crushing coal into diamonds

[Fred Brackin]

A couple of other technical hurdles are that the whole operation must be carried out while the carbon source is shielded from oxygen. Diamonds in an atmosphere with O2 burn at above 1000 F.

The diamonds appear to be at room temperature by the time he opens his hands but they definitely have to be below that 1000 F point.

Even without O2 diamonds will turn back into graphite at above 2000 F at one atmosphere of pressure.

So you've got this nasty complcated and finicky cooling cycle that demands you maintain high pressure at the same time.

As to who can do ths besides Wealth-related powers (and I do favor the II version) the Super in question would need something like a UB:Licensed to Ignore the Laws of Physics.

It might even come in levels and Batman has a relatively low level, Captain America would personally have a low-ish level but his shield would be rated much higher and then characters like Superman and the Flash would have Omega level licenses.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

So you've got this nasty complcated and finicky cooling cycle that demands you maintain high pressure at the same time.

In Superman's case, he can use his super-breath power to quickly cool things. Assuming that he can get a perfect high pressure seal with his hands, it's trivial work to slightly crack that seal while puffing in air. Assuming that he's got perfectly efficient lungs and O2 storage, he'd be breathing out just N2, CO2, and trace elements, forming an oxygen barrier.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

As to who can do ths besides Wealth-related powers (and I do favor the II version) the Super in question would need something like a UB:Licensed to Ignore the Laws of Physics.

This UB can be ignored in a 4-color comics game, since everyone important has it already. It would be a valuable addition to games which makes a pretense towards realism, but which features characters who make a habit of ignoring the laws of physics (E.g., Q in "Star Trek").

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Plane

Superman does it in one of the Reeves films - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyHFPV-j8Gs

and recently Disney had Hamster (from Hamster and Gretel) do the same to cover damages

I'm wondering how you'd cover that... like I thought Create (Diamonds) with Environmental/Components (Coal) but Create requires character points be spent any time you do it. In this case it seems like in lieu of character points it's just an application of Crushing ST.

Have you looked into the concept of Power Stunts? A one-time way of showing off a power (Superman's ST in this case) seems what they were designed to represent.

I think Power Stunts cost CP and that is fair. Superman does not quit his job as a reporter and start selling diamonds! These are more like the random stunts engineers on Star Trek invent to solve a problem which are never heard of again even if they would address the problem of the week. They show off a character's cool abilities, they solve the immediate problem, but they are not a standard tool.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Superman does not quit his job as a reporter and start selling diamonds!

I figured like he'd have some moral qualms about ruining the value of diamonds by creating an unlimited supply of them and bankrupting those poor diamond traders.

[sir_pudding]

Since Superman very rarely does this, it's probably best as either Power Stunting Independent Income, or even more simply just Spending Points for Cash (and being Superman, you can say "by crushing coal into diamonds"). Probably a situation where allowing 50% per point makes sense (or even diamonds that would cost 100% of Starting Wealth retail, but you probably can't get that much for them).