Combat

Listed here is all the HR information about how combat related mechanics should be run on NuMetal. Whenever possible they stick to the listed game mechanics of 20th anniversary edition. Whenever they conflict, we've specified the default rule to be used on NuMetal.

• Typical base difficulty for all rolls is 6.
  • If a mechanic is stated in terms of a primary ability, then a relevant secondary ability can be substituted at -1 difficulty.
  • If a mechanic is stated in terms of a secondary ability, then a relevant primary ability can be substituted at +1 difficulty.
  • If you don't have the ability at all, then consult the clarifications for untrained Abilities listed here.
  • If a substitution is explicitly mentioned below, then it's reiterating these clauses, not stacking with them.
• Actions without a roll are automatically successful.
• "Reflex" rolls don't count as actions.
  • Spending from a pool is a reflex, unless otherwise noted.
• General combat maneuvers described here are allowed.
  • If you don't have a relevant stat/level/maneuver, you can still ICly attempt something similar while not benefiting from the system/bonuses and sticking with the game mechanics of general maneuvers.
• All non-magical weapons and armor use the stats on this Equipment page. All players must follow the guidelines for what equipment must be requested and approved. Individual notes are not valid for any item that is mundane.
• For mounted combat, see C20 page 279
• Specialties may apply to combat.

Basics

Initiative

Determining initiative

Each character's initiative is their initiative rating (Dexterity + Wits) + 1d10

• Optional: For a more dynamic flow of combat, this can be recalculated each turn
• PCs: '+combat/init'
• NPCs: '+combat/init <NPC's name>=<sum of NPC's Dexterity + Wits>'
• Wound penalty reduces your initiative
  • '+combat/init' doesn't apply this or any other modifier automatically, you must account for them manually
• Gurahl are -2 init during winter

Declaring actions

Characters declare intended actions in order of initiative, low to high

• Characters performing multiple actions, using supernatural powers, or spending Willpower must declare those things during this step
• Characters will act in the opposite order (high to low), thus slower characters telegraph their intent and faster ones can take it into account

Simpler alternative (mostly for PRPs)

Characters declare and act in order of initiative, high to low

• This should be agreed upon before combat starts
• First character declares and rolls, then types their pose while the next character is declaring and rolling, and so on
• OOCly faster and simpler, no one has to deal with a large stack of upcoming declared actions
• PRP runner should consider declaring for NPCs at start of turn, so that they still telegraph

Performing actions

Characters act in order of initiative, high to low

• A character can delay their action and take it at any point later in the turn
• If two characters have the same initiative (or delay until the same moment), then the one with the higher initiative rating acts first. If their initiative ratings are also equal, then they act simultaneously

Timing of multiple actions

Extra Actions consist of but are not limited to Celerity, Rage, Split Dice Pools, Etc.

• Main phase: Each character acts once (unless they lose their action due to being stunned, etc.)
• Extra phase: Any characters with multiple actions perform the rest of their actions in the usual order of initiative
  • Even if multiple actions are described by a book or +note as simultaneous, the player must choose an order for the purpose of determining their outcomes, and only the first one occurs in the main phase
  • Players may spend rage OR split dice pools for extra actions but not both. (W20/266)
  • Taking more actions than the lowest of your Wits or Dex actions results in a +3 Difficulty penalty to ALL actions for that round. (W20/288)

Attack

Close combat

Roll:

• Without a weapon: Dexterity + Brawl
• With a weapon: Dexterity + Melee

Modifiers:

• If you don't have Brawl, roll Dexterity at normal difficulty
• If you don't have Melee, roll Dexterity at +1 difficulty
• +(variable) difficulty for wearing armor / shield
• +1 difficulty for melee with a weapon designed for throwing

Ranged combat

Attacker rolls:

