[Aryeonos]

I suppose you'd just treat the safe target system/smartgun as a standard node at that point then. Makes sense. I guess I was just thinking along the lines of the hardware+logic test to reset your access ID or reboot your link. Not something you could really do after just sneaking up behind your target then trying to wax his buddies with his gun. Unless you hacked his gun in advance but what fun is that?

I suppose, you could hack their guns ahead of time and turn the blacklist of protected targets to a whitelist of unprotected ones.

[Shaidar]

The Safe Target system can be turned on and off with a Simple Action, while changing the programmed profiles of a Safe Target system requires an Admin account (see Account Privileges p. 216, SR4) and a Computer + Logic (8, 1 minute) Extended Test.

Mark 74 Smartlink:  e Mark 74 Smartlink is an enhanced smartgun system for tactical networks. It acts like a normal smartlink vision enhancement, (p. 333, SR4A), but with advanced friend-or-foe-identi cation integration. A weapon with the Mark 74 Smartlink will never  re at another member of the tactical
network to which its user is subscribed.  e system is accurate to within a hairsbreadth, and so a machine gunner with the Mark 74 could deliver suppressive fire into a swirling melee and be con dent that his allies would generally not be affected, though glitches happen and can result in unexpected results.

[Helping Bear]

If the melee combatant can close the distance on the guy with the gun, it can be a lot of trouble for the gun guy. Not only do you get a -3 shooting penalty because he's in melee with you, you also get -2 to hit him because he is a running target. He also gets +2 to hit in melee due to his charge attack, and you don't have a proper weapon to parry his attack. Don't get caught with your gun out if someone charges you with a melee weapon

[Mantis]

So long as you have melee skill of some type (Blades, Clubs, Unarmed) or the Dodge skill, you can still defend against  your charging melee monster Bear. Guns of various types are classified as Clubs as far as improvised weapons go in Arsenal (pg 17) so you can use clubs, unarmed or dodge to stop that melee guy from taking off your head.
I point this out because your example makes it seem like you can't defend yourself.

[Mirikon]

Actually, the example said nothing about your defense. It did, however, say that you were going to be in big trouble trying to hit back.

[Mantis]

He also gets +2 to hit in melee due to his charge attack, and you don't have a proper weapon to parry his attack. Don't get caught with your gun out if someone charges you with a melee weapon

This is what makes it seem like you can't defend.

[Helping Bear]

The only ways I would allow someone with a gun out to stop the melee weapon is either if they have the dodge skill, or if they are currently fighting him back in melee with the gun as an improvised weapon. Guns in a lot of ways have advantages over melee weapons and are usually stronger, although this is one of the big things that can make melee weapons good against people with guns out. After the charge attack, if they want to start swinging back with their gun and parrying on their next turn, they can go ahead, although if they just shot their gun at someone, I would consider them in firing mode and not melee mode, therefore not allowing the parry.

[Mirikon]

Indeed. You have to switch your grip to pistolwhip someone, or to brain a guy with the stock of your shotgun.

[Falconer]

I think that completely ignores the one movie which forms the key idea of 'gun-fu' in the game.
Firefight...  to me is like that one movie... think it was Equilibrium.  I'm awful with titles.


Even if the gun was just fired... it can still be moved and used as a club/block... the the rules reflect  this in that you can mess the gun up if it is used as a melee weapon.   That's one of the bad outcomes of glitches....  Especially if they melee-hardened the damn thing...

The game is supposed to be fluid and dynamic... not discrete... discrete is something forced on a board game mechanic...    The -3 to fire at any target while in melee is already the main penalty (it's one of the biggest penalties in the game in fact)...   the +2 point blank is just a consolation prize.   If anything the problem is that penalties which need to be scaled for puds... don't adequately cover people with dice pools in the teens/twenties.

[Thrass]

it is Equilibrium you got that title right.

Also, you don't need to switch grip to pistol whip someone... (where do people actually get that impression?)
You do need to switch grip to club someone with a rifle though.
But there are bayonetts for that.

[Aryeonos]

I still would like to be able to parry someone trying to shoot me at under point blanc range, like Equilibrium, but also to reflect what I learned in ju-jit-su, though that was a parry and disarm, or reposte.

[Mithlas]

Houserule something - or fluff-wise describe it as the melee martial artist not being a moron and actively trying to keep that firearm from pointing at his head. Personally I'd like more in the way of options for actively making life harder for people trying to point-blank you - and Equilibrium is a very good example of that being applied, cinematic though the goal may have been - but unless Martial Arts is reworked I doubt that's going to happen. Alas.

[RHat]

Defending against a ranged attacker inside the reach of your weapon should be a block/parry by default, requiring no Martial Arts.

Because as good as it would be to make Martial Arts core, only an idiot wouldn't keep the business end of a firearm from pointing at him.

[Aryeonos]

Yeah, and I see no reason why it shouldn't work by RAW it just never mentions the ability to block or parry a gun within arms reach.

[Mirikon]

it is Equilibrium you got that title right.

Also, you don't need to switch grip to pistol whip someone... (where do people actually get that impression?)
You do need to switch grip to club someone with a rifle though.
But there are bayonetts for that.

Because the part of the pistol that makes the best club is the grip. Typically the most solid part of the gun, and often the heaviest and widest. That means you get more force behind your blow, just like you hit someone with the head of the mace, instead of gripping the mace by the head and hitting them with the shaft.