Warfare

By Jeremiah Lasch (jlasch@uakron.edu) for the Sons of Virtue bloodline.

Description

This is another original discipline developed by Steven Smith. He developed it to aid him in his hunt for the killers of his wife and daughter. He swore that if he ever found the killers, their death would be quick and ruthless. This discipline helped him with that.

* Speed

The vampire can run faster than the eye can see. This is not to be confused with the Celerity discipline. He cannot attack while running unless he is tackling someone; however he can move fast enough to get behind someone and attack in the same round.

System: No roll need be made, but one blood point must be spent.

** Vertical Leap

The vampire can jump straight up incredible heights from stand still.

System: Again, only one blood point must be spent here. The vampire can jump straight up a distance equal to his strength x 2. That is how high his feet are off the ground.

*** Long Jump

The vampire can jump great horizontal distances from standstill.

System: One blood point must be spent. The vampire can jump a distance equal to his strength x 5 from standstill. If he has a running start, he can add a number of feet equal to his dexterity.

**** Reaction Time

The vampire can react to stimulus with superhuman speed, fast enough in fact, to perform a move in the same round as an opposing attack. For instance, the vampire can react fast enough to jump straight up as an opponent swings his sword.

System: The player rolls Perception + Alertness, difficulty 7. Only one success is needed. If the opponent is using celerity, the vampire can only dodge out of one attack unless he uses speed to run away.

***** Roll With the Punches

The vampire can increase his fortitude to a certain degree.

System: Every blood point spent increases fortitude by half of its original value.

****** Combo

The vampire can make a series of successive attacks equal to the number of dexterity dots he has. The combo progresses as if the character were using Celerity.

System: The only way the combo can work is if the character has initiative on the first hit, and he must land the first hit. If he misses the first hit, the combo is void. He spends one blood point to start the combo. If both of the above criteria are met, the combo proceeds. Even if any attack after the first fails, the combo will still proceed. The combo doesn't do damage per hit, but as a whole. This damage is equal to the number of hits that connect plus strength. The opponent soaks all of the damage in one soak roll. This can be a truly devastating attack.

Ex: Steven has 6 dots in dexterity. He decides to do a four hit combo to a foe. He gains initiative and the first hit lands. Therefore the combo proceeds. Unfortunately for his opponent, he doesn't block any of the four attacks. Steven has a strength of 7, so the damage done by the combo is 11 (4 + 7). The opponent makes a soak roll, and soaks for 6 points of damage. Now he is mauled.