Ok so like a genie comes to you and offers to give you a superpower of your choice. He informs you that everyone on the earth is getting this same deal (EDITED - choice of superpower for them). Also you can’t be OP. So no monipulating molecules or total control of history. Its one power but it can be versatile but the more versatile it is the less powerful it will be. So like a good earmark is a straight up offensive power won’t make you more lethal than a commonly well equiped soldier. So like cyclops beam could be equivalent to antitank, antiaircraft shoulder things or whatnot. But if you were like the human torch where you can fly, produce and manipulate flame. Well your going to be on the level of a military flame thrower. Power has to be around something though so you can’t be like superman with unconnected powers of flight, heat vision, strength, invulnerability. But superstrength and resistance to damage would totally makes sense as part of one thing. As you will see below its about using your judgement.
Ok that is the setup but what I want is for you to say what your super power is and then play the role of the genie and decide how it needs to be limited to not be OP (EDITED - OVER POWERED. I realized it could be confused with original poster but im using it in the gaming sense). Here is my answer as an example.
I would ask for teleportation and the genie would be like ok but you can’t teleport anything living with you (being able to teleport people where ever like above a volcano is op. I thought about it being limited to people who allow it but you know its to easy to trick someone. I also say any living thing because dropping some predators in places or a disease). Speaking of what you can bring with it can’t be to much. No teleporting a semi truck over your opponents. Figure it can be as much as you (I) can carry on an all day hike. Also no teleporting parts of things. So if im driving the semitruck I cannot teleport away with its steering wheel but if the steering wheel of a semi truck were sitting in a junk yard it could totally come along. Ok then in addition nothing volatile. So essentially no explosives or accelerants.
On a final note I had thought about electronics and poisons but ultimately felt it was not that op and would cause the opposite where the limitations start getting pretty annoying. I also want commentary on how wrong it might be or unfair limitations with mine or anyones. I have to admit that once I thought along the lines of OP the power gets worse and worse. Not being able to bring people really locks out one of the better things with this power which is sharing it and saving folks by getting them out of danger.
EDITED - Some responses seem to miss what im going for. The idea is to eliminate anything that would make the power OP. Not limit it to the point where it is no longer a superpower. Keep in mind the examples like cyclops beams being able to take out a tank or a plane. I want legitamate super powers but also though around limiting them from being dominant over all others. Thing in terms of like balancing in a game system.
Another EDIT - this is a bit of a tease but remember everyone on earth is selecting a power from a genie (or the genie maybe he can duplicate himself) at the same time. There was a power or two I was going to put in examples but I kinda wanted to see if anyone would mention them.
EDIT3 - Ok so I teased it and not sure who might see these updates but no one took the bait so what I expected was people to jump onto disabling, copying, and absorbing powers. With everyone in the world having powers these become really useful and could guarantee a job at sensitive locations. It seems to me the examples from media I know are limited enough. Leech from marvel disables all powers around him and he can’t control it much outside of increasing the area he effects with effort or holding it in to a smaller area with effort and then the teacher from my hero academia who can precisely target one person at a time and they must be in line of sight (honestly having to not blink seems a bit much to me. I mean one on one it just makes both of them unpowered although its really powerful in a team). I think with copying powers it just needs to be some mix of one at a time, line of sight, not being able to bank or maybe a limit to banking or time period they can be banked and it being a poorer copy. I think the poorer copy has to be there given the versatility or it would be like the definitive choice. Absorbing is tough. I think it would require touch and take time to absorb and something like you could absorb 9o or 99% but the person would still have a bit left and the moment you stop touching you will be losing it and they will be regaining or something. I mean seems a pretty big deal to both shut down the other persons power as well as getting it for yourself.
The way I imagined it, the first stipulation is the “price” of the power. It also discourages someone from just stopping time for “long periods of time”. The third stipulation is a result of the second–if time is stopped except for your own body, your body will continue to age. But this will only be relevant or noticeable if the user is making too much use of their time stop power, that they spend years in time stop.
But yes, I think in terms of limiting the power’s OP’ness, only the second stipulation is relevant.
It would make sense to prevent the person from stopping time forever I guess. Maybe its like you say with bullet one but it can be real slow. So perfectly safe if you spend less than an hour but you would have some bad consequence damage if you go like a day. Or to simplify what about you can’t do it when asleep or unconcious. That would prevent stopping time forever and give you a bit of a weakness if someone can knock you out. So it would not actually become dangerous to you but you would lose your grip on stopping time eventually just do to exhaustion.
I was actually thinking that the first isn’t necessary given that the second already limits breathing. No one can ever hold their breath for long, and an assumption I made (which I should have made explicit) is that you can’t use the power unconsciously. So if you lose consciousness (like from holding your breath for long), time resumes.
So I guess the second bullet point is all that it needs, it limits the power from being abused. If one can “power through” all the stopped air particles and whatnot (another superpower–super strength) and have quite an amount of air in one’s lungs, one can actually do some stuff with it. It’d be weird though, as dropped things will just float midair (no time to start falling).
I can imagine someone stopping time for a bit, move all the way to the other end of the room, and make it seem like one “teleported” from one end of the room to another.
But yeah, might be limiting, but in conjunction with a few other superpowers (like super strength) it can be quite useful.
second point explicitly said you can’t move though. so it sounds like time is stopped except for your ability to think. I actually thought with time stopped you did not have to worry about breathing.