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Casters vs Martials: Part 2 - The Mundane Limit
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<blockquote data-quote="Scars Unseen" data-source="post: 8495893" data-attributes="member: 10196"><p>I think there should be a distinction made between the supernatural and the superhuman. Supernatural is, in my mind, a matter of origin, where superhuman is a matter of result. An ability can be both, but what you're describing - training and skill that pushes capabilities beyond those of an ordinary human - would only be the latter. It hints at a fictional conceit that most humans don't live up to their true potential, but with enough training, experience and perhaps inborn talent, we are capable of feats that <em>appear</em> supernatural to the eye. I wouldn't cite the games you mentioned, but rather certain manga like Rurouni Kenshin (or the Japanese legends that inspired them).</p><p></p><p>Supernatural, on the other hand, requires a catalyst of some sort. Whether it's circumstances of birth (a lot of Greek myths), encounters with beings that, themselves, are supernatural (specifically the myth of Achilles), exposure to some source of augmentation or change (most comic superheroes), etc. It points to a source of power that is not wholly theirs or an association or nature that isn't fully natural. The recent Mortal Kombat <em>movie</em> is explicitly this, with the fairly pointless inclusion of arcana as an explicit power source.</p><p></p><p>I think there is room for the superhuman in a character who is not supernatural, but it requires a fiction that supports that premise. It would be out of place in an Alexandre Dumas novel, but entirely at home in a lot of Hollywood action films (e.g. Wanted, the movie where they could curve bullets the way a pitcher throws a curve ball).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scars Unseen, post: 8495893, member: 10196"] I think there should be a distinction made between the supernatural and the superhuman. Supernatural is, in my mind, a matter of origin, where superhuman is a matter of result. An ability can be both, but what you're describing - training and skill that pushes capabilities beyond those of an ordinary human - would only be the latter. It hints at a fictional conceit that most humans don't live up to their true potential, but with enough training, experience and perhaps inborn talent, we are capable of feats that [I]appear[/I] supernatural to the eye. I wouldn't cite the games you mentioned, but rather certain manga like Rurouni Kenshin (or the Japanese legends that inspired them). Supernatural, on the other hand, requires a catalyst of some sort. Whether it's circumstances of birth (a lot of Greek myths), encounters with beings that, themselves, are supernatural (specifically the myth of Achilles), exposure to some source of augmentation or change (most comic superheroes), etc. It points to a source of power that is not wholly theirs or an association or nature that isn't fully natural. The recent Mortal Kombat [I]movie[/I] is explicitly this, with the fairly pointless inclusion of arcana as an explicit power source. I think there is room for the superhuman in a character who is not supernatural, but it requires a fiction that supports that premise. It would be out of place in an Alexandre Dumas novel, but entirely at home in a lot of Hollywood action films (e.g. Wanted, the movie where they could curve bullets the way a pitcher throws a curve ball). [/QUOTE]
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