Ranged Attacks
A "ranged attack" is any attack with a weapon used at a distance, from a thrown rock to a laser rifle. This includes Missile spells and the Affliction, Binding, and Innate Attack advantages (unless given the Aura, Malediction, or Melee Attack modifiers). Most other spells and advantages are not considered ranged attacks.
Range
You can only make a ranged attack on a target that falls within your weapon's range. To find this, see the relevant weapon table or advantage or spell description. Most ranged attacks list Half Damage (1/2D) range and Maximum (Max) range, in yards. Your target must be no farther away than Max range; 1/2D range only affects damage.
A few weapons have a minimum range, as they lob projectiles in a high arc, or have fusing or guidance limits. When using a weapon like this, your target can't be any closer than the minimum range.
To Hit
Figure your adjusted chance to hit by:
- Taking your base skill with your ranged weapon.
- Adding your weapon's Accuracy (Acc) if you preceded your attack with an Aim maneuver.
- Applying the target's Size Modifier (SM).
- Modifying for the target's range and speed (done as a single modifier), from the Size and Speed/Range Table.
- Modifying for circumstances (rapid fire, movement, darkness, cover, etc.), including any special conditions determined by the GM. See Ranged Attack Modifiers for a summary.
The result is your effective skill. A roll of this number or less is a successful attack roll. It will hit, unless the target succeeds with an active defense.
Accuracy and Aimed Fire
All ranged weapons have an Accuracy (Acc) statistic. This is the bonus you get if you take one or more Aim maneuvers immediately before you attack.
When you Aim, you can receive other bonuses for extra seconds of aim, bracing your weapon, or using a scope or a laser sight. These benefits are discussed under Aim and summarized under Ranged Combat Modifiers. The sum of Acc and all extra aimed-fire bonuses can never exceed twice the base Acc of the attack.
Size Modifier
A human-sized target has a Size Modifier (SM) of 0; there is no bonus or penalty to hit. Larger targets have a positive SM, while smaller targets have a negative SM. Add SM to your skill. The SM of a character or a vehicle appears on its character sheet or vehicle description. For other objects, use the Size and Speed/Range Table.
Target's Range and Speed
A distant target is harder to hit. As a rule of thumb, a target up to 2 yards away is close enough that there's no penalty to hit. At 3 yards, you have -1 to hit; at up to 5 yards, -2; at up to 7 yards, -3; at up to 10 yards, -4; and so on, with each approximately 50% increase in range giving a further -1 to hit.
Consult the Speed/Range column of the Size and Speed/Range Table to find the exact penalty. For ranges that fall between two values on the table, use the larger penalty. For very distant targets, the table also provides the equivalent range in miles.
- Example: Infinity Patrol agent Jenny Atkins is shooting on the firing range. The target is 17 yards (50') away. This rounds up to 20 yards, for -6 to hit.
A fast-moving target is also harder to hit. Consult the same column of the table, but use speed in yards per second (2 mph = 1 yard/second) instead of range in yards to find the penalty.
If the target is both distant and fast moving, add range (in yards) to speed (in yards per second), and look up the total in the Speed/Range column to find the penalty to hit. (Do not look up the range and speed penalties separately and add them together! Great range mitigates the effects of speed, and vice versa.)
- Examples: Agent Atkins fires her pistol at a Centrum spy who is making a getaway on a speeding motorcycle. Her target is 50 yards away and traveling at 60 mph, or Move 30. This is a speed/range of 50 + 30 = 80. Per the Size and Speed/Range Table, this gives -10 to hit.
Ranged Attacks on Human Targets
When using a ranged weapon against a target moving at human speeds – anything up to Move 10 – you may simplify the calculation by using just a range modifier and neglecting speed (unless the target is flying, sprinting, or something similar).
Assume that the target's ability to take a dodge defense adequately represents the effects of movement.
Thrown Weapon Attacks
"Thrown weapons" are weapons you must physically hurl at the target: rocks, hand grenades, ninja stars (shuriken), etc. You can also throw certain melee weapons, such as hatchets, knives, and spears. See the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table for statistics and skills required. See Special Combat Situations for the effects of grenades and incendiaries.
Treat a thrown weapon just like any other ranged attack, with a few special rules:
- Once you throw a weapon, it's no longer ready! Hit or miss, your weapon is now somewhere else. If you want to attack again, you'll have to go fetch your weapon (from the ground ...or your foe's body) or ready a new one.
