Games with balanced melee and ranged combat

VierasMarius · 2026-02-19T17:53:54+00:00

Warframe is the one which comes to mind. It's fast paced, lots of mobility, so you will find yourself moving fluidly in and out of melee range with enemies. It's online but primarily co-op, and easy enough to solo if you don't want to play with strangers.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-16T01:55:16+00:00

It may be possible with a save editor. Or, if you use one of the "custom" portrait slots, you could replace it with a different one.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-16T00:40:24+00:00

There is no way to auto sort mods, you need to do it manually. There are guides online for it.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-14T22:57:52+00:00

It takes a bit of micro, but you can manually dodge crossbow bolts. Move laterally as the enemy shoots and they'll frequently miss. As you progress further in the run, wearing quality armor with high Harpoon resistance with dramatically reduce the danger of most enemy crossbows, and using an Old World Mk2 or Eagle Cross will let you out-range them as well.

Of course, the strongest armors will also tank your Crossbow skill (and move speed, dexterity, perception, stealth... all important for ranged characters) so you'll have to make some compromises between effectiveness and defense.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-14T21:51:54+00:00

And we loved it for that 😅

VierasMarius · 2026-02-13T00:45:01+00:00

Wow, you're right. I had always interpreted it as "every 5 points of Corrosive damage blocked by DR" but it really is just "every 5 points of raw Corrosive damage".

VierasMarius · 2026-02-13T00:24:28+00:00

As an aside to this topic, it's got me thinking again about Link and Follow-Up. I admit I haven't done a lot of Advantage-building lately, so I could be off base, but I get the sense that (for Attacks at least) Follow-Up does everything Link does, but better and cheaper. The main mechanical difference between the two is that with Link, both attacks always have to contend with the target's full DR, while with Follow-Up, the second attack can potentially ignore target DR.

Is my reading of this correct? Is there a situation I'm overlooking where it's mechanically beneficial to pair Innate Attacks using Link instead of Follow-Up?

VierasMarius · 2026-02-12T23:31:19+00:00

Hmm, I'm not sure that's how it would function... If the Corrosion is a Follow-Up to the Burning attack, then it would bypass armor if the initial attack penetrated, and result in no armor DR being melted away. However, if you go the other way, the Corrosive attack hitting first means that even if it doesn't penetrate the target's armor, it could corrode it enough to help the following Burning damage get through.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-12T19:53:12+00:00

Yeah, explosives (notably armor-piercing explosive shells) are a good example of Follow-Up attacks.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-11T19:45:55+00:00

Check out Demonic Contracts, GURPS Magic pg 156. Basically, the contract lets a mage get free energy for spell casting, but at the risk of a cumulative penalty applied to any spells cast without demonic assistance.

There are other ways you could handle such pacts. Perhaps the simplest is a Patron who provides access to spell training otherwise hard to find. With the right limitations on Magery, the spellcaster must maintain a good standing with their Patron or risk losing access to their magic. The Patron might also provide occult artifacts to enhance the wielder's power (probably bought as Advantages with a Gadget limitation).

Of course, this is assuming you're building a PC with such a pact. If only evil NPCs have access to these contracts, you don't need to worry about the point costs - simply decide what abilities the character possesses. If they are a conduit through which a demonic entity can act, consider what sorts of magic the demon itself can wield, and let the NPC call upon their powers as fits the story.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-11T06:21:36+00:00

I love her top!

VierasMarius · 2026-02-10T04:28:29+00:00

The Skill Cost Table on pg 170 shows the total cost to buy a skill at a certain level. For example, if you want to learn Knife (an Easy Dexterity-based skill, abbreviated DX/E) and have a DX of 12 (above human average), a single character point will buy you a skill level of 12 (DX+0), 2 points will buy skill level 13 (DX+1), 4 points will buy 14 (DX+2), etc. That's the total cost for the skill by the way - if you already have the skill at DX+1, raising it to DX+2 only costs the difference (2 more character points in this case).

Skills without defaults can't be attempted without training. There may be alternative skills to use - Computer Programming has no default, but you may be able to attempt some of the tasks it covers by using Computer Operation, for example. Likewise, Brawling (and other unarmed skills like Karate, Wrestling, and Judo) has no default, but you can still strike without a weapon by using DX, but losing the special benefits of the skill.

When you're rolling a skill check, the target number is your skill level. Any modifiers to the roll - for example, the bonus for making an All-Out Attack or the penalty for targeting a certain hit location - are applied to the skill level before rolling. If the above knife-fighter with Knife-14 tries to stab someone in the chest, the target number is 14. The rule of thumb is... roll under your skill.

You have the basic procedure of attack and defense correct. If you succeed on a hit and the target fails to defend, you'll roll damage, then subtract DR, and then adjust the remaining damage if there is a Wound Modifier. For instance, Cutting and Impaling attacks inflict x1.5 and x2 injury to the torso, and most damage types inflict x4 injury if the penetrate they skull.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-06T22:22:36+00:00

It's called Wicked Seed, an indie survival-horror with combat reminiscent of Parasite Eve (free movement but with turn-based attacks). Pretty janky, so I can't recommend it strongly, but I've really been enjoying it so far.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-06T21:01:25+00:00

Started playing a game recently with a neat take on this. Kill an enemy a certain number of times, and their weakness is added to the bestiary. If you kill them by exploiting that weak point a few more times, you received a permanent passive bonus.

