The Power of Ten Book Four: Dynamo

This will be the Fourth ‘side story’ of the Power of Ten, detailing the OTHER things that happen in the Power of Ten Creative Metaverse as a result of a video game’s rules turning into magical reality for a bunch of devoted gamers who just aren’t going to let horrific shit slide if they can do something about it now.

I’ve done kinda traditional fantasy, touching on grimdark; I’ve done the crapsack universe of the Far Future and helped set that straight; and I’ve done an urban fantasy world where no Power of Ten existed to help when the undead came calling, but when it did, things took a turn for the better quick.

This time we’re going into superheroics.

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One of the biggest things you find in comic books about capes is artistic license. The power levels of heroes can vary widely depending on what the artist draws and the storyteller wants. Furthermore, the inevitable power creep of age as the hero improves keeps getting set back to get that new vibe back and young readers, and help the creators tell more stories (stories are easier to tell when the protagonist isn’t so strong).

A great example of this is Superman, whose Silver Age self could push planets around, vs. variants of the modern one who have problems lifting Saturn V-size rockets... unless he does a sundive and gets super-juiced back to the old level of power, all for the needs of the story.

I’ll be setting the story in the Marvel Universe, but not one that any of you have seen. After all, if you were in the Marvel Universe and knew stuff, the first thing you’d do is take advantage of and exploit it, right?

The Marvel Universe also has major problems vs Power of Ten: regular resets, a lot of time travel, and Power curves.

The Marvel Universe has ‘died’ at least seven times as of today, and then rebooted itself. Time Travel happens all the time, to the point where Dr. Doom has had a machine to use for it for decades.

Well, Power of Ten has Nulls. A universe with Nulls has no reset button, at least for the Nulls. If the universe dies, they die, and they aren’t coming back with it. It’s a totally new universe, not a reset for them.

Likewise, Nulls lock down time. You can’t change the past if that past crosses a Null’s timeline. All you’ve done is either created an alternate reality where they are not present, or a shadow reality that disappears as soon as you leave it.

Thus, as soon as a future person comes back to a Null’s time or earlier and interacts with them, they are locked into that timeline and can’t actually change anything. Likewise, the past can’t be changed if it would affect the Null’s present at all.

Alternate realities being created are always possible... but those possibilities will be the Normal Marvel universes, the ones that don’t have Nulls, Sources, and Voids.

Which, if Nulls, Sources, and Voids are supposed to be everywhere, should tell you what kind of places normal Marvel universes are, and why so much crazy stuff happens there. 😊

Power Curves are an ongoing thing. Superheroic vs fantasy curves are very different, especially on the physical level. Fantasy literally has to get into the realm of gods to start showcasing the level of power that superhero comics regularly toss about.

Likewise, extreme intelligence is extreme in comics. The things supergeniuses are capable of are totally worth comparing to the muscle power of their peers... but the tipping point from intelligent human to dangerous genius is much, much smaller than the arc from strong human to The Hulk. You can factory-make enhanced physical ability (super soldiers, Amazons, Unlimited Wrestlers, etc). Genius is very hard to make, as Modok will tell you.

Thus, Stats are somewhat looser when you are dealing with comics. For instance, getting a magic belt that lets you lift 100 tons is nice, but that is Str 65 or so in D&D Stats, and normally impossible there. Also, what a Sword +5 means in superherodom is way, way higher than what it means in fantasy. Mjolnir is plenty strong in D&D, but the mountain-shaking, planet-cracking power it has displayed in comics is far, far past what you can display in any story except Xanxia easily (and that’s because cultivators are literally becoming gods).

Likewise, superheroes are impossibly tough, even the normal humans like Batman. Humans simply cannot be that tough and keep on going like that.

In fantasy terms, all heroes must have at least some level of damage reduction and ability to turn lethal damage into bruises that they can recover from with a few days of bed rest. You can’t explain how tough they are in ‘real’ terms otherwise, you can only gloss past it. Indeed, the whole idea of hit points being an abstract can be directly inferred by the level of punishment otherwise ‘human’ heroes can endure without really being affected at all, all inspired by superhero comics.

Looking on from the outside, comics dwell on several power curves: normal human/real; peak human; heroic; superhuman; superheroic; godly; and cosmic. Within those areas, there’s some discrepancy, but to a story, they end up being about the same.

