A Sniper, for all his expertise, remains human (or alien). He may be required to lay in his position for several hours waiting for a quarry. If the area is wet, or if it has other factors of irritation (pollinating plants giving off alergeric material, sharp grass, poisonous plants, rodents etc etc) This should all work away at him, making him uncomfortable and distracted. For every 5 turns he must have the following rules inforced upon him:
a) He must make a will power role against the difficulty level of the annoyance. If he wins he remains calm. If not he looses between 5 and 25 on his sneak roll.
b) He must make a stamina roll. If your really cold and your species suffers from shivering, then you won't be able to draw a very steady bead on your target.
c) His quarry receives a 1D bonus to their sneak skill if they're trying to sneak past. If your sneezing and sniffling in a fox hole you aren't listening very carefully.
d) If the target is in sight, the sniper must do all of these things no matter what turn and any failure distracts him from his blaster, docking 1D from his skill and 3 from his end roll.
At the same time, Snipers usually have the advantage of suprise. On the snipers first shot, none of the targets may move.
(Between the two sets of rules the sniper position becomes more realistic. It's a hard job to do, but when you do it right, you should have the advantage.)
Copyright © 1997 Geoff Micks