"Down-to-Earth" special powers

[Frenchman]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Another member of the team - most likely only brought in occasionally when their skills are needed - could be someone with a creepy affinity for animals. My sister is like that, she's been able to train every type of animal she's ever had (and thats a lot!) in a short period of time (few days to few weeks). She makes a living as a horse trainer, specializing in horses that no-one else will touch.

For some reason I thought of this thread while talking to her today - she told me that she had trained her new rat to fetch her keys for her. When they're inside of her car:nonp:.

[Drhoz]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

For some reason I thought of this thread while talking to her today - she told me that she had trained her new rat to fetch her keys for her. When they're inside of her car:nonp:.

 

cool beans!

[OddHat]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Yes. Too bad there's not more info available on the internet. I'll have to ask Stan Bennet - our slightly friendly local gym owner who used to be in the circus and has kept a picture of our Governator next to his bed since the 80's. He probably has his autographed biography somewhere or something.

 

His biography is here, but it's not avaiable anywhere online for less than $27.50.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

For some reason I thought of this thread while talking to her today - she told me that she had trained her new rat to fetch her keys for her. When they're inside of her car:nonp:.

That's pretty impressive. Rats are pretty smart, but what gets me on this is the word "new" -- apparently the training went pretty quickly.

 

If she can teach an iguana to come when called, I'll cite her by name in the novel. (If she can teach a cat to stay off the dining table even when nobody's around, call Ripley's.)

[BobGreenwade]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

His biography is here' date=' but it's not avaiable anywhere online for less than $27.50.[/quote']The link is perfect. Using that information, I just submitted a purchase request from my local library.

 

Ah, what a wonderful resource Herodom is!

[Frenchman]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

She has trainded many cats to do many things (some of them almost unbeleivable if you havn't seen it - like flush the toilet when they're done)

She has also trained my brothers three iguanas to go back to their cage on command.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Pardon the thread necromancy... I'm starting to get into the section of work where all this information is being used, and I thought I'd just bump it to see if anyone had any more ideas. (I might also ask for clarifications here and there....)

[Vestnik]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

 

The character of Rain Man was built on an autistic individual...using medicine perhaps you could have him maintain a much more normal social interaction level but retain his incredible mental abilities.

 

Man, you so just gave me a character idea.

[ghost-angel]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Vision, most peoples peripheral only goes to a 90 deg arc IIRC. Some people go almost complete to 180 with full visual color - most peripheral is there to catch motion and doesn't have the ability to discern color.

 

And with science, may be we can open that iris up a little more to let in more light, and voila low-light vision.

[Ocelot]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

End of discussion.

 

Update (1/24/08 19:05): Okay, I didn't seriously mean "End of discussion." Please, keep discussing.

 

I'm just surprised no one would respond to such a perfect reference to Jean-Claude Van Damme.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Tetrachromacy.

 

From the article:

 

The normal explanation of tetrachromacy is that the organism's retina contains four types of higher-intensity light receptors (called cone cells in vertebrates as opposed to rod cells which are lower intensity light receptors) with different absorption spectra. This means the animal may see wavelengths beyond those of a typical human being's eyesight' date=' and may be able to distinguish colors that to a human are identical.[/quote']

[Zeropoint]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Vision, most peoples peripheral only goes to a 90 deg arc IIRC. Some people go almost complete to 180 with full visual color - most peripheral is there to catch motion and doesn't have the ability to discern color.

 

I'm having a little trouble understanding what you mean here--most people actually DO have about 180 degrees of peripheral vision, so I'm inclined to think that you meant "90 degrees each way from straight ahead", but then "180 degrees" would mean 360 degree peripheral vision.

 

For instance, a quick check reveals that I can rotate my eyeballs through pretty close to 90 degrees (45 each way from center) without moving my head, and my peripheral vision reveals movement and color, but not much detail, out to spread of at least 160 degrees (80 each way from center)--with my eyeballs pointed straight ahead. If I move my eyeballs but not my head, I can see color and movement out to a spread of 190-200 degrees. Yes, I can see "behind me" a little if I move my eyes to the extreme right or left positions.

 

Hmm, it just occurred to me that this doesn't mean that these abilities are common--I might have unusually good peripheral vision. I don't have any sense that I do better in this area than others, though.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

A couple more ideas, somewhat based in real science...

