GURPS101: Dungeon Fantasy Sharpshooter Power-Ups

Guest Post by +Hal Batty aka Wavefunction

A while back, while constructing some styles, I came up with a few different techniques for crossbow users, so after seeing Merlin’s super cool Sharpshooter template, found here, I had no choice but to write some power-ups for it.

Sharpshooter Power-Ups
Sharpshooter power-ups focus on precision and power.

  • Arm ST (Both Arms) up to 4 [5/level].
  • Enhanced Tracking (Multiple Lock-Ons, +20%) [6/level], with no upper limit.
  • Gizmos up to 6 [5/level].
  • Lifting ST up to +3 [3/level].
  • Telescopic Vision up to 6 [5/level].
  • Two-Weapon Fighting [6], for dual-wielding pistol crossbows.
  • The Crossbow Finesse perk (see GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks, p. 7).
  • The Flawless Fast-Draw perk (see Pyramid #3/61: Way of the Warrior, p.13).
  • Weapon Master (Crossbow) [20].
Overdraw

5 points

Prerequisites: Crossbow Finesse.

You can draw your bow to it’s limits, and beyond. Using overdraw adds +2 to damage, or +1/die, whichever is better, but it requires a roll against the bows HT (usually 12, but 10 for a cheap version, and 14 for a fine one), failure means the bow breaks. Repairing it will take 10 minutes and a successful Armoury (Missile Weapons) roll.

Perks: Unique Technique (Overdraw) [1].

Techniques: Overdraw (H) Crossbow-0 [4].


Under the Hood (Overdraw)
Overdraw is the simplest of the three power-ups.

Drawback: Chance of weapon breakage. This is the downside to using Overdraw. +1.
Extra Damage: +2 or +1/die. Here’s the upside. -4.

Penetrating Shot

20 points

Prerequisites: Weapon Master (Crossbow).

You fire a bolt so precisely that it cuts through armour and flesh (but not magical protection) with ease. Halve your foe’s natural DR, and the DR of his armor against this shot, this is a feat of precision, like targeting chinks in armor, you can’t do both. If the bolt isn’t stopped by the target, then it keeps going! Check for overpenetration (see B408), but halve the target’s effective cover DR. If the attack penetrates it may hit whoever’s behind them, make another skill roll at a range penalty based on the distance to the next target. You may hit up to two additional targets in this manner, however you can only claim the aim bonus against one of them, unless you have Enhanced Tracking.

Perks: Unique Technique (Penetrating Shot) [1].
Techniques: Penetrating Shot (H) Crossbow-0 [19].


Under the Hood (Penetrating Shot)
This technique is based heavily on Coup de Jarnac, with some tweaks to make it fit the concept.

Drawback: Limited target selection. All the targets selected must be in a straight line. +1.
Drawback: Successive attacks contingent on previous ones. If the bolt fails to penetrate, then it won’t hit any additional targets. +1.
Benefit: Effects natural DR. Lets the halved DR from targeting chinks effect natural DR. -1.
Benefit: Effects overpenetration. Lets the halved DR from targeting chinks effect overpenetration.-1.
Benefit: Fully bought off penalty. Allows us to fully buy off the penalty to target a hit location. -1.
Benefit: Stacks with other sources. Means that the armor divisor stacks with other sources. -1.
Hit Location: Chinks in armor. Halves the target’s armor against this attack. -10.
Rapid Strike. Lets us attack two additional targets at no penalty, normally this’d be -12, but Weapon Master halves it to -6.

Rapid Reload

10 points

Prerequisites: Heroic Crossbowman and Fast-Draw (Ammo) 16+.

You can reload a crossbow quickly. With a successful Fast-Draw (Ammo) roll you can reload a hand-drawn crossbow as a free action. This power-ups includes Quick Reload (Hand-Drawn Crossbow), don’t buy it separately.

Perks: Quick-Reload (Hand-Drawn Crossbow) [1]; Unique Technique (Rapid-Reload) [1].
Techniques: Rapid-Reload (H) Fast-Draw-0 [8].

Under the Hood (Rapid Reload)
I did something unconventional with Rapid Reload, I don’t advocate it in general, but I think it works fine in DF within predefined technique packages.

Benefit: Rapid Strike on a ready. This is to let us attempt a rapid strike to eliminate a ready maneuver, not something that’s normally allowed. -1.
Rapid Strike. This bit buys off the penalty to perform a rapid strike itself. -6.

Sharpshooter Perks

1 point/perk
Crossbow Safety
Prerequisites: Crossbow at 20+.

You can carry a drawn, loaded crossbow, without any risk of it going off at an unfortunate moment. This lets you ready a heavy crossbow out of combat time, then draw it in combat when the situation demands a little extra firepower.

Predictive Shot
Prerequisites: Crossbow 16+.

Through awareness of your target’s movements at the split-second before you pull the trigger, you can predict where he’ll attempt to dodge to. For each -2 to the roll to hit that you accept (down to a minimum effective skill of 10), your target gets -1 to his Dodge.

Quick Draw
This perk lets you purchase Fast-Draw (Crossbow), which extends the usual benefits of Fast-Draw to crossbows, i.e. with a successful roll you may produce any crossbow you have on your person as a free action. However, it grants no special ability to reload a crossbow quickly, for that see Rapid Reload, below.

Too Many Weapons
Prerequisites: An effective Lifting ST of 16+.

You can never have too many weapons, or at least that’s your motto. While every weapon you carry counts towards your encumbrance, you don’t have to worry about where you’re putting them, or whether they’re readily accessible, so you could carry as many as your Basic Lift will allow.

Posted in GURPS 101 and tagged , , , .

2 Comments

  1. Armor Divisor stacks with other sources is not a benefit – that's how GURPS works. They ALWAYS stack with other sources. If you have two "divide armor by two", then you divide armor by two, then two (total 4). If you have a "divide armor by two" and another "divide armor by three", you divide armor by a total of 6.
    Otherwise, really great looking!

  2. Yeah, that's a relic of trying to deconstruct the pricing of Coup de Jarnac. It's the only thing I could think of from the description that made the pricing make sense. Perhaps Breaking Blow and Chinks in Armor wouldn't normally stack? I'm not sure, but yes, feel free to remove that benefit and reduce the price accordingly for your games if you want to.

Leave a Reply