GMC Mechanics

We use most of them, but not all of them. This page is your go-to for any questions about which version of which rules we use where.

For copyright purposes, most information here references the appropriate page numbers in the book itself.

Character Generation

Attributes/Skills/Merits (GMC p.150) - Purchasing the 5th dot in CG no longer costs 2 CG points.
Specialties (GMC p.150) - You may only purchase one instance of a Specialty, but multiple related Specialties may be applied to any given roll. (e.g. Medicine:Surgery and Medicine:Cardiology can both be used on a roll to perform heart surgery)
Aspirations (GMC pp.150-2) - Staff will be checking these to ensure plot ideas will give players opportunities to further their characters' goals.
Virtue/Vice (GMC p.152) - See the Virtues and Vices pages for currently accepted examples.

Breaking Points

Breaking Point	Modifier
Character is protecting himself	+1
Character is acting in accordance with his Virtue	+1
Character is protecting a loved one	+2
Character is acting in accordance with his Vice	-1
Witnessing the supernatural (non-violent)	-1
Witnessing the supernatural (violent)	-2
Witnessing an accidental death	-2
Witnessing a murder	-3
Committing a premeditated murder	-5
Killing in self-defense	-4
Killing by accident (car wreck etc.)	-4
Causing visible serious injury to a person	-2
Torture	-3
Enduring physical torture	-2
Enduring mental/emotional supernatural attack	-2
Witnessing a supernatural occurrence	-1 to -5, depending on severity

Integrity	Modifier
8-10	+2
7-6	+1
5-4	0
3-2	-1
1	-2

Yes. We are using the GMC system for these. See GMC p.155 for more information.

This includes asking the 'Five Questions' during character generation. Staff will be the final arbiter of all breaking points in the event of argument, but overall, you are expected to work with your ST (or be honest with yourself/send up a +request and +roll to staff, if there is no ST present) to ensure that you have all applicable, fair, bonuses and penalties on your Resolve + Composure roll. If staff is active online, you're welcome to page and ask if they can hop into the scene to witness the roll, or just direct your roll specifically to them from afar.

See GMC p.185 for more mechanics.

Consequences of Breaking Points

As we are not using GMC Conditions, characters will instead potentially gain derangements when resolving a breaking point. This represents your character facing down something bad and surviving it, for better or worse. You will not walk away from the situation without consequences. Usually.

Dramatic Failure: You're devastated. Gain a permanent derangement fitting the situation.

Failure: You're hurt. Badly. Gain a temporary derangement fitting the situation which affects your character for a month.

Success: You're shaken. Gain a temporary derangement fitting the situation which affects your character for three days.

Exceptional Success: Okay, you totally walk away without consequences. You've faced down your demons and emerged triumphant, unfazed.

Morality vs. Integrity

We are using Integrity. If you're not a Changeling, you have Integrity. Changelings still have Clarity.

Separating morality from psychological integrity is a Very Good Thing. Thank you, GMC! See GMC p.184 for more information on Integrity.

Experience

We are NOT using GMC experience ratings.

While certain actions (achieving aspirations, breaking points, etc.) are still worthy of a +activity in game, we are not using the Beats/Experience system from GMC to handle them. Blame this on Annapurna, since she is the one who decided it. On the bright side, as the game owner/creator, she is also the one who will get kicked in the teeth with resolving problems relating to balance, if they do happen, but on a game with such profligate xp expenditures already, it isn't likely to cause much trouble.

See the XP and XP Tiers pages for more information on how we do handle xp.

Merits

See the Merits page for which GMC merits we use. As a rule of thumb, if it's a mortal or a general merit, we use the GMC version rather than the 1.0 version.

We are encouraging Sanctity of Merits (GMC p.158) as a Thing To Do, so don't be afraid to have your old family Retainer Skippy McGree get murdered by rampaging beasts. You're not losing the 4 dots you spent on making him useful.

Conditions

See the Tilts section below the combat mechanics. Rather than rewrite Changeling and assorted mechanics to make Conditions work, not to mention their relationship with XP gain, we are not officially using Conditions as a mechanic. You are welcome to use them as modifiers, and as guidelines for modifiers, but it will be on a casual basis. If at some point staff has ample free time, we may work on integrating these more fully.

