The basic combat system is easy, with the simple stages discussed previously. Any complication comes from determining the factors that increase or decrease the dice in your pool. That might mean the weapon wielded, the type of armor worn or, say, the likelihood of hitting a target underwater. What follows is an address of the various mitigating circumstances that can arise in close combat — conducted through Brawl and Weaponry attacks. Some of these circumstances are also addressed as Fighting Style Merits (see pp. 110-112). Ranged and General Combat factors are discussed on p. 159 and 164.
Only someone caught completely by surprise, a fool, a masochist or a martyr stands still and takes whatever an enemy has to dish out. Most combatants seek to avoid getting hit and hurt.
A target is automatically allowed a degree of evasion when an opponent uses a Brawl, Weaponry or thrown attack against him. Such a response is a reflexive action and applies even if your character is attacked before his place in the Initiative roster. This reaction is called your character’s Defense, a trait equal to the lowest of his Dexterity or Wits. Your character’s Defense is subtracted from an attacker’s dice pool. In essence, your character bobs and weaves to avoid the blow.
This automatic Defense does not normally apply against Firearms attacks. (See p. 164 for how they may be avoided.) The only instance in which Defense does apply against Firearms-based attacks is when the attacker shoots within close-combat range; within a yard or two of the target. (See “Firearms and Close Combat,” p. 162, for more details on guns used in close-combat range.) Defense does apply normally against thrown weapons, such as rocks, knives and spears.
A target who is tied up, unconscious or simply unmoving does not receive Defense as protection. Nor does one who’s taken by surprise or who is unaware of an incoming attack (say he has his back turned). That is, the attacker’s dice pool is not modified by the target’s Defense trait.
A completely dormant target — a person who is tied up so that he cannot move at all, or who is unconscious — is a sitting duck for a killing blow (see p. 168). The attacker need not make a roll; he delivers damage equal to his dice pool. If the target wears armor, its rating is automatically subtracted from the damage inflicted.
If multiple close-combat attacks are directed at your character in the same turn, he may try to evade each of them, but doing so becomes progressively more difficult. Each attack after the first diminishes your character’s Defense modifier by one. So, if three attacks are staged against your character who has a 3 Defense (his Dexterity is 3 and his Wits is 4), the first attack suffers a -3 penalty, the second suffers a -2 penalty and the third suffers a -1 penalty. A fourth attack would suffer no Defense penalty. Basically, your character’s Defense is subtracted from incoming attacks, but it gets progressively harder to avoid them.
If you elect, your character doesn’t have to apply his Defense modifier until a specified attack comes in. Maybe he singles out the foreseen attack of a specific opponent over all others. You declare one attack as the primary. Your character gains his full Defense against that attack and you can apply a reduced Defense to any attacks that come after that prime attack. You cannot, however, use any of your character’s Defense against attacks that take place before the primary. Your character tries to weather any attacks that come first, reserving his evasiveness for one in particular and then any that follow.
A further option is to spend a Willpower point to increase your character’s Defense by two against a single attack. If his Defense is normally 2 it increases to 4 for the incoming attack. If he has already evaded other attacks in the turn and his Defense is currently reduced to, say, one, a spent Willpower point increases it to 3 to avoid a single attack. Basically, your character puts special effort into avoiding a particular assault. See “Resistance,” p. 133 for more information.
At the start of each new turn, your character’s full, normal Defense trait is restored.
Your character’s automatic Defense does not interfere with any actions that he performs in the turn.
Defense is not reduced by your character’s wound penalties (see p. 171).
Sometimes your character knows that he’s in over his head. Too many opponents are arrayed for him to hope to defeat them all. Or he’s been hurt badly and needs to avoid any further injury. In such cases, he can dedicate himself to avoiding harm by dodging. Your character’s action for a turn is spent anticipating attacks and moving out of harm’s way. Double his Defense trait. Thus, if the lowest of your character’s Dexterity or Wits is 2, his Dodge trait for the turn is 4. That number is subtracted from incoming close-combat and thrown attacks.
Dodge operates somewhat outside the normal Initiative order of the turn. You can declare a dodge for your character at any time in the turn, even before his place in the roster, assuming he hasn’t acted yet. Your character’s action for the turn is dedicated to dodging for the whole turn. Say you get an 8 Initiative and your character’s opponent gets a 10. He attacks your character. You can declare a dodge at “10” in the turn, even though it precedes your “8,” and your character is assumed to spend the whole turn evading.
As with Defense, above, if multiple attacks are directed against your character, his Dodge total is reduced by one for each attack after the first. Thus, if his Dodge total is 6, your character’s first attacker suffers a -6 penalty. The second suffers a -5, the third suffers a -4, and so on.
