Sniping a scope.

[Ragitsu]

What is the penalty for shooting through a sniper scope and, dramatics/theatrics aside (some would simply say "the rule of cool"), what is the point of doing so when another eye or even an unprotected skull is available as a target? There is the benefit of depriving an enemy sharpshooter their aiming aid, but...that seems like a marginal gain for considerable effort during most wartime circumstances.

[Surrealone]

I'm pretty sure the penalty will vary from GM to GM.  Certainly it's more difficult than a called/placed shot to the head, and realistically it's only an option from certain angles....

[Christopher R Taylor]

-8 at least, probably lower.  The size would give you a penalty of around -12 (+2 DCV for each halving of size) per the rules, but the scope is going to be reaaaally steady and stationary and the shooter both braced and set, so not as awful to hit as it might seem.

[RDU Neil]

Yeah, as they've indicated, start with -8 for headshot, and add more minuses as you see fit (including minuses for range unless fully offset by the attacker's scope). The bigger question I'd ask is "If you miss the scope, do you still hit the guy?" Hero rules generally assumes a miss means no effect... so you'd have to have house rules for that kind of thing, if you are tracking every missed shot for possible collateral effect. (I tend to dramatically describe misses as well as hits, and sometimes the miss will be in such circumstances as it can add drama to a scene as well... but that is far beyond your question here.)

[IndianaJoe3]

APG1 gives a -12 penalty for targeting the eye. That seems about right.

[Old Man]

On 4/10/2018 at 3:23 PM, Ragitsu said:

What is the penalty for shooting through a sniper scope and, dramatics/theatrics aside (some would simply say "the rule of cool"), what is the point of doing so when another eye or even an unprotected skull is available as a target?

 

There's no point to doing it deliberately.  When Hathcock did it in Vietnam, it was unintentional, but notable in that it couldn't have happened unless the sniper was targeting Hathcock when he was struck.

[pinecone]

I thought the "moral" of the story was avoid letting your optics glint. It makes a good target.

[Pattern Ghost]

I clicked on the thread to basically say what Old Man and pinecone said. (There's a cop show title for you, Old Man and Pinecone.)

 

Basically, it's a fun description for someone rolling a 3 on a called head shot.