TEXT: You know the situation well. Your giant, 
  brutish monster appears on scene. You 
  chuckle to yourself with glee, imagining 
  how afraid your players will be… and 
  then watch as they demolish it 
  from range while it hardly gets 
  an attack in. It goes out like a 
  chump. 
     When one side has ranged 
  attacks and the other does not, 
  the odds swing very heavily in 
  favour of the former. That’s 
  why ranged weapons were 
  invented after all.  
     This article introduces a 
  number of ranged exploits for 
  your melee brutes. No longer 
  will they stand there taking 
  damage, helpless to respond! 
     But first, some advice - 
  where possible, don’t let your 
  brute stand still and take it!  
  It’s probably big and easy to 
  hit already; it likely has 
  multiple actions, so it should 
  be charging those pesky 
  ranged opponents  and 
  engaging in melee combat as 
  soon as possible.  Of course, 
  the easiest way to avoid the  
  problem is to  have other creatures 
  accompany your brute. But sometimes 
  you don’t want to do that.  
  Ranged 
  Brutes 
  
  Existing Exploits 
  Brutish foes should take the Opportunity 
  Strike exploit, as well as Stop Right 
  There! Both of these can be found in 
  EONS #4: New Universal Exploits, but are 
  repeated below for convenience. 
      
     Opportunity Strike. You can take a free 
  action attack against a foe which 
  disengages from melee combat with you. 
     Stop Right There! Enemies which try to 
  move past you (move within your reach) 
  are subject to a free action attack, which 
  stops their movement if successful. 
      
  Other important exploits from the core 
  rules include Charge, Roar, Tail Swipe, 
  Breath Weapon. 
  Movement 
  Many brutes will have movement 
  opportunities available to them. Charge 
  is a no-brainer, of course. Consider giving 
  the creature the Pounce exploit, too - a 
  mighty Hulk-like monster leaping at you 
  can be extremely effective! 
     Additionally, mighty creatures can often 
  ignore difficult terrain, or even obstacles. 
  Any object two sizes smaller than the 
  creature does not obstruct it. 
     And against those pesky flying foes? 
  How about a monstrous leap! 
     Monstrous Leap. The creature leaps 
  into the air a height of 5’ per point of 
  STR, making an attack against one foe it 
  can reach while doing so. 
  Auras 
  Auras are important, also. Creatures with 
  an aura are able to affect foes not adjacent 
  to them. Auras can have a variety of 
  effects which take place when a creature 
  enters or begins their turn in the aura. 
  Often this is damage, but status tracks are 
  also appropriate effects. The following 
  abilities extend the capability of auras. 
     Extended Aura. The creature has an 
  aura twice the normal size of the aura of 
  a creature of its size. 
     Sight Aura. The creature’s aura applies 
  to anybody who can see the creature. 
  Auras can inflict damage, or they can 
  inflict statuses. The Fear, Fire, and 
  Nausea tracks are particularly 
  appropriate. These auras should require 
  the PC make a check to avoid damage or 
  statuses when they enter or begin their 
  turn, with a difficulty based on the 
  creature’s Maximum Dice Pool (use the 
  average number: multiply by 3.5 and 
  round up; for example, an 8d6 creature 
  would have a difficulty of 28). 
  Ranged Attacks 
  Also consider giving brutes a ranged 
  attack. If necessary, they can grab things 
  from around them and use them as 
  improvised (-2d6) ranged weapons which 
  do the creature’s natural damage. The 
  Throw Anything exploit from EONS #4: 
  New Universal Exploits removes that -2d6 
  penalty. 
     Thrown weapons typically have a range 
  increment of 3 squares (15’) for medium 
  sized creature.  
  