Assuming your character hasn’t acted yet in a turn, you can declare a dodge for him late in the turn. Maybe your Initiative is 6, but you know that a dangerous foe has an even lower standing. Other characters have already acted in the turn, but your character has done nothing thus far. Your Dodge applies to incoming attacks for the remainder of the turn.
And yet, if your character announces a dodge late in a turn, he has been the target of attacks and his Defense has been applied against them, Defense penalties incurred for multiple incoming attacks carry over to your Dodge. Say your character’s Defense is 3. He’s attacked early in the turn and his Defense is applied in full against it. At your character’s stage of Initiative, you declare a dodge for the remainder of the turn. Normally his Dodge total is 6 (3 Defense doubled). Since his Defense has already been applied against one other attack this turn, his Dodge total is reduced to 5. If Defense had been applied against two other attacks earlier in the turn, his Dodge total would be 4 when it is used.
Your character can do nothing else in a turn in which he dodges except move up to his Speed trait. He can make no attacks. Dodging does not apply against incoming Firearms attacks (unless they are staged within close-combat range; one or two yards — see p. 152).
As with Defense, you can spend a Willpower point to add two to your character’s Dodge against a single attack. So, if your character’s Defense is 3 and his Dodge is 6, his Dodge increases to 8 against that single attack. If his Dodge is normally 6 but he has already evaded three attacks this turn (reducing his Dodge to 3), spending a Willpower point increases it to 5 against a single incoming attack.
Your character may also possess one or both of the Brawling Dodge (p. 110) and the Weaponry Dodge (p. 114) Merits. These traits elaborate on the possibilities of dodging. They cannot both be used in the same turn.
Offhand Attacks: If your character makes attacks with his offhand (say, he’s right handed but is forced to use his left), they suffer a -2 penalty. The Ambidextrous Merit (p. 110) negates this penalty.
Drawing a Weapon: Pulling, sheathing or otherwise preparing a weapon takes one action. Thus, if your character draws a knife in a fight, he spends an action doing so. Having a weapon in hand before a fight breaks out allows your character to start swinging without delay, but brings with it the social implications of walking around with a potentially deadly instrument. If a weapon is hidden on your character’s person (under a coat or in a purse), an action is spent drawing it and your character loses her Defense for the turn. The Quick Draw Merit (see p. 113) allows your character to draw and attack in the same turn.
All-Out Attack: Your character foregoes all pretense of self-preservation. He gives his all to do his opponent harm. You gain two bonus dice on your character’s attack for the turn, but lose his Defense trait for the turn. Thus, he’s easier to be hit and harmed, but he can deliver more damage, too. An all-out attack can be performed with any close-combat attack, armed or unarmed. If your character’s Defense is applied against any incoming attack in a turn, he cannot perform an all-out attack in that turn.
Touching an Opponent: An option of close combat is intentionally making contact with a target, whether by hand or with a hand-held item, but without doing harm. This effort is considered touching, and might be performed to plant a bug on someone, to count coup, to deliver the effect of an occult incantation or to knowingly spread an infection. It’s assumed that a target doesn’t want to be touched. If there’s no resistance involved, the Storyteller can decree that a touch is performed automatically. Otherwise, Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry is rolled to perform a touch. N o damage is delivered through an intentional touch, even if multiple successes are rolled.
If actually making contact with the target’s skin is not an issue — any part of him or his person can be contacted to achieve an effect — armor does not apply to efforts to touch. Armor rating (see p. 17 0) is not subtracted from dice pools to make a touch. If making contact with skin is necessary, a target’s armor applies normally.
A resisting target’s Defense always applies against a touch, subtracting dice from your Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry pool.
No successes rolled in an effort to touch a target means your character misses altogether.
Not all fights between combatants involve knives and clubs. In fact, bringing a weapon to a fight implicitly states that the struggle is serious. One or more people will not only be hurt, but possibly killed. The alternative is to go into a fight unarmed, using only one’s body as a weapon. Unarmed combat applies the Brawl Skill and usually inflicts bashing damage. Going unarmed into battle doesn’t have to put one at a disadvantage over opponents. Training in this style of combat can make your character fully capable of disabling others.
There is a variety of options possible in Brawl combat. The fundamentals available to anyone include punches, kicks and grapples. More versatile and even exotic maneuvers — throws, nerve pinches — are learned by studying the martial arts. See the Boxing and Kung Fu Fighting Style Merits (pp. 110 and 111) for examples of such training. The average guy on the street with no martial training can perform any of the following basics.
Strike: The basic unarmed attack — a blow with a fist, knee, head, foot or elbow. Roll Strength + Brawl with- out any bonus dice.