 

Waardenburg syndrome is a rare recessive genetic syndrome that manifests primarily as partial or complete deafness and strange pigmentation variations...bi or multi colored eyes, patches of white or sliver hair among (think Polgara).

 

What's less documented, but under intense study, is the fact that some characteristics of the syndrome may be, well... good.

Superior reflex speed. Superior hand eye coordination. Rapid visual processing.

IIRC, they started studying this when they realized the abnormal numbers of Waartenburgers among the deaf Olympians. NOt all inheritors of the syndrome are deaf, either.

My ex G/F, for instance. She and her 2 siblings hall had it. all had weird pigments...white locks in black hair, a white "corner" of an eyebrow, One blue eye and one brown. Both her brother and sister were deaf. All three of them were competitive athletes. Her brother and sister both competed on the deaf olympics team. I dated her for 5 1/2 years so I got to spend a fair bit of time observing this. Her brother was eerie quick. Like, "on a camping trip catching trout with his bare hands" quick. dude had CRAZY reflexes. Always thought it'd be a cool basis for a character ability.

 

Second.

There have been some studies lately that have been saying some interesting things about redheads (my personal kryptonite). I shall summarize in the extreme in order to present the most 'game-able' version of the new theories.

 

It goes a little sumthin' like this... *cue music*

 

The Redhead recessive trait may be a genetic remnant from hybridization from Homo Neanderthal. Redheads have been determined to be more resistant to both the effects of pain and the effects of painkillers (and other narcotics and various forms of anesthesia).

(Damage Reduction, Sun Only?)

They also tend to show more intuitive ability... at a cost. it seems that the hybrid Neanderthal brain has advantages in the more instinctive areas of the brain, but this makes the brain not "fit" the brain-case as well as it should, leading to occasional abnormal pressures and a higher tendency towards madness. Redheaded strains tend to originate from isolated geographic regions in northern Europe, often in areas with a mythological record of an earlier semi-human culture that was conquered and absorbed by the main culture. Their may be a link to a naturally larger pineal gland and enhanced psychic abilities, as well.

The Papal bull of Innocent VIII identified Red hair as one of the mark of a witch and led to a decrease in the diversity/increase in rarity of the redhead trait (unfortunately) in what modern Wiccans would call the "Burning Times"

(go whine to the gypsies, they lost way more people than us pagans did. Lot of Jews too, come to think of it, and more than a few "blackamoors").

 

Oh, and did I mention they almost universally are better at shunting pain off into pleasure receptors

 

*ahem*... where was I... Oh, yeah.

to sum up.... you have every excuse to heap a bunch of neat traits on someone just cause of their red hiar, if you want them to be that one-in-a billion, all the traits are at max person.

Pain resistant, drug proof, masochistic, and crazy.

 

Did Marv have red hair?

[OddHat]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Paget's disease is very interesting.

 

http://www.viking.ucla.edu/Scientific_American/Egils_Bones.htm

 

(Noting of course that the above article on Egil's Bones is conjecture)

 

On the positive side, keep thickening bones and you have more room to attach muscle, and more resistance to some kinds of damage. On the down side, eventually you get nerve impingement, headaches, deafness, and blindness. Most people with Paget's don't have anything but arthritis and deformity to look forward to. Still, you'll occasionally get someone like Egil, who can bounce an axe from his skull.

 

Stories of a fair number of famous strongmen also include comments on the extreme thickness of their bones, as well as signs of acromegaly. In a game with extreme human ability but no Superpowers as such, they offer a chance to bring in a level of raw strength and resistance to some types of harm a step or two beyond what the vast majority of humans can manage.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Waardenburg syndrome is a rare recessive genetic syndrome that manifests primarily as partial or complete deafness and strange pigmentation variations...bi or multi colored eyes, patches of white or sliver hair among (think Polgara).

 

What's less documented, but under intense study, is the fact that some characteristics of the syndrome may be, well... good.

Superior reflex speed. Superior hand eye coordination. Rapid visual processing.

IIRC, they started studying this when they realized the abnormal numbers of Waartenburgers among the deaf Olympians. NOt all inheritors of the syndrome are deaf, either.

My ex G/F, for instance. She and her 2 siblings hall had it. all had weird pigments...white locks in black hair, a white "corner" of an eyebrow, One blue eye and one brown. Both her brother and sister were deaf. All three of them were competitive athletes. Her brother and sister both competed on the deaf olympics team. I dated her for 5 1/2 years so I got to spend a fair bit of time observing this. Her brother was eerie quick. Like, "on a camping trip catching trout with his bare hands" quick. dude had CRAZY reflexes. Always thought it'd be a cool basis for a character ability.

