Combat

Firearm rules adapted from Weapon Law: Firearms (RMSS #5524) to the RMU action point economy. Weapon attack tables live in the Attack Tables section; the action economy and situational rules below are in play.

Firearm Actions

Costs are in action points (AP). Where a modifier range is given, the penalty depends on how many action points are spent: the minimum spend takes the worst penalty, the full spend the best. A shot fired without preparation suffers the normal recoil penalty of -30; a Prep shot removes it.

Suppression Fire

Hosing an area with bullets to make it deadly to move through RMUSuppression fire (Weapon Law: Firearms pp. 10-11, section 3.4.3); the book's options for extra ammunition, wider arcs, and targets between the shooter and the declared range are adopted as standard. The gun must hold at least five rounds; the sweep spends five, plus any extras committed for the volume bonus. Declare the range band swept — a 45° cone at point blank, 30° at short, 15° at medium; suppression reaches no further — and make the maneuver with Rapid Fire, rolled Agility-based. The bullets fly whatever the result: the maneuver decides the modifier of the area attack that follows.

The area attack: Everyone in the cone, at or nearer than the declared band, first chooses: dive for cover, or stand and take it. Then each faces an OB +0 attack (the roll without the attacker's skill bonus), modified by the maneuver result above, on the weapon's attack table. Targets nearer than the declared band are caught only incidentally: the attack against them takes -10 at point blank, -30 at short range.

Diving for cover: Cover within reach — the wall you stand at, the car beside you — is simply dropped behind: its protection counts double under suppression. Cover that must be reached takes the moving to cover maneuver (below) at its suppression difficulty, the % result scaling the doubled protection. Either way the diver forfeits their remaining AP this round and has 2 AP (of the round's four) on the next.

Standing it: Act normally this round and take the attack as it comes. Cover already held counts at its normal value — but ducking behind it under the hail costs concentration: 3 AP on the next round. A target in the open pays nothing further.

Situational Rules

Tripod: A mounted gun shoots flatter at distance: +25 against the range penalty, though never past 0 — point blank and short range, which carry no penalty, gain nothing RMUTripods (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 12, 3.7.2): +25 to all range modifications, capped at zero. A gun that requires a tripod (the weapon listing says so) fires unbraced at -50 — and the recoil itself attacks the shooter first: a +0 Large attack on the Fall/Crush table at +5 per ME of the gun's attack table, defended with triple Strength bonus in place of DB; every hit taken is -1 and every critical severity -10 off the shot's own roll RMUDisadvantages of tripods (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 12, 3.7.1) — the book's example: an M2HB (ME 29) fired from the hip is a +145 Fall/Crush attack on the shooter.

Shotgun spread: The pellet cone widens roughly 3' per 120' of range. Anyone else caught in the cone faces the same attack roll stripped of the attacker's skill bonus, against their own DB RMUShotgun spread, Option 1 (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 12): the original roll, unmodified by skill, against each creature in the cone.

Sawed-off shotgun: Cutting the barrel removes the choke. At point blank and short range every load fires as a slug — SG table number +1, criticals still Shrapnel; past short range it fires as normal shot. Either way, the gun's SG number also drops by 1 to 4 by how much barrel is gone RMUShotgun options 2-3 and the Shotgun Table Modification Chart (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 12): point-blank/short loads resolve as slugs keeping Shrapnel criticals; the chart's slug row is +1; sawed-off barrels -1 to -4.

Hunting-class guns: Heavy hunting weapons carry a Hunting Classification of I, II, or III in the weapon listing: +10, +25, or +50 on any attack against a Large or Huge target RMUHunting Classification (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 12, 3.6). The Ballistic Puncture criticals key some results to class II or greater.

Moving to cover: With no one shooting, no roll is needed — just move. Under fire, reaching cover is a moving maneuver — a dash, a tumble, a vault, the move itself paid as ordinary movement AP — at -20, or at -40 under suppression fire or normal fire from many sources. The maneuver's percentage result sets how much of the cover's protection is gained that round, up to the full value (70% behind full soft cover's +100 grants +70); a failed maneuver reaches nothing this round RMUMoving to cover (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 13); the book raises the maneuver's difficulty by two or four levels — priced flat at -20/-40, exact for the book's own Light-base example.

