Autofire/Rapid Fire/Burst Fire/Multishot stuff

With all these modern d20 RPGs coming out, almost every one of them handles the rules for rapid fire weaponry differently. My question is, in your humble opinion, which is the best method for handling this, and why?

Personally, at this time, Spycraft handled modern firearms pretty well. You have a lot of the crucial attack options with firearms, especially those capable of burst fire or automatic fire, without having to acquire feats to even use such option, like a Strafe feat. I mean I prefer a feat that would reduce the penalty for using the Strafe attack action, rather than allow me to use the attack option.

Star Wars' method works better for Rogues (more attacks = more sneak attacks.) Of course Star Wars requires a full attack action for this to work, not really the best solution.

DragonStar's method also works pretty well. It can be downright nasty, but I chalk that up to the amount of damage DragonStar weapons do, rather than any extraordinary amount of lethality in their autofire rules. DragonStar just requires a standard attack for its autofire meaning you can do things like fire off several rounds while using Shot On The Run. Of course this also means high level Fighters fire a LOT of rounds per ... uh ... round.

I don't really have any other systems, so I can't tell you how anything else stacks up.

I like the Dragonstar system best.

d20 Modern brings yet another method of handling autofire weapons and the rapid firing of semiauto weapons. If you're looking for a system that works and works well--but is much simpler than those that have come out so far--d20 Modern should fit the bill!

Lots of bullets!

How can I resist a plug like that ?

Spycraft lets you shoot single shots normally (as a half action). Such weapons can also be used as a full round action to lay down cover fire for one ally, or suppressive fire on an enemy. If the weapon allows it, you can fire bursts (also as a half action), which lets you either try and plug one guy a couple of times (narrow burst) or "spray and pray" where you don't gain any damage, but you do gan a bonus to hit (wide burst). If the weapon allows even faster fire, 'full auto', you gain two more options: Strafe where you rake the fire across several targets, and Autofire, which lets you pour bullets into one opponent. Both of these options take a full round to perfom, but all of them are imediately avalible to any character proficient with the weapon. You can also take half actions to Aim and or Brace a weapon, improving your accuracy.

Feats come in in a couple of ways. "Lay Down Fire" improves your cover and suppresive shooting. "Perfect Stance" lets you aim and brace a weapon as single action. "Speed Trigger" lets you shoot bursts with what is normally a single shot weapon. "Controled Burst" improves all your bursts. "Double Tap" lets you use a controled pair of shots to try and hit body then head (going for extra threat range). Machinegun Basics and Machine Gun Mastery lets you use full auto weapons more efficiently (fewer attack penalties and expend less ammo). All of these feats are tied together in logical chains of prerequisites allowing the dedicated gun-bunny to become extremely effective with firearms, while also allowing other character types to go a bit beyond the basics in the fashion they choose. The basic rules are pretty flexible, and with nearly 40 feats just in the "Ranged Combat Tree", players can tune their fighting skills to get exactly the character they want .

what book contained the feats that I've never heard of (i.e. perfect stance, machinegun basics, double tap, etc.)?

All of those feats are from Spycraft (I take it.)

In Star Wars and DragonStar, your character can use Autofire or what have you as soon as he picks up a weapon capable of doing so. There are feats that help reduce the negatives for these, however, like in Spycraft (although from what Morganstern says, Spycraft has MANY MANY more than either system combined.)

Confused said:

What book contained the feats that I've never heard of (i.e. perfect stance, machinegun basics, double tap, etc.)?

Click to expand...

The Soldier / Wheelman Class Guide (just released at GenCon and in the pipe to your FNGS) includes several more feats for the ranged combat tree. Perfect Stance is a new, no prerequisite feat that lets you aim and brace as one action (and reduces recoil if you are using the optional recoil rules from the Modern Arms Guide). You need Perfect Stance to get Double Tap. There's also a bunch of paired feats (a "basics", and then a "mastery" feat) for various tactical weapons, letting characters squeeze extra performance out of each of the heavy weapontypes like grenades, mortars, flamethrowers, rocket launchers and machine guns. 96 pages of pure crunch .

"as a half-action"

What does that mean? Can I do it twice as a standard action?