With that line of thinking why bother with Harm at all? You want Area? Carry grenades. Penetration? Bazooka. Spray? Machine or submachine gun. Vicious? Gun with more damaging bullets. A character with high Coordination (but no Will points spent in that stat) is probably as damaging as a Talent with Harm, and no worries about Will or Contests.
If you don't spend Will on Coordination, the character isn't a Talent, at least where Coordination is concerned. So, sure, you could totally give your character Coordination 5d and claim he's a world class sharpshooter.
In the games I've run, people typically create powers with Harm because they want to do special effects that they can't do with a weapon. A favorite is rolling the attack in with a defense. Not only are you really accurate at shooting, you can do the Wanted thing and deflect bullets with bullets. Another is extending the capabilities of a weapon. There's a character in Black Devils Brigade who can change one projectile into five, a power that really comes into its own when the player realizes it works with any projectiles, like grenade launchers, mortars, or bazookas.
Another example is the flame controller. Controlling flame is a lot more powerful than running around with a flamethrower strapped to your back. Not only do you have unlimited ammunition, you don't have huge encumbrance, and you don't stick out to non-Talents (not until you start using your flame, anyway). It's not a tremendous danger in a tight area, like on a small commando landing craft. The flame doesn't have a line back to you (unless you choose that as a flaw). It's probably silent. It can be used for lots of different things other than killing (if you buy it with Useful). You could avoid the Contest of Wills by using a flamethrower, but a flame attack has a lot more benefits.
You can create Harm powers that are not easily avoided. Someone with Hypercoordination could dodge bullets, or someone with a force field can bounce bullets. They can't dodge a power that constricts the collar of their tunic to the point where it strangles them. They can't avoid a power that sets their pants on fire. Avoiding a Contest of Wills is useful, but it's not all important.
I do wonder though- does HyperSense let a character aim really well, and would therefore be subject to a Contest of Wills?
No.
Just as having a really powerful telescopic sight on a rifle doesn't mean you can hold the rifle steady, Hypersense will tell you where to fire, but it won't let you hit the target any better. From a metagaming standpoint, shooting a gun is Coordination + firearm skill; Sense isn't used at all.
What about HyperBrains to calculate the most logical hiding place for a sniper?
No. Same reasoning as above.
However, in both cases the Hypersense or Hyperbrains character can explain exactly where the Hypersniper needs to aim. As a GM I would allow that, and have allowed that.
If Mr. HyperBody hurls a baseball with all his strength at a target's head, does that trigger a Contest since he is directly aiming for the target? I would imagine that the damage bonus from the object would make it at least as deadly as a bullet.
This is an interesting case...
According to the rules, there's nothing about a Hyperbody stat that gives greater damage to thrown objects. It specifically states that you get greater damage from fist and kick attacks, but not thrown attacks. It's also doesn't say anything about a thrown object gaining penetration.
That works okay if you're simulating throwing a rock at a guy two miles away with your Hyperbody. It doesn't work so well for throwing something at closer range. You can get a situation where picking up a rock and bashing the guy's head with it is killing damage, but if the guy was a foot further away and the rock had to leave your hand, it suddenly becomes stun damage only.
That works okay if you're simulating throwing a rock at a guy two miles away with your Hyperbody. It doesn't work so well for throwing something at closer range. You can get a situation where picking up a rock and bashing the guy's head with it is killing damage, but if the guy was a foot further away and the rock had to leave your hand, it suddenly becomes stun damage only.
There are two components to throwing things. There's force and there's accuracy. If you have 10d in Body, you roll 10 dice to hit someone with a jeep. Not only do the ten dice mean you can pick up the jeep and throw it, it also gives you a pretty good chance of hitting the person accurately with the jeep.
The answer to that might simply be, "Yep. Thrown objects don't trigger a Contest of Wills. Talents don't work on physics. They are weird that way, and sometimes don't behave like you'd expect. It's all talent-y walent-y, mental-wental stuff. Don't think too hard about it."
Exactly how this is interpreted is up to Shane, as he's final arbiter on the rules.
Personally, I'd be okay with allowing a Contest of Wills against thrown objects, but with a success removing the Talent dice from the pool for the purposes of hitting, without stopping the object actually being thrown. For example, if a character has Body 2d, Throw 2d, and 8d in Hyperbody, they have Body 10 and can throw a jeep. They'd normally roll 10d to hit you with the jeep. I would allow you to enter into a Contest of Wills. If successful, the player loses the 8d from their potential dice pool for the purposes of seeing if they hit you with the jeep, but they still get to roll Body + Throw of 4d to hit you with the jeep! You didn't stop them from lifting the jeep and chucking it.
This has precedence in the rules. If a Hypersniper tries to shoot at you, if you see it coming you can use a Contest of Wills, but a successful contest removes the Talent dice from the pool. The sniper still gets to shoot with his regular Coordination + Rifle dice pool.
That's my own house rule adjudication, though, and not official.
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