Question The Bad Ideas thread

Renamed, now the new Bad Ideas thread. Post any bad ideas you have here and discuss. What is considered a bad idea is up to the individual poster.

To start off, here is one I posted on the short-lived forums inspired by the storyline from this week of Waspi Square: Waspi Square: A New Tail What if a mutant manifested a new limb or limbs, one with a mind of its own. It owns personality, likes, dislikes, etc. How it responds to things could get you in trouble or be embarrassing. Or what if an existing limb developed a mind of its own [like alien limb syndrome but worse], imagine having to restrain one of your arms from acting on every little impulse or desire. Or walking places you don't wish to go because your legs have their own ideas.

Another is an uncontrolled ESP power, one which makes others see you as nothing more than a figment of their imagination. No one would treat you how expected, some might get frustrated with your continued attempts at interactions and attack what they think isn't real, etc.

"Manifested a new limb or limbs, one with a mind of its own." Inspired by Spinnerette's Bottom Lefty?

mittfh wrote: "Manifested a new limb or limbs, one with a mind of its own." Inspired by Spinnerette's Bottom Lefty?

That and the storyline with the new tail for Atsali in Waspi Square I linked in the 1st post. Funny to see how the tail responds to what its "owner" says about it and then the little sister talking to it like a person.

Dreamer wrote: Rather than a thread for just bad ideas or one for unfleshed out character ideas, how about one thread to post all ideas instead. Whether it is a good idea you haven't had time to work on yet, something you think is a bad idea and wish to share, a character idea you wish to share, or anything similar, this thread should work.

To start off, here is one I posted on the short-lived forums inspired by the storyline from this week of Waspi Square: Waspi Square: A New Tail What if a mutant manifested a new limb or limbs, one with a mind of its own. It owns personality, likes, dislikes, etc. How it responds to things could get you in trouble or be embarrassing. Or what if an existing limb developed a mind of its own [like alien limb syndrome but worse], imagine having to restrain one of your arms from acting on every little impulse or desire. Or walking places you don't wish to go because your legs have their own ideas.

Another is an uncontrolled ESP power, one which makes others see you as nothing more than a figment of their imagination. No one would treat you how expected, some might get frustrated with your continued attempts at interactions and attack what they think isn't real, etc.

Wouldn't that get confusing after awhile? As we are starting fresh the ideas are currently limited but over time the threads would be intermingled with so many ideas that it next to impossible to track or keep account of.

Thus if an idea fails to move along further the originator would ask that the forum idea be locked for prosperity purposes.

As for the idea of foreign limbs acting on their own accord hasn't there been cases of where a person had a wondering arm that they were not able to control fully. It felt like a foreign being to the owner? I kinda remember reading about such cases.

The concept is interesting as that the owner would not be able to control oneself in a rightly manner, thus making it hard for them to live.

I also think along the lines of Siamese twins. The ones where one became pregnant with the other. It does send shivers down my spine to think that I would have an unintentional threesome even if the other does try to show a disinterest in the matter.

"Eerie Cuties" has one of the teachers at the school having that problem.

Kristin Darken wrote: Ultimately, the problem with a non-specific thread listing such things is that non-specific is far more inclined to wander off on tangents of discussion instead of staying firmly on topic. I would far rather have a handful of clearly defined lists that self police than one thread that rambles all over the place. If for any other reason than that a vast majority of the time, people stop reading the thread once it exceeds 6-8 pages of posts and just keep adding to the end.

Okay, I can understand that reasoning. Renamed thread The Bad Idea thread, if that is okay as a more limited subject matter.

So, 'Bad' Ideas go here... Okay!

Here's a possibly bad idea, 'cause its a character that could go Paragon 7. But, are the limitations enough?

Adoptable!

Malady wrote: So, 'Bad' Ideas go here... Okay!

Here's a possibly bad idea, 'cause its a character that could go Paragon 7. But, are the limitations enough?

Adoptable!

Codename: Dotty? [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Sex: Girl/Boy/Whatever...

Appearance: A dot at the center of every square... inch of her body's surface area.

Power(s): (Pushing?/Acupuncturing?/Touching?) a dot gets her a power, and each dot gives a different power, perhaps having all of the single-dot powers be at the maximum level for each power?

Oh... She could have different Exemplar dots...

Activating more than one dot at the same time leads to combinations of powers, or something? At least one dot's for Paragon...

Each use of the dots changes what dot does what, and with Paragon activated, she could figure it out, but its hard to remember, as they change rapidly and it takes a longer time for the selections to stabilize the longer the dots are activated?

Having all of the dots being touched does something... Burnout?

Dang, that's quite the...interesting...powerset. Though I think that even with the caveat about not always knowing which dots do what it's still rather well beyond the typical Whateley power level. Definitely in OP territory for sure.

NeoMagus wrote:

Malady wrote: So, 'Bad' Ideas go here... Okay!

Here's a possibly bad idea, 'cause its a character that could go Paragon 7. But, are the limitations enough?

Adoptable!

Codename: Dotty? [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Sex: Girl/Boy/Whatever...

Appearance: A dot at the center of every square... inch of her body's surface area.

Power(s): (Pushing?/Acupuncturing?/Touching?) a dot gets her a power, and each dot gives a different power, perhaps having all of the single-dot powers be at the maximum level for each power?

Oh... She could have different Exemplar dots...

Activating more than one dot at the same time leads to combinations of powers, or something? At least one dot's for Paragon...

Each use of the dots changes what dot does what, and with Paragon activated, she could figure it out, but its hard to remember, as they change rapidly and it takes a longer time for the selections to stabilize the longer the dots are activated?

Having all of the dots being touched does something... Burnout?

Dang, that's quite the...interesting...powerset. Though I think that even with the caveat about not always knowing which dots do what it's still rather well beyond the typical Whateley power level. Definitely in OP territory for sure.

Totally! I came up with the name and appearance as first and quick second, in an unknown order, and stuck a powerset on, if I remember correctly.

Quite a lot of available artwork, too...
www.google.com.br/search?q=little+dot&tb...0vVteUBoOWwQT-4r3ACA

Sir Lee wrote: Quite a lot of available artwork, too...
www.google.com.br/search?q=little+dot&tb...0vVteUBoOWwQT-4r3ACA

Huh... Umm... Not what I was thinking of, I meant more like tattooed dots. And very, very numerous? Since my initial idea was having them at 1 inch apart, each, all over her body.

The average woman's surface area is 1.6 m². An inch is 2.54 cm... So, (2.54 cm)² is ~6.25 cm²... That's ~27 patches... Number of dots = 2 + 27*2 = 56 dots?

Okay, not that numerous... ... Huh... my idea might have been inspired by Blindspot's Jane Doe...

If I had them be my idea of touch-activated, it'd be really hard to get to a state with zero activated dots, since by touch-activated, I meant the pressure of anything, with the main idea having the dots being activated by the pressure of clothes.

Appears to have a case of either chicken Pox or the measles. And who could activate such an item? Various people or only her? Thus she would be considered 'untouchable'?

And would they be reusable or a one time event?

Ib12us wrote: Appears to have a case of either chicken Pox or the measles. And who could activate such an item? Various people or only her? Thus she would be considered 'untouchable'?

And would they be reusable or a one time event?

Item? Dotty/Dottie's a person... The dots are how she activates her powers. Touch/Press/Hold/Acupuncture/Etc. one of her dots and she gets a power. Not sure on activation procedure at the moment... ... Pox could be another codename...

