Superpower Picker
What comes through?
Powers in play
Tap powers to add or remove their glyph (up to 12).
The oldest question there is, settled by a portal. Choose which powers are on the table, press Summon, and an energy tendril lashes out and drags one glyph into the mouth — then it rises back out and the power goes off. Every power has its own reveal: fire erupts, ice spikes outward, time runs backwards, invisibility flickers out entirely.
- Icebreakers
- Character building
- Playground games
Fourteen powers, fourteen different endings
Most pickers land on an answer and stop. This one discharges it. Summon Ice Powers and crystals spike out across the portal; summon Time Travel and ghost copies of the glyph spin backwards; summon Invisibility and it flickers out and only half comes back. The pick is the same fair coin every time — the reveal is where the power actually shows up.
How the portal works
Tap powers on and off. Their glyphs float around the portal mouth.
A tendril lashes out, snaps glyph to glyph, slows, and locks onto one.
It is dragged in, rises back out on a beam, and discharges in its own way.
What each power does when it lands
Worth running a few times just to see them. The reveal is chosen by the power itself, so the same page never looks the same twice in a row.
| Power | How it reveals | The catch nobody mentions |
|---|---|---|
| Flight | Soars up and out of frame | Cold, loud, and no way to carry anything |
| Super Strength | Shockwave rings, and the scene shakes | Everything you own becomes breakable |
| Invisibility | Flickers out, half returns | Your clothes do not come with you |
| Telepathy | Ripples spread outward | You cannot switch it off |
| Time Travel | Ghost copies spin backwards | The one power where mistakes stay made |
| Super Speed | Streaks away, leaving motion lines | Everyone else is now unbearably slow |
| Healing Factor | Green motes converge inward | Surviving is not the same as not hurting |
| Telekinesis | Debris orbits the glyph | Honestly? No catch. Take this one |
| Fire Control | Flame erupts upward | Wonderful outdoors, catastrophic indoors |
| Ice Powers | Crystals spike outward | Never a warm drink again |
| Lightning | Forks strike the centre | Rain becomes a serious problem |
| Shapeshifting | Squashes and stretches between forms | Slowly losing track of your own face |
| Underwater Breathing | Bubbles stream upward | Two-thirds of the planet, nought per cent of your commute |
| X-Ray Vision | Scan lines sweep a washed-out glyph | Useful about twice a year |
Custom powers. Anything you type in joins the portal with exactly the same odds, and gets the generic energy burst — there is no bespoke animation mapped to a power the page has never heard of.
Ways people use it
- Icebreakers. The oldest question at any table, with the choosing taken out of your hands.
- Character building. Roll a power, then build a hero around it — the catch column is the interesting half.
- Playground games. Everyone summons one and has to play it for the round.
- Writing prompts. Give the power to someone who absolutely should not have it.
- Arguments. Settle the flight-versus-invisibility debate the only honest way.
Why nobody ever picks the sensible one
Ask a room and you will get flight, invisibility or time travel almost every time. Ask which one would actually improve a normal week and the answer is telekinesis — never getting up again, never dropping anything, never losing your keys down the back of anything. It does not win because it is not cinematic, and that is exactly the tension this picker is good at exposing.
The catch column above is deliberately not a joke list. Every power in fiction is interesting because of what it costs, and if you are using this for a character or a story, that column is the more useful half of the table.
A fair pick, every time
No glyph is luckier than another. The winner is drawn uniformly over positions using your browser's cryptographic random generator before the tendril moves, the powers are shuffled into fresh positions on every run, and the tendril is sent to each glyph's exact centre with nothing clamping how far it can reach — so the far side of the portal comes up exactly as often as the near side.
More hero pickers
After something related? Try these:
- Want a hero rather than a raw power? Spin the Superhero Picker.
- Specific characters — the Marvel and DC pickers.
- Fancy the other side? Run the Villain Picker.
- Want more? Browse all random pickers.