Official ICE Forums
Systems & Settings => HARP => Topic started by: Ramoran on December 10, 2007, 07:27:02 PM
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Hey guys. Got a question.
I've been considering which ICE system to start playing/running (starting with running) for a while now, and I think I'm going to go with HARP and HARP SF to start. Something that's always bothered me about the systems I've played, though, is the idea of aiming.
It started when I was playing DnD at my local store a few months back. Up until that time I had only run DnD, not played it, and I tried to allow my characters to do just about anything. This included aiming, special attack situations...I tried to reward my characters for being innovative, so anything they could cook up was fair game. So I've got my bow out, and I'm getting ready to hit this troll, and I say, "Okay, I'm shooting this troll, and I'm aiming for..."
Immediately somebody interrupts me. "There's no aiming, dude."
"What? No aiming? Why?"
"It's not in the rules. All you can do is attack."
Then, when I started playing Spacemaster, it popped up again. I was looking through the scope of a sniper rifle, and trying for a headshot. Again I was informed that there is no aiming, only attacking.
This all begs the question...what kind of sniper, ranger, rogue, or any other marksman wouldn't be able to choose his target, aim at it, and hit it? If somebody is trying to kill a dude with a sniper rifle, they're obviously going to be aiming at a specific target like the chest or head. A dragon's weak points are traditionally the eye or the heart, so any archer worth his salt will pick out those organs, right? Why has aiming been left out of these systems? It especially makes sniping and stealth pointless, because if you're sniping an unawares opponent in real life, you're chances of killing him are much higher than if you're in a full-blown firefight. In a game, though, even with a high roll you'll likely only alert the enemy to your presence without really killing him.
My solution? Well, with HARP, I was thinking about adding modifiers based on the difficulty of the location, like taking five, ten, or even twenty off a roll for parts such as limbs, heads, or eyes, respectively. The shooter would only be able to aim at such locations in a relatively low-stress situation such as sniping from a distance or sneaking up on someone (a good rogue should be allowed to sneak up and slash throats, don't you think?). The risk, of course, is a higher chance of failure, which constitutes a total miss and alerting the enemy to your presence. The reward is that success is an instant kill for head/chest/throat shots and the like, and wounding limbs will cripple a character, which is sometimes desireable over killing an enemy.
What do you guys think of this idea? Sure, it adds a little complexity, but I'm coming off of d20, here. I think if I add this, I'll still have a ways to go before HARP presents a rules problem, and I think it will add to the overall authenticity of the gaming experience.
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There are already mechanics for called shots and sniping is a skill in the Core Rules.
And combat is already pretty deadly (depending on which combat system you use).
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I think what you want is part of the Sniping skill. It works just as Ambush, you have to be undetected and make an additional maneuver roll on sniping. If it succeeds you can add the ranks on top of the critical and have no damage cap.
However in addition to sniping there are also rules to aim for specific body parts (at least in the H&S and ML combat systems), but the aiming for a hit location is not as lethal as sniping, maybe you are looking for a combination of both.
Finally, I use a very small house rule to allow aiming in the same way as concentrating for a spell (+5 per round up to +30 for 6 rounds). I only allowed that because it is a known rule (for spell casting) and adds therefore nearly no further complexity.
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This all begs the question...what kind of sniper, ranger, rogue, or any other marksman wouldn't be able to choose his target, aim at it, and hit it? If somebody is trying to kill a dude with a sniper rifle, they're obviously going to be aiming at a specific target like the chest or head. A dragon's weak points are traditionally the eye or the heart, so any archer worth his salt will pick out those organs, right? Why has aiming been left out of these systems?
Couple of things......
1) Remember, in HARP (and in RM) an attack is not a single discreet action, it is the best (or cumulative) attack opportunity over the course of the round.
2) The shooter can aim all they want. However, that is never a guarantee that they will hit what they are aiming at, regardless of their skill.
