Resistance

From The Character Database

Resistance is the power to withstand the effects of certain abilities through various means. The highest degree of resistance is outright immunity, which supposedly makes the user completely unaffected by such abilities.

Important Considerations:

  • Varied Strength: Simple resistance to one instance of an ability isn't enough to ignore all uses of that ability. Some applications may be much stronger, or work differently, necessitating different forms of resistance. Therefore, specifics should always be detailed when listing resistance.
  • Immunity Criteria: Qualifying for immunity is difficult, as no simple show of resistance suffices. Statements of immunity might be hyperbole or context-specific. Immunity should only be assigned when the user completely lacks what would be affected. For example, an inorganic being cannot be manipulated biologically, and a soulless entity is unaffected by soul manipulation.
  • Specific vs. Broad Resistance: Specific resistances do not necessarily equate to broad ones. However, resisting a versatile power (such as mind manipulation) might offer expansive defense. Even then, resistance may fail if the ability is performed differently. For instance, a character resisting mind manipulation targeting the brain may struggle against a power targeting the incorporeal concept of the mind.
  • Activation and Limitations: Some resistances and immunities may need to be activated rather than being constantly in effect. This should be mentioned, along with any limitations such as resistance only applying to certain parts of the user's body.

Resistance by Higher Levels of Infinity

Concept: Characters with infinitely higher durability than another character's attack potency are immune to regular forms of attacks from the weaker character. However, various forms of durability-circumventing abilities, known as "hax," exist. Whether these hax can affect infinitely stronger characters depends on the type of hax and the nature of the target's transcendence over the user.

Since this issue often stems from the hax mechanism itself rather than a conventional resistance, such resistances are not typically listed on profiles.

Hax Categories: To facilitate understanding, hax is divided into six categories. A hax ability may belong to multiple categories.

  1. Abilities with Limited Durability Circumvention:
    • These abilities do not operate completely independently of durability scale. Examples include pressure point techniques, acupuncture, and internal organ attacks, as these require the ability to inflict at least minimal damage to be effective. More exotic hax, like molecular or atomic disintegration, also fall into this category since the bonds within an infinitely durable body would also be infinitely stronger.
  2. Abilities Requiring Scale and Range:
    • These fully durability-circumventing abilities need to cover a significant portion of the character's body to be lethal. Examples include Existence Erasure, Transmutation via Reality Warping, and Poison, which might rely on the character's physiology to distribute through the entire body.
  3. Abilities Requiring Only Range:
    • These fully durability-circumventing abilities target non-physical aspects such as the mind or soul. Depending on the fiction, these could also fall into the second category if the mind and soul are of the same dimension as the character.
  4. Abilities Affecting Reality, Not the Target:
    • These fully durability-circumventing abilities, like law manipulation or concept manipulation, affect reality as a whole rather than targeting a specific character.
  5. Abilities Where the Target Affects Themselves:
    • These fully durability-circumventing abilities involve the target doing something that causes self-affliction. A common example is Madness Manipulation Type 3, where perceiving the user delivers the effect. This only applies if perception itself, such as subliminal messages, manifests the effect without supernatural power reaching out.

Key Notes:

  • Resistance from higher levels of infinity is not the same as conventional resistance and thus is not listed on profiles.
  • The efficacy of hax against infinitely stronger characters depends on the nature of the hax and how the target transcends the user.
  • Specific categorization of hax helps in understanding the mechanics and limitations of different abilities.

Transcendence Types

With the categories of hax clarified, the following guidelines explain how abilities may interact with various types of infinite transcendence, assuming the abilities have no particular feats of affecting characters that are qualitatively superior to the user.

Exclusively Statistical

This is the most basic type. The target has durability that is infinitely higher than the user's attack potency but otherwise doesn't transcend them. They have the same dimensionality, there is no layer of reality-fiction transcendence between them, and there is no further superiority that is relevant.

1. Abilities with Limited Durability Circumvention:

  • Effectiveness: These abilities would usually be assumed not to work, as the infinitely higher durability makes limited circumvention meaningless. Even if the attacker only had to deal with a millionth of the character's durability, the infinite initial difference remains beyond the attacker's power. Techniques like pressure points would also be unlikely to trigger, as actually pushing the point would be beyond the attacker's strength.

2. Abilities Requiring Scale and Range:

  • Effectiveness: These would work as they would against a character with a finite stat difference, since the character is not special in terms of scale and range.

3. Abilities Requiring Only Range:

  • Effectiveness: These would work as they would against a character with a finite stat difference.

4. Abilities Affecting Reality, Not the Target:

  • Effectiveness: As long as the character exists within the same reality as the attacker, these abilities should work as they would against a character with a finite stat difference.

5. Abilities Where the Target Affects Themselves:

  • Effectiveness: Since the character has no specific protection against this, they would be affected in the same way as when the ability is used against a character with a finite stat difference.

Higher-Dimensional Existence

Characters with higher-dimensional existence have bodies that extend through at least one more dimension than the attacker typically operates in. This is strictly in terms of proper mathematical dimensions.

1. Abilities with Limited Durability Circumvention:

  • Effectiveness: As these characters also have infinitely higher durability, these abilities would be ineffective for the same reasons as with exclusively statistics-based transcendence. This might not apply to dimensions that are not tiering-applicable.

