Dramatic Systems

Summary of basic dice mechanics:

• Typical base difficulty for all rolls is 6. (+rules difficulties)
• Before rolling, you may (ST discretion) spend a Willpower to add an automatic success.
• Roll a number of d10's equal to your dice pool.
  • Every die greater than or equal to the difficulty is a success.
  • Every die showing 1 cancels a success. Even the auto-success from Willpower may be canceled this way.
  • If you roll a 1 and no successes (even before cancellation), then it's a botch.
  • If you have a relevant specialty, then re-roll 10s. (+rules specialties)
• In non-combat situations, trying the same thing again after a failure (not botch) is typically +1 difficulty (cumulative).
• Resisted rolls: Two characters roll, successes cancel 1:1, defender wins ties.

This is an attempt at a common set of rules suitable for situations involving characters from multiple game lines. Players can use different rules if they all agree (+policy hand waving).

• For combat situations, see the Combat page.
  • If a roll is stated in terms of a primary ability, then a relevant secondary ability can be substituted at -1 difficulty.
  • If a roll is stated in terms of a secondary ability, then a relevant primary ability can be substituted at +1 difficulty.
  • If you don't have the ability at all, then consult the Lack of Ability guidelines.
  • If a substitution is explicitly mentioned below, then it's reiterating these clauses, not stacking with them.
• Actions without a roll are automatically successful.
• "Reflex" rolls don't count as actions.
  • Spending from a pool is a reflex, unless otherwise noted.
• If multiple options for a stat are listed, then the ST decides which one is relevant, or may let the player do so.
• If you're trying to do multiple things in a single turn, see the Combat rules for multiple actions. Split actions (mundane) reduce your dice pools, extra actions (supernatural) don't.

Normally automatic

Vampires spending blood

• For healing, see the Combat rules on supernatural healing.
• Otherwise reflex.

Getting up from the ground

• If you spend a full turn doing it, then it succeeds automatically.
• Shifters in a form with four or more legs can do it as a reflex at the start of a turn.
• Otherwise, it takes an action slot and you must succeed at Dexterity + Athletics vs 4.

Moving

See Combat rules on movement.

Readying a weapon

• If you spend a full turn doing it, then it succeeds automatically.
• Otherwise, it takes an action slot and you must succeed at Dexterity + (Melee or Firearms as relevant) vs 4.
• Loading a gun with ammo and shooting it in the same turn requires an automatic gun or a revolver with a speedloader.
• Mages use same rules for grabbing a focus out of a pocket. Digging it out of a crowded rucksack may take a few turns to find it.

Starting a car

• Takes an action slot, but succeeds automatically unless you're hot-wiring it.

Physical feats

(this section to be filled out further)

Climbing

Difficulty	Description	Sample
2	Easy	Large tree with many stout branches
4	Simple	Cliff with many handholds
6	Straightforward	Tree with thin branches
8	Treacherous	Cliff with very few handholds
10	Nearly impossible	Slick or sheer surface

• Dexterity + Athletics, 5 to 20 feet (average 10) per success
• Feral Claws (Protean) or Bonecraft bone spurs (Vicissitude): -2 difficulty
• Under duress (e.g. someone throwing rocks at you from above): +2 difficulty or more
• Other common modifiers: steepness, handholds, smooth/slick surface, weather
• Botch: Fall straight down (take falling damage as usual) or roll down, must spend a Willpower to try again

Heavy weight

Strength	Feat	Lift	Carry (normal)	Carry (max)
1	Crush a beer can	40 lbs	25 lbs	50 lbs
2	Break a wooden chair	100 lbs	50 lbs	100 lbs
3	Break down a wooden door	250 lbs	75 lbs	150 lbs
4	Break a 2' x 4' board	400 lbs	100 lbs	200 lbs
5	Break open a metal fire door	650 lbs	125 lbs	250 lbs
6	Throw a motorcycle	800 lbs	150 lbs	300 lbs
7	Flip over a small car	900 lbs	175 lbs	350 lbs
8	Break a 3' lead pipe	1000 lbs	200 lbs	400 lbs
9	Punch through a cement wall	1200 lbs	225 lbs	450 lbs
10	Rip open a steel drum	1500 lbs	250 lbs	500 lbs
11	Punch through 1" sheet metal	2000 lbs	275 lbs	550 lbs
12	Break a metal lamp post	3000 lbs	300 lbs	600 lbs
13	Throw a station wagon	4000 lbs	325 lbs	650 lbs
14	Throw a van	5000 lbs	350 lbs	700 lbs
15	Throw a truck	6000 lbs	375 lbs	750 lbs

