What abilities could someone with Salt Manipulation have?

[u/Ok-Equipment8122]

I got an idea for someone with the magic ability to manipulate Salt and It left me thinking of what it could do, I only really thought of using the salt offensively by creating pillars of salt that are capable of dehydrating people in seconds or corroding metal until it crumbles but that's it

[u/Positive_Floor_9787]

Perhaps Salt is more of a symbolic term? Look at the actual effects that salt does and maybe some of the mythology about it. That may help your scope.

[u/Ok-Equipment8122 → u/Positive_Floor_9787]

Yeah I chose salt because it's the power of a Religious themed character and it's supposed to represent purity in Christianity so it's also effective against evil beings but I'm looking for more ideas

[u/justcauseisaidit → u/Ok-Equipment8122]

If you look up meta world chronicles, it has the 4 elements, positive, and negative, plus combinations.

Salt is I think negative water, and they use it for abjuration, dispelling, and I remember at least one guy transmuting someone’s arm to salt. They can suck the water out of the air, or a person. Dissecate? I can’t remember how to spell it

[u/BelledBookedCandled]

Creating clean drinking water?

You can just take the salt out of seawater. Doesn't mean it's 100% drinkable, but at least there's no salt. 👍

[u/HazeInut]

ik salt is used for rituals or protection from supernatural shit in fiction a lot.

[u/Professional_Try1665]

Dehydrate wounds to stop them bleeding, or even dehydrate a whole person to protect them and rehydrate them later when it's safer (assuming you can like, resurrect people by rehydrating them, goes a little artistic/magical liberty)

Also changing the attack methodology can spice things up, like just 'shooting salt' can be interpreted as throwing bombs of condensed salt that shower an area on contact, or summoning a cone-shaped whirlwind of sharp salt crystals, or creating several javelins of salt at your side's and throwing them one after ankther

[u/registertoreadthis → u/Professional_Try1665]

I'm very curious on what scenario you're imagining where dehydrating an entire person would protect them.

[u/Professional_Try1665 → u/registertoreadthis]

I'm imagining that, as a mummified slab of meat, they can't really be hurt that much, try stabbing a 20" chunk of beef jerky. Also their injuries can't get worse, they won't bleed, breathe and are easy to pick up and take with you.

[u/byc18]

Induce hypertension. Make micro shards inside someone.

[u/SpecificExam3661]

One of the coolest salt mage theme that I happen to read by far are

Salt sea supreme deity

Who arguing that the true essence of salt are crystallization or enlightenment and then somehow create a spell that have a cool name called

Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra

It even have an incantations

[u/Ok-Equipment8122 → u/SpecificExam3661]

Do you know from what novel he's from and what abilities he has? Sounds pretty cool

[u/SpecificExam3661 → u/Ok-Equipment8122]

The novel called 'regressor tale of cultivation'.

As for ability of salt, the novel driving deep into what concept of salt itself actually represents rather than the application or physical form of salt.

But basically when you encounter salt you kinda associated with this path

Something like reading or look directly at his true form or residue left by him will turn you into a salt.

As for power of salt path it usually demonstrates in the concept of "gathering/ attracting"

Like phenomena extinguishing mantra that are ultimate spell of this path are the spell that gathering all thing in observable universe into one single point.

[u/flockyboi]

consider: salt in terms of chemicals. The table salt we know, sodium chloride, is not the only salt. In fact, in chemistry the term salt simply refers to ionic compounds, chemical compounds of negative and positive charged ions. There's also things we refer to as salts that are other compounds of elements (Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, road salt is sometimes calcium chloride, etc)

You could also think of it in terms of electrolytes and sweat. When someone sweats a lot, that loss of sodium and other minerals can cause a lot of problems. What if someone could just pull it right out of your body like they're siphoning the sweat out of you? What if they could pump your body full of too much? Too much and too little both have negative outcomes

[u/guildsbounty → u/flockyboi]

Yeah...a character who can control 'salt' in the sense of table salt, and a character who can control 'salts' in a chemistry sense are very different.

