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If you were granted one superpower - don't ask me how - which one would you select?  Super speed?  Super strength?  Flight?  X-ray vision?  Telekinesis?  Invisibility?  The ability to grow your fingernails long in an instant?

Or would you refuse to accept one at all?

Wolverine style healing ability most likely. Never get sick or old, and a lot of other powers are mostly good for dodging or deflecting in specific ways things you don't need to worry about at all when you can just shrug them off.

Such remarkable healing ability would certainly give you the freedom to charge into the fray without worrying about the consequences.  Of course, if the bad guys have taken hostages, you might have to be more careful.  Assuming you care about their safety, of course.

Tough choice between this and the ability to travel through time and space.

The ability to travel through time sounds intriguing.  It would be nice to be able to go back and undo some mistake.  With my luck, though, I'd probably make things worse.

Every time people say they would like the power to travel through time. It seems a little too much of an omniscient power to me.

I've got a personal question for you:

Would you rather be able to jump through any point in time but only in future, (When you time traveled into the future, there would be no one to take your place and you cant travel to the past either; BUT you can take things/lifeforms with you to the future)

or

Be able to rewind time up to the last hour? (Say you stubbed your toe or watched a movie when you weren't suppose to, but you can revert back up to the last hour to avoid the consequences and keep the knowledge. But that test grade that got graded last week is practically set in stone. Obviously since your not "time traveling," just "time rewinding" you cant take future things into the past)

 

So what will it be? Curiosity of the future of the universe or a semi-perfect enjoyable life?

That can be the problem with certain time traveling stories, that the ability to go back in time and fix everything eventually doesn't make for a good story.

As for your two options, I'd go with the second.  The first one sounds like a series of one-way hops forward.  Who knows if the Earth would even been inhabitable when I go forward?  The ability to rewind time would be interesting, although it could lead to a situation in which I'm constantly second-guessing myself, since I know I have a limited amount of time to redo anything.

Heh, reminds me a little bit like a voluntary version of the Groundhog Day movie.  But yea I can see your appeal, technically speaking you could go to the library and have learned all books in an hour. By starting a book, reading it for an hour, rewind, pick up the book again and find your page. Definitely more quality of life changes that could be made.

But I can also kinda see the fascination of learning what happens to the human race as it progresses (Time travel to a time with anti-aging meds and you can practically live there), hell you could even bring a friend. Still it does seem like a rather risky gamble, considering humanity gets that far...

Maybe I'll try making a time traveling story one day, who knows.

To fill things up. Just. That.

Battery dead? Fill it up. No gas? Fill it up. In the desert with no water? Make a hole and fill it up. Someone attacking you? Fill their bladder up.

Filling someone's bladder up won't stop them from firing a gun at you.

If you fill it up to the point that it ruptures, it'll cause a lot of pain. Or even if it doesn't rupture, they'll be immensely uncomfortable and contorting to try and not piss themselves. Try firing a gun like that. See how that works. 

Or you just fill the gun up too and it explodes in his face.

Bank account empty?  Fill it up!

A non existent refractory period.

The ability to control time in any way I want. It covers all the bases that everyone picks their superpowers for. You want immortality? Fine, undo time on yourself. You want a disguise? Become a kid or an old person. You want practical help with everyday things? You functionally have an eternity to do everything you want in an instant. You want to win fights with other people or supers? Slow time down and even Bruce Lee looks like a telegraphed haymaker-machine. Or just Freeze time, kill somebody with their weakness, and skip town, that's it for them. As long as you're protected from paradoxes and it's innate, it's exactly the perfect power.

Controlling time seems to be the agreed upon answer, allowing for practically any contingency.

Time control's the obvious answer that I feel everyone has agreed on. Freeze time constantly, slow my aging to nothing, probably quickly turn into a psychopath.

Yeah the follow-up question would be, what would you do with those powers?

I'd really quickly solve all the world's problems, becoming world emperor, and spend infinity with a harem of my favorite men and women from throughout history on a drug fueled bender.

Time travel would be pretty sick, but I'd love to be able to breathe underwater. Not the most practical superpower but I think it would make me the happiest.

Since it's your choice, it makes sense to go with what makes you happiest.

The ability to talk to and understand all the animals! Seems like it would be interesting. 

They could act as your informants, since no one would expect a blue jay to report on their doings!

I would want to be able to heal others of their injuries and/or illnesses.

While it may not be a superpower, that is an ability you may be able to develop for real in your life.

Well, super-powered healing would be more immediate as well as being able to work without specific equipment generally needed in the medical field.  Also, it would be able to fix things doctors still can't.