• You can automatically lift/break something if your Strength is high enough.
  • Otherwise, roll Willpower vs 9 and add successes to your effective Strength (max +5 at ST discretion).
  • Multiple characters may all make this roll and add to the character with highest Strength.
  • Difficulty may vary based on environmental conditions or frenzy in progress.
  • Lifting is all or nothing. Merely dragging an object a short distance requires 1 level less.
  • On a botch, you take 1 level of bashing damage (you either strained something or dropped the object on your foot).
• Your normal carrying capacity is Strength * 25 pounds.
  • If you're over your NCC, then all your physical actions are +1 difficulty, and your movement rate is halved for every 25 pounds over NCC.
  • You can't move at all while carrying twice your NCC.
• If you have Potence, it adds to your effective Strength for these actions.

Jumping

Garou form	Feet per success (vertical)	Feet per success (horizontal)
Homid	2	4
Glabro	3	4
Crinos	4	5
Hispo	5	6
Lupus	4	7

• Hare's Leap gift doubles the distance.

• Roll Strength (+ Athletics, if a horizontal running jump) vs 3. You jump 2 feet vertically or 4 feet horizontally per success.
  • If that's not far enough, but there's some sort of handhold within reach, then you must succeed at Dexterity + Athletics to grab it.
  • Before jumping, you can roll Perception + Athletics; on 3+ successes, you correctly determine how far you would need to jump.
  • Difficulty may be modified by weather conditions or narrow jumping space.
  • Diving board adds 1 foot per success.
  • Flexible pole triples the distance, but pole vaulting is +1 difficulty.

Social feats

(this section to be filled out)

Mental feats

(this section to be filled out further)

Computer hacking

Typical pool is Intelligence + Computer.

• Secondary abilities can be substituted for Computer at -1 difficulty:
  • Computer Hacking to hack into a system or detect a hacking attempt
  • Computer Programming to design software
  • Cryptography to decrypt encrypted data (if it's otherwise accessible) - may require extended rolls over days/weeks/months and 20+ successes
• Other attributes may be substituted for Intelligence at ST discretion:
  • Wits for working fast
  • Perception for finding information
  • Social attributes for social engineering
  • Dexterity for hardware

System	Hours per roll to hack in	Difficulty
Palmtop, smartphone, tablet	1	5
Laptop, desktop	2	6
Minicomputer, small network	3	7
Mainframe, large network	4	8
Supercomputer	5	9
Using a quantum or trinary computer	-2	-1
Hacking into a quantum or trinary computer	+2	+1
Security software	+1 per level	+1 per level
Cracking software	-1 per level	-1 per level
Social engineering	variable	variable
Known back door	-4	-2

Hacking into a system:

• Must have physical or network access to the system. Wifi may have an unpatched vulnerability, but that doesn't help with an air-gapped system inside a Faraday cage.
• Roll Intelligence + Computer (difficulty varies) to hack into the system. Successes form a secondary pool that you can use to work on the system.
• Can be extended, but requires either longer connection time (more chances for someone to detect you), or +1 difficulty (cumulative) on each additional roll (same as if you were trying again after a failure).
• Botch = hacking attempt is detected.

Task	Difficulty
Find information on a specific subject	6
Already know part of the name/location	-1 to -3
Find connections between multiple pieces of information	7 or more

Detecting hacking:

• Secure systems used by large corporations or the government pro-actively check for hackers every 4 to 12 hours.
• Secure system used by the military, intelligence agencies, or the Technocracy may check as often as once every hour.
• Roll system operator's Intelligence + Computer vs (hacker's Intelligence + Computer). On a success, hacking is detected.

If someone detects your hacking:

• They can resist your rolls with their Intelligence + Computer.
  • If they accumulate 5+ successes more than you on these resisted rolls, then you're ejected, and they get a free roll to find any back doors that you left behind. (After this free roll, you can roll to hack into the system again.)
  • If you accumulate 5+ successes more than them on these resisted rolls, then you succeed at hacking in (if you hadn't already), and you get a free roll to do something with the system. (Starting with your next roll after this free roll, they can continue resisting you.)
• They can also just watch and see what you do, or counter-hack your system using their full Intelligence + Computer pool (they don't need to hack into your system because you already connected to theirs).

Creating security software:

• Spend a week and roll Intelligence + Computer vs 7.
• The level of the software equals half the successes (round down).
• Businesses can buy existing security software (max level 3).

Creating cracking software:

• Same process as creating security software, but difficulty 8 (general purpose) or 6 (only works on specific types of systems).

Miscellaneous:

• Sloppy filing: All use of that system (even legitimate) is +1 difficulty and takes twice as long.
• Back doors: Normal systems are checked every few months, high-security systems every week or even every day.