System: All attempts to affect the emotions of others, intentional or otherwise, are at -1 difficulty per Rank of Animal Magnetism. A Storyteller should note, however, that this effect will also strength the effect of negative feelings towards the garou as well. A garou with Rank 5 would have people falling madly in love with them every week, but would also find minor slights or forgotten birthdays turning into life-long vendettas.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Galliard.)
Rank: Animation:
Talk: The garou is able to interrogate inanimate objects, to learn what they know. The garou can tell where the object has been, what it has done, and so on. The garou can also interrogate places and areas in this way. Roll Pcn + Animas, difficulty depends on the age and obstinacy of the spirits within, and some may require coercion. More successes yield more information.
Plants: The garou can animate plants and vegetation, which are living but unable to move. Thus, branches, shrubs, leaves, even trees can be brought to life and put to work. 1 Gnosis point must be spent, or more for larger plants. Garou rolls Mani + Animas, and for each success, 1 Trait dot may be assigned to the plant, though the Storyteller may limit according to type (e.g., 1 Dex for trees, 3 Str for Vines, etc.)
Stone, Metal and Glass: The garou can cause harder substances to come to life. When animated, they can perform tasks appopriate to their form (such as a table walking) or crude matter can ripple and mold somewhat. (See Elemental Favor.) As above, see also Elemental Favor. Note also that the garou can turn such objects away, if used as weapons or projectiles.
Primals: The garou can control animate but unliving things, such as fire, electricity, and wind. These things are harder to control, but produce more spectacular results. Direction of primals in an attack may require a Dex + Animas roll, doing 1 level of damage per success. Garou can again turn such forces away.
Primal Form: By touching an inanimate, the garou is able to shape-shift and assume some of its likeness (by borrowing some of its Animas.) Thus, the garou could gain Stone's hardness, Fire's wrath or Wind's speed. A dedicated talisman of the object will also do. Garou rolls Sta + Animas, difficulty 8, and adds one appropriate trait point, decided by the Storyteller, per success. Applicable powers may also be gained. 1 Gnosis must be spent. Effect lasts (usually) for one scene.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Theurge and Uktena.)
Ares: The garou with this regency is highly tuned to their combative instincts, and can tell the
exact moment an enemy staring him down is about to attack, and also, when is the moment of greatest advantage to
make an attack of their own. This instinct gives him the edge in combat, and makes him a superb fighter. The effectiveness
of this edge is determined by the Rank of the regency.
System: Whenever the garou is entering combat, they may add their Rank of Ares to their initiative dice pools. In addition, the garou can roll against Ares alone (difficulty 8) to defeat surprise and ambush. Tickle o' the Whiskers defeats Ares, rank for rank, so a character with 3 Ares attacking a character with 4 Tickle-O gets no extra dice.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Ahroun.)
System: The garou must roll his Beastman rank, difficulty as the number of forms between his present one and the power he wishes to use + 4 (example, a garou in homid form who wishes to run as fast as Lupus must roll @ difficulty 8.) It costs 1 Gnosis to use this ability, but only once per scene that it is used. In that scene, multiple changes can be made.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Glass-Walkers and Shadow Lords)
System: The garou rolls Manipulation + Empathy, resisted by the target's Willpower, and spends a Willpower point. The change the garou can make in the target's emotions is determined by their Rank, and how long the change lasts by the number of successes they score.
Change in Emotions: Duration:
Slight change; calm to nervous, happy to calm, etc. 1 turn
Moderate: happy to annoyed, calm to anxious The scene
Greatly; calm to flustered, happy to very angry, etc. Several scenes
Total: Victim loses all control of their emotions, can go from calm to blind panic, happy to suicidal, enraged to rational Entire Story
Frightening: Can alter basic instincts, deepest needs, likes and dislikes; can create and alter phobias or other emotional triggers. Storyteller's discretion (permanent.)
At the Storyteller's discretion, this gift can be used to drain or create Rage scores in victims, 1 per success -- taken from those used for duration (example: 6 successes at rank 5 could change an ordinary human into a Berserker with Rage 1 permanently) bring derangements under control, or create new ones. The garou with this power also has the ability to bring the Curse and the Delirium in line, but this is more difficult as it is a matter of race-memory.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Galliard and Silver Fang.)
Rank: Animal Mastery:
Garou can speak to any animal, in any form. This does not imply control; hostile animals will still be hostile. The garou can ask questions of the animal, and understand their replies. Information gained this way is as meaningful and complete as one might receive from a homid, but animals are much more provincial -- they are interested in only what they are interested in (e.g., food, prey, other dogs.)
The garou can plug directly into an animal's instincts, and know without even asking where the animal has been, what it has experienced, whether it's fierce or hungry, whether it "belongs" to another supernatural, and so on.
Control: The garou can control animals in her vicinity, merely by giving them commands. Usually some roll is necessary, particularly if the animal is disinclined to do as they are told (such as jumping through an open flame.) It costs 1 Gnosis point to control an animal or group of animals for one scene (or more if it is a literal army.) For this purpose, huge swarms of tiny animals, such as beetles and rats, should be considered as 1 animal.
Summon: The garou is able to summon all the animals of a certain type to her vicinity, where her Control can take over. How many show up depends on the availability of the animal selected. It usually requires 1 Gnosis to summon in this way, and a roll to determine how many show up.