Normal Human is that level that all us readers dwell in, naturally. It means your Level is Four or less, your average Stats are 10-11, and a gunshot or two will kill you pretty reliably. A Normal Human won’t have a Stat exceeding 20 without being somewhat freakish and really standing out for it.

A One is an untrained, usually underage person who basically has maybe enough skills to get by in an emergency. It means you might have graduated High School or something similar.

A Two is a somewhat trained person who has completed an apprenticeship or perhaps basic training in the military. In non-trades, this would be someone with a college degree.

A Three is an expressly skilled human, either a veteran with great experience or someone very motivated to improve themselves. A Doctor or its equal in any discipline would be the equivalent. They probably have at least a 14 in their prime Stats.

A Four is Olympian-level, people who can compete with the best on the world stage. They are veteran special forces, or the most cutting-edge specialists in a trade or career. They probably have an 18+ in their prime Stat(s), and stand out among others for their skill and talent combined into a greater whole.

A Five is the best in the modern world. They probably have a 20 or higher in their prime Stat. These are literally the BEST in the world at what they do, in whatever discipline they are in. They are people who’ve combined Talent, Stats, and training to sit at the top of the world.

A Six represents the zenith of what human can be, and which nobody can reach because it’s just too hard to keep performing at that level. Beings like Sherlock Holmes, Conan, Sonja, Batman, Daredevil, and the Punisher, who all purport to be ‘peak humans’, are sitting at Six if they are not exceeding human limits (but of course, in the comics, they are.)

These people are sitting at a 23 in one or more Stats, right at the edge of human potential, and must have something going on to enable them to keep performing at that level, which is left totally unexplained, they can just do it.

From Seven to Ten thus represents the Heroic Level. This is the level of ‘movie magic’, where the people in the movies perform impossible leaps, feats of agility, strength, balance, and skill with flair and elan. They are just too tough, too strong, too fast, and can just put up with too much to be human, and can pull off feats of intellect with impossible, reality-bending speed. The Black Widow’s ability to take down multiple trained combatants without breaking a sweat is an example of this level, or being capable of being thrown through a wall and not ending up in traction for a month.

Stat-wise, this is the area from 24-30. A prime example of this area is Captain America of the comics, and to be honest, both Tarzan and Batman work in here, regularly exceeding human ability. While they have limits, they consistently pass those of humans, and furthermore, that ability never goes DOWN, despite the almost impossible task of staying in that level of condition.

Eleven+ is outright Superhuman. Physically, you’re heaving around cars now, can probably tank gunfire with some armor on (Damage Reduction 10-15+), and are immune to most hand-held blunt attacks, if not edged ones. Movie Captain America is in this area, clearly more than human with the way he can hop around, how hard he can hit stuff, and how much punishment he can take.

Stat-wise, this is the 30-40 range. Pointedly, it is REALLY hard to portray agility, dexterity, and endurance higher than this. Spiderman sits around a 40 Dex, and really is about the highest level we can visualize Stats like this at with the slow-motion displays of agility stunts he can pull off.

Intellects like this are smarter than roomfuls of geniuses, and can just understand and advance concepts that others cannot. Technically, this should be the area for supergeniuses, as they have a functioning IQ in the 200+ area, but the ‘extra’ range is what is warping reality and creating superscience.

You get your first extra thoughtstream at 28 in a Mental Stat, another two at 32 Int, two more at 36, and four more at 40. If these are concentrated (Lex Luthor is obviously missing his empathy one), you can be better than computers at this stuff, your mind is functioning beyond your head, cross-linked and exceeding physical limitations... true Superhuman Intellect.

In terms of ‘fighting ability’, this is where comic-book martial art masters range, able to take on multiple peak human combatants with basically guaranteed success and speed.

The Super Heroic level continues at Fifteen on pure skill, and 40-60 in terms of physical Stats (benching 5-50 tons). Spider-man plays at this level, as does Luke Cage. In terms of portrayed fighting ability, the best martial artists on the planet are here... but that doesn’t mean they can overcome someone with high Stats, although they have some hope.

You are firmly moving into ‘the world is made of clay’ at this stage.

A 12th-level Intellect, the highest level of brainpower in DC Comics for a mortal, is about Intellect 45.

At Sixteen and higher, and Stats at 60+, you are performing at Godly levels. You are capable of lifting a hundred tons or more, enduring cannon fire, running at impossible speeds just based on Stats or Templates, and capable of visualizing things mortals simply cannot picture (such as, oh, the relative size of a human to a light year of distance, or something like that) and understanding universal laws.

