Soft Sci Fi: How many times more durable than a normal human would a superhuman need to be to still be far above any normal human but not be invunerable to things like pipes, crowbars, and knives? And to not injure himself using his powers?

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Working on a superhero story. The team strategist has superhuman strength to a low level, durability, and agility/reaction speed. His main powers are superhuman accuracy and learning. So, if I wanted him to get into fights, how many times more durable than a normal human of his size would he need to be to still be far above a normal human, but still be in danger if a mob armed with metal clubs swarmed him? For physical strength, he would be around the level or a bit above a gorilla, maybe he can leap around 10 feet in the air like a martial arts movie protagonist and put a small, around fist sized crater in a brick wall if he punched it at the high end of his strength if I decide to make him higher than a gorilla. I need the numbers to keep the level of durability consistent throughout the entire story.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 13 hours ago

Soft Sci Fi: How many times more durable than a normal human would a superhuman need to be to still be far above any normal human but not be invunerable to things like pipes, crowbars, and knives? And to not injure himself using his powers?

Working on a superhero story. The team strategist has superhuman strength to a low level, durability, and agility/reaction speed. His main powers are superhuman accuracy and learning. So, if I wanted him to get into fights, how many times more durable than a normal human of his size would he need to be to still be far above a normal human, but still be in danger if a mob armed with metal clubs swarmed him? For physical strength, he would be around the level or a bit above a gorilla, maybe he can leap around 10 feet in the air like a martial arts movie protagonist and put a small, around fist sized crater in a brick wall if he punched it at the high end of his strength if I decide to make him higher than a gorilla.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 13 hours ago

Why elite warriors in fiction need to stop being undersold, a critique of Avatar the Last Airbender and Star Wars

In Avatar the Last Airbender, Ty Lee is seen easily dispatching several Earth Benders called in the same episode as elite. These benders, who are all not only in possession of supernatural powers, but are also trained themselves put up next to no resistance despite the numbers advantage. Now, you might say that they weren't expecting Ty Lee to be able to use Chi Blocking, but the problem with this is that elite units should have been trained against others, and benders themselves would have much wider options of mobility and speed afforded to them by bending, so how do they all miss any and all ranged attacks?

Elite units throughout the entirety of humanity history have trained against each other as practice to prepare for war. And yet they all freeze up and attack one at a time. No cohesion as a unit, no clever strategies, nothing. So the question becomes, why not use regular Earthbenders instead? Why use elite units if you are just going to make them the same as regular mooks? I think this actually takes away from the impressiveness of the feat. I was not thinking "Ty Lee is strong for taking out all these benders." I was thinking. "Hey, these guys are supposed to be elite, but they attack one at a time like amatuers and got beaten by someone with no powers despite holding a large majority of the advantages." If it was one or two I would understand that she could win with chi blocking, but a whole group? It just messes with my suspension of disbelief.

And Star Wars does this a lot, which i will admit despite my love of the franchise. In the Original trilogy, Stormtroopers are actually decently competent. In their introduction, they mow down the rebels on the Tanative V with low casualties and high accuracy. Obi Wan says "Only Imperial stormtroopers can be this precise." Yet, in later installments, Stormtroopers are a joke that get taken out like fodder. I loved and will still defend Star Wars Rebels, but this was one of the things it did wrong. Elite units should be big enough threats on thier own to be able to pose a legitimate threat to named characters, if they don't seem elite, then it brings down the achievements of the characters taking them down, because the elite part means nothing if they do not have the feats to back it up.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 21 hours ago

Do you think a superhero who has powers that can only defend against powerful attacks but lets minor ones through would be a good enough reason for a criminal organization to hire elite martial artists?

I am tinkering with the idea of a superhumanly strong character that uses kinetic energy as a defense. The kinetic energy comes from his body as counterforce to mitigate the impact of blows or to push away harmful thing like fire, but it only activates when something carries incredibly high amounts of energy, which means he can essentially tank a car crashing into him at full speed, but a normal man's punch can damage him as easily as it would anyone else. With this in mind, he would be bulletproof due to the condensed kinetic energy of bullets activating his powers, so would a criminal group that wants to fight him be incentivized to hire martial artists?

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 2 days ago

Speedsters can lose fights against slower opponents, if the fight gives sufficient reason for it.

Lets say we have a speedster. He can do the things a speedster is typically known for, accelerate on a dime, superhuman perception and reaction, enhanced durability and healing, etc. We'll call him Captain Acceleration.

