Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

[Black Rose]

In the vein of "Self-Defeating Powers" and "Seemingly Silly Things To Model", I'd like to offer up the option of... interesting, but ultimately "useless" powers.

 

Now, by "useless", I don't mean the power is completely useless, like the ones in "Self-Defeating Powers", I mean powers that actually do something, and if you yourself had it, you'd probably get use out of it, but don't actually matter in the grand scheme of things.

 

I'll give you my idea, which was inspired by the "see through your own eyelids" power in the "SDP" thread:

 

See Yourself: combo of No-Range Clairvoyance, Microscopic Vision and N-Ray Vision all Discriminatory, only usable on yourself. Now you can see any part of your body, inside or out, no matter how small. You can follow the process of digestion, from chewing to excreting (presuming you want to). You can see blood flow through your veins. Presuming your mind allows you to interpret the information, you could watch yourself thinking about what you're seeing. I literally can't imagine anything more riveting than being able to observe your own thought processes.

 

I'm not kidding. Consider how engrossing stupid screensavers can be. Now realise you could be looking at your own mind's screensaver. I think anyone with this ability would instantly stop as a going concern.

 

Thoughts?

[Dust Raven]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Are you looking for stuff that is actually useful, just not in the context of playing the game?

 

All that's coming to mind are stuff like the writeup for a mug of coffee.

 

Perhaps something like +10 PRE, only on the Internet. In RL you are a geeky, sloppily dressed fan-boy with an overbite and a snorting laugh, but whenever you interact with anyone via bulliten boards, chatrooms, guestbooks, your own website, etc. on the Internet, you come across as a charasmatic, pursuasive, compelling person and are able to communicate your thoughts and feelings in a way that verbal speach and in-person interaction you find impossible.

[Robyn]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Presuming your mind allows you to interpret the information' date=' you could watch yourself [i']thinking[/i] about what you're seeing. I literally can't imagine anything more riveting than being able to observe your own thought processes.

 

I'm not kidding. Consider how engrossing stupid screensavers can be. Now realise you could be looking at your own mind's screensaver. I think anyone with this ability would instantly stop as a going concern.

 

Thoughts?

 

This isn't a useless power. Observation of your own thought processes is one of the prerequisites of learning how to rewrite them. I've got a whole third of my game built around that arena. Cognitive powers like these are common to heroic PC's

[Robyn]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Perhaps something like +10 PRE' date=' only on the Internet. In RL you are a geeky, sloppily dressed fan-boy with an overbite and a snorting laugh, but whenever you interact with anyone via bulliten boards, chatrooms, guestbooks, your own website, etc. on the Internet, you come across as a charasmatic, pursuasive, compelling person and are able to communicate your thoughts and feelings in a way that verbal speach and in-person interaction you find impossible.[/quote']

 

In that case, I must have the opposite: -10 Pre, only on the Internet

 

Depends on the forum, though.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Perhaps something like +10 PRE' date=' only on the Internet. In RL you are a geeky, sloppily dressed fan-boy with an overbite and a snorting laugh, but whenever you interact with anyone via bulliten boards, chatrooms, guestbooks, your own website, etc. on the Internet, you come across as a charasmatic, pursuasive, compelling person and are able to communicate your thoughts and feelings in a way that verbal speach and in-person interaction you find impossible.[/quote']

 

Hey, you just described me!

 

Bill.

(Except for the charismatic, persuasive, and compelling parts...)

[Dust Raven]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Hey, you just described me!

 

Bill.

(Except for the charismatic, persuasive, and compelling parts...)

 

Interesting, but useless...

 

[ideasmith]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

EDM: Time Travel: Futurewards Only, Leaves Body Behind.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

If anyone remembers Babylon 5, the Centari specifically (I think, maybe I don't remember...):

 

Extra Limbs (6 limbs), Limited Manipulation

[Robyn]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

If anyone remembers Babylon 5, the Centari specifically (I think, maybe I don't remember...):

 

Extra Limbs (6 limbs), Limited Manipulation

 

I remember, and enough of Mollari's words about it to look up the quote:

 

After Sinclair leaves, Londo thanks Lennier. Lennier asks what the part of Londo that reached for the cards was. Londo whispers the answer to him, and, when Lennier stares at him in disbelief, picks up a nearby statuette, a figurine with six long tentacles protruding from her midriff. "It's true," Londo says. "Yes! Here: Li, goddess of passion. A synthesis of male and female Centauri. Did you think these were just decorations?" Lennier leaves in a hurry.

