Table of Contents

In Vampire, combat mechanics have been made in such a way to highlight the drama violent conflict can bring to a story without diminishing the dark reality behind it. This is to give both the feeling of dynamic, viscous combat, while still allowing for the spectacular elements that vampires bring to it.

The summary below has been heavily edited to offer clarity, and to streamline the system as much as possible.

Sometimes a mortal picks a fight with a heavy-weight Brujah or a particularly feral Gangrel. In situations like these, where the odds are obviously in the vampire’s favor, the fight can instead be determined with a single set of rolls as opposed to a complete combat encounter.

To quickly resolve such situations, each party involved will each get a single action. This action will summarize how they conducted themselves during the fight, such as a Strength + Brawl roll to wrestle someone to the ground, or a Dexterity + Firearms roll to fire a shot.

The difficulty of this roll begins at 6. If a particularly lethal approach is utilized (bringing a gun to a knife fight, Feral Claws), the difficulty falls to 4. If they wish to use a lethal approach while trying to ensure the survival of their opponent, the difficulty climbs to 8.

Vampires are permitted to spend BP up to their Generation maximum, though like normal combat, cannot spend Willpower for automatic successes.

Once the rolls are made, whoever has the most successes (whether individually or as teams) has won the fight.

• If the method utilized doesn’t deal damage at-all (holds, Dominate), then the losing parties don’t lose any health levels.
• If the method utilized deals bashing damage, or lethal methods were utilized at a higher difficulty, the losing parties sustain levels of bashing equal to the difference in successes.
• If the method utilized deals lethal or aggravated damage, losing parties sustain levels of lethal or aggravated equal to twice the difference in successes.

Damage should be divided up between the group if multiple parties were involved.

Samuel, an 11th Generation Brujah, has gotten himself into some trouble at a local bar. Two drunk mortals aren’t interested in letting him leave without a fight.

Samuel decides to spend a blood point to activate Potence (2) and throws out some punches, rolling Dexterity (4) + Celerity (2) + Brawl (3). He rolls 8 successes.

The mortals both have Dexterity 2 and Brawl 2. One rolls 2 successes, and the other rolls 1, for a total of 3 between them.

Samuel won the fight decisively. The difference in successes is 5 (8-3), plus the addition of his Potence (2), which makes for 7 levels of bashing to be spread between them. With one mortal left at Injured, and another at Wounded, the drunks are given a thumping before Samuel stalks out into the night.

Before any fight can begin, everyone involved must roll initiative to determine who acts first. In Vampire, this is a single d10 + Dexterity + Celerity + Wits.

In LAIA, this can be done with the v.init X command, where X is the sum of their Dexterity, Celerity, and Wits dots.

The values are put in order from highest to lowest, with ties broken by whoever has the higher initiative rating (the sum of their Dexterity + Celerity + Wits).

Since everything is effectively happening at the same time, combat is divided into a series of parts: actions, turns, and rounds.

A round is when everyone in the turn order has gone. In other words, once everyone takes their turn, a round has been completed.

A turn is what rounds are divided into. When it’s your time to act, that would be your turn.

An action is typically a non-reflexive dice roll, but sometimes it can be excessive movement, interacting with an object (clearing a gun jam), or resolving a status effect (such as recovering from being knocked down).

Many actions also require some type of resolution. This is most often in the form of soaking damage from an attack roll.

You are able to split your dice pool to accomplish multiple actions during a round. See the System Reference page for more information on how that functions.

Generally, turns will go as follows:

• Declare free actions, such as movement or blood expenditure
• Take an action
  • Dexterity + Brawl for unarmed attacks
  • Dexterity + Melee for melee weapon attacks
  • Dexterity + Athletics for thrown ranged weapons
  • Dexterity + Firearms for guns and ballistic weapons
• Resolve the action
  • If an attack hits, the attacker rolls dice equal to Strength + Potence + weapon damage + any additional successes beyond the first. A minimum of one damage is always dealt even if the roll is failed.
  • The target rolls Stamina + Fortitude to soak the damage. Mortals can only soak bashing damage, while Vampires can soak bashing (after halving the initial value, rounded down) and lethal. Aggravated can only be soaked with dots of Fortitude or armor.

