Quirkworks: A Wizard’s Guide to Making Quirks and Characters
Please note that this is a guide. I am not telling you how to make your Quirk or your character, merely explaining my personal process of what I think constitutes a good Quirk and character.
The name of your Quirk should be short and pithy; something that rolls off the tongue and is easy remember. It should quickly convey what your Quirk is about. To accomplish this, it is best to keep the name of your Quirk to one to two words and under six syllables, using abbreviations or compound words can help with this if you want to get a specific idea across, and apply wordplay when appropriate.
While this is mostly understood throughout the fandom, it bares clarifying. The three types of Quirks can be boiled down as such.
Mutant: A permanent alteration to the body.
Transformation: A temporary but notable alteration to the body.
Emitter: Everything else.
I even made a little chart to help make things clear:
-Inspiration-Where the Quirk is from
While it is not necessary to do so when making a Quirk, a fair amount of Quirks have been inspired by other characters. However, as characters usually have many powers, it is best if you take one aspect of that character and make it into a power. For example, if you wanted to make a Quirk based around Wolverine, he has several abilities you could base a Quirk off of. Regeneration, Claw Protrusion, Metal Bones, Enhanced Senses, or even Berserk Rage.
It’s doesn’t need to be a perfect translation either as long as you get the general idea of the power across. For instance, Spider Man’s abilities of Wall Crawling and Web Slinging are represented in “Slide and Glide” and “Tape” respectively. Keep in mind, some abilities must be weakened to fit within the setting.
If you want to make a Quirk based off of something you may not know much about, you should do a little research into what the effects may be. I recommend something meant to teach kids, since it is teaches whatever information you may need in the quickest and simplest way possible so you won’t need read to deep into it.
-Integration- What the Quirk does
It is important to be clear on exactly what it does, as it is set up for how the rest of the Quirk works. Quirks are a singular ability, which can often be described in under a sentence or two. What can be done with the Quirk is taken from that single idea. And while there are multiple uses for a Quirk, it is all based around that single ability. Captain Celebrity doesn’t just fly and have super strength, he has a special barrier which allows him to fly, but he can control in order to replicate super strength. Though small, unspoken aspects can be added to help the Quirk function without it being that big of a deal. IE Stain not getting sick from drinking blood or Bakugou’s arms being resilient enough to withstand the explosions he produces.
However, some abilities can have minor additions to their power set. This is fine as long as it makes sense for a Quirk to have an ability to function or if it something small that doesn’t really hurt anything by having it included. For instance, “Lizard Tail Splitter” comes with a healing factor. This makes sense as the user needs to detach their body parts and could easily lose them. “Queen Bee”’s bees having syringe stingers is not that big of an issue in the grand scheme of the Quirk.
If you ever find yourself questioning how a Quirk functions, it’s best to just chalk it up to what I like to call Quirk Magic. It’s basically the part of the Quirk that allows the Quirk to do what it does, like Uraraka being able to make things float or the part of Ectoplasm that allows him to make the goo he does. This doesn’t excuse not thinking through how a Quirk functions, such as not having real world physics or consequences apply to what they do, just try not to overthink it.
-Application-What can be done with the Quirk
This is taking the basic ability and coming up with all of the possibilities it has. Just try to keep it reasonable within the confines of the Quirk you have set up. For instance, Bakugou is able to propel himself around via the force of his explosions, which is a reasonable use of the ability with how his Quirk is set up. It would not fit is he suddenly began shooting explosions from his feet, healed people, or started shooting fireballs. This can be divided into the following categories.
Offense: How it can do damage
Defense: How it can protect the user or others
Mobility: How it can help the user get around
Information: How it can gain knowledge
Support: How it can help allies
Hindering: How it can weaken enemies
Sometimes a Quirk can be given a certain advantage by how it functions. For instance, “Forced Quirk Activation” is a pretty mediocre power, but it is improved by the fact that the effect is delivered through the black spears which give it more range and the user can do other things with the black spears. “Tape” is a pretty okay Quirk, but is made better by it’s relatively unnoticeable drawback.