  If you want your brute to be especially 
  good at throwing stuff, give it Far Shot, 
  which increases range increments by 50% 
  (round up). 
     Far Shot. You increase range increments 
  by 50%. 
     Throw Anything. The creature suffers 
  no attack penalty for improvised ranged 
  weapons (including throwing melee 
  weapons, which count as improvised 
  when used in this way). 
     When designing a brute, be sure to 
  include thrown objects in their attack list 
  in their stat block so you don’t forget to 
  use it. 
     Other ranged attacks include breath 
  weapons and roars (both detailed in the 
  core rules). 
    Some more attacks are suggested below. 
     Quake. The creature slams a foot, fist, 
  or tail on the ground, shaking the area 
  within its aura. The creature makes a STR 
  attack against everybody within the area, 
  knocking targets prone and doing 1d6 
  damage to them. 
     Quills. The creature is able to fire quills 
  (or bone shards, or other bodily parts), 
  making a ranged attack with a range 
  increment equal to its aura, and doing 
  natural damage on a successful hit. 
     Tongue-lash. The creature has a tongue 
  which can lash out to a range equal to its 
  aura. The tongue is sticky and grabs the 
  target, pulling adjacent to the creature. 
  Harder At Range 
  One inescapable fact about brutes is that 
  they will generally never be harder to hit 
  at range than in melee. This, of course, 
  encourages PCs to keep their distance. 
     However, many brutes SOAK more 
  damage from ranged attacks than from 
  melee attacks.  Consider the following 
  exploit. 
     Monumental. The creature has double 
  SOAK against ranged weapons. 
  Many brutes object to being attacked at 
  range. They might pick up parts of the 
  environment (a crate, a door, a vehicle, 
  depending on the size of the creature) to 
  use as a shield, granting it +2, +4, or +6 
  DEFENSE. 
     Living Shield. The creature picks up 
  another creature two or more sizes 
  smaller than itself and uses it as a shield. 
  The target can escape the grab as normal. 
  Until then, the creature gains the 
  protection of a shield of the same size 
  category (e.g. a medium-sized creature is 
  a medium shield granting +4 DEFENSE). 
  Additionally, attacks which miss but 
  would have hit had the shield not been in 
  place hit the grabbed creature instead. 
     Scenery Shield. As a free action, the 
  creature snatches up a nearby door, table, 
  vehicle, wall panel, or other piece of the 
  Large or smaller
  3 squares
  Enormous
  5 squares
  Gigantic
  10 squares
  Colossal
  20 squares
  Titanic
  40 squares
  
  scenery to use as a small, medium, or 
  large shield. 
  Called Shots 
  Giving a brute a called shot location (-2d6 
  to hit) which can only be attacked with a 
  melee attack is an easy option. The called 
  shot location might ignore SOAK, or it 
  might have some other effect, such as a 
  Status Track. 
  Weapons 
  Not all brutes can use weapons - a T-Rex 
  would struggle! - but those with arms 
  and a little intelligence should avail 
  themselves of spiked chains, whips, 
  harpoons, and other weapons which can 
  be used to grab foes and pull them 
  towards the brute. The weapons below 
  are useful for any brutish creature. They 
  all have the qualities of great reach and 
  trap. 
     Great Reach. Weapons with great reach 
  reach out to the creature’s aura, but 
  cannot be used within the creature’s 
  normal melee reach. 
     Trap. Some weapons can be used to 
  trap a foe. A weapon which can trap an 
  enemy does so on a successful hit, 
  rendering the target immobilised until 
  they shake off the status. 
  If a creature is using one of these 
  weapons, consider giving it the following 
  exploit: 
     Come Here! A target struck with a 
  weapon which has the trap trait is pulled 
  adjacent to the creature. The target cannot 
  be of a larger size category than the 
  attacker. 
  You can devise more exotic weapons, 
  depending on your setting. Electro-
  harpoons or laser lassos sound fun! 
  Brutish Checklist 
  Below is a list of all the exploits 
  referenced in this article. Any brute 
  should have some of these. 
  Aura 
  Breath Weapon 
  Called Shot 
  Charge 
  Come Here! 
  Extended Aura 
  Far Shot 
  Living Shield 
  Monstrous Leap 
  Monumental 
  Opportunity Strike 
  Pounce 
  Quake 
  Quills 
  Roar 
  Scenery Shield 
  Sight Aura 
  Stop Right There! 
  Tail Swipe 
  Throw Anything 
  Tongue Lash
  Weapon
  Damage
  Type
  Cost 
  Size
  Weight (lbs) Special
  Great Whip
  3d6
  Slashing
  500
  E
  100
  Trap, great reach
  Spiked 
  Chain
  3d6
  Piercing
  1000
  E
  500
  Trap, great reach
  Harpoon
  3d6
  Piercing
  400
  L
  400
  Trap, great reach
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/WOIN/EONS Magazine/Eons 50 - WOIN, Rules (Exploits) - Ranged Brutes.pdf