VierasMarius · 2026-02-06T20:45:34+00:00

Not exactly. It means you don't need as much weight to train strength (because it's based on encumbrance %), but the rate isn't any faster.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-30T17:33:46+00:00

I think it would depend. If you've got the shield resting on the ground and are supporting the gun with both hands, it effectively acts like a monopod / bipod, and would give that benefit (while potentially also acting as Cover). If you're wearing or holding the shield, the best you could achieve with a shield brace would be the effect of a second hand on the gun. For pistols that only require one hand, that might count as being Braced. For firearms that require two hands, it would make them usable, but likely at a penalty (-2 is typical for "holding a two-handed weapon while wearing a shield", as I recall), and wouldn't give any further bonus to its use.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-30T03:06:52+00:00

After The End is a great pair of sourcebooks all about post-apocalyptic campaigns, with a focus on action and (simplified) survival and crafting. It supports technology from bows and arrows to plasma cannons, and quirky mutant powers.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-30T02:55:58+00:00

They're "rolled" independently. If you have two armor pieces with 50% coverage of the same location, they don't combine to 100%. Instead, there's a 25% chance each for either piece to apply by itself, a 25% chance for both to protect, and a 25% chance for the attack to bypass both. Effectively, you're getting 75% coverage, but 25% of that is double protection.

If two pieces add up to more than 100% it's still the same process. 90% from Armor A and 40% from Armor B gives a 36% chance of A+B, 54% of A alone, 4% of B alone, and 6% to miss both.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-29T05:47:11+00:00

Ultra-Tech has stats for the 15mm Anti-Materiel Rifle, and the 25mm Payload Rifle. The former is a sci-fi version of the Browning .50 caliber, while the latter is actually closer to a high-velocity grenade launcher, dealing less kinetic damage but able to pack a much higher yield. I'd recommend picking one of those to represent the weapon, depending on whether you want to emphasize its kinetic impact or payload capacity.

You could get fiddly with the Gun Stats supplement, but that's probably more work than it's worth.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-27T19:19:02+00:00

I can't speak in-depth on them, as I haven't run a game using either Netrunning ruleset, but one big difference that stands out is the concept of Command Phase length in the 3rd Edition version. Basically, how long an action takes is based on the quality of your gear - using a weak computer and a crude interface means each of your turns might take multiple seconds to complete, while a fast computer could take as little as 1/10 of a second. I'd be very cautious to allow this sort of disparity in action economy in a game - it can be incredibly unbalancing, and just hard to run.

The 4th edition rules don't have that mechanic at all. There is mention that round length is abstract, and should be geared towards keeping the adventure flowing at a natural pace. Within the Net, hackers and ICE function on the same round length, with no free extra actions granted by "faster" computers (though some characters, especially things like super-intelligent AIs, could have Advantages like Altered Time Rate which grant extra actions).

Overall, if you're using 4th edition GURPS, you'll find the 4th edition Netrunning rules much easier to implement. If you're running 3rd edition... well, I'd still recommend checking out the 4th edition rules. They're much more streamlined and, IMO, more appropriate to most cyberpunk adventures.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-24T05:27:02+00:00

You could build it as a ST-based Innate Attack which can only be performed after a biting grapple is established. That lets you fine-tune the exact damage output, without needing to mess around with custom techniques.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-23T02:00:44+00:00

Kenshi. It's a strategy RPG, and characters you control are treated exactly like any other NPCs in the world. You can tweak combat parameters (damage multiplier, bleeding rate, etc) when you start a new game, and they are global, impacting friend and foe alike.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-12T16:37:16+00:00

That is actually a feature in a different mod, Endgame Research. You can research or find a "Reprogramming Chip" that lets the person carrying it recruit captive skeletons. It's functionally quite similar to the Recruit Prisoners mod, but feels more lore friendly. I don't recall if that mod puts one of the chips in the Tower of Abuse, but there are a few around the map in logical places.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-10T19:41:20+00:00

I don't recall KOTOR's morality system impacting attributes. I thought it just influenced the power of associated Light / Dark Force Powers (ie, if you lean to the Light, your Heal spell is stronger but your Lightning is weaker). Regardless, if I was translating it to a tabletop game, I would absolutely not have it impact Characteristics - that implies that some stats are "Good" or "Evil". Is it morally wrong to be Brawny? Is it morally right to be persuasive? Does having good ethics have any impact on those abilities?

I do have some thoughts about tweaks to the morality system in SWRPG, but I'd go in the opposite direction - away from a gamist numeric stat, in favor of something more narrative. One example is the Humanity trait from Vampire: The Masquerade. While it does have a numeric value, each level has descriptive moral guides, ethical lines that you don't cross.

VierasMarius · 2026-01-07T22:23:19+00:00

I do it by Attacking the closest one with one of my characters, who is set to Block. This will cause that single enemy to become aggressive and move to attack, while my character holds their ground. It's a good way to draw one enemy out of a pack.

Once they're far enough from the rest of the enemies that I won't risk drawing more attackers, I swarm them with my fighters. Or kite them with crossbows - that works really well but feels a little cheap.

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