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.
• Abilities:
  • 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

Driving

Vehicle	Safe speed (mph)	Max speed (mph)	Maneuver
Tank (World War II)	30	40	3
Truck (6-wheeler)	60	90	3
Bus	60-70	100	3
Tank (modern)	60	100	3-4
Truck (18-wheeler)	70	110-120	4
Moped	30	50	5
Sedan	70	120	5
SUV	70	115	6
Minivan	70	120	6
Compact	70	120-130	6
Midsize	75	125	6
Luxury Sedan	85	155	7
Sporty Compact	100	140	7
Motorcycle (small)	60	100	8
Motorcycle (medium)	100	140	8
Motorcycle (large)	110	150	8
Sport Coupe	110	150	8
Sports Car	110-130	160-170	8-9
Exotic Car	130	190+	9
Formula 1 racer	140	240	10

• See '+rules drive' for basic context.
• For chasing another vehicle openly, use Pursuit.
• For following another vehicle without them noticing, use Shadowing.
• For doing something else unusual (possibly at the same time), roll (Dexterity/Wits + Drive) or the vehicle's Maneuver rating, whichever is less.
  • Base difficulty may be lower if the action is relatively simple (or would be without modifiers).

Modifier	Difficulty
Over safe speed	+1 per 10 mph over
Heavy traffic	+1
Bad weather (severe thunderstorm)	+1
Severe weather (hurricane, blizzard)	+2
Poor road	+1 (only if exceeding 20 mph)
Off-road	+2

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.

Intrusion

System	Difficulty
Briefcase, old car	4
Modern car, house	5
Deadbolt, wall safe	6
Corporate keypad / card swipe	7
Bank vault, top secret keypad / card swipe	8
High security voice / retina print	9
Fort Knox, NSA weapons lab	10

• This is for going somewhere in person and bypassing security measures without brute force (e.g. breaking and entering, evading security devices, picking locks, cracking safes).
  • For brute force, use Heavy Weight instead.
  • For remote electronic hacking, use Hacking instead.
• Roll Dexterity (mechanical) or Intelligence (electronic) or Perception + Security or Technology.
  • Requires appropriate tools. Improvised tools are +1 difficulty or more, specialized tools matching the system are -2 difficulty.
  • Some tasks require a minimum ability level to try at all, e.g. 1 for most house/car locks, 2 for a safe or keypad lock.
  • Failure sets off alarms, if any. Car alarms are often ignored, but home/building alarms usually aren't.
• Setting up such security measures: Roll Intelligence + Technology, difficulty to bypass it is (3 + number of successes).

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.

Pursuit

• This is for openly following someone. To follow someone without being noticed, see Shadowing instead.
• If one party is significantly faster, then they automatically win. If they're roughly the same, then use the following rules.
• Target's lead is measured in units of 2 yards (foot chase) or 10 yards (vehicle chase).
  • ST may pick an initial amount, or roll target's Dexterity + (Athletics or Drive as relevant) and give them an initial lead of one unit per success.
• Pursuer and target now both roll Dexterity + (Athletics or Drive as relevant).
  • Treat these as resisted rolls; each success increases or decreases target's lead by one unit.
  • Extra actions give extra rolls per turn. If one party has more than the other, then the additional rolls are unresisted.
  • If lead reaches zero units or less, then pursuer catches up.
  • If pursuer gets fewer successes twice in a row, or botches, then they lose the target.
  • At ST discretion (max once per turn), pursuer may also need to roll Perception vs (6 + units of lead). On a failure, the target hides in a crowd or alley or something, and the pursuer must re-roll Perception (at +1 difficulty, etc.) to find them again.

Shadowing

• This is for following someone without being noticed. To openly follow someone, see Pursuit instead.
• Part 1: Keep track of the target.
  • Tail rolls Perception + Investigation or Streetwise (urban) or Survival or Primal Urge (rural).
  • ST decides how many successes tail must accumulate to continue keeping track until the target reaches their destination.
  • If the tail fails twice in a row, or botches, then they lose the target.
• Part 2: Avoid being seen by the target.
  • Roll Dexterity + Stealth (walking) or Drive (vehicle).
  • If target suspects they're being tailed, they resist with Perception + Alertness or Streetwise (urban) or Survival or Primal Urge (rural). If their total ever exceeds the tail's by five or more, then they spot the tail. (They may also switch destinations, whether they spot the tail or not.)
• Typical modifiers: crowds, light/dark.
• Multiple tails working together:
  • If they've trained together before, then they can all roll and combine successes, and/or split up into two groups and switch off whenever they want (each switch resets resisted totals to zero, but only the active group contributes successes).
  • If they haven't trained together before, then they can still combine successes, but they're all +1 difficulty and can't switch off.
• Tracking a target with a bug or satellite is pretty trivial. Even if they're suspicious, they must roll Intelligence + Alertness vs 9 to notice a reappearing tail.

