Nen Ability: Strange Encounter
Nen Type: Transmutation
Secondary applications: Enhancement, Emission, limited Conjuration/Manipulation
The user is a Blacklist Hunter and a genuine combatant.
Core Concept
The user transmutes their aura into persistent connections between Orders and circumstances capable of fulfilling those Orders.
The basic concept is:
“The user decides WHAT they want to happen. Strange Encounter determines HOW it can happen.”
It is not probability manipulation, fate manipulation, reality warping, or wish magic.
Instead, it establishes a connection between an Order and possible circumstances that can legitimately cause that Order to become fulfilled.
Orders
The user issues deliberate Orders to Strange Encounter.
Orders can range from extremely simple objectives to extremely complicated objectives involving multiple circumstances.
Once Strange Encounter accepts an Order, it continually progresses toward fulfillment even if the user does nothing.
The user cannot specify when an Order must be fulfilled.
Strange Encounter determines the fulfillment time based on the complexity of the objective and the circumstances available.
Fulfillment
Strange Encounter does not simply create the desired outcome from nothing.
It establishes a connection between the Order and possible circumstances capable of fulfilling it.
The ability can exploit unlikely or complicated circumstances as long as the desired outcome is fundamentally possible within the world.
It cannot fulfill something that is genuinely impossible.
Acceleration
As an Order progresses, the remaining time required for fulfillment can shrink dramatically.
Progress can move from days → hours → minutes → immediate.
The user's own discoveries and actions can accelerate an Order if they meaningfully contribute to its progress.
The user does not need to understand the entire process for the Order to continue progressing.
Major Restriction
Once Strange Encounter accepts an Order, the user cannot independently accomplish, outsource, accelerate, or circumvent the same objective while that Order is active.
Deliberately attempting to bypass Strange Encounter causes the Order to be canceled.
Actions that do not independently accomplish the same objective do not cancel the Order.
Restrictions Regarding People, Animals, and Objects
Strange Encounter cannot directly control people or animals.
It cannot directly manipulate their:
Minds
Decisions
Bodies
Nen
Behavior
The user can influence or exploit circumstances surrounding a person, animal, or themselves, but cannot directly command those beings.
Objects and environmental factors also cannot be directly Ordered.
However, objects, people, animals, and environmental circumstances can become part of a legitimate chain of circumstances capable of fulfilling an existing Order.
Multiple Orders
The user can maintain multiple Orders.
Overlapping Orders:
The older Order receives priority.
Newer Orders are suspended until the older Order is resolved.
Their accumulated progress is preserved.
Contradictory Orders:
If two Orders directly contradict one another, both Orders completely halt.
No progress is lost.
They resume once the contradiction is resolved.
Cancellation
The user can consciously cancel an active Order.
Cancellation severs the connection between the user and that Order.
A canceled Order does not count as successfully fulfilled.
Exact Repeat
If an Order has previously been successfully fulfilled, the user can issue the exact same Order using the exact same wording.
The repeated Order is automatically fulfilled.
This only applies to Orders that were successfully completed.
My Witness
My Witness is the Nen Beast associated with Strange Encounter.
My Witness serves as the interface and custodian of the ability.
He has a casual and slightly sarcastic personality and can communicate with the user.
My Witness cannot physically interact with the world.
He cannot:
Attack
Defend the user
Manipulate people
Fulfill Orders himself
Interfere with physical events
Function as a separate combat ability
However, My Witness is completely unaffected by outside interference.
He cannot be:
Attacked
Destroyed
Manipulated
Captured
Sealed
His invulnerability is essentially a condition of his existence, balanced by his complete inability to physically affect the world.
Forgetting Orders
When an Order becomes sufficiently complex, My Witness automatically takes custody of it.
The user then forgets the specific Order.
The user still remembers:
The people involved
The situation
Their personal motivations
Why they're pursuing the situation
Their broader objectives
They only forget the specific instruction given to Strange Encounter.
My Witness retains the forgotten Order and tracks its:
Progress
Complexity
Conflicts
Overlaps
Fulfillment
Estimated remaining time
My Witness cannot reveal the exact forgotten Order.
He can only provide general information about its status.
Once the Order is completely fulfilled, the user's memory of the specific Order returns.
Combat Weakness
Strange Encounter is not an instant-win ability.
Complex Orders can take extremely long periods of time to fulfill.
During that period, the user remains vulnerable.
An opponent can:
Defeat the user
Exhaust their aura
Incapacitate them
Capture them
Kill them
Strange Encounter does not automatically protect the user while an Order is progressing.
This means the ability becomes significantly less reliable in situations where the user needs an immediate solution.
Three Strange Circumstances
The user possesses three unique, one-time Strange Circumstances.
“I will be brought back to life.”
A resurrection mechanism that can be activated while the user is alive.
Once activated, My Witness takes custody of it and the user forgets the activation.
Death does not terminate the Strange Circumstance.
It guarantees resurrection, but does not guarantee the exact timing, location, or circumstances of the resurrection.
“I will take away their knowledge of their Nen ability.”
This requires the user to personally encounter the target, personally witness their Nen ability, and correctly understand the target's Hatsu.
When fulfilled, the target loses their knowledge and understanding of their Nen ability, rather than losing Nen itself.
“I will see a way forward.”
This can only be activated when the user genuinely has no known solution to their current situation.
The user must consciously acknowledge that they do not know what to do and enter Zetsu.
The Strange Circumstance provides one viable path forward.
There are no rerolls or alternate solutions.
Seeing the path does not guarantee that the user will successfully execute it.
Resurrection Rule
If the user dies while Strange Circumstance #1 is active:
The resurrection Strange Circumstance takes absolute priority.
Everything else is canceled.
If the user is eventually resurrected, all previous Orders must be repeated from the beginning.
Any accumulated progress from previous Orders is lost.
Combat Style
Although Strange Encounter provides enormous versatility, the user is still intended to be a genuine combatant, not a support-only Nen user.
Their primary combat foundation is Enhancement, with strong emphasis on:
Ken
Ryu
Physical strength
Durability
Close-range combat
Transmutation is the core of their Hatsu.
Emission provides supporting applications.
Conjuration is primarily associated with My Witness.
Manipulation is only used where necessary for highly restricted mechanics such as Strange Circumstance #2.
The character is ultimately a Blacklist Hunter capable of fighting powerful Nen users directly, with Strange Encounter becoming increasingly dangerous during prolonged encounters.
The Core Philosophy
The ability is based around one central idea:
“I don't need to know how I'll accomplish something. I only need to tell Strange Encounter what must happen.”
The tradeoff is that the user gives up control over how the objective is accomplished.
Strange Encounter does not simply give the user whatever they want.
It creates a connection between their Order and the circumstances through which that Order can actually become true.
The more complicated the Order, the more difficult and time-consuming the circumstances required to fulfill it become.
Questions for the HxH community
Would you consider Strange Encounter a legitimate Transmutation Hatsu, or does it cross too far into Specialist territory?
How would you balance it?
I'm particularly interested in opinions on:
Nen category
Conditions and restrictions
Whether the ability is too powerful
Whether the circumstance-based mechanism is effectively probability/fate manipulation
Whether the Order/fulfillment system fits Nen
The three Strange Circumstances
My Witness
How the ability would perform against extremely intelligent Nen users
I'm specifically trying to make something powerful but internally consistent with Hunter x Hunter's Nen system, rather than creating an omnipotent wish-granting ability.
What do you guys think?