Missile Fire into Melee
When firing a missile weapon into a group of people, for example a combat situation, and missing the intended target, there is a chance of hitting another person. The chance that this happens is determined with the following rule.
When Partial Failure occurs on the Combat Table in such a situation (i.e. when failure occurs, but substracting 25 from the actual roll would indicate a shield hit or better), there is a chance of hitting a different target. Reroll on the Same Line of the Combat Table, using the same EL and other modifiers. If a shield hit or better occurs, a random target may be hit.
This random target cannot be the original target, and the way to determine the individual hit depends on the number of people in the group. If there is only one other person, excluding the original target, he has a chance of 33% of being hit, i.e. a 1 on D3. If there are two persons, they both have a 33% chance, i.e. on a D3 persons 1 is hit on a roll of 1, person 2 on a roll of 2 and no-one on a roll of 3. When 3 or more persons are present, someone is always hit and all persons have an equal chance of being hit. When one or more of the possible targets are exceptionally larger or smaller than others, the relative chances of being hit may be modified at the Referee's Discretion.
EXAMPLE - Harry is standing on top of a surfaced great white whale. Zaltor tries to shoot him using a Light Crossbow at medium range. He rolls at CL -6 and misses Harry. He rolls again, this time indicating a severe hit. The Referee determines that the great white whale has 66% percent chance of being hit instead of the normal 33% chance. Zaltor rolls a 2 on D3, indicating the whale is hit. The great beast dives and Harry might well drown, depending on his swimming skill.