In no way can these rules be used to limit the power of the Storyteller.  Melee To Hit  Roll Brawl & Dex if fighting unarmed. Roll Melee & Dex if fighting with weapons. If attacking with two hands or weapons and the attacker is not ambidextrous roll only half the dice (rounded down) that the primary hand gets. Causing Damage For every success made in the to-hit roll, 1 level of health damage is potentially caused plus any bonuses conveyed by the weapon they are using. For these bonuses we are using the damage listed in The Vampire Player's Guide , pages 171 - 172. Only the + part counts, we are not adding Str to the damage caused. For every level of Potence, an automatic success is added.

Dodging

If the target of the attack is surprised or attacked from behind, no Dodge roll is allowed against the initial attack.

Everyone gets one free Dodge in a combat round. Additional Dodge rolls can be gained through Celerity, although only one attempt to Dodge can be made per attack.

If you have extra actions in a round, you can use these actions to get extra dodges at any time during that round.

Dodge & Dex is rolled, one health level of potential damage is removed for every 6 rolled. Attackers using weapons that are capable of parrying may roll Melee & Dex instead

Soaking Damage

Mortals can not soak aggravated damage. Vampires & Werewolves can.

Sta & For are rolled by the target of the attack. The roll needed is the attacker's Str

For every success rolled, one level of potential damage is removed.

Example Combat

Allen decides to try a cavalry saber out on some idiot who tried to mug him. Allen rolls Wits & Alertness and counts the number of 6's he got. Allen gets 2, compared to the idiot's score of 0, so Allen can go ahead and roll to see if he hits. Allen rolls his Dex & Melee scores and counts the number of 6's he gets. Allen gets 3. His saber has a +4 damage bonus so that is 7 potential health levels of damage. The idiot tries to dodge the coming blow and rolls his Dex & Dodge scores, he gets one 6 so one of Allen's successes is removed. There are 6 levels of potential damage left and all the idiot can do is soak it. The idiot is mortal so he has no For, all he can do is roll his 2 dice of Sta. No matter what happens at this point, he is going to take at least 4 levels of damage. Allen has a Str of 3, so that is what the idiot needs to roll to reduce damage. The idiot rolls a 1 and a 7. The one cancels the success out and the mortal takes 6 levels of damage, reducing him to crippled. He has a -5 penalty on every dice roll he makes until Allen decides to finish him off.

Firearms  To-Hit  Roll Dex & Firearms. If firing anything larger than a rifle roll Dex & Heavy Weapons. If using a crossbow or bow roll Dex & Archery.

The to-hit target roll will be based upon the difficulty of the shot. The base target roll is 6. A point blank shot might require 4's. Trying to stake an opposing vampire with a bow or crossbow will always have a +2 modifier.

When firing blindly the base chance to hit is 18 (Re-roll any tens and add the next roll to the score). The story teller may ask the player in which direction the player is firing and decide if the player has no chance at all. (For example, the player is firing north into the darkness and the only enemy around is to the west.)

For every additional shot add the recoil rating (The Storytellers Handbook) of the weapon to the target roll needed to hit.

For every additional target being shot at in the same round, add +1.

If firing on full auto the to-hit roll has a +2 modifier. For every target after the first, there is an additional +1 modifier to hit. The number of bullets fired divided by two is the number of extra dice rolled for the attack.

Some guns have the capability to fire a three-round burst. Roll for each round fired as normally but do not include recoil penalties. The target may make only one dodge check but every success is counted against each of the rounds fired. This dodge check works the same way for up to three single shots fired rapidly from one gun at the same target.

All guns capable of firing full bursts can instead fire on semi-auto at a rate of 3 with normal recoil penalties. All semi-automatic weapons fire at a rate of 3 as well.

Causing Damage

For every success in the to-hit roll, one potential level of damage is caused. The Damage score listed in The Storytellers Handbook on pages 110 - 111 is added to this.

Dodging

Dodging firearms works in the same way as described in the Melee section with the exception that the storyteller may increase or decrease the target roll number depending upon the type of cover available.

Soaking Damage

Sta & For are rolled by the target of the attack. The roll needed is the Impact rating (The Storytellers Handbook) of the gun.

For every success one level of potential damage is removed.

Dragon Fire shotguns cause aggravated damage. Every vampire who sees one fire must make a courage check with a target roll of 6 or suffer Rotschreck and flee, knocking aside anything that gets in the quickest path to safety.

Half (rounded down) of the damage caused by incendiary rounds are considered aggravated. Every vampire who sees one fire must make a courage check with a target roll of 5 or suffer Rotschreck. Any vampire hit by incendiary rounds must take one action digging these rounds out and taking a Sta & For check against a target roll of 6. Failure to roll a six will cause another aggravated wound as the vampire pulls the bullets out.

If a crossbow or bow is being used with the intention of staking a vampire, three levels of damage must be caused for the effort to be successful.

