[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Quadriplegic

[johndallman]

Quadriplegic [-80] is a mundane physical disadvantage. You have no limbs, or they are all paralysed or otherwise unusable. I think this disadvantage first appeared in GURPS Cyberpunk for 3e, but I’m not sure about that.

You cannot move under your own power, nor manipulate anything, which gives you all the bad effects of Lame (Paraplegic) and No Fine Manipulators (No Manipulators). Cures and mitigators are as per Lame and One Arm. Quadriplegic has a special rule if a disadvantage limit is in use. You can reduce ST and DX by up to 4 levels each, worth a maximum of [-120], without this counting against the disadvantage limit.

Unsurprisingly, Quadriplegic isn’t mentioned in many GURPS supplements, and several of those are simply saying “inappropriate for this kind of game.” Martial Arts and Technical Grappling have ways to cause it, and How to be a GURPS GM points out that magic, mental interfaces to computers or robots, and psionics are about the only ways for a character with this disadvantage to participate in adventures.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve never used this disadvantage as player or GM, nor seen anyone else do so in a GURPS game. It’s worth having in the game as a realistic injury and a severe problem to overcome. Have you made any other use of it?

[WingedKagouti]

I've never used it myself, but I could see it find use as a NPC trait.

[vicky_molokh]

Not a GURPS game, but once me and another player played a squad of monster hunters in Vampire the Masquerade. One of our PCs was a one-eyed quadriplegic farseer. We as the rest of the team cared for him. Despite being helpless on his own, he was one of the most important members of the squad.

[Phil Masters]

I don't recall ever using it or seeing it being used, but it seems to me to be the kind of disadvantage that the game needs so it can be taken with the Mitigator limitation or as a Temporary Disadvantage in that limitation. There are a few like that.

[evileeyore]

I've only ever had or seen one character that could have taken it, but as she was a drone operator in a cyberpunk game and would be piloting robots constantly, it wasn't deemed appropriate* by either me or the GM.


* Since I also didn't have to purchase the Teleoperation advantages.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I don't recall ever using it or seeing it being used

No oldschool computer shells that lack logs/arms in your Europe on Mars campaign?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

No oldschool computer shells that lack logs/arms in your Europe on Mars campaign?

That's No Legs (Sessile or Portable), plus No Manipulators. Not Quadriplegic.

[namada]

The second I saw this post, I immediately thought: Mind Quad!

[Ultraviolet]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Quadriplegic [-80] is a mundane physical disadvantage. You have no limbs, or they are all paralysed or otherwise unusable. I think this disadvantage first appeared in GURPS Cyberpunk for 3e, but I’m not sure about that.

IIRC it was "No Physical Body" which was in the good, old Cyberpunk book. I think Quadriplegic was older, and from the basic rules.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

That's No Legs (Sessile or Portable), plus No Manipulators. Not Quadriplegic.

I think I'm more likely to see that used than to actually use Quadriplegic. I'm found of brain-in-a-jar characters, and I have never used Quadriplegic. Of course, Its the exact same point value, and the effects are astonishingly similar. Quadriplegic just has that special rider about buying down ST and DX while ignoring the disadvantage limit. And if I can take Quadriplegic in the first place, my disadvantage limit is already unusually high.

The rider about buying down ST and DX is unusual. Normally I'd have thought such characters buy their ST down to 0, or they simply don't have a ST score and so get no points back for "Low ST". Simply buying both down by 4 is an weird option.

When working with "brain in a jar" characters they usually have extensive ways around their disabilities, and I either add large mitigators, electrical, or no points at all for the location of their "mind"