Talk:Supernatural Abilities/@comment-11413959-20130701053606/@comment-5607198-20130701092306

Why? electricity is never a worthwhile power.

if it's a ranged attack, it's a waste of mana because you already have several.

If it's a close-range attack, it's less reliable than your sword. If it is a "flamethrower" type attack that you hold to spray from the hand, then its a terrible mana burn, unless it just doesnt do damage (low cost+high damage=terrible balance), which would again make it useless. If it's a shot attack, then you already have the gun AND crossbow, and the sword which is more reliable at close range.

Think of every game where force lightning is a power: How many of them is it actually very good? In Fable, you have to spend huge amounts of XP before its damage output justifies the mana burn, in fable 2/3 its just the same spell as all the other magic, in Force Unleashed its a super flashy waste of meter with a minor stun effect that dissipates too quickly to be of REAL use, in Bioshock it didn't even do damage (except slight amounts when applied via a puddle) and was ONLY useful as a stun at the beginning, Bioshock Infinite had a useful case (though the murder of crows performs the same function, with a wider effect range at the cost of affected enemies), Elder Scrolls has one spell with three colors...

The only time I can remember thinking "thank god I got this lightning power" was in the KOTOR games, where it was useful as a decent-damage multi-target spell, and that was only after you upgrade from the useless force lightning to Force Storm.

Point is, yeah, its a cool power... but its damn near useless as a gameplay mechanic, particularly in this game.

Technically, it'd be COMPLETELY useless in real life, too... Even assuming you can direct the flow of electricty in defiance of the laws of physics concerning conduction, and find yourself in a position to use said lightning, you either wouldn't be producing enough energy to cause any harm, or you'd be killing your ears. Lightning arcs are what cause thunder after all. Granted, the "superpower-sized" lighting we see shooting from the hands wouldn't cause a heard-for-miles thunderclap like a normal bolt does, but it'd still be loud as hell. Emperor Palpatine might as well be firing a gun.