Is streaching inherently indirect?

[Zarthose]

I'm building a martial artist with 2M of streaching, does not cross intervening space. Can I face someone, and punch them in the back of the head? Or do I need indirect for that option?

[Derek Hiemforth]

Assuming 2m is enough Stretching to reach the back of your opponent's head, then yes, that would work. You do not need to buy Indirect.

 

However, remember that Does Not Cross Intervening Space does not grant any Indirect properties that Stretching doesn't already have. So if there's an obstacle, you can't just ignore it; you have to "reach around it," even if it doesn't look like you're reaching around it in SFX terms. And if you can't reach around the obstacle (such as a wall or other barrier), then you can't reach the target; this doesn't allow you to just bypass an obstacle in the same way that fully Indirect does.

 

In other words, you have to still plot out the same "movement path" of your Stretching, in order to avoid obstacles and reach your target, as you would need if you didn't have Does Not Cross Intervening Space. So your 2m build will generally work for ordinary HTH combat situations, but even a relatively minor obstacle might put the target beyond your reach.