Alas, in real life, I myself am too broken to be a doctor.

God, you're just full of tragedy, aren't you?

Not tragedy.  Just a lot of bad luck.

The ability to totally manipulate time is as stated the best superpower around, but only as long as you remain in total control. Imagine in how many ways you could fuck up when you drunkenly decide to try something new, or overshoot your time warp. Other than that, you'll become a god.

But more realistically I'd want control over my procrastination and laziness. Either that, or I want to become an expert in bodylanguage and microexpressions. Both are reasonably achievable through hard work and dedication. Both would be an immense help in my life, provide an edge over most of the others. However both are very hard to achieve.

However a total lack of hangovers sounds good too.

The time control would be impossible, of course, but everything else you could achieve.  Although whether you'd be willing to make the sacrifice to give up hangovers is the question.

The ability to understand the mind of the agender, pansexual, angelkin tumblrite...

Healing/regeneration would be good too, I guess.

 

 

 

Immortality, but also the ability to make people immortal with me.

The issue of how to cope with one's immortality when everyone around you grows old and dies has come up in quite a few books.

And covered in the Queen song, "Who Wants To Live Forever?"

RIP Freddie Mercury.

Vampires were a different thread.

Pfft. Fuck Time.

Impact Absorption is where it's at.

Reality Warping.

Covers the time manipulation along with everything else.

The great thing about that one is that it's a superpower every writer possesses.

Feel like that's sort of cheating, kind of like 'being able to do anything'.

I sure hope so. There are a bunch of time meddlers in the thread, need to have something that is not only on par with that ability, but actually better. Not going to just let them shape the world as they see fit.

Never aim for less, hm? 

Sight. It'd be just so cool to see more than blurry shapes. Oh wait, everyone else can already do that? :(
Sorry, couldn't resist making an awful joke. I'd choose the ability to heal others. Obviously I couldn't stop them from aging, but just being able to heal wounds and illnesses with a touch or a spell would be cool.

A kindred spirit.  At least as far as powers go.

A couple of people have chosen this.  Certainly the most selfless answer.

Oh, no.  It's actually horribly selfish. See, I hate seeing people in pain, so I can relax and enjoy myself much better if people around me are healthy.

The ability to shapeshift into anyone or anything. I'd use it to mess with people. I'd make myself a mermaid and jump into a tank at SeaWorld, freak everyone out for a fat minute, then shapeshift into something tiny to fly away unseen. It'd be funny as shit because there would be a group of people who saw me and will either believe that they are crazy or that mermaids exist and one suddenly appeared in a tank at SeaWorld, then disappeared. 

Oh, and then I'd shapeshift into the stereotypical image of Satan and show up at the Westboro Baptist Church just to say, "can't wait to see you all in Hell!" 

If you're going to have superpowers, you may as well have fun with them!

While I wouldn't do all the same things, Shapeshifting also really appeals to me.  (The Westboro Baptist thing is pretty funny though.)

Psychically inflicting orgasms on people. Both a weapon and an instrument of sexual laziness 

I was wondering if you had posted this here.

Time control is great and everything, but I think teleportation would be pretty fantastic. I like travelling, and it would cut out the screaming baby filled flights, trains, and long walks. You could go to a new beautiful place every day, somewhere warm when you're cold, or an entirely different culture.

I don't know if I'd be expected to fight people seeing as everyone's going on about that, but it would be pretty decent in a fight. Sure, if I was up against pretty much anyone else with a power I'd probably get murked, but I'd probably stay away from all that and just enjoy cutting down any commute to a snap of the fingers.

I reckon that's the power that'd make me happiest. Would be a bit apprehensive of teleporting inside someone accidentally and the horrific consequences though...

I have sometimes imagined being able to teleport.  You'd just have to be careful not to teleport yourself into solid rock, something you could do (with disastrous results) in the old Wizardry games.

I think my superpower of choice would be the ability to take other people’s powers away and use them for myself. The literal best power.

Unless you're the only one with powers.

Yes, a good observation!

something simple like indestructability or inability to take damage. super strength could work too. I think it'd be good to have a power that isn't so god-like that all the world would turn against you but instead be a really overpowered human such that you get a massive following to do your bidding.

Overpowered choice: instant teleportation of whatever I want (including myself)

It would certainly help any superhero or supervillain to have plenty of followers furthering your aims!

The ability to simulate your life from one possibility, in a fraction of a second.

By the time you get around to dying, you'll have lived so many lives that you'd rather be dead.

That's another power that every writer possesses.

