Breed Gifts

# Breed Gifts (Garou)

Many spirits bestow breed Gifts, usually to honor ancient pacts or as rewards for past deeds. For example, tales speak of how an ancient metis helped a mole to hide from predators; in return, the mole taught the metis how to burrow into the earth to hide from his own enemies, and mole-spirits have continued to pass down the trick to metis ever since.

## Homid Gifts

#### **Apecraft’s Blessings:**

Though many of Gaia’s children use tools, none have mastered them so thoroughly as humanity. The homid focuses this mastery into the tools she uses, causing their spirits to awaken and lend her aid. An ancestor-spirit or spirit of a man-made object teaches this Gift.

System: The werewolf spends a turn concentrating, and then the player rolls Wits + Crafts (difficulty 7). Each success reduces the difficulty by one on the next roll she makes for her character to employ a tool made by human hands. The purpose is irrelevant—this Gift is equally efficacious for attempts to repair an engine, drive a car or fire a gun.

#### **City Running:**

Humans are creatures of the city, raising their steel and glass nests high into the sky. This Gift allows a homid to easily scale the concrete canyons and navigate the tangled back alleys and rooftops of the urban landscape. Some lupus derisively refer to this Gift as “Climb Like an Ape.” It is taught by an ancestor-spirit or an urban city-spirit.

System: The player spends a point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the character may climb urban features at her full movement speed, and the difficulty of all Athletics rolls to navigate through cities (running down cluttered alleys, climbing the side of buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop) is reduced by two.

#### **Master of Fire:**

Fire-spirits were among the very first to make pacts with humanity, allowing men to warm themselves, drive off wild beasts, and clear the land. The cornerstones of civilization were laid in these simple acts, granting the spirits of flame much prestige. Homid Garou remember and continue to call upon these ancients pacts to protect themselves as the final fires of the Apocalypse loom. An ancestor-spirit or fire elemental teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, fire inflicts bashing rather than aggravated damage to the Garou.

#### **Persuasion:**

This Gift imbues a homid’s words with intrinsic credibility and conviction, causing them to ring true to the ear and lay heavy on the heart. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). Success lowers the difficulty of all social rolls by one for the rest of the scene, and allows successful rolls to have uncommonly strong impact (such as changing long-held political views, or causing an addict to seriously reconsider the course of his life).

#### **Smell of Man:**

To creatures of the wild, man’s scent is death. To creatures of the city, it is authority, comfort, easy meals. This Gift, taught by an ancestor-spirit, enhances a werewolf’s human scent, infusing it with spiritual power.

System: Non-supernatural wild animals lose two dice from their dice pools when interacting with the Garou, save when defending themselves or running away, and will be inclined to flee rather than attack if possible. Domesticated animals recognize the werewolf as a friend, and even trained attack dogs will do no more than wag their tails at the character unless attacked first. This Gift’s effects are permanently active.

#### **Global Citizen:**

Some homid Garou have a propensity for travel that has them able to fit in wherever they go. This Gift takes this principle a step further. The Garou blends into different cultures, and inherently understands minor cultural traditions, faux pas, and quirks. To the untrained observer, she appears part of the group. Her skin and facial structure doesn’t change, but nobody seems to notice any difference in heritage. She does not become able to understand languages associated with the group; that’s the purview of other Gifts such as the Homid Gift: Speech of the World and the Child of Gaia Gift: Speech of All Things (below). A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: This Gift effectively makes the Garou part of whatever culture she immerses herself in. Any active efforts to out her as a non-member suffer a +3 difficulty. Any time she needs to fake a behavior with which she’s unfamiliar, she can emulate it if she succeeds at an Intelligence + Etiquette roll. The difficulty depends on the commonalities with her home culture. A culture similar to hers is difficulty 5, most other human cultures are difficulty 7, and cultures that are lost, unnatural, or alien are difficulty 9. With a point of Gnosis, she can temporarily establish relevant Allies and Contacts Background dots equal to her Wisdom dots, divided however she likes.

((Included Child of Gaia Gift for reference:

Speech of All Things (Children of Gaia Level Three) — The Children of Gaia must communicate if they wish to accomplish their goals of unity and understanding. This Gift is a greater version of the Homid Gift: Speech of the World. The Garou can understand, read, write and speak any language as fluently as she physically can. She can emulate the roars of the Simba, but any member of that Breed would know the difference since she does not have the vocal capacity to make the correct sounds. Within those limits, she can speak the languages of various Changing Breeds, she knows the secret rune languages of dead magi, and if she were so inclined, she could even understand the dread tongues of the Wyrm. This Gift does not protect the Garou mind from what she hears. A servant of Unicorn teaches this Gift.

System: The character can understand any language once she has learned this Gift. With an Intelligence + Academics roll (difficulty 7) she can read and write in those languages for the scene. If the language is not in common usage by more than a single, small group or culture — or does not have a written form — the difficulty increases to 9.))

