Revision as of 16:23, 25 November 2014

The combat mechanics of World of Darkness, as written, leave much to be desired. Combat is clunky, involves a ton of dice rolling, and is very damage/kill focused. In the real world, violent confrontations can end in any number of ways beyond one party killing or beating the other into unconsciousness. From The Ashes: Detroit By Night uses the following conventions, instead. We believe that these alternate rules give players legitimate alternatives to lethal force as a means to emerge victorious from a conflict (without removing lethal force as a legitimate option).

This system also abstracts combat (in particular hand-to-hand, or claw-to-fang engagements) away from the blow-by-blow, where every punch, parry, bob, and weave gets its own dice roll into a contested dice roll between combatants meant to reflect a longer period of time. The reality of a fist fight is that many dozens of punches may be thrown in a very short time, but in the end the results will boil down to a chaotic mix of skill, good fortune, and comparative grit.

These rules are new, should be considered to be 'in beta' and as with anything on From The Ashes: Detroit by Night, players may feel free to agree to resolve things per RAW or whatever other system all participants in the scene agree to.

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Basics: How To Combat

This section covers the fundamentals of resolving combat scenes in WoD. If you're new to WoD, running combat scenes, or just like going back to basics read this section carefully, first. If you're familiar with WoD combat systems in general, you can skim here.

Structure of a Combat Round

A combat in World of Darkness, and by extension From The Ashes: Detroit By Night, is broken down into Combat Rounds which represent fifteen seconds of in-character time passing. Because of the nature of World of Darkness' various supernatural powers, Combat Rounds are broken down into Phases. Phases are then broken down into individual characters' actions.

Initiative: At the start of each Combat Round, players roll a single D10 to which is added the sum of their Wits and Dexterity scores. In From The Ashes: Detroit By Night this is handled automatically by the +init command. Initiative represents a combination of a character's mental presence and awareness of the current conflict as well as their ability to swiftly act upon opportunities that present themselves. Ties in initiative are resolved by comparing the non-rolled component (usually Wits+Dexterity, but sometimes other bonuses apply), with the highest non-rolled component being considered to have scored higher. In the case that these are also tied, combatants should declare simultaneously (via paging the storyteller, rather than out-loud) and the ST will declare for both of them at once. Their actions resolve simultaneously as well.

Phase Structure

Characters declare their intended actions beginning with the lowest initiative and moving progressively higher until finally the highest initiative declares last (and thus benefits from knowing what all other actions happening in the combat are). Actions are, however, resolved in the reverse order. Higher initiative characters will be able to interrupt, obsolete, or obviate earlier actions declared in the round. A character who's action is no longer viable or possible may attempt to salvage their action by aborting to another action. See the aborting section in Permutations below.

Every Combat Round has, at a minimum, a Main Phase which proceeds as described above. The Main Phase happens first, after initiative has been rolled. The presence of characters who are entitled to additional actions (Vampires, through Celerity; Werewolves, through the expenditure of Rage; Mages through a variety of means, usually Time magick; and Changelings through the Quicksilver cantrip), called Haste Actions, triggers additional phases called Haste 1, Haste 2, Haste 3, etc. until all participants have used their Haste Actions. In any given Haste Phase, only those characters with actions to spend may be pro-active, characters without Haste actions may only react to attacks made upon them. Consider the following example:

Jane, Frank, Teddy, and Paulo engage in a combat. On the initiative roll, Jane scores a 17, Frank a 9, Teddy an 11, and Paulo a 19. They declare actions in the order of Frank, Teddy, Jane, Paulo. Actions are resolved in the order of Paulo's, Jane's, Teddy's, and finally Frank's. Frank, as part of his declaration, announces that he has a Time Magick effect that gives him a Haste Action so Teddy, a Ghural, announces he will spend two Rage points for additional haste actions.

As a result, this Combat Round will have a Main Phase with the order described above, followed by the Haste 1 Phase, which will feature only Frank and Teddy, with frank Declaring first, and Teddy resolving first. This will, in turn, be followed by the Haste 2 Phase, during which, only Teddy is entitled to act, he declares and resolves in the same go. After this, a new Combat Round begins, starting with a new initiative roll.

Action Structure

Actions, in a combat, tend to fall into one of three categories: Attacks, Defenses, and Miscellany. Attacks are broken up into basic, powerful, feinting, committed, and grappling attacks. An attacker is NOT considered to have abandoned their defense, unless they explicitly do so by declaring the high-risk Committed Attack. Defenses, by comparison, are someone abandoning the attack in order to prevent personal harm, they come in blocks, dodges, escapes, and grapple defenses - the latter two of which are a special case. These are broken out, and discussed below.