• With a gun: Dexterity + Firearms
• With a thrown weapon: Dexterity + Athletics (or Dexterity + Throwing at -1 difficulty)
  • Maximum range = (5 * Strength) yards
  • This is for objects up to 3 pounds (e.g. grenades, knives); -5 yards for every 2 additional pounds, down to minimum of 1 yard
  • If you can't lift it, you can't throw it
• With a bow: Dexterity + Athletics (or Dexterity + Archery at -1 difficulty)
  • Before shooting a bow, a character must spend an action nocking and drawing an arrow (house rule: Archery specialty eliminates this requirement)
  • On a botch, the bowstring snaps. Repair requires a spare bowstring and an action (Wits + Archery, or Wits + Crafts)
• With a crossbow: Dexterity + Athletics (or Dexterity + Archery at -1 difficulty or Dexterity + Firearms at +1 difficulty)
  • Before shooting a crossbow, a character must spend two actions reloading it (house rule: Crossbow specialty reduces this to one action)

Modifiers:

• If you don't have the appropriate skill, roll Dexterity at +1 difficulty (stacked with other modifiers)
• +(variable) difficulty for wearing armor / shield
• +1 difficulty for throwing a weapon designed for melee

Resolution

Damage

Attacker rolls damage

• A botch just counts as a failure
• If you got multiple successes on the attack roll, add 1 damage die for each one beyond the first

Soak

Race	Bashing	Lethal	Aggravated
Vampire (V20/272)	Stamina + Fortitude	Stamina + Fortitude	Fortitude
Ghoul	Stamina + Fortitude	Stamina (unless out of Vitae) + Fortitude	Fortitude
Shifters	Stamina	Stamina (see below)	Stamina (see below)
Changeling (C20/282)	Stamina	Stamina (chimerical only)	none
Mage	Stamina	none	none
Mortal	Stamina	none	none

Target rolls soak

• Reflexive
• Cannot botch, counts as a normal failure
• Unsoaked damage decreases target's health

Armor

• Generally adds to soak, regardless of severity (bashing / lethal / aggravated)
• May not apply, depending on damage type (kinetic, fire, electricity, mental, etc.)
• Doesn't apply if an unarmored body part is successfully targeted

Running out of health

• Health 0 -> incapacitated
• Incapacitated and take more bashing -> convert it to lethal
• Incapacitated and take more lethal:
  • Vampires go into torpor (V20 page 283)
  • Werewolves and other shifters fall unconscious but remains in whatever form they were if the damage is bashing. If the damage is lethal (or becomes lethal) they may spend Rage to remain active, otherwise they revert to breed form, but die if they take any more damage of any type (W20 page 255)
  • Others (NPCs) just die
• Incapacitated and take more aggravated -> die (Most shifters may still be able to Rage-heal, see below for details)

Vampires

• Vampires, and only vampires, consider firearms attacks to be bashing damage as well — unless the bullets are aimed at the

head (difficulty 8), in which case they are considered lethal. (V20/284)

• Fire and the rays of the sun inflict terrible wounds on the undead. (agg damage) (V20/285)
• After the soak roll, any bashing damage applied to a vampire is halved (round down) (V20/285)

Shifters

Shifter	Vulnerable to silver/gold/etc?
Ajaba	Yes: Silver (Same as Garou)
Ananasi	None (CB20/216)
Bastet	Yes: Silver (Same as Garou)
Corax	Yes: Gold (CB20/94,216)
Garou	Yes: Silver (W20/256)
Gurahl	Yes: Silver (Same as Garou)
Kitsune	Yes: Silver, but damage is Lethal, diff 8 to soak (CB20/126,216)
Mokole	Yes: Silver and Gold (CB20/142,216)
Nuwisha	None (CB20/167,216)
Ratkin	Yes: Silver (Same as Garou)
Rokea	Yes: (Same as Garou)

When does a Shifter's Stamina apply to soak? (W20/255)

