I was rolling around some ideas in my head and wanted some input.
I want to make a gear boost or operative exploit (Feat maybe?) in order to increase the viability of long range sniping. Here are some ideas I've had:
Headshot: If the enemy is unaware of you, and you have a minute to line up the shot, increase critical threat range with sniper rifles to 15-20. This bonus can stack with Improved Consistent Sniper.
Alt: take a -8 to your attack roll with a sniper rifle. If you hit, you crit.
Consistent sniper: If the enemy is unaware of your location, and you have a minute to set up a shot, you may take 10 on the attack roll with a sniper rifle. This ability does not inform you of whether or not that will hit.
Improved consistent sniper: You may take 15 instead of 10 when using consistent sniper.
Silent sniper: If the enemy is unaware of your location, you may take a -4 on an attack roll. If you hit your target, enemies will have to take a DC 15 + 1.5x Weapon level perception check in order to hear the shot.
All these ideas are in their infancy, but I want to provide some advantages to the far off sniper viability.
Should the numbers be adjusted?
Should they be Gear Boosts vs op Exploit?
Let me know what you think.
I too am a bit underwhelmed by sniper rifles.
I'm leaning heavily on allowing sniper rifles to have a property that allows for a ranged Coup de Grace with common sense restrictions.
For instance, you can't Coup de Grace in combat. That shouldn't change. If you're sniper is sitting 1,000 ft out of range but the target is engaging in combat with your fellow players, don't allow them a chance to auto crit + death attack.
However, if the target is completely unaware of the sniper that is over 1,000 ft away and the sniper has set up with sneak etc... I think it is fair to consider said target "helpless".
At the end of the day, this is still a full action that cannot be performed in combat (or if the target gets into combat), target cannot be aware of the sniper (and this should have some latitude as to what this means - your mileage may vary), and may not even kill the target. The Coup de Grace is a critical damage effect that also has a Fortitude save of 10 + Level (or CR).
Buffing sniper rifles for the players also calls into question of what happens if an NPC uses it on said players. Even with just the base rules, there is nothing stopping an NPC from taking a shot with a sniper rifle and getting a critical hit... except for GM fiat that says that Natural 20 just didn't happen.
Buffing sniper rifles for the players also calls into question of what happens if an NPC uses it on said players. Even with just the base rules, there is nothing stopping an NPC from taking a shot with a sniper rifle and getting a critical hit... except for GM fiat that says that Natural 20 just didn't happen.
That was part of my idea behind putting it as a class specific thing as NPCs are built differently and wouldn't have access to the ability. Plus then you can limit the level they'd have access to it.
I do like the Coup De Grace idea. Heavy restrictions on when it can happen for sure.
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Before you add a bunch of house rules to Snipers, I think it's important to realize why they are like they are. It's not just because Devs didn't understand balance and damage curves - when you make long range Combat better than close range (equal or higher damage, no chance of attacking back) the optimal strategy becomes "let the sniper kill as many as they can every fight before we engage at normal range".
Fun for the sniper, less fun for the other players at the table or the GM who now has to balance around that.
Not sure I'd want to change sniper rifles at all. My Starfinder group was on the receiving end of a sniper before and it HURT!
But I might be willing to try it some time with a couple home rule tweaks -
All Sniper Rifles have the Unwieldy (they already have unwieldy) and Wounding property.
Feat - Req: BAB +5, Sniper Rifles. Effect: Sniper Rifles crit range is now expanded by +1. So if you crit on a natural 20 can now crit on a 19+.
Never mind, Nex, Nada, No! After thinking about it and if you give all Sniper Rifles a increased crit range with Wounding they can become crazy deadly and not balanced at all.
sure about that ? A feat that increases crit range is not as deadly as you think. I have done the calculations. Also a crits work differently so you have to be able to hit them as well, even if you threaten them-
Suitable buffs (thematically speaking) would be penetrating, line or wounding. But would it be balanced ? Also sniper rifles can already get the wounding feature via Fusions. Maybe something else would be more interesting.
As it is now, sniper rifles are little limited, their niche is the long range damage, but its very low compared to other options (granted these are at closer range). You can only ever shoot once per round with a Sniper rifle, that will contain the damage potential.
With that said I don't think wounding is a good addition on Sniper rifles. If you want it pay for it via fusions. Line and Penetrating is another issue though. With those you can create anti-materiel rifles.
Not sure I'd want to change sniper rifles at all. My Starfinder group was on the receiving end of a sniper before and it HURT!
That was part of the idea behind making the additional abilities dependent on PC builds instead of just on the Weapon class.
Peat wrote:
Before you add a bunch of house rules to Snipers, I think it's important to realize why they are like they are. It's not just because Devs didn't understand balance and damage curves - when you make long range Combat better than close range (equal or higher damage, no chance of attacking back) the optimal strategy becomes "let the sniper kill as many as they can every fight before we engage at normal range".
Fun for the sniper, less fun for the other players at the table or the GM who now has to balance around that.
This, in spades.If you want to see non-funded combat check out snipers in WoD with an ST that doesn't respond with massive cops whenever a sniper rifle is fired. Every potentially lethal encounter starts with 30 minutes playtime where the sniper gets into position and then takes all of the encounter spotlight.
The game isn't a solo stealth sniper fest.
I do agree with this and a healthy balance is appropriate. Do you think there's a way to meet in the middle? Do you think there's a way to make someone feel like they're playing a sniper while playing and having fun as a team?
Maybe:If you have visual on both a teammate and an enemy through a sniper scope and you have open comms with said teammate, your teammate gets a bonus on stealth checks against that enemy.
Remember that operatives of a sufficient level can add debilitating effects to sniper shots. Halving their speed and what have you can be a death sentence for melee characters.
Causing them to bleed out with a debilitating trick is also a common sniper trope if they have no way to heal themselves.
How many more enemies can the sniper take out while they scramble to save their crippled ally who is bleeding out, completely exposed out in the open?