Re: Ranged Combat

From: Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...>
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 08:19:50 -0000

> I have some problems with how to resolve ranged combat
situations.The
> extended-contest-rules for close combat work fine,as long as you
have
> an attacker and a defender.
> This is not the case with most ranged combat situations.

I'll deal with this one, and your question about lack of Attributes/Stats in one go, as they both rely on one factor: Improvised abilities.

The question of one-sided missile combat has been discussed at great length here long in the past. You could, I'm sure, find it with a search. Here are the basic possibilities as I remember them:

1. Ranged weapon vs. movement ability. Shoot him before he reaches cover (or reaches YOU!)
2. Simple contests (like you say, this needs some measure of the weapon Edge factored in)
3. Ranged weapon vs. Hide In Cover, etc. Like the first example, but the opposition can't get to the archer.

Once the opposition has 'won' (archer at 0 AP), he has achieved his goal - reached cover, hidden completely, reached melee range with archer, archer has run out of arrows or energy, etc.

Now, with both this, and the opening doors problem, the real secret is allowing Improvisation. To avoid arrows, any decent Movement ability/Affinity should do. Dodge Blow sounds, to me anyway, like a melee dodge, so I'd slap on an Improv. Mod (I use -5, not -3, but whatever). Burst of Speed is fine.

To break down a door, Strong is obvious, but also I'd allow Large (at -5), Carry Heavy Loads (maybe -10), or quite a few Combat abilities/feats (Shieldbreaker at -5 comes to mind). On Saturday, my Narrator decided my character could fit through a narrow gap because of my description of her - 'Fine Appearance 17'. My DESCRIPTION of her was 'slender and elegant', which wasn't anywhere on the sheet, but justified an Improvised ability.

Wulf