If there is a Persistent Condition you really like, and want to take as a Flaw, and nWoD Flaws just don't cover it, let staff know. We can add it to the list of flaws your +sheets accept.

We are using the Influence and Manifestation Conditions specific to Ephemeral Beings.

Soul Loss

While staff isn't at all certain what in Fate's Harvest would cause this, for the time being, assume that if it does occur, it will occur in the manner described on GMC p.186 onward.

Extended Actions

We are using GMC rules for these. Notes to this effect are already in place on crafting pages for Changelings.

Social Maneuvering

Ye gods no. This system is a blight on the face of the earth. We are plugging our ears and singing la la la la la very hard to forget that this exists. The idea was interesting. The application was atrocious.

A character's efforts to sway someone to their way of thinking should be reflected in RP and can be supplemented with dice rolls; it's understood that your character may be more eloquent and convincing than its player.

If players come into disagreement about the outcome of social manipulation, we encourage you to follow these guidelines:

Compromise: Find a solution with some give and take, where both parties get only part of what they want. This can often make for great story!
Let It Go: Social scenes of little consequence shouldn't be causing tension between our lovely players. If you can't agree, drop it and move on.
Respect the Target: If the target of the social manipulation says that it's not something their character would do, try to accept that and move on.
Fade to Black: If the target is willing to accept the consequences but doesn't want to roleplay it out, fade to black, negotiating pertinent details as necessary.
Seek Adjudication: Staff is willing to rule on social manipulation if it is part of a PRP or of significant consequence for all involved parties. Use this option sparingly; we like when our players can respectfully negotiate their own compromises.

Combat Mechanics

Most of the combat mechanics are GMC rather than 1.0. Where the GMC higher Defense would make Changeling/Psychic/Thaumaturgical powers pointless, House Rules have been written to accommodate that. See the House Rules page for these.

Yes. Staff is using the optional Beaten Down rule from GMC p.195.

Down and Dirty

Also from GMC p.195, we are using the Down and Dirty rules. If you have 5+ total dots in your combat pool, you can ask to use this for piddly enemies rather than fighting a longer combat.

Declare your intent for the Down and Dirty fight.
Do you want to kill them? Knock them out? Get past them? Disarm them?
Roll to see whether you succeed or fail.
Dice Pool: Combat pool (Dex+Firearms, Str+Brawl, Str+Weaponry, etc.) vs. EITHER the opponent's own combat pool (as above) OR an attempt to escape (Str or Dex+Athl).

This roll ignores Defense and encompasses the entirety of a quick fight. It's the equivalent of beating in the heads of the brawling mooks outside your hotel door. Be creative! Describe fun things happening. This is your movie moment.
See book for full details. Basically, if you get more successes than the NPC, you win and succeed at whatever you were doing. If the NPC gets more than you do, you get hurt, AND the opponent escapes unless they want to keep smashing you.

--

The base chart below was derived from GMC p.197. Certain sections have minor textual edits to reflect the difference between posing in text and having a ST sitting across a table from you.

