What exactly is a power level and how do you quantify it? I mean the points themselves...

What exactly is a power level and how do you quantify it? I mean the points themselves. What defines a power level point?

It's just an abstract measure. A state of fighting energy and strength at the moment of measuring. The moment Goku takes off his clothes, Piccolo starts charging up, and shit blows up, the powerlevel starts going up.

Not sure really... something like, how many droids are in your hangar? Or how many droids are accessible to you through some sort of coup-counting or outright theft?

>What exactly is a power level and how do you quantify it? I mean the points themselves. What defines a power level point?
In OPM they intentionally used a normal person as 1 and an average level superhero as 100.

In the end what matters isn't the absolute number, but what is the difference between person A and person B. So once you know your own level, you can find out if someone is in your league or not.

On the other hand, I like to imagine Raditz showing up with his scouter, seeing the farmer with the shotgun, and saying "FIVE?? JESUS CHRIST, OK, OK, put it down"

Who would win in a fight, Goku, or a googol of farmers?

Isn't Son Goku some kind of Buddha protector person? He presumably never really loses a fight? I don't really know that story, I think I had a picture book about it at some point when I was a kid

The scouter measures chi output, and it can be said based on effects to the environment that a thousand points is roughly equivalent to being able to produce a detonation equal to one megaton of TNT.

Ooh, how about how many leaves there are in the tree of people you can get to use your definition of what the points mean?

Ki. A little midget like Frieza, who surely only weights about 50 kg, is able to overpower guys like Mr. Satan with his 100 kg easily only through ki, who strengthen his body.

Well, Raditz got a reading of 5 for the farmer with his trusty Winchester. And Raditz was about 3000(?). So, theoretically, 600 or so farmers with their trusty winchesters could manage to harm Raditz.

That's more farmers than there are atoms in the fucking universe. If they all jumped Goku at once I think they would have a good chance.

I think Raditz was closer to 1200, about the same as the Saibamen.

1 Power point is 1/1200 Raditz'

It's been a while since I watched. I was thinking pickle and broku were both about 1000 and Raditz was able to wreck them, but I guess memory failed me.

Wasn't Master I blew up the moon Roshi something like 500

Individually, but after a prolonged fight, Raditz was weak enough for Goku to restrain him, and Piccolo could charge his energy to be capable of piercing through both of them.

From the fact that power levels can be hidden and raised and lowered, it becomes clear that it's a measurement of the energy (ki) output of an individual.
Radditz freaked out because by and large, most species don't have the skill to make on the spot adjustments. This is why gohans flickering confused him, and why he didn't anticipate goku and piccolo's power to rise as they took off their weights.
Nappa, who was an elite, basically only had two modes. His regular mode was a beast, but then he had his powered up mode. Vegeta had a similar thing. This is why saiyans often relied on their oozaru transformstion.
Frieza had transformstions for the sole purpose of lowering his power level, which again proves that most don't have it as a regular skill. Frieza had to bulk up to reach his full power.
All of friezas men could only power up or down with transformations, which is why power levels were useful for them.
But back on earth, androids had unreadible power levels and cell could raise and lower like any earthling, so power levels were useless. Buu saga reaffirmed it, since they introduced kilis, and were promptly forgotten. Besides, buus power output wasn't nearly as dangerous as his damage resistance.
In super/return of f, whis also comments that its an earthling thing.
Tl;dr: power levels are useful to the rest of the universe, but useless for earthlings, who happen to be the main cast.

> Lots of farmers
Isn't that how the spirit bomb works?

Iirc, they were both around 400 or something. Piccolo's Makankosappo was probably closer to 1000.

Power levels as a numerical value disappeared, but they weren't gone. The "holy shit his power level is 530,000" simply got replaced with "holy SHIT did you feel that enormous Ki?

Bigger number, bigger ki, more power. Measured or not, the concept and "usefulness" never really changed.

Consider a power level reader to be a highly sensitive tool for reading a person's ability to control the thermodynamic medium of energy that surrounds them with the better their ability to absorb and conduct energy the higher their apparent power level.

Phys strength divided by Qi output.

pretty sure that many farmers is enough mass to form a black hole.