Unless you have something specific in mind, generally you’ll be choosing from the options listed below to conduct your turn.

A character can move up to half their total running speed (20 + [ 3 x (Dexterity + Celerity)] meters) per turn without any penalty.

You can spend blood points at any point during your turn without penalty, although some abilities will need to be activated at the start of your turn. Blood points can be spent on:

• Increasing physical Attributes
• Healing damage
• Using some Disciplines

You’re limited to the amount of blood points your character’s Generation is capable of spending per turn. If an ability requires more blood points to activate than you can spend per turn, you may need to wait multiple turns until the required blood points have been spent.

Generation	BP/Turn	Blood Buff Max.
15th-10th	1	6
9th	2	6
8th	3	6
7th	4	7
6th	6	8

Drawing a blade or reloading a magazine can be done for free if an action is entirely devoted to it. Readying a weapon and acting in the same turn (such as drawing a pistol and firing) requires multiple actions with a Dexterity + Melee/Firearms roll (difficulty 4).

Anyone suffering a Knockdown can devote their turn to standing without a roll. Those wanting to stand while doing something else will have to take multiple actions with a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 4).

Any discipline powers that requires a dice roll is considered to take an action.

Other powers might not require a dice roll, but they may still need an action (or multiple actions) to use.

• In the case of transformative powers (Shape of the Beast, The Form of the Cobra), the required turns must be entirely devoted to the transformation.
• Powers that require blood point expenditure over several turns due to Generation can be spent for while taking other actions.

Powers that don’t explicitly require actions or dice rolls can be activated in conjunction with other actions.

Combat Maneuvers take up the bulk of combat in Vampire. These include both melee and ranged attacks, and defensive actions such as blocking or dodging. See the list of combat maneuvers below for specifics.

In Vampire, there are three types of damage: bashing, lethal, and aggravated.

Bashing damage is blunt force trauma, such as punches, the use of a club, or throwing someone through a wall. This is always marked as a forward slash (/) on the health track.

Everyone can soak bashing damage with Stamina, though because vampires are more resilient than mortals, any bashing damage they receive is halved (rounded down) before they roll to soak. Likewise, firearms will only deal bashing damage to Kindred targets unless circumstance dictates otherwise.

Mortals will fall unconscious when they receive a full track of bashing damage.

Lethal damage is caused by almost anything meant to draw blood, whether that’s a sword or firearm. This is always recorded as an X on the health track.

Only vampires can resist lethal damage. Mortals sustaining any lethal damage past Hurt will require treatment to heal their wounds; those who don’t seek medical attention will find their condition worsens by one level of lethal damage per day.

Mortals who sustain a full track of lethal damage will be comatose and require serious medical intervention. Any further damage beyond Incapacitated, whether bashing or lethal, will kill them.

Vampires who sustain any additional damage beyond a full track of lethal damage will be put into torpor for the remainder of the scene. Unless roused with fresh blood in a following scene, they will remain in torpor for an amount of time determined by their Humanity/Path rating.

Humanity/Path	Torpor Length
10	6 hours (or next sunset)
9	12 hours (or next sunset)
8	One day
7	Three days
6	One week
5	Two weeks
4	One month
3	One year
2	One decade
1	five decades
0	One century

Following this period of rest, they will be able to spend a blood point and roll Humanity/Path (difficulty 8). Upon a success, they rise at the Crippled health level. Failure means they will be able to spend blood to attempt the following evening. Vampires without any blood to spend will remain in torpor until fed.

Aggravated damage originates from supernatural sources. A vampire’s fangs, a lupine’s claws, and sunlight are all sources of aggravated damage. Aggravated damage is always marked on the health track with an asterisk (*).

Only supernatural creatures can sustain aggravated damage. Mortals who sustain aggravated will instead track the damage as lethal.

Vampires must possess Fortitude, or be wearing armor, in order to soak aggravated damage.

