Cover

To take cover behind an obstacle,
simply move so that it is between you
and your attacker. You might also
have to kneel or lie prone, depending
on the obstacle’s height. Cover pro-
tects one or more hit locations, mak-
ing you harder to hit with ranged
weapons.
You must normally expose your
skull, eyes, face, and neck to see a tar-
get. You must expose your weapon
arm and hand to fire a one-handed
weapon. You must normally expose
both arms and hands to fire a two-
handed weapon, plus half of your
torso and vitals, unless you are firing
through a narrow slit. Your groin, legs,
and feet can remain hidden if the
cover is sufficient to protect them. You
might have to expose more of your
body if the cover is partial, or if you
are unable to kneel, sit, or lie prone
behind low cover.
If your foe is partially behind cover,
you have three options:
• Target a location that is not
behind cover. Your attack takes the
usual hit location penalty. If the loca-
tion is only half exposed, you have an
extra -2 to hit.
• Roll randomly for hit location.
Your attack takes no hit location
penalty, but shots that hit a covered
location strike the cover instead. For
shots that hit a location that is only
half exposed, roll 1d: on a roll of 4-6,
the shot strikes cover, not the target.
• Ignore the cover and try to shoot
right through it! This is only likely to
be effective if you have a powerful
weapon or your target is behind light
cover. You have an extra -2 to hit.
(Exception: If your foe is completely
concealed by cover, you suffer the
usual penalty for shooting blind, typi-
cally -10.) The cover adds its “cover
DR” against the attack. For structures,
this is typically the barrier’s DR +
(HP/4); see the Structural Damage
Table (p. 558) and Cover DR Table
(p. 559) for more information. For the
cover DR of living things, see Over-
penetration, below.
Cover is normally only effective
against ranged weapons, but certain
obstacles might interfere with melee
attacks as well. You can fight across a
low obstacle if your attacks have suffi-
cient reach to strike past it. Thus, two
fencers could duel across an interven-
ing table, but could not strike each
other’s legs or feet.