You can have one super power...what is it?

[Tjololo12]

This is a popular discussion topic among my friends, and we've all pretty much settled on our respective powers. We came up with some rules, I'll write them out. Follow them as closely as you can, if I notice anyone "breaking" a rule I'll let you know.

Rules:
1. Everything must be explicitly stated, no assumptions.

2. You only get one power, not a combination. IE If you wish for the ability to fly, you can still die if you fall too far.

3. On the other hand, you can have the power to "undo" what you've done. For example, you can have the power to teleport anywhere in the world, and to teleport back to your departure point. You can have the power to fly, and also have the power to "fall" (IE when you stop flying, you slowly drift back down). This must be stated.

4. "The power to absorb other powers" DOES count, however to keep it fair among ourselves, we disallow taking powers from others, rather, you gain a copy.

5. As a means of clarification, NOTHING CAN BE ASSUMED! Take everything into account (as much as possible). If you can run super fast, friction of clothing and air friction are important.

Power:
Pause time at will, with undo (unpause).

Caveats (assumptions):
I can move around at will once time is paused, any object I wish can be pulled into my time stream so that I can operate it. In other words, if I wish to drive a car, the car will be pulled into the paused time stream so that it will work for me, if I want to use the computer, wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey magic will allow the computer, electricity, internet, etc. to work. The same goes for other people.

My time stream will be rightly paused; time will not pass for anything in it while I am in the paused time stream, so that I (or anyone/thing else) can be paused for as long as I want without aging too quickly.

If I were to die/go unconscious while time were paused, time would automatically unpause and would pass as normal (see: complications)

Reason:
Besides the obvious, like being able to get as much done during the "day" as I want, this is also a way to get around the rules. This includes super speed, teleportation, and time manipulation, all in one.

Complications:
While it does introduce *some* aspect of invunerability (I can just pause time before something hits me and move out of the way), it does not solve any problems with things that involve me directly. For example, if I were drowning, I couldn't pause time and pause my airflow. If I were falling, pausing time would not break my fall at all, meaning I could still die.

Disadvantages:
Besides being able to die, I can't quite figure a way around the "go unconscious" thing so that I could sleep while time was paused (cuz that'd be AWESOME!) If I leave that bit out, I could go into a coma indefinitely and, since I didn't age while time was paused, would freeze time forever; Alternatively, I can't differentiate between coma state and sleeping state because the only difference is depth of sleep, so I feel like it's cheating to get THAT specific.

Feel free to pick this apart and help me refine it, on the off chance that somehow I actually get the opportunity to ask for it XD jk, I would like to refine it though, so let me know if you see any problems.

I'm interested to see what others come up with! You don't have to use this format, you can use your own, but I tried to put as much info as I could.

[Jake55778]

Teleportation.

But good teleportation: Infinite range, can move either myself or other people/objects, instant cast, no limits on the size or weight of objects transported, and no limits on how often it can be used.

Advantages:
Free travel. Easy to escape from those nosey government agents who always come after people with superpowers. Can teleport anyone I don't like into the sun. Would make an awesome pizza delivery guy.

Disadvantages:
Still all squishy and mortal. Need to know exactly where I'm teleporting to in order to do it safely; always a risk of ending up inside a wall/underground. Potential to seriously mess up the universe if misused on a grand scale (would employ a personal rule of: "don't mess with anything bigger than a comet").

[vallorn]

Telekinesis. and not the namby pamby "Throw cars about" stuff either. Im talking accurate and focused telekinesis. for example being able to crush the air between your hands until it undergoes nuclear fusion.

the only things you cant do with it are teleportation as noted above and a couple of other things. every other power can be simulated with enough imagination, focus and telekinetic strength.

[697134002]

Omnipotence. Enough has been stated.

[SMWasder]

I'd like the power to absorb knowledge/skills from books/CDs/videos/people etc just by looking at them. It would create a copy of it rather than wipe it from people's heads. I'm too lazy to be a superhero, that sounds like a much more practical power for life.

[Wildwill002]

Invisibility. I could allow light/radiation/other things on the electromagnetic spectrum to completely pass through me without it being absorbed or in anyway disturbed by me. I could also 'choose' what turns invisible by focus on it whilst touching it.

