At what point do characters become overpowered?

[Kylesar1]

I often hear about OP characters


I actually did a test on how it may be confused for basic ability. I took basic Waterbending and elaborated on it, telling of its applications. I didn't add any components or take anything to the extreme. All I did was tell basic battle applications, and someone called it overpowered, reasoning that someone could easily freeze the water in someone's body, killing them nearly instantly, and calling them a God because of it.


Pretty much any power can be put to an unbeatable use in battle. That doesn't mean they will use it. Yes, a waterbender could freeze the water in a person's body, but do you think there would've been a 100 year war in Avatar if they decided to use it


I'm not talking about obviously overpowered characters and abilities, like characters who are perfect in every way and, in fantasies, cast every spell in the book....................or characters with god powers, like time or space control, or creating new dimensions.


I really don't like characters whose only weaknesses are personality weaknesses. In my mind, those aren't real weaknesses. Unless the player REALLY gets into character and their cat-killing curiosity has them stopping what they're doing to see something interesting, then it's not a real weakness


When do you see a character as overpowered? Like I said any power can be put to an unbeatable use. Is it the amount of elaboration? the unbeatable scenarios? The lack of viable weaknesses, or weaknesses period. What constitutes as a weakness? What exactly is a "God" power?


I want your opinions, because it's something that's been bothering me for a while.

 

[Killigrew]

Dare I approach this topic?


YES.


Thank you for bringing it up. Hopefully the following word-dump doesn't confuse more than it clarifies.


The biggest issue with powers is that they are often undefined. On our green Earth, we often take it for granted that we are so limited. By space, influence, and time, the flexibility of our actions is always bound to certain rules, and these rules we must discover as we live. Powers go beyond this; they are supernatural, and therefore require more explicit explanation.


When another user brought up that said water-bender could freeze the blood in someone's body easily, the fact that living matter cannot be easily manipulated ought to be clarified. Katara was an exceptional case in that she could blood bend, right? So it follows that pure water is the easiest to manipulate (thus why water benders carry their own pouch of water) and that diluted water is difficult to make use of.


Defined powers are easier to pinpoint when they become too capable. Superman is a good example of a too-capable character that fits better a narrative designed to portray particular messages -- the ideal that faces an un-ideal world. Spiderman is a character with limited capability -- he has webs, but the fact that they run out after a certain number of squirts, or that he has a limited number of web-bombs and the fact that he misses the occasional shot tells the reader that his power cannot accomplish everything he wants it to.


Which, I think, is the heart of the matter. God-like power is not only about the expanse of a character's might, but more to do with whether what a single character wants can be accomplished no matter the obstacle. Limiting a character challenges them. Removing limits means the character can defeat any enemy, overcome any obstacle, and never learn from mistakes nor discover more about themselves. Free will means a character can act of their own volition, but to be over-powered means the character can do all they set out to do in the state they are currently in, and without issue.

 

[Shura]

The lines of OP are blurry at best. I've run several super power RPs and have learned a lot from the people I played with and the many headaches I got with trying to temper some peoples powers. Base fact is anyone can be OP it really depends on how smart and knowledgeable the player is. It's not so much the power but rather the player who tends to be the OP one. I try to ground my games in some kind of pseudo logic to limit the "I can do it because I can" players but it doesn't always pan out.


I've had players with seemingly weak powers break games by using their abilities in a creative way and combining it with tech or objects around them When I question them on it normally things do check out. Same as I've had people with super OP powers and they have used them in an extremely responsible manner which was never OP. I had someone with time manipulation powers who played the character amazingly and never really played it up to be OP. There were both personality traits and physical weaknesses which made the character powerful but not too strong.


Usually when a someone signs up for my RP's I end up having a section for the powers where they have to put, ability limitations, weaknesses and draw back to each power. Normally this forces a person to think more on their powers and figure out what they can and can't do ahead of time. It also lets me see how a player in thinking on using their powers. It doesnt work 100% of the time and tweeks need to be made during the game but it helps.

 

[Bone2pick]

It's not so much the power but rather the player who tends to be the OP one.

Without a doubt. I'm a big superhero comic book reader, and that genre and format completely validates your statement. The same character, with the same powers (sometimes nonpowered), will have different writers; and the writer makes all the difference in the world.


Batman under one writer is basically Bat God. He becomes mythological — his intelligence and ferocity are the answers to all problems. Other hero and villains are humiliated for even trying to match his competency. But in the hands of another writer, a better writer, he's very mortal. Still competent, still amazing, but the challenges that he faces are so potent they will crash the vigilante to his knees. That's when we need Batman to be super smart and super skilled. That's when we will be begging for him to muster the will and skill to overcome his nightmarish foes.


