Page 89 - Chronicles of Darkness

Mooks, thugs, and similar nameless characters don’t have any turn entirely — he may act at any time during the next turn,
Willpower available to spend. Minor named characters — the but for subsequent turns his Initiative resets to what it was
kind who recur but aren’t the main antagonists of a story — before he delayed his action.
have one point of Willpower available. Recurring antagonists
and major Storyteller characters can spend up to half their Surprise
maximum Willpower in a scene. Characters who don’t realize they’re about to be on the
Storyteller characters with reduced Willpower totals can
still regain spent points through normal means, but can’t receiving end of bloody violence have a chance to notice the
ambush by rolling Wits + Composure, contested by the attacker’s
go above their modified Willpower total for a scene. Note, Dexterity + Stealth. Any character who fails the roll cannot take
though, that their Resolve + Composure values are unaffected, an action in the first turn of combat, and can’t apply Defense
in case the Storyteller needs to have them roll this dice pool, for that turn. Determine Initiative in the second turn as normal.
and supernatural powers that drain Willpower work normally.
Initiative Attack

On each character’s turn, he can attack using one of the
When a fight’s inevitable, it helps to know who acts first.
Time in combat is always tracked in turns, and one turn in- following dice pools:
cludes one action for each character in the scene. At the start • Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl - opponent’s
of a violent conflict or other dramatic encounter in which Defense
it’s important or easier to have characters act one at a time,
determine each character’s Initiative by rolling one die and • Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry - opponent’s
adding her Initiative modifier. Defense
The Storyteller should write down each character’s • Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms
Initiative and put them in order, including both player charac-
ters and Storyteller characters. The Initiative order determined • Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics - opponent’s
here is the order in which the characters will act during each Defense
turn until something happens to change it, such as a character Resolve the attack roll like any other action. Determine
dropping a weapon (see below). Characters with high Initiative damage by adding the successes rolled to any weapon modi-
react quickly and get the jump on the others, while characters fier. The target fills this many Health boxes with whichever
with low Initiative are hesitant, indecisive, or just slow to act. type of damage was dealt. See “Injury and Healing,” below.
Each turn, the Storyteller should take a moment to describe
Lining up a shot or hefting a baseball bat takes more Defense
how the lay of the land has changed since the last turn.
effort than just swinging a fist. When a character is using a Subtract the character’s Defense from any unarmed,
weapon, apply its Initiative penalty for as long as she’s got melee, or thrown attacks of which the character is aware.
the weapon ready. The only way to avoid this modifier is to Every time a character applies his Defense against an attack,
sling it or drop it. Dropping a weapon is a reflexive action, reduce his Defense by 1 against subsequent attacks until the
but picking it back up takes an instant action, as does just start of the next turn, when the character at the top of the
drawing a weapon normally. A character wielding two weap- Initiative order acts again. Spending a point of Willpower
ons subtracts the largest Initiative penalty from her score, increases his Defense by 2, but only against one attacker.
and then reduces it by a further one. Wielding a crowbar A player can choose not to apply his character’s Defense
(Initiative penalty -2) and a riot shield (Initiative penalty -4) against some attacks. If two unarmed gangbangers attack
thus applies a -5 to the roll. before a chainsaw-wielding lunatic, he might want to let the

Delaying Actions gangbangers get their blows in, and apply his full Defense
against the maniac swinging a chainsaw at his head.
A player may not want his character to act when his Some types of combat actions require a character to
Initiative says he should. Maybe he can’t see his opponent sacrifice his Defense for the turn. A character may only sac-
yet, or wants to see how someone will react to the changing rifice Defense for one such action at a time; for instance, he
landscape of the fight before he does anything else. The player couldn’t give up Defense to perform an All-Out Attack and
can choose to delay his character’s action, waiting for a better Charge at the same time. He must choose one.
moment to act later in the turn. He can alert the Storyteller Defense does not apply against Firearms attacks.
that he wants to take his delayed action at any time during the Dodge
turn. If he does so, his place in the Initiative order changes
to the new delayed one for the rest of the fight. At any point before a character’s action, she can choose to
If a player delays his character’s action for so long that Dodge. Doing so takes up her normal action. When Dodging,
the next turn begins — thus sacrificing his action for that double the character’s Defense but do not subtract it from

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infernal engines -dramatic systems