Making firearms more important

[malcolm_n]

Half-joking: A simple fix would be to give nobody proficiency with those weapons. You can buy it if you want, but that's a feat you're giving up. Classes still get proficiency with firearms by default since if you're a hero, you know how to wield them (whether or not you like to).

A more serious consideration would be to decrease the overall damage of melee weapons by one step since modern armor is more durable. Energy swords wouldn't suffer such a penalty, and you could build it into the soldier class (which is the most melee-centric of the classes) that he deals bigger damage if he so chooses. Failing that, I fall back to feats and crit buffs as already noted above; but I'll continue thinking on the matter and see if I can come up with better ideas.

 

[Morrus]

Non proficiency? That actually makes a hell of a lot of sense.

 

[malcolm_n]

Hehe, simple and elegant. Would we put it in under the Weapon and armor proficiencies of the classes, make a sidebar/section spelling it out in equipment, or some combination of both?

We could also make any weapons not specific to the setting exotic. That's a one-sentence addition, "Weapons not presented here are considered exotic for the purpose of proficiency."

 

[Morrus]

I still feel that covering fire, over watch, etc. need to be strengthened. Yes, it's covered by readied actions, but the existing rules don't do it well enough - as evidenced by the fact that nobody ever does it! In a firearm heavy environment, these things should be the default mode of operations.

 

[RangerWickett]

Y'know, that kinda makes sense. Think of how many people hold guns stupid ways. It's not really a simple weapon. I mean, it's fairly easy to kill someone with it even if you don't know what you're doing, but you won't be effective unless you've trained with it.

 

[RangerWickett]

In the Rogue Trader game I play in, our captain had the whole party purchase wrist-mounted autopistols. Basically we have tiny little 10-shot guns that empty their clip in one round, which are attached to our wrists and can pop out of our sleeves. We all have one on each hand. So during combat it's easy for one person to always be laying down suppressing fire.

Smart enemies will figure out that it's a small-caliber weapon, and that sticking to cover while we advance on them with our deadlier weapons is a bad idea. So they'll break and run. But several times we've taken turns hop-scotching up to an enemy while suppressing him.

Smoke grenades are fun too, but that's because most magic is line of sight.

It's been months since we played, though, so I don't recall the rules for suppression, just that the GM got fed up with us doing it. :-D

 

[malcolm_n]

I still feel that covering fire, over watch, etc. need to be strengthened. Yes, it's covered by readied actions, but the existing rules don't do it well enough - as evidenced by the fact that nobody ever does it! In a firearm heavy environment, these things should be the default mode of operations.

I see cover fire as aid another that would grant +2 to AC against the target of the cover fire. Overwatch is more reliant on the GM to have NPCs hide behind something, possibly with cover fire, that necessitates waiting for them to come out from behind cover.

If we're strengthening them, maybe in addition to not suffering from cover/concealment, you get a +1 to the attack because you've been watching closely? Cover fire maybe gives the target -2 to attack if it gets hit.

I don't think I'd want to shoehorn players into always trying to get these advantages. It should also be beneficial to sneak around while they think you're still there (bluff to put the hat on the crate) and get the jump on them (flat-footed). In a setting where guns are majority, wouldn't things like cover fire and over watching naturally lend themselves to the options available? Especially in games where players track ammunition, using those to prevent wasted shots becomes important.

 

[malcolm_n]

How's this for an updated weapons description?


There is a wide variety of weapons available in the galaxy. The democracy issues batons and battering rams to some of their troops to avoid hitting innocents in crossfire. Thieves may carry daggers to quickly and quietly remove their targets. As a general rule, any weapon not presented in the table below is an exotic weapon in Myths of the Far Future. Such classic weapons (like greatswords) are a true rarity and modern training techniques don’t even take such weapons into consideration.
Modern ranged weapons are far more common than melee weapons. Ranged weapons come in a variety of types, the most common being projectile (bullets) and laser weapons, followed by sonic weapons. The quality of a weapon, and its tech-enhancements, will greatly influence its price and effectiveness. See the Pathfinder Core Rulebook for additional rules on weapons and descriptions of properties.

 

[Morrus]

I see cover fire as aid another that would grant +2 to AC against the target of the cover fire.

Nobody is ever going to give up an attack to give someone else a momentary +2 AC bonus. How often have you seen people use aid another in combat? I think I've seen it once in my life! People don't do it because it's weak sauce.

 

[malcolm_n]

As a player, I agree, I just don't have any suggestions at the moment that could improve it without making it the optimal tactic in prectically every situation. Or are we really aiming for that?