I was gonna say it looks like chickenpox / measles... But no. it really doesn't. I wouldn't advise looking them up on Google Image Search...

Trust me I know the horrors of each.

My bad on the word item. I was referring to the spot itself.

How about skittles? You just can't beat the rainbow.

As for the layout I would think that there would be a symmetrical order of how they are laid out on her. Rows/columns and such.

And once healed would they be reusable?

Could also call her 'Dot Matrix'

Sorry bad pun, could not resist.

Ib12us wrote: Trust me I know the horrors of each.

Okay.

Ib12us wrote: My bad on the word item. I was referring to the spot itself.

How about skittles? You just can't beat the rainbow.

As for the layout I would think that there would be a symmetrical order of how they are laid out on her. Rows/columns and such.

And once healed would they be reusable?

Could also call her 'Dot Matrix'

Sorry bad pun, could not resist.

Well, its adoptable, I'm just talking about my initial conception of the character. You can mix-and-match, like keep the name, but pick a different character.

Well, with the acupuncture route, I'd assume so, 'cause it would be a pretty sucky power if it didn't allow reuse... But, perhaps she uses them all, and then ahe refreshes with a new powerset or dot-set or something...

(Your character/the MCO) picks the codename, so you can make it as cringe-worthy, or showing off some naming awesomeness however it fits.

Colored Dots for Skittles! Cool idea! I was just thinking black, but who says they have to be? And now with colors, her own colors change based on the color of the dot used. Perhaps dot color and power are related, in some manner... Type, strength... Emotional/Personality/Morality/Etc. Changes based on dot color? Synthesethasia, can only see one color? Exotic vision... So many things that could be done with powers that are color-related in some manner, and so many color-related tropes to defy for fun!

Humor ensues when it turns out that all her most powerful dots are on places that are embarrassing to reveal in public.

Just don't push the 2 most obvious dots.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Humor ensues when it turns out that all her most powerful dots are on places that are embarrassing to reveal in public.

True, true... I was thinking that some dots that she doesn't want pressure-activated are on embarrassing places, but having embarassing+powerful dots at once, perhaps on the same dot, in the same place, or some combo, would make it even more interesting...

And now I'm thinking, What if she has sex?... Darn Domoviye and Sara's Purple Book!

Perhaps emotions change powers/dots/whatever...

All these ideas would make this character have the most random powerset we've seen yet? Or am I wrong?

Definitely more random than Roulette's power set. Especially if after use the dots change what they trigger, like has been mentioned.

Malady wrote: And now I'm thinking, What if she has sex?... Darn Domoviye and Sara's Purple Book!

What did I do?

Domoviye wrote:

Malady wrote: And now I'm thinking, What if she has sex?... Darn Domoviye and Sara's Purple Book!

What did I do?

Nothing, really, it's just that when I thought, 'sex and Whateley', your Tink Omakes and Sara's Purple Book were the first things that came to mind...

New idea!

The most powerful PK field in the world. When it's up, nothing can pass through it. It stops bullets, bullet trains, bombs, nukes, ray guns, spells, psi, Destiny's Wave... and light, sound, and air.

If you want to be really mean, it's skin tight, and thick enough that it breaks whatever clothing the student is wearing anytime they turn it on.

And how long before the owner passes out from suffocation as no air will be able to enter?

Two to five minutes. Nice limitation

And while they're in it, they're experiencing complete sensory deprivation compared to the outside world.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: And while they're in it, they're experiencing complete sensory deprivation compared to the outside world.

So, how would it be useful, if they can't tell to turn it off when they're in danger? The only way to survive seems to be blatant plot armor...

Malady wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: And while they're in it, they're experiencing complete sensory deprivation compared to the outside world.

So, how would it be useful, if they can't tell to turn it off when they're in danger? The only way to survive seems to be blatant plot armor...

As with complete sensory deprivation they would also be unable to distinguish up/down, (vertigo), touch/feel and so they would themselves be a prisoner in their own shell till it wears off.

Well that's why this is the bad idea thread.
Also he could get very good at quick timing the field. Someone's shooting at him, he dives for cover, and activates it, waits a second or two at most, and deactivates it safely behind cover and still in one piece.
Someones punching him, he activates it, than half a second later deactivates it and punches the guy who's now holding his broken or bruised fist. It's workable, but the person wl have to be good at judging time and distance.

Domoviye wrote: Well that's why this is the bad idea thread.

Ah. Yes... Right!

Domoviye wrote: Also he could get very good at quick timing the field. Someone's shooting at him, he dives for cover, and activates it, waits a second or two at most, and deactivates it safely behind cover and still in one piece.
Someones punching him, he activates it, than half a second later deactivates it and punches the guy who's now holding his broken or bruised fist. It's workable, but the person wl have to be good at judging time and distance.

What if there are two attackers? Is he screwed then? His problems could be solved with an ESPer to guide him around, but then... Something?

That's why he learns how to fight. Wth the way the power works, it can only help a little, not win the fght for him.

Mage+Devisor+Probability Manipulator
(Interestingly I have an OC with this powerset)

nukestar wrote: Mage+Devisor+Probability Manipulator
(Interestingly I have an OC with this powerset)

=Someone most of the dorms would want to keep away due to all the other probability manglers in them and not wishing to see if they cancel each other out or heterodyne. Definitely a bad idea and anything more than 2-3 for the ratings would quickly be OP with that combo.

Eris is a devisor 1, a mage 2, a warper 3 (probability) and an exemplar 3. Her warper rating would be higher but she has no control over the ability (this luckily also makes her immune to backlash), she is also "precog-null" and it is painful/disorienting for telepaths to touch her mind. She ends up in Poe (Every dorm has a odds mangler already) with the understanding that she avoids Risk as much as possible. She doesn't last a term before she tricks every prob warper on campus into a single room, just to see what happens.

Daddy Long Legs
An exemplar one with abnormally long legs and arms, so long in fact that he practically has to crawl through doors and walk on all fours in a normal size building.

Does he have any other powers or is he just an exemplar. Because if he doesn't, I think that he lost the superpower lottery big time.

Sure, lets give him another power. He can grow his limbs longer, but they take a week to go back to normal. That's why he can walk on all four limbs easily, he makes his arms a tiny big longer so he walks like a gorilla.

Does his strength increase with limb length at least. Because otherwise he would very quickly end with broken limbs and pulled tendons by virtue of the square-cube law

Sure.

Code Name: Bartholomew

Powers: Hat Manifestor


His powers work on the same principles that Beltane or Rosethorn's use, but anything that he makes that is sufficiently non-hat-like quickly dissolves into green sticky goo.

If it's a hat that also covers his shoulders, does it dissolve quickly or stick around.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Code Name: Bartholomew

Powers: Hat Manifestor


His powers work on the same principles that Beltane or Rosethorn's use, but anything that he makes that is sufficiently non-hat-like quickly dissolves into green sticky goo.

Still useful if Bartholomew is creative or the power is flexible enough...

Iron Hat Shield? Razor Brimmed Fighting Hat?

What makes a Bartholomew-Manifested-Hat, a Bartholomew-Manifested-Hat?

Domoviye wrote: If it's a hat that also covers his shoulders, does it dissolve quickly or stick around.

Not a clue.

Codename: Bloody

Blood Manifestor, like Greasy, but with Blood. Not constantly bleeding, but its her blood.

