Stage One: Initiative
Everyone rolls Initiative: The result of a die roll + Dexterity + Composure. The character with the highest Initiative performs her action first. Or you may yield your character’s action until later in the Initiative queue or intro the next turn.
Stage Two: Attack
- Unarmed close combat: Strength + Brawl, minus target’s Defense and armor
- Armed close combat: Strength + Weaponry, minus target’s Defense and armor
- Ranged combat (guns and bows): Dexterity + Firearms, minus target’s armor
- Ranged combat (thrown weapons): Dexterity + Athletics, minus target’s Defense and armor
Add bonus dice based on weapon used or effect performed, and then subtract penalties for circumstance conditions. Roll your remaining pool. Each success equates to a Health point of damage inflicted, the type of which is determined by the nature of the attack.
The Storyteller describes the attack and wound in narrative terms.
Possible Modifiers
- Aiming: +1 per turn to a +3 maximum
- All-Out Attack: +2 with Brawl or Weaponry attack; lose Defense
- Armor Piercing: Ignores amount of target’s armor equal to item’s own rating
- Autofire Long Burst: 20 or so bullets at as many targets as the shooter wants, pending Storyteller approval. A +3 bonus is applied to each attack roll; -1 per roll for each target if there’s more than one
- Autofire Medium Burst: 10 or so bullets at one to three targets, with a +2 bonus to each attack roll; -1 per roll for each target if there’s more than one
- Autofire Short Burst: Three bullets at a single target with a +1 bonus to the roll
- Concealment: Barely -1; partially -2; substantially -3; fully, see “Cover”
- Dodge: Double target’s Defense
- Drawing a Weapon: Requires one action (one turn) without a Merit, and could negate Defense
- Firing from Concealment: Shooter’s own concealment quality (-1, -2 or -3) reduced by one as a penalty to fire back (so, no modifier, -1 or -2)
- Offhand Attack: -2 penalty
- Prone Target: -2 penalty to hit in ranged combat; +2 bonus to hit when attacker is within close-combat distance
- Range: -2 at medium range, -4 at long range
- Shooting into Close Combat: -2 per combatant avoided in a single shot (not applicable to autofire)
- Specified Target: Torso -1, leg or arm -2, head -3, hand -4, eye -5
- Surprised or Immobilized Target: Defense doesn’t apply
- Touching a Target: Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry; armor may or may not apply, Defense does apply
- Willpower: Add three dice or +2 to a Resistance trait (Stamina, Resolve, Composure or Defense) in one roll or instance