Ambisinister/HouseRules2E

Knockback, Knockdown, and Stun

I don't apply these rules to all attacks. These rules are only applied if the attack's description warrants them. "Adjusting myself to a two-handed grip I swing my war hammer at him, catching him in the chest and knocking him through the window." is an example of such a description. "I attack him and knock him back." is an example of what wouldn't work.

Ping, Overpower, and Minimum Essence Damage

When calculating minimum damage against a being with an awakened essence or a heroic mortal, instead of "(Essence) dice," minimum damage is instead calculated as "(Character's Essence - Target's Essence)." If this would result in a value equal to or less than zero, the value is set to 1. Weapons with the Overpower(O) tag, or other magics or effects which increase minimum damage, such as the Violet Bier of Sorrows Form, calculate minimum damage as normal. If a character has a minimum damage higher than a weapon's Overpower rating, increase their minimum damage by 2.

Joe-Stabby(Ess5) is in combat with Mortal Bob(Ess1), Heroic Bob(Ess1), and Exalted Bob(Ess3), three brothers. He successfully attacks each one in combat. His minimum damage against Mortal Bob is 5, his minimum damage against Heroic Bob is 4, and his minimum damage against Exalted Bob is 2. If Joe Stabby were using a weapon with an "O" tag of 4, then his minmum damage against Mortal Bob would be 7 and his minimum damage against Heroic Bob and Exalted Bob would be 4.

If a character has a minimum damage higher than a weapon's Overpower rating, increase their minimum damage by 2.

Clinches

Character's wishing to initate a clinch use the "Clinch" attack option from the Core. The target may apply the DV of his choice, or, if guarding, abort his guard and counter with a strength or dexterity + martial arts roll of his own. In this case treat the opposing rolls as a clinch control check as below. If the attack is successful the character has a number of options available to him. He may hold, throw, or slam. If the attack fails then there is no clinch.

Once a clinch has started, each time the controller's DV refreshes, all participants fight to gain control. This is done via a contested roll using each participant's strength or dexterity + martial arts. The controller of the clinch may choose to hold, throw, constrict, disengage, or slam.

The controller of a clinch may choose to perform other action in addition to fighting for control of the clinch, but this neccessitates a flurry. Reduce the movment and jumping distances of the controller by half while engaged in a clinch. Both of the clinch controller's DVs are inapplicable against all attacks without the aid of a stunt or charm. The clinch controller does not benefit from shields while clinching.

The victim of a clinch changes his status to "clinched." Set the DV of "clinched" characters to 0. While "clinched" the only action availabe to characters is to contest the clinch control check of the clinch controller. "Clinched" characters may only activate reflexive charms and charms which function while in a clinch. "Clinched" characters are also removed from combat and must re-join battle once the "clinched" status is lifted. The "clinched" status is removed if the "clinched" character wins a clinch control roll, the clinch controller uses a maneuver which ends the clinch (such as Disengage), or if the clinch controller is rendered Dead, Dying, Incapacitated, or Inactive.

Those not participating in the clinch who wish to attack participants are free to do so. All participants in a clinch are considered to have 50% cover. Charms which intentionally render clinched targets vulnerable to outside attack, such as Throat Baring Hold, remove the benefit of cover from the target.

Weapons with the "C" tag apply their accuracy bonus both to clinch intiation and clinch control rolls. They only apply their damage bonus to the constriction manuever.

The Maneuvers
Hold- The controlling character locks or restrains his opponent in one fashion or another. The clinch carries on to the next turn.

Constrict- The controlling character not only restrains his opponent but inflicts crushing damage as well. The constriction maneuver has a base damage of the character's strength. This damage is bashing. Extra successes on the clinch control roll add to the base damage. Constriction damage is piercing. The clinch carries on to the next turn.

Disengage- The controlling character breaks free from the clinch by shoving his opponent away. The opponent may be shoved back a number of yards equal to 1/2 the character's strength. No damage is inflicted (unless the character is shoved off of a cliff or into a hazard). This ends the clinch.

Throw- The controlling character hurls his opponent through the air away from him. The character is able to throw his opponent a number of yards equal to his strength + the number of extra successes on the clinch initiation or the clinch control roll. This attack has a base damage equal to the character's strength. This damage is bashing. If the character hits a wall or other object the damage is increased by the remaining distance he would have flown if he wasn't interrupted. Thrown character's may make a reflexive dexterity + athletics roll at a difficulty equal to the thrower's strength to remain standing after the throw, otherwise they are knocked prone. This ends the clinch.