Combat Summary Chart
Stage One: Intent
•	The players and the Storyteller describe what their characters want out of the fight.
•	Decide whether characters can surrender and can become Beaten Down.
Stage Two: Initiative
•	If the attacker springs an ambush or otherwise strikes when the defender isn’t able to counter, the defender rolls Wits + Composure contested by the attacker’s Dexterity + Stealth. If the defender fails, she doesn’t act on the first turn of combat and cannot apply Defense against attacks.
•	Everyone rolls Initiative: the result of a die roll + Dexterity + Composure. If the character has a weapon readied, apply its Initiative Modifier. If the character is wielding two weapons (say, a sword and shield) choose the higher of the two Initiative modifiers and add +1. This is the character's new modifier.
Stage Three: Attack
•	Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl vs. Defense
•	Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry vs. Defense
•	Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms
•	Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics vs. Defense A character’s Defense is normally subtracted from any attack dice pools where it applies. If she chooses to Dodge, the defender rolls her Defense as a dice pool against each attack. Each success reduces the attacker’s successes by one. If the attacker is reduced to zero successes, the attack does nothing. If the attacker has successes remaining, add any weapon modifier to the number of successes to determine how many points of Health the target loses. All weapons deal lethal damage.
Stage Four: The ST has the player pose their actions, descriptive, but brief, while the next player declares an action and rolls it.
Possible Modifiers
•	Aiming: +1 per turn to a +3 maximum
•	All-Out Attack: +2 with Brawl or Weaponry attack; lose Defense
•	Armor Piercing: Ignores amount of target’s armor equal to item’s rating
•	Autofire Long Burst: 20 or so bullets, no target limit pending Storyteller approval. A +3 bonus is applied to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first
•	Autofire Medium Burst: 10 or so bullets at one to three targets, with a +2 bonus to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the first
•	Autofire Short Burst: Three bullets at a single target with a +1 bonus to the roll
•	Concealment: Barely –1; partially –2; substantially –3; fully, see “Cover”
•	Cover: Subtract Durability from damage; if Durability is greater than weapon modifier, attack has no effect
•	Dodge: Double Defense, roll as a dice pool with each success subtracting one from the attacker’s successes
•	Drawing a Weapon: Requires instant action without a Merit and could negate Defense
•	Firing from Concealment: Shooter's own concealment quality (–1, –2 or –3) reduced by one as a penalty to fire back (so, no modifier, –1 or –2)
•	Offhand Attack: –2 penalty
•	Prone Target: –2 penalty to hit in ranged combat; +2 bonus to hit when attacker is within close-combat distance
•	Range: –2 at medium range, –4 at long range
•	Shooting into Close Combat: –2 per combatant avoided in a single shot (not applicable to autofire); –4 if grappling
•	Specified Target: Torso –1, leg or arm –2, head –3, hand –4, eye –5
•	Surprised or Immobilized Target: Defense doesn’t apply
•	Touching a Target: Dexterity + Brawl or Dexterity + Weaponry; armor may or may not apply, but Defense does apply
•	Willpower: Add three dice or +2 to a Resistance trait (Stamina, Resolve, or Composure) in one roll or instance

Surprise

GMC. Roll Wits + Composure contested by your opponent's Dexterity + Stealth. If you lose, you don't get an action on the first turn of combat and can't apply your Defense to any incoming attacks. You roll your Initiative on the second turn instead.

Attack

GMC. See chart above.

Damage

GMC. Damage is determined by the number of successes on your attack roll, plus any weapon bonuses. If your opponent's Defense blocks all of your successes, you do no damage. Weapon bonuses are applied after you subtract Defense.

If you use a weapon, the damage is always Lethal unless specified otherwise.
If you attack with hands/feet, the damage is always Bashing unless specified otherwise.

Defense

GMC. Your Defense is now the LOWER of your Dexterity or Wits + Athletics.

Defense is subtracted from all unarmed, thrown or weaponry attacks that the character is aware of.

Spending Willpower on Defense increases it by 2 for one attack.

Every time you apply your Defense against an attack, reduce it by 1 for each subsequent attack until the start of the next turn.

Dodge

GMC. Dodge by doubling your Defense pool, but don't subtract it from attack rolls. Instead, roll your doubled Defense as a dice pool and subtract any successes from the attacker's successes.

This is an exception to the normal rules for contested actions.

If you roll at least as many successes as the attacker, the attack misses. Subtract these successes before adding the weapon bonus.

You may spend Willpower to get +3 on dodge rolls.

If your Defense has been reduced by previous attacks so far that it hits zero, your dodge roll is reduced to a chance die. If you get a dramatic failure on the roll, reduce your Defense by 1 on the next turn.

Pulling Blows

GMC. Nominate a maximum damage you are willing to do, no greater than the highest trait in your attack pool (ex. if you're Strength 2 and Brawl 4, you can choose between 1-4 points of damage). Your opponent gets +1 Defense against your blow.

NOTE: We are using the optional rule to allow reflexive expenditure of Willpower before a blow to make it deal Bashing instead of Lethal damage.

