Page 157 - World of Darkness

them, but doing so becomes progressively more difficult. As with Defense, above, if multiple attacks are di-
Each attack after the first diminishes your character’s De- rected against your character, his Dodge total is reduced
fense modifier by one. So, if three attacks are staged against by one for each attack after the first. Thus, if his Dodge
your character who has a 3 Defense (his Dexterity is 3 total is 6, your character’s first attacker suffers a -6 pen-
and his Wits is 4), the first attack suffers a -3 penalty, the alty. The second suffers a -5, the third suffers a -4, and so
second suffers a -2 penalty and the third suffers a -1 pen- on.
alty. A fourth attack would suffer no Defense penalty. Assuming your character hasn’t acted yet in a turn,
Basically, your character’s Defense is subtracted from in- you can declare a dodge for him late in the turn. Maybe
coming attacks, but it gets progressively harder to avoid your Initiative is 6, but you know that a dangerous foe has
them. an even lower standing. Other characters have already
If you elect, your character doesn’t have to apply his acted in the turn, but your character has done nothing
Defense modifier until a specified attack comes in. Maybe thus far. Your Dodge applies to incoming attacks for the
he singles out the foreseen attack of a specific opponent remainder of the turn.
over all others. You declare one attack as the primary. Your And yet, if your character announces a dodge late in
character gains his full Defense against that attack and a turn, he has been the target of attacks and his Defense
you can apply a reduced Defense to any attacks that come has been applied against them, Defense penalties incurred
after that prime attack. You cannot, however, use any of for multiple incoming attacks carry over to your Dodge.
your character’s Defense against attacks that take place Say your character’s Defense is 3. He’s attacked early in
before the primary. Your character tries to weather any at- the turn and his Defense is applied in full against it. At
tacks that come first, reserving his evasiveness for one in your character’s stage of Initiative, you declare a dodge
particular and then any that follow. for the remainder of the turn. Normally his Dodge total is
A further option is to spend a Willpower point to 6 (3 Defense doubled). Since his Defense has already been
increase your character’s Defense by two against a single applied against one other attack this turn, his Dodge total
attack. If his Defense is normally 2 it increases to 4 for the is reduced to 5. If Defense had been applied against two
incoming attack. If he has already evaded other attacks in other attacks earlier in the turn, his Dodge total would be
the turn and his Defense is currently reduced to, say, one, 4 when it is used.
a spent Willpower point increases it to 3 to avoid a single Your character can do nothing else in a turn in which
attack. Basically, your character puts special effort into he dodges except move up to his Speed trait. He can make
avoiding a particular assault. See “Resistance,” p. 133 for no attacks. Dodging does not apply against incoming Fire-
more information. arms attacks (unless they are staged within close-combat
At the start of each new turn, your character’s full, range; one or two yards — see p. 152).
normal Defense trait is restored. As with Defense, you can spend a Willpower point
Your character’s automatic Defense does not inter- to add two to your character’s Dodge against a single at-
fere with any actions that he performs in the turn. tack. So, if your character’s Defense is 3 and his Dodge is
Defense is not reduced by your character’s wound 6, his Dodge increases to 8 against that single attack. If
penalties (see p. 171). his Dodge is normally 6 but he has already evaded three
attacks this turn (reducing his Dodge to 3), spending a
Dodge Willpower point increases it to 5 against a single incom-
Sometimes your character knows that he’s in over his ing attack.
head. Too many opponents are arrayed for him to hope to Your character may also possess one or both of the
defeat them all. Or he’s been hurt badly and needs to avoid Brawling Dodge (p. 110) and the Weaponry Dodge
any further injury. In such cases, he can dedicate himself (p. 114) Merits. These traits elaborate on the possibilities
to avoiding harm by dodging. Your character’s action for of dodging. They cannot both be used in the same turn.
a turn is spent anticipating attacks and moving out of
harm’s way. Double his Defense trait. Thus, if the lowest Other Complications
of your character’s Dexterity or Wits is 2, his Dodge trait
for the turn is 4. That number is subtracted from incom- • Offhand Attacks: If your character makes attacks
ing close-combat and thrown attacks. with his offhand (say, he’s right handed but is forced to
Dodge operates somewhat outside the normal Initia- use his left), they suffer a -2 penalty. The Ambidextrous
tive order of the turn. You can declare a dodge for your Merit (p. 110) negates this penalty.
character at any time in the turn, even before his place in • Drawing a Weapon: Pulling, sheathing or other-
the roster, assuming he hasn’t acted yet. Your character’s wise preparing a weapon takes one action. Thus, if your
action for the turn is dedicated to dodging for the whole character draws a knife in a fight, he spends an action
turn. Say you get an 8 Initiative and your character’s op- doing so. Having a weapon in hand before a fight breaks
ponent gets a 10. He attacks your character. You can de- out allows your character to start swinging without delay,
clare a dodge at “10” in the turn, even though it precedes but brings with it the social implications of walking around
your “8,” and your character is assumed to spend the whole with a potentially deadly instrument. If a weapon is hid-
turn evading. den on your character’s person (under a coat or in a purse),

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Chapter 7- COMBAT