Questions on Movement

[Zartajuz]

I am looking to make my expert character into a nimble thief that and not only move around the battle area but through cities and terrain easily--very parkour-like essentially. I've been mulling over which feats would be best suited for him, both for making him fast and agile but also viable in combat. While doing so, I was wondering if anyone could offer clarifcation on some things.

Move-by-action
It let's you move both before and after a standard action, provided the total distance isn't greater than your total move distance. Is this just limited to moving specifically, or does it give you two move actions? For instance, could I use "Quicker than the Eye" (a move action Challenge for Sleight of Hand), Attack, and then actually step back?

Blink
I am considering taking a level of adept to get this power (50% miss chance and I get to sneak attack doesn't sound like a bad exchange for a few skill points that level). I've gone through the forums and have seen a few posts about it clearing up some of what I have in the rules--it lasts for 10 rounds (not the number of rounds equal to adept level) and the distance you disappear/reappear in is equal to your power rank in feet, correct?
My question would be that is says you can't control where you blink to. But does that mean you can't move normally while this is activated? If I cast it and want to walk forward 15ft, does it mean I could randomly appear 5 ft to the left of where I intended to walk? Or is this simply a bit of text to define that Blink can't be used as teleportation to get behind an enemy or walk through a wall since you have no control over when you're blinking in and out so could reappear in solid matter?

[ValhallaGH]

Move-by-action
It let's you move both before and after a standard action, provided the total distance isn't greater than your total move distance. Is this just limited to moving specifically, or does it give you two move actions?

Moving specifically. The only (base rules) way to get extra actions (that I'm aware of) is the Surge use of Conviction.

Blink

Powers aren't my specialty. I'll hope that The Shadow or True20Chick, or one of the equally knowledgable others, will chime in.

[Mach5RR]

I am looking to make my expert character into a nimble thief that and not only move around the battle area but through cities and terrain easily--very parkour-like essentially.

Great concept. Two things I recommend. The True20 Expert's Handbook, especially as it further defines challenges for acrobatics and climb (with climb, you can challenge to run up walls Jackie Chan style). And I also recommend the Ture20 Freeport Companion, if only for the Feat of Skill Finesse(Expert). This allows you to pick one skill and use your DEX as the key ability instead of STR (Climb <cough,cough>)

Move-by-action
It let's you move both before and after a standard action, provided the total distance isn't greater than your total move distance. Is this just limited to moving specifically, or does it give you two move actions?

It's Limited moving specifically. Standard actions are meant to be done before or after the move action., Move-by-action is meant to replicate performing the standard action while moving. Unfortunately, the only way to replicate this is to split your movement into two smaller "mini-moves".

Blink
My question would be that is says you can't control where you blink to. But does that mean you can't move normally while this is activated? If I cast it and want to walk forward 15ft, does it mean I could randomly appear 5 ft to the left of where I intended to walk? Or is this simply a bit of text to define that Blink can't be used as teleportation to get behind an enemy or walk through a wall since you have no control over when you're blinking in and out so could reappear in solid matter?

This one may require some specifics from your GM. As it stands, Blink is a Free Action that requires Maintenance (and is Fatiguing) , meaning you must spend a free action every round to keep it active. This means you can still perform your move action as well as your standard action. As a GM, I would state that you could perform blink the same as any other free action. Meaning you can blink, move, attack; attack, blink, move; etc. According to the RAW, you may not blink anywhere dangerous. As a GM, I would add the caveat of "unless there's no place safer to go". If you are standing on a sliver of melting rock in the middle of a lava lake, blink is not the power to get you out. Remember, this power is meant to be beneficial to you. If you're GM is going to rule that you randomly blink at the time of his choosing, then that would be called a curse.

GM Fiat: You do have some wiggle room with Blink as a Maintaining Free Action. Your GM may rule that maintenance must be done at a specific point in your turn (say beginning or end). He may declare that as a Free Action, you may blink for however many Free Actions you have: Imagine blink, move, attack, blink. Finally, your GM may allow you to Challenge (+5 penalty to your Fatigue save) your Blink, allowing you full control of where you Blink to. Take the Challenge Feat for this, and you can even erase that penalty, meaining a controlled blink has te same penalties as a normal blink.