Bite

GMC. Humans do -1B. Humans and human-like creatures without protruding jaws can only bite after they have grappled someone.
A large dog might do +0L, a wolf +1, a great white shark +4, etc.

Disarm

GMC. Roll Strength + Brawl vs. your opponent's Strength + Athletics. If you win, they drop the weapon. If you get an exceptional, you steal the weapon. If you get a dramatic failure, you take damage equal to the weapon's damage bonus.

Grapple

GMC. Roll Strength + Brawl - Defense to initiate a grapple. See pp.199-200 in the GMC book for an extended list of actions you can take while grappling.

Ranged Weapons

GMC. Most of the bare mechanics are already listed, up in the table above. See GMC p.200 for longer explanations.

NOTE: As far as staff is concerned, using a human shield (GMC p.201) is very definitely a breaking point, unless your Integrity is already so low you're a bloody sociopath. ;)

Killing Blow

GMC p.203.

Weapons

GMC pp.204-5. Improvised weapons section is also on p.205.

Armor

GMC. Remember: Armor is no longer added to Defense.

Defense is how well you avoid being hit.

Armor is what you wear to soak damage WHEN you are hit.

The two armor ratings work as follows:

General armor applies to all attacks, and reduces the amount of damage you take. Subtract the most severe type of damage first.

(e.g. If you had 1/3 armor, and someone attacked you for 2L damage, you would take only 1L.)

Ballistic armor applies to Firearms attacks only, and converts "rating" number of Lethal into Bashing instead.

(e.g. If you had 1/3 armor, and someone attacked you for 2L damage with a gun, that 2L would become 2B, and THEN you would subtract 1B from the 1/ part of the 1/3 armor.

Always downgrade via ballistic armor FIRST. THEN subtract the general armor rating from the attack's damage.

Even if your armor reduces an attack to 0 damage, you still take 1B from the impact.

Armor does not stack. You can't wear a Kevlar vest under full riot gear and get any additional benefits.
You can, however, wear separate armor for separate body parts. As far as staff is concerned, if you are wearing a vest, that covers your torso, and called shots to other body parts won't be hitting it. If you're wearing shinguards, they protect your shins, not your face. Pay attention to what your armor actually guards against. It's sure your opponents will.

Armor Piercing

GMC. Weapons with armor piercing have ratings between 1 to 3. Subtract that number from the target's ballistic armor first, then general armor. The result is their new armor score for that particular attack.

If you're shooting at someone in cover, subtract the piercing quality from the cover's Durability. It is no longer capable of piercing the target's armor once it has passed through their cover.

Tilts

This is a biggie, and to be transparent here, it was a staff decision of much waffling and indecision. Yes, we are using Tilts. The choice to avoid officially using Conditions outside of combat was motivated in part by our different XP system and partially by the inconvenience of tracking them. There is no coded system for tracking tilts; you are responsible for your own RP, and your ST will notice if you consistently keep using the arm you supposedly broke two poses back.

