A Step Past “Sharpshooter”
We’ve all seen the “Sharpshooter” feat in the Iron Kingdoms book, and I’m sure we’ve all wondered why a Rifleman or trained sharpshooter can’t take a potshot of someone who moves into their line of fire. It works in the real world. In fact, it works so well, they even have a name for it. Cygnaran Long-gunners and Khadoran Widowmakers alike call it “Overwatch.”
So, in the name of “quasi-realism,” I developed a fairly high-level Feat to allow characters a functional overwatch-style shooting technique. It even works outside the Iron Kingdoms, but that’s not important right now.
Overwatch:
Req: Dex 17+, Combat Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Sharpshooter, Weapon Focus (with ranged weapon), BAB +10
A character with a ranged weapon who has not moved this round may make a number of additional Attacks of Opportunity equal to their Dex bonus. The attacks can be used against any target that enters an area within their front facing line-of-sight with that weapon within its first range increment. The character may only take a the full number of Attacks of Opportunity in one round if they are using a weapon that can make multiple attacks in a single round. The character may only make one attack against a single target and must have clear line of sight to the target when they make the attack. Range and cover modifiers are applied normally against this attack.
Opinions are welcome, your milage may vary, offer not valid in all areas, local laws and regulations still apply.