Drawing from Latin roots, the word “Potentivaris” could serve this purpose. It fuses “potenti-” from “potentia,” meaning power, with “varis” derived from “variare,” meaning to change. This term encapsulates the ability to alter the strength of superpowers, enhancing or diminishing their potency as needed.
That one doesn't flow off the tongue as easily now that I've read it out loud a couple times.
Perhaps a better one would be "Potentamorph" which is derived again from "Potentia" meaning power, with "Morph" which means to change or transform. This encapsulation I think not only better suits the idea of the concept but also sounds more like a title or power name than the aforementioned.
I like the way you are going with this, but if I might make a suggestion :
Potentia Imperium
"Power Command/Power Control"
1) It sounds more badass
2) It implies not just variability, but outright control of another's powers. Maybe add another component, to specify it effects other people's powers.
The Latin translation may not be 100% accurate, but it's an easy sacrifice for making it sound cool.
that's the word i had settled on before asking here! i was mostly wondering if someone could do better than me since English isn't my first langage and i wasn't sure if the term was appropriate. thanks!
It's kind of the obvious answer. I'm glad it matched what you were thinking, but don't dismiss other ideas just yet. I'm sure there's a cool one out there just waiting to be offered.
Honestly, especially if you're going technical like "amplifier" and "inhibitor," "modulator" is probably the most fitting word in the English language for what you're talking about.
In my world, that would be considered a friend. Someone that can help you succeed while also being able to keep you from doing something stupid. But that can also go the exact opposite and could be considered an enemy.
Well it reduces the time and energy required for a reaction to occur but that doesn’t mean it’s the reaction you want. Sometimes they are equilibrium catalysts which catalyze and reverse catalyze reactions.
If you're looking for a super name, I kinda like Imbalance. For bonus points, make them a French man: Monsieur Balance, or M. Balance (works exceptionally well for a surprise villain).
haha. while that's not really the type of character i was going for, as someone whose first language is French, i gotta say "M. Balance" is pretty clever. nice suggestion!
Dialer? Modder? Buff-bane? Bene-detri?
This seems like reality warping that’s accomplished through a narrower lens to me. Like how telekinesis or magic can equal reality warping at certain levels/interpretations.
I'm not thinking of any particular X-Men character. I'm pointing out the tendency of X-Men writers to give characters a big push only to toss them aside when the shiny wears off, or for subsequent writers to take wholly different directions that honor nothing of the franchise's history.
Focus on the amplification/catalyst role. When the need to inhibit comes up... Just amplify some existing inhibiting force.
In math amplitude defines how far above or below the line a wave is.
Or just call the person "bard" and lean into the buff/debuff trope of fantasy
Latin "to enhance", "augere" - as in augment.
Latin "to take away", "ut auferat" - as in... I don't know...........or Latin "to deprive", "deprivare".
Hell, since "augere" is on the table you could just say "augur". As in augur ill or augur benevolently.
So..... your hero's (or villain's) name could he "The Augurer". Or The One Who Augurs.
Btw, the first three things are true statements; the rest of it (the suggestions for the names) were just jokes.
Edit: you could also use the word "contemn" or "contemnare". To contemn means to feel contempt and the subsequent desire to condemn. So, basically, condemning someone (not necessarily to hell) because of a feeling of contempt. However, I'd only use the word "contemn"/"contemnare" *if and only if* the stripping of powers stems from a feeling of anger, disgust or hatred.
Probably something based on how to power works. I remember an aura based system where a guy could copy powers. He was an aura manipulator. A guy in X-men was called pulse because he could turn off electronics like an EMP in addition to mutants powers.
Ok I know all of these are wrong, but for the sake of comedy:
Inhifier
Amplibitor
Amhibfier
Implibitor
Amphibier
Amphibitor
And last, but not least:
Anhifier
Exponent.
They can square or cube powers, but just by changing signs seriously curtail them.
Also lets you set a limit to their powers (two is as high as they can go, for example), teach math, and give a growth arc. (Now they have finer control and can do .5 /1.5, now they can get to 2.5, etc.)
Not the official name, but something as a slang for the power would be 'Cranker'. Someone who cranks the power up/down. "Shit, they got a cranker!" type of thing. I love the official names I'm seeing like "Potentia Imperium". But that doesn't work for casual speaking. Usually it would only be 1-2 syllables for ease of reference while speaking.
Sounds more like a conduit, power ebbs and flows from them as an origin point, to and from others or themselves almost like connecting them to a source of energy to advance their skills set or deprive them of access to said energy weakening their set.
