Welcome to the Empower! Wiki, the internet's number 1 database for the amazing supernatural abilities a lucky minority of the population are blessed with. On this introductory page, you will find a quick overview of the officially recognized Power Types, along with both a heroic and villainous example for each. Please keep in mind that the Powers are divided for easy classification and no other reason. If you are interested in any specific specific Hero or Villain mentioned here just click on their name to be redirected to their page.
Powers are divided into 17 Power Types, and each Power Type is divided into 2-4 Subcategories, which are numbered.
For example: the minor New York Superhero Mighty All-Man has a very simple Superstrength Power. Superstrength is an Enhancement Type Power, and since his is permanent it belongs to Enhancement Subcategory 1. That is what "Enhance 1 - Strength" on his page means: Permanent Superstrength.
On this page, we only list 16 Power Types. The last type, Non-Standard, encompasses all Powers with less than 1000 registered Empowered. Once a Non-Standard Power reaches 1000 registries it will be officially given its own Power Type, but until then we prefer to keep them off the standardized list. For examples of Non-Standard Powers listed by the number of registered Empowered visit the Non-Standard page.
Some Powers have an additional non-numbered Subcategory X. People who fall into these categories are strictly monitored and specially trained by the government from the moment of classification. This can either be for study or the increased potential for accidental collateral damage. Additionally, Subcategory X Villains are considered a higher priority, and new ones get automatically added to the International WANTED Registry no matter the severity of their crime.
Files of Subcategory X Empowered are classified by default and even though most get eventually declassified those are not allowed to be displayed on unofficial websites. For info on specific Subcategory X Heroes and Villains please visit the Official Superhero Database or the International WANTED Registry respectively.
Note 1: Magi- and Herotech are not listed here. Please visit the Artifacts and Gadgetry Wiki for examples of those.
Note 2: Our stance on the Magical Debate is clear: We do not consider Mages to be Empowered. For information on magic please visit the Arcane Library wiki.
Note 3: A lot of information on specific Empowered's abilities is incomplete. Unless they are well documented online already, public knowledge, or obvious to any onlookers we will not list any Hero's weaknesses, if they have any.
Villains are not often forthcoming about their Powers, especially their weaknesses, so not many are documented. Villains who have already spent time behind bars will have more accurate information, but for the rest, we are going by Hero and civilian testimonies and recorded Villain attacks.
If you find yourself being targeted- or in the vicinity of a targeted attack by a Villain do not take the information listed in this wiki as the gospel truth. Don't try to stop or stall the Villain because you are convinced you know their limitations. Run away or hide and call 777 to alert the nearest Hero. Don't try to be one yourself.
Power Types
Craft: The ability to innately know how to build or create specific things.
1) Building or creating things that can be replicated without the Power.
Heroic Example: Techtonic. (Association: Crusading Capes) A hero-turned-businessman with the innate skill to draw up a functional blueprint for any gadget he can think of, if it is possible to build. He has to know of the materials though, and his blueprints are never the cheapest or most efficient version of that product.
Villainous Example: Reverse Engineer. (Asso.: BHF) A former engineer with the ability to instantly know how to replicate any piece of technology she touches.
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2) Building or creating things that either only work for or can only be built by the Crafter.
Heroic Example: Wild Charmer. (Asso.: None) Any flute he carves can be used to supernaturally influence and control wild animals. The flutes do work for other people but are much less effective when not used by him. He rarely fights villains and is mostly active in wildlife rescue operations and wilderness-based missing persons cases.
Villainous Example: Lady Alchemy. (Asso.: Kindred Coven) She uses mundane ingredients to mix potions with a wide variety of supernatural effects.
Create: The ability to create objects or beings from nothing.
1) Creating non-sentient objects or beings.
Heroic Example: Herald Queen Angelica. (Asso.: Enlightened) She can create a variety of light-constructs which all have the secondary ability to explode. The explosions are non-lethal and knock anyone caught in one unconscious.
Villainous Example: Jagged Edge. (Asso.: EATR) She can create sharp blades on any surface within her sight. They disappear when she blinks.
2) Creating sentient objects or beings.
