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Sometimes, in order to succeed at an empathic
attack, a character first has to overcome a victim's
Willpower. The Willpower
Drain task allows a character to do so. It requires an Average
opposition test of the attacker's skill level (not asset) minus the
target's Empathic Strength, and each stage of success reduces the
target's Willpower skill
level by 1 point for the duration of the encounter. Once the
Willpower skill has been
reduced to 0, additional reductions are not taken from the
target's INT attribute. Often, several successive attacks are
required to "soften up" the target sufficiently for other Empathic
skills to have a chance of success.
Note that when a character's
Willpower skill level is
reduced to 0 by Willpower Drain, the character has no Willpower
asset for the duration of the encounter. Characters (PCs and
NPCs) who have been assigned a Willpower skill level of 0 do have a
Willpower asset (INT + 0
= INT) so long as they are not hit by a Willpower Drain. Basic
Success in a Willpower Drain task is sufficient to invalidate the
Willpower asset of a
character with skill level 0 (this means that for the purposes of
Willpower Drain alone,
Willpower skill level 0 and 1 are the same).
Depending upon the circumstances, the referee may
choose to adjust the Willpower Drain's difficulty level upward or
downward to account for such things as a wounded defender or
attacker, a captive target, etc.
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