Close Quarters

Type: Fighting
Cost: Variable • to •••••
Prerequisites: Wits •••, Athletics ••, Brawl •••

Your character knows that hitting someone in the face is an easy way to break the little bones in his hand. To that end, he’s perfected the art of using the environment to hurt people.

Firing Lines In some situations, your character’s best option is a tactical retreat — especially if he’s inadvertently brought a knife to a gunfight. He can run for cover as a reaction to a ranged attack instead of dropping prone. You give up your action for the turn, but your character can get to any cover that’s within twice his Speed.
•• Hard Surfaces Bouncing someone’s head off a urinal, computer monitor, or brick wall is a handy way to increase the amount of hurt inflicted while not breaking the aforementioned hand bones. When your character is grappling someone, he can bounce them off a hard surface with a Damage move. He deals lethal damage, then immediately ends the grapple.
••• Armored Coffin The problem with protection is simple: the very things that protect your opponents can be turned against them. That holds true for body armor just as much as anything else. Sure, it blocks bullets and knives, but get in a clinch and your character’s opponent might as well be wearing a straightjacket. When he grapples an opponent, add their general armor rating to your dice pool. When he uses a Damage move, ignore his opponent’s armor. This technique can’t be used in conjunction with Hard Surfaces.
•••• Prep Work If your character has a second to look around, he can catch someone by surprise almost anywhere. When launching a surprise attack, your Dexterity + Stealth roll becomes a rote action.

Drawback: Your character can’t use this Merit to set up sniper attacks — his ambush must use Brawl or Weaponry.
••••• Turnabout If your character’s caught short in a fight, his opponent’s weapon suits him just fine. When he attempts to Disarm his opponent, step the results up one level — on a failure, his opponent drops the weapon. On a success, your character takes possession of his opponent’s weapon. On an exceptional success, your character has the weapon and his opponent takes two points of bashing damage.

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