Advantages: Rob a bank without being seen, assist in hostage situations by being a sort of inside eye and general sneakiness. On and never get radiation poisoning

Disadvantages: Even though I can't be seen I can be touched which means people may easily walk into me and since I can't see my own body movement could be hindered. Flour is also a disadvantage... stupid flour...

[Tomenaki]

This is actually a really in-depth way to look at this kind of thing. I'll give my choice then. :3

Power: Control of electricity. (Call me Cole MacGrath)

Advantages: The ability to control all things electronic, as well as various types of metals. If inFamous is to be believed, the ability to glide for short distances. You control lightning, essentially... so that leads to being able to do amazing things with it. Possible teleportation or increased speed abilities.

Disadvantages: I would never be able to swim again. Possibly shocking people I come in contact with to death (depending on the type of electrical control). Showering and bathing could be an obstacle, but I think that would 1) not be enough water to kill me, and 2) I could just electrically fry off any dirt and such.

So... yeah. lol

[Zinrius]

I want the power to have any power I wish at will at anytime.

Pros: I'm awesome

Cons: None

[Iron_Fang]

The power of the wolf
able to communicate and command wolves and even at times do wolfy stuff (WULFEN)
Reason: Wolf Lord
Advantages: no car needed just ride a pack of wolves around also good in fighting
Disadvantages: (for val) can often be forced to 'chase' fleeing cars -_- >:(

[Cpt_Harlock]

The power to warp into any old lady's body.

pros: I can do literally anything in the world that I want cause they'll say "Awww, it's just an old lady who punched that man in the face, she's old so it's ok".

cons: I would become very grumpy and crabby.

[Lord_Mountbatten]

[MrWhales]

After riding the superman rollercoaster in Six Flags Atlanta. I pick flying. That is some fun-ness.

[Sti_Jo_Lew]

I'd want the ability to create a sort of "force field" anytime, anywhere, in any shape. I'd be impervious to threats, and if I wanted to hurt someone I could just decide to put a field cutting their body into mushy bits. The con is that I'd have to be careful what I cut in half...

[BlackKnight]

Damnit Tj, you stole what I was gonna say. Although you missed one assumption. The fact that light isn't affected by your time freeze thingy. If that got frozen as well you would effectively be blind while time is frozen.

[tanisjihanis]

Personal matter manipulation.

This enables complete form changing, to any creature or material imaginable, a liquid, solid or gas. Of course, the off button is to revert to my original form.

Advantages: Impervious to harm if I'm aware of it. Never need a tool set ever again. Body is a weapon and shield. Flying is possible from a spread of matter to wings making my body lighter.

Cons: Changing form must be a conscious descision, and can be difficult to do while mentally challenged for some reason. Mass is constant. I cannot become a T-Rex an have the same body mass of a T-Rex, rather I would be very light because my mass would be more spread out across my body. Vice versus if I became something small.

[Wildwill002]

Lol, uber heavy mouse

[697134002]

Damnit Tj, you stole what I was gonna say. Although you missed one assumption. The fact that light isn't affected by your time freeze thingy. If that got frozen as well you would effectively be blind while time is frozen.

If light was unaffected, then, for however long you froze time, there would be no light coming from the sun, as the chemical reactions in it would not be occurring. This would also affect all laser-based sensor technologies. They activate when the light from the laser fails to return. They would all go off at once.

[Tjololo12]

Damnit Tj, you stole what I was gonna say. Although you missed one assumption. The fact that light isn't affected by your time freeze thingy. If that got frozen as well you would effectively be blind while time is frozen.

Ha I did miss that. I was sort of chalking it up to the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey-ness that makes computers work...But you did touch on another topic I enjoy thinking about, usually to the point I get a migrane XD

To avoid derailing, I'll explain in spoilers!