#### **Jam Technology:**

With a slight gesture, the werewolf unbalances the Wyld and Weaver energies within technological devices, either suffusing them with destructive chaos or amplifying their inherent stasis until they refuse to do anything at all. Computers crash, guns jam, cars stall, and even the simplest of shaped objects refuse to function. A gremlin — a type of Wyld spirit that enjoys breaking things — teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point, rolls (Manipulation + Crafts) and chooses the level of complexity she intends to jam. All technological devices (i.e. any devices shaped from fabricated materials like metal or plastic) of that complexity within 50 feet (15 m) cease to function for two turns per success. The devices remain unchanged, but inert — knives won’t cut, gunpowder won’t ignite, gears won’t turn, and so on. The difficulty of the roll is based on the following chart:

Device                 Difficulty

Computer                 4

Phone                       5

Automobile              7

Gun                           8

Knife                         9

#### **Mark of the Wolf:**

The werewolf marks those she comes in contact with, leaving them to carry the same aura of the predator the Garou does. This subtle curse can wreak havoc in a target’s private or professional life, and is a favorite of many homids looking to provoke discord in the ranks of the enemy. A Lune teaches this Gift.

System: The player selects a target that has had some interaction with the Garou during the scene (even something as simple as light conversation in an elevator counts), then rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The target inherits the Curse as though she had a Rage rating equal to that of the Garou for one day per success.

#### **Speech of the World:**

This Gift allows Gaia’s warriors to read and wield the spirit of speech, bypassing the need to learn different languages and dialects. The Garou may speak and understand any human language she encounters, though she speaks with an obvious accent, marking her as an outsider. Speech of the World doesn’t convey literacy, nor is it an encyclopedia of cultural information. An ancestor-spirit teaches this

Gift.

System: The player rolls Intelligence + Academics (difficulty 7). The effect lasts for one scene.

#### **Staredown:**

Rage burns in a werewolf’s eyes, striking fear into the hearts of mortals and animals, causing them to flee for their lives. Used against another werewolf, the target will freeze in place rather than run. A ram- or snake-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: This Gift affects only one target at a time. The player rolls Charisma + Intimidation (difficulty 5 + the target’s Rank, if applicable). The victim flees for one turn per success, though he may spend a point of Willpower to resist the effects of the Gift for one turn. Should the player roll five or more successes, the victim flees for the rest of the scene. Garou and other shapeshifters with Rage do not flee, but may not attack while the Gift is in use.

#### **Weaver's Eyes:**

Humanity has a knack for finding patterns everywhere, steeped as it is in the Weaver's influence. The homid can read the patterns in her enemies' behavior and the battlefield's dynamics to predict what will happen next. A Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, she may wait to declare her character's action for the current turn until everyone else has done so, regardless of her initiative. She still acts according to the result of her initiative roll, but she has the advantage of knowing what her foes and allies will do before she decides herself.

#### **Calm the Savage Beast:**

Even the most callous of homids can sympathize with the Rage that moves their fellow Garou in the final days. This Gift allows the werewolf to lend a frenzying Garou the will to escape her Rage’s hold over her. It is taught by an ancestor-spirit.

System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). If successful, the Willpower point soothes a frenzying Garou within 30 feet (9 m), canceling the frenzy. By spending an extra point of Willpower, this Gift may affect non-Garou in a state of frenzy, such as other shapeshifters or vampires.

#### **Cowing the Bullet:**

The spirits of tools recognize man as their master; as a result, they become reluctant to harm the homid. A Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, the Garou gains two additional soak dice against all crafted weapons not made of silver.

#### **Disquiet:**

Pulling the mercurial tide of the target’s emotions to their lowest ebb, this Gift makes its target feel inexplicably depressed and withdrawn. The subject finds his emotions muted and concentration difficult. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy against a difficulty equal to the target’s Willpower. If successful, that opponent will be unable to recover Rage for the duration of the scene, and all difficulties for extended actions increase by one. Moreover, the target becomes listless and generally less inclined to stir himself to pursue any action of dubious necessity, such as investigating strange noises.

#### **Rally the Troops:**

Being more than human, the homid can gather people quickly with a single command, bending them to a common task. She can rally a small army to hunt her enemies, preside over a heroic rescue effort during a crisis, or rouse a crowd to heckling a speaker. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The werewolf makes a short rallying cry, command, or speech to a group of non-supernatural humans, and then the player rolls Charisma + Leadership (difficulty 6). The group can range from a few people lingering on a street corner to an audience of up to several hundred; all they need is to hear her. Each success adds one die to all rolls the player makes in that scene toward accomplishing one task with which the group could conceivably aid her. The difficulty of all these rolls is reduced by one if most of the group are Kinfolk. Individual characters with importance to the story may decline to help, at the Storyteller's discretion, but even they feel the authority in the Garou's directive.

#### **Reshape Object:**

The Garou can shape once-living (though not undead) material into something else instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers spears, animal hides armor, and flowers sweet perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was created (e.g., the aforementioned spear will be made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Crafts against a difficulty defined by the scope and complexity of the transformation (a broken tree limb into a spear would be difficulty 5, while a fallen tree into a canoe would be 8) and spends a Gnosis point. The transformation persists for one scene per success, or permanently with five or more successes. Expending an additional Gnosis point allows a created weapon to inflict aggravated damage for the remainder of the scene in which it is created.