Borrow the Gifts: All animals have gifts, just like garou, like the Hawk's ability to fly or the salmon's ability to swim. At this rank, the beast master is able to borrow the ability of any animal in his vicinity for one scene. This costs 1 Gnosis point, and can only be performed on a willing animal.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Lupus and Red Talon.)
Rank: Camouflaged in:
The garou is invisible in natural surroundings, including being against natural stone, in water, and in darkness, as long as they remain still. If they move, they are instantly visible unless they move quickly and then freeze again.
The garou is invisible in natural surroundings, even when moving.
The garou is invisible against complex backgrounds only when immobile.
The garou is invisible against complex backgrounds even while moving.
The garou is invisible anywhere.
System: This regency has no cost, but the character must take a turn to blend in. A character using this regency is normally invisible so long as they meet the conditions. They may have to make a Wits + Stealth roll to remain unseen if they move (for those ranks which require immobility.) If someone is actively searching for them, make a contest of Pcn + Alertness difficulty 8 vs. Wits + Stealth difficulty 6 to determine the winner. Dots in Heightened Senses defeat Camouflage, dot for dot (it is simply less effective against them.)
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Ragabash and Shadow Lords.)
System: Garou with Chaos can purchase vampiric disciplines and other powers, limited by their dots in Chaos like a Mage's Arete (e.g., a Shadow Lord garou with 3 dots in Chaos cannot buy 4 dots of Protean.) They retain the ability to shape-change, to Rage and to gain extra actions, and cannot buy Celerity, Potence or Fortitude, nor can they burn blood. They also, however, have no need nor use for a Humanity score. Also, each dot of Chaos gained drains one permanent dot of Gnosis. With each new Rank of Chaos, the garou gains new weaknesses:
Rank: Vulnerability:
Needs to kill to regain Gnosis. No other method will work. Each victim mauled to death by the garou yields their Gnosis score (or equivalent in Willpower, usually 2 or 3.)
Vulnerable to Fire and Faith, the way a Life-Stealer is.
Burned by Sunlight exactly like a Life-Stealer.
Begins to lose 1 Gnosis point per day, regardless of use. At 0 Gnosis, unable to enter the Umbra.
Can no longer enter the Umbra.
Cost: Chaos x 5 (The left-hand path is always easier.)
System: Each Rank of Cover allows the garou to ignore one additional level of difficulty due to cover (e.g., someone whose head alone is visible normally is +4 to hit, but against a garou with Cover 2 they receive only +2.) In addition, anytime they cannot immediately find cover they can call in this favor, roll their dots of Cover (difficulty normally 6, adjusted by Storyteller), and for each success attains an equivalent level of Cover. Each use of the gifts costs 1 Gnosis point.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Ragabash and Silver Fang.)
Rank: Change Possible:
Similar form; No change in attributes, and form must be similar; dog into wolf; man into woman; wasp into bee, etc.
Cosmetic; complete change in form, but in form only - substance is unchanged and has same rules attached (car may be made into wall, with same Armor rating.)
Complete change: Actual substance of object may be changed, but size may not. Car may be changed into glass, for example.
Size: Able to cause objects to shrink or grow, usually no less than 1/5 nor no greater than 1/5th.
Total Change: Can change the very state; people into stone, pumpkin into horse, diamond into fire, etc.
System: Normally, the garou must roll Mani + Exomorphis at difficulty equal to the Rank of the task they are attempting + 4. It also costs 1 Gnosis point (minimum) to affect a change. Larger objects will require more Gnosis. Changes last for one scene, or longer if the garou has extra successes they can spend on duration (see Duration column of Beastsong.)
Cost: Rank x 7
Rank: Garou can move freely even:
in thick mud, branches, close quarters or small spaces.
in water or tiny spaces; no penalty for attacks from the side.
when grappled, or when tied or shackled in some way. Able to slip out of any bonds.
Able to climb any surface like an insect and walk on sheer ice or on water. Able to slip through the tiniest cracks. No penalty for attacks from the rear.
Gravity itself provides no hindrance whatsoever (garou can leap great heights and effectively glide.) Garou can walk on fog or wind.
System: Freedom adds to any and all dice pools to climb, grapple, survive a fall, leap or slip out of traps. When using Freedom to slip free of something, the Storyteller may require a roll (such as Dex + Alertness or simply Freedom itself) but for the most part, Freedom is automatic. The garou does not take penalties associated with those restrictions mentioned in his rank.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Ragabash.)
Cost: Rank x 2
Rank: Senses:
Sharpened: Like Auspex 1, senses are effectively doubled, but garou is vulnerable too. In wolf form, senses are supernaturally potent, but with comparable vulnerability.
Better: As Heightened Senses, senses become sharp as a wolf's in homid form, and supernaturally potent in animal form. No particular vulnerability.
Specialized: The garou is able to utilize specialized animal senses (for 1 Gnosis point per sense) in the same manner as Cybersenses, such as a bat's echolocation, a heron's directional sense, and a fly's 360 vision.
Mystical: The garou is able to tune all their uncanny awareness to distant locations, and sense everything as if they were right there. The farther the locations are, the greater the difficulty. Sometimes, the Storyteller may roll for the player and inform them of something taking place far away that they have tuned into.
Wyld Eyes: The garou is aware of everything that occurs in their immediate area, and is constantly tuned into all the goings-on of any location that they call their own (i.e., territory.) It is virtually impossible to surprise a garou with this rank of Senses without some supernatural shielding.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Lupus and Theurge.)
