Telegraphic Attack and Feint

[Anders]

Can I choose Telegraphic Attack with a Feint? Would that make it easier to score a hit on the next round?

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Can I choose Telegraphic Attack with a Feint? Would that make it easier to score a hit on the next round?

Do you mean Feint, with a +4 for Telegraphic Attack?

No.

It's abusive, in game terms (you're getting a +4 in return for . . . no penalties) and unrealistic - Feints are telegraphed (or appear as telegraphed motions) or they don't work.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

Do you mean Feint, with a +4 for Telegraphic Attack?

I think he's talking about following up a Feint with a Telegraphic Attack. Maybe because the target is difficult to hit or he has low enough skill to make it almost impossible to attack at all without the +4. Such as a normal human trying to strike the head of another human.

Personally, I don't see any reason not to allow it. Yes, it reduces the effectiveness of the Feint, but maybe you are hoping that you won with such a large margin that the +2 to the opponent's defences won't matter.

[Anders]

No, I meant exactly what Toadkiller Dog was talking about. I thought it should be prohibited but I didn't know if it actually was.

[the_matrix_walker]

No, Telegraphic Attack is an Attack Modifier, You can trade an attack for a feint, but faints don't come with all the attack options. And it would be self defeating... a telegraphed feint is by definition obvious and ergo worthless.

[Gigermann]

MA113:

A Telegraphic Attack is the opposite of a Deceptive Attack (p. B369) and you cannot combine the two. Likewise, you cannot use a Telegraphic Attack as a Riposte (pp. 124-125) and it gains no benefit from an earlier feint.

[Edit]In retrospect, that's not actually the question(?)

Telegraphic gives +4 to the "attack" and a +2 to the "defense" against it—which, since it's a Skill contest, would instead be +4 (modifiers to defense are usually halved, compared to everything else). If so, they would cancel each other in the contest, and would, therefore, be pointless.

[Lord Azagthoth]

I never understood why in GURPS, Telegraphic attack has a +4 when attacking.

The +2 for defense of the target sounds logical (although I would give it a +4 when I compare it to real fights where an attacker launches a Telegraphic attack, so slow, so obvious that the defender sees it so easily coming).

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

I never understood why in GURPS, Telegraphic attack has a +4 when attacking.

The +2 for defense of the target sounds logical (although I would give it a +4 when I compare it to real fights where an attacker launches a Telegraphic attack, so slow, so obvious that the defender sees it so easily coming).

I don't get it. What sort of benefit would you want it to grant instead?

[Lord Azagthoth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I don't get it. What sort of benefit would you want it to grant instead?

Benefit? I was thinking of at least a quirk, if not even a disadvantage. In a real fight, telegraphing your attack is a major disadvantage. You lose fights because of that. Opponents simply evade your attack without effort even before your attack even comes near.

[mlangsdorf]

Which is why Telegraphic Attacks, in practice, are used to hit people from behind, as finishers against overwhelmed foes who have no good defenses less or who were foolish enough to All-Out Attack, or by extremely unskilled people who need every bonus just to hit.

People do throw haymakers in real life fights. It's not a bad idea if the foe is already down on one knee and trying to shake off the last punch, and you want a hard hit to finish him off before he gets back up.