Powers and Personalities

I'm still thinking about powers -- special abilities that take place within a game's larger framework -- and their proper use.  It seems to me that powers are most useful and entertaining when they serve as a reflection of a faction or character's personality. 

This picture has nothing to do with anything.

Such mechanics are pretty common.  I played some Saga  last night, and am getting ready for a Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition game tonight.  Both these games rely (in their own ways) on powers or abilities as their main mechanic.  Saga has its Battle Board and its Saga Dice.  Dungeons and Dragons 4th editon uses a series of activatable abilities for characters. 

Dungeons and Dragons has regularized its powers pretty well.  The bread and butter at-will powers are usually simply a basic attack -- a sword-swing, a magic missile, or whatever -- with an added flavorful effect.  They are not especially different in capability from a 3.5 or Pathfinder melee attack or staple spell, in the damage they do or thier importance.  But it its the little bit of flavor that makes them different.  Some at-will attacks shift an opponent around.  Some do a little extra damage or effect.  Some switch the attack roll to a different defensive characteristic.  None of this is world-shaking, but it does make a Cleric feel different than a Barbarian.  Or even a nible fighter different from a smashy fighter. They affect the visualization, and the flavor and the personality of the character more than they turn any character into an unstoppable killing machine.

Saga takes a more radical approach.  In Saga the Battle Board powers float above the standard game mechanics and alter it in radical ways.  A Saga army with no Battle Board would be completely uncompetitive.  Saga abilities reflect the character of the armies, but in radical, game-breaking ways.  For example, my Vikings have a power that kills my own troops but does oodles of damage to the enemy.  Steve's Normans have deadly bow-enhancing powers.  In Saga, Battle-Board manipulation is the most important part of the game. 

So, how do I want powers to work in my game?  I think I prefer something less wildly powerful than Saga, in which chacterful powers are an important, yet relatively subdued, part of the game.  The idea is to give the armies some personality, without making each list into an arms race of overwhelming abilities.