Rank: Helios:
Fire: The garou can control heat and fire.
Cold: the garou can absorb ambient heat and generate terrible cold.
Light: The garou can control light. Typically, this does no damage (except daylight to Life-Stealers) and should be allowed to last a number of scenes.
Darkness: the garou can absorb ambient light and generate gloom and darkness.
Electricity: The garou can command the irascible electrical elementals.
Cost: Rank x 7.
System: At the start of any turn, the himsati can float dots from any of its Attributes to any other, allowing it to greatly boost its strength, or speed, or anything it wishes. As it shifts attributes, naturally, it also shifts in form, becoming larger, more graceful, heavier, wolflike, or more humanoid. The number of dots that can be floated is (at most) the Rank of Himsati. Frenzy difficulties in Himsati are lowered, though, by the number of dots shifted (e.g., at 4 dots shifted, frenzy is at -4.) Himsati cannot shift dots into regencies, or any other special score (such as Gnosis, Rage or Willpower), or Abilities. It costs 1 Rage point to enter Himsati.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Mιtis or Red Talon.)
Rank: Recovery:
Regeneration of 1 Health Level per night, aggravated or no.
Able to Soak all damage; even aggravated, but not that caused by Silver.
Regeneration of 1 Health level each turn.
Recovery from Near-Death by spending a point of Rage (see Battle Scars.)
Able to soak and regenerate all during a Lunar Eclipse.
System: As Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Cost: Rank x 3 (Garou may start with 1 dot or more.)
System: When using the roar, the garou rolls the rank of Lion's Roar against a difficulty of 6 and spends 1 Rage point. Each success scores a level of aggravated damage on their targets, with no soak or regeneration possible. Targets who cannot hear cannot be harmed, and targets who are using Heightened Senses at that moment take double-damage. Objects may be shattered by the roar, with difficulty set according to their strength by the Storyteller (e.g., Glass 3, Steel 9.)
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Galliard, Lupus and Get of Fenris.)
Rank: Luna: System:
Sense Energy: the garou can sense strong energy sources close-by, such as a nuclear furnace or a burning building. Roll Pcn + Luna, difficulty 6 for fire, 7 for electricity and light, and 8+ for others. The more successes, the more the garou can tell about the energy source, its direction, strength and so on.
Absorb: the garou can absorb energy into their body directly, or dampen it in their vicinity (in the case of light, this means creating darkness.) If the garou absorbs into their body, Luna provides armor of class equal to their Rank. If they dampen energy sources nearby, the energies are reduced by Rank also, e.g., a torch that would do 2 levels of damage is totally dampened by Rank 2 Luna. Costs 1 Gnosis point to Absorb.
Amplify: the garou is able to act like a lens, focusing energy sources in their area, amplifying them. Energy source is increased by garou's Rank in Luna, e.g., a torch that would do 2 levels is increased to 5 by Rank 3 Luna. Cost is 1 Gnosis point.
Channel: the garou is able to channel energy directly through their body wherever they wish to. This is like generation (below), but requires a strong source nearby for them to tap. Roll Mani + Luna, difficulty as in Rank 1. The maximum energy the garou can channel is their Luna Rank (e.g., a garou with Luna 4 standing in front of a furnace that would do 10 levels of damage can still only direct 4.) Cost is 1 Gnosis point, plus 1 damage level.
Generate: At this Rank, the garou can actually transmute their own living energy into the energy they need and direct it where they choose. As a ranged attack, roll Pcn + Luna to hit, damage rank as Luna. It costs 1 Gnosis point, plus 1 damage level is done to the garou when they generate.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Black Furies and Silver Fang.)
Rank: Forms:
Lycanthropy: Lupus (or Homid)
Wolfman: Crinos (note: until they reach this rank, Metis cannot change to Homid or Lupus forms.)
Midrange Forms: Hispo and Glabro
Partial Shifting: Claws, eyes, ears, with abilities.
Full shifter: At this rank, the garou can change to new combinations of wolf and man, floating their physical scores to suit their needs, at difficulties set by the Storyteller.
System: As Werewolf: The Apocalypse. For partial-shifting, the character must roll Dex + PU at difficulty 6, and for full shifter, the storyteller must assign an arbitrary difficulty to any new form the character wishes to take. The storyteller should use the existing forms as a basis for any new abilities, and a guideline to maxima that can be achieved.
Cost: Rank x 3 (Garou may start with 2 or 3 dots.)
Rank: Change Possible:
Slight changes only (e.g. man to another man, wolf to wolf.)
Significant changes (e.g., man to woman; wolf to panther.)
Complete change; any shape of similar size.
Any form between 1/5th and 5x the garou's actual size
Totally Alien forms (chair, tree.)
System: The character needs to spend time to mimick a particular creature, and if they are forced to make an instant change, a Willpower point could be required. How well a character takes a certain form depends on what the form is for. Fearsome forms would require Cha + Intimidation, mimicking a certain homid would require Pcn + Alertness (to get the details), inventing a realistic version of a historic figure might require Wits + Subterfuge, etc.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Galliard and Metis.)
Rank: Mirror-Walk:
Garou can view events that have been reflected in the mirror in the past.
Garou can speak to people in the mirror-scenes that they view, but for interrogation only.