Miscellaneous actions represent actions during a combat that are not pertaining to the combat, for example: trying to hack a locked door's keypad while a Garou is trying to chew your face off is a Miscellaneous action. (Also ill-advised.)

Some basic guidelines: When two individuals attack each other, the attack rolls are contested. The loser's successes subtract from the winner's, and then the winner's attack resolves while the loser's is negated. When two individuals defend against one another, nothing happens.

Subsequent Attacks, aka "piling on": Any individual who is attacked is entitled to a defense roll. When multiple attacks come in, however, anyone carrying on with an offense suffers a cumulative 2 dice penalty to defend against each subsequent attack until their pool hits zero, at which point any remaining attacks simply land. Storytellers should keep in mind that unless the character is facing a firing squad, there is a limit to the number of attackers that can successfully engage a single person. Terrain like fighting in a doorway can limit this even further. More than five attackers is probably not reasonable, and that requires the victim to be completely surrounded. Three is a reasonable maximum if the victim's back is to a wall. Consider a situation where A is fighting B and C. A and B attack each other, and C attacks A. A wins over B (barely) and inflicts damage. In this instance, C's attack does not land uncontested. A is still fighting, and is hardly unaware of C's attack - but he does suffer from split actions. He defends with his choice of a Block or Dodge (the choice may be made for him, by the ST if the situation warrants it), but at -2 dice. If there was a third attacker, D, A would block or dodge at -4 dice, and so on with each new attacker increasing the penalty by 2 dice until the pool hits 0.

An individual engaged in a Defense suffers half the penalty for someone carrying out an attack would. So the second attack they must defend against incurs -1, the third, -2, the fourth -3, etc.

An individual who uses an Escape defense makes ONE roll, and all attackers compare against that roll. If anyone breaks the defense, those attacks land and the escape fails. If no one breaks the defense, the defender escapes and starts a chase.

An individual who uses dodge against multiple ranged attackers makes ONE roll, and all attackers compare against that roll. Any attackers who beat the defense may inflict normal damage. All others miss. Storytellers may make exceptions for victims taking fire from unique angles of attack, where the quality of cover is substantially different versus one angle than the other(s). One roll per group of attacks originating from a given direction makes the most sense here. See the Firefights section under Permutations for more.

Special Note: Haste Actions: Haste Actions represent supernatural speed or acuity. As such, they count as subsequent attackers for purposes of piling on. If a Garou spends two rage to make a total of three attacks, the poor sod on the receiving end defends against the first one at full, Haste 1 at -2, and Haste 2 at -4. This is less powerful than Garou players are accustomed to, but given the consequences of a single Garou's attack passing a defense, we feel that the fuzzies will still do just fine.

Attacks

Basic Attack: By hook, crook, or cannon, you attempt to hurt the other person. The attacker's pool is based on the means of harm. Bare-handed would use Brawl. A sword or the like would use Melee. A gun would use Firearms. A Magickal attack would use whatever the proscribed pool is.

Power Attack: Basic attacks include an understood level of concern for one's own safety. When you're throwing that away to pile on the hurt, you may add 1 to your attack's difficulty (making an opponent's counter-attack more likely to prevail), and add 2 to your subsequent damage pool.

Feinting Attack: The opposite end of the spectrum is an attack that doesn't have the full force behind it, the focus is instead on getting through an strong opponent's defense. -1 difficulty on the attack, and it suffers from -2 damage pool.

Grappling Attack: Reaching out and grabbing someone. This is how someone who wants to start a non-consensual grapple does so. Brawl is the only ability that makes sense here, and is either paired with Dexterity or Strength, depending upon the type of grappling technique used. Grapples are unique situations that have their own mechanics, see the Grappling section below.

Committed Attack: A special case attack which utterly forgoes personal safety and abandons the defense. The attacker may not defend against ANY inbound attack this round, but their target must either accept the full force of this attack, suffer a +2 difficulty, or abort to a defense (they do not need to roll to abort). Committed attacks may not be initiated during Haste Actions.

Defenses

Blocking Defense: Using your weapon to intercept or deflect an incoming attack. Importantly, the pool used for this defense depends upon the type of attack. Defending against a Brawl attack uses Brawl. Defending against a Melee or Ranged attack may use Brawl or Melee. Defending against Ranged attacks comes at +2 difficulty for launched projectiles (bolts, slings, and arrows), and +4 versus gunfire, freakin' laser beams, and other beyond-sight attacks. The base difficulty for blocking is 4 with same-pool, 5 with different pool.

