DannyboyO1's Journal

Warning, brain injury may result from pun.

So, I've been trying to hodge together a novel featuring a world of superheroes and some of the more bizarre issues that really have to come about. Like, if there's a batmobile, is it illegal, or is the license plate registered to Bruce Wayne? Or is this guy actually going to face down a DMV bureaucrat and say "I'm Batman." (Ok, yes, county clerk has a separate office for the license plates, I don't think it'll make a huge difference.)

I also note that you never ever get a comic hero team with similar powers. Maybe they have an elemental theme and one's water, one's fire, one's earth, and one's heart... or spleen or something. Maybe they're all young, Teen Titans being the muppet babies of spandex. Most of the time, you've got a couple flyers, a bruiser or two, someone agile, someone mechanically inclined, a weirdo, and a sensitive. There's some mix and match, as you could have a flying weirdo, a cyborg that's got big fists and wifi... plus instruction manuals. But you never see a super team that's got a vast degree of overlap. You don't have a brute squad that's got three golems, the Hulk, Thing, and Mike Tyson. You never see a firing squad of ten guys who just have flight and blasting powers. And if you ever have six magic characters in the same place, they're working together to produce one big effect that just happens to leave them all tired and vulnerable so someone else gets to do the really dangerous part they found or forged a viable weak spot for.

Having played City of Heroes, I can vouch... most missions there, if you have a full team of blasters, you will roll directly over the opposition. You may be weak individually, but while you can concentrate your fire, the opponents can never concentrate their hit points.

Some of this is just logical diversification. If you mix the group, you mitigate their weaknesses, and there's always someone who can figure out a good way to take down whatever they're facing.

But, what if there are some other reasons?

I mean, if a team of shamen are calling on air spirits to guide their blows... you may either get some severe synergy, or they might interfere with one another. It could take a lot more coordination for them to avoid stepping on each others toes, or redundantly boosting a companion's speed... through a wall.

Telepaths, however... I can get behind keeping separate. These are folks who pick up on the thoughts of those around, and who are able to speak to nearby minds. It's what they do. But if you think about it, it's an amplification. If Ordinary Joe stubs his toe, and Psi Guy is nearby and picks up on the pain... Telepathic Teri now has to wince because she feels it from both of them. So a number of potent (useful) telepaths in proximity is likely to result in a feedback loop. Probably originating in the thought "Gee, this spandex is uncomfortable." That's a phenomenon that's blisteringly obvious, and I'll have to refer to it in the story. I figure the standard term for it will have to be Psion's Friction.

And if you read that aloud and it hurt, look around quick, if someone's wincing, they might be a telepath!

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