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DokiDokiTsuna
Oct '21

Last week I was looking through some critique videos on the subject, and the comments under one vid in particular really confused me...basically, there was a debate about whether power scaling was even necessary.

And I just? I don't understand that...as far as I know, power scaling consists of having an at least somewhat concrete idea of the magnitude of each characters abilities, the kinds of things they are able to do, and the amount of strategy they are able to employ in a fight.

I would think you would probably want this for any story where a fight could potentially occur, and it would be absolutely MANDATORY for a story that's centered on fighting, because how can you look forward to an upcoming battle when you have no idea what the stakes are, or how much of a chance the protag has to win? How do you show characters growing and gaining skills when you don't even know where they started out relative to everyone else??

Like, if you don't do power scaling at all, how do you decide who wins a fight, and more importantly, what the combatants will have to be able to do in order to beat each other?? Like, do you just flip an effing coin?! How does that make for a satisfying narrative??

The only way the idea that 'you don't need power scaling' makes sense to me is if the definition changes completely (hence, this thread). Like, if you define power scaling in a quantitative, numerical sense (good luck with that), or if you define it as having a strict ranking of who can beat who with no exceptions, then I'd say 'yeah, that's not necessary...or even realistic'.
But as far as I can tell, when people say 'power scaling' they don't mean things like that. =/

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nathanKmcwilliamsIn the making of Bunneh The Rabbit
Oct '21

People tend to assume power scaling only takes superpowers, magic, or special attack moves of the main character into account.
There's so many other factors, like a characters actual skill, experience, etc. But, again, usually it's only applied in reference to the MC and their current antagonist. Which isn't realistic or interesting at all.

vamvsama
Oct '21

Power scaling is basically just comparing characters to get a better notion of the... well, scaling of power.

Basically, it works like this, if character A beats character B, and character B is stronger than character C, then we can extrapolate that character A is stronger than character C.

It is not really necessary because the one who decides who wins, in the end, is the writer.

Plus, you can have story's without any substantial big power differences.

aarujarv
Oct '21

Good ol' power scaling that made its way into web novels is a pretty old topic from shounen battle manga. A very robust system to generalise strength and in more "grounded" settings, very lacking. In writing, you do flip a coin.

As the people before me also mentioned, skill, experience, etc, they all would play a part in a conflict between your written characters. But for the sake of the story to progress, you flip a coin in your mind to have the battle progress in a certain way.

Mind you, it depends on the genre. This coin flip applies more to larger stories, where multiple groups of main characters will clash as the story progresses. And then you will decide in favour of either one, no matter which one your readers adore more or which one supposedly ranks higher on some arbitrary lightning-from-ass-scale.

In stories like TBATE and other single-protagonist power fantasies, there is a linear path of power progression in favour of the MC. And there, the battle is often what the story revolves around, while in "grounded" works, battles are tools to progress the story, not the MC.

That's where the difference in needing a power scale comes from.

(very reluctant to use the term grounded, but you get the idea. also, spelling.)

DiegoPalacios
Oct '21

If you don't power-scale, you can still make compelling combats with fast paced action scenes and clever tactics. Sometimes winning is not about strenght (physical or magical), it can also be about clever planning and adaptation.

darthmongoose
Oct '21

I've found that Power Scaling really only becomes an issue in very specific circumstances. It's typically in shounen manga style stories where the protagonist gets increasingly powerful as the story goes, but where ALSO the creator wants the protagonist to have a team of backup characters who hang out with and help the hero, and ALSO the vast majority of problems they face can only be solved with the kind of increasingly high power level only the hero has.

Bleach is one of the worst offenders I've ever come across. The issue gets so bad even the characters start commenting on it, how Ichigo is so far ahead them and they're not sure they can keep up with him, and the conflicts he's in are so far above their level that even if they level up their powers significantly, it'll still be beyond their ability to help.

Really it's less an issue of the protagonist being too powerful and more one of the writer not being creative enough with the problems their characters face. This is why it becomes an issue in Bleach; the important conflicts and obstacles increasingly fall into a pattern of "It's a one on one duel against a person with super-powers, but these superpowers are even faster and exert even more energy!", and this causes an issue, because Bleach has a power system where if you're less powerful than your opponent, they will basically be able to defeat you before you can blink; like you won't even be able to perceive their attack or you'll just get paralysed by their spirit pressure. Then it establishes the lengths Ichigo needs to go to to raise his power level, basically almost killing himself every time, and the mangaka has painted himself into a corner; there is no catch-up mechanism to bring Ichigo's friends anywhere close to Ichigo's level, but also readers love the ensemble cast and variety of powers. The other characters are popular so they need to be there, but the mangaka can't seem to think of interesting obstacles they can tackle with their powers that Ichigo can't.

Bleach could have solved this issue by introducing more varied threats or side stories. Like it's not an issue in a Justice League story that Superman is strong enough to yeet a planet, can move incredibly fast, fly and has laser eyes while Batman is literally just a smart rich dude in a cape. There's still always something for Batman to do because he's a really smart detective, good at planning and being stealthy; you can easily create a story where Superman has to say, destroy the meteors the bad aliens are firing at the earth while Batman has to find and infiltrate their base to stop them firing the meteors. A character with a lower power level or even no powers can be awesome if they still have things to do and bring something unique to the team.

nathanKmcwilliamsIn the making of Bunneh The Rabbit
Oct '21

That's pretty much it. Creators need to be looking for ways to make all characters viable. Even the 'weak' ones.
Which is something Togashi did extremely well in Hunter X Hunter. The main character is actually very weak, because he's a child. So...other characters usually have to pick up the slack. And besides that, he made it a point to show that weakness doesn't always mean loss, as long as the character can adapt and think on more levels than just power scale.