Combat Mechanics - Ranged

To make Ranged Combat more deadly and quick, as well as try to incorporate the reality of hit location being very important as to how much damage is dealt, I tried to come up with a revised system. Here's how they work.

Basic
  1. Calculate percentage to hit.
  2. Roll to hit. If roll is equal to or under % to hit, then attack is successful. If the roll is above the % to hit, it fails.
  3. Roll weapon damage. Roll additional dice of damage equal to tens digit of to hit roll.

Expanded

  1. Determine location of attack by ones digit of the attack roll.
  2. The final Stamina damage done is modified by the multiplier for the location hit.

Advanced Options

  1. For every 20 points of damage to a body part (counted before the Sta modifier), the target is wounded, with effects as shown. Ie. 43 points of damage to the Dominant Hand does 11 points of STA damage, and gives a -40% penalty to every action requiring the use of that hand.
  2. For every two levels of skill in an attack, the attacker can choose to bump the location one region. (Ie. From the hand to the upper arm/shoulder)
  3. For every ranged increment, it takes away two levels in regards to bumping the location.

Hit Location Table


EXAMPLE:

A Star Law Ranger is ambushed by an enemy agent as he is concluding an investigation in a bombed computer facility – a firefight at close range ensues. The Ranger fires three shots from his Gyrojet Pistol at the traitorous Yazirian and needs a 32 to hit. He rolls a 29, 37, and 08 - the first and third shot were successful, but the second one missed by a few millimeters!  

Time to roll damage:
First shot: 2d10 plus an addition 2d10 (for rolling a 29 – the ten’s digit being number of extra d10). The player rolls 18 points of damage to the dominant chest of the Yazirian (again, the location determined by the one’s digit of the 29). Following the table, this causes 18 points of STA damage (1x STA multiplier), as well as giving the agent a -5% penalty to everything he does from the Wound. T

he second shot missed as discussed (rolling a 37 where a 32 was needed), so we move onto resolving the third shot. Unlike the first shot, no bonus damage dice so only 2d10 are rolled for a total of … 10 points of damage. Looking up the table, the one’s digit of 08 indicates the Dominant Upper Arm was hit (in this case, the Right Arm). This cause ½ of the damage to the Yazirian’s STA (5 points) as well as a Wound leading to a -10% to everything he does with that arm (remember, this is in addition to the -5% penalty to all actions already due to the first shot to the chest!)

The Yazirian responds back with several shots, one of which manages to cause a minor injury to the Ranger.

The next round, the Ranger is wounded and so needs a 27 to hit. Lucky for him, all three shots were successful with rolls of 14, 18, and 20! Damage from the first shot is 2d10 plus 1d10 to the Non-dominant Lower Arm/Hand (with a roll of 14). The damage rolled is 23 giving the Yazirian a -10% to everything needing that left hand from the Moderate Wound (such as if he were using a rifle). However, only 1/4 of the damage carries through to the STA, leading to 6 points lost.

The second shot does 2d10 + 1d10 again to the right shoulder; this time, 14 points is rolled, which leads to ANOTHER -10% for the Light Wound! This also delivers 7 points of STA damage! The agent better think about getting some help or leaving soon as he now has a -25% to using his laser pistol and has taken a total of 36 STA damage!  


Unfortunately for the Yazirian, he doesn’t have a chance to make that decision as the last of the Ranger’s three shots strikes home with 2d10 + 2d10 damage to the Head/Neck (roll of 20)! Not only does the 26 points of damage cause a Moderate Wound giving another -20% to everything the Yazirian does, but the 39 points of STA damage (26 x 1.5) is sufficient to put down the traitor before he has time to set off the hidden explosives in the trapped computer!

Ranged Combat - Expansion

Should a GM desire, restrictions can be placed upon how much extra damage is done against foes with unknown weaknesses.

For example, the PC's encounter a strange alien creature that has no reconizable head - only multiple tentacles radiating from a a multi-lobulated 8 meter diamatere spheroid body. Not sure where to aim, they just try to cause as much harm simply by pouring as much firepower into the thing as possible. Ruling that the PC's aren't aiming at anything specifically, the GM rules that only 2d10 extra damage from the skill check can be used, even if normally a successful roll would give more extra dice of damage. However, during the fight, the Environmentalist spends time observing the creature and notices that it happens to be extremely protective of one of its tentacles, and so yells for the entire team to aim there (makes a successful Science: Biology skill check with an 64). The GM rules that with a 64, the PC's can now do up to 6d10 extra dice of damage since he recognized that the unique tentacle is the sensory organ for the creature.

A similar case can be used for unfamiliar robots and the Robotics: Identification skill.