[Anaraxes]

[QUOTE=MatthewVilter;1652014traditionally ST and TK just...work.[/QUOTE]Traditionally, magic just... works. Stabbing people just... happens. But in GURPS and most RPGs, there's some sort of skill or combat roll involved. Fiction rarely takes time out to discuss probabilities, much less make die rolls, but that doesn't mean the abilities "just work" in a game context.

GURPS TK has never "just worked". 3e Psionics had skills for everything. 4e has the roll versus IQ (avoiding the explicit skills, which promptly get re-introduced in Psi Powers). GURPS ST only "just works" for basic uses like encumbrance. Exertion calls for skills like Lifting or Will rolls for Extra Effort, not to mention combat skills like Wrestling or Karate. And ST-based damage doesn't "just work" every time; there's a damage roll.

The Basic description of applied ST for "Lifting and Moving Things" (B353) says "To pick up an unwilling character, you must take a second to grapple him first (see Grappling, p. 370). He may attempt to break free during the time it takes you to pick him up!" -- the same procedure as described here for TK.

And the description of the TK Advantage says ""No rolls are necessary for ordinary lifting and movement." Combat uses aren't "ordinary".

I don't see an inconsistency.

If anything, the argument ought to devolve into differences between TK, Levitation, and Apportation.