(Another) World of Superhumans

[Gold & Appel Inc]

I'd imagine most unskilled attackers with an improvised weapon relying heavily on Telegraphed attacks...

[AlexanderHowl]

Probably, which would bring their skill up to 8. Though since it increase's their target defense by 2, police officers are fairly safe. Especially if they are wearing armor.

[JulianLW]

A small knife does Swing-3 cutting or Thrust-1 impaling. For ST 10, that's 1d-3 either way. DR 1 stops the damage 2/3 of the time the guy with the steak knife scores a hit. In any "realistic" world, DR 1 is a pretty big advantage.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

How many fights do you expect everyday supers to engage in? I have not been in a fight in twenty years, and I have the strength, speed, and training to handle myself in a fight. I doubt that most everyday supers would have more than one or two fights a year, probably barroom brawls, so DR and Innate Attacks would likely be relatively worthless. Using Innate Attacks in a normal fight could be illegal because of a number of reasons because it would be considered aggravated assault.

Even people with a reasonable risk of combat like police officers would be better served by Afflictions and Binding. Innate Attacks should be non-lethal. For example, Crushing Attack 2d (Aura, +80%; Side Effect, Incapacitation, Ecstasy, +150%; Melee, C, -30%; No Blunt Trauma, -20%; No Knockback, -10%; No Wounding, -50%; Super, -10%) [21] would be an awesome ability for a police officer. It is visible, so it serves as a deterrent, and it is non-lethal, so you can quickly grab and subdue an individual without much risk of future litigation. While some people might try to sue for forcible ecstasy, the fact that the alternative would involve lethal force would have judges praise the police officers for their restraint before tossing out the case.

The problem is, a lot of supers with combat powers will have got them because their powers developed in a fight, and in my experience if the fight's stressful enough to be a triggering event, given we're talking teens here, the resulting powers are probably not going to be very subtle or restrained. The people who might developed those sort of powers probably wished themselves out of the fight entirely and thus got teleportation or invisibility or the like.

The combat powers will likely be laser eye beams, or hulking out, or the like.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by naloth

Who said anything about fighting? I've gotten a few scrapes and a soldier burn from doing plumbing. I've gotten splinters from handling wood and stabbed with a nail handling debris. Sometimes I get blisters from digging or gardening. A chef that works by an oven might appreciate being burn resistant. As for being "bulletproof" it's a yardstick which shows that you can use nail guns and blowtorches without worrying about being hurt.

For outdoorsy people and home-handymen types 1-2 points of DR would be really handy in their everyday life. Immunity to all those little cuts (well, not these if it's Tough Skin) and bruises you pick up, not having to worry about minor burns, making holes in yourself with barbed wire, or smacking yourself with a hammer, and so on. DR5+ and 5 yards falls are also not a big deal, DR10+ and anything under 20 yards isn't a huge concern (assuming you've 10HP).

A little DR and a decent range of Temperature Tolerance is a nice low-point package for people outdoors a lot, say with a level of Nictitating Membrane as well.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Rupert

The problem is, a lot of supers with combat powers will have got them because their powers developed in a fight, and in my experience if the fight's stressful enough to be a triggering event, given we're talking teens here, the resulting powers are probably not going to be very subtle or restrained. The people who might developed those sort of powers probably wished themselves out of the fight entirely and thus got teleportation or invisibility or the like.

The combat powers will likely be laser eye beams, or hulking out, or the like.

The majority of teens who awaken during a fight will probably develop Melee Attacks rather than laser eye beams, and they will probably be desiring to end the fight rather than to end the person (most fights are not to the death or else homicide figures would be higher). Crushing Attack 15d (Double Knockback, +20%; Melee, C, Dual, -20%; No Blunt Trauma, -20%; No Wounding, -50%; Super, -10%) [15] would be enough to end the vast majority of fights that teens would find themselves in (it would cause an average of 13 yards of knockback to the average teen that it hit, ending most fights in one punch). Therefore, the vast majority of people who manifest during an adolescent fight would be Class I (and the Super template would have much more impact on their lives than their abilities).

