Can you fire semi-auto and full auto whilst in combat?

By Guardian Of Terra, in Dark Heresy Rules Questions

Hi, first time posting whoot

I'm playing a scum with two pistols (two-weapon wielder and gunslinger talents), however my GM is unsure whether I am able to fire on anything other mode than single shot whilst engaged in combat (by combat I mean directly engaged in melee by an opponent, say being attacked by an ork) as it is not covered in the rules

What do you guys think? Do you allow guns to be fired on semi and full auto while the user is engaged in combat?

Is.. is there something I'm missing?

Of course you can fire guns in semi- and full-auto in combat. When else and why else would you do it?

Is.. is there something I'm missing?

Of course you can fire guns in semi- and full-auto in combat. When else and why else would you do it?

Bear in mind, the OP actually means "in melee" when he writes "in combat", as explained by that part:

(by combat I mean directly engaged in melee by an opponent, say being attacked by an ork)

Is.. is there something I'm missing?

Of course you can fire guns in semi- and full-auto in combat. When else and why else would you do it?

Bear in mind, the OP actually means "in melee" when he writes "in combat", as explained by that part:

(by combat I mean directly engaged in melee by an opponent, say being attacked by an ork)

Anyway, there appears to be nothing in the rules for it, and the wording is not tied to any keywords like Standard Attack or otherwise; just attack.

I just glanced over it, though, so I might be wrong, but I am seeing nothing preventing you from taking any kind of attack you want, when engaged in Melee with Pistols.

That said, I saw this in the Errata that may be pertinent to the case:

In melee combat, the only ranged weapons you can use are pistols. Pistols used in melee still use Ballistic Skill, still count as ranged weapons, and cannot benefi t from any talents that are specifi cally

associated with melee weapons or melee attacks. A pistol wielded in melee does not get the +30 bonus for pointblank range. Point-blank, while stated as closer than 3 metres, does not apply to enemies with whom you are engaged in melee. Pistols with the Scatter quality fi red in melee count as being at Pointblank range, but do not recieve the +30 bonus to BS.

If you have the Two Weapon Wielder talent you can hold two weapons, one in each hand, and can make a single attack with each. This is a Full Action, and both attack rolls suffer a –20 penalty (your off-hand weapon does not suffer the normal –20 off-hand penalty on top of this).

It says nothing about whether you can use Semi- or Full-Auto, though. By RAW, I see no restrictions.

It was adressed by a rules question once, and the official ruling by the Devs was that no, you may onliy fire single-shots in melee.

This was a rule clarification that applied to DH, RT and DW, and was made before the release of BC,

This restriction has been lifted in later games, at least in Only War this restriction was dropped.

It was adressed by a rules question once, and the official ruling by the Devs was that no, you may onliy fire single-shots in melee.

This was a rule clarification that applied to DH, RT and DW, and was made before the release of BC,

This restriction has been lifted in later games, at least in Only War this restriction was dropped.

Thanks. I don't suppose you could dig up the rules question/answer?

It still pisses me off that they don't add the rules questions they've responded to or clarified to the supposedly "Living" Errata. It probably always will.

Beware -- do NOT import this rule into Deathwatch if you are using the book weapon stats. If you do, bolt pistols will be much better than chainswords.

EDIT: I mean the BC/OW rule. You've never been able to fire pistols SA or FA in melee in previous games.

Edited by bogi_khaosa

I think this was probably done to avoid dual-pistol wielding assissins from simply shredding any melee-assailant who charges into them. Dodge the charge, respond with dual Full Auto Bursts which will deal several hits of ouch.

I think the issue has beem reduced somewhat with the new hit-modifiers in BC/OW, and as such I feel that this "problem" is better solved by moving to OWs combat mechanics.

Huhm, weird. I was kinda sure that somewhere in the rules is written that only single-shot is possible im melee. Maybe only in the german version, i don't know. Can't find ich anywhere though... But somewhere i must have seen this!

No, it was never explicitly stated in the rulebook, which is why this later ruling made so much controversy.

I have would have no issue with the semi and full auto attacks as long as there are penalty for the attacks and the rounds that hit can do friends and foe equally. Because you are just pulling the trigger and spraying.

But then again I also can see using using Basic Weapons in Melee as well with penalties as well, spray and pray.

Edited by Angel of Death

If you can shoot pistols semi or full auto in melee, esepcially if you get a bonus to hit for doing so!, there is no point in most melee weapons. Other than never running out of ammo.

1d10+3 sword in melee, can hit once. Oh and it's primitive.

vs.

1d10+3 stub auto in melee, semi-auto, +10 to hit, can hit three times.

This is the real balance issue.

Note that BC and OIW both rework Primitive, remove benefits for semi and full auto, and make it much easier to get Swift and Lightning Attack, all of which alleviate this issue.

Edited by bogi_khaosa

Exactly!

Even an untrained adept can pick up an autopistol, and spray a full-auto-burst for a +20 hitroll. He might score a few hits if he's lucky, and all of the sudden he's outperforming the groups melee specialist.