[Meta-Tech] Cosmic, Chaining

[Kallatari]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Your proposed method can work for a randomly-chaining attack, but I get the feeling the proposed modifier is one where the character controls who each strike targets, like with Captain America throwing his shield (although I'm more inclined to just make that a special case of Rapid Strike, personally*).

*This in turn suggests an alternative to the above - I'd eyeball it at +20% and say it allows you to use Rapid Strike with an RoF 1 ranged attack as though it were a melee attack (normally you can only Rapid Strike up to the maximum RoF for a ranged attack). A version that is fluffed as bouncing between targets would be the same cost - it would gain the ability to potentially get around cover but would end prematurely upon the first miss or successful defense.

You are correct that my method was about a random chain. I had not considered intentional targets before, and thinking about it now, I agree with you, modelling it after a Rapid Strike is likely a good way to do it.

Just brainstorming here, as I haven't fully thought this one through, but what about also applying or somehow incorporating Ricochet +10% to that. Ricochet lets you pick the path, range modifiers is calculated according to the path, with an additional -2 per bounce, and the target's defense modifier is based on where the final attack comes from.

Then we need this:

Cosmic: Rapid Strike Ricochet, +50%; if you hit your target, you do damage normally, and it can keep bouncing along your path to another target, which requires another hit roll, but previously distance still applies, as do previous -2 per bounce - and treating any previous target as a bounce - and then you roll again to hit the next target, with the Rapid Strike penalties of -6 per additional target (or -3 if you have an appropriate Weapon Master/Gunslinger/Spellslinger etc. trait).

You'd need a really high skill to hit multiple targets, but it may seem balanced... you don't have to bounce along multiple walls to get behind a target, and it will make you prefer targets that are close to each other.

Anyway, as I said, just a thought that came through my mind.