I'm quite sure she wouldn't pick that codename though. A bit too simple, and a bit creepy too. ... How do you guys think Greasy picked his codename? Did he even choose it himself? Who would want to actually be named Greasy?

A good name for her Mary.
With Greasy, I could see the MCO giving him the name without informing him he had a choice in the matter.

One I thought of is 'The Red Herring' He/she throws you off the trail by giving you false clues and assumptions.

That would be pretty cool if you can use it to confuse people as they're working or planning something a second or two ahead of time. In a fight, have his opponent think he's going to kick when he's really about to to punch. Or in an argument focus on an inconsequential point so he wins, stuff like that. It's limited but extremely useful.

Not everybody has to be 'super' just have a good ability. I think of it like he's a sidekick. Would be handy as a small time hood. Follows those into the heist and as they are robbing the ability comes into play.

True, I'm just trying to figure out if its a 'Super' ability or a useful one. He'd be an awesome criminal as long as he doesn't go for the basic smash and grab.

He could go for the smash and grab as long as he planned out his approach, if he was to just go in unprepared then it could be a bit tricky thus he's more inclined not to be so impulsive in his heists. Small heists if he's low on cash, perhaps. But for bigger payoffs he'd have to plan his approach else his red herrings will only go so far.

Mercenary also? One who throws the tail off by leading them on a wild goose chase down wrong roads, miss leading paths and false clues. A gun appears but when tied to the crime its a false lead as ballistics prove that its not the weapon. Interesting. Cameras suddenly face the wrong way or stop moving. Hmm.

Lets just say the more planning involved the better the effects would be.

Sounds like an interesting twist on a probability warper...might be some potential there.

Any chance I can claim this idea before someone else does?

Feel free. Just don't forget the other side kick tadpole. We shant say where he got that name from.

NeoMagus wrote: Sounds like an interesting twist on a probability warper...might be some potential there.

Any chance I can claim this idea before someone else does?

Damn you, you beat me!
If this just affected how people looked at something it would be an Esper ability. But if it threw objects and clues in the way, yeah warper all the way. It could be a bit of both.

Damn knew I should have waited and put it up for auction. Now no food for me.

Another one that I just thought of would be Cracker. Given how the sites have been hacked, I would think that this one would be appropriate. Given how this character could be portrayed I was thinking along the lines of being a gray.

I was thinking a precocious teen who's ability it is to surf the net. Although as I think about it now, it brings up to many connotations.

Sorry abut editing my thread.

Ib12us wrote: I was thinking a precocious teen who's ability it is to surf the net. Although as I think about it now, it brings up to many connotations.

You mean like Circuit Breaker?

That one makes me think of someone who has the ability to disrupt electronic impulses.

Ib12us wrote: Another one that I just thought of would be Cracker. Given how the sites have been hacked, I would think that this one would be appropriate. Given how this character could be portrayed I was thinking along the lines of being a gray.

It probably says something about my sense of humor that my first thought was "And he's African American and the Tigers give him so much trouble for being a black guy codenamed Cracker...".

Domoviye wrote: A good name for her Mary.
With Greasy, I could see the MCO giving him the name without informing him he had a choice in the matter.

Careful there, Roulette has staked her claim on Greasy, he is her future boy-toy

There's oil in them thar hills!

Or that there hair. Greasy kid stuff.

My first contribution to this site, so of course I have to place it in the bad ideas thread.

The character "Radio Silence" has the uncontrollable warper power to nullify all the EM spectrum with a frequency lower than visible light over a substantial area around herself (covers a whole building, but not a city block).

This almost makes her a walking technological dead zone: no wifi, no cell phone, no satellite connections, no microwave even TV remotes use infra-red. A teenage girl with a perpetual loss of cell phone privileges, needless to say she's not happy with her power.

Hebblejebble wrote: My first contribution to this site, so of course I have to place it in the bad ideas thread.

The character "Radio Silence" has the uncontrollable warper power to nullify all the EM spectrum with a frequency lower than visible light over a substantial area around herself (covers a whole building, but not a city block).

This almost makes her a walking technological dead zone: no wifi, no cell phone, no satellite connections, no microwave even TV remotes use infra-red. A teenage girl with a perpetual loss of cell phone privileges, needless to say she's not happy with her power.

Just one question...

How is this a bad idea?

Imagine the trouble she would cause if she went into a hospital or near an air traffic control tower. Blocking communication when seconds are critical or blocking air traffic control from communicating with planes in the air. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of what she could do with such an effect left always on.

Thinking it over I'm starting to realize the nightmare it could pose if Radio Silence attended Whateley.
- the RFID trackers in the students ID cards would also be jammed, the magic Circe mentions protecting the scanners in Riddle of Sappho is unlikely to help when the signals disappear in mid air.
- MID cards can't be scanned for authentication around her.
- With the shear number and wide distribution of various sensors that security has it's logical that at some point their data travels via wireless systems. Cameras could be using a hard line but might not.
- Hive has already shown to have issues with anyone messing with the airwaves around her. Whisper and Compiler are probably the same way.
- I can't even begin to speculate on what mayhem could happen if she toured the workshop.
- This is all just the serious stuff, let alone the annoyance factor her peers might feel when the whole cottage suffers the EM blackout.
It's not difficult to think of means of communication that circumvent her silence: subspace communicators (spots), psy & magic, even old fashioned low tech solutions (yelling) but most of them are impractical or hideously expensive.

Hebblejebble wrote: - This is all just the serious stuff, let alone the annoyance factor her peers might feel when the whole cottage suffers the EM blackout.

ohhhh, put her in Melville

give the ALPHAS the headaches.

Hebblejebble wrote: My first contribution to this site, so of course I have to place it in the bad ideas thread.

The character "Radio Silence" has the uncontrollable warper power to nullify all the EM spectrum with a frequency lower than visible light over a substantial area around herself (covers a whole building, but not a city block).

This almost makes her a walking technological dead zone: no wifi, no cell phone, no satellite connections, no microwave even TV remotes use infra-red. A teenage girl with a perpetual loss of cell phone privileges, needless to say she's not happy with her power.

Wouldn't that make it a thermal deadzone too?

My Radio Noise , whenever they get to Whateley, are gonna hate her... Maybe...

Under bad ideas that I don't plan on writing because I know they're incredibly bad ideas, it would be interesting to see someone who appears to be a teenager, the same age as most of those starting Whateley, but it's all the result of their mutation and they're actually only an adolescent. You could probably get some interesting drama from the lack of maturity due to lack of life experience, a tendency for people to get them involved in more adult activities because they're unaware of the actual young age or they simply keep forgetting.

I don't think Compiler would be affected. I think her nanites are more of nanomachines than nanites. They are nano scale machines that do one thing, as opposed to Whisper and Hive's programmable nanites.

Make the area a 5' radius centered on her, and it is much more workable. She blanks out a room, not a building.

Valentine wrote: I don't think Compiler would be affected. I think her nanites are more of nanomachines than nanites. They are nano scale machines that do one thing, as opposed to Whisper and Hive's programmable nanites.

Make the area a 5' radius centered on her, and it is much more workable. She blanks out a room, not a building.

And perhaps she has the option of expanding her range once she has some control over it? Just to make it perhaps a bit more useful?

Donna Dearheart, Devisor. Codename Shochet

Created a devise that transforms a calf into a swallow, and turns the leftover meat into ground beef - the ultimate humane slaughter.