#### **Body Shift:**

Garou raised in the shifting maze of human society are well-prepared for the endless adaptations Gaia demands of her protectors. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The Garou can use her shapeshifting to alter her physical Attributes: a dot of Dexterity can be shifted to Strength or Stamina, and so forth. The player rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 9). For each two successes, one physical Attribute dot can be shifted for the rest of the scene.

#### **Bury the Wolf:**

The war against the Wyrm isn’t always a matter of slashing claws and righteous fury — sometimes duplicity is required. A werewolf can temporarily “restrain” her inner wolf and appear to be a normal human. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of her own Willpower). Success causes the character to appear human to all supernatural scrutiny. The Gift also nullifies the Curse and makes spending Rage impossible, and locks her in homid form so long as its effects persist. The number of successes determines the Gift’s duration; to “free the wolf” before that time elapses requires a full turn of concentration and another point of Gnosis.

Successes                           Duration

One                                     One scene

Two                                      12 hours

Three                                    One day

Four                                     One week

Five+                                One lunar cycle

#### **Cocoon:**

The werewolf wraps himself in a thick, opaque, chitinous sarcophagus, immobilizing himself but also becoming nearly impervious to harm. The cocoon provides immunity to fire, starvation, gas, high pressure, cold, and similar environmental hazards. An insect- or Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The Garou spends one Gnosis point. While the werewolf remains in the cocoon, any attack that strikes him must do damage at least equal to his Stamina + Rituals; the cocoon keeps him safe from any lesser amount of damage, but is destroyed if it’s pierced. The cocoon lasts for one day, but its duration may be extended by spending more Gnosis to renew it. The Garou may emerge from it at any time he chooses.

#### **Spirit Ward:**

This Gift allows a werewolf to protect herself from spirits by performing a quick warding rite. The werewolf traces an invisible pictogram in the air that frightens and unnerves any nearby spirits, and which travels with the Garou for as long as it persists. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Rituals (difficulty 7). Spirits within 100 feet (30 m) of the character must subtract one from their dice pools for each success. Any spirit that comes within 50 feet (15 m) of the character (except a caern spirit or the character’s pack totem) loses one point from its Essence per turn for each success the player rolled. This Gift lasts for one scene.

#### **Web of Knowledge:**

 In the Digital Age of humanity, tiny spirits of information and knowledge spring into being every second, flitting between objects of curiosity and carrying with them the answers to all manner of questions. The homid can attune herself to these streams of consciousness, circumventing the need for books or special training during an investigation. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point. Once during the current scene, she may roll to perform research or an investigation as an instant action instead of an extended one, and without any forensic skills or tools, gleaning answers directly from the interconnectedness of the spirit world. The roll suffers no penalties if she has no dots in the required Ability. She must begin with a general idea of her topic, and can only learn what she could have learned with an appropriate source of information. She could build a profile of a killer with just the corpse or murder weapon, but she still must know the basic facts of the murder and won't learn the killer's identity; likewise, she could research an ancient symbol without poring over dusty tomes, but she still must have seen the symbol in a relevant context and won't automatically deduce its importance. Rolls of difficulty higher than 7 cannot be made with this Gift, as the information is too obscure.

### Level Five Gifts

Learnable only by Elders and Legend Ranked Garou

#### **Assimilation:**

A werewolf with this Gift blends smoothly into any culture, no matter how strange or unfamiliar he might normally find it. He could slip among Bedouin nomads as if he were one of them, or he could shop in a Chinese market without anyone noticing that he doesn’t belong. The Gift doesn’t hide racial differences, but it does allow the werewolf to mimic the behaviors and mannerisms of a native. It also grants the ability to speak and understand the culture’s language, although this knowledge vanishes as the Gift ends. It is taught by Ancestor-spirits.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy. If successful, the character interacts with members of another culture as if he were one of them. The difficulty depends on how alien the culture is. Another Garou sept would be 5, while a Black Spiral hive or foreign country could be as high as 9. The character suffers no Social penalties when interacting with members of the culture, although he will enjoy no special benefits either. The Gift lasts for one scene, plus one day per Willpower point spent when activating it.

#### **Beyond Human:**

The Garou is human plus — Human plus strength, agility and health. Human plus devoted, assured spirituality and meaning. Human plus animal instinct and lightning reflexes. Human plus righteous fury with which to meet the Apocalypse. He is as man, but greater. Every Garou radiates this to some extent, but this Gift warps that perception, changing the Garou from a figure to be avoided to one to be admired or adored. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: Once learned, this Gift’s effects are permanent. Humans dealing with the werewolf instinctively pick her out as more desirable, important, and interesting than those around her — regardless of the character’s capacity in such matters. The Curse still applies, but rather than being instinctively feared as a predator, the werewolf becomes an intimidating figure of great presence. Finally, the character may boost her Social Attributes by spending Rage or Gnosis. Each dot of either spent raises one Social Attribute by one point for the rest of the scene. Social Attributes may be raised above 5 in this fashion.

