Combat Clairvoyance: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sometimes, the most powerful fighter will not be equipped with such [[Stock Super Powers]] as super-strength, or [[Nigh Invulnerable|nigh invulnerability]]. Instead, they have the power to see into the future.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Midnighter in [[The Authority]], a result of [[Awesomeness By Analysis]].

* [[Birds of Prey]] villain Archer Braun

* In ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' Negative Man (''nee'' Flash Forward) can see the immediate future but due to his relative wimpiness his only use in a fight is coordinating his teammates based on his visions. Eventually he loses control of it and can't stop seeing the ''distant'' future, before being given medication that suppresses his powers altogether.

** Of course, Anakin's ability to see the future seems more like a curse than a blessing in [[Star Wars|Episode 2: Attack of the Clones]] and by [[Star Wars|Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith]] we know it's more of a curse than a blessing.

*** Well, prescience plus [[Genre Blindness]] is a curse. Doesn't the GFFA have stories about [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|self-fulfilling prophecies]]?

{{quote|At least according to the record, he'd been hitting the correct response buttons in the milliseconds after the trigger stimuli algorithm had been run, but ''before the actual images appeared onscreen'', and the computer had not been able to handle near-simultaneous input and output. He'd crashed the thing three times before he'd evidently [[Cover-Blowing Superpower|decided to slow down a little and let the program catch up]].}}

* General Buford makes a speech about what will happen at [[Gettysburg]] if he allows the Confederates to take the high ground before the Union infantry arrives. Though this is due to being [[Genre Savvy]] as a result of decades of experience as a professional soldier rather than any superpower, he does reference the trope.

* The Dunyain from [[The Second Apocalypse]] can't technically see the future, but they can read their opponents' expressions and body language and predict their actions before they perform them.

* [[Twilight|Alice Cullen]] uses her clairvoyance against other vampires, both for fighting and playing chess.

 

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** Not just spells, but various feats, class/race abilities, skills and item properties work as boosts to Initiative rolls, keep you from being subject to surprise attacks, be able to use interrupting abilities, move out of the way, have someone else take the damage, or otherwise ticking off the GM.

** This is also what numerical "insight" bonuses represent—knowing where an opponent's attack will land makes a character harder to hit, and knowing where an opponent's weak spots are going to be positioned makes a character better at hitting him.

* In the [[RPG]]s ''[[GURPS]]'' and ''[[Champions]]'' the advantage Danger Sense covers this, though usually players don't spend enough points to make it monstrous. Spider-Man, is (of course) the inspiration.

* Averted for the Oracle of Tzeentch - he is possibly the greatest seer of the universe but his powers are only useful in long-term Xanatos Roulettes; he is actually blind to the present (one head sees the future and the other the past) and so physically a pushover by greater demon standards.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files (game)|The Dresden Files]]''' RPG, the custom power "A Few Seconds Ahead" that canon character Abby has allows her to see a few seconds into the future. The in-game effect of this is that it allows her to use her high Lore skill to dodge attacks rather than her lower physical skills.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Psycho Mantis from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' does this by reacting to your controller input. {{spoiler|He becomes a much easier opponent if you plug your controller into the P2 port so that he can't read you.}}

* In ''[[Warcraft]]'', this is part of why it's a bad idea to fight Nozdormu, Aspect of Time. The others are his colossal other [[Time Master|temporal based powers]], such as the fact that even if you did manage to kill him he could rewind time and try again, and of course the fact that he's a giant dragon.

** Actually Nozdormu is destined to die, although where, when and how is unknown. He was gifted with the knowledge of his own death to keep him from misusing his powers over time. Basically unless you're the destined one, you can't kill him.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Foreshadow in ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' is a crimefighter who occasionally partners with [[The Cowl|Battlecat]], battling organized crime in New Orleans. He's an almost unbeatable hand-to-hand combatant due to his ability to see just far enough into the future to know what they will do. He's even used this power to dodge bullets. The Eye of God, an expert swordsman and member of the super-terrorist group known as "The Mujahedin", can do the same thing. One wonders what a fight between Foreshadow and the Eye of God would be like.

* {{spoiler|The Girl}} of ''[[A Girl and Her Fed]]'' has this power.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]