Should a vampire sustain a full track of aggravated damage, they fall into torpor following the rules for lethal damage. If they sustain an additional level of aggravated while torpid, they meet Final Death, their corpse crumbling into ash.

Higher levels of damage are always applied to the topmost (or leftmost) box of the health track, shifting the rest of the values down (or to the right). This means that if a character has already sustained three bashing damage ([/][/][/][ ][ ][ ][ ]), an additional point of lethal damage would be applied as [x][/][/][/][ ][ ][ ].

Sustaining damaged that overflows the health track causes the lowest form of damage currently taken to upgrade in severity. For example, if a character already has a full track of bashing damage ([/][/][/][/][/][/][/]) and they take another level of bashing, it would upgrade the topmost (leftmost) point of bashing to lethal ([X][/][/][/][/][/][/]). If they were to take a point of lethal, it would upgrade the topmost (leftmost) point of bashing to aggravated ([*][X][/][/][/][/][/]).

In LAIA, our bot Caine handles all damage calculations. See the Damage command for more information on how to apply it to your character’s profile.

At the Hurt health level and below, characters will begin to suffer increasingly worse penalties to their dice pools and movement speed. These penalties are listed on the health chart below.

The dice pool penalties are subtracted from every roll that isn’t reflexive (such as soak, or a contest for a discipline power). Both the dice and movement penalties can be ignored for a single round if a point of Willpower is spent.

Health Level	Dice Pool Penalty	Movement Penalty
Brusied	0	Character is only bruised and suffers no dice pool penalties due to damage.
Hurt	-1	Character is superficially hurt and suffers no movement hindrance.
Injured	-1	Character suffers minor injuries and movement is mildly inhibited (halve maximum running speed.)
Wounded	-2	Character suffers significant damage and may not run (though he may still walk). At this level, a character may only move or attack; he always loses dice when moving and attacking in the same turn.
Mauled	-2	Character is badly injured and may only hobble about (three yards/meters per turn).
Crippled	-5	Character is catastrophically injured and may only crawl (one yard/meter per turn).
Incapacitated		Character is incapable of movement and is likely unconscious. Incapacitated vampires with no blood in their bodies enter torpor.
Torpor		Character enters a deathlike trance. He may do nothing, not even spend blood, until a period of time has passed.
Final Death		Character is killed permanently.

All weapons carried must be declared before initiative is rolled if they’re to be used during a fight. Armor will not be counted unless prepared in advance (so you can’t spontaneously be wearing a Kevlar police vest).

Armor adds dice to your character’s soak pool against all damage types (except where it wouldn't logically protect them, such as against fire or sunlight), though sometimes with a penalty to Dexterity-based actions.

Class	Example	Armor Rating	Penalty
Class One	Reinforced clothing	1	0
Class Two	Armor T-shirt	2	1
Class Three	Kevlar vest	3	1
Class Four	Flak jacket	4	2
Class Five	Full riot gear	5	3

All weapons have the following statistics:

Damage: the pool rolled for damage.
Conceal: what type of clothing is needed to hide the weapon, whether that’s a pocket (P), jacket (J), trench coat (T), or it can’t be hidden (N).

Ranged weapons will also have the following:

Range: the practical shot range in yards/meters. Firing at twice that distance is doable at an increased difficulty (8).
Rate: the max amount of shots or three-round bursts that can be fired in a single turn. Does not apply to full-auto or spray attacks.
Capacity: the amount of ammunition a weapon can hold. +1 indicates one held in the chamber, ready to fire.

Weapon	Damage	Conceal
SapB	Strength +1	P
ClubB	Strength +2	T
Knife	Strength +1	J
Sword	Strength +2	T
Axe	Strength +3	N
StakeP	Strength +1	T
Brass Knuckles	StrengthL	P

^B Denotes a blunt object; blunt objects inflict bashing damage unless targeted at the head
^P May paralyze a vampire if driven through the heart
^L Deals lethal damage

