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Posted: **Sat May 15, 2004 6:15 pm**

Had the following thought for increasing a player's chance of hitting a target. It's intended for aimed shots only, but could apply to pulses and short bursts based on the GM's discretion.

In short, the longer spent aiming, the better chance of hitting the target.

Rule:
- Every additional action a character spends aiming at his target gives a bonus of +2 Strike. So if a character spends two actions only aiming and fires on the third, a bonus of +4 to Strike would be applied.
- This works up to a maximum possible bonus of +10 if five actions are spent on aiming and the character fires on his sixth.

Restrictions:
- If the aiming character is disrupted, he must start over. This works the same as when a mage is interrupted during spellcasting.
- Only works within a single melee round. I.e. if a character has a total of 6 actions per melee, he may not use his 5th and 6th actions aiming and then continue aiming or fire on the following 1st action of the new round.
- This technique applies to handheld projectile weapons only. Bows, handguns, rifles, etc. Does not apply to melee weapons or anything that utilizes a targeting system / combat computer / etc.

GM's are, of course, free to tweak this up or down to fit their game.

Thoughts?

Posted: **Sat May 15, 2004 8:16 pm**

Palldium already has this "one life, one shot, one hit, one kill" martial arts technique

the probelm is, unless you allow N&SS martial arts to be taken by players in any palladium game, it's not available

Posted: **Sat May 15, 2004 8:25 pm**

Nekira Sudacne wrote:Palldium already has this "one life, one shot, one hit, one kill" martial arts technique

the probelm is, unless you allow N&SS martial arts to be taken by players in any palladium game, it's not available

I was going to bring up the same N&SS kata. The difference with that one, though is that the bonus to strike applied to critical strikes as well, so if you waited for that +20 to strike, it was an automatic critical strike.

One thing I see wrong with the idea posted, though is that I would think there's a limit to how good of a shot you're going to get by taking your time, so I agree that there should be a cap (a higher cap for expert shooters and snipers). I was thinking something more along the lines of requiring the +3 to an aimed shot taking two actions and perhaps an extra +1 for taking an extra action to fire.

Posted: **Sun May 16, 2004 3:21 am**

depending on what you're resting the rifle on, a sniper can hold the rifle on point for hours with the training that they receive....but as for holding it on a single target, they take the shot whenever they're in the least amount of danger, or if their target is about to escape. But with a bipod and a rear stabilizing rod mounted, a sniper should be able to hold the rifle until he needs to get sleep.

Posted: **Sun May 16, 2004 12:32 pm**

macksting wrote:An interesting rule, but I think it should be capped or eliminated if the person has not taken skill in sniping.

Good thought. Maybe I'll just add this to the sniping skill benefits, since it's always seemed underwhelming.

Posted: **Mon May 17, 2004 12:48 am**

macksting wrote:In one of my books of zen, it was said that, both in chess and archery, if you hold your aim too long you shall miss your target. Having played both, I can tell you that it is true. Perhaps among the true arts of being a sniper is to know when your shot just isn't going to get any better.
Of course, when you're holding your aim with a bow, your hand starts to err after about the third second of pulling the arrow back. That's my experience, anyway. And I've never fired a sniper rifle, much less had military training in the matter.

Thats because in archery you need to use your keep the tension of the bow steady with the same hand your aiming with. That's one of the reasons why they invented the crossbow, and later the gun.
You should definately only have so long you can aim for though, I remember a good skill called "combat sniper" which encompassed all of this quite well. Anyone remember who wrote that or whose site that was from?

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Bonus to Strike Idea

Bonus to Strike Idea