The United States of America. China isn't a superpower yet.

Super intelligence would be my choice. Essentially intelligence at such a high level that you could become an organic catalyst of the singularity, rather than having it be born of artificial super intelligence. The potential as a super power is limitless.

Knowledge is power.  Initially you would probably just further augment your own mind/intelligence/body. You would be smart enough not to be discovered or caught early while you could still be stopped, and your technology would rapidly put you well out of humanities reach. It's another power like time control with godlike potential.

I suppose if you were smart enough you could simply build a time machine or a device that allows you to fly, so certainly, super intelligence could allow you many such options.

I feel being super smart will make you incredibly depressed and lonely as you realize you're completely alone in the world.

It is a very common theme in several stories.

I'd choose summoning.

Need some guns to do a job? Summon some carbines and shotguns.

Need some beasts to scare away people? Summon werewolves and zombies.

Need some backup hero? Summon another person on this thread.

Summon = solution to all problems. No risk of screwing up time-space.

There was another suggestion somewhat like yours.  I suppose as long as you made the right choices, and quickly, you'd get out of nearly any jam.

The ability to fix things. Whether it's a broken toy, a car, a phone, a computer, a gaming console, a tree with wind damage, anything. 

*snap* 

Fixed.

But I also want to be able to fix problems. Abusive parents, friends who cant cope with shit life throws at them. My own relationships. My thought process and state of mind. I want to be able to help my friends that would rather die than live another day with their problems. Sure, their parents may give them nice things and spend lots of money on them, but that doesn't mean that they aren't still abusive, both physically and mentally/verbally whatever, and don't cause a lot of pain. I hate not being able to help people because no matter what I say or do, they still go home to things that they can't control. I know some people who only put up with their parents' shit because they know that if they don't and if they stand up to them and leave they won't pay for their college. Or people that stay because it's better than being kicked out and having to live on their own. My friends, the people I love and care about, have to deal with some bad stuff and there isn't anything I can do. These are some well off kids, in terms of money, living conditions, and, from the outside, mental stability. They're normal kids. Some quite "popular", actually. But in their heads they have things that they can't deal with because it makes them want to die. It's terrible and I wish there was something I could do to help.

 

anyway i change my mind, I'll take manipulation of reality as my superpower. I can do just that -- manipulate reality. Anything you could think of, I can do it.

that's all

Screw that, thread necromancer.

First, you're stealing End's superpower.

Second, your fixing power is two powers, and you are a filthy cheater.

Third, you took your hand off the gamepiece, you're stuck with your first choice, limited to fixing broken objects.

Well, fuck me then.

People like you are why Forum Games had to go.

I'm not dense enough to be the dumbfuck who chooses omnipotence as a power in a forum game. This is a hypothetical question and I honestly didn't care what I wrote, it was something stupid and I just wanted to type shit. Sorry "my kind" ruined your forum game experience.

Ah yes, the many hundreds of hours I spent in Forum Games, all gone now. I can only look back with sad nostalgia at the tragedy of its loss. It was the kind of experience one could write a winning contest entry about, bringing tears to the eyes of the judges, who also loved Forum Games, just like anyone else with a soul.

"Your kind" would be noobs btw and I genuinely wasn't expecting a profile-scrubbing rage reaction but hell, I'll take it. Unintentional hilarity is the only thing your kind are good for tbh.

I rather suspected that sooner or later someone would select omnipotence, which is basically what you're describing.  Admittedly it is the ultimate superpower, one that would allow you never to lose.  It hardly seems sporting, though.

Well, it isn't a contest, so being a good sport wasn't on the top of my list (although it seems like inadvertently pissing people off was). 

I wasn't trying to be an ass and "ruin" anything either, so I apologize if I've shat on anyone's superpower choosing experience.

Tie between Super Speed (aka time manipulation) and Gravity manipulation (depending on which way Black Holes/Gravity/Time interact). Between one of those two, you pretty much have every other 'traditional' superpower via temporal invulnerability, time cloning, self-healing, without ever trivializing the experience too much (which pure reality warping would do).

Super Speed is a popular choice.  I can't recall anyone selecting the ability to manipulate gravity before, though.

Oh, that's a nice one. You could probably get flight with that too by distorting gravity on both a horizontal and vertical axis.