Heroic Example: Animator. (Asso.: Enlightened) Any creature he draws comes to life. He can turn them back into drawings at will.
Villainous Example: Shadowcrafter. (Asso.: Umbra-Nox) He can birth malicious creatures out of people's and animal's shadows that mimic the being they split off from. They die when exposed to too much light.
Distort: The ability to alter or modify matter.
1) Distorting or warping something without changing it into something else.
Heroic Example: Aloft. (Asso.: Elementals) He can make the air in front of him temporarily solid in many different states. (Hard, elastic, stringy, brittle, etc.) The effect only lasts for one minute.
Villainous Example: Boneyard. (Asso.: Freakshow) She can grow and shape her bones at will. If her bones come into contact with another bone, she gains full control over that one as well. Warning: Being pierced too deeply by one of her bone-weapons will lead to instant death. Stay far away.
2) Changing something into something else entirely.
Heroic Example: Liquidator (Asso.: Redeemed Reformers) He can turn anything solid that is wet with mineral water into a liquid and any liquid that contains enough mineral water into a solid. This change reverts automatically after 12 hours.
Villainous Example: Queen Midas. (Asso.: Court of Midas) She turns anything she touches with her hands into a precious metal. According to herself, this effect cannot be turned off and she can choose which precious metal the things she touches turn into. The default is gold.
Domain: Abilities that cover a wide area.
1) Powers that cover an unspecified wide area.
Heroic Example: Keening (Asso.: Militant Melodies) She has an exceptionally loud voice and anyone who hears her sing will be overcome with sadness. The effect intensifies the nearer the victims are.
Villainous Example: Heatin' (Asso.: Midgardsummer) She can quickly raise the temperature in a 15-foot radius around her without being affected herself.
2) A Domainer designating a certain area beforehand and then being able to use their ability within that designated area.
Heroic Example: Demigrav. (Asso.: Final Frontier) He has free control over gravity within any chalk circle he makes.
Villainous Example: Streetshark. (Asso.: EATR) She can designate a closed environment (Room, House, Street, Garden, etc) which she cannot leave for the duration of the effect. Within the designated environment she can swim in the ground, walls, floor, and individual objects located within as if they were water. The depth is unknown but she can submerge herself entirely even in thin walls.
X ) Domain X is reserved for people with extra-dimensional powers.
Enhance: A boost to one or more natural skills.
1) Being permanently enhanced or able to easily turn the Enhancement on or off at will.
Heroic Example: Lightning Bruiser. (Asso.: Redeemed Reformers) A man blessed with both super strength and super speed.
Villainous Example: Featherweight (Asso.: Society of Power) A small skinny woman who can adjust her strength at will from not being able to lift an apple to ripping bank vaults open with her bare hands.
2) Being in any way temporarily enhanced.
Heroic Example: Flying Grayson. (Asso.: Alberti's Hovering Circus) He gains near-perfect reflexes for about 3 hours after an undisclosed trigger. He has to rest for an undisclosed time afterward before he can use it again.
Villainous Example: Father Kaine. (Asso.: Umbra-Nox) A man who gets a massive intelligence and durability boost as well as night vision and advanced healing when in complete darkness.
Infect: The ability to impart an effect via touch.
1) Infecting someone by touching them.
Heroic Example: Affixer Upper. (Asso.: None) He can choose to affix anything and anyone he touches in midair. Anything else that touches an affixed person or object will become affixed as well. The effect only lasts for about 15 minutes. Only he can move affixed objects or people.
Villainous Example: Reflector. (Asso.: Society of Power) Anyone who hurts her will receive a similar blow or injury about 5 times worse after 30 seconds have passed, as long as that person physically touched her or was connected to something that touched her. At the same time, her wounds inflicted by that attack will be healed.
2) Infecting someone by having them touch something else.