• Silver/Gold (depending on specific vulnerabilities as noted in the side table)
  • For homid or lupus (or equivalent) in breed form, silver follow normal damage rules, and Stamina applies.
  • Otherwise, touching silver/gold does aggravated damage, and Stamina does not apply.
• Other lethal/aggravated damage
  • In breed form, Stamina does not apply.
  • Otherwise, Stamina applies

• Shifters trying to heal during combat (or other stressful or physically intensive activity): Reflexive Stamina roll difficulty 8, failure means no regenerative heal that round. (W256)

Wound penalties and healing

• Wounds may subtract dice from your action dice pools.
  • Not reflex dice pools
  • Not damage dice pools
  • Not Arete rolls unless mage is incapacitated
• Wounds may also limit your movement.
• Spend a Willpower to ignore all wound penalties for one turn, unless you're incapacitated or worse

Damage	Description	Penalty	Time to heal 1 bashing	Time to heal 1 lethal/agg
1	Bruised	none	1 hour	1 day
2	Hurt	-1	1 hour	3 days
3	Injured	-1, half speed	1 hour	1 week1
4	Wounded	-2, walk	1 hour1	1 month1
5	Mauled	-2, hobble (3 yards/turn)	3 hours1	2 months1
6	Crippled	-5, crawl (1 yard/turn)	6 hours1	3 months1
7	Incapacitated	cannot act or move	12 hours1	5 months1
1 Requires medical care (a character with Medicine 2 or better) to avoid further effects Without such treatment, an injured character suffers more-or-less permanent impairment until someone has an opportunity to fix that damage with supernatural powers. (M20/408)

Supernatural healing

Vampires

• Do not heal due to passage of time like mortals. (V20/268)
• Blood spent per turn (healing or otherwise) is limited by generation. (V20/121)
• A level of aggravated damage may be healed only with a full day of rest and the expenditure of five blood points (though a vampire may, at the end of the full day’s rest, cure additional aggravated health levels by spending an additional five blood points and one Willpower point per extra aggravated health level to be healed). (V20/285)

Ghouls

• Subject to same rules as vampires, except they do heal due to passage of time like mortals.(V20/501)
• They can also regenerate limbs, though not automatically. To make a regeneration attempt, a ghoul must spend a Willpower point, spend an appropriate number of blood points (one for a finger or eye, two for a foot or forearm, three for an entire limb) and make a Stamina roll (difficulty 8). If the roll fails or is botched, the ghoul may never regrow the limb. Elder ghouls find regeneration easier: for each century of age, the difficulty of the roll decreases by one.(V20/501)

Shifters

• Homid and lupus (or equivalents for fera) only regenerate this fast in non-breed form. In breed form, they heal 1 per day in critical condition, otherwise they heal like mortals. (W20/256)
• Metis (or equivalents for fera) regenerate this fast in all forms. (W20/256)
• If engaged in combat or other stressful activity, roll Stamina vs 8 (reflex). Fail = no healing that turn, botch = no healing until they rest. (W20/256)
• Once per scene, a werewolf (or other shifter with Rage) past incapacitated can roll Rage (difficulty 8) to heal one health level per success (can avoid death this way), but start next turn in berserk frenzy. This is not a soak roll and is not applied to the damage done, but is rather counted from Incapacitated backwards. Example: 3 Successes on the Rage vs 8 roll puts you at Wounded regardless of damage taken. (W20/356)
• Ananasi don’t regenerate. Instead, they spend their stored blood points to heal at a rate of one bashing or lethal level per point spent. A full scene of rest and five blood points will heal one level of aggravated damage. Without spending blood, Ananasi heal at the same rate as ordinary humans. (CB20/216)
• Ananasi may spend blood for healing while in any form but Crawlerling. (CB20/60)
• Kitsune heal as ordinary humans do, barring the use of healing Gifts. (CB20/126,216)
• Rokea regenerate as Garou do, save that squamus Rokea also regenerate in breed form when immersed in salt water. (CB20/199,216)