Garou can step into the mirror and interact with the events portrayed in the mirror, but cannot step beyond the scene. They may examine objects, but all a dream, essentially. Only information can be gathered.
Can retrieve objects from Mirrorworld (but not people.)
Actually travels back to the scene that they are viewing and can interact in reality with the people and objects there. Can retrieve items and even people, even affect the past, but still cannot step beyond the frame of the mirror's view.
System: The garou must roll Gnosis at difficulty equal to the Rank of the task they are attempting + 4, and spends 1 Gnosis point. To retrieve larger objects, or powerful beings might require more Gnosis (perhaps more than they presently have.) Successfully interrogating characters within the mirror, noticing details or examining objects are handled by other skills.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Theurge and Uktena.)
System: Each Rank allows the garou to split into another form, so into 2 forms at Rank 1, 3 at Rank 2, and 5 at Rank 4. At Rank 5, the garou doubles the splits becoming 2 Lupus, 2 Homid, 2 Hispo, 2 Glabro and 2 Crinos. All a garou's moon-faces (or "phases") can act independently of each other, and have the garou's abilities, take damage normally, and can die. Phasing does have several limitations:
1. Foremost, the garou must already be able to assume multiple forms to use a certain Rank of Moon Face.
2. Only one duplicate can do damage in any given turn. Also, only one duplicate can use any given ability in a given turn. Two duplicates cannot both use Brawl in a single turn, for example.
3. When the garou splits, they must split their remaining (current) Gnosis, Willpower and Rage among all their forms. Duplicates always roll against the permanent rating of the true character, but cannot regain more than their allocated portion of these stats.
4. Duplicates can be kept apart, but they always want to re-join.
The phasing ends when all remaining duplicates meet up again later and re-form into the single being. All Gnosis, Willpower and Rage is totalled, up to the character's true maximum. If duplicates retain damage, the average of all damage-levels is returned to the character. Aggravated damage levels should be counted separately, since they heal slower. The character will survive as long as even one duplicate survives.
Example: A garou who can take 3 forms, Homid, Lupus, Crinos has Moon Face *, enough to split into two forms, so they choose Crinos and Lupus. The garou shares his 6 Rage, 5 Willpower and 3 Gnosis between the two like this: 6 Rage for the Crinos, 2 and 3 Willpower, and 3 Gnosis for the Lupus, because he wants to escape in Lupus while the Crinos fights. As it turns out, the Lupus is ambushed, and takes 4 damage-levels and spends all his Willpower, and the Crinos beats his opponent, taking only two, but spending all but 1 Rage. When they meet and re-form, the real character has 1 Rage, 3 Willpower, 3 Gnosis and 3 damage-levels.
Cost: Rank x 7
System: The garou must already possess Lycanthropy 4 or equivalent (partial shifting) to be able to attempt Morphing. Each body change requires a roll of Dex + PU at difficulty equal to the Rank of the change desired + 3, and usually the expenditure of a Willpower point. Some do non-aggravated damage to the character.
Rank: Body Change:
Webs: The character can spin ropes and webs out of the material of their own body: fur, hair, clothes, skin or blood even. It takes a roll vs. Strength at difficulty equal to the Rank of Morpheus + the number of successes on the roll to hit, If the webs are cut or snapped, the garou takes a level of non-aggravated damage.
Knives: The garou can shape parts of themselves (usually hands) into elongated claws or metal knives. These do damage as Str + Rank damage.
Shield: The garou can shape an extremity into a shield or buckler that can absorb incoming attacks. The class of this armor is the Rank of Morpheus, but only protects against attacks coming from the direction the shield is pointed. Equivalently they can form a helmet or breastplate, or leggings or bracers, but the armor is always limited to one section of the body or one direction.
Armor: The garou shapes their outer skin into interlocking plates or tough hide that absorbs damage. The class of this natural armor equals the Rank of Morpheus.
Projectiles: The garou can shape portions of their body into projectiles and actually launch them at opponents, like a porcupine's quills. This operates like Wasp Talons, and always causes one level of non- aggravated damage to the garou when used.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for The Silver Hand)
System: This gift mainly applies to garou that work in a pack, but the Pack Mentality can function across all kinds of barriers between beings that are bonded in some way, particularly in stressful situations. A garou could, for example, draw his homid kinfolk family into a Pack Mentality in a crisis. Usually, though, it works best in an actual garou pack. If more than one garou has the ability, the Storyteller can either add the dots together, or allow the two gifts to work in tandem (e.g., with two Pack Mentality regents, two pairs of garou in the pack can share stats at once) because normally any Pack Mentality can be used in only one way each turn (or action, if all have the same number of actions.)
Rank: Pack Shares:
Danger: When one pack member is in danger, the others sense it. They can usually also home in on the pack member sending out the distress call.
Thoughts: Garou are in mental contact, over virtually any distance, and can speak to and advise each other at will. This also assists when numbers in a pack are trying to coordinate group attacks.
Skills: At this rank, one garou in the pack can lend the dots of one of his abilities to another garou in the pack, but cannot use the dots himself while in use, for 1 Gnosis point. The garou doing the lending chooses which dots and how many to lend, but cannot lend more than the Pack Mentality rank.
Willpower, Gnosis or Rage. One garou in the pack can give one of these points to another pack member. One given, the point is "spent" and lost. Though points given in this manner can (slightly) exceed the recipient's maximum, it does not alter that maximum.
