Interrogation

World of Darkness - Rulebook

Interrogation involves wearing down a subject's resistance until he or she is incapable of concealing information. It's an extended and contested process. Make Wits + Intimidation + equipment rolls for the interrogator. Roll Stamina + Resolve for the subject. The number of successes that each participant seeks is equal to his opponent's Willpower dots. Thus, if an interrogator has 5 Willpower and his subject has 3, the interrogator wins if he accumulates three successes first, and the subject wins if he accumulates five successes first. The winner breaks the opponent's will to continue asking questions or to resist any longer. The interrogator's roll can be modified by equipment such as torture instruments. If the subject is allowed sleep between interview sessions, rolls are made for him normally. If he's denied normal sleep, he suffers a cumulative -1 penalty for each night of sleep that he misses. Thus, he's at -1 after the first night, -2 after the second, and so on.
Example: Wilson has arrested a suspect in the recent "Vampire Killer" murders and interrogates him in hopes that his alibi will fall apart. Wilson's Wits is 4, his Intimidation is 2, and he uses the department's bleak interrogation room, designed to make subjects feel isolated, which provides a +1 modifier. Wilson's Willpower is 4. The suspect's Stamina + Resolve dice pool is five, and he has a 5 Willpower. Wilson's first roll produces a 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (two successes), while the suspect's roll is 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 (one success). An hour passes. Both need three more successes to break the other, but can Wilson win before the man's lawyer arrives?
If participants' accumulated successes meet their targets simultaneously, the interrogator fails to learn what he wants and the process must start over again from scratch.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: Your character's system of threats, violence and deprivation falls apart, reinforcing the subject's resistance. She cannot be broken by your character at this time. An interrogation subject who suffers a dramatic failure collapses completely and tells everything she knows.
Failure: Your character fails to make any headway against his opponent, either as interrogator or subject.
Success: Your character makes progress against his opponent.
Exceptional Success: Your character makes dramatic progress with his opponent.
Suggested Equipment: For interrogator: Law enforcement or government credentials (+1), interrogation room (+1), torture implements (+2), interrogation drugs (+3 For subject: Airtight alibi (+3), lawyer on the way (+2), important cause (+3)
Possible Penalties: For interrogator: Language barrier (-2 to -3), lack of evidence against subject (-3 For subject: Denied food and/or water for extended period (- 3), loved ones threatened (-1), loved ones harmed (-3)

Dice Pool: Wits + Intimidation + equipment (interrogator) versus Stamina + Resolve (subject)
Action: Extended and contested (the task demands a number of successes equal to the subject's Willpower; each roll represents one hour of interrogation)