- The range of a thrown weapon is
usually a multiple of your ST; e.g., "ST×2." This is given on the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table for many common thrown weapons. To determine range (and damage) for anything not listed there, see Throwing.
- A thrown weapon travels fairly slowly. Your target has the option of using a block or a parry active defense instead of a dodge. Success by 5+ (or critical success) with an unarmed parry means your target has caught the weapon!
Missile Weapon Attacks
"Missile weapons" are ranged attacks other than thrown weapons: bows, firearms, Missile spells, ranged Innate Attacks, and so on. They fall into two broad categories.
Muscle-Powered Missile Weapons: These include bows, slings, and crossbows. As with thrown weapons, your range and damage are determined by your ST – or in the case of a bow or a crossbow, by the weapon's ST. See the Muscle-Powered Ranged Weapon Table for details.
Firearms: These include guns, beam weapons, and self-propelled projectiles. See the Firearms Table for statistics and special rules for all types of high-tech missile weapons – from black-powder weapons through contemporary guns and on to science-fiction weapons such as lasers.
Rate of Fire
All missile weapons have a Rate of Fire (RoF) statistic. If RoF is 1, the weapon can fire one shot per attack. If RoF is 2 or more, the weapon is capable of firing more than one shot per attack; see Rapid Fire (below).
Examples: A bow has RoF 1; it can fire one shot per attack. A .38 revolver has RoF 3; it can fire up to three shots per attack. A machine gun has RoF 10; it can fire up to 10 shots per attack...but this is still one attack roll, not 10 separate attacks!
Reloading and Shots
Missile weapons also have a Shots statistic. Once you have fired this many shots, you must reload before you can fire the weapon again.
Reloading requires a number of Ready maneuvers; see Readying Weapons and Other Gear. The time required to reload appears in parentheses after the weapon's Shots entry in the weapon tables.
Reloading restores the weapon's full number of shots. If a weapon has only one shot, this represents loading a new one. If it has multiple shots, this represents changing the magazine, belt, etc. The exception to this is multishot weapons that have cylinders, hoppers, or internal magazines. Their loading time is designated "i" (for “individually loaded”), and is per shot (unless sped up by some mechanism, such as a speed loader).
- Examples: A bow has Shots 1(2); it can fire one arrow, after which it takes the archer two seconds to prepare another. A .38 revolver has Shots 6(3i); it can fire six shots, after which each shot takes 3 seconds to reload. A machine gun has Shots 200(5); it can fire 200 shots, after which it takes 5 seconds to change the belt.
Rapid Fire
Some missile weapons have RoF 2 or more. This means they can fire multiple shots per attack, up to a maximum equal to their RoF. For example, a .38 revolver with RoF 3 could fire 1, 2, or 3 shots per attack. Of course, you can never fire more shots than your weapon currently has remaining, regardless of its RoF.
Rapid-fire weapons use the Recoil (Rcl) statistic, which measures how controllable the weapon is when firing multiple shots. Rcl helps determine the number of hits a rapid-fire attack can inflict. The lower the Rcl, the easier the weapon is to control. Rcl 1 means the weapon is recoilless, like most beam weapons.
If a weapon has RoF 2 or more, you must decide how many shots (up to RoF) you wish to fire before you make your attack roll. Firearms fired at RoF 1-3 are firing one shot per trigger pull; those fired at RoF 4+ are usually firing "full auto" like a machine gun – either in short bursts or continuously.
Firing a large number of shots per attack gives a bonus to hit, as shown on this table:
| Shots | Bonus to Hit |
|---|---|
| 2-4 | +0 |
| 5-8 | +1 |
| 9-12 | +2 |
| 13-16 | +3 |
| 17-24 | +4 |
| 25-49 | +5 |
| 50-99 | +6 |
| each ×2 | +1 to hit |
Rapid fire may score multiple hits from a single attack. A successful attack means you scored at least one hit – and possibly a number of extra hits, up to a maximum equal to the number of shots you fired. To find the number of hits you scored, compare your margin of success on the attack roll to your weapon's Recoil.
An attack scores one extra hit for every full multiple of Recoil by which you make your attack roll. The total number of hits cannot exceed shots fired. For instance, if your attack had Rcl 2, success by 0-1 would mean one hit; success by 2-3, one extra hit; success by 4-5, two extra hits; success by 6-7, three extra hits; and so on.
High-RoF weapons (those with RoF 5+) can also spread fire among multiple targets (see Spraying Fire) or fire lots of shots to "suppress" an area (see Suppression Fire). Other special rules apply to rapid fire with certain weapons – see Special Rules for Rapid Fire.