Reality warping can be anything you want
Reality warping can be anything you want
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
-Stephen McCranie
For my $0.02....
Reality Warping, Magic/Sufficiently Advanced Technology, and Superhuman Intelligence (which can bootstrap you up to the others in some settings, you just have an extra step or two to go through).
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Sincerely,
Melchior, the Geddon Knight
It's either one of the GL thingy or superhuman intelligence depending on if you want readymade stats or a long term plan
Out of all those listed , intelligence has the highest NLF (no limits fallacy) factor for lack of a better term . Assuming by magic and GL-esque abilities you mean people like Strange and Fate and Jordan , while extremely competent and able to extend their powers via amping with artifacts, they still largely top out at less than Galactus levels assuming "classic versions " of the characters/abilities
Reed has put the multiverse back together twice now . Braniac has swallowed the universe twice etc and nobody bats an eye
Cuz there's no limit to intelligence but there's a quite literal limit to the various other power sources
Omnipotence, Omniscience, Toonforce, Magic, Genuine Reality Warping, Control Over Time/Space, Control Over Matter, Metahax, and Possessing Cosmic and God-like Attributes in general.
This, basically. Essentially a placeholder name for "whatever my character needs to be able to do for the story to continue". Any kind of meta-power like this which includes other powers within itself is, by definition, the most useful.
Also, I think it's funny when people talk about "Reality Warping" as if it were something different than magic. Any sort of magic, by definition, involves violating or changing the laws of reality to do whatever it is you want to do. Likewise terms like "omnipotence", etc, etc. They're basically just all nonsense/filler/buzzword terms that all just mean "magic".
You might as well just say "big magic" or "REALLY BIG magic", there's no difference.
Id say Magnetos powers (when written at its best) and Gravitons to a lesser extent. Both manipulate a fundamental force but Magneto at his best has complete controll over it. I mean besides all the crazy things magneto does his powers also give him super strength and durability. Also happens to be a geniuses.
Intelligence is pretty versatile as well, Reed,Batman,Black Panther, and Doom are all almost unbeatable with prep.
Telepathy is fairly versatile, you can do anything from kill people, remove memory, remove languages, create a hive mind by scanning various minds at once, 'freeze time' by pausing every mind around you. If you're the only super power in the world, you're pretty much unbeatable sans long range snipers.
And in a super powered world, you could essentially use the powers of other people by telepathically controlling them. Fairly versatile imho.
I'd argue probability manipulation (if it doesn't count as magic), as you could become the most successful person in the world simply by altering the probability of, say, you winning the lottery. You'd pretty much be invulnerable since you could make the most unlikely things happen, like a gun explode when someone tries to shoot you, or turning bombs into duds.
Most of this is defensive, but you could use it offensively as well. Change the probability of you jumping from one building to another, and now you're able to leap from rooftop to rooftop. Change the probability of your punches actually doing damage, and you're going to start punching like a pro-boxer. It would be like your life is written just like a comic book, with you as the title character.
You could do anything you want as long as there are odds to them.
Not really. You're delineating an artificial different where there is none.
If the power basically means "can do the impossible", it's essentially the same thing as saying "can do anything". The difference is only one of quantity, not quality. You call a character with alot of magic "omnipotent", but it really isn't anything different, just more.
I have more pancakes than you.
I win.
Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan
It pretty much does. Both comics/sci-fi wise, and also in terms of folklore: Curses and blessings (which make you unlucky or lucky) in folklore/superstition are probably the oldest form of magic there is.
Actually, if you've ever played Mage: The Ascension, that's the kind of magic the game encourages you to use the most, because it doesn't accrue paradox. (In that game, Paradox is the universe slapping you down for daring to violate it's laws without asking nicely first)
or do you??
Cat_Pushing_Watermelon_Out_of_lake.jpg
I'll never tell.
Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan