Precise shot in PSRPG

[Rocannon II]

I overheard a Venture Captain, running a mod, say that Precise Shot doesn't negate the cover provided by PC engaged in melee. I thought that was exactly what it did. Who is correct?

[Threeshades]

Precise shot eliminates the penalty to hit for shooting at someone in melee. But not any cover that a character engaged in melee with the target might provide by standing directly between the shooter and the target.

There is the penalty to hit the shooter takes for shooting into melee and the bonus to AC the target gets for having cover from a creature in the line of fire. Those are two different things. Your venture captain was correct.

Improved Precise Shot is needed to also eliminate the cover bonus.

[Rocannon II]

So, if a PC is shooting into melee without either feat, the penalty is -8?

-4 for just shooting into melee then Another -4 for trying not to hit your allies?
if i shoot into a fight between two parties I don't care about is the penalty just -4? or is the -8 to hit a SPECIFIC target in melee?

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

Rocannon II wrote:

So, if a PC is shooting into melee without either feat, the penalty is -8?

-4 for just shooting into melee then Another -4 for trying not to hit your allies?
if i shoot into a fight between two parties I don't care about is the penalty just -4? or is the -8 to hit a SPECIFIC target in melee?

Yes. Yes. -8. The -4 doesn't reflect that you are avoiding trying to hit a different target, but the increased difficulties in hitting what you're aiming for.

[Cwethan]

Though it's only an effective -8 if your shot actually traces a line through another creature.

Ally
Victim <- <- <- Archer

The ally's currently not giving cover, so precise shot is all that would be needed to avoid penalties.

Victim Ally <- <- Archer

The ally's giving cover, so even with precise shot they effectively have a -4 to hit.

[Threeshades]

The previous posters are a bit misleading.

Rocannon II wrote:

So, if a PC is shooting into melee without either feat, the penalty is -8?

-4 for just shooting into melee then Another -4 for trying not to hit your allies?
if i shoot into a fight between two parties I don't care about is the penalty just -4? or is the -8 to hit a SPECIFIC target in melee?

Effectively it comes to the same chance to hit as if you had a -8 penatly. But it's not actually a -8 penalty. What you actually get is the following

The shooter gets a -4 penalty for shooting into melee. The target gets a +4 bonus to AC for the shooter's ally standing in the way of the shot (if the ally is actually between the shooter in the target).

If the ally engaging the target in melee is off to the side, so you can clearly see your target, you only get the -4 to hit.

You can eliminate the -4 to hit with Precise Shot and the +4 AC with improved precise shot.