Medium Weapon Tricks

These tricks are available for any Medium class weapon (rifles, assault weapons) regardless of weapon type. Your accuracy comes from the weapon type skill (e.g., Weapons Ranged Laser); these tricks add specialised medium-weapon techniques on top.

Tactical

Single Shot Training:

Cost: 3 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 1 Action
Requires: Tactical Training, Medium Burst Fire Weapon
Duration: Encounter
Effect: Switch a burst-fire medium weapon to single shot mode. One round per trigger pull instead of a burst.

• Bane(1) to hit
• The weapon deals -1 Hit (minimum 1 Hit)
• Double your remaining Shots before reloading

Brace:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 1 Action
Requires: Tactical Training, Medium Class Weapon
Duration: Until you move
Effect: You plant your feet, lock your shoulder, and let the weapon do what it was designed to do. While braced you gain Boon(1) to all attack rolls with the braced weapon. Moving, being knocked Prone, or being Staggered ends the brace. You can brace against cover, a wall, or a squadmate's shoulder; the source doesn't matter, the stability does.

Quick Field Strip:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 1 Action
Requires: Tactical Training, A Not Broken Medium Weapon, during a Stim Break
Duration: Passive
Effect: During a Stim Break, spend 1 Action to field-strip your medium weapon. Restore +1 Quality (maximum 5). Requires a toolkit. Faster than the full Medium Field Strip but only available during the breather between fights; the kind of repair that buys you the next encounter, not the next mission.

Cover Sweep:

Cost: 3 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 1 Action
Requires: Tactical Training, Medium Burst Fire Weapon
Duration: 1 round
Effect: Spend an Action to sweep a 3-square cover line with suppressing fire. Until the start of your next turn, that cover line provides no benefit to enemies; half cover stops counting, full cover counts as half. Consumes a burst's worth of ammo. The cover is still there; the protection is not.

Walking Stance:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Tactical Training, Medium Class Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: You've learned to fire while moving without losing the shot. When you spend an Action attacking with a Medium weapon and move up to half your Speed in the same Action, ignore the Bane normally imposed by firing on the move. Movement above half Speed still applies the standard penalty. The shot lands on the step you weren't supposed to be able to land it on.

Expert

Controlled Burst:

Cost: 4 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 1 Action
Requires: Expert Training, Medium Burst Fire Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: You've learned to ride the recoil instead of fighting it. On a burst-fire attack, you may split the burst across 2 targets within Short range of each other. Both targets must be in your line of fire. Roll a separate attack against each target. Divide the weapon's total Hits between them however you choose (minimum 1 per target). Consumes only one burst worth of ammo.

Medium Field Strip:

Cost: 2 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 6 Actions
Requires: Expert Training, A Not Broken Medium Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: You can field strip and reassemble a medium weapon that is not broken and make minor repairs. This improves the weapon's Quality by 1 (maximum 5). Requires a toolkit. The language you use during the process is between you and the machine spirit.

Anchor Point:

Cost: 4 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Expert Training, Brace
Duration: Encounter while stationary
Effect: Your Brace no longer ends at the start of your next turn; it persists for the entire encounter, provided you do not move from the square you Braced in. Being Staggered or knocked Prone still ends the brace. The boon to attack rolls applies every round you remain anchored. Stand up to leave; sit down to live.

Pinning Burst:

Cost: 4 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Expert Training, Medium Burst Fire Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: When your burst-fire attack with a Medium weapon Hits, the target also gains Hindered(1). Stacks with any existing Hindered on the target via the standard Hindered chain (1d4 → 1d6 → 1d8 → 1d10 → 1d12). Stacks with itself across multiple bursts in the same round.

Master

Suppressive Fire:

Cost: 5 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: 2 Actions
Requires: Master Training, Medium Class Weapon with 10+ Shots remaining
Duration: Until start of your next turn
Effect: You lay down a sustained volume of fire that forces enemies into cover. Designate a 3-square-wide zone within your weapon's range. Roll a single attack roll; this becomes the Suppression TL for the zone. Until the start of your next turn:

• Any creature that enters the zone or starts its turn there takes 1 Hit and gains Hindered(1)
• Creatures in the zone that attempt a Hostile Action must beat your Suppression TL with their AF or be Staggered(1) and forced into the nearest cover
• Consumes 5 Shots. If you have fewer than 5 Shots remaining when the effect would trigger, the suppression ends early
• You cannot take other Actions or move while maintaining suppression

Rapid Reload:

Cost: 4 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Master Training, Medium Class Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: Reloading your medium weapon costs 1 Action instead of 2. Mag changes, cell swaps, belt feeds; you've done them ten thousand times in the dark, under fire, and once while falling. Your hands know the geometry better than your brain does.

Iron Stance:

Cost: 5 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Master Training, Brace, Anchor Point
Duration: Passive (while Braced and stationary)
Effect: While Braced and stationary, your attacks with the Medium weapon deal +1 Hit and you gain Boon(1) on AF defence rolls; the weapon's profile is now part of your stance, and incoming fire reads it as cover. Ends if you move, are knocked Prone, or are Staggered. Standing tall in a firefight is a stance, not a posture.

Mag Discipline:

Cost: 4 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Master Training, Medium Class Weapon
Duration: Passive
Effect: Your last 3 shots in a magazine deal +1 Hit. The bonus applies as the weapon's ammo counter passes 3, 2, 1. Reloading resets the counter and the bonus. The math is simple: if you can't end the encounter on the last clip, you weren't paying attention.

Ranger Pace:

Cost: 5 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Master Training, Walking Stance
Duration: 1 Action
Frequency: Once per encounter
Effect: Once per encounter, declare Ranger Pace at the start of an Action you spend attacking with a Medium weapon. That Action ignores the Move-and-Act half-Speed cap, you may move up to your full Speed before or after the attack, and the attack gains Boon(1). Master-tier discipline: you find the line where motion stops sabotaging the shot.

Patrol Master:

Cost: 6 Skill points
Maneuver Cost: Passive
Requires: Master Training, Walking Stance, Ranger Pace
Duration: Encounter
Effect: Your Medium weapon attacks ignore both the Move-and-Act half-Speed cap and any move-and-fire Bane. Every Action you spend attacking with a Medium weapon may also include up to your full Speed of movement, with no accuracy penalty. Your accuracy at a dead sprint is your accuracy at a standstill. The squad walks behind you because they've learned what happens to people who walk in front.