Type	Example Weapon	Damage	Range	Rate	Capacity	Conceal
Revolver, Lt.	SW Bodyguard (.38 Special)	4	12	3	6	P
Revolver, Hvy.	Ruger Redhawk (.44 Magnum)	6	35	2	6	J
Pistol, Lt.	HK USP (9mm)	4	20	4	15+1	P
Pistol, Hvy.	Springfield XDM (.45 ACP)	5	25	3	13+1	J
Rifle	Beretta Tikka T3 (30.06)	8	200	1	3+1	N
SMG, Small*	Glock 18 (9mm)	4	20	3	17+1	J
SMG, Large*	HK MP5 (9mm)	4	50	3	30+1	T
Assault Rifle*	FN SCAR (5.56mm)	7	150	3	30+1	N
Shotgun	Remington 870 (12-Gauge)	8	20	1	5+1	T
Shotgun, Semi-auto	Benelli M4 Super 90 (12-Gauge)	8	20	3	6+1	T
Shortbow**	-	4	60	1	1	N
Longbow**	-	5	120	1	1	N
Crossbow***	N/A	5	20	1	1	T

*Indicates the weapon is capable of three-round bursts, full auto, and sprays.
**Must have Archery to fire effectively; an action is required to nock and draw an arrow unless a character has Archery 3+, in which they can nock, draw, and loose an arrow in a single action ***The crossbow is included for characters who wish to try staking an opponent. Crossbows require five turns to reload. Unless the crossbow is aimed at the head or heart, it inflicts bashing damage on Kindred. It inflicts lethal damage versus mortals.

All maneuvers will have the following information:

Traits: the attribute + ability pool rolled
Difficulty: modification of the base difficulty of the attack, which is normally 6
Damage: the dice pool rolled for damage

Ranged maneuvers will also include:

Accuracy: the amount of dice added to the roll to hit a target

Aiming for a specific location increases the difficulty of the attack, though will add extra damage dice and could potentially avoid hitting where a target is armored.

Target Size	Difficulty	Damage
Medium (limb, briefcase)	+1	No modifier
Small (hand, head, cellphone)	+2	+1
Precise (eye, heart, lock)	+3	+2

To stage an ambush, the attacker rolls Dexterity + Stealth in a resisted action against the target’s Perception + Alertness (both difficulty 6 in normal circumstances).

• Attacker wins: she can stage one free attack on the target, adding the extra successes from the resisted roll to her attack dice pool.
• Tie: the attacker may still attack first, but the defender is able to perform a defensive maneuver.
• Defender wins: the ambush is foiled and initiative is determined normally.

Targets already engaged in combat are unable to be ambushed.

Below are some of the most common maneuver complications:

• Blinded: Add two dice to attack rolls made against a blinded target. Furthermore, blind characters are at +2 difficulty on all actions, and ranged actions can’t be taken at all.
• Dazed: If (after soak) the total number of successes in a damage roll is greater than a mortal’s stamina, or a vampire’s stamina + 2, the target is dazed and must spend their next turn shaking off the effects.
• Immobilization: If a target is struggling but immobilized (held, for example), attacks are made at -2 difficulty. Completely immobilized (tied, staked, or paralyzed) targets are hit automatically; cause damage equal to the damage dice pool, without rolling.
• Knockdown: When knocked down, the target can roll Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty variable). On a success, they manage to get right back up, though failure will require their next turn being spent getting back to their feet. Botches will incur additional situational penalties.
• Stake Through Heart: Staking a vampire is difficult, though if managed will render them completely paralyzed. Mental disciplines can still be used, though they are unable to move or spend blood. The ‘stake’ used must be made of wood, otherwise you’ll just piss them off.

At any point a character is targeted by an attack, if they have not yet acted, they can devote their turn to defense. A character that dedicates their entire action to defense can apply their full dice pool to one of the maneuvers below. Each success on the roll subtracts one from the incoming attack, negating it entirely if reduced to 0. For each subsequent attack targeting them for the remainder of the round, subtract one die from their defense pool.