 

__________________

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/021.html

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Or as Vir later summed up:

"We have six..., um... We have

six

."

 

But Londo *did* use them to cheat at cards, so they're not completely useless.

[Cancer]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Hmm. This could lead off towards cool stuff I wish I could do, but has no use in a supers campaign.

 

Keep My Coffee Warm: cosmetic Transform, lukewarm drinkable coffee --> piping hot drinkable coffee

 

Invoke Parking Karma: Change Environment, only to produce open parking space in an area where legal spaces exist but all are occupied

 

Keep That Dork Away From Me: PRE Aid, only to deflect away approaching individual without verbal exchange

 

and one I envisaged long ago --

Ah, HERE They Are: Summon car keys from nearby but unseen location.

[Zeropoint]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Summon Taxi Driver, summoned being must inhabit area, summoned being arrives under own power, OIF phone of opportunity.

 

I actually met a man with the following power once:

 

Summon Up To 16 Pigeons, summoned being must inhabit area, summoned being arrives under own power, only where local pigeons recognize summoner, OAF expendable: small bag of snack food, gestures.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

There's always my wife's siganture power:

 

Detect Good Restaurants: Discriminatory, Ranged, must use Sight and Smell groups, Activation Roll only on major holidays, anniversary (11-).

 

For other ideas, there was a similar thread awhile back:

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39049

[teh bunneh]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Interesting, but useless...

 

 

You've been peeking at my character sheet again!

[Dust Raven]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

You've been peeking at my character sheet again!

 

It's a Distinctive Feature and I have the appropriate sense.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Something came up in conversation in tonight's game that one of my characters actually has. TK, IPE (sight & sound groups), Fully Indirect. The character has this at 20 STR, but it could easily be less for what it's generally used for. When he's driving around town in secret ID, he uses it to yank cell phones out of the hands of drivers and occasionally to grab hold of a steering wheel to get to force a moron out of traffic during rush hour. It's definatley far from useless, but in the context of a game, that's about all it's good for: a colorful description of his drive to work every morning.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Hmm. This could lead off towards cool stuff I wish I could do, but has no use in a supers campaign.

 

Keep My Coffee Warm: cosmetic Transform, lukewarm drinkable coffee --> piping hot drinkable coffee

Chill That Soda: Transform -- room temperature bottle of soda to ice-cold soda at perfect drinking temperature (which varies from person to person)

 

Mr. Freeze actually used something like this in the '60s Batman TV series, describing exactly how long he had to hold a martini to chill it to the perfect drinking temperature. (that was the episode in which he was played by George Sanders -- the closest anyone in the campy '60s series to Victor Friese's tragic grace.)

 

Keep That Dork Away From Me: PRE Aid, only to deflect away approaching individual without verbal exchange

 

I think everyone on Earth has that power and uses it against ME.

[Sunday_Gamer]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Sorry but in the 4th Ed Fantasy Hero was the greatest power ever, a detect guard spell that no one bothered adding "ranged" to.

 

Stumbling through the dark, your hands come into contact with an armored breastplate. Feeling your way, you find the man's helmeted face and the long spear he carries, you decide to reveal to him you are in fact imbued with magical powers.

 

"You're a guard aren't you?"

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Interesting, But Ultimately "Useless" Powers

 

Sorry but in the 4th Ed Fantasy Hero was the greatest power ever, a detect guard spell that no one bothered adding "ranged" to.

 

Stumbling through the dark, your hands come into contact with an armored breastplate. Feeling your way, you find the man's helmeted face and the long spear he carries, you decide to reveal to him you are in fact imbued with magical powers.

 

"You're a guard aren't you?"

"Why yes, it just so happens I am. You're not trying to break into the castle are you?"

"Break into the castle? Me? Well, I....."

"Those are burglary tools attached to your belt, aren't they?"

"These? Hahahaha! Silly me! What is that doing there?"

"Good question. Hey, Harry! C'mere! This guy says he's not a burglar!"

(Another guard walks in, spear leveled.)

"Not a burglar? Really. That's the third one this week, Joe. Amazing how many people break into the castle who aren't burglars."

"Hang on a sec." (mumbles incantation)

"what's he doing, Joe?"

"Come kind of spell, I think."

"Got it! You're a guard, too!"

"Gotta admit he's right about that, Harry."

"Yeah, gotta admit it."