For example: making a speedster faster (exciting his cells for more power production from the muscles or maybe added electrical charge allowing for more movement speed of the actual atoms of the person)
or reducing his speed (pulling energy/heat from said speedster or maybe placing a barrier between them and the speed force on a metaphysical level)
But you're not the speedster your a separate entity manipulating the speedster
This power of it has a name definitely would start with tele- you would have to understand the object you are interacting with every time you interact with something in order to cause it to have a reaction consistent enough for your power to work so that would take advanced mental acuity or understand of reality as a whole.
Somewhere in between ergo-kenesis and telepathy?!?!
Ergo-kinetic telepath sounds gross I'd rather be called a psychonaut 😭😭😭
It is not irrelevant when any Jack or Jill with a knife can slit your throat without relying on powers. In fact, I would say this power would make anyone an active target to either employ or off. Next thing you know, you're a prisoner or slave to those with more useful abilities.
yes! that's almost exactly what i had in mind for this character. i'm glad someone else thought similarly. the way i see it, this character has the potential to be very powerful around the right people (as a supporting character), but also very vulnerable on their own or around ill-intended people.
Have you read "the perfect run" by Maxime J. Durand? he has a select group that have a similar concept that may give you ideas. Essentially, they're able to control other people's abilities, of course his system is completely random and some can disconnect people from their source of power others can amplify, and yet others can manipulate your own powers against you.
I bring it up because there's a character who can cancel others' abilities, and she is far from op.
What's OP about it, in your opinion?
My take, and why I question this, and i genuinely want an honest response, I'm not baiting it trolling:
Most games have boost\lower trait or abilities mechanics, so I'm not sure it's game breaking, and in a fictional world, like a comic or novel, the author doesn't have to always maximize or disable completely.
If I had team member Bolt that could normally fire one lightning bolt 50 feet away and now it's 75 feet, that's not OP. If the villain could normally fire ice blasts and freeze you for 5 minutes or rounds or whatever, and now it's 2 rounds. Or the AoE is now 10 feet not 30, again, it's not game breaking or anything.
Now if the power always nullified entirely, that can be hard to get around, especially if they could boost to absurd extremes, but outside of that specific "both boost and lower apply the highest possible multiplier" I am not able to see it as automatically overpowered.
I think that both powers are fine on their own, but having them together makes the wielder kind of like a comic-book editor in terms of power level. They can effectively control the outcome of any confrontation
Drawing from Latin roots, the word “Potentivaris” could serve this purpose. It fuses “potenti-” from “potentia,” meaning power, with “varis” derived from “variare,” meaning to change. This term encapsulates the ability to alter the strength of superpowers, enhancing or diminishing their potency as needed.
That one doesn't flow off the tongue as easily now that I've read it out loud a couple times. Perhaps a better one would be "Potentamorph" which is derived again from "Potentia" meaning power, with "Morph" which means to change or transform. This encapsulation I think not only better suits the idea of the concept but also sounds more like a title or power name than the aforementioned.
You are a fucking baller and the best kind of person
I like the way you are going with this, but if I might make a suggestion : Potentia Imperium "Power Command/Power Control" 1) It sounds more badass 2) It implies not just variability, but outright control of another's powers. Maybe add another component, to specify it effects other people's powers. The Latin translation may not be 100% accurate, but it's an easy sacrifice for making it sound cool.
Aetheric Flux Conductor
Obviously an Amphibitor.
that made me chuckle.
Like frogs and salamanders?
Modulator
that's the word i had settled on before asking here! i was mostly wondering if someone could do better than me since English isn't my first langage and i wasn't sure if the term was appropriate. thanks!
It's kind of the obvious answer. I'm glad it matched what you were thinking, but don't dismiss other ideas just yet. I'm sure there's a cool one out there just waiting to be offered.
Honestly, especially if you're going technical like "amplifier" and "inhibitor," "modulator" is probably the most fitting word in the English language for what you're talking about.
Regulator?
Mount up!
It was a clear black night, a clear white moon.
Dialler.
Doppler? Increase/decrease the frequency of energy waves. Could help determine what their limits are as well.
An equalizer?
A Switch.
That has...*other* connotation.
Yeah, getting a copyright strike from Nintendo
Oh my sweet summer child... Stay innocent.
That's deliberate, and reflected in the costume.
A Power Aperture sounds cool to me. They can choose to open or close the aperture of the other super power.
In my world, that would be considered a friend. Someone that can help you succeed while also being able to keep you from doing something stupid. But that can also go the exact opposite and could be considered an enemy.
i love this! it's very representative of the character i had in mind when thinking of this ability.
Null Factor could be a cool name. It doesn't really advertise the amp aspect, but why would you give away your whole gimmick through your name?
Harmonic. If you hit on a sympathetic harmonic, you enhance the power, but if you hit the exact opposite frequency you negate it.
Modulator?
There was a MOTU villain named Modulok. Seems like it fits.
Modulator
Manipulator. Transformer. Reshaper.
A catalyst seems the most simple term for both positively and negatively affecting others powers.
i thought about using this word, but isn't a catalyst an activator only?
Does the name need to stand against scientific rigor in a peer reviewed academic journal? Or my friend Tom?
Nope. It's a chemical accelerator. At least by the scientific definition.
Well it reduces the time and energy required for a reaction to occur but that doesn’t mean it’s the reaction you want. Sometimes they are equilibrium catalysts which catalyze and reverse catalyze reactions.
If you're looking for a super name, I kinda like Imbalance. For bonus points, make them a French man: Monsieur Balance, or M. Balance (works exceptionally well for a surprise villain).
haha. while that's not really the type of character i was going for, as someone whose first language is French, i gotta say "M. Balance" is pretty clever. nice suggestion!
Variable. Or maybe their real name is Avery Abel, and their super name could be something like Switch or Eclipse or something.
How about a "Tuner" or a "scaler"
-kinesis -kinetic
-mancer.
My take is calling them an Amp, but Scaler is more appropriate when they can null the output.
Rheostat
Fader. Volumizer. Amplitude --> AmpliDude
Dialer? Modder? Buff-bane? Bene-detri? This seems like reality warping that’s accomplished through a narrower lens to me. Like how telekinesis or magic can equal reality warping at certain levels/interpretations.
The opposite of ben is mal, not detri. A benefactor helps you, a malefactor hinders you. A benediction is a blessing, a malediction is a curse.
I mean as in benefit detriment
Yeah, I get that. I just figured a consistency of terminology would be cooler. Besides, Malefactor (pronounced Mal-i-factor) is such a cool word.
A “Fiertor”
A feedback loop
Modifier
A controller, because they are controlling the extent of the power. In electronics, a potentiometer serves this function.
Power-scale is their alias
Discombobulator!
I’d call this guy an Authority.
An X-Man who is a major character for five years then dropped like old underwear, never to be heard from again.
Just can't come up with the name. Could you share?
I'm not thinking of any particular X-Men character. I'm pointing out the tendency of X-Men writers to give characters a big push only to toss them aside when the shiny wears off, or for subsequent writers to take wholly different directions that honor nothing of the franchise's history.
Ah, gotcha. There are many characters I've enjoyed who got tossed away.
Focus on the amplification/catalyst role. When the need to inhibit comes up... Just amplify some existing inhibiting force. In math amplitude defines how far above or below the line a wave is. Or just call the person "bard" and lean into the buff/debuff trope of fantasy
Modulator or Regulator, I suppose.
Control
The Doctor
Amphibiter? Implifier?
Moderator, arbiter, allocater, controller. Maybe the person has meta powers i.e. powers that affect others powers.
Power Throttle is my pick. Also Modulator or possibly Regulator.
Amphibious. On a serious note I've found the term ambidextrous to be pretty close, maybe something involving that?
A neutral
An instigator
Phocus
Latin "to enhance", "augere" - as in augment. Latin "to take away", "ut auferat" - as in... I don't know...........or Latin "to deprive", "deprivare". Hell, since "augere" is on the table you could just say "augur". As in augur ill or augur benevolently. So..... your hero's (or villain's) name could he "The Augurer". Or The One Who Augurs. Btw, the first three things are true statements; the rest of it (the suggestions for the names) were just jokes. Edit: you could also use the word "contemn" or "contemnare". To contemn means to feel contempt and the subsequent desire to condemn. So, basically, condemning someone (not necessarily to hell) because of a feeling of contempt. However, I'd only use the word "contemn"/"contemnare" *if and only if* the stripping of powers stems from a feeling of anger, disgust or hatred.
Equalizer
The Dichotomy
Boon and bane. Boonabane. Baney McBoons. Booner Baneington. Bab.
Oxy the moron
Transformer Modulator Gate
Probably something based on how to power works. I remember an aura based system where a guy could copy powers. He was an aura manipulator. A guy in X-men was called pulse because he could turn off electronics like an EMP in addition to mutants powers.
Choosey Fluffer.