Powers: At this rank, garou can even share their powers among each other like they share abilities or Gnosis. The cost for any abilities used in this way is double, once by the recipient and again by the donor. Note that any attribute rolls or scores used in the power are those of the recipient, not the donor.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Lupus and Philodox)
Panacea: The garou with this regency is lord of the Realm of Health, and can heal and help others
with their powers. Many garou believe the healing properties of Panacea are in a sense "forgiveness" to the body
for its wrongs, allowing it to heal, but all know how useful it is. Each Rank of Panacea gives the garou a new
healing ability:
Rank: Healing Power:
Sense Health; The garou can, by rolling Pcn + Empathy, sense the condition of anyone they wish. This gives the character a sense of their current health level, any diseases, poisons or taint at work, etc. Additionally, the garou can sense supernaturals with this ability -- they can sense the thundering vitality of a garou, the near-death of a Life-Stealer, the void of a Ghost, etc.
Give Strength: By laying on hands, the garou is able to impart their strength to others, allowing a weakened warrior to fight on. The garou can give any of their Rage, Gnosis or Willpower points to another, no more than their Rank each turn. Note that the other still rolls against the same permanent Rage, Gnosis and Willpower scores they always had (so Rage cannot be given to a human making them berserk), they simply have more points to spend.
Absorb Wounds: The garou is able to absorb the wounds of another into themselves. They roll Panacea + Empathy, and each success draws one damage level into their own body. The garou can say ahead of time that they will limit how much they will absorb, but they will always absorb aggravated levels first.
Share Vitality: At this rank, the garou is able to share their vitality with the person they touch, allowing that person the same regeneration and recover that the garou enjoys thru Invulnerability (up to the 3rd Rank.)
Share Recovery: At this rank, the garou can share the further 2 Ranks of Invulnerability with the person they touch. Thus, the garou can spend a Rage point and allow a mortal to instantly recover from a mortal wound and regenerate.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Theurge and Children of Gaia.)
Rank: Environment:
Wilderness (example: Forest) Unaffected by unusual diseases, and can survive easily with only sparse food, or go for long periods without any. Garou can withstand extreme temperatures for a short time (about 3 minutes.)
Inhospitable (e.g., Underground)
Unfriendly (e.g., desert or arctic) Garou is able to adapt to and survive easily in the deep desert or freezing arctic. At this rank, the garou can also shift into an aquatic form (like a dolphin), but cannot breathe water.
Harsh: Garou is able to survive great heat or cold, and adapt totally to sea life, breathing water and surviving pressures even in the deep ocean.
Deadly: Garou can survive in conditions normally fatal. She needs no more than 8% oxygen and can hold her breath long enough to withstand open vaccuum for about 20 minutes. Can walk unharmed through volcanic heat or blistering cold.
System: Although not really a defense, the garou can add their Rank of Primeval to soak rolls in certain applicable cases (such as heat at any rank or extreme pressure at Rank 4.) To adapt to each new environment requires a Gnosis point be spent, and the Storyteller may ask for a roll of Stamina + Survival to determine how long the garou can survive in a hostile environment.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Bone Gnawers or Metis.)
System: See Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Cost: Rank x 1.
Rank: Umbra:
Garou can view into the Umbra through any reflective surface.
Garou can "step sideways" into the Umbra through any reflective surface. They cannot bring others or items that are not part of them.
Garou is able to shift into the Deep Umbra.
Garou can take others with him into the Umbra, if they are bonded to him, and using his Gnosis.
Moon Bridge: The garou is able to travel between two points instantaneously through the Umbra, stepping into a mirror at one end and out a mirror at the other. This is easier at Caerns.
System: As Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Cost: Rank x 6 (Garou may start with 2 dots.)
System: Each rank of Untiring is added to the Stamina of the garou when determining their ability to carry on. It does not alter their soak rolls. Higher stamina can be read this way.
Stamina: Tirelessness:
6 Able to fight for almost an hour; able to run for hours without tiring; able to fast for weeks quite easily.
9 Able to fight for hours; run for days without tiring
12 Able to fight for days; run for weeks without tiring
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Philodox and Bone Gnawers.)
System: Whenever danger is present, the Storyteller rolls dice equal to the garou's Rank in Tickle-O, difficulty usually 6. The more successes, the more the garou knows about the direction, nature and degree of the danger. It is therefore possible for a garou with this Regency to avoid the debilitating effects of surprise and ambush. It is possible to sense danger to those close to the garou, but much more difficult. Regency over Ares defeats Tickle o' the Whiskers.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Theurge and Lupus.)
Rank: Weather is to the Climate / Change in Weather Conditions:
Common / Slight
Normal / Significant
Unusual / Remarkable
Bizarre / Abnormal
Unheard Of / Complete Reversal
System: The garou rolls Gnosis to alter weather patterns, difficulty 6, and spends 1 Gnosis Point. The number of successes determines how quickly the change occurs, 1 takes an hour, 5 is instantaneous. If the garou summons up dangerous weather, it is up to the Storyteller to determine what damage is caused (but lightning is not choosy.)
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Wendigo and Theurge.)