Heroic Example: Miss Andaswing. (Asso.: Joy Division) When someone hears her name an object and they touch it afterwards they will not be able to hit anything they're aiming at with that object for an undisclosed time.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Villainous Example: Memento (Asso.: A Petite Group of Nobodies Delighting in the Creation, Observation, Distribution, and Discussion of Fine yet Macabre, Thoroughly Unique Paranatural Art Pieces.) If someone touches a piece of paper she has written on they are infected with a Type 6 Memory Plague. Her variation makes the victim forget everything they consciously try to remember. Touching the piece of paper again after 48 hours have passed cures the plague, but the memories are not restored. Only a physical touch from Memento herself can both prematurely cure the plague and recover the lost memories.
Meddle: The very rare ability to interfere with other people's Powers.
1) Boosting or diminishing another person's Powers.
Heroic Example: Jackpack.(Asso.: Sidekicks for Hire) Any Enhancer he hugs has their boost quadrupled for the duration of contact.
Villainous Example: Shyphon (Asso.: The Meek) When she is hurt she can severely weaken anyone's power she focuses on, which will also slowly heal her. The effect only triggers when she is hurt and will stop once she is fully healed.
2) Interacting with another person's Powers in ways other than strengthening or weakening them.
Heroic Example: Redirector. (Asso.: Power to the People) He can switch the target of any directed Power or magitech to any other applicable available option.
Villainous Example: Powerbreaker. (Asso.: Society of Power) He innately knows all possible ways to train, strengthen, or evolve the Power of anyone he looks at.
X) The ability to cancel or nullify powers, as well as give powers to non-Empowered people.
Mental: Powers that focus on the mind.
1) Indirect influence. For example: Influencing emotions, causing non-specific hallucinations, talking to people telepathically without being able to compel them, etc. The outcome is dependent on the target's actions, and the target can only be nudged or manipulated, but not controlled.
Heroic Example: Daymare. (Asso.: Umbra-Lux) He produces sand in a special organ that he can cough up. Anyone who gets that sand in their eyes will hallucinate their current greatest fear until the sand is cleaned out again.
Villainous Example: Trustfunder. (Asso.: EATR) She can establish a mental link with people of her choosing. Their minds are influenced the more they trust her. In which ways seems to be random but always detrimental. Confirmed cases include becoming untrusting and paranoid towards everyone else, taking her words as the objective truth no matter what she says, becoming unable to concentrate on anything or anyone but her, and becoming increasingly erratic and aggressive if they don't see her for a while.
2) Direct influence. For example: Mind reading, controlling what someone thinks or how they feel, directly controlling someone's body or mind, giving orders that have to be followed, etc. The outcome is always fixed and predictable for the user. Category 2 Mental Empowered who can influence humans can be sued for not mentioning their abilities to potential employees, customers, or spouses.
Heroic Example: Avian. (Asso.: Animal Kingdom) She has a constantly active mental link with all birds in a 30-mile radius. She cannot influence owned birds but can give mental commands to wild- and directly control her own birds.
Villainous Example: Trojan. (Asso.: Family of Blood) She constantly produces pollen. Anyone who is allergic to pollen and is exposed to it will believe her to be someone who is not suspicious and trustworthy in any situation no matter the context.
3) Powers that interact with or depend on the user's own mind.
Heroic Example: Lou Cipher. (Asso.: Paranatural Detective Agency) He can immediately decode almost any non-magically encrypted message.
Villainous Example: Gloomy Sunday. (Asso.: Golden Week) He can drain a person's happiness via touch, which improves his own mood. Prolonged exposure can lead to suicidal tendencies in victims.
X) The ability to modify, change, or enhance an influenced being.
Psychic: The ability to use the mind to influence physical reality. One of 2 Power Types with no subcategories, the other being the unlisted Non-Standard.
Heroic Example: Grand Kinetics. (Asso.: Power to the People) He can telekinetically move any object up to 100 times his weight that he hasn't touched physically.
Villainous Example: Tsunami. (Asso.: Deep Waters) A former Japanese Hero who switched capes and fled to the US. She is probably the world's most powerful aqua-kineticist, being able to freely control any amount of water in her vicinity with high precision and no known weaknesses.
Revive: The ability to bring a dead being back to life.
1) Reviving the user.
