Page 181 - World of Darkness

ter persists beyond 24 hours, make a Stamina + Resolve is removed with a controlled explo-
roll. If it fails, he falls asleep. If the roll succeeds, your sion or your character is completely
character remains alert and active. Spending one Will- immersed in water). Or, a fire could
power on a roll adds three dice to the effort. No more continue to burn despite efforts to put
than one Willpower point can be dedicated to a single it out, such as with a grease fire when
roll to remain awake. water is poured on it.
Burning the candle at both ends impairs your Most armor can block its rating
character’s performance. For each six-hour period in ex- in fire damage automatically for a
cess of 24 hours in which he foregoes sleep, his dice pools number of turns equal to the gear’s
suffer a cumulative -1 penalty. He has trouble focusing rating. Damage that exceeds armor
and might suffer mild hallucinations. This penalty also rating in that period is transferred di-
applies to successive Stamina + Resolve rolls to remain rectly to your character. Once expo-
awake. sure exceeds armor’s rating in turns,
If your character performs physically demanding ac- all fire damage is inflicted directly to
tivities such as running, conducting combat or perform- your character.
ing a magical ritual while he stays awake, the Storyteller So, armor rated 2 against most
can impose an additional -1 to -3 penalty on your rolls to harm eliminates two points of dam-
remain awake. age in the first two turns that your
The longest a person can go without sleep is a num- character is on fire. As of turn three,
ber of days equal to the lowest of his Stamina or Resolve, your character gets no protection from
at which point he passes out. his armor.
Once your character does sleep, it’s for eight hours, Characters who are reduced to
plus one hour for each six-hour period (in excess of 24 zero Health by fire but who still man-
hours) that he forced himself to remain active. age to survive (through first aid or
mystical healing) might suffer a per-
Fire manent impairment (reduced Physi-
cal Attribute), nerve damage (reduced
Your character comes in contact with a candle or an Mental Attribute) or severe and dis-
inferno. Either way, he gets burned. Fire automatically figuring scars (reduced Presence), at
inflicts lethal damage per turn of exposure (no attack roll the Storyteller’s discretion. Such im-
is required). The larger the flame, the more harm that’s pairment can be defined as a Flaw (see
inflicted. The hotter the flame, the greater the injury. p. 217) gained during play.
Size of Fire Damage
Torch 1 Poisons and Toxins
Bonfire 2
Inferno 3 While some poisons or toxins might affect behavior
and awareness as drugs do, most simply inflict lethal dam-
age. These substances threaten a character’s very exist-
Heat of Fire Damage Modifier ence. Indeed, drugs can do so too when overdosed. Poi-
Candle (first-degree burns) — sons, toxins and drug overdoses must be delivered to a
Torch (second-degree burns) +1 victim by a required means: injection, ingestion, inhala-
Bunsen burner (third-degree burns)+2 tion or touch.
Chemical fire/molten metal +3 Injection: The substance is introduced directly into
the bloodstream, by a needle or through injury such as by
So, a fire the size of a bonfire (2) and with the inten- a sword coated with venom. At least one success is re-
sity of a torch (+1) inflicts three damage per turn of con- quired on an attack roll to deliver the injection on a re-
tact. sisting target. Unless the poison is designed to damage or
In general, if exposure to fire persists for more than a destroy the blood itself, vampires are probably immune.
turn, it catches anything combustible. Your character con- Ingestion: The poison is administered in food or
tinues to take full damage, even if he escapes the original drink; these substances usually take longer to activate than
source of the flame. others (say, an hour as opposed to immediate effects).
Depending on the accelerator involved, the size of a Vampires are immune to most ingested poisons.
fire can be reduced by one point per turn. Your character Inhalation: The poison is breathed in as a gas. Vam-
might stop, drop and roll or be targeted with a hose or fire pires are immune to most inhaled poisons.
extinguisher. The Storyteller might rule that a fire goes Touch: Mere skin contact is all that’s required to ac-
out immediately under some circumstances (local oxygen tivate the poison. A touch is often sufficient to deliver

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Chapter 7- COMBAT