Generally speaking the character, no matter the power set, is as OP as the writer wants them to be.

 

[Sibylline Oracle]

Limiting a character challenges them. Removing limits means the character can defeat any enemy, overcome any obstacle, and never learn from mistakes nor discover more about themselves. Free will means a character can act of their own volition, but to be over-powered means the character can do all they set out to do in the state they are currently in, and without issue.

It also challenges the player, in a sense. Characters limited by certain flaws or rules, in either themselves or the environment, are prone to face problems that the writer must consider from the character's point-of-view while simultaneously solving the puzzle through critical reasoning. Finding creative ways to use a character's abilities within the limits of the setting is part of the challenge I find so engaging. Sometimes, the character can resolve the problem directly, or otherwise work around the issue with the skills they have.


I'm not against the use of high-powered settings, but I honestly feel more connected to characters who can work through challenges that real people might face every day using nothing more than heart and mind - not a superpower or magical ability (though some writers mix both in their characters really well). In the end, for me, it's about the unexpected - a regular joe playing a pivotal role in history (of any world) is harder to find than a superhero doing the same thing. But, then again, to each his/her own! I mean no disrespect to those who enjoy that kind of fantasy, especially since I still dabble in it myself. ^^

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Well...I don't really have a problem with OP characters unless they go around killing every character in the game. As soon as an rper starts doing something to another rper character like landing a hit, killing them, or permanently maiming them, that falls into god-modding--which I believe only a gm is allowed to do. It's the gm's job to step in if that happens. So long as the OP character is played responsibly without performing an instant-kill move on another character, I'm fine with OP characters so long as they fit into the setting and adhere to the rules in the character creation.


That said, I don't really see the fun of playing an OP character...unless you want to just always win against npcs.


I believe OPness is dependent on the character in relation to their setting and the other characters. An OP character in an OP world isn't really op. I wouldn't really call ur water bender op because so long as they fit into the world and aren't overly skilled compared to other characters, having an instant kill move doesn't matter. You can't kill a character without god-modding anyway. Freezing blood counts as permanent maiming--which if you rp doing to another character it becomes god-modding which isn't allowed in most rps.

 

[Blumenkranz]

Pretty much any character can be OP in the right hands, specially in freeform where there are no mechanics that can measure a character's total power.


Even with mechanics, though, archetypes you wouldn't expect to be very useful in combat can be actually killing machines. For example, in contemporary/futuristic (specially the latter) systems, pharmaceutics can single-handedly oneshot any encounter the party may face, simply because you can add to your drugs effects as "comical" as instant death and then craft them into gas bombs.


But of course, when all powers are as ill-defined as in freeform roleplays, things can get out of hand even faster. With no combat rules that determine when and how can you hit or dodge, you will often get players with absolutely no combat skills that can somehow dodge all attacks because "I can read your character's thoughts". Nevermind nowhere in their CS says they have superhuman reflexes to dodge a fast barrage of attacks they predicted.


In fact, I am not sure why there is so much obsession with shonen combating in freeform. Fights are often long, tedious and the winner will be the person that gets bored of it last. Unless the players are very very good and willing to lose or you have a nice impartial GM acting as a judge for the combat, it will pretty much become a contest about who can pull more bullshit for the longest time possible.


I think there should be some distinction between "expert OP" and "lame OP". It's not the same to find a person who can use very limited powers in an effective manner through pure unadulterated strategy and tactics and another one that can simply every combat with flashy nonspecified powers. With the first type you get McGyvers, with the second one you get Gokus without anything of what made Dragon Ball Z special. For example, would you rather see a player executing a flawless custom-made combo or just pressing A to win with fireworks of variable quality?


So to answer your question, EVERYTHING can be OP (even regular humans!). The actual question is, what makes a character lame? Blurry or too broad powers can definitely make lame characters, depending on if the player is abusing the wording in the CS or if they are restraining (or if they simply couldn't word it well). Good powers will always be narrow (as in, actually narrow and not just apparently narrow or limited) and well defined.


Shallow weaknesses can also make a character lame. I am fairly sure we have all seen those characters whose weaknesses aren't actual weaknesses (as @Kylesar1 mentioned, personality "weaknesses" fall into this category), but it goes further than that. I once found a character who had a very tangible and specific weakness but shrugged it off by simply destroying their kryptonite with more ill-defined instakill remote powers. This also applies to those characters who have absurdly versatile and powerful abilities that "would never use them unless it is necessary".


