Time Manipulation Discussion

[Jim Raynor]

I like the idea of Time Manipulation a lot, but I think there is something wrong with it. For all it can do, most of it could be done cheaper with other proficiencies/powers or moves, and the advantage that it gives (albeit quite a good advantage, if used in certain ways) is either gimped because of fairness or weak to the point of asking the question 'why bother?'

Here a few ideas I've thought up that TM could be used in, and why other options are better:

Speed up time - for yourself, this could be used to increase your speed/attack speed/dodging ability for a limited time. However, that to me sounds like artificially boosting your stats (SPD, obv), and something similar (not the same) can be done with Burst Movement, which is 1000 OM cheaper, and doesn't require a Move.

For a foe, you might do this to throw them off guard; temporarily increasing their speed may throw off their judgement and make them miss/crash/etc. Again though, I feel a similar effect can be achieved with Burst Movement, or perhaps a mental Move that makes them stumble, which would require Telepathy; 300 OM cheaper (though it would require a Move too).

Slow down time - I could see this being used to slow an incoming projectile to give the user time to dodge, but a defensive Move could provide a similar effect, and Area Shield Prof is only 400 OM. High SPD/TEC and again, Burst Movement could substitute here. This could be fun for non-combat reasons (stopping a bomb/person/fragile item from hitting the ground) but that's a big chunk of OM for not much utility.

Again, you could apply the slowing effect to your foe, but similar issues arise as speeding them up (namely the TK option).

Freeze time - one of the more useful traits, but of course it's very OP. Stopping someone from doing anything for a period of time is quite strong, and so such a move should be expensive (usually a Super Move). But I could argue that another SM could be used to paralyse/bind/put to sleep an opponent, and that would require Debuff Prof (800 OM less).

Reverse time - a cool concept; I thought you could make a Defensive Super Move where you take the damage and then reverse time back to when you weren't injured, thereby nullifying the effect. Again, this system is overpriced when considering Area Shield + SM cost is still better, and maybe falls into the Regen/Healing side of Powers.

All of this on top of that TM is generally time consuming and effort intensive, even at its base strength. Using anything I've described above would, I would assume, take more effort and time to prepare.

I'm not asking for Time Manipulation to be made cheaper or stronger; I think finding a balance between its strengths and costs is important. But at the moment, as a writer who would like to use this power, I see absolutely no reason outside of flavour for me to get it. The combat applications are interesting and fun, but generally the effect is weaker, more effort is required and the OM cost is generally worse than a similarly designed Move using other Powers/Profs.

I'd love to hear what other people think. Do you agree? Am I looking at it too narrowly? Is there something I didn't think of?