3) Easiest way for a GM to handle this is to let them "aim" for a given spot, and then for the GM to change the flavor text of the critical to reflect the spot aimed for.
For example: if the crit says something to the effect that you shot him in the gut and did some organ damage. ANd the attacker was aiming for the head, then you might say:
You aim carefully for his head, and release. However, he raises his arm just as your shot was loosed, and the arrow ricocheted off his bracer in into his abdomen.
Or if it says broken wrist and -20 to all actions and +15 hits, you could change the flavor text to read that the shot hit his wrist, breaking it, on its way to his head, but that it also deflected it enough to only graze his head. Of course, now that he is aware of the attack, he it taking cover. ;D
4) Others have mentioned the sniping skill -- this is used to do a more deadly attack overall usually.
5) What you are really wanting is something along the lines of a "Called shot". You can handle this as above, using changes to the flavor text or you could also check into Martial Law which has critical tables by general location, and rules for called shots.
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I see. Well, we were playing Spacemaster 2, and my GM didn't seem to think I could call a headshot before taking it. I've never seen the core rules for any of these systems, so I assumed he was correct.
Are called shots a more succinct method of resolving such situations? It sounds to me like you end up adding a roll and doing more math, and to me it makes more sense just to modify the actual attack itself and doing a straight-up all or nothing system for these attacks. Either you kill your target, or you don't. It makes the character think about whether or not he wants to take the risk. I'll have to look at the actual rules before I can actually make any iron-clad decisions about this, though, and you guys know the system better than I do.
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In the Martial Law rules, the location is determined by the initial dice roll. The tens die determines left or right. The ones die determines location (and then you use the dice normally for seeing how good you hit him).
To make a called shot, you reduce your OB to be able to modify the number taken from the ones die to determine the loction (up to 5 points plus or minus)
However, one thing you should never allow, is something that lets the character make an instant kill if he succeeds. The target should ALWAYS have a chance somehow. (be it the randomness of the crit roll, or a RR, or whatever). I say this because the first time you have a foe do the same thing to them, htey will be screaming for such...
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Both player characters and NPCs can already perform one-hit kills in most systems. I'm just trying to add a little realism to the whole idea of sniping and stealth kills. Yes, the players would be upset if one of them were killed in one hit, but it's possible for players to get killed in one hit anyway. I can see what you're saying about game mechanics, but the idea of random hit location, in my opinion, completely fouls up the idea of marksmanship, and that's what bothers me about it. If a character, player or otherwise, wants to drill someone in the side of the head with a crossbow bolt, to me that's valid...the upshot is that aiming this way increases chances of failure. If an assasin wants to creep up behind somebody and slash his throat, I think that should be allowed, because hey, that's what assasins do. Like I said before, I like to allow my characters to be as strategic and creative as possible...they just need to understand that trying such risky and dangerous maneuvers comes with a high price. If a halfling wants to try to jump onto a dragon, scramble up its neck, and stab it in the eye, she's free to try...she just needs to understand that she'll have to make a large number of opposed rolls and run a high risk of dying at every single one of them. I just feel like battles in most games consist of too much "I'm attacking with my sword," "Okay, you hit," "Okay, I'm shooting with my bow," "Well, you missed..." and so forth. Real combat is much more colorful and organic than that, and I like to reflect that in my GM style. Maybe I should devise my own rule system or something, but I don't feel I should have to when I can modify one that already exists.
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You could always make a house rule that would allow that for every round the character is aiming, he/she would then recieve a +5 or something to offset the penalty for the called shot. I think that makes sense, but I just woke up... :P
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You could always make a house rule that would allow that for every round the character is aiming, he/she would then recieve a +5 or something to offset the penalty for the called shot. I think that makes sense, but I just woke up... :P
I'm not quite sure what that meant. Aiming isn't an action in and of itself, so a character wouldn't take a whole round aiming and then fire in the next...to aim, all they'd have to do is call their target.