We did already have the "crazy reflexes" mentioned, and I inserted a character with that ability -- but this is a good way to explain it.

Did Marv have red hair?

Who?

[OddHat]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Here we go, Angus MacAskill.

 

7'9" tall, 425 pounds, a reported ability to lift (clean) a ship's anchor weighing 2,800 pounds. If that isn't strong enough for a campaign, you might as well go with true Superstrength.

 

Sure, some of the stories are probably exagerated; still, he made his career as a strongman and manual laborer, and there are lifters today who can approach his numbers even if there's no one currently (as far as I know) who can match them. I'm willing to buy that he did pretty much what he's said to have done.

[OddHat]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

Who?

 

Marv from Frank Miller's Sin City; deformed borderline Superhero.

[ghost-angel]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

I'm having a little trouble understanding what you mean here--most people actually DO have about 180 degrees of peripheral vision, so I'm inclined to think that you meant "90 degrees each way from straight ahead", but then "180 degrees" would mean 360 degree peripheral vision.

 

For instance, a quick check reveals that I can rotate my eyeballs through pretty close to 90 degrees (45 each way from center) without moving my head, and my peripheral vision reveals movement and color, but not much detail, out to spread of at least 160 degrees (80 each way from center)--with my eyeballs pointed straight ahead. If I move my eyeballs but not my head, I can see color and movement out to a spread of 190-200 degrees. Yes, I can see "behind me" a little if I move my eyes to the extreme right or left positions.

 

Hmm, it just occurred to me that this doesn't mean that these abilities are common--I might have unusually good peripheral vision. I don't have any sense that I do better in this area than others, though.

 

90 degree arc, not right angles to the head.

 

Peripheral is the "corner of the eye" vision. Peripheral is actually just beyond that point.

And honestly, most people move their eyes more than they think.

[AlHazred]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

You might also consider that by 2090, advances in martial arts traditions may have led to increasing numbers of individuals with enormous "body discipline," capable of feats of "mind-over-matter" beyond that which we expect to encounter today. Maybe some of these tricks are based on a merging of neuroscience with mystical traditions -- people who can distinguish colors by touch, or who can literally "smell fear."

[freakboy6117]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

how about some thing more cerebral there is current research into savant-ism that using magnetic field could allow you to selectively switch off one form of intelligence to enhance another. even if you just restored normal functioning to the rest of the brain whilst retaining a savant ability it would be pretty interesting.

 

alternately total recall would be a pretty useful ability to for a detective perhaps a electronic back up for someone who had there memory center damaged even better if they can produce hard copy.

[adidamps2]

Re: "Down-to-Earth" special powers

 

There is a rare (in humans, Belgian Blue cattle all have this trait) genetic disorder in which the body in unable to produce any fat, except for that used in the nervous system and the linings of some organs. Theres a young boy on the east coast somewhere with this, I can't recall his name or the name of the disorder, but I'm looking through my notes for it.

The big, obvious advantage is that a person who has this abnormality is able to put on tremendous amounts of muscle by being a couch potato. The downside is that infants tend to be very large and muscular, and their mother's often don't survive. Also, their stamina is directly related to what and how much they have eaten recently - they have no fat to store energy in and their lungs don't always work very well. They may suffer from starvation more rapidly too (this is just conjecture from me)

 

Edit: After googling around for this Joseph Greenstein character, it seems he may have had this - powerful bone structures and incredibly hard hair & fingernails, as well as respitory problems stemming from a lack of fats are some of the traits of this condition.

i believe the disorder actually is not an inability to store fat, but it is a myostatin disorder (more like blocker) allowing one's body to build muscle with out limitation (this will most likely be the Bodybuilding drug of the future). heres a wiki link for the "disorder" too littel of it, but i tgoes on to describe what happens if the body doesnt have it present either: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=67f15c17-2717-4022-bb76-1b982456e793 (it had a really cool name before it was given myostatin (Growth differentiation factor8)) and here is a news link and picture of an overly musclular Whippet who has it: http://http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=67f15c17-2717-4022-bb76-1b982456e793 and i use to have the link for the story of the boy in which you are reffering to also. but i cant find it right now. the story was actually in the wiki article: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070530/strong_toddler_070530/20070530

and heres a pic of the cow with the disorder: