In one of my favorite generic and universal role-playing game systems (which contained rules dealing with character builds as varied as robots, aliens, magicians, or even dragons) there was a concept called ‘Alternative Abilities’ that I really liked. This concept allowed one to make a character with several different abilities that all relied on the same ‘power source' to function; the extra powers were bought at a heavy discount because they had a shared framework, but only one of the abilities could be used at full power at any given time.
In theory, using the Alternative Abilities rule resulted in a character that was technically (on paper) less potent at any given instant in time as they had purchased multiple capabilities (at a discount) that were conceived of as being a single complicated ability, and therefore had to deal with those restrictions when using different aspects simultaneously... but the trade-off was a huge increase in versatility. (An example might be Superman's eyes, where he had both x-ray vision and heat-ray vision which, on the surface, seemed to be separate superpowers, but could easily have been expressions of the same superpower used in a different manner.)
It wasn't something that I had seen many players take advantage of back when I was a gamer on Earth. I can admit it was sort of challenging to build a character that constantly swapped active powers according to the situation, but I had never understood why this rule was so neglected. Here I was, in real life, and I was just so excited by the possibilities! Building power sets that shared a framework would save me massive amounts of CP – but I also knew (from experience) that it was quite demanding to visualize something so intricate.
I had thought up several different power sets that might have good real-world synergy (which was important, because the costs were largely determined by how well I understood the underlying scientific principles involved), and I had decided to choose a single candidate to focus my limited time and energy on for now. Splitting my limited CP between more than one set of Alternative Abilities this early on could be crippling, and I didn't want to end up spreading myself too thin and becoming a 'jack of all trades, master of none'.
I had literally hundreds of potential options, but most of them were no good for now (such as, for example, a concept based around removing 'friction' from objects or people, which had ended up developing into a somewhat expensive, very powerful, and extremely frightening disintegration ray that was on the back burner for now, yet had opened up a whole host of other interesting research projects) and I had finally narrowed them down into a list of options which seemed useful, and (more importantly) were based on principles that I understood well enough to keep the CP costs reasonable.
Ability Set: Wind Control
Wind Blast: Create a concentrated wind bullet that flies at high velocity.
Wind Shield: A controlled vortex of wind surrounds the user, protecting them from harm.
Wind Wall: Erect a wall of wind at the target location, blocking movement and lifting small debris into the air.
Wind Jump: An assisted leap that propels the user long distances and helps provide soft landings.
Ability Set: Fire Control
Fire Blast: Create a concentrated ball of fire that can be thrown, and will explode upon impact.
Fire Shield: A controlled vortex of flame surrounds the user, protecting them from harm.
Fire Wall: Erect a wall of fire at the target location, blocking movement and burning flammable material in the area.
Explosive Jump: Detonate a controlled explosion that propels the user long distances, and can be used to reduce the impact of a fall.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Ability Set: Ice Control
Ice Shard: Create a sharpened ice shard that can be thrown.
Ice Armor: Covers the user's entire body in a protective layer of ice.
Ice Wall: Erect a wall of ice at the target location, creating an impassable barrier.
Ice Construct: Manipulate ice into any shape desired.
Ability Set: Electricity Control
Minor Lightning Bolt: Create a targeted blast of lightning by ionizing the path a burst of electricity will travel.
Ion Shield: Use electromagnetic forces to manipulate the molecules surrounding the user into a protective barrier.
Magnetic Field: Create a strong magnetic field in an area, which will attract or repel other magnetic objects.
Magnetize Object: Impart a magnetic charge to any object. Charge duration depends on the target material.
I found myself heavily leaning towards the electricity-based abilities, presumably because I had a higher comprehension of 'electricity' due to my practice with [Minor Shock]. I understood the principles behind free electrons even better than I had as an Engineer back on Earth, and I had a good grasp on how electricity and magnetism were (more or less) the same thing, therefore I was able to envision a great deal of potential in the final set of abilities compared to any of the others. Finally, going with Electricity Control would save me a decent amount of CP if I upgraded [Minor Shock] instead of starting at ground zero (the amount of CP that could be saved in an 'upgrade' was directly proportional to how much of the original structure was reused).
My end goal was to focus on something that would give me the highest chance of survival in the short term since it had already been a few years since the last major beast attack, and they usually happened every three to five years - although, to be fair, the danger was probably not as great as I perceived it being since our village generally received plenty of warning and suffered far fewer casualties than we had during the previous attack. Was I freaked out? Yes. But that just made my desire to be ready all the more critical!
Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I prepared my first attempt at using CP to upgrade an existing ability. I visualized the first ability that I had ever come up with, [Minor Shock], energy in the form of an electrical current that was intrinsically mine - unique to my cells, generated by and now a natural part of my innate biology - flowing through my chest, down my arm, and generating a contained voltage just in front of my hand. Then, while maintaining that image, I pictured the path electricity would need to take from me to a target I had placed on the other side of the room – a piece of scrap metal from the Smithy. I added a cloud group of charged ions created from the air and guided by my voltage, held together by a magnetic field, then completed a path to the scrap for my current to flow once I released the charge.
This exercise was meant to help me ensure compatibility between Electricity Control and [Minor Shock]. I practiced for nearly ten minutes, taking my time and being sure to imagine each step in turn, before finally calling up my System and investing CP into the first power of the set:
[Minor Shock] successfully upgraded to [Minor Lightning Bolt]!
[Minor Lightning Bolt] is now assigned to the Alternate Ability group {Electricity Control}.
My System displayed the notification I had set to confirm if the upgrade was successful, which was a huge relief (I had been confident in my design but it was always great when things worked as intended). I simultaneously felt something change within me, shifting and tingling in a not-unpleasant manner as a small surge of CP ran through my body applying the updates as planned. I stood still for a moment, flexing my arms and trying to feel the changes that had been made to my body... but there were no pronounced differences. I just felt normal.
Turning my attention back to the scrap metal on the stone floor, I held my breath and squinted.…
*ZAP*
The effect was louder than I had expected, a popping noise combined with a bright flash that gave off the faintest hint of ozone... and I had completely missed my target. The wall next to the scrap metal now had a small scorch mark on it, meaning I had missed by around the length of a finger. Oh well, at least it had worked - now I just needed some serious practice!
I heard my mother coming to investigate the noise and quickly moved to wipe the soot off the wall, then picked up the scrap and dropped it a few times as if I was playing with it. Mom simply popped her head in, saw that I was alright, returned my smile and wave, and left to carry on with her business.
Shooting a single lightning bolt only tired me out about as much as tossing a small rock would, so I could probably blast out a fair few 'zaps' before I felt any serious strain. My accuracy was terrible, however, but now that I had free access to [Minor Lightning Bolt] I would be able to practice with it as much as I wanted – if I could actually find a secure location to do so.