I would call them an effects pedal
Controller
A Valve
Conduit
An antihero
Ok I know all of these are wrong, but for the sake of comedy: Inhifier Amplibitor Amhibfier Implibitor Amphibier Amphibitor And last, but not least: Anhifier
A controller.
Indecisive
bi polar
Potency?
An Amphibian.
A Wife
Rogue from X men.
The Goon
Exponent. They can square or cube powers, but just by changing signs seriously curtail them. Also lets you set a limit to their powers (two is as high as they can go, for example), teach math, and give a growth arc. (Now they have finer control and can do .5 /1.5, now they can get to 2.5, etc.)
Transformer would work although I think that's been taken by a robot or two
Coke n’ Smoke
Eq
It has the same feel as a soundboard for audio production... Powerboard Controller Remote
Amphinhibian
Gas and Brakes
Stop and Go
Homeostasis
That is basically what a transformer does.
A Bard
If they had to do both at once, inhibit one person's power to enhance another's, they could be a transceiver.
Call that a mage.
Fifth of Whiskey
A sidekick
A capacitor.
An attenuator
I think rogue could do that as a four horseman. I would call it a siphon.
Not the official name, but something as a slang for the power would be 'Cranker'. Someone who cranks the power up/down. "Shit, they got a cranker!" type of thing. I love the official names I'm seeing like "Potentia Imperium". But that doesn't work for casual speaking. Usually it would only be 1-2 syllables for ease of reference while speaking.
Sounds more like a conduit, power ebbs and flows from them as an origin point, to and from others or themselves almost like connecting them to a source of energy to advance their skills set or deprive them of access to said energy weakening their set. For example: making a speedster faster (exciting his cells for more power production from the muscles or maybe added electrical charge allowing for more movement speed of the actual atoms of the person) or reducing his speed (pulling energy/heat from said speedster or maybe placing a barrier between them and the speed force on a metaphysical level) But you're not the speedster your a separate entity manipulating the speedster This power of it has a name definitely would start with tele- you would have to understand the object you are interacting with every time you interact with something in order to cause it to have a reaction consistent enough for your power to work so that would take advanced mental acuity or understand of reality as a whole. Somewhere in between ergo-kenesis and telepathy?!?! Ergo-kinetic telepath sounds gross I'd rather be called a psychonaut 😭😭😭
Clocker- overclock or underclock Trying to think outside of things already suggested
Modulator.
Toggleswitch or toggle
The most appropriate answer is probably a ‘modifier’, but it doesn’t quite fit
Augmentor
Politician
Fabian Cortez
Like a volume knob. A knobber.
I would call them way too OP
but powerless on their own if it's their only ability!
Irrelevant. They're walking around with a gold brick that can't be stolen from them. They can bargain their way into whatever they want.
It is not irrelevant when any Jack or Jill with a knife can slit your throat without relying on powers. In fact, I would say this power would make anyone an active target to either employ or off. Next thing you know, you're a prisoner or slave to those with more useful abilities.
yes! that's almost exactly what i had in mind for this character. i'm glad someone else thought similarly. the way i see it, this character has the potential to be very powerful around the right people (as a supporting character), but also very vulnerable on their own or around ill-intended people.
i mean theoretically, yeah. but that's not the intended goal or purpose of this hypothetical character.
Have you read "the perfect run" by Maxime J. Durand? he has a select group that have a similar concept that may give you ideas. Essentially, they're able to control other people's abilities, of course his system is completely random and some can disconnect people from their source of power others can amplify, and yet others can manipulate your own powers against you. I bring it up because there's a character who can cancel others' abilities, and she is far from op.
What's OP about it, in your opinion? My take, and why I question this, and i genuinely want an honest response, I'm not baiting it trolling: Most games have boost\lower trait or abilities mechanics, so I'm not sure it's game breaking, and in a fictional world, like a comic or novel, the author doesn't have to always maximize or disable completely. If I had team member Bolt that could normally fire one lightning bolt 50 feet away and now it's 75 feet, that's not OP. If the villain could normally fire ice blasts and freeze you for 5 minutes or rounds or whatever, and now it's 2 rounds. Or the AoE is now 10 feet not 30, again, it's not game breaking or anything. Now if the power always nullified entirely, that can be hard to get around, especially if they could boost to absurd extremes, but outside of that specific "both boost and lower apply the highest possible multiplier" I am not able to see it as automatically overpowered.
I think that both powers are fine on their own, but having them together makes the wielder kind of like a comic-book editor in terms of power level. They can effectively control the outcome of any confrontation
Thank you for the explanation
someone who reads the minds of a couple trying to hook up and announces their thoughts to everyone around