Sup Veeky Forums. I need your help, I'm trying to think of a unique "Concept Power" such as you might give to a Stand [Jojo], a Semblance [RWBY], or a Bankai [Bleach]. The idea is something that can be summarized in a sentence but has useful applications in and out of combat like Magneto's "Controls Magnetism".
Hard Mode: It has something to do with ghosts or death, without being edgy.
Spirit conjuration
Whatever they were doing in Shaman King.
what if everybody was undead?
everybody has a power to turn into a kind of undead, with the usual powers associated with it.
buff up low-tier ones so they are on-par with vampires and liches.
you could call it necromorph or something like that.
It's called Wraith and white wolf did it years ago. Alternatively Geist:the sin eater
Can we not "Simpsons did it" this kind of shit?
Also, your understanding of both Wraith and Geist are shit.
how about you help ghosts pass on and in return they help guide your arrows to be heat seeking-like before they go.
A good ol' bodysnatcher - if he gets killed, he possesses the closest corpse.
or like they do small favors for you, like tell you were the person youre looking for, or nudge an incoming blade away into being non fatal or they scare a passer by into finding you while youre wounded, but each soul you help will only help you once and you dont decide when they do it. you could also make it so that all ghosts dont ask for "good" things, like some could be malicious but if you help them you get their help all the same.
You could make it like a sort of "Ghostly Karma". Help a spirit in a little way = they help you in a little way. Big help = big help.
Okay, okay, I got this. If we're talking about stands, have it be incredibly physically powerful, but make the user incapable of fully controlling that power (if he tries to lift a cup with his stand, he'll only end up breaking it etc.). If the stand kills someone, it consumes their soul, making them unable to pass on as a spirit. If it consumes a soul, it becomes even more powerful, and its strength even less controllable.
The stand's traits terribly disadvantage the user, who is a kind, gentle man. That means that he can't use the stand in whatever way he wants to, since he risks not only accidentally killing a person, but also destroying their soul, meaning that their death is complete. And if he really does kill a person, next time it's going to be even harder to keep the opponent alive but unable to fight. I think it would make for an interesting stand/character combo.
>Hard Mode: It has something to do with ghosts or death, without being edgy.
The ability is called "Echo". All people have the potential to unlock it, once they lose someone incredibly important to them. If the stars are right, a part (or an "echo", if you will) of the spirit of the deceased lingers with the person it's dear to, giving him power and protecting him.
User can trade his own lifeforce to temporarily bring the recently deceased back to semi-life, to gain access to their knowledge or memories.
This process becomes less efficient the longer ago the deceased has left the word of the living, starting with a 2:1 time ratio (it takes 2 minutes off your own lifespan to 'wake' someone for a minute) for someone who just died in your arms, and goes up to the power of the number of hours or days since that moment.
I'm rusty on my memory of Wraith but I thought the point was avoiding being eaten or made into coins in super bleak ghost hell.
You can channel the spirits of dead famous people and get powers based off of exaggerations of their life, but they only let worth people channel them who they feel are worthy.
Yeah this is a bit like Fate but whatever.
So can you do these mini-quests to gain fate points?
Really? Cause that is basically Kamen Rider Ghost's gimmick you described.
i mean i think that was sorta the point, except the "fate points" as you put them cant be cashed in when you want, the spirit has to decide what moment you need it the most.
Every time people of a certain bloodline (or among a random population) die, they come back the next day, (via magic, so even destroying the body doesn't work) even stronger. They still feel pain and all that, so death is still deeply unpleasant and to be avoided.
Every time they die, they are restored to life in a way that makes them resistant to what killed them. So if they get shot in the head, that side of their head gets thick bone plates. If they suffocate, their lungs grow large and can hold air for hours. People who die too many times barely resemble humans.
The only way they stay dead is reaching a certain age (say, 60-70 years). The best way to dispose of them is to seal them in cement and bury them.
Final villain is a masochist who's been deliberately killing himself over the past decades and is a mega bad-ass.
Basically, somewhere between Highlander, Doomsday and the Borg.
>Ghost Communication
You can see and speak with local ghosts, and bargain with them for favors. Useful for gathering information and small acts of poltergeism.
>Ancestors
You're followed by a two to four ghosts of your most heroic ancestors. These guys might be super strong of have other wacky powers, but they're not as useful as information sources. Basically just ghost-themed stands.
>Entropic Touch
You make things rapidly age and decay. Works on living matter, but you can also cause metal to rust, stone to crumble, or information to vanish into obscurity.
>Death Sight
By looking at someone and concentrating you get some idea of the circumstances of their death and of the likelihood that they'll in the near future. Introducing or removing elements from their cause of death will modify these odds.
>Possession
You become a ghost when you die, and enter a spirit realm similar to the ethereal plane. Unlike other ghosts, however, you can possess a recently deceased corpse (including your own) to come back to life. Don't spend too much time as a ghost though or you'll pass on.
