Jumper (Time) & Study Time

[JCurwen3]

How do you keep someone with Jumper (Time) from using their ability to have effectively infinite study time for improving skills and such? Obviously one can enforce the aging rules, but in many campaigns they won't last long enough even with heavy time travel study abuse to actually age the character significantly. And that's ignoring characters that are Unaging.

Or is this not really a problem?

[lexington]

Jumper is Unreliable by nature and Critical Failures can make you miserable or kill you.

Other than that you need to work out the metaphysics of the setting. In some stories you absolutely can keep going back in time to work on things. A simple worry is that constantly Jumping muddies the timesteam, giving penalties to Jump to that time and place.

Alternately cosmic law enforcement may be as concerned about this as you are and track down people suspected of this kind of Jumping.

[Nereidalbel]

If people keep seeing several of you in the same library, it's going to start raising suspicions. Start giving increasing bonuses to perception rolls to notice this guy is (literally) everywhere.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

How do you keep someone with Jumper (Time) from using their ability to have effectively infinite study time for improving skills and such? Obviously one can enforce the aging rules, but in many campaigns they won't last long enough even with heavy time travel study abuse to actually age the character significantly. And that's ignoring characters that are Unaging.

Or is this not really a problem?

Not a big one. Time Jumping provides lots of opportunities for the GM to mess with you. It is not wise to use it for anything boring.

[Anaraxes]

And it's the GM's choiice to allow both acquisition of CP for skills by study alone, in conjunction with a Time Jumper.

If so, the simulation has simply pointed out that Unaging people with infinite time on their hands could become quite well educated, which isn't really a surprise. I'll avoid the easy reference to The Doctor in favor of one to Phil the weatherman, Bill Murray's character in "Groundhog Day".

[sgtcallistan]

I feel that characters that try this are trying to avoid putting in the study time, so... check against the charas' dedication and boredom levels, then penalise them with other skills degredation should they actually do all this study.

Example: Hermione had the kind of personality that would use time-travel wisely, and have the stick-to-it-iveness to benefit from it. People who want easy fixes probably aren't like this.
And McGonagle knew it, recognising a kindred soul. ;)

I'd expect the 'easy-fixers' to descend into using TT for duplication, so as to backshoot an enemy too tough for them. :)

[Lamech]

Obviously the character would never actually do this unless they needed some insta-skill right now. And even then there might be easier solutions involving time travel.

That said, yes, they absolutely can do this. Time Travel is extremely, extremely powerful. Solution: Ban time travel, or enforce wibbly wobbly timey whimy problems.

[Otaku]

Jumping in on what most are saying, let me add:

Why shouldn't this be an option? Being a GM is not easy, and this is why. This is the "tool" the PC purchased to "fix things"; if they are abusing it (and are not Unaging)... how is that not coming up? Are the 4e rules for studying lax or not being applied? In 3e most would end up like Bart and Milhouse from that Treehouse of Terror Episode.