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You could always make a house rule that would allow that for every round the character is aiming, he/she would then recieve a +5 or something to offset the penalty for the called shot. I think that makes sense, but I just woke up... :P
I'm not quite sure what that meant. Aiming isn't an action in and of itself, so a character wouldn't take a whole round aiming and then fire in the next...to aim, all they'd have to do is call their target.
What you call "aim" others call "Called shot". What Thos (and I in a previous post) suggested was aiming on a target for some time to improve the chance of a hit at the specific location (it is not as easy to hit the eye of a dragon as the dragon itself, so some extra bonus would help). So a combination of called shot (to hit a specific location), aiming for some time (to improve the chance to hit) would be helpful.
Oh, and not all hits to the head are deadly, sometimea it's only a scratch, so I would also suggest the skill Sniping to make the hit more deadly.
But I think you should first explain which combat system you are using for your game. With this information it would me much easier to know what you need.
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Absolutely! WoeRie summed up exactly what I was trying to say. Thanks, WoeRie!
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In addition to the Called Shot technique (aiming for a specific body location and taking OB penalties to be able to adjust the rolled location), HARP SF introduces Careful Aim:
Careful Aim: If the character carefully aims a ranged weapon (modern or archaic) at a specific target, this
Combat Action reduces any range penalties incurred by the character by 5 per full consecutive round of aiming. All rounds of aiming must be consecutive (no interruptions or breaks from Aiming), the target may not be moving faster than 5 meters per round, and the shooter must be able to maintain visual line-of-sight on the target at all times. Range penalties cannot be reduced below zero using this Combat Action.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
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Purchase Martial Law, I think the PDF is $10. There are hit location criticals in there. Assign a difficulty based on Character Size vs. Target size & Weapon type (Melee vs Missile).
Example
Medium vs Medium: Head & Neck -50, Chest & Back -20, Abdomen & Groin -30, Legs & Feet -30, Hands & Arms -30.
This makes attacking a location a skill that PCs can get better at in time. You can build other templates like Large vs. Small, Large vs. Medium, Small vs. Large, Smal vs. Medium, etc and slightly change the penalties to reflect the difficulty of hitting the desired location....a good example would be a Halfling trying to hit a Troll in the head with a sword (small vs. Large) this might be -80...
Don't forget to take into consideration the weapon type: missile weapons would probably always attack on the Medium vs. Medium: Spears might provide some reach bonus of smaller foes, etc.
I've used this before. Players love the idea of being able to do it, but it usually only happens if they have managed to surprise a foe, or the foe is stunned or prone enough to make them an easier target.
Cheers
James
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If a character, player or otherwise, wants to drill someone in the side of the head with a crossbow bolt, to me that's valid...the upshot is that aiming this way increases chances of failure. If an assasin wants to creep up behind somebody and slash his throat, I think that should be allowed, because hey, that's what assasins do. Like I said before, I like to allow my characters to be as strategic and creative as possible...they just need to understand that trying such risky and dangerous maneuvers comes with a high price.
As you say a character can well aim at a vital spot if he wants, but that doesn't mean that he will automatically hit it!
Rolemaster and HARP combat system assume that the attacker is always aiming at a vital part, while the defender is trying to avoid being hit. If the defender is unaware of the incoming blow, attacker get a lot of bonuses (not counting that an unaware target cannot evade the blow so he basically has only DB from armor or magical protection to defend himself) and can use skills like Ambush or Sniping which greatly increase the chance of killing his target with a single blow.
If the character need to hit a certain location of the enemy (for example: the golem only weak point is on his head, or you want to hit the hand of the wizard holding the staff...) you can use the called shot rule. If he's just trying to kill his opponent in a quick way attack normally and then change the flavor text of the critical ("you try to hit him in the head, but he suddenly drop to the ground so you hit him on the shoulder instead..." or somthing like that), keeping the same damage on the table. Remember that the flavour text on the crit is just flavour text, a suggestion for the GM on how the attack scene can be described, not the only way to resolve the attack!
