Paladin - Have Gun, Will Travel

[jemmus]

Sorry for the delay, Grog. Currently I need to be more precise and accurate in this game than in the other ones I'm GMing. The distances you stated are correct. Paladin can see the men in the center (Robber 1) and on the right (2) And they have line of sight (LOS) o him.
There's no LOS between him and the stationary one (3) to the left. The curvature of the roof and the skylight blocks it. It's the same for the galloping one to the left (4).

My previous post about (4) was a mistake. Paladin couldn't see him galloping, or at this range hear the galloping. But he could hear the boy's yells.

The robbers rolled a 1 for initiative. Paladin initiative roll is up.

[Grognardsw]

Tactics 14 [1d20]=6 Yes for +1 Initiative.
Initiative [1d6+1]=4+1=5

Winning initiative, I’ll pause to hear the robbers actions.

Being prone on roof leaves most of body unseen to ground-level. Does that translate to a Cover defensive modifier?

Are the skylight boxes open at the moment?

[jemmus]

All of the robbers will Move this turn.

The skylights' glass is fixed, they don't open. (Cummings doesn't pay for unnecessary frills like that).

[Grognardsw]

Given the distance to go, and robbers movement as Action, I’m assuming this is a Combat Turn? In a Shoot Out Turn movement is negligible; a galloping horse goes 5 yards, vs. a Combat Turn’s 32 yards. Assuming a Combat Turn, I’ll include two shots. If its a Shoot Out turn, we can disregard the second shot.

As the moving train screeched and slowed, Paladin held his roof top position, took careful aim, and fired again at the leader, the suspected Sam Bass.

First rifle shot 20 [1d20]=7
Coor 19, Rifle Skill +2, Rifle +1 = 22. Moving train -4, sniping +2 = -2. Careful Shot Total 20
First rifle shot location [1d20]=2
Left leg, modified to 5 left arm
First shot severity [1d6]=5
-1 to Severity for arm hit, so 4 Severity - Serious Wound (4 wound points)

Paladin hoped with the leader down, the robbers’ morale would break. But Bass wouldn’t fall. Paladin took aim again, trying to compensate for the moving train as he fired his rifle.

Second rifle shot [1d20]=7 7 again
Second rifle shot location [1d20]=1
Left leg, no modification
Second rifle shot severity [1d6]=1
-1 to Severity for leg hit, so 0 Severity - Minor Wound (0 wound points, though total thus far is 9.)

If the raised skylight box was positioned so that he could use it as cover, the prone Paladin crawled over to use it.

A previous question: Being prone on roof leaves most of body unseen to ground-level. Does that translate to a Cover effect/defensive modifier?

[jemmus]

The startled and bloodied man turns his horse's head and yells, his voice a little slurred, Run, y'all! Trouble-- bad! Paladin's third rifle report sounds of the screech of tons of steel sliding and scrapping over steel. He sees the man's left arm jerk back as he spurs his horse to a gallop, headed to the west. The rider to the right spurs his horse toward the northeast. The two men to the east remain obscured by the curve the of coach's roof.

To answer some missed questions:
-Yes, I think it's logical that the prone position will count as cover; and
Paladin needs to be at the front edge of the coach to have line of sight. The skylight is behind him, so at present it does provide any cover.
It's a Shootout Turn, and the next turns will be too.
The horse's don't immediately accelerate into a gallop, they trot first. 3 yards movement. I'm going to guestimate from a rough paper diagram I drew, and a little generously say that Paladin has 55% chance of having LOS on the left-moving leader next turn.
[1d100]=46
Has LOS this upcoming turn. But Paladin is pretty sure the rider will be obscured by the curve of the roof and the smokestack the next turn. If he continues riding directly to the left, and Paladin stays where he is.

Paladin will for sure have LOS on the other man riding to the right and away. (He failed an Observation ST and didn't act very wisely).

Robbers' initiative: [1d6]=6

[Grognardsw]

Initiative [1d6+1]=3+1=4 Lost. Paladin’s action will be to shoot leader. Given “All movement happens at the end of a shootout turn, after all other actions on count 6 are finished,” I guess I’ll go ahead with the shot now.

Paladin heard the yell for retreat. He figured the left/west side pair would peal off as well. He wondered what the other train guards were doing.

Paladin didn’t want Bass to escape so he fired again while the trotting Bass was still in line of sight. He cursed as the bullet didn’t take him down. The gunslinger preferred to think Bass was one lucky guy, and it wasn’t Paladin’s skill.

Rifle shot 19 [1d20]=2
Coor 19, Rifle Skill +2, Rifle +1 = 22. Moving train -4, Bass Trotting -1, sniping +2 = -3. Careful Shot Total 19
Rifle shot location [1d20]=10
Right shoulder 10, no modification
Severity [1d6]=1
Light wound (1 wound point. Total 10 wound points. If wound points surpass Strength, unconscious.)