[Zartajuz]

Great concept. Two things I recommend. The True20 Expert's Handbook, especially as it further defines challenges for acrobatics and climb (with climb, you can challenge to run up walls Jackie Chan style). And I also recommend the Ture20 Freeport Companion, if only for the Feat of Skill Finesse(Expert). This allows you to pick one skill and use your DEX as the key ability instead of STR (Climb <cough,cough>)

I have the Experts handbook and have been making use of the skill uses and challenges there. Awesome stuff. Though I didn't know about the Finesse Feat. Holy crap, I can use Dex for Jump or Climb with that! I'll have to go get the Freeport book from my GM.

It's Limited moving specifically. Standard actions are meant to be done before or after the move action., Move-by-action is meant to replicate performing the standard action while moving. Unfortunately, the only way to replicate this is to split your movement into two smaller "mini-moves".

Cool. Thanks for the input on this everyone. When you put it that way, it's easier to imagine. Sounds like something I'll have some fun with.

Blink
My question would be that is says you can't control where you blink to. But does that mean you can't move normally while this is activated? If I cast it and want to walk forward 15ft, does it mean I could randomly appear 5 ft to the left of where I intended to walk? Or is this simply a bit of text to define that Blink can't be used as teleportation to get behind an enemy or walk through a wall since you have no control over when you're blinking in and out so could reappear in solid matter?

This one may require some specifics from your GM. As it stands, Blink is a Free Action that requires Maintenance (and is Fatiguing) , meaning you must spend a free action every round to keep it active. This means you can still perform your move action as well as your standard action. As a GM, I would state that you could perform blink the same as any other free action. Meaning you can blink, move, attack; attack, blink, move; etc. According to the RAW, you may not blink anywhere dangerous. As a GM, I would add the caveat of "unless there's no place safer to go". If you are standing on a sliver of melting rock in the middle of a lava lake, blink is not the power to get you out. Remember, this power is meant to be beneficial to you. If you're GM is going to rule that you randomly blink at the time of his choosing, then that would be called a curse.

GM Fiat: You do have some wiggle room with Blink as a Maintaining Free Action. Your GM may rule that maintenance must be done at a specific point in your turn (say beginning or end). He may declare that as a Free Action, you may blink for however many Free Actions you have: Imagine blink, move, attack, blink. Finally, your GM may allow you to Challenge (+5 penalty to your Fatigue save) your Blink, allowing you full control of where you Blink to. Take the Challenge Feat for this, and you can even erase that penalty, meaining a controlled blink has te same penalties as a normal blink.

Well Maintaining is only a concern if I get hit or face some other great distraction while I have it activated right? As a free action, I'm not really sacrificing anything to activate it (like feinting which is a standard action so I can't attack until my next round unless I spend conviction, or quicker than the eye, which is a move action). For 10 rounds, unless something breaks my concentration, I'm harder to hit and can use my Sneak Attack feat.
My concern was not so much a lack of control for starting Blink (as the rules certainly don't mention anything about the GM having THAT kind of power) but my movement options while I have it activated. As you stated up above, can I "Blink, move into melee range, then attack" without worrying about the blink spell shifting me 5 or 10 ft over, therefore being out of melee range of the target I was intending?
The challenge they presented for Blink seems to me like a way of accomplishing extremely short range teleportation since the max distance you blink is determined by power level (I believe it is as such in the errata). For instance, you can use the challenge and blink to the other side of that door or wall, or behind an enemy specifically. But then, that is just my thinking on it and I wanted to get any other points of view because in the past my thinking has been a bit...skewed.

[Mach5RR]

Well Maintaining is only a concern if I get hit or face some other great distraction while I have it activated right? As a free action, I'm not really sacrificing anything to activate it (like feinting which is a standard action so I can't attack until my next round unless I spend conviction, or quicker than the eye, which is a move action). For 10 rounds, unless something breaks my concentration, I'm harder to hit and can use my Sneak Attack feat.

The reason I brought up maintenance, is that you must spend a Free Action every round to maintain Blink. When you spend that Free Action is when you blink.

Example: You have Blink at PL 10 and Move-by-Action. You have successfully challenged to perform a controlled Blink three rounds ago. Twenty feet up a long corridor a guard has just locked a barred door between himself and you. It is now your turn. You may: Run the 20ft to the door (Movement Action), blink past the barred door and behind the guard (Free Action), Backstab him (Standard Action), and then continue moving up the corridor for ten more feet. (Move-by-Action).

