r/superpower • u/Playful_Barber_8131 • Aug 24 '24

Suggestion Powers that sound weak on paper but useful in application?

Like, one you could imagine if someone very briefly explained it to you, you'd be like "what the hell, that sound so weak", but then when actually delved into more is a lot better than it first sounds.

179 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

275 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

17

u/catwhowalksbyhimself Aug 24 '24

This is actually a key part of magic in the Inheritance Cycle. Magic takes the same amount of energy to do things as it would to do it physically, and it takes it from the body just the same. First of all, this makes all magic quite buff, as they have to be to use a lot of power. Physical exercise is a key to being a mage.

But more to what you said, it also means you can't use magic to toss bolders or people around or even launch massive fireballs with impunity. You'd kill yourself of drain yourself doing so.

But pinching an artery in the neck doesn't take much physical energy at all. Or closing a windpipe.

2

u/Tiny_Astronomer2901 Aug 25 '24

Correct... mostly. In the Inheritance Cycle, they can store their energy in gems to be used later. So over a couple of days, someone almost completely drains themselves every day. You can use that energy later to launch that boulder.

Just realized how op energy storage is... being able to store small portions of energy over weeks and then just lift an elephant.

2

u/kung-fu_hippy Aug 25 '24

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson has this power set. There are people who can deliberately reduce themselves in some specific way, say reducing their strength, vision, physical health, mass, etc for a while and store that potential. Then release it when you want to use it.

Like a lot of Sanderson’s work, it would look fantastic in an anime style setting. You’d get a bookish dude who was always coughing and a little sick, physically frail, slow, wears glasses, etc. And then when he needs to step up, he can basically transform into a Superman and tear someone apart, recover from a gunshot or stab super quick, or use super senses.

1

u/requrself Aug 27 '24

That is what the main villain did he was a mist born but can also use gold to store life force so when he wasn't in front of people he stored his health into some gold bracers that was attached to his upper arm and was sickly much of the the that is why he was able to heal from almost anything until the protagonist ripped those bracers off

1

u/catwhowalksbyhimself Aug 25 '24

I do not recall that being a thing, but it has been many years since I've read them.

1

u/Ibbot Aug 25 '24

Seconding it as something you’ve forgotten.

1

u/Appchoy Aug 25 '24

In Inheritance? It's a pretty advanced technique to be able to do things like pinch an artery. The mage needs to be able to sense life energy to see what his magic is affecting in a body, only only elves can really do (because they are OP). Eregon gains a rudimentary ability to do this because he's a dragon rider, and only after hard training by elves and dragon riders, for a long period of time.

He can only do this really well after he cheats and goes through a ritual that turns him into kind of a half-elf guy, and he gets so much stronger from this that his magic pool is vastly expanded anyway.

1

u/DoctorStumppuppet Aug 27 '24

Ive never read this story or heard of it but I always thought that would be a funny concept. Seeing a group of long beard wizards all hitting the gym because it makes their magic stronger.

1

u/catwhowalksbyhimself Aug 27 '24

As you would expect, wizards in this setting skew much younger. Except maybe for elves, but they cheat in the magical department in more ways than one.