Combat

Attacking

• For using guns, roll Dexterity + Firearms.
• For using hand-held weapons, roll Dexterity + Melee.
• For hands, claws, bodyweight, and so on, roll Dexterity + Brawl. Some attacks may instead use Dexterity + Athletics.

Defending

Defensive actions are declared at any time prior to the opponent’s attack, as long as the defender has an action to use. Alternatively, a Willpower point may be spent to forgo a planned action and instead take a defensive action.

Dodging

Hopefully move out of harm’s way. This action requires Dexterity + Atheltics. The difficulty depends on the distance required to be out of harm’s way, and the nature of the attack in question. Dodging a hand-to-hand strike is easy, difficulty 5. Dodging firearms at close range however, would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, difficulty 9 or 10. Each success on this roll subtracts one success from the attacker’s roll. This, the defending character needs to roll at least as many successes as the attacker to get out of the way.

Blocking

Uses body part to deflect an incoming blow. The roll is Dexterity + Brawl, with the difficulty depending on the weapon used. A fist may be 5, while a katana may be 8. As with Dodging, each success from the defender removes one success from the attacker.

Parrying

Is essentially blocking but utilizing an object instead of one’s body. This roll is instead Dexterity + Melee.

Resolution

Once all attacks have landed, the players determine how much damage each combatant has taken. To figure out how much damage has been inflicted, the attacking player rolls their dice pool against difficulty 6. Each success is one health level of damage.

Really successful attacks inflict more damage. For each success above the first one that the player scores on their attack roll, they add one more die to the damage dice pool. (Three successes on an attack would be two additional dice.)

Damage

Type	Marking	Soak Difficulty	Description
Bashing	/	6	Blunt force trauma, fists, clubs, table legs. Even normal humans heal this fairly quickly.
Lethal	X	6 (Supernaturals) 8 (Exceptional humans)	Sharp weapons, firearms, spiked clubs, barbed wire, chainsaws, so on. Most living things have a hard time healing lethal damage.
Aggravated	*	6 (Garou in non-breed form, and not inflicted by silver)	Severe injury. Garou claws/fangs, vampire fangs, toxic waste, fire, acid, silver on Garou. Aggravated damage cannot be healed by Garou.

Soaking

To soak damage, roll Stamina against the difficulty determined by the damage type. Each success subtracts 1 level of damage from the attack.

Status Effects

• Blindness: A character who’s been blinded by injury or darkness cannot Dodge, Parry, or Block. All other actions add two to the difficulty.
• Knockdown: A character who’s been knocked off her feet must take an action to scramble back up. If she cannot do so, she may be considered partially immobilized.
• Immobilization: If a character has been held down, paralyzed, or otherwise rendered unable to move, any character who attacks them reduces her difficulty by two if the target is still able to move somewhat, or may automatically hit otherwise.
• Stun: If — after the soak roll — a character suffers health-level damage that equals or exceeds her Stamina rating, she’s stunned until the end of the following turn. A stunned character cannot take any actions, except perhaps stumble around in a daze, and attack rolls against her have their difficulty reduced by two.

General Maneuvers

Bite

The most basic attack utilized by creatures with teeth, biting involves… well, biting. Garou and vampires inflict aggravated damage with their bites, while many other creatures deal out lethal damage. At the storyteller’s option, Glabro-form Garou may bite a target at difficulty 8, inflicting Strength –1 in lethal damage.

Usable By	Crinos, Hispo, Lupus
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	5
Damage	Strength + 1
Damage Type	Aggravated

Claw

Ripping his target with sharp talons, a werewolf inflicts aggravated damage on his opponent when in Crinos and Hispo form, bashing damage in Glabro or Lupus form.

Usable By	Glabro, Crinos, Hispo, Lupus
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	6
Damage	Strength + 2
Damage Type	Aggravated (Crinos/Hispo) / Lethal (Glabro/Lupus)

Disarm

The attacker uses her weapon to knock her opponent’s weapon from his hand. To succeed, the attacker rolls Dexterity + Melee at +1 to her usual difficulty; if her successes exceed her opponent’s Strength score, he drops that weapon. If she doesn’t score enough successes to disarm the opponent, she still inflicts her usual damage. If she botches that roll, she loses her own weapon instead. A brave or desperate attacker can try to disarm an armed opponent with her bare hands. In this case, the roll is Dexterity + Brawl, the difficulty is 8, and she subtracts one die from her usual attack dice pool.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	+1 / 8
Damage	Special

Grapple

Seizing an opponent, the attacker tries to either crush him (a clinch) or immobilize him (a hold). Either assault begins with a successful Strength + Brawl roll. If the attacker wants to hurt her foe, that player may roll her Strength to inflict damage, beginning on the next turn and continuing until the opponent breaks free. (The foe may try to soak that damage as usual.) If the attacker wishes to hold her opponent still, he’s stuck in her grip until his next action.

