The Book of Batman (Bruce Wayne) (II)

[Ronin]

Since he's up against Scarecrow, I'd probably go for the Gas Mask. After that, Smoke Pellets, Bat Grapple and Bat Shuriken are all nice.

[japes]

Oh yeah...if Scarecrow is in the mix, gas max is #1...

[toyhandle]

SHADOW STRIKE 15
If you roll 15 or higher, Batman takes no damage, and may immediately move up to 3 spaces... When Batman moves with Shadow Strike 15, he never takes leaving engagement attacks.

NAME = UTILITY: BAT-GRAPPLE
POWER TEXT = Instead of its normal move, this figure may use Bat-Grapple... Bat-Grapple has a move of 3... When this figure starts to Bat-Grapple, it will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

I had thought that Bat-Grapple was partially made to be used with Shadow Strike, since both have the same move and disengage

But I see in the FAQ for Police Scanner:
Q: Can I use special movement abilities like Flying, Bat-Grapple 3 or Sandman's Sandstorm during my free movement for Police Scanner?

A: Yes and no. Flying modifies normal movement, so it can be used during the free movement. However, powers like Sandstorm, Swing Line, and Bat-Grapple explicitly say "instead of moving normally" so they can't be used with the free movement, which is considered a "normal move."

So is the ruling that "free moves" are always "Normal Moves" and anything stating "Instead of its normal move" must be done at the beginning of a movement phase, unless specifically referenced?

For example, the reason Spidey can Web Swing after Spidey Senses is because it specifically says "and may immediately use his Web Swing 2 special power."

Sorry to clarify this, I only saw Shadow Strike mentioned in conjunction with Grapple twice in this thread, in the first two pages or so, and both seemed like it was vaguely uncertain.

[IAmBatman]

Hmm, I think my intent was for them to work together, but back when I LDed this I had less of a grasp on all the variations of movement/normal movement/etc. I'm not sure it's easily fixable now, but I'm happy to hear pitches, because you're right that the INTENT was for them to work together, and I'm pretty sure that's how I've played him more often than not.

[tcglkn]

I mean Shadow Strike should just say may immediately move Batman. Basically anytime there’s a set number of spaces there it’s not a normal move so it can’t be replaced by an effect like Bat Grapple but things like Flying and Phantom Walk always work when moving.

[IAmBatman]

That would change how he plays in regards to how he could use his normal movement though (6 spaces).

[tcglkn]

Correct. You’d need to call out Bat Grapple like Spider-Sense calls out Web Swing but since it’s an optional Glyph for the card I don’t know how to cleanly do that.

Could say subtract 3 from his move number and move him. Would still allow him to get road bonus when moving that way but would let him use Bat Grapple.

[toyhandle]

Amazing how quickly you all can think up alternatives.

What about changing it to " If you roll 15 or higher, Batman takes no damage, and may immediately move up to 3 spaces or use Bat-Grapple if Bat-Grapple is equipped to this Batman."?

[IAmBatman]

That's a lot of verbiage.

Couldn't we just go with "move normally up to 3 spaces"? Making it a "normal" move would mean you could trigger instead of moving normally stuff, right? And as an added bonus, it only adds one word.

[toyhandle]

If adding normally allows the switch-a-roo instead of doubling down on it being normal movement, would Batman then be allowed to move him and an adjacent figure with Bat-Rope during Shadow Strike?

[IAmBatman]

I would say yes. Which would be a feature, rather than a bug, I think.

[toyhandle]

Amazing! Great adjustment, IMO.