slow question

[abyssaldeath]

Your move isn't 2 your speed is 2. That is a big difference. If it didn't allow you to move more then 2 then you wouldn't be able to run while slowed.

 

[Samir]

My desire to be cute might have obfuscated my answer. It seemed like you were asking if shifting were distinct from movement. All Slow does is make your movement speed 2. That's it. You can't move 3 unless you spend more than one movement mode to do so. If you have a power that lets you *move* more than 2, you can't. Your move is 2.
Shifting is a move. Flying is a move. Swimming is a move. Move is move. Calling it something else does not make it not a move. You can move 2.

Jay

Slowed changes your speed to 2. Walking, Flying, Climbing, Swimming (move your speed or half your speed), Running (move your speed + 2), and Charging (move your speed and make a melee basic attack) are affected. Shift makes no mention of speed, so it is not affected.

Slowed doesn't limit your movement, it changes your speed. Those are two very different things.

 

[Turtlejay]

Okay, I get it. I admit I was too hasty in my dismissal, and you're right. Shifting poses no problem.

If you have a power that shifts you 3 squares, slow doesn't affect that?

Jay

 

[Samir]

Okay, I get it. I admit I was too hasty in my dismissal, and you're right. Shifting poses no problem.

If you have a power that shifts you 3 squares, slow doesn't affect that?

Jay

Correct, unless it specifically mentions your speed. (E.g. "shift your speed.")

This actually doesn't just apply to shifting. Any type of movement that does not mention your speed is not inhibited by Slowed. If a power says "you fly 6 squares" then Slowed doesn't affect that.

However, if it says "you gain a fly speed of 6" then Slowed does affect it, because the condition specifically states it affects all your movement modes, Flying being one of them.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Wait a minute. So, what explicitly is the definition of Shift? I thought it was along the lines of "if you move only 5ft". Is it something else that doesn't mention movement?

 

[Mengu]

Wait a minute. So, what explicitly is the definition of Shift? I thought it was along the lines of "if you move only 5ft". Is it something else that doesn't mention movement?

As a move action, you may shift 1 square. Don't get move actions confused with actual movement (or speed for that matter).

 

[Zinovia]

The shift action is a move action that anyone can do that lets you move 1 square without provoking opportunity attacks. There are powers and items that let you shift multiple squares. So shifting in those cases is any movement that does not provoke OA's.

It's interesting that Customer Service disagreed with regard to whether or not the slowed condition affects shifting powers. Slowed reduces your speed to 2, but it doesn't limit the total squares you can move (hence slowed running moves you 4). I tend to think they are wrong in this instance. Slowed should not affect those powers that don't mention your speed.

 

[keterys]

Hmmhmm, I wonder what's intended here. The same theory for 'shift 6 squares is not affected by slow' applies to 'move 6 squares is not affected by slow' and that starts looking pretty funky when you consider things like slowing a Vrock - which reduces its fly speed to 2, but doesn't affect its flyby attack (fly up to 8 squares and...)

 

[Zinovia]

Hmmhmm, I wonder what's intended here. The same theory for 'shift 6 squares is not affected by slow' applies to 'move 6 squares is not affected by slow' ...

That's a good point. I do wonder what the intent was. The way the rule is phrased seems pretty straightforward – it reduces your move speed only. On closer examination slowed does interact oddly with a number of powers. Maybe slowed needs to be defined as only being allowed to move 2 squares, perhaps explicitly allowing you to run 4 (or not).

 

[Infiniti2000]

Exactly, keterys. If slow indeed only affects powers and such that use the term Speed, then there are a lot of weird cases like the one you mentioned.