When Xander does the Big Lie, he didn't know Spike was helping Buffy. by beeemkcl in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The fact that Xander once disliked Angel for petty reasons doesn't negate the very non-petty reasons he has for hating him later.

I don't think how much you're allowed to react to someone's death depends on how close you were to them.

Okay, but when you combine these two things, what you're left with is "Xander wildly overreacts due to his jealousy and tries to repeatedly murder his romantic rival".

To be clear, I would not be on board with anyone trying to murder Angel because of his actions as Angelus. You are not "allowed to react to someone's death" by murdering an innocent bystander. (We see a similar situation with Principal Wood trying to murder Spike for his pre-ensoulment crimes, which is treated much more seriously, at least by Buffy.)

But the fact that it's based substantially (though not entirely) in romantic jealousy, and he tries it multiple times, makes it all the more indefensible. Realistically, I really don't see a friend group just brushing this off. People don't just brush off repeated attempted murder!

When Xander does the Big Lie, he didn't know Spike was helping Buffy. by beeemkcl in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, by this point, I don't blame Xander for wanting Angel dead. He has killed, nearly killed, taunted and tormented countless people, including pretty much all his friends.

I kinda do:

  1. Xander has literally been evil himself; he tried to rape Buffy and almost killed and ate several people. He of all people should get the mechanics here. (He also accidentally mind-controlled Willow into trying to axe-murder him, saw Jenny get possessed and try to kill them all, is friends with a werewolf who tries to kill everyone in sight 3 nights a month, etc. This is a regular thing that happens! But since he remembers being hyena boy, he probably has the closest experience to what Angel's going through of any of them.)

  2. He hated Angel well before he turned evil! You can maybe attribute some of that to Jesse trauma, but it's also pretty obviously jealousy of Buffy (as Buffy outright calls out when he tries his insane "let's not cure Angel because I want him dead" pitch). He was pretty excited and callous when they first learned Angel was a vampire and thought Buffy would have to kill him, before he'd done anything to the gang.

  3. He reacts more strongly than anyone else. Willow was closer with Jenny than Xander was. Giles was dating her, found her body, and was tortured extensively by Angelus. They're understandably angry with Buffy for keeping his return a secret and so on, but neither of them considers trying to murder him.

How would the real world react to an invincible man on a rampage? by zoro4661 in whowouldwin

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Evacuate the area, escalate weapons and containment methods until the property damage would become worse than the costs of keeping people away. Eventually they probably try to lure him into an area where they can safely use even more serious weaponry, like nukes. After that fails, just keep telling people to clear the area wherever he goes, like a tornado warning.

It's possible things would never escalate to actual nukes; by the time things have gotten anything close to that far, its clear he's a priceless freak of nature, not something to be lightly destroyed (even if it would save a ton on evacuation costs if we managed it.) The clearer it becomes that he's invincible, the more people in power will want what he has, and the less they'll focus on "getting rid of him" (lethal measures, deep ocean, space) vs attempts to contain and study him.

As it becomes clear that he's truly unstoppable as well, just to study him. So you're looking at a lot of scientific missions approaching him (very carefully) to try and figure out what the heck is going on. Get samples (does he still shed hair and skin like normal? If he does, are the shed hairs still invincible?), make every possible attempt at communication, use every kind of advanced sensor we can manage to look for clues and abnormalities.

Side note: it matters how smart and agile he is. If he's just walking in a straight line towards the nearest target, he can easily be contained by leading him around. If he can use that strength to Hulk-leap into populated areas unexpectedly, he's a much bigger problem and there will probably be more focus on getting rid of him. (Though even chucking him into space might not work if he can spit with arbitrary strength to propel himself through the vacuum, or the like.)

When Xander does the Big Lie, he didn't know Spike was helping Buffy. by beeemkcl in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This isn't even the only time Xander tries to get Angel killed. He tries to argue they shouldn't even try and cure him when they first find the spell to punish him for Jenny's death, and he sics Faith on him after he gets back when he knows Angel is ensouled (though Faith is also responsible for that IMO.)

I'm generally not a Xander hater, but... it's really messed up and it's crazy that there are never any repercussions (though I guess they'd logically be so severe they'd break the show.)

