Tangent Powers

[Jarl]

I've been fiddling with some Comic Book superheroes for a while, just stuff for fun, maybe I'll upload 'em or something, a little comic series or something.
Anyways, I came up with this one character after chemistry one day. I had this thought...
What if... all the flesh and whatnot in your body was at superconductive temperatures? What effect would having a thought pas through your entire body at once have on you?
Very little thought later, "Icy-Jay" was born, a martial artist/actor who, while doing a dangerous stunt for his next movie, "Icy Justice Part 4: Vengeance!", fell into a radioactive pool of liquid nitrogen. Shut up, it could happen.
Now, his powers were obvious. Control over ice, freeze water at will, hard exterior because he's ice, that sort of thing. and then I thought back to the Amazing Superconductive Man and I thought about that.
In addition to his ice powers, Icy Jay also has limited telepathy, a shocking touch, and is slightly batty due to all his thoughts being in jumbles.
I called it a Tangent power. It's a side effect of his actual powers, without technically being one. My friend came up with another one: The Illustrated Woman, an arts major with an interest in body modification who was used in the unscrupulous experimentation of a BBEG, giving her the ability to stretch her body and transforming her skin to a kind of giant mood ring, psychotropic whatnots, you know? Well, my friend pointed out that by concentrating/meditating, she could conceivably turn invisible.
Tangent power!

-Any ideas along similar lines? Like, the ability to direct force becoming flight by directing it downward, etc?

[Beleriphon]

I like the superconductor guy. I means that his nerve response time would be massively boosted. It wouldn't necessarily affect his intelligence, but his reactions would be hugely improved. His thought processes might be drastically sped up, but he's still limited to what he knows, it would be like overclocking a computer. Now he can get to the wrong answer twice as fast!

[Jibar]

The superhero I created, Volt, has complete control over electricity. Not entirely original, I know.
But then I realised; "Aren't your thoughts just electrical impulses in the brain?"
Thus, I gained mind control.

[Ing]

Don't know if its tangent since I had this guy planed.

Whole idea is that with some exceptions my heros are semi-plausible with physics (or at very least do not rape it inside out like some x-men)

One was the Kinetic Man. Original power was that he could become a heat sink and draw energy from one source into his body to freeze things with touch. Problem, heat has to go somewhere or it would raise his core temperature and kill him. Solution...burst of heat waves, possibly concentrated into scourching rays.

[Tiberian]

Yeah, electrokinesis is very common with tangent powers, like being able to lift metal objets above and beyond his normal strength.

[Jack_Banzai]

You know, as much as Marvel hyped up Magneto's power level in the eighties and nineties, they never even came close to scratching the surface of what he was capable of. Same with Graviton. We're talking about characters that have control of two of the four primal forces of the universe. Really quite amazing when you think about it. The two of them have so many tangential powers it's almost ridiculous.

So, for those of you who read Preacher, did anyone else stop short and go "whoa!" when Jesse told the various thugs at his grandma's to "BURN!" using the Voice of God? This would indicate one of two things:

1) Either the Voice of God is so powerful that it allows him to make slight alterations to reality - something that I really doubt, or

2) more likely, the Voice of God has such an effect on other humans that it can actually force their bodies to effect physiological changes that are normally outside of the human spectrum. I think this is much more likely. He says "BURN" and the body temperature of the various thugs increases so dramatically that they spontaneously combust.

I always wondered why he never tried to heal Arseface. The entire book I was waiting for it.

[Haggis_McCrablice]

Physics dictates for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I mean, Superman and Flash can run at top speeds, sure, but has any writer considered the massive amounts of heat that would produce from the friction of their feet on the ground? Shouldn't there be a streak of flame and a lot of melted macadam behind them, like something out of an old Speedy Gonzales cartoon? Or do they run so fast that they actualy rise up off the ground slightly, like how an ice skater is actually moving on a thin film of water atop the ice's surface? And how do they avoid blowing out every window in Metropolis or Central City with a sonic boom every time they take off?

[Beleriphon]

Physics dictates for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I mean, Superman and Flash can run at top speeds, sure, but has any writer considered the massive amounts of heat that would produce from the friction of their feet on the ground? Shouldn't there be a streak of flame and a lot of melted macadam behind them, like something out of an old Speedy Gonzales cartoon? Or do they run so fast that they actualy rise up off the ground slightly, like how an ice skater is actually moving on a thin film of water atop the ice's surface? And how do they avoid blowing out every window in Metropolis or Central City with a sonic boom every time they take off?