Mages

• A mage healing another person directly requires Life 3. (M20/407)
• Mages healing aggravated damage is vulgar and costs 1 Quint per level of agg healed. (M20/407)

Changelings

• Chimerical damage heals at an accelerated rate, and healing times are further halved if she recuperates in a freehold or glade. If she is in the Dreaming, these health levels heal at the rate of one per 15 minutes, regardless of their severity. Changelings reduced to Incapacitated outside of the Dreaming must be taken to a freehold, glade, or other strong source of Glamour in order to recover. (C20/290)
• Physical damage heals at the normal rate, unless the changeling is taken to a freehold, glade, or similar strong source of Glamour, in which case the wounds heal at the rate chimerical wounds heal outside of a freehold or glade. Changelings reduced to Mauled or below on the health level track must receive medical attention in order to heal if they are not taken to a freehold or glade. (C20/290)
• Aggravated damage must heal at the natural rate, and cannot be enhanced by magic. Even if the changeling recuperates in the freehold or glade, healing times are only halved, with a minimum of one day per health level required — even in the Dreaming, aggravated damage only heals one health level every 12 hours. (C20/290)

Chimerical Damage Healing Times (C20/291)
Level	Bashing	Lethal
Bruised	30 Minutes	Six Hours
Hurt	30 Minutes	12 Hours
Injured	One Hour	One Day
Wounded	One Hour	Six Hours
Mauled	One Hour	12 Hours
Crippled	Three Hours	One Day
Incapacitated	Six Hours	Six Hours

Power Healing	Cost/time to heal 1 bashing	Cost/time to heal 1 lethal	Cost/time to heal 1 agg	Ref
Vampire, ghoul	1 blood per level / 1 turn	1 blood per level / 1 turn	5 blood / 1 day	V20/268,285
Ananasi	1 blood, 1 turn	1 blood, 1 turn	5 blood, 5 turns	CB20/60
Shifter	0 / 1 turn	0 / 1 turn	1 day	W20/256

General maneuvers

Aborting actions / Changing actions

• You can abandon your character’s declared action in favor of a defensive action as long as your character hasn’t acted in the turn. Actions that can take the place of a previously declared action include block, dodge, and parry. A successful Willpower roll versus difficulty 6 (or the expenditure of a Willpower point) is required for a character to abort an action and perform a defensive one instead. (V20/274) (M20/416)
• If your character fails her Willpower roll, she must perform her originally declared action, unless she spends a point of Willpower. (C20/276)
• When spending Willpower for an abort maneuver, a character may declare the Willpower expenditure at the time of the abort. A Willpower roll to abort is considered a reflexive action. (V20/274) (M20/416)

Ambush

(M20/416) (C20/276) (V20/274)

• Can't target someone already in combat
• Resisted roll, attacker's Dexterity + Stealth versus target's Perception + Alertness
  • Attacker wins: one free attack, each additional success adds 1 die to attack roll; the target cannot perform any sort of defensive maneuver, and the target cannot even abort a previous action to perform a defensive maneuver.
  • Tie: attacker acts first but target can perform a defensive action
  • Target wins: determine initiative normally

Flank attacks / Rear attacks

(V20/274) (C20/276)

• Attack from target's side: +1 die
• Attack from target's rear: +2 dice
  • Does not apply if the target is not actively engaged with an opponent in melee and can turn to face the attacker.
  • If the target is engaged in melee with one opponent, the target can turn to the side against both to avoid being attacked from behind, giving +1 to both opponents rather than allowing +2 from one.
    • Target does not have this option on the first round if they are successfully ambushed.

