Paradise City Combat Summary

Combat Stage 1: Intent

• The players and the Storyteller describe what their characters want out of the fight.

• Decide whether characters can surrender and can become Beaten Down (must spend a point of Willpower every time they wants to take a violent action until the end of the fight. They can still apply Defense against incoming attacks, can Dodge, and can run like hell, but it takes a point of Willpower to swing or shoot back each time they wish to).

Combat Stage 2: Initiative

• Everyone rolls Initiative: the result of a die roll + Dexterity + Composure. If the character has a weapon readied, apply its Initiative Modifier.

Combat Stage 3: Attack

• Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl - victim’s Defense

• Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry - victim’s Defense

• Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms

• Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics - victim’s Defense

A character’s Defense is normally subtracted from any attack dice pools where it applies. If she chooses to Dodge, the defender rolls double her Defense as a dice pool against each attack. Each success reduces the attacker’s successes by one. If the attacker is reduced to zero successes, the attack does nothing. If the attacker has successes remaining, add any weapon modifier to the number of successes to determine how many points of Health the target loses. All weapons deal lethal damage to living targets, bashing to vampires.

Combat Stage Four: The Storyteller describes the attack and wound in narrative terms.

Possible Modifiers;

• Aiming: +1 per turn to a +3 maximum (aiming takes a character’s action for a turn)

• All-Out Attack: +2 with Brawl or Weaponry attack; lose Defense

• Armor Piercing: Ignores amount of target’s armor equal to item’s rating

• Autofire Long Burst: 20 or so bullets, no target limit pending Storyteller approval. A +3 bonus is applied to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first

• Autofire Medium Burst: 10 or so bullets at one to three targets, with a +2 bonus to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first

• Autofire Short Burst: Three bullets at a single target with a +1 bonus to the roll

• Concealment: Barely –1; partially –2; substantially –3; fully, see “Cover”

• Cover: Subtract 2 from damage for light cover, 4 from damage for heavy cover

• Dodge: Double Defense, roll as a dice pool with each success subtracting one from the attacker’s successes

• Drawing a Weapon: Requires instant action

• Firing from Concealment: Shooter’s own concealment quality (–1, –2 or –3) reduced by one as a penalty to fire back (so, no modifier, –1 or –2)

• Offhand Attack: –2 penalty

• Prone Target: –2 penalty to hit in ranged combat; +2 bonus to hit when attacker is within close-combat distance

• Range: –2 at medium range, –4 at long range

• Shooting into Close Combat: –2 per combatant avoided in a single shot (not applicable to autofire); –4 if grappling

• Specified Target: Torso –1, leg or arm –2, head or heart –3 (requiring 5 successes to stake), hand –4, eye –5

• Surprised or Immobilized Target: Defense doesn’t apply

• Touching a Target: Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry; armor may or may not apply, but Defense does apply

• Willpower: Add three dice or +2 to a Resistance trait (Stamina, Resolve, or Composure) in one roll or instance