Dream Combat (Merit)

Prerequisites
 * Wyrd: •••
 * Empathy: •••

Effect

Your character has honed their oneiromachy skills to a high degree, allowing them to push the envelope of dream-battle and take the dream-bound combat beyond the reach of less experienced or dedicated oneiromancers.

Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special combat maneuvers that are only applicable for oneiromachy (dream-battles). Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can’t have Double Team until they has Stunning Blow. The maneuvers and their effects are described below.

Stunning Blow (•)
Your character’s dream-onslaught is overwhelming, literally stunning your opponent to the point of inaction. If successes inflicted in a single attack equal or exceed a target’s Wyrd, the victim loses their next action. Attacks of this strength are often accompanied by appropriate special effects in a dream, from shockwaves to tendrils of grasping fog that seem to stall the stunned opponent for a moment.

Double Team (••)
Not content with a single avenue of attack, your character is adept enough with oneiromancy that he can coordinate an environmental and a personal attack against their target at the same time. The second attack suffers a –1 penalty.

Drawback:

Your character cannot use their Defense against any attack in the same turn in which they intend to use this maneuver. If they use Defense against attacks that occur earlier in the Initiative roster, before they can perform this maneuver, they cannot perform the maneuver in the same turn, their attention is too focused on protecting themself.

Blind Spot (•••)
Your character’s control of the dream environment is so great that it allows them to attack from the vantage point most detrimental to their opponent. They must use the lowest, rather than the highest, of their Finesse Traits (Wits, Dexterity or Manipulation) as their Defense and the lowest, rather than the highest, of their Resistance traits as their armor.

Wyrd Armor (••••)
Your character’s mastery of the dream-realm protects them in battle. They may add their Wyrd to the highest of their Finesse Traits to serve as their Defense and to the highest of their Resistance traits to serve as their armor.

Coup de Grace (•••••)
Even as your character’s opponent fades from the dream-arena, the character is capable of delivering a final blow. At any time that an opponent in a dream-combat is beginning to waken (i.e., has dropped to or below 0 Willpower), the character may deliver one final dream-attack (environmental or personal) against them as they wakes. The opponent may not use their Defenses or armor against this attack.