Some time back in Shadowrun Supplemental #12 an Adept power was introduced called Ricochet of Page 23.

Ricocheting was also discussed in the forum back in 2006 here, but as a regular skill and under SR3.

Seeing the Gunslinger Adept from Previews, this could make for an interesting add on to his repertoire, plus the magic aspect could make it a bit more feasible ( or as feasible as playing Cyclops with a pistol can get)

So going with the premise that it could be possible, let's see what can be done to bring it up to date....

Note: Any advice on tweaking this is welcome. Simply saying it can not work is not being helpful, we are trying to find something that COULD work, especially as we have a little adept magic helping it.

So we present for SR5 the Adept Power Ricochet 2.0

Cost: 1 PP

1)So what is the purpose?
To allow an adept with this ability to bounce their shot off one or more surfaces to hit a target.
Could be anything from an opponent hiding behind a dumpster to hitting a button situated on a wall perpendicular to the shooter and thus would not be normally targetable.

2) So what can we shoot with?
Can only be used for firearms firing in SS or SA mode using a Simple Action for the shot.
Only regular ammo can be used with this ability.
While bouncing shot from a shotgun is possible, it's a bit more random and outside of the remit of this ability.
Flechette’s low mass will not survive the bouncing, APDS are a souped up version of this and the end change in mass of the sabot after it discards it’s jacket again makes the skipping problematic .
Explosive , Ex-ex, gel , stick and shock and taser rounds are all unsuitable as they will go off/blowup/smear/discharge on the first ‘bounce’.

3) Now what can we bounce it off of?
For purposes of the ricochet to work, the object being used to bounce off must have a barrier Rating of at least 8. Originally it called for same value as DV, but in the interest of streamling this, a Barrier 8 should be sufficient for a skipping shot of this nature. So even if you are using a lighter pistol you still need a solid bankboard to bounce it off of.
SPECIAL: Due to the properties of water when struck by an object at high velocity, one can also ‘bounce’ a shot off the surface of water or similar liquid with GM’s permission.

4) How many surfaces can we bounce this shot off of?
Each ‘bounce’ will reduce the base DV of the shot by 2 and if the DV drops to 0, the bullet falls to earth, its energy spent. So if your using a Predator V with a base DV of 8, you could potentially bounce the shot 3 times and hit with DV2 remaining plus whatever extra hits the shooter can scrape together. Skill can increase the damage of the final hit, but it is the initial energy of the weapon that gets it there.
Attempting 4 bounces with this same weapon would have the bullet stop at the last bounce. (8 – (4 bounces * 2 dv/bounce) for a 0 DV) and fail to reach the target at all.

5) What kind of ‘bounce’ or skip can we do?
For simplicity we will use the law of reflection as a baseline with a tolerance of 30 degrees to either side, we can call this the cone of reflection. A straightedge and a triangle with a 30/60/90 triangle will help show in better detail, but you can pretty much eyeball this. Imagine a line running perpendicular from the surface (we will refer to this as ‘True’)
So if you shoot at a wall from a 45 degree angle from True, the bullet can bounce away as a baseline of 45 degrees on the other side of true with a cone of reflection of 30 degress to either so the exiting bullet may be travelling at 15 to 60 degrees from true.
In actually it probably should be tighter to 15 degrees but a 30 angle gives a little more playability and can be done pretty much by eye without getting into staggering amounts of calculations and breaking out the triangle, protractor and straightedge. Unless you like that kind of thing..
So what if you shoot perpendicular to the wall, ie 90 degrees flat on. That bullet will be coming back your way but with that same cone of reflection of 30 degrees to either side of true.
For example, you have chased some Halloweenies into a dead end alley and they are making their stand behind a dumpster near the end of the alley which ends in a solid brick wall (next time use gps and avoid those embarrassing escape snafus next time ....punks )
One could shoot past a dumpster , hitting the wall behind the Weenies and having it bounce back at at an angle toward their backsides for fun and mayhem if they were closer to the end of the dumpster and were within the cone of reflection.

If the punks are further to the side right along the walls of the alley you might have to do it with 2 bounces to get the angle to them. One off the side wall, then off back wall at greater angle.

6) Ok, so HOW do we do it?
Free action Called Shot (Ricochet) to set up the shot obviously. For every surface you plan to bounce off is a -2 penalty to your dice roll. Can be combined with the other types of called shots (ie, hitting a vulnerable spot, damage boost, shoot something from their hand), but keep in mind these additional effects and their penalties are cumulative and will add to the penalties making it that much harder.
Figure your projected path as above.
Take Aim is optional, but giving the penalties for the shot, this may be a very good idea.
Figure all your modifiers. In the example above you may be facing a -4 for those behind the dumpster if you can still figure roughly where they are behind the object, otherwise it will probably be -6 for the blind fire. Don’t forget the -2 for the Ricochet per surface used in the flight path plus any other applicable modifiers like visibility/damage/ etc..
Resolve the rest as normal, remember to use the now reduced DV of the weapon (Base DV - 2DV per bounce used) and you must still have a base of 1DV remaining after the bouncing for the shot to have enough energy to reach the target and hit.

That's the base bones, probably can be tweaked a bit to fit gameplay.

1PP cost is fair. You don't get very much of potential, it's mostly coolness and flavor.
Rules for indirect fire should be applicable.
Throwing Weapons should work, too.
You need to put this into about 10 lines of text

The PP cost is tricky as you do not get a lot, but it does add potential for special shots and character flavour.
True, now just gotta have the rigger give a video feed from a drone or something.
I left Throwing weapons out for now as I was not sure with the loss of energy with these sort of items. A bullet has low mass but very high velocity. Thrown items have more mass but lower velocity (unless you can throw a boomerang at Mach1), so the bounces would affect them differently. It could still be included, but would they lose their overall energy the same? Not sure if the reduction in DV maybe shouldn't be higher, say -3 or -4 per bounce with a thrown item or keep it simple with a single reduction rate.