What counts as cover: How much of the defender the shooter cannot see — a quarter blocked is partial cover, half is half cover, 90% or more is full cover RMUCover (RMU Core Law 9.6, p. 168): amount by view blocked; soft obscures vision, hard stops or deflects the attack; other combatants count as cover by position. Soft cover is anything that merely obscures vision — fog, darkness, curtains, and any wall a bullet punches straight through (drywall, a car door); hard cover stops or deflects the shot, graded by sturdiness: hard (brick, an engine block), hardened (reinforced against weapon fire), impenetrable (nothing the gun fires gets through). Soft is the floor and impenetrable the ceiling, and neither cares what gun is firing — obscured vision costs the same at any caliber, a full stop likewise. They are RMU's own ranged cover values, the ceiling double the floor RMUTable 9-5 (RMU Core Law p. 167), ranged cover: partial/half/full +20/+40/+100, x2 for hard cover — adopted as the soft floor and the impenetrable ceiling. Between them, hard cover falls off with the weight of the incoming gun — the heavier the attack table, the more the barrier behaves like mere concealment — and hardened cover lags one weapon class behind the fall-off RMUThe per-weapon fall-off follows the Cover Chart's idea (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 13); the values are re-derived inside the RMU floor-to-ceiling envelope, hand-tuned at the ME 19-24 step. Someone standing between the muzzle and the target is hard cover by position. The protection adds to DB against shots from the covered side:

The Soft / Impenetrable column is the flat floor and ceiling; the gun columns price hard cover. The Hardened row names which gun reads each column as hardened cover — against SG and ME 1-6, hardened counts as impenetrable. Against melee, cover is +10/+20/+50 for partial/half/full, doubled when hard RMUCover DB in Table 9-5 (RMU Core Law p. 167): melee partial/half/full +10/+20/+50, x2 for hard cover; ranged doubles melee. Fully behind impenetrable cover a character cannot be hit at all — its value matters only while moving to it. Divers under suppression fire count their cover's protection double.

Armor piercing rounds: Hardened penetrators pass through flesh without deforming: 0.5x concussion damage against unarmored targets, and criticals resolve on the Armor Piercing table — even when the hit lands on modern body armor RMUArmor piercing rounds (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 13): AP rounds use the Armor Piercing Critical Strike Table even against body armor; the half-concussion rule is the book's option.

Ballistic Body Armor

Modern vests come in four classes, from the concealable liner to full tactical plate — the table below names them. A gun fires against the armor's own column on its attack table (the BA I-IV columns), and the vest decides which critical table the hit rolls on RMUBody Armor (Weapon Law: Firearms p. 9, section 3.2): the Modern Armor Types table and the critical-table selection rules; the optional re-roll-on-AT-1 rule for uncovered locations is not adopted. Class descriptions follow the real-world protection classes - the book does not describe them:

Classes I-II (soft armor): criticals roll on Ballistic Puncture as usual — but if the location rolled is covered by the armor, read the same roll on Ballistic Impact instead: the vest catches the bullet, and the wound is blunt trauma. Classes III-IV (hard armor): criticals roll on Ballistic Impact by default, and only a location the armor does not cover reads the same roll on Ballistic Puncture. Never roll twice — one roll, read on the table the armor dictates.

Armor piercing rounds trade tissue damage for penetration: a hard core that will not deform, punching through armor — and through flesh — in a narrow channel. Their criticals always roll on the Armor Piercing table (above), whatever the target wears, and each caliber has a penetration rating: the highest armor class it defeats outright. The Glock 17's 9mm AP defeats soft armor (BA I-II) — fire against the target's naked AT column as if the vest weren't there — while hard plates (BA III-IV) still stop it: fire against the BA column as usual. Whenever an AP round reads a naked AT column (bare targets included), it deals half concussion hits, rounded up — the round over-penetrates instead of dumping its energy RMUArmor Piercing Rounds (Weapon Law: Firearms 3.10.1, p. 13): the always-AP critical rule and the half-concussion-vs-unarmored option, adopted. The penetration rating and the defeats-soft-armor column rule are this conversion's extension - the book predates these breaking-point BA columns.

Hollowpoint rounds are the opposite trade: soft expanding noses that mushroom and fragment in flesh — devastating against bare targets, helpless against armor. Against an unarmored target, criticals roll on the Ballistic Hollowpoint table. Against body armor the selection rules above apply with one substitution: a location the armor does not catch reads Ballistic Hollowpoint instead of Ballistic Puncture, while covered locations stay on Ballistic Impact. And because an expanding round sheds its energy in whatever it touches first, all cover bonuses are doubled against hollowpoint fire RMUHollowpoint Rounds (Weapon Law: Firearms 3.10.2, p. 13): the unarmored-targets critical rule and the doubled-cover option, both adopted; the covered/uncovered substitution is this conversion's wiring into the body-armor selection rules.

The maneuver penalty runs from fully trained in the armor to untrained. The missile penalty applies to the wearer's own ranged attacks (armored arms), and the Quickness penalty reduces the wearer's Quickness bonus to DB — never below what a zero Quickness bonus would give.