-Limitation- What keeps it from getting out of hand
Good rule of thumb: every power in the series has some inherent weakness to it. While it can be trained around or lessened in someway, it will always be a part of the Quirk. It would be best to follow some kind of logic with the limitations, such as a Quirk that enhances muscles requiring the user to train their muscles or a Quirk related to darkness has a weakness to light, and give each Quirk at least two drawbacks. However, there are some widely used choices you could pick or take inspiration from:
-Range of the Quirk
This often more of an exchange then a drawback. The stronger the ability, the shorter the range (”Overhaul”, “Compress”)
-Focus on a certain body part (”Black Hole”, “Big Fist”)
-Reliance on a finite resource
What the user eats, the Quirk draining their stamina (”Blood Control”, “Wave Motion”)
-Reliance on the environment
Time of day, needing a substance around to control, (”Dark Shadow”, “Cement”)
-Reliance on the user’s mental state
How well they are emotionally or their ability to concentrate. (”Clones”, “Pop Off”)
-Reliance on a substance
Needing something to activate the Quirk (”Sugar Rush”, “Homing”)
-Reliance on someone’s body
Something like their gender or blood type (”Magnetism”, “Blood Curdle”)
-Backlash from overusing the Quirk (”Explosion”, “Electrification”)
-Certain knowledge being necessary (”Creation”, “Warp Gate”)
-Time limitation
An actual time limit or something else keeping the user from using the Quirk too long (”Permeation”, “Overclock”)
-Complicated use
How difficult it is to activate or some innate problem with how it functions. (”Brainwashing”, “Attraction of Small Objects”)
-Dangerous abilities
A lack of accuracy or just the through the sheer power of the ability. (”Decay”, “Knockout Gas”)
-Limited application
This can be a problem even if the Quirk excels at it’s chosen application (”Telepath”, “Heal”)
-Limited Capabilities
Limited or limiting speed, strength, or staying power of the Quirk (”Hardening”, “Telescopic”)
But I do recommend you try to stay away from drawbacks that are severe in how detrimental they are for the user. For example, a drawback that takes lifespan or drives the user insane are just so much of a handicap that it likely be too much of a problem to be worth dealing with no matter what the ability may be.
Let’s try this system on a few canon Quirks:
Quirk Name: Permeation
Integration: The user can cause their body to pass through physical matter.
Application:
-Phasing through attacks and defenses
-Shooting yourself at your enemies
Limitation:
-Everything, good or bad, passes through him, meaning he can’t harm anyone and he can’t see, hear, or even breath.
Quirk Name: Zero Gravity
Integration: The user can put anything they touch with all five fingers into a state of zero gravity.
Application:
-Moving debris
-Throwing enemies off balance.
-Greater mobility for the user and their allies.
-Dropping objects or people to damage them.
Limitation:
-Needing to touch something to activate the Quirk.
-The user will have nausea if they use their Quirk too much or use it on something that is too heavy.
Quirk Name: Frog
Integration: This Quirk gives the user all the traits of a frog.
Application:
-A long prehensile tongue to grab things or smack people.
-Sticking to surfaces.
-Strong legs to kick or jump around.
-Camouflaging to blend in with the environment.
Limitation:
-The user is weak to the cold, and will enter a hibernation state if suddenly exposed.
While My Hero Academia is a very creative series, there are ideas and concepts that just don’t belong with how it has been done so far. Things that are generally supernatural, unfounded with what the series has set up thus far, or is simply too strong to fit within the scale the universe are best to be avoided. Examples like these include:
-Manipulation of Time, Space, Luck, or any other vague/powerful concepts
-Anything having do with magic or religious figures
-You can take inspiration from stuff like this, just don’t overtly mention it like saying you are gaining power from the stars or becoming an actual angel.
-Anything relating to the afterlife, undeath, or the soul
-Creating life/intelligence from nothing, making something sentient, or forming something from fiction or imagination.
-Something far above the level of power within the series.
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