Creating a Well-Defined Power

At MRO, we look for mutations that are based around one central idea—like wind, death, keeping promises, or blowing stuff the heck up. Once you have an idea for your mutation and you send in your application, our Moderators will work with you to make sure that your character's power is clearly defined, balanced, and at an appropriate level of strength for a starting character at our site. We also check to make sure that your power is unique—that is, that it's not taken by a currently active player, or if it is, that the player(s) you overlap don't mind the company.

We're a long-lived site: we've been here for an entire decade, and we don't plan on going belly up any time soon. That means that at MRO, you have the luxury of developing your character over time. The level your character initially starts at is just the beginning--as your character grows and develops as a person through their in character experiences, so too can their mutation. They can discover new facets of their ability, and grow in both strength and skill through power growths (with Moderator approval, of course).


As an example, comic book characters like Daredevil, Black Canary, Hawkman, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops would only need some minor tweaks to fit in very well here, if we allowed trademarked characters. Other characters like Storm, Spider-Man, Green Lantern, the Human Torch, and Beast Boy would require moderate-to-major scale-downs, possibly some additional weaknesses, but their powerset is mostly fine. Superman, Thor, the Flash, Jean Grey, and Dr. Strange would require extensive overhauls and most of their abilities would need to be stripped away and vastly scaled down, and definitely given more weaknesses to balance everything out.


There are lots of places you can go for inspiration. Some food for brainstorming thought:

• Think of the type of role or job you want your character to have. What power would help them to fulfill that role? Or, if you like torturing your characters—what power would make that role really difficult?
  
  
• Choose a random word, body part, animal, object, or maybe just something you've always wanted to do: can you make a mutant power out of that?
  
  
• Read up on mythology from different cultures around the world. Behind every old god, demon, or spirit, there may very well have been a mutant...
  
  
• Check out the list of superhero abilities on wikipedia or wikia. Pick one you like and personalize it with your own special touches!
  
  
• Still need help? Visit the Discord at the bottom of every page or on the direct server itself. It's a great place to brainstorm with other people and bounce ideas around. Be warned: power ideas can get a little silly down there, and members can't go into the details of balancing your power (otherwise, us Mods would be out of a job).

Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses

At MRO, we believe that the strengths of a power should be in balance with its weaknesses/limitations. Try to pick weaknesses that make your life as a writer more interesting: weaknesses and strengths are just two sides to the same coin, so why not have fun with both?

Note: While you and the Mods need to know what a character's limits and weaknesses are, your character doesn't necessarily need to. Having them figure out their limits in character through trial and error (read: mishaps and mayhem) is perfectly encouraged. Characters only know as much about their abilities as you, their authors, want them to. Oh what fun it can be to keep secrets from your own characters...


Weaknesses/Limitations: the Basics

Some of these may not apply, depending upon your power. For the ones that do... work those answers in, and you're sure to have a much quicker character approval! (Want some help with this? The Measure of Things is an awesome resource!)

• “How far?” (Range limits)
  How far away can your teleporter jump? How far can your lightning user sling bolts?
  
  
• "For how long?" (Time limits)
  How long does it take for your tiger shifter to change forms? How long can your speedster stay at top speed?
  
  
• "How many times?" (Usage limits)
  How many times can your sun absorber fire his awesome solar cannon?
  
  
• “What is it weak against?” (Pokémon-style weaknesses)
  So, you’re a water user: how do you like electric attacks? Air elemental: do your powers quench fire, or is your entire body a flammable substance? Does your statue controller use so much brain power moving his minions that he’s wide open to psychic attacks?
  
  
• “How much?” (Mass/volume limits)
  How much weight can your super strength character lift? How much water can your water manipulator handle at one time? Powers can be defined in terms of either a strict measurement, or something more easily visualized: ie, either "Sam the shadow jumper can take 200 lbs with him" or "Sam the shadow jumper can take the weight of another person with him" would both be fine.
  
  
• “How many?” (Quantity limits)
  How many objects can your telekinetic keep in the air? How many shadow beasties can your character make and control?
  
  
• If your character affects more things at one time, does that decrease the total mass/volume they can affect, or the range they can work in?
  ie, A telekinetic who can levitate 200 lbs total might be able to lift a 200 lb anvil, but keeping track of ten moving 20 lb anvils might strain their mind—perhaps they can only keep track of six or seven at a time, even though that’s below their total weight limit. A teleporter who can go 50 feet solo—maybe when dragging another person with him, he can only go 30.
  
  
• What happens if your character approaches or goes past their limits?
  Some typical side-effects include fatigue, headaches, migraines, nosebleeds, vomiting, seizures, fainting, coma, etc. Generally, the more your character tries to push themselves, the worse these effects will get, until they simply can’t use their power anymore. Pick effects that you'd be wiling to RP on a regular basis.
  
  
• "My character doesn't have much training"
  Once you get RPing, your character's lack of experience will soon be remedied; save yourself the trouble of updating your profile a few months down the road, and just leave lines like this out.

Weaknesses/Limitations: the Awesome Things

Everyone’s got basic weaknesses/limitations. The fun really starts when you make things unique to your character; things that you look forward to RPing. Because, let's be honest: who doesn't like to torture their character a little? Weaknesses/limits can make RPing more... "interesting."

A few examples from our members:

• Noel can erase memories, but there's a trade-off: she also erases equivalent memories of her own with each memory erasure.  
  
  
• Alice has her own person HUD (Heads Up Display) that leads her on quests, but she can't turn it off, meaning it limits her vision and can be especially distracting.  
  
  
• Allegra can give mutants a secondary power, but she doesn't get to choose what it is, and it doesn't work on humans. She has to shoot wisely!