Rules
In an effort to ensure that World of Darkness system is suitably dramatic, this rules-hack increases the amount of damage inflicted on a successful attack, but makes it less likely that you'll be successfully hit.
Core Changes
Power: Certain weapons and the core Strength of a character provide bonus successes to an attack provided the actual roll scores at least 1 success.
Finesse: Certain weapons provide bonus dice to attacks, representing greater accuracy and flexibility.
Combat Changes
Armor: Armor now reduces the number of Health Levels an attack inflicted, rather than reducing dice.
Shock: After a successful attack, regardless of the nature of the attack, the target takes one additional Bashing Health Level. Armor cannot reduce this damage. Shock no longer applies if the target has filled up his health levels (Shock never “wraps around”).
Hit Location: Called shots to most vital organs suffer a -2 to hit, but grant +1 Power. Heads suffer a -4 to hit, but grant +2 Power. Hearts are a -5 to hit, and also grant +2 Power. These rules only apply to humans and other creatures that the GM feel would suffer from similar vulnerabilities.
Autofire: In addition to gaining more dice when firing a burst, you gain additional bonuses
| Short Burst | Up to 3 bullets | +1 die | 10 Again |
| Medium Burst | Up to 10 bullets | +2 dice | 9 again |
| Long Burst | Up to 20 bullets | +3 dice | 8 Again |
New Attribute Rules
Strength now provides Power to Weaponry and Brawl attacks.
| Strength 3 | + 1 Power |
| Strength 5 | +2 Power |
| Strength 7 | +3 Power |
| Strength 9 | +4 Power |
| +2 Strength | +1 Power |
Melee Defense is now the highest of Dexterity or Wits. Ranged Defense is now the lowest of Dexterity or Wits.
Revised Ranged Weapons Table
Type | Power | Finesse | Range | Clip | Strength | Size | Cost |
Light Revolver | +1(L) | +0 | 20/40/80 | 6 | 2 | 1 | •• |
Heavy Revolver | +2(L) | -1 | 35/70/140 | 6 | 3 | 1 | •• |
Light Pistol | +1(L) | +0 | 20/40/80 | 17+1 | 2 | 1 | ••• |
Heavy Pistol | +2(L) | -1 | 30/60/120 | 7+1 | 3 | 1 | ••• |
Rifle† | +2(L) | +3 | 200/400/800 | 5+1 | 2 | 3 | •• |
Small SMG* | +0(L) | +0 | 25/50/100 | 30+1 | 2 | 1 | ••• |
Large SMG*† | +1(L) | +0 | 50/100/200 | 30+1 | 3 | 2 | ••• |
Assault Rifle*† | +2(L) | +0 | 150/300/600 | 42+1 | 3 | 3 | ••• |
Shotgun† | +3/+2(L) | +0/+2 | 20/40/80 | 5+1 | 3 | 2 | •• |
Crossbow**† | +0(L) | +3 | 40/80/160 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ••• |
* Autofire. ** 3 turns to load, can be used to stake (-4). † requires two hands. The first numbers for the shotgun represents slugs, the second represents shot.
Revised Melee Weapon Table
Type | Power | Finesse | Size | Cost | Special |
Sap | +0(B) | +1 | 1 | • | Knockout |
Brass Knuckles | +1(B) | +0 | n/a | • | Brawl |
Sap Gloves | +1(B) | +1 | n/a | •• | Brawl |
Club (wood) | +1(B) | +1 | 2 | n/a | |
Mace (metal) | +2(B) | +1 | 2 | •• | |
Maul (metal)† | +3(B) | +1 | 3 | •• | |
Knife | +0(L) | +1 | 1 | • | |
Rapier | +0(L) | +3 | 2 | •• | |
Sword | +1(L) | +1 | 2 | •• | |
Katana | +1(L) | +1 | 2 | ••• | Durability +1 |
Great sword† | +2(L) | +1 | 3 | ••• | |
Small Ax | +1(L) | +0 | 1 | • | |
Large Ax† | +2(L) | -1 | 3 | •• | |
Great Ax† | +3(L) | -2 | 4 | ••• | |
Stake | +0(L) | +1 | 1 | n/a | Heart -5 |
Spear† | +0(L) | +1 | 3 | • | +1 Defense |
† requires two hands
Revised Armor Table
Type | Protection | Strength | Defense | Speed | Cost |
Reinforced Clothing | 1/0 | 2 | -0 | -0 | •• |
Kevlar Vest (thin)* | 0/1 | 1 | -0 | -0 | •• |
Flak Jacket* | 1/1 | 2 | -1 | -0 | •• |
Full Riot Gear* | 1/2 | 3 | -2 | -1 | ••• |
Leather (Hard) | 1/0 | 2 | -0 | -1 | • |
Chain mail | 2/0 | 3 | -1 | -2 | •• |
Plate | 2/1 | 4 | -2 | -3 | •••• |
* Bulletproof items downgrade bullet damage to bashing.
Special Merit Rules
Brawl Dodge and Weaponry Dodge also inflict 1 HL of damage (bashing for Brawl Dodge, and whatever is appropriate for the weapon in hand for Weaponry dodge) if an opponent fails his attack while you use the special dodge rules. These Merits do not improve your defense against ranged attacks.
Duck and Weave makes defense against Brawling attacks the highest of Dexterity, Wits or Brawl.
Special Supernatural Rules
Vampires are immune to shock (as are any supernaturals who have “dead bodies”). Increasing Strength, Dexterity or Stamina with Blood does not increase derived statistics, including Power. However, Vigor certainly improves total strength for the purposes of Power.
Werewolves gain new bonuses in their wereforms: increases in strength also increase Power if appropriate. Werewolf claws add +1 Finesse (and inflicts Lethal damage), while werewolf fangs add +1 Power (and inflicts Lethal damage). The armor of Gauru form subtracts health levels of damage, just as all new armor does.
Mages change how their armor and directed attack spells work (unraveling spells work as they always do: they were always gradual anyway).
Armor spells which protect a mage from being grappled, but not during a grapple, (“Slippery” armors) continue to subtract dice from attacks. This includes armor from Fate, Space, Time and Mind.
Armor spells that protect a mage from damage during a grapple, but not from being grappled (“Tough” armors) grants 1 point of armor at Arcana 1 and 2, 2 points of armor at Arcana 3 and 4, and 3 points of armor at Arcana 5 and 6. This includes armor from Death, Forces, Life, Matter and Spirit.
Mages can only benefit from one form of armor against a given attack. A Mage with both Entropy Guard and Misperception active could apply the latter against grapple attempts and the former against damage in a grapple, but he could not both reduce dice from a gun attack and reduce the damage from the same attack.
Directed attack spells, specifically being spells that Defense subtracts from (Lightning, for example), do not add Arcana to their rolls. Instead, they add Power equal to the Mages Arcana -2 (thus Arcana 3 adds 1 extra success, Arcana 4 adds 2, and so on). At the GM's discretion, particularly powerful spells have a further -2 to their dice pool and +1 Power. This explicitly includes all directed attack spells that deal Aggravated damage.
The rest of the Magic system works as normal.
Dramatic Spirits
Spirits have multiple new rules in Dramatic Combat. Because “power” and “finesse” are also Spirit traits, to avoid confusion, we shall use the terms “bonus successes” and “bonus dice” to describe these these traits respectively.
Power provides bonus successes as though it were Strength (listed above). Thus, a spirit with Power five inflicts two bonus successes when it successfully strikes an opponent.
A spirit's Defense is the higher of Finesse or Resistance. Spirits apply their full Defense against ranged attacks (Spirits can dodge bullets)
A spirit's Initiative is Finesse x 2.
Spirits gain armor equal to their Rank-1. Spirits without Rank (ghosts) are assumed to be rank 1. This armor does not apply to damage from their Ban (should it be applicable).
All other traits remain the same (Speed is Power + Finesse + 10, Attack rolls are Power + Finesse, Corpus is Size + Resistance, and so on).
In addition, the include or change the following Numina Options:
Thorns: The spirit deals lethal damage with its standard attack.
Blast: This Numina costs 1 essence. The spirit makes a ranged attack with a range up to 10 x Power, with dice equal to Power + Finesse, and bonus successes from Power as though it were a standard attack. The spirit may spend additional Essence to increase bonus successes on a one-for-one basis.
Stalwart: The spirit gains +2 Armor.
Elemental Immunity: The spirit gains armor equal to half of its Resistance (rounded up) against attacks from a single element.
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Summery: Mailanka's WoD Combat Hack: Dramatic Combat
Original Article found here.
Core Changes
Power: Certain weapons and the core strength of a character provide bonus successes to an attack provided the actual roll is successful.
Finesse: Certain weapons provide bonus dice to attacks, representing greater accuracy and flexibility.
Defense
Melee Defense is now the higher of Dexterity or Wits.