• Block: A Dexterity + Brawl roll using your character’s own body to deflect a hand-to-hand bashing attack. Lethal and aggravated attacks cannot be blocked unless the defender has Fortitude or is wearing armor.
• Dodge: A Dexterity + Athletics roll useful for avoiding attacks of all types. Your character bobs and weaves to avoid Melee or Brawl attacks (if there’s no room to maneuver, she must block or parry instead). In gunfights, your character moves at least one yard/meter and ends up behind cover (if there’s no room to maneuver or no cover available, she can drop to the ground). If your character remains under cover or prone, cover rules apply against further Firearms attacks.
• Parry: A Dexterity + Melee roll using a weapon to block a Brawl or Melee attack. When parrying an unarmed attack, if the defender rolls more successes than the attacker, they may make a Dexterity + Melee attack with their full dice pool. Damage is calculated as normal plus an additional die for each success that outnumbered the attacker. The attacker may not roll to defend against this attack; she may only soak.

Cover increases an attacker’s difficulty to hit a target. A character who fires back from behind cover is also at something of a disadvantage to hit, as he exposes himself and ducks back under protection. Firearms attacks made by a defender who is under cover are at one lower difficulty than listed below. In other words, if your character hides behind a wall, attackers’ Firearms rolls have a +2 difficulty. Your character’s attacks staged from behind that wall are at +1 difficulty.

Note that difficulties for combatants who are both under cover are cumulative. If one combatant is prone and one is behind a wall, attacks staged by the prone character are at +2 difficulty, while attacks staged by the character behind the wall are also at +2 difficulty.

Cover Type	Difficulty Increase	Accuracy
Light (lying prone)	+1	+10
Good (behind wall)	+2	Special
Superior (only head exposed)	+3	+10

This maneuver is available only to vampires (or other supernatural creatures with sharp teeth, such as werewolves). A bite maneuver is a “combat” bite, intended to cause damage rather than drain blood. Bite damage is aggravated. To use a bite attack, the vampire must first perform a successful clinch, hold, or tackle maneuver (see below). On the turn following the successful attack, the player may declare the bite attempt and make a roll using the modifiers below.

Alternatively, a player can declare her vampire’s bite to be a “Kiss” attack. A Kiss is resolved in the same way as a normal bite, but inflicts no health levels of damage. Upon connecting with a Kiss, the vampire may begin to drain the victim of up to 3 BP a turn, and the victim is typically helpless to resist. Following the Kiss, a vampire may lick the puncture wound of the Kiss closed, removing any evidence that she has fed.

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl
• Difficulty: Normal
• Damage: Strength +1 or none

This attack is available to vampires with claws, such as those from the Protean power of Feral Claws or bone spurs constructed with the Vicissitude power of Bonecraft. A few other supernatural creatures, such as werewolves, also have claws. A claw attack inflicts aggravated damage (if Feral Claws) or lethal damage (if a Vicissitude-constructed weapon).

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl
• Difficulty: 6
• Damage: Strength +1

Seizing an opponent, the attacker tries to either crush him (a clinch) or immobilize him (a hold). Either assault begins with a successful Strength + Brawl roll. If the attacker wants to hurt her foe, that player may roll her Strength to inflict damage, beginning on the next turn and continuing until the opponent breaks free. (The foe may try to soak that damage as usual.) If the attacker wishes to hold her opponent still, he’s stuck in her grip until his next action.

To escape a grapple, the opponent has two options: He can break free by successfully beat - ing his attacker in a resisted Strength + Brawl roll; or he can reverse the hold by doing the same thing and then scoring two successes more than his attacker has scored. At the Storyteller’s option, an agile character can use Dexterity instead of Strength with such feats.

Grapple attacks normally inflict bashing damage. A character using barbs, spikes or claws with such an attack can rend her victim with lethal or aggravated damage instead.

• Traits: Strength + Brawl
• Difficulty: 6
• Damage: Strength or none

The attacker uses her weapon to knock her opponent’s weapon from his hand. To succeed, the attacker rolls Dexterity + Melee at +1 to her usual difficulty; if her successes exceed her opponent’s Strength score, he drops that weapon. If she doesn’t score enough successes to disarm the opponent, she still inflicts her usual damage. If she botches that roll, she loses her own weapon instead.

A brave or desperate attacker can try to disarm an armed opponent with her bare hands. In this case, the roll is Dexterity + Brawl, the difficulty is 8, and she subtracts one die from her usual attack dice pool.

