One Power

[Ruethgar]

So I cam across this post, if you could have 1/8 powers what would it be? I was
wondering if the Wizard's First Rule is just more pervasive than I thought, or if my and fellow RP gamers' minds just work differently from the demographic of the original post. So here they are. Do note that these use RL definitions not game terms.

You have a choice between 8 abilities.
1: You can turn yourself and your clothes invisible.
2: You can fly.
3: You can read thoughts.
4: You can shape shift into any living animal.
5: You can run at the speed of sound.
6: You can phase through anything.
7: You can move objects with your mind.
8: You can heal non-fatal wounds on yourself or others.

Which would you choose?

[Kane0]

Tough choice, but I would pick number 7 for myself. With enough optimization telekinesis would allow you to quite literally play god.


The majority of these can be replicated in some way, assuming our own world and enough optimization.
1. Moving light around me. In fact if i can move light I may as well time travel while i'm at it.
2. I can move myself or the object i'm standing on.
3. Can't think of a way to copy this off hand, but i'm sure there is one
4. Move my cells and other bits into the desired shape.
5. See points 1 and 2.
6. Move the stuff out of the way, or vibrate myself to be able to pass through.
8. Move things back to where they are supposed to be.
Points 1, 4 and 8 would require the most mastery, so I wouldn't want to attempt those without a lot of prep and practice.

[Courier6]

Assuming I kept my own intelligence (didn't just become non-sapient the moment I shape shifted) I would chose #4, I would be able to fly, have super strength and speed, breath water, and change my appearance (hey, humans are animals as well) not to mention being able to survive in space.

[Fable Wright]

It's a tough choice between 4 and 6, but I think 6 wins out, just because I'd want to see how far it could stretch. Phase through air, photons, abstract concepts, distance, time, reality, red tape and all that jazz, in addition to never hitting my head when standing up again or walking into a glass door? Sold.

[TriForce]

i probably would pick 8, head to a hospital, and spend more time then is healthy there

[Ravens_cry]

Do humans count as animals for this? Also, what happens to wounds when you shift from one form to the next?

[Amaril]

Shapeshifting, no question. By far the most versatile, and all the fun of several of the other powers too.

[Slipperychicken]

#8 (healing), then start up a medical practice and become filthy rich by healing rich people*. Probably charge ~10 grand per healing session (depending on the client and demand), more for an emergency. Occasionally donate my services to burn victims when I want to feel like a good person and get a PR boost.

*I could probably capitalize on the new-age/faith-healing market too, depending on how much I could squeeze out of them demand there is.

[Red Fel]

I'd probably go with 6, and not just because it means I could ninja the ever-loving crap out of everything everywhere.

It means I'd be unstoppable.

Think about it. I could never be restrained or contained, because I could simply walk through the walls and phase through restraints. I could never be harmed by any weapon of which I was aware, because it would simply pass right through me. Anyone who wanted to capture me would have to sedate me in my sleep, without waking me, and keep me in a coma.

And if you think that's all the power does, you're just not trying hard enough.

I could literally control my own health. If I can phase through anything, that includes myself. Do I have plaque building up in my arteries from unhealthy diet? Not anymore. Acid building up in my muscles due to exertion? Gone. Do I need fresh oxygen faster than I can breathe it in? I can pass it directly into my lungs. Am I getting too much sunlight? I can bypass ultraviolet radiation altogether.

Heck, take that last one a step further. I can phase through anything, right? That means that anything can be phased through me. I can cause light to pass right through me. Radiation. Electricity. I can walk through any scanning device undetected, past any camera unrecorded. I can walk directly in front of a guard and he won't see a thing. Even rain and dirt can pass through me; I'll stay clean and never leave a trail.

The invisible man will be hunted. The telekinetic will be studied. The healer will be mobbed. The flier will be shot down.

But the phaser? You can't touch me.

Creative uses, people. Creative uses.