In human terms, your skills are just beyond belief. You hit whatever you swing at, can wound things that should be invulnerable, and break things impossible for you to do so. You’re just that good.

Twenty+ is the Cosmic level, where the Big Boys play. Magic is just one of the energies tossed around at this level, and Strength is more a concept than a limitation. Stats go all the way up to Universal Visualization (Eternity can visualize every atom of its being, which is the entire universe, at one time), and punching through time and space with brute strength (which Superman has done).

The range is pretty big here, of course, but once you are at the Cosmic Level (in Power of Ten, the Eternal level), you come directly to the notice of very powerful beings for what you are capable of doing. If you can draw the acknowledgement of Galactus without need of Toys (such as, oh, waving the Ultimate Nullifier in his face), you are at this Level.

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Tropes

Of course, in comics, you have super powers.

This is very hard to address/balance vs fantasy, because the one represents pure power, and the other represents skill/experience/getting stronger.

Thus, there’s a lot of power ranges in Super comics, from street level guys like Daredevil, who are supersensory martial art masters, and up to Superman, who in terms of skills is nowhere near Daredevil, but whose Stats and Kryptonian Race/Template is so much more powerful that it is just crazy.

Thus, in fantasy terms, most superheroes are Trope Templates that are just ‘added on’ to a Level foundation, and Leveled up separately.

In Power of Ten, this is very much similar to Warlock Levels, which are basically Mastery Tiers. As you get better at using your power directly, your power gets stronger... even if you personally do not do so.

Templates are NOT inherently balanced, and it takes a lot of finesse to make them so. Most superhero RPG’s use build points to make a hero, which inevitably opens it up to rules-finessing and exploitation, and really overvalues the tech/street smarts level hero points over things like super-strength, speed, and invulnerability, because comics are like that.

It is totally possible for a person to be suddenly bestowed with godly/cosmic level ability (ex. The Flash) on a par with a race of alien neo-gods (Kryptonians) and the direct daughter of a major god (Wonder Woman), or wield a weapon putting them on the same level (Green Lantern).

That is ‘almost’ akin to bang!, making someone 15th level in a world of Twos, from a fantasy standpoint. No, it’s not balanced at the beginning in the slightest. When Peter Parker gets all those spider powers, he’s a One; a very smart One, but still a One!

Suddenly he can toss a car, leap over a building, balance on a thread, cling to walls, see bullets, and move with perfect coordination, while taking punishment that would literally crush a normal person to mincemeat. He’s performing at the level of a Ten+... but he’s still a One (but Levels quickly). His Stats and power are just so high it totally conceals his lack of foundational skill.

That’s a superhero world vs a standard RPG. Suddenly you’re a high-level maybe-Glass-Cannon, and you’re in the thick of things.

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All these factors make writing a super-hero story very different from a standard one, as the big leap from human to superhero can happen VERY quickly if you get the right encounter/gifting, bypassing all that tedious leveling/training stuff in a second... or maybe you just stepped out on a new world, the sun is blue, and suddenly you’ve got super-powers at the level of a god.

Gratuitous power fantasy gets taken up a notch in a supers world, yet is totally expected.

I’m not gonna do that, but that doesn’t mean the protagonist doesn’t know they can’t power up really fast with the right stuff, right?

On that note, I will NOT be using any infinitely-stretched/uncapped Power Absorber/Replicator/Mimic/Evolve Anything super power-types, because if you have ANY brains, those will get out of control VERY fast.

One of the Fanfic stories I read, The Spider, does that. It’s subtle at first, just starts with Spidey’s powers. Then he gets Wolverine’s Senses, Healing Factor, and Claws. Then he’s got a flying armored suit. Then his claws are made out of the same metal as Cap’s shield. Then he gets some of Magneto’s powers, and finally he’s upgraded to Thor-level strength and lightning control plus learned some magic under Dr. Strange, ALL while being a supergenius who literally puts Mr. Fantastic to shame, and has a harem of all the top Marvel beauties, who don’t mind the polyamorous relationship.

The supporting story underneath was good enough I just ignored the Power Fantasy, but wow, he basically hit every single one of them!

So, there won’t be any monstrous Rogue-like power-ups happening here. That being said, most Supers comics are NOT prepared for D&D-like wizards and sorcs and what they can do in theory, and the sheer volume of magical Gear that can result from having Artificers around with Item Creation Feats.