Now she's working on upgrading the devise to work on full grown cows (as well as other animals), and to produce steaks and leather products as well.



As far as Radio Silence, how much heat transfer is done by IR radiation, rather than molecular collision? Is it enough for Radio Silence to notice?

FuzzyBoots wrote: Under bad ideas that I don't plan on writing because I know they're incredibly bad ideas, it would be interesting to see someone who appears to be a teenager, the same age as most of those starting Whateley, but it's all the result of their mutation and they're actually only an adolescent. You could probably get some interesting drama from the lack of maturity due to lack of life experience, a tendency for people to get them involved in more adult activities because they're unaware of the actual young age or they simply keep forgetting.

Two points:
1. "Adolescent" is a more formal name for "teenager". Look it up.
2. We have a canon character who is is just starting her teen years but appears way older: Crimson Comet.

I don't know enough physics to answer calculate exactly the thermal properties of Radio Silence's power but...

If you take a room in a house and make it completely dark it doesn't start to freeze, it will be cooler than a sunlit room but not by a massive amount. I believe the same would hold for Radio Silence's power, the area around her may cool down but probably not any more than standing in the shade vs. standing in the sunlight.

Hebblejebble wrote: I don't know enough physics to answer calculate exactly the thermal properties of Radio Silence's power but...

If you take a room in a house and make it completely dark it doesn't start to freeze, it will be cooler than a sunlit room but not by a massive amount. I believe the same would hold for Radio Silence's power, the area around her may cool down but probably not any more than standing in the shade vs. standing in the sunlight.

Depending upon how the suppression works, you could also have overheating problems, where various things can't get rid of excess heat.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: As far as Radio Silence, how much heat transfer is done by IR radiation, rather than molecular collision? Is it enough for Radio Silence to notice?

The suns radiation in light is about 50% infrared. A cloudy day blocks about 50% of the light. So standing near Radio Silence outside on a sunny day would feel like a cloudy day. A cloudy day would feel like evening or night.

Inside, the infrared background radiation is normally insignificant. Heating/cooling is mostly done by circulating hot/cool air and that would not change except when using IR panels or lamps.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Donna Dearheart, Devisor. Codename Shochet

Created a devise that transforms a calf into a swallow, and turns the leftover meat into ground beef - the ultimate humane slaughter.

Now she's working on upgrading the devise to work on full grown cows (as well as other animals), and to produce steaks and leather products as well.

This sounds humane until you start thinking about the ecological disruption caused by the massive influx of swallows that will be generated. Something like 100,000 per day in the USA alone, according to a quick google.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: As far as Radio Silence, how much heat transfer is done by IR radiation, rather than molecular collision? Is it enough for Radio Silence to notice?

Yes, actually, and despite what people have been saying above, it would be very significant. Since we cannot see infrared, people tend to discount how much of it is out there; even at night the world is glowing with it. (I was making this mistake myself until I started doing some research.)

According to Wikipedia , humans radiate around 1000 watts of heat, and while indoors at room temperatures we absorb about 900 watts in radiation from our surroundings for a net loss to radiation of 100 watts, which is balanced by our metabolism.

So, if she's nullifying all the low-frequency EM emissions around her, that means she's going to be shedding those 1000 watts without the 900 W from the environment to mitigate it. So she's going to be losing 900 watts that her body is not replacing. She's going to have to make up for those 900 watts somehow if she wants to stay warm. This is doable over the short term through exercise, but if she wanted to keep that level of energy expenditure up 24/7 she'd be burning 20,600 Calories a day (and, you know, not stopping to sleep). Not very practical over the long term. Warm clothes and probably a heater would be necessary (and warm clothes are going to lose some effectiveness if the power kicks in at the surface of her skin rather than some distance from her body.)

That has all been assuming the field only affects the space around her. If it permeates her own body, the problem becomes much worse. All the atoms inside of her are emitting infrared light that gets immediately reabsorbed by the surrounding atoms, so that her body normally only loses energy when it gets radiated from the surface of her skin. If the field permeates her body and absorbs all that internal energy radiation, things get very bad. Not only does the amount of lost heat skyrocket, but the cooling happens throughout her entire body rather than starting at the outside and having to work its way in.

Of course, I've been assuming the field just discards all the energy it's absorbing. To have the character survive without wearing a heater or having secondary mutations to deal with the cold, the power could be designed so that some of the energy it absorbs gets applied toward warming her body (not all or she'll overheat).


EDIT: Relevant link. Under normal circumstances, most body-heat is lost through radiation and sweat. Losses to air amount to very little unless it's moving (this is why winter coats are fluffy -- air is an insulator as long as you keep it contained).

Kettlekorn wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Donna Dearheart, Devisor. Codename Shochet

Created a devise that transforms a calf into a swallow, and turns the leftover meat into ground beef - the ultimate humane slaughter.

Now she's working on upgrading the devise to work on full grown cows (as well as other animals), and to produce steaks and leather products as well.

This sounds humane until you start thinking about the ecological disruption caused by the massive influx of swallows that will be generated. Something like 100,000 per day in the USA alone, according to a quick google.

Eh,it's a devise that can't be mass produced, so the output wouldn't be quite as bad as that. Still probably enough to produce a problem in the area, though.


Did anyone figure out what my inspiration for this power was?

'Power' = Gravity increase when bleeding. 1% for each drop?

Perhaps the blood itself has a massive gravitational pull? Or it increases the gravity of the object it touches?

Inspiration: "Bloody Gravity"

Courtesy of the discussion in the Puppet thread.

A mutant with 4 eyes who goes by the name "Glasses"

But kids with glasses are generally called 4 eyes

Codename: Half-blood

Half-blood is an exemplar 5 or 6 with invisibility - but only down to the waist. Below the waist they're the same baseline human that they were before they manifested.

For bonus fun, make them a changeling... but (of course) only down to the waist.



The original inspiration calls for the them to also be a size warper (down to the waist) capable of shrinking. But I couldn't think of a way for that not to be... horrible... so I removed it.

Does anybody recognize the inspiration?

Sir Lee wrote: Two points:
1. "Adolescent" is a more formal name for "teenager". Look it up.
2. We have a canon character who is is just starting her teen years but appears way older: Crimson Comet.

Och, I should have known that there'd be someone who's managed to implement it well. For me, it was always the Fridge Horror of those movies where they have the kid suddenly getting aged up (Big, etc) and them getting involved in decidedly adult shenanigans is played for comedy, or simply ignored.

When Carson hired Song Bird (Think that's the name of Elaine's old lover), she gave her a very thorough talking to, stating that while many of the students look like adults they are children and if she even thinks of touching one of them, the police and MCO will be called in to pick her up after Carson is done with her.
It's known and brought up.

Domoviye wrote: When Carson hired Song Bird (Think that's the name of Elaine's old lover), she gave her a very thorough talking to, stating that while many of the students look like adults they are children and if she even thinks of touching one of them, the police and MCO will be called in to pick her up after Carson is done with her.
It's known and brought up.

It was brought up more in Songbird's case because she was involved with Loophole the previous year, and that would now be a felony and rule violation. As Songbird was a student, she would fully know about underage exemplars and overly mature bodies.

CeeCee's emotional maturity doesn't seem to have caught up to her physical maturity.

That could be, but Carson did say at the end that she gives the lecture to every new employee. So Songbird might have gotten the longer version, but it seems to be pretty common.