Slam- Instead of hurling his opponent through the air, the clinch controller may slam him to the ground at his feet. The slam manuever has a base damage equal to the character's strength + 2. THis damage is bashing. Extra successes on the clinch initiation or clinch control roll add to this damage. The victim of a slam is knocked prone. This end the clinch.

Magical Material Harmonization Bonuses

Melee Weaponry

• Orichalcum- +1 accuracy, +1 damage, +1 defense, +1 rate

Armor

• Orichalcum- +3 soak, +1 Hardness
• Moonsilver- Reduce Mobility Penalty to -0. Will alter its shape so that its wearer may always benefit from its protection regardless of the form they wear. It still counts as armor, however, for effects which may contradict with armored characters.
• Jade- Reduce Fatigue vlaue to 0. Reduce committment by 1, or by two if the character's elemental aspect coincides with the color of Jade.
• Soulsteel- +1 Hardness, reduce the raw damage of incoming attacks by 2, this effect cannot reduce damage below its minium value.

New Actions

Harry- (6Ambisinister/HouseRules2E/Special)- Harry is a Miscellaneous Combat action that cannot normally be flurried (certain charms or stunts may mitigate this). Harrying is the act of using one's own body as a phsyical obstruction and distraction for an opponent. The harrying character rolls his Dex + Athletics (This roll is effected by mobility penalties) and adds a number of automatic successes to the roll for any physical cover he may be carrying (shields, tables, doors, etc). For every sucess on this roll, up to a maximum of 3, apply a 1 point cover bonus to all of the Harry victim's targets. The DV penalty of this action is 2, except against the Harry target, for which it is 4. In addition, a character cannot normally dodge the attacks of a character which he is Harrying, though certain charms (such as Threshold Warding Technique) or stunts may mitigate this factor.

Character Creation

All characters begin play with 20 bonus points.

Anima Powers

Zenith
In addition to the other abilities in the core book, the Zenith may reflexively spend 5 motes to increase his mental dodge DV by his essence, [(willpower + integrity + essence)/2] + essence, in response to any attack or effect caused by a creature of darkness. This boost has an instant duration, does not count against the die adder cap, and does not activate automatically at the 11+ range of anima flux.

Twilight
The damage negating effect may only be activated, or occur at the 11+ anima range, while the character is engaging in a shape sorcery action, cast sorcery action, or a miscellaneous action derived from one of the Twilight caste abilities. Furthermore, once the character reaches the 11+ range of anima flux he reduces the cost to augment his Sorceries with the first three Occult Excellencies by his essence. At essence 5+ she may instead choose to disregard the additional willpower cost of casting an Augmented Spell. (See my Sorcery House Rules for more info)

Eclipse
The Eclipse caste are the social counterparts to their Dawn caste brethren and are no less daunting to face across a negotiations table than a Dawn across a battlefield. By spending 5 motes, an Ecllipse caste can wreath himself in a mien of brutal competency and leg quaking force of personality. Any character whose essence is equal to or lower than the Eclipse's Conviction increases the difficulty of all social attacks against him by two. In situations where no roll is being made, instead raise the Eclipses MDVs by 2. This power automatically activates once the Eclipse reaches the 12+ range of anima flare.

Mass Combat

I'm not terribly fond of the current incarnation of the Mass Combat rules. I dislike the notion that a unit is essentially an accessory worn by the character. To that end, I am altering the statistics of Mass Combat units to better reflect how I feel the system should operate.

Mass Combat Statistics

• Drill, Endurance, and Might- These traits remain unchanged.
• Magnitude- The only change to Magnitude is that Solo units now have a Magnitude equal to Essence/3 rounded down.
• CloseAmbisinister/Ranged Combat Rating- This value is now equal to the average of the unit's (Dexterity + MeleeAmbisinister/Archery + Weapon Accuracy). This value will be rolled when the unit attacks in combat, and half of this value will be the unit's PDV in the case of close range units.
• CloseAmbisinister/Ranged Combat Damage- This value is now equal to the average of the unit's (Strength + Weapon Damage). This value will determine the unit's base damage. Add (Unit commander's Charimsa + War)/3 to this value. This is rounded up.
• Armor- The unit now uses the average of its member's soaks to determine this value. If the unit commander has an awakened essence, add his essence to this value.
• Health Levels- If the unit's commander is an extra, this value is 4, if the unit's commander is not an extra this value is 7. If the unit has an awakened essence, increase this value by that amount.
• Morale- This value is set at the higher of either the average valor of the unit or the unit leader's (charisma+valor)/2. This is rounded down.

