A New Superhero Discovering Their Powers

[Diamond Cross]

I've created a superhero for DC Adventures that I call Arrowhead.

He's based on an old MSH RPG character I played.

A bit of a background for the character, he 's a meta human who never really wants to be a superhero. His powers manifested later in life when his wife was kidnapped by a gang banger who wanted revenge on her for putting his brother in jail. So he kidnapped her and demanded a lot of money from him. His powers manifested when he tried to find her and took the name Arrowhead from her because she really loved the obsidian arrowheads that the Indians made for their arrows.

He was able to find her and rescue her, but she was shot and put in a coma. He's been waging a war against the gang for more than a year now.

His powers are:

Comprehend (Languages)
Regeneration
And Create Object.

The way I define Create Object is that he can rearrange any matter, as long as there is matter around of any sort, into another object.

Now, regeneration and Comprehend languages would be very easy powers to discover. You get hurt and you see your wounds heal. You just talk to somebody who doesn't speak your native language and you can automatically understand them.

But with a power like Create Object, well that is a more complicated power to discover for the first time. How would it actually be discovered? Would it be by pure instinctual reaction? Such as you get shot at and a shield automatically appears? Then you just refine it as you get more experience?

Other powers could have this problem too, how would they be discovered for the first time?

 

[Set]

But with a power like Create Object, well that is a more complicated power to discover for the first time. How would it actually be discovered? Would it be by pure instinctual reaction?

He might reach for a tool or an item, and find it conveniently at hand or in a pocket or behind his ear, only to later discover that the tool he was reaching for is in his toolbox, and he's holding an identical copy of it. Before his eyes, it dissolves away.

This lack of control, initially, could prove problematic as he unconsciously creates items that he needs for something, such as shoes (which were kicked under the bed) or his car-keys (which he left downstairs), when the items that he's created disapppear later in the day, perhaps when his power is fashioning something else for him. (At work, he needs a stapler, which someone took from his desk, but his power 'conjures' it up, only to have his shoes disappear, as the 'conjured' shoes are disassembled to form the stapler. A co-worker returns his stapler moments later, and now he has two staplers and no shoes...)

 

[Ed_Laprade]

He might reach for a tool or an item, and find it conveniently at hand or in a pocket or behind his ear, only to later discover that the tool he was reaching for is in his toolbox, and he's holding an identical copy of it. Before his eyes, it dissolves away.

This lack of control, initially, could prove problematic as he unconsciously creates items that he needs for something, such as shoes (which were kicked under the bed) or his car-keys (which he left downstairs), when the items that he's created disapppear later in the day, perhaps when his power is fashioning something else for him. (At work, he needs a stapler, which someone took from his desk, but his power 'conjures' it up, only to have his shoes disappear, as the 'conjured' shoes are disassembled to form the stapler. A co-worker returns his stapler moments later, and now he has two staplers and no shoes...)

Assuming the items aren't permanent. But I like your explanation! Bearing in mind that air is, of course, matter. (Something people tend to forget about.)

 

[Umbran]

Assuming the items aren't permanent. But I like your explanation! Bearing in mind that air is, of course, matter. (Something people tend to forget about.)

Well, if he's sucking in air to create objects...

Say he's making a single shoe. The thing weighs about one pound.

One pound of air, at sea level pressure and room temperature, takes up about 13 cubic feet. Now, in a 10'x10'x8' room, that's only a bit more than 1% of the available air - he's not going to suffocate instantly from doing that. But there should be some audible result as air redistributes itself. A whoosh, or a small *snap!* of a thunderclap, or something.

 

[Tonguez]

Well, if he's sucking in air to create objects...

Say he's making a single shoe. The thing weighs about one pound.

One pound of air, at sea level pressure and room temperature, takes up about 13 cubic feet. Now, in a 10'x10'x8' room, that's only a bit more than 1% of the available air - he's not going to suffocate instantly from doing that. But there should be some audible result as air redistributes itself. A whoosh, or a small *snap!* of a thunderclap, or something.

Now thats a cool power - hey look I can cause a thunderclap

what do you mean its raining shoes outside?

 

[WayneLigon]

Classically, superheroes usually discover their powers when that power acts to save them from some peril. The 'spontaneous shield' idea is a good one. Don't worry about the mass ratio unless it's amusing or you want to run a more 'Heroes'-like game. My first Mutants and Masterminds character had this same power, save that he could mainly create duplicates of existing items.

