WWYCD: Power Loss

[Manchine]

What would your character do if whatever made them a hero was gone. They lost their powers (Intelligence to make powers, gizmo's, magic). Would they be happy, sad, try and figure out what happened, or ask for help? What would your characters think and do if they became normal again?


PS
I hope no one has done this recently. I quickly did a search and didnt see anything.

[Zed-F]

Soulbarb's reaction will depend on how this change relates to the presence of the demon that's bonded to her soul and which is the source of her powers. If she senses that demonic presence is no longer there, she would in some sense be relieved, since it probably means her soul is fully her own once again. On the other hand, she would miss having powers a lot. She would re-evaluate her attitude to life, and would probably become somewhat less snarky and more tolerant. On the other hand, she would probably keep fighting crime in her own way, relying more on gadgets and training and less on outright superpowers.

[Metaphysician]

Microman II: N/A. Given he's an android, there's not really any way he can be rendered powerless without also rendering him non-existent.

Diomedes: Would be rather depressed that he woke up one morning to find all his talent and skill mysteriously gone. . .

[McCoy]

Millennium is not defined by his powers. He would still feel the need to be a hero, a role model, and a shining example even if his powers failed.

Cheeta, stripped of his powers and carreer, would probably explore jucing. If other preformance-enhancing substances did not produce the desired effect, would go into a deep depression. May be adicted to the adreneline rush, may try to keep heroing until he is seriously injured or killed.

Iron Will would die. Literally. His powers are keeping him alive.

Snow Leopard was born with her enhanced senses, she would feel as if she had been struck blind and deaf. Would probably follow the patter of recovery of stroke victims, denial, anger, finally acceptance.

Dolphin would miss being able to breath under water, but would continue to work for ecology and good karma.

[Trebuchet]

Zl'f has always considered her "civilian" life to be at least as important as her superheroing activities (I don't, of course ). Were she to lose her superhuman agility (DEX 43; SPD 9) she'd simply focus on her other activities - horseback riding, working as executive assistant for one of the world's leading philanthropists, visiting with her friends and family. Any further reflections would depend on how much and which of her superhuman traits disappear. She was an Olympic bronze medalist at gymnastics prior to getting her powers, so would her "pre-powers" DEX of 23 and 17- Acrobatics roll (which allowed her to win those medals) or 15 STR also disappear (While 15 STR is not techically 'superhuman,' it probably would be considered so in a woman who weighs 101 poinds and stands only 4'10" tall)?

Having recently discovered she enjoys flying planes, she'd probably get herself a private pilot's license. She would finish her degree in Computer Science (Computer Programming 13-), and would likely go for another degree in business administration to make her better at her job (A classic overachiever, she's never satisfied at being merely 'adequate' at anything. She wants to be good at everything she does.). She would almost certainly take on some sort of charity work so she could still help others in need. (The most important element of the word superhero is 'hero', and you certainly don't need superpowers to be a hero).

[Ghost Archer]

Ghost Archer: What makes an individual a 'superhero'? What is considered 'power'? Even of you removed everything from me that is above my racial maximum I would still be a potent force. Remove my ghost powers, been there, didn't change much. Remove my gadgets? I can still use an ordinary bow and blade. If you are talking about removing all my skills, I have had that happen any number of times and survived. See . . . the thing is, so much makes me what I am that you can't just point to this or that and say that is my 'power' and even if you take it all away, I am STILL dedicated to what I am doing. The power isn't the hero, the hero is the power.

[Hermit]

Astro-Knight: Would miss them, but is a gung ho guy and would probably throw himself into the NASA and other space programs with gusto. He now has something to shoot for and wants to be a part of it.

Gaze: Almost relieved, and most likely Jack B. Charming would focus on his career as a stage hypnotist and start dating a young lady in earnest. Yup, he'd be convinced he'd done his duty.

Until someone he cared about, or someone in front of him was in danger. Then old instincts would kick in, and he'd use whatever skills he had to help. If his team really got in trouble, he might even try to find the PSI serum from PSI and inject himself. To get back that which he once hated in order to save their lives.

Max Thunder:Become a doctor, save lives. The loss wouldn't be his power, the loss would be that this means his father Zeus is either dead, or has denounced him. THAT would hurt more than any loss of super strength.

Recluse: Depends on how he lost his powers. He'd miss them more than he thought he would, and his concern would not be about himself, but about Grandmother Spider and the tribes without a champion.

[Lord Mhoram]

Ballistic (a supermage supersuit) would shrug and go into another field, like super security or something. After spending a year what caused it to see if it was reversable.