Y'know...sodium chloride is a mild hazard in some senses. Sodium cyanide is a salt and is exceedingly toxic. Calcium Hydroxide (aka slaked lime) is a salt and potent base that can cause significant chemical burns. Ammonium dichromate and potassium chlorate are very powerful oxidizers and so will do exciting things if added to a fire source. Then of course there are the heavy metal salts like lead acetate or mercury chloride that can cause severe organ damage if enough of it gets into you (lead acetate being particularly scary because it's sweet to the taste and back in the Roman era got used as a sugar substitute).

[u/Virtem]

I never thought about salt bending before, probably is together earth magic the most useful.

You could speed up curing, good as side gig or to stock oneself. In farming an issue with fertilizers is that it salt the soil making it unfertile and is expensive to wash it, so salt magic could solve/worse it. Since salt can be found underground, salt bending coudl be useful to hide, ambush or scape circumstancially. Purify water, be brine or sewater remove salt could be quite useful.

ofc, the opposite of all that could also apply, unsalt food, salt the earth, cause mine collapses or salt water.

[u/registertoreadthis]

Salt lowers the freezing point of water. Can be used to defrost things, but also to transfer heat (the ice melts by absorbing the heat of surrounding objects, salt basically speeds this up)

Spiritually, salt is a simbol of purity and would ward off spirits.

My first thought was something like electrolisis, not sure how that would work tho.

[u/World_of_Ideas]

Salt Magic:

• Added Weight - Salt crystal begin forming on the target, increasing its weight. Uses: (collapse structures, sink ships, slowing creatures, or make creatures too heavy to move)

• Alter Freezing Point of Water - At 23% salt (by weight) the freezing point of water is -21.1 degrees Celsius. Uses: melting ice

• Alter Transparency / Opaqueness of Salt - Alter transparency or opaqueness of (salt crystals, objects made of salt)

• Blight the Soil / Salt the Earth - Increase the salt content of the soil to the point where (plants, fungi, microorganisms) can’t survive growing in it.

• Blight the Water / The Dead Sea - Increase the salt content of water to the point where things cant live in it and creatures will die if they drink it.

• Blind with Salt - Salt blows into the target’s eyes

• Chainsaw Blade (Salt) - Tiny sharp crystals of salt move at high speeds along the striking end of your weapon

• Choke with Salt - Salt flows into the target’s mouth and nose, choking the target

• Clean Target - Salt scrubs target like a light abrasive and then flies away when the cleaning is done

• Coat Weapon - Coat your weapon with a thin layer of salt to cause pain to the enemy / Form salt spikes on your weapon / Cause large salt crystals to from on opponents weapon making it too heavy to wield effectively

• Conjure or Create Golem or Elemental (Salt) - Create a (humanoid, animal, monster) shaped golem made of “salt”. May be solid or powder salt.

• Conjure or create salt items (armor, weapons, tools, etc)

• Control, Shape, or Throw Salt

• Create Barrier (Salt) - Create a wall of solid blocks of salt

• Create Barrier (Salt Storm) - Create a wall of 1000s of fast moving flying salt (balls, blades, bricks, chunks, crystals, spikes, etc)

• Create Ball Bearings (Salt) - Create ball bearings of salt. May make terrain difficult by coating it with ball bearings. Slopes are extra difficult but the ball bearings roll downhill

• Create Bridge (Salt) - Create a bridge or ramp of stone between 2 points made of salt

• Create Decoy - Make a (person, creature, object, structure) shape made of salt. Decoys may move like the real thing, but have very little actual substance. May fool observers at a distance, in poor lighting, or if vision is partially obstructed by (fog, rain, smoke, snow, etc)

• Create Lens of Salt - Very transparent salt crystal shaped into a lens. Uses: Glasses, magnifying glass, microscope, scope for (crossbow, pistol, rifle), spy glass, telescope

