Bone Gnawer Gifts

# Bone Gnawers

The Bone Gnawers are survivors without peer, and Rat’s blessings help make this so.

## Level One Gifts

### Cooking

The Bone Gnawer takes up a small pot (an old coffee can will do) and a spoon, and fills it with whatever he can find — cigarette butts, beer cans, old newspapers, dead leaves, whatever — adds water (spit will do), and stirs. The result is a pasty and bland-tasting, but filling and nutritious mush. A raccoon spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Wits + Survival (difficulty 6). The resulting meal feeds one person per success.

### Declamation

By spending at least an hour studying a written text, the Garou can memorize vast passages of information word for word. The effects work like a cross between speed-reading and eidetic memory. Actually understanding or accessing the information is difficult, but repeating it by rote is simple. Lupus Garou cannot learn this Gift, but remarkably enough, illiterate homids can; for the Gift’s duration, they can decipher all sorts of “funny little squiggles” on paper. The Garou must be fluent in speaking the language he is reading.

This Gift is often taught by Rat Finks and Frankweilers. Rat Finks use this Gift to transfer sensitive information in a format that’s difficult to steal. Frankweiler Galliards use this Gift repeatedly on their favorite plays and novels. This Gift is taught by a bookworm-spirit, a favorite Gaffling of Frankweilers.

System: After the Garou spends one Gnosis, he can repeat, word for word, anything he reads over the next eight hours. As a rough guideline, the Garou can read about a hundred pages in an hour; each time he “studies,” he must concentrate for at least an hour. As a side effect, for the duration of the Gift, the user can add one die to any one Knowledge-based dice pool related to the information. Repeating the information word for word can take hours; however, a second Garou with the Gift: Mindspeak can sift through the information in the Gift user’s head in one scene if he doesn’t resist.

A supernatural creature can try to steal this information with a mind reading ability (such as the vampire Discipline: Telepathy or an application of a mage’s Mind sphere). If this happens, the Garou can resist with a contested Willpower roll (difficulty 4) in addition to any other defense he would normally have against the ability.

### Desperate Strength

The werewolf calls on desperate reserves for a sudden surge of strength. A badger-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: When rolling a Feat of Strength, the werewolf may add one die to the roll for each level of bashing damage he willingly accepts as the price of this Gift.

### Hungry Hound

A Garou with this Gift can hunt down the closest source of discarded, safe, edible food. The user might find a bag of nacho puffs dropped out of a passing car window or the one perfect warm slice of cheese pizza buried at the bottom of a dumpster. The Gift may also reveal people who are willing to give a handout or spare some munchies. The Hungry Hound reveals food that’s available for free. For instance, it won’t automatically detect the hot dogs in a vendor’s cart, but if the man selling them would be happy to give one away to a hungry-looking wolf-dog, the chance of finding them improves considerably. This Gift is taught by a raccoon-spirit, often in exchange for liberating a few choice treasures the spirit really wants.

System: Roll Perception + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). One success produces an unremarkable snack. More successes can either uncover more food (like a feast of discarded donuts or cold pizza) or tastier food (like a single heavenly untouched eclair). This Gift is somewhere between a specialized version of hunting and the lupus Gift: Sense Prey. A successful roll means that the scent of tantalizing food has just wafted past the werewolf’s nose. Three successes and a couple of sniffs can give more details about the “prey,” even from a great distance. (“Wait! It smells like… a birthday cake… there’s writing on it…”)

### Kitchen Chemistry

With ten minutes, a bit of rage, and everyday household chemicals, you can unleash a firestorm of vengeance against an uncaring world. You have a deep and instinctive understanding of the principles of modern chemistry, one that allows you to scratch-build and detonate explosives. (This Gift exists to cancel out the need for any sort of “realistic” explosive rules in the game.) Rat-spirits teach this Gift, occasionally with the help of a few furtive cranks on the internet.

System: One scene. One Rage. At least three household kitchen chemicals approved by the Storyteller. The Result? An explosion inflicting an amount of aggrevated damage equal to the character’s permanent Rage. Detonating the explosives properly is the difficult part.