Captain UCAS may have to wait a bit on those mad shield skills....

Well figured once we hammer out any bugs/arguments then we can make this into the polished final rule version, but yeah....sorry for the rambling layout.

I'd actually say that thrown weapons are more likely to bounce than bullets are. If you hurl a tomahawk, unless it lodges it will bounce. Same with a knife, a shuriken, et cetera.

That said, they do lose a lot of force in doing so, so maybe reduce the DV for thrown dependant on the number of bounces.

~Umi

We do have a reduction per bounce in place for bullets at -2 DV per bounce.

Do you feel this would be fair using the same reduction for these thrown weapon or should it be more?

A few Ideas to bounce off the "ricochet" adept power.

Introduce the "Skip Shot" Maneuver as a general mechanic. After a Simple Action: Aim a character may take a "skip shot" with a SS/SA Ranged Gun Attack. For a Modifier of either -2 or -4 on his attack roll the defender loses either his partial or full cover modifier (sort of "circumvent cover" instead of circumvent armor). The Bullet loses -2DV and is treated as a flechette round (Impact/ +5 AP) due to its unstable path. Skip Shot can only be attempted with regular or slug rounds, blind fire Modifiers may apply. GM is -as always- final arbiter of available surfaces for a ricochet or skip shot.

Skip Shot Adept Power .5PP/ Rating (max. 4 times). Each Rating in this Adept Power adds +1 to the Attack Roll for the Skip Shot and reduces the AP Modifier incurred by one (for a "magically" stabilized trajectory of the bullet).

Design Intent: IMO there should be a mechanic to achieve a similar result as a well trained or "lucky" mundane, but have the adept perform it at much more ease or reaching higher grades of success. More on the line of Great Leap not changing the jumping mechanic, but making the adept just that much better at it.
Simply for ease of use in actual combat (which can be easily bogged down by discussion/ calculation) I'd loose the trajectory or barrier rules.

or alternatively

Ricochet Adept Power 1PP. The Adept displays an uncanny ability to influence the trajectory of a ranged weapons. Against an Adept with the Ricochet Power all Cover Modifiers are halved for dodging ranged attack. In addition to that he only needs a Free Action: Aim Ricochet to let bullets or thrown weapons bounce arround corners. The Adept needs to have at least a general idea of where his traget may be, Blind Fire modifiers apply. Rules for indirect fire (which I do not know) may apply and benefit further.

Design Intent: Opening the power up to mystic archer or throwing weapons builds (up to that guy with a magical knack for artillery) and introducing a more "Wanted" style of gun fu. IMO the two alternatives may not even contradict each other, while the second one still needs some polishing for indirect fire.

hope there is something in it.

love,
Sunshine

The Skip Shot maneuver could be nice add on for mundane and adept, just figured from the arguments back in '06 it would be an easier sell as a mystical ability.

I had reductions per 'bounce' as there would be time a multibounce would be needed. Maybe mundanes can only do a single bounce while an adept could pull off more.

As for treating as flechette round, we are looking toward SR5 in mind for this and I thought armor was all one type now instead of the old ballistic/impact style. I forgot to factor in AP in this, as your losing power so too would you lose AP, so maybe -2DV and +1AP per bounce would be in order.

I would have to keep the Barrier 8 (or knock it down to 6 MINIMUM) requirement as we need a fairly hard surface to skip off of. Too soft and it will break through (aka trying to skipoff a normal glass window and having it just shatter without bounce) or deflect differently (shooting off a tree, the wood deflects but not to the same degree). Water/heavy liquids would be the exception as its rating is sort of against how fast you are going...


It is cleaner and more elegant in a way, but does the shot still lose DV in this method or does the mystic boost keep it on level?

I used the just made up skip shot rules as a premise. If you go for the "bounces" I'd say 1 bonce to circumvent partial cover, 2 bounces to circumvent full cover and I would allow it for mundanes too (just because I think its a cool stunt, no other reason). The reason I didn't go for a -2 per bounce was purely out of "laziness" not wanting another step to calculate changes, but I see it can figure in just fine. And yes I think I would make the Adept power a prerequisite for "Multibounce", so mundances could only circumvent partial cover or reduce full cover, while an adept with say 4 levels in "skip shot" could shoot a guy standing behind him by sending the bullet arround the room.



I don't know enough about 5th Edition DV flechette rules. Id increase the AP to at lest +2 per bounce as the "projectile" would still lose a lot of momentum and the Adept while still have more controll via the power yet has still a "price" to pay in relation to just shooting directly.


I am not doubting the reasoning behind a barrier rule, I'd just handwave it for "lazyness". Going arround the room to set up (and mybe have to discuss) barrier ratings a character might ricochet a shot from is just another thing to bog down combat.


I'd say yes and I'd apply the AP +2 rule as well. I would also not change that if an arrow, bolt or throwing knife is used, though for some that might stress the suspension of misbelieve it IS a magical power after all.

I am in my reasoning coming from SR4 right now as I haven't had any experience with the "feel" of SR5 yet and any influence on gameplay and balance any of these mechanics might have. And I am a lazy GM in terms of mechanics applied, therefor I am always searching for a simple mechanic along the lines of things that are there already.

In terms of inspired imagination I can envision really cool tag team actions comming from this like one guy throwing a knife into a tree just to have the gun adept ricochetting a bullet of the knife or using the barrier spell of the mage to skip a shot off of it, etc.

love,
Sunshine

Now for the sixty-four million nuyen question: what wireless bonuses does it get?

Heh.

Well played.