Page 91 - World of Darkness

Chapter 4: Advantages
Chapter 4: Advantages

Advantages are aspects of your character that set him apart from his peers,
for good or ill. A strong will, an unshakeable moral conviction or a simple talent
for ducking are all possible benefits in a rough and uncertain world. As your
character develops over time, his advantages can increase to exceptional levels.
Most advantages are derived traits determined by adding two or more
Attributes together. Others, such as Morality and Size, have a base value with
which all characters begin play. As your character’s Attributes increase through
the expenditure of experience points, his advantages increase as well. Like-
wise, as Attributes are temporarily decreased through supernatural curses or
other strange events, their linked advantages are similarly reduced.
Here alone I in books
Here alone I in books
formd of metals
formd of metals Defense
Have written the
Have written the
secrets of wisdom Traits: Your character’s Defense is equal to his Dexterity or Wits, which-
secrets of wisdom
The secrets of dark ever is lower.
The secrets of dark
contemplation The object of any fight is to knock the other guy out without letting him do
contemplation the same to you. At the same time that your character throws punches and looks
By fightings and for a chance to land a knockout blow, he bobs, weaves and ducks, making him-
By fightings and
conflicts dire,
conflicts dire, self as difficult a target as possible for his opponent’s counterblows. Your character’s
With terrible mon- Defense trait is applied as a negative modifier to his opponent’s rolls for Brawl,
With terrible monsters
sters Sin-bred: Weaponry and thrown-weapon (Dexterity + Athletics) attacks. If he is assaulted
Sin-bred: by multiple attackers, his full Defense trait is applied to one attacker and then
Which the bosoms of
Which the bosoms of
all inhabit; his trait is reduced by one for each subsequent attack. Your character’s Defense
all inhabit; cannot normally be used against Firearms (gun and bow-based) attacks, unless
Seven deadly Sins they’re conducted within close-combat range; one to two yards (see “Firearms
Seven deadly Sins of
of the soul. and Close Combat,” p. 162). Defense does not apply if your character is taken by
the soul.
— William Blake, “The surprise or is immobilized by some means.
— William Blake, “The
Book of Urizen” Example: Sims finds himself in a barroom brawl with three bikers. His
Book of Urizen” Dexterity is 4 and his Wits is 2. Taking the lower of the two Attributes, his
Defense trait is 2. As the bikers wade in Sims does his best to avoid their swings.
The first biker suffers a -2 modifier to his attack roll — Sims’ full Defense —
while the second biker incurs only a -1 modifier. The third attacker is unaffected,
as Sims has no Defense left to avoid the assailant’s punch.
Defense is not affected by any wound penalties (p. 171) that your char-
acter may have incurred.
For more details on how Defense is used in combat, see Chapter 7, p. 155.
As your character’s Dexterity and Wits increase through the application
of experience points (or through temporary enhancement during the course
of a story), his Defense may change as well. If you increase your character’s
Dexterity or Wits don’t forget to adjust his Defense accordingly.

Health

Traits: Stamina + Size
A character’s Health trait reflects his body’s capacity to cope with injury
and remain functional. As your character suffers damage, whether acciden-
tally or in combat (see Chapter 7 for details), each point of damage inflicted
lowers his Health by one. When your character’s Health points are reduced
to three, he suffers a negative modifier to his dice pools. As his Health points
continue to decrease, this negative modifier increases as he is slowly over-
come by shock and physical trauma. When all of your character’s Health
points are marked off as aggravated damage, he is dead. See Chapter 7, p. 152,
for more details on types of damage and how they affect a character’s Health.
90
Chapter 4- ADVANTAGES