Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Difference between revisions
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Superman]]:
** Jimmy Olsen + [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] = Oh, dear...
** [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] Lois Lane got the occasional [[wikipedia:Image:SupermansGirlFriendLoisLane1.jpg#file|temporary powers]] as well. Even [http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=29%3Aconfounding-comic-covers-index&id=950%3Alois-and-lana-get-super-powers&Itemid=24#content Lana Lang] did!▼
*** [[Superdickery.com]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20160514181636/http://www.superdickery.com/the-jimmy-olsen-drinking-game/ made] a [[Drinking Game]] out of [https://web.archive.org/web/20160623035655/http://www.superdickery.com/tag/take-a-shot/ this].
{{quote|You know what I’d like to see? A super hero team comprised entirely of clones of Jimmy Olsen sporting all the powers he’s gotten over the years. You could make a toyline and actually justify having a billion variants of one character.
And maybe they should all come with their own collectible shot glasses, ’cause it’s that special drinking time again. }}
▲** [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] Lois Lane got the occasional [[wikipedia:Image:SupermansGirlFriendLoisLane1.jpg#file|temporary powers]] as well. Even [https://web.archive.org/web/20150812073256/http://www.superdickery.com/
*** However, in their ''Superman Family'' solo stories, both gradually fully develop into [[Badass Normal]]s who are perfectly capable against normal crooks, at least until the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' reboot.
** And Perry White had ''super-cigars'' that [
* Averted in [[Astro City]], of all places. Nightingale has no powers, but her sidekick Sunbird does.
* The Spider-Man arc "Spider-Island" had the concept of the ENTIRE city of New York hitting the glass ceiling, with Mary Jane in particular getting to play a large part in saving the day.
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== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
*
** In AD&D2 higher-level characters can gather followers once they establish a permanent base of operations. Followers are many, but barely above commoners and level up slowly. Henchmen (sidekicks) are acquired with more roleplaying (possibly via "promotion" from hirelings or followers), and start on lower level than PC, but can attain equal or greater level <ref>it's quite feasible even if they share every adventure with the PC, due to different level XP values of classes (i.e. a Thief working for a Wizard levels up faster from equal XP) and Individual Awards (if a thief opened a lock for the master, thief gets XP for using ability)</ref> - in which case there's no glass ceiling, just a door: they become independent adventurers and leave.
** Although with a different sort of glass ceiling than the standard example of the trope: the Cohort can not become as strong as the player character, but she ''does'' keep what powers she gains; they just happen to be two levels below the player's.▼
** In 3.x the Leadership feat in allows a player to get Cohorts (sidekicks). The Cohort's maximum level is two levels below the player's. (So, 4th level for a 6th level Character, 5th for a 7th, etc.)
** And thanks to [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]], the cohort can be much more powerful than the player character. Still lower level, though.▼
▲*** Although with a different sort of glass ceiling than the standard example of the trope: the Cohort can not become as strong as the player character, but she ''does'' keep what powers she gains; they just happen to be two levels below the player's.
▲*** And thanks to [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|not all classes being equal in power per level]], the cohort can be much more powerful than the player character
* Kind of inverted in ''[[Big Eyes, Small Mouth]]'' third edition. Though no sane GM would let you do it, a single follower basically has 10 character points for every character point you put in them, plus a starting bonus of 100. Multiple followers have a lower ratio, making it a bit harder to have an army of overpowered followers, but looking strictly at points, if you put half your points into a single follower, they'd be ten times as strong as you, and five times stronger than a character that didn't abuse this.
** There's something similar in ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', although there it's fifteen points flat per point in the Sidekick feat. So ten points into it, and you can build someone who's just slightly better than you because they can put those ten points you just spent on them into Protection or Strike.
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