Right. So I got an idea to generate conversation: What is too OP in your mind? In this topic, you are free to discuss what your opinion of an Over powered design/weapon is or debate with others between what is correct(in an orderly fashion. So I’ll go start with my views.
In my ideal world, the OP means virtually immortal and indestructible and has too much energy. However, I slightly take over limits, especially main characters, though I do add ways they can die/be weakened to balance it out. However, this is flawed with the fact that I’ve essentially made my Gary sue, main character, and alot of the villains at high levels, while the other characters may fall behind alot(sorta similar to Dragon ball Z or maybe some other anime), and my Gary sue is essentially immortal and overpowered in the fact that he has alot of weapons and is very much a nanomachine cloud with powers over supernatural(magic, etc) and scientific technologies.
However, this is only me, and my character can be defeated by destroying his core( a crystal containing JMP’s soul/mind and a few other souls, sorta like a philosopher’s stone in FMA), or being stuck in Space, Lava, or some natural phenomenon. He is also defeatable if the right strategy and weapon is used.
Going back to topic, that is my ideals on OP things
To me, being OP is based off of how easily the character handle situations. For example, let’s say a character has super strength, near-invincibility, flight, heat vision, x-ray vision, and the ability to leap tall buildings (which is irrelevant because of flight). Because of the massive array of those powers, that character would be able to solve every situation they run into with virtual ease.
Now let’s say to counteract the amount of powers, this character is given a “major weakness”, let’s say a ‘rare’ stone. That stone basically kills that character if they come into contact with it.
Does this balance out the character? My opinion is that it does not. Sure, a single stone can kill the guy. But how often does that stone come into play? Do common enemies carry around pockets of the stuff, waiting for that one time a super man comes bashing through the wall of their hideout?
To me, the best characters are the ones that are mortal, and not just in the physical sense. Characters that are human, like Aang from TLA, don’t have just one weakness, nor do they have excessive strength. They can be defeated under many circumstances, which makes the stakes even higher. When a character can be killed at any moment, you want to root for them more than if they could only be killed by one thing.
tl;dr version: My opinion is that OPness is judged by how easily a character deals with common situations.
Okay Slime superman is definitely not my favorite character but the threats he fights are on an equal power level to himself, and in certain situations even more powerful than himself, and his powers can be semi useful to absolutely useless (in the comics anyways), just saying
I guess I should clarify what I meant. By “how easily the character handle situations,” I mean how possible is it for them to be killed on a regular basis. For example, Iron Man has some similar powers to Superman (bullet resistance, flight, etc.). However, Iron Man is not OP IMO. Why? Because he’s still breakable in a lot of ways. Sure, Kal-El can be killed by some super-OP villain. My point is that he can’t really be killed by anything BUT an OP villain.
[quote=“Political_Slime, post:7, topic:7451”]Kal-El can be killed by some super-OP villain. My point is that he can’t really be killed by anything BUT an OP villain.
[/quote]
Alright I get you now, good Iron Man analogy by the way (though i’m sure someone could find some way to counter it, I’m gonna choose not too )
I always apply a limit to any teleportation powers, to make it so characters can’t just teleport out of any danger; i.e. must see where you’re going, limited range, etc.
(My mind doesn’t, though; I once dreamt I was facing a guy who could teleport and mind control, and had a really tough time beating him)
On the topic of invulnerability and immortality, that’s one thing that always bugged me about the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series.
Closest I’ve come to invulnerability is a BIONICLE fanfic featuring Voporak. Though OP would be fusing the Masks of Time, Life, and Creation.
But lately, a lot of my non-BIONICLE stories don’t feature characters with powers. Most powerful character I’ve got anymore is a guy that can absorb energy.
My definition of OP is basically what our dear P_S said. If a character can easily handle the majority of the situations they find themselves in without any risk of actual harm/death, then that character is OP. That applies to villains too. If I don’t feel like the character is in any real danger, it’s hard for me to care about the character, and sometimes I end up resenting the character (See: Superman) because they just do all the things with too much ease.
OP: A character or device that is, A: Nigh indestructible or immortal, and/or B: capable of incomprehensible damage. Bonus points for being “obviously OP” if the representation of the character (if it’s a MOC) is obviously bad.
I’ve been dealing with the concept of OP-ness with my selfMOC. Around mid-2014 I had found that he had too many powers and too much stealth ability, and since I didn’t have much of a story to define his character, he ended up being considered a blank OP character. That’s why I decided to “nerf” him when I remade him as Jetera for G2. I also have some other rather OP characters in the works, but I try to justify them as being the heads of their factions and having eons of experience to hone their power.
One other thing that makes OP-ness interesting in the BIONICLE universe is that since near everyone has destiny, they won’t be able to die until they fulfill that destiny or consciously break from it (ex: Jaller and Matoro.) So the “nigh invincible” part has to be reconstituted as “unable to be defeated”, not “unable to die”.
When I think of overpowered, I think of a character that is able to significantly change the environment around them at will. An example being the Earthbenders from A:TLA.
In Bionicle, specifically in the GSR, OP is a Toa of Iron or Magnetism. Due to the nature of living inside an enormous robot, you can see how that would me overpowered in some way. However, as far as anything outside of the GSR goes, I think a Toa of Gravity is the most overpowered.
Of course, another aspect of power is the ability to very quickly take out lots of enemies. This is why I think Psionics is one of the more OP Toa powers.
Im my opinion, something would be overpowered if it could be used to get out of anything, or a character would be overpowered if, for no reason other than they have it, they had a tool that could get them out of anything, and defeat anyone.
To me OPness will always be a problem to some degree as long as the limits of character’s powers aren’t well defined. For example, Bending in the Avatar universe seems OP at times because we never really got a true scale to measure the powers.
I kinda agree with @Political_Slime on this. If a character has great power but is limited by only two weaknesses (and two rare ones at that), then it doesn’t make him that vulnerable and has the reader lose any sense of suspense because he knows the hero will come out on top. Which is why I prefer OP villains to OP heroes. I feel like if an Op villain is used right, then nobody asks that many questions It gives the sense of urgency that the hero might not survive this. A great example is Unicron.
I probably have more to say, but I can’t think of anything.
Star Platinum
High speed+precision and time stopping capabilities
King Crimson
Can literally erase time
ZA WARUDO (The World)
Same as Star Platinum, but with additional steamroller summoning powers.
The Hand
Literally erases anything that it hits with its right hand, including the empty space it hits, allowing for teleportation.
And 2 more with more than 2 words.
Bites the Dust
Can get you in a Groundhog Day Loop, if the user requests it.
Gold Experience Requiem
EDIT: better explanation from JoJo wiki.
Nullification of Cause and Effect: Gold Experience Requiem’s ability is to turn anything, including his opponent’s attack and willpower, back to the state of “zero”. Hence, it is near invincible, as all “supposed” actions created by an opponent would have been reset (back to point zero)
)