Forum

We played the Alien RPG last week and encountered some situations, where the rules were unclear to us.

• Is there really no "dodge" action in a ranged combat?
  Is it only the armor and the cover, that keeps you alive?
• The xenomorphic Creatures usually have only the skills Mobility and Observation.
  If one of them would have e.g. the ranged combat ability "spit acid", what skill would I use?

Is there really no "dodge" action in a ranged combat?

No, there is no dodging bullets in Alien.

Is it only the armor and the cover, that keeps you alive?

The best way to stay alive is to stay hidden or to runaway

The xenomorphic Creatures usually have only the skills Mobility and Observation.
If one of them would have e.g. the ranged combat ability "spit acid", what skill would I use?

Xenomophs use signature attacks, the number of dice to be used and how the attack works is described in the signature attack table for each xenomorph.

I was considering a Dodge house rule that worked like blocking, but with Mobility instead of Close Combat. However, I looked up some things that military training says about the realism of dodging firearms. Police and military both do not train in this because they see it as impractical. So in their training, they opt for either: (1) cover, (2) laying low, or (3) moving fast.

Therefore, in addition to the cover rules, I decided to add a -2 modifier to a ranged attack at medium or longer range if a humanoid target was prone. Then I decided that, for each 'Run' action the target took on their last turn, there is a -1 to hit them with a ranged attack.

Obviously, you can't run and seek cover (it's one or the other). But the best combo might be taking cover, and then a free action to fall prone. Thus, -2 to hit at medium+ range, and the armor protection of the cover. That is, if you can't just get away out of line-of-sight completely, of course.