Does getting shot four times while on horse require any sort of stay-on-horse check?

[Grognardsw]

𝙒𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙨…

[jemmus]

Those are some great sponsors!
I suppose the rules account for getting shot off a horse by the Strength rules. Getting taken down to 0 and going unconscious would cause a fall from horseback.

The coach Paladin lies on takes an upward jolt just as he squeezes the smooth as silk pull of the Remington rifle's trigger. He sees the shot nick the target's right shoulder. The man-- the bloodied presumptive notorious train robber Sam Bass--gallops his horse out of sight to the left. The man to the right gallops some yards to the front right.

The rider to the right is still visible. Initiative:
[1d6]=5

[Grognardsw]

I suppose the rules account for getting shot off a horse by the Strength rules. Getting taken down to 0 and going unconscious would cause a fall from horseback.

Does that mean you roll a Str check to see if he stays on his horse after being hit four times?

…The shot goes wide. …The leader of the robber gallops his horse out of sight to the left. The man to the right gallops some yards to the front right.

My last shot was a hit minor wound. Was your saying “goes wide” figurative? It seemed like a miss.

Are we still in Shoot Out turns?

If Paladin kneels up on knee, I assume he could see over the curvature of the roof to the other side and Bass?

[jemmus]

Sorry, Paladin's last shot was a hit. Not sure how I misread that. The target has taken 10 points of damage and is still conscious.
We're still in Shootout Turns, very likely for the duration of this fight.
Yes, raising to one knee would allow Paladin LOS to the left side. After reading and re-reading the rules for movement during a shootout turn (p.33), it seems that it happens at the end (like in a Combat Turn). And that only shooting or movement (not both) is allowed in a shootout turn. Each action, including Movement, has its own count on the chart on p. 34.
Need Paladin's initiative roll. The robbers have a 5. Reminder that a successful Tactics roll is needed for the +1 bonus to the initiative roll. Also, character's with Tactics skill can ask the Judge for advice for this turn.

[Grognardsw]

Does Bass need to roll a Str check to see if he stays on his horse after being hit four times?

[Grognardsw]

Initiative [1d6+1]=5+1=6
Looking at the Tactics skill description, it says a successful roll applies the +1 to Initiative for that whole fight.

Given the Initiative win, what are their declared actions?

My assumptions for calculating Paladin’s actions and his guess as to location of left siders is that in this Shoot Out Turn, according to Table 9, a galloping horse goes 5 yards at the end of Count 6.

Assuming the left-side robber and kid had followed their leader’s command to pull out, but cautious nonetheless, Paladin raised to his knee with rifle pointed ready to shoot whatever he saw.
On a knee he saw over the curvature of the roof to the left…

I’ll pause here mid-Shooting Turn action for what Paladin sees, so as to not assume too much and get ahead of myself.

[jemmus]

The robbers will Move. You're correct about the +1 lasting the whole fight, thanks for spotting that. The way I read it, Paladin can move (rise to one knee) but not shoot this one-second Shootout Turn.

Initiative for next turn (also a Shootout Turn): [1d6]=5

Paladin raises to a knee on the roof of the swaying coach and looks to the front and left. The kid of the left has turned his horse's head west and it is about to break from a trot to a full gallop. Paladin estimates he's around 60 yards away. The man who'd be to the leader's left is also breaking into a gallop, headed northwest, around 80 yards away. The bloodied leader has crossed over the trackbed and descended it to the prairie floor. He's galloping due west, also at a range of around 75 yards. He yells out over his shoulder, Weave! Sidewinder it, y'all! Scatter and git back ta base! The man to the right urges his horse from a trot to a gallop, heading northeast at around 80 yards out. All four of them seem a little loose and wobbly in the saddle, and the man confronting the train on the track's speech seems sloppy and slurred. As if drunk, or on the wartime "Soldier's Disease" medicine, or just a little addled.

The train is moving forward at around the same speed that the robbers are riding, so the distance hasn't changed much. Except for the leader/Bass, who's riding perpendicular to the train's part north.

[Grognardsw]

Paladin was determined to take down the leader. Hopefully that would break this rail robber gang. The man was still well within rifle range, though the shot was more difficult with him galloping. Paladin carefully aimed using the apex of the roof curvature for support and fired.

Initiative [1d6+1]=6+1=7
Rifle - 16 [1d20]=9 Hit
Coor 19, Rifle Skill +2, Rifle +1 = 22. Moving train -4, Bass Galloping -4, sniping +2 = -6. Careful Shot Total 16
Location [1d20]=8
Right arm 8, modified to abdomen 11
Severity [1d6]=5 Serious wound (5 Wound Points, total 15 Wound Points. Unconscious?