Page 158 - World of Darkness

an action is spent drawing it and your character loses her Strike: The basic unarmed attack — a blow with a
Defense for the turn. The Quick Draw Merit (see p. 113) fist, knee, head, foot or elbow. Roll Strength + Brawl with-
allows your character to draw and attack in the same turn. out any bonus dice.
• All-Out Attack: Your character foregoes all pre- Bite: Your character’s teeth — whether human-sized
tense of self-preservation. He gives his all to do his oppo- or gigantic fangs — clamp down on a target. Roll Strength
nent harm. You gain two bonus dice on your character’s + Brawl, with a number of bonus dice based on the size of
attack for the turn, but lose his Defense trait for the turn. attacker’s jaws and teeth. An ordinary human’s offer no
Thus, he’s easier to be hit and harmed, but he can deliver bonus. A large dog’s offer +1. A wolf’s confer a +2 bonus.
more damage, too. An all-out attack can be performed A great white shark gets a +4 bonus. Generally, a bite
with any close-combat attack, armed or unarmed. If your from a person inflicts bashing damage, while that from an
character’s Defense is applied against any incoming at- animal or supernatural creature inflicts lethal harm. The
tack in a turn, he cannot perform an all-out attack in that Storyteller may decree that a human combatant can bite
turn. an opponent only after successfully grappling (see below).
• Touching an Opponent: An option of close com- Grapple: Your character gets a hold of or tackles a
bat is intentionally making contact with a target, whether target and may apply a clinch with various effects, from
by hand or with a hand-held item, but without doing harm. immobilizing the victim to crushing him. Roll Strength +
This effort is considered touching, and might be performed Brawl to achieve a hold. The target’s Defense is subtracted
to plant a bug on someone, to count coup, to deliver the from your attack pool, as normal. If you get at least one
effect of an occult incantation or to knowingly spread an success, your character has a hold of the target.
infection. It’s assumed that a target doesn’t want to be If the victim has yet to act in the turn, he may try
touched. If there’s no resistance involved, the Storyteller and break loose at his stage of Initiative. Alternatively,
can decree that a touch is performed automatically. Oth- the target may try to turn the tables on his attacker and
erwise, Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry is perform an overpowering grappling maneuver of his own.
rolled to perform a touch. No damage is delivered through In either case, roll Strength + Brawl, but the attacker’s
an intentional touch, even if multiple successes are rolled. Strength is subtracted from the dice pool. Even one suc-
If actually making contact with the target’s skin is cess breaks the hold or allows a maneuver to be performed,
not an issue — any part of him or his person can be con- as explained below. If the attacker’s hold is broken, the
tacted to achieve an effect — armor does not apply to grapple is over (although the attacker can attempt to
efforts to touch. Armor rating (see p. 170) is not subtracted grapple again). If the victim’s roll fails, he does not free
from dice pools to make a touch. If making contact with himself or does not accomplish a maneuver. The attacker
skin is necessary, a target’s armor applies normally. still has a grip on him. The victim of a grapple can try to
A resisting target’s Defense always applies against a free himself or perform a maneuver in subsequent turns,
touch, subtracting dice from your Dexterity + Brawl or unless he is immobilized (see below).
Dexterity + Weaponry pool. If in the next turn the attacker still has a hold, he can
No successes rolled in an effort to touch a target means try to overpower his opponent. A Strength + Brawl roll is
your character misses altogether. made. The target’s Strength rather than Defense is sub-
tracted from the attacker’s dice pool. If no successes are
Unarmed Combat gained, the attacker still has a hold, but accomplishes noth-
ing more in the turn (he does not overpower his victim).
Not all fights between combatants involve knives and If even one success is gained, one of the following over-
clubs. In fact, bringing a weapon to a fight implicitly states powering maneuvers can be accomplished in the turn.
that the struggle is serious. One or more people will not • Render opponent prone — Both combatants fall
only be hurt, but possibly killed. The alternative is to go to the ground. Either party must break the hold in order
into a fight unarmed, using only one’s body as a weapon. to stand again in a subsequent turn. Rising is considered
Unarmed combat applies the Brawl Skill and usually in- an action in a turn. (See “Going Prone,” on p. 164.) If
flicts bashing damage. Going unarmed into battle doesn’t one combatant manages to rise, close-combat attack rolls
have to put one at a disadvantage over opponents. Train- to hit the prone opponent gain a +2 bonus.
ing in this style of combat can make your character fully • Damage opponent — Successes achieved on this
capable of disabling others. turn’s Strength + Brawl roll are applied as points of bash-
There is a variety of options possible in Brawl com- ing damage inflicted on your character’s opponent. Your
bat. The fundamentals available to anyone include character crushes, squeezes, bends or bites his victim.
punches, kicks and grapples. More versatile and even ex- • Immobilize opponent — Your character seeks to
otic maneuvers — throws, nerve pinches — are learned interfere with his victim’s actions. Even one success ren-
by studying the martial arts. See the Boxing and Kung Fu ders the target immobile. The victim’s physical actions
Fighting Style Merits (pp. 110 and 111) for examples of are restricted to breaking free (he cannot attempt any
such training. The average guy on the street with no mar- overpowering maneuvers of his own), although he could
tial training can perform any of the following basics. bring mental or some supernatural capabilities to bear
(Storyteller’s discretion). Furthermore, the victim’s De-

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CLOSE COMBAT FACTORS-OTHER COMPLICATIONS-UNARMED COMBAT