• Traits: Dexterity + Melee (or Brawl)
• Difficulty: +1 / 8
• Damage: Special

Lashing out with a leg or two, the character knocks his opponent silly. As presented here, the kick is pretty straightforward; to reflect elaborate martial arts kicks, the Storyteller may adjust the difficulty and/or damage upward for complexity and effect.

Kicks normally inflict bashing damage. However, a particularly powerful combatant, such as a Tzimisce in <a href=”vicissitude?=••••”>Horrid Form, kicking a normal human may inflict lethal damage from sheer mass and power.

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl
• Difficulty: 7
• Damage: Strength +1

To stake a vampire, an attacker must target the heart (difficulty 9). If the attack succeeds and inflicts at least three health levels of damage, the target is immobilized. An immobilized victim is conscious (and may use perception powers, such as Auspex), but may not move or spend blood points.

• Traits: Dexterity + Melee
• Difficulty: 9
• Damage: Strength +1

Punches, like kicks, can be simple or elaborate. Special punches — an uppercut, a haymaker, a knife-hand strike — may deal out extra damage with a higher difficulty rating. Punches generally inflict bashing damage, but nerve-strikes, kidney-blows, and punches by 800-pound werewolves might shatter bones and organs, inflicting lethal damage against mortals.

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl
• Difficulty: 6
• Damage: Strength

The attacker uses her own legs to knock the legs out from under her opponent. The target takes Strength damage and must roll Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 8) or suffer a knockdown. The attacker can also use a staff, chain, or similar implement to perform a sweep. The effect is the same, although the target takes damage per the weapon type.

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl/Melee
• Difficulty: 7
• Damage: Strength; knockdown

A tackle requires at least two yards of distance to achieve effective momentum. Each combatant must make a successful Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 6 for the attacker, difficulty 6 + the attacker’s successes for the target) or else wind up sprawled on the ground afterward.

A would-be tackler who botches trips and falls (inflicting one die of damage upon himself for every yard he ran); slams into something else (inflicting that damage plus his Strength damage upon himself); or crashes into his target and bounces off (suffering the opponent’s Stamina in damage, but leaving the target unharmed).

In most cases, tackling inflicts bashing damage. Certain situations — crashing into a brick wall, employing a spiky hide or armor, crushing a puny human beneath the weight of a grizzly bear Gangrel — might make that damage lethal instead.

• Traits: Strength + Brawl
• Difficulty: 7
• Damage: Strength

Brutal, dishonorable and usually effective, a character must have at-least Brawl 3 to perform the following maneuvers.

Raking the enemy’s eyes, throwing dirt in them, spraying his face with chemicals or using some similar method, the attacker tries to render her opponent sightless. If she succeeds, the enemy is blinded for one turn per success, and loses two dice from his dice pools until he recovers.

This attack doesn’t normally inflict lasting damage. At the Storyteller’s option, however, a truly vicious strike (gouging with claws, throwing acid, etc.) might inflict a health level or two of lethal damage in addition to the blindness. Five successes or more may destroy the eyes completely, and while a vampire can heal from such injury, most creatures cannot.

• Traits: Manipulation + Brawl
• Difficulty: 9
• Damage: Strength +1

Picking an opponent up over his head, the assailant uses brute strength and momentum to bring some serious pain.

This maneuver first requires a successful grapple attack; if the enemy can’t break free that turn, the attacker may use her next action to slam him into the nearest and most painful surface. Generally, this attack inflicts bashing damage; if the surface happens to be sharp, spiked or incredibly hot, however, said pain might be lethal.

• Traits: Strength + Brawl
• Difficulty: 6
• Damage: Strength + 2

Bracing his opponent’s face against a curb or other solid surface, the attacker then slams his foot down on the back of the enemy’s head. A favorite tactic of Brujah street-fighters, this move can break teeth, crack jaws, snap spines or crush skulls… especially when done by a vampire.