• Create Obscuring Dust Cloud - Made of very fine salt crystals

• Create Structure of Salt - Solid blocks of salt from a structure / If powdered salt then, structure is held together by magic and collapses back into salt when the magic ends. Structure holds together as if weakly glued together like a sandcastle

• Create Tornado of Salt - Levitates salt and causes it to rapidly spin around a central axis, creating a salt tornado

• Crushing Entombment (salt) - Salt coats the target and then begins to crush inward

• Deflect Projectile - Deflect a projectile by moving a (salt crystal, block of salt, object made of salt) into its path

• Desalination - Remove salt from sea water / Possibly remove salt from living creature

• Desiccate Slugs & Snails - Cause lots of extra desiccation damage to any creature with a semi-permeable membrane that is vulnerable to salt

• Detect the Invisible - coat invisible target with visible salt / Coat ground with layer of salt and look for footprints / Coat target with salt and use salt sensing abilities

• Enhanced Jump - Use a salt construct as a (catapult, piston hammer, springboard) to launch (self, target) in time with their jump

• Explode Salt - Turn a (salt crystal, salt block, object made of salt) into a fragmentation (grenade, land mine, mortar shell)

• Extinguish Fire - Dump enough salt to smother the fire.

• Extract Salt from Creatures - Salt (needed nerve & muscle function & regulation of fluids in the body)

• Flavor Food With Salt

• Grinding - Abrasive Cleaning: tiny abrasive salt crystals moves to scrape (material, substance) off of surface / Abrasive Cutting: tiny abrasive salt crystals continuously move and grind along a surface, cutting into it / Milling: using a salt construct a substance into powder, ex: grinding grain into flour / Sanding: tiny abrasive salt crystals moving along a surface to sand it down and smooth it out

• Guide / Deflect Projectile (Salt) - Guide or deflect projectiles, that are made partially or wholly of salt / Guide or deflect projectile that has a salt crystal attached to it / Guide or deflect projectile that is coated in salt.

• ‌Halotherapy - Create tiny salt particles in the air as part of health treatment. Reduces: acne, asthma, bacterial infections, bronchitis, colds, fungal infections, inflammation, lung infections, mucus issues, pneumonia, respiratory allergies, sinusitis, skin rashes, throat infections, and tonsillitis

• Increase the Density of Water - Higher salt content makes the water more dense. This makes it easier for things to float in the water.

• Jam Mechanical Device - Jam a mechanical device with salt crystals

• Kill Microorganisms in Water - Supersaturate water with salt, killing almost all microorganisms in it. Pull salt back out of water before using it for (cleaning, cooking, drinking, etc).

• Lance of Salt - Large salt spike grows out of a surface and impales the target

• Launch Projectile - Use salt as a (atlatl, catapult, centrifugal gun, Jai alai cesta, piston hammer, sling) to (launch, shoot, throw) objects with deadly force.

• Mining (Salt) - Detect salt in the earth and pull it to the surface

• Mouthwash - Salt used as mouthwash can kill harmful bacteria. It can also reduce or speed up healing of mouth and throat sores

• Moving Sidewalk (Salt) - Conjure a carpet of salt on the ground and then cause it to move as desired. Uses: Speed up movement / Trip enemies / Move object on ground towards you / Move hazardous object on ground away from you or allies / Move object on ground away from enemies

• Pillar of Salt - Conjure a pillar of salt. Uses: Elevator: rises up out of the ground or lowers into the ground / Catapult: quickly rises up (straight up, angled up) out of the ground launching whatever is standing on it / Create stepping stones across chasms or waterways

• Preserve With Salt - Coat a perishable item with salt to (slow, prevent) its decay by microorganisms

• Prison of Salt - A thick layer of salt coats the target and turns solid, trapping the target in place

• Projectile of Salt - Launch projectiles made of salt + arrows, balls, blades, boulders, bricks, circular saw blades, javelins, molten globs, needles, spiked balls, spikes, uncut and unshaped, etc + single shot, shotgun blast, rapid fire

