Complete Combat and Conflict Rules
Use this chapter as the consolidated conflict reference. It replaces the earlier invented combat engine with the actual V5 structure while leaving room for the optional advanced rules.
The core sequence
- Establish the conflict and what each side wants.
- Determine whether the basic action order or optional advanced Initiative is being used.
- Choose the appropriate dice pools.
- Resolve the contest or difficulty test.
- Determine the winner and margin.
- Apply the appropriate damage, condition, or fictional consequence.
- Continue until someone concedes, escapes, is incapacitated, or the objective is otherwise resolved.
Physical conflict
For close combat, attacker and defender normally roll opposed pools. For ranged attacks, the attacker rolls against the relevant difficulty or against a defender who actively Dodges. The winner's margin becomes Health damage, modified by the weapon and other applicable rules.
Do not use the following as universal V5 mechanics:
- fixed one-to-five attack difficulties for every weapon
- a separate Defense statistic
- a major-action / quick-action / free-action economy
- automatic damage reduction chosen by the Storyteller
- generic armor ratings that simply subtract damage
- generic conditions that replace the Crippling Injuries rules
- automatic Frenzy from a Bestial Failure or Messy Critical
Specific powers, weapons, maneuvers, or circumstances can of course create their own effects.
Health and damage
Health is Stamina + 3 for standard V5 characters. Mark Superficial damage with a slash and Aggravated damage with a cross. Vampires halve Superficial damage before applying it to the Health tracker, rounding up.
When a vampire fills the Health tracker, they become Impaired. Further damage while Impaired converts Superficial damage to Aggravated damage. The V5 Crippling Injuries table handles the resulting serious injuries when applicable. A vampire whose Health is filled with Aggravated damage enters Torpor.
Armor
Armor is not a generic soak pool and does not add Health. In the V5 advanced combat rules, armor can protect against appropriate Aggravated damage by converting it to Superficial damage. The exact protection depends on the armor and the source of the damage. Do not invent a universal damage-reduction formula or apply armor to supernatural effects merely because armor exists on the sheet.
Social conflict
Social conflict uses the same conflict architecture. Characters roll appropriate Social or Mental pools against one another and the winner applies the margin as Willpower damage. The audience can increase the consequences of social defeat according to the published rules.
A character may concede a social conflict rather than continue taking damage. Filling the Willpower tracker creates the appropriate Impairment and consequences; it does not create a separate social-condition subsystem.
Frenzy is separate
Combat does not create Frenzy merely because a roll fails, a Hunger die shows 1, or a Messy Critical occurs. Frenzy follows its own published Fury, Hunger, and Terror provocations and resistance rules. Keep that subsystem separate from conflict resolution.