Bite: Your character’s teeth — whether human-sized or gigantic fangs — clamp down on a target. Roll Strength + Brawl, with a number of bonus dice based on the size of attacker’s jaws and teeth. An ordinary human’s offer no bonus. A large dog’s offer +1. A wolf’s confer a +2 bonus. A great white shark gets a +4 bonus. Generally, a bite from a person inflicts bashing damage, while that from an animal or supernatural creature inflicts lethal harm. The Storyteller may decree that a human combatant can bite an opponent only after successfully grappling (see below).
Grapple: Your character gets a hold of or tackles a target and may apply a clinch with various effects, from immobilizing the victim to crushing him. Roll Strength + Brawl to achieve a hold. The target’s Defense is subtracted from your attack pool, as normal. If you get at least one success, your character has a hold of the target.
If the victim has yet to act in the turn, he may try and break loose at his stage of Initiative. Alternatively, the target may try to turn the tables on his attacker and perform an overpowering grappling maneuver of his own. In either case, roll Strength + Brawl, but the attacker’s Strength is subtracted from the dice pool. Even one success breaks the hold or allows a maneuver to be performed, as explained below. If the attacker’s hold is broken, the grapple is over (although the attacker can attempt to grapple again). If the victim’s roll fails, he does not free himself or does not accomplish a maneuver. The attacker still has a grip on him. The victim of a grapple can try to free himself or perform a maneuver in subsequent turns, unless he is immobilized (see below).
If in the next turn the attacker still has a hold, he can try to overpower his opponent. A Strength + Brawl roll is made. The target’s Strength rather than Defense is subtracted from the attacker’s dice pool. If no successes are gained, the attacker still has a hold, but accomplishes nothing more in the turn (he does not overpower his victim).
If even one success is gained, one of the following overpowering maneuvers can be accomplished in the turn.
If multiple people seek to grapple a single target, and they get a hold, the target can try to break free of all holds simultaneously. Roll Strength + Brawl and subtract the highest Strength among the grapplers, with an additional penalty for each grappler after the first. So, if Anton tries to break out of a hold imposed by three opponents, and the highest Strength among them is 4, Anton’s breakout roll suffers a -6 penalty.
Grappling with an opponent has its drawbacks. Grapplers lose the capacity to dodge (see “Dodge,” p. 156) and can perform only close-combat attacks. Ranged attacks are not allowed. (Wrestling over and using a small gun in a grapple is not considered a ranged attack for our purposes here.) Also see “Shooting into Close Combat,” p. 162, and “Autofire,” p. 160. The “All-Out Attack” technique (p. 157) cannot be used to attempt overpowering maneuvers or to break out of a grapple. All-out attack negates the user’s Defense in close combat, while grapplers already ignore each other’s Defense once a hold is achieved.
Example: Drew seeks to grapple with Anderson. Drew first needs to get a grip on Anderson in his part of Initiative. Doing so requires an action and a successful Strength + Brawl roll, penalized by Anderson’s Defense. If Anderson’s order in Initiative comes later in the turn, he can try to break out with a successful Strength + Brawl roll, in this case penalized by Drew’s Strength. Or Anderson can immediately try to perform a maneuver on Drew since the two are already locked. The same roll (Strength + Brawl - Drew’s Strength) is applied and any successes rolled allow Anderson to perform a task, from doing damage to prying an object from Drew’s free hand.
If in the next turn Drew still has a hold on Anderson, a Strength + Brawl roll, penalized by Anderson’s Strength, is made to see if Drew can perform any maneuvers on Anderson.
Anderson can keep tying to break free each turn, or he can attempt maneuvers on Drew each turn. Until Anderson breaks free, the grapple continues and Drew may continue to inflict his own maneuvers.
- Roll Strength + Brawl - opponent’s Defense for attacker to get a grip on target.
- Target’s next action can be dedicated to breaking free. Roll Strength + Brawl - attacker’s Strength. Any successes indicate breaking free.
Or, the target can attempt to apply an overpowering maneuver to the attacker, participating in the grapple rather than trying to break ree. Roll Strength + Brawl - attacker’s Strength.
Any successes allow for a maneuver (see below).- If the attacker’s grip on the target persists, and he is free to do so, the attacker can try to apply an overpowering maneuver to the victim. Roll the attacker’s Strength + Brawl - opponent’s Strength. Any successes allow a maneuver (see below).
- Possible maneuvers. Choose one:
Render opponent prone
Damage opponent
Immobilize opponent
Draw weapon
Attack with drawn weapon
Turn a drawn weapon
Disarm opponent
Use opponent as protection from ranged attacks
Attempting to break free is always an option instead of performing an overpowering maneuver.