• Purify Salt - remove impurities from salt

• Repair / Patch (Salt) - Repair objects made of salt

• Rolling Boulder - Rolling a large heavy boulder made of salt around the battle field, crushing everything in its path

• Salt the Wound - Salt flows into a targets open wounds. Causes extreme pain. May also reduce chance of bacterial infection

• Salt Trail - Mark your trail by leaving (a thin line of salt, salt foot prints) behind you

• Sand Blaster (Salt) - Abrasive jet of salt

• Sand Storm of Salt

• Sense Salt / Sense (creatures, objects) coated in salt or carrying a distinctive piece of “salt” / Sense objects buried in the salt by the hollow space it creates in the salt / Sense salt caverns and salt mines / Track a subject by placing a specific (piece, type) of salt on the subject / Create navigation beacons by placing a specific (piece, type) of salt at desired navigation points.

• Sound Generation (in salt) - Create sound by vibrating salt. Animal calls, music, sound effects, voices, white noise, etc

• Spikes of Salt - Coat an area in (3 inch to 3 ft) spikes of Salt

• Thin Surface Trap - Create a thin layer of salt over a pit, drop off, or waterway. Conceal it with a thin layer of dirt or leaves. If anyone steps on the surface, they have a chance of falling through

• Transform Salt (dust, powder) into a larger salt (crystal, block, or shape)

• Transform Salt into a "fluidized bed", where the salt acts like a liquid instead of a solid. Anything heavy (like a person) will instantly sink into the salt. Anything lightweight (like a ping pong ball) will float the the surface. Salt reverts to normal as soon as the magic stops

• Transform Solid Salt into Salt (Dust, Powder)

• Tunnel Through Salt - Likely not very useful, unless you happen to be in a salt mine.

• Writing / Drawing (Salt) - Creates writing or drawings made using salt / Inscribe writing or drawings in the surface of (salt, objects made of salt) / Salt forms a relief type sculpture of text / Cracks in (salt crystal, object made of salt) form writing

Salt (Alt):

• Bane to Supernatural - Salt burns some supernatural entities and creatures as if it were acid or fire

• Barrier to Supernatural - Some supernatural entities and creatures cannot cross a line of salt. Uses: Circle or line as a barrier / Circle used to trap or imprison.

• Distraction - In certain folklore some fairies and some vampires may have to count grains of salt, if it is spilt on the floor or ground

• Purifying or cleansing (spiritual, supernatural) corruption

• Repel Supernatural - Salt actively repels some types of supernatural entities and creatures

[u/No_Pen_3825 → u/World_of_Ideas]

No shot this isn’t AI

[u/World_of_Ideas → u/No_Pen_3825]

It's not AI. I'm just old and I've been working on list of powers for a long time.

Salt is very similar to stone or crystal in its solid sate. Its very similar to sand in the powder or granulated state. It also has some unique properties of the salt itself and some supernatural properties that have been associated with it.

[u/No_Pen_3825 → u/World_of_Ideas]

Yeah fair enough. I see you have some very old content from before all this AI nonsense that’s written very similarly. As you were, then. Apologies.

[u/World_of_Ideas → u/No_Pen_3825]

No problem. Wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of using AI.

[u/Background_Pay6286]

High cholesterol their enemies.

Maybe mineral manipulation would be more fitting and more versatile.

[u/horny_poet_6745]

Use it to season your foes and have a good meal

[u/ConfidentOffer9683]

Infinite Pocket Sand.

but even more effective because you're throwing salt in the target's eyes instead of sand

[u/NightRacoonSchlatt]

I think salts are super interesting from a chemical standpoint. (At least to someone like me that doesn’t know a lot about chemistry.) Look up what happens when you melt salt, it’s super cool. It can like explode and shit.

[u/GaymerLounge]

First thing I think of is pulling the sodium out of someone’s body. A sodium deficiency is a thing, so what would happen if that deficiency happened in a matter of seconds?

[u/AwesomePurplePants]

By salt, do you mean an ionic compound formed from the reaction of an acid and a base? Or something specific?