2. Abilities Requiring Scale and Range:

  • Effectiveness: Such abilities would usually have no effect on beings of higher dimensionality. These beings have an infinitely larger "volume" than the ability's demonstrated area of effect and most of the body exists along a dimensional axis the ability cannot access, i.e., beyond the ability's range. Although one might argue that erasing a 2-dimensional plane of a 3-dimensional character could bisect them, it could also be likened to cutting a strand of hair instead of bisecting the body. If the dimensional difference is more than one, it would be like erasing an infinitely thin line of a 3-dimensional being, causing no significant damage. Unless the fiction clarifies otherwise, even such a cutting method is unlikely to cause significant harm.

3. Abilities Requiring Only Range:

  • Effectiveness: Most of the character's body exists beyond the dimensional axis and thus beyond the ability's range. One might argue that some non-dimensional aspects like the mind or soul of the character could still be within the same space as the attacker and hence within range. However, there is no particular reason this would be the case, and the mathematical probability of that happening by mere chance is 0%. Therefore, such abilities generally should not work on higher-dimensional characters.

4. Abilities Affecting Reality, Not the Target:

  • Effectiveness: This is similar to the 2nd and 3rd cases. Most of the character is outside the ability's area of effect and range, making it next to impossible to have a significant effect. However, any part that enters the reality and thus the range of the ability may still be affected. For example, if laws or concepts were altered to erase the higher-dimensional character, their hand entering the altered reality would still be erased, somewhat limiting their attack options.

5. Abilities Where the Target Affects Themselves:

  • Effectiveness: As long as the ability does not need to contend with the character's scale, these should still be effective. A higher-dimensional entity may still be affected by subliminal messages in a movie it watches, for example. The usual range problem is circumvented by the target's own sensory capabilities leading to them perceiving the threat. However, such entities sometimes have higher-order minds or generally very alien mental structures, which could, under certain circumstances, interfere with the effectiveness of such abilities.

Reality-Fiction Transcendence

Reality-Fiction Transcendence describes characters or entities that exist beyond conventional reality, often viewing it as fictional or operating on a different plane altogether. 1. Abilities with Limited Durability Circumvention:

  • Effectiveness: Attacks from the attacker would appear entirely fictional to the target, rendering them incapable of dealing even the tiny amount of damage necessary for these abilities to be effective.

2. Abilities Requiring Scale and Range:

  • Effectiveness: Characters with Reality-Fiction Transcendence typically exist completely outside the attacker's reality. Therefore, abilities requiring scale and range are unlikely to reach them. Even if they did, they would only be perceived as fictional and incapable of having a real effect.

3. Abilities Requiring Only Range:

  • Effectiveness: Same as the 2nd case. The abilities would not reach the higher-dimensional entity as they are outside the attacker's reality and perceived as fictional.

4. Abilities Affecting Reality, Not the Target:

  • Effectiveness: These abilities would be ineffective against targets with Reality-Fiction Transcendence because they exist outside the range and perception of the attacker's reality. Any changes would be perceived as fictional and not affect their access to reality. An exception would be if the target enters the fictional reality willingly or temporarily transforms themselves into a fictional state. In such cases, they could potentially be affected if there are no feats or statements suggesting otherwise.

5. Abilities Where the Target Affects Themselves:

  • Effectiveness: Subliminal messages or social influencing may still be effective against characters with Reality-Fiction Transcendence. Despite perceiving aspects of reality as fictional, the impact of such messages or influences remains effective. For example, if a lower-dimensional reality is analogous to a virtual reality game and the target voluntarily enters it by transferring consciousness, they expose themselves to attacks within that reality. Their participation makes the game "real" to them, allowing mind attacks or influences to affect them within that context.

Other Forms of Transcendence

In fiction, various other forms of transcendence exist. The specific interactions of hax with these types typically require a case-by-case analysis. The arguments presented for the three types above can serve as a reference for understanding which arguments may apply to these other types. In many cases, the targets exist in dimensions or spaces different from those accessible to the wielder of the ability, which would likely render the abilities ineffective unless feats demonstrate reaching those alternate spaces.

Smurf Hax

In addition to hax that exploit gaps in the resistances provided by transcendent abilities, there are also hax that can directly overcome these resistances. Refer to further details here.

Notes:

Instances where Character A defeats Character B, or fails to be defeated by Character B, should not automatically imply that Character A has resistances to all of Character B's powers. Factors like Character-Induced Stupidity, Plot-Induced Stupidity, or a Speed Blitz may influence outcomes in complex or unclear battles, even if details are not explicitly provided. Exceptions exist when it is explicitly stated that "all of Character B's powers won't work on Character A" or similar definitive statements.

Additionally, a character gaining a power boost in one aspect does not necessarily mean their resistances also scale up accordingly.

Avoid scaling resistances between characters based solely on assumptions about their relative strength or power levels. The specific reasons behind how a character resists an ability are crucial in determining whether other characters share the same resistance.

When asserting that a resistance feat demonstrated by one character applies to others, it's best to provide supporting evidence rather than assuming automatic equivalency in resistance levels.

Finally, resistances tied to specific abilities or properties, such as Monkey D. Luffy's Resistance to Blunt Force Trauma due to his Devil Fruit ability (Gum-Gum fruit), apply uniquely to characters possessing those abilities. If another character acquires the same ability (Gum-Gum fruit), they would similarly gain the Resistance to Blunt Force Trauma associated with it.