On the attack table, every class has a breaking point. Below it the vest eats the shot — no criticals, only plain concussion hits that climb as the shot lands harder: bruises under the weave, cracked ribs under a hammered plate. Past it the round defeats the armor, damage jumps, and criticals arrive and escalate. Even then the armor keeps its worth: no vest ever deals as many hits as bare clothes would, and soft armor's (I-II) worst criticals top out one severity step below the unarmored column's. Against the Glock 17 the breaking points sit at attack totals of 101 (BA I), 113 (BA II), 128 (BA III) and 161 (BA IV) — the heavier the armor, the more exceptional the shot must be. The thresholds are caliber-relative, set per weapon: a hotter round pulls the lighter classes' breaking points down toward the bottom of the table — while a badly outmatched round caps out entirely (a 9mm never rolls worse than a B critical against tactical plate) RMUThe threshold pacing is modeled on RMU's spell attack tables (e.g. Bolt, Ice - Core Law p. 193), where criticals against heavy armor arrive late and stack up fast; the top-end values anchor to the body-armor table on the weapon page's back (Weapon Law: Firearms).

Bite Attacks

Every Kindred carries a weapon in their mouth. A bite rolls with the Unarmed: Bite skill (every character has 1 rank from creation — their life as Kindred) on the RMU core Bite attack table. Fangs are an aggravated source against Kindred: resolve the bite at full value, not as a Small attack, per the aggravated-damage rule (Core Concepts) VTMBite Attacks VTM p. 213 and grappling p. 301: declare the bite before rolling; fangs deal exactly two Aggravated; feeding slakes 1 Hunger and deals 1 Aggravated per turn.

Reaching a resisting victim: Fangs need control — or daring. Land a grapple (a Strength-based Unarmed hold): the round the hold lands you may bite immediately as a secondary attack at -20, and on later rounds, while the hold persists, the bite rolls at full OB. Alternatively, lunge with a direct bite at -20 without any hold — exposed flesh is hard to find on a fighting victim VTMA direct bite at a 1-success penalty, or free after a grapple (VTM p. 213). Unaware, helpless, or unresisting victims — feeding, the Kiss — need no grapple and no penalty.

Lodged fangs: A bite that deals damage sinks the fangs in: the victim counts as grappled by the bite itself and escapes only by winning a grapple contest (conflicting Strength-based Unarmed rolls). While the fangs stay lodged, further bites and feeding take no penalty.

Feeding in combat: Each turn the fangs stay lodged, slake 1 HungerVTM need for blood sustenance; a mortal victim takes \(10 + 1d10\)aggravated concussion hits, while a vampire victim's own Hunger rises by 1 instead. Brutal Feed (Potence 3) compresses several slakes into a single turn.

Feral Weapons (Protean 2) waives the -20 bite penalty — the secondary and the direct bite alike. Only vampiric bites work this way — an animal's bite is a regular attack.

Staking & Decapitation

Two blows matter more than any amount of ordinary damage to a vampire: the one that pins the heart and the one that takes the head. Both are called shots — declare the target before rolling — and both take -20 on the attack VTMCalled shots for staking and decapitation, VTM pp. 221 and 302; the -2 dice penalty converts at the standard 1 die = 10 points.

Staking: A wooden stake, or a wooden bolt from a crossbow or similar stake-thrower. The blow must reach the heart, not merely land: it takes a critical of severity C or higher to the chest. Wood is poor material for stabbing and carries its usual -10 (see Weapon Materials below).

Outside combat — a sleeper, a torpid body, a vampire in chains — the stake needs no attack roll at all when there is time enough and nothing to interfere. Where haste, darkness, an unsteady target, or something guarding the heart makes it a real question, roll the maneuver below VTMVTM p. 221 requires no roll to stake an incapacitated or sleeping vampire "in circumstances where time and disturbance is not a factor"; this maneuver covers the circumstances where they are. Bands and modifiers are this conversion's own.

Decapitation: An edged weapon heavy enough to behead — axe, scimitar, broadsword. It takes a critical of severity D or higher to the head or neck. A successful beheading destroys a vampire on the spot, torpid or standing, and it is Final Death VTMVTM prices these as raw damage thresholds (10+ for beheading, 5+ for a stake, before halving) - unreachable at this system's scale, where one V5 health level is 15 hits. Converted instead to RMU's own measure of a devastating blow, critical severity: D+ for the head, C+ for the heart.

What a stake does once it is in — paralysis, the slow slide into torpor — is on Core Concepts, with the rest of the dangers to the Blood.

Weapon Materials