Superman manages to move at supersonics speeds by virture of gravitons. He effectively creates his own subjective gravity and actually "falls" towards this point. As for sonic booms, I'd assume that Metropolis has long since updated the vast majority of hits buildings to allow for Superman to take to supersonic flight within the city.

As for the Flash, I'd expect the same given that he's a celebrity in Central City.

[Jack_Banzai]

...and nobody read my post. Awesome.

[Ing]

...and nobody read my post. Awesome.

really wasn';t much to comment on

"YAH"

there you go.

[Jack_Banzai]

really wasn';t much to comment on

"YAH"

there you go.

Yay! Thanks!

[Ing]

Superman manages to move at supersonics speeds by virture of gravitons. He effectively creates his own subjective gravity and actually "falls" towards this point. As for sonic booms, I'd assume that Metropolis has long since updated the vast majority of hits buildings to allow for Superman to take to supersonic flight within the city.

As for the Flash, I'd expect the same given that he's a celebrity in Central City.

Well flash's use of speedforce lets him negate friction so would he even make a sonic boom?

[Ing]

Yay! Thanks!

Honestly I've never read Preacher, but I figure if you have the voice of God, reality and physics are now your dancing monkey.

[Yuki Akuma]

Well flash's use of speedforce lets him negate friction so would he even make a sonic boom?

A sonic boom is caused by air rushing back into place after being displaced extremely quickly. It's the same effect as thunder.

Friction has nothing to do with it.

[Steward]

So, for those of you who read Preacher, did anyone else stop short and go "whoa!" when Jesse told the various thugs at his grandma's to "BURN!" using the Voice of God?

I've seen explosions before, so it was more like, "Huh. I didn't know that he was a pyrokineticist as well as a hypnotist."

[martyboy74]

A sonic boom is caused by air rushing back into place after being displaced extremely quickly. It's the same effect as thunder.

Friction has nothing to do with it.
True, it's technically an extreme buildup of air pressure because the air can't get out of the path of whatever quickly enough. However, since the speed force reduces friction, one could say that the surface of The Flash's body is slick enough to have the air slide around him quickly enough to avoid sonic booms.

[Caillach]

I always thought that a sweet power would be time control. You could slow down or speed up time in specfic areas, sort of create a little (or big) time bubble.
I dunno if I'm making any sense here but meh, I just thought I'd contribute.

[martyboy74]

I always thought that a sweet power would be time control. You could slow down or speed up time in specfic areas, sort of create a little (or big) time bubble.
I dunno if I'm making any sense here but meh, I just thought I'd contribute.
Yeah, if you had complete control of time, that'd be handy. However, it either gives you every tangent power in the book, or is useless because it freezes the air around you.

[Caillach]

well it would probably take a lot of effort so you wouldn't be able to affect a very large area, and if you tried you probably wouldn't beable to affect it for very long. And as for the freezing of the air, the air particles wouldn't freeze they would just slow down, or speed up depending on which time speed you set them on. So long as you either keep moving, or ensure that the air around you is on the same time as you, you would be fine.

[Ing]

A friend and I have been working on a Chronokenetic character, we have found many intresting and unique wasy to limit his god like power.

In short he has God like power compleate control over time but can't use it to its greatest degree due to the 'circumstances' we set up.

[martyboy74]

A friend and I have been working on a Chronokenetic character, we have found many intresting and unique wasy to limit his god like power.

In short he has God like power compleate control over time but can't use it to its greatest degree due to the 'circumstances' we set up.
And those "circumstances" are?

[Ing]

And those "circumstances" are?

A main villian who is a primal force of nature, can limit the "VCR" type powers and can himself travel to any point in time the hero has visited to fart around with things.

[Jack_Banzai]

If you have the means, I recommend picking up the series Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja that was put out by Marvel in the early nineties. While the "Ultimate Ninja" tagline truly was retarded as hell, the story itself is actually quite interesting. Basically the main character (who is considered the world's foremost assassin) is tapped to assassinate his childhood friend who has evolved into an omniscient, omnipotent telekinetic. Out of "compassion" the telekinetic destroys the world's nuclear stockpiles (keep in mind that this occurs during the final days of the Cold War) and without the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction, the world immediately erupts into all out conventional war.

Interesting story and a good reference if you ever decide to include an omniscient/omnipotent character or villain into your campaign.

[Steward]

He can destroy all the nuclear weapons, but he can't handle a few guns? Damn, what a moron!

