New Combat Action: Torrent of Fire (or, "Hail Mary")

By Alekzanter, in Black Crusade

Whether they be Acolytes attempting to flush nefarious conspiracies from the Underhive, the fortune-seeking Rogue Trader and his/her retinue of trusted officers and savants dealing with resistant or hostile natives, a cadre of Deathwatch Space Marines procuring some long-lost relic from a Genestealer-infested Hulk, or a motley band of Renegades and Apostates attempting to kidnap the effeminate prince of some posh planetary Lord, there are times when PCs will , at times, find themselves in an unforeseen circumstance where their resources are nearly depleted and they are grossly outnumbered.

Combat Action: Torrent of Fire (Full Action)- A PC may, if he/she possesses a fully loaded Basic or Heavy ranged weapon with the full-auto RoF, unleash an indiscriminate torrent of fire in an attempt to buy a few more precious seconds of life (much like that poor bastard with the mini-gun in Predator). In desperation, the PC may make one BS Test (per target) to hit any and all targets, friend or foe, within the Short Range of the weapon being fired. This BS Test is made with a -20 modifier, and cannot be used in conjunction with any form of sight/targeting device, nor may he/she use any of the Aim Actions. Starting with the closest target, the PC Tests vs. his/her BS; if a hit is indicated the DoS are calculated as normal, but the number of hits from this attack will be halved (rounded down) due to the frantic nature in which the PC is spraying bullets/slugs/shells about. The PC then moves on to the next closest target, and continues in this manner until A- all viable targets have been attacked, or B- the weapon expends it's ammo supply. In either case, after the Torrent of Fire Action has been taken, the weapon's clip has been fully expended, leaving a smoking, heat-ticking barrel. This Attack Action has the added (possible) benefit of causing pinning (see applicable Core Rules), but may only pin targets (again, friend or foe) withing range of the Torrent of Fire attack. Fate Points may be used (spent) to increase the DoS an any one successful hit, but as only one Fate Point may be spent per PC Turn, and the PC is essentially putting himself "out for the wolves", he/she may wish to save it for responding to/surviving the retaliatory actions of his/her victims (friends or foes). Righteous Fury/Zealous Hatred works as normal with this Attack Action.

Obviously, friendly PCs should rush to clear the effective range of this desperate attack before it begins...a sort of "Go on without me!" moment.

Addendum: In addition to the restrictions listed in Torrent of Fire, PCs do not receive bonus modifiers To Hit for range.

sweet rule, consider it used by me, by the way, how what if the gun can only fire semi auto, like a bolter, does that gun not qualify for torrent of fire actions, and do characters behind the player also get tested to be hit by the spray, even though he is not spinning around like a lunatic and shooting behind him, i think it should work like a flamer arc, where all the targets in that line get shot, or even a 180 degree line of sight, also, does the player get the +20 bonus for firing on full auto or if a semi auto weapon is allowed gain the +10 bonus for semi auto,

i really like this rule and will use it i just had these questions

also if it has to hit the closest targets first, then won't players more likely shoot thier allies behind them than the enemies they are shooting at?? i just feel like the players should have to deal with shooting allies but not neccesarily nothing else..