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If he fails to strike, and it should be a Called shot, he risks striking Tom. I would give it a percent roll, GM discretion to what. If he rolls a 1, he risks shooting himself, the gun jamming, or some other harsh repercussion. 2-4 maybe Tom gets hit maybe not. 5+ should hit if it isn't dodged.

It's a regular roll to hit, as far as I've read. You miss, you just miss. No further result.

I would house rule it this way:

Joe has to make a called strike with possible modifiers as such:
1) no modifiers if Tom is between Joe and the NPC (i.e. just hanging back outside of melee range)
2) +1 to strike if he is shooting in from the side (i.e. has maneuvered his way around the battlefield so that Tom is no longer between Joe and the NPC, both are equally exposed to Joe)
3) +2 to strike if the NPC is between Joe and Tom

In addition, on a missed strike that is still high enough to hit (8 or better, although I think Point Blank Range might be 5 or better, but eitherway), situation 1, there is a 75% chance of hitting Tom, situation 2, it is a 50% chance, and situation 3 is only a 25% chance (that's taking into account that both of the melee fighters are ducking and dodging and doing their own maneuvering on the battle field).

SamtheDagger wrote:So basically there is no rule for firing a ranged weapon into a melee with friendlies.

That is correct. The closest thing to a rule is written regarding shooting at someone behind cover (RUE, 361), which requires a called shot, and on page 240 where it indicates that a miss may hit someone or something other than the intended target. In this situation, I would require Joe to make a called shot at -2 and only have the bullet hit Tom on a critical miss.

Bill wrote:

SamtheDagger wrote:So basically there is no rule for firing a ranged weapon into a melee with friendlies.

That is correct. The closest thing to a rule is written regarding shooting at someone behind cover (RUE, 361), which requires a called shot, and on page 240 where it indicates that a miss may hit someone or something other than the intended target.

That's my take as well.

Me personally, I would say a failed strike roll means a 50% chance of hitting tom in this case...you either miss them both all together or it would have hit if tom wasn't there.

I would have Joe roll a Called Shot to hit Bill.

If this shot is a miss (7 or less, as per R:UE), I would make Joe roll to Strike again, without bonuses. If the second roll is also a miss, Tom gets hit.

If the first roll is a fumble, the second roll isn't necessary.

That's just me.