Page 139 - World of Darkness

Weaponry roll as per normal combat (see Chapter 7), with subtracted from the object’s Structure. Thus, if a chair with
any situational penalties applying to the attack. If there’s Damage 1 falls on a statue with Damage 2, both take the
no stress involved, the attack may be rolled without situ- same damage from the fall, but the chair suffers an addi-
ational penalties. Add the Damage rating of the item tional two and the statue suffers an additional one. These
wielded to your attack pool (-1 if the weapon is impro- totals are compared to the objects’ respective Durability
vised — see above). Any successes achieved in excess of scores to see if they lose any Structure points.
the target’s Durability are suffered as damage and are sub- When an object falls and lands on a person, treat the
tracted from the target’s Structure. lowest of the person’s Size or Armor rating (if any protec-
If insufficient successes are achieved in an attack roll tive gear is worn) as his “Damage” score. That number is
to do a target harm (successes rolled are less than the added to the abuse incurred by the falling item. So, if the
target’s Durability rating), the object used to make the aforementioned chair falls on a person (5 Size, 0 Armor),
attack may be broken, instead. Compare the successes each party suffers the same falling damage (say, three points
rolled to the attacking item’s Durability score. Any suc- for a fall of nine yards). However, the person incurs an
cesses in excess of the item’s Durability are incurred as additional one damage from the chair’s Damage rating,
damage by your character’s tool. while the person adds no extra points to the chair’s total.
Example: Stack’s character swings a baseball bat to The person therefore suffers four damage and the chair
break down an industrial-strength door. The door has 3 suffers three.
Durability. The bat has 2 Durability. Stack’s attack roll nets
three successes — not enough to do any appreciable harm to
the door. The bat is damaged, though. The three successes
rolled exceed the bat’s Durability by one, so the bat loses one Piercing Durability
Structure point. It normally has 4 Structure and is now No matter how many layers of protection
reduced to 3, but the bat can still be used normally. So, are built into an item — say a tank or vault door
Stack’s character keeps swinging. In a subsequent attack, — some invention can overcome them. It might
Structure damage done to the bat rises to 3, which exceeds its be an armor-piercing bullet or a diamond-bit drill.
Durability rating. The bat cracks and imposes a -1 penalty Tools created to bypass Durability demand their
on Stack’s remaining dice pools. If four Structure points are own special rules. They ignore points of Dura-
ever incurred, the bat breaks altogether. bility equal to their rating, but do no extra dam-
age. Thus, a diamond-bit drill rated 3 eliminates
Were Stack to get one or two successes to damage the
door, the door would be unaffected (it’s Durability is 3). three Durability points in a vault door. Successes
And yet, the bat would also go undamaged. One or two rolled to overcome the door are therefore com-
successes do not exceed the bat’s 2 Durability. pared to a diminished Durability score. In com-
bat, the rating of an armor-piercing bullet dimin-
Targeting items: Sometimes combatants use items ishes the rating of any armor worn by a target.
such as swords in combat to defray attacks. Such weapons Neither of these tools increases the dam-
are used to deflect and redirect blows, rather than be the age done to the target, however. Their ratings
specific targets of them (see the “Weaponry Dodge” Merit, are not added to dice pools for attack rolls. They
p. 114). That is, an attacker doesn’t usually aim at an simply make the effort easier to accomplish.
opponent’s sword when trying to hurt that opponent. Thus, Example: A vault door with a 10 Durabil-
parrying weapons generally stand up to the abuse inflicted ity (reinforced steel) is the focus of intruders
on them in combat. It’s when they’re the specific targets wielding a diamond-bit drill rated 3. The door’s
of attacks that they may be broken. In this case, an at- Durability is automatically reduced to 7. Suc-
tacker specifically focuses on the item carried by his op- cesses achieved on a Dexterity + Larceny or In-
ponent. That might be a sword, but could also be some- telligence + Science roll must now exceed seven
thing carried in hand such as a videocassette. A normal to do any damage to the door. At no point, how-
attack dice pool is formed, but the Storyteller imposes a ever, is the drill’s 3 rating added as bonus dice to
penalty based on the size of the target (see “Specified Tar- a dice pool.
gets,” p. 165). Any successes rolled are compared to the In combat, an armor-piercing bullet rated 2
Durability of the item, with excess successes removed from automatically reduces a target’s armor by two
the target’s Structure. The target item might be damaged for the purpose of making an attack roll. Two
or destroyed as a result. Remember, if a tool or weapon is bonus dice are not added to your attack pool. If
used to make the attack, and successes achieved do not a target wears no armor, your character’s shot
exceed the target item’s Durability, the attacking weapon gains no special effects or bonuses from the am-
may be the one to be damaged or broken (see above.) munition used (the gun itself still applies a dice
Falling objects: If one object falls into another, de- bonus, though). See “Armor Piercing,” p. 167 in
termine the damage done in the fall to both objects equally Chapter 7 for more information.
(see “Falling,” p. 179). Add the Damage score of the op- In general, objects and vehicles are consid-
posing item to the falling damage suffered by each. Any ered to have Durability ratings (which must be
total damage suffered in excess of an item’s Durability is

138
Chapter 6- DRAMATIC SYSTEMS