Angelfire would be dead. All of her powers spring from being a half demon half angel - take that away and nothing is left. If she somehow got transformed into a normal human, she'd find a way to fix it.

Blackcat has been through this, twice. First when she came back from the dead, she had lost all her martial arts (her kinetic memory having been lost), then after she was possesed by her darkforce powers, and they were removed, she was normal for a while, until she reocvered her martial arts back.
She would try and find out what messed up her kinetic and philisophic memory (as most of her powers came through understanding of Ch'i as well as marital arts, so losing them would involve somer serious spiritual/intellecutal damage) and if it wasn't reversable, start over. She's been through it before, and it may take a decade or two, but she could train up to her previous level.

Meeb is one of those characters whose "powers" are just his race. Without his powers, he isn't really him (he's a man sized amoeba). So it doesn't really apply.

[Powerhouse]

Hmm.. Blackcat sounds like she has a really interesting history.

Lady Silver: would probably be lost at first. She was raised in a mystical land and was trained almost from birth in magic. Using magic is almost akin to breathing for her. She would spend a great deal of time trying to restore her powers or at least find out *why* she had lost them.

If the power loss was due to a loss of magic across the board, then she would be able to let it go since there aren't any mystical threats to defend against. She's also retire from the Silver Knights although she's always be avaliable for advice and assistance. As someone who is heavy into charity work, she would spend more time in this field and be happy. Heck it might give her some time to meet someone special and settle down!

If magic still existed and it was just her loss, she'd look into ways of restoring at least some of her abilities and might become like Constantine (albeit a much nicer one).

Nova: the first thing she'd miss is flying and in general she'd be really depressed (she early on had a psych limit of prone to depression). She would need her friends to help her get through this harrowing time since her powers and role as a protector is so central to her.

That said, I think that she would find the strength to pull through and lead a normal life albeit one as a powerless alien on Earth. If she couldn't disguise her self (she has a small magic charm that buys off her distinctive features), she might have to watch out for old enemies but at the same time most are hunting her because she's in the way more than for a blood debt. I think she'd be fine. If it happened later in her career, when she's married and head of the Ravenwood Academy, she'd be fine with enough to fill her life although she'd be angry at times with her inability to help people and defend those she loves.

Tyr: as a the last of the Norse gods, he's already milking his somber psych limit. Take away his powers and he'd be practically DOA. With or without his powers though, he is one of the bravest beings to walk the earth and he would pull through especially with help from his friends. He would eventually adjust to a normal life and suffer stoicly as he always has but there would be a huge gaping hole in his soul. As a (former) god of justice, he is still a formidable fighter though and he would seek to help others find justice through some type of law enforcement role probably. He's also a lawyer so he would probably defend the rights of others. It's possible that he might find happiness but never complete satisfaction.

Starknight: she'd be bummed but be ok pretty quickly. Unlike many other of the Silver Knights, her powers haven't been with her all her life. Sure, it would stink to not be able to jet halfway across the galaxy but she's already seen more than most humans ever will. She would probably quit her research job to look for something to re-up the thrill in her life and would even consider using her combat training as a vigilante for kicks but would be careful to get in over her head.

Titan: if he just lost the ability to use battle suits, he'd be ok. He would always design new equipment or make the world a better place through his intellect. If he lost his genius level intelligence though, he would be completely devestated and feel violated. His whole identidy is that he's a super genius! Indeed his company relies on it to a certain extent (although over the years it have diversified and brought in other bright people). NOable to think or have knowledge as he once did, Titan would become suicidal and seek tons of therapy (both mental and neurological) to get back to where he was. I can't see him accepting to not have his intelligence.

Sentinel: as a normal human (think Solid Snake having to babysit a bunch of well-meaning but naive superbeings), he wouldn't be affected by a loss of powers unless he suffered a crippling wound. That would make him even more bitter and cynical although he could probably find work training other super teams or special forces in combat.

SpeedDemon: he'd be out of work pretty quickly since the only reason he gets hired for acting gigs is that he's a celebrity because of his powers... kinda like a male Paris Hilton. He'd just spiral down and try to find a normal life somewhere and try to forget how he had fallen.

[Chuckg]

Starguard -- would be very sad, as her powers allow her to do immeasurably more to help people than a high school girl from Canada would be able to manage.

OTOH, she also sees her powers as a gift from God, so if God chooses to take them away... well, she did the best with what she had for as long as she had it.