[Ing]

If you have the means, I recommend picking up the series Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja that was put out by Marvel in the early nineties. While the "Ultimate Ninja" tagline truly was retarded as hell, the story itself is actually quite interesting. Basically the main character (who is considered the world's foremost assassin) is tapped to assassinate his childhood friend who has evolved into an omniscient, omnipotent telekinetic. Out of "compassion" the telekinetic destroys the world's nuclear stockpiles (keep in mind that this occurs during the final days of the Cold War) and without the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction, the world immediately erupts into all out conventional war.

Interesting story and a good reference if you ever decide to include an omniscient/omnipotent character or villain into your campaign.


SOunds like a glorified bunch of appologism for Nixon and MAD and an attack on pascifism.

[Dawnstrider_Moogle]

I hear ya. Telekinesis in particular is something that gives you a LOT of tangent powers - flight, heat abilities (by creating friction...might be full-blown pyrokinesis depending on how powerful your TK is), superstrength (if you're clever and focused enough to be able to add the force of your telekinesis to a punch or lifting...although depending on how strong your telekinesis is compared to how strong YOU are, the addition of your body strength to your telekinetic force might be moot), energy blasts (either by focusing whatever background radiation there is, or by throwing a blast of air at the person), and of course, the ability to kill instantly with a mere thought by screwing around with vital organs.

The series Ultimate Fantastic Four has a few good uses of "tangent powers" - Invisible Girl blinds a bunch of bad guys by using her force-fields on their optic nerves, and Mister Fantastic uses his control of his anatomy to give himself telescopic sight at one point.


The superhero I created, Volt, has complete control over electricity. Not entirely original, I know.
But then I realised; "Aren't your thoughts just electrical impulses in the brain?"
Thus, I gained mind control.

I don't know, it seems like you'd have to have a really high-level understanding of neuroscience in order to do anything like that. Otherwise you'd just be moving electrical impulses around without precision or understanding...I think body control might be more plausible, though, since the nervous system's electrical impulses would probably be pretty easy to figure out if you have -complete- control over electricity.

[Jarl]

Having trouble with an Origin and it fits this topic.
Guy's a NASCAR driver, becomes a "speedster" character. The problem is, relativity.
If a person travels REALLY fast a very short distance, say thirty feet or so, sould they actually arrive at their destination later than a person travelling slower?

-He gets his powers the same way Barry Allen does, chemicals struck by lightning. Unlike Barry, the chemicals are octane in his tank as the car explodes around him.

[Dawnstrider_Moogle]

Well, I don't know much about relativity, but the way I understand Barry Allen and the other "Flashes" work is that the "speed force" which empowers them also creates an "aura" that protects them from the effects of friction & other things that would make it really nasty to run really fast. Given that, you can just say your speedster has the same aura and its protection extends to ensuring that no relativistic nonsense occurs ("Man! I just washed my clothes and now they're blueshifted again!")

[Ing]

Having trouble with an Origin and it fits this topic.
Guy's a NASCAR driver, becomes a "speedster" character. The problem is, relativity.
If a person travels REALLY fast a very short distance, say thirty feet or so, sould they actually arrive at their destination later than a person travelling slower?

-He gets his powers the same way Barry Allen does, chemicals struck by lightning. Unlike Barry, the chemicals are octane in his tank as the car explodes around him.


no

[Jarl]

no
Oh well.

[Ing]

Oh well.


For short distances (IE not in lightyears) the effect of the relativity is in fractions of fractions of seconds as i see it.

If it worked on such a small scale you would get everywhere faster by walking than driving or even jogging.

or for a better example, you should be able to out stroll a shot bullet.

[Jarl]

Don't tell Xeno that.

-I just wonder what the gradient is, I mean, between normal speed and normal time all the way to backwards time at C+, at what point would the slow-down be... okay, I went cross-eyed.

[Ing]

Don't tell Xeno that.

-I just wonder what the gradient is, I mean, between normal speed and normal time all the way to backwards time at C+, at what point would the slow-down be... okay, I went cross-eyed.


It kicks in for moving very fast and very far.

picture it this way....airplace has it in one fraction of a second for a cross country flight at supersonic speed.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Telepathy/mind control gives invisibility/illusions. Think an uber Jedi Mind trick: "You can't see me." or "You see a giant blue chicken."

[Haggis_McCrablice]

Doesn't Flash's hyperspeed also give him hypermetabolism, necessitating him to eat large amounts of food to keep up his enegry? Admittedly a fairly lame tangent power, unless maybe you're in a pie- or a hot dog-eating contest....

[Deadmeat.GW]

Yes but it has both advantages and disadvantages.

You would be faster affected by something like drugs but also almost instantly recovered from it.

Anyone seen Quicksilver getting drunk?

Going through the stages of drunkeness to hang-over in the space of a minute or so and ordering Shelves of alcohol...