Combat+-+Mental


 * __Calculating Mental Combat Advantages__**

Mental combat is apprised of a collection of advantages that guide the character's deftness (or lack thereof) in Mental combat scenarios; they are as follows:

** Aptitude **

(Mental Initiative) **Intelligence + Wits + Resolve**

This isn't a modifier; you never roll a die to add to this. It determines the order of Mental combat events, just as Initiative does during a Physical confrontation; that being said, not every Mental combat scene will require one to know who goes first. Consider that, in a chess game, the turns are preordained; one cannot "get the jump" on the other.

** Acumen **

(Mental Defense) **Intelligence or Wits, whichever is lower**

Acumen serves as the character's defense against incoming mental attacks like Defense does in Physical combat.

** Gray Matter **

(Mental health) **Intelligence + Resolve**

Gray Matter serves as the Health track that helps to determine how much progress one's opponent makes against your character. As you lose Gray Matter your character finds it more and more difficult to think.

**__Mental Combat in action__**

** Stage One: Determine Time Frame **

Physical combat does literally turn-by-turn. Mental combat doesn't need to work that way. At the beginning of Mental combat the storyteller and party decides a time frame fitting the Mental combat. A move in a chess game can take place in three seconds, but it can takes minutes. Alternately, two scholars debating academic theories through written correspondence may receive a letter every week, making one turn equal a week. In cases where a turn in Mental combat is longer than a Physical combat turn (three seconds) the storyteller can decide that the character can perform other actions during the "turn."

** Stage Two: Determine Intent **

It is possible that the intent of each character in Mental combat is "to win," however Mental combat is often about trying to achieve some kind of result that goes beyond the mere mark of success; the vampire hunting his prey through the forest hopes to, well, catch his prey. The prey hopes to escape. Stakes may also be used, literal or abstract; two characters playing chess might play for a set of literal, spoken stakes. The winner might get to expand his domain, for instance. The loser might have to give up a favored servant. Abstract stakes might not be know to the characters. The two scholars fighting over academic theory might unknowingly be putting up a dot in Status: Academia; the winner gains one, the loser forfeits one.

** Stage Three: Determine Aptitude **

Compare the Aptitudes of each character involved in the scene, the highest goes first, then next-highest, all the way to the lowest. It certain situations this may not be necessary such as a chess game. In such a case, skip this step.

** Stage Four: Attack **

Mental attacks may not be against one's opponent; but it is an attack against his "game." A character outguesses and outwits his opponent's efforts—hoping to untangle his knot, so to speak. The player describes how she wants to make her attack—in a chess game, she might say, "I play defensively, reserving my big guns for the later-stage game." In the battle of academic theory, she might say, "I suspect my opponent's going to take a stuffy academic route, so I'll instead go for something that dazzles—less facts, but more flourish." The above examples might warrant, in order; Wits + Academics, or Intelligence + Expression. The vampire hunting his prey might make an Intelligence + Survival roll, while the prey might attempt a Wits + Stealth roll. Both Physical and Social Skills can apply during Mental combat, though only Mental Attributes should be used. Attacks follow the basic formula of:

**Mental Attribute + Appropriate Skill - Acumen +/- modifiers**

** Stage Five: Repeat, Resolve **

Continue the turns, just like with Physical combat, until one character's Gray Matter track is entirely filled up. When that happens, that character has lost Mental combat. The victor's intent is fulfilled, and if any stakes were on the table, they come to pass.

__**Modifiers**__

I will not upload a list of mental modifiers due to the fact that Mental combat covers a way wider spectrum than Social or Physical combat and frankly I am too tired to think of any at the moment.

__**Gray Matter**__

When you begin to lose Gray Matter it will decrease your characters mental performance as your character only has so much "mental energy" to go around. Just like with Health, one begins to accumulate penalties to mental rolls at the last three Gray Matter boxes (-1, then -2, then -3). When a character reaches zero Gray Matter he is completely "fried" and incurs a -5 to all mental rolls.

Characters regain //one// point of Gray Matter per day but //not// when involved in a Mental combat. However, unlike with Health or with Nerve, it is very easy to "reset" one's Gray Matter—choosing not to regain one's Willpower point upon awakening (in other terms, spending that Willpower to achieve an effect) allow the character to erase all damage from the Gray Matter pool. It allows him to awake mentally refreshed.