Sniper Mechanics

[herrozerro]

So I am building a squad of creatures for adversaries in my Amethyst game and I wanted to bounce this idea off of other people. One creature that was giving me a little trouble was the sniper. I wanted something more then just "Attacks from further away than everyone else. so here is what I came up with.


Standard Action
Sniper Alley

Effect: MERC Sniper lays down two hidden sniper alley's (Wall 4 within 40) when an enemy moves adjacent to an alley square or enters an alley square the sniper can make and opportunity attack against that enemy. Doing so reveals that sniper alley to the enemies.


The basic idea is that this creature relies almost entirely on Opportunity attacks offensively. on his turn he lays down his "sniper alleys" and waits for people to cross them.

In addition I also toyed with the idea that the sniper is a hidden hazard, requiring a small skill challenge to defeat rather then attacking directly.


Counter-Snipe
Prerequisite: You must be using a weapon with the Sniper Keyword.
Each Stage is a Standard Action

Stage One: Find the Sniper
Primary Skills: Perception, Insight
DC: Moderate

Stage Two: Find your Position
Primary Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics
DC: Moderate

Stage Three: Take your Shot
Attack roll vs hard DC
Success: Sniper eliminated
Failure: Sniper counter attack +15 vs Reflex Hit: 1d8 + 5 damage

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[RoboCheney]

That's a clever implementation! I could see a scenario where the players have some options to move behind foliage or through water to evade the sniper.

With the skill challenge, maybe step 2 (find your position) is an optional step that would give you an attack bonus.

Too many sniper opportunity attacks in one round could strain credibility, however. Unless this Amethyst is a modern setting with guns and such

 

[the Jester]

Hmm, I like the "sniper's alley" approach- that's a creative and cool way to deal with it.

 

[D'karr]

This is an interesting read. Amethyst is one of my favorite 3rd party settings and it really does a good job of mixing Fantasy and Tech, even if I don't like the entire fantasy against tech angle. I still enjoy the setting quite a lot.

Some things come to mind. The snipers main job is to get in, take the shot and still get out unnoticed. The hiding part should be a very big part of the skill challenge to be able to set up your shot. And finding the sniper should be quite a difficult task. The range of the opposition should take into account other weapons not necessarily available to the unit the sniper is firing on, like indirect fire artillery. A sniper might be at a safe range from the unit he is attacking, but might not be safe if that unit can call in a Plasma Artillery Barrage, or if they have a tank in support.

For setting up the "hiding" skill challenge I'd use Dungeoneering or Nature or maybe even Science to look for a suitable position, Insight to think like the sniper, History to recall similar sniper tactics, and Perception to actually do spotting.

I think your ranges for the sniper alleys are entirely too short. Looking briefly at the Foundations book, I only see two sniper weapons (Sniper Cannon, and "God's Eye"). Both of the ranges on them can exceed the 40 mark that you have set up for the sniper alley. I'd also make it more difficult to "find" the sniper alley, or at least make it more easily moveable. Once a unit is in range of the sniper they should be looking for cover.

Good luck with your killing fields.

 

[herrozerro]

I think your ranges for the sniper alleys are entirely too short. Looking briefly at the Foundations book, I only see two sniper weapons (Sniper Cannon, and "God's Eye"). Both of the ranges on them can exceed the 40 mark that you have set up for the sniper alley. I'd also make it more difficult to "find" the sniper alley, or at least make it more easily moveable. Once a unit is in range of the sniper they should be looking for cover.

I can see that, though my original ranges also were taking into account that the sniper could cover two alleys at once. if the sniper could have two alleys at opposite ends of the field, so taking that into account i shortened up the ranges. The sniper can still take his regular Basic attack at whatever range he wants to.

Though I also agree about the alley's being too easy to find, perhaps rather then an automatic reveal that they can be found with a insight or perception check. Though im not quite sure how they are not movable, how i have it written the sniper could every round relay down two alleys.

and thanks for the thoughts about the artilary and other indirect methods of dealing with them!

Perhaps to make the sniper alley's more deadly treat them with an aura of if a creature starts its turn in it it can be attacked.