Cbt-Ranged
Category: Combat
Usage: generic(act) -> chk|sv= +M
◊ attack(main-act) -> chk(TC)= +M -> eff= +M eff
◊ attack-area(main-act) -> chk(TC-A)= +M -> eff= imp(sv, Agility+B, 8 + M)
◊ know(free-act, R, Tech) -> chk= +M
◊ switch(main-act) -> eff= change weapon
◊ switch(bonus-act, R) -> eff= change weapon
Usage (aspect): provenance -> Tech
◊ assess(min, R) -> chk= +M(Investigate) +R
Description: A knowledge and practice with ranged combat with small arms fire (such as rifles, bows, pistols and shotguns).
With this skill you can make a melee attack either with your natural weapons (fists etc.) or a fashioned weapon (such as a blade).
Attack
The Attack action is the most commonly used action in Cbt-Melee, and is a simple check on this skill against the TC of your opponent. If you overcome the target’s TC (i.e., you hit the target), you nearly always add your M on this Skill to the effect of the weapon you are using (usually meaning a bonus to damage).
attack(main-act) -> chk(TC)= +M -> eff= +M +M(Strength) eff
You cannot always add these Ms to the whole of the effect of the weapon, and there are some weapons where these Ms don’t apply at all. If such exceptions apply, they are noted on the effect properties of the weapon.
It is common with ranged weapons that their effect is a spray or some other kind of area effect. This case you impose a save on the opponent, and the attack action looks like this:
attack(main-act) -> chk(TC-A)= +M -> eff= imp(sv, Agility+B, 8 + M)
TC-A means Areal Target Challenge, where you are attacking an area, rather than an individual target. You normally begin or centre an area on a square, so the TC-A is usually 8. Making the attack easier to make, the benefit is in the challenge of the save your opponent has to make, which is affected by your M in this skill.
Know
You can check whether you know basic features about a particular melee weapon with:
know(free-act, R, Tech) -> chk(10+rarity)= +M
The C, being 10 + rarity, is higher for rare weapons. Note also that subject to the Tech provenance aspect. This means that you may not be aware, for example, that the clavian’s plasma caster (Tech-Modern-Clavian) is also a ranged weapon.
Switch
The Switch action means to quickly stow an item of equipment and bring out another easily accessible item for use. As long as you have ranks in this skill, you can use a bonus-act, rather than the main-act normally needed, to perform the Switch action to change your weapon during combat. In other words, you can perform
switch(bonus-act, R) -> eff=change weapon
rather than
switch(main-act) -> eff=change weapon
Assess
As long as you have ranks in Cbt-Ranged, you can assess whether a potential opponent has ranged combat practice (has ranks as well) over the course of a minute, by making a check on Investigate aspected by this skill:
assess(min, R) -> chk= + M(Investigate) +R -> set(PC)= 8 +M(Stealth+S)
A partial success just tells you that they have ranks, and your potential opponent may have noticed you, so they can make a chk(Perception) against the PC set by you.
A full success tells you whether your opponent has less than, equal to or more than your ranks (R).
A critical success will give you the number of ranks that they have
If you need to Assess more quickly, you can spend an ep to reduce the time requirement:
assess(rnd, 1ep, R) -> chk= + M(Investigate) +R* -> set(PC)= 8 +M(Stealth+S)
The R* notation means that spending 1ep will also have the effect of increasing your R (being the factor — out of R and M — that’s related to this skill) by 1.