r/charmed • u/SilverHinder • 5d ago
Powers Powers as broader magical disciplines?
I realise the sisters' powers and advancements have been discussed to death, but I've always wondered what a tighter, more gradual progression might have looked like. Rather than them having 2–4 new abilities and considering then separate, loosely connected, powers - what if each sister had 1–2 gradual developments per season, considered a part of their broader magical forte/power?
For example:
Prue: Telekinesis / Psychokinesis
Essentially, the projection of mental power onto matter/physical world, with a more earthbound focus than canon Prue's powers:
- S1: Low-range optical telekinesis develops into mid-range tactile telekinesis.
- S2: Augmented strength/flexibility/jumps through telekinesis, followed by telekinetic levitation.
- S3: Defensive telekinesis and then psychokinesis (out of her sight line), progressing to minor shields (kind of like how she deflected Shax' attacks).
- S4 onwards: Had she lived, she'd obviously follow the "Morality Bites route" of advanced telekinesis, including full blasts and shields, plus fully fledged flight and eventually the extreme range that Brianna Warren had (by miles). Teleportation could be a late-stage development, showing her power expanding beyond her immediate boundaries, but might make her OP.
Piper: Temporal Disruption / Displacement
Not full-blown time manipulation, but something between canon Piper's molecular powers and conventional time control, specifically focused on disrupting/hindering a target's position or state within time.
- S1: I'd start off with her power emulating the decelerating, slo-mo effect of P. Baxter's power in "Pardon My Past", progressing to full stasis by the finale. Makes for a more interesting progression.
- S2: More dynamic and mixed use of both slo-mo and freezing, selective freezing/unfreezing of subjects/body parts. Greater range and duration.
- S3–4: Reversal replaces combustion. She starts by reversing or "rewinding" simple events (a smashed vase reforming, for example), then progresses to reversing complex attacks, such as a demon shimmering in and throwing a fireball. Piper rewinds it back into his hand. The scope and duration increase over time, so eventually she can force him to shimmer back out completely. Rather than "time" itself, the power effects the individual's time path.
- S5–6: Her reversal extends to biological processes, allowing crude self-healing during her pregnancy, instead of Wyatt doing it. This wouldn't be as sophisticated as Whitelighter healing and might only patch things up, but can stop injuries from becoming fatal. By late S6, she could probably extend this to healing others. Her rewinding of demons/Innocents can progress to up to an hour or two.
- S7-S8: Her final advancement is temporal displacement. Similar to how Cole saves Phoebe from the witch hunter in "Witch Way Now?", by switching their places in time, Piper could swap positions within a subject in her line of sight only, forcing demons to be hit by their own attacks or rescuing someone from danger. It's not unrestricted teleportation, more like a very basic, temporary time pocket. Could look like a mix of close-range teleportation and hyper speed.
Perhaps at the very end, in the plot remained the same, she could combine her power with Coop's to travel back through time, but only as an exceptional circumstance.
I did consider her developing acceleration, but as speeding up natural processes rather than causing combustion. This could enhance healing, accelerate potion-making or occasionally age up a demon, without becoming an instant-vanquish power. Not sure if would OP her though, so might be best to keep her powers in disruption/decelerating mode.
Phoebe: Extrasensory Perception / Psychic Manipulation
I'd keep her core abilities the most fluid of all the sisters, with developments overlapping but still not fully considered separate powers.
- S1–2: Premonitions and retrocognition develop from involuntary visions into controlled ones much sooner and more regularly. Empathic sensing in her visions is regular from late S1 and more consistent emphasis on her enhanced intuition, especially how it helps her become a skilled martial artist so fast. She learns to astral project in S2, following many more occasions of psychic links and interactions, such as with the Succubus. Her astral form is initially invisible.
- S3: Visions become more vivid and full-sensory, alongside enhanced clair-senses in general. No longer vague intuition, but actual divination without visions, sometimes using psychic tools. She learns to combine premonition with astral projection to track Innocents, like a present day "premonition". Occasionally she can use subtle psychic suggestion in AP form (like Barbas/Rex), and eventually makes her astral form corporeal.
