Just wondering if it's ok to split multiple melee attacks from the Swift Attack and Lightning Attack talents between multiple targets you are in melee range with?

It is entirely fine.

Hm, that made me think. Are there rules for how you declare and resolve multiple attacks? Do you declare all of them and then roll the attacks (so that you might waste attacks by using to much force on one target) or do you declare one, roll it and apply the effect, and then declare the next. In the second case you could attack one enemy until he dies and then switch to the next without loosing any attacks.

I am guess that its the first, thats how I would rule it if I had nothing more to go on at least since the second one seems to make full auto even more terrifying as you can maximize the effect of each shot, taking down a crowd without running the risk of doing to little or to much damage to any one target (assuming that the same rule would apply for declaring hits and rolling damage in full auto).

The first rule makes for faster play, the second one adds survivability to your players but slows the game down a bit.

@Honn

IMO...

-Lightning Attacks can be targeted one after the other

-Full Auto should be broadly announced before firing ("I shoot at that one guy/that group over there") and then be defined before rolling for damage ("out of my five hits, two go to the first, two to the second and one to the third guy").

Cifer said:

I can see your point here, Cifer, but the full-auto rules contradict that pretty clearly.

• Your extra hits can be either allocated to the original target or any other target within 2 meters (provided that the new target would not have been harder to hit). DH Core , page 190.

So, you actually would roll to resolve the attack and then allocate any extra hits. This does cause some complications with how the attack would interact with Dodges though... So probably a declaration of intent to hit more than one target with the attack might be a good idea.

-=Brother Praetus=-

The way I've handled multiple targets with SA/FA firing is as follows:

1. Select initial target, add up modifiers, roll to hit.
2. Determine total number of hits scored by DoS, Storm, etc.
3. Allocate 'hits' to various targets.
4. Target(s) roll Dodge or similar to determine 'actual' hits.
5. Work out results of actual hits.

I see this as no different to the way 1v1 combat works.
1. Select target, add up modifiers, roll to hit.
2. Determine total number of hits scored by DoS, Storm, etc.
3. Target rolls Dodge or similar to determine 'actual' hits.
4. Work out results of actual hits.

Just that in the first case, you have the option of allocating multiple hits elsewhere. In a 1v1 fight, I consider it the same steps, just with the allocation a moot point, unless the player wanted to shoot some inanimate object with some of his 'spare' shots ("I put 3 rounds into the guardsman, and 1 into the prometheum tank behind him" etc).

With the melee attacks, however, I believe that since they are seperate attacks which follow after each other (owing to the fact each can only be ignored by an individual Dodge/Parry/other), you have time to switch targets between individual attacks. It's not one attack which causes multiple hits, it's two/three separate attacks, which are resolved subsequently.

As a matter of interest, how does attacking multiple targets with dual-wielded pistols work in comparison to this?

Hm, your way of doing things sounds very logical and streamlined Hobo Hunter. Don't really know about the dual-pistol question. I guess it is in one way like when making for then one melee attacks, since its clearly different attacks from each pistol. So that would be one full out resolved all the way, and then another one coming after that.

I do the same as you hobo, it's the only sane way to handle it.

Just something that's come up recently in a game I played: With Assassin Strike, can a person make one hit of their "Swift/Lightning Attack", then move (if they make their acrobatics test) and move to attack another target with their second (and third) strike?

borithan said:

Possibly. There was a discussion here in the subforum some short time ago (I think mid-August through early September) along the same lines. I don't think anything definitive was come to. Maybe shoot Mack a question via the | Rules Questions | link at the bottom of the page. See what the official word is.

-=Brother Praetus=-

borithan said:

I would allow it, but make them declare all their targets before making any rolls. If they fail an acrobatics test, then they lose the attacks that they planed to follow it.

The Hobo Hunter said:

Dual-weilded pistols are no different. Unless you have the talent Independant Targeting you have a restriction on how far apart the targets can be.

Brother Praetus said:

C. just told me it is allowed in Deathwatch, but only one Assasins Strike per turn.