Movement

• Walk: 7 yards
• Jog: 12 + Dexterity yards (V20/258)
• Run: 20 + (3 x Dexterity) yards (C20/252)
• Swim: 8 + Dexterity (unskilled)/ 12 + Dexterity (skilled) yards (M20/401)
• Climb: 10 feet (3.3 yards) per (Dexterity + Athletics) success normally; 15-20 feet under ideal conditions; 5 feet per success under poor conditions.
  • Crinos Form: Move an additional 2 yards per turn by dropping to all fours. (W20/269)
  • Hispo Form: Move at one and one-half times human speed.
  • Wolf Form: Move at twice human speed.
• Movement while performing another action (V20/258):
  • Limited to half your running distance
  • Doesn't count as multiple actions, but the action is -1 die per yard moved
  • Specific types of movement (e.g. leaping, tumbling) may require an action to perform

Targeting

(C20/276) (V20/274)

• May bypass armor or cover
• Medium (arm, leg, briefcase): +1 difficulty, normal damage
• Small (hand, head, laptop): +2 difficulty, +1 damage
• Precise (eye, heart, lock): +3 difficulty, +2 damage
  • Stake through heart: target vampire's heart (+3 diff) and do 3+ damage (after soak). 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. (V20/280)

Defensive maneuvers

• Each of the target's successes cancels one of the attacker's successes on the attack roll.
• Even if you have lower initiative, you can declare a defense against an anticipated attack that hasn't been declared yet. If the attack does occur, then your defense resolves at the same time.
• To abort to a defense, see "Aborting actions / Changing actions".

Block

• Blocking is using a body part to deflect an attack.
• Dexterity + Brawl
• Melee combat only

Dodge

• Dodging is avoiding contact with an attack.
• Dexterity + Dodge
  • Difficulty may vary based on how much cover is available (see Cover) and how far away it is (see Movement) (M20/411) (W20/289)
    • Each success on this roll subtracts one success from the attacker’s roll (M20/411) (W20/289)
• Versus Melee or Brawl: requires enough room to bob and weave (V20/275) (M20/411)
• Versus Firearms: requires moving at least one yard and ending up behind cover, or dropping to the ground (V20/275)
• Kitsune can't botch Dodge rolls (counts as simple failure) (CB20/126)

Parry

• Dexterity + Melee
• Close combat only
• Requires weapon or shield
• If you parry an unarmed attack with a lethal or aggravated weapon and get more successes, you damage the attacker, adding 1 damage die for each success over the attacker's.

Desperate defense

• Declare that you'll spend the entire turn performing defensive actions
• Instead of the usual penalties for multiple actions, just subtract 1 die from the second action, 2 from the third, etc.

Limits by race

• SA player cannot use both Rage and Gnosis in the same turn, whether spending points or rolling the Trait. The only exceptions are certain Gifts that demand both to function. These two forces are very powerful, and the Garou’s body is not strong enough to pull the power from these two natures simultaneously. (W20/146)
  • See "Multiple actions" for limits on Rage for extra actions.
• A mage can cast only one Effect per turn, even if she’s using Time 3 magick to speed up her activities. She may, however, keep any number of Effects running at a time, although it becomes more and more difficult for her to do so. Game-wise, you add +1 to your difficulty for every two Effects you have running at one time – that is, +1 difficulty for two Effects, +2 for four Effects, +3 for six Effects, and so on. And by “running,” we mean an Effect that demands ongoing concentration - a summoning, a force field, weather control, and so on. An Effect that has a Time-based trigger, one which has been locked into another Pattern, or one that has been cast but whose duration has not yet expired, does not count toward that total. (M20/528-529)
• No more than two Effects can be used at once during the casting of a ritual. (M20/529)
  • Triggering an Artifact/Invention uses your Arete and thus counts against your limit. Continuously active items don't need to be triggered.
  • Triggering a Talisman/Device uses the item's Arete and thus doesn't count against your limit; you and the item can each cast one Arete effect per turn.

Additional fera stuff

• Corax in Crinos or Corvid: -1 diff Athletics
• Gurahl in anything but Homid: -2 diff Perception based on smell, +2 diff Perception based on sight
• Rokea in Chasmus or Gladius have jagged skin (hit them barehanded -> 2 levels lethal, soakable if you can soak lethal)