How do you explain your character's abilities? (discussion)

[Breaker]

When your character uses their abilities, be it in a battle or a quest, how do you justify them? Do you explain what's happening to the reader, or do you have a means of showing without telling? Do you insinuate the source of their power, state it outright, or leave it for the reader's imagination? In other words, how much information do you consider "too much" and "too little"? Does your approach vary depending on whether it is a physical/magical ability?

[black shadow]

Well, I've only ever had Shadow's stat abilities, so I usually don't get to show them. With his bow abilities, I will probably explain what the arrow does that is so different, such as:

"As Black Shadow released the arrow from his yellow string of his bow, an intense sonic boom emanated from the spot. The arrow became a blur, hitting its target within an instant."

Or something like that.

[Taische]

If I'm honest, my abilities usually come down to genetics - even the magical ones. If it's not something they're innately capable of doing (having inherited or mutated from their parents), The Gods Said So. Taische, for example, has a mother who is able to channel magical energy into a variety of elemental magics. Her father has powerful innate fire magic. So she got the innate elementalism from her father, and the ability to use diverse magics from her mother. Illara, on the other hand, has innate speed, agility, and heightened senses. She's an elf and something went trippy in her genome to make her like a hyper elf. She's also got abilities she can't really control that were gifted to her by the elven Star-gods so she could defeat Pode.

I also like to give my characters downsides to their abilities. Taische will never know what it's like to be normal, because she never has been normal. It can make it hard for her to empathize (though bless her heart, she does try). Illara is vulnerable to sensory attacks, and she's constantly impatient if she's traveling with others because they're so slow.

[Storm Veritas]

He walks over fluffy carpets a lot and has shitty hair.

[Gnarl & Root]

I'm not a big magic user myself.

I don't really like my characters to be magic based, but I do, and always have, liked the idea of using magic enchanted weapons or items.

If my characters display magical abilities, which is rare, I have used the story line that it was forced on them by a more powerful being. Ayithe is due to have this thrust upon her by a Demi God in her latest story. She will be marked with a symbol and almost cursed with it, but even those abilities are not very flamboyant based.

I use more the story to remind the reader where it comes from, than describe a real dramatic over the top scene, I find that only becomes effective when the reader knows your character.

[Hysteria]

I'll often mention drawing the power from whatever the source is if it's magic. For my equipment abilities I will briefly explain the mechanics of the item. Sometimes I'll do this after using the bill to to keep the flow going for the fight.

[Ashla]

A lot of abilities I make are either genetic (Icebreakers and Tabors) or have something scientific behind it (Felicity's Berserk abilities have scientific and alchemical origins.)

I usually state that my character has this ability, even allude to why they have them. I often mention Ashla's Icebreaker genetics when using any of her abilities ("Ayleth called upon the power she inherited from her forefathers.") The nature of Felicity's abilities are staying in the dark right now, but I have included hints here and there like Ashla and Daisuke being responsible for it, as well as Ashla having to train her to further unlock them.

Then there's stats. I usually use Ashla's enhanced physical abilities with sentences like "with the ability of a jungle cat" :P How original.

[Bard]

At the moment Drumheller's abilities are not explained, as he himself does not know why he has them. As he learns of them, the reader will learn of them too.

[Rayse Valentino]

He ate some really hot peppers.

[Karuka]

He ate some really hot peppers.

And a whole 55 gallon barrel full of salt.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I've always seen Madison's (current) set of abilities as extensions of her physical form, because they essentially are. So, I write her breathing poison as if someone were breathing air, producing acid as if someone was beginning to drool or sweat, extend vines from her arms as if someone were reaching out to slap someone, and so on.

As far as her suite of Pode abilities go, I've been writing them as if she were trying to center herself and achieve some sort of evil zen, tapping into the well of hate that the two share deep inside of her to produce whatever spell she needs at the time. Bees, probably.

[Elthas_Belthasar]

I know me personally I tend to explain my abilities almost like a Mutant Power in X-Men.

I personally assume that my characters have spent much of their adult lives training in X ability or spell and becoming quite adept at them.

So when they use their ability (Someone else stated this in the thread too) they tend to channel upon some sort of an energy source.

Be it Chi, Manna, or whatever.

But the ability to draw the energy is a result of a lot of training.

At least that's how I explain most of my abilities.

I tend to think of powers and spells as a genetic attribute sort of deal.

Even in the case of Spells, where most of the time the caster is using symbols and what not, the ability to make the symbols WORK is still some sort of a power.

So yeah I tend to justify heroic feats (Abilities or whatever) as a genetic attribute of the character's race.