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Acting in Mass Combat
Acting in Mass Combat remains relatively unchanged. The biggest difference is in the resolution of attacks. Using these rules, a unit rolls its CloseAmbisinister/Ranged Combat Rating and adds a number of automatic successes equal to (Commander's Charisma + War)/2 (Rounded down). The rules for factoring in Magnitude and Might remain unchanged. This is compared to the defender's PDV, which is further increased by (Commander's Charisma + War)/4 (Rounded up).

A unit Commander has three new actions available to him: He may Personally Engage, Direct the Attack, or Co-ordinate the Defense.

Personally Engage</b>-(Attack's SpeedAmbisinister/Attack's DV penalty)- The Commander attacks in tandem with his command. he is treated as a Solo Unit and must attack a unit his command is engaged with. The DV penalty from this action is applied to both the Commander's personal DV and his Unit's and refreshes for both simultaneously.

<b>Direct the Attack</b>-(Unit's Speed/-1)- The Commander directs his troops and bolsters their fighting spirit. He rolls his Wits + War against a difficulty equal to the Unit's (Magnitude - Drill, minimum 1). Add the successes from this roll to his unit's attack roll. These bonus successes cannot exceed (Commander's War + Unit's Drill)/2 (rounded down). The DV penalty for this action only applies to the Commander's personal DV. This action is only available when his unit is attacking.

<b>Co-Ordinate the Defense</b>-(Speed 6/-1)- The Commander organizes his troops into a defensive formation encouraging discipline and steeling their resolve. He rolls his Wits + War against a difficulty equal to the Unit's (Magnitude - Drill, minimum 1). Add half the successes, rounded up, from this roll to his unit's DV. These bonus successes cannot exceed (Commander's War + Unit's Drill)/4 (rounded up). Additionaly, if this action is successful, raises the unit's Morale by 1 until the commander's DV refreshes. The DV penalty for this action only applies to the Commander's personal DV.

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The Specialist Class Hero has a new action available to it: Cover Command.

<b>Cover Command</b>-(Special/-0) The Hero assumes temporary command of the unit if the Commander is otherwise occupied. Treat the Hero as the unit's new Commander until the Commander once again resumes control.

Modified Poison Rules

<b>Poison Attributes:
In addition to their standard attributes poisons may possess any of the following tags. These tags replace the tags mentioned in the core.

• Common- Poisons with the Common(C) tag are the weakest and most benign. Even mortals have no difficulty resisting them or naturally recovering from their debilitating effects. Beings with an awakened essence receive an extra two dice on all Resistance rolls to mitigate the poison’s effects.
• Toxic- Poisons with the Toxic(T) tag are more potent and quite hazardous to mortals. Beings with an unawakened essence increase the difficulty of their Stamina + Resistance rolls by 2 to mitigate the poison’s effects and cannot naturally heal the damage inflicted by such poisons. Beings with an awakened essence are at no advantage or disadvantage when dealing with these poisons.
• Virulent- Poisons with the Virulent(V) tag are extremely deadly and do not generally occur naturally. These poisons are a threat to even superhuman entities. Beings with an unawakened essence automatically fail rolls to mitigate the poison’s effects and all attempts to treat them are at +2 difficulty. Beings with an awakened essence increase the difficulty of their stamina + resistance rolls to mitigate the poison’s effects by 2 and cannot naturally heal the damage inflicted by such poisons.

• Bashing- Poisons with the Bashing(B) tag inflict bashing damage.
• Lethal- Poisons with the Lethal(L) tag inflict lethal damage.
• Aggravated- Poisons with the Aggravated(A) tag inflict aggravated damage.

• Fatal- Poisons with the Fatal(F) tag are particularly aggressive. Beings with an unawakened essence die outright unless they succeed on their stamina + resistance roll, and in the case of success cannot further mitigate the effects of the poison. Beings with an awakened essence suffer a 2 point internal penalty to their stamina + resistance rolls to mitigate the poison’s effects.
• Traumatic- Poisons with the Traumatic(Tr) tag are particularly damaging. The poison’s damage is automatically inflicted instead of rolled. Succeeding at the stamina + resistance roll removes this tag for that interval with further levels of success mitigating the poison’s effects as normal.
• Supernatural- Poisons with the Supernatural(S) tag are magical in nature and exceedingly pervasive. Such poisons and the damage they inflict can only be treated with the aid of charms or other magical effects.

Treatment
The following are Medicine actions which may be taken to treat or help to combat the effects of poisons.

• Delay Toxin- Delay Toxin is a miscellaneous (8/-4) action. The treating physician rolls Wits + Medicine at a difficulty equal to the poison’s toxicity rating. Attempting this procedure with jury rigged and found equipment inflicts a -2 internal penalty to the roll. Possessing a basic medical kit will negate this penalty and possessing a well equipped treatment space will add two dice to this roll. Administering an antidote for the specific toxin reduces the poison’s toxicity to 1, while merely employing a generic antivenin reduces the difficulty by 1. Each success on this roll will effectively delay the poison’s interval for 1 hour, up to a maximum number of (12-toxicity) hours. T tagged poisons consider their Toxicity 1 higher for this purpose and V tagged poisons are considered to be 2 points higher.

