Powers that change RPGs

A while ago, when I talked about 2-d, 3-d, and 4-d powers, I made note that 4-d powers often skipped, bent, or broke parts of the system. I'd like to detail this a little more, as it's important for my game. Here is a list of powers that don't work for my game and others:

Flight AKA Permenantly out of reach
Usually one of the earliest powers to be obtained. Flight is most often broken because of the divide of melee and ranged weapondry. Combined with forms of missile protection, it creates a hard to overcome challenge, especially for the level. In addition, it allows its users to take odd entrances and overcome nearly any kind of terrain or simple trap.

Teleportation AKA Always where you need to be
Quite often a power that's a while down the road, teleportation always seems to come in handy. It has a slight overlap with flight in that it overcomes nearly any terrain. It has the added bonus of protecting the user from anything that might have occured while normally traveling between A and B, it keeps the travel itself a secret, and makes outright impossible travel, possible. Time becomes less of a concern when you can be anywhere in 6 seconds.

Instant death AKA You lose
If there's anything that is the blunder of game design, it's the instant death effects. Most combat games revolve around resources, such as hitpoints, or scales, such as wounds, to determine when combat is over. Then mid-high level comes along and tells you that you can win in a single roll. Hitpoints? They don't matter anymore. Why do so many games create a balance, only to throw it away?

Immunity to X AKA Fire? What fire?
I think there is no larger source of metagaming than awesome monster abilities, such as immunity to X. Immunities, plain and simple, remove options from combat. You can't use fire to kill a magma troll. It doesn't matter if your fire can ignite time on fire. It's even worse when someone regenerates from an immunity (because you not only stop moving forward, you take a step back).

Invisibility AKA 1 rank of this beats 10,000 ranks of that
Sort of a continuation of immunities. Invisibility is another absolute that defeats something totally. No matter how good your eyesight is, invisibility is better. This also covers another area, however, that is important to note. Skill replacement is poor design, in my opinion. One invisibility spell and you can stop increasing your hiding skill. A logical power, but it's not going to help balance at all.

Anti-magic shell AKA Your shinies don't work here
There seem to be 2 purposes to this effect. One is a great defense for fighters against spellcasters, albeit a harsh one. The other is just a general "You've got stuff that can instantly win, so let me take that away". Sort of like a patch to repair a broken game. Everyone and their grandma will have these at the most inconvenient times. By default, all shops are built around anti-magic areas.

Time manipulation AKA no no no, that didn't happen
A harder power to swallow and usually not received until the end of a campaign. Not only can time manipulation get confusing, but it can turn tabletop rpgs into console rpgs. Time manipulation is like a save point that can be returned to again and again (so long as you live, I guess). It can quickly turn into a chest beating contest, as each time through the same place has great potential for one-upmanship.

Shapechanging AKA I'm that other guy
This power is another one that overlaps with a recurring theme. Shapechanging is often poorly conceived in many games. Some systems give you powers of the things you turn in to (logic getting in the way sometimes), while others do not. Either way, you're stepping on the toes of the disguise skill, and perhaps others as well (ever have someone shapechange into an enemy guard and waltz into the headquarters?). If I've learned anything from Marvel, it's that a correctly timed shapechange screws everything over. I can't even count the amount of times it's been the focus of a plot!

Creation AKA Easy money making game
A handy power that many people ignore. Its abuse has a long history, however. There are stories upon stories of players trying to scam merchants and it all weighs down the setting. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a redeeming quality that keeps this effect from the garbage heap. It's most often taken by a player who wants to walk the fringe of the rules or use player knowledge in the game (and likely both), so he has the perfect item in any situation.

Bind* AKA You lose a turn
There is nothing more prescious than your turn in combat. Without your turn, you can't win. This is especially true when one side is outnumbered. Beyond that, it takes a player out of combat and more or less out of the game. That is one of the last things you want to do. I do, however, believe that this power can be used in limited forms. At a minimum, it should require someone losing their turn for every turn they want someone else to lose. There are still issues to be had, but that's more on the balancing side of discussion.

Acceleration AKA I do more stuff
Another junt off to the side, this time from a one-two combo of time manipulation and binding. Instead of taking the turn away from your enemy, you give yourself an additional turn (likely do 2x as much in 1 turn). Some recent games have significantly reduced this power, but it is still seen. It also creates a divide in playstyles between the GM and player. The GM can often afford to have his npcs use all of their powers at once to win, but the PCs often have to be concerned about the near future.

Confusion AKA unreliable bind/charm
A sidestep on the way back from binding and charming. Confusion removes players from the game and makes someone lose their turn. However, they could also turn on one of their allies. Just another example of logic defeating design.

Summoning* AKA Get him my minions!
Another common power in the fantasy genre, summoning has a whole layer of things it does. It adds another character to your side of the battle and with that character comes additional turns, etc... Sometimes, you are even able to summon thing more powerful than you are to defeat things that you couldn't defeat. However, I do think that this ability could be redeemed if a proper balance of power and cost could be found.

Divination AKA Tell us what to do AKA Tell us what happened
The mother of all DM fiat. Divination spells cross many lines, and brake many barriers. It's used to circumvent investigation skills, and actual investigation effort. It's used to direct the players as the DM sees fit. It's used to keep the BBEG up to date (and it never works on the BBEG... until it suddenly works). A fix it all patch that can bring a campaign to a snail's pace.

That's all for now. Here's looking forward to a whole new year, and a redoubled effort towards my game. Next time, I might take a look at subcategories for some powers, if there are enough things to talk about.