BROKEN
When an attribute score reaches zero, you are Broken. This means that you are put out of action in one way or another. Exactly what it means to be Broken depends on what attribute has been depleted :
STRENGTH : You're knocked senseless. Roll for a critical injury for the type of damage you suffered (see page 196). If you're not dead, you can only CRAWL and mumble through the pain. You can't perform any other actions and you can't roll for any skills. | WITS : You're paralyzed by fear or confusion. Roll for a critical injury on the horror table (see page 200) – except if you Broke yourself by pushing a roll. If you remain conscious, you can RUN to a safe place, but you can't perform any other actions or roll for any skills. |
AGILITY : You collapse from exhaustion. You can only CRAWL and wheeze. You can't perform any other actions and you can't roll for any skills. | EMPATHY : You break down in despair or selfpity. You must either explode in a violent outburst, kicking and breaking everything around you, or withdraw from everyone around you. In either case, you're uncommunicative until you've recovered a point of Empathy. |
COUP DE GRACE
An opponent who has lost all Strength or Agility is defenseless. If it's an intelligent being (with Wits) and you want to give him a COUP DE GRACE and kill him outright, you must fail an Empathy roll (roll for the attribute only). Even if the roll fails, you must spend 1 Willpower Point and suffer 1 point of damage to Empathy – killing in cold blood is not as easy as you might think. If you have the COLD-BLOODED talent you can kill defenseless enemies without these negative effects.