Sneaking

• This is for sneaking through a location without a potential observer noticing you. For following someone without being noticed, see Shadowing instead.
• Sneaker rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs (observer's Perception + Alertness), or resisted by observer's Perception + Alertness (sneaker wins ties).
  • If there are multiple observers, then sneaker is compared to each one separately.
  • ST decides how many (net) successes you must accumulate to reach your destination. Sneaker can roll Perception + Alertness vs 7 ahead of time to determine what they would need.
  • Typical modifiers: light/dark, weather, distractions, camouflage, familiarity with the area, equipment such as infrared sensors.
• Powers such as Obfuscate may allow sneaker to auto-succeed.

Throwing

See ranged combat rules

Social feats

(this section to be filled out further)

The ST is encouraged to handwave or weight results based on roleplaying, especially in PVP.

Carousing

• Roll Charisma + Empathy to build up a good rapport with a potential ally, informant, etc. by partying with them.
• If a vampire botches, people may begin to question why they haven't touched their food or drink (assuming they haven't).

Credibility

• Manipulation + Subterfuge vs (listener's Intelligence + Subterfuge), or vs 7 resisted by listener's Perception + Subterfuge vs 7.
• Your roll is -1 to -3 difficulty if you're telling the truth (but need to convince a skeptical listener).
• False credentials and other convincing props may provide an advantage, including hacking and/or physical intrusion to plant evidence.

Fast talk

• This is for quickly confusing a listener just long enough to get away with something. To keep them convinced (until/unless something else contradicts you), use Credibility instead.
• Manipulation + Subterfuge vs (listener's Wits + Streetwise) (target can spend a Willpower to avoid getting confused at that point), or resisted by listener's Willpower.
• May sometimes replace Manipulation with Charisma or Appearance, depending on style.
• On a botch, the listener just gets angry with you.

Interrogation

• Once per distinct line of questioning: Manipulation (or sometimes Charisma) + Empathy/Intimidation vs target's Willpower, or resisted by target's Willpower.
• For hostile interrogation, target may replace Willpower with (Stamina + 3); if they fail, they lose 1 health (bashing or lethal) or 1 temp Willpower, depending on style. Lethal gives -2 difficulty on further interrogation rolls.
• A group can work together, including Good Cop (Empathy) / Bad Cop (Intimidation).
• If (net) successes exceed target's permanent Willpower, they spill everything they know.

Intimidation

• Direct, immediate physical threat: Strength + Intimidation resisted by target's (Strength + Intimidation, or Willpower if that's higher).
• Other threats (including threat of physical harm later): Manipulation + Intimidation resisted by target's Willpower.
• On a botch, you look ridiculous and no one present is impressed by you for the rest of the scene.
• Manipulation penalties due to shifter form do not apply to Intimidation, and may provide bonuses instead. Delirium is also relevant. A Garou in Crinos (or fera equivalent) intimidating a plain vanilla mortal generally auto-succeeds.

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.

Hacking 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.

Detecting the supernatural

• For passive detection of other people's supernatural powers, see house rules on Awareness.
• Active detection depends on what supernatural power you're using.
• For active detection of other people, see house rules on 'sniping'. This may or may not be okay, depending on circumstances.

Improve item

Type of item	Difficulty to improve
Cheap, poorly made	5
Average commercial quality	6
Expensive, well made	7
Best commercial quality	8
Custom-made	9
Cutting-edge prototype	10

Task	Successes needed to improve
Minor (20% speed or other easily modified characteristics)	5
Major (50% to 100%)	10
Add new capability	20

• Intelligence + Technology, extended action.
• Jury-rig: -2 difficulty and requires half as many successes, but only lasts for 1-2 scenes and then suffers minor damage/failure that impairs its function (serious damage if it's used again without undoing the jury-rigging). See the Repair section.
• Each PC is limited to improving one item per month.

Investigation

• Perception + Investigation, one success = basic facts, multiple successes = more details and deductions. Objects/actions behind closed doors are higher difficulty, you can't spot them directly but you may find circumstantial evidence hinting at them.
• Perception + Alertness to spot clues that are just lost amidst clutter. Small out-of-place elements = difficulty 4 to 6, concealed object/panel (especially if there were no prior hints) = difficulty 9 to 10.

Repair

Type of item	Difficulty to repair
Simple mechanical or electric	4
Simple electronic (radio, tape player)	5
Complex mechanical or electric (car, clockwork)	6
Complex electronic (computer)	7
Large, very complex (mainframe, jet)	8
Complex experimental prototype	9

Task	Successes needed to repair
Minor damage (loose wire, flat tire)	1
Soldering, high-tech glitch	2
Electronic malfunction	5
Moderate damage	5
Upgrade, install replacement part	10
Complete overhaul or rebuild	20

• (Intelligence or Perception) + (Crafts or Technology) to identify what's needed.
• (Dexterity or Perception) + (Crafts or Technology) to perform the repair.
• Difficulty varies, e.g. 4 for a simple tire change, 9 to rebuild an entire engine.
• Sample modifiers: severity, tools/parts (lack of proper ones = +2 difficulty), adverse conditions, research (see the Research section).
• Basic repairs take a few turns, complex repairs are extended actions and take (10 * number of successes needed) minutes.
• Jury-rig: -2 difficulty and requires half as many successes, but only lasts one scene and then requires further repairs (+1 difficulty).
• Botches usually either injure the repairer or damage the item being repaired.

