Bleach Fan Fiction Wiki:Guide to Godmodding

Hello. And welcome to Cyberweasel89's

 Guide to Godmodding 

And how to avoid it at all cost!

Introduction
First off, there are two keys to avoiding godmodding when creating things: Weaknesses and Limitations. And there are two key things to apply these to: Characters and Abilities.

Characters
First, characters.

Characters need weaknesses to balance out their strengths. If they have far more strengths than weaknesses, you're godmodding.

And I don't mean a small spot on the back of the neck. Weaknesses! Characters need 'em!

Human Limitations
The best way to do this is stamina. Characters are human, too. And they have stamina and energy used for activity. They also feel pain. A character can't just ignore a wound. It hurts! They also aren't immortal. They can and have to fall if their injuries become too severe. And if they fight for too long, they have to get tried. If they're in too much pain, they won't be able to focus. Characters have endurance, a tolerance for pain, stamina, energy, willpower, spirit and morale, and everything human we have. And don't just tell me "My character doesn't have all that! He's a god!" No. It doesn't work that way. Having a god for a character is godmodding to the biggest extreme. Unless, of course, he's the main villain. In which case the main goal of the story is to defeat him, so he needs to be strong.

Dodging
And the character can't dodge every single bloody attack! They have to take a hit sometime! And don't just say "if the attack isn't good enough, I won't let it hit me". That's something another roleplayer once told me, and it was the most arrogant, self-centered thing anyone has ever said to me. And it came as a surprise to me, since she was really literate and a good writer.

Outside Knowledge
Then there's the situation of the godmodder knowing exactly how to defeat the opponent due to having read the character's profile. No, it doesn't work that way. Unless the opponent's weakness is within your character's abilities to figure out, he or she has to beat them the old-fashioned way.

Jack-Of-All-Trades Syndrome
And the character can't have a huge variety of abilities to make them ready for any situation. They need to have areas they aren't good at. For example, and in the simplest form, they may be strong and hard to injure, but they may be very sluggish and slow. Or they may be very fast and agile, but don't hit very hard. Characters need to have a theme with their abilities. If their abilities are just all over the place, it's not only silly, it's godmodding.

For example, the villain Crocodile from "One Piece" can turn into sand to avoid damage. But he can also dry up water (his weakness). These dryness powers are related to his element of sand. See? There's a theme.

Fears
We'll start off simple with major character weaknesses. First of all, there's fears. Characters with fears won't be able to function when their fear is around. Ranma from the manga "Ranma 1/2" is terrified of cats due to childhood trauma induced by his father. If a cat is around, he becomes so afraid he either runs screaming or freezes up.

There's also a villain in 666 Satan. He's so afraid of heights that he crawls on the ground like a wildcat when walking and squats instead of stands. During his fight with the character Ball, he gets hit from behind and forced into a standing position. The guy gets really scared, screaming that the ground is really far away, and quickly crouches back down to the ground. Ball manages to defeat the guy by setting up an attack that launches both of them into the air. When the guy sees how high up he is, he gets so scared that he urinates in his pants and faints. It was actually quite the memorable scene... ^_^

Kryptonite
Among other weaknesses, Superman is weak to Kryptonite! That's an obvious one.

In "One Piece", main character Luffy is immune to blunt damage, which is cushioned by his rubber body upon impact. He's also completely immune to electricity due to rubber's high resistance. But he's still susceptible to bladed weapons, fire, etc. etc.

Then there's another One Piece character, Crocodile. There are several characters in One Piece that can turn into an element to avoid damage. Smoker can turn into smoke to avoid damage, and Ace can turn into fire. However, these characters can only do this when they are aware the attack is coming. They need to turn into their element themselves, it doesn't happen automatically. If they are hit by a surprise attack out of nowhere, it can and will affect them. But the villain Crocodile, on the other hand, can turn into sand. And he's actually trained himself to turn into sand as a reflex to being hit. That means that even if he doesn't know the attack is coming, the moment the attack hits him he'll turn into sand as a reflex. But what Luffy finds out through deductive reasoning is that Crocodile's weakness is water. Luffy rushes into battle with Crocodile with a big barrel of water on his back, and jumps in to punch him. Crocodile just smirks and readies to turn into sand. But Luffy exclaims that he wet his fist, and the punch hits Crocodile and hits him hard. Water makes Crocodile's sand stick together. When he's wet, he can't transform into sand. What follows is a watery battle between water-powered Luffy and the "wet & dry" Crocodile. Crocodile uses his sand-related dryness powers to dry up the water and combat "water Luffy". When this proves an effective strategy for Crocodile, Luffy attacks him with his own wet blood (though in the censored version, he uses his sweat).

