Powers Rarely Or Never Seen In Fiction

[bastardofmelbourne]

Telekinesis, but only for biscuits [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2NP4WZJ-mI].

On a serious note:

- The ability to invert gravity. Not "control" or "manipulate" gravity. Just making everything in a certain radius fall upwards.
- Phagomancy, which is a word I just made up to describe the ability to "read" the history of things that you eat. I've only seen it in Warhammer 40k and one really weird comic book [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chew_(comics)].
- An unerring sense of direction.
- Any power that requires the user to speak in rhyme.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

The whatever-the-hell-you-call-it power that Spawn uses with his cape shape metaly manipulate state. The flourish and stylish yet useful applications are limited merely by one's imagination. I wish it could have been capitalised more on by ambitious, talented people instead of the...very brief, limited glimpses available so far.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Starfyre in DC Comics has the power to become completely fluent in any language by kissing someone who is fluent in that language. I'd like to see that power more often but given to a guy.

I like the idea of hard-light constructs but I'd like to see that applied to odors. It's a 90's sort of idea sure but I like the idea of a fat superhero farting out a giant, green, sulfurous goat.

I like the idea that imaginary friends can see other imaginary friends but the kids who dreamed up the original IF can't see the other IF's...it was done in a movie that was later ripped off and made into a much better movie.

 

[Erttheking]

The ability to manipulate elements on the molecular level. Like what Ed did in Full Metal Alchemist to beat Greed.

 

[darkcalling]

Shooting bees from your hands. Or having dogs that shoot bees out of their mouth when they bark.

There's a character in the Wild Cards series with the ability to turn into a swarm of wasps. Not quite the same but similar applications.

Blood. Someone who can control blood the way Magneto controls magnetism. And not just the cliche make-blood-shoot-out-their-eyes powers, the cool stuff, like forcing all the blood in someone to congeal, or reversing the flow of their blood, or making the blood in their skin boil for half a second, or freeze it, or have white blood cells attack the red cells in their crotch. You know, the fun kind of blood based powers.

There's an anime where some characters bleed through their undamaged skin and form the blood into blades. And of course blood-bending in Avatar: The Last Air-bender, which water-benders can use every full-moon to make puppets out of any animal. Granted, what you describe sounds considerably more advanced.

I think he's talking about Deadman Wonderland. Great show but it only got one season despite it not covering the whole Manga. It leaves a LOT of stuff unanswered.

 

[Barbas]

The power to Sort One's Life Out And Just Deal With It. Failing that, the power to Make The Perfect Sponge Cake Base In One Go!

 

[hermes]

The ability to speak, read and write in any language with full fluency and grammatical correctness just by learning a single word of that language.

That sounds like one of the most common "powers" in fiction. At least to explain how everyone from foreigners, aliens, demons, extra-dimensional creatures or eldritch abominations speak and read fluent English (or Japanese in manga) without the need for an actual babel fish...

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

The power to never be intoxicated, no matter how much you consume of whatever!
No idea how to use it, but never seen it

I once read a fanfic with an older character who has an even better version of that- the more wasted he gets, the stronger he gets, with no limit until he passes out, and he's learned to hold his liquor over time. Of course he carries a massive flask with him for difficult fights.

 

[sanquin]

I once read a fanfic with an older character who has an even better version of that- the more wasted he gets, the stronger he gets, with no limit until he passes out, and he's learned to hold his liquor over time. Of course he carries a massive flask with him for difficult fights.

So basically Jackie Chan in "Drunken Master."

There was this guy in Hunter x Hunter which, as long as he held his breath, would be completely undetectable. You couldn't see him, hear him, smell him, anything. Though he was still physically there. So you could still touch him or be touched. (punched)

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Shooting bees from your hands. Or having dogs that shoot bees out of their mouth when they bark.

On top of the other quotes, one of the kids from Miss Peregrine shoots bees from his mouth.

 

[sageoftruth]

How about a magical music device that can manipulate reality in various ways depending on the song being played?

The owner could use headphones to give himself a wide range of powers, or he could use earplugs and an amplifier to cast musical spells on villains.

He engage enemies in hand-to-hand combat while listening to "Kung Fu Fighting" or he could blare some black metal at en enemy fortress and watch as it falls into decay.

 

[DoPo]

How about a magical music device that can manipulate reality in various ways depending on the song being played?

Something like this, then:

 

[sageoftruth]

How about a magical music device that can manipulate reality in various ways depending on the song being played?

Something like this, then:

Not exactly what I was thinking of, but it's another way it could work I suppose, if the protagonist was a DJ. I hadn't considered reality manipulation through music manipulation, just music selection, but this could be even more interesting. Reversing time is kind of OP though. The guy in that video should be called DJ Deus.

 

[DoPo]

The guy in that video should be called DJ Deus.

Heh, it seems to be a common theme running. I've seen this video re-uploaded a lot and most of the time it's re-titled to "God is a DJ". I suppose I can see why you'd call it that, if you didn't know the title was Spin, however, a lot of times the title was left in the video itself.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Speaking quickly and quietly while still being able to give effective and immediate commands, especially during combat.

I'm sure I've seen this power before and it is a form of improvised telepathy without actually using telepathy.

I created a character with this such talent in order to issue orders to a powerful golem-like being to take on foes. This talent is particularly useful as they have no actual super powers and live in a world that is populated by several powerful beings and civilians that can obtain powers artificially.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Hrm. Reality warping.

I don't mean hax, I mean warping and distorting the scenery around you. Probably because it's hard to visualize.

It's mostly in Lovecraftian and Lovecraft-inspired works.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

Salt.

More salt based powers.

Maybe from salt elementals. Salt is very important and ubiquitous, after all. Imagine all of the things that you could do with salt?

You could mess with osmotic pressure.

You could make pretty crystals.

Batteries!

Puns would be many as well. Assalt, being salty (sassy and mad), soDAYUM chlor-upinyoass.

Salt.