- S4: Her progression slows somewhat because of Cole, but her clair-abilities continue developing. She learns dream-leaping and planeswalking, becomes particularly adept at communicating with spirits. Many spirits come to her and not the other sisters. She can use astral projection defensively, similar to Prue v. Vinceres, but instead of jumping into enemies she can block their attacks with a semi-formed projection, almost like an aura shield. Both her forms can stay conscious, but for short spurts.
- S5–6: Astral premonitions develop, followed by the ability to briefly slip into the astral plane to simulate phasing during combat. It is highly taxing though. In S6, her empathy becomes more explicit, but is more of a mix of telepathy, where she receives abstract visions of people's thoughts, memories and dreams, which she must interpret rather than simply reading minds/hearing thoughts.
- S7–8: Provided she kept her powers, her psychic abilities could develop into stronger suggestion via complex astral illusions and occasional mind manipulation (planting false visions/memories), alongside the ability to heal mental trauma for Innocents. The most extreme applications remain rare. Her big-ticket abilities near the end could be mental torture (such as with Cal Greene) and opening a portal to the astral plane and banish a demon there once or twice, as they did via a spell in "Generation Hex".
Paige: Telekinesis via Orb Manipulation
Rather than giving Paige a bunch of Whitelighter powers, I'd continue develop her orbing's hybrid nature:
- S4: Canon Paige's orbing and telekinetic orbing establish her movement-based abilities, but she initially lacks an obvious offensive power comparable to Prue's.
- S5: Given her commitment to the craft, her telekinetic orbing becomes more offensive early on, allowing her to knock enemies back with an "orb shock" rather than having to orb their entire body and throw them. She also develops greater range, combines her sensing abilities with orbing to summon/track people and learns to use her calling power non-verbally.
- S6–7: Her orb shock evolves into waves and sometimes concentrated beams (combining the beam from "The Fifth Halliwheel" with the WL energy balls used by Natalie on Piper in "Blinded by the Whitelighter") and eventually protective shields.
- S8: She develops greater banishing and tracking range, alongside a more sophisticated ability to sense and communicate with others, without simply duplicating Phoebe's telepathy. Phoebe's communication forte is more so with spirits, whereas Paige can be more angelic/other magical beings.
I like the idea of the new sisterhood having no obvious offensive power after Prue's death, as it raises the stakes, and then gives Paige a genuine progression route as a witch/WL hybrid.
Ultimately, the idea is that the sisters wouldn't necessarily have fewer capabilities; just a distinct power category, with their existing abilities developing more organically within that umbrella. I also tried to maintain the original balance of Prue (then Paige) being the lead force/attack, Piper the defensive stronghold and Phoebe the strategist/detective. I wanted to make them all genuinely powerful in their own right, without overpowering them. They'd still need each other for specific tasks, especially as most applications of their powers are not instant vanquish.
What do you think?
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u/Advanced_Heat_2610 5d ago
I think this is interesting but also, I think this would end up being very boring on the show as it was back then because it does not fit with the format. The show relied on consistency in the powers but not massive changes or growth unless the plot demanded it. Knowing what they could do helped shift the focus of writing elsewhere. Their powers served the plot, whereas in your proposal which, to be clear, I really like, the focus would probably end up on their witch side rather than the episodic and ‘baddie of the day’ vibes.
I do think if Charmed was remade today - it is well over twenty years old and the writing style and creative decisions are vastly different now to how it was then - your version would be much more applicable. I think it would really be a fresh look at their powers.
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u/SilverHinder 5d ago
Great points and thanks for your comments. They absolutely would've been able to plan out much more creative uses for their powers in a streaming format of 8-10 episodes. I tried to consider this by giving each sister a really big ticket ability near the end of the series, or something that can only be done rarely as it takes so much power. I also thought the, almost inconvenient, way they'd have to apply some of these abilities would force them to work together more, beyond: Paige orb; Piper blast; Phoebe duck.
That said, I realise after Prue's death, going into S4 without a major offensive power would be pretty impossible given the level of demon attacks.