Heroic Example: The Hydra. (Asso.: Army of One) Shortly after being killed he will revive and spit out two eggs. Within 30 seconds they will hatch and grow into fully identical clones of him. These clones have the same properties as him and share this Power. If he is killed again within 24 hours he will stay dead, but if he manages to survive a day his ability is reset. Each new clone also has an additional random Enhancement Power.
Villainous Example: Parablight. (Asso.: EATR) A trio of triplets sharing the same Power. Whoever kills one of them will within the next 7 days slowly turn into them mentally, first gaining their mannerisms, then their personality, then their opinions, and finally their memories. Once they have fully assimilated someone they retain their own as well as their victim's Power.
2) Reviving other people.
Heroic Example: Martyr. (Asso.: Medical Action) She can revive people who died less than one minute ago by permanently sacrificing something of her own. She has currently revived 9 people and given up the sight in her left eye, her sense of smell, her sense of taste, three toes, and 3 teeth. If she replaces something she sacrificed with a prosthetic, with the help of another Power, tech, or magic then the person she revived will die again. Once they die she can replace what she lost but she can't sacrifice anything twice.
Villainous Example: Equivalent Exchanger. (Asso.: BHF) He can reportedly replace body parts and even lives lost less than a day ago by forcibly taking them specifically from an unwilling participant. Nothing more is publicly known except for the rumor that his services are rarely used since his price is allegedly high enough to bankrupt multi-millionaires.
Summon: The ability to make something appear in the Summoner's vicinity that was originally somewhere else.
1) Summon non-sentient objects or beings.
Heroic Example: Gacha. (Asso.: Fortune Favored) She can touch an object to make it disappear. It will then be swapped with a semi-random object around the world. The more valuable the object she makes disappear is the better the chance that the item she gets back will be useful to the situation at hand. The Power cannot be used to get specific items (For example a specific stolen painting.) Keeping all available information in mind it seems like her Power cannot be used to directly resolve situations, only to help resolve them.
Villainous Example: Forgotten. (Asso.: Family of Blood) He has the ability to summon neglected and/or forgotten puppets and toys and animate them. They each have a different weak ability which seems randomly assigned and they will follow his commands.
2) Summoning sentient objects or beings.
Heroic Example: Big Mama. (Asso.: Guardians of the Globe) When she is hit with someone's power she will vomit up a black sludge an undisclosed amount of time later. The sludge will eventually form into a sentient slime-like minion with a weaker version of the Power she was hit with. She can summon these minions to and from her whenever she wants.
Villainous Example: Empty Nest. (Asso.: Creepy Crawlers) She has the ability to summon and de-summon wasps from an unknown location at will. She seems to have no control over them but they fiercely protect- and don't harm her.
Trait: The possession of a specific uncontrollable alteration of the body.
1) A permanent trait that is always active. Usually among the least complex Empowered.
Heroic Example: Firewalker. (Asso.: Sidekicks for Hire) She is fully immune to heat and fire.
Villainous Example: Harpy Lady. (Asso.: Freakshow) She has functional wings, claws, eagle-like eyes, and sharp teeth.
2) A trait that only activates under specific circumstances.
Heroic Example: Acid Trip. (Asso.: Sidekicks for Hire) His skin harmlessly repels all liquids when he is dehydrated.
Villainous Example: Invisigoth. (Asso.: The Meek.) All light perfectly reflects around his body while he is fully naked.
Transform: The ability to transform into something else.
1) Instant or near-instant transformation.
Heroic Example: Miss Jolly Halloween. (Asso.: Calendar Crew) She will transform into whatever costume she is wearing at the time. To trigger a transformation the costume must either be made up of 3 separate pieces ( For example: A hat, hook, and eyepatch for a pirate) or cover at least 50 percent of her body (For example: A sheet for a ghost or bandages for a mummy).
Villainous Example: Fine Dining. (Asso.: EATR) They instantly transform into anyone whose flesh they eat. They get a much weaker version of their victim's powers. The victim doesn't need to be dead for the Power to take effect.
2) Gradual transformation.
Heroic Example: The Fittest. (Asso.: Alberti's Hovering Circus) A former Freakshow Villain who switched capes. If she is in a potentially fatal situation she will adapt within a few minutes, if she survives. For example: If she is drowning she will grow gills; if she is hanging over a fatal drop her skin will become adhesive so she can safely climb down, if she is being shot at for a while she will become bulletproof. She can only have 3 adaptations at a time, any further additions will replace the old ones.