And we'll say he has a standard rogues gallery. Rogue A is a guy with super strength, durability, and maybe some enhanced speed, but nowhere near as fast as Captain Accleration. But Rogue A has a plan. He challenges Captain Acceleration to a fight, telling him to meet him at the top of a skyscraper. Unbeknownst to the good Captain, Rogue A has planted a highly potent neurotoxin in the air, that drastically slows down reaction speed and bodily processes. The neurotoxin takes time to act, making it unnoticeable until the effects kick in. Captain Accelerate arrives at the top floor, ready to confront Rogue A, only to be surprised, as his vision starts blurring, his body feels weak, even before Rogue A throws the first punch.

The toxin courses through his veins, enough to kill multiple men multiple times over, and he is only saved by the fact that his enhanced healing and metabolism lets him work through it faster. He can't reach top speed without throwing off his balance, due to the throbbing in his head, his blurred vision. He tries to dodge the first strike with super speed, and a wave of nausea hits him as the second one lands, sending him into a wall.

Lets say he soon after fights Rogue B. Rogue B is your typical schemer archetype. He doesn't fight head on without some kind of prep. He sends wave after wave after wave of normal criminals at him. Enough that even with his speed, it takes hours for him to stop them all, and he is exhausted when he finally fights B, his energy depleted, his body tired, drastically dropping his combat efficiency as he is barely able to stand. He takes a punch from Rogue B due to being exhausted, even though it would normally be in essentially slow motion to him.

Lets take one more example, Rogue C. Rogue C loves using and making tech. He creates a suit that carries a constant electric charge, making it to where if the Captain strikes him, he takes heavy electrical damage. He also makes several drones with high speed cameras that fire energy that can put objects in stasis in high speed beams, nullifying the advantage of Captain Acceleration being able to just get around the electric charge by throwing things until he nullifies the drones.

All of these examples are believable ways a slower opponent could take down a speedster, or at least land hits in a fight in a believable way.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 2 days ago

Stellaris' teammate and the team's resident aquatic fighter, Trench

Trench was a former marine biologist and possibly a teacher before being sent to the hospital in critical condition. After undergoing A Tech's experimental medical procedure, he gained enhanced physicality, as well as several aquatic based abilities. He has superhuman strength, durability, and agility to survive in the ocean depths. He is able to use electroreception and possibly echolocation, like sharks, electric eels, and dolphins. His hands are essentially tasers, letting him use a scaled up version of what electric eels can do. Pufferfish like blades coated in venom portrude from his wrist, and are retractable. He can also breathe underwater. But his most devestating ability is the one based on the mantis shrimp. He can build up elastic potential energy in his arm, then release it to throw a single devestating punch so violent and fast it produces a small explosion, which launches him back. This takes a lot of energy, so he can't use it too many times in a fight. His suit is meant to resemble the ocean depths, with shell like armor, barnacle like coatings, and coral like decorations. He has two seperate suits, a suit for night time and stealth operations, which has an iron like coloring after the scaly foot gastropod, a snail from the Indian Ocean that has an iron shell, and a daytime version, which has more tropical and friendly colors, such as brighter coral and a lighter shell armor. His daytime suit also has glowing soft blue eyes instead of orange/red like the more volcanic night suit. His suit also has a decorative part of the armor ending at the shoulder that resembles a crashed ship, which is where his cape, which is the sail of the ship attached to the suit. The night version uses a jolly Roger cape. His mask is black with glowing eyes, with a helmet meant to look like the scaly foot gastropod's shell. He also has increased regeneration like a star fish.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 3 days ago

Wall to building level fights are peak

Powerscalers will often not discuss wall or building level characters and instead go for talking about standard OP guys or lower street tiers, but I think in the middle of both of these classifications is where the real fun begins. Some of the coolest fights have the characters throwing each other through buildings, tearing apart houses as they throw punches that put craters in the walls, and fight at superhuman but still not super OP speedster speeds.

Someone already talked on this sub about how lower level superhuman feats are more impressive because it is easier for us to see how powerful they really are due to scale compared to our real life material sciences and tech. We know concrete is exceptionally durable in real life, you need specialized equipment just to meaningfully damage it. So when you see a guy punch concrete hard enough to put a fist sized hole in it, or enough to create giant spider-web like cracks in it, you realize "Whoa, this guy is really strong." Knocking down a building with one blow? That is almost unstoppable. You'd need the military to get involved if a guy like that existed in real life and his durability scaled to his strength, because police weaponry would be completely ineffective. And with wall level characters, they can still use the environment to fight in believable ways with each other. A big steel rebar can still easily be used as a club by one wall level character against another and do damage in a believable way. Building level is a bit harder to do in that regard, but it can still be done. What I mean by this is that it is much harder to believe that higher tier characters would be affected by things like a relative equal hitting them with something like a car, or a tree when held up to scrutiny. You can see a city level character get hurt by a car and think, "Okay, how does that work? This guy can tank a nuke or a railgun round, but a car hurts him?" Now, other powers can make this explainable, maybe the villain can make things more durable so they survive being used offensively, maybe the hero's durability is better at no selling stronger attacks, but it is much more plausible for a building to wall level character to be able to use these techniques on an equal and not feel like they are just being nerfed for stakes. The coolest thing to me is punching someone through multiple walls or even buildings, because we can picture how powerful that is. Walls are incredibly strong in real life, especially concrete or brick, or metal, or really any industrial material. So seeing these characters smash each other through them, use things like cars and trees as weapons, and fight hand to hand makes for great opportunities in choreography.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 3 days ago

