Specials

Special Abilities are not something defined as powers (like shooting laser beams from your eyes), but something similarly 'unique', so to speak, to your character that makes them a bit more than the average person. Not every character has specials.
Specials are both positives and flaws at once.
We have only a specific list of special abilities to choose from here. We may not have remembered all of them (though we did try) so if you believe your character has a special that we haven't listed please let staff know so we can approve it and add it here.
Please feel free to write up your own wording for how this special applies to your character and any character-specific drawbacks.
Specials are also listed as categories on their character pages, so if in doubt, check your character page.
==Celebrity==
You are famous, even for a superhero/heroine. You have the goodwill of the media and the public. This can be for your out-of-costume persona, your in-costume persona, or both. You are more likely to find allies in the 'normal' world.
The downside is that you will be watched, and that you will be held to a higher standard, deviate from this and all of that good press can quickly turn into an equal amount of ire and damage to your reputation that may be irrepairable.
Examples: Superman (for in-costume), Bruce Wayne (Out-of-Costume), and Tony Stark (Both). Also, Steven Rogers (Both), Jonathan Storm, Susan Storm, Starfire, Oliver Queen, Wonder Woman.
==Eidetic Memory==
Photographic memory is really useful, being able to remember nearly everything put in front of you can come in handy. If you were there, you know it and can be assured you will remember it.
The downside of this is that you will remember everything, even traumatic things that will be nearly impossible to bury, forcing you to deal with it.
Examples: Barbara Gordon
==Extraordinary Appearance==
This isn't just pretty. This is drop-dead gorgeous (either through natural means or unnatural ones like surgery).
Downsides can include vanity, and making it much harder for you to avoid notice without significantly altering or masking your appearance somehow (You stand out in a crowd).
Known Characters: Natalia Romanova, Emma Frost, Richard Grayson, Voodoo, Selina Kyle, Amora, Wonder Woman, Starfire, Julian Keller
==Family Matters==
You are from a family of superheroes/supervillains/supers in general. You can rely on them as a matter of course, and even have potentially older/more experienced heroes to teach you.
The downside is that they are your family. So their problems, reputation, etc.? Become your problems.
In general, this means blood relations (though in cases like the Bat Family, that's not so much of a thing).
Known Characters/Families as Examples:
* The Super Family: Kal-El, Kon-El, Kara Zor-El
* The Bartons: Clinton Barton, Barney Barton, Francis Barton
* Wolverine and 'Kids': James Howlett, Laura Kinney, Rina Yashida (Rina Logan), Jubilation Lee, Katherine Pryde, Daken Yashida (Akihiro)
* The Bat Family: Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, Timothy Drake, Carrie Kelley
* The Justice Society of America operates much in this fashion, writ large.
==Genius Level Intellect==
This doesn't mean just being smart. This is crazy level of intellect like Reed Richards or Doctor Doom or Tony Stark. This means one of the top, top, top minds in the world. Very few character will actually be approved with this, so it's unlikely, if they don't already have the category added to their page, staff will okay it).
For some characters, this may (but not always) allow an early jump to/through college.
The downside of Genius Level Intellect comes with arrogance, potential distractibility for science/engineering/other intellectual pursuits in their fields of interests.
Examples: Anthony Stark, Reed Richards, Victor von Doom, Magneto, Bruce Wayne, Michael Holt, Lex Luthor, Henry McCoy, Quintavius Quire, Charles Xavier, Nathaniel Essex, Henry Pym, Bruce Banner, Henry Bendix, Majestic, Randall Dowling, T'Challa, Tao, Franklin Richards, The Engineer
==Immortality or Arrested Aging==
Due to either a racial quirk or some sort of serum or a quirk of mutation, you do not age at all, or age slower than the average human. You should specify whether this is due to your particular race, or whether some other sort of outside source or mutation caused your aging to slow down or cease altogether. Those who are born to long-lived or immortal races have different effects to their personality as opposed to those who have had immortality thrust upon them in some unnatural fashion.
The upside is that you probably will live long enough to complete your bucket list a few dozen times over, and that you either don't suffer the physical drawbacks of aging, or won't suffer them until far later than most others. The downside is that you'll watch shorter-lived friends die around you as the years and decades and centuries and millennia pass, and you very well may grow detached and jaded the longer you're around.
Humans cannot take this Special.
If it's a Species quirk, it's Immortality (even if it's not technically of the live-forever variety). If it's granted by a serum or mutation, then it's Arrested Aging (even if it IS immortality).