Ranged Defense is now the lower of Dexterity or Wits.
Combat Changes
Armor: Armor now reduces the number of Health Levels an attack inflicted, rather than dice.
Shock: After a successful attack, regardless of the nature of the attack, the target takes one additional Bashing Health Level. Armor cannot reduce this damage.
Grapple: When grappling someone, additional successes effectively increase the Strength of the grappler, making it harder to escape. To be clear, Power only adds bonus damage, not bonus successes to Grapple rolls (though it would add to inflicting damage in a grapple).
As for the rest... well, that's why I put that little note in my explanations. It's untested and it's mostly to cover the fact that I find Grapples are far, far too easy to escape from.
Hit Location: Heads suffer a -3 to hit, but grant +1 Power. Hearts are a -4 to hit, and also grant +1 Power. These rules only apply to humans and other creatures that the GM feel would suffer from similar vulnerabilities.
Autofire: In addition to gaining more dice when firing a burst, you gain additional bonuses:
Short Burst: Up to 3 Bullets (+1 die)
Medium Burst: Up to 10 Bullets (+2 Dice, 9 Again)
Long Burst: Up to 20 bullets (+3 dice, 8 Again)
Strength now provides Power to Weaponry and Brawl attacks.
Strength 3 +1 Power, Strength 5 +2 Power, Strength 8 +3 Power,
Strength 10 +4 Power, Per Strength +2: +1 Power
Special Supernatural Rules
Vampires are immune to shock (as are any supernaturals who have “dead bodies,” such as Prometheans). Increasing Strength, Dexterity or Stamina with Blood does not increase derived statistics, including Power. However, Vigor certainly improves total strength for the purposes of Power.
Werewolves gain new bonuses in their wereforms: increases in strength also increase Power if appropriate. Werewolf claws add +1 finesse (and Lethal damage), while werewolf fangs add +1 Power (and Lethal damage). The armor of Gauru form subtracts health levels of damage, just as all new armor does.
Mages aren't affected by these rules. Specifically, magic spells work as they always have. Spell-based attacks do not have Power; Mage Armor continues to penalize dice pools, rather than health levels.
Melee Weapon Table
Sap +0B Power, +1 Dice, Size 1 Cost • Knockout
Brass Knuckles +1B Power, +0 Dice, Size n/a Cost • Brawl
Sap Gloves +1B Power, +1 Dice, Size n/a Cost •• Brawl
Club (wood) +1B Power, +1 Dice, Size 2 Cost n/a
Mace (metal) +2B Power, +1 Dice, Size 2 Cost ••
Maul (metal)† +3B Power, +1 Dice, Size 3 Cost ••
Knife +0L Power, +1 Dice, Size 1 Cost •
Katar Punch Dagger +1 Power, +1 Dice, Size 1, Cost •• AP1 use Brawl skill
Rapier +0L Power, +3 Dice, Size 2 Cost ••
Sword +1L Power, +1 Dice, Size 2 Cost ••
Katana +1L Power, +1 Dice, Size 2 Cost ••• Durability +1
Great sword† +2L Power, +1 Dice, Size 3 Cost •••
Small Ax +1L Power, +0 Dice, Size 1 Cost •
Large Ax† +2L Power, -1 Dice, Size 3 Cost •• (armory says it can be used one-handed)
Great Ax† +3L Power, -2 Dice Size 4 Cost •••
Stake +0L Power, +1 dice, Size 1 Cost n/a (Heart -4)
Spear† +0L Power, +1 dice, Size 3 Cost • +1 Defense
† requires two hands
Armor Table
Reinforced Clothing 1/0 Armor Str 2 Defense -0 Speed -0 Cost ••
Kevlar Vest (thin)* 0/1 Armor Str 1 Defense -0 Speed -0 Cost •
Flak Jacket* 1/1 Armor Str 2 Defense -1 Speed -0 Cost ••
Full Riot Gear* 1/2 Armor Str 3 Defense -2 Speed -1 Cost •••
Leather (Hard) 1/0 Armor Str 2 Defense -0 Speed -1 Cost •
Chain mail 2/0 Armor Str 3 Defense -1 Speed -2 Cost ••
Plate 2/1 Armor Str 4 Defense -2 Speed -3 Cost ••••
Medieval Shield Defense +2/+3 vs. ranged, Strength 3, Cost •• attacks are made at -2, -1 if Ambidextrous
* Bulletproof items downgrade bullet damage to bashing.
Revised Ranged Weapons Table