The Guide to Sub-Powers

So I'm sure you've been in the same super power boat as me. You have this super cool character idea, but they have just 1 or 2 too many powers. What's a Role Player to do?

Well, never fear, my fellow members, for I have a few super cool ways you can use Sub-Powers to your advantage. This is the Guide to Sub-Powers.

1. Regeneration
So your superhero gets into a fight and takes a chainsaw to the shoulder. Now he has no arm. Well, life is hard for Captain Two Arms when he only has one arm. What's a superhero to do? Well, he could get a cybernetic arm, maybe. But Captain Two Arms is poor. He can't afford a fancy robot appendage. You could give him Regeneration as a power, but he already has the limit of cool main powers.

Here's what you can do instead. Make his regeneration a sub-power. He can heal from any injury, even grow back lost limbs, but it takes him a few days to do so. He may not be Wolverine, but he isn't in pieces for the rest of his life, either. By removing this power from being useful in combat, you just gave your character a very useful (and easily approved) sub-power.


More sub-power discussions to come. If you have a cool sub-power you'd like to discuss, please feel free to tell us about it here.

2. Ageless

What you want:
Your puppy-loving vampire has lived for hundreds of years. Certainly to accomplish this feat, she must have some sort of unnatural power, right? Of course.

What you probably do:
Make one of your powers "Immortality- Madame Puppy Vampire has lived for 300 years, and will live forever, unless otherwise slain."

But You could Also:
Make this a sub-power, with the same description.

What's the Difference?
Living for hundreds of years is quite useful. Your character will know all sorts of people, places, and skills. They may have amassed a fortune, set up a series of secret emergency bunkers, or may even have a small personal army working for them. All of these are nice things that would fit nicely under the Super Power of Immortality.

But what if you don't want any of that? What if Madame Puppy Vampire has spent the last 200 years asleep in a coffin filled with doggy treats? What if she never bothered to improve her skills, connections, or wealth? What if your character has simply been wandering the earth and has no material benefits of their long life? Then the sub-power of Ageless is for you. Now you can brag that your character has been around forever, and you can pair it with another, similar sub-power to make them even cooler. Perhaps...Regeneration? Now you have an ageless vampire who will heal from any injury, given a few nights to rest in their coffin. And it only cost you two sub-powers. How cool is that?