I would also think that a more detailed or defined explanation, as in a code of conduct manual would be given to any new hire thus listing the do's and don'ts outline in a teachers handout when hired.

Chorus Girl

Everyone around Chorus Girl breaks into song like it was a musical. They'll sing about anything affecting the girls life, or just about everyday things if nothing important is happening, dancing, and even having special affects like lighting, fireworks, etc, like it's a movie.
She can't turn it off, and depending on the song, it could only affect her and one or two people or everyone within 30 meters of her.

Would it affect people randomly or would it affect those she was talking to? And 30meters? Isn't that a bit of a large area or are you basing it as her being the center or starting point?

She's at the center, and yeah that's a bit large, lets do 10.
It affects people at random. She walks into a bank, and everyone starts working and moving in time, singing about their business, until it focuses on her and then they might keep doing stuff in the background or singing all around her.
Or if she's having a private moment with a lover, she and her lover will sing to each other and be ignored by everyone else, despite the music in the air.

Disco Inferno

A poor kid, a Man-4 who can create intense flames, most of the time under control. Until he hears disco music, in which case he unleashes the flames around him in a 30' radius constantly until the disco music stops. A bad things as his parents are the children of former disco dancing stars and raised to love the music, while their son hates it.

Frostbite. Has to wear warm clothing as he cannot stay warm. Temperature drops around him by about 30-45 degrees. Skin has a white sheen to it.

Does come in handy at parties to keep the drinks cold.

Edit. I retract the idea. I just saw the name under Wiki character list.

If I were making a character named Frostbite, I'd have the power be restricted to having very cold teeth.

Slippery
His only power is that his skin is absolutely frictionless, it can't be turned off.

Domoviye wrote: Slippery
His only power is that his skin is absolutely frictionless, it can't be turned off.

Then he would be naked and unable to walk as everything that he puts on will fall off, unless its on him so tight it cuts off circulation. And if he tries to walk he would constantly slip on the ground. Ugh thats gonna leave a mark. It would be like he was pushing himself as in perpetual motion.

Ib12us wrote:

Domoviye wrote: Slippery
His only power is that his skin is absolutely frictionless, it can't be turned off.

Then he would be naked and unable to walk as everything that he puts on will fall off, unless its on him so tight it cuts off circulation.

Nah, it's not that bad. Shirts will mostly work fine without changes -- they stay on because the neck and arm holes are (usually) smaller than the upper body. Certain shirts do have abnormally large holes, and wearing a shirt completely unbuttoned could be problematic, so those might have issues. But normal t-shirts would be fine. As for pants, those can be handled two ways depending on body-type. If his waist narrows above the hips, the pants can stay up simply by being fastened snugly above the hips. Otherwise he can simply use suspenders. If the suspenders are not worn over a shirt, care will need to be taken to ensure the straps stay in place. If they are worn over a shirt, the friction between the shirt and the suspenders will suffice.

Jumpsuits will work fine as well.

And would you dress him since he can't pick up anything? And feed him since he would not be able to feed himself?

Gloves tied to the shirt would let him carry stuff, and well laced boots would let him walk. It's not a game stopper, it's just really, really annoying.
Edit: For food, gloves would let him use silverware. or put his food into a straw so he can suck it up.
Dressing would the be hardest part.

No, it's just a matter of technique. He can't pick a shirt in the normal way... but he can insert his hand through the folds to the point that, when he raises his hand, it will slip in, not out. Pants are even easier: hook them through the belt loops. Although fasteners in general would be a big problem to work with his slippery fingers.

But really, if you think about it... a pair of latex gloves should be able to stay on (they are usually slightly narrower than the base of the hand, so they wouldn't slip off) and provide enough traction -- not full traction, for instance, lateral forces on fingers would tend to make the glove finger twist around -- but enough to get by. The hardest part would be to put on the gloves in the morning, but even that might be doable with some sort of simple gadget to hold them in position -- he only has to remember to set up a fresh pair in the gadget before removing the old pair.

Shoes are even easier -- Velcro-fastened boots would work, and be possible to fasten and remove even with his diminished dexterity.

An interesting Hawthorne case, to be sure, but not hopeless.

Yep. I don't like to make helpless characters, or I'd have Coma Boy, just interesting one.
For the latex gloves, he could have a machine that he loads two gloves into before going to bed, that at the press of a button opens it up so he can slip his hand in. From there it's just a matter of getting dressed and more comfortable gloves on afterwards.

If anything they would have to place him in some sort of 'suit for several reasons. He 'would' need to have help in dressing in that he would not be able to 'grasp' anything as it requires some sort of friction between molecules to create such friction. He would need to eat lying down as opposed to sitting upright in that anything that was to go into his mouth would theoretically would slip off of him (else he'd eat like a small chick with his head bent upwards). I admit some may fall inwards but most would/should slip out.

That to me would be a bad case of GSD (unless I misunderstand what GSD is). He would be helpless.

The suit is necessary, no question.
But for eating, he just needs to eat with his mouth closed, put the food righ in, close his mouth around the silverware, and slide it out. Annoying but not hard. However to save that problem, it's only his skin that's frictionless.

Just a thought, isn't one of the mutant gang members Absinthe has to deal with named Slippery? I know Absinthe isn't technically canon yet, but I'm pretty sure that's one of the things Morpheus isn't likely to change.

Yep! Slippery Jim DiGriz, which is almost certainly an alias considering it's also the name of the Stainless Steel Rat.

He had an anti-friction field, but it could be turned off, and also he can teleport. (Well, usually. )

Yeah, but I couldn't think of a better name, and since he's just a silly idea I didn't put much thought into the name. If he ever got into a story, I'd call him Slip Sliding Away.

As promised in the foot eating thread:


Code name: Erysichthon

Erysichthon is only capable of deriving sustenance from human flesh. The more he eats of a person, the more he becomes like that person. This can lead to shapeshifting (physically and mentally) and the acquisition of mutant and non-mutant powers. In small quantities powers and abilities tend to stack, but if he eats too much of one person, Erysichthon starts to lose unrelated powers as he (or she, if Erysichthon is eating a girl) becomes more like his meal.

Actually, forget the first restriction. Erysichthon is capable of eating animals and plants. But if he does so, he becomes increasingly non-human. A normal human diet will slowly turn him into a weird plant-animal hybrid that eventually loses its sapience.

Oh, and before he manifested, Erysichthon was vegetarian.

I know the 'bad ideas' thread is a terrible place for nit-picking but...
How would Erysichthon ever figure out the mechanics of his power?
I was under the impression that mutant powers didn't come with instruction manuals or instant knowledge but tested and developed through trial and error. The idea that you test what cannibalism will do to a power is to me slightly more disturbing than a power that works via aforementioned cannibalism.

one Super Villain in Absinthe is code named Slippery I believe.

so that name is taken if I remember correctly.

Hebblejebble wrote: I know the 'bad ideas' thread is a terrible place for nit-picking but...
How would Erysichthon ever figure out the mechanics of his power?
I was under the impression that mutant powers didn't come with instruction manuals or instant knowledge but tested and developed through trial and error. The idea that you test what cannibalism will do to a power is to me slightly more disturbing than a power that works via aforementioned cannibalism.

My impulse would be that things started going badly, with him becoming what we ate, they brought him into testing, and figured out the pattern. Now, he's being sustained on blood donations and/or a Devise that can clone forms of meat and a donation of a pound of flesh by family members willing to endure a permanent scar for his sake.