• Neutralize Toxin- Neutralize Toxin is a dramatic action which takes 1 hour to complete. Roll Intelligence + Medicine at a difficulty equal to the poison’s Toxicity rating. The treating physician must possess at least a basic field kit to attempt the action and does so with a -2 internal penalty. If treatment is done in a proper facility he suffers no penalty. Increase the difficulty of the roll by 2 if the doctor attempts the procedure with just the tools at hand. If a general antivenin is used in the procedure this modifier is waived. If a specific antidote is employed consider the poison’s toxicity to be 1. For every success on this roll reduce the remaining damage of the poison by 1. If this reduces the damage to zero, the poison has been neutralized, otherwise the poison will continue to inflict damage at its regular interval.

• Create Antivenin- Create Antivenin is a dramatic action which takes a day to complete. In order to perform such an action the character needs a proper lab space to work in. The character rolls Intelligence + Medicine at a difficulty of 3, with each success creating a dose of antivenin up to a maximum of the character’s medicine rating. Each batch is roughly a Resources 2-3 purchase depending on the region and availability of supplies. A character can monitor up to his Medicine rating in batches over the course of a single day’s time, although doing so inflicts an internal penalty equal to the total number of batches being created. Attempting this action in a jury rigged space with found materials inflicts a -2 internal penalty and changes the manufacture cap to (Medicine-2) doses per batch. Success will always yield at least one dose.

• Create Antidote- Create Antidote is a dramatic action which takes a day to complete. In order to perform such an action the character needs a proper lab space to work in. The character rolls Intelligence + Medicine at a difficulty equal to the poison’s toxicity rating. T poisons are considered to have a toxicity rating one higher for this purpose and V poisons are considered to be 2 higher. Succeeding on this roll creates a single dose of antidote, while succeeding with twice as many successes creates 2 doses. Each batch requires a single dose of the poison it is designed to treat. A character can monitor up to his Medicine rating in batches over the course of a single day’s time, although doing so inflicts an internal penalty equal to the total number of batches being created. Attempting this action in a jury rigged space with found materials inflicts a -2 internal penalty on the roll and in such a case the character can only ever yield one dose per batch.

Sorcery

Cast Sorcery
The Cast Sorcery action now has a speed equal to (8 - essence).

Augmented (spell)

Characters may spend xp to learn to augment their spells with the Occult Excellencies in a fashion similar to combos. This cost is equal to the minimum ability requirement of the desired excellencies plus 5xp for first circle spells, 6xp for second circle spells, and 7 xp for 3rd circle spells. This cost is reduced to the minimum essence requirement of the desired excellencies plus 3/4/5xp respectively if Occult is a favored or caste/aspect ability. The training time to do so is one week per circle of the spell. This is reduced to one day per circle of the spell if favored. If a character does not initially learn to augment a spell with all available excellencies, she may add excellencies at a later date by training for the appropriate amount of time and paying just the xp cost of the excellency.

Casting an Augmented Spell requires the expenditure of an additional willpower point and any motes of essence required to power the desired excellencies. Naturally, the excellencies may only be used to augment spells with die rolls or static values derived from the Occult ability.

Terrestrial Exalted
Activating excellencies to augment a spell always counts as a charm use and never benefits from the Dragon Blooded's free use of reflexive charms.

Sidereal Exalted
The Fated Occult Excellency cannot be used to augment sorcery.

Lunar Exalted
Lunar Exalted may choose to augment their spells with their choice of Perception, Wits, or Intelligence Excellencies. The cost to purchase Augmented Spells is only reduced if the character possesses occult as a favored ability. "Sorcery" may be taken as a valid attribute specialty for any Mental Attribute. These specialty dice may only be used if a cast spell is augmented with an excellency of the same attribute as the specialty.

Alchemical Exalted
Alchemical Exalted may choose to augment their spells with their choice of Perception, Wits, or Intelligence Excellencies. The cost to purchase Augmented Spells is only reduced if the character possesses occult as a favored ability. Alchemical Protocols are considered to be 2nd and 3rd circle for the purposes of costs and training times.

Abyssal Exalted
Ravening Mouth of Occult cannot be used to gain motes from damage caused by sorcery. The die adder cap for Augmented Spells is equal to essence + Occult.

Solar Exalted
The die adder cap for Augmented Spells is equal to essence + Occult.