[Tecumseh]

Last night I used the Blast Out of Hands called shot (SR5, p. 195) for the first time. (I am the GM.) Here is the text of the rule:

Blast out of Hands: You knock an item out of your target’s hand, but the target takes no damage. Attacks intended to disarm suffer the normal –4 dice pool modifier for Called Shots as well as any other situational modifiers that apply such as wounds, lighting, or range. The defender rolls as normal. The item can be sent flying, coming to a rest (net hits - 1) meters from the defender. The item should travel in a direction away from the shooter.

Some questions that arose:

• Does the firing mode matter? Does the negative modifier to dodge a burst apply to "dodging" a Blast Out of Hands action? I ruled that the dodge penalty from burst fire did apply.

• Is there any "soak" roll, or is simply connecting with a single net hit sufficient? If there's no soak role then the implication is that it's as easy to knock something out of the hand(s) of a Strength 10 troll as it is a Strength 1 elf. And should it matter if the item is held with one hand or two hands?

I improvised on the fly and gave the target in question (a Strength 10 troll) a Strength*2 roll to soak the damage code of the attack (12DV from an assault rifle, I ruled that AP was irrelevant). That seemed more fair than no soak roll at all, but even so the odds of success were very low: there's only a 1% chance of getting 12 hits on 20 dice, which basically means that it's all-but-impossible to soak for anyone but the strongest of the strong. Perhaps that's realistic, but is that good game balance?

Dropping a weapon - or having it blasted out of your hands - is inconvenient, but not catastrophic: for the most part you can remedy the situation with a Simple Action to pick the weapon back up.

Questions for the forum:
1) Does anyone else use this called shot?
2) If so, do you use the rule straight out of the book or do you modify it at all?
3) Do you find things to be balanced? Overwhelming? Underwhelming?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Probably of limited value if the GM lets you just shoot the gun in the first place via called shot.  A hunk of metal may have a decent barrier rating, but something that small and dependent on finely machined action to work surely has a tiny structure rating, especially in comparison to the soak pools and condition monitors of shadowrunners.  Plus a destroyed gun can't just be easily  picked up or re-readied.

[Reaver]

This is a question of kinetic energy, verses the strength of the defender.

a .44mag round (a good stand in for a SR heavy revolver) and a 5.56mm round (typical assault rifle) hit with around 1400 joules of energy.

Or roughly 1000 foot pounds of pressure.

****

I doubt a troll could hold onto an object when hit with that much energy at the speeds of a bullet for reaction time.
Of course, a 2 handed grip on something may prevent him from dropping it.. but that's your call, I would say my self a strength test would hold onto the item - which would also be next to impossible.

But other then that, If you remembered the -4 for the called shot, any lighting, distance, and wound modifiers then you're good.

Burst fire mods would help yes.
   

Generally speaking, when this type of thing happens in real life (there are you-tube videos of police snipers shooting guns out of suspect's hands) the weapon is usually destroyed by the impact... or at least rendered unfireable.... But SR doesn't really go that deep into damaged equipment that much.... Only really matrix damage and bricking - which can be fixed up fairly quickly.

And Really, how would you feel as a player if the GM shot up your guns every game (breaking them!) just cause he could

Yes, I've used it several times, both as a player and a GM... and it can add some really tense, dramatic scenes when used juuust right

[Tecumseh]

Thanks for the replies.

I was approach the question more from the standpoint of game balance. For example, right now the called shot is equally effective when using a hold-out pistol as when firing a sniper rifle because the weapon's damage code is irrelevant. Also irrelevant is what the target is holding or how they're holding it (e.g. one hand vs. two).

I think I like my improvised house rules that take the damage code of the weapon into account. And perhaps a soak roll is warranted too: Strength for something you're holding in one hand, Strength*2 for something you're holding in two. It still might be impossible to soak most of the time, but I think I like the slim chance better than the auto-fail.

[Michael Chandra]

So basically you want to make it a called-shot-with-max-dv-0-after-soak or something, with a special rule that you use a special kind of soak roll?

[kyoto kid]

...very useful option.  The "Chicago Kid" uses it, usually with her Ruger Warhawks loaded with EXEX handload. Being a Grade 7 Adept with Adept Centering she can get her full pool.

[Jayde Moon]

Gecko Gloves!  My wrists may be broken, but I still got my gun,  you fools!

[Michael Chandra]

Huh, there are called shots for hands and ankles, but not for wrists.

[Jayde Moon]

RAW!  No negative to my Automatics dice Pool!  Gecko gloves OP.

[Michael Chandra]

RAW!  No negative to my Automatics dice Pool!  Gecko gloves OP.

*Calls shot to the genitals instead*

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

I'm sure the avatar pic will be copied soon, but I figured this whole affair has become humorous enough to warrant commemoration.

I'm not sure if anyone "got" the Devil Rat LAV joke from my old avatar anyway.

[adzling]

how does he have the same name as Stainless?

this really is verging on performance art.

at least it's as annoying and self-righteous as most performance art.

har.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

how does he have the same name as Stainless?

Uppercase I vs lowercase l.  It's all in how you spell "Steel".

[adzling]

dang that is subtle.

odd that the forum permits "same name: different capitalization" as a unique user name.

[Michael Chandra]

dang that is subtle.

odd that the forum permits "same name: different capitalization" as a unique user name.

It's literally a different name though, different letter. Capital i vs lowercase L. AdzIing/Adzling.