#### **Part the Veil:**

This potent Gift immunizes a human from the Delirium for a scene. However, the human will forget much of what he knows if exposed to the Delirium at a later date. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Empathy. Only one success is needed.

## Metis Gifts

#### **Create Element:**

The metis may create a small amount of one of the four Western classical elements — fire, air, earth, or water. She could make a rock to throw, fill a bathtub with no faucet, light fires without matches, or provide air in an airtight room. She cannot create specialized forms of any element. Precious metals (especially silver), lethal gases, and acid are beyond her reach. Elementals teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis. Each success allows the character to create roughly one cubic foot (.3 cubic meter) of the desired element, to a maximum weight of 100 lbs (45 kg), anywhere she can see within 60 feet (18 m). The element remains in existence until used up (breathed, in the case of air, or burned up, in the case of fire without any fuel to keep it going). The flames created by this Gift inflict one health level of damage per success, to a maximum of three levels of damage.

#### **Primal Anger:**

The metis gives of herself to feed the Rage in her heart, burning away her very blood and muscle in the process. The spirits of ancient metis teach this Gift; few members of other breeds have endured enough shame and suffering to learn it.

System: The character may inflict a single level of aggravated damage on herself once per scene, and gain three points of Rage in exchange (even if doing so takes her beyond her permanent Rage rating).

#### **Rat Head:**

Metis are born into a world where they metaphorically don’t belong; it seemed only natural to rat-spirits to teach them to get into such places in the literal sense as well. This Gift renders the metis’s bone structure collapsible, allowing her to squeeze through any gap she can fit her head into.

System: The player spends one Gnosis and rolls Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 7). For the rest of the scene, the metis may squirm through any gap she can fit her face into, moving at her walking speed to do so.

#### **Sense Wyrm:**

The werewolf can sense nearby manifestations of the Wyrm. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although Garou often describe the Wyrm’s spiritual emanations as a stench. This Gift doesn’t necessarily sense dedication to the Wyrm, merely contact with its spiritual essence, which can cling to even blameless souls. Sense Wyrm requires active concentration; the spiritual sense it provides doesn’t function passively. The Gift may be taught by any Gaian spirit.

System: The player rolls Perception + Occult. The difficulty depends on the concentration and strength of the Wyrm’s influence: sensing a single fomor in the next room would be difficulty 6, while detecting the stench of a Bane that was in the room an hour ago would be difficulty 7. Vampires register as Wyrm-tainted, save those with Humanity ratings of 7 or higher. (This has been House Ruled to Humanity 5 for the venue of Unmask Orlando)

#### **Shed:**

The metis can shed a layer of fur and skin, slipping from an opponent’s grasp or escaping from bonds with ease. A lizard-spirit or snake-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Dexterity + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). If the roll succeeds, the character loses a tuft of fur or skin (revealing healthy new hide), allowing her to slip free of grapples or bonds such as ropes or chains.

#### **Burrow:**

This Gift grants the ability to burrow through the earth, creating a tunnel roughly the size of the digger’s body, which others can follow through. The werewolf must be in a form possessing claws to use this Gift. Mole-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player rolls Strength + Athletics against a difficulty depending on the substance to be excavated (4 for loose mud, 9 for solid rock). Some metals (such as steel and titanium alloys) and other reinforced structures won’t yield to the werewolf no matter how hard she digs. The character can burrow one yard per turn for each success. After the initial roll, the character does not need to roll again to continue at the same speed.

#### **Curse of Hatred:**

The metis takes hold of the hate in her soul and layers it into her words, scourging the spirits of those she addresses. A spirit of hate teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Expression (difficulty equal to the target’s Willpower). If she succeeds, her opponent loses two Willpower points and two Rage points. This Gift may be used on an opponent only once per scene.

#### **Form Mastery:**

This Gift empowers the Wyld spark that resides in all Garou, granting the character greater control over her shapeshifting abilities. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: When shapeshifting, all difficulties are reduced by 1, and the player no longer needs to roll a single success just to initiate the transformation (thus, shifting from Homid to Glabro would be difficulty 5 and require only one success). Additionally, when enacting partial transformations (see p. 286), the player need no longer spend a Willpower point, and the difficulty of the roll is 7. This Gift’s effects are permanent.

#### **Sense Silver:**

To those truly born Garou, Luna has granted the ability to sense a werewolf’s greatest weakness. This Gift, taught by Lunes, allows the metis to detect the presence of silver.

System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). If successful, she can detect the presence of any silver within 100 yards. Three successes allow her to pinpoint the silver’s location.

#### **Stoat's Guise:**

In a world where he must fight fang and claw to fit in, the metis can use all the help he can get. This Gift allows him to change superficial aspects of his appearance, blending in or standing out as he wishes. The spirit of any animal that changes its color seasonally can teach this Gift, such as the stoat or ptarmigan.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty 6). Each success allows the werewolf to alter one aspect of his appearance for the scene. Examples include: hair/fur color or length, skin tone, eye color, and height or size by about a fifth in either direction. This Gift can alter or hide tribal markings and lesser scars, but it's never potent enough to hide metis deformities completely.