Example Combat

Fred decides to blow Allen's head off because Allen let himself get followed back to the haven. Allen fails an alertness check and is surprised by Fred's action, so Fred automatically wins initiative. Because Allen is just standing there, the to-hit roll is only 4. Fred rolls six successes. Fred is using a M1911 pistol with a Dam rating of 4, so there is a total of ten potential levels of damage. If Allen had not been surprised he would have been able to roll Dex & Dodge and remove one level of damage for every 6 he rolled, but he was surprised so he just has to soak it. Allen rolls his Sta & For, to stop damage he needs to roll higher than 5, the impact rating of Fred's gun. Allen rolls three successes and reduces the damage to 7 health levels which leaves him lying on the floor incapacitated.

If he had still been capable of moving, the storyteller might have been nice enough to let Allen use his Celerity to run behind a door or something in the same turn. Had Allen gone below incapacitated he would have lost one point of blood for every turn he remained below incapacitated. If he ran out of blood while under incapacitated, Allen would go into torpor. As it is, Allen has ten points in his blood pool and can transfer one per turn. Since he isn't doing anything else, he can heal himself automatically one point next turn. If was capable of doing anything, and trying to do it while he healed, he would have needed to roll Sta & Survival against a target of 6 to be successful. The blood would have been spent even if he failed and wound penalties probably would have ensured it.

If Fred decides to pop another round into Allen this turn, Fred will need to roll 7's because his gun has a Recoil of 3.

Grenades

To-Hit

Roll Dex & Thrown Weapons skill with a target roll of 6, modifiable by the storyteller depending on the conditions of the combat. A grenade can be thrown 15 feet for every point of Str or potence. If no successes are rolled, but the range is within the thrower's capability, then the grenade is assumed to land 10 yards away from the intended target. If the target is an open window the to-hit roll is 8 and the grenade will land inside the structure. If the grenade lands inside a structure and the indicated distance is larger than the structure allows, simply place the grenade at the furthest point inside the structure that is possible.

If there is a botch, the grenade lands 1 yard away from the thrower, unless the storyteller is in a good mood and decides the thrower simply forgot to pull the pin out before throwing it. For every success, the grenade lands on yard closer to the intended target.

Causing Damage

A fragmentation grenade causes 12 levels of damage at it's point of explosion. It causes one damage level less for every yard away from it. If the target has cover inside a structure

White Phosphorous grenades cause the same number of damage levels but cause aggravated wounds. Any vampire seeing a White Phosphorous grenade go off fire must make a courage check with a target roll of 7 or suffer from Rotschreck.

Dodging

People, vampires, werewolves, and anything else wanting to get away from the grenade before it explodes (and know that the grenade is present) may roll Dex & Dodge. For every 6 rolled, one level of damage is removed. If there is a scarcity of nearby cover, the storyteller may make the target roll higher than 6.

Soaking Damage

Sta & For are rolled against a target roll of 6. For every success one level of damage is removed.

Example Combat

A drunk driver has irritated Fred by running over his feet and screaming obscenities at him. Fred jumps in his car and takes after the drunk.

After making a successful Dex & Drive check, Fred pulls alongside the drunk's car. Since the drunk isn't doing anything more combative than displaying his middle finger, the storyteller decides no initiative roll is needed. Fred unhooks a frag grenade from his jacket and deftly pulls the pin out with his teeth while holding onto the steering wheel with one hand. Fred fails his next driving check and takes out a mailbox with his car. He then makes a Dex check and manages to hold onto the grenade.

The player controlling Fred announces his intention of throwing the grenade into the drunk's car. The drunk's car windows are down as are Fred's which makes things simpler. The cars are only going about thirty MPH and are roughly three feet apart. The storyteller decides Fred will need a 9 to lob the grenade into the drunk's car.

Fred rolls one success which indicates that the grenade will land nine yards away from the drunk. However, because the drunk's car's interior only has about two yards of space inside it, the grenade bounces into the back seat.

There drunk tries to dodge by ducking down in his seat. This action causes a car wreck a few moments later but by then the damage done to the drunk is irrelevant. The grenade is two yards away so it causes ten levels of damage. The storyteller decides the car seat will absorb one level. The drunk rolls what Dex & Dodge he has and avoids another level.

Eight levels of damage remain that the drunk has to soak. He rolls his Sta hoping for some 6's but gets none. The damage reduces him below incapacitated, being a mortal this means he is dead.

Being dead, he fails his next drive check and hits a telephone pole.

Fred is only four yards away from the grenade when it goes off. The storyteller decides to reduce the damage level by three to account for the two cars that the grenade fragments must travel through. That leaves five levels of damage that Fred must deal with.

Fred decides to keep driving instead of trying to Dodge. He rolls Sta & For and gets three successes thus taking two levels of damage.

Fred has to make another drive check to deal with the shock of the explosion. The storyteller gives him a target roll of 6. Fred rolls one 6, but because he is Hurt he has a -1 penalty on his roll so he fails. Fred's car goes off the side of the road and into a ditch.

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