Roll Initiative.

Roll a single die. Add the number to your Dexterity + Wits. This is your Initiative rating.

 

Attack

 

For unarmed close-combat attacks, roll Dexterity + Brawl.

For armed close-combat attacks, roll Dexterity + Melee.

For ranged firearms combat, roll Dexterity + Firearms.

For ranged bow and crossbow combat, roll Dexterity + Archery.

For ranged thrown weapons combat, roll Dexterity + Athletics.

 

Dodge Roll

 

Dodge if applicable (Dexterity + Athletics).

Successes on dodge rolls cancel out successes on attack.

 

Damage

 

Roll damage dice to determine total damage effect.

If the attack roll succeeded with more than one success, each additional success beyond the first adds +1 die to the damage roll for certain attacks.

Remove any successes canceled out due to dodging before rolling damage.

Brawl attack = Roll (Strength) damage + (# of dice above first success on attack roll)

Melee attack = Roll weapon damage + (# of dice above first success on attack roll)

Ranged Bow/Crossbow attack = Roll (Strength) damage + (# of dice above first success on attack roll)

Firearms/Explosives attack = apply damage rating for the weapon as total health levels of damage done.

 

Soak

 

Roll Dodge if applicable; successes on dodge cancel out successes on attack. to soak damage (if able to do so).

Roll Stamina to soak damage (if able to do so).

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Apply automatic healing of one bashing or one lethal at the end of the round before status effects take place.

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Combat Breakdown

Stage One: Initiative

 

This stage organizes the turns and is when you declare your character's actions.

 

Everyone, player and storyteller, rolls one die and adds to it their Initiative Rating (Dexterity + Wits); the character with the highest result acts first, with the remaining characters acting in decreasing order of result. If two characters get the same result, the one with the higher initiative rating goes first. If initiative ratings are also the same, the two characters act simultaneously. Wound penalties subtract directly from a character's initiative rating.

 

Finding Initiative Example: Ross and Angela need to determine their initiative before they begin their fight against one another. Ross has Dexterity 4 and a Wits 2, which makes his Initiative Rating a 6 (4 + 2 = 6). Angela has a Dexterity 3 and a Wits 4, which makes her Initiative Rating a 7 (3 + 4 = 7). With their Initiative Ratings determined, each player rolls a single die. Ross rolls a 9 and Angela rolls a 5. Each player will add the number of their die roll to their Initiative Rating to receive their Initiative for the scene. So, for this scene Ross's initiative is a 15 (9 + Initiative Rating of 6) and Angela has an initiative of 12 (5 + Initiative Rating of 7). Because Ross has the higher initiative, he is the first to go in combat and Angela will go second.

 

Although you declare your action now, including stating that your character delays her action to see what someone else does, you wait until the attack stage to implement that action. At this time, you must also state if any multiple actions will be performed, if Gifts will be activated, and/or if Willpower points will be spent. At this point you declare your intent to use Rage or Gnosis to the ST.

 

All of your characters' actions are staged at her rank in the order of initiative. There are three exceptions to this rule. The first is if your character delays her action, in which case her maneuvers happen when she finally takes action. Your character may act at any time after her desired order in the initiative, even to interrupt another, slower character's action. If two characters both delay their actions, and both finally act at the same time, the one with the higher initiative score for the turn acts first.

 

The second breach of the initiative order occurs in the case of a defensive action, which your character may perform at any time as long as she has an action left.

 

Finally, all multiple actions (including actions gained through activating of Rage) occur at the ed of the turn. If two or more characters take multiple actions, the actions occur in order of initiative rating. An exemption is made for defensive multiple actions, such as multiple dodges, which happen when they need to happen in order to avert attack.

 

Stage Two: Attack

 

An action's success or failure and potential impact on the target are determined at this stage. You use a certain Attribute/Ability combination depending on the type of combat in which your character is engaged:

 

Close Combat: Use Dexterity + Brawl (unarmed) or Dexterity + Melee (armed).

 

Ranged Combat: Use Dexterity + Firearms (guns), Dexterity + Archery (bows and crossbows), or Dexterity + Athletics (thrown weapons).

 

If your character doesn't have points in the necessary Ability, simply default to the Attribute on which it's based (in most cases, Dexterity).

 

In ranged combat, your weapon may modify your dice pool or difficulty (due to rate of fire, a targeting scope, etc.); check the weapon's statistics for details.

 

Most attacks are made versus difficulty 6. This can be adjusted for situational modifiers (long range, cramped quarters). If you get no successes, the character fails her attack and inflicts no damage. If you botch, not only does the attack fail, but something nasty happens. The weapon jams or explodes, the blade breaks, an ally is hit, etc.

 

Damage Application

 

During this stage, you determine the damage inflicted by an attack, and the Storyteller describes what occurs in the turn.