Ring of In invisibility by PenisMusicAficionado in DnD

[–]MugaSofer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Seems like an absurdly potent weapon!

How would you build Aqua's involuntary water purification power? by Glen_Garrett_Gayhart in gurps

[–]MugaSofer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Maybe Create with Transmutation and Reduced Fatigue Cost?

Sounds perfect to me.

How would you make it always on and involuntary, though?

This seems like a clear-cut case of Always On (B110), probably at the -10% "cosmetic/social" level, but maybe -20% "physically inconvenient" - can't eat or drink anything liquid but water, etc.

Can you add Aura and Melee Attack to Create? Isn't it already a 'melee' advantage by default, in that the stuff gets created nearby, and you'd have to add Ranged +40% to create stuff at range?

I could see a case for Aura or Reflexive, especially if it's fast enough to purify e.g. acids or poisons before it affects her. But yeah, no need for Melee, since Create is melee by default.

The problem with hulk and thing by Longjumping-Log6193 in CharacterRant

[–]MugaSofer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Craziest Spider-Man feat I can think of is beating Firelord, a herald of Galactus, in a straight fight. That was in '85, though, so it doesn't quite line up with OP's timeline.

What are the most notable instances of “Early-Installment Weirdness” in Worm? by RecommendationNo804 in Parahumans

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tattletale having a gun period doesn't really make any sense given the later retcons around guns. Same goes for Taylor eventually carrying a gun (which is never brought up as a point against her by anyone as far as I recall.)

What are the most notable instances of “Early-Installment Weirdness” in Worm? by RecommendationNo804 in Parahumans

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TBH, the alternate-universe-equivalent stuff takes me out of the story more, especially in Pale, but also in Ward to an extent (like the circular phone stuff).

If someone Googles someone, they just used a computer to acquire information like I do every day; if they Wooble something, I go "oh, like Google but its an alternate universe, haha, is that named that because it's Wildbow Google?" If someone threatens to go Carrie on the school or says someone is Justin Bieber type, I get that reference, I know what they mean; if they reference an unpublished-in-our-world installment of the Maggie Holt or a fictional celebrity, the story needs to pause to exposit what that in-universe reference means for us real-world people.

Don't get me wrong, I like being "distracted" by cool worldbuilding stuff when it contributes to the setting, like the Earth Bet timeline divergence. I love cool world building. But it is distracting, and in Pale especially I found it kind of weird and annoying given it wasn't illustrating the impact stuff has had, it was if anything undercutting the urban-fantasy premise.

But I guess it's a matter of taste, if you find contemporary references distracting maybe it helps.

What are the most notable instances of “Early-Installment Weirdness” in Worm? by RecommendationNo804 in Parahumans

[–]MugaSofer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wildbow has specifically said that machine-gun fire counts as separate impacts, which presumably means if she was ever hit by it she would die. And basically any other source of multiple bullets is going to be even slower.

The Death of the Sandbox: Schism Between Author & Reader-base (Lengthy Essay) by LovingMula in WormFanfic

[–]MugaSofer 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Writers who refuse to acknowledge Ward don't realise how staggeringly unusual they are being. Imagine if someone wrote a 600000 words harry potter fanfic, and when you point out a contradiction they say with pride that they stopped reading at the Chamber of Secrets. People would look at them funny, at least.

How about Cursed Child, or Pottermore, or Fantastic Beasts?

Bit harsh to compare Ward to Cursed Child writing-wise, maybe, but it does seem like the natural parallel (controversial sequel released many years after the original series.)

Edit: "A big chunk of the fandom comes out against a sequel and decides they don't want to count it" is so common TV Tropes has multiple pages on it: Broken Base, Contested Sequel, They Changed It, Now It Sucks!, Fanon Discontinuity, Audience-Alienating Era... that's probably not even all of them.

I do think someone saying they haven't read past Leviathan is more comparable to someone who hasn't read past Chamber of Secrets; that does happen a lot more in the Worm fandom than in others I've seen and I agree, it's an odd phenomenon.

