Size and Speed/Range

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The main use for this table is ranged combat, but the GM can also use it for Sense rolls and other success rolls that size, speed, or range might believably affect.

This table uses the same progression for size as it does for the sum of speed and range, but the modifiers for size have the opposite sign from those for speed/range: large size give a bonus, while large speed and range give a penalty. Thus, if a target is twice as big but also twice as far away and twice as fast, the net modifier to hit stays the same.

The larger the target, the easier it is to hit. The modifier to hit an object due to its size is its “Size Modifier” (SM). Humans have SM 0. Objects larger than man-sized give a bonus to hit, while smaller objects give a penalty.

The statistics for most nonhuman races, vehicles, etc. include SM. You can find the SM of other things using the table. Simply look up the being or object’s longest dimension (e.g., height, for a humanoid) in the “Linear Measurement” column, and then read across to the “Size” column to find SM. If size falls between two values, base SM on the next-highest size.

Box-, sphere-, or blob-shaped objects or characters add +2 to SM; elongated boxes, like most ground vehicles, add +1. If an object is much smaller in two of three dimensions (e.g., a steel cable 100 yards long but only 2” thick), use the smallest dimension instead of the largest. Examples: A giant whose longest dimension is 4 yards has SM +2. A car with the same dimensions would have SM +3. A building 4 yards across would have SM +4.

In most combat between fighters on foot, and when attacking inanimate objects, you can ignore speed. Simply look up range in yards in the “Linear Measurement” column, and then read across to the “Speed/Range” column to find the speed/range modifier. If the range falls between two values, use the higher; e.g., treat 8 yards as 10 yards.

Note that there is no modifier at ranges of 2 yards or less – shooting a close target is no easier (and no harder) than attacking it in melee combat! But for fast targets – including anything that requires the High-Speed Movement rules (p. 394) – the GM may rule that speed is important enough to consider. In that case, add speed in yards/second (2 mph = 1 yard/second) to range before looking it up in the “Linear Measurement” column.

Examples: A man 8 yards away is -4 to hit. A motorcycle rider 40 yards away, traveling at 30 yards/second (60 mph), has a speed/range of 40 + 30 = 70 yards, which gives -9 to hit. A missile passing within 5 yards while moving 1,000 yards/second has a speed/range of 5 + 1,000 = 1,005 yards, for -17 to hit.

Continue this progression indefinitely, with each 10¥ increase in linear measurement giving +6 to SM or -6 to speed/range modifier.

Example: Erin the archer shoots at a dragon. It is 40 yards away and flying at Move 15 (30 mph): 40 + 15 = 55 yards. Erin rounds up to 70 yards, for a speed/range modifier of -9. The dragon is 6 yards long, which rounds up to 7 yards, for SM +3. Erin’s final modifier to hit is -6.