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Both player characters and NPCs can already perform one-hit kills in most systems. I'm just trying to add a little realism to the whole idea of sniping and stealth kills.
There is often a trade-off between realism and fun in RPG games. Instant kills is one of the items where this applies to.
Yes, the players would be upset if one of them were killed in one hit, but it's possible for players to get killed in one hit anyway.
The important point is that the chance to get killed by just one shot is relatively low. And I am sure that was a deliberate choice and that the creators of RM and HARP were conscious about the fact that in reality combat is much deadlier. But who wants to roll a new character every one or two sessions or avoid every combat encounter? Not me at least...
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I see. Well, we were playing Spacemaster 2, and my GM didn't seem to think I could call a headshot before taking it. I've never seen the core rules for any of these systems, so I assumed he was correct.
Why would your character be better at shooting because you as player say "I want to use a headshot"?
RM, SM and Harp all assumes your characters know about what areas to hit. Your hit location is random because your character chooses the best possible one and not because your character is aiming badly.
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The thing about RPGs, though, is that death is rarely final if you've got the right tools. In fantasy campaigns, you can heal/resurrect a character even if they've been crushed by falling rocks and had the spatters incinerated by crazy goblins. Sci fi campaigns tend to be a little less forgiving as far as death goes, but my first sci fi campaign is going to take place in Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld, where dying on causes you to be resurrected at a random point somewhere else down the river.
Also, the Called Shot thing sounds about like what I was talking about anyway, so I'll probably just end up using that. Is that in the core rules, or do I need Martial Law or Hack & Slash.
Anyway, like I said before, the whole point of allowing so many options for my players is to promote player creativity. It makes combat a lot more vivid, like the scene I described earlier with the halfling and the dragon. If the player wants to do something that the rules don't talk about or provide resolutions for, but it's an interesting and valid character choice, I feel it's my responsibility as GM to allow for that in order to keep the fun going. It might make my job just a touch harder, but it also makes the experience more immersive and enjoyable for the players, which is what we should all be after.
And I know that aiming at something doesn't necessarily preclude hitting it...in fact, the rule I was talking about instating in my first post would actually decrease a character's chances of hitting what he's aiming at, with the incentive being a kill or at least massive damage if he succeeds.
And the point isn't to be better at shooting. Like I said, the chances of missing are higher. The point is to be better at killing. Sure, I'm more likely to miss his head, but I'm also more likely to kill him if I hit his head.
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I'm not quite sure what that meant. Aiming isn't an action in and of itself, so a character wouldn't take a whole round aiming and then fire in the next...to aim, all they'd have to do is call their target.
In this context, isn't that what the OB is? In HARP there is only one attack roll so high attack roll = death crit, unlike where a high attack roll does not mean this and usually = sucky crit roll. All you have to do is change the flavor text a bit and voila - no monkeying around with the rules.
And the point isn't to be better at shooting. Like I said, the chances of missing are higher. The point is to be better at killing. Sure, I'm more likely to miss his head, but I'm also more likely to kill him if I hit his head.[/color]
This is the reason I have a severe dislike for called shots in general. They promote instant kills and never really work well. In other words, why would you attempt to do anything else?
RM, SM and Harp all assumes your characters know about what areas to hit. Your hit location is random because your character chooses the best possible one and not because your character is aiming badly.
It took me a few reads to realizy how obvious this statement really is. To the contrairy of 'called shots for easy kills', we have used them more for non-lethal attacks - hitting a leg to disable an opponent or hitting the arm holding the staff for example.
IIRC the crit charts in ML, the head shots aren't significantly more deadly than the other crit tables. So lowering your OB to hit a target directly reduces the damage done. Unless you are using armor reductions in ML which may change this.
