Willpower can also be used to reflect your character’s efforts to resist influences and dangers imposed upon him. Your character might be determined to resist a poison that depletes his Strength, or to avoid harm through sheer force of determination.
In these cases, you can spend a point of Willpower in a reflexive action to gain a bonus to Resistance efforts. In combat, a point of Willpower spent adds two points to your character’s Defense to resist harm against a single attack. You simply announce that you’re spending Willpower to resist when the attack is staged. (Your character could even dodge in a turn — see p. 121 — and you could spend a Willpower point to gain a further two points of protection against a single attack.) Remember that Defense (and therefore Willpower) does not usually apply against attacks from firearms or bows.
Otherwise, Willpower can be spent to bolster one your character’s “Resistance” Attributes — Composure, Resolve or Stamina — against a single roll when he is threatened. Say, your character is exposed to a supernatural power that diminishes his cognitive capacity. The power steals one Intelligence point per success achieved, and your character’s Resolve is subtracted from the dice pool rolled. Spending a point of Willpower increases your character’s Resolve by two to resist the power. That is, your character’s Resolve +2 is subtracted from the dice pool of the opponent.
Example: A monster’s thrall tries to hit Jefferson, who hopes to get by to save a child. Jefferson stops at nothing to get to the kid, so his player spends a Willpower point to better resist the effects of the thrall’s attack. Jefferson’s Defense increases from 2 to 4 for the attack, diminishing the minion’s dice pool.
In another turn, Jefferson negotiates for the release of the child from the bloodsucking monster. The creature of the night seeks to cripple Jefferson with a magical power that saps Strength. Jefferson fights back with all his might, and his player spends a point of Willpower to resist the power. Jefferson’s Stamina is normally 3 but it increases to 5 in this instance, and that number is subtracted from the dice pool rolled for the creature’s trick.
Remember that only one Willpower point can be spent per turn, total, no matter how it’s used. You cannot, for example, spend one point to gain three extra dice on a roll and another point to increase your character’s Resolve in the same turn. Those points must be spent in separate turns.
Wound penalties (see p.171) do not apply to your character’s Defense or other Resistance traits when those traits are subtracted from opponents’ dice pools. Storytellers are encouraged to read “Rule of Thumb: Resistance,” p. 202, to better understand when Resistance traits such as Stamina, Resolve, Composure and Defense are subtracted from attackers’ dice pools in play.