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| To keep things simple assume no penalty at short range, a -1 penalty to shots at medium range, and a -3 penalty to shots at long range. Short range is under five yards for pistols, and 20 yards for rifles. Medium range is under 20 yards for pistols, and under 100 yards for rifles. Long range is up to 50 yards for pistols and up to 300 yards for rifles.
If shooting doesn’t work at first, shoot them again and again. Most guns can fire more than once in a five-second period (in fact, most handguns can be emptied in five seconds). Roll and add Dexterity and Gun Fu; each additional shot uses the same roll, but drops down one Success Level. Bows use the Multiple Action rules. Crossbows and other single-shot weapons must be reloaded after each shot. Automatic weapons (assault rifles and machine guns) can fire a constant stream of bullets until the gun runs dry or the barrel overheats. Trained soldiers fire bursts—controlled gunfire that sends three or more bullets downrange. For bursts, make one attack roll; each Success Level in the roll allows one bullet to hit the target. The base damage for each bullet is modified by armour, and then added together before applying the Bullet type modifier. Success Levels do not affect the damage calculation. Damage Damage is measured in Life Points. Each attack action has a base damage number or a formula, which is calculated and listed under Combat Manoeuvres for the Cast presented in this pack. The actual damage inflicted is equal to the base damage, plus one per Success Level of the attack roll, minus any armour Value possessed by the defender (if applicable), multiplied by any damage type or other modifiers. In the case of bullet or slash/stab damage, damage is doubled against normal humans (bullet damage is not doubled against vampires). Bash damage has no multiplier. Bash attacks (Punches, Kicks, baseball bats, and so on) can be turned into Knockout attacks, using a Dexterity and Kung Fu - 2, or Dexterity and Getting Medieval - 2 roll, or the Combat Score - 2. The total damage of the attack is halved, but the victim has to make a Constitution (doubled) roll (or use the Muscle Score) with a penalty equal to the Success Levels of the Knockout roll. If she fails, she goes down for the count. Blasts from a taser are resisted similarly, with a penalty equal to five plus the Success Levels of the attack. Recovery from a knockout is in your fiendish Directory hands; the victim may recover in a few turns, or wake up an hour later... possibly in captivity. Fire damage is a special case. A person on fire takes three points of damage every Turn until somebody puts her out. If more than 20 points of Fire damage are inflicted on a character, some scarring occurs. Fire damage also heals at half the normal rate (or one Life Point per Constitution level per day for vampires); the player should keep track of fire damage separately. On the plus side, fire can kill vampires, if they burn long enough. A vampire reduced to -10 Life Points or below must make Survival Tests, dusting out if they die. Effects of Injury Characters reduced to 10 Life Points or below are severely injured, and find it hard to continue fighting; all combat rolls are at a -2 penalty. If reduced below five Life Points, this penalty goes up to -4. At zero LPs or below, the character is knocked down, stunned and semi-conscious. A Consciousness Test (Constitution and Willpower minus the number of LPs below zero) is required to remain conscious. So, at -7 LPs, a Consciousness Test suffers a -7. At -10 LPs, a Survival Test is required (Constitution and Willpower minus one for every 10 LPs below zero). The Survival Test must be passed once each minute until the character receives some doctor’n. Each additional Test is at a cumulative -1. A successful Intelligence and Doctor roll stabilizes the character. Example: Jess, a White Hat, is bitten by a vampire for 51 points of damage before she can force it back with her cross. She had 38 LPs and is now at -13 LPs. Her Constitution is two and her Willpower is four. This total of six is reduced by one (she’s at -13) for her Survival Test. She needs to roll a four or better to live. If she lives, she must make a Consciousness Test to avoid passing out. This is at a -13, so unless she uses a Drama Point, she is going to go unconscious. If she does not receive any kind of medical attention, a minute later she has to make another Survival Roll with a -1 penalty. Getting Better For most Cast Members (the purely human kind), injuries heal at the rate of one Life Point per Constitution level every day spent under medical care. Slayers, vampires and other critters heal much faster, at the rate of one Life Point per Constitution level every hour or faster. Use of Drama Points can greatly speed recovery. Drama Points Drama Points are the great equalizers between the Slayer and the Slayerettes. They are what keep Xander’s insides inside after some of the pummeling he’s taken over the years, and what allows Buffy’s mom to knock down Spike with one blow from an axe. Which is not to say Heroes don’t need them; nothing beats a Drama Point or two when you need to dust a half-dozen vamps in time to save the world. |
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