#### **Chameleon:**

Like the Gift’s reptilian namesake, the Garou can blend with her natural surroundings. Unlike the lizard, the werewolf shifts fluidly with changing backgrounds, thus allowing the Garou to move about and even attack. A chameleon- or octopus spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point to activate the Gift. Anyone trying to see the werewolf, even in open ground, must make a Perception roll (difficulty of the Garou’s Wits + Stealth) to detect her. Once the Garou attacks, the difficulty drops by 3. The Gift affects only sight; it does not mask the Garou’s sound or scent.

#### **Eyes of the Cat:**

The werewolf may see clearly in complete darkness. His eyes glow a lambent green while this power is in effect. A cat-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The character suffers no penalties from darkness. This power may be used at will; it requires no roll or expenditure.

#### **Mental Speech:**

This Gift enables mental communication, even over vast distances. The user must either know the target personally (although friendship isn’t necessary) or have something that belongs to that person, such as a lock of his hair. Bird-spirits and spirits of intellect teach this Gift.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Empathy (difficulty 8) and spends a Willpower point; the effects last for a scene. The character may hold a mental conversation with a target at a maximum distance of 10 miles (16 km) per success. Mind reading isn’t possible, but the werewolf may use social Abilities such as Intimidation.

#### **Rage of the Underdog:**

Among the Garou, the metis are the ultimate underdogs, born to a stigma they never asked for. Reminders of this can fuel their Rage in battle. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: Whenever the werewolf suffers wound penalties and makes a successful attack against a less-wounded opponent, he may spend one point of Rage to add dice of damage equal to the difference between his wound penalties and those of his target. If he deals enough damage to cause wounds at least as serious as his own, he regains the point of Rage he spent. This Gift's effects are permanent.

#### **Shell:**

Shell places an emotional and instinctual barrier around the metis, shutting out the hostility of the world and suppressing his own powerful, destructive impulses. It is taught by a turtle-spirit.

System: The player rolls Willpower (difficulty of the character’s own Rage). Success insulates the metis for a scene behind a mystical and psychological barrier, immunizing him against mind-altering magic of all kinds for the rest of the scene. However, he cannot gain any successes on Empathy, Primal-Urge or Rage rolls, nor can he spend Rage points.

#### **Gift of the Porcupine:**

The werewolf undergoes a startling transformation: Her fur elongates, becoming bristly and sharp like the quills of a porcupine. The werewolf must be in Crinos, Hispo or Lupus form to use this Gift. Porcupine teaches this gift, and he has a strong fondness for metis.

System: The character spends a Gnosis point to sharpen her fur. Anyone whom the metis tackles, grapples or immobilizes takes (Strength + 1) aggravated damage from these newfound quills. Furthermore, those who strike her with bare flesh and score less than five successes on the attack roll take their own Strength in aggravated damage (this does not negate any damage done to the metis). This Gift lasts for one scene or until the werewolf wills her fur to return to normal.

#### **Lash of Rage:**

The metis harnesses all of the shame, hate, and fury coiled in his heart and lashes out with it, destroying another. Bones snap, organs rupture, and cavities fill with blood as the metis’s Rage tears the target apart. A spirit of fury teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Rage point and rolls his Rage rating. A target within 100 yards (91 m) takes one level of unsoakable aggravated damage for each success. This Gift can be used safely only once per scene. Any additional uses inflict the Gift’s full damage on both the metis and his target.

#### **Rattler’s Bite:**

The metis’s eyeteeth lengthen, and she can inject a deadly poison with her bite. Spider- and snake-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a Rage point when attempting to bite an opponent. If the bite is successful, any remaining damage after soak is doubled.

#### **Tenacious Fury:**

Survival at any cost and victory at any price; these are the tenets that keep the Garou fighting in the face of overwhelming adversity, and the metis understands them well. He can pour his Rage into the single-minded pursuit of his goal, keeping himself going when many others would have fallen. Spirits of fury or servants of Boar teach this Gift.

System: When making a Rage roll to remain active after falling below Incapacitated, the player may spend up to a number of Rage points equal to his Willpower. Each point spent adds one success to the roll's result. The metis cannot spend Willpower to avoid frenzying as a result of this roll, and it only requires three successes to frenzy, rather than four.

#### **Wither Limb:**

With a snarl and a baleful stare, the werewolf ruins an opponent’s limb: bones twist, muscles wither, flesh desiccates. Creatures with regenerative capabilities will recover after one scene; all others are permanently crippled. Venomous spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Willpower (difficulty equals the victim’s Stamina + 4). The victim adds two to the difficulties of all Dexterity rolls. If a leg is crippled, he can move at only half his normal speed.