Research

• Intelligence + (Academics or Occult or Science or Investigation or Computer).
• One success = basic details, multiple successes = details/deductions.
• A subject may have false information that's easy to find, and true information that's harder to find.
• After (Stamina) hours, each additional hour requires spending a Willpower and rolling again at +1 difficulty (cumulative, if it exceeds 10 then you can't go any further). Treat these as extended rolls and accumulate successes.

Searching for an object

• Perception + Investigation (or Search at -1 difficulty).
• Difficulty modifiers: How well the object is concealed, how well you know the right places to look.

Tracking

• This is for following a trail that someone/something already left behind. For following a target still in sight, use Pursuit or Shadowing instead.
• Perception + Survival (or Primal Urge vs 7, or Alertness if you have supernaturally enhanced senses).
• If target is actively concealing their tracks, they roll Wits + Survival and each success increases your difficulty by 1.
• Sample modifiers: weather, location/terrain, how much time you have to look, how old the trail is.
• Each successful roll lets you follow the trail for several yards before you need to roll again.
• If you fail enough times that your difficulty would exceed 10, you lose the trail.
• On a botch, you lose the trail and destroy some of the tracks.

Specific to one race

(this section to be filled out further)

Vampires

Hunting for blood

Area	Difficulty
Slum, The Rack	4
Lower income, bohemian	5
Downtown business district, warehouse district	6
Suburb	7
Heavily patrolled area	8
Fame background	-1 per dot (can't reduce it below 3)
Particularly inhuman (Nosferatu, some Gangrel, Humanity 4 or less)	+N (ST discretion)

• Perception (+ Herd if available) (difficulty varies).
  • On a success, roll a die and gain that many points of blood (1 to 10).
  • If you succeed, but your blood before feeding is less than (7 - Self-Control), then test for frenzy. If you fail that test, then you keep feeding until either you can't hold any more, the vessel dies of blood loss, or you manage to regain control.
  • Must wait an hour before redoing the Perception roll.
  • Possible botch results: accidentally kill someone, catch a disease, enter a rival vampire's domain, get attacked by a street gang.

Waking up during the day

• Perception (+ Auspex, if you have it) vs 8 to notice a disturbance and wake up.
• If that succeeds, then roll Path Rating vs 8:
  • 1-4 successes = you can act for one turn per success.
  • 5+ successes = you can act for the rest of the scene.
  • Fail = you fall asleep again, but can redo the Perception roll if circumstances allow.
  • Botch = you fall asleep until sundown.
• Attempting to just stay awake past the end of the night follows the same game mechanics.
  • Even if you achieve 'rest of the scene', if you attempt another scene before nightfall then you must re-test.
  • Dominate 5 (VtM 159-160) and Animalism 4 (VtM 149) require a 'successful roll to stay awake' and reference this section of the book.
  • 'Stamina + Occult vs 9 to cast blood magic for three days straight' (VtM 196) is interpreted as an additional requirement on top of the above.
• While active during the day, none of your dice pools can exceed your Path Rating.

Shifters

Form modifiers

• Normal attribute modifiers are covered by +shift.
  • WtA 204 "Manipulation and Appearance penalties may not apply to other Garou", and similar for other forms/breeds. To counteract your normal (say) -5 Manipulation, do '+roll Manipulation + 5 + (etc)'
• Lupus are -2 difficulty on Perception rolls, hispo are -1 difficulty.

Mages

Arcane background

• People tend to forget, confuse, or misremember details about you, or just not pick them up in the first place.
• Records of you tend to disappear, become confused or incorrect, or just not get recorded in the first place.
• Does not require active effort, however you can make an active effort to temporarily negate it.
• You add your Arcane to your Stealth rolls. Others subtract your Arcane from their Perception and/or Investigation rolls targeting you.
• If you're in combat or otherwise drawing attention to yourself, then it doesn't apply to anyone in the scene while the scene is in progress, but it does apply to those events after the scene is concluded.
• Doesn't apply to extremely unusual traits (e.g. purple hair, peg leg, Huge Size merit).
• Also canonically available to mummies. House rule: Also available to sorcerers/psychics, bygones, and mortals, but not anyone else. (It appears in VtM supplements, but we've chosen to not make it that easy to protect your Masquerade.)
• House rule: Affects all others, regardless of their race or subrace. (MtA mentions Sleepers at one point, but never explicitly says that only Sleepers are affected.)
• Doesn't affect people in dimensions other than normalspace, but does protect a mummy's khat (physical body) while they're in the Lands of the Dead.
• As usual, other relevant stats/powers/effects/items (besides just attributes/abilities) may counteract some/all of these effects.