Combat

**All combat must be done with the approval and presence of a Storyteller.** As soon as the first punch a thrown, someone has to roll Self Control, *anything* indicating combat must have an ST present.

## Step 1: Roll Inits

* Declare combat (and get an ST)
* Roll for initiative which is Wits + Alertness [diff 6]
* Declare actions and roll by in order of highest initiative
* Declared actions including spending blood, attacking, fleeing, etc

Please keep in mind that Inits is rolled once per scene, this is to speed things up as much as possible. If there is a late comer to the scene, they will roll Inits and be fit into the last spot of the order.

## Step 2: Attack

* Attacker rolls to hit
* Target decides to use his action to dodge or simply soak
* If attack hits, roll damage
* Target rolls to soak damage
* Rolls for attacking are here

### **Healing During Combat**

Healing during combat is possible by declaring your intention before the combat round starts, and **rolling Stamina+ Survival diff 8 (no wp)**. Successes indicate the number of bp you can heal with (gen max still applies though), failure means you lose the bp, and a botch means you lose the bp, an additional bp and suffer an extra health level of damage.

## Step 3: Resolution

* Roll damage, this depends on your weapon & maneuver
* Information about weapons & armor can be found here.
* To soak damage, roll Stamina.

## Combat Maneuvers

* **Aborting Actions:** At any time during a turn, you can abandon your current stated action to block, dodge, or parry an incoming attack. You must either make a successful Willpower roll (a reflexive action) using Willpower rating as a dice pool, difficulty 6, or you can spend a Willpower point to be allowed to defend automatically. If your Willpower roll fails, your character may not defend and must follow through with her originally declared action on your initiative. You enact your defense at the moment the attack occurs, even if the attack occurs before your place initiative comes around. If your character has already acted this turn, she may not defend against the attack.
* **Ambush:** To have your character sneak up on or secretly lie in wait for her quarry and get a surprise attack, roll Dexterity + Stealth with a resisted roll against the target's Perception + Alertness. If you score more successes than the victim, your character may stage one free attack against him, and you may add any extra successes beyond the first in the ambush roll to your attack dice pool. On a tie, your character still attacks first, but the target may defend with a block, dodge or parry. If the target gets more successes, he sees your character coming and

both parties roll initiative normally. Targets already involved in combat cannot be ambushed.

* **Blind Fighting/Fire:** Situational factors — pitch blackness, blindness or physical damage — inhibit vision during combat. Attacking while blinded incurs a +2 difficulty to the roll, and ranged attacks cannot be made accurately at all. Certain hunter edges may offset some of these challenges.
* **Flank and Rear Attacks**: If your character attacks from the side or flank of his target, add a single attack die to your dice pool. If your character attacks from the rear, add two extra dice to your pool.
* **Movement:** A character can move half her running distance and still take an action in a turn. She may follow that movement with an action, as well. Your character moves half the distance she could normally cover, then acts. Though this is not considered a multiple action, the Storyteller may impose a penalty to the difficulty number or to your dice pool for the action. On the other hand, if your character moves *while* attempting a second action, such as crossing a room while trying to reload her gun, each yard moved penalizes the other action's dice pool by one.
* **Targeting:** If you want your character to attempt a called shot or to aim for a specific location on the target, the difficulty of the attack roll increases. However, your character can bypass armor or cover, or can inflict extra damage by calling a shot. A successful targeted shot, punch, or stab can have dramatic results beyond simply inflicting damage: the destruction of an object, blinding of an enemy or disarming of an opponent. If your character uses a blunt object that would normally cause bashing damage, but she target's the victim's head specifically, the resulting damage may be considered lethal at the Storyteller's discretion. Refer to the following chart when determining difficulty and damage modifiers for aimed attacks. Some areas inflict temporary or permanent status if hit, which is detailed here.