A NEW power! But I can't figure what to call it yet

Never watch "The 70s House" before going to bed. SOmehow the show morphed into a dream of teenagers in an emlimination contest to be the best superhero. Or maybe it was best FBI undercover agent possesising superpowers....
Anyway, two of the girls were up for elimination and were arguing. The brunette had made some cutting remark about the blonde's powers, to which the blonde retorted "Oh yeah? Well all you can do is change how things taste!"

Change how things taste.....

I woke up about then (which is how I remembered that dream) and, while padding back and forth to the bathroom, got to mulling over the dream. And that's when it hit me, the brunette's power was not in The Ultimate Powers Book!
It's analogous to Coloration in that it alters the manner in which a target is sensed without changing the physical natuire of the target. Just as Coloration might make a piece of steel lime green, this power would make a piece of steel have the scent or taste of limes.

Okay, this is not a crimefighting power.
Its uses are more in the lines of industrial or villainous. The industrial aspects are easy, ranging from culinary and parfumary to waste processing.
The villainous aspects involve disguising the telltale aspects of toxins or other dangerous materials. For example, making butyl mercaptan smell like vanilla would make the hero wonder if he's stepped into a candy shop and not realize he's stepped into a fuel/air bomb about to explode.
Since this does not change the physical nature of the targeted material, mechanical sensors would be unaffected. For example, AI characters with olfactory sensors would detect the butyl mercaptan but not the vanilla.

The AD&D system probably has a cantrip (a zero-level spell) along these lines, although I suspect its write-up suggests the spell is used primarily to make spoiled food palatable. Hmm... in the "reality" of AD&D, it can probably be used to make up for the general low level of hygiene....

Which, come to think of it, would make this power useful on a campaign after all. Not just for the problem of "I know, it's been a while since I washed by supersuit" but also as a means to fool trackers. If someone had a power level higher than Wolverine's sense of smell, Logan might be unable to pursue them based on traces in the air.

I'll mull over this a bit more and post the full write-up later today or tomorrow.

It sounds more like an application of the Sense Alteration power.

Its definitely a lookalike power, one that can produce a similar effect. The difference is Sense Alteration is aimed at the perceiver by TasteChanger (still looking for a name) affects the perceived item.
Keeping with the example, Sense Alteration might make the subject taste lime licking any piece of steel. TasteChanger makes anyone tasting a specific piece of steel taste lime.

If I remember correctly how taste receptors in the mouth work I believe there are either four or five different basic "triggers" detectable by the senses and the only reason foods taste different from each other is the proportion of these individual "elements" (wish I could remember the correct terms!) Therefore in order to change the taste of steel, in real world terms, you'd have to actually change its physical makeup somehow.

I suppose you could extend your concept to include changing the properties of said item(s) so that they could smell, feel, appear and also sound different to that normally expected. It sounds like a physical/sensory alteration power - Awareness Adaptation perhaps?

Afadhali kufa kuliko kuaibika
(Better dead than ashamed)

Maybe the Taste Changer power merely leaves a non-removable coating of new taste on the item in question. Higher FEAT colors are required for different matter states: Green for solid, Yellow for liquid, Red for gas.

I was thinking where I saw a real world use of this power. I remembered a science times channel documentary called "How stuff is made and built". In the episode in question they mentioned how they make building grade lumber resistant to termites. They use a number of different techniques depending on the type of wood. 1 of the techniques was called "molecular imprinting". The process imprint pheremone-like molecules onto the surface of the wood that acts as termite repellant. The power you're thinking of looks more like a combination of molecular conversion(or creation---create/convert the molecules for the desired texture/flavor)/bonding(to imprint the molecules)/air animation(to vaccuum seal the molecues below the surface. This makes the imprint permanent, and has been known to change both the texture and color of the wood).

But he's talking about just changing the taste, and not altering it's texture/color at all.

Too true, too true.

And to add to what the good Doctor has said, this is Comic Book Physics we're talking about here, not real world physics. So... Changing the taste of something works, cuz the power says it does!

Dr Archeville Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But he's talking about just changing the taste,
> and not altering it's texture/color at all.
>






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2005 02:45PM by Shadow Viper.

Dude, this tastes just like pumpkin pie, what is it?

A rat from the outhouse....Lord Cuisine has been through here.

Dude....

.......rolling on floor, laughing, gasping, looking for my asthma inhaler..............:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D:.D

To the termites, the taste did change.

Yes, but they saw a change in color, and felt a change in texture. Which is not what DEM's talking about.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2005 01:15PM by Dr Archeville.

Hello David,
I read that you are after a name for this power.

Gustatory Alteration
Gustatory Modulation
Gustatory Subversion
Gustatory Destabilization
Gustatory Deformation
Gustatory fluctuation
Gustatory mutation
Gustatory misdirection
Gustatory metamorphosis
Gustatory Modification
Gustatory Re-adjustment
Gustatory reorganization
Gustatory Transition
Gustatory transmutation
Gustatory transfiguration

Gustro <insert second name from Above>
Culinary <insert second name from Above>
Papillae <insert second name from Above>


What do you all think.Make a choice or did I provide too many....... ::!o

Flavorization - Though honestly, I too feel this is a more restricted and limited form of "Chemical Mimicry - Others". The molecules aren't actually changing but are exhibiting a property of a different substance, in this highly limited instance... the taste generated by the substance. But heck, a lot of powers are just narrower versions of other powers.