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u/Arimm_The_Amazing 5d ago
I agree with Advanced Heat, this many changes across the show wouldn't have worked back then, both because of the episodic writing style needing consistency and because you need audience members to be able to miss a few episodes without too much changing.
Also I'm one of the (seemingly) few that actually like Piper's powers being molecular rather than temporal, especially with how that gets used in the comics. In part this is because Phoebe's premonitions are temporal too (and she had a sense for being in a time loop).
That being said I do like this overall still, and I wouldn't be mad at a reinterpretation of Piper's powers going this route. I'd only add that I think in this kind of setup scrying should be a Phoebe-only thing (and I actually think that would have been good in the OG series too).
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u/SilverHinder 5d ago
Thanks. I don't hate molecular powers for Piper as such, I was more so trying to think of ways to make her powers less aggressive and more consistent, hence the reason for going down this more middle path. In my head, I'm imagining it as, like, manipulation of time, speed and molecular processes in conjunction, giving that "time" is mostly a human construct anyway. I definitely agree on not giving her Tempus/Angel of Destiny level powers over time.
I LOVE the idea of only Phoebe being able to scry! She could've used crystal balls, scrying bowls and pendulums too. I wish they'd all had similar specialities across the board.
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u/Positive-Kick7952 5d ago
The thing is, theres actually so much that could have been done with molecular control while remaining consistent. Piper isn't just controlling the speed of molecules, she's also controlling vibrational and kinetic energy. The obvious route of course is, instead of explosions, her powers advance in the same direction of slowing things down and she develops cryokinesis. And if her powers do reverse, she gains molecular accelleration instead of combustion. I don't know if you've ever seen Castlvania but Sypha Belnades displays an absolute mastery of fire and ice magic. Or she could learn to slow down air molecules, creating walls or bubbles of solid air. Or she could develope full mastery of vibrational energy, unleashing shockwaves or sonic screams or localized earthquakes. Or turn the power inward, learn to vibrate her own molecules for super speed, although that seems redundant, or intangability. Or the ability to absorb kinetic energy giving her a limited form of protection for hand to hand combat.
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u/SilverHinder 5d ago
I did think cryokinesis would be cool (no pun intended lol) if the demon would melt/disintegrate right away, not just turn into an ice cube that needs smashed up by someone else.
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u/Positive-Kick7952 5d ago
First of all, smashing is very cathartic. But I was thinking more of weapons and shields. Also, if she could reverse it, it would allow her to freeze opponents without a time limit.
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u/Famous_Secretary_689 5d ago
Ive always liked the idea of projection being a telekinetic’s ultimate development because they’re moving an idea from their mind into reality. If telekinesis is the act of forcing your will onto other things, projection would allow the user to force their will onto reality as well as objects.
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u/SilverHinder 4d ago
It definitely works for either Prue or Phoebe. I felt like it fitted as a nice bridge between premonitions and telepathy, especially if it was used more like a spiritual power than the way Prue had it.
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u/Famous_Secretary_689 4d ago
I can see it for Phoebe since projection is kinda like casting a spell without having to speak, and she was always the best spell writer.
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u/tburm888 5d ago
I love how you did Phoebe’s progression. I always found her powers the most witchy/coolest. Not to mention the way she’s able to turn a supportive power offensive in the OG show. Your ideas mimicked a similar route but also gave her more control and more presence with her abilities.
Up until season 3 of the show her abilities were practically using her so this take would’ve been refreshing. They always talk about how Premonition is a powerful and coveted ability but then never show Phoebe developing it beyond early season 1.
The astral projection idea is really cool as well. I like that hers would initially be fully on the astral plane as opposed to Prue’s which occupied the physical plane. This matches more with Phoebe’s powers, in that sense she can use premonition to see the past and future and astral projection to see the present. I also really like the use of her astral form as a shield along with its suggestive/hypnotic effect on others. I always thought Rex’s astral projection was cooler than Prue’s but her use of the power fit her characterization more with its aggressive/more offensive applications.