General Maneuvers
Key
Combat Maneuvers typically
have a difficulty of 6. Maneuvers with specific combat effects
may modify the attack roll, the difficulty or the damage dice
pool.
Traits: The Trait combination used for
the action being taken. If your character lacks the needed Ability,
default to the base Attribute.
Accuracy: The
dice added to the roll to hit an opponent. A "+3" adds three
dice to the dice pool for the maneuver.
Difficulty:
Any additions or subtractions to a maneuver's difficulty (which
is normally 6). A "+2" means the difficulty increases from 6
to 8.
Aborting Actions
You can abandon any declared action in favor of a defense as long as your character has one or more actions remaining. A successful Willpower roll versus difficulty 6 (or the expenditure of a Willpower point) is required for a character to abort an action and perform a block, dodge or parry instead. The expenditure of the Willpower point for this purpose may be declared at the time of the abort. Aborting an action is considered a reflexive and not an action in itself.
Ambush
An ambush is a surprise sneak attack. The attacker pits Dexterity + Stealth in a resisted roll against the target's Perception + Alertness. If the attacker wins, she can make one free, attack on the target, and she adds any extra successes from the Stealth roll to her attack die pool. On a tie, the attacker still attacks first, but the defender is free to take a defensive maneuver. If the defender wins, he spots the ambush in advance, and both sides roll initiative normally. Targets already in combat cannot be ambushed. Of course, some situations may make it impossible to ambush a target. The Storyteller has final say aboutwhen an ambush is or isn't plausible.
Blind Fighting/Fire
Close-combat attacks made in pitch darkness or when blind usually incur a difficulty penalty of two, and ranged attacks cannot be made accurately. A successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8) will allow a ranged attack at +3 difficulty. If you have blind fighting you suffer no dice penalty for melee and hand to hand combat but this will replace your melee or brawl skill.
Flank and Rear Attacks
Characters attacking a target from the flank gain one additional attack die, while characters attacking a target from the rear gain two additional attack dice.
Movement
Characters may move up to one half their maximum running distance and still act without penalty. Other maneuvers like jumping over obstacles or leaping down from a height may be considered separate actions, depending on their complexity.
Multiple Actions
If you declare multiple actions, subtract dice from the total dice pool equal to the number of actions taken. Each action after the first loses an additional die.
Targeting
Target Size | Difficulty | Damage Modifier |
Medium (arm, briefcase) | +1 | None |
Small (hand, head, laptop computer) | +2 | +1 |
Precise (eye, heart, lock) | +3 | +2 |