Subject: Another note...
Author:
Posted on: 2015-05-26 14:15:00 UTC
I'm aware of the ESAS, who by their very job description probably have a higher average power level than most other departments. I'd think about these guys separately from the rest of the PPC in this thought experiment.
So, if you know me, you probably know that I love designing the hell out of new characters, and once I get going, it's impossible to stop the ideas until they're in a mostly-complete form.
So, my main question: What is the absolute upper limit of power that you guys think a PPC agent should have?
For me, Chakkik and Kala were as powerful as I dared. Chakkik has access to natural magic that increases in potency the more he uses it. Kala is larger, stronger, and faster than a human being, she has paralytic scorpion venom, and is overall not someone you want to mess with. Even with them, they're mostly restrained by disguises. Chakkik gets cut off from his magic, and Kala loses some (but not all) of her strength.
I think the general rule of thumb is 'if you think it's OP, it is'.
Acceptable agent power level = (experience * humor / target department) - bad idea quotient.
... Does that make sense? I think that almost makes sense.
Ahem. Anyway. Theoretically, there is no upper limit. I think the most powerful agents I know about are basically demigods. It's entirely possible.
BUT.
BUT. The thing is, there's not generally much point to it. So you have a character who can destroy his enemies with a glance or rewrite reality with a stray thought. So what? An action agent still has to go on missions, wear a disguise, watch the fic, write charges, and carry out the Duty like everyone else. An infrastructure agent is basically a 9-5 working joe; not much call for phenomenal cosmic power there.
The only reason to bother with a high-powered character is if it has some bearing on their characterization that will make them more interesting to read about. If it adds humor, so much the better.
One example, of course, is my Jenni. She's basically a demigod. She takes physical form because she feels like it and has a whole host of powers, including the aforementioned ability to rewrite reality, because she has access to the source code.
But she doesn't. She knows better—but she didn't used to. Her backstory, both meta and in-universe, is all about learning that throwing power around willy-nilly to solve your problems isn't a good idea, and can actually really annoy people. Plus, if you do that to other people, you're taking something away from them, and that's wrong. And at some point she also realized she doesn't have infinite power, so the more she uses, the more she tires out. So, despite having a very high power level, she also has great limitations. The only real legacy of her power is the lessons she's learned from the mistakes she made with it in the past.
Not that she doesn't give in to temptation every now and then, in which case she has Nume to scold her and the Flowers to slap a humiliating Sue-tracker on her. Fun times.
~Neshomeh
Like I said, Chakkik and Kala are as powerful as I dare. I don't know how to make interesting characters at any level higher than that. If you handed me a Saiyan, or something similarly OP, I wouldn't know what to do with them.
Even if I were to think of drawbacks, they'd have to be of the dramatic variety, and drama is normally to be avoided in the PPC... even if I personally that the PPC works best as a mixed-genre multiverse rather than always comedy. I'm probably alone in that mindset, though.
Anyway, Riese already did that with Mike de Bergerac; She's incredibly powerful, but cutting loose almost burns her to death.
Of course, there's a time and place for everything, just like humor. I mean, it's very, very hard to joke about a rape scene in a badfic, for example.
As awesome as the humor aspect of the PPC is, we gotta remember it's also a rather serious setting, what with agents going insane and the threat of being killed by Sues and all. Really, the trick is balance, or at least our skewed-towards-humor version of it; as long as your story is ultimately funny, I think you can pull off just about anything.
As I mentioned, I think the PPC setting would work best as a sort of multigenre blend. Considering that we guard all fiction, that would make the most sense.
Also, I've sent you a few e-mails. I hate sounding pushy, but have you read them yet?
I know that some of my missions (*cough*"All Through With This Niceness and Negotiation Stuff"*cough*) and interludes ([SPOILER REDACTED]) have more drama than funsies; I also think it's unavoidable. In a setting where the protagonists (so to speak) regularly see mind-bending things and regularly go insane, there is bound to be drama. The trick is, of course, not to go all 'hurp durp WE'RE GRIMDERP in the future there is only darkness' mode and remember that the PPC is ultimately there to take something bad (badfic) and turn it into something good (missions); excessive drama is not good.
A Sayan and a Kriptonian, for example. Then, set them in a department like Bad Slash. They have all this power, able to rend planets asunder with a flick of their wrist, and they can't use any of it. Can't even slam their head against the wall; that could bring down the whole house.
However, let me step in before PC says it: powers mean nothing. If there is no character, no personality, they might as well be magic clouds, warping reality where they go. You want to write powers to fit the character, not a character to fit the powers. They need to stand firm as normal, powerless humans first, before adding the Enhanced abilities.
There, now I said it. So, how about a time-traveling vampire?
When I made Wtak and Smithers, I didn't give them innate abilities, but rather the capability to learn and/or master new skills fairly quickly- Wtak was constantly experimenting with different types of magic and Smithers with technology, and Smithers additionally often gained abilities from his disguises.
That way, their capabilities could adjust dynamically to the rough power level of the continuum and Sue they were hunting at any given time. Furthermore, while I can't think of a situation where this was actually broadly displayed, the idea was that they would go into 'fics with the minimum amount of force they were expecting to need, and then if things got difficult trot out the big guns on a case-by-case basis.
I'm aware of the ESAS, who by their very job description probably have a higher average power level than most other departments. I'd think about these guys separately from the rest of the PPC in this thought experiment.