If you had to turn every vampire's power purely physical, how would you do so for the Cullens?
This one is so tricky as I think generally the psychic powers just make more sense for vampires. Inasmuch as anything about vampires make sense.
Jasper's gift is supposed to be physical in canon, but I will go to my grave believing that was a retcon after SM started writing the "epilogues" to Twilight that eventually became Forever/Breaking Dawn and realized it would be cool if Bella were immune to ALL THE POWERS and not just Edward's but, oops, Jasper and Alice's gifts already worked on her. I'm fully convinced that's when she came up with the "mental vs physical" powers stuff and shoved Jasper's clearly mental power into a 'physical' box by saying he influences your emotions by actually changing your bodily reactions--calms or speeds up heart rate, floods endorphins, etc. Which like, okay that's weird but it works I guess . . . for humans. Makes zero sense for vampires who don't have a heart rate and just overall don't work like humans and yet Jasper's gift clearly works on them. So. Yeah. I think it's a retcon and it was originally meant as another sort of psychic, extrasensory gift like Alice and Edward's.
I don't think Alice or Edward's gifts can really become physical. They are just 100% ESP kind of stuff that only exists in the mind. So maybe we have to think of 'physical' powers differently and say that Edward's weird super fast running thing is his physical gift (still don't get why died-of-the-Spanish-flu rich Chicago boy Edward is the fastest and not like, ran-fast-enough-as-a-human-to-catch-up-with-a-vampire Carlisle but, sure. Why not). Emmett's strength can then be a physical gift, and Rosalie's beauty, too. They are real things that exist in the physical world, not illusions, not ESP. Maybe playing on the idea of Alice's canon ability to see the future, her physical gift is even more enhanced eyesight than vampires typical have? So she can still "see" things others can't, but in a more literal, physical sense.
I guess Esme's ability to love is a physical thing. No, not like that! Well, maybe? But more it's a real thing that exists, it's not an illusion. She doesn't make you artificially feel like you are loved, she actually loves you? But maybe she has some other enhanced sense too. Hearing? Like that Mom Sense where you try to sneak around or do something you shouldn't and she always hears it.
Likewise I guess compassion is a real Thing and not an illusion. And he should be the fastest like WHY include the "he was 23 and very fast" line in his backstory and then make Edward the speed runner WHATEVER. But another take on a physical gift for Carlisle might be some kind of healing ability outside of his doctoring skills. It would be physical in that it actually physically heals a wound or whatever rather than being an illusion?
Alice’s gift could be that she needs to physically connect with the person- maybe touch her forehead to the other person’s, so she could read vibrations from her and the person’s inner eyes about what the future will hold for that person.
Edward’s physical gift would look like the picture below, where he’s only able to read people by absorbing their brain fluid. His gift would only be useful on other vampires, for obvious reasons.
