Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer: General Chronicles/World of Darkness

[Almarck]

I realized just now that we didn't have one of these so... I figure why not start one. Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage all have one. Maybe a few other lines. Either way, this is here now.


My first question... How exactly does Armor Piercing work against objects's Durability? I always assumed it was a subtract AP from Durability deal, but apparently it's not.

[ArcaneArts]

I would personally run it that way anyways.

[Leetsepeak]

I would also assume it subtracts from Durability.

How do you guys handle guns being fought over or used in a Grapple? Are we meant to simply use them in a Damage Move with successes determined by the Grappling roll like any other weapon? That's the impression I get, since the thing determining your capacity to shoot the person is your ability to control the weapon and use it on them in close quarters.

As a related question, how do you handle the damage for throwing somebody against a wall? While Vigor in Vampire comes to mind, I'm thinking about this generally as well. Do any books discuss this?

[2ptTakrill]

What material is the wall made of? Use that material's durability score as bashing dice added to the throwers strength to determine damage.

[Leetsepeak]

What material is the wall made of? Use that material's durability score as bashing dice added to the throwers strength to determine damage.

I was considering using Durability as a Weapon Modifier with the damage generated by successes on the throw as Bashing Damage, but that's also a decent idea.

[Charlaquin]

Falling 3 meters only does 1 bashing damage. It would take quite a throw to equal the force of a fall like that, so I probably wouldn't have throwing someone against a wall deal any damage.

[Glauber]

Hi guys! i'm missing certain rules on CofD.

Like jump distance, rules about drowning. how do you handle these questions?

[Elfive]

Drowning is a tilt now. You take 1 bashing damage per turn until you can breathe again. Holding your breath is stamina + composure, but I'd probably just not bother rolling unless they were in a fight or something. Jumping is still strength + athletics, 1 foot vertical per success. It doesn't give mechanics for a horizontal jump, but you could either multiply successes like in first edition, or just give a bonus for a run up and/or a penalty based on the distance you need to cover and just say one success does it.

[WHW]

Is the distance you can wall run using 3rd of Parkour a typo, or are you really supposed to be able to pretty much double the world's record in wallrunning the instant when you buy it? I've got a player who bought Parkour and started calculating it, and she is kinda like, "huh".

In Weapon Rating description, it says that you add weapon rating "as successe" on a successful attack. Is this an artifact, or should I really apply it as successes, making EX!Successes in combat much more frequent? I never did that before, applying them simply as a "base" damage, and always felt that was the intent.

[Almarck]

Why is jumping measured in "feet" while every other measurement I could find in meters? Is this a hold over?

While granted, it's easy to do the simple math of 3 feet equals a meter, this inconsistency does admittedly bother me.

[Charlaquin]

Is the distance you can wall run using 3rd of Parkour a typo, or are you really supposed to be able to pretty much double the world's record in wallrunning the instant when you buy it? I've got a player who bought Parkour and started calculating it, and she is kinda like, "huh".

As with many things in CofD, the distance Wall Run allows you to climb before having to roll is an abstraction. If it doesn't make sense to narrate it all as wall running, don't. Maybe only the first few feet is wall running and the rest is just free climbing, riding the momentum of the starting wall run. Once you get to the height where you have to start making rolls, that's the point where you can't keep up the flow and have to climb more methodically.

In Weapon Rating description, it says that you add weapon rating "as successe" on a successful attack. Is this an artifact, or should I really apply it as successes, making EX!Successes in combat much more frequent? I never did that before, applying them simply as a "base" damage, and always felt that was the intent.

Exceptional successes in combat don't do anything special, so the difference is pretty academic anyway. The only functional difference that comes to my mind immediately is staking vampires, which requires five successes in a targeted attack to the heart. And weapon damage (such as from Vigor) does count as successes for the purposes of staking.

[Elfive]

Why is jumping measured in "feet" while every other measurement I could find in meters? Is this a hold over?

While granted, it's easy to do the simple math of 3 feet equals a meter, this inconsistency does admittedly bother me.

It's given in both, but I guess "1 foot per success" is a little less clunky-sounding.

[Charlaquin]

Why is jumping measured in "feet" while every other measurement I could find in meters? Is this a hold over?

While granted, it's easy to do the simple math of 3 feet equals a meter, this inconsistency does admittedly bother me.

That's a good point. Well, success on a jumping action does read "Your character leaps a number of feet equal to the successes rolled, or a number of meters equal to the successes rolled divided by three." So I would just ignore the first option if it bothers you. As for Parkour, I would just fudge Wall Run to give you 3 meters + 1.5 meters per dot of Athletics.

[WHW]

Is there a specific rule or place in the book saying that combat breaks the general rule of EX!Successes allowing you to create a Condition?
As for Wall Running...even with narrative tricks, it feels weird, because it pretty much never makes sense - minimal distance you can Wall Run is 10 feet + 5*2 (as you need 2 in Athletics to even get there), so 20 feet before even having to roll. Which can escalate to 25, 30 and 35 feet. That's 10 meters vertically covered in an instant (well, instant action), with option for rolling if you want to go even higher and climb, which feels...surreal. This made me suspect that somebody either didn't check the numbers, or it was supposed to be something like 10 feet + Athletics dots travelled.
While I don't care about this in the current Chronicle (as it's a asian fantasy game, so a skilled scout wall running a fortified wall without even a roll is certainly ninja-like enough for the genre), I'm kinda worried about it in more standard and less superhuman chronicles.

[Elfive]

The issue with counting the bonus successes (and that is what they are - they count as such for everything else) for the exceptional success bonus is that some weapons would get an exceptional success with every single successful hit. If you're ok with that, then go for it. "Covered in blood" is a fine condition to apply to someone who just used a chainsaw in a fight.