System: The garou rolls Wrath in place of Rage when attacking targets in the real world, and must spend 1 Willpower point, though only once per mental combat. If in the Umbra, all attacks are normal, but the Wrath score added is to the garou's Rage if they spend Willpower. Targets lose 1 Gnosis (or Willpower) per successful strike.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Shadow Lords and Theurge)
System: To mimick a certain creature's mind, the garou must have some kind of relationship with them (be they friend or foe, pet or sibling) or have some talisman that can link them. To properly mimick, the garou must also take the creature's form. The garou rolls their Wyrd rank at difficulty of the target's Willpower (+2 if they cannot assume the form physically.) If they succeed, they effectively become that creature for a time, both in body and in mind. 1 Gnosis point must be spent, or more for more powerful or important targets. On a botch, the garou's mind is overwhelmed by the change, and they cannot be brought back without some supernatural effort.
While imitating a target, it must be determined which will rules. The garou and her target make a resisted Willpower contest, each seeking a number of successes equal to their opponent's Willpower. The one who wins has control, and can end the change, or remain, but they are in control. A garou can therefore become a weak-willed person and use all of their knowledge and skills (but not their own) with the Wyrd.
A second benefit is that those outside can question the target normally, and if he is engaged in the Willpower contest, he must split his dice pools. How well the garou imitates the mind is determined by the number of successes on the original Wyrd roll.
Rank: Retains:
Surface; only the most superficial of current details. If the target just dialed a phone-number you could know it, if they just ate, you could remember what it tasted like. Could continue the scene the target was in.
Deeper: You retain more awareness of the target's short-term plans. Again, this would only be what they were doing today, what was currently on their mind, e.g., "I was wondering whether my wife Harriett went to the dry cleaners like I asked her to.." Could be the target for the day.
Memory: You retain much more of the target's long-term memory, you will know what they have been doing for the past few days and are planning to do in the next. You also know the character's lifestyle and emotional makeup. Could be the target for a week.
Profound: Much longer goals are seen, things in the bigger picture. At this level, you understand the target very well. Only the most important, best-kept secrets are hidden from the garou at this level.
Everything: Deep-lain plain, profound beliefs, deeper feelings, the essential character of the creature. This can a highly disturbing thing, particularly if this is someone the garou didn't (used to) know intimately. The garou may find it difficult to detach from these feelings, now that they understand them so well.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Wyrd Systern.)
Example: The tribe of Dessaly, an elder Wyrd Syster, has to learn the whereabouts of a toxic Bane Den, but they cannot track it down. Only the homid CEO of Corpex (subsidiary of Pentex Inc.), Martin Robanks, their long-time adversary, knows where it is. Standing on a hill overlooking the city, Dessaly becomes Robanks. She rolls 4 Wyrd vs. his Willpower of 8, and gets 2 successes, enough to know his plans. At that moment, Dessaly changes into Robanks, in body and mind. The Wyrd sisters fight to capture and pin down the startled and confused CEO, they then demand he tell them where the Den is. Robanks has to split his Willpower 8 and Wits+Subt of 8 to 4 and 4. A pitched mental battle (and intense interrogation) later, Dessaly overwhelms him. If Robanks had something in mind for the Den for that day, she would know where it was.
Example 2: To enter the industrial compound, the systers have to get past a securite gate with a lock. Spying a guard who works at the gate, she waylays him. In homid form, she strikes up a conversation with him, gets to know him, and they go out on the date. The next night, the systers return to the compound and Dessaly takes the guard's form (with 2 successes vs. his Willpower of 5.) Entering through the gate, she greets the two guards (whom she now knows), and enters the code, giving them all access.
System: Use of Wyver's Kin always costs 1 Gnosis point, more for larger machines, and should also require a roll of Cha + Repair to determine how well the machine obeys, or Pcn + Science to interrogate, difficulty rated by the complexity of the machine.
Rank: Machines:
Interrogate: The garou can get information from the machine, such as what was the last code typed on it, what did it do last, where has it been, etc. This is particularly useful with "thinking machines" like computers. A roll of Pcn + Science (or Computers) should determine the quality of information received.
The garou can command machines to turn off, or on.
The garou can command the machine to do anything in its normal operation, or repair them merely by touching them (like Healing.)
The garou can cause the machine to stretch its limits, and perform things not normally within its operation, but similar. For example, make a car go faster, make an ordinary radio send as well as receive, and so on.
Alteration: At this rank, the garou can command machines to do the work of other machines, though the task must still be somewhat related. A computer cannot lift crates, but a phone could pick up radio signals, a Hand-held video game could perform like a large mainframe, and so on.
Cost: Rank x 7 (5 for Glass-Walkers)
Cost: 7 (5 for Red Talons.)
System: Roll Dex + Athletics to roll or jump back to your feet immediately after being thrown or knocked down, difficulty usually 6. If partially bipedal, difficulty is 4. If fully quadrupedal, recovery is automatic, but character can roll to see if they automatically land on their feet after being knocked down, thrown or when they fall. When falling, the garou's jumpings distances are doubled for purposes of shaving distance from a fall if they make the roll and land on their feet.
Cost: 7 (5 for Lupus.)
Cost: 7 (5 for Shadow-Lords or Glass-Walkers.)
Cost: 7 (5 for Bone Gnawers or Wendigo.)
System: The garou rolls Cha + Empathy, difficulty of her own Rage and spends 1 Gnosis point per target. The number of successes determines how well and for how long the homid is protected from their fear. Those who are treated with love and respect can even be freed permanently.
