Quantum Leap Style Campaign Leaped Advantages

[This Name is Taken]

Hey.

Campaign concept simple. Quantum Leap style black ops. Players make characters, only their metal stats leap over into new physical bodies, along with any skills and mental advantages they have.

Here's the deal, what sort of extra cost would there be for OTHER non mental - or arguably not entirely mental - advantages to pass over as you leap? Eg. I'd say Extra Attack isn't mental, but if you're TRAINED to do it, you may not forget how to in the new body. I'm betting it'd be pretty steep, but just slapping "cosmic" on it seems a bit much...

[The Strange Dude]

you might wanna keep the physical stats as well, I seem to recall in one episode Sam jumps into a man with no legs but manages to run around just fine.

[This Name is Taken]

O_O Crazy. . . How'd they explain that one away...? Well, let me be clearer then, Quantum Leap STYLE, not Leap itself and certainly no legless people hover-running about through space and time and scaring the locals :)

[ham2anv]

It was made pretty clear during the course of the series that Quantum Leap-style time travel was physical. Ie, Sam replaced the target bodily, but a side effect caused a illusion of the person he replaced. This illusion could be pierced by the mentally unstable, some children and animals like dogs.

The case mentioned above of Sam being able to walk when his "host" can't is one proof of this. The most important proof, however, is the fact that Sam fathered a child in the past that was genetically confirmed to be his in the present.

Of course, none of this has any bearing on what you're trying to model. I just felt it needed mentioning.

[Running Wolf]

Hmmm, I would think that something like martial arts might transfer over, maybe at -2 or so of the level taken. It would be a bit like knowing dance moves (but if the "new" body has a lower DX) but no longer having the coordination.

[This Name is Taken]

Ah, learn something new everyday...

Well I guess it's very LOOSE Leap then, based on what I would think made more sense... But hey, at least it's not going to be based in the series proper. Must be clearer now on what's going on...

Mental transfer, not physical. Highly trained operatives from the future sent into the bodies in the past to sort out Black Ops style incursions in the timeline.

Mental SKILLS passing over is as I would expect, Character in future buys a science skill at IQ+1, his IQ transfers over so the score would be the same. However, a DX or ST based skill (for example) would lower based on the new host body's DX/ST/HT/Physical Stats. So if the Future Body has Dx 16 Karate+4 and is suddenly dropped into a Dx 10 body, he still has all his training, but the inherent coordination of the body would fail him.

Now, the tricky part. Psionic powers. In this future, psionic powers MAY or MAY not exist, maybe not in the hands of PCs to begin with. The problem I have is would the Psionic powers for example transfer over. On one hand, they are Mental, but at the same time, they are learned. Your talent with them would transfer possibly, but the power itself comes from a physical alteration, a mutation or genetic upgrade or whatever in your BODY...

So, in the case of say a Telekinetic Innate attack, I COULD just rule that as it is mental in nature, you get it in the new timeline, however that fails my reality check, and would for my players. Plus it's a pretty cheap thing to have, and effective thanks to the -10% from psionic which also has the mega advantage of being multi-time, unlike many other abilities which could be considered purely physical.

So, in this - admittedly my interpretation of QL - where it is only minds that transfer, how much extra should an ability be worth that could not normally be leaped? This would also be useful for entities that use Possession, maybe it's already mentioned, but I sure as heck can't find it :S

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by The Strange Dude

you might wanna keep the physical stats as well, I seem to recall in one episode Sam jumps into a man with no legs but manages to run around just fine.

The show was very inconsistent when it came to physical versus mental only transferrence. He felt the baby kick, made frequent bathroom runs, etc. as a pregnant youth. He suffered severe heart palpitations as an elderly man nearing the last day of his life.
It all depended on the episode's writer I'm guessing. From what I understand, the books took the stance of mental only leaping.

[The Benj]

Decide in character generation which things you'll accept as transferable. Only include those in character generation. Anything which is NEVER going to be applicable isn't worth statting.

If you want to allow Extra Attack as a learnt ability and therefore something which goes with you when you project, then let them buy it.
If, on the other hand, the character has a HT of 14, just handwave it. If you're never going to run things with their original bodies, it doesn't matter.

If you want Psi to be both a learnt thing AND a brain mutation, just state that they've specifically managed to track that mutation and thereby only project Psi-trained operatives into bodies with the latent ability that will let them use their power while possessing the body.

[The Benj]

Of course, if you DO want to run things with the characters in their normal bodies, that's different.

Depending on how often that's going to be, you could put the Accessibility Limitation "Only in your own body" on abilities that don't transfer. If half the adventures will be completely out of their native bodies, it's a 20% Limitation. Vary to suit.

Or you could simplify by specifying that you get x number of points for things that transfer (which should probably be high, given that's what they're being employed to do, so their bosses would want them to be very good at it) and y number of points for things that don't (physical stats, social traits, etc). Shouldn't be a problem as long as people keep their balance.

[Kale]

With the body swapping, I'd impose a penalty based on the DX difference of the orignal character to the host body, then perhaps doubled due to the unfamiliarity of the new body? The penalty would eventually reduce down to just the DX difference once the character had time to get used to the new body.