Examples: Majestic, Natalia Romanova, Steven Rogers, Nicholas Fury Sr., Ted Grant, Thor Odinson, Wolverine, Elijah Snow, Grifter, John Lynch, Zealot, Charles Xavier, Erik Lensherr
==Intellect==
Like the above, this is meant for highly intelligent characters well beyond just being 'smarter than average'. This is for the geniuses that just can't quite hang with the Reed Richards and Tony Stark and Bruce Waynes of the world.
Generally the downside of intelligence is distractibility and boredom that manifests in poor life decisions.
Examples: Clinton Barton (frightening, isn't it?), Pietro Lensherr, Francis Barton, Barbara Gordon, Thomas Shepherd, Timothy Drake, Peter Parker, Caitlin Fairchild, Natalia Romanova, Richard Grayson, Damian Wayne, Alexander Aaron, Jeanne Foucault, Norman Osborn, Harold Osborn, Trevor Bruttenholm, Abe Sapien
==Iron Will==
You possess a strength of will that few men possess... even other superhumans. It allows you to face the slimmest of odds and stave off the most brutal of pain.
However, a downside can be that the same willpower that allows one to withstand torture might also make them quite single-minded.
Examples: Bruce Wayne, Steven Rogers, Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Magneto, James Barnes, The Punisher, Majestic, Zealot, Cassandra Cain, Ororo Munroe
==Muscle Memory==
If you can see it, then you can do it. Muscle Memory is like Eiadedic Memory, only for movements and motion and physical skills and abilities.
This does NOT allow a character to something they are not physically capable of (watching Superman lift and throw a 10 ton building does not mean Finesse can suddenly do they same since she lacks the raw strength); but they can mimic fighting styles and such that are within their physical capability.
Examples: Cassandra Cain, Jeanne Foucault, Taskmaster, Lady Shiva
==Patron==
You have powers or resources. These can be really useful since you have some outside entity granting you these powers, like a deity. This patron is someone who is probably going to be in your corner if you are doing something they want you to do.
The downside is that if you go against them or just irritate them enough, boom, powers gone. You are expected to act as your patron expects or risk losing what they grant.
Examples: Daisy Johnson (resources)
==Raw Talent==
Human Only: You are physically gifted in a way that makes you almost superhumanly gifted in a particular area. Many might accuse you of being metahuman, but (technically) you're not.
The upside is that you have the raw potential to be among the best in the world if you hone your skill. The downside is that things might come so easily to you in this regard that you don't always apply maximum effort into training it, or might underestimate the severity of situations where it comes into play. In other words, you might take it for granted. Also, you might very well be a showoff.
From a /sheet perspective, this allows for taking Enhanced abilities while being human.
Examples: Wilson Fisk (Strength/Muscle Mass), Bullseye (Hand-Eye Coordination), Roy Harper Jr. (Hand-Eye Coordination), Nightwing (Agility)
==Shared Soul==
Certain characters are shared souls. More information located here.
==Training from Hell==
Most superheroes train hard at what they do (particularly the ones who are normal humans). Then there's the folks that crossed the line from "hard" all the way into "hellish" (sometimes literally!), and whose training crossed all sorts of moral and ethical lines both in terms of what was inflicted upon them and what they were asked to do. You also likely started your training very young by most standards.
The upside to training from hell is that you're likely extraordinarily skilled at what you do. The downside is that you may have deep-rooted psychological problems, could be socially stunted, or a mix of both. Likewise, you've probably got "Red in your Ledger" which may or may not haunt you to varying degrees, and it's entirely possible that whoever was responsible for turning you into a living weapon wants you back.
Examples: Natalia Romanova, James Barnes, Cassandra Cain, Magik, X-23, Damian Wayne, Alexi Shostakov
==Veteran Superhero==
This is for superheroes who have been around for awhile and seen a lot of crazy stuff in that time. They will be less phased by sudden strangeness and can call on a wealth of history to help deal with them.
Examples: Natalia Romanova, Steven Rogers, Nicholas Fury Sr., Theodore Grant, Elijah Snow, Majestros, Hawkman, Batman, Benjamin Grimm, Jackson King
==Wealthy==
You have access to an absurd amount of money. The sort of money when you can just spend a million dollars and it does not phase the bank account. This is a valuable asset to acquire the resources for superheroing.
The downside is that it puts a target on your back and your every move outside of costume is watched and noted.
Examples: Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Lord Emp, Lex Luthor, Warren Worthington, Emma Frost and Oliver Queen
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