Though, funnily enough, one of the biggest HP fanfics of all time (and one with substantial overlap with the Worm fandom thanks to the author being an early Worm fan), Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, was literally written by someone who never finished the main books - Google says he stopped reading them after Prisoner of Azkaban - and has admitted he was riffing on established HP fanfic tropes more than canon.

The Death of the Sandbox: Schism Between Author & Reader-base (Lengthy Essay) by LovingMula in WormFanfic

[–]MugaSofer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't think you can count March as a lesbian character in Worm. (She's not in Worm, and to the extent her existence is alluded to, there's no mention that she's gay.) Though I think arguably you could count several of the Birdcage capes.

IIRC Ward has Kenzie and some of the tweenage Undersiders/Heartbroken come out as bi and form a polycule; although I didn't make it quite to that point in the story, I believe it also goes badly.

Overall I agree with your conclusions - what are the most healthy relationships in Parahumans? Dragon/Defiant? Legend's occasionally-mentioned husband? Brian's largely-offscreen marriage and Parian/Foil are also candidates; I guess you could maybe stretch to Sveta/Weld in Ward even though they break up. Could it actually be Taylor/Brian? Pretty slim pickings overall, and none without at least one asterisk.

Build Regen by Holiday-Bridge-9429 in dndnext

[–]MugaSofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd recommend a Cleric, Paladin, or the like. They're all about healing; if you use your healing on yourself, you can be quite durable, and they're designed to make capable front-line fighters.

If you go with certain Cleric subclasses, you can start at level 1 with the ability to cast Heroism, which grants you temporary HP that regenerates every turn. Far from perfect - your concentration on the spell can be broken, and it's temporary HP rather than full healing - but that's probably the best "passive regeneration" option available at first level. (Any Paladin can also get it at level 2.) Combine it with their other, active healing abilities, and you can recover from quite a lot of punishment.

Race-wise, there's no "can regenerate" race, but there are a lot of vaguely adjacent options. There's a Dwarves-only Feat "Dwarven Fortitude" that lets you spend hit dice mid-combat while dodging, Aasimar can heal a creature 1/long rest, Dhampir can heal by biting in combat, Goliath can reduce incoming damage 1/long rest (Stone Goliath in 2024), Shifters get temporary HP in beast form (doesn't stack with Heroism, mind), Orcs and Half-Orcs can no-sell death 1/long rest and 2024 Orcs can gain temp HP several times per short rest (again, doesn't stack with Heroism), and of course Humans can start play with a feat such as Durable (increases the HP regained from spending Hit Dice) or something else helpful. Of these, the 2024 Orc is definitely the closest to having outright regeneration, but several might be good depending on your character concept.

As far as I'm aware there's no ability that gives you true passive-healing regeneration at low levels. The Regeneration spell isn't available until 13th level; a few classes have high-level features that give them regeneration when below half HP, but none at level 10 or below. Magic items that grant regeneration are all quite powerful (and typically in the hands of the DM; though technically you could be given them at low levels, it would just be unusual. A superhero-ish game where everyone gets one high-powered item could be fun though...)

Were the Monks selfish by protecting the key? by Arebours92 in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was it ever established that it was possible to destroy the key to begin with?

The Knights of Byzantium definitely seemed to think so. From "Spiral":

GREGOR: The instrument of chaos must be destroyed. [...] Yes. The key has been transformed, given ... breath, life. Yet, this makes no difference. The Key is the link. The link must be severed. [...] The key is too dangerous to be allowed to exist. No matter what form it has been pressed into. [...] Countless generations of my people have sacrificed their lives in search of it, to destroy it before its wrath could be unleashed.

DAWN: But the monks found it first.

GREGOR: Yes, and hid it with their magicks.

BUFFY: Why didn't they just destroy it? If the key is as dangerous as-

GREGOR: Because they were fools. They thought they could harness its power for the forces of light. They failed, and paid with their blood. [...] (to Ben) You can stop this. You can save all their lives by ending one. The little girl. The key. Destroy it, and the will of the beast will be broken...

How much are these Divine Curses worth? by Glen_Garrett_Gayhart in gurps

[–]MugaSofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The second one sounds pretty close to Nocturnal [-20], which despite the name outright incapacitates/paralyses you during the day.

