I'm looking, but having a hard time finding a talent to mimic Point-Blank Shot from Pathfinder. Any suggestions? Right now I'm thinking about modifying Precise Archery unless someone has a better idea.

The feat from Pathfinder says, "You are especially accurate when making ranged attacks against close targets. Benefit: You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet."

Purchasing ranks in Ranged already lets you get better at any ranged check so a talent that makes you better at firing at short range seems silly, so instead what I want to do is mitigate the difficulty increase of shooting at an engaged opponent. This is what I'm thinking:

Quote

Point-Blank Shot

Tier: 3

Activation: Passive

Ranked: No

When making a Ranged combat check against a target you are engaged with, upgrade the ability of the check once.

I say "upgrade the ability" instead of "downgrade the difficulty" because firing at engaged targets doesn't upgrade but increases the difficulty (GCRB, pgs. 107-108). This way, the character has a higher chance of success, but the difficulty of their circumstances doesn't magically change. Thoughts?

Edge of the Empire has a talent called Point Blank that could potentially work:

Point Blank
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
The character adds one damage per rank of Point Blank to one hit of successful Ranged (Heavy) or Ranged (Light) attacks made while at short or engaged.

For the two trees it appeared in, it was a tier 2 talent.

If you would rather go with changing the dice pool, I would suggest a boost die over upgrading. Upgrading seems just a hair too powerful for something that isn't once per encounter.

@kaosoe thanks for the feedback! I agree about the boost die being more appropriate for something like this. I was on the fence because hypothetically it's a situation that a ranged character will be trying hard to avoid. I hadn't thought of making it ranked talent, though. That makes it potentially better than an upgrade, but only if the player is willing to invest the XP. I think you have solved my problem! ?

Quote

Point-Blank Shot
Activation: Passive
Ranked  : Yes 
The character adds one per rank of Point-Blank Shot to Ranged (Heavy) or Ran  ged (Light) attacks made while at sho  rt or engage  d.

3

I think the EotE talent works fine, but for Genesys, it would be a Tier 1 ranked talent.

Point Blank is an excellent talent, although Tier 1 for it could get a bit out of hand on a Heavy weapon, especially with Auto fire. 75xp for +5 damage is really tempting when hitting at Short range is so easy. Sure you are range limited, but firing st Short happens a lot. A munchkin could get really over the top with it too since ranks are not capped.

Thank you guys for your input! I really appreciate the help.

@GM Hooly , I like the EotE talent as well, but I'm working on converting an adventure path (Wrath of the Righteous) for Pathfinder, where Point-Blank gives +1 to hit and to damage. I prefer the boost over the added damage since it helps increase the likelihood of success while potentially increasing damage, and I think that maintains the spirit of Pathfinder without sacrificing Genesys mechanics.

@Richardbuxton , I think I'm going to keep it at Tier 2 for now, if only to make sure I don't have somebody scrounging for 5 boost dice! I might even just forgo the ranks and create an improved version. 2 boost anytime you fire at short is nothing to sneeze at, especially if your character is already focused on Ranged combat and buying skill ranks.

Pathfinder -> GeneSys is not a direct translation. Just be careful. All of the FFG Talents have been heavily playtested - although some slip through the cracks.

If you Play GeneSys the way it’s meant to be played, Boosts are easy to come by. Beware of balance.

Secondly adding boost additionally adds potential for Advantage which can create and then bolster crits, and therefore insta-kills.

I don't know much about Pathfinder, but in the Star Wars game (and I think it was converted in Genesys Talents Expanded) there is a talent called Dynamic Fire:

"When making a ranged attack while engaged with an opponent, the character may suffer 2 strain to reduce the ranged modifier added for being engaged by 1 for the attack. So, when firing a Ranged (Heavy) weapon, the character only increases the difficulty by 1 when engaged, and when firing a Ranged (Light) weapon, he doesn't increase the difficulty at all."

10 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

Point Blank is an excellent talent, although Tier 1 for it could get a bit out of hand on a Heavy weapon, especially with Auto fire. 75xp for +5 damage is really tempting when hitting at Short range is so easy. Sure you are range limited, but firing st Short happens a lot. A munchkin could get really over the top with it too since ranks are not capped.

Maybe, but there are worse talents out there. If someone wants to go crazy with that, so be it.

On 10/27/2018 at 6:41 AM, kaosoe said:

Point Blank
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
The character adds one damage per rank of Point Blank to one hit of successful Ranged (Heavy) or Ranged (Light) attacks made while at short or engaged.

For the two trees it appeared in, it was a tier 2 talent.

Point Blank is also published in Talents Expanded (4.2.1) for Genesys as a Tier 3 talent. As is Dynamic Fire as a Tier 2 talent. I would just use those in lieu of inventing new talents.

19 hours ago, lbwoodard said:

@kaosoe thanks for the feedback! I agree about the boost die being more appropriate for something like this. I was on the fence because hypothetically it's a situation that a ranged character will be trying hard to avoid. I hadn't thought of making it ranked talent, though. That makes it potentially better than an upgrade, but only if the player is willing to invest the XP. I think you have solved my problem! ?

I’d keep it to engaged just to limit its use, especially at tier 1.

The amount of feedback I've gotten on this has been amazing! I love this community. ? Thank you, everybody!

@Klort thanks for bringing Dynamic Fire to my attention! I'll have to mull that over. As @GM Hooly alluded to, there are some potential power/balance issues with what I have right now. I like the idea of adding a strain cost to the talent. It makes so much narrative sense (a ranged fighter in melee is likely to feel a bit stressed)! I may wind up making what I have an NPC ability and use Dynamic Fire and Point Blank from Talents Expanded as @Cantriped suggests.

Again, thank you, everyone. It feels so great to be given world-class help from people who are polite, respectful, and earnestly want to make sure players and GMs alike are able to enjoy the heck out of their games. Y'all are the best!