Ideas for "Biological Superpowers"

[Blackjack488]

Basically, the game I'm building involves kids whose genes were spliced with the DNA of alien life, all put into a survival-horror-ish situation. My original intention for the game was to have a large number of actors, who were scattered throughout the gameworld and could be convinced to join your party through various means, each one with their own unique "gift" that came as a result of said genetic splicing. And as fun and cool as that idea is, I kind of unintentionally shot myself in the foot by needing to come up with enough gifts to fill a large and diverse roster of possible allies (I don't have a solid estimate, but I'm thinking in the vein of 20-25). The worst part is, this isn't even the first time this has happened.

So I turn to you, humble reader, for input and feedback. The only rules I'm following (for lore and gameplay reasons) are as follows:
1) All gifts must be biologically feasible, and should be something you'd expect to see (or might even exist already) in the natural world. Something like emitting fear-inducing pheromones around yourself is plausible enough to work (albeit barely). Something like teleportation, force fields, or mind-control is not.
2) All gifts must be passive effects, for the reason that having actors learn skills by being the target of one makes things complicated. So things like sonic screeches, active camoflage, or rage-modes are (sadly) out.
3) While there isn't any rule that gifts have to be unique to each person, from a gameplay standpoint, each potential ally should have a mechanically-unique gift. Just to avoid the "They're just a worse version of 'X'!" problem. Which is why color-changing skin is (most likely) out, because it's too similar to the mist cloud thing.
4) A character's gift should impact gameplay in some meaningful way, without being broken. Echolocation or wall-climbing are awesome ideas, but I can't for the life of me think of a way they'd impact gameplay (in or out of combat) that wouldn't completely trash the game's balance.

Some examples to work with (also known as the ones I already have):
- Efficient Muscles. Gain hunger and thirst at 1/3 the normal rate. It may not sound like much, but in a game where starvation and dehydration are very real threats, it can easily mean the difference between life and death.
- Rapid Regeneration. Gain a little HP (and possibly MP, I'm still deciding) back every turn.
- Mist Cloud. Think the ink clouds that squids use, but aerosolized. When hit, deploy a small cloud that dramatically increases your evasion rate for a few turns. 6-turn cooldown.
- Bioelectric Skin. Zappy zappy! Deal recoil damage based off your Attack stat when hit by a melee strike.
- Damage Reduction. 25% damage reduction, up to a cap of 250. Because if alligator skin can sometimes stop low-caliber bullets, then this is completely feasible.
- Toxic Strikes. Critical hits apply a poison state. Because poison.
- Solidified Hand Bones. Can't equip weapons, but deals 40% bonus damage at all times.
- Leader's Aura. Emits pheromones that improve the motor functions and reflexes of everyone nearby. All party-mates deal extra damage, and have an increased crit rate.
- Telescoping Vision. Greatly increased crit rate, but it's lost for a few turns after taking damage.
- That one fear-inducing pheromone I mentioned earlier. Reduce your target rate, with a chance to inflict a fear state onto enemies who actually dare to melee-strike you.

Any and all assistance is immensely appreciated. Even if it's just a mechanical concept, I'm sure I can figure out some biological function to associate it with. And if nothing else, this'll probably just become a big brainstorming thread for cool passive effects, so there's always that. XD

Either way, I look forward to hearing about it!

~Blackjack

 

[Wavelength]

Interesting. A few more you could add:

• Touch of Pain: Hands release electrical impulses that trigger the nerves of any living or mechanical entity the character touches. Basic attacks (while unarmed) and skills (that don't require weapons) stun enemies for a short time. Skills that require touching an ally stun the ally for a short time!
• Armed and Dangerous: Has eight arms. Can equip four weapons, and gets the bonuses of each one.
• Carbon Scrubbing: Fixates the carbon from the air into a near-solid substance and secretes it from their skin. This shields the character for the first X damage taken (where X is 10% of their max health). This shield regenerates very quickly while walking on the map, and slowly during combat.
• Super Sticky: The character releases super-sticky slime when they exert themselves (or perhaps the character's body contains velcro-like hooks that can grip into the pores of other living entities). Once this character melee-attacks an enemy, this character can only target that enemy, and that enemy can only target this character. Effect only ends when either one dies.
• Rapid Cell Evolution: The body of the character forces any compromised system to rapidly reproduce its cells until the system is working well again. After being affected by a negative status during combat, this character is immune from being afflicted by the same status again during the rest of that combat.
• Voracious: This character can consume most creatures whole like large snakes can, and has a ludicrous appetite. This character restores HP and sates some hunger and thirst when any enemy smaller than they are dies, as long as they are not full. This character's hunger increases considerably faster than that of other characters, but this effect diminishes when the character is starving.
• Photosynthesis: This character can subsist on air, water, and light alone. During the daytime, this character's hunger decreases instead of increasing, but their thirst increases slightly quicker than most other characters'. This effect stops working when the character is dehydrated.

 

[Gonor]

Really interesting concept.
After ten minutes I sadly didn't come up with more than two new ideas.
But maybe you can use one of them.
I'll edit in any that come to mind later.

