litphoria

Characters with powerful abilities able to affect both the Mental and Physical planes of existence, such as reading minds and levitating objects.

Do we find this meaningfully distinct from magical?

Do we find this meaningfully distinct from magical?

I don't see much of a difference in the end result, but in an RP, there's a major difference between how Psylocke or Professor X manifest their powers through psionic/psychic means compared to Scarlet Witch or Wiccan who both use magic.

Put another way, it's brain bullets vs. magic missile. While the end result is the same, the way it comes into being is meaningfully different in a narrative.

It's probably a roundabout way of me agreeing with Rin- psionics is definitely its own thing and separate from magic.

But what is the difference from "Super human"?

I support the idea of having Psionic as a category. Flavourfully it's often very distinct from just being Magic. Heck, it's still a form of magic, you're breaking all the rules with the power of your mind, but it's distinct enough it's worth being its own thing.

What you just asked is... 'What's the difference between Spider-Man and Professor Xavier'. There's a big difference.

No. It's not. Both are mutants which gain their powers from the mutation of their DNA. There is a very small difference, Xavier has the X-Gene while Spider Man mutated due to the bite of a radioactive spider. The crucial point is the origin of their powers. Martian Manhunter is not superhuman. You can only be superhuman if you are a human and he is a Martian, he is extraterrestrial. He is supernatural but not superhuman.

What doesn't fit in well is shape shifter and monstrous. A werewolf is demonic or lycantrop. Monstrous is not a supernatural power or quality. It would better fit under body type or species.

Four traits are not enough since you define your species by "supernatural nature". My char is a demon: Demihuman+Demonic. Demihuman + Magical could be anything, an elf, a witch, an Angel.

Monstrous was added to accompany a species or body type or whatever. Dire wolf, for instance - not a body type, which is quadruped or feral or whatever, just a monstrous wolf. Or just being a flat-out monster where the species is gonna help, since being a monster isn't a species itself.

I do think the analogies about the superheroes don't all hold up but we don't need 'em. We could be arbitrarily specific or so generic we only have two categories ('supernatural' and 'not really'). There's a sweet spot somewhere in the middle where we're hovering around. I think Rin's point is we could be super generic but we're not 'cause it's helpful distinguishing the stuff we have, and that this is another thing worth distinguishing. (I agree but I've said that already.)

@Satsuki: A dire wolf is just larger as a wolf, for this is body height. Whatever, being monstrous is not supernatural, it would fit under "Charisma" then.

@Rin: Then you would say a Bat is superhuman because it can fly and "see" in the dark what a human cannot? If my power would be under "supernatural" nobody would know I am a demon. I can find other demons to play with by searching for "demonic" but not by searching for "supernatural".

It doesn't bother me and I didn't say it bothers me. I asked what is the difference between psionic and super human. I understand your point but not what you mean with "psionic". The term "demonic" is self-explanatory for me but the term "psionic" is not. Your explanation: "One got it through natural means, the other got it through artificial means" confused me. Colossus (who got his powers the same way as Xavier) is psionic and Spider man is not?

I like how you're putting words in my mouth. Where did I say one got through natural means, and the other didn't? I just looked through my posts, and I didn't see it. Perhaps it's too early in the morning, but I'd like to see where I said that. That's irrelevant to the subject matter, in the first place. And, I have to admit, the term Psionic is quite common for anyone who ever looked into powers in general. In short, it's difficult to not know the term. Even if you don't know what it means, the term itself is common.

And that, too, is beside the point. Each trait gets a small explanation. So, if Psionic was there and nobody knew what it meant, they could just hover over it and then it's explained. I mean, I put the explanation there for a reason, after all. And I made sure that even an idiot knows what it is. Some may know this better as Psychic, but at the same time, Psychics only affect the mental plane. They rarely can affect the Physical plane. A Psionic, however, can affect both fairly easily.

And I took another look through. If you're using "What you just asked is... 'What's the difference between Spider-Man and Professor Xavier?'. There's a big difference.", I meant that as a character archetype analyzation. Not clear from the start, but that bit is irrelevant, regardless.

In short, Demons, Angels, Deities, etc. have their own categories. Why can't I have Psionics? Though, again, if Supernatural Nature is supposed to describe where powers come from, then Supernatural Nature of Supernatural would make the most sense for Demons, Angels, and Deities. Simply because their powers come from their natural state. And if I had to make one for Psionics, I, personally, would go with Genetically Modified. Simply because that covers quite a bit of different enhancements.

Supernatural nature is meant to mean "I am this or my powers are in tune with this, this is part of my nature." It used to just be "Supernatural powers", but that was inconvenient if you were a demon but with no powers at all or something, so we renamed it: edit supernatural abilities (litphoria.com)

@Masoto: Angels, Demons and Gods are own species and their supernatural nature is used to define their species. A demon is defined by setting "species" to demihuman and "supernatural nature" to demonic. If we would have "demon" as species, "demonic" would be useless. The question is, if Psionic is also a species. A mutant is a species so "Genetically Modified" or simply "Mutant" would make sense as a supernatural nature.

@Satsuki: Ah, I think, now I got this! Species defines the physical form while "Supernatural nature" defines the nature of the character. A robot cat would be species cat and supernatural nature robot. Supernatural means "not natural". The natural nature of someone who looks like a human is human, if he is an extraterrestrial, a robot, a demon, this is his supernatural nature.

@Satsuki: Ah, I think, now I got this! Species defines the physical form while "Supernatural nature" defines the nature of the character. A robot cat would be species cat and supernatural nature robot. Supernatural means "not natural". The natural nature of someone who looks like a human is human, if he is an extraterrestrial, a robot, a demon, this is his supernatural nature.

Yeah, I think you've got it. There's some fuzzy areas too, like those warlocks with demonic pacts fuelling their powers might variously pick 'demonic' or 'magical' depending on the nature of the character, but I think that's okay.

(also this is still Satsuki hi.)

Y'all should just not worry so much about fighting about all of this. I think a lot of effort was being expended here on tangents that weren't necessarily helpful.

Psionic's a kind of supernatural power and it's distinctly flavourful compared to what we already have. Whether that makes it any good doesn't require much examination upon angels, demons, superhumans, etc.

@Rin: I think, the problem is, that supernatural nature serves three purposes. The nature of the character, the nature of her abilities and what the abilities are. My character could choose three of them. "Demonic" since she is a demon, "magical" since she uses magic, and "shape shifter" since she can shift her form between human and succubus. So the description should explain what the purpose of the trait is. For example: "Psionic: The ability to cause supernatural effects or have extrasensory perceptions just by concentration (mind over matter). Examples: Telepathy, Telekinesis." If it can be distinguished from "magic" (general magic ability) and "super human" (physical abilities like strength and flying) then it makes sense.

@Samus: It explains a few things I haven't understand till now. Why there is dragon as species but not demon, though both have a supernatural nature and why demihuman is not a body type but a species. The concept makes sense but it's too abstract to be understood without explanation. A species usually describes the nature of a creature not just the shape. A dolphin ist not species fish because it looks like a fish. That's why the idea is hard to grasp.