[Mr Beer]

7: You can move objects with your mind.

How heavy, at what distance, how fast?

8: You can heal non-fatal wounds on yourself or others.

Diseases? Missing limbs and organs? Old age? How long does the process take?

[The Oni]

This is true, the health benefits of #6 are remarkable. In an alternate universe somewhere, a munchkining Kitty Pride lives to be 130 and can pull boats with her teeth.

[Chaucer85]

Phase. Though hopefully selective phasing, otherwise you'd just constantly fall into the ground whenever you tried to escape a bullet or something.

[Living_Dead_Guy]

7.) Move objects with your mind. Its flight (move yourself) with additional versatility. And you could potentially move yourself faster then the speed of sound Finally if you can move the molecular make up of any material with your mind you could "phase" through anything as well..

Changing your clothes invisible would get expensive. Take them off and forget were you put them, no thanks. After all you can't make yourself visible by RAW, that would lead to a boring and lonely life.

Nice Red Fel, but better hope you don't phase the bacteria that allow you to digest.

[TaiLiu]

Number Four would be most directly beneficial to myself, while Number Eight would be most directly beneficial to other people.

[Kane0]

7.) Move objects with your mind. Its flight (move yourself) with additional versatility. And you could potentially move yourself faster then the speed of sound Finally if you can move the molecular make up of any material with your mind you could "phase" through anything as well..

You're thinking too small. With enough optimization you can theoretically replicate or exceed numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 with telekinesis. Plus make atomic detonations and stuff at will.
There is a reason Jean Grey is one of (if not the) most powerful and feared mutants.

[Ruethgar]

A lot for phasing. I would have to go with 7. You get flight, phasing, sonic speed, you can heal even fatal wounds and illnesses if you have enough knowledge of anatomy. Depending on how you perceive light you also can turn invisible and potentially move thought waves into a range you can sense and learn to read them. The only one of them you can't do with relative ease is shape shift, that would take a while to do without causing shock to your system.

As to the questions:

7: You can move objects with your mind.

How heavy, at what distance, how fast?

8: You can heal non-fatal wounds on yourself or others.

Diseases? Missing limbs and organs? Old age? How long does the process take?

If it is an object you can do anything that is considered moving it. Thus hurling a planet at the speed of light would be moving an object and thus a valid target.

You can heal the wounds cause by a disease but unless the disease is the damage, such as missing a chromosome, you cannot heal it. Missing limbs and organs are often non-fatal and thus valid targets. Old age is believed to be the damaging/fraying of DNA after countless cell divisions and could be mended. Process time is unspecified leaving it up to the partitioner to determine as long as it meets the prerequisites of healing a non-fatal wound, whether in a millisecond or a millennia.

Do humans count as animals for this? Also, what happens to wounds when you shift from one form to the next?

Yes, humans are animals. As said in the OP, RL(real world) definitions in which humans are animals. The wound disappears, you have to change into a specific living animal though so if your target dies you no longer have a valid target and would presumably revert to normal or die, coin flip for which.

You are only changing shape, not chemistry so you would lose a lot of yourself changing into say a goldfish, but you would retain most of your memories and thought processes changing into a creature of similar shape such as an ape or another human. Do note that animals are a lot more intelligent than D&D gives them credit for and you could still retain a lot of yourself in various forms without much issue.

[Jan Mattys]

Number 3 for me.

Seriously, smart application of mind reading would make me the most powerful man in the world.

[Fable Wright]

A lot for phasing. I would have to go with 7. You get flight, phasing, sonic speed, you can heal even fatal wounds and illnesses if you have enough knowledge of anatomy. Depending on how you perceive light you also can turn invisible and potentially move thought waves into a range you can sense and learn to read them. The only one of them you can't do with relative ease is shape shift, that would take a while to do without causing shock to your system.

Not quite.
Phasing: Phase through anything, from the description.
Telekinesis: Objects only.