The same applies to a person who manifests to survive the wilderness. DR 6 (Super, -10%; Tough Skin, -40%) [15], Nictitating Membrane 6 (Super, -10%) [6], and Temperature Tolerance 6 [6] is only 27 CP, so we are talking about a Class I super. People who are triggered by small dreams or everyday threats will usually be lower class supers, and it will be being a super that will matter more than their super abilities. The Class IIs and above just have larger dreams or face more challenging threats during their awakening.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The majority of teens who awaken during a fight will probably develop Melee Attacks rather than laser eye beams, and they will probably be desiring to end the fight rather than to end the person (most fights are not to the death or else homicide figures would be higher). Crushing Attack 15d (Double Knockback, +20%; Melee, C, Dual, -20%; No Blunt Trauma, -20%; No Wounding, -50%; Super, -10%) [15] would be enough to end the vast majority of fights that teens would find themselves in (it would cause an average of 13 yards of knockback to the average teen that it hit, ending most fights in one punch). Therefore, the vast majority of people who manifest during an adolescent fight would be Class I (and the Super template would have much more impact on their lives than their abilities).

They want to end the fight, yes. They probably also want to end the torment (a lot of fights are part of bullying). Also, 'end' has many meanings, and note that even your example (which I find oddly low-violence for something manifested in a serious fight) will likely cause injury from hurling a person into a wall or the like. If someone manifests a super-punch, they'll be wanting something that hits HARD and HURTS the other guy. That way they won't want to try it on again.

So, like I said 'hulking out' would be a common effect. Hopefully with the ability to turn it off if it's a literal Hulk style change.

The 'not intending to kill' part kicks in after the other guy is down, and you don't put the boot in.

I admit this is probably coloured by my high school experience.

[AlexanderHowl]

I do not think that 'hulking out' will be a common result because supers would have manifested more than a decade before that trope was even conceptualized. The idea of transforming into a hulking brute would have horrified the vast majority of the adolescent population. Just take a look at the heroes of the screen of 1950s and before, they were not massive slabs of muscle, they were slim and chiseled, strong yet human in proportion (even Charles Atlas was not that large).

As for more lethal attack abilities, they will definitely manifest among adolescents during a few fights, but they will be evidence that the super is a psychopath or a sociopath (unless they are fighting for their lives, or the lives of their loved ones, against a large number of attackers, then it would just be self-defense). Any super that manifested such a lethal reaction during a school fight would probably have a long stay in a padded cell, at least until the authorities are sure that they are not a continued threat to the community. If they attempted to resist incarceration, they would likely have a (brief) career as a supervillian, as they would probably be gunned down by police long before another super could restrain them.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I do not think that 'hulking out' will be a common result because supers would have manifested more than a decade before that trope was even conceptualized. The idea of transforming into a hulking brute would have horrified the vast majority of the adolescent population. Just take a look at the heroes of the screen of 1950s and before, they were not massive slabs of muscle, they were slim and chiseled, strong yet human in proportion (even Charles Atlas was not that large).

It's possible that the comics and media of the time could have a disproportionate effect on how powers manifest. The 60s had a lot of silver age heroes as well as a fair proportion of horror comics.

In this setting if affect is limited to imagination (rather than genetics or something else), there should be a fair amount of Supers that manifest multiple times as they find more stress or bigger desires (imagination).

As for more lethal attack abilities, they will definitely manifest among adolescents during a few fights, but they will be evidence that the super is a psychopath or a sociopath (unless they are fighting for their lives, or the lives of their loved ones, against a large number of attackers, then it would just be self-defense).

Crimes of passion make up a fair amount of murders. If you throw in super powers that are only limited by imagination on children, you'll see a lot more passion and less restraint.

As a society we generally don't treat kids 15 and under as being developed enough to understand the consequences of such actions. We're less lenient on 16+.

[AlexanderHowl]

The Comic's Code came about in 1954 in OTL. For criminal prosecution, you are correct, especially during the 50s (though minorities would be more likely to suffer prosecution). For civil commitment though, the authorities were quite willing to toss people into padded rooms during the 50s, at a much higher rate than nowadays (especially when it came to women).