This is basically the Binder 3.5 class.
Some more clarity would be helpful. Are you asking for help designing your own "everyone has their own special power but there's an overarching theme for what they do and how they get them" system, or for ideas on a specific power within such a system?
If it's the latter, do you have some ideas as to what kind of character its user would be, such as their history, personality, or skills? Symbolic powers tend to represent the user in several ways at once, so getting to know what kind of person they are would help narrow down the options here.
What kinds of power are in this setting? What's the general theme it's going for, and do you have examples of other people's special powers?
If he is knocked unconscious/falls asleep and there's a corpse of any kind nearby he possesses it. However, he can't stop it from happening and he can't go back into his actual body/have it wake up until the body he is in is sufficiently destroyed.
I think OP's referring to the former.
Oh, wait. Now that I've read the OP again, I think it's definitely the latter.
Its the latter.
He summons the departed spirits of woodland creatures to aid him.
Hard to make being led around by bunny ghosts edgy but it's still useful to have a horde of grateful familiars
Well, from JoJo itself we have
>Burning Down the House
You can access the 'Ghosts' of destroyed rooms in their prime and use the stuff inside, like a pocket dimension.
>Limp Bizkit
You can spawn invisible Zombies from corpses.
>Underworld
You can temporarily 'resurface' or replay past events in real life from the ground that they occurred on.
>Civil War
Things you feel guilty for come back to haunt you. If you feel guilt for killing the user, then they come back too.
You could even pull a ghost girl alley and transport people to a special arena where they can't look back. But these are just good prompts.
>Limp Bizkit
Did they ever get a Slipknot or Disturbed stand in there? Maybe Linkin Park or Korn?
Manifests
The collective will of a group of people is manifest into its own form which provides the individual members of the group power. The power of the manifest relies on a number of people with similar will. More people within a group risks the manifest being distorted by dissimilar will. Fewer people means that there may not be enough power for their will to manifest.
Manifests take on different forms and grant their collectives various boons tailored to the individual. The boons take from the collective will and drain it. If the collective will of the manifest is clear and strong, the manifest becomes sentient and turns into a Gestalt.
>Can we not "Simpsons did it" this kind of shit?
No, we can and should do exactly that or we should just tell OP to do any of the three things he already knows about and save himself some time.
>ghostwalk
your char can become incorporeal and walk through walls and over water n shit
>soul drain
every time your char touches another it saps their life energy, even through swords. so fighting him for a long period means his opponent will slowly lose
>haunt
yout char commands ghosts that whisper, slightly touch or appear in front of your opponent, distracting him during fights.
>bond of blood
your char can make loved ones that died of your opponent appear for short periods
>the damned
your char can open a portal to hell/underworld where legions of its denizens will try to reach out and pull someone inside
>soul repository
your char can be hacked amd sliced open with seemingly no damage and he will slowly start to pull back together. his phylachetry must be found and destroyed
>shadow binding
your char can damage another by his shadow stabbing their opponents shadow. ebin hand puppetry battles ensue
>no respite
your char is slow and shitty but he needs no sleep and will constantly hound the opponent for days until they collapse from exaustion
Talking to the dead in your vicinity, and learning from them (maybe at an accelerated rate).
You know what sucks about being dead? You have nobody to talk to.
So when somebody comes around, that you can just talk to, that's a huge relief.
Also, when you are dead you have all the time in the world, well all the time since your death to come up with new ideas. Why not hit up Tesla's grave, maybe he's willing to share all the ideas he fleshed out during his death, just for the relief of some human company every once in a while.
Pretty much what Harry Keogh can do in necroscope. But not as bogus with all the time travelling and teleporting stuff.
>useful applications in and out of combat
While it has no direct applications either in or out of combat, being able to learn from among the best, will impact your capabilities in both.
>Story Telling
By reciting a story about an event in one's life you can essentially re-create the effects of the event itself.
This is the basis of some forms of divine magic as you use this recount great events from holy books. The great heroism of warriors past is recalled to imbue the faithful with their faith and fearlessness in the face of evil. Stories of mercy are recalled to provide healing and protection. Stories of righteous fury are recalled to drive away and purify evil.
Okay, that's helpful to know.
Do you have more info on the setting, or your character, or other characters and their powers? There's a very wide spectrum of potential powers within the "themed around death or spirits" category, and it would help to know what to suggest if we knew what was most appropriate.
Whats Linkin Park gonna do? Get really successful then kill it's user?
>Platonic Idealism
You can manifest the platonic ideal - that is, the supernaturally perfect example which inspires all subsequent copies - of any single item.
The platonic ideal of a bed for a comfy nap, the platonic ideal of a gun for kraut space magic, the platonic ideal of a sword for super weaboo kensama action...