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In addition to the Called Shot technique (aiming for a specific body location and taking OB penalties to be able to adjust the rolled location), HARP SF introduces Careful Aim:
Careful Aim: If the character carefully aims a ranged weapon (modern or archaic) at a specific target, this
Combat Action reduces any range penalties incurred by the character by 5 per full consecutive round of aiming. All rounds of aiming must be consecutive (no interruptions or breaks from Aiming), the target may not be moving faster than 5 meters per round, and the shooter must be able to maintain visual line-of-sight on the target at all times. Range penalties cannot be reduced below zero using this Combat Action.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Hi guys,
having the chance to regularly train with firearms, I think something might be missing here.
The longer you aim, the higher the bonus. That's your postulate Nicholas. However, try to take an aim for more than 10 seconds (I believe that is 5 rounds in Harp), especially in a stressful environment (and snipers are usually in such conditions) and you will soon find your arms shaking (from exertion) and your eyes running. Aiming can only give so much bonuses but after a while, the process do reverse itself.
The "shaking arm" problem could even be worse with weapons such as bows, lighter but more demanding to stay drawn.
As for future weapons, laser rifles and others, maybe the lightweight materials and the quality of the sights may overcome these consideration but I am not sure, having missed the occasion to try one. Part of the limitations on multi-rounds aiming are not due to the weapons but to the users and will probably be around for ever.
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However, try to take an aim for more than 10 seconds (I believe that is 5 rounds in Harp), especially in a stressful environment (and snipers are usually in such conditions) and you will soon find your arms shaking (from exertion) and your eyes running. Aiming can only give so much bonuses but after a while, the process do reverse itself.
Interesting. Luckily it fits into my house rule of a maximum of 6 round (12 seconds) of aiming. ;D
However, I saw a documentation about Asian (I think Japanese) Bowmen in TV some time ago. They used to aim for a couple of minutes before releasing the bow. Do you know about this technique? I assume this is something special.
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Let me add a few thoughts...
In real life, to shoot at anything effectively beyond point blank range with any missile weapon inherently requires a LOT of aiming. When using bows in a military battlefield setting, the "target" is a large block of solders so its just shoot at the "crowd" rather than an individual which makes aiming a lot simpler and typically the shooter adjusts for wind and distance with each shot (kind of like using tracers). So HARP (and most RPG games) distort fire rates for missile weapons since its based on load and fire in a battlefield setting. In HARP, since rounds are only two seconds, aiming at a "new" or moving target SHOULD require "aiming" for one extra round per Range Increment (RI) beyond 2 - just to qualify for shooting at the target. Getting a target in your initial sights at a distance is not so easy. Correcting for wind and distance can take a number of seconds to "gauge". At any distance beyond point blank range, a called shot is essentially impossible. Ask a bow hunter at what range they like to take their shots - its generally under 25 meters.
The Careful Aim action introduced by Nicholas seems reasonable - although I'm not sure I would allow reducing the RI 8 penalty completely just because you aimed for 40 rounds... I think only allowing the penalty to be reduced by no more than half for all RI seems more reasonable.
With firearms, stabilizing the weapon by "bracing" or using a shooting tripod makes a huge difference. High quality gunsights (scopes) make an additional huge difference. Beta Blockers help as well (a heart medicine that reduces jitters and of course banned in competition shooting). Bracing and scopes allow BOTH faster and better aiming - so it should take less long with a scope to achieve "best possible aim".
Attempting to do less than lethal damage is already allowed in Base HARP with the Subdual action:
Subdual: At times, characters may wish to strike a foe
without utilizing their entire force for the blow, in an effort
to disable or subdue a target. This action receives a -20
modifier to the attack roll. Should the attack still result in
severe damaging effects, the character may adjust the result
to any other lesser critical on the same table at their leisure.
Another important point is this. IF the target is AWARE of the shooter, aiming might be more difficult because the target will use movement and cover to spoil the aim by turning their body, keeping their head and chest behind the shield, etc.
Let me illustrate an example...