Anything encompasses far more than objects. Phase through energy, universal forces, definitely light (which TK probably couldn't affect), and being able to phase through abstract barriers like time and distance that TK can't touch. I will give TK points in versatility, presuming inexplicable perfect mastery of the potential of your abilities, but phasing through anything has capabilities that none of the others could dream of touching.

[Erik Vale]

Not quite.
Phasing: Phase through anything, from the description.
Telekinesis: Objects only.

Anything encompasses far more than objects. Phase through energy, universal forces, definitely light (which TK probably couldn't affect), and being able to phase through abstract barriers like time and distance that TK can't touch. I will give TK points in versatility, presuming inexplicable perfect mastery of the potential of your abilities, but phasing through anything has capabilities that none of the others could dream of touching.

Light/EM has mass.
Mass means it's made up of something.
Therefore it is an object.

Going for healing though. I don't have the knowledge required to make TK do all the fancy stuff, unless I could make it so simply by willing it instead of being able to imagine it and science morphs to my view point, because the cause of aging [biologically] may not be what I/humanity thinks it is.

[Kane0]

I will give TK points in versatility, presuming inexplicable perfect mastery of the potential of your abilities, but phasing through anything has capabilities that none of the others could dream of touching.

Touche. Phasing through time, space, and more would be awesome.
Edit: Though you would have to prove it exists first i guess.

[Ruethgar]

Touche. Phasing through time, space, and more would be awesome.
Edit: Though you would have to prove it exists first i guess.

Who says it would have to exist? Anything includes non-existent things... like the barrier between here and the Astral Plane or Sigil. Guess I just didn't think it through well enough. I still like TK, but the anything bit is nice.

There is also room in healing depending on how you define a wound. For example, the earth is wounded, so you restore it to Pangea. Or maybe humanity is a scar on the face of the earth so you heal a bit of it away. Ah, killing people with healing.

[Slipperychicken]

Touche. Phasing through time, space, and more would be awesome.

Player: "I phase through time"

GM: "Congrats. You just fell out of the timestream. Enjoy the timeless eternities you're helpless to watch. Also, your mind isn't wired to experience reality like this. Take 20d6 SAN damage from the unspeakable horrors and countless awful revelations which lie beyond the veil of time."

[DonEsteban]

You all assume a very literal approach in interpreting the abilities (phasing especially). I wonder if that's doesn't defy the point of the poll. At least there's no guarantee that the powers actually work the way you think.

Anyway, I'm tempted to pick #3, though I fear it might prove to be more of a curse than a gift. See "What Women Want" and others. I'd at least make sure that I can choose when to read people's thoughts and when not.

#4, #6, #7, and #8 are certainly tempting as well. Though I wonder how useful closing wounds (as opposed to healing diseases) actually is.

[Prince Raven]

Does 8 work on animals? Can it heal blindness, deafness and crippled limbs?

If yes, I pick that one.

[Kitten Champion]

Invisibility, outside of aiding illegal activities which I'd never commit, seems pointless to me.

Flight, while amusing, wouldn't be preferable to airplanes and car travel -- particularly in poor weather.

Mind reading, despite how it's depicted in fiction, would most like just end up earning me a mess of nonsense. You'd need a contrived scenario for it to yield anything useful, and I can't see how that'd come about. At worst I'd learn things I didn't want to know, and become depressed.

Shape shifting into an animal would certainly be interesting, as a means of expanding ones' own consciousness I can see the attraction. On the other hand other animals have a lot of risks associated with them which I don't wish to share. I'd also be terrified of not turning back one day.

Running at the speed of sound, to where? Even assuming I don't trip and die, or have to replenish my body's energy every time I accelerate, I'm pretty comfortable taking the bus, train, or taxi to the places I would actually go.

Phasing through anything - assuming I could somehow swim through matter rather than simply falling through space endless - has the same problem with invisibility. I could avoid some injuries and walking would be more comfortable, but its primary benefit would be getting to places which are barricaded from me and I have no particular interest in going in.