 

Normally, additional successes beyond the first one gained on a Trait roll simply means that you do exceptionally well. In combat, each success above the first you get on an attack roll equals an additional die you add automatically to your damage dice pool.

 

All attacks have specific damage ratings, indicating the number of dice that you roll for the attack's damage (called the damage dice pool). Some damage dice pools are based on the attacker's Strength, while others are based on the weapon used. Damage dice rolls are made versus difficulty 6. Each success on the damage roll inflicts one health level of damage on the target. However, the damage applied may be one of three types:

 

Bashing Damage: Bashing damage comprises punches and other blunt trauma that are less likely to kill a victim instantly. All characters use their full Stamina ratings to resist bashing effects, and the damage heals fairly quickly. Bashing damage is applied to the Health boxes on your character sheet with a "/".

 

Lethal Damage: Attacks meant to cause immediate and fatal injury to the target. Mortals may not use Stamina to resist lethal effects, and the damage takes quite a while to heal. Vampires may resist lethal damage with their Stamina (roll Stamina, difficulty 6). Lethal damage is applied to the boxes on you character sheet with a "/".

 

Aggravated Damage: Certain types of attacks are deadly even to the undead. Fire, sunlight, and the teeth and claws of vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings are considered aggravated damage. This damage type cannot be soaked except with Fortitude, and it takes quite a while to heal. Aggravated damage is applied to the Health boxes on the character sheet with an "X".

 

Mortals do not receive aggravated damage, as lethal damage is considered aggravated to them.

 

Damage dice pools can never be reduced to lower than one die; any attack that strikes its target has at least a small chance of inflicting damage, at least before a soak roll is made. Moreover, damage effect rolls cannot botch; a botched roll simply means the attack glances harmlessly off the target.

 

Damage Soak

 

Characters can resist a certain degree of physical punishment; this is called soaking damage. Your character's soak dice pool is equal to her Stamina rating. A normal human can soak only against bashing damage (this reflects the body's natural resilience to such attacks). A Garou (or other supernatural creature) is tougher, and can use this soak against lethal damage.

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After an attack hits and inflicts damage, the defender may make a soak roll to resist. This is considered a reflexive action; characters need not take an action or split a dice pool to soak. Unless otherwise stated, rolls are made versus difficulty 6. Each soak success subtracts one die from the total damage inflicted. As with damage rolls, soak rolls may not botch, only fail.

 

Example: Lisa has Stamina 3. She is attacked with a knife, and the attacker scores three levels of lethal damage. Lisa may soak this attack with three dice (Stamina 3). She rolls 1, 9, 9,. The "1" cancels out one of the successes, leaving Lisa with one. She thus ignores one of the three health levels inflicted by the knife, taking only two levels of damage. Had Lisa been human, she would not have been able to soak the lethal knife wound at all and would have taken three full health levels of damage.

 

Armor

 

Simply put, armor adds to your character's soak. The armor's rating combined with your base soak for purposes of reducing damage.

Light armor offers a small amount of protection, but doesn't greatly hinder mobility. heavy armor provides a lot of protection, but can resist flexibility.

 

Armor protects against bashing, lethal, and aggravated damage from teeth and claws; it does not protect against fire or sunlight. Armor is not indestructible. if the damage rolled in a single attack equals twice the armor's rating, the armor is destroyed.

 

Other Combat Rules

 

Ambush: Ambushes involve surprising a target to get in a decisive first strike. The attacker rolls Dexterity + Stealth in a resisted action against the target's Perception + Alertness. If the attacker scores more successes, she can stage one free attack on the target; she then adds any extra successes from the resisted roll to her attack dice pool. On a tie, the attacker still attacks first, although the target may perform a defensive maneuver. If the defender gets more successes, he spots the ambush, and both parties determine initiative normally. Targets already involved in combat cannot be ambushed.

 

Blind Fighting / Fire: Staging attacks while blind (or in pitch darkness) usually incurs a +2 difficulty, and ranged attacks cannot be accurately made at all. Powers such as Heightened Senses (Auspex) and Eyes of the Beast (Protean) mitigate this penalty.

 

Blinded: Add two dice to attack rolls made against a blinded target. Furthermore, blind characters are at +2 difficulty on all actions.

 

Block: A Dexterity + Brawl maneuver using your character's own body to deflect a hand-to-hand bashing attack. Lethal and aggravated attacks cannot be blocked unless the defender has Fortitude or is wearing armor. Block, dodge, and parry can be performed as part of a multiple action in your character's turn (punching then blocking, shooting then dodging, parrying then striking). Using a multiple action to act and defend is advantageous because your character can still accomplish something in a turn besides avoiding attacks. Rather than having to divide your dice pool among multiple defensive actions, you may declare that your character spends an entire turn defending. The normal multiple-action rules are not used in this case. Instead, you have a full dice pool for the first defensive action, but lose one die, cumulatively, for each subsequent defense action made in the same turn. It is still difficult to avoid several incoming attacks, but not as difficult as trying to attempt multiple things at once. Remember that any actions, including defensive ones, versus multiple attackers still suffer difficulty penalties.