Spotting limitless powers behind fancy words can prove very difficult in some cases, so unless you aren't afraid of calling players when their shenanigans get too out of hand, I recommend making some simple mechanics.


I also want to add that limited characters who can use their powers in creative ways are much funnier to play as and against.

 

[Clubland Emo]

A character being OP doesn't necessary mean it's a bad thing. Like most of you have said it depends on how they use the character. If they act like a young child always wanting to win then yes, them being OP sucks for the rest of us. As long as they don't try to make the whole story about their character or shows of it should be fine.

 

[JKami12]

From what I can see there are different sections or categories of Over-Poweredness. You can have the straight-up over powered character who has no weaknesses, limitless power, and is generally the superman with or without kyrptonite to use against. This is pretty much an inappropriate character for the setting and roleplay. Let's face it, if you were put up against someone who can insta-heal all wounds and stop your heart by just blinking in your direction... That's pretty OP and god-like. There's no way you can win against that, and it's just not cool.


Then you got the OP player who can take a seemingly normal, limited character and allow them to perform feats of amazing abilities that can cripple their opponents. Like how Bone2Pick mentioned with Batman. This guy is mortal but the things he do appear superhuman. So when Bat somehow dodges a flurry of bullets or predicts where the bad guy is gonna be before a crime even happens without an plausible evidence or gimmick.... That get's fishy. Even if there was something plausible, unless the setting calls for it, Bat being able to do this constantly and precise every time... That can definitely be grounds for OP.


Taking another example already use from the Last Airbender World. Katara can blood bend. That's a known fact but however she has limitations on that. Therefore being able to blood bend without a full moon or some power enhancing device, unless we go into the Korra sequel, is impossible. Also if going strictly off the fandom, there was no evidence of someone freezing anyone's body water, just manipulating it. Another thing to mention would be that even though Blood Bending has limitations, its still consider an OP ability but, depending on the RP, it's acceptable to have if one has an explanation for it and doesn't abuse it.


You can separate a lot of this OP stuff into categories, but a lot of it is gray area too. So in the end, it depends on the relationship and impact the character and player can have on the RPG. It's kind of the job of the GM to make the call and other players to just watch out and voice concerns over anything.

 

[Tabby]

I will start this off with a caveat: I don't join a lot of 'public' RPs anymore, and I like strong characters myself.


That said, I like a specific kind of 'strong' character - one who has a great deal of power, but is constantly faced with situations where they CAN'T use it, generally social, to see how they react. Better yet if everyone in the story is stupidly powerful, and as a result they end up in a sort of detente where actually USING all that power accomplishes very little so thy have to find other solutions. They may not even have any actual limitations on their powers, or even emotional drawbacks, but are in a setting or series of situations where those 'drawbackless' powers have very real and very serious consequences.


One setting I wrote in had basically everyone relevant having transcended power to the point that they literally couldn't lose - or win - against each other, and as a result they just sparred sometimes and otherwise interacted, built relationships, explored, jumped dimensions, had adventures, etc. Not really light hearted, it got pretty dark at times, but not nearly as hammy or hardcore as you might expect from a bunch of fairly literally godlike characters. Their power was an integral part of the setting and the characters, it wasn't just John Q. Smith interacting with Susy Q. Marianne so much as THOG'ROTH GOD OF VOODOO arguing with ARIADNE THE SPIDER DEMON GODDESS about who had to fix the Vault of Eternity after MOLGOTH THE DESTROYER peed in it again.


Why did I spend two paragraphs engaging in verbal diarrhea about my experiences and what are blatantly just opinions (and bad jokes)? To make the following point: "overpowered" is a function of setting (minor) and character interaction (major). In a shonen (fairy tail, bleach, naruto, DBZ, etc), which are generally extremely competitive and highly focused around PVP, there's a certain expectation that if you have a power level of 500, and the other guy has a power level of 500, the battle should be reasonably fair - but if your power is 'can produce bees from armpits' and theirs is 'universe-scale time-space obliteration' because they sucked the admin off, that's not really a fair battle, is it? Seriously, bees are OP shit.


In a more cooperative storytelling setting, where players have the same general goal, having power disparities really isn't a big deal anymore so long as everyone can feel like they're contributing. Doesn't matter if they can bloodbend or use nuclear bubble explosions or smack people with their balls of steel or just turn purple really, long as people are kept invested, it can work fine.


