Alright, so most of my PCs are only armed with little blaster pistols and one has a slugthrower sniper rifle. The problem I've run into is with ranged combat difficulty checks. In the last campaign I made a judgment call that a weapon could be used to fire at a target beyond its designed range, but with upgraded difficulty based on the difference. Now we have a character sniping and buying talents to increase weapon range bands, I.e. Sniper Shot, and feels like the talent and his skill set is undervalued.

So, where in the CRB do I find info on using weapons beyond their designed range capability? Do they just not work? Like a 9mm can't really make a precise shot beyond its design specifications, but a really skilled shooter would be capable of making it work.

The only way to fire beyond what the weapon lists is with Sniper Shot. Your house ruling effectively gives that option to everyone, so it's going to devalue a character that paid XP for that ability. In this case, I would suggest revoking your house rule.

HappyDaze has the right of it. Creating a house rule that a talent/feat would effectively allow you to do is an easy trap to fall into. It's the careful dance that GMs do when we come up with those rules.

If you want to allow players to shoot beyond their effective range, I suggest you modify your house rule to also make the player flip a light side destiny point and burn some strain as well and only allow them to shoot one range band beyond the weapon's maximum. This would mean the PC with sniper shot wouldn't have to exhaust any resources in order to do the same thing.

Closing distance isn't a big deal either, a player with a medium range weapon can move from long to medium with a maneuver and then be in range to fire.

Closing distance isn't a big deal either, a player with a medium range weapon can move from long to medium with a maneuver and then be in range to fire.

Doesn't that require 2 maneuvers?

Closing distance isn't a big deal either, a player with a medium range weapon can move from long to medium with a maneuver and then be in range to fire.

Doesn't that require 2 maneuvers?

Correct it is two maneuvers. I was just pointing out that using a 'Maneuver' in general would allow a player to move into range from long. I should have written it with an 'S'

The only way to fire beyond what the weapon lists is with Sniper Shot. Your house ruling effectively gives that option to everyone, so it's going to devalue a character that paid XP for that ability. In this case, I would suggest revoking your house rule.

HappyDaze has the right of it. Creating a house rule that a talent/feat would effectively allow you to do is an easy trap to fall into. It's the careful dance that GMs do when we come up with those rules.

If you want to allow players to shoot beyond their effective range, I suggest you modify your house rule to also make the player flip a light side destiny point and burn some strain as well and only allow them to shoot one range band beyond the weapon's maximum. This would mean the PC with sniper shot wouldn't have to exhaust any resources in order to do the same thing.

My exact thoughts. Thanks for helping me with this! I think I'll modify the rule or just revoke it like suggested. It only makes sense. I feel that anything undermining a PC's talent should be eliminated when possible in order to give players more power. Also, what encumbrances are given to vehicles or large vehicular weapons? Say if they are loaded onto a ship.

Thanks for helping me with this! I think I'll modify the rule or just revoke it like suggested. It only makes sense. I feel that anything undermining a PC's talent should be eliminated when possible in order to give players more power. Also, what encumbrances are given to vehicles or large vehicular weapons? Say if they are loaded onto a ship.

Don't worry. I'm pretty sure every GM has, at some point or another, made a ruling and then had to reverse it afterwards. I'm sure your players will understand once you explain the reasoning behind the reversal.

As for encumbrance: there's no real magic formula to use, so you kind of just need to use GM judgment. Most ships in the Star Wars universe have decent deck plans available online, and even if they don't, Wookieepedia will at least list the overall size of the vessel.

For the sort of thing you're looking for, I'd worry more about the size and shape of what's being hauled around and where/whether it would fit more than straight-up weight.

Thanks for helping me with this! I think I'll modify the rule or just revoke it like suggested. It only makes sense. I feel that anything undermining a PC's talent should be eliminated when possible in order to give players more power. Also, what encumbrances are given to vehicles or large vehicular weapons? Say if they are loaded onto a ship.

Don't worry. I'm pretty sure every GM has, at some point or another, made a ruling and then had to reverse it afterwards. I'm sure your players will understand once you explain the reasoning behind the reversal.

As for encumbrance: there's no real magic formula to use, so you kind of just need to use GM judgment. Most ships in the Star Wars universe have decent deck plans available online, and even if they don't, Wookieepedia will at least list the overall size of the vessel.

For the sort of thing you're looking for, I'd worry more about the size and shape of what's being hauled around and where/whether it would fit more than straight-up weight.

Yeah, wasn't so much worried about weight circumstances as trying to see if any other GM's have a formula made for encumbrance of speeder bikes and crates and all. I think I will just baseline something reasonable for the speeders and anything else they decide to try and take from Cholganna.

So, where in the CRB do I find info on using weapons beyond their designed range capability? Do they just not work? Like a 9mm can't really make a precise shot beyond its design specifications, but a really skilled shooter would be capable of making it work.

You answered your own question here, btw. The skilled shooter has the talent - that's part of what makes them skilled.

Thanks for helping me with this! I think I'll modify the rule or just revoke it like suggested. It only makes sense. I feel that anything undermining a PC's talent should be eliminated when possible in order to give players more power. Also, what encumbrances are given to vehicles or large vehicular weapons? Say if they are loaded onto a ship.

Don't worry. I'm pretty sure every GM has, at some point or another, made a ruling and then had to reverse it afterwards. I'm sure your players will understand once you explain the reasoning behind the reversal.

As for encumbrance: there's no real magic formula to use, so you kind of just need to use GM judgment. Most ships in the Star Wars universe have decent deck plans available online, and even if they don't, Wookieepedia will at least list the overall size of the vessel.

For the sort of thing you're looking for, I'd worry more about the size and shape of what's being hauled around and where/whether it would fit more than straight-up weight.

Yeah, wasn't so much worried about weight circumstances as trying to see if any other GM's have a formula made for encumbrance of speeder bikes and crates and all. I think I will just baseline something reasonable for the speeders and anything else they decide to try and take from Cholganna.

Considerations of space and weight are theoretically combined in encumbrance. There are several threads that have been made on this topic, with various ways to look at the problem (use the forum search). My personal method is 5^(silhouette) encumbrance for vehicles. So speeder bikes are on the order of 25, starfighters are on the order of 125, etc., with adjustments made for model, design, etc.

Also remember that it's not just the weight/encumbrance, but how you position/stack things in the hold. So the swoop might take up more space because nothing can be stacked on it, or it needs a clear path out of the hold, etc.