TheKawaiiEdition/DreamCombat

Dream Combat

Dream Combat is the combat system designed to handle combat within Dreamscapes. In the realms of the subconscious, physical attributes and health levels do not matter: will, passion and force of personality are the true power. Therefore, dream combat uses a series of substitutions:

• Valor replaces Strength
• Charisma replaces Dexterity
• Willpower replaces health levels
• Base Initiative consists of Wits + Charisma
• Attack rolls consist of Charisma + Ability. The characters must imagine their attacks with sufficient skill and force to make the opponent believe them. Until characters gain experience at Dream Combat, however, they suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls. If the character foregoes use of any ability and makes the attack based on pure force of personality, the attack’s dice pool consists of the character’s unmodified Charisma.
• Damage roll consists of the character’s Valor + the number of extra successes in the attack roll, – the target’s soak. Weapons taken from the material world and weapons shaped within the Dreamscape have their stats applied as usual. Particularly original weapons shaped within the Dreamscape (like a stampede of tyrant lizards stomping on the opponent) must be assigned stats by the Storyteller.
• Soak consists of whatever Virtue would best help the character oppose the emotional resonance of the fight and the attacker. For instance, in a dream-battle against an enemy driven by rage and hatred for the character, Compassion and forgiveness might work best to soak the attack. Conversely, a dream-attack designed to subvert a character through her passions and appetites would be soaked by Temperance. Players will naturally want to use their character’s highest Virtue to soak any dream-attack, and the Storyteller should let them if they provide a good, in-character justification. If there’s no apparent Virtue to apply to the dream-attack (like, for example, a strike with an ordinary sword), use Conviction.
• Damage applies to the target’s Willpower. Characters suffer damage penalties as they fight based on the Willpower they have left:

• • • 1 Willpower: -4
    • 2-3 Willpower: -2
    • 4-5 Willpower: -1
    • 6+ Willpower: OK

However, a dream-fighter always starts out with an OK, even if his permanent Willpower is less than 6. Also, a character can spend Willpower points without incurring any penalty – but as the character’s Willpower drops so does the number of Willpower points available to spend.

Beyond these simple mechanics, creativity is encouraged on the part of player and Storyteller to describe Dream Combat. Although damage depends entirely on the character’s Valor, they can imagine any attack they want, no matter how bizarre it might seem: their favorite sword, lightning bolts from the sky, growing 100 feet tall and stomping on the enemy, a swarm of scantily-clad magical girls showering the target with kisses and winks, you name it. However, if the imagined attack cannot be related to some Ability, their attack dice pool is limited to raw Charisma.