Flash Step

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A long Step that lets you momentarily disappear seems like it does that perfectly .

I disagree. You're taking characters who can move at blinding speed and then "re-appear" to attack and trying to jam both things into one Step and Attack. This looks like doing things the hard way to me.

Flash Steps don't always set up attacks but when this happens you would seem to have characters doing Step and Do Nothing which is not a thing. If they do nothing other than move during their Flash Step it's just a Move Action and your Power wouldn't work in that situation because they aren't taking a Step.

Uncomplicate things.

[zoncxs]

From what I posted in the other thread:

Pyramid 3/89 and Monster Hunter Power Ups 1 Both have:

Basic Move +10 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%...) [10/level]

The pyramid article uses it for "Flash Step" and the Monster Hunter one uses it for "Duck and Cover!"

The important part is "Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%" is used on Basic Move.

If we only use that, then the cost becomes:

Basic Move +10 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%) [20/level]

Compared to:

Enhanced Move 1 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%; Cosmic, +100%) [28/level]

Pretty close in cost, but the enhanced move has the added bonus of increasing the step range faster.


Compare:
A : Basic Move +140 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%) [280]

B : Enhanced Move 10 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%; Cosmic, +100%) [280]

Assume BM of 5.

A gives us a Step range of 15 yards.

B gives us a Step range of 512 yards.


In fact, we can see:
Level : Step : Cost

B1 : 1 : 28
B2 : 2 : 56
B3 : 4 : 84
B4 : 8 : 112
B5 : 16 : 140
B6 : 32 : 168
B7 : 64 : 196
B8 : 128 : 224
B9 : 256 : 252
B10 : 512 : 280

and:

A1 : 2 : 20
A2 : 3 : 40
A3 : 4 : 60
A4 : 5 : 80
A5 : 6 : 100
A6 : 7 : 120
A7 : 8 : 140
A8 : 9 : 160
A9 : 10 : 180
A10 : 11 : 200
A11 : 12 : 220
A12 : 13 : 240
A13 : 14 : 260
A14 : 15 : 280

So A is better up to level 5, then switching to B at level 4 is better.

A1 : 2 : 20
A2 : 3 : 40
A3 : 4 : 60
A4 : 5 : 80
A5 : 6 : 100
B4 : 8 : 112
B5 : 16 : 140
B6 : 32 : 168
B7 : 64 : 196
B8 : 128 : 224
B9 : 256 : 252
B10 : 512 : 280

[Mark Skarr]

I created a whole thread on the Warp advantage being awful and rebuilding teleportation as a significantly more useful advantage that is in-line with other movement abilities here.

It seems like my version of teleportation is more what you're looking for.

Hey, you were even in that thread! I thought so.

[Anaraxes]

An old thread (2009) covering Increased Step includes some of the ideas also already in this thread, so I'll link to one post, a Kromm build using the Technique rules and then buying off the Technique penalty for 16 points for a specific skill, or 20 points for any attack.

[monstrous engineer]

I'm with Fred on using ATR and some limitations to bring down the cost. Any movement that takes less time than the blink of an eye (1/10th second) is effectively invisible, so you don't need to tack on any additional stealth or invisibility. For example, a skilled sleight of hand magician can palm a small object so fast that you can miss it even if you know what to look for. Flash step is like sleight of hand, but with your whole body.

In most fiction, flash step type powers don't let you move through walls or leap long distances, those are separate abilities. So, flash step is just like normal movement, but much faster.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by monstrous engineer

In most fiction, flash step type powers don't let you move through walls or leap long distances, those are separate abilities. So, flash step is just like normal movement, but much faster.

Horror has the Ghostly Movement Limitation for Warp, intended for modelling those times when the camera looks away and the slasher is gone when the camera looks back -- or vice versa, the monster suddenly appearing behind you in the blink of an eye.

Dropping the "Only if unobserved" Accessibility (since these characters aren't ghosts), keep the Range Limit (-50% in the original) and the Accessibility ("Only places you could walk/climb to, given time"), -20%. That Accessibility is there so you can't move through walls or leap over impassable chasms, but only places you could theoretically reach with normal movement. Warp also handles the "too fast to see" bit naturally. I might bump it up by another -5-10% just to specify "Must trace a specific path" to model traversing the intervening space just to handle cases like land mines.

If only some antagonists can see the Flash Step, then that might be best modelled as their own ability to avoid surprised by anyone Flash Step. Alternatively, you could invent another Limitation, but the value seems pretty uncertain unless you have a pretty good idea of the frequency of opponents that can see Flash Step versus those that can't. It does seem a little weird to me to try to build an ability with a Limitation that grants some other characters (over a certain point total?) in the setting some other ability. But at least that puts the rule in one place, and you don't have to mess with the NPC antagonists' character sheets.

[zoncxs]

I would use:

Cosmic, Per roll required to notice, +50%

So when you use the ability, anyone that is looking at you will need to make a Per roll to keep their eyes on you. If they fail then you have disappeared.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

The important part is "Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%" is used on Basic Move.

If we only use that, then the cost becomes:

Basic Move +10 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%) [20/level]

Compared to:

Enhanced Move 1 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%; Cosmic, +100%) [28/level]

Pretty close in cost, but the enhanced move has the added bonus of increasing the step range faster.