Thoughts on this idea for a running joke?

I'm writing a superhero universe, so I was wondering how good you think this running joke would be. Basically, many of the tech based superheroes have super intellielgence as a power, which they use to build gadgets and suits. I was thinking of a running joke where people ask them how they overcame a scientific law that should have made creating their tech problematic, or just how they created such advanced technology, and everytime they are about to answer the way they circumvented this, they get cut off or interrupted by something that either distracts them or demands full attention, so the person asking and also the audience never gets to find out.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 4 days ago
▲ 303 r/space

What happens if a relativistic jet collides with a star?

I was under the impression that relativistic jets have been known to destroy stars, but I looked it back up and found nothing that suggests that. So what would actually happen if a relativistic jet hit a star like our sun?

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 4 days ago

Lore Drop: Calhoun and Director Mason's defenses against shapeshifters and telepaths

The MDA has been dealing with superpowered beings for decades. As such, they, the American Superhero Association, and the enitre rest of the government needed ways to prevent any shapeshifter, telepath, or combination if the two working together from being able to infilitrate government facilities and get access to classified information or projects. As such, they use several safeguards to ensure that thier bases are airtight in anti superhuman infiltration security.

Anti Shapeshifter Safeguard 1: Codes. High clearance figures and guards need to correctly put in several codes to prevent anyone from just waltzing in.

Anti Shapeshifter Safegaurd 2: Security questions. All personell are required to answer multiple security questions that only they should know the answer to, and they can even be made to answer questions that their expertise would only allow them to be able to work out, such as asking an engineer to work out complex mathematics.

Anti Shapeshifter Safeguard 3: DNA sampling. Personell can be required to take blood samples to scan for a superhuman gene, since shapeshifters always have the superhuman gene, it is a good identifier of a shapeshifter, though advanced shapeshifters might (ie i still haven't decided if they should be able to) might be able to edit the superhuman gene out of their blood and keep it only in their brain, allowing them to bypass this process temporarily. This is only at the most secure locations, as it is deemed too intrusive for every facility.

Anti Shapeshifter Safeguard 4: Brain scanning. This is used with the DNA scanning to scan for the structures in the brain a shapeshifter would need to manage their power, since they would more than likely have an extra part of their brain that they couldn't shift.

Anti Telepath Defense 1: Anti Telepathy field tech. The MDA had invented a device that can block out any type of telepathic interference, whether mind reading, mind control, mind alteration of any sort. These can be made into chips that can be surgically implanted or worn on clothes to throw off telepaths, and advanced chips can not only block mind control and mind reading but can actively send out false thoughts to throw off telepaths and make it seem like nothing is wrong with their powers instead of making them essentially hit a wall like the normal version does. However, the chips are expensive and hard to produce, so only people with high level importance get the chips. But they also have bulkier versions that can shield an entire area, these are used by MDA operatives to fight telepaths. Large versions of the devices are set up in buildings, preventing mind control or reading to answer the questions right.

Anti telepath defense 2: Security questions. Security questions are also used to make sure someone isn't mind controlled. If the power user needs to puppet a victim or see through their eyes, then they can't answer the questions right.

Anti Telepath Defense 3: Other telepaths. The government will make sure anyone suspected of being a spy is interogated by a telepath, which can also help detect the influence of other telepaths.

