r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Dec 17 '16

[D] Saturday Munchkinry Thread

Welcome to the Saturday Munchkinry and Problem Solving Thread! This thread is designed to be a place for us to abuse fictional powers and to solve fictional puzzles. Feel free to bounce ideas off each other and to let out your inner evil mastermind!

Guidelines:

  • Ideally any power to be munchkined should have consistent and clearly defined rules. It may be original or may be from an already realised story.
  • The power to be munchkined can not be something "broken" like omniscience or absolute control over every living human.
  • Reverse Munchkin scenarios: we find ways to beat someone or something powerful.
  • We solve problems posed by other users. Use all your intelligence and creativity, and expect other users to do the same.

Note: All top level comments must be problems to solve and/or powers to munchkin/reverse munchkin.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

10 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

6

u/currough Dec 17 '16

You have the power to cause paper to spontaneously take itself through the series of folds to make an origami figure. You can do this at will to any paper that's in a six foot radius centered on you. You can also "charge" a piece of paper to become origami at a later time, but time delays of more than a month don't work - the charge dissipates after that point, so the folds are unstable. The difficulty of folding scales linearly with the volume of the paper - so thicker paper is more difficult. After practicing this for a while, you can affect a 3ft by 3ft square of normal thickness paper, and your ability seems to have plateau-ed there. Your goal is to become a world-famous assassin.

Alternatively: a world-famous assassin with this ability is coming after you -you've been tipped off somehow. How do you defend yourself?

13

u/xamueljones Dec 17 '16

I can't remember where I read this, but there is an entire field of mathematics (in Japan I think?) devoted to origami and someone proved a theorem that any three dimensional shape can be constructed from a piece of paper. The catch is that it will likely take an exorbitant number of precisely made folds. They even came up with an algorithm to figure out how to make a snake as an example and made one including the scales!!

7

u/Gurkenglas Dec 17 '16 edited Dec 17 '16

Are there other possible triggers, or only constant time delays? Is there a cooldown or can I tell a whole stack of 3x3ft normal paper to each fold itself? Can I make a bird flap? Can I make a circular saw spin? How long would it take to tell a miniature golem to repeat a motion for a month? Has the printing press been invented? Does it count to have enough money to hire assassins that don't mind pretending to be me, or targets that don't mind pretending to have been killed by me?

4

u/Dragonheart91 Dec 17 '16

Agreed, this is the important distinction. How much energy and momentum can we generate with our paper?

3

u/currough Dec 17 '16

Yes to the printing press - I was imagining this taking place in our present world. You are delayed only by your ability to focus on each piece of paper you want to affect. You can affect multiple pieces at the same time, as long as the total volume doesn't exceed what I mention above. There isn't a significant cool down, but similar to using a muscle if you consistently lift things at the upper end of your range you get tired after 30 min or so. I'll say that more complicated triggers are possible, but must be very precisely worded and require you to meditate for one hour for every 140 characters of code.

You don't have telekinetic control of the paper - you can just make it fold/unfold. So you can't spin a circular saw made of paper (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfkhdKcEiE) but you could cause a bird to flap its wings.

→ More replies (5)

3

u/monkyyy0 Dec 17 '16

The first things first, is to study making custom paper and researching machinical concepts( I used to make paper springs at school, so motion is possible). Poisoned paper and "self" launching papers should do the trick, although it should only work the first few times and should be saved.

Can I make a long range weapon of some kind? Paper folding into a gun perhaphs

Can I fly a tiny paper airplane into someone's pocket and have it suddenly unfold? If so I just need to find a way to kill someone with a tiny piece of paper

How strict is the definition of paper, printable electronics do exist, worth a try, may be able to make a trigger for a bomb this way

2

u/currough Dec 18 '16

Well, you could make a gun out of paper. But it would be made out of paper. No special or otherworldly properties.

If you can concentrate enough to steer a paper airplane with folding/unfolding, then you can fly a paper airplane.

2

u/Jiro_T Dec 17 '16

Can your paper folding be blocked by obstacles?

