Opposed Challenges

Opposed Challenges

Opposed challenges resolve interpersonal conflicts between two player-characters or non-player characters (NPCs) with different goals. An opposed challenge occurs whenever the target of a challenge is another character or an object within another character’s immediate control. Every opposed challenge includes an “attacker” and a “defender” — terms used to identify who is acting against whom, even though the opposed challenge might not actually involve a physical, damage-dealing attack.

Scenarios with multiple opposed challenges are resolved via the process for complex scenarios.

Step One: Defining the Challenge and Your Victory Condition

When you target another individual with an opposed challenge, indicate which character you wish to affect and announce your victory condition. A victory condition is the stated, desired result that will occur if you win this challenge. If you lose the challenge, your victory condition does not occur.

Keep in mind that your victory condition needs to be logical within the continuity of the scene and consistent with the type of challenge initiated. All victory conditions must be approved by the target player or the Storyteller. (If there is some disagreement, the Storyteller makes the final decision about whether or not a victory condition is acceptable.)

Examples of victory conditions include: grappling your opponent, using a discipline, or intimidating your opponent via a Social opposed challenge.

Line of Sight: To attack a character, you must be able to see her. If you can’t see your target, you must use the Fighting Blind combat maneuver.

Step Two: Determining the Attack Test Pool

The following simple formula determines all attack test pools, identical to the formula used for static challenges:

Attribute + Skill + Wild Card = Test Pool

The attribute and skill should reflect the type of attack; for example, challenges involving shooting a gun use Physical traits and the Firearms skill.

Step Three: Determining the Defense Test Pool

The type of challenge (Physical, Social, or Mental) determines which formula the target uses to calculate her defense test pool.

Physical Challenge Defense Test Pool

Physical Attribute + Skill + Wild Card = Test Pool

Again, the skill should reflect the appropriate type of defense against the attacker’s skill. For example, avoiding a knife attack requires Dodge.

Mental/Social Challenge Defense Test Pool

Defending against Mental and Social challenges requires a different formula, as follows:

Social or Mental Attribute + Willpower + Wild Card = Test Pool

Willpower quantifies how well a character can resist Mental and Social challenges. Note that defense test pools use your character’s current Willpower, not your character’s total permanent Willpower. Therefore, the more Willpower you spend, the more vulnerable you become to Social and Mental challenges. It is to your advantage to save Willpower points for when you really need them.

Step Four: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Next, play rock, paper, scissors with the target player.

Winning the Test

If you outright win the rock, paper, scissors test, check to see if you’ve scored an exceptional success by comparing your attack test pool to the target’s defense test pool. If your attack test pool is greater than your opponent’s defense test pool and you have won every test involved in the challenge, including all retests, you score an exceptional success. If you lost or tied one of the retests involved in this challenge, or if your test pool is equal to or lower than your opponent’s, you score a normal success.

An exceptional success grants you a bonus in addition to winning your challenge. Damaging attacks that score an exceptional success inflict an additional point of damage. Supernatural powers often list specific bonuses for achieving an exceptional success.

Note that only the attacker can score an exceptional success. You might score an exceptional success when you are trying to shoot a mugger or seduce a bouncer, but you cannot score an exceptional success when resisting a Mental attack or dodging a bullet.

Losing the Test

If you lose the rock, paper, scissors test, you fail, and your target is unaffected.

Tying the Test

If you tie, compare your attack test pool to the target’s defense test pool. If your pool is greater than the defender’s, you achieve a normal success. Otherwise, you fail in your challenge. It is not possible to score an exceptional success if you tie — you must win the test outright for an exceptional success.

Step Five: Retests

The loser of an opposed challenge may spend a point of Willpower to retest the challenge. Only the loser may retest, and the results of the second test are final. For the retest, both characters should use the same test pools that they used for the initial challenge. Spending a Willpower to retest will reduce your ability to resist future Mental/Social challenges, but will not reduce the players’ pools in the challenge they are currently retesting.

Example: Edward attempts to light Julian on fire with a flame thrower and wins the initial test. Julian doesn’t want to be set on fire, so he decides to spend a point of Willpower to retest. The results of this second test are final; no matter who wins or loses, there will be no further tests for this challenge.

Retests and Exceptional Success

If you lose the initial test in a challenge and discover that your opponent’s test pool is large enough to score an exceptional success, it’s a good idea to use Willpower to retest. Remember, your opponent can only score an exceptional success if she wins every test involved in the challenge.

Overbidding

If your test pool is equal to or greater than double your opponent’s test pool, you gain a free retest. This is an exception to the rule limiting opposed challenges to a single retest. The overbid retest and the Willpower retest can be used in any order.

