Page 225 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER FOUR: SPECIAL RULES AND SYSTEMS
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Requires: 3; more than 5 imposes a -1 penalty on all par- sample — too much blood splatters on the ground, or the skin
ticipants. sample is mangled beyond use. The hunters can attempt the
Dice Pool: Primary: Composure + Medicine. Secondary: Tactic again, but the attempt will cost the participating hunt-
Wits + Occult (one secondary actor); Strength + Brawl (all ers 1 Willpower apiece to try again.
other secondary actors). Success: The primary actor’s successes equal or exceed
Action: Instant and contested; target resists with the monster’s successes. The hunters take a sample of the
Strength + Brawl (resistance is refl exive). monster’s blood, skin, bone, flesh or whatever other mate-

Description: Whether for scientific research, arcane ritu- rial they require. The hunters can attempt to take more ma-

als or just because they want a trophy, hunters often have rea- terial next turn, but doing so requires the expenditure of 1
son to collect samples of monsters. Unfortunately, the physical Willpower per hunter (representing the extra effort), and the
matter of a monster often changes once the creature dies. Vam- creature has the chance to escape the grapple.
pires crumble to dust, their blood and bones becoming naught Exceptional Success: The primary actor’s successes ex-
but ash. Werewolves revert to human form, and their skin and ceed the monster’s and the player achieves an exceptional
muscle is indistinguishable from any other person’s. This Tactic, success. The hunter takes the sample, and the cell can at-
though, takes a sample from a still living (or extant, at least) tempt to use the Tactic again next turn, but can either forgo
supernatural creature, and thus allows the hunters to use it. the Willpower cost (see Success) or so fully immobilize the
This is a complicated Tactic, and requires coordina- monster that it gets no chance to escape the grapple.
tion and concentration. At least one secondary actor must To Purchase: 16 Practical Experience, 13 for the Ash-
grapple the target creature (rolling Strength + Brawl; refer wood Abbey, 11 for the Cheiron Group.
to p. 158 of the World of Darkness Rulebook for rules on
multiple people grappling the same opponent). At that point, Identifi cation
another secondary actor, who must remain uninvolved in the Prerequisites: All: Wits 2, Occult 1, Empathy 1, Inves-
grappling but stay close enough to observe the proceedings, tigation 1. Partial (1): Empathy 3. Partial (1): Occult 3 or
advises the primary actor on how to proceed (this character Occult 2 with a Specialty in Identifying Monsters (either of
must have Occult 4, or Occult 3 with a Specialty in the type these characters can be the primary actor).
of monster being harvested). Then the primary actor, armed Requires: 2; more than 2 bestows a +1 to the primary
with the necessary tools (a syringe, a bone saw, a specimen jar, actor for each extra hunter.
etc.), takes the sample and seals it up. Dice Pool: Primary: Intelligence + Empathy or Occult.
What complicates this, of course, is that the monster Secondary: Wits + Investigation.
doesn’t cooperate. The creature thrashes against the hunters, Action: Instant.
and that means taking the sample requires a steady but quick Description: Before the hunt can begin, the hunters need
hand. As such, Harvest is a contested action. a target. This Tactic allows a cell to identify a supernatural be-
Organizations: The thrill-seeking “hunters” of the Ash- ing from a normal human. It doesn’t allow the cell to discern
wood Abbey have been employing the Harvest Tactic for de- what kind of supernatural being the target is (though it prob-
cades in their quest to find new and interesting ways to use the ably gives them a direction for further research), only that the

bodies of supernatural beings for their decadent pleasures. The target isn’t quite normal. The secondary actors make observa-
much newer (but better equipped) Cheiron Group quickly real- tions about the target, noting body language, behaviors, tics
ized that this Tactic was an absolute must for its work — the and habits. They report these to the primary actor, who makes
organization might even attempt to “tag” certain creatures and a summary judgment about the target, supernatural or not.
release them, allowing it to track them down to Harvest again. Secondary actors can make a number of observations
Potential Modifi ers: Hunter’s Size rating is greater than over the period of a day. Each secondary actor can make one
the target’s (+1 to applicable secondary actor); well-lit area roll per dot of Investigation in a day, at a rate of one roll per
(+1 to Occult secondary actor and primary actor); monster scene, but can only “keep” one of these rolls for purposes of
is naked (+1 to primary actor); hunters have Harvested this reporting to the primary actor (probably the one with the
particular creature before (+2 to primary actor); monster is most successes).
fully dressed (-2 to primary actor); secondary actor(s) has Organizations: Cells of all three tiers and all organiza-
a lower Initiative than the primary actor (-3 to all partici- tions make use of this Tactic. Misidentifying a target can lead
pants); material being sampled is difficult to obtain — brain to murder, after all.

tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, a piece of a particular organ, etc. Potential Modifi ers: Target has a number of supernatural
(-5 to primary actor) “indicators,” as allergy to sunlight, no refl ection, restrictions on
Roll Results: behavior or diet, unconscious effects on the emotions of those
Dramatic Failure: The hunter taking the sample gets too around it, etc. (+3 to secondary actors); target is a werewolf (+2
close to the monster just as it breaks the grapple. The monster can to secondary actors); target is possessed by a spirit, ghost or other
execute an immediate, reflexive attack on the primary actor, sub- non-human entity (+2 to secondary actors); secondary actor

tracting Armor but not Defense. Damage is applied normally. speaks face to face with target (+2 to appropriate secondary ac-
Failure: The monster’s roll garners more successes than tor); hunter has the Unseen Sense Merit and the target is of a
the primary actor’s. The hunter is not able to take a viable “type” that would set off his Unseen Sense (+2 to appropriate
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