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I've had a couple of people ask me why a gravity-based character can absorb the powers from others when they die. The answer is that the question needs to be turned around: Why does a character who can absorb the powers of others have gravity-based powers.Jennifer
Mulligan's Y2K power is the ability to absorb powers from others. I deliberately chose this for several reasons, but the most important are:
- It is a cool power, with a heafty limitation, that provides an odd juxtaposition when applied to a paramedic. Actually, the power came first and I made Jennifer a paramedic because I wanted to
have a good reason for her to never voluntarily use her power. I think it creates a great character with lots of dramatic story potential.
- It was my understanding that in the Four Winds
universe, anyone who will gain powers does so at the stroke of Midnight on the cusp of Y2K. On that assumption, I needed to have a reason my character - Jennifer Mulligan - could have a power and still take months or longer to ever notice it. (I wasn't and still am not sure when Gravity will become a player character.) With the fundamentally passive Absorption, it could be months, years or forever before Jennifer even learned she was a Powered person.
So, the next logical question is, "OK, what is too stop her from killing everyone and absorbing their powers?" Two things:
- She's a Paramedic sworn to protect life and keep everyone alive,
- I, as the player, do not want Jennifer to absorb anyone's powers. Read that again. Sure, it sounds weird: the idea that a player doesn't want his PC to be the most powerful thing
since organized religion. But it's true. As I view Jennifer, it should be two to three years game time before she learns she can absorb the powers of others. Maybe Death tells
her. As far as the character goes, I want her to have that time to become comfortable with her gravity powers before messing with her head.
There are too many ways to keep Jennifer from absorbing the powers of others to bother listing. Suffice to say that the Absorption is grossly limited and is a story device rather than a useful
power. Besides, I think it looks cool sitting there on her character sheet leading readers to wonder "What If?..." Oh, and to answer the original question I posed, I chose gravity powers because I
liked them. They were different, unique, odd, and I've had the relative gravity power kicking around in my head since 1990 or so. Just never had a chance to use it. |