Dr. Pain -- was a champion pro wrestler before he got superstrength. After having had /real/ fights for /real/ causes, he probably wouldn't want to go back. OTOH, he was getting on about retirement age anyway...

Baron von Darien -- is a vampire, so for him, 'losing his powers' means one of two things: 1) becoming mortal again, or 2) Final Death.

1) would make him, understandably, ecstatic. and 2) would at least be a relief.

All of them, to a greater or lesser degree, would first take the reasonable steps to make sure that their power loss was actually permanent, of course (and hadn't been caused by an enemy as part of some nefarious plot to etc.)

[Fedifensor]

Actually, Power Loss was written into the background of one of my superheroes. Backblast received his superpowers from a set of alien armbands, and was employed by the military. He was an epic-level super, capable of destroying tanks with a single bolt of energy. The armbands were damaged in a fight against a supervillain team, eventually collapsing into dust and causing him to lose all of his powers.

A few years later, forgotten by the military, he accidentally interrupted a delicate experiment at his brother's lab, ending up in the hospital. A few weeks after he was released, his powers came back...well, some of them. Instead of being a 600+ point superhero, he was at the starting campaign level. He had Fear of Losing Powers and Needs to be a Hero as two of his Psych Lims.

While I didn't cover his time without powers in detail, being a hero was everything to him. He probably did everything possible to try and get his powers back, even volunteering for experiments and clinical trials in the hopes that something would happen.

[incrdbil]

I'm guessing that things like INT drop to normal human levels..

Hornet..well, after a fruitless effort to determine what happened, would simply try to be the best scientist he still could be..and take on problems that he can meet.

Ranger--well, back to the FBI counter inteeligence unit.

Schaister would probably revert to being a small time con artists, instead of a a metahuman con artist.

Demon would rejoice at having the demon part of his soul gone...then promptly start a life as a human 8 year old.

Blaze, without powers, reverts to the base personality--who just lives a normal life as a computer geek. With no powers, comes very little responsibility, since the base personality is sort of a fraidy cat. Well intentioned fraidy cat, maybe...

Eclipse..back to NASA. And actually pretty happy.

Sanction..well, would proobably pack up, move to Hudson city, and be a heroic level vigilante--just using 'real world' weapons to eliminate criminals beyond the laws reach. So basically he would go from a high level vigilante setting to a heroic level one. And die sooner.

[AliceTheOwl]

Weather Girl would be ecstatic. Her powers are what set her apart from other human beings, and she's always wanted to belong. She would start attending her college classes in earnest, and start dressing a bit more provocatively. She'd also attempt to make non-heroic friends, and consider dating.

Any attempt on the party's part to restore her powers would be met with, "No, no, I'm fine. You guys just focus on saving the city, and I'll finish my education."

Beacon, conversely, would probably go catatonic. She doesn't understand people (she has Asperger's), and the only thing that gives her any bridge to human contact is her mental powers. Without that small link, she would just shut down for a while.

Then she'd go about trying to figure out what happened.

The Greek would figure she had done something to piss off the gods, and would spend most of her time in prayer and sacrifice to appease them. She would attempt to contact the gods she knows are still living to find out what she may have done to cause this change.

If there was no change after a while, she would shrug, take it as the will of the gods that it should be, and go off and live a normal life under her Secret ID.

[Zeropoint]

Special Agent Trent would be nearly ecstatic to lose his powers, but would then be hit with a wave of horror at the thought that he might still have the negative side effects. He'd get that checked out right away. If everything was gone, making him a normal human again, he'd consider it the best thing that ever happened to him, and get himself taken off the super beat. He'd also be glad he never let himself get into the habit of using his telekinesis for everyday little things.

If he lost his powers, but still had the mental instability and susceptibility to telepathy, he'd have no real recourse but to hope for more medical investigation and to become yet more bitter about his fate.

Zeropoint

[Blue]

Anthem couldn't stop being a hero now that she was without powers. She'd likely go back to school though, train as a police officer, and enforce justice by more traditional means.

Audra Blue would presumably lose the disadvantages involved with the cybernetics as well, thus she would be a housebound normal person. She'd still be a great hacker, but nowhere near her legendary status. She'd feel like less of a freak, but she'd miss the ease with which she could gather info.

Unlce Slam would finally retire. He's quite old, and he'd take it as a sign that it was time to step down. But he would seek someone else to carry on as an enduring symbol of america; He'd comb through all the files until he found the right hero, then he'd do his best to train them and give them everything he knows, before he walked off into the sunset.