By: Assem Masri (amasri@uci.edu)
O.K. you got yourself a repeating blaster but you aren't really convinced its repeating. The only benefit seems to be increased damaged and greater range. But, doesn't the fact that it repeats (i.e. launches multiple blaster fire) give some kind of extra bonuses. WEG doesn't seem to thinks so, but I do.
How many times do you find your character running down a large corridor chased by a dozen stormtroopers and when you tell your GM that your character turns around and sprays the corridor behind you, the first thing he says is "how many are you trying to hit". Your natural response is - "huh, I'm spraying the corridor I'm trying to hit them all." Then when your GM tells you that you'll be firing at a -11D penalty, you start rethinking your options, and the profound words of C- 3PO come to mind: "Surrender is a perfectly reasonable alternative." I mean nowadays you can just tweak up a blaster rifle and get 6D of damage out of it. Well if this scenario is all to familiar to you, you don't need a new GM all you need are new rules. And here they are.
Well first off, a big question I find to be asked about a repeating blaster is just how many blasts are fired in a round and do I get penalized for each blast beyond the first according to multiple action rules. If this is a question you have I think you need to change your perspective on how repeating blasters work in your campaign. As I see it repeating blasters fire a burst of shots with each action (imagine trying to fire just one bullet from a fully automatic machine gun). With this in mind, characters now are penalized for multiple bursts fired in a round as per the multiple actions rules. Well you might ask how many individuals can I target with one burst. The answer is only one unless your ‘spraying' the area. (See Spraying below).
As stated above a burst from a repeating blaster consists of multiple shots. Due to this a character firing a repeating blaster has a better chance to hit a target. This increased chance to hit is reflected in its Fire Control attribute. So now characters have a much better chance to hit using a repeating blaster, which is as it should be.
Spraying, going full auto, laying down a blanket of fire, whatever you want to call it, has until now been an action you weren't capable of doing, at least not practically. Spraying an area is good when you want to target a large fairly compact group of targets. There is no limit to the number of targets you choose to spray, because when you spray an area your pretty much targeting everybody in that area friend or foe. Sounds good, but, you pay a price:
(1) You fire at a -1/2D blaster skill penalty (rounded down) to hit (Each additional action beyond spraying adds an additional -1D to hit.) (i.e. If you have a blaster skill of 7D when spraying that skill is reduced to 3D)
(2) For purposes of multiple actions in a round spraying is considered to be 4 actions.
(3) Targets at medium range are at a +5 difficulty to hit. Targets at long range are at +10 difficulty to hit. (Thus spraying only becomes realistic at short ranges; unless your some marksman)
(4) A fire arc of 90 degrees can be covered at no additional penalty or a fire arc of 120 degrees can be covered at an additional -1D penalty or 180 degrees at - 2D penalty.
(5) When spraying you consume 1 ammo for every 2 individuals in the area being fired upon, rounded up.
(6) The weapon's fire control does not apply when spraying an area.
Example: Irdrid the brutal (blaster: 8D; dodge 6D) is a Merc carrying a light repeating blaster (fire control: 1D; damage 6D). While strolling along the corridors of the Death Star he stumbles upon a group of 9 stormtroopers (blaster: 4D; dodge: 3D; after armor modifiers) as he turns a corner. Irdrid, being the aggressive type, decides to spray the group of stormtroopers who are all at close range and informs the GM that he wishes to dodge any return fire, thus, Irdrid is performing 4 actions (3 for spraying the area and 1 for dodging). The stormtroopers see Irdrid in time to perform a combat dodge and also wish to fire upon Irdrid. The GM determines that the difficulty number to hit the stormtroopers is 7. Irdrid is penalized -5D to hit (-4D for spraying (1/2 x 8D = 4D) and -1D for the additional action of dodging) for a resulting skill roll of 3D. The GM decides to speed things up by rolling the combat dodge for the group of stormtroopers as a whole. The stormtroopers dodge of 3D is reduced to 2D because they are conducting 2 actions each. The GM rolls and gets a 6. Thus, Irdrid's modified difficulty is 13. He rolls for each one getting a 14, 6, 12, 15, 9, 9, 15, 11, and 5. Thus, Irdrid hits 3 of them. Let's say for sake of brevity the 3 stormtroopers hit are incapacitated. The other 6 fire back on Irdrid who dodges (at a -4D because he is performing 5 actions: 4 for spraying and 1 for the combat dodge) rolls 2D6 and gets 8 and adds this to the stormtroopers difficulty of 7 for a total modified difficulty of 15. The stormtroopers roll 3D6 each to hit Irdrid. The rolls are a 14, 13, 8, 4, 12, and 7. Irdrid gets lucky and they all miss. So Irdrid checks off 5 rounds of ammo and continues on into the next round of combat ... with a grin on his face.
Many of you GM's might be thinking that this makes repeating blasters far too powerful. However, I think if you review the rules above and play test them you'll see that you need a high blaster skill to realistically attempt to do it and since it is only useful against groups of 5 or more chances are your not going to kill off everybody in the group and your going to leave yourself open to attack by the survivors. In the example above Irdrid was lucky that the remaining 6 troopers missed. Odds were that one of them was going to hit. Furthermore, I am a GM who believes that repeating blasters are strictly military issue only and that carrying one is illegal under both Imperial and New Republic laws; even in cities where carrying a blaster is legal (e.g. Mos Eisly) repeating blasters are outlawed, or at the very least require a military permit, in my campaigns.
Light Repeating Blaster
Model: Atgar A-150 repeating blaster
Type: Repeating blaster
Scale: Character
Skill: Blaster: repeating blasters
Ammo:100
Cost: 2,000
Availability: 2, X
Range: 3-50/ 100/ 300 m
Fire Control: 1D
Damage: 6D
Medium Repeating Blaster
Model: Atgar A-500 repeating blaster
Type: Repeating blaster
Scale: Character
Skill: Blaster: repeating blasters
Ammo:100
Cost: 5,000
Availability: 2, X
Range: 3-50/ 100/ 300 m
Fire Control: 1D+2
Damage: 7D
Game Notes: Due to its size individuals carrying a medium repeating
blaster suffer a -1D penalty when dodging while carrying it.
Heavy Repeating Blaster
Model: Atgar A-1000 repeating blaster
Type: Repeating blaster
Scale: Character Skill: Heavy Weapons
Ammo: 100
Cost: 8,000
Availability: 2, R
Range: 3-50/ 100/ 300 m
Fire Control: 2D
Damage: 8D
Game Notes: Heavy repeating blasters are too bulky and heavy to
be fired without a tripod, thus any individual firing a repeating blaster
suffers a -2D penalty to all combat dodges. In the A-1000 the power battery
is part of the tripod so that there are only two pieces to the A-1000 making
it easier to transport.
Copyright © 1996 Assem Masri