Instinctive Action

Instinctive Action is the ability to act without conscious thought. The actions must be done through muscle memory, instinct, or other means separated from the user's regular consciousness, such as automatic magic that triggers itself, technology that works under set circumstances or regularly, supernatural forces that direct the user in some way, etc. The power doesn't need to be used in response to anything, as long as the user is doing things that aren't controlled by their regular consciousness. Actions performed by the realistic instincts of a normal person don't count, their feats must be surreal (e.g. displays of the concept of Mushin as it occurs in real life don't count, but a portrayal in a series as an actual, reliable phenomenon would count). A profile should preferably state whether the power is passive, active on command, or something in between.

Potential Advantages

Common benefits of the ability may or may not include the following:

• Be able to automatically evade oncoming attacks and possibly counterattack.
• To be able to act more unpredictably for the opponent.
• The user can use the mental effort he normally spent on performing these actions for other things, allowing him to put more on his conscious actions.
• He has more time to focus on long-term strategies in a fight rather than the way he would otherwise fight and react.
• Being able to escape unexpected danger without much exertion.
• Being able to act more skillfully or precisely than the user is otherwise capable of, or to act when the user is unable to.

Disadvantages

• If the opponent is so fast that they virtually outrun the user, the ability becomes ineffective and irrelevant.
• Muscles (or equivalent parts of the user that enable the ability) may be slowed by injury, or injured body parts may affect the effectiveness of this ability.
• The ability may become irrelevant if the opponent has precognition to predict their movements.
• The effectiveness of the ability may be limited by the effectiveness of your own senses and can be outwitted by anything outside of these senses.

Similar Abilities

Precognition: Instinctive Action is similar to precognition in that it allows the user to move ahead of time without delay, however precognition doesn't automatically move the user away from danger, but only warns of it.

Enhanced Senses and/or Psychic Perception: The means to recognise incoming danger or know when it's appropriate to act in some way may be provided by either of these powers, but a user of Instinctive Action doesn't necessarily have them.

Active Synchronisation: Being in exactly the right place at the right time for whatever you want. This is similar to Instinctive Action, but is based on the natural ability to be in the right place of probability, rather than the natural flow of the body.

Multiple Selves: If a master self is in control and independently another self causes the body (or its equipment, powers, etc.) to act on its own without the master self wanting it to, it can also have Instinctive Action, but having multiple selves isn't the same as having both abilities.

Possession: Similar to before, this control of the master self can be a natural or limited form of possession, and it may not come from a "self" of the user of multiple selves, but from an external force that can take possession of the character if a certain condition is met.

Stat Amp: The way the user acts automatically may be better than the way they could act themselves, and they may have some control over it, in a brief and/or partial way.