#### **Madness:**

Metis struggle throughout their lives to find a place of dignity and respect amidst a minefield of horror and abuse. This Gift allows her to unleash her inner demons upon others, inflicting insanity and madness. The nature of the derangement inflicted varies from individual to individual, but is always severe, making it impossible for the victim to function normally. Lunes and spirits of trickery and madness teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty equal to the victim’s Willpower). The target immediately begins to suffer from a Derangement. The insanity lasts a number of days equal to the successes rolled. During this time, the metis can increase or decrease the severity of the madness, granting the victim lucidity and then driving him into psychosis. Even after the Gift has ended, the repercussions may haunt the victim for the rest of his life.

#### **Protean Form:**

Born misshapen, the metis takes her deformity and makes it a source of power. She can twist her flesh in any number of ways, sprouting a number of unnatural features, from extra limbs to 158 additional mouths to grasping tentacles. A Chimerling teaches this Gift.

System: The character’s ability to partially transform (see p. 286) is permanently modified, allowing her to make almost any grotesque modifications the player can imagine. These modifications must logically bestow one of the following benefits: +2 dice on a certain category of attack rolls (extra clawed limbs for claw attacks, tentacles for clinches, etc), +2 damage on a certain category of attack rolls (a chest-mounted squid beak for extra damage on clinches, arms coated in shark teeth for boosted claw attacks, etc.), or +5 yards per turn of movement (extra legs, vestigial wings, etc.).

#### **Totem Gift:**

Metis are Garou from the moment of their birth, and their ties to the spirit that guides their tribe run deep. The metis may plead with her tribal totem for power, with effects varying from tribe to tribe. Rat might send a swarm of rodents to attack the werewolf’s enemies, while Grandfather Thunder might send down the lightning to strike aside obstacles and opponents. The potential of this Gift depends on the favor of the totem, and may extend into the miraculous. Only the tribal totem teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Rituals (difficulty 7). The greater the number of successes, the more dramatic the aid provided. One success might cause a minor distraction, whereas 10 successes could produce volcanic eruptions or county smashing tornadoes.

## Lupus Gifts

#### **Hare’s Leap:**

The werewolf can leap impossible distances. Hare-spirits teach this Gift, naturally, though cat-, frog-, kangaroo-, and even fleaspirits occasionally do so as well.

System: The player makes a reflexive Strength + Athletics roll (difficulty 7) to activate this Gift. If successful, the character’s leaping distances are doubled for the scene — or tripled for a single turn with the expenditure of a Willpower point.

#### **Heightened Senses:**

This Gift sharpens the werewolf’s senses to an incredible degree. She enjoys the olfactory and auditory acuity of a wolf whenever she is in Homid and Glabro forms, along with superior night vision. In Crinos, Hispo and Lupus, her senses become preternaturally potent, allowing sensory feats that border on precognition. Sudden loud noises, bright lights or overwhelming scents can be disorienting, however. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point to activate this Gift for a scene. In Homid and Glabro, the werewolf’s Perception difficulties decrease by two and she may roll Perception + Primal-Urge to perform uncanny sensory feats such as tracking by scent. In Crinos, Hispo, and Lupus, Perception difficulties decrease by three (this is not cumulative with the ordinary Lupus-form Perception bonuses) and the werewolf gains an extra die to Primal-Urge dice pools.

#### **Predator’s Arsenal:**

One of the most unnerving aspects of the Homid shape is its lack of proper weapons. This Gift remedies that problem (while still retaining much of the Homid shape’s ability to blend in with the human world), granting the Garou battle-ready claws and teeth in Homid form. It is taught by a wolf-spirit.

System: The werewolf concentrates for a turn to gain access to bite and claw attacks in Homid form for the rest of the scene, or until she dismisses the transformation. These attacks inflict lethal rather than aggravated damage, and may be concealed by simple expediencies such as the werewolf keeping her mouth closed, wearing long sleeves, or keeping her hands in her pockets. She can even speak normally without giving herself away, as long as she’s careful not to open her mouth too wide or smile so that her teeth show, although her voice sounds rough and a bit distorted (attempting to discern that there’s something amiss with a Garou taking such precautions requires a Perception + Alertness roll, difficulty 9).

#### **Prey Mind:**

As Gaia dies and her natural order is perverted, predators become prey with increasing frequency — this is a sorrowful truth that lupus know all too well. This Gift assists the Garou in evading their enemies that they might fight another day, showing them places to hide, ways to run, and even chances to strike back. A hare- or deer-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Wits + Primal-Urge; difficulty 7 in the wilderness, 9 in urban environments. Each success adds one die to all pools made to escape, outdistance, hide from or evade pursuit for the remainder of the scene.

#### **Sense Prey:**

This Gift lets a werewolf locate enough prey to feed her pack. In the urban environment, this tends to guide lupus to prey in parks, sewers, animal shelters or even zoos, drawing her unfailingly to the presence of prey animals. Humans and carnivores too large or dangerous for a lone wolf to regard as prey do not register as prey animals. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge. The difficulty is 5 in wilderness environments and 7 in urban environments. Success indicates the location of enough prey to feed a large pack for a day.