On a mundane level with Gravity manipulation you get flight, telekinesis, matter disruption (by messing with WIMPs and MACHOs - the physics terms, not the social ones), and up to black holes as weaponry. However, the real interesting bit is that apparently gravity and time are highly interrelated, so if you could figure out that link, you'd be able to achieve versions of time travel, and if you have that in the bag, you can probably also figure out cloning via different timelines (metaphorically jumping off the black hole-time travel merry-go-round at different stages) aka temporal cloning - effectively giving you invincibility on the whole, though each 'version' of you would be perfectly mortal, independent (no hive minds) and relatively flimsy. Also, living in reduced gravity can make you physically weaker but increase lifespans apparently (though apparently also at the cost of risking your DNA and gut bacteria if the Kelly brother experiment proves that to be conclusive), so there are a lot of fun uses I haven't even mentioned.

P.S. Also forced aging and de-aging, from the above gravity-time interaction

I saw a headline about the twin's DNA. Didn't know if the source was reputable though.

It was NASA that reported the findings, I take them to be accurate but I haven't had a chance to check back and see if there aren't more twists yet to be reported/published. Also, in hindsight magnetism is the underlying element for gravity, so technically my pick was magnetism.

I really need to brush up on the difference between magnetism and electro-magnetism, it's been a while. To be precise, in that case, my answer would be whichever of the two is the fundamental force.

The ability to have any superpower I could think of.

Teleportation is a good one for all around usefulness. Make money easily teleporting cargo or people around in a matter of seconds. Live and travel where ever.

Hmm, what's your stance on teleportation being equal to death at the sending location and creating an imitation at the receiving location from the perspective of living creatures?

That only works in regards to sci-fi teleporters. In regard to magic teleporters, "Magic" seems to be the explanation.

That's not really teleportation. That's cloning and destroying the original.

Teleportation is moving from one location to another.

That's the point, no version of teleportation I'm aware of (outside of Magic as Steve pointed out) does anything other than print a copy and delete the original. No matter which way you slice it, I can't see any practical version of teleportation that doesn't use that principle. It makes for interesting beats, such as when you realize that the 'original' Star Trek crew you saw 'died' the moment they first used the teleporter, everything since was an imitation / echo if you want to be poetic about it.

I take an interest in the topic since it's highly related to the question of what defines self.

Teleporting through moving through parallel dimensions where space is infinitely smaller, as in 40k or that Dalmatian Superhero.

Hmm, that one actually checks out. A shortcut in spacetime, as it were, reminds me of Interstellar's rendition of wormhole's (a pencil through a folded piece of paper). Neat, thanks for that.

What a strange choice, to get a power and actually tell people about it. I was assuming everyone here who doesn't use their power to become a god was going to keep it a secret. You know, teleport into a bank vault in a mask, take everything, bam, outta there.

Well, if you get a power it stands to reason that powers as a whole would exist and thus, you would not get the only one.

Even if that's not the case, you'd likely want to get a good working relationship with at least one major government so you don't spend your entire life running and hiding. Becoming prolific in a way that's positive also reduces the chances that you get, you know, dissected and such (assuming they can actually catch you).

Mother Russia requests you teleport to the mall and find some shirts for Putin.

Does it? This could easily happen in a world where only you get the powers, as pointed out earlier with the twat who wanted the power to steal other powers. Plus, even in universes where powers are a thing people can get, people try to keep them hidden, because there'll be a fair few scientists trying to poke around in your bone marrow to find out what makes you teleport, and if nothing else, I don't want to be bothered constantly to use my power.

I didn't read his post, so there was no way that I could have known he said that. 

Don't know what the fuck you're on about, Clearly, but whatevs.

People try and keep them hidden because it's easier for storytelling. It requires a good deal of effort and forethought to actually consider what would happen in a world where superpowers exist. Plus it creates the whole "it could totally be happening right under our noses" angle.

Scientists and even the government wouldn't be scary if you had powers, just an inconvenience. In the end you having the power would be the same as you being super rich. Lots of people would want the power, sure, and it'd be up to you to protect yourself and it.

Hiding it would be rather futile given how easily information can be shared. Not unless you have one that's really hard to prove like mind control or something.

Eh, all you need is one anti-superpower beam to stop you teleporting, and you're getting dissected. Or, you know, one bullet to the head when you're not expecting it. Or really, anything that could knock you out or kill you before you can notice. The only way to deal with them would be to either go on the run, or become their bitch and do as they want, which makes you a target for every enemy of the state, including several other high-profile nations.

Hiding wouldn't be hard at all. I mean, people would become aware there's some dude teleporting about, but it seems simple enough to never let them know its you.

The movie Jumper, for all its flaws, does a fair job of portraying teleportation as an invoked ability (also brushing over the entire hiding in plain sight thing and emergency teleport locations). The ability sounds cool, but has significant shortcomings if selected in isolation. Fantastic support ability though, if paired with something else.

