You’ve got the Power

Hmmm... I'm more used to think about my characters in terms of having particular different skill sets (which can be useful in some sort of situations, but useless in others), not the single "power scale".

I don't really personally like power levels. There was this manga I was reading, seven deadly sins, where like randomly after 40something chapters they introduced power levels. Like the pig mascot could put on an earring and read every character's power level. The system very quickly became useless when the main character is suppose to be super overpowered, so all the cast's power levels were like 1000-10,000, and the main character kept getting power-ups until his power level was like 100k+. This clearly wrote the author into a wall because now the supporting cast were the equivalent of wet noodles.

I much prefer the system where characters have specific "abilities." One of my characters can hack into basically any software and manipulate it, but it has zero offensive capability. So if he has to "fight", he instead has to use his power creatively- Like causing a massive disturbance in a populated area by casting an evacuation message over the screens, that would allow him to escape. If I have a character with an offensive ability, it should have it's weaknesses, like maybe one character has super-strength, but it's basically useless against an enemy that can fly.

ah yes. power. my comic is about power. there's a trope3 that if you make a character too powerful, then it makes for an uninteresting story because they can just solve things and then there's no conflict.

bull, sez i. (groggily after a day of staunch cartooning)

so i'm doing a story about a character who can do literally anything, and all the conflict comes from within. there's much good storytelling to be made exploring the question of power.

I don't have a strict nominal power level for all my fantasy story, including those which have not been published here

The thing in my story is, everybody unless selected few (who are descended directly from the founders of powers) have medium range of levels once their power is unlocked. It is more nurture than nature unless for those selected fews, and creativity in using it matters. The kind of power bestowed to the people correspondent with their race and heritage, but two people of same race can have very different utilization of power.

Also in my story; power sealing, dampener, and canceller, are used a lot. So even regular human ("muggle") can have a good self-defense against magic users. Plus, due to an international regulation, only non-magic user can use and wield firearm except law enforcement and military. I try my best to make being regular person still cool, and it's fun to see a powerful magician got killed just like a regular person.

I doo agree with @dragonsparking that I prefer underpowered protagonist, overpowered protagonist is only good when done correctly and it's rare to see it done correctly.

In my comic, there's a war going on and one of my characters actually had the power to end it from the very beginning. But of course there's a philosophy involved. People must adapt through certain situations as they develop. Everyone wants whats best for Earth and/or it's inhabitants, but if the situation is cleared up with no lesson, no form of understanding then it's pointless. I have this theory that every war is a result of the circumstances following the last, regardless of size, ideals, or players involved. Circumstance and time is all anyone needs to see their world built and burned to the ground.

Everyone's power in my story comes from learning. Even if someone uses raw power, they either learn for the next encounter or there is no next encounter. Anyone in my comic can become the most powerful person in the universe but they need to learn both how to obtain said power, and how to use it effectively. Otherwise, they'd destroy themselves in the process.

Of course i have rules. Some i've decided are: No sentient character in my story can wield cosmic powers and no sentient character can be the smallest particle in the universe. Essentially this means that levels of power that rival the sun can not exist within a character's arsenal; wielding anything more will either destroy said person or that person will turn into the non-sentient essence relative to the power they tried to use. And when it comes to the smallest particle, no living thing with a mind can be that small. Anything that small has to rely on it's nature not it's non-existent mind. If anyone tries to get that small, they're brain activity will shrink with them. If someone wants to control something that small, that thing will have to be created with a predetermined purpose for it to follow. No direct or remote control, just purpose and nature.

Another rule: Regardless of how powerful you are, if a blow or blast strong enough to create a dent or hole in two inch steel hits you, whether that be from someone else or self inflicted, it can knock you out or kill you depending on where it hit you. It's like wearing a helmet. It can protect the outside but it ain't protecting anything on the inside if you get hit by a car. We're all squishy inside. Sure some characters are little more resilient than others but only a little, like a few extra pounds of force but that's it. This is where thinking on your feet becomes important in a fight of this caliber.

Essentially, even if my characters are super powered, they're still grounded in a relative sense of realism.

Build-a power level is.... weird. She's a build bot, non fighter. She seems powerful because she is aware enough to sort of realize how to twist robot logic around, but doesn't really realize she's doing it.

My world has three main different types of magic and they sorta all have their own systems:

• Algeans are naturally of all about the same level potential, which is at the upper end of the all encompassing scale, and their strength simply depends on how much they've studied and practiced.
• The so called Goddesses have wildly varying powers which also depends on their power and how they use it. One is immortal, one has power over toxic gases, one can control anything defined as a weapon, one helps those in need.
• Primordial magic used by Mages. Latent magic exist throughout the system wherever the sun's light touches and sometimes just does its own thing. This one does have power levels based on just how you are. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, like some people can sing and some can't and there's only so much teaching can do.

On an overall power scale, Goddesses warp reality around them, Alegeans convert reality into something else, and Mages can only use the reality around. And then the Primordial Beings who exist mostly in a separate reality and who give everyone else their power and they're at the very top of the scale.

I always prefer my main characters at the bottom end of the scale, or to have seemingly not useful ability. They're often not able to use magic at all and spend most their time with Badass Normal status.

Mine so far relies on spells that have different ranks (C,B,A,S).

S spells are more powerfull and require a lot of mana and other cost, so it's not something you can spam. While a rank C spell is less powerful but cost a lot less too.

Characters in my comic have a way of knowing the power level of other characters though they don't see their exact level. They just kind of sense if someone is weaker or stronger than them.

One of my MCs is kind of overpowered, but has poor control over his powers, also if he can actually control it at the moment, he uses it for healing rather than fighting. Another MC has his power levels "just right". He's strong enough to be able to pose some threat but also weak enough to get his ass beaten by a villain without winning a fight with a ridiculous sudden power up.

in my comic, its based on the overall skill of the person, sure some are born stronger than others but maybe its because the ones trying to use a certain magic is more powerful in a different type of magic

my question is if anyone else has a limit or a trade off for using certain powers

for example in my comic, using regular powers more so take the same type of energy as everyday, using magic is a workout in itself (wish it was that easy in real life). but if the user has high blood pressure, it can bring on headaches or in worst case scenarios, heart attack

every user has the power to heal but it does have the long cliched trade off as inflicting the injury on themself.

there are some things that are last resort, there are some moves/attacks so powerful and takes so much of the person's energy it can just outright kill them as a result

I hate when in worlds there is an arbitrary system of power, like in dragonball.
over 9000, is 9000 a lot or in comparison to them. you have no scale.
so I build a system for myself, that 0 is the baseline- ordinary human.

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I kind of have been following a My Hero Academia or JoJo way of power balance for my WIP comic DRGN. Where everyone has a basic set of skills (E.I. One of the protagonists has powers based around sand, rocks, and sunlight) and they have to train, get over mental hurdles, and find more creative ways to use them if they want to get stronger at using their skills. Sure, they would get tokusatsu-esque power ups later in the story (DRGN is basically a fantasy version of Kamen Rider or Power Rangers.) But again, they would have to learn how to use them effectively and creatively to get stronger with them.

Also, I have one or two characters that could just solve things with a literal snap of their fingers in my story if they wanted to, but purposefully restrain themselves so as to keep things interesting.

I have all of my characters start from the bottom, unless there’s a good reason they already have power and there’s usually some kind of trade off for their powers. They’re not good with them right away. I make sure they struggle and learn to use it as their character development goes on.

What you saw in the Characters Cafe were my characters pretty much at the end or near the end of their development.

For example, Xander’s Mushin. A unique skill in my series where there are only a few side/support characters that have it, but Xander consistently remains as the only human character with it. The drawback of Mushin is the huge strain on the body and for him, it remains incomplete across several novels. Because he just can’t figure it out. It’s not widely known, but slowly and surely, it will eventually become a known thing that anybody can get but it would be extremely difficult in-universe.

Another example would be Ren’s Regalia. When he first shows up in-universe, his manipulation of aura is wild and unrefined. He knows how to use it to an extent and it tired him out, but better control over it doesn’t get seen until after a time skip at some point, insisting that he learned.

Not all of my protagonist-tier characters are equal in power, but they can each defeat each other in their own ways through their wit. Each one of them serves a different purpose, some more than others. When it comes to a power scale in my series, it’s clearly there, but I don’t run things by numbers or feats. I prefer to let characters grow in power overtime. There’s no fun if a character is overpowered right off the bat unless it’s satire/parody like One Punch Man or there’s some kind of inner struggle. There’ll always be a side character that’s stronger than my main cast of characters though.

I don't have defined power levels in my story, everything is just played by feel. However something that I played with during the writing and have been trying to show, is that no one is OP, everyone has their weaknesses and draw backs. The MC is purposely underpowered, but even beyond him: his two friends can't use magic, and are just average young adults, so their proficiency in combat is limited to what they can do with their weapons, both sets of guards, despite being older and with more experience, are shown casually getting out maneuvered by the theif, and even the theif (who I'm sure looks pretty OP to most readers at this point xD) has her notable drawbacks and limitations on her powers.

But basically the whole story is about figuring out how to use the amount of power you have available in creative applications to accomplish goals! The MC has a unique yet very weak ability, and it's not until partway through the story that he learns to stop stressing over pure power level~

Ah, neat thanks. Glad I could help. (How exactly did I help with that during the Character Cafe?)