Over-Powered Characters: Do They Have a Place?

[cojemo]

This is my first one of these, so sorry if it seems a bit incoherent or difficult to follow. Well, here I go.


Is it possible for a player-controlled character that overshadows the other players to be a benefit to a roleplay? This has been a question I've mulled over quite a bit, and though many of you may read the question and assume 'of course not!', I still have my hopes that they could actually be done right.


Now before anything else is said, I should clarify that I'm not talking about Mary Sues/Gary Stues, but merely the idea of an extremely powerful character that is leagues above others. I'll also be focusing on the idea of supernatural abilities and such as this is where these types of characters would likely show up and is also where making an over-powered character is most likely to succeed..


So, let's say I were to create a character for a roleplay which involves each character having abilities. while everyone else has their powers being relatively balanced, I decide to have mine be something ridiculous like time manipulation. This makes my character much more powerful than everyone else's. Is this such a bad thing? Well, in some cases, absolutely. If the roleplay in question is focused specifically around combat, then having someone who is practically unbeatable in combat kind of ruins the fun.


However, when the main focus isn't about fighting I always like to think that it's important to separate the character from the ability. For example, a weak character can easily be the closest definition to a Mary Sue one can get, while an unbeatable god can be fully fleshed out and contain a lot of depth. I always thought it'd be interesting to see a well written, overpowered character, but sadly I have seen very few if any. This also begs the question as to whether a GM should ALLOW such characters. After all, doing so requires a lot of faith in the roleplayer, and having more than one of these could either be great or absolutely horrendous..


What are your thoughts on this? Should characters be kept from being much stronger than others, or should the focus be put mainly on the character?

 

[Ursus]

I've been in roleplays where this worked well, both as the player of said character and as an enemy of said character.


I think the biggest thing is to establish that this person is NOT unbeatable. Make sure there are some flaws, some mistakes, something to cause the character's downfall. An overpowered character should be a plot device, not a vehicle for our own vicarious needs (as I believe most characters are).


Example 1: DEATH is a roleplay about sentient nanomachine clusters. Most of the players possess a cluster. Mack is the developer of these clusters, naturally kept the most powerful for himself, and is the amoral 'big bad'. While nobody can take him one-on-one in a fight, he becomes a common enemy for the rest of the players to rally against, instead of wandering about on their own.


Example 2: Gary is an elite ninja, much, much better than everyone else. Its understandable though - he had a bad childhood and had to defend himself much earlier than the other ninjas. As a result, he's the only one who can stand up to the villians alone, and he's often able to jump into a fight and save the other, less capable characters. Every story needs a hero, after all.


Example 3: Steve is an elite battler, his combat potential is near the top; There aren't many enemies who can challenge him in a straight-up slugfest. Unfortunately for Steve, not every problem can be solved with brute force and muscle. He learns he can't fix all the world's problems, and when push comes to shove, not everyone is going to fight fair. With the threat of technology making his way of combat obsolete, will he adapt or become just another dinosaur?


I don't like Gary. I like Mack and Steve.

 

[Spacekitty]

It actually depends in the RP, but id say the only time there should be a player that is much more powerful is when the story would specifically call for it.


And yes that can happen, although I'd say this OP character would be the GM him/herself as a GM wouldn't want to trust a random person with such a role.

 

[call me rae]

I would think it is possible to do this well but it would require an experienced roleplayer.


When reviewing such a character the first thing I look at is - are their weaknesses realistic and do they fit into the roleplay? For instance say your character is super demi-god like being. They're super strong, super smart, and can do whatever they want with little to no limitations. You put them in a group of teenagers with fledgling powers and they're obviously going to take over the story unless they have some reasonable limitations. Maybe they can't use their powers outside their god realm, maybe they're forbidden from harming the innocent. Something like that.


Another thing is understanding personality plays a role in how your character will be persevered and interact with others. Going back to my Demi-God example - if your all powerful and you also have an arrogant or reclusive than that is going to make you very hard to play with. Especially if you have no limits on your powers and can just break buildings or people when your having an off day - or if you regularly like to throw your weight around and no one else in the roleplay has any reasonable chance of stopping you.


Then your just being a bully and trying to essentially play God - literally and figuratively - and the roleplay becomes more about finding a way to deal with your character than whatever the original plot was. And that's not fair to the GM or other players.


Last thing I ask when reviewing said characters is - Why do you want to play this person? Do you want to explore the hardships of being a godlike being surrounded by people that you could easily wipe from existence if your not careful? Do you want to provide the other players with a fun baddy to team up against in addition to whatever the main overarching plot is? Do you just want to have a character around to inspire the others to reach new heights with their own abilities.


Depending on the answer - and how well you can incorporate your idea into the story and universe I say it's fine to add in an over powered - or even over the top sue-ish character - into the plot.


Just be sure to vet these types of characters carefully before allowing them into the story - and make sure whoever is playing them knows that you can and will nerf them out of existence should they cross the line into Godmodding or Puppeting other characters.