 

Dazed: If, in a single attack, the attacker rolls a number of damage successes greater than the target's Stamina (for mortals) or Stamina + 2 (for vampires and other supernatural beings), the victim is dazed. The target must spend her next available turn shaking off the attack's effects. Only damage successes that penetrate the defender's soak attempt count toward this total.

 

Dodge: A Dexterity + Athletics maneuver useful for avoiding attacks of all types. Your character bobs and weaves to avoid Melee or Brawl attacks (if there's no room to maneuver, she must block or parry instead). In gunfights, your character moves at least one yard/meter and ends up behind cover (if there's no room to maneuver or no cover available, she can drop to the ground). If your character remains under cover or prone, cover rules apply against further Firearms attacks. Block, dodge, and parry can be performed as part of a multiple action in your character's turn (punching then blocking, shooting then dodging, parrying then striking). Using a multiple action to act and defend is advantageous because your character can still accomplish something in a turn besides avoiding attacks. Rather than having to divide your dice pool among multiple defensive actions, you may declare that your character spends an entire turn defending. The normal multiple-action rules are not used in this case. Instead, you have a full dice pool for the first defensive action, but lose one die, cumulatively, for each subsequent defense action made in the same turn. It is still difficult to avoid several incoming attacks, but not as difficult as trying to attempt multiple things at once. Remember that any actions, including defensive ones, versus multiple attackers still suffer difficulty penalties.

 

Flank and Rear Attacks: Characters attacking targets from the flank gain an additional attack die. Characters attacking from the rear gain two additional attack dice.

 

Immobilization: Add two dice to attack rolls made on an immobilized (i.e., held by someone or something) but still struggling target. Attacks hit automatically if the target is completely immobilized (tied up, staked, or otherwise paralyzed).

 

Knockdown: The victim falls down. After suffering a knockdown, the subject makes a Dexterity + Athletics roll. If successful, she may get back on her feet immediately, but her initiative is reduced by two in the next turn. On a failed roll, the subject spends her next action climbing to her feet, if she chooses to rise. On a botch, she lands particularly hard or at a severe angle, taking an automatic health level of bashing damage. Maneuvers like tackle and sweep are intended to knock an opponent down. However, an especially powerful attack of any kind may send the target to the ground. Such instances are best left to the Storyteller's discretion, and should occur only when appropriately cinematic or suitable to the story.

 

Movement: A character may move half of her running distance and still take an action in a turn. Other maneuvers such as leaping or tumbling may be considered separate actions, depending on their complexity.

 

Multiple Actions: If you declare multiple actions, declare the total number of actions you wish to attempt and determine which of the dice pools is the smallest. Then, divide that number of dice between all of your actions. If a character performs only defensive actions in a turn, use the appropriate block, dodge, or parry system.

 

Parry: A Dexterity + Melee maneuver using a weapon to block a Brawl or Melee attack. If a character makes a Brawl attack and the defender parries with a weapon that normally causes lethal damage, the attacker can actually be hurt by a successful parry. If the defender rolls more successes than the attacker does in the resisted action, the defender rolls the weapon's base damage plus the parry's extra successes as a damage dice pool against the attacker. Block, dodge, and parry can be performed as part of a multiple action in your character's turn (punching then blocking, shooting then dodging, parrying then striking). Using a multiple action to act and defend is advantageous because your character can still accomplish something in a turn besides avoiding attacks. Rather than having to divide your dice pool among multiple defensive actions, you may declare that your character spends an entire turn defending. The normal multiple-action rules are not used in this case. Instead, you have a full dice pool for the first defensive action, but lose one die, cumulatively, for each subsequent defense action made in the same turn. It is still difficult to avoid several incoming attacks, but not as difficult as trying to attempt multiple things at once. Remember that any actions, including defensive ones, versus multiple attackers still suffer difficulty penalties.

 

Stake Through Heart: A vampire can indeed be incapacitated by the classic wooden stake of legend. However, the legends err on one point: A Kindred impaled through the heart with a wooden stake is not destroyed, but merely paralyzed until the stake is removed. To stake a vampire, an attacker must target the heart (difficulty 9). If the attack succeeds and inflicts at least three health levels of damage, the target is immobilized. An immobilized victim is conscious (and may use perception powers, such as those in the Auspex Discipline), but may not move or spend blood points.

 

Targeting: Aiming for a specific location incurs an added difficulty, but can bypass armor or cover, or can result in an increased damage effect. The Storyteller should consider special results beyond a simple increase in damage, depending on the attack and the target.

 

Target Size                                  Difficulty      Damage

Medium (limb, briefcase)              +1         No modifier

Small (hand, head, cellphone)      +2                  +1

Precise (eye, heart, lock)               +3                   +2