#### **Axis Mundi:**

The lupus reaches out with her spirit to feel the presence of Gaia, centering herself with relation to her Mother. She always knows what direction she is traveling or facing in, so long as she travels within the Gaia Realm. The spirits of migratory birds teach this Gift.

System: This Gift’s effects are permanent.

#### **Eye of the Eagle:**

This Gift allows the werewolf to see over impossibly long distances, though not through obstacles — good vantage points are invaluable, and this Gift is in much demand among caern guardians. It is taught by an eagle-spirit.

System: The player rolls Perception + Alertness (difficulty 7). The number of successes is the number of miles added to the Garou’s clear visual range.

#### **Go for the Jugular:**

Wolves have an uncanny ability to spot vulnerability. The lupus follows suit, sinking her teeth into the softest and most unprotected part of her foe that she can find. A wolf- or coyote-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Rage point when the werewolf makes a successful bite attack. Increase the difficulty to soak the damage by +3

#### **Name the Spirit:**

The werewolf gains an instinctive rapport with denizens of the Umbra. He can sense the type and approximate Trait levels (Rage, Gnosis, Willpower) of spirits. Owl- and raven-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Willpower and rolls Perception + Occult (difficulty 8).

#### **Scent of Sight:**

The werewolf can compensate for her vision completely by using her sense of smell. She can attack invisible creatures normally or navigate in absolute darkness. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The werewolf fully substitutes her sense of smell for her vision, enabling her to distinguish identity and location flawlessly (color and fine details, such as letters printed on a page, remain beyond her). A Perception + Primal-Urge roll may be required to detect things which actively obscure their scent.

#### Techgnosis:

For many lupus-born, mankind’s technology proves difficult to grasp. This Gift allows a wolf in a bind to make use of human devices via the connection to the world afforded by Gnosis. Use of the Gift does not grant actual understanding of the device or system accessed; from an outsider’s perspective the technology simply cooperates with the Garou.

**System:** The Garou rolls Wits + Primal-Urge (Difficulty 7) and spends a point of Gnosis. For the remainder of the scene, the Garou can substitute her Primal-Urge for rolls calling for Crafts, Drive, Etiquette, Firearms, and Larceny. With the expenditure of a point of Willpower, they can use Primal-Urge in place of Academics, Computer, Law, Science, and Technology rolls.

#### **Catfeet:**

The werewolf gains the agility of a cat, making him immune to falls under 100 feet (91 m). He also has perfect balance even on the most slippery surfaces, and the difficulties of all combat actions involving body slams and grappling decrease by two. Cat-spirits teach this gift.

System: This ability becomes innate to those who learn the Gift.

#### **Monkey Tail:**

The lupus may lengthen her tail and use it as a prehensile appendage at will. Although it’s no replacement for a hand, it can grasp objects, wrap around branches, and even allow the Garou to hang upside-down. A monkey-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The Gift may employ her prehensile tail at will in any form which possesses a tail. Successfully manipulating the tail requires a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty varies according to the task).

#### **Sense the Unnatural:**

The werewolf can sense any supernatural presence and determine its approximate strength and type. Supernatural presences can include magic, spirits, Wyrm taint, ghosts, vampires, faeries, and any other such unnatural manifestation — although it won’t pick them out specifically as such. A werewolf may sense a person plagued by haunting as easily as a ghost. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this Gift.

System: The player rolls Perception + Enigmas (difficulty 6). The more successes he rolls, the more information he gains. The sensory input is somewhat vague and subject to interpretation, though. For instance, a vampire might smell of clotted blood, fear, corpse-meat or whatever else the Storyteller finds appropriate.

#### **Shattering Howl:**

Unleashing a deafening howl that resonates powerfully, the lupus smashes the paltry fruits of mankind's labor. Storm- and wind-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The werewolf spends a turn howling, and then the player spends a Rage point and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The resultant ear-piercing sound shatters all glass and anything brittle or fragile within a radius of (20 x successes) yards. It also knocks over anything precariously stacked or top-heavy, and shoddily-made things fall apart.

#### **Silence the Weaver:**

he lupus releases a shattering howl, destroying all nearby delicate electronics — computers, laptops, smart phones, tablets and the like. Simpler machines such as land line phones, cars, and firearms are unaffected. A storm-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The lupus spends a turn howling. The player then spends one Rage point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge. Delicate electronics are destroyed within a radius of (20 x successes) yards (or meters) in a flash of sparks.

#### **Strength of Gaia:**

The Goddess blesses the lupus with the fullness of his might when he wears the most natural of his skins. While wearing lupus form, the Garou enjoys the full might of Crinos. A wolf spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Rage point. His Lupus form base strength increases by four, rather than the normal one, for the rest of the scene.

#### **Beast Life:**

The werewolf can communicate with other wild animals and attract or even command them. Domesticated animals may speak with the Garou, but they have given themselves over to the ways of humans and will provide no aid beyond information. Any animal spirit can teach this Gift, although lupus prefer to learn it from lion- or wolf-spirits.

