[Plane]

Hey DC, was wondering re Pyramid 3/77 On Target with "Ranged Attack Maneuvers" on pg 26.

You introduced "Committed Attack (Ranged)" to compliment "Committed Aim" from previous page.

Had you toyed with the ideas of "Defensive Attack (Ranged)" or "Defensive Aim" ?

MA100 had "If he attempts to grab or grapple, his target gets +1 to defend." since the damage penalty couldn't apply to grapples... though I'm thinking this is no longer the case as of Technical Grappling since now Control Points exist to penalize (TG21 says this, and doesn't reprint the +1 to defend)

Penalizing damage would probably make sense if the ranged weapon was thrown (and MAYBE bows?) but not so much for fixed devices like crossbows, guns, throwing fireballs, etc. So do you think if this was allowed, then using a +1 to target's defenses (like MA100 treated pre-TG grapples) would be the best solution?

Penalizing damage also wouldn't make sense for aiming too, of course... but a bonus to defences would only make sense if you allowed active defences in response to being aimed at for the purpose of spoiling it.

Aside from that, can you think of any other possibility for a Defensive Aim?

Given that the worse of -1/die or -2 is +4 to technique (and the better of +1/die or +2 is -4) on MA90, I was thinking perhaps allowing players the option of taking -4 to skill on their aim INSTEAD of the damage penalty (even for normal HTH combat) to get the +1 to active defenses would be an appropriate alternative.

MA91 actually only lists +1 to all enemy's defenses as only work +2 to skill, meaning that "Defensive Grapple" was probably a little too awesome on MA100, seems like it ought to have been +2 to enemy's defences to match the technique pricing system.