Hebblejebble wrote: I know the 'bad ideas' thread is a terrible place for nit-picking but...
How would Erysichthon ever figure out the mechanics of his power?
I was under the impression that mutant powers didn't come with instruction manuals or instant knowledge but tested and developed through trial and error. The idea that you test what cannibalism will do to a power is to me slightly more disturbing than a power that works via aforementioned cannibalism.

FuzzyBoots wrote: Now, he's being sustained on blood donations and/or a Devise that can clone forms of meat and a donation of a pound of flesh by family members willing to endure a permanent scar for his sake.

Also, high level regen. Why force family members to endure scars when you have students that will regenerate body parts without a problem? Although consuming Sara is probably a bad idea...

Well, eating flesh from a high level regen comes with the possibility of their cells taking over and possibly mind-wiping you. Granted, he does face bodily and personality changes each time he eats something, but personality changes are a far cry from having your mind wiped clean.

Is that a risk for eating regen flesh? It is for blood transfusions, but I didn't think the risk was as bad for consuming the flesh. Besides, he clearly has a weird metabolization process anyways, so I think that there's a good chance that he could eat regen flesh safely. (Although Sara and maybe Tennyo's flesh would probably do bad things to him because they're too alien.)

Well, people are normally a lot more concerned about regen blood than flesh because it's a lot easier to get somebody's blood in your system than flesh, but I don't see any reason to not be concerned about flesh, organs, etc. Basically any part of them that is actually alive is a potential risk.

Cooking the meat first probably helps reduce the risk a lot. (Not to mention the risk of disease. There is a very good reason people are squeamish about cannibalism: the more similar your food is to you, the more likely it is to be carrying diseases that you are susceptible to.)

Two related ideas.

One, a mutant with invisible GSD - outwardly they appear normal, but all of their internal organs (except for the parts of the brain that allow for human intelligence, and their skeletal and muscular structure of course) are those of a deer.

Two, a mutant who is human below the neck, excepting the heart and digestive track, and giraffe from the neck upwards, excepting the brain.

In both cases, the GSD fills in the gaps to integrate between the body parts.


Ooh, a third idea: Mutation does nothing but give the mutant cloven hooves and a ruminant's digestive track (so they have to chew their cud). This one's not particularly different from the other two, but it amuses me to have a mutation that does nothing but make the mutant kosher to eat. (Sort of. I'm pretty sure that no rabbi alive would actually consider such a person to be kosher, even if they do technically fulfill the requirements. But still, it's amusing. ) I seem to be on a cannibal trip, don't I?

Hebblejebble wrote: My first contribution to this site, so of course I have to place it in the bad ideas thread.

The character "Radio Silence" has the uncontrollable warper power to nullify all the EM spectrum with a frequency lower than visible light over a substantial area around herself (covers a whole building, but not a city block).

I have a Thornie who would love her and not in a sarcastic way.

Faraday
Esper 3 (Omniglot, Hears radio transmissions)
Hawthorne

Faraday cannot leave his room because he cannot tune out all the radio noise that modern society creates. He cannot tune into a specific frequency. He hears ALL of them.

Nocte wrote:

Hebblejebble wrote: My first contribution to this site, so of course I have to place it in the bad ideas thread.

The character "Radio Silence" has the uncontrollable warper power to nullify all the EM spectrum with a frequency lower than visible light over a substantial area around herself (covers a whole building, but not a city block).

I have a Thornie who would love her and not in a sarcastic way.

Faraday
Esper 3 (Omniglot, Hears radio transmissions)
Hawthorne

Faraday cannot leave his room because he cannot tune out all the radio noise that modern society creates. He cannot tune into a specific frequency. He hears ALL of them.

Ha! Wow! ... Now I want to see them together, but in two different timelines!

1. Faraday hates Radio Silence's personality

2. Faraday X Radio Silence Shipping!

Also, wouldn't they have to share washrooms or something, so Faraday isn't KO'd by his own power?

***

Wait... Does Faraday break all encryption when he receives his frequencies? I guess it's only frequencies that would actually be detectable by a reciever though?

Not so much a Bad idea, but one that may be a tad sensitive due to religious grounds and what happened in Paris .

What if part of the reason ISIL/ISIS is blowing up historic sites and destroying artifacts is they are looking to free something that they think will aid their cause?

I have a similar idea for an alternate WW2 dealing with a Lovecraftian Axis, and the rest of the world. Haven't had time to properly plot it out to do it justice however.

Now a bad idea of my daughters.
She was drawing a picture of a little girl by the beach, and telling me all about it. Then she said "This is the skeleton he's walking away, and this is his skeleton head over here."
I asked the obvious question, "Why is he walking away from his skull?"
"Because it fell off and he forgot about it. He doesn't know it fell off because it's rolling away."

My little girl is strange, and I wouldn't change her for all the money in the world.

So here is Skeleton Boy.
Somehow when Albert manifested he also died. However his soul remained stuck in the body of his skeleton, and the flesh melted off leaving his bones perfectly clean, mobile and functional. He doesn't need to eat, breathe, drink or much of anything, so long as he's around people and can eat some of their emotions everyday. If he focuses he can suck all the emotions from a person leaving them basically comatose for weeks until their soul recovers enough, but even then they're emotionally distant and odd.
The main problem for him is that his skull seems to be partly out of his souls influence, he can move it and make it look like he's talking from it, but it's a lot like a hat and he'll sometimes forget it, which makes his already freakish appearance even worse, and freaks out people in class and Crystal Hall when they see a living skull opening and closing it's mouth randomly, or worse rolling down a hill clicking as it goes.

Domoviye wrote: So here is Skeleton Boy.
Somehow when Albert manifested he also died. However his soul remained stuck in the body of his skeleton, and the flesh melted off leaving his bones perfectly clean, mobile and functional. He doesn't need to eat, breathe, drink or much of anything, so long as he's around people and can eat some of their emotions everyday. If he focuses he can suck all the emotions from a person leaving them basically comatose for weeks until their soul recovers enough, but even then they're emotionally distant and odd.
The main problem for him is that his skull seems to be partly out of his souls influence, he can move it and make it look like he's talking from it, but it's a lot like a hat and he'll sometimes forget it, which makes his already freakish appearance even worse, and freaks out people in class and Crystal Hall when they see a living skull opening and closing it's mouth randomly, or worse rolling down a hill clicking as it goes.

wow...um...yeah...that definitely seems a bit out there, even by Whateley standards...

That's why it's in the bad idea thread.

Actually I've read stories like that. Strange Tales of where a spirit inhibits its bones but has no flesh. Think of it where a person refuses to acknowledge that they've died. Now it seems what can the person do? And what about dogs looking to keep on burying him/her.

Oooh.

Dr. Lector, out for a stroll one day, feeling a little peckish, spys a tween-age girl goofing off in the park. Bops her over the head, and being in somewhat of a hurry, removes a limb.

Arrives home and cooks and eats part of said limb. Or perhaps served tartare.

Unfortunately said tween-ager is a recently manifested mutant with regen 5 ...

Disturbingly appropriate for this thread.

Fava beans counter regen....

A GSD case whose appearance is similar to the later stages of the condition shown in A Bad Case of Stripes .

