Chess-like teleportation

[JMD]

How would you build a power/advantage that allows you to teleport, but only like the knight piece from chess?

This would mean that the character can only teleport in the shape of an l, covering three hexes in one direction, and then one more space to the left or right of that third space.

[Refplace]

Warp with a range limit and fixed range.
The L shape is a red herring and not relevant to warp. You just go to a certain distance and possibly certain hexes only I would call it -80% as its pretty limiting in combat and limited range that makes travel hard. Good for getting through locked doors still though.

[vierasmarius]

Limiting a Warp to at most 10 yards is -50%. Limiting it further to exactly 3 yards sounds like a Nuisance Effect, -5%. The constraint on where you can land is another Nuisance Effect.

The limitation doesn't make much sense though. The hexes on a battlemap are a metagame construct, which in no way correspond to real-world coordinates or directions. It would be more reasonable to just say that the character can teleport a distance of exactly 3 yards from his starting, with the "angled" path being a special effect. After all, if he wants to reach 3 yards directly ahead of him, he could just turn a few degrees to either side.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by JMD

This would mean that the character can only teleport in the shape of an l, covering three hexes in one direction, and then one more space to the left or right of that third space.

In the first place, GURPS uses a hex grid, and the "knight's move" is not well defined on a hex grid; the definition is on a square grid and doesn't straightforwardly transfer over.

In the second place, if you are not assuming that space is actually organized as a coordinate grid, you can equate a knight's move (two squares forward and one square sideways) to a single jump with a length of sqrt(2x2 + 1x1) units, which is approximately 2.24 units. Since you can jump in any direction, you can land anywhere on a circle 2.24 units away, so you just have a fixed range teleport.

Or are you envisioning that the character has to touch down at one or more intermediate points, going not "BAMF!" but "BAMF!BAMF!BAMF!"?

Bill Stoddard

[Langy]

I'd call it a -100% modifier on Warp or so. It's basically 'can only teleport to a specific location relative to where I'm standing and facing', which is pretty restrictive, though not as restrictive as 'can only teleport to one location ever'.

I'd call it basically -50% for 'range limited, 10 yards or less' plus -50% for the 'anchored' limitation, with the special effect that the anchor is relative to your position and facing rather than rooted in place.

Thie 'anchor' limitation only applies if this actually is using the hexes for how it works, though Bill's point about the knight's move not being well-defined on a hex grid is a good point. Not sure how to handle that.

But I kinda assumed you were creating a character that was actually a chess piece or something, rather than just trying to make someone teleport a specific distance away from their body.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Warp with a range limit and fixed range.
The L shape is a red herring and not relevant to warp. You just go to a certain distance and possibly certain hexes only I would call it -80% as its pretty limiting in combat and limited range that makes travel hard. Good for getting through locked doors still though.

The distance limitation by itself is -60% or -65% (going by the mechanic used in Psionic Powers). That it's fixed isn't as big a deal when you're dealing with such a short range, but it's still a problem. The quirky direction drawback sounds like a Nuisance Effect to me. Calling the whole thing -80% looks reasonably close.

[sir_pudding]

The L-shape is clearly a nuisance effect. It can't be worth much since it really isn't very limiting. Because of the way that hex grids tessellate you can chose an L that puts you in any hex either 2 or 3 yards away. Basically it amounts to "Cannot Warp 1 yard". So -5%.

EDIT: I just checked GURPS Psionic Powers (Thanks NAS!). That uses Reduced Range and Range Limit, which gives -70% for 2 yards and -60% for 5 yards. I agree with NAS;-65% does seem reasonable for 3 yards.

[ericthered]

the L shape only become significant if its crooked in some way. For example, you have to be facing the the left or right of where you want to go. (which is something of a nuisance ).

[Dunadin777]

Well, the facing can be an issue if held in place. Such as when captive. On a plank. Over a death pit. Your teleport then would be a major issue, I guess. :)

Also, what happens when the character tries to use the power while prone? Does this translate him over a yard and 2-3 yards in the air?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by ericthered

the L shape only become significant if its crooked in some way. For example, you have to be facing the the left or right of where you want to go. (which is something of a nuisance ).

It does prevent 1-yard Warps even without facing (and that's all it does). Even if facing matters, you can freely change facing on a Concentrate (which includes a Step) so it's not really much of an actual Nuisance.