Holes in Defenses
Defenses can't be impervious. A barrier should fall or break if too much damage is dealt to it. A shield might only block from the front, and not from above, below, the sides, or behind. Or the barrier might only block energy-based attacks, but not physical. Or the barrier might only block projectiles, but not melee attacks.

Let's look at Gaara, from "Naruto". Gaara can manipulate sand, and he can compress it so tightly that it becomes a defense stronger that steel. What's more, the sand springs up around him to compress and block attacks automatically. It springs up to protect Gaara even if he doesn't want it to, and even if the attack is self-inflicted. But the sand is just that: Sand. It has its limits. When Gaara fights Lee, Lee is able to move so fast that the sand can't keep up. Lee manages to get right through the sand before it can compress, and lands strike after strike on Gaara. Gaara remedies this with his back-up defense: A thick coating of compressed sand covering his body as armor. However, there are limitations with that, too. This sand armor takes a great deal of energy to maintain, making it only a temporary defense, and useless in a long fight.

Then there's Franky from One Piece. He's a cyborg. He remodeled himself with machine parts. He is almost impervious to attacks from the front. However, he remodeled himself with his own hands, so he couldn't reach his back. So his back is completely defenseless.

Another good way is for the defense to have a limit. The defensive attack could defend from attacks, but only for so long, and only for attacks below a certain level of power. In "One Piece", Luffy fought a man named Blueno who used a defensive move that tightened his muscles to make them hard enough to resist damage. But Luffy's "Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka" was strong enough to break through it.

In the video game "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater", the boss Volgin is able to create an electrical barrier to block your bullets. But if you continuously fire at the barrier, such as with the infinite ammo gun called the "Patriot", you can break it down and leave Volgin vulnerable.

In the superhero cartoon "Ben 10: Alien Force", Ben’s cousin Gwen is able to project energy to make shields. However, these shields can be broken down with a few blows, but she can easily make more.

Abilities
I shall now transition into placing weaknesses and limits on abilities.

Abilities, especially powerful ones, need weaknesses and limitations. You can't just have an ability that levels an entire area or instantly kills the enemy with a single, unavoidable attack.

Energy
A good way to limit abilities is to make it so they use up energy. Several series have special forms of energy that abilities use up when used. There's Chakra in "Naruto", Reiatsu/Reiryoku in "Bleach", Spirit in "666 Satan", Invento Hell in "Aflame Inferno", and even MP in most RPG video games. And of course, the more powerful the attack, the more of this energy it consumes. And no one has infinite energy.

Strength to Accuracy Ratio
But the best way to limit a powerful attack is to make it so that it has a weakness. For example, an attack may be unavoidable, but it may not be very strong. Or the attack may be a one-hit kill, but it could be easily avoidable or interruptible.

Charge Time
The Chidori in Naruto has a charge time. Sasuke has to perform hand motions to activate it, then has to charge it up, leaving him defenseless. This is why the Chidori is often used on stationary enemies that are either restrained or cannot get away due to the cramped space of the area.

Attacks have limitations even in the Pokemon games. The Solar Beam is incredibly powerful, but it requires you to spend a full turn charging it up, then attacks on the next turn. If the Pokemon is KO'd while charging the Solar Beam, the attack is wasted.

Number of Uses
The Chidori is further limited in that it is quite powerful, but Sasuke can only use it twice a day due to how much energy it consumes. He can force a third use out of it if he draws power from his cursed seal, but that's risky because it affects his personality permanently.

