Page 100 - Chronicles of Darkness

Vehicle Traits • +1 Dice Modifier (limit +5)

These rules add specific traits to vehicles, while keeping • +2 dice to a secondary equipment bonus. For example,
them relatively abstract. a masterful paint job which offers dice to Persuasion
Dice Modifier: This is the amount subtracted or added rolls. (limit +4 per bonus)
from the driver’s Dexterity + Drive dice pools. • +0.5 Size (2 modifications add 1 Size, adds Structure)
Size: This is the general size of the vehicle. Size in the
Storytelling System is an abstract that reflects weight, mass, • +0.5 Durability (2 modifications add 1 Durability,
bulkiness, and space. Look to the chart on p. 26 for guidelines. limit 5)
Durability: Durability reflects the general toughness of the
materials, and their ability to withstand harm. Any time a vehicle • +2 Structure
would take damage, subtract its Durability from the amount
suffered. As a rule, wood, thick glass, or hard plastic offer 1 • +5 Speed
Durability, stone or aluminum offer 2 Durability, and steel or • Remove Slow Acceleration tag from vehicle. (3
iron offer 3 Durability. Additional Durability can be added for re- modifications)
inforced items. Sources of aggravated damage ignore Durability.
Structure: Structure is the amount of punishment a vehicle • Add High Acceleration tag to vehicle. (2 modifications)
can take before becoming useless. It’s usually equal to the ob-
ject’s Size plus Durability. However, weaker or stronger objects
may be lower or higher. An object suffering half its Structure Crashes
in damage levies -2 to any rolls to operate it. At three fourths When a vehicle hits a character or another vehicle, a crash
its Structure in damage, it levies -5 to use. Bashing, lethal, and occurs. There are two basic scenarios for this rule:
aggravated damage are applied equally to Structure. Structure
damage requires repair rolls (see p. 103) to fix. Vehicle Hitting Light Object
Speed: This is the vehicle’s safe Speed. This requires about a
minute of acceleration to reach for many vehicles (or 20 turns in This occurs when a vehicle hits something equal to or less
combat). The fastest sports cars reach this speed in about 15 seconds than half its Size. The light object suffers one tenth the vehicle’s
(or five turns). Most vehicles can reach one and a half times their Speed in bashing damage, plus half its Size (rounded down).
Speed within another minute. However, when operating above nor- The driver must make a Dexterity + Drive roll, factoring in the
mal Speed, apply the vehicle’s default Dice Modifier as an additional vehicle’s Dice Modifier. Failure means the vehicle takes half the
penalty to all rolls. While above normal Speed, all rolls to maneuver struck object’s Size plus one tenth its own Speed in damage.
the vehicle that fail are treated as dramatic failures. Additionally, Any damage that exceeds the vehicle’s Durability is also ap-
turning the vehicle more than 45 degrees in a turn while above plied to passengers and the driver as bashing damage. Effective
normal Speed requires an instant action maneuvering roll to keep seat belts, air bags, and other safety devices halve this damage.
the vehicle stable; failure overturns it and counts as a crash. If the driver is actively trying to strike the light object,
As a general rule, most vehicles gain 5 Speed per turn. make a Dexterity + Drive roll, penalized by Defense if ap-
Vehicles with the High Acceleration tag gain 10 Speed per plicable. Failure means the vehicle fails to hit. Successes are
turn. Successes on a Dexterity + Drive roll add 5 Speed to the added to the damage caused to the victim, but not to the
normal acceleration. Remember to apply the vehicle’s Dice driver and passengers. This does require a second Drive roll,
Modifier to this roll. Vehicles marked as Slow Acceleration however, to resist taking damage.
cannot benefit from rolls to improve acceleration.
Example: Suzy has a compact car. On the first turn, it has 5 Vehicle Hitting Heavy Object
Speed. On the second, it has 10 Speed. Since she’s trying to escape This occurs when a vehicle hits something more than half
from a rampaging wendigo, that’s not enough, so she kicks it into its Size. Both objects suffer one half the other object’s Size
high gear. Her player rolls Dexterity + Drive – 2 (the car’s Dice (rounded down) plus one tenth the relative Speed in damage.
Modifier) and gets three successes. That adds another 15 to the Speed, If the two objects are colliding against each other head on or
so it’s now going at 25 Speed. The wendigo runs faster and faster, so perpendicularly, add their Speeds together for this. If they’re
she keeps pushing forward. Once she exceeds 90 Speed, all her rolls moving parallel to each other, subtract the lower Speed from
begin suffering -4 instead of -2, since she’s pushing the vehicle past the higher Speed. If able to react (potentially involving a Wits
its safe limit. It’ll go up to a potential 135 Speed if she keeps it up. + Composure roll to detect surprise, per p. 88), both drivers
Modified Vehicles: With mechanical knowhow, charac- can make Dexterity + Drive rolls. Each success removes two
ters can modify vehicles from their base statistics. A vehicle damage from the amount their vehicle suffers.
can support a number of modifications equal to twice the Any damage that exceeds an object’s Durability is also
technician’s Craft dots; each modification requires four applied as bashing damage to the driver and its passengers.
hours’ work to install. If stressed or lacking sufficient tools, As above, effective seat belts, air bags, and other safety devices
the Storyteller can require an Intelligence + Crafts roll for halve this damage.
each modification. Potential modifications include:
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Vehicles