Combat - Hitpoints, DSTs, Damage Types

[Zyraen]

Edit: as of this season run starting 17 Oct 17, VIT is just used to purchase HP at rate of 5 (not 4) HP per VIT. Bloodied Value is 50% of your HP (round down), Reserve value is 25% of HP (Round down). References to Resist/Vuln now use your Reserve Value.

VITALITY & HITPOINTS

Your Vitality (VIT) is determined by your Starting Traits, and then increased independently after Character Creation. VIT determines your Max Hitpoints (HP) as follows, and also the amount of HP you regain when you spend a BP in response to being the target of a Healing effect.

Your Vitality x 4 gives you your Max Hitpoints (HP).
Your Vitality x 2 gives you your Bloodied Value.

If you have equal or less HP than your bloodied value, you are Bloodied.

If you have equal or less HP than your Vitality value, you are in Critical condition. Characters in Critical condition take -2 to all their attack rolls. Vampire that fall from above Critical to Critical also have to take a Frenzy Check.

When you fall to 0 HP or less, you are unconscious.

UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND TORPOR

A vampire who is unconscious takes Death Saving Throws as normal, at the end of each Turn he is unconscious.
When three such saves have been failed in one night, or HP falls below Negative Bloodied, he is effectively "dead", or in torpor.

A vampire in torpor that takes aggravated damage (including being exposed to sun or from diablerie attempts) immediately dies. If his head is sawed or hacked off, he also dies. This is called final death.

To stir a vampire from torpor, potent blood from a lower generation vampire must be fed to him. Procuring the said blood aside, it takes time to force 3 BPs worth of blood into the mouth then down the throat of an unmoving corpse, and can never be done during battle. After some time, the body stirs and reanimates, with VIT HP and 1 BP only, likely ravenously hungry and on the verge of frenzy.

Note that this also increases the Blood Bond effect between the vampire in torpor and the giver.

[Zyraen]

DAMAGE TYPES

There are generally only 4 types of damage, sorted from least to most dangerous

- Bashing: from blunt objects like baseball bats to improvised objects to fists, and also from most ranged weapons like guns and arrows.
All Vampires have Resistance against these attacks. Disciplines that improve all Resistance and provide Insubstantial status always stacks with this innate resistance.

- Lethal: slashing weapons like swords and most claws and bites. Some throwing weapons are also of the lethal variety, eg throwing knives. Lethal weapons are usually fairly obvious in their use as weapons hence are easily checked and secured against.
Most unspecific (ie non fire) elemental and magical attacks also count as Lethal.
Vampires take full damage from Lethal damage.

- Psychic: these are primarily from vampiric disciplines such as Dominate, Obfuscate, Presence. They can be enhanced by implements or simply used without. What makes them deadlier than most is that they have numerous side effects.
Vampires take full damage from Psychic damage. Objects, equipment and things without psyche are immune to all psychic damage and most psychic effects.
Vampires that are lower generation than the User may have ways to shake off or reduce its effects, but not its damage. Non sentient creatures ignore most psychic effects.

- Aggravated: mystical weapons or abilities and effects that are the antithesis of the target deals aggravated damage. Aggravated damage ignores insubstantial status.
Such weapons/ abilities include werewolf claws, feral claws formed from the Protean discipline, and claws/ spines/ whatever else formed from the Horrid Form of Vicissitude discipline.
Antithesis sources that deal aggravated damage to a vampire are sunlight and fire.
Antithesis sources that deal aggravated damage to a werewolf is silver.
Vampires have vulnerability against aggravated damage, and also have much slower recovery.
A vampire in torpor (ie below negative bloodied or still in the sleep of ages) that takes any aggravated damage is immediately dead.
More on healing aggravated damage later.

- Others: various other damage may be classified into the above 4 at STs discretion.

RESISTANCE / VULNERABILITY AND AGGRAVATED DAMAGE

A vampire's resistance to bashing and vulnerability to aggravated is his VIT divided by 2.
Ie a vampire with VIT 13 has Resist 6 Bashing and Vuln 6 Aggravated. Note this vampire will be the example for later.

Further, aggravated damage cannot be easily healed. Each time a vampire takes aggravated damage, his max HP is reduced by his Vulnerability.
Note that his VIT and Bloodied value does not reduce.
Eg. Above Vampire takes aggravated damage from fire, then more from a feral claws attack. His max HP is reduced by 6 each time, hence his max HP is reduced by 12 overall.

However, if the aggravated damage was due to an Attack power, this loss of max HP is only applied once, after power first dealing the aggravated damage is resolved.
Eg. An Assamite uses a weapon imbued with aggravated damage (through Quietus) to attack above vampire three times with a Celerity power. Though the target takes aggravated three times - and takes Vuln 6 three times for an extra 18 HP lost - his max HP is only reduced by 6, when the power has fully resolved.
Eg. A Tremere uses Thaumaturgy Lure of Flames to launch an augmented fireball at the above vampire. It hits, damaging him with aggravated damage, and he carries on burning, which deals ongoing 10 aggravated damage (SE).
After the vampire has been hit, his max HP is reduced by 6. Although he takes effectively ongoing 16 damage (10 + vuln 6), he does not reduce his max HP by 6 each time he takes this aggravated damage, since its source is the same power.

HEALING AGGRAVATED DAMAGE

Lets say that incredibly, the above vampire manages to limp, or probably speed away from above confrontations, likely oozing gore the whole time, and possibly low on BP after having to activate Disciplines to survive and escape.

Aggravated damage heals slowly, and now that the vampire is resting, he can spend 1 BP to increase his Max HP by half his VIT. However, he can only spend up to 2 BP this way per night, including the night he was injured.
Eg. Above Vampire with VIT 13 took aggravated damage 3 times and hence his max HP is reduced by 18. During a rest he spends 2 BP, each time the penalty reduces by 6, hence his max HP is now only reduced by 6. To fully recover, he will need to spend another BP the next night.

Note that all of the above BP spent are separate from what he needs to regain his HP, and further, he is visibly injured as long as he is still having a max HP reduction. This can affect his feeding capability if relying on social skills to get near targets.

In practice, his herd, retainers or even coterie might have to supplement the severe BP expenditure.