Other ideas might be:

I'm about to be hit by a car! The car turns into soap bubbles. Unfortunately, so does the driver. GM's discretion on whether or not objects reform to their original configuration after a set time.

I fell off a ladder! A huge pallet of foam rubber appears, or a large tub of water.

That guy just pulled a gun! The gun turns into air.

Unconsciously creating needed items would be very cool, too,and could lead to many funny scenarios while the guy is getting used to his powers.

Especially if he needs money. Ooops.

Man, I'm hungry. Poof, there's a sizzling steak and fries. (Good bye food bills)

Dang, I locked my keys in the oh, no, here they are.

My clothes are all dirty, now! The dirt either disappears, or you form new clothes from the old. (Goodbye clothing bills and laundry)

Shoot, I wish I had another room in the house. (This could be problematic if you live in an apartment... On the other hand, if the objects stay then you just became the greatest contractor on Earth)

 

[Wolf1066]

How complex are the objects he can form? Simple solids of basic shapes or complex mechanisms made from a number of different materials including alloys, compounds, mixtures etc. What about molecular velocity - the difference between a hot object and a cold one.

This then begs the question of how he knows enough about what he's making to make it.

If it's just a simple shield, he could zap up a chunk of solid matter but will it work? - molecular density, structure etc all play a part in it.

For a more complex device such as a firearm that contains many moving parts and different materials -
some of which are tempered differently to one another - he would need a lot more knowledge of what he was doing. Even more knowledge is required for it to be loaded with bullets that will actually fire.

Is there a shadow power at play - "scanning" - that enables him to analyse objects he's seen (IRL, not just a picture or televised image) and therefore enable him to recreate them later?

He would not have to be consciously aware he has this ability or consciously do it - in fact, it could have been active all his life, instinctively scanning everything he encounters - but the upshot is that when he suddenly needs a shield his mind is able to provide all the parameters the "Create Object" power requires to function usefully - solid chunk of dense material with a rigid molecular structure suddenly appears.

Just a few thoughts, anyway.

Edit:
Where does the energy for all this come from? Wayne suggested being able to create food - don't know if you plan for your character to be able to do this or not but it certainly raises an interesting issue: How much of the character's own energy reserves are taken up tearing down matter (presumably down to subatomic level) and building it back up again? How hungry - in need of replenishing his own energy reserves does he get after doing this.

Could he manufacture food? Would the amount of food he could manufacture supply sufficient energy to compensate for what he lost manufacturing it? Conservation of Energy would suggest not...

Even if his power, once activated, was 100% energy efficient and perfectly balanced out the Matter to Energy/Energy to Matter equation while turning air into a shield, he's just expended energy of his own in order to do so. Is that expenditure proportionate to the complexity of the change and or the mass of matter and energy states involved?

Air into a simple shield of the same temperature as the air vs air into Steak, Eggs 'n' Chips - nice and hot

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Perahaps Arrowhead reaches for something when in peril- say...a flimsy spork is the closest thing at hand- while wishing for a S&W .38 revolver...and finds a S&W .38 revolver in his hand...

"Huh! Didn't see THAT there- today must be my lucky day!"

Or he reaches to pay for a latte and comes up empty in his wallet, then starts patting his trenchcoat thinking he KNOWS he had a $20 just a minute ago...and finds one in the coat's inner pocket...

"There it is!"


Of course, if used in conjunction with some of the side-effects mentioned upthread, the thunderclap or the $20 is going to fade away in an hour or so, there could be some interesting complications.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One pound of air, at sea level pressure and room temperature, takes up about 13 cubic feet. Now, in a 10'x10'x8' room, that's only a bit more than 1% of the available air - he's not going to suffocate instantly from doing that. But there should be some audible result as air redistributes itself. A whoosh, or a small *snap!* of a thunderclap, or something.

Of course, doing things that way has implications both comedic and dark.

Imagine his arch-enemy Schrodinger is in that room...he could kill them with a thunderstorm of shoes. As the noise deafens and disorients, the room fills with falling shoes causing bruises...and all the while the air is disappearing. Will he suffocate first, or will he die of accumulated trauma and shock? (And will his foe's cat be dead when the room is opened?)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now thats a cool power - hey look I can cause a thunderclap

what do you mean its raining shoes outside?

"Its raining 10s, hallelujah, its raining 10s! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It's raining 10s! Hallelujah!
It's raining 10s! Every Specimen!
Left, right, brown and green
black and tan and patent sheen!"