r/superpowers

I’m reworking a manga-style power system and trying to tighten the logic before I go any further. The basic idea I have right now is that Gloom is a cursed or demonic pressure source, and Blood Seals are inherited marks on the body that let witches process and use that Gloom. Powers are tied to bloodlines and something I’m calling a Law, meaning the specific rule or principle that a character’s Blood Seal expresses in combat. The problem is that even though that sounds organized on paper, I still feel like it can drift into random powers being explained by lore afterward instead of feeling like a truly solid power system.

What I’m trying to build is something with clear rules, a logical connection between the source of power and how it gets used, enough flexibility for creative fights, and enough restriction that abilities don’t just feel random. I also want the combat to make sense in real time, because if I lean too hard into blood, seals, and rituals, it starts feeling clunky in a fight. If I simplify it too much, then it starts feeling generic. So I’m trying to figure out what usually makes a power system feel coherent instead of just well-labeled, how people make blood- or seal-based systems work in fast-paced fights, and what the missing piece usually is when a system has lore and terminology but still doesn’t feel mechanically satisfying. I’m not asking anybody to build the whole thing for me, I’m more trying to figure out where the weakness is so I can rebuild it better.

I’ll try to get all of you

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so for my next story i want to make a character with powers based off of my traits

back ground

I have mild OCD where I experience a lot of NJRE's(not just right experiences) which stems from if things are physicaly moved from where I first saw them I get very anxious i also hate when people disrupt the order of my day(so if im scheduled for something at 12 and say an emergency happens I get pissed because I cant do what I planned at 12)

initial power idea

I am thinking something like structure manipulation, where the user can manipulate the formation of any physical object into the form they want. so basing the character off of my OCD symptoms it could have practical purposes in a battle defensively, and it could also satiate their OCD to an extent, if anyone has some input or other power ideas im all ears, anything is welcome besides super basic stuff like general telekinesis.

I have designed my own original superpower, but it feels a bit too "perfect" as it is. I'm looking for ideas to refine it, not by making it more powerful, but by making it more balanced, grounded, and interesting. Suggestions for limitations, side effects, or weaknesses would be especially helpful, hopefully without removing anything from these already existing descriptions. Maybe it should stay this way without any tweaks idk. Please share your opinion.

Here is my own original superpower, I had taken a great deal of time to plan and write this: The Confluent Mind

The Confluent Mind is a superpower that allows a person to create and expand a shared mental network where multiple individuals remain separate people but are fully connected on the level of thoughts, memories, emotions, and experiences. It is not a traditional hive mind. Individual identity is preserved, but all members are deeply and permanently linked.

Entry into the Confluence: The main person (Anchor) can allow others to join the Confluent Mind. Entry requires mutual consent. The Anchor must personally consent to someone being added, and there is no other way than the Anchor allowing it. Once a person joins, the connection is permanent and cannot be undone.

When a new member joins, every existing member experiences the entire life of the new member from birth up to the present. The new member simultaneously experiences the entire lives of all existing members. These experiences include all previous memories, all previous emotions, all previous thoughts, all previous knowledge as if each person had personally lived those lives. No privacy.

After joining, all members continuously share thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences. Everyone is aware of what others are thinking and feeling instantly. There is no delay, misunderstanding, or miscommunication. Intentions are transparent. No privacy.

Any skill or knowledge possessed by one member becomes "accessible" to all. Learning something new automatically "updates" the entire network. This includes academic knowledge, practical skills, instincts, and intuition. For example, if one member is an electrical engineer and another is a computer engineer, both instantly gain full access to each other's expertise. Now there are two electrical engineers and two computer engineers as two people.

Members feel each other's emotions "indirectly" (I don't know how else to put it). If someone is feeling sad, it is as if you are also feeling sad but you are not actually feeling sad. Empathy becomes complete and unavoidable. Emotional experiences are not simply "understood" as if you are trying to guess what your opponent is going to move in a chess match; they are actually shared.

Members do not lose their identity. If I (M) like tall, strong, muscular women, then I still like tall, strong, muscular women. If another man who joins likes small, petite women, he still likes petite women etc and this applies to everything. So each person remains a distinct individual. However, they also possess the thoughts and experiences of everyone else.

Thoughts and ideas are instantly visible to all members. Better ideas naturally spread and get adopted due to the nature of Confluent Mind. Weaker ideas are discarded because individuals know when something is better than something else as they have access to the entire knowledge every other member has (or I'd like to call it Confluent Mind Library). Members begin to adopt effective traits from each other. Over time, personalities may shift toward some kind of "equilibrium". However individuality is not erased, and differences still exist.

Negative personalities and ideas are not rejected. The system (I mean the entire network of humans) analyzes and integrates useful aspects of ideologies and personalities of people we may deem "bad" or "evil" in today's modern standards. Harmful or ineffective patterns naturally fail to spread.

When a member dies, their memories do not disappear. Their entire life remains preserved in all other members. Imagine it like this: Person A knows all the experiences of Person B. After Person B dies, Person A still knows everything Person B knew. So, as long as other members remain, every other member remains in the memories of someone. Their personality and way of thinking can still be accessed because people will remember how they would act. This creates a form of informational immortality. As long as the Confluent Mind (or a member of Confluent Mind) continues, no member is truly forgotten.

The Confluent Mind does not suffer from memory overload. It can store and process unlimited experiences and knowledge, so there is no "too much". Otherwise it would be a lame "superpower". This is part of its superpower nature. Consider it the "super" part of this superpower.

Some of this may sound like a hivemind, but they are different. You can consider a hive mind as a chorus singing one note. Everyone is singing the same line (or words) at the same time. The Confluent Mind is more like an orchestra where every instrument and person hears every other instrument and person perfectly, but still plays its own part they want. Also in hiveminds, there is usually some kind of leader or queen or something. In the Confluent Mind there is no leader (unless the members choose one or many, but there probably still will be people who refuse it due to their individuality).

Please share your opinions and thoughts

Atom Even also count here. How versatile can construct creation be? Can construct creation be indistinguishable from a Rogue (X-Men) style power?

I ask this question. Because I have power system based in construct creation. Where the users have construct creation, probability manipulation, and also make portals that could travel trough time or different universes. These superhumans limited to objects, they become useless average humans without the objects. These superhumans are the Wizards of my superhero world.