Alternate terms for "superhumans"?

[Trebuchet]

I'd like to see if we can come up with some alternate terms for superhumans. I use "paranormals" in my campaign, and I've seen "metahuman" and I think "novas" mentioned as well. But none of these really float my boat except "novas", which I think is sort of campaign specific.

 

Anyone else have any other terms? Perhaps in foreign languages?

[Ben Seeman]

Dunno if I heard this in a movie, a comic or what but I have heard the term "Homo Superior" used before. I've also heard the term "Evolutians" or "Evolutes" for short.

[Hermit]

Metahumans

Metas

Supers

Paranormals

Paranorms

Mutants

Mutates

P.I.s (Powered Individuals)*S*

[Arthur]

In Wild Cards:

 

Ace.

[Evil Toki]

in my current campaign I call them elites though an alternate world, calls them simply metahumans

[Derek Hiemforth]

How about PEAs? (People of Extraordinary Ability)

[Uncle Shecky]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman

Dunno if I heard this in a movie, a comic or what but I have heard the term "Homo Superior" used before.

That "Homo Superior" thing started in the X-Men comic.

 

In "Powers" they are called Powers. In "Rising Stars" they're called Specials.

[TheEmerged]

"Nova" is the term used in the Aberrant setting, by White Wolf. I've adopted it, along with some other terminology (especially "eruption" for the process by which a normal person becomes a nova), for my own NeoChampion Universe.

 

In the Emergence Universe, I used the term "emergeds" for superhumans -- but that tends to drive Word nuts

 

One other term for superhumans I'm aware of is "delta", used in the Brave New World setting by AEG. That setting also uses the term "alpha" to describe a delta that's even more of a delta

[Lord Liaden]

The "Ultraverse" comics line (can't remember the publishing company, but Prime was their flagship character) used the term Ultra.

 

Of course, the official Champions Universe cites a popular slang term for superbeings, at least the more colorful ones: "capes".

[Agent Escafarc]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

The "Ultraverse" comics line (can't remember the publishing company, but Prime was their flagship character) used the term Ultra.

 

 

That was Malibu Comics bought out by Marvel then killed due to lack of imagination and poor buisness sense.

[Stormraven]

In one of my campaigns, I use Parahumans. Para as a prefix can mean beyond or a modification of, so it seemed to fit.

 

However, in that same campaign, the media still tends to use Metahuman, even to the creation of the magazine MaxiMeta

[CrosshairCollie]

Names for Supers

 

One of the best ones I've heard is 'augments', as it covers a wide variety of possibilities (Batman's not a 'super', but he's definitely 'augmented' because of the gadgets and training, for instance). Capes or Tights is a good slang term for 'em, IMHO, especially if those who don't like them preface it with 'Rats In'.

[Evil Steve]

From Marshall Law there was "Capers" and on a lighter note, Supermegatopia uses "Rats with Capes":)

[CrosshairCollie]

SMT

 

Of course, given Supermegatopia's unique population structure, it wouldn't necessarily be that unusual to actually find a Rat in a Cape.

[Crusader108]

In the comics, I've seen several different terms:

Spikes (as in power-level spikes)

Tweaks (low power supers)

Capes

Masks

Roofcrawlers

[mattingly]

However, in that same campaign, the media still tends to use Metahuman, even to the creation of the magazine MaxiMeta

And if they ever come out with a pocket-sized digest edition, they could call it MiniMaxiMeta.

[mattingly]

they could call it MiniMaxiMeta

with wings.

[Brutal]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman

Dunno if I heard this in a movie, a comic or what but I have heard the term "Homo Superior" used before. I've also heard the term "Evolutians" or "Evolutes" for short.

 

Hahaha...Homo Superior. That is gonna be popular among gay people

 

badguy: omfg that was a bad punch!

goodguy: here's another one for you *smack*

badguy: *cusses* homo

goodguy: thats homo superior for you!

[The Mad GM]

I've always classed them as either Powered, Trained, Mystic, Gadget or Weird, though the lines blur. In general, I just call 'em PC's (for Powered Crimefighters or Powered Criminals, of course).

 

Other terms I've used:

Targets

Walking Property Damage

Fights in Tights

Hardcandy (a pejorative term started by one of my players because my villains had so many bright colors to their costumes. A 'rainbow of fruit flavors' was the term, from a then popluar candy ad. I came back with a brick named 'Jawbreaker'.)

 

Personally I like 'tights' more than 'capes' because it's easier to say with a villainous leer. Plus I have shapely calves.

[kidsavior]

Other names for Superhumans

 

One used in the Authority universe is "Post-Human". I've used "Uber-Human" in the past.

[SleepyDrug]

Also from comics:

 

Spandex

Alphas, Omegas, Betas - power rating terms

[Enforcer84]

Short lived comic series called the Preternaturals.

or Prets' for short

[Evil Steve]

Originally posted by mattingly

And if they ever come out with a pocket-sized digest edition, they could call it MiniMaxiMeta.

 

Dude, think Hero. MinMaxiMeta.

[Space Cadet]

A couple of years ago, I was prowling around a Morrow Project-

oriented website called The SupplyBunker.net, and, in the

process of checking out adventure scenarios contributed by

various people to this site, came across a term that you just

might get some use out of: Enhanced Human.

 

Space Cadet

[EvilGM]

We use Harbinger. It's has its basis in the history we created for our campaign universe. There was a famous speech by a professor of modern history at Yale who called people who had superpowers as "harbingers of humanity's fate". The press liked the term, and it stuck.

 

Later, when the gene that caused people to have superpowers (as opposed to people with magical abilties) was discovered, the term was then more narrrowly defined to cover those people with the gene, but in practice, anyone who's not proven to be a mage (or user of magical foci) as called Harbingers.