I prefer Enhanced Move myself for these builds and usually go with the full Cosmic, +150% Natural Movement (Power-Ups 4: Enhancements).
I feel you need all three Cosmic's, +50% for a Flash Step in Combat.
Ignore Control Rolls to turn quickly, +50%
Not require Acceleration, +50%
Avoid Move and Attack requirement, +50% - Probably could ignore this one if only taking a Step.
All three combined are explicitly replacing Basic Move for all purposes.
So I feel using the above Accessibility is fine.
That is 38/level and as you noted quickly increases the Step distance.

Originally Posted by zoncxs

I would use:

Cosmic, Per roll required to notice, +50%

So when you use the ability, anyone that is looking at you will need to make a Per roll to keep their eyes on you. If they fail then you have disappeared.

I rather like that, increasing the cost to 48//level but well worth it for the Batman trick of moving out of sight. For that I wouild just apply it to one level, meaning you have ot be close to vanish.
Though the Vanish technique would be cheaper but requires a distraction or something for them to look away.

[David Johnston2]

I actually go with linked invisibility (visible to people with ETS).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I disagree. You're taking characters who can move at blinding speed and then "re-appear" to attack and trying to jam both things into one Step and Attack. This looks like doing things the hard way to me.

What appears to be the effect in most media is that the character can travel a long distance with what GURPS would call a Step. Unless they are speedsters (in which case, as I noted, ATR is a great fit), such characters also seem to only be able to do this for short spurts, again akin to a Step, and in fact the Chambara Movement rules work well for cases where characters chain Flash Steps together (well, except for the fact that such characters would undoubtedly have TbaM or WM, and thus the Extra Attack one needs to do a lot of them in a round would be typically be a poor choice to pick up; maybe some rules akin to Quick Drawing Bows to be able to turn the extra attacks afforded one by Rapid Strike into Steps, but still require a roll against skill to do it, wouldn't be out of question). I can certainly see ATR (Move Only) potentially working, but I feel ATR is a bit too much to use as a starting point here (it's an advantage that allows for a lot of different ways to use it - and could probably stand to be modified a bit to flow better, as the fact that it functions as multiple back-to-back turns seems not to quite fit how it's typically depicted in fiction).

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Flash Steps don't always set up attacks but when this happens you would seem to have characters doing Step and Do Nothing which is not a thing. If they do nothing other than move during their Flash Step it's just a Move Action and your Power wouldn't work in that situation because they aren't taking a Step.

I mean, in combat they could be doing a Step as part of an Evaluate (if you allow that from a distance, but with characters being able to Flash Step that seems like a good idea) or All Out Defense. Or just use the Chambara Movement rules to take an "Attack" action that consists of a normal Step and then sacrificing their Attack for another Step. Outside of combat (or if sufficiently desperate - or protected - in combat), with the Chambara Movement rules the character could sacrifice their defenses (which don't matter when not in combat) to do three Flash Steps each second - All Out Attack (Double) would allow for a normal Step (in place of half Move, but for someone with Flash Step using that is a better option), then two more by sacrificing the two attacks. Of course, arguably they could just use Committed Attack for that, getting two Steps and then sacrificing the attack for a third (maybe let going All Out give you four Steps?).

Originally Posted by zoncxs

Basic Move +10 (Accessibility, Only for determining step length, -60%...) [10/level]

I'm not a huge fan of that for increased Step distance, and I think it still overcharges when applied to Enhanced Move. Having a longer Step is useful, sure... but I'm not convinced it's worth [20] per +1 (or even [20] per doubling; [10] honestly sounds like a more fair price). I recognize I'm deviating from RAW for this, however.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I created a whole thread on the Warp advantage being awful and rebuilding teleportation as a significantly more useful advantage that is in-line with other movement abilities here.

It seems like my version of teleportation is more what you're looking for.

Hey, you were even in that thread! I thought so.

Oh, hey, would ya look at that? Young Varyon, thinking maybe he'd found a good scaffolding for stuff like this. But you see, he failed to account for one minor little detail - we've got a memory like a sieve. I'll look back through that when I have some time, thanks. I'll note this thread was an off-the-cuff thing that I suddenly thought up when reading through the Martial Arts thread and wanted to write down and discuss.

Originally Posted by monstrous engineer

I'm with Fred on using ATR and some limitations to bring down the cost. Any movement that takes less time than the blink of an eye (1/10th second) is effectively invisible, so you don't need to tack on any additional stealth or invisibility.

So you're suggesting the character take ATR 9 and then only get to turn one of their 10 maneuvers into Movement to count as a Flash Step? Because that's what you'll need for your movement to occur in 1/10th of a second - unless you restrict yourself to Steps, but then you aren't going very far in that 1/10th of a second and still probably need a few levels of ATR to justify it. Also, you'll need to time yourself to only move when everyone watching you happens to blink - good luck with that (to actually move faster than the human eye can track, you need to get your movement done in something like 1/60th of a second, as the eye seems to have a frame rate of roughly 60 frames per second).

Do note that's also ignoring the general GURPS philosophy of You Get What You Pay For. ATR 59+ doesn't come with free Invisibility, it just lets you do 60 Manuevers each time your turn comes around.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Though the Vanish technique would be cheaper but requires a distraction or something for them to look away.

Part of what I'd like to discuss is how to be able to use Vanish (which really is a better name for it than Backstabbing) without needing to duck into some cover or have the targets look away. Flash Step's momentary invisibility needs to work even when the target is looking right at you and you're in a featureless plain (but, again, the target should be capable of seeing you move if they have good enough stats and/or roll well enough). Obviously Obscure 10 would work (it completely blocks the target's sightline), but how much weaker of an effect can do the trick? Can someone with Chameleon 1 [2] attempt to Vanish in plain sight, for example?