Strength

I've talked before about my struggle with not making characters too powerful, and the problems with making a character like that, and why we as writers naturally tend to lean towards making those kinds of characters. Or at least why I do, though considering how many broken characters I've seen in my day, I have to assume that others feel similarly. But just because we don't want a character to be overpowered doesn't mean we don't want them to be powerful. So we have to consider what it means to be strong.

When I say strong, of course, most people would naturally think of physical strength, and rightfully so. In a fantasy story, one can't very well swing a sword without the muscle to pick it up, after all. But strength is not merely what one can lift - It is also in what one can withstand, what one can comprehend, and what one can accomplish.

And to be fair, to a certain extent, much of this can be tied to physical strength. After all, the more you can lift, the more damage you can withstand. But that is not the only way you can gain this ability. The strength of will and mind can convince your body through adrenaline to survive far past its normal limits. As long as one does not admit that they are in pain, they can continue to withhold through whatever hardships they might face, pushing forward where others would fall and die from exhaustion and pain.

And you don't need to be physically strong to take down an opponent if you know all of their weak points. If you can see the spots holding their armor together, know their vitals and pressure points, and can move quickly and accurately, then you need wield little more than a knife and some fleet feet to get around your opponents and dismantle them. The strength of knowledge grants this, undermining the strength of one's opponent without difficulty.

There is nothing to say you can only have one of these, nor that you can't use all of them. Having any one of these naturally gives some lenience towards the others as well, whether it be conscious for the character or not. But using them all to great extent is what makes a character overpowered. After all, you can give a character the ability to control the cosmos, but make them dumb as a rock and it's not good for much to them. But make someone privy to the secrets of the universe, and if they can't survive one fight long enough to use them, and they're just as useless.

Every strength has its weaknesses as well. They keep them in check and from becoming more than they have any right to be. But that's a discussion for another time.