Another example is "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion". The power of Geass, which the main character is given in the first episode, can be used to make anyone do whatever he wants. Mind control, if you will. However, it only works on a person once. Once he uses it to make someone do something, he can't make them do anything else.

A similar method is to make an "ammunition system". The attack can only be used a certain number of times before neading to reset. Renji’s sword in "Bleach" can stretch out on a band and attack with bladed segments. When the sword extends, it can do three separate movements or attacks before it has to retract to normal. Then Renji can extend it again. One of the characters in "Bleach" explains that this system is similar to ammunition used for firearms. The amount of uses is proportional to the power of the attack. Like how a pistol can be fired six times, a missile only once.

Frequency of Use
Another great way to limit attacks is to limit how rapidly it can be used.

In "Naruto", Pein's "Shinra Tensei" ability can repel any incoming projectiles or people with the force of gravity. However, there is a window where Shinra Tensei is unusable, which manifests as not being able to use the attack again until about four to five seconds after the last time it was used.

Conditions for Use
Then there's conditions. The character could only be able to use the ability under certain conditions. In "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion", the main character's Geass requires direct eye contact to work. If the target is looking away, has their eyes closed, or is wearing sunglasses or a visored helmet, it won't work. Though on the upside, it can be reflected by mirrors or other reflective surfaces.

In "Death Note", the titular notebook of death can kill anyone. However, it only works if the person writing in it knows the name and the face of the person they want to kill. They need to be able to write down the person's real name while imagining their face, or it won't work. And this is more challenging than it sounds, I can assure you.

Limited Range
And of course, there's always range. You can limit attacks by giving them a limited range. An arrow only flies so far, right? Well, an energy-draining attack might only work through direct touch.

In 666 Satan, one of the minor villains has claw weapons that can extend very far. However, there is a limit as to how far they can extend. Ball, the character who fights him, manages to trick him into extending them to the maximum so he can land an attack on him without fear of getting skewered. Yes, the character's name is "Ball". Get over it.

Lack of Control
A really good way is to make the attack undependable, unpredictable, or just difficult to control. I hate to use a Pokemon reference, but the attack "Metronome" can make basically anything happen, summoning a random attack from the game. It can be a lifesaver, or it could result in ultimate self-annihilation.

Another example is good ol' "Naruto". The titular character, Naruto, has a tremendous amount of Chakra, which is the unit of energy used for attacks. However, he has extremely poor control over his Chakra. This means that he can only use a handful of attacks, as the basic ones that most people know use so little Chakra that he uses too much and overloads them.

Drawbacks
Another great way to limit attacks is that they have drawbacks to their use. One Piece is a good example. Luffy's "Gear Second" allows him to achieve levels of near unimaginable speed. However, due to the way it functions, using it will decrease his lifespan. Luffy's "Gear Third" is also very powerful, but after he deactivates it, he's pretty much helpless for a time roughly equal to however long he spent in Gear Third.

I'd hate to throw out a Pokemon reference, but take the “Hyper Beam” attack. It's very powerful, but after using it, the Pokemon that used it has to skip the next turn to recover from the attack.

Naruto is able to draw upon the power of the demon within him to coat himself in violent energy in the shape of a four-tailed fox. However, the violent energy burns and damages his skin. His body's automatic healing powers, which become fully active in this state, simultaneously repair the damage while it is being repeatedly dealt. This means his skin goes through a constant state of perpetual damage and repair. Not only is this extremely painful, but it shortens Naruto's lifespan.

In "Naruto", Naruto's special attack "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken" is a close combat attack that does damage on a molecular level. It is very powerful. However, due to its ability to directly damage molecules, it hurts Naruto's arm, and repeated use can severely hurt him. It's been said that being used too much in one battle can even permanently scar Naruto.

The drawbacks don't even have to be that severe. A defensive move might leave the user completely stationary. They won't be able to move unless they break the defensive position, such as with the "Tekkai" move from One Piece, which tightened the muscles to resist damage, but the user couldn't move while tightening their muscles.

Pain
Pain while using an attack or ability is actually a very good way to give it weaknesses. In 666 Satan, Zero is able to use the power within his own bones to move very fast. However, doing so is quite painful to his bones.