Spoiler! :

Imagine a hypothetical scenario where you are an impartial observer (in other words, you can observe the experiment without affecting it in any way, sort of like "frecamming") of an event. There is a car, with headlights on, moving toward you at exactly the speed of light. At the instant it passes through your location, you turn around ot watch it move away at the speed of light.
The thing I wonder is, what would you see? You would see the dopplar(sp) effect in both parts of the experiment, but since the object is moving at the speed of light, it would arrive at the same instant the light it's emitted the entire time did...It would be like a sonic boom, but with light. All I can imagine is an instant, intense burst of some high-powered radiation and light. The radiation would come from extreme (EXTREME!) redshifting of the light that's being reflected off the object, pushing its wavelength up so high that it changes into another form of radiation (microwave, gamma, etc).
As for the second half of the experiment, all I would imagine is that you would see either nothing at all (light is not actually reflecting off the object, it's just touching it as it moves away at the same speed) or you would see a static image of the object, which would correspond to the initial reflection of light, and would either disappear or remain completely static as it rocketed away.

I usually think about this while I'm driving, usually resulting in getting to my destination without any memories of the trip XD

[Invunarble]

I wanna be Invulnerable. Invulenable (goddamit, i'm not used to spelling it this way!) to everything... except macerators.

Pros: No more silly "Hitting the ground too hard"s or "Surprise lighting smite by Lord_Mountbatten", only pure invincibility.

Cons: Almost everyone has a macerator on the Tekkit server... so I can't enter anyone's houses.

[MrWhales]

Invulnerable *

[asi1998]

The power to turn into anything I want. (i.e. Another person, an animal, or an object)

[697134002]

The power to turn into anything I want. (i.e. Another person, an animal, or an object)

So, let's say you want to turn into someone else. Now you're that person, and not you with the power to turn into anything you want. You no longer exist and there is a duplicate of a person.

[asi1998]

Temporarily I'm that person, my soul still possesses me and I can change back to myself.

[aeroeng15]

The ability to control wind currents (via temperature or pressure differentials).

Pros: Ability to fly, cushion falls, pretty impervious shield, ability to destroy effortlessly.

Cons: Wide-ranged weather disruptions

[The Bum]

images.jpg

Pros: All of Time and space.

Cons: Always ending up alone. Responsibility. (Assuming I'm like the Doctor, and look after Time as well as travel). High danger levels part of the time. (Possibility of) Exceedingly long life, outliving any human I know.

[aeroeng15]

Spoiler! :

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Pros: All of Time and space.

Cons: Always ending up alone. Responsibility. (Assuming I'm like the Doctor, and look after Time as well as travel). High danger levels part of the time.

You, sir, are now one of my favorite people. What regen are you on? And are you currently looking for a companion? :-p

[Fuzz422365117]

I want the ability to never die.

Pros: I can live forever.

Cons: My friends would die and I would live.

[The Bum]

What regen are you on? And are you currently looking for a companion? :-p

Spoiler! :

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The best one, of course.

In answer to your second question: Nope, sorry old boy. That spot is booked.

[Jake55778]

I want the ability to never die.

Pros: I can live forever.

Cons: My friends would die and I would live.

That would be a horrible power. I can barely imagine a worse fate.

Sure the first 500-1000 years might be fun. You could learn every language, master every instrument, see every corner of the world and accomplish anything and everything a human can do. But we as a species tend have a terrible sense of just how long time stretches on for.

What happens in 10,000 years when you've exhausted every goal, every dream, and every passion you've ever had and have still not even scratched the surface of eternity? When you reach your 100,000th year will you still be able to bare to love a normal human when their lives are as brief to you as an insect's is to them? What happens in a million years when evolution has left you behind the rest of humanity? What happens when humanity itself is gone? Extinct to war, natural disasters or simply diverged off into new and alien species? What happens when the sun burns out and you are left drifting in an empty void? Do you really want to still be here when our galaxy collides with it's neighbor some 4 billion years from now? 4 billion years is a long time, but you still wouldn't have scratched the surface of eternity.

By the time you reached the end of the universe your time on Earth would seem infinitesimally brief. A single pleasant memory amid billions of years of emptiness. Assuming of course that your brain even has the capacity to store memories on that kind of timescale.

Immortality is a curse. A brief few millennia of glory, followed by unimaginable cold and emptiness.

(Sorry for the rant)

[The Bum]

What happens in 10,000 years when you've exhausted every goal, every dream, and every passion you've ever had and have still not even scratched the surface of eternity? When you reach your 100,000th

Spoiler! :

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I agree, Jake. I'm actually editing "Exceedingly long life" into my first post.