Is Your Character A Homo Superior?

I love government agents as much as anyone, but be careful here. Agents tend to be less dramatic because the law is a much frightening threat for them. For example, a character conducting a non-government investigation could break into someone's house, but then he has to make sure the cops don't catch him. But a government agent can just get a warrant and waltz in. The law isn't nearly as much of an obstacle for him. If you'd like to use a government agent, please lay out what the rules for him are and make sure that there's some chance he will pay if he breaks those rules. Government agents that do whatever they want-- like Nick Fury, Captain America and the movie version of Hellboy-- tend to suck.

This is potentially a problem because the species will probably come off as a bland utopia, like Krypton or Chris Paolini's elves. That's rarely interesting. Also, readers may feel that you're trying to push your political values on them.

If they can polymorph into humans, chances are that you won't ever be able to use their species as a liability. The result will probably be bland and undramatic. It also raises Mary Sue problems.

This is very cliche.

It's sort of cliche and counterproductive for a nonhuman to have a very strong grasp of (a) human culture. That will probably make your nonhuman feel "like human but better." That's very two-dimensional and not very satisfying. On the other hand, if he weren't perfectly familiar with humans, he'd probably be more interesting and life-like.

The character or species does not have technology that is significantly better than what the humans in the story have.

This cliche will make members of the species feel insufferable to your readers. If they find themselves superior to humans, I *highly* recommend having the humans defend themselves. "You do WHAT to your prisoners?"

The given answer suggests that the character or species in question is not generally smarter than humans. This implies that humans are considered to be more intelligent or have higher cognitive abilities compared to this character or species.

This aggravates readers very easily.

Using only one member of the species (like Superman) isn't a huge problem, but it's a symptom that the author is using the species as a lazy way to explain how the character has ridiculous, superhuman powers. It's generally stronger to use species in a way that draws on their unique culture more, which is very hard to do if there's only one of them.

The correct answer is "No / not applicable." This answer indicates that the character/species in question does not look mostly like a human. It implies that the character/species being referred to has distinct features or characteristics that differentiate them from humans, such as non-human physical attributes or traits.

Surely humans can do *something* better than this race, right?

The answer "No" suggests that the character or species in question is not generally stronger, faster, or physically better than humans. This implies that they may have similar or even inferior physical abilities compared to humans.

The answer "No" suggests that the character or species in question does not possess any supernatural powers such as magic or telepathy. This implies that they rely solely on their natural abilities and do not possess any extraordinary or paranormal capabilities.