Is that the one where the protagonist first discovers his power when drowning after going through the ice?

Yeah, though that teleportation ability is super powerful in the right hands, so I have no idea why Stryker thinks it's support tier.

Oh, I meant it was god-like for a support tier ability, but for pure offense or defense you'd be better picking more direct abilities. Depending on mode of initiation (contact / area of effect / line of sight) and method of destination confirmation (photo / memory / line of sight / description) plus any rules applicable on the nature of the item being teleported, this one can be quite a picky power to manage. If you ever get interrupted during casting, it can become a guaranteed mess, if anyone follows you back to where you jumped (as in the movie Jumper), you have no real escape and can be chased perfectly and perpetually.

If say you get the best possible version of it (any method of initiation, any method of destination confirmation, no limitations on transfer, no 'cast time' or recharge time) you're still far more reliant on prior knowledge of the arena (where to drop people off / where to hide or blink to) and still fundamentally human (ergo squishy). Furthermore, your best defense would be opening portals that deflect anything coming towards you, but that'd leave you stationary, and your best offense is either teleport things to drop off from extreme heights (easy), redirect fire from attacker to attacker (neat but requires skill and planning in the heat of combat, punishing difficulty in modern warfare unless you go for the earlier mentioned 'pangolin' defense), or teleport a more powerful weapon into your use (rocket launchers from an armory / primed explosives to the enemy) in which case you're dependent on there being a usable armory nearby.

Again, all viable combat choices, but they leave you far more vulnerable to knowledge gaps / mental overload / supply shortages than something innate and simple like super-strength (which gives super-defense while you're sleeping as well). Using Teleportation to complement abilities such as say heat control (both flame and ice) would be fantastic since you'd have instant deployment of projectiles as well as angle control (making attacks far more unpredictable for the target) while never needing to worry about your surroundings/ammo supply letting you down. When paired wth other powers, teleportation shines, but as a solo it'd be pretty tricky to do well.

I wasn't really talking about teleporting specifically. My point was mostly you'd just have the same problems as super rich people, provided you don't give people a reason to vilify you.

You could try to hide, sure, but how difficult that would be depends on your ability.

There wouldn't be many, many entities looking to capture you and figure out how your powers work if your power was just "I have all the money!", though, as well as those looking to kill you to deny their enemy an asset. I'm sure as shit not signing myself up with the US if I find a power, I like my tea Novichok free, thanks.

Since this thread is all revived and everything... 

Before I said being able to converse and understand animals, but now I think converting and emitting electricity is also something that could be interesting. 

Like that one slide at the playground.

Zap.

Sounds like the Emperor from Star Wars.  Or was that supposed to be something else?

To answer your question, David, more like Static Shock but even cooler. 

Yeah I don’t think animals would really have much interesting to say anyway, let’s be honest.

You're saying that you've never wanted to ask a dog or cat of their thoughts on the current weather? 

My people speak of nothing but the weather. When it rains, they moan. When we have our two fleeting days of sunlight breaking through the clouds, it is too hot. Snow, sleet, wind, hail, heat, storms- it’s all bad news in my fantasy motherland of kings and queens and wankers.

Basically, no. I don’t give a flying shit.

I would like the power of Fast eating. I want to beat Joey Chestnut someday.

And then there's the glory of winning every hot dog eating competition you enter  So, yeah!

The power of real life save states so I can do multiple playthroughs. I could do a "full hobo" playthrough. Maybe even a "Become president playthrough". shit, maybe I'd do a genocide run for the hell of it..

(Only if I get to keep my knowledge between save states, I don't want to endlessly relive the same exact playthrough over and over like some twilight zone episode)

I've often thought that I'd like save points in real life.

Everyone thinks so big with their super power. Personally I’d go for a ease of life super power. The power of a microwave! But not just any microwave (this is the actual power) the ability to turn food into their ideal state! Imagine a rotten, moldy banana *BANG* a perfect yellow banana. Soggy leftover lasagne *BANG* a freshly cook lasagne. A heap of random ingredients *BANG* a delicious Caesar salad. And if we take a superhero world, no one would want to fight me! Would you want to fight a person who can serve you delicious food at the drop of a hat? I think not.

I always did want a perfectly microwaved pizza, but they always either are still freezing cold or blistering hot. Perhaps it isnt a bad power after all.

Not only would that be a big time saver, but a big money saver as well!

Everyone knows leftover lasagne always tastes better than cooked lasagne you culinary cretin.

Ikr :D