OK so how dose combat work, exactly?

[Longbow520]

OK so i'm playing my first game Vampire the masquerade 3rd ed and can't figure out the combat system, the only one iv ever used is the D&D system.

[fishyfishyfishy]

What exactly is confusing you? The rules seem straight forward to me across all the editions. If you can narrow down what you're having a problem grasping you will get better advice.

[Xuc Xac]

If you're using melee weapons, the pointy end goes in the other guy. If you're using guns, it's a basic point and click interface.

[Knaight]

The core of it is pretty similar to D&D. In D&D you have a to hit roll (against AC) and a to damage roll (against DR/Resistance/Whatever). In Vampire you have essentially the same two rolls, but they're both opposed rolls. To hit is opposed by a relevant combat skill (in melee it's usually just the other person's relevant weapon skill), and damage is opposed by soak.

[LibraryOgre]

So, correct me if I'm wrong on this, folks.

Kevin has a Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and Melee of 3. Jacquie has Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and Melee of 2. They are both using knives, so their damage is Strength +1.

Jacquie goes first, rolling Dexterity + Melee against a difficulty of 6. Kevin chooses not to use the Parry maneuver. Jacquie rolls 4 dice, and gets a 10, 7, 3, and 2. Two successes, which is a hit. Normally, her damage is 3 dice (Strength + 1), but she gets an extra die because she got more than one success; had she gotten 3 successes, she would have gotten 2 extra dice. For damage, she rolls 8, 6, 5, 3... again, two successes. Kevin tries to soak the damage with his 3 dice of Stamina... 10, 4, 3. He takes 1 point of damage, since he reduced her 2 successes by his 1 success. With 1 box taken, he is "Bruised"... no combat effect.

Kevin now attacks. He rolls Dexterity + Melee against a difficulty of 6, but whiffs entirely... six dice and nothing higher than a 4. We move on to the next round.

Kevin goes first this time. Jacquie, who knows she's outmatched, decides to Parry, but she also wants to attack. So, while Kevin is rolling 6 dice to attack, Jacquie is rolling 2 dice to defend (Dexterity + Melee, minus two dice for two actions), and only 1 for the attack (Dexterity + Melee, minus 2 dice for 2 actions, minus 1 more die for being the second action). Kevin rolls 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5.... five successes. Ouch. Jacqui rolls 7 and 4 to parry, reducing his 5 successes to 4. Kevin rolls 8 dice for damage (Strength +1 for the knife +4 for the successes), getting 9, 9, 7, 7, 4, 3, 3, 2... 4 successes. Jacquie soaks with her 3 dice of Stamina... 9, 7, 2. Two successes. She throws in a Willpower for a free success, giving her 1 point of damage.

Jacqui now attacks with her 1 die. A 6 is "Good enough", so she does 3 dice of damage, 7, 6, 5, 2 successes, v. Kevin's 6, 4, 2...1 net success. Kevin is now "Hurt", and will get a 1 die penalty going forward.

Kevin goes first; he's going to toss in a parry, now, too, while Jacqui is going to go without. Kevin attacks with 3 dice (Dexterity + Melee, -1 for injuries and -2 for 2 actions), for 10, 10, 3; two successes. His damage is 4 dice (damage dice aren't impacted by injury), 3, 2, 2, 1. No Successes; if it weren't damage, he would've botched. Jacqui doesn't even need to both to roll soak.

Jacqui rolls her 4 dice for attack, while Kevin rolls 2 dice to defend (Dex+Melee, -1 injury, -2 for 2 actions, -1 for second action). Jacqui: 10, 9, 9, 5. Kevin: 8, 3. Jacqui has 2 net successes, so gets +1 damage. 10, 6, 3, 1. Kevin: 9, 3, 1. One net success, one damage to Kevin, who is now Injured, with the same -1 to his dice pool.

The fight can continue from there. Remember, any 1s subtract successes from your total.