Targeted Attack

This is a Technique.
Hard
Default: see below.
Prerequisite: Any shooting skill; special maximum.

Hits on “high-value” targets – face, chinks in armor, weapons, etc. – are effective fight-stoppers. Policemen often aim for the legs; special-ops soldiers, for the head; and cinematic gunfighters, for the opponent’s pistol. For each Targeted Attack (TA), the gunman must specify a shooting skill and a target. The target can be a hit location other than the torso (Eye, Face, Arm, etc.), chinks in armor at a specific hit location (Torso Chinks is valid, although the GM may rule that some armor isn’t vulnerable), or Weapon.

The shooting skill must cover firearms capable of attacking the selected target – a condition that most often affects attacks to the vitals, eye, or chinks in armor (see pp. B399-400). The default penalty equals the modifier to hit the target: -2 for Arm or Leg, -3 for Groin or Vitals, -4 for Hand or Foot, -5 for Face or Neck, -7 for Skull, or -9 for Eye. It’s -10 for chinks in armor on any of these locations (this replaces that location’s penalty), but only -8 for chinks in torso armor. Assume -4 for Weapon; use such a Targeted Attack normally for short swords, pistols, etc., but roll at +1 vs. large weapons (broadsword, rifle, etc.) and -1 vs. small ones (dagger, holdout pistol, etc.).

By improving Targeted Attack, the shooter can buy off up to half of his default penalty (round up). Write the Targeted Attack as “Targeted Attack (Specialty/Target).”