To escape a grapple, the opponent has two options: He can break free by successfully beating his attacker in a resisted Strength + Brawl roll; or he can reverse the hold by doing the same thing and then scoring two successes more than his attacker has scored. At the Storyteller’s option, an agile character can use Dexterity instead of Strength with such feats.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Strength + Brawl
Difficulty	6
Damage	Strength or None
Damage Type	Bashing, may be Lethal or Aggravated if biology allows.

Kick

Lashing out with a leg or two, the character knocks his opponent silly. As presented here, the kick is pretty straightforward; to reflect elaborate martial arts kicks, the Storyteller may adjust the difficulty and/or damage upward for complexity and effect.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	7
Damage	Strength + 1
Damage Type	Bashing, may be Lethal if the kicker is large/strong enough.

Punch

Punches, like kicks, can be simple or elaborate. Special punches — an uppercut, a haymaker, a knife-hand strike — may deal out extra damage with a higher difficulty rating.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	6
Damage	Strength
Damage Type	Bashing, may be Lethal if puncher is large/strong enough, or the attacker is performing a maneuver such as a kidney blow or knife-hand strike.

Sweep

Using a leg (Brawl) or weapon (Melee), the attacker knocks her opponent’s legs out from under him. A successful sweep dumps the foe on the ground that turn; it won’t hurt him, but might set him up for further attacks.

Crinos-form werewolves can use their long arms to sweep an enemy’s legs out, too. Likewise, a Hispo or Lupus Garou can trip a bipedal opponent by tangling up his legs. Either attack employs the same difficulty and effects.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	(Dexterity/Melee) + Brawl
Difficulty	8
Damage	None

Dirty Fighting Maneuvers

A character must have Brawl 3 or higher, a background such as a self-defense class, or both, to be able to utilize these maneuvers.

Blinding

Raking the enemy’s eyes, throwing dirt in them, spraying his face with chemicals or using some similar method, the attacker tries to render her opponent sightless. If she succeeds, the enemy is blinded for one turn per success, and loses two dice from his dice pools until he recovers.

This attack doesn’t normally inflict lasting damage. At the Storyteller’s option, however, a truly vicious strike (gouging with claws, throwing acid, etc.) might inflict a health level or two of lethal damage in addition to the blindness. Five successes or more may destroy the eyes completely, and while a werewolf can heal from such injury, most creatures cannot.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Dexterity + Subterfuge
Difficulty	9
Damage	Special

Body Slam

Picking an opponent up over his head, the assailant uses brute strength and momentum to bring some serious pain. This maneuver first requires a successful grapple attack; if the enemy can’t break free that turn, the attacker may use her next action to slam him into the nearest and most painful surface.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	6
Damage	Strength + 2
Damage Type	Bashing, may be Lethal if the surface is sharp, spiked, incredibly hot, or otherwise.

Curbstomp

Bracing his opponent’s face against a curb or other solid surface, the attacker then slams his foot down on the back of the enemy’s head. A favorite tactic of Bone Gnawer and Get of Fenris street-fighters, this move can break teeth, crack jaws, snap spines or crush skulls… especially when done by a werewolf!

Curbstomping requires a stunned or immobilized target, plus a turn to place his face into position. After that, the attacker stomps, and physics does the rest. The attacker rolls his Strength for the attack. This assault inflicts lethal damage, and may leave the opponent unable to bite afterward (Storyteller’s call) until the injury heals.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro, Crinos
Roll	Strength + Brawl
Difficulty	6
Damage	Strength + 2
Damage Type	Lethal

Low Blow

Just what it says. Wherever the attacker hits (septum, nuts, kidneys, etc.), it’s going to hurt. A lot.

Assuming the assailant makes a successful attack roll, her target winds up stunned for one turn for each health level inflicted after the soak roll. He can try to shrug it off with a Stamina roll (difficulty 8), but otherwise he’s writhing or paralyzed with pain. Normally, this trauma involves bashing damage. A low blow struck with claws, teeth, blades, or crushing force, however, is lethal.

Usable By	All forms
Roll	Dexterity + Brawl
Difficulty	7
Damage	Strength + Stun
Damage Type	Bashing, may be Lethal if performed with claws, teeth, blades, or crushing force.

Pistol Whip

Belting her target across the face or skull with a gun or other slender, heavy object, the attacker adds some extra emphasis to her argument… and possibly cracks the target’s skull as well. Obviously, this maneuver requires a gun or similar instrument (crowbar, truncheon, candlestick, etc.), and it inflicts lethal damage. A character hit with a successful pistol whip may be stunned for one turn if he fails a Stamina roll (difficulty 8), and for two turns if he botches that roll.

Usable By	Homid, Glabro
Roll	Dexterity + Melee
Difficulty	7
Damage	Strength + 2
Damage Type	Lethal