Speaking of pain, characters can't just ignore injuries. They feel pain like regular humans, unless their body is completely numb. And they suffer from blood-loss, too. If they lose too much blood, they can and will faint.

Healing
But then there's the issue of healers. Show some limits! Most people with healing abilities shouldn't be able to use it on themselves, not when they have a gaping wound in their chest or stomach. With that much pain, they wouldn't be able to focus to use the healing move on themselves. And even if they could, healing doesn't restore lost blood. And the healing attack should still use up some form of energy to use, just like any other attack.

And here's the biggest problem: Some people make characters that have all these godmodding combat powers, but then they throw in a healing move they can use on themself at any time. No. Just... no.

Healers specialize in healing and little else. That's the way it's always been, right down to the days of the first Final Fantasy game. White Mages specialize in healing and support magic, and have next to no ability to do damage.

In "Bleach", Orihime can do three things: Heal, shield from attacks, or attack with a piercing projectile. And she sucks at the third one. Similarly, the character Hanatarou is a skilled healer, but completely sucks in combat. In fact, he's never even been seen in combat, outside of Bleach video games and extra joke segments. Few people actually know what his special sword does, since a good number of Bleach fans haven't seen the omake or don't play the games.

In Naruto, Medical Ninja specialize in healing, and have very few other abilities that aren’t somehow related to healing. For example, Tsunade, a great medical ninja, has super-strength, but this is related to her ability to control her body's energies to apply healing. She can also scramble the brain's messages to the body, but this is probably medical-related, too. Like perhaps for use as a way to keep the patient still or to repair the nervous system. Kabuto can attack the opponent's insides with a tiny blade of energy, but this, too, is based on healing. The blade is a scalpel used for surgery in ninja healing.

In "One Piece", Tony Tony Chopper is a skilled doctor. He actually is not that strong, but can become stronger using special medicines he has made. One Piece is one of the few examples where medical technicians can be somewhat skillful in combat, but this is because One Piece has no means of magical healing. All doctors in One Piece do things the old fashioned way: Bandages, disinfectant, splints, and medicine. Just like nature intended it. Poor One Piece... you are so underrated...

Of course, healing characters are useless when no one takes a bloody hit. Sigh... my healer characters are useless in every roleplay I'm in...

Copycat Abilities
As for the subject of copying the abilities of others, show some restraint, for the good of all things fair. NO ONE likes someone permanently copying their character's abilities and keeping them for the duration of the roleplay. The player spent a long time coming up with and working on the abilities of their character, and did not create them only for them to be copied by a character that can copy abilities.

What's even worse is a character who can copy abilities, then use them with even more power than the one who originally possessed them. That's just the worst. Don't do it. Ever.

If you're going to make a character that can copy abilities, do it right. Make it only temporary, or make it so that the character can only copy one at a time. And make it so that they can only use them to the extent of their own abilities. They won't be able to use a power they just attained at the same level of skill as the one who originally possessed it. And they won't have the necessary power levels to use it to the same extent as the one who originally possessed it. Different powers take different skills and talents to use. For your character to have all the skills and talents necessary to use all of them perfectly is godmodding, plain and simple.

An example. In "Naruto", when Sasuke used his abilities to copy some of Lee's physical fighting style, he couldn't use it without it being heavily taxing on his body. Lee had special training to adapt to the advanced techniques of his fighting style. Without the same training, Sasuke found it difficult and very tiring to use the advanced techniques.

Shapeshifting
Now, transformation. If you're going to have a shapeshifting character, do it right. If the character can shapeshift into anything, there'd be no stopping them. They could easily transform into a creature the size of a planet and destroy the world.

Put limits on the shapeshifter's transformation abilities. Make it so they can only transform into a certain variety of things. Like a shapeshifter that can turn into any animal (like Beast Boy from Teen Titans), or a shapeshifter that can only change into other people or other human appearances (like Mystique from X-Men).

Similarly, while Mystique can change into other people, she can't turn into people larger than herself. Well, she is capable of it, but the size of the person would be her regular size. So if she changed into the form of the massive Blob, Blob-Mystique would have the same size as regular Mystique.

