills. Also depending on what you insert into you can even gain the hud status windows from video games.

Once you return you keep abilities, knowledge and skills. Your appearance can revert if you desire. Otherwise you keep a appearance, race, gender, or defining feagender have.

Video games Examples:

Destiny-
You insert as a Awoken Warlock Guardian. You will keep your Ghost, on hand gear/inventory, armor and weapons. None of your vault/stored items come back with you. If you are Riding your sparrow or jumpship then it will come with you. You may choose to keep you race or even genderchage. And you gain Destiny status menu. You can even reinsert into the same character if you go back into Destiny. Or even go back to be a Hunter or Titan.

Cyberpunk 2077-
Inserting as V or another character you keep your game status menu and can even combine other past jumps status windows. You keep your on hand gear, cyberware, hacks, etc. You even keep your crafting knowledge and skills.

Satisfactory-
Same thing but you gain an item box.

Movies:

Harry Potter -
Insert as Harry Potter or even someone else like Hermione. keep your magic but you must learn it the natural way like they do in universe. Keep your gear and if you have an expanded tent/bag you can take whatever is stored in it with you. Keep Harry's iconic scar, hair and eyes or revert when you leave.

Star wars-
same as Harry Potter.

Rules:
1.) Taking gear with you is limited by what you can personally carry on you. This can increase with each world you travel to, abilities you gain, and containers. This can be overcome by bags of holding, storage scrolls, item boxes(game machanic), shrinking down stuff(MCU endgame), etc.

2.) For vehicles you must be riding, sitting or standing on it to take it with you. You can only take one man vehicles at first. Can increase in size with each world you travel to. You can bypass this through abilities and technologys to either summon or store vehicles.

3.)time dilation... time passing in world of origin compared to worlds visited. Example of video games like destiny with 1 hour being one day in game.

4.) When visiting world through fiction something happens to source materials like video game losing power, or book destroyed. Then you cannot return. Unless you gain a ability or artifact that can work around it.

 

[GruntLordRyan]

Current idea so far. Posting by phone...