Villainous Example: Sam Hain. (Asso.: Happy Holidays) She can seemingly transform into any creature she can imagine by picturing it and consuming candy. She needs to steadily consume more candy to keep the transformation going.
Transportation: Abilities that are dedicated solely or mainly to aiding in the movement of living beings and/or things.
1) Instantaneous movement.
Heroic Example: Trickpocket. (Asso.: Joy Division) He can mark an undisclosed number of items by touching them, all of which he can teleport in front of him or teleport to at any time.
Villainous Example: Twosday. (Asso.: Golden Week) Twins who can communicate telepathically and can instantly switch places, taking any object or person they touch at that time with them, no matter the distance.
2) Non-instantaneous movement.
Heroic Example: Bronze Bouncer. (Asso.: Joy Division) Any person he kicks will fly into the air to a location of his choosing within a 30 square miles area. Their landing will be rough but they'll be unharmed.
Villainous Example: Gorgi the Glutton. (Asso.: Freakshow) A 15-foot monster-like man with a huge mouth and gut. According to captured New Yorker Freakshow members, any living being he swallows whole will emerge from a body of water nearest to their preferred destination about one hour later.
Warp: The ability to change or influence metaphysical reality to some degree, or interact with the basic rules of physical reality. Most Warpers are quietly handled like Subcategory X cases, but mostly thanks to the mass protests organized by Power to the People and the Enlightened they aren't officially treated as such anymore.
1) Active influence. The Warper has control over the changes they make to reality.
Heroic Example: Wordplay. (Asso.: Joy Division) When he touches an object he can turn it into another object that is one letter removed, either one more or one less. For example: He could turn a cart into a car or a chart.
Villainous Example: Freezin' (Asso.: Fimbulwinter) She is immune to cold and can make it so anything she touches that would emit heat will emit cold instead, despite that not being physically possible. Her main weapon is a flamethrower that spreads fire which freezes anything it touches. Her Power luckily does not work on living things, so being touched by her is not an instant death sentence.
2) Passive Influence: The Warper has no control over the changes made to reality because of them.
Heroic Example: King Clover. (Asso.: Enlightened) His luck will bend reality backward to ensure he can't be harmed no matter what.
Villainous Example: Shatterday. (Asso.: Golden Week) Anything he punches or kicks will crack and break like either glass or wood. This includes people, liquids like water, and gases like steam or fog. It is unclear if he decides if his targets break like glass or wood or if it's random.
Ranged: An ability with a range of at least 100 yards or one that only works from a distance.
1) Energy-based Powers, like lasers or fire.
Heroic Example: Heavy High Noon. (Asso.: Devilman Gunslingers) She can shoot energy beams out of her pointer fingers. Every hit makes the target feel either one pound heavier or lighter depending on the hand she uses, but every miss makes herself feel one pound heavier or lighter.
Villainous Example: Moon Fright. (Asso.: Graveyard Shift) Moonlight that hits any mirror he holds is reflected as a thin deadly laser that can cut through most things. His skin blisters in direct sunlight.
2) Non-Energy based Powers.
Heroic Example: Private New Year. (Asso.: Calendar Crew) He can directly control any explosives he lights. He primarily uses fireworks to fight.
Villainous Example: Hemogoblin. (Asso.: Freakshow) If she aims at someone and her blood is spilled it will propel itself at the target and even dodge around obstacles until it connects. The blood will eat through most materials but its acidic qualities do not harm skin. Despite that, it is hot enough to cause second-degree burns and will only start cooling down five minutes after connecting with something.
Non-Standard: Any power that does not fit into any of the above groups.
Note 4: Of course, many Empowered have more complex Powers that fit multiple subcategories or Power Types. The best example is the quite possibly most powerful and versatile Empowered who ever existed, The One (†), who was classified as Power Type: Create 1, Domain 1, Enhance 2, Trait 1, Transportation 1, Ranged 1, Non-Standard.