Initiative

To speed up combat, each character's Initiative rating will be a fixed Dexterity + Wits + 6. Please note this on your character sheet for ease of play. This number will be modified as the ST sees fit to reflect getting the jump on an opponent or other factors. Please also make a note of your 'stun' threshold too (Stamina + 2 for changelings / Stamina for mages).

Damage

We'll be using M20/C20 rules wherever possible. This means damage will be bashing, lethal and aggravated, marked '/', 'X' and '*', respectively. Additional successes after the first add to the damage dice pool.

Damage caused by the Wonder and Chimera Backgrounds is detailed, where appropriate, in the sections on Character Creation for Changelings and Character Creation for Mages.

Soak for Changelings

Changelings can take chimerical as well as normal damage. This puts them at a particular disadvantage compared to other critters, because it's possible for their bodies to be unharmed while their fae selves get slowly smashed to bits by a fevered chimera.

We'll be using the soak rules for changelings from the back of the V20 book, which is a compromise between the two ways of treating aggravated damage. Therefore, like werewolves and silver, changelings can soak aggravated damage from all sources except from cold iron. (Cold iron is a rare material in the World of Darkness, and is produced only through certain 'cold' processes. Steel does not count.)

Cold iron inflicts both real and chimerical aggravated damage, and each successful attack saps the changeling of one point of Glamour (one point per hit, not one point per health level lost). Because of this, changeling society bans cold iron and makes its possession punishable by death. Due to the Compact of Cottonopolis, cold iron is also banned in mage circles.

In the (very rare) occurrence that cold iron is used to inflict damage that would otherwise be bashing (e.g., you're being struck with a cold iron frying pan), the character would check off bashing damage, but would take the damage to both forms and lose a point of Glamour.

Check out this handy list of chimerical weapons and armour for more information.

Chimerae do not have a Banality Trait, and do not gain Banality as changelings do, but Banality can harm them. If Banality is directly focused on a chimerical character, it will be rolled as damage on them. The chimera may soak this damage with a Glamour roll.

Chimerae can soak all kinds of chimerical damage with their Stamina. Real damage does not harm them, unless they have been wyrded, in which case it operates as chimerical damage. When a chimera loses all health levels due to bashing or lethal damage, it is dispersed. When a chimera loses all health levels due to aggravated damage, it dies forever.

If an attacker disperses a chimera, but does not destroy it, the chimera's Attributes return at the rate of one point for each Attribute per week. Healing cantrips can speed this up (returning one Attribute point for each success, instead of the usual one health level).

Soak for Mages

We'll be using M20 damage rules. All mortal characters (including mages) can use the cinematic soak rules. This, of course, doesn't stop them using any other powers or armour to help them.

Direct damage from magick can only be soaked if it's bashing or lethal.

The Avatar Storm has passed in our game, although returns from time to time as smaller avatar storms in a fashion similar to the minor maelstroms of Wraith: The Oblivion. These will usually inflict bashing or lethal damage and can be soaked appropriately. Changelings are unaffected by this phenomenon.

Multiple Actions

The rules for multiple actions follow those in M20 and C20. It's a simple split dice pool system: decide how many actions you want to take, work out the dice pool for each, and take the smallest of these as dice to divide among all your actions that round. If you want to take three actions with dice pools of 7, 6 and 4 dice, you would get 4 dice to split between all three of them.

Quicksilver and Time magick may add additional actions, and these take place at the end of any combat round in order of Initiative (one additional action at a time, until all actions have been taken).

Discord, Dragon's Ire and Invoking the Dragon's Ire

The old Art of Discord (a war-based power possessed by the naraka) has been folded together with the generic Second Edition combat ritual Invoking the Dragon's Ire in C20. This deprives changelings of a generic way to buff their physical attributes like vampires (who use vitae) or wraiths (who get Shadow dice). This system stands in for the old Invoking the Dragon's Ire rules.

At the start of combat, each member of the oathcircle or war party may attempt to Call the Wyld. The player first adds three Nightmare Dice to their current total. Then, like Unleashing, she rolls Glamour + the total number of Nightmare Dice she has (difficulty 8, modified as per the table below). Each success provides a bonus dice on any attack or defence rolls made for the remainder of the scene.

Calling the Wyld Modifiers
A list of modifiers to the difficulty number to Call the Wyld follows. No cumulative modifiers greater than -3 are allowed, and the total can never exceed -3.
Boggans defending home -2
Eshu on roadways -2
Nockers in their workplaces -2
Pooka escaping combat -2
Satyrs in the wilderness -2
Sidhe in a duel -2
Sluagh defending home -2
Trolls defending honor -2
Wounded redcaps -3

Duels and Oaths

Any changeling may call for a duel under the following terms and oaths. Mages may also call a duel, and changeling honour will usually see the rules kept to, but a mage who breaks such oaths will be labelled anathema. Under the Compact of Cottonopolis, oathbreaking is punishable by exile from the city.

The formal duels listed below often involve Calling the Wyld, even though cantrip use is usually considered cheating. All of the duels listed involve taking an oath, binding the participants to abide by the rules set forth by the type of duel, and observing any exceptions agreed upon by the duellists. (House Eiluned knights consider cantrip use fair, for instance.) There is no benefit to taking the oath, other than the protection it affords as both parties are bound by the duel's limits. Failing to abide by the oath results in the immediate loss of a permanent point of Willpower.

The Scarlet Trip: This duel is fought to first blood, usually with little or no armor, and with light weapons.
Tonight we trip for honor and right.
Guide our hands, Mother Dream, as we fight.
Foe are quick to anger, but quicker to mend.
We swear, tomorrow our anger will end.
The Dragon's Dance: This duel is regarded as the most honorable and as such, is the most common form of dueling. It is fought until one side or the other yields. It may be fought with any weapons or armor the foes agree to.
We dance the Dragon's Dance beneath the waning moon,
And set loose the Dan, the Chariot of Dream and doom.
The reigns of reason slip as the star-hoofed horses race,
And we hear the cackle of misrule beneath their frantic pace..
Wide-eyed, the mares of tenor to us draw you near.
Come, sweet Mother Dream: our love, our lot,our fear.
Danse Macabre: This duel is to the death. Only queens and kings can sanction such a contest. It may be fought with any weapons or armor the foes agree on.
We call for honor in deeds
Let us rise above this petty seeming.
Death to s/he who flees
Before the power of the Dreaming.
The Dance of Iron: This duel is fought with no armor and with iron weapons. It is fought until the death of both the changeling soul and the human host. It is illegal in Concordia and most foreign kingdoms as well. The only oath taken before the Dance of Iron is something to the effect of, 'Die and to Oblivion with your soul, bastard!' Many variations of this exist.

More oaths are listed under Oaths and Compacts.