Skill Feat: Coming through!

[Staffan Johansson]

Coming Through (2 actions) Feat 2
Skill, General
Prerequisites: Expert in Athletics
You have learned techniques for breaking through enemy lines. You Stride. At any point during your Stride, you may Shove an opponent and continue moving. You do not need a free hand for this Shove. If you succeed or critically succeed on your Shove, you must move the opponent to the side so they no longer block your intended path, and you must move into the space your opponent vacated. You do not get an extra Stride from your successful Shove. If your Shove fails, your move ends.

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So basically, the intent of this feat is to combine a Stride with a Shove at any point (so you can move two squares, Shove, and then move another three), as well as allow you to perform a "shoulder tackle" which doesn't need a free hand. Does this seem reasonable for an Expert skill feat?

[Midnightoker]

Not bad! Expert and two feels maybe too soon but master and 7th much too late.

It’s got charm and I could see it being a real thing eventually. I’d like to see some other movement combo actions like this too now that I think of it (like a trip + tumble through combo called “Head Over Heels” that’s basically the same thing).

It’s not an action increase, unless you would have to choose between attacking one person twice vs two separate people and allows the tactical actions to see a little more play as “action taxes”.

[Staffan Johansson]

Midnightoker wrote:

It’s not an action increase, unless you would have to choose between attacking one person twice vs two separate people and allows the tactical actions to see a little more play as “action taxes”.

It's a slight action increase, but not a full action's worth. Normally, if you wanted to move up to someone, shove them, and move some more that would need three actions. This allows you to "insert" the Shove into the Stride, but still not move more than you could with a single Stride. So it's like half an action extra maybe, which I think is fair for an Expert-level skill feat. You also lose out on the free movement a Shove normally gives you.

Midnightoker wrote:

Not bad! Expert and two feels maybe too soon but master and 7th much too late.

Thank you! I think that if it were a Master-level feat, it probably should have additional action efficiency. Either as a single action instead of as a two-action activity, or allow for two Strides.

Possibly, that could be a Master-level feat that has this as a prerequisite.

[HumbleGamer]

Could do it.

I'd allow the possibility to shove with no malus if:

- The character has the shove trait ( and whole hands occupied, or a free hand )
- The character has 1 free hand

If the character has a 2h with no shove trait ( or both hands occupied ), I'd give it a -2 penalty.

[MellowDramatic]

Being able to shove without a free hand seems a bit too strong for a level 2 feat.

[Midnightoker]

Yeah a “if you are wielding a weapon with the Shove trait, then you do not require a free hand for this Shove” is probably more balanced. Although as a master athletics skill feat, it’s fine as is I think

[Staffan Johansson]

MellowDramatic wrote:

Being able to shove without a free hand seems a bit too strong for a level 2 feat.

Could be. On the other hand, you do need to spend two actions on the feat, which would normally be enough to "un-wield" a two-hander, Shove with a square or two of free movement, and re-wield the weapon. But yeah, it does add some action efficiency that way, because it lets you combine that with a move.

The way I'm imagining the feat is basically someone running and shoulder tackling whomever is in their way, or knocking them aside with a shield (I'm a bit surprised that shields don't have Shove, by the way).

[Staffan Johansson]

Midnightoker wrote:

Yeah a “if you are wielding a weapon with the Shove trait, then you do not require a free hand for this Shove” is probably more balanced. Although as a master athletics skill feat, it’s fine as is I think

That would be a line that, as far as I can tell, does nothing. I mean, that's what the Shove trait does.

[Midnightoker]

Staffan Johansson wrote:

Midnightoker wrote:

Yeah a “if you are wielding a weapon with the Shove trait, then you do not require a free hand for this Shove” is probably more balanced. Although as a master athletics skill feat, it’s fine as is I think

That would be a line that, as far as I can tell, does nothing. I mean, that's what the Shove trait does.

The feat granting movement is the bonus, getting a free hand is, as was said, too much. I just figured if you wanted to replace that line about a free hand with a line specifically about a shove trait interaction, which provides clarity for how the two interact since special actions are not always subject to the same parameters.

Now one might assume it interacts as normal, but activities always benefit from explicitly stating it imo since feats/abilities/traits are very specific when it comes to actions they interact with.