Firing into melee

[imported_Rasyr]

How do these sound?

Firing into Melee: Shooting a bow or throwing a dagger or making any sort of ranged attack into the chaotic mix that is a melee fight is dangerous for all of those involved in the melee. Any ranged attack made into a melee will have a -4 modifier applied to it.  If the target is in melee with somebody, then that original attack roll (without the -4 modifier, but also without positional modifiers, such as for a rear attack) is applied against the person that the target is in melee with. If it hits this other person, then damage is applied normally.

Should the attack miss its intended target and the person he is in melee with as well, then the GM needs to determine where the ranged attack ended up. It may have hit somebody else within its firing line.

To do so, he will roll 2d10. One die will be for determining if the attack was short or long. This is the Distance Die. The other die will determine if the roll went to the left or the right. This is the Direction Die.

For the Distance Die, a roll of 1 to 4 means that the attack was long, that it went over the target. A roll of 7 to 10 means that the attack was short, that it hit before the target. A roll of 5 or 6 means that the attack just barely missed the intended target. An attack that is short basically just hits the ground before it reaches the target.

For the Direction Die, a roll of 1 to 4 means that the attack was to the left of the target. A roll of 7 to 10 means that the attack was to the right of the target. A roll of 5 or 6 means that the attack just barely missed the intended target. Attacks that fall to the left or right will be no more than 5' from the target at the time that they pass him.

If there are other combatants beyond the target, along the path that the ranged attacks, they may be struck by the ranged attack. The GM should compare the original attack roll, not including the -4 modifier for firing into melee, but including modifiers for position, range, and surprise, if applicable, to see if it hits anybody within the attack's range. If it does hit somebody, no Boon Points will be earned from this attack.

[Fidoric]

I think you mean in first paragraph : if the modified attack misses its intended target but the unmodified attack hit its opponent, then the opponent is wounded. The "if the modified attack miss its intended target" seems to be missing.
Otherwise, this is a simple enough system to implement with little extra bookkeeping.

[imported_Rasyr]

Basically, yeah, if it misses its intended target (with the -4 mod), but hits  the foe of the intended target (without the -4, and without any other mods like for position (i.e. in the back) or for surprise), then damage applies normally to the one it did hit...

[samwise7]

I like to keep shooting into combat simple (imagine that).  I prefer to use a percentage method.  Sure, you MEANT to hit the bad guy in the chest, but you ended up hitting your friend in the back of the head.  Shooting into combat should always be a risky proposition. 

Divide 100% as evenly as possible with all of the foes and allies in the area in which you are firing into.

1 Ally 1 Foe: Ally 1-50%, Foe 51-100%
1 Ally, 2 Foes: Ally 1-33%, Foe1 34%-66, Foe2 67-100%
2 Allies, 2 Foes: Ally1 1-25%, Ally2 26-50%, Foe1 51-75%, Foe2 76-100%
etc.

Roll a D100 and see where your risky shot attempts to hit.

[Fidoric]

I agree with you on the "keep it simple" part. However, there's a point that I think is missing in your proposition. It doesn't take into account the shooter's skill. IMO a character skill (where applicable) should always be central to any action.

[imported_Rasyr]

Samwise -- I have worked hard to keep percentile rolls out of Novus. 

Firing into Melee: Shooting a bow or throwing a dagger or making any sort of ranged attack into the chaotic mix that is a melee fight is dangerous for all of those involved in the melee. It is even more dangerous if there are other combatants between the person making the ranged attack and his target.

Simply firing a ranged attack at a foe engaged in melee requires that a -4 modifier be applied. If this attack misses the target, then that same attack roll, without the -4 modifier is checked to see if it hits the target's melee combatant. Only those modifiers applied to the target, less the -4 modifier for firing into melee, are used when checking the attack against the combatant.

If there are other melee combatants in the line of fire between the attacker and his target, not including the target's melee combatant,  then the attack will receive an additional -2 modifier for each such potential obstacle. If the attack missed the original target and his melee combatant both, then the GM should start working back along the line of fire, removing one -2 modifier at a time, and checking the attack roll against each combatant to see if it hit him. As with the check against the target's melee combatant, no additional modifiers are applied or removed except for the Firing into Melee modifiers.

If, for some reason, the attack missed all potential targets between the attacker and his intended target, then the attack likely would not have hit its target, even if he were not in melee.

Example: So, if Joe has a Long Bow and is standing 50' from Jack, who is fighting an Orc. And between them is Jim who is also fighting an Orc. Joe wants to hit the Orc that Jack is fighting. His total modifier for firing into melee will be -8 (-4 for Jack, -2 for Jim, -2 for Jim's Orc foe). Jim has a skill total of 10, and he rolls 13 for an unmodified total of 23. With the -8 that makes his adjusted total be 15. The attack misses Jack's Orc, so we remove the -4 and check 19 against Jack. Luckily, Jack has a DEF of 22, so the attack misses him as well. Next up is the Orc that Joe is Fighting, he has a DEF of 17. We remove the first of the -2 modifiers since we are now comparing the result against potential targets who are not engaged in melee with the original target. This hits, and since Joe was using a Long Bow, he deals 13 points of damage (Base Damage of 9 + 4 points of scaled damage).

Note: If the attacker had an elevation advantage over those he is shooting at, such as being 10'  up in a tree, then the only potential obstacle would have been Jack. Jim and Orc he was fighting would not have been considered as being in the line of fire.

The way that I am looking at it is -- if the attack misses its intended target, it is for one of two reasons.

1) Somebody between the shooter and the target got in the way (hence the check as described above).

2) The shot was so lousy that it wasn't going to hit anybody anyways (so no need to check beyond the target)

This way we keep it simple, and skill still plays a part...

[Fidoric]

This is a good compromise I think.

[samwise7]

Well, if you don't want to do a percentage method you could just do it on a D10.  I don't know, it still seems a bit too wordy for me.  I like shooting into melee to be dangerous, quick, and dirty.  hehe. 

[imported_Rasyr]

The problem with doing it your way is that it doesn't take into account the skill of the shooter, and then I have to assign ranges for every possible number of potential targets in the range (or at least the max number).