Cost: 7 (5 for Children of Gaia.)
System: See Sense of the Prey.
Cost: 7 (5 for Lupus or Red Talon.)
System: The garou rolls Int + Linguistics, difficulty determined by the language, and spends 1 Willpower point.
Cost: 7 (5 for Glass-Walkers or Philodox.)
Example: A garou has lost a treasured talisman, which is now in Brazil, where it is sitting in a safe. When he calls it, the thief's wife opens the safe, and seeing the new piece of jewelry, wears it out. During the party, it drops off and lands in a plant. Several weeks later, while the cleaning lady is watering the plants, she comes across what she believes is a piece of folk-art and she sends it to her cousin in Canada for her birthday. In Canada, it is intercepted at customs and held over because a guard believes it resembles a recently-stolen musem piece. Because it matches, it is returned to the museum in Arizona, where the garou finds it on display, some four weeks after she called for it.
The summoning does not necessarily imply control. A bonded enemy, for example, who has been drawn before may recognize the feeling and realize it will be a trap, and resist the urge to go. Summoning also does not preclude the garou herself being drawn to places or doing things that will re-unite her with her prize.
System: Garou who do not have the Wolf's Cradle can still use this trick, the item simply has to be bonded to them by someone else.
Cost: 7 (5 for Uktena)
The Bonding can also be carried out on a Foe, though it is much more difficult to arrange, and more painful for the bonder. This is a life-long commitment, a permanent bond, just like any other form of Bonding, but this is for different reasons. Many noble garou have committed to this ritual to ensure that, as long as their enemy lives, they will be there to stop him. It is a dire thing, but it is done more and more often in these trying days.
System: This is essentially the ritual of Talisman Dedication, only it works on people, garou, and animals too. It is a mysterious ritual, that can be performed over dinner at someone's house if the conditions are right, or requires great golden bowls of blood and much chanting in others, this is up to the Storyteller. Once bonded, the creatures are linked forever. The actual game-effects of the bond are also up to the Storyteller. The bond does not necessarily imply telepathy or other special knowledge, the Wolf's Cradle is more than a commitment, it is a spiritual link. A garou would somehow know, months later, that their enemy was still alive, for example. Should something or someone that is bonded ever be lost to the garou, it will cause an emotional void as profound as the loss of a loved one. In the case of a bonded enemy finally being defeated, the garou will feel purposeless for a long time after, like a man without a goal anymore.
If the ritual succeeds, the garou possesses his ancestor or descendant in the manner of Past Lives. Once there, the garou becomes the will of that ancestor or descendant and assumes their identity. They may retain some of their own skills and abilities, or they may have the ancestor or descendants abilities, equally. Generally, garou with more connection to their Race Memory (i.e., high Past Life scores) are better at retaining more of themselves when they travel in this way.
System: When a garou's mission is completed, they return naturally to their point of departure, usually an equal amount of time later (e.g, if they spent 4 hours in the past, they return 4 hours later.) The typical result of the ritual is that the ancestor swaps places with the garou in the present for the time they occupy their body in the past or future, although some lie motionless in a deathlike coma for the time instead. If the travelling garou is killed, their counterpart in the future is trapped in the present forever, and likewise, if the garou's possessed or comatose body dies while they are travelling, they can never return, which is just one of the reasons this technique is done only as a last-resort.
If a garou must be brought back before their time, there is another even less-well-known ritual that can recall them to their proper time, related to rituals that can free a garou of possession by his or her past lives. If the garou went through time with a mission that is not yet complete, this is next to impossible to accomplish.
Note: If a garou possesses bonded (cradled) items, these can sometimes make the journey through time with them. It is also important to note that the ancestor the garou goes back or forward to need not necessarily be a shape-shifter as well, Kinfolk are also the garou's descendants and ancestors, and may be the destination of such a time-journey. Mιtis, because they are sterile, cannot travel into the future, also there are tales of those that did, through a sister or brother's descendants, but this may be a myth.
See Also: His Master's Voice (q.v.)
Garou characters start with 1 dot (at least) in Lycanthropy. In addition, they may also assign 4 dots of Regency. Usually these are an additional dot of Lycanthropy, plus 2 dots of Umbra, and one dot free for any Regency or Gift the player wants, so, the usual starting point of werewolves is:
** Umbra
** Lycanthropy
* Regency (or Gift.)
Rage, Gnosis and Willpower are assigned as normal. The freeby-cost for dots in any Regency is 7, as in Vampire. Starting werewolf characters cannot have more than 2 dots in any one Regency.
Garou Culture
: (and other
suggestions)
Issracht: (The "Shaped-Once") Garou believe that all creatures descended from
garou have the ability to shape-shift, even if it is too deeply buried to express itself. Proof of this belief are the
Issracht, or "Shaped-Once." These are creatures who have garou blood buried somewhere deep in their heritage,
and who in some time of intense trauma, have managed to reach down into themselves, and make one change. This change
often saves their lives, however, once changed they find they can never go back and are forever locked into a strange, new,
alien form. Usually, such creatures are/were kinfolk, and garou treat them with great responsibility.
Issracht are usually men or women who have changed into wolves, but there are Issracht who were cats and now are men, wolves who now are Crinos, and so on. Naturally, the issracht is special, too, since like true garou they retain something of themselves in their new form. Men-wolves retain their intelligence* , wolf-weres are essentially animals but gain bipedal stance and hands, and so on.