Example: Your attack test pool for punching is 12, and your opponent’s defense test pool is only is only 6. Since your test pool is equal to double your opponent’s test pool, you receive a free overbid retest. You may use this before or after using a Willpower to retest the challenge.

Opposed Challenge Complications

Simple variations add complexity to opposed challenges at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Unskilled Tests

If you try to perform an action without having the appropriate skill and lose the test, then you fail spectacularly. For example, if you critically fail while trying to shoot someone, you might graze yourself or launch a spent cartridge into your eye. Remember that you only critically fail if you don’t have the appropriate skill and you lose the test. If you have the correct skill or if you tie the test, you do not critically fail (even if you lose the overall challenge).

Relenting

At any time before the actual test is performed, a player may choose to acquiesce and admit defeat. Characters who relent lose the challenge automatically. If the relenting character’s test pool is less than the attacker’s, then the attacker scores an exceptional success; otherwise, the attacker scores a normal success.

Retrying Failed Attacks

If you target someone with a Physical opposed challenge and fail, you may try again on your next initiative. If you target a character with a Mental or Social opposed challenge and fail, the target is immune to your power or action for the next 10 minutes. Note that this immunity only extends to the power or action used and not an entire discipline.

Example: If you try to use the Presence power Entrancement on a police officer and fail, you can’t try again next round. You must wait for 10 minutes to pass, and for the situation to change significantly, before trying again. You may, however, target the officer with a different Presence power, such as Dread Gaze.

Example: Physical Opposed Challenge

Situation: Vincent the Nosferatu managed to break into the church. A hunter, armed with a shotgun, waits inside.

1. The hunter, controlled by the Storyteller, chooses his victory condition: shooting Vincent. Since Vincent doesn’t want to get shot, he opposes the action.

2. The Storyteller calculates the hunter’s attack test pool using the standard formula: Physical 7 (attribute) + Firearms 3 (skill) + Shotgun 2 (wild card) for a total of 12.

3. Vincent’s player calculates his defense test pool using the standard formula: Physical 3 (attribute) + Dodge 2 (skill) + Cover 1 (wild card) for a total of 6.

4. The player and the Storyteller throw rock, paper, scissors. They tie. Since the hunter has a greater attack test pool, he wins the test.

5. Vincent really needs to get out of the way and hide before the sun comes up. The player decides that he will spend a point of Willpower to gain a retest. He plays rock, paper, scissors again, winning against the Storyteller this time, succeeding in the test.

6. Normally only the loser of the initial test would be able to use a retest, but the hunter’s attack test pool (12) is twice Vincent’s defense test pool (6). The Storyteller decides to take advantage of the overbid rule to gain an additional retest. Sadly, the Storyteller wins the test and the challenge. The hunter’s test pool is greater than Vincent’s, but the hunter did not win the first two tests, so he does not qualify for an exceptional success.

Result:

Vincent catches a glimpse of the barrel of the shotgun and tries to dodge, but he’s too slow. He is hit by the shotgun blast. Luckily the hunter did not win all of the tests involved in the challenge. If he had, the hunter would have scored an exceptional success and Vincent would have taken an additional point of damage.

Example: Social Opposed Challenge

Situation: Vincent the Nosferatu has a hunter chasing him.

Vincent is wounded and doesn’t have time to fight this enemy, so he attempts to scare the hunter away using Dread Gaze.

1. Vincent’s player declares his victory condition: using Dread Gaze to scare away the hunter.

2. Vincent’s player determines his attack test pool as usual: Social 10 (attribute) + Intimidation 5 (skill) for a total of 15.

3. The Storyteller calculates the hunter’s defense test pool using the standard formula: Social 3 (attribute) + Current Willpower 6 for a total of 9.

4. The player and the Storyteller throw rock, paper, scissors. The Storyteller wins the test.

5. Vincent asks if he qualifies for an overbid retest. Since the hunter’s defense test pool is 9, Vincent would need an attack test pool of 18 or more to qualify for an overbid retest. Since Vincent’s attack test pool is 15, he cannot use an overbid retest on this challenge.

6. Vincent really needs to get rid of his attacker, so he decides to spend a point of Willpower to retest. They throw rock, paper, scissors once again, and this time Vincent wins. Since the hunter doesn’t have a large enough defense test pool to qualify for an overbid retest, and Vincent has already retested with Willpower, the challenge is over. Vincent has won.

Result:

Vincent pokes his head out from cover and glares at the hunter using his vampiric power. The hunter is unable to resist Vincent’s power and flees for his life.

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Main Rules Page

Chapter 4: Introduction to Core Systems

• Static Challenges
• Complex Scenarios (Combat)
• Types of Attacks
• Combat Maneuvers
• Noticing Attacks
• Mass Combat
• Health and Damage
• Willpower
• The Flow of Time: Converting Real time to Dramatic Units