I played semi-pro Paintball for 9+ years (I was a star player on a team that competed in the national tournaments), my paintgun including the scope and all the trimmings cost me a frightening sum close to $500. You can spend twice that or more. A cheap paintgun in the hands of an expert can hit a head sized target 9/10 times from about 10 meters. A high quality gun can thwack someone's head 4/5 times from about 20 meters. A cheap gun would be lucky to hit the target 1/10 times at 20 meters. So quality can make a huge difference in the effective range. I used a shorter barrel than most sacrificing long range accuracy for "maneuverability" in the bushes... The "sniper" setups in the hands of an expert could thwack people at ranges of 40 meters or more. Of course, in the woods its difficult to actually SEE anyone at 20 meters [those darn paintballs hurt - so players take pains not to be seen]. In effect, paintguns are about as accurate as a bow but much less effective at longer ranges - paintballs bounce instead of break once they lose velocity.
Anyway, at close range you can literally twist your body to avoid being shot by watching the other player's aim and trigger pull. More than a few times, I've blundered into an ambush, dodged the "aimed" shot and returned fire (commonly called "snap shooting") and marked (hit) the ambushers without being marked myself to the ambushers' everlasting annoyance. Before I played Paintball - I would have said you couldn't do that. But you can. It's a skill I and others practiced. Remaining calm and cool under that pressure is critical as well. Most players cannot. When moving under missile fire, serpentining and "juking/jiving" is also critical to spoiling the aim of enemy fire - unseen or no. It really makes a difference.
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at close range you can literally twist your body to avoid being shot
You dodge bullets? That is cool... ;D
Would that be DB in Harp, or do we need another combat style for this (as you say it's a trained thing)?
Jan
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LOL-
You know. I've always thought there should be a "missile weapon defense" skill which would give a bonus of some kind against missile attacks - known and unknown. A skilled person has a definite advantage in utilizing even minimal cover, playing the angles and "dodging bullets". The unskilled despite having 100% cover available will often leave something vulnerable sticking out and always run "straight" making them easy targets. I should cook up a skill and subject my gaming group to a playtest...
Let's see... You wouldn't want it to be a straight skill bonus equals DB (too generous and not really realistic). Hmm....
Robin
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I think that practice must be related to Zen archery. I know little about this but it seems strange to me. Keeping a bow drawn for several minutes is quite a physical feat, definitively beyond the ability of the average man. However, that kind of skill requiring both intense concentration is hardly usable on a battlefield. I can't see how to transcribe this in gaming terms. Modern days archers do not aim for so long. Even a world class archer do not aim for more than a few seconds before releasing the tension. Then again, their performance would not be so high in a tense environment of if their lives were depending on their shot. A PC in a game is in a position more akin to those practicing the nordic biathlon (ski and shooting). Those shoot under stress and even the best ones sometimes miss their target.
IMHO, I would suggest a +5 bonus for each round of aiming limited to six rounds. As OB reflects the ability to deliver precise shots, it must already include some measure of aiming. Another solution illustrating the difficulty of aiming right could be to have the player roll a OB roll with a +5 bonus per round of concentration on the bonus column. The result could be apply to a second roll, the actual shot. Perhaps you could consider using strength and self-discipline as the two stats involved in shooting a bow.
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You know. I've always thought there should be a "missile weapon defense" skill which would give a bonus of some kind against missile attacks - known and unknown.
Can you, by the HARP rules, dodge or sudden-dodge a missile attack? I see nothing speaking against it, but I also see nothing speaking against parrying a missile attack with full OB, which seems funny... what's the current ruling for this?
Anyway: If yes, you can dodge/sudden-dodge missile attacks, I'd say these maneuvers cover it, and you can even train Acrobatics to get better with it (or invent a subskill Acrobatics: "Be like Neo" ;)).
If it's not covered by the rules as they are (I GM a campaign right now, but I really wouldn't know how I would play this), I see two ways:
(a) Just allow Dodge (known missile attack) and Sudden-Dodge (unknown) to all characters. Whoever trains their Acrobatics skill will profit from this.