But be realistic. If your character transforms into animals or other people, where do their clothes go? Some newbies can't stand the idea of their character forced into a situation without clothes, so they usually do something n00bish like:
 * 1. The clothes are teleported to a pocket dimension upon transformation
 * 2. The clothes become the animal's fur.
 * 3. The clothes are part of the human to human transformation.
 * 4. Etc. Etc.

There are disadvantages to all of them. If the shapeshifter could access a pocket dimension, why only store clothes there? They could store anything in their pocket dimension, which would be godmodding. Why would a character be able to shapeshift AND access a pocket dimension? Those abilities are completely unrelated.

Clothes becoming the animal's fur is just too ridiculous. What if the shapeshifter was naked? Would the animal they turned into be furless? And what if the animal was shaved? Would the shapeshifter be naked when they changed back to human form?

And how exactly is a human shapeshifter able to make clothing a part of their body? If the character removed the clothes while shapeshifted, would they not lose a part of themselves? The clothing is separate from the body, so how can it be part of the body, for that matter? Unless the shapeshifter can turn into multiple things as well as objects, that's just ridiculous.

If the character could not shapeshift with their clothes, not only would it humanize them and add a touch of realism, it would make for all kinds of interesting situations and important challenges and hardships. Characters cannot have it too easy, or they aren't fun to watch or read about.

The same goes for invisibility, intangibility, and teleportation. Unless the character can specifically turn other things invisible or bring other things with them when they pass through things or teleport, their clothes will not go with them. If you want the character’s clothes to turn invisible, make it so they can turn objects and other people invisible, too. If you want the character’s clothes to come with them when they pass through things, make it so they can bring objects and other people with them when they pass through things. If you want the character's clothes to go with them when they teleport, make it so that they can teleport objects and other people with them.

Then there's another subject. If a person shapeshifted into an animal when they normally are human, or shapeshifted into a girl when they are normally male, they likely wouldn't be as skillful in this new body. A human is used to a human body, not a tiger body. As a tiger, a shapeshifter can run faster and leap higher and farther, something they likely wouldn't be used to, and thus would stumble for a while until they got used to the form. Housecats are capable of great balance, agility, and can leap high and far. But if you'd had a cat before, you'd see that a kitten or young cat slips up or takes a spill every now and then. They aren't use to their body's capabilities yet. When the cat gets older and more used to their body, they can do all kinds of feats with very few spills and slips.

And people are all different. They all have different body types. And with these body types, especially between males and females, the center of gravity and the sense of balance is different.

In "One Piece", Mr. 2 Bon Clay can shapeshift into other people (but not their clothes). However, his special style of martial arts, "Okama Kenpo", is unusable when transformed because most other people don't have the form, stature, figure, and grace necessary for his Okama Kenpo (which combines ballet with martial arts).

In "Ranma 1/2", Ranma can change from male to female and back again when hit with water. The temperature of the water determines what form he takes. Ranma is normally male, and is a very capable fighter as one. But when female, Ranma will sometimes loose fights at first. This is not because his female form is weaker, far from it. Ranma is just not used to the different center of gravity, sense of balance, height, weight, etc. of his female body.

Object transformation is a tricky subject. Logically, if your character could fully transform into objects, there’d be no place for their brain or organs to be so they could remain conscious and alive. They need the organs of a living body to survive.

Therefore, it’s best if the character can only transform parts of their body into objects. This was done best with Golden Darkness from the manga “To-Love-Ru”. Golden Darkness was an assassin-for-hire that could shapeshift parts of her body into objects. She could grow blades on her hands and arms, turn her hair into fists to punch the enemy, and even turn her hair into wings to achieve very limited flight (without hollow bones and the right body structure, she can’t outright fly with just wings alone). However, in a straight act of limitation, if she used her power too much, she could get sick and would require medical treatment. She had to have periods of rest if she used her shapeshifting powers too heavily in a single battle. And she could not transform her clothes, either. See? This character was a shapeshifter, but she had weaknesses and limitations on her abilities. This is the key to avoiding godmodding. Weaknesses and limitations on not only characters, but abilities as well.

