Stretching Question

[Killer Shrike]

Hi Steve.

This recently came up: a player has a character with 6" of Stretching. That player thinks that they can use this Stretching to (among other things) "Stretch" 6" straight up and then, from this elevated height, jump or move at their normal speed.

I said no, it doesnt work like this because Stretching explicitly does not provide movement, and stretching 6" up duplicates some of the functionality of Leaping, Flight, or even Clinging (if used to basically step up onto the roof of a building or similar). It also duplicates some of the functionality of Growth, but thats not necessarily relevant.


I said he could reach up 6" to make a HtH attack or to grab ahold of something and then try to pull himself up with a Climbing check or something along those lines as an action, but that I thought it abusive to give him effectively 24" of free Leaping (halved for going up, and halved again to make it a 1/2 Move allowing a subsequent 1/2 Phase attack).

However, I just wanted to be sure that this is correct.

So, Question: can Stretching be used to gain elevation, and can a character elevated in such a manner then use other forms of movement such as Leap and Run from this elevated position?

Thanx!

[Steve Long]

The Rules FAQ says:

Q: Can a character with Stretching reach out, grab something, and then pull himself to it? For example, a character has Stretching 10” — can he reach up and grab the top of a 10” tall building and pull himself up to the roof?

A: Yes, he could do that, assuming he has sufficient STR. This action typically requires a Full Phase. It only requires a Half Phase if the total of (inches Stretched + inches the character pulls himself) are less than or equal to half his Stretching.

So, if the character made a "half Stretch," he could pull himself up to, say, a rooftop and then make a Half Move with some other form of movement. But I doubt a "half Stretch" would provide the "elevation" you're talking about in most cases. In short, it sounds to me like you made a fair and proper ruling.