The fate of the Issracht is not set. Some garou powers can restore them, but they must first be found, and this is not easy. Sometimes, they manage to assimilate into a new life or they happen to meet with true garou, who assist them. Some man-wolfs and wolf-weres, for example, are simply absorbed into the tribes as "watchdogs." Most often, however, the Issracht are confused and upset by their transformation, and their lives end in tragedy. Very often, those that change in front of homid or animal witnesses are often destroyed in blind terror.
Kori-Kolaf (The Little Death): In the legends of the shape-onlies, shape-shifters can only be killed with a certain substance, such as Silver, Flint or Tinder. This is both true and misleading. In fact, shape-shifters can die and do age, only not in the way that shape-onlies do. As they grow to adulthood their vitality grows too, and as they age, it wanes, but they do not wear this frailty upon their face as do shape-onlies. An ancient self-shaper can appear as youthful and vibrant as a youngling who has taken adult form (at least to the eyes of shape-onlies.)
"Metamorphs are also possessed of a tremendous vitality, many times that of a non-shaper. Their bodies are much stronger, as they have to be, in order to withstand the riptide energies of corporeal transformation. Small hurts are ignored, and even injuries that would cripple or kill a normal creature are as nothing to the shaper, and they can seal over small wounds and mend broken bones at will with (what is to them) a minute change in form, making them seem unkillable (though not invulnerable, as they evidently do bleed.) This is also the reason that metamorphs require more food than normal animals, and why they seem immune to normal diseases.
"However, the enemies of the shapers long ago discovered that Those Who Change are vulnerable to one thing in particular, and this thing is the crafted substance of their own bones, called the Kori-Kolaf (or "Little Death.) Any weapon or projectile that is carved out of the shiny bones taken from a shape- shifter's corpse can inflict terrible damage on them. This is because even in death these inanimate remains retain the same elements of a shaper's body, and when in contact with the melting flesh of a shaper, they are reactivated. In essence, if the shaper attempts to blend his flesh to heal the wound, it causes the weapon to burrow deeper into them, like the leather of a whip that grows tighter and more constricting the harder you struggle. Many a shaper who does not know or understand this weakness has torn themselves apart attempting to heal the wound of a single bullet.
"Because these mortal remains are often shiny, fragments of them have sometimes been mistaken for common flint, silver or copper, hence the legends of shape-shifters being vulnerable to these materials. However, any one-shape who believes that a base mineral will protect him from a shaper's wrath is grossly misinformed."
Tribal face: Garou, being shape-shifters, do not need to rely on costume, ritual scarring, or body-painting in order to identify themselves to each other. Identification by form (or "uniform") has been used as long as there has been a concept of culture, from early tribal man's folk-art necklaces to a modern football teams' colors. Identifying yourself in this way allows others to know much about your background, etiquette, and what to expect from you right away, and garou have been doing it as long as they have had tribes. Among garou, however, these tribal faces are forms that they learn to take, each one distinctive, but with characteristics identifying their breed, auspice and tribe, like a fingerprint, to those who meet them. The sight of a horde of garou at a moot is a colorful, magical one, as they all assume tribal form at such gatherings. Here are some examples:
It is also customary for a garou to show what humans would call "hats." A politician who is speaking will sometimes speak as the people's representative, sometimes as a politician, and sometimes just as a contientious human being. Garou do this also, they change form depending on whether they are acting out their role as a member of their breed, their auspice or their tribe, though all retain characteristics of the others.
Example: An Uktena elder might show Crinos form when speaking as representative of her tribe, change to Homid form when speaking as a Philodox, and always to Wolf form when speaking as Lupus.
Deciding on one's tribal face, and later adding the touches that distinguish these three fundamental characteristics, are important in the life of a young garou, and their choice says much about them. Youngsters who grew up human, for example, cannot see the purpose of it, and refuse to, which tells their elders that they have no love for garou tradition and are untrustworthy in such matters. When the decision is made, the young garou is given this form if they cannot assume it themselves by elders or shapers within the tribe.
The main thing to note is that any actual rules associated with this powers are highly negotiable. I have tried to use Attribute+Ability rolls, and point-costs where I can, and tried to suggest which breed/auspice/tribe learns a regency or gift more easily, but I do not consider any of these rule-related things to be set in stone. If you, the GM, wish to assign different rolls, in-game or experience costs, feel free. In the case of breed/auspice/tribe I had great difficulty, because the werewolf world that would spring from the powers given above is a much different one, where certain werewolves would excel at Shape-Shifting, for example.
The low cost for Umbra, Invulnerability and Lycanthropy are to keep original-system abilities, but these can be changed. The cost to take these abilities for other shape-shifters (who are not "Gaia's Champions") should be like other Regencies.
Actually, the Immortal concept of each shape-shifter having a second form, and that that second- form might be anything from a Sphinx to an ordinary Cat to a huge Stone Giant, is very seductive. If I ever decided to run a shape-shifter game in this system, I would aim for that, because it's so colorful, but I couldn't make any real use of this here, simply because it's far too incompatible with the WW:A system and world-view.
Sleepwalkers, Stephen King.
Immortal, Ran Ackels.
Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny
For those really curious among you, garou with the long a is pronounced go-ru, similar to magick (mah-jik) and crowley (croh-lee) ... It is a soft word, similar to guru.
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