Phasing

Phasing is a physical mutation that grants the ability to willingly shift between out-of-phase, or "phased", and in-phase. Being phased makes a creature physically intangible to any creature or object that is not phased itself, or that is not omniphase.

Phasing grants the "Phase" ability, which can be toggled on or off to phase a creature out and in, respectively. Its cooldown is incurred as soon as the player phases out, rather than when they phase back in.

Creatures are able to pass through solid objects while phased, such as creatures that are not phased or omniphase, and walls. Creatures that are not phased or omniphase are also unable to damage a phased creature with most attacks and abilities, though some attacks are able to ignore phase states, such as Sunder Mind.

If a creature is phased and standing inside a wall that is surrounded by 8 other walls, and then phases back in, they will violate the Pauli exclusion principle, killing them instantly. Otherwise, they will be shunted into a nearby empty spot once they phase back in.

If a creature is forced to phase back in for any reason, such as by coming into contact with, the creature will suffer damage.

Formulas
The following formulas are used to determine duration and cooldown based on mutation level.

Cooldown will be further modified by Willpower, as is typically the case with most activated abilities.

Ability Cooldown
The cooldown for phasing is influenced both by mutation level and by willpower (WI). The following tables indicate Phasing's willpower-adjusted cooldown (CD) at mutation levels 1, 5, 10, and 20.

Advantages

 * Provides an extremely effective panic button
 * Allows for easy production of phase webs if combined with the Spinnerets mutation
 * Allows for easy exploration of areas with many security doors without requiring keycards or Psychometry

Disadvantages

 * High cost at character creation
 * If the player (or any creature) phases in inside a wall which is surrounded on all sides by other walls, they instantly die, making phasing risky in certain situations
 * Requires significant mutation level investment to counteract the low duration and high cooldown

Tips

 * It is possible for Phasing to have a lower cooldown than its duration, allowing the player to remain phased out indefinitely. One effect of meals prepared using ingredients that provide phased-based effects is doubling Phasing's duration, making this significantly easier.
 * While the player is phased out, any gas they create will share their phase state, and therefore do no damage; however, it will phase in when the player does. This can be used in concert with Corrosive Gas Generation to safely drop a cloud of gas on a group of enemies.