System: The character gains the permanent ability to communicate with all animals, regardless of the form she wears. To attract animals, the player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). All animals within 10 miles (16 km) per success respond to the summons, and will follow any requests the Garou makes. It is considered customary to pay homage to the spirit of any animal ordered to sacrifice itself with this Gift; to do otherwise risks angering the spirit world.

#### **Gnaw:**

The werewolf’s jaws strengthen until she can chew through nearly anything. Her fangs inflict more damage in combat, and only death will break her grip if she clamps her teeth into an opponent. Hyena- and wolf-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Willpower point and rolls Stamina + 4 against a variable difficulty (3 for wood, 6 for steel handcuffs, 9 for a train car coupling). The length of time it takes to gnaw through something depends on the number of successes. Additionally, the Gift grants a character’s bite two extra dice of damage for the rest of the scene.

#### **Hibernation:**

As the time of the Apocalypse draws near, some Garou turn their thoughts to preserving their greatest heroes for the final battle. This Gift is rare, for only Bear himself or one of his avatars can teach it, and he's reluctant to share his secret. The few werewolves who have impressed him enough to learn it can assume a dormancy that not only staves off the needs of the body, but stops the lupus from aging. Normally, the latter never comes into play, but in desperate times the Garou do what they must.

System: The werewolf must find a quiet, dark spot to sleep and remain undisturbed for at least eight hours while her body enters a state of metabolic suppression. The player rolls Stamina + Survival (difficulty 7) and spends at least one point of both Gnosis and Willpower, which don't recover during hibernation. A botch on this roll sends the Garou into immediate frenzy, as her body rejects the process. After the first eight hours have passed, the lupus sinks into a state of deep sleep. She needs no food or water, all bodily functions cease, and she doesn't age. This hibernation lasts one week per success on the roll, though each pair of Gnosis and Willpower points spent in excess of the first increases the interval from weeks to months, years or even decades. No more than three Gnosis and Willpower can be spent to increase the interval, although Galliard tales abound of ancient Garou sleeping under mountains or in the frozen north, waiting for the call to rouse and take up arms against the Wyrm again. The werewolf can be woken prematurely if she takes enough damage to become Wounded or worse, if her player succeeds at a Willpower roll (difficulty 8), or if the rite Call to Arms is performed (see p. 157). She can attempt a Willpower roll to wake once per day. As soon as she wakes, whether prematurely or after the full hibernation period has passed, she must roll Rage at -1 difficulty to see if she frenzies, or -2 difficulty if her injuries woke her.

#### **Scream of Gaia:**

The Garou emits a horrible, ragged scream imbued with Rage and the pain of Gaia. The force of the scream batters foes and knocks them off their feet. Storm-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Rage. Everyone within a 50-foot (15 m) radius, except for the werewolf’s pack, is blasted to the ground to suffer one unsoakable health level of bashing damage per success as a shockwave rips through the area.

#### **Terror of the Dire Wolf:**

Wolves haunt the ancestral nightmares of humanity, and of those monsters that were once human. The werewolf lets out a fierce snarl that triggers primordial terror in opponents and drowns them in the Delirium. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends a point of Rage and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty of the opponent’s Willpower or, if he is affecting a group, the highest Willpower represented). If successful, the werewolf invokes the full effect of the Delirium on any human, formerly-human, or partly-human creature who can see her — including those normally immune to the Delirium, such as mages and vampires. Only other werewolves and Fera are immune. It may be used in any form, although Homid and Glabro raise the difficulty of the Primal-Urge roll by one.

### Level Five Gifts

Learnable by Rank 5 and Rank 6 Garou Only

#### **Elemental Gift:**

Gaia herself steps in to lend a hand, offering part of herself to the character. The werewolf gains the power to command his surroundings, directing the elemental forces of the world. Elementals teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty 8). If successful, the Garou calls an elemental, who then grants her the ability to control a large volume of air, earth, fire, or water — approximately 20’ by 20’ (6 m x 6 m) per success. The effect lasts for one scene, or until the elemental leaves or is destroyed. Elementals summoned by this Gift are roughly as powerful as a Nexus Crawler.

#### **Song of the Great Beast:**

The Garou travels to the deep wilderness and lets out a long, mournful howl. One of the Great Beasts of antiquity answers the call, appearing in the Realm near the werewolf — a mighty and savage being that walked the Earth in ages past. Such creatures include the Willawau (giant owl), the Sabertooth Tiger, the great Megalodon sharks that swam the seas eons ago and the mighty Mammoth, who arrives in herds. Who knows what else the Song might call up? The Great Beasts possess power in the physical world to rival that of mighty spirits in the Umbra. Once the ancient creature arrives, the Garou may make a request of it, but the Great Beast will fulfill it in its own way, according to its nature. Using this Gift is risky, but the results can be truly spectacular. Few spirits know this Gift. It’s said that the reclusive Mokolé  know which spirits can teach the Song of the Great Beast … if any survived the Impergium, and are willing to talk to the Garou, that is.

System: The player spends two Gnosis points and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). More successes improve the Great Beast’s disposition. Traits are left to the Storyteller’s discretion, but should always be impressive.