Furthermore, superverses are VERY friendly to magic and what it can do. In the comics, powerful Casters can literally warp reality and change the world (and have done it), with Dr. Strange literally able to make everyone forget Tony Stark is Iron Man, etc. i.e., Wish-Level and higher stuff. (Ed. Note: Written WAY before Spider-man, No Way Home!)

So, magic might be a little more effective when Valences come to town...

Secondly, it’s not dwelled on in the comics, but if you look at it from a subtle standpoint, Intelligence is not powerful without money.

Yeah, technically a genius can turn a toaster into a plasma torch, but seriously, look at all the Smart Guys in comics. Somehow or another, they have MONEY. Tons and tons of money. They need it to make all the things that make them able to contend with super people. Sure, some of them just choose to be planners and plotters and stay in the background manipulating events (The Detective/Mastermind aspect of Intelligence), and are supremely dangerous for doing so, but Iron Man and Reed Richards are multi-billionaires, as are Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne. Without that money, there is no real way they can do what they do.

Even the Riddler and the Joker run criminal empires for the money needed to pull off their stunts, and fight over control of Gotham’s underworld.

Without money, being a super-genius means you tend to have one good gimmick and you beat it to death with a rock (i.e., Marvel’s The Wizard and The Thinker, Gizmo from Teen Titans, and so forth). Upgrading takes time and money, and without it, you never really improve. If you read Super-Hero RPG’s, wealth is literally a super-power, as it lets you afford all the crazy shit!

There is an ongoing trope of levels of intellect, too, where those below simply do not understand how things done by these geniuses work, and even at the same level it is not always comprehensible how the stuff their peers make function. Someone who can understand how rival tinker-types work is in exactly the same position as a Power Replicator, able to draw on ALL the technology. Reed Richard’s ability to do this is what sets him atop the Marvel Universe in brainpower.

NOT being able to do this is why there is so much high-end human and alien technology sitting around that could revolutionize the world, and just isn’t used. Without super-geniuses devoted to replicating it en masse, nobody knows how the things work!

Lastly, I’m not going to ignore the huge religious Elephant in the room when pantheonic gods start trundling around, and there’s nothing of similar power coming from the Christian churches to counter them. Unless Christianity (and Judaism, and Islam) have something to counter them, people will leave the Churches in DROVES. Gods in the flesh who can answer your prayers are definitely going to attract a huge segment of the population, vs. ones who preach about moral superiority but can’t even keep their own priests in line.

So, I’m going to be writing about a comics world like that from a REAL standpoint, not glossing over all the edges.

It won’t be grimdark, but it will definitely be more real than most such stories, although I’m not going for Invincible’s level of gore.

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Glossary of Terms

I refer you to the First chapter of The Human Race for normal terms used.

For superhero-centric cliches based around ‘power types’ and descriptions, I refer you to:

https://knowyourarchetypes.com/superhero-archetypes/

Which breaks down a lot of heroes and villain types and the tropes that apply to them.

There are full-out Wikis on almost every super hero out there. I don’t promise to get all the trivia right, but I’ll be trying.

Also, here's a nice read on comic tropes you'll probably find interesting and funny:

http://www.superheronation.com/2011/12/18/cliches-in-superhero-stories/

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As a nod to comic books, several tropes will be in effect.

All chapters are Issues!

All Issue Names will have bombastic alliteration to some degree or another.

Time is fluid. How long it’s been since the last chapter/arc is ‘long enough for what needs to get done to get done.’ Totally crazy amounts of comic book action can happen off-screen in that time period. Like, all the normal comics stuff that has been written!

While I’m writing about Dynamo, there’s no possible way I could cover everything that is going on elsewhere... but it is! All the crazy comic book stuff is happening ‘outside the story’, in addition to what is going on here. So don’t be surprised if references are made to things happening that aren’t featured in the story, because you know comic stories: you can devote six issues to what happens in one day, let alone a month or more, and that’s without multiple teams/heroes!

I am totally going to try and be consistent and not engage in wildly varying power levels of stuff. Thus, for instance, Spider-man is very smart, but Reed Richards is the genius of the Marvel Universe. Spidey’s greatest gift is that his brain runs 15x faster than humans normally do, so with his genius intellect he has the time to figure stuff out that smarter heroes don’t.

I’m going to be making reasonable explanations for stuff that may deviate from canon for the sake of internal logic and consistency.

There will naturally be non-canon characters, because the Power of Ten is here.

The story will start with a twenty chapter drop on December 9, 2021.