Absorbing Touch:
The character will gain any traits of anyone he touches or attacks in melee combat (attributes, resistances, weaknesses, buffs, debuffs, status ailments etc.) at a rate of 50%. At the same time, however, learned skills not sharing these traits or conflict with them will be unavailable to use.
(This is actually something, I could try to use in my current project. )

Mirror Skin:
Any skill used on the character is being reflected at the user at a 25% rate. 75% go through and affect the character.
Example: An enemy hits the character with 100 electric damage. 25 are thrown back at him and 75 hit the target. If the enemy can absorb electricity, it will be healed that amount. If not, it will be damaged.
At the same time, an ally capable of healing the character will receive 25% of the heal and the character himself will only receive 75%.
(This, too, would fit into my project. )

 

[Pine Towers]

Well, a crab arm that shoots a ball of fire that can get up to 4000ºC is one super power. A ranged poisonous attack or even an acidic spray (yeah, I know this is basicaly boiling water but still) can work too. Being giant sized is also powerful since this means greater strength and a shell that can withstand a great deal of damage. A fungus that can mind control the target, making it a zombie. An lets not forget electric eels!

Nature can be truly terryfing if you look around.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

I have a few ideas, some of which are more work than others.

1. Dog senses: can detect useful items from a distance and avoid 1/2 of random encounters when in the party.

2. Cheetah Sprint: always attacks first at the beginning of combat and has above average speed.

3. Cat reflexes: in combat has increased evasion and crit rates; outside can see in the dark and scale things other characters can't to reach secret areas like attics and storagespaces.

4. Dragon's bite: melee attacks apply up to two random status effects on the target.

5. Fly eyes: can see in almost any direction, greatly increasing evasion but blinding attacks cause physical pain as well as negate said evasion buff for duration. Be best on a support character rather than an offensive one.

6. Snakehead respiration: can breath both in water and on land.

 

[SamJones]

Well, a crab arm that shoots a ball of fire that can get up to 4000ºC is one super power.

Alas, that only works underwater.

 

[Kes]

@Blackjack488 Already this is interesting but bear in mind that this forum is not for feedback on an individual, specific project. Expect, therefore, that the discussion will include aspects that may not fit with your particular game, and that's alright.

 

[Blackjack488]

All of these are seriously phenomenal ideas! Thanks so much, guys!

@Kes I get that. But all I'm really asking for is cool and interesting ideas for passive abilities, which can (usually) apply to anyone. ^^

 

[LaFlibuste]

Ideas:
- Some kind of super strenght (see the mantis shrimp)
- If it's somewhat of a survival and there is crafting, a character who can produce silk which gives him a bonus to crafting, maybe requiring less resources or giving objects more durability or whatever.
- Again with crafting, the character can secrete some sort of acid with which he can break down objects into their component parts more effectively / he salvages more resources from wherever.
- Super sight (like eagles) or seeing in the dark, if you have such a mechanic. If not, could be translated in a nifty flat accuracy bonus. Could also be explained as echo-location (like bats or dolphins) if you want.
- Likewise, super hearing, could give a bonus to accuracy and evasion. Or be better able to detect incoming threats.
- Also likewise, having tactile hairs that react to air movements to have fly-like evasion.
- Super smell helps your party locate food sources better / from farther away. Likewise for incoming threats or knowing if/which dangerous creatures are roaming in an area.
- Likewise, the ability to detect water sources.
- If it's a survival in which there's tech that need power to function, maybe the ability to power devices expending you own energy (hunger), like electric eels generate electricity, you know.
- Cold blooded, has less hunger but is slower at night or in cold areas.
- Camelback: thirst increases at the normal rate but his water reserves are much larger (like he can drink 4x the amount of others characters at a time)
- Likewise with hunger, like bears make fatty reserves or ants having like two stomachs or whatever.
- If your game has sleep, someone who regains his energy much faster.
- Again with sleep, a light sleeper who is always aware of his surroundings while he's sleeping.
- Innate geo-localisation using the earth's magnetic fields (like migrating birds), the character always knows where he is, where the north is, where previously visited places of interest are, basically he can never get lost.
- About finding back previously visited places of interest, it could also be explained by ants leaving sent trails.
- Exoskeleton (like insects) = natural armor.

So I gave a bunch of ideas off the top of my head, many of which are quite minor, but there's room to combine some that make sense together.

 

[fireflyege]

I will take a skill from Sonny for that one:

-Withdrawal: You cleanse all your poison effects from your enemy, deal damage on the poison effects cleansed and heal some of the damage you deal.

 

[Sicon3]

I have a background in biology so I'll do my best to help with realistic abilities.

A biological superpower is effectively a gene that is either over or underexpressed or mutated.

This all powers would be either gain of function or loss of function

For example if a gene encoding a neurotransmitter critical to noiceocepters is not expressed an individual would not feel pain.

If your metabolism is greatly sped up you would heal faster have more energy and loose weight but risk overheating and need much more food.

Gene expression. Could also infer things like altitude tolerance, cold tolerance heat tolerance, and even partial or total immunity to some diseases or infection.

Genetics is a complicated beast with many possibilities. I would Google real life superhumans or beneficial gene mutations and take inspiration from there

 

[Superior Manchild]

An idea that can be applied to a game that has thirst/hunger or one that doesn't: SLIMEBALL.

User generates a ball of liquid composed of their sweat to hit enemy with non-elemental damage, also decreases the accuracy of the target for several turns. User loses several turns as well to regenerate water/health or can use an item to speed up recovery.