Curbstomping requires a stunned or immobilized target, plus a turn to place his face into position. After that, the attacker stomps, and physics does the rest. The attacker rolls his Strength for the attack. This assault inflicts lethal damage and may inflict lasting and horrific injuries (broken teeth, shattered jaw, ruined face, etc.) at the Storyteller’s discretion.

• Traits: Strength + Brawl
• Difficulty: 6
• Damage: Strength + 2

Wherever the attacker hits (septum, nuts, kidneys, etc.), it’s going to hurt. A lot. Assuming the assailant makes a successful attack roll, her target winds up stunned for one turn for each health level inflicted after the soak roll. He can try to shrug it off with a Stamina roll (difficulty 8, difficulty 6 for vampires), but otherwise he’s writhing or paralyzed with pain. Normally, this trauma involves bashing damage. A low blow struck with claws, teeth, blades, or crushing force, however, is lethal.

• Traits: Dexterity + Brawl
• Difficulty: 7
• Damage: Strength + Stun

Belting her target across the face or skull with a gun or other slender, heavy object, the attacker adds some extra emphasis to her argument… and possibly cracks the target’s skull as well. Obviously, this maneuver requires a gun or similar instrument (crowbar, truncheon, candlestick, etc.), and it inflicts lethal damage. A character hit with a successful pistol whip may be stunned for one turn if he fails a Stamina roll (difficulty 8, difficulty 6 for vampires), and for two turns if he botches that roll.

• Traits: Dexterity + Melee
• Difficulty: 7
• Damage: Strength + Stun

The attacker adds one die to her attack dice pool on a single shot for each turn spent aiming. The maximum number of dice that can be added in this way is equal to the character’s Perception, and a character must have Firearms 1 or better to use this maneuver. A scope adds two more dice to the attacker’s pool in the first turn of aiming (in addition to those added for Perception). The attacker may do nothing but aim during this time. Additionally, it isn’t possible to aim at a target that is moving faster than a walk. The weapon unloads its entire ammunition clip in one attack against a single target. The attacker makes a single roll, adding 10 dice to her accuracy. However, the attack roll is at a +2 difficulty due to the weapon’s recoil. Extra successes add to the damage dice pool, which is still treated as equivalent to one bullet. An attacker using automatic fire may not target a specific area of the body. This attack is permissible only if the weapon’s clip is at least half-full to begin with.

• Traits: Dexterity + Firearms
• Difficulty: 8
• Accuracy: +10
• Damage: Special

An attacker with a fast firearm may try to take more than one shot in a turn. The attacker can divide his attack dice pool by how many shots she wants to fire at a similar number of targets, up to the weapon’s rate of fire (multiple attacks against the same target are covered under maneuvers like “Automatic Fire” and “Three-Round Burst”). Each attack is then rolled separately.

• Traits: Dexterity + Firearms
• Difficulty: Normal
• Accuracy: Special
• Damage: Weapon type

Reloading takes one full turn and requires the character’s concentration. Like any other maneuver, reloading can be performed as part of a multiple action. Instead of aiming at one target, fully-automatic weapons can be fired across an area. Strafing adds 10 dice to accuracy on a standard attack roll, and empties the clip. A maximum of three yards/meters can be covered with this maneuver. The attacker divides any successes gained on the attack roll evenly among all targets in the covered area (successes assigned to hit an individual are added to that target’s damage dice pool, as well). If only one target is within range or the area of effect, only half the successes affect him. The attacker then assigns any leftover successes as she desires. If fewer successes are rolled than there are targets, only one may be assigned per target until they are all allocated.

Dodge rolls against strafing are at +1 difficulty.

• Traits: Dexterity + Firearms
• Difficulty: +2
• Accuracy: +10
• Damage: Special

The attacker gains two additional dice on a single attack roll, and expends three shots from the weapon’s clip. Only certain weapons may perform this maneuver; see the Ranged Weapons Chart for particulars. Attacks are made at +1 difficulty due to recoil. As with automatic fire, the damage dice pool is based on one bullet from the weapon in question.

Dodge rolls against strafing are at +1 difficulty.

• Traits: Dexterity + Firearms
• Difficulty: +1
• Accuracy: +2
• Damage: Weapon type