Page 167 - World of Darkness

After all, wouldn’t a stake through the heart kill just about (if it can reach it). The Storyteller decides if an attack
anything? that inflicts aggravated damage also ignores armor.
To stake an opponent, an attacker must target the Attackers may make specified-target rolls (see above)
heart. Wielded in hand, a stake calls for a Strength + to hit unprotected portions of a defender and thus ignore
Weaponry roll. Fired from some kind of projection device armor. The Storyteller assigns the attack’s penalty, depend-
or thrown, a stake demands a Dexterity + Firearms or ing on the size of body part targeted. In the case of bullet-
Athletics roll. The damage that your character inflicts is proof armor, an attack to an unprotected body part not
lethal and must also be sufficiently high to pierce muscle, only ignores the target’s armor rating, but damage done
bone and organ. All totaled, efforts to stake a resisting remains lethal rather than being downgraded to bashing.
target are at -4 and a minimum of three points of damage Ordinary people must wear armor to gain protection,
must be inflicted in a single attack. If less than three points but some supernatural creatures are naturally armored by
of damage are done, the stake sinks in but doesn’t reach virtue of tough hides, or they bear or prepare magic en-
the heart. Damage is done, but not enough to have any chantments that help protect them like armor.
special effect on a monstrous target. Cumbersome gear imposes Defense penalties, and
some armor penalizes Speed and even efforts involving
Armor Strength. The Armor Chart (p. 170) provides stats for
various forms of gear.
Your character’s primary protection against harm in
combat is armor. Any form of protective clothing can clas- Fighting Blind
sify as armor, from heavy work gear to a knight’s outfit. In
the modern World of Darkness, armor is functional. Any- Sometimes circumstances arise when your character
thing that’s worn for an extended period, such as rein- cannot see, but he still needs to defend himself or seek
forced clothing, is designed to be light and sturdy. Sol- out a threatening opponent. Maybe he’s in pitch dark-
diers, police and anyone else who can get their hands on ness, dense smoke fills the area or he’s suffered vision dam-
bulletproof vests wear them for bodily protection. Those age. Such situations make your character easy prey for the
who want to resort to metal plates can do so, but the bulk things of the world that stalk him. All the more reason
of the equipment interferes with mobility. for him to try to fight back, even blind.
The rating of any protective gear is automatically sub- Characters who cannot see at all must attack enemies
tracted from the dice pool of an incoming attack. If your almost as if those opponents are fully concealed. They
character wears armor rated 3, three dice are removed from cannot be targeted at all; shots are taken in the dark, lit-
an attacker’s dice pool. Armor is rated in terms of the kinds erally. Your character chooses a direction in which he
of attacks against which it protects: ballistic and all other stages his attack — whether close or ranged combat —
kinds. Thus, protective gear has two ratings separated by guessing where his intended target might be.
a slash on the Armor Chart (p. 170): general/ballistic. The To even have a hope of hitting, your character must
first applies to most attack types. The second applies to direct his attack at the target’s location. If he’s not even
those made with attacks involving the Firearms Skill. So, pointing in the right direction (he fires to the right, but
a flak jacket rated 2/3 imposes a -2 penalty on, say, punch the target is behind him), there is no chance to hit. The
and sword attacks, and a -3 penalty on gun and bow at- Storyteller rolls some dice anyway and ignores the result,
tacks. to keep you from deducing the target’s true location.
Types of armor designed to be “bulletproof” on the The Storyteller knows where the target actually is,
Armor Chart (a kevlar vest, flak jacket and full riot gear) and secretly makes a chance roll (see p. 125) for you if
have additional effects against Firearms attacks. They your character attacks in approximately the right direc-
downgrade damage done in such an attack, turning it from tion. A success means your character hits and does one or
lethal to bashing. This is in addition to diminishing the more Health points of damage, depending on how many
number of dice rolled in an attack. So, if a target wears a 10’s come up. Of course, if a 1 comes up a dramatic failure
kevlar vest and a shot is fired at him, the attack roll suf- occurs, the circumstances of which are left to the
fers a -2 penalty for the armor. Any successes rolled in the Storyteller’s discretion.
attack do damage, but it’s bashing instead of lethal. There are, however, ways to try to sense where a tar-
Attacks of a magical nature that inflict aggravated get is rather than stage attacks aimlessly. Ordinary people
damage might not be hindered by armor; it depends on have some chance of bringing their other senses to bear.
the type of attack. A sorcerous bolt of energy might pass Supernatural creatures with inhuman capabilities may
right through armor. Mundane objects are simply not de- have stronger senses, may be able to function unimpaired
signed to withstand pure mystical assault. A silver letter without vision, or might be able to see in the dark.
opener stabbed at a werewolf, however, must still over-
come armor to affect the creature (assuming it wears any Listening
armor). The werewolf’s legendary Achilles’ heel against Your character can attempt to listen for a target. The
silver doesn’t give a letter opener a supernatural ability to subject must be making noise, no matter how slight, to be
ignore armor, only the power to blight a werewolf’s flesh heard (walking or breathing heavily makes some noise).

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Chapter 7- COMBAT