There was an interesting discussion this week over on Mailanka’s Discord about gunslingers in Psi-Wars, resulting in a couple articles including one on gunslinger survivability in such games. One of the defense layers available to gunmen is cover, and thinking about using it in cinematic games inspired me to come up with the following tools of the trade.

The Power-Ups

Cover Mastery [5]

While in partial cover, your opponents are at -3 to shoot your partially exposed body parts instead of the usual -2. They are at no penalty to attack the fully exposed parts required for you to shoot, which are generally any arms and hands required to operate the weapon, plus your neck and head. You may also attain a better position by crouching or expending your step. This gives your attackers -4 to hit partially exposed parts, but you are at -2 to shoot back as well unless you brace your weapon against the cover and take an aimed attack . You also need to fully expose only your head and any hands required to operate the weapon.

When hidden behind total cover, you never get hit by overpenetrating shots. This stops working as soon as you expose yourself, even partially.

Finally, attackers are at -2 to shoot you if you’re adjacent to an ally and at least 1 yard further than the ally from your attacker. This penalty is not cumulative with the -4 penalty an attacker gets to shoot you if your ally is in the way. You also never get hit by stray shots if you are in the line of fire behind the intended target.

Statistics:

Barricade Tactics (TacShooting) [1], Cover Shooting [2], Live Cover [1], Flimsy Cover (GunFu) [1].

Covered Defense [12/level]

Each level of this advantage gives a +1 bonus to your Dodge score while you’re in cover. This extends to melee attacks as well! Most campaigns should limit this to 3 levels.

Statistics:

Enhanced Dodge (Accessibility, only while in cover, -20%) [12/level].

Eye for Cover [5]

Once per game session, you are entitled to a fortuitous piece of cover within the distance of a single Move maneuver that would otherwise not be there. The GM can refuse this if there should plausibly be no cover in the area (for example in a specifically prepared “killbox” you entered).

Statistics:

Serendipity (Aspected, only for finding cover, -70%).

Hunker Down [15]

While in cover, you may retreat without moving from your hex to dodge melee attacks from a single attacker, and you may dodge and drop against ranged attacks of a single attacker without actually dropping to the ground. If a dodge and drop into an adjacent hex would reduce damage to you from an explosion or get you out of an area effect attack, you get this bonus without dropping to the ground or moving from your hex. In addition, you never suffer from the effects of bad footing while in cover.

Statistics:

Enhanced Dodge 3 (Accessibility, only while in cover, -20%; Counts as a retreat, -50%) [14], Sure-Footed (Any kind of terrain while in cover) [1].

Seek Cover [2/level]

Each level of this advantage gives a +1 bonus to your Move score on any turn when you’re either entering or leaving cover. Most campaigns should limit this to 3 levels.

Statistics:

Increased Move (Accessibility, only on a turn entering or leaving cover, -60%) [2/level].

Bits and Pieces

Some other perks and techniques could be very useful to gunmen exploiting cover to its max:

• Battle Drills (TacShooting) – Useful for halving the penalty for shooting through friendly occupied hexes. If you also have Cover Mastery (or just Live Cover), the net result penalty is reduced by an additional 2 points.
• Bend The Bullet (GunFu) – Allows you to ignore the penalty for shooting at targets behind cover, perfectly fitting with the theme of knowing all of its ins and outs.  
• Cool Under Fire (GunFu, TacShooting) – Removes the -2 penalty to pop-up attacks but is included in Gunslinger.
• Entrench – See below.
• Ground Fighting (Martial Arts) – Shooting skills don’t suffer a penalty for attacking when lying on the ground, but many cover opportunities require taking such position and this technique could be used to offset the -3 penalty to defend in those cases. To compensate, buy it as an average technique, and base it either on a shooting skill or Acrobatics.
• Standard Operating Procedure (Back to the Wall) (GunFu, TacShooting)
• Standard Operating Procedure (Move Under cover) (TacShooting)

New Technique

Cover Shooting, Average

Prerequisite: any shooting skill
Default: prerequisite skill; cannot exceed prerequisite skill+2.

Offsets the penalty for shooting without bracing and aiming from medium or heavy cover (see Tactical Shooting p. 28).

New Perks

Entrench

You gain the following benefits while in cover:

• +3 to Will rolls against losing your aim when injured
• you don’t suffer from shock penalties on aimed shots
• when suffering knockback, you don’t get knocked back at all if you pass the DX roll to remain standing

Live Cover

Attackers are at -2 to shoot you if you’re adjacent to an ally and at least 1 yard further from your attacker than the ally. This penalty is not cumulative with the -4 penalty an attacker gets to shoot you if your ally is in the way. You also never get hit by stray shots if you are in the line of fire behind the intended target.

Conclusion

These features could be incorporated into several different gunfighting styles. I can imagine both a longer-ranged “sniping” style where the gunman takes a covered position and doesn’t leave it except to retreat, and a shorter-ranged one where the practitioner rapidly moves from cover to cover.

Eye for Cover could seem at a too deep discount since aspected Serendipity is generally published as -20% and double-aspected (which this would fit) as -40%. Yet 9 points seems too expensive to me because cover is generally plentiful in most environments, especially for cinematic shootists who are able to eke it out where normal men couldn’t, so it seemed more appropriate to price it the same as a Gizmo.