The problem of course is that usually the "OP" problem is in scenario 1, and usually by someone who takes the winning thing WAY too seriously. Happened a LOT on Bleach RP when I tried it, I swear people competed to find who could make the most bullshit autowin bankai or whatever, but it's common throughout most/all of the various shonen-esque setting RPs I've investigated.


Emotional/personality weaknesses tend to be an overused 'crutch' weakness, but conceptually I find are in fact the most interesting since I've always felt the characterization and devlopment side of things is more important in roleplay than the power level bullshit, and those kinds of weaknesses can tell a hundred times more about a character, or showcase different kinds of growth, better than boring some generic "can only fire 20 acid soap bubbles in a row" limitation. Comes down to execution in the end - lots of possibility, lots of ways for it to go horribly wrong.


Anyways, 27 million rambling incoherent lines of drivel later, to answer the original question: I don't think overpowered is an actual problem, I think being overpowered inappropriately for the setting or social contract is a problem. Having a clearly-overpowered character in a PVP-heavy game is bad, having an "overpowered" character in an equally overpowered setting, or in a lower-power setting and limiting them in other ways like personal, emotional, or 'sealing' or whatever, can make for a damn good story.

 

[Shura]

At that point its about the style and maturity of the players in the RP. I've seen players with virtually the same characters, same abilities, written different.


One was just two people trying to one up each other, neither of them backing down. It can become tired and honestly overbearing. All they did was clash and care more about winning than anything else.


The other planned out ahead of time who would win and who would lose. Maybe not the how or why but they worked together to write out a battle that was amazing.


Honestly I don't like PVP only RP's for that reason. Only way I will join is if there is a stat or dice system in place. Nothing complicated. I could just be 5 basic state. but it shows who is faster, who is stronger, ect.

 

[Jabroni]

I typically don't participate in the super hero/fantasy genre for this very reason. The setting calls for overpowered characters who in turn overestimate whatever it is they are doing. "My kingdom has 50,000 knights. Oh yea? Well my kingdom has Ringwraiths, and yes, they are mounted on giant fire-breathing dragons that can engulf entire cities."


And then of course you have the perfect humans who for some reason have every redeeming trait in the book. They then wish to exploit that to no end without much care for character development. It's like all the other people and the plot are just objects in their destructive playground. Yea..that's about the time I pack my bags and head on to the next one.

 

[Protagonist]

The point at which a character becomes overpowered depends on the setting, but generally can be said to be "The point at which your character can solve problems without any use of creativity".


For example, an overpowered telekinetic could solve basically every problem with "and then I mind-pushed the enemy". A badass telekinetic would have to be more creative, for example, using the power to do things like pick locks, carry firearms, cause firearms to jam, ect.


Another thing is usually, you should give your character just a few skills and then make the most out of them. For example, your character might have one simple ability, like the ability to refract light with their mind. This, in turn, would allow them to see around walls, turn invisible, and shoot laser beams.

 

[Tabby]

Except crap like can only fire 20 soap bubbles is part of how shonen fighting animes work since its all about hard counters and bullshit technique one-upmanship

Sure, and I'm not saying it's an inherently -bad- limiting technique, just a boring one.


There's also the question of medium - what works well in anime doesn't always work well in writing format. If you have a 20,000 member Fairy Tail RP, having only one dragonslayer of each element allowed fits the anime well enough, but it's pretty shit from a RP perspective because those slots will always be filled by old members so no one new can really get in.


Honestly though that's why I don't really do shonen-type RPs anymore, there are so many arbitrary distinctions drawn directly from the source anima (can only ever start as a level 1 babby, arbitrary limits, etc) that I don't think add much to RP. It's just something I have a fair bit of experience with so I use them as examples a lot.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

I'm pretty sure the original poster just said that personality-derived limiting factors were bollocks right after defending water-bending as a reasonable power because the water-benders never chose to use its full potential. Right?


"Overpowered" is a description of character ease that bores the audience, or frustrates opposing players. It usually doesn't come up when people aren't roleplaying to enact a power fantasy. If you're the one applying the label, it might help to avoid playing with complete strangers, or to move toward crunchier systems that can be explicitly balanced. Or maybe explore genres that don't involve a lot of conflict between PCs. It's the plague of freeform, and always has been, so you either restrict your gaming group to people who appreciate letting their characters struggle and fail, or adopt a set of mechanics that forces that on everyone.