Tilt Reference
Personal Tilts
Tilt	Effects
Arm Wrack	One arm: Drop anything held, suffer off-hand penalties for most rolls. Both arms: Chance die on rolls requiring manual dexterity, −3 to other Physical actions.
Beaten Down	Cannot take violent action in combat without spending Willpower.
Bleeding	Suffer a -1 wound penalty (or have existing wound penalties increased in severity by +1). Each turn you remain bleeding, suffer automatic 1B.
Blinded	One eye: −3 to vision-related rolls. Both eyes: −5 to vision-related rolls, lose all Defense.
Burning	Take automatic damage each turn equal to 1 + the heat level of the fire, in addition to suffering the Blinded tilt.
Deafened	One ear: −3 Perception rolls. Both ears: Chance die on Perception rolls, −2 to combat rolls.
Drugged	−2 Speed, −3 to combat rolls (including Defense and Perception). Ignore wound penalties.
Immobilized	No combat actions. Can’t move or apply Defense.
Insane	+1 to combat rolls, act after everyone else, −3 to Social rolls, can’t spend Willpower.
Insensate	No combat actions. Can move and apply Defense. Taking damage ends the Tilt.
Knocked Down	Lose action this turn (if still to take), knocked prone. Can apply Defense, attack from ground at −2.
Leg Wrack	One leg: half Speed, −2 penalty on Physical rolls for movement. Both legs: Knocked Down, give up action to move at Speed 1, movement-based Physical rolls reduced to chance die.
Pierced Armor	Your armor is damaged. Halve its effective values, rounded down, until you have time to repair or readjust it.
Pinned	You are pinned to a surface and can't move. Defense is halved, and you can't take actions (like Athletics rolls) which require full movement of your body.
Poisoned	Moderate: 1 point of bashing damage per turn. Grave: 1 point of lethal damage per turn.
Sick	Moderate: −1 to all actions. Penalty increases by 1 for every two turns. Grave: As moderate, but also inflicts 1 point of bashing damage per turn.
Stunned	Lose next action. Half Defense until you next act.
Environmental Tilts
Tilt	Effects
Blizzard	−1 penalty to visual Perception and ranged attack rolls, increased by 1 per 10 yards. −1 penalty to Physical rolls per 4 inches of snow.
Earthquake	Penalty to Dexterity rolls depending on severity. Take 1 to 3 lethal damage per turn, Stamina + Athletics downgrades to bashing.
Extreme Cold	Bashing damage doesn’t heal. −1 penalty to all rolls, increasing by 1 per hour. At −5, further hours deal one point of lethal damage.
Extreme Heat	Bashing damage doesn’t heal. −1 penalty to all rolls, increasing by 1 per hour. At −5, further hours deal one point of lethal damage.
Flooded	−2 to Physical dice pools per foot of flooding. Once water is over head, character must swim or hold breath.
Heavy Rain	−3 to aural and visual Perception rolls.
Heavy Winds	−3 modifier to aural Perception rolls. Winds rated between 1 and 5, severity acts as penalty to Physical rolls and deals that much bashing damage per turn, Dexterity + Athletics to avoid.
Ice	−2 Speed, −2 to Physical actions. Can move at normal speed but −4 Physical actions. Dramatic Failure causes Knocked Down; Drive rolls are at −5 and half Acceleration

Sources of Harm

Car Wrecks - GMC p.212
Disease - GMC pp.212-3
Drugs/Overdose - GMC p.213
Extreme Environments - GMC p.213
Poison - GMC p.214

Ephemeral Beings

We are NOT using Angels. The "God Machine" aspect of GMC is not involved, at all, in Fate's Harvest's plots.
We are otherwise using the GMC rules (chapter begins on GMC p.215) for ephemeral beings. For ease of locating them, given that GMC has no table of contents, page numbers are below:

GMC p.218 - (Table) Creation stats by rank/limits/attributes/essence/numina

GMC p.218 - Description of what 'Twilight' is. Changelings, remember this. Separation 5 is not Twilight. Per the book it is LIKE Twilight. This is also mentioned on the appropriate Contract HR page, but it bears repeating. You are not invisible. You are only intangible.

GMC pp.218-23 - Ephemeral creation guidelines and fuller descriptions of characteristics.

GMC p.220 - (Table) Gauntlet Strength

GMC p.222 - (Table) Influence Effects

GMC p.223 - (Table) Influence Duration

GMC p.224 - (Table) Manifestation Effects

GMC p.226 - (Sidebar) Avernian Gateways

GMC p.228 - Description of claimed hybrids; these will require staff oversight and approval if players intend to have their characters claimed

GMC pp.230-2 - What mortals can do with/to/how to learn about ephemera, including contact, summoning, exorcism, abjuration, warding and binding.

Though we are not using the full Conditions system, we are using the Influence and Manifestation Conditions in the content referenced above.

Equipment

See the Equipment page. Equipment is drawn from GMC, Hurt Locker, Armory, Armory Reloaded and other sources.

If you know of equipment not on the list, or have suggestions, please send in a +request with the equipment name, book and page number(s), or the stats you have in mind, if it is wholly custom.

Services

See the Services page. Services listed are drawn from GMC, but will be HRed and added to as time goes on.

GMC