Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightshade
Note the commonest gun used in execution killings, even those where the target is semi-aware and resisting are .22's. At short enough ranges, they still have enough penetration on unarmored targets to do the job.
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I think this is much like the 1D3+1/1D4 knife. By the rules a kill in combat is limited to small people with low CONs, unless hit location are used. Yet virtually any weapon can kill if applied properly. The OSS and British Commandos did use, and hand out a .22 caliber weapon to kill enemy soldiers (so you you take their gun). Surprise is a big factor. When you put the barrel up against the back of a guy's skull you not only got an auto head hit, but probably
at least an impale.
Like I wrote earlier. What I think we might need is some way to aim for increased damage. Something like halving your skill for an impale or maybe for a die shift (D4-D6-D8 etc).
Personally, I'd really love a Damage Class/die shift idea, with the STR/SIZ modifer shifting up the die rather than being a separate die, but I doubt that would go over well with others.
For firearms though, the ability to aim and bounce up a die by one or even two steps could really make small pistols useful in expert hands. It might much up armor though. While I could see carefully aiming a .25 Beretta to avoid the kevlar vest, I can't see carefully aiming it to avoid the the 12 AP steel bulkhead that otherwise would have stopped the bullet cold.
Come to think of it a die shift
for range might be a good solution. Kick up the damage die at point-blank and drop if at long range. That might help all around. A pistol round at 2m has a lot more energy that it does at 200m. That would also get the 1D6 pistols up to the much more lethal 1D8 range that can kill 99% of the humans in the game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightshade
As noted, in RQ a single 8 point hit to the head will kill a lot of characters; in BRP games without either wounding thresholds or hit location, that isn't going to happen except against a very frail character.
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Yeah, that isn't going to happen much. I'm not sure if we can come up with a solution that will please everybody. Right now, I'm leaning towards:
1) shifting up the die a step at Point Blank (DEX) range. So a 1D6 pistol does 1D8, a 1D10 pistol does 2D6, and so forth. The we could drop the damage die at longer ranges. So a .32APC with a 15m base range would do 1D4 at 60m, and 1D2 at 120m.
2) Allow a character to take an aimed shot at half ability, but bump up any success by one grade. So if a character with a 60% pistol skill did a called shot, he would shoot at 30% but get an impale if he hit, and have a 6% critical chance.
I think I'll put those in the next draft of the Western "spot rules". Could make a pocket pistol kinda useful.