If your GM is feeling adventurous, he may allow you to trigger your blink for every free action you spend. Your normal amount of Free Actions is 1+INT or 1+DEX (GM's Choice), with a minimum of 1. Imagine having 3 Free Actions, and running across a bridge with a 25 ft section missing. You move to the end of the gap, spend a free action to (control) blink yourself out 10 ft, spend a second free action to blink yourself out another 10 ft, and spend your third (and final) free action to blink yourself another 10 ft, for a full 30 ft and safely across the 25 ft gap.. Congratulations, you are now Nightcrawler from the X-Men.

As written, YOU will always control when you blink. But you MUST blink every round it is active.

[True20Chick]

The problem with using Blink for what you want to use it for is that Blink isn't really a movement power. It's a defensive power. The big benefit for Blink is the miss chance it provides. You flicker in and out, never really in the same place twice, and are thus very hard to hit. It's not a controlled teleport.

[Mach5RR]

The problem with using Blink for what you want to use it for is that Blink isn't really a movement power. It's a defensive power. The big benefit for Blink is the miss chance it provides. You flicker in and out, never really in the same place twice, and are thus very hard to hit. It's not a controlled teleport.

Per True20 RE pg58
"At the Narrator’s discretion, a power challenge could permit the character to control the destination of a blink, with failure meaning the power doesn’t work at all that round."

My bad for glossing over the "Narrator's discretion" bit. But if your GM is willing, it can be used as a movement power, basically turning into the spell "Dimension Door".

[Zartajuz]

The problem with using Blink for what you want to use it for is that Blink isn't really a movement power. It's a defensive power. The big benefit for Blink is the miss chance it provides. You flicker in and out, never really in the same place twice, and are thus very hard to hit. It's not a controlled teleport.

Why is movement a part of the spell then for that matter? Honestly that was the part of the power description/rules that prompted me to ask the question. If it's simply a matter of blinking in and out of existence on this plane randomly (but not X amount of feet in a random direction as well) then it would seem to be simpler to me because you only have to worry about your own normal movement, and yet still makes sense to get the defense bonus because the opponent has no idea of when you could reappear or disappear again.
But if it's as I found in other threads on the message boards where your power rank determines how many maximum feet you blink randomly, it would seem blink becomes less manageable the higher your level. That is to say not only will it grant you the 50% miss chance but it could take you out of melee range of a threat altogether randomly.

[The Shadow]

Why is movement a part of the spell then for that matter? Honestly that was the part of the power description/rules that prompted me to ask the question. If it's simply a matter of blinking in and out of existence on this plane randomly (but not X amount of feet in a random direction as well) then it would seem to be simpler to me because you only have to worry about your own normal movement, and yet still makes sense to get the defense bonus because the opponent has no idea of when you could reappear or disappear again.

Well, see, the "random short-range teleport" aspect of Blink is really just color. You could just as easily define it as briefly going incorporeal, or having a "deflection field" around you, or surrounding yourself with shifting shadows, or whatever.

It pays to keep an open mind about changing the "special effect" of various powers. They can fit in more places than you might think.

[True20Chick]

The problem with using Blink for what you want to use it for is that Blink isn't really a movement power. It's a defensive power. The big benefit for Blink is the miss chance it provides. You flicker in and out, never really in the same place twice, and are thus very hard to hit. It's not a controlled teleport.

Why is movement a part of the spell then for that matter?

Because the fans asked for it!

Literally. The power originally said something about "teleporting a short distance" etc. etc. and folks here wanted Steve K. to quantify that. He obliged in the True20 Revised rules, adding in the part about you moving a distance in feet equal to your adept level. It's still not effective as a willful movement power because the movement is random. You don't control where you go -- mechanically speaking, all the power still does is give you a miss chance.

That being said, True20 is a lot friendlier towards tweaking that some other iterations of d20.

If you want to add in an element of control to the Blink power, go for it! Maybe make it an Intelligence check with a DC equal to the number of feet traveled, or something like that. An extremely short-range teleport power could be every bit as useful as a long-range one, especially in combat.