On top of these, many facilities employ retina scanning, fingerprints, voice codes, and other standard security features in addition to these. Some of these features are only used in facilities of the utmost importance, and as such may not be present in all facilities.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 4 days ago

Calhoun does not trust people from other dimensions

Calhoun, being the man in charge of protecting America from supernatural threats, has an innate distrust of anyone outside his dimension, fearing the worst about interuniversal invasions. If he sees anyone from another universe, he wills study anything about their powers, limits, ans weaknesses. He will have his men comb the areas they were spotted for DNA to analyze it for weaknesses or differences in biology. This also included a deal with the wandering teenager of the multiverse Vagabond, purchasing a sample of anti magic materials from him.

u/ArkhamMetahuman — 4 days ago

My current idea for Stellaris' teammate and strategist of the team

I have the design somewhat done, I know what his face and build looks like, as well as his origin, which i won't reveal here. He was an intelligent office worker before he was hospitalized, undergoing the experimental medical treatments put forth by A Tech. He gained minor super strength and durability, I am thinking around maybe gorilla level, or at the highest able to break through brick walls with his punches, as well as the durability to match. He has a minor healing factor, he can regenerate at an accelerated rate and from injuries that would kill or be permanent on a normal human, as well as being able to fight through them. He possesses low tier enhanced speed and agility, and has a much quicker reaction time than even the peak of a human. But his main powers are his enhanced learning ability, which allows him to learn at a faster rate and retain more knowledge, and his ability of superhuman levels of accuracy, allowing him incredible precision and the ability to make almost impossible ricochet shots. Since getting powers, he worked out to get stronger, as well as using his powers to learn martial arts and become adept at stealth to make up for his less overtly powerful abilities compared ro his teammates. He uses a black suit to blend into the shadows and possesses incredible agility.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 5 days ago

Could your OC's governments stop these various real life cosmic impacts?

Your world's main government's are made away of a large scale interstellar object going towards their planet that will impact them in a month. They have to destroy or redirect it, or else they face an extinction level event. They cannot use reality warping to stop the threat, nor can they use transformation abilities to transform the object into something else. They can use any resources they could reasonably get in the month before impact, but they must also deal with the consequences if they cut it too close and break it up in a way where the debris can still cause a threat. They can team up with other governments on their planets and any organization that has a stake in not wanting to be obliterated by giant space rocks.

Round 1: the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. It was estimated to be around 10 kilometers long, was estimated to travel at mach 58, and generated the energy equivilent of 100 teratons of TNT.

Round 2: A rogue planet the size of Earth. Rogue planets are planets that were flung out of their solar systems that hurtle through space. Some can move at 100,000 km/hour, which is around mach 80.

Round 3: a relativistic jet from a black hole. These are streams of plasma that are shot out of a black hole, they move at a large portion of the speed of light and have been known to destroy stars with the sheer amount of energy they exert. They gave been observed to reach temperatures of around 18 trillion degrees farenheit. Yhwy can reach close to 99 percent light speed.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 5 days ago

What would a reasonable strength and durability increase be for someone with incredibly low level super speed be? Soft Sci Fi

I am working on a superhero story about a low level speedster who fails the exams to become an official government superhero and instead strikes out to become a vigilante to defend his city. At the beginning, his top sprinting speed would be around 120-140 miles an hour, and at the end if I decide to let his powers grow in speed, increases to 200 miles an hour at most. His body produces a chemical only he can metabolize, which is energy rich and fuels his super speed. However, I also want him to have super strength to a minor degree and super durability to not tear himself apart while using his powers, but still be able to be threatened by bullets. How many times of an increase would he need to survive his own speed, to not rip himself apart at a low end and at the highest end to be able to survive running into a concrete wall at his max speed with maybe a few broken ribs and a concussion at most? For the durability, I am looking for how many times more durable his bones, tissues, and organs would need to be in comparison to a normal human's to survive being able to throw punches that go maybe 300-400 miles an hour without injuring himself, and to be able to run at his running speeds without injuring himself, as well as the collision i described earlier.

Bonus: I know the strength part isn't part of the research aspect of the question, I just want you all's opinions on how much I should give him. I don't want him to be able to crush concrete or bend firearms, but still have enough strength where a criminal could see him use it and go "Oh wow, I am not getting within arm's reach of that guy." I want him to have impressive but not super OP strength gor a street level setting, maybe he can throw a man across a room with one arm at the maximum.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago

What would a reasonable strength and durability increase be for someone with incredibly low level super speed be?

I am working on a superhero story about a low level speedster who fails the exams to become an official government superhero and instead strikes out to become a vigilante to defend his city. At the beginning, his top sprinting speed would be around 120-140 miles an hour, and at the end if I decide to let his powers grow in speed, increases to 200 miles an hour at most. His body produces a chemical only he can metabolize, which is energy rich and fuels his super speed. However, I also want him to have super strength to a minor degree and super durability to not tear himself apart while using his powers, but still be able to be threatened by bullets. How many times of an increase would he need to survive his own speed, to not rip himself apart at a low end and at the highest end to be able to survive running into a concrete wall at his max speed with maybe a few broken ribs and a concussion at most? For the durability, I am looking for how many times more durable his bones, tissues, and organs would need to be in comparison to a normal human's to survive being able to throw punches that go maybe 300-400 miles an hour without injuring himself, and to be able to run at his running speeds without injuring himself, as well as the collision i described earlier. He has a few secondary powers to keep him on the ground but those are irrelevant to the question.

