Combat and Soak

Where the loops diverge

Both editions can tell you a shot landed. They do not use the same rolls to get there, and they do not store the same leftovers.

Declaration

V20 declares before the dice, then orders the turn. Table initiative is Dexterity + Wits + one die. V5's combat exchange does not open with that initiative roll. It opens with the two pools.

The contest

V20 rolls the attacker against a difficulty, then lets a dodge cancel successes. V5 rolls the attacker's conflict pool against the defender's pool. A dodge is a choice of pool, not a soak.

Damage

V20 rolls damage dice after the hit. A light pistol in the V20 catalog is 4 dice at difficulty 6. V5 adds the winner's margin to that side's stored weapon rating. This page does not print a V5 damage chart.

Soak

V20's table standard is Stamina + Fortitude at difficulty 6, with Fortitude alone against aggravated damage. The V20 engine does not roll it. V5 does not have that step. Nothing in the opposed exchange is a soak roll wearing another name.

The sequence, side by side

V20's middle details are table-standard unless the last sentence of a cell says the engine stores them. V5's column is the combat loop this chronicle runs, not a second copy of the V20 chart.

Run it in this order.

1. 01Confirm which combat loop the chronicle is in before anyone picks up dice.
2. 02For V20, declare, order the turn at the table, roll the attack, roll any dodge, then roll damage.
3. 03Soak the V20 damage at the table. Write only the remaining levels, and their type, onto the seven-box track.
4. 04For V5, build the two opposed pools and roll the exchange once.
5. 05Apply the V5 winner's margin plus that side's stored weapon rating. Do not add a soak roll after it.
6. 06Do not feed a V20 soak total into a V5 track, or a V5 margin into a V20 damage roll.

1. 01

   A dodge is not a soak

   In V20, defense cancels attack successes before damage is rolled, and soak cancels damage successes afterward. They are two different rolls. In V5, choosing Dexterity + Athletics opposes the attack and, on a win, does not deal damage in return. That choice never becomes a Stamina roll, and Fortitude is not added to it as a V20 soak.

2. 02

   V20 soak is real at the table and absent in the engine

   Stamina + Fortitude, difficulty 6, is how a V20 table soaks bashing and lethal damage. Aggravated damage, including fire and sunlight, is soaked with Fortitude alone. Remaining bashing is halved after that soak at the table. The V20 engine records the levels you apply. It does not roll the soak, and it does not halve bashing for you. V5 never asks for that roll.

3. 03

   Do not invent a second damage table to make them match

   V20 damage dice and V5 weapon ratings are not a shared chart with two headings. This page states the V20 light pistol as 4 because that number is in the V20 catalog. It does not list V5 weapon ratings. The V5 result is the margin plus the rating the combat code already stored for that weapon. If you need a number, read it off the weapon the exchange used. Do not borrow the V20 4.

Common mistakes

• Rolling a V20 soak after a V5 opposed exchange, or skipping soak in V20 because V5 does not use it.
• Treating a V5 dodge as a soak pool and adding Stamina or Fortitude to it.
• Copying the V20 light pistol's 4 damage dice onto a V5 margin.
• Expecting the V20 engine to roll initiative, damage, and soak because the traits are on the sheet.

The same shot, two resolutions

Rafael fires. Irena is a Gangrel with Fortitude 2. Only the V20 column soaks.

• Rafael and Irena

  V20: Rafael, Dexterity 3, Firearms 3, light pistol damage 4, difficulty 6, 2 attack successes. Irena, Dexterity 3, Athletics 2, dodge 1 success. Damage 4 dice, 3 successes. Soak is Stamina 3 + Fortitude 2 at difficulty 6, 2 successes. V5: the exchange is an opposed roll, and this page does not assign it a weapon-rating table.

  In V20, one attack success remains, three damage successes minus two soak successes leave 1 lethal, and the seven-box track records that level. The engine did not roll the soak. In V5 the opposed roll's margin is the start of the harm, the stored weapon rating is added to it, and no soak dice are rolled. Fortitude 2 does not become a soak pool on that side of the sheet.

What each engine will roll

V5 combat builds both pools and applies the margin plus the stored weapon rating. V20 combat, as an engine, does not exist yet. The V20 sheet stores the health that a table soak already produced.

• V5 uses the opposed conflict pools, including a dodge that deals no damage on a win. There is no soak roll after the margin.
• V20 can roll an ordinary check at a difficulty from 2 to 10. That check is not an initiative sorter and not a soak.
• V20 health is seven boxes: bashing, lethal, or aggravated. Penalties run 0, −1, −1, −2, −2, −5, then incapacitated. Bashing is not halved on the way in.
• Fortitude on a V20 sheet is a Storyteller-applied resistance. The roller does not add it to Stamina unless the check is given that modifier.

Frequently asked

Does V5 have soak under another name?

No. The defender's pool opposes the attack. It does not cancel a later damage roll, because there is no later damage roll. The harm is the winner's margin plus the weapon rating the exchange already stored.

Does the V20 app soak with Stamina + Fortitude?

No. That pool, at difficulty 6, is table-standard. Aggravated damage is the Fortitude exception at the table: Fortitude soaks it, Stamina does not. You enter the levels that remain.

Should I halve bashing in both editions?

Only as a V20 table step, after soak, and only for bashing. The V20 engine will not halve the number you type. V5 does not use that halving. Do not apply it to a margin.

Where does initiative live?

In V20 it is a table roll of Dexterity + Wits + one die. The engine does not make it. V5's combat exchange in this chronicle does not begin with that roll. Do not invent one to make the turns feel alike.

Can I use the V20 pistol's 4 dice in a V5 fight?

No. That 4 is the V20 catalog's light pistol. V5 adds a stored weapon rating to the margin. This page deliberately does not reprint a V5 damage table. Read the rating from the weapon in the exchange.

Related rules

• V20 Combat
• Blood Pool vs Hunger
• Humanity vs Paths