reality_warping

HOW TO PLAY A REALITY WARPER
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Being a reality warper has got to be the coolest power anyone could ever possibly imagine. Some would scoff and say that this falls under the umbrella of magic, but only if "magic" is defined as being able to change gravity, create mind-boggling physical paradoxes and impossibilities, and basically having the power of an Architect in the movie Inception, but all without waving a wand or having to memorize special words. Imagine how cool that would be!

Unfortunately, modern technology does not allow us to do such impossibilities, so we have to settle for imagining being reality benders- or, even better, playing one in a role playing game. Thus, this is a guide on how to successfully survive in a game as a warper.

Unfortunately, the most important instruction is not to waste your power. The more powerful a character is, the farther they are removed from humanity and the harder it becomes to empathise with them, which is a big part of what makes someone consider whether you are a good character or not. To avoid seeming listless and disinterested with humanity, tone it down and be less overt. If you have a fully powered reality warper who is proactive about getting stuff done, then the setting is rendered moot, there would be no feasible struggle and therefore no story worth the telling besides 'omnipotent god-being saves the day again'.

If you understand that incredibly important instruction, you are all set with the basics. However, if you really want to further the goals set by this requirement, the following rules and ideas are extremely helpful.

1. Do not announce your powers to the world. Declaring that you are a transcandental being is an invitation for others to kill you.

2. Attempt to look like something stupidly simple and straight-forward (for instance, an idiot hero or a lawful stupid paladin). You just appear to have supernaturally good fortune: guns jam at point blanc range; bullets ricochet back at their firers; during a thunderstorm an enemy is struck by lightning; stuff like that.

3. Do not use your powers on a whim; instead, think out all of the implications of the tiniest effect caused. When you do manipulate reality, be innovative and subtle enough to make it look like a perfectly logical and possible (albeit highly unlikely) accident. For instance, tweak reality just enough to send a burst wind in just the right direction to blow an ember from some guy's cigarette towards a gas leak and cause a fireball that blasts your target. Reality is defined by the general consensus of its inhabitants, so the more obvious the result of your warping and the more implausible the event caused, the more the universe stacks up against you.

3. Have doubts in yourself; you can't be a proper hero unless there's a measure of internal conflict and challenge to overcome. Again, it's all about subtlety. Don't bring this to the forefront and complain about it; just sigh occasionally when things are tough, then smack yourself and man up before getting back to pretending to just be incredibly lucky while actually saving the world. A great weakness and source for internal conflict is that when reality and the universe itself stacks up to a critical point due to your warping, it will cause an inevitable and unpredictable backlash of some type: bad things may happen to you; you may wake up in the shape of a giant beetle; you may be rendered permanently blind. So make your decisions carefully and use your powers sparingly. It could mean the difference between life and death.