Combat and Dice Rolls


Stages of Combat:
First and Foremost
This is a ROLE play game, not a ROLL play game. Most of the rolling rules that are in place are for speed of the online game. Nothing is more boring then waiting 3o minutes to make one roll in a scene that IC should not take more then 5 minutes. Keep this in mind when rolls are called for out of respect for your fellow players and the game as a whole.

Please also limit PM’s to your ST. Questions are best asked in the dice channel or the Help channel so your ST isn’t dealing with several windows at once, slowing them and your RP down

We are a second edition WhiteWolf game and all rolls are based in that system. With that said, it means almost every basic roll will comprise of an attribute and an ability. (Primary or secondary) at a set difficulty. There are of course exceptions to every rule as per White Wolf and up to the ST you are working with at the time. If they tell you to roll something, do so, no arguing that the book says this or that. Combat/Weapon ST (VincentM) has final say in any disputes, but it should never get that far.

Initiatives
Second edition books, no matter the system, are point blank in this. It is Wits + Alertness, difficulty 4. (You may also roll wits + brawl, melee, firearms or any appropriate ability) and the difficulty rises from there dependant on the situation in character. Again, the difficulty is set by your ST. In all CrimsonTears associated channels, you must also state any spends for your character at this time within the roll, such as blood spent and rage (Vampire's must declare what the blood was spent for - stats, celerity, etc).

Combat
Player with the highest successes gets first action however all actions are declared in dice channel in REVERSE ORDER(the person with the lowest init roll declares first), then rolls are made in decending order (the person with the higest init roll will roll and rp their action first). An initiative roll of 0 means you're automatically last, roll a botch and sorry, you can only watch. It does take an action to heal, grow claws, shift, pull a weapon, load a gun, and get your ass off the ground (with the exception of Garou when in chatro or lupus form, or a vampire in wolf form - ie, anything with 4 legs), etc. unless you have the appropriate merit on your sheet to do otherwise. Please pay attention to the IC happenings. Roll when it is your turn, wait for the counter rolls and post with as much haste as you can manage to keep the scene going.

Common Combat Rolls
Punch: Dex + brawl, Diff 6
Kick: Dex + brawl, Diff 7
(keep in mind difficulty goes up if you state for specific targets on the body)

Sword, Knives and basically any weapon that stays in a hand: Dex + Melee, difficulty based on your weapon Guns: Dex + Firearms, difficulty based on your weapon

**Know the difficulty before you get into a combat situation, and if you have managed to get special ammo or a warded weapon, IC, and I repeat, IC, as your sheet and background will be checked, know you modifiers. Don’t know? Then don’t expect the ST to look for you amidst combat. Your weapon will most likely not be allowed to be used. Email VincentM at the ST email for them either at creation or when you gain them in character. This rule will also apply to special abilities and disciplines for the speed of combat. **

You can spilt your dice, but you must state before you roll and your second roll will be at a +1 difficulty. Only exception is the proper merits or gifts that allow two actions or added speed within one action. (ambidextrous and quick draw for example). Special holsters can also remove the extra turn to arm yourself at ST discretion. (Rage and Celerity actions will not be allowed to split to cut down on confusion). Split actions are taken as follows: inital action takes place during regular turn per init score, second (and subsequent) action is taken after all others have taken their initial action (Per V:tM and W:tA 2e core books).

Dodge: Dex + Dodge difficultly 6 A successful dodge is when you have more successes then the attacker’s roll. We do allow you one free dodge and your attack roll per initiative. Botching means you will step, fall, lunge into the attacker’s move. (adding dice equal to your botch to their damage roll at ST's descression) Willpower can be spent for a guaranteed one success on all basic rolls, however rolls that effect another character, a single botch will negate WP (example, if your total roll was -1 and you spent a WP, it would reduce to a fail rather than a botch and you would avoid botch penalties, -2 with wp would become -1 and you would face a botch penalty at that level).

Damage and Soak Rolls
Damage: Strength + weapon damage modifiers (see ** above) difficulty 6. Potence for Vampires is an automatic damage added on the end of the roll looking like: !dice 6 6 Damage + 2 pot. (or potence)

Being second edition we have only two kinds of damage, Aggravated and non Aggravated. Aggravated is as follows:

  • A super natural’s fangs and claws.
  • Shifters: Silver (Corax: Gold), Fire, Radiation and Toxic Waste.
  • Vampires: Fire and Sunlight (well face it, everyone gets agg from fire)
  • A fall from a ridiculous height, so don’t jump off the wrong building
  • Warded or Fetish Weapons at ST discretion.

    Non Aggravated is everything else. Non super naturals will be looking at a longer recovery for most damage. Aggravated Damage on super naturals takes lots of time and energy. You won’t be doing the mambo the next IC day.

    Soak: Non aggravated soak is done by rolling your stamina, diff 6. (all characters types) Vampires with Fortitude get automatic successes equal to their level in this discipline. Vamps and Shifter can both use an action to heal levels of this damage, but they lose their action for the round.

    Aggravated Soak Shifters: They can soak aggravated damage unless it is silver by rolling stamina outside of their breed form. In breed form they can soak silver, but not other aggravated damage. Again roll stamina.

    Aggravated Soak Vampires: Can only be soaked using fortitude. Difficulty 6. There are other disciplines that can be used to heal this damage faster, but only outside of a combat situation.

    Some weapons, ammo and devices have lingering affects. It will be the ST that is running the story to decide if and how you can heal.

    You might also realize in the course of things that Vampire Potence and Fortitude cancel each other out in some situations. In its own way you can speed up combat rolls as if two people have the same levels in opposites, well why roll it?

    • A word about Celerity and Rage
    Yes, these are cool to have to gain extra actions, but keep in mind of the combat level of the characters you are playing with. A new character with neither can be stuck for hours with nothing to do while these rolls take place after the first initiative. We have all been there and it isn’t much fun. It will be up to the STs if they will allow you to use the actions or they may take an average of all characters and use the difference as to how many extra turns you get in combat. So if you have a high rage or celerity, you may find yourself with only one or two extra actions then your dots say you have to keep the game moving and to be fair to everyone.

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