 

[AlexSilverX]

A character or ability's OP status is relative to the medium it is found in.


By definition, OVER-POWERED means "powered more than is necessary".


You become over-powered when you have more power than anyone else in the medium. This is why some people call their character "slightly OP". In some cases, that is accurate.


The problem with this is that - by that logic - the strongest character in the medium, regardless of balance, is OP when compared to the other characters. This is especially true if compared to the weakest character in the medium.

 

[call me rae]

I do a lot of superhero roleplays and I recently had two seperate people come at me with obviously overpowered characters and I used the tried and true example of Superman to explain how you can create a character that is powerful without making them overpowered.


( this is because one of the girls literally said their character had - all the powers of superman but none of the weaknesses and she tried to use this as justification for her character's godliness )


So anyway Superman as a character is obviously over-powered and borderline Mary Sue-ish at times. This is an acknowledged aspect of his character and how he is written


He has a whole host of powers and only one really well known weaknesses. But that's the important part - he does have a weakness. And if you do your research properly you'll find out he has more than one.


The physical weaknesses are as follows - Lead, Red Sunlight/Sunlight Deprivation, Kryptonite, Magic/Psychic Abilities.


Now each of these powers are important because they are a way of limiting his overwhelming physical abilities.

• Kryptonite - poisons him and reverse the effects of yellow sunlight making him essentially human
  
• Red Sunlight/Sunlight Deprivation - depletes his powers at a slower rate but likewise makes him essentially human.
  
• Magic - he can't defend against.
  
• Psionics - he's weak to mental attacks.
  
• Lead - prevents him from using his x-ray vision.
  

But that's just the stuff on the wiki. If you think about it Superman's greatest weakness has nothing to do with the physical. As Batman in particular points out multiple times his greatest weaknesses is his personality.


He sees himself as a man - answerable to the same laws as any other man. Not only that he is well aware of his immense power relative to everyone else but he refuses to use said power to harm others. He's the ultimate boyscout, he doesn't use even a tenth of his maximum strength in a day to day setting. Or for that matter in the heat of battle.


Similar to the example used of water benders being able to freeze the ice in a person's body and kill them. Well sure they can do that but that doesn't mean it would occur to them or even that they would if it did.


To me I think when you are coming up with weaknesses ( and EVERYONE has a weakness ) just think of whatever psychological or physical detriment will be easiest to exploit by the other members of the roleplay.


And just be reasonable. If your character is invincible and can shoot lasers out of his eyes - then saying he's antisocial and hard-headed just makes him more dangerous not less.


Maybe he has like an Achilles heel or one part of him that isn't invincible. Maybe the invincibility comes from an invisible armor that is controlling his mind. Maybe he has debilitating agoraphobia and can't leave his house without going into hysterics.


You know don't be afraid to be creative just keep it to a reasonable level and we'll all be happy.

 

[Archie]

I often hear about OP characters
I actually did a test on how it may be confused for basic ability. I took basic Waterbending and elaborated on it, telling of its applications. I didn't add any components or take anything to the extreme. All I did was tell basic battle applications, and someone called it overpowered, reasoning that someone could easily freeze the water in someone's body, killing them nearly instantly, and calling them a God because of it.


Pretty much any power can be put to an unbeatable use in battle. That doesn't mean they will use it. Yes, a waterbender could freeze the water in a person's body, but do you think there would've been a 100 year war in Avatar if they decided to use it


I'm not talking about obviously overpowered characters and abilities, like characters who are perfect in every way and, in fantasies, cast every spell in the book....................or characters with god powers, like time or space control, or creating new dimensions.


I really don't like characters whose only weaknesses are personality weaknesses. In my mind, those aren't real weaknesses. Unless the player REALLY gets into character and their cat-killing curiosity has them stopping what they're doing to see something interesting, then it's not a real weakness


When do you see a character as overpowered? Like I said any power can be put to an unbeatable use. Is it the amount of elaboration? the unbeatable scenarios? The lack of viable weaknesses, or weaknesses period. What constitutes as a weakness? What exactly is a "God" power?


I want your opinions, because it's something that's been bothering me for a while.

When they stop having to climb over gigantic obstacles and make close calls. All movie and book plots with great heroes and vilalins make them try to do something way above their size, fight dragons or david and goliath battles.


