Ranged Attack Skill
As it has been pointed out, there IS no "official" ranged attack skill. This is usually because "dex modifier" is the one used, but it doesn't match the flavor (i.e. - HOW CAN I HOLD ALL THESE NUMBERS?!) of the game, so we're instituting two new skills and changing a past written ruling.
Ranged Attack (Focus: To Hit)
Ranged Attack (Focus: Damage)
Much like the other combat skills, these do not use ability modifiers to increase, only straight ranks, and at the usual three skill points per rank. As usual, To Hit goes onto your attack roll, and Damage simply adds to direct damage.
Now, because of this new skill, I have to screw with the Ranged Attack skills ruling (Gun Combat, archery, etc.). From now on, the ruling is as follows -
Those under this table will be presented under a special "accuracy" program when tallying focused, concentrated sniping attempts. So long as you are unseen, unnoticed, or simply attacking from behind, then you may apply the ranks (halved) in the specific skill towards your crit modifier. I.E. - if you have 10 ranks of Gun Combat, and are attempting to snipe, you may increase your crit attack by 5. You may only go up to 10 in any of these specific ranks, and each rank still costs 3 skill points.
Gun Combat
Archery
Heavy Weapons
Thrown Weapons
Iaijutsu, Iaijutsu Focus, and the General Ability itself
Available as of now to samurai, kensai, and appropriate jobs (ask the GM), are the Iaijutsu general ability. It reads as follows:
Iaijutsu Strike - during the first round action of combat, you may instead of drawing your weapon perform a Iaijutsu attack. First you must focus (at the cost of 25 ep), then you use your Iaijutsu Focus instead of making an attack roll. All crits are at 18-20, nonstackable with crit improving feats or abilities, and will always crit at x3. Any points over 20 from Iaijutsu Focus are added on as direct damage, added in before the crit count. Iaijutsu (after focusing) completely ignores AC of any kind, and opponent is always considered flat-footed (even in situations where they are not). Cannot be stacked with backstab attacks, and opponent must know you're there.
Note: instead of simply focusing for the crit, you may attempt to roll the dice AND add your Iaijutsu Focus value to attempt a Double Crit (hit 40 with dice roll + skill value). If so, crit modifier is improved to x5 for a grand total of x10.
Further notation: While you CAN Iaijutsu through just about anything, it should be noted that it is still at the GM's discretion whether or not you can. Gnosis is still a point, as well as the sheer power of it's defenses. If it's a simple Plate Mail + Mage Armor, you can Iaijutsu through it like a hot knife through butter. If it's Absolute Perfection, you're shit outta luck. Also you can only use Iaijutsu at the START of the battle, it costs the entire round and, above all, you can only use it once per battle. Upon being unsheathed, a katana cannot Iaijutsu again until the next battle. Mind you, there MUST be at least five minutes cooldown between battles to qualify as a "next battle," i.e. - if your battlesense tells you that you're still in combat, and "end of combat" has not occurred, then you cannot Iaijutsu again.
Iaijutsu Focus Skill - improved by Charisma ability modifier, this is the skill used to determine whether or not the Iaijutsu is performed properly. It is used in place of Attack Roll + Base Attack Bonus, or (later on) it can be used to determine a Double Crit after it's made available in Chapter 7. Iaijutsu Focus Skill is ONLY available to jobs able to use a Iaijutsu Strike.
General DM bullshittery
So anyway, have you written out your digital player character profile? Even after you get the new Neo-Tokyo RP character sheets, you should still type it out and post it up on the forums for a co-GM or the GM to post on the wiki. Also keep it updated on the forum, or should you lose your hard-copy character sheet, you WILL find yourself rebooted from the last posted online profile. I will no longer update character sheets to current should you lose your sheet (at least if there is a two-level difference), and you will simply have to bear the brunt of playing with a lower-levelled character.
Also, we're getting to the point where certain characters are gaining the ability to roll tons of attacks per round. Yes, yes, Sly, I know: don't worry, you and I have already discussed this. I'm addressing this for general purposes though, and to make it official (after all, this IS one of the reasons why I pulled Afro Kamen, for now…) and other non-such…so, without further ado, here it is.
If you are able to perform 10 attacks or more per round, you are expected to do it as quickly, cleanly, and efficiently as possible.
Continue to say aloud your attacks and what you're doing (after all, your own flavor text is what makes this game so much fun, yah?), but don't do it for EACH FREAKING ATTACK! Come to either myself or Sly for advice on how to do this, since there are more than enough acceptable ways to legally roll the dice for, say, 50+ attacks in one round and yet not take ten minutes doing so.
Also, magic-users: keep it up! Go into battle knowing what you want to cast, and able to be flexible to change to different spells when the need arises. Be flexible yet know what you're going to do, that's the magic word!
Expect a new Fresh Off The Lilypad come Chapter 7, as well as quite a bit of storyline to get updated with!
VAT A TWEEST and all that rot.