wildermods | POWER SELECTION

POWER SELECTION

Depending on whether their character has powers in canon or not, players will have 3 or 4 choices of powers and magic sets. Click on the cards below for more information about types of powers. The choices:

FREEBIES
We will allow certain low-level species-based traits to be universally retained if desired, to be used alongside other superpowers, magic items/weapons, or magic. We find these abilities to be minor (and fun) and therefore think it's fine if players get a free pass with them, regardless of any other choices they make regarding powers.

However, these powers must be what the character already has in canon. You cannot add them if they don't have them canonically.

❧ Species-based stealth. Characters being fleet-footed and sneaky (like elves or hobbits) gets a free pass since it's an old fantasy standby, even if it borders on the supernatural. This includes the elf-like power of being light-footed enough to walk across the surface of snow. It does not include invisibility or anything else that edges into being an actual superpower.

❧ Cosmetic differences. A character with unusual physical traits or a strange appearance may keep them unless they confer a supernatural ability. Retaining the odd features but taking away any powers they grant is fine. Purely cosmetic powers are also allowed, like a fairy with a faint glow and an after-trail of sparkles, or someone who can change the color of their hair at a whim. These would only count as superpowers if they came with non-cosmetic effects, like pixie dust affecting other characters' moods, or true shapeshifting. If your case is borderline, please ask the mods.

❧ Superintelligence. Even if intelligence borders on being a superpower, its usefulness has limitations based on any materials available. Characters may retain high intelligence or superintelligence without it being counted as a power.

❧ Enhanced senses. If characters have mildly enhanced hearing, vision, sight, or the like, they may retain them, within certain limits. "What do your elf eyes see?" vision that lets a character see several miles would be okay, but not if they could also see through walls, down to the molecular level, or similar. Those abilities would have to be treated as superpowers.

❧ Nonverbal communication. If a character can't speak with a normal mouth and uses something like telepathy or magic to communicate with others, they may retain it as a freebie power so long as the only thing the power does is let them talk to others.

❧ Winged flight. Characters with natural wings can fly, provided the flight isn't too fast or maneuverable.

❧ Agelessness. Characters that have the ability to never age are allowed to retain it as a freebie power, as long as the character can still die from mortal wounds.

BANNED OR LIMITED POWERS
Fantasy is a genre that's easier to execute when characters are somewhat vulnerable and when they're limited to certain forms of travel, so while many superpowers are negotiable, a few will be universally banned or limited, regardless of whether they're superpowers or a potential spell from magic sets.

❧ Non-winged flight. Winged flight is allowed and is even a freebie power as long as it's limited in speed and maneuverability, but non-winged flight is not allowed.

❧ Superstrength. Characters with strength that is more than the extreme end of the human norm are considered to have superstrength and superstrength has limitations in the game. Even if their canon powers exceed it, no character will be allowed to have superstrength that lets them to lift more than 500 pounds (227 kg). For reference, a few things weighing that much: a grizzly bear, an empty dumpster, a vending machine.

❧ Extreme invulnerability. Invulnerability has limitations in game. Pure invulnerability can only be a timed effect of a power, magic weapon, or spell, limited to a short amount of time. As a long-term, ongoing power, characters can be more durable than normal humans and difficult to injure, but cannot have extreme Superman-style invulnerability.

❧ Extreme superspeed. Characters can be very fleet-footed and run at speeds much faster than human, but not over 50 mph (80.5 km/h). For reference, that's about as fast as a sprinting lion or antelope.

❧ Teleportation. Characters can have teleportation within line of sight but not over long distances.

❧ Food or water production. An important element of the game will be surviving in a rugged and magical wilderness, so no powers or spells can result in the spontaneous production of food and water are allowed. Characters may have spells that purify dirty or poisoned water or rotten or poisoned food, but they cannot produce food or turn non-food matter into food. For example, a purifying power could detoxify a wild tuber that's nutritious but poisonous, but it can't turn grass into something nutrient-rich.

❧ Money or shelter production or conversion. For similar reasons, the mods would also like money to be something that isn't super easy to come by (and since there are many lands in the game, money won't exchange well). This also means spells can't convert another object or metal into money or valuable metals. As far as shelters go, characters may have spells that make camp life easier, like one that sets up tents or one that summons an outhouse, but these will be kept relatively primitive. (So no summoning up a mansion).

❧ "Accio" style summoning magic. There can be no powers that allow a character to summon an object across a great distance (like the "accio" spell in Harry Potter) because it would too easily allow characters to instantly summon what they need. The only exception will be the magic weapons of people who choose the magic weapon option. They'll have the ability to summon their weapon to them under some circumstances if they're separated from it. Characters can have powers or spells that manipulate their immediate environment, like telekinesis, but it can only work within line of sight.

❧ Powers or spells that spontaneously generate objects. The mods may allow certain spells of this nature (such a spell that summons a storm of blades) but these must not allow characters to be able to create whatever they want. Once again, if you think your case is borderline, consult the mods.

NOTES
❧ The mods may update these lists at any time. If we get an app with a power or spell suggestion that we realize might be bad for the health of the game, we may add it to the list of banned powers. Please keep in mind that it's impossible for us to have enough foresight to think of every power that might not work well in the game ahead of time. Players may surprise us with their creativity in ways we have to adjust to. If you suggest a power on an app and we add it to the banned list and say you must choose another, please don't take it personally. We're just trying to make sure powers don't adversely affect the game.

❧ The mods have final say on what powers are allowed in game and may impose additional limits on power use or magic after your app is approved, whether by creating a temporary block to that power in a plot, or by asking you to tweak it. We'll try to get things right when you app in, but if something is setting- or game-breaky in an unforeseen way that we can't get around creatively, we reserve the right to impose further limits. If you're someone who prefers getting exactly what you want with a character's powers, this may not be the game for you.