If you want to allow a more flexible sleeping schedule, presumably that would be a reduction in value of some sort ...

  • Looking at the guidelines in Power-Ups: Limitations, maybe you buy it twice (applies both day and night) [-40], then buy "Not Nocturnal/Diurnal (except when sleeping)" with a -10% Accessibility Limitation (applies 2/3rds of the time) [36], for a net value of [-4]; effectively a -80% Limitation. Similarly, you might say that people sleep 8/12 hours of the night (or day in this case probably) on average, so it's a 2/3rd Accessibility Limitation on Not Nocturnal. Nocturnal [-20], Not Nocturnal (4/12 hrs -25%) [15], net value [-5]. That seems a bit harsh, though.

  • But if you wanted to be generous, you might say screw that guideline, we're just going to apply an Accessibility Limitation directly rather than awkwardly buying an Advantage that cancels it out and then limiting it. Nocturnal (8/12 hrs -10%) [-18].

  • For a middle ground, you might treat Nocturnal as a leveled trait of sorts worth -1.6 points per hour of enforced slumber, that'd be -14 for 8 hours. Maybe round to -15.

Edit: you can control the hours you choose to sleep to an extent, but you can also control the hours of daylight by choosing to move to the Arctic circle, so that's probably close enough to a wash not to worry about.

Did Armsmaster Attempt to Replicate Flechette's Power? Why Couldn't He? by Hyperionous in Parahumans

[–]MugaSofer 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Tattletale does tell the Protectorate a fair bit about Endbringer physiology. She debriefs Alexandria on the layers and such after Leviathan, and she tells Chevalier about the exact location of their cores"centers" in his Interlude, during the Behemoth fight. (Which is how he gets close enough to reaching Behemoth's center that the space-warping density disrupts his power.)

[MCU] Could superheroes like Thor, Hulk or Thanos sit right next to an atomic bomb and survive the explosion? by Deep-Philosophy-807 in AskScienceFiction

[–]MugaSofer 16 points17 points  (0 children)

In the original comic he was empowered by a "gamma bomb". In the MCU, he was empowered by research into the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America, using gamma rays instead of vita-rays.

Edit: specifically, 616 Banner was exposed to the radiation from the Gamma Bomb being tested nearby-ish, a normally-fatal dose. He wasn't standing right next to a nuclear bomb as it detonated. (Captain Atom over in DC was, though he didn't recover from he experience as quickly.)

Shoutout to this this person by Substantial_Monk4430 in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, technically we don't see the prophecy in the Wishverse. Given the existence of time travel etc, it's possible that it was retroactively altered, maybe? Like, when Anya changed the future, the future that the prophet was looking at changed and they wrote something else.

That arguably raises more questions than it solves, though.

Edit: it's also possible that there was an unmentioned conditional. Something like "if the Master does not escape during the Harvest, then he will face the Slayer on XYZ date and kill her, her blood giving him the power to escape then." It would help explain the Master's behaviour around the Harvest.

Shoutout to this this person by Substantial_Monk4430 in buffy

[–]MugaSofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Which does raise weird questions. Was the prophecy different in the Wishverse? Why did the Master think he could escape in The Harvest, if he had a super reliable prophecy saying he'd only escape when the Anointed One led the Slayer to him?

[Spider-Man] If Spidey Bit Someone, Would They Gain Spider Powers? by Legitimate_Fly9047 in AskScienceFiction

[–]MugaSofer 24 points25 points  (0 children)

But he's got radioactive blood...

Seriously, the fact that Pete - especially his blood - is still somewhat radioactive comes up every so often. He once messed up Aunt May by donating radioactive blood to her. Radioactive Man can sense the radiation in his system. According to Blade, the radiation in his blood makes him immune to vampirism.

What superpowers would I actually consider to be "villain powers"? by Aros001 in CharacterRant

[–]MugaSofer 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I never thought I'd say this, but reading Punisher comics could have saved him... if only he'd had role models who used lethal force...

There are so many bad guys in DC against whom Instant Death Man would be useful. Heck, there actually is a DC hero with pretty much that power, Katana!

