Does Elf Step Do Anything if You Have the Mobility Feat?

[Balkoth]

Mobility seems to say you can move at half your speed (so presumably at least 15 feet in essentially every circumstance as an elf, likely 20+ at mid to high levels) without triggering any reactions.

Elf Step lets you Step twice as one action, which has a maximum distance of 15 feet if they're both diagonal.

Is there ever a circumstance in which Elf Step would be worth using over Mobility?

Obviously any elf (or half elf etc) can take Elf Step while Mobility requires a class or multiclass feat instead of an ancestry feat, so Elf Step is often "cheaper" in that regard.

[Castilliano]

It doesn't do much, no, because Mobility's that good.

But, if your speed is limited 20' or less like a Dwarf, then you could Elf Step more diagonally, but few effects lower your speed. Except of course difficult terrain, where with Feather Step & Elf Step you'd need a 40' speed for Mobility to match in a straight line, or more diagonally. 40' is easy to hit with an Elf/Half-Elf by 9th, so Mobility still wins for coming online sooner and working in more situations (and w/ Stride feats), but Elf Step does have that teeny niche.

[NorrKnekten]

You are correct that Mobility overall is the stronger option especially as this applies to all movement types, But as you have correctly assumed this comes at the cost of 2 feats for non-rogues (Dedication and Basic trickery).

The answer is going to depend on what class you are playing and if it is Free Archetype or not. But personally I would always elf-step unless I was already aiming for something in the rogue archetype.

[Elfteiroh]

Balkoth wrote:

Elf Step lets you Step twice as one action, which has a maximum distance of 15 feet if they're both diagonal.

Based on a possible reading of "Diagonal Movement" in the Player Core (emphasis mine):

Player Core pg421 wrote:

Because moving diagonally covers more ground, you count that movement differently. The first square of diagonal movement you make in a turn counts as 5 feet, but the second counts as 10 feet, and your count thereafter alternates between the two. For example, as you move across 4 squares diagonally, you would count 5 feet, then 10, then 5, and then 10, for a total of 30 feet. You track your total diagonal movement across all your movement during your turn, but reset your count at the end of your turn. The diagram on this page shows an example.

A step is a movement, so that second diagonal step would cost "10ft" of movement even if it's two different steps, but a step only grant you 5ft! (Outside of some feat shenanigans.)

(TBF, I don't think anyone in the heat of play will remember/enforce this, but we never know. So there could be table variance here.)

[NorrKnekten]

Elfteiroh wrote:

Balkoth wrote:

Elf Step lets you Step twice as one action, which has a maximum distance of 15 feet if they're both diagonal.

Based on a possible reading of "Diagonal Movement" in the Player Core (emphasis mine):

Player Core pg421 wrote:

Because moving diagonally covers more ground, you count that movement differently. The first square of diagonal movement you make in a turn counts as 5 feet, but the second counts as 10 feet, and your count thereafter alternates between the two. For example, as you move across 4 squares diagonally, you would count 5 feet, then 10, then 5, and then 10, for a total of 30 feet. You track your total diagonal movement across all your movement during your turn, but reset your count at the end of your turn. The diagram on this page shows an example.

A step is a movement, so that second diagonal step would cost "10ft" of movement even if it's two different steps, but a step only grant you 5ft! (Outside of some feat shenanigans.)

(TBF, I don't think anyone in the heat of play will remember/enforce this, but we never know. So there could be table variance here.)

Funny you would mention that, Because we do at my local games club filled with old wargamers, with a token to show where you started the turn. Foundryvtt also tracks movement history during the turn so it is more common on that platform. Its not going to cause any massive discrepancy though.

[Outl]

Consider an elven fighter with heavy armor and a fortress shield. Normal movement speed would be 15 feet.

With Elf Step, our hero could move two squares straight north. But with Mobility, only one square.

Mobility is usually better but there could be times, such as when you're encumbered, or hit with Tanglefoot, that Elf Step actually works better.

[YuriP]

Yes but remember that Elf Step has another additional difficulty you can't Step in a difficult terrain no matter how longer your step is. Also mobility can be used with Climbing, Flying, or Swimming instead of Striding if you have the corresponding movement type while Step can only be used in plain ground.

In general is very circumstantial to have Elf Step being better than mobility specially if we consider that most players that get mobility also usually tries to improve their speed in order to improve their half-speed too. So it's pretty hard to enter in a speed penalty hard enough to make Elf Step better than mobility. Elf Step still more useful for non-rogue players than for rogues.