Had this situation happen to me in the last roleplay session and wondered if any GM's or Players had encountered it or had opinions on the rules.

Attaked a target in melee with lightning attack, and after wailing on it with my cc weapon I caused it to fall over making it prone via a crit resault, I then used my off-hand attack with my bolt pistol to finish it off but was told that I incured a penalty of -10 to hit due to the fact that the wording on the prone rules indicate it is hard to hit a prone target with ranged weapons. I understood that to be because they were a small target when firing at them at range, not when looming above them. I also thought that as I was using my pistol at part of my close combat routine, it wasn't really a ranged shot. However I was ruled against.

Anyone else encountered this, or had a differing opinion?

Just like to know how others are playing this. Thanks

Soloman said:

Sounds like the GM didn't really think too well about what the rules were supposed to be reflecting.

The big question is do you remain locked in melee if prone like that? Would your opponent be allowed a free attack if you backed away? If not in melee, perhaps you could suddenly justify getting the point blank bonus for range (but indeed suffer the target prone penalty).

Of course, this is all a thought experiment, I'm not certain how I would actually rule this.

I'd probably rule them to either be in or out of melee, at the choice of the person who wasn't prone. They can either take a step back and be disengaged and free to shoot, or stay standing above them and keep chopping!

Agreed.

I'd say if he wants to not be in melee anymore, he has Point Blank bonuses but can't have the free attack, whereas if he stays in melee, no bonuses but no maluses either...I can't see a guy missing that much when he's at worst one meter away from the guy...

Thanks all for the swift replies and the variety of views!

I'd say that the +10 modifier would apply to all rolls taken in melee (even BS tests for pistols), and the -10 modifier would apply to all rolls taken at range.

That seems to be what the game is suggesting - they just made the mistake of putting BS and WS, rather than ranged and melee.