 

[Bone2pick]

This is my first one of these, so sorry if it seems a bit incoherent or difficult to follow. Well, here I go.
Is it possible for a player-controlled character that overshadows the other players to be a benefit to a roleplay?

I don't dig your above word choice. Overshadow is not the same as an in-group power/ability disparity. I love superhero RPs—specifically DC universe superhero RPs—and I'm more than comfortable with huge power variances between players. When/If I choose to play as Hawkman, I'm under no illusion that I can keep up with Superman, Shazam, Wonder Woman, or Martian Manhunter in terms of raw power. I'll simply be outclassed, and I won't care.


But I won't be overshadowed. Not to brag, but my writing (if I'm given room to really contribute) will always lift my characters into plot relevant positions. I'll get emotional; I'll pull the spotlight down to me. I'll trivialize power as nothing more than a spectacle, and I'll push my character's development.


So you won't overshadow my characters with greater power, but you will overshadow them if you jump in front of all their conflict.

 

[BuddhistDracula]

@cojemo


Depends on the players' definition of 'over-powered', I guess. I've met some who think that characters are only over-powered when they've got no weak points at all, while others think that characters who are much, much stronger than other chars in that RP are over-powered, no matter whether they have some weak points or not.


Personally, I think that those who still have some weak points can be greatly beneficial to an RP. For example, they might be the only ones who are able to save your char in some situations. But if your char and the really powerful one are enemies... well. Depends on how much you like it to develop strategies to destroy your enemies.

 

[Tabby]

As long as everyone feels like they can contribute and the plot/setting doesn't revolve entirely around the powerful character, it can certainly work fine in RP, and it can even be an impetus FOR great RP. In another posts=power type site I frequent, I'm 300 posts ahead of my favorite RP partner and a stronger race to boot, and the power disparity has been a WONDERFUL source of in-character issues that helps flesh out their relationship. On top of that, my oh-so-powerful character has plenty of direct weaknesses as well as drawbacks to using all that power, so in practice they're generally on a pretty similar level. Several hundred posts in, we're both still having plenty of fun.


If I tried to RP it as [my character] and her hanger-on then yeah it'd go sour fast, but since we sync well together it ends up being a give-and-take relationship where sometimes she's the big damn hero and sometimes she's pretty much just background support while he gets to do his own flashy stuff, and he's saved her almost as many times as she's saved him by this point.


In another setting I wrote in, EVERYONE was hilariously overpowered to the point that combat was a complete waste of time since no one was even capable of dying - the concept that once long ago one of them MIGHT have died was itself a major plot point in the setting and turned out to be false anyways - and my character was one of the weakest in that world of overgods and primal creators. I still had a massive blast because the vibe of the setting revolved more around relationships and humanity, where they were all pretty much bumbling retards, so the power levels were pretty much just for when we wanted to write some big fancy "fight" and then go back to doing stuff where all that grandiose power didn't do jack fucking shit for them.


As you said, in a heavy combat-focused, shonen-esque setting, large disparities in power levels can be an issue, and it's not something I'd freely hand out in a 'balanced' and 'open' setting, but with good RPing and a bit of communication, along with the higher-level player(s) not being total dickbags, it can work out fine or even be a net positive. Relationships akin to sifu/sensei/teacher and student are very common in fiction and history alike after all; just because someone is objectively worse at X than the person they're working under inherently doesn't make for a bad story. It's all in how you handle it.


I think that that people who try to make a RP all about them are worse, personally.

 

[Doomshroud]

Sometimes, the theme or feel of the RP can make overpowered characters seem out of place, and depending on how they're used, they very well can be. However, an overpowered character depends on the roleplay itself and how the writer uses the character. Even an exceedingly powerful character can have a place if handled properly and put into the right situations.

 

[Archie]

IMO really powerful characters always exist in entertainment but they're counterbalanced by huge flaws, see: every popular anime protagonist ever. The main problem people have with OP Characters is they're not relatable, and if people aren't relatable or are otherwise distant, it's hard to empathize with them on screen, let alone RP with them as they don't seem like someone you can interact with. Then think about how someone built that character up - and the dislike gets transferred to the player, with a flurry of accusations like they want to boost their ego or things like that.


So as long as you crop serious parts of your character's soul out, all will work out well. When you've got a character with laser eyesight, he/she will still be an "interactable" part of the plot if he/she is blind. I'm sure OP characters have a role in every plot, but without equality and a feeling like you can change another characters' behavior just the same way the pther player could use his/her character to change yours', you won't feel like the other character is okay to interact with.

 

[Grin]

Good topic!


Like so many things in RPing, the difference maker is always the handler of the character. Obviously Mary/Stu characters are going to be difficult to deal with, since the handler has put so much of their own desires into the character, so you're essentially having to deal with IC-issues that exist as an OOC-based annoyance. In other words, while I'd personally love to be friends IRL with a nigh-perfect demigod, I'm not as interested in handling a character that has to share face-time with a scene stealing ubermensch.


On the other hand, if the handler in question has carefully designed their demigod in a way that allows other PCs a chance to shine, or is simply content with playing a walking talking piece of equipment for the other PCs to solve problems with, then I'm totally cool with this.