A GSD code named Molerat. Is virtually blind in sunlight needs to wear heavy sunglasses like arc welders. Eyes are extra large also as in pug eyes. Hands are like claws that allow them to dig small tunnels and has a pair of buck teeth like Timmy Turner.

Oh and talks like Alvin.

GSD case - girl turns to stone. Not stone-like, stone. Her parents come into her bedroom one morning and find a statue where their daughter used to be.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: GSD case - girl turns to stone. Not stone-like, stone. Her parents come into her bedroom one morning and find a statue where their daughter used to be.

We had that. Mrs. Carsons daughter. But go on. Please. What would be different about it.

Shelly could still move, she was just covered in stone. If this other girl became a stature, how could anyone even know if she was alive?
Could she see or hear, or would it just be blackness and her own mind, until something broke her?
God, it would be nicer if she just died in her sleep.

The whole stone thing sounds terrifying without SOME other power. Without interaction with basically anything, what is the point? Maybe if she had limited telepathy or telekinesis in order to move or make sounds it would be less of a dead end.

Domoviye wrote: Shelly could still move, she was just covered in stone. If this other girl became a stature, how could anyone even know if she was alive?
Could she see or hear, or would it just be blackness and her own mind, until something broke her?
God, it would be nicer if she just died in her sleep.

You misunderstand. She's not alive. What used to be a person transformed overnight into a rock.

I just remembered why I came here.
A person who can force other people to participate in a heated debate over a topic of their choosing, even if it means temporarily contradicting their own opinions.

Well. Then it really is a dead end.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: You misunderstand. She's not alive. What used to be a person transformed overnight into a rock.

So in other words, similar to that one girl that Estelle describes early on in Dom's fanfic Fate Sucks. The one who basically just melted into a pile of liquid flesh...

Oh good. That is better than pretty much any alternative.
And yeah that sounds a lot like that girl. I pulled that one out of one of my nightmares. Stone girl if she was alive would be coming from the same place.

Ooh! Better idea!

A few days later, Stone Girl's twin sister realizes that she's started manifesting as well, with a talent for petrifying living material.


No, she didn't kill her sister. They just have linked mutation, like the Fury Twins. One sister petrified other things, the other petrified herself. But the twin and her parents don't know this...

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Ooh! Better idea!

A few days later, Stone Girl's twin sister realizes that she's started manifesting as well, with a talent for petrifying living material.


No, she didn't kill her sister. They just have linked mutation, like the Fury Twins. One sister petrified other things, the other petrified herself. But the twin and her parents don't know this...

Sounds like she could make golem's.

If the powers work the same way, either the sister can petrify others and unpetrify them, and the stone girl could maybe unpetrify herself (doubtful), or the sister is basically medusa.
Turning things to stone permanently sounds like losing the superpower lottery, unless you wanna be a villain.

The thing about golems...
That is an interesting take. If she could petrify people, then control them....

I can see how that could be helpful. Got something that's a living biohazard, turn it to stone and remove it. Lots of lakes are full of algae that uses up all the oxygen killing everything in it. Put her in some scuba gear and turn it into rock. Kudzu outbreak, rock. Rampaging biodevise, now a pretty statue.
A person is dying from a horribly contagious fatal virus, when the doctors have given up on saving him or her, stone, and remove a plague vector.
Lots of uses.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Ooh! Better idea!

A few days later, Stone Girl's twin sister realizes that she's started manifesting as well, with a talent for petrifying living material.


No, she didn't kill her sister. They just have linked mutation, like the Fury Twins. One sister petrified other things, the other petrified herself. But the twin and her parents don't know this...

Dang...so you're saying not only does the second twin lose her sister, but only a few days later she also has reason to believe that she in fact KILLED her sister? Dang that's harsh...

Is this the "Bad Ideas" thread or the "let's compete to see who has the worst Nightmare Fuel idea" thread?

Sir Lee wrote: Is this the "Bad Ideas" thread or the "let's compete to see who has the worst Nightmare Fuel idea" thread?

I'm beginning to wonder that myself, Sir Lee...

Also, I bet you could find a pretty good market for stone taxidermy, if you marketed it properly. And I bet a lot of fancy hotels and similar places would enjoy decorating with petrified plants.

You could in theory use it to fight fires as well by removing the fuel source, but she'd need to have a pretty good range, and it wouldn't be good for the local area, so it would be a weapon of last resort. Also, if she has the range to fight fires she has the range to wipe out cities, so that's a DFA waiting to happen.

Sir Lee wrote: Is this the "Bad Ideas" thread or the "let's compete to see who has the worst Nightmare Fuel idea" thread?

I think Bad Ideas may share elements from the set of Nightmare Fuel Ideas, but is not a proper subset of it?

Okay, why am I not surprised that Dom ran with the kid turning into solid stone idea?

It's a cool idea. And at least I let him get out and wander for a few hours a day.

Is it going to be the main idea for a while?
I just thought of one. What if there was someone with precognition that made it so the could always get into the right place and time to catch stuff in the face. Like a baseball, a punch, a sudden downpour of water. Basically anything moving quickly through the air.

Like a reverse danger sense. That's not nice.

Ok freaky one.
Youngest mutant ever, only five or six years old, she gets ideas of people who will die soon, and sings childish little songs about it. When asked about it, she says she isn't singing, it's her doll singing.

Domoviye wrote: Like a reverse danger sense. That's not nice.

Ok freaky one.
Youngest mutant ever, only five or six years old, she gets ideas of people who will die soon, and sings childish little songs about it. When asked about it, she says she isn't singing, it's her doll singing.

Heh, I know what inspired that one. And yes, I agree that it'd be freaky, while also being quite sad.

Domoviye wrote: Like a reverse danger sense. That's not nice.

Ok freaky one.
Youngest mutant ever, only five or six years old, she gets ideas of people who will die soon, and sings childish little songs about it. When asked about it, she says she isn't singing, it's her doll singing.

This actually reminds me of one of my ideas.

Young mutant like yours, or maybe a little younger. High level precog - to the point where she makes Mrs. Potter look like she's using Tarot cards. Now, that level of precog would ordinarily drive someone insane. But because she's so young, her mind works differently enough from an adult brain that she's able to encompass it, although she doesn't entirely comprehend it. Between how powerful she is, and how childlike she is, her powers (once they are discovered) are misdiagnosed as luck manipulation because the actions she takes are subtle and so far disconnected with their result that the results look random. And of course she's 4 - her goals can be arbitrary and odd. She might tug on a man's coat while out walking with her parents, and then a few days later he's in exactly the right place to rescue a baby bunny. Or get hit by a rotten tomato. Or discover and 'rescue' an old teddy bear from a trash heap.

I also gave her a high level Exemplar trait which locks her at her current age. Also precocious puberty to explain why she manifested so early. Fortunately, the effects of the puberty are mostly hidden by her Exemplar little girl body. The exemplar body is mostly indistinguishable from her original body, but it's lack of aging is eventually what ticks off her parents that there's something different about their little girl.

Codename: Little Butterfly

Cool. I really like her.

I assume the codename is a reference to the butterfly effect. Small events having large consequences. So I guess she sees all possible consequences of her little-girl actions and chooses which ones meet her little-girl goals.