EXAMPLES: Tony is engaged in fisticuffs with Juan. He uses a blocking defense against Juan's punch. His roll is Dexterity + Brawl, difficulty 4. Elsewhere, Maria was caught empty handed against a Ninja with a sword. She uses a Blocking defense to deflect the Ninja's sword, using Dexterity + Brawl, difficulty 5. Finally, Jake - a total badass - is facing off against a psycho with a machine gun with nothing but a titanium spork. He attempts to block the bullets with the spork, because he's that badass. His roll is Dexterity + Melee, versus difficulty 9. Good luck, Jake.

Dodging Defense: Evasion is always an option, and for ranged attacks usually much easier. The roll is usually Dexterity + Athletics, but other rolls can be asked for if the situation warrants. (Dodging an anti-tank missile while driving your 1964 Dodge Dart is a Dexterity + Drive roll, for example.) The difficulty for hand-to-hand attacks is generally 5. Against ranged attacks, the difficulty depends on the availability of nearby cover: Being half-hidden behind a brick wall would be difficulty 3. Having a counter close-by enough that one could dive and land behind it would be difficulty 6. Standing alone in an open field is difficulty 9.

Escape Defense: Not always an option, but sometimes it makes no sense to block or dodge, but rather to get the hell out of dodge. Generally this will involve Dexterity + Athletics, but as with dodging, creative escape techniques call for different dice pools. The difficulty is 6, but a successful defense, in addition to negating the attack, starts you with a head-start for a subsequent chase. As with grapples, chases are unique. As a form of extended conflict with potentially violent circumstances, chases are covered in our combat rules, in the Chases section, below.

Grapple Defense: Aikidoka, Wrestlers, and people taught to fight in Krav Maga classes, of by a military learn that sometimes the best way to end a fight isn't necessarily to inflict wounds - but to take control of and immobilize the attacker. When you're not willing to initiate violence, but still want this as an option, you may initiate a grapple in response to an attack. See the Grapple section, for how to handle this situation. The only functional difference between a Grapple Defense and a Grapple Attack is that the Attack variant starts the grapple, period. The Defense variant only begins the grapple if one is attacked, similar to Guarding.

Guard: A special-case defense. Sometimes you have low initiative and want to attack, but ONLY if the other person is going to be violent. Guarding leaves you the option of attacking in this case, even if your initiative is low. If a person in a Guard defense is attacked, this action automatically converts to an Attack action against the first person to attack them. If they are not attacked, they do nothing.

Resolution

Attack vs. Attack: Once the manners of attack and defense have been identified and the relevant dice pools selected, resolution is fairly straightforward.

In the case of two individuals attacking each other in hand-to-hand combat, only one can be successful. The lower number of successes is subtracted from the greater and that attack is successful at the reduced number of successes. A successful attacker rolls damage appropriate to the method of attack, plus 1 die for any successes beyond the first. Damage pools are rolled versus difficulty 6 and do not count 1s as negative successes. The amount of damage inflicted is equal to the successes scored. The damage type is dependent upon the method of attack.

Anyone can soak bashing damage. Shifters not in their breed form, Vampires, Ghouls, Trolls, Redcaps, Satyrs, Scathach Sidhe, and others under special circumstances may soak lethal. Vampires with Fortitude, Shifters not in their breed form, and others under special circumstances may soak Aggravated damage. 'Unsoakable' damage, obviously, may not be soaked (except by armor dice, see below). A 'soak' roll is generally (see Armor, below) Stamina versus difficulty 6, successes are subtracted from the inbound damage from an attack.

Special Case: Armor: Armor dice, which are granted by wearing armor and certain other abilities, are not subject to the 'unsoakable' restriction, and often apply to damage types that the wearer may not, themselves, soak. If the armor may soak the incoming attack, but the user may not, then the soak pool is just the armor dice. If the armor and the user may soak the attack, then the pool is Stamina + Armor.

Attack vs. Defense: The subject of an attack who is using a defense subtracts their successes from the attacker's roll. If the attack is reduced to or below zero, the attack is utterly negated, no further resolution is necessary. If the attack has at least one success left it is successful and is resolved as above.

Attack vs. Escape: When an escape confronts an attack, the relative successes are compared and the larger of the two is considered successful - the other is negated. A successful attack has it's successes reduced by the escape attempt's successes and then is resolved as above. A successful Escape begins a chase with the Prey having a Head Start equal to the number of successes remaining in the Escape attempt. See 'Chases' below.

EXAMPLE: Uriel is suddenly beset by a Sabbat Vampire looking for a snack. The Vampire opens with a basic brawling attack, and Uriel would like to be somewhere else. The vampire rolls and scores four successes on his attack. Uriel's dice are searing hot, however, and he manages a whopping 7-success Escape defense using Dexterity + Athletics. Since he scored more successes, Uriel's defense is successful, and the attack is negated! As long as the Vampire is inclined to finish what he started, the chase is on! Uriel's Escape is reduced by the Vampire's attack: 7 - 4 = 3, so Uriel, as prey, has a Head Start of 3 (a narrow lead, but better than being a snack, by far), the Vampire enters the chase as the Predator.

