[World of Darkness] New Babylon
I recently acquired a nice new book that contains a lot of optional rules for combat. I'm posting the ones we'll be using here for easy reference. These rules replace the combat houserules I posted earlier (and have deleted to prevent confusion), as there was too much overlap.
Automatic Damage
Weapon damage is not added to the attack roll, but added if the attack hits. Firearms apply their damage score as automatic levels, while other weapons apply it as extra dice.
Knife to a Fistfight
When an unarmed character is attacked by someone with a melee weapon (or dreadful claws or something), the defender applies only one half his defense (rounded down).
Ricochet
When a gun misses, the storyteller rolls a die. One a '1' the bullet might hit another target. Beware collateral damage and hostages.
Watch my back
For every ally within melee reach, ignore one point of defense penalty due to multiple attackers. For example, normally if you get attacked by three thugs your defense is -0/-1/-2. If you're fighting back to back with an ally this becomes -0/-0/-1.
Gluttony
Instead of one vitae per turn, a vampire can leech blood from living beings at a rate equal to their stamina in vitae per turn. Draining other vampires or beings whose blood no longer flows still happens at the original slow rate.
No blood to spill
Many edged weapons now inflict bashing damage on vampires, similar to bullets. Mainly knives, arrows, and most improvised weaponry like broken bottles fall under this category. Only weapons that can inflict serious structural devastation still inflicts lethal damage, such as chainsaws, axes, and swords (provided they chop, so fencing rapiers inflict bashing).
Meat Shields
Vampires and some other supernaturals gain a fourth type of damage called grievous wounds, which is the step after aggravated. Such beings use this modified rule for handling wound types:
* When the damage track is filled with bashing damage they suffer no special effects, other than that they are at the -3 wound level.
* When the damage track is filled with lethal damage they must roll their stamina score at the start of every turn in order to stay conscious.
* When the damage track is filled with aggravated damage they fall unconscious (or in torpor) but are not killed.
* When the damage track is filled with grievous damage they are destroyed.
Grievous damage can be cured but takes four times as long and four times as much effort, resources, or successful rolls as aggravated damage. No power or ability naturally inflicts grievous damage; it is used for when aggravated damage 'rolls over' and to simulate certain extreme circumstances like violent dismemberment, powerful explosions, or contact with molten steel.
In addition to the above houserules, others are in place. But they concern non-vampiric entities so they don't have to be included here. Suffice it to say that mortals just got more fragile, mages got more unpredictable, werewolves got stronger, and the hunters are ready for you all.
What you need to understand about the apocalypse is that you aren't Mad Max. You're part of the skull pyramid in the background.
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