Okay, here's a bad idea inspired by something Dom said over in the Shattered Glass discussion thread. (If this cuts to close to the actual concept you have in mind, Dom, feel free to slap me )

A shifter with a variable BIT, whose forms are based on DnD (or some other RPG system) characters that he has to actually take the time to create. And I mean actually CREATE, as in rolling dice for stats, writing up personality details, describing physical appearance, etc. Basically what he does is every time he creates a character it becomes a kind of mental overpattern that he can apply to his BIT, allowing him to shift into that form. This would be limited to strictly physical/mental changes, no additional powers would be available (otherwise this guy would be REALLY overpowered), though some limited esper abilities might be possible. I'd suggest he only has three or four "slots" for overpatterns that he can shift between, and if he wants to use a different form he has to go through a long, involved process of meditating to "delete" a current pattern, spinning up the new profile (with sufficient detail), and then meditating again to "lock in" the profile as a new overpattern.

I'm imagining his basic ratings would be Shifter-4 (maybe 5) and Esper-2, while his actual ability ratings would obviously vary from form to form.

Suggested Codename: "Archetype"

Cool, but not even close to my character.

Domoviye wrote: Cool, but not even close to my character.

Figured it would probably be too convoluted to be what you had in mind, which is why I went ahead and shared it.

I also have a convoluted idea. But it may be more convoluted. So convoluted I need to simplify it every time I try to explain it.
There is this guy (Let's call him Char) with some basic psychic/ TK ablities, who as a child idolized his hero relative. This hero relative had some special astral projection abilities, and died before Char manifested his. While this relative was dying, they sent their astral body to Char, and it lingered with him. When he gains his abilities, he begins channeling this dead relative's astral form unconsciously, and begins to transform into them. But the relative had a unique BIT that they hadn't fully transformed into before dying, so Char first becomes identical to his dead relative, then their BIT overrides his and he becomes what they would have been if they hadn't died.
If you want more details you'll have to tell me. I'm actually in the process of developing this character. No names or codenames decided yet.

I was thinking of an actual avatar 7. Codename 'Camelot'. He/She hosts not one, but (variation of) several spirits from the Arthurian legend. Some known spirits are:

Arthur: manifests as a typical shiny knight. A strong PK field with manifested armor and weapons. Strong tendencies to do the righteous thing of course. First got in trouble by hitting counterpoint in the face with an (iron) glove because he was bullying Stalwart.

Merlin: very strong magic user always dressed in robes, the face always hidden in shadows.

Guinevere: baseline girl with a tendency to dress like a princess.

Morgana: healer, magic user and assassin. Tends to dress slutty and has glowing eyes.

She can instantly switch between spirit (and body). Originally male, but usually uses the 'Guinevere body as the robes, shiny armor and glowing eyes tend to attract law enforcement.

There's this character concept that I keep trying to add to a story. On the surface he's a pretty straightforward character but...
Putting him in Whateley is not a good idea. For Reasons I challenge you to deduce.

Name: Ritchie Lamarr Granazes (NOT "Richard"; his actual name is Ritchie)
Codename: Spin
Ratings: Devisor-6
Place of Origin: Eureka, California

Details: Ritchie comes from a lineage of Greek-American inventors. His family values technology so much that most kids are named after famous inventors and scientists -- for instance, his great-uncle, who got quite famous in the Sixties, was named after Cardano. Unfortunately, most of their inventions tend to be non-patentable devises, even when they don't appear to be so -- for instance, his great-great-grandfather built a few functional internal combustion engines in the mid-XIX century, but copies didn't work: metallurgy and machining methods of the time were simply not up to par, and it was only his devisor power that held the engines together.

The only reason I can think of is that the Olympians would be very interested in him.

A bad idea, an odds Warper sees the odds all the time of almost anything she sees, and she can only try to tune them out, they never actually go away.. She can change the odds up or down, but pushing them too hard gives her a migraine.

Wait, just to make things clear, I'm not certain if this has been mentioned before: "bad idea" doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't make an interesting or worthwhile story, right? Not sure how we're defining this.

It mostly means a really messed up character with strange powers or big flaws.

Domoviye wrote: A bad idea, an odds Warper sees the odds all the time of almost anything she sees, and she can only try to tune them out, they never actually go away.. She can change the odds up or down, but pushing them too hard gives her a migraine.

How does she know what odds are for what actions? Like chances that X and Y will hookup for Z months, vs X and Y will fight for Z minutes, etc.?

I'd think the description of the power in her visual field would be real unique and inspirational?

The odds warper sounds a bit like that one character in Worm who could give the exact odds for any particular question (and could modify those odds based on more refined questions or a changing situation) but got horrible headaches when doing so too often (something like 5-6 times a day), which was part of how she wound up addicted to drugs.

FuzzyBoots wrote: The odds warper sounds a bit like that one character in Worm who could give the exact odds for any particular question (and could modify those odds based on more refined questions or a changing situation) but got horrible headaches when doing so too often (something like 5-6 times a day), which was part of how she wound up addicted to drugs.

Yeah, I saw the similarities too, but I guess I was too caught up in its presentation to post this link. Dinah Alcott.

Dinah apparently also can't lie to people to ask her to probabilitize, else she gets headaches.

Similar, but she sees the odds constantly with little control, and it has to be something she sees, hears or touches. So no thinking is a person two hundred miles away going to die tomorrow?
She suffers constantly from sensory overload.

Domoviye wrote: Similar, but she sees the odds constantly with little control, and it has to be something she sees, hears or touches. So no thinking is a person two hundred miles away going to die tomorrow?
She suffers constantly from sensory overload.

Obviously a Hawthorne case, and meditation shield training, like for Merry, doesn't work... I think?

One of the full isolation rooms, and the only people she can communicate with are online or by letters... True face-to-face is overload central? She'll need psychological help on a scheduled basis to make sure she's mentally well?

Perhaps have a rapid training regimen for Astral Projection?

Quorry wrote: Wait, just to make things clear, I'm not certain if this has been mentioned before: "bad idea" doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't make an interesting or worthwhile story, right? Not sure how we're defining this.

The original thread was started for ideas that were stuck in your head, but wouldn't be a positive addition to whatever story you were working on, so this was a dumping ground to get rid of them. It has since evolved into a place for any idea that is negative in any way (partially because we don't have any other place for talking about random character ideas)

Domoviye wrote: A bad idea, an odds Warper sees the odds all the time of almost anything she sees, and she can only try to tune them out, they never actually go away.. She can change the odds up or down, but pushing them too hard gives her a migraine.

The problem with this is that there are infinite odds. What are the odds that a raindrop will land on [location] in the next [time period]. What are the odds that [person] will step on [location] in the next [time period]. What are the odds that [location] will reach [temperature] in [time period]. Etc, etc, etc. And that's not even getting down to the quantum level, where basically all of matter is described with statistics. You've just given your odds warper omniscience, and they immediately go blind or insane from data overload.

So definitely make it much more limited.

Domoviye wrote: So definitely make it much more limited.

Giving them flaws and limitations will bring them closer to the probable sense instead of the omni range. That is unless of course you're going for the latter. Its limiting the power level that I'm seeing is the problem in most cases. Over time the persons capabilities begins to reach the omni level in that it becomes more and more harder to bring in those that can defeat the person or show them being still on the human level.

What about an odds manipulator who can tie two probabilities together? Such as the chance of someone tripping on their shoelaces with the chance of a coin toss. If they set heads to them tripping, they can flip the coin, and if it is tails they know the person will not trip over their shoelaces. It is unknown whether they actually change the odds based on the coin flip, or if they can perceive the outcome and modify the result of the coin toss to match it.

Interesting idea.