Character Theory How to write OP characters

[LadyLuckTakeTheWheel]

The title may seem contradicting but hear me out. There are a lot of OP characters in the fandom world. Allmight from BNHA or One-punch man. I myself am not looking for advice. I just want users to comment advice for others to use!

 

[rae2nerdy]

Here are two ways to handle this.

1. Perception : Make the character not as powerful as they think they are. Instead of making them actually invincible just make them think they are. This way when they are inevitably taken down a few pegs it's surprising to them and something they can learn from.

2. Consequences. Make them have to pay a price for their power. Maybe their invincibility comes by way of draining life from others. Or maybe it means that they cannot take medicine and must suffer through whatever ailments they have in silence. Basically their power has to cause some kind of long term problem for the individual.

 

[Idea]

rae2nerdy pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'll just add that "hidden power" type of OP characters also work for this effect, where the power is locked away for a reason or another. So they are uber-powerful, but they can't actually access that power.

 

[duegxybus]

I'd like to add to this.



Unparalleled Skill: Become OP through skill. Make them a specialized OP character, unbeatable at their own game. Perhaps they possess unparalleled knowledge and power related to hacking and hacking alone? They can't fight for shit but they can hack their way around it. Make robots out of old computers that are borderline invincible. Just a thought. Hyperspecialized characters are very underrated.

Atrophy: They're leagues above most characters, but they can't use their full strength just because they want to. Maybe they were powerful once, but now it's dwindling because they can't use their full strength. You can't expect a weight lifter who can deadlift a quarter of a ton to keep in shape by pushing teddy bears around, right? Make the character weaken over time, the more they don't use their power. Make it reflect in their personality as well. Insecurity, desperation, and even coming to terms with mortality are a great way to get this effect. But for the time being, they can go around being OP.

EDIT: Attrition: They can't fight forever. It's as easy as that. The only way to beat them in direct conflict is to whittle them down and wear them out.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying these are surefire ways to get an OP character into an RP. Chances are, the GM won't like that. They'll just be a tad better than the average harem protagonist

1. Perception : Make the character not as powerful as they think they are. Instead of making them actually invincible just make them think they are. This way when they are inevitably taken down a few pegs it's surprising to them and something they can learn from.

Spoiler: maymay

 

[JadeGreen17]

A good way to approach the problem is to move the question from "Can I" to "Should I". If you have a multidimensional conflict more than "Love Interest Needs saving, Bad guy needs killing." then an overpowered character can very well face a challenge given they're not outright omnipotent.

Take for instance (random plot pulled out of my bum) a child is born with a mother from the red tribe and a father from the blue tribe. He spends part of his childhood in the red tribe with his mom until they almost find out he's half blooded to the blue tribe, and need to hide him. Then his father takes him in and raises him partially under the blue tribe, so he grows up with mostly good experiences and traits of both tribes. Eventually he grows up and decides not to live under either tribe but becomes a powerful young wizard or sage due to his mixed blood who lives in a cave alone. He finds out that the feuding red and blue tribes are going to war, and he gets called upon by both tribes to attack the other tribe. If the protag has any morals in this case they might be a powerful wizard who could flatten both tribes, but they wouldn't want to necessarily because he has memories and family in both tribes. He'd have to resolve the conflict by other means. The character could even have an inner struggle with wanting to resolve the issue the 'easy' way by just killing some people instead of using diplomacy, and realizing that makes them the bad guy for doing so.

 

[Abendrot]

Sometimes (but not always) I feel that overpowered characters are best when they are matched with overpowered challenges, or when they're placed against an overpowered backdrop.

Write your characters so that things aren't always easy for them, no matter how powerful they are. Throw some struggles at them that they aren't well suited to face, or pit then against an enemy that's even more powerful, or give them a flaw that undermines a lot of their power.

Take Superman for instance. Supes is hella op when it comes to fighting because that's what his power set is mostly geared towards. But you sometimes see him in situations where his powers can't come into play, like some zany episode where he has to pretend to be a lawyer for a day. Then he's not much better than the average person because he's out of his element

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet: Make a character whose powers are not a means for them to reach their goals. Or, even better, their powers are an obstacle to them reaching their goals.

Take One Punch Man. He works as an incredibly OP character because his goal is to find an opponent who won't be killed in one punch. His powers are actively an impediment to his goal, and thus he struggles even though he's powerful.

Or take Charles Xavier. He's incredibly overpowered, but his goal is for mutants to be accepted by humanity. Something that, through public fear and hatred of out-groups, makes mutant powers an obstacle.

This type of character has to come up with different ways of approaching their problems that don't rely on their powers, and that's interesting as hell.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Make them laughably incompetent XD
Of course this is only for comedy story. Just look at Aqua from Konosuba.