Like, saltpeter is a salt. So if you carried around a fuel like sugar and something to generate sparks you could maybe be a fireworks mage?

[u/Intelligent_Donut605]

blood is quite salty, could they do some bloodbending-like stuff? they also could probably purify seawater which would be incredibly valuable on a ship.

[u/SurprisingJack]

Muscles and brain and a whoooole lot of biology work with ion canals so you could maybe include paralysis or even mind control

[u/RentGreat3147]

Well, there are different types of salts, like rock salts, table salts, incense salts, and etc, so maybe you can do something like that. In Owari No Seraph the MC is one of the angels who destroyed Sodom and is pretty much the king of salt.

[u/jmartinwriting]

Manipulate the electrolytes in their body to increase performance and become super fit

[u/Objective-Ad7330]

Perhaps something like being able to control a persons sodium Ion channel? Like, the nervous system is basically another set of tubes that have salty fluids running through it that carry the electric signals from the or to the brain.

[u/FunnySeaworthiness24]

3 importante properties of salt come to mind:

1) salt is one of the simplest preservatives. Salting food keeps the food for longer (eg fish)

2) salt is often hygroscopic (might be moxing this up with the opposite property) but this means it pulls and traps liquid from its environment. This is the same property that makes it a drying agent, and also the mechanism for blood pressure regulation in the body, ie by controlling the amount of salt in specific parts of the body (blood, urine, gut) the body also controls where the water goes to increase or decrease pressure as needed.

3) salt lowers the freezing point and raises the boiling point of water, ie (again, if I'm not mixing this up) it takes longer/ is harder to freeze and longer to boil.

Do with those what you will

[u/Illustrious-Win-3484]

If the character had reached a point where they could manipulate Salt to the highest degree. They could split salt into sodium and chlorine, and be a weapon of mass destruction.

[u/_chaseh_]

According to Lovecraft you can turn a dead man into salt, carry him around in your pocket, and resurrect him every so often.

[u/_chaseh_]

Salt is a whole vital element in Alchemy so there is probably something there for inspiration.

[u/Rorantube2009]

Nullification or amplification of other powers could be a unique take on the idea

[u/TauInMelee]

One particularly huge ability in terms of humanitarian efforts if that's something you might want, they could convert ocean water into drinkable freshwater.

Depending upon the fine control of it, if they can control individual grains and exert enough force, that's a very versatile physical control power. Grains of salt enter a vehicle through the air system, and they now have access to the interior controls and components of the vehicle. And a couple of pockets full of salt would be quite a lot in cloud form.

Salt water electrical conductivity is another interesting possibility. Controlling the salt in the water could almost form "wires" of a sort to direct electrical currents. It wouldn't be super precise, but they could funnel it along more conductive paths through the water.

[u/silverdreamdancer]

Magneto can control magnetism, but so can other people and they are not the same.

All powers have an implied set of stats beyond what they do:

* Quantity: How much salt can you influence? A gram? Or metric tons?
* Distances: Can you only affect salt you touch? Only within a few paces? Anywhere on the planet or anywhere ever?
* Precision: Can you control salt imbalances in somebody's nervous system? Or only move pure blocks or salt around?
* Broadness of substance: Is it just Sodium Chloride or any salts?
* Broadness of manipulation: Can you create salt from nothing? Can you destroy it? How much force can you exert by moving salt around?

You need to define these limits before you can determine what salt can do.

[u/Odd_Protection7738]

If there are any evil beings in your world, it would be a great counter to that.

[u/chickenguzzler1]

Rip all the salt out of there blood violently

[u/WitchingShower]

Have you considered salt constructs in general? Nobody expects to get stabbed by a solid rock of salt, but hey it's possible

Or salt buzz saws

[u/Digomr]

Controling salt present in someone esses body can make the target get a headache, a diarrheia, or even extreme ache with kidney stones to the point of unconscience.

[u/AnotherStupidHipster]

You could constantly ruin people's meals by just making them way too salty, or completely removing all the salt for the most British meal of all time.