Bonus: I know the strength part isn't part of the research aspect of the question, I just want you all's opinions on how much I should give him. I don't want him to be able to crush concrete or bend firearms, but still have enough strength where a criminal could see him use it and go "Oh wow, I am not getting within arm's reach of that guy." I want him to have impressive but not super OP strength gor a street level setting, maybe he can throw a man across a room with one arm at the maximum.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago

How many times stronger and or more durable than a normal human should Nitro be?

At the beginning, his top sprinting speed would be around 120-140 miles an hour, and at the end if I decide to let his powers grow in speed, increases to 200 miles an hour at most. His body produces a chemical only he can metabolize, which is energy rich and fuels his super speed. However, I also want him to have super strength to a minor degree and super durability to not tear himself apart while using his powers, but still be able to be threatened by bullets. How many times of an increase would he need to survive his own speed, to not rip himself apart at a low end and at the highest end to be able to survive running into a concrete wall at his max speed with maybe a few broken ribs and a concussion at most? For the durability, I am looking for how many times more durable his bones, tissues, and organs would need to be in comparison to a normal human's to survive being able to throw punches that go maybe 300-400 miles an hour without injuring himself, and to be able to run at his running speeds without injuring himself, as well as the collision i described earlier.

Bonus: I know the strength part isn't part of the research aspect of the question, I just want you all's opinions on how much I should give him. I don't want him to be able to crush concrete or bend firearms, but still have enough strength where a criminal could see him use it and go "Oh wow, I am not getting within arm's reach of that guy." I want him to have impressive but not super OP strength gor a street level setting, maybe he can throw a man across a room with one arm at the maximum.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago

What would a reasonable strength and durability increase be for someone with incredibly low level super speed be?

I am working on a superhero story about a low level speedster who fails the exams to become an official government superhero and instead strikes out to become a vigilante to defend his city. At the beginning, his top sprinting speed would be around 120-140 miles an hour, and at the end if I decide to let his powers grow in speed, increases to 200 miles an hour at most. His body produces a chemical only he can metabolize, which is energy rich and fuels his super speed. However, I also want him to have super strength to a minor degree and super durability to not tear himself apart while using his powers, but still be able to be threatened by bullets. How many times of an increase would he need to survive his own speed, to not rip himself apart at a low end and at the highest end to be able to survive running into a concrete wall at his max speed with maybe a few broken ribs and a concussion at most? For the durability, I am looking for how many times more durable his bones, tissues, and organs would need to be in comparison to a normal human's to survive being able to throw punches that go maybe 300-400 miles an hour without injuring himself, and to be able to run at his running speeds without injuring himself, as well as the collision i described earlier.

Bonus: I know the strength part isn't part of the research aspect of the question, I just want you all's opinions on how much I should give him. I don't want him to be able to crush concrete or bend firearms, but still have enough strength where a criminal could see him use it and go "Oh wow, I am not getting within arm's reach of that guy." I want him to have impressive but not super OP strength gor a street level setting, maybe he can throw a man across a room with one arm at the maximum.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago

What level of tech would alien species need to be able to carve giant crystal spires into livable housing?

I have a story with an alien species that lives on a planet rich with many minerals. There are large crystal spires that are made of a strong but not super hard crystal, so while they can be chipped, they aren't so brittle or structurally weak as to make them inefficient at being used for building. We'll say they are as strong as most stones, but harder like most crystals but less brittle than things like diamond. What level of tech would be needed for their society to have originally begun constructing these structures by chiselling and carving out the inside?

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago

How could a superpowered vigilante get a bunch of food to fuel his power's metabolic cost without making store owners suspicious?

I have a story set up with a low level speedster who fights street crime. His powers, while still fantastical, are much more grounded than the other ones in his universe. I want to make a unique story about how a lower level superhuman that is not part of the official government hero organization would operate, and the struggles faced with that. His powers need calories to produce the fuel that sustains his powers, which gives him a much higher metabolic rate. How could he purchase bulk amounts of food in a legal way without him getting the store owners suspicious? I was thinking he has a job that involves him picking up bulk amounts of food for restaurants or a farm and he uses it as a cover for the food he needs for his vigilante outings. I would appreciate any other ways for him to get food, or what jobs that involve bulk amounts of food that wouldn't make store owners bat an eye.

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u/ArkhamMetahuman — 7 days ago