Attack vs. Grapple (Attack or Defense): A grapple attack that is successful, or a grapple defense that is successful begins a grapple with a Control equal to the number of successes remaining. See Grappling below.

Permutations

There are a couple of situations which require unique handling to preserve realism and open up more options for players than simply doing damage and avoiding damage.

Firefights

In a real fist fight, the concept of two blows landing simultaneously is all but patently absurd. People fighting hand-to-hand are working hard on avoiding harm simultaneously with dealing it out. In a firefight, however, there's only so much you can do to protect yourself and still have a clean line of fire. For this reason, attack rolls during RANGED combat are not contested. Combatants may elect to attack and defend, using the split-pool rules below. The difficulty for firearms is usually the base difficulty of the weapon. Being outside effective range adds +2 difficulty for every increment of effective range one is from the target, rounding down. Being within five yards of the target, but not engaged in hand-to-hand combat, lowers the difficulty to 4, regardless of weapon.

Bringing a Gun to a Fist Fight

Most firearms are useless in hand-to-hand combat, but there are exceptions. Pistols, SMGs, and long-guns with bayonets are the most common excuses to use a gun close enough to spit on someone. The problem is that such close proximity gives empty-handed defenders all kinds of options to fight back. As a general rule, uncontested attacks (meaning the defender's relevant pool is zero, or they are otherwise ineligible for a defense) count as point blank fire, and is subsequently difficulty 4, as above. An aware defender, however, sets the difficulty to 6 for pistols and SMGs and sets it to 8 for long-guns being used with Firearms (instead of Melee). A firearms target who is attacking back, further forces the attack rolls to once again be contested - he can deflect the gun and punch you in the face.

A long-gun with a bayonet that successfully strikes as a Melee attack may inflict either the Bayonet's damage OR expend a round from the chamber and inflict that damage + 2 instead.

Furthermore, Brawl and Melee fighters who can come to grips with a gunner may use their blocking defensive options as per the standard 'mismatched methods' - blocks are diff 5.

Aborting

The best laid plans of mice and men... and all that jazz. When your action becomes null and void (your target vanishes in a poof of magic or moves out of sight, your gun is disintegrated, etc) or you come under an attack that was declared after your declaration, you may attempt to Abort to another action. In the latter case, you may only abort to a defensive action. In the former case, if you successfully abort you suffer from the split pool penalties for however many actions you've aborted this round. Yes, you can attempt to abort more than once, but it's not recommended and you have to have first succeeded the prior attempt(s).

To abort your action, you roll Willpower vs difficulty 8. If the roll succeeds, you may immediately declare your new action.

Environmental Damage, Periodic Damage, Book Keeping

Sometimes you're fighting over the volcano. Sometimes you're fighting in it. Some characters need to make frenzy checks or gain Rage or roll things to sustain effects, etc. We call this stuff, book keeping effects. Book Keeping stuff happens at the end of every combat round, after all Haste phases have been resolved. Characters who would like to ask for things to be checked (such as rage increases for taking their first wound) need to remind the ST before first declarations have begun for the subsequent round. (Ideally before +init, but some people get trigger happy with that command. ST's should ask before +initing the next round, too.)

This is also when all effects and delays with durations measured in combat rounds would end.

Split Actions

Sometimes you really do have to do two things at once. Firefights may involve ducking behind cover AND shooting (especially if you're facing multiple opponents). Sometimes you need to recite a sixteen-page passphrase while fighting off waves of security robots (don't laugh, I've seen it happen). Whenever your character must do two (or more) things at once, each action has it's pool reduced by 2 dice, and then reduced further by one die for each action past the first that you are attempting.

EXAMPLE: Toni the gun-ninja is walking on a tightrope when suddenly it begins to rain gun-ninja from a rival gun-ninja clan. As the combat begins she dashes across the tightrope and engages two RGN (Rival Gun-Ninja) with her ninja-submachineguns. She is performing three actions: Dex + Athletics to keep her balance, and two discrete Dex + Firearms actions against separate targets. She rolls each attack at -4 dice. -2 for splitting, and -2 more for 3 discrete actions. If she were attempting to only shoot one RGN, she'd only reduce her pools by 3.

These are the three cardinal rules of action splitting:

• You may never split actions to duplicate attacks against the same target.
• Your pools CAN be reduced to zero, and you are limited to a number of actions equal to your character's Wits
• Haste actions may never be split