Charles Atlas Superpower: Difference between revisions

** 4E averts this trope in regards to hit points, which no longer represent pure vitality and are more like "plot points" instead - minion monsters only have 1 hp regardless of level, a character isn't really considered "hurt" until they've lost half their hp, and large quantities can be easily regained by inspiration as easily as by magic. This is actually returning to a concept originally invoked in the first edition's Dungeon Master's Guide, which justifies hit points by saying that they do not represent mere physical toughness, but all the things that can make a character hard to kill (toughness, divine favor, sheer dumb luck, etc). Conversely, this trope is alive and well in regards to character abilities, and is the official explanation for the martial power source. How can a rogue turn himself invisible, or a warlord rally an unconscious ally back to fighting form? Training and practice.

* This is explicitly the case in [http://aarnblog.blogspot.com The World Of Aarn]. In the setting, magic is a simple fact of life, often taking the role that electricity does in our world, and it's also present in every living thing. As a result, Mundanes, those who don't use straight out magic, end up having their intrinsic magic express itself physically, so they can hit much harder, take harder blows, jump 12 feet in the air, and resist magical attacks to a greater degree than mages can.

** Subverted with the monks of the Akashic Brotherhood, who gain tremendous powers through intense training, meditation and the practice of martial arts, but even the Brothers admit that they are breaking the laws of physics as the [[Muggles|sleepers]] know them.

** Played straight with the Technocratic Union. Humanly-learnable skill is one of the ways they wield magic, not that they'll ever call it that. NWO Operatives and Syndicate Enforcers may not have the augmentations and exotic equipment of their peers in Iteration X, the Progenitors or Void Engineers, but they can be trained to the point of analysing and reconstructing crime scenes like Sherlock, sweet-talking sympathisers into spilling secrets in a way that totally isn't mind control, and cutting down lesser Reality Deviants like redshirts in an action movie.