Breaker
This page is under construction and is not yet properly cited.
Breaker is one of the twelve power classifications created by the PRT still in modern day use.<ref>PRT Master Reference - Classifications</ref> Breakers have the ability to alter themselves to a different state in which they maintain different abilities<ref name=":0">Breaker
Has the ability to alter themselves to a different state in which they maintain different abilities. Appends other powers, but only in this state. Can also include general altered states.
Target the individual outside of any enhanced state where possible. All other effects depend on the sub-classification. - PRT Master Reference - Classifications - Breaker. </ref>, although Breakers with permanently altered states also exist.<ref>Gasconade#Abilities_and_Powers</ref>
Methodology
Nearly all powers have some small element of Breaker to them<ref name=":1">Breakers are those who alter their physical (and sometimes mental) state
to something alien and power-generated. While all powers have some
small element of breaker to them, the breaker-centric powers are the ones where the individual switches over to a completely different state.
The state can have a singular benefit that breaks the defined rules of reality (as any power does, but centered around the parahuman’s
capabilities) or a state they enter that contains a suite of powers, but
that state may have costs when adopting it, costs to maintain it, or
costs and complications in other forms. - reddit comment by wildbow.[1]</ref>: parahumans generally have innate defenses that keep their own powers from harmer then.<ref>There was a theory that was gaining traction, suggesting that the breaker classification was one of the most common powersets, if not always the most pronounced. Innumerable people with powers had also adapted innate defenses that kept their own powers from harming themselves. Pyrokinetics tended to be resistant to flame. - Interlude 14.5 (Bonus Interlude)</ref> Powers that earn a Breaker rating are those that cause the user to alter their physical (and sometimes mental) state to something alien and power-generated.<ref name=":1" /> This altered state can have a singular benefit that breaks the defined laws of reality (as any power does, but centered around the parahuman’s capabilities) or a state that contains a suite of powers.<ref name=":1" />
The altered state may have costs when adopting it, costs to maintain it, or costs and complications in other forms.<ref name=":1" />
Trigger Events
Breaker triggers are perhaps the hardest to define lay out in clear terms.<ref>Breaker triggers are perhaps the hardest to define lay out in clear terms. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref> On one hand, Breakers emerge from triggers that blur the line between physical and mental.<ref>Other Breakers arise from cases where the lines are so blurred and/or intermingled between the physical and the mental that usual classifications don’t neatly fit. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref> It's not enough for trigger event to have a physical and mental element: The two must be indivisibly linked.<ref>Could the elements feeding into one aspect of the trigger be removed, with the trigger event still making some degree of sense? In the above hypothetical, could you remove the parts that make it a changer trigger and leave it as striker only, with a rewrite? If the combination of the
two are so interlinked as to be irreconcilable, it could be a breaker
trigger. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref>
On the other hand, Breaker powers emerge from abstract stressors<ref>Breakers sometimes come from abstract stressors or those things that are the very odd fits for other classifications. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref>, or from threats that are hard to define or explain<ref>Does, for lack of a better way of putting it, the trigger sit on the outside bounds of the usual ‘box’ that the classification fits in? Strikers trigger from in-your-face hostile threats. Is the threat hard to define or explain, either in the character’s perceptions or in reality? Changers trigger from identity issues and cases where the outside world impugns the character’s set identity. Is that identity crisis hard to define or explain, even for the individual in question? Similar questions can be asked for other classifications. Is the damage
a Brute takes hard to explain or frame? Is the long-term problem a
tinker faces hard to outline in terms of being long-term or a problem? - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref>. They often involve self-contradictory feelings.<ref name=":2">For a mover, this might include things like wanting to escape on a physical level while mentally feeling that the situation is safe, the inverse, or something more abstract, like wanting to escape reality on a
spiritual level and finding oneself unable, or wanting to escape a
concept or wanting to escape something that cannot be avoided on a fundamental level. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref> For a Mover, this might include things like wanting to escape on a physical level while mentally feeling that the situation is safe, the inverse, or something more abstract, like wanting to escape reality on a spiritual level and finding oneself unable, or wanting to escape a concept or wanting to escape something that cannot be avoided on a fundamental level.<ref name=":2" />
Drugs, poisons, medical conditions and mental illnesses very frequently involved in the unusual scenarios that make Breaker triggers possible.<ref>Drugs, poisons, medical conditions and mental illness very frequently create the unusual scenarios that make Breaker triggers possible. - reddit comment by wildbow.</ref>
Combinations with other ratings
[Coming soon]
PRT countermeasures
PRT-teams generally try to target Breakers outside of their enhanced state where possible. Because of the nature of Breaker powers, all other specific countermeasure depend on the parahuman's sub-classifications.<ref name=":0" />
Known Breakers
Note: This list describes the Breaker ratings of different capes. For a full overview of their abilities, please check their individual pages.
| Name | Known ratings | Power description |
|---|---|---|
| Acidbath | Breaker/Changer (Blaster, Striker, Mover)<ref name="list"/> | Could turn into, sling blasts of, & move as tidal wave of acid |
| Annex | Shaker ?, Breaker ?<ref name="24.1"/> | "Enters" surfaces and permanently distorts them |
| Ash Beast | Breaker ? | Keeps his body in good physical condition. Described as "matter to energy and energy to matter". |
| Fenja | Breaker<ref name="9.6">Sentinel 9.6</ref> ? | Warps space so she is simultaneously bigger and attacks against her are weaker, increased durability and strength while larger |
| Legend | Breaker ?,<ref name="I14.5"/> Blaster ?, Mover ?[citation needed] | Light form that absorbs energy to heal, with reduced mental activity |
| Menja | See: Fenja. | |
| Scion | Breaker<ref name="9.2"/> | |
| Shadow Stalker | Breaker 3 (Stranger 2, Mover 1)<ref name="9.1"/> | Transforms into a shadow state |
| Velocity | Mover ?, Breaker ? | Is accelerated in relation to the world, but proportionally loses his ability to affect it |
| Wanton | Shaker<ref name="18.5"/><ref name="24.1"/>, Breaker,<ref name="24.1"/> Stranger<ref name="18.5"/> | Transforms into a telekinetic whirlwind |
Speculated Breakers
Note: This list describes the Breaker ratings of different capes. For a full overview of their abilities, please check their individual pages.
Note: This list deals with speculation. If you have a relevant and reliable citation, please add that cape to the 'Known Breakers' list. Please add capes to this list conservatively: It's meant to list capes that are generally agreed upon to be Breakers, but we lack proper citations for.
| Name | Speculated classification | Power description |
|---|---|---|
References
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