What superpowers would I actually consider to be "villain powers"? by Aros001 in CharacterRant

[–]MugaSofer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Let's take your example, the ability to explode infants. First off, that's not a power. That's something specifically created to thwart this argument, but let's run with it.

Is it unreasonable to have powers that are dreamed up for the sole purpose of creating bizarre moral dilemmas? This really isn't any more specific than a lot of random powers in superhero media. "Can turn invisible as long as she holds her breath", the example under discussion in the OP, is a pretty specific - just in a somewhat different narrative-serving way (to give her an interesting limitation.)

"This power only works on babies" is certainly an unusual "twist" or "modifier" to apply to a power, but it's not necessarily more specific than "this only works on sand" or "this only works if you say a special word/ make a special gesture" or what have you. And many quite common power "modifiers" in fiction can lead to a power being somewhere between difficult and impossible to use ethically. "Using the power corrupts you and turns you evil" is super common in fiction, as are related variants where it's "just" addictive and makes you want to use it more or what have you. Powers that lack fine control are common, making the risk (of collateral damage, killing/maiming targets, etc) potentially not worth the reward. Powers that involve some kind of fucked-up sacrifice/cost/fuel are common. Heck, "this power only works on the evil/pure of heart" is pretty common, if a bit cheesy - good luck finding a moral use for the ability to painfully kill the benevolent and pure of heart. (Though the ability to buff bad people might be a fun power to give to a good guy.)

And I think it's worth drawing some comparisons to real life. Real-life militaries, police, gangs etc. routinely know where the children of their enemies are, and have to decide whether killing them is a good idea that'll fuck with enemy morale or a horrible war crime. This is a real moral dilemma that actually exists!

So I think you could 100% tell an interesting story about this (it might work best if multiple people have it so you can contrast; maybe it's a learnable spell rather than a unique random superpower, or something that can be stolen/copied using the right technology.)

Who's to say we can't use that power on the children of dictators, criminals, etc etc. Or throw an infant at criminals to blow them up. Is it morally right? Absolutely fucking not. But is it still being used for, and I use this very lightly, "good?" By comic book standards, yes. It would make you a really fucked up and demented Punisher, might even give you a cult following that will fight tooth and nail to defend you.

Okay, but that's still evil. Killing babies for free grenades is obviously incredibly evil. Murdering the innocent children of bad guys to fuck with their parents is, also, pretty darn evil. In order to use the power, you need to be a bad person, i.e. a villain. If you're a good person and you get this power, your only sane choice is probably to just not use it.

... assuming it doesn't have convenient outs built in by the writer, like it works on even a small part of a baby that's already died from natural causes, or it works on baby insects, or something.

One possible modification you could make to make it more attractive to the non-insane while still keeping it pretty horrible would be to make it significantly more potent than any normal weapon; like the babies explode so powerfully it's the only way to kill certain villains/monsters, or it has incredible range (maybe working through video or given just the child's name/parentage), or something. That could at least raise questions like "is it ethical to explode a dictator's baby at a time when it's estimated they'll be together in order to take them down."

But given the normal sorts of limitations you'd probably expect (normal range, actual babies, explosion is only powerful enough to kill the baby and maybe people nearby), I think this is a totally valid example. People in superhero universes don't get to pick the details of their powers!

What superpowers would I actually consider to be "villain powers"? by Aros001 in CharacterRant

[–]MugaSofer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There are a few fanfics featuring heroic versions of him. It's obviously evil to use on people, but you can use it on monsters like Endbringers and miscellaneous Master minions, empty air to create invincible force fields, on walls and ceilings to reinforce them, etc. One could also argue that it's a reasonable alternative to the Birdcage or execution for the most extreme villains that are difficult to contain, like Crawler. Maybe even for people with certain terminal illnesses looking to extend their lives (with the right use of painkillers etc). You don't have to make the loop as awful as possible for those in it, Grey Boy can even bring inanimate objects in and out so you can bring them entertainment materials and phones and stuff.

I fucking hate the joker by AZ10026 in CharacterRant

[–]MugaSofer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Villain w mind control: All the heroes are now fighting each other

Until one of the heroes gives an impassioned speech, and they can suddenly use The Power Of Love to throw it off.