I could see the benefits of moving object with my mind. Granted the scope of "objects" is pretty vague. I mean, if I could move things which machines could move the value would be pretty limited. If I could move planets and stars around however, I could reshape the universe to something I desire. I could heal the environment, end war, cure the sick, create perfect cities with endless energy, travel through outer space in relative comfort, and possibly more.

Alternatively, healing is implicitly valuable. Most illnesses are non-fatal, it doesn't stop them from being serious. It would give my life a constructive purpose which I'd gladly pursue.

[Kane0]

Who says it would have to exist? Anything includes non-existent things... like the barrier between here and the Astral Plane or Sigil. Guess I just didn't think it through well enough. I still like TK, but the anything bit is nice.

But if you phase through it, it must exist.

Shape shifting into an animal would certainly be interesting, as a means of expanding ones' own consciousness I can see the attraction. On the other hand other animals have a lot of risks associated with them which I don't wish to share. I'd also be terrified of not turning back one day.

Not to mention what furries and furry haters would do if they found out about you.

Phasing through anything...rather than simply falling through space endless

Theres an interesting thought. If you phase, do you have no mass? Goes gravity, momentum, or any other law of physics still apply to you while phasing? If light, sound and matter passes through you, how will you see, hear and feel?

I could see the benefits of moving object with my mind. Granted the scope of "objects" is pretty vague. I mean, if I could move things which machines could move the value would be pretty limited. If I could move planets and stars around however, I could reshape the universe to something I desire. I could heal the environment, end war, cure the sick, create perfect cities with endless energy, travel through outer space in relative comfort, and possibly more.

Or play lego with the building blocks of reality.

[Kane0]

Double post, my bad.

[Jan Mattys]

Anyway, I'm tempted to pick #3, though I fear it might prove to be more of a curse than a gift. See "What Women Want" and others. I'd at least make sure that I can choose when to read people's thoughts and when not.

I really hope you can switch powers on and off by will... if you don't, then phasing is even more hilarious. Being instantly able to phase through earth till all you're left with is cold, dead space? No thanks :D

If powers can be switched on and off, I stand by my case: number 3 is awesome in a number of ways. It will make you a legendary judge of character, it will make you able of telling friends and foes with pinpoint accuracy, it will make you able to manipulate people at a level that rivals the best diplomancers.

You would be the best lover, you would be the best politician, you would be the best businessman, you would be the best atanything that involves people. Of course if your ultimate goal in life is to be an olympic athlete, mind reading is useless... but if you want to do anything involving people... well, you're the God of it.

Hell, I'd probably spend my first year winning the poker world tournament, just for fun :D

[Erik Vale]

No, not the infinite cold of space, think rapidly approaching [then flying past, repeat as necessary until you have no velocity] the core of the earth.

[Living_Dead_Guy]

You're thinking too small. With enough optimization you can theoretically replicate or exceed numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 with telekinesis. Plus make atomic detonations and stuff at will.
There is a reason Jean Grey is one of (if not the) most powerful and feared mutants.

I was placing limits on it otherwise it would get really crazy.

Faster then light travel. Which would mean you would have eternal life, that is if relativity would apply at FTL travel.

In addition you would be able to out race light that was reflected from earth 4.6 billion years ago and find out how life really started.

See the big bang.

You can seed other planets by hurling people there. Lots of money to be made there.

You could bring any material in existence to your palm. Think giant diamonds that supposedly exist in the earths mantle.

If it doesn't require sight you could prove/disprove any religious being by moving them in front of you. Same for spirits.

Gene splicing made easy...

You could remove any virus or bacteria from the body.

I'm sure the amount of things others can think of dealing with qauntim mechanics are near endless. If nothing else you would be able to further the field.

Create a single atom the size of a small planet, just to see if it could be done.
Alter the earths axis so that WI no longer gets blizzards.

The options are endless without any limits.