.: Help for ranged-combat skill

The ranged-combat skill governs your proficiency
with ranged weapons: bows, crossbows, pistols, and slings.
Higher ranks improve your hit chance and damage at range.

━━━ Aimed Shots ━━━

Ranged weapons shoot with the fire command. Every shot
is a deliberate aimed action: accuracy and damage both scale
with Perception, not Strength. A keen eye matters
more than raw muscle.

Firing readies the next round by itself, so there is no second
command to remember. Each shot draws one round from a bundle of
arrows, bolts, or shot carried in your pack, and you are told
when you spend the last of them.

Firing spends Stamina and requires full payment. Your carried
load raises the price, while ranged-combat skill lowers
it. If you are too spent, the action refuses before a shot, ammunition, or
cooldown is consumed.

━━━ Range ━━━

  - Same room: fire 
  - Adjacent room: fire  
      Cross-room fire does not pull you into melee. The target
      must close the distance to engage in melee combat.

━━━ A Clear Shot ━━━

An archer does far more harm when nothing in the room is attacking
them. You cannot steady an aimed shot while you are fending someone
off, and the shot is much the weaker for it. Keep a companion, a party
member, or a room between you and whatever wants to reach you.

A shot from hiding at something in your own room is an
ambush: heavier, answerable, and it costs you your
special move and your cover. Firing into the next room is never an
ambush, and it leaves your cover intact. See
help ambush.

━━━ Progression ━━━

This skill improves through use:
  - Landing shots with a ranged weapon
  - Perception advances from aimed-shot attacks

See also: help fire,
  help stamina, help skills,
  help ambush, help sneak