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

Aiming for a specific location adds to the difficulty of an attack, but it can bypass cover or armor as well as increasing the damage done by an attack. At the Storyteller's discretion, some targeted attacks (such as striking at a weapon) may have special results.
Target Size Difficulty Damage Modifier
Medium (arm, briefcase) +1 None
Small (hand, head, laptop computer) +2 +1
Precise (eye, heart, lock) +3 +2