When people don't need to do fair fights anymore, then they become OP


Why? Since in real life, big or small, people always have to reach above their level. Presidents and peasants both have to deal with problems way bigger than them, we all do


I've seen characters breeze through every challenge, but almost everyone in real life who seems effortlessly successful has tension about not doing more. If characters end up like that, whether they're giants fighting tigers or high school kids fighting ants, it's because the RPer pulling their strings is trying to deal with their frustration over confronting problems way bigger than them


That's when the characters become overpowered: I've seen emperors played brilliantly since they realistically go through all the problems facing them, starvation, revolt. Their RPers realize they can't effortlessly execute other RPers, there's backlash that can bring the mightiest down. But I've seen simple hitmen be overpowered because their RPers refuse to let them lose fights or take wounds, or for anything to go wrong for them


To me it's not about how big the character is, but how big the RPer lets the opposition, PCs or NPCs be, before godmodding or writing out the damage

 

[Miguel]

If the character can't die, it's overpowered.


If the character doesn't have weaknesses it's overpowered.


If it's too strong, it's overpowered.


Every unfair advantage makes a character Overpowered.

 

[Jaye]

If the character can't die, it's overpowered.
If the character doesn't have weaknesses it's overpowered.


If it's too strong, it's overpowered.


Every unfair advantage makes a character Overpowered.

I'm so glad you said this because this highlights why the "When is a character overpowered?" is my favourite discussion.


So I used to play on a Supernatural rp board and one of the species playable were angels. Actual freaking angels who could use their grace to destroy mortal things and who had really specific weaknesses - basically just the angel blades and those couldn't logically be wielded by almost anyone who wasn't an angel. But they were canon so they had to stay. I grew quite upset when I proposed another supernatural creature that was bumped back for being 'OP' even though it wasn't nearly as powerful as an angel.


Basically - it comes down to story telling.


Overpowered is only a bad thing when it makes your story (and character) boring. I mean technically an angel could destroy anything it comes across - but if it solved all it's problems with violence then the story would be boring.


Highly-powered characters don't need specific power weaknesses, I think. They just need a writer that will write them into corner and cut off their escape routes.


I mean, the OP said how character weaknesses only work if the writer uses them - but I delight in exposing my character's weaknesses. That's how drama is made and it's far more fun that way.


It just - it depends on the writing and trusting what the writer will do with a character.

 

[Miguel]

I'm so glad you said this because this highlights why the "When is a character overpowered?" is my favourite discussion.
So I used to play on a Supernatural rp board and one of the species playable were angels. Actual freaking angels who could use their grace to destroy mortal things and who had really specific weaknesses - basically just the angel blades and those couldn't logically be wielded by almost anyone who wasn't an angel. But they were canon so they had to stay. I grew quite upset when I proposed another supernatural creature that was bumped back for being 'OP' even though it wasn't nearly as powerful as an angel.


Basically - it comes down to story telling.


Overpowered is only a bad thing when it makes your story (and character) boring. I mean technically an angel could destroy anything it comes across - but if it solved all it's problems with violence then the story would be boring.


Highly-powered characters don't need specific power weaknesses, I think. They just need a writer that will write them into corner and cut off their escape routes.


I mean, the OP said how character weaknesses only work if the writer uses them - but I delight in exposing my character's weaknesses. That's how drama is made and it's far more fun that way.


It just - it depends on the writing and trusting what the writer will do with a character.

Totally agree. If you just repeat the process, like: He looked at me? Kill, He is alive? Kill.


It's bored, the history becomes too predictive.

 

[Pariah Stark]

The answer to this question, in my opinion, revolves around one simple thing:

Context, Context, Context.​

Power is relative, as are all things. There are ways to limit it and expand it, but irrelevant of that and irrelevant of potential, the standard of power in a continuity is what truly defines what it is to be overpowered.


In a more direct note, knowledge is immensely important. You used Avatar as an example. What you likely didn't explain is how bending itself is an extension of chi and that waterbending cannot freeze the water inside of blood because it cannot manipulate the chi inside another living being. The only exception to this is bloodbending, which is literally an advanced form of waterbending notably only 'normally' available in the presence of a full moon and the control it requires is so great that at the point you achieve it, immediately freezing someone from the inside out isn't exactly the most overpowered thing you can do. Also, healing using waterbending redirects chi for the purposes of healing wounds, but even then, that is only redirection. In no canonical scenario has a waterbender frozen the water inside of someone, and that's because the chi used to manipulate them would have to overpower the chi that is part of the chakra systems inside the body - which is not only rare, but literally considered nefarious within Avatar continuity. All of this knowledge is immensely important because it can in fact help you understand what is overpowered and what isn't.