[MA] Giant Step and two-yard steps

[Gnome]

If I have a two-yard step (due to having Move 11-20), and I use Extra Effort (Giant Step), do I get an additional two-yard step or only one extra yard of step?

I'm interested both in the intent of the written rules and the reasoning behind them, as I play with a lot of house rules and haven't decided yet what's better for my game.

[kdtipa]

Back in 2011 there was this thread...
Extra Effort Movement - Giant Step

I don't have the rules in front of me for Giant Step, but based on the wording in that forum thread, it sounds like it gives you one additional yard of step with the expenditure of 1 fatigue.

If you can post the wording of the rule I'm happy to help with analyzing it.

My gut tells me that for a normal sized person (size 0), it's meant to be just +1 yard of distance. But if I imagine a really tall person that probably should have a step of two yards just based on their height, it would make sense that the extra effort step would also be two yards extra instead of 1.

[Gnome]

"If you take an Attack or Defensive Attack maneuver, you can spend 1 FP for one extra step."
That's the relevant piece of text from MA. Basic states that the size of your step increases with Move. (1/10 of Move, round up)

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Gnome

If I have a two-yard step (due to having Move 11-20), and I use Extra Effort (Giant Step), do I get an additional two-yard step or only one extra yard of step?

I'm interested both in the intent of the written rules and the reasoning behind them, as I play with a lot of house rules and haven't decided yet what's better for my game.

Afaik, you get an extra step, not an extra yard. If your step is 2 yard, so is the extra one.

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by Gnome

"If you take an Attack or Defensive Attack maneuver, you can spend 1 FP for one extra step."
That's the relevant piece of text from MA. Basic states that the size of your step increases with Move. (1/10 of Move, round up)

Wow. I have a feeling that's something that wasn't balanced or play-tested. By RAW I'd say you're correct that your character with a step of 2 would get to step 4 yards with that Giant Step.

Thinking it through though, I still think it would be more realistic if the additional distance was somehow based on the step distance you get for your size, not for your speed. A 6 foot tall person gets 1-yard step (half their height). A 60 foot (20 yards) tall giant would seem silly if they only got a 1-yard step. 10 yards might make sense for them as a step. And the giant putting in extra effort to get an extra 10 yards makes sense. But if the 6 foot person is quick enough to get a 2 yard step... it seems odd that a point of fatigue would get them 2 extra yards instead of 1. If I was GMing that, I'd probably house rule it to giving you a bonus to your step distance equal to the average step for your size (so +1 for normal people, and modified for large people).

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

Wow. I have a feeling that's something that wasn't balanced or play-tested. By RAW I'd say you're correct that your character with a step of 2 would get to step 4 yards with that Giant Step.

Thinking it through though, I still think it would be more realistic if the additional distance was somehow based on the step distance you get for your size, not for your speed. A 6 foot tall person gets 1-yard step (half their height). A 60 foot (20 yards) tall giant would seem silly if they only got a 1-yard step. 10 yards might make sense for them as a step. And the giant putting in extra effort to get an extra 10 yards makes sense. But if the 6 foot person is quick enough to get a 2 yard step... it seems odd that a point of fatigue would get them 2 extra yards instead of 1. If I was GMing that, I'd probably house rule it to giving you a bonus to your step distance equal to the average step for your size (so +1 for normal people, and modified for large people).

Otoh, a speedster with a 10 yard step wouldn't have much use spending a fp for a measly extra yard...

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Otoh, a speedster with a 10 yard step wouldn't have much use spending a fp for a measly extra yard...

True, but I wouldn't guess that the Giant Step option is meant for speedsters. And the rationalization I did is a guess based on what little I know. I could easily be wrong.

If I'm now trying to think through a rule that could be applied that is fairly realistic... maybe it's just that the Giant Step distance is half your step, rounded up. It would mean that a step of 1 or 2 would get a +1 yard, and the giant or speedster with a step of 10 gets +5. Still... it's just speculation about what might make sense and play well.

[talonthehand]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

Thinking it through though, I still think it would be more realistic if the additional distance was somehow based on the step distance you get for your size, not for your speed. A 6 foot tall person gets 1-yard step (half their height). A 60 foot (20 yards) tall giant would seem silly if they only got a 1-yard step. 10 yards might make sense for them as a step. And the giant putting in extra effort to get an extra 10 yards makes sense. But if the 6 foot person is quick enough to get a 2 yard step... it seems odd that a point of fatigue would get them 2 extra yards instead of 1. If I was GMing that, I'd probably house rule it to giving you a bonus to your step distance equal to the average step for your size (so +1 for normal people, and modified for large people).

Very common thought. Unfortunately fast small animals (say, rabbits) and large slow animals (say, elephants) are both very common, which is why step-size isn't based on height. "Step" does not necessarily mean "stride".

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

Thinking it through though, I still think it would be more realistic if the additional distance was somehow based on the step distance you get for your size, not for your speed. A 6 foot tall person gets 1-yard step (half their height). A 60 foot (20 yards) tall giant would seem silly if they only got a 1-yard step. 10 yards might make sense for them as a step. And the giant putting in extra effort to get an extra 10 yards makes sense. But if the 6 foot person is quick enough to get a 2 yard step... it seems odd that a point of fatigue would get them 2 extra yards instead of 1. If I was GMing that, I'd probably house rule it to giving you a bonus to your step distance equal to the average step for your size (so +1 for normal people, and modified for large people).

Others have already covered very fast small animals, so I'll just note that step size isn't based on your Size Modifier at all. It is purely a function of your Basic Move, which, itself, is an amalgamation of Basic Speed and character points spent.

[pgb]

Definitely not RAW, but maybe a nicer version is to allow the Giant step to be 1/5 Move rounded up, instead of 1/10 i.e. double before rounding up. Maybe minimum of 2, to deal with average humans?

Paul