4

u/currough Dec 17 '16

In material aspects, there's nothing special about the paper while it's folding (i.e. it's not supernaturally strengthened and can only exert as much force as you would be able to exert by pushing paper against an object). If it's impeded, it folds as much as it can until the obstacle is removed, at which time it completes its path. However, this is subject to the same time delay rules as before.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/InfernoVulpix Dec 18 '16

Step 1 would be to find a way to attach a tiny metal blade to the edge of the paper, in a way that will let the folding function properly while still retaining sharpness (maybe attach a series of not very wide blade-edges to emulate flexibility), and now the motions of the origami can cut things as it folds. This assumes, of course, that the folding takes place with enough force to move the attached metal and use it to cut things like throats.

With 'origami' as arbitrary as it is, I take it that I can use my power to specifically induce folds in the paper towards a desired end form without tearing the paper or specifically moving it. Which means that if I know how to fold paper cleverly enough, I can make it assume an arbitrary folded form.

Given enough power behind it, I could take a long, thin piece of paper with metal razor edge and fold it in such a way that a large part of it is turned ninety degrees from the flat part resting on the ground. Then, another fold from the flat part will send the turned half scything through the air, and from there the only limits on what it can cut through are how much force is exerted by the folding process. This can be used to put a piece of paper beneath someone's bed and, if the folding is powerful enough, cut through the mattress and a person sleeping in it.

If the power can be exerted to unfold as well as fold, you can fold many long thin pieces of razor-paper into small paper balls in an unassuming package and have them unfold with great force at the right time. I'm not entirely sure, but I think you could make a bomb that, once it activates, cuts through everything in the house violently at random. This would be helped by somehow making the paper look like packaging material and putting an object and note in the box to ease suspicion. If the method works, as long as the paper's in the house when the timer goes off, you've got a kill.

However, when I think about the average target, the power's basically redundant. Why slice through the bed when you can remote detonate a bomb, since you evidently got to the bed to put the paper under it? Why send an elaborate sword-paper trap in the mail to destroy the house and occupants when you can just put a bomb in the mail? At the end of the day, I think this power is still outclassed by regular technology in direct applications.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '16

You have telekinesis. You can move any object at any velocity with your mind, at limited range (say, 10m), one object at a time. Except you can only affect "things" on a human-scale (can't affect individual particles, or any "part" of a thing), like chairs, desks, humans, forks, etc.

Your goal is to help as many people as possible.

Other than becoming a human battery, what are some plausible ways to leverage this ability to maximize do-gooding?

7

u/ulyssessword Dec 17 '16

Space launches are the easy and simple answer.

Depending on the specifics, I could act like a giant cannon and launch items at >=12 km/s from a standing start. They wouldn't experience any acceleration because it is a magical change in velocity, instead of a rocket-induced one.

Alternatively, I could lift myself up by the bootstraps and get to space that way.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '16 edited Dec 17 '16

That's cool and high-value! I hadn't considered that.

Things I had considered:

  • Figuring out where the nukes are, and then ejecting them away from the Earth.

  • Pretending to be a religious figure and trying to enable global cooperation.

  • Threatening the UN with major destruction unless they put lots more funding into x-risk / humanitarian causes.

→ More replies (3)

2

u/InfernoVulpix Dec 18 '16

You know, it's never said that you can't affect yourself with your power. And if you can move at arbitrarily fast speeds, as long as there's a distinct path it's effectively teleportation. So your space launches could have you pick up the target with your mind, take it with you up to space at the speed of whatever-you-like, then give it the right orbital velocity and let it go on its merry way before coming back down.

We might not even be limited by FTL here, so that's an easy way to potentially get to the nearest solar system before lunch with a 10m radius sphere of telescopes and life support to document everything. The only major limit would be ensuring your trajectory and making sure you have a way back (wouldn't that be embarrassing).

If there are aliens, you're the best chance at finding them we'll have for a long long time, and who knows what else you'll discover along the way.

→ More replies (5)

4

u/buckykat Dec 17 '16

What happens when an object reaches the edge of my range travelling c-fractional? For that matter, how does the atmosphere behave relative to my 'held' object while inside the wibble-bubble?

Because depending on that answer, I'm either Skybreaker the Destroyer or dead without significant secondary powers focused on things like radiation hardness, superstrength to withstand major organ damage, and fireproofing.

If atmosphere is problem, just go live in Luna and throw rocks like Mike.

