Realistic supers

[Dangerious P. Cats]

How would you go about making realisticish supers (realistic by superhero standards)? Heores with reasonable and logical abilities.

[Captain-Captain]

You might want to consider defining realisticish a bit more. A guy who has no wings, or jet pack or plane but flies is pretty standard for superheroes. It is, however utterly unrealistic.

[raven_walker]

Depends on your definition of realistic... (And Super)

You could go the Bio-Tech/Ultra-Tech route - limited to "next-gen" TL:9 (and maybe a bit of TL:10...) (Plausible and realistic prototype tech...)

You can scale down "full" Super abilities to low-level Psi abilities...

You can stick to Basic and Martial Arts for a low-Power cinematic game...

You can choose one Power-inducing factor and work from there... (Wild Cards sorta thing, which is what I tend to do...)

You can limit available Powers to those that seem physically possible within our current understanding (lots of gadgets, not so much flying with no visible means of propulsion or blasting lasers from the eyes/hands/etc...)

You can play full Supers, but lethal attacks are just that, and there will be lots of collateral damage...

[RedMattis]

Like everyone has said, it depends on what you would call realistic.

DC Comic often has a fire-wielding superhero flying because it looks cool.

Marvel explains that their fire-wielding superhero can fly because he fires off what amounts to a continuous direct explosion in the opposite direction of the one he is flying.
Not being harmed by this is of course because the superhero is extremely resistant to heat and has enough resistance to kinetic damage to use his ability without sustaining damage
His wielding of fire in the first place might be a form of pyrokinesis or him being imbued with the power of a spirit of fire.

Is this how you would define 'realistic' Supers? If so, simply explain how the powers work and what their origin is.

If so ask yourself:
...if his powers came from radioactive mutation, how did this mutation manage to summon up amazing power? Awoke hidden Psionic potential maybe? Manifests within his body and strengthens him to superhuman levels?
and things of that nature.

[LemmingLord]

Mutations can easily realistically explain higher strength. Genetic human/animal hubridization could easily explain having characteristics we see in other creatures in humans. To add the realistic feel on these kinds of abilities, there should be some defects of a physical nature.

You might look into modern technology as well as explanations.

Flight seems to be the power we are already discussing. Huge hanglider sized wings for a humanoid birdman would work, but the utility wouldn't be all that great. They'd have the hollow bones (low hit points?) and require lots of room to maneuve.

Jet packs are a possibility - they are dangerous, bulky and hard to steer... Difficult to make rescues of the type made by Superman... Difficult, but perhaps not impossible.

[deathsaudit]

I'm not an expert on sicence but I think:
Quantum tunneling could let you teleport could give you superspeed as your atoms can teleport faster than light and give you the ability to go through stuff.
Stopping time makes the speed of light 0 so you are blind and as everything is travaling at the speed of light everything could have infinite mass.
Phase shifting means you may as well move to a different universe as nothing from this one (including light and gravity) will act on you.

[alaph]

Read Watchmen for some more realisticish examples of supers

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by alaph

Read Watchmen for some more realisticish examples of supers

With the exception of Dr. Manhattan, whose powers boil down to "Whatever The Plot Requires," nobody in Watchmen has any "superpowers" at all. The closest would probably be Ozymandias' trademark bullet-catch, explained as a product of his exotic and obsessive training, which he is only shown doing under somewhat controlled conditions and which still appears to injure his hands.

[giganerds]

Herous Series will give you some tips with the theme: "real peoples got super powers". Unfortunaly some powers are poor realistics, in particular Hiro's bend time and space capability, DL's insubstantiality, Mykah's cyberpsi Elleh's eletrokinesis and Peter's absorption power (Sylar capabilities appear be a bit more real, but only a bit!!!).

Assuming that plausible is scientific explained, biological powers based on physical habilities (super-coordination, high muscle powers, exoskeletons, uncommon fitness, hyper-reflexes, pheromones, etc) are more suitable. See the animals for suggestions, and Biomophs, Acrobat Templates on Supers. Powers will help a huge.

Psi-powers are hard to be proof, but is bare acceptable due general sci sense in some plots. This really don't include high ST TKs and wide world psi ranges!!!

Technological powers could be realistic using TL 7-8 (perhaps 9) gadgets. Hight-Tech and Ultra Tech could give some ideas for this. Forget super science!!!

Martial Arts' unusual training Perk can be usefull for low line powers using restricted cinematic skills.

[Rocket Man]

One way to keep things relatively "realistic" is to have a common origin for all superpowers, rather than "this guy got bitten by a radioactive cockroach, that one found a power ring in Ramses' tomb and the lady over there drank Sam's Club soda pop after the expiration date." For example:

1) Wild Cards: All superpowers are ultimatly caused by an airborne alien virus, except for those of the aliens themselves.
2) Aberrant by White Wolf: All powers somehow have their ultimate cause in the explosion of an orbital space station (though "Adventure!" suggests an even earlier origin).
3) GURPS IST, which had the human genetic code altered by aliens in prehistory, but with the changes not being triggered until a 1920s solar flare.

This doesn't mean your heroes can't have different "origin stories" with their powers emerging under the stress of the moment. But for a truly realistic setting, there should be a common cause at the root of it all, even if the characters (or players!) don't know it right away. Finding out "Where do all these superpowers come from, anyway?" can make an intriguing adventure ... especially if a villain is getting close to the answer and may soon be able to make more ultra-beings.