(b) Make "Bullet-Dodging" a talent (15 DP?), allowing the Dodge and Sudden-Dodge actions versus missile attacks, with a special bonus of +10.
Any good?
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You know, Jan, I think you're right. The Parry says "melee attack" while Dodge says "one attack". Which implies any attack including elemental attacks. And doing a search seems to back that up... Funny how I didn't realize that after playing for many months now. Probably my many previous years of RM where you couldn't do that... Let's see if I can find the best reference. Here from Rasyr:
One thing that the old RM also did not have was Dodge and Sudden Dodge, which are Combat Actions that may also be applied to missile and directed spell attacks.
In general, COVER is better than dodging. But I'm guessing Dodging would have some effectiveness given the ability to use Acrobatics.
There IS a missle parry combat action in Martial Law - but that's not what I mean - that's just using a weapon as a shield - which is reasonable and "cool".
But I still think "using cover" is a separate skill and so I'll give it some thought and try some experiments.
Robin
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I agree with you. I think hiding behind a wall is the best way to deal with missiles. However, while doing so,you're pinned down. Dodging gives the possibility to boost your defense and keep on moving, but it comes at a risk. That's exactly the way it is with modern firearms. The slower rate of fire of bows (compared to automatic rifles) allows you to move between the missiles at no risk. If the ennemy fires every other round, you can also give up your cover for so long.
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Ah, thanks for pointing out the "parry is only for melee" thing. So dodging works by the rules, that's great.
@ jurasketu
What do you mean by "using cover"? Page 86 in the rulebook gives a table with four different types of cover (Half Soft Cover, Full Soft Cover, Half Hard Cover, Full Hard Cover) giving DB bonuses.
Or do you mean using cover while walking, jumping, etc. through any foliage.
If yes, you mean the latter, I'm waiting for your experiments - there are several ways to make that a skill... I believe I'd make it a contest of skills between archer and "cover-user". The cover-user rolls the skill, and the archer must beat the bonus column or suffer a penalty. Something like that.
Whoof, I'm tired... It's midnight over here. Good night, and good luck experimenting!
Jan
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That's partly what I meant. A skilled user of cover should be able to play the angles to get a better bonus from the available cover compared to an unskilled user.
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It may be only that foliage and the likes provides you with bonuses to dodging maneuvers, thus making you harder to hit. I can't see the need to have a specific skill to get cover... It's more a reaction than a trained skill for me, maybe a Quickness or Agility maneuver versus the attack, which IMO is rather close to a dodge...
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I have to respectfully disagree...
Using cover actually requires significant training and experience. The inexperienced will THINK their taking cover when literally their behind is hanging out or worse and they'll get picked off. And the skilled can turn 25% cover into 50% or even 75% by taking the right "angle" and positioning the body just so. Trust me on this one - I spent years taking cover from literally 100,000s of paintballs [that's not an exaggeration] and I've fired 100,000s of paintballs at folks behind cover. The inexperienced players were always easy prey because they didn't know how to use the available cover.
Now, its perfectly well to argue its too much trouble and adventurers should have enough experience to take full advantage of available cover. But I'm just saying a cover skill to get full bonus and with higher cover skill gain a better bonus might be something to playtest. So I'm gonna experiment.
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You are right, maybe practice may help... Exactly what your average PC will not have... You have learnt how to use cover through intensive practice. Try that with arrows (even blunt). Your situation is IMO not possible in most fantasy environments.
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I was making the point I had a lot of experience witnessing good and bad use of cover. It doesn't take THAT much experience and it is a skill that can be readily taught. I used to teach the finer points to my friends and most benefited quite a bit. Simple stuff like how to tuck in properly against a tree or rock. How to keep the behind and legs from splaying out and into the firing lanes. How to judge firing lanes. Et cetera. So, I think its a skill that can be taught and learned. Acrobatics turns Dodge into a skill. It seems like an analogous situation.
Robin