Fan Characters
Now we move on to fan characters. Characters created for the world of an existing series, be it anime/manga, cartoons, TV series, books, comics, or movies.

Character Copying
Now, here’s the issue with making characters based on your favorite series:

Do. Not. Copy. Canon. Characters.

Plain and simple. Don't give your character any of the special abilities that only belong to one character. A good example is Pein's “Shinra Tensei” from Naruto. And if you do give your character an ability of a canon character, which is always a bad idea, don't make it so that your character can do it better than the canon character. No. That's just wrong.

Another example is in Bleach. Ichigo is noteworthy for having a very high rate of growth, allowing him to quickly learn new concepts and abilities. Well, some fans think this is pretty cool, so they use it for their own Bleach character. Only sometimes they exaggerate it, making it so that their character can learn new abilities and concepts far faster than even Ichigo. This is godmodding. The advanced growth rate is Ichigo's signature talent. You can't just copy it for your own character just because you think it's cool. You need to respect the original series. Plain and simple.

Series Copying
Then there's the issue of people copying things from one series to use for fan characters in a different series. A very popular trend is for people to have their Bleach fan characters wield a sword just like InuYasha's Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga transforms in a manner similar to the Zanpakutou swords in Bleach. The connection is obvious, but it's just uncreative to copy Inuyasha’s sword for a Bleach fan character (as well as overused). Be your own person. That goes for your characters, too. Don't copy canon characters. Come up with something yourself. If you can't come up with something yourself, you shouldn't be creating fan characters.

Canon vs. Fanon
Then there's the issue of making fan characters stronger than canon characters. I once saw a Bleach story where one of the characters easily beat Aizen. Aizen is the main villain of Bleach, and also the strongest being in the Bleach series. Aizen has been described as “plot-changingly powerful”. To have a fan-made character easily beat the strongest canon character in the series is possibly the biggest form of godmodding ever. Not to mention that it shows extreme immaturity and lack of respect for the series.

Speaking of lack of respect for the series, as well as speaking of Bleach, there is no Zanpakutou form higher than Bankai. "Bankai" means "Final Release". Emphasis on "final". It is the strongest form a Zanpakutou can attain, and to make something stronger is not only godmodding, but it spits on the original concept of a Zanpakutou invented by the mind of Kubo, the author of Bleach. Unless Kubo himself reveals a form higher than Bankai, there is no form higher than Bankai. And if you're going to create a form higher than Bankai, don't use it in a public roleplay or other community fan website. Use it only in your fanfiction stories.

Summary
Okay, to sum up:

Adding weaknesses and limitations to characters:
 * Stamina
 * Energy
 * Endurance
 * Willpower
 * Tolerance to pain
 * Focus under stress and pain
 * Severity of injuries
 * Blood-loss
 * Spirit and morale
 * Things they are not good at
 * Fears
 * Weaknesses

Adding weaknesses and limitations to abilities:
 * Uses up energy
 * Drawbacks to its use
 * Charging time
 * Defenseless afterwards
 * Limited number of uses
 * Can't use in rapid succession
 * Conditions for use
 * Limited Range
 * Lack of Control
 * Unavoidable, but not very powerful
 * Unavoidable, but easily blocked
 * Unblockable, but easily dodged
 * Unblockable, but not very powerful
 * Instant-kill, but easily dodged or blocked
 * Interruptible
 * Temporary defenses
 * Holes in defenses
 * Follow a theme

Healing
 * No random healing moves
 * Specialize in healing
 * Make combat moves related to healing for healer characters
 * TAKE BLOODY HITS!!! Otherwise healer characters are useless

Ability Copying
 * Temporary copying
 * Lesser skill copying
 * Lesser power level copying
 * Different body capabilities realism

Transformation
 * Specific category shapeshifting
 * Partial object transformation
 * Realistic clothing situations
 * Different body adjustment realism

Fan Characters
 * Be original
 * Be creative
 * No copying the abilities of canon characters
 * Show respect to the original series
 * Honor the ideas and creations of the author

Farewell
This has been Cyberweasel89’s Guide to Godmodding. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks go to Blackemo1, who seems to have already read this guide even before I posted it. Either that or he has a similar mind-set. ^_^