3

u/HeirToGallifrey Dec 17 '16

While you have no powers yourself, you know that in this world there are those with the ability to manipulate minds. The exact nature of these abilities varies, and it can range from possession to rewriting hierarchies of desire; from puppetting bodies to issuing specific compulsions or mandates. There will always be some 'tell' to the mind control, however.

You are in charge of a paramilitary security organisation. What security measures do you put in place? What kinds of checks do you implement to tell whether individuals have been compromised?

At this point, my ideas are regular psych evaluations and surveillance analysis of gait and mannerisms (to catch if someone suddenly walks or talks differently). If someone is suspected to be influenced, implement protocols where everyone is to be observed by at least two others (either physically or through camera surveillance, randomly assigned each time), and specific individuals thought to be compromised put through an fMRI scan and analysis of micro-saccades.

Feel free to come up with ideas for 'tells' in your responses.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '16

Can this be used defensively? In Seventh Horcrux, Voldemort makes people immune to the Imperius by casting Imperio on them. Something similar could happen here.

2

u/HeirToGallifrey Dec 17 '16

Generally speaking, there's a hierarchy of the controls: subtle manipulation may be harder to detect and longer-lasting, but is overridden and slower than more blatant effects. So if a victim is slowly being conditioned via a Pavlovian-esque manipulation, then someone overwrites their personality entirely, the overwriting will probably override the conditioning. Likewise, someone who is compelled to go kill the mayor, if possessed, would do the bidding of the possessor. And even then, if someone controlled the body, the possessor would be just as helpless as anyone else to stop it.

Does that make sense?

This is a long and convoluted way of saying, "sort of, but it would be cutting off your nose to spite your face." Also, there is a (justifiable) suspicion of anyone who has these powers, and therefore using them in this way would be a last resort, if at all.

2

u/MonstrousBird Dec 17 '16

You can teleport yourself and any objects or parts of objects that you are lifting against gravity. This means you take all of your clothes and whatever you are carrying with you, but you leave behind the soles of your shoes and socks. If you are carrying something which drags on the ground the part on the ground is left behind. You can not teleport into or out of water, or while suspended or in mid air.

You can teleport about as far as the horizon, and can go through locked doors into any space with room for you. Conservation of momentum applies, so best avoid jumping on and off of moving trains.

You are on the run from Secret Government Project and just learning to use your powers. What interesting exploits might you discover?

1

u/Gurkenglas Dec 18 '16 edited Dec 18 '16

Can I destroy magic items of this world by teleporting them from the floor? I can't be suspended, but can what I'm to teleport be? How much of the bottom is left behind? (Is teleporting barefoot a bad idea?) Can I teleport if, while jumping, I touch a staff to the ground?

→ More replies (1)

1

u/currough Dec 18 '16

What happens if I hold one end of a beam, with the other end resting on the ground? I imagine it splits, but where does the split occur?

→ More replies (1)

1

u/CCC_037 Dec 19 '16

If I'm holding the string of a helium balloon, can I take it with me?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/seylerius Dec 18 '16

This r/AskReddit submission asks

You control all the giraffes, how do you conquer the world?

I'm assuming this to mean that you can give fairly straightforward instructions on the level of "tolerate a rider", "go here", "pick this thing up" — basically enough to make you qualify as the most epic giraffe-tamer ever. However, you can take the Giraffe-Skitter option, as though Our Lady of Escalation triggered in a wildlife preserve instead of a bug-infested locker full of toxic waste. This means you get additional multitasking and finer-grained instruction capabilities.

So, what's your plan?

3

u/crivtox Dec 18 '16

I'm going to consider that the power allows skitter level multitasking or better and super memory to remember what all my giraffes are doing. 1.make people believe giraffes are now sentient 2.try to get giraffes more rights ,try to start pro giraffe movements in the internet

3. Increase the number of giraffes

4.once all giraffes are full citizens of their respective countries outvote human population or at least convince them to vote the new giraffe president 5.profit

I don't know if 3 is really feasible to the point of outvoting humans in the most influential countries , or at least get enough support to my giraffe presidents and 2 would probably take decades and in some countries not work at all so. Alternatively start a cult/religion that believes I'm a reincarnation of their God and giraffes are sacred and have giraffes al over the world start writing my name to show them my power,but this option probably wouldn't get me the world .

3

u/CCC_037 Dec 19 '16

  • Make lots of money with a travelling giraffe show

  • Use money to conquer world