At the end of the scen in which the chemicals are cooked, the character attempts an Intelligence + Science roll (difficulty 6). With one success, the explosives will detonate at the specified date and time. Three successes allow them to be thrown (Dexterity + Athletics, distance equal teo the Garou’s Strength in yards) or triggered by remote (line of sight). Five successes allow for a complex trigger, such as a timed matchbox fuse, trip wire, weight-sensative pressure plate, or sound of a particular television personality’s voice. On a botch, of course, the bomb goes off in the Garou’s face.

### Resist Toxin

The werewolf’s body is hardened against toxins of all sorts. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The werewolf is permanently immunized to mundane poisons, from arsenic to alcohol, and adds three dice to resist the effects of Wyrm-enhanced toxins. This Gift may be turned off and on at will (such as for enjoying alcohol).

### Scent of Sweet Honey

A target the Garou touched at some point during the last hour begins to exude a wonderfully sweet aroma, and becomes slightly sticky to the touch. All manner of vermin quickly appear and coat the victim. The resulting coat of gnats, flies, bees and beetles crawls, stings, and generally impairs vision and hearing. Insect-spirits teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). The target suffers a –1 penalty to all actions for one hour per success; the smell will not wash off during this time.

### Smell of Success

You’re good at sizing people up. With a few sniffs, you can smell how successful someone really is. Even on a bad day, you can sense whether he’s got money in his pocket, a steady job, or a place to stay. When passing by street folk begging for change, some people claim they don’t have anything to give. By repeatedly sizing up people on the street, Bone Gnawers learn to distinguish a real bad-luck case from a cheap bastard who doesn’t give a damn. After mastering this elemental talent, the Garou can then sniff out deeper secrets from passers-by.

This insight can also be used on people who beg for food, money, or assistance from the Garou; for instance, Hoods use this ability to distinguish someone who really needs help from a scam artist. Either way, this Gift is taught by a rat-spirit, usually while the student sits on a street corner asking for help over and over again; the rat gets a cut of any handouts during the time of training.

System: Spend one Gnosis and roll Perception + Streetwise (difficulty 6). Pick a person within about a city block you can see. One success reveals one of the following facts: whether the person has money in his pocket, whether he has a job, or whether he has a home (your choice). Three successes either answer all three questions or give more detailed information about one of them: how much money he’s got on him, what his occupation is, and what kind of place he lives in.

If you score five successes, some telltale clue also reveals more specific information. With spiritual insight, you can narrow down four or five choices of where his home may be, what company he works for, or the last item he just bought. Specific information may come as a vision of facts whispered by a helpful Gaffling. (“Guess what a little rat told me.”) Alternatively (at the Storyteller’s discretion), it can reveal the number of dots a character has in his Resources Background.

This Gift may be unreliable on creatures other than humans. Most supernatural creatures can resist this ability with Willpower (difficulty 6) or Perception + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). If a supernatural creature is impersonating someone else (say, with the Obfuscate Discipline or the Doppleganger Gift), you must beat the number of successes on the initial roll for that talent. Figuring out a vampire’s haven or where he draws his financial resources takes a bit of work, but it can be done.

### Tagalong

Gommonly used by Bone Gnawers residing in a sept controlled by other tribes, this Gift ingratiates the Bone Gnawer to a pack’s or caern’s totem for a short time. While the Gift is in effect, the Gnawer is treated as a member of a pack with regards to using the totem’s blessings and any pack tactics the pack knows. If used on a caern toem, the totem looks favorably upon the Bone Gnawer. The Gnawer may then perform the Rite of the Opened Caern, if he knows it, without fear of retribution. A lost-dog-spirit, a spirit servant of Rat, teaches this Gift.

System: The Bone Gnawer must know the name of the totem in question. He must also prostrate himself before the caern’s center or the pack’s leader and wiggle forward on his stomach like a begging dog. The player rolls Charisma + Subterfuge. The difficulty varies based on the totem’s opinion of the Bone Gnawer, which is left to the Storyteller’s discretion. Success indicates that the character gains the previously mentioned benefits for one day, and that the totem will not look favorably on a Garou who mistreats the Bone Gnawer without cause. This Gift usually won’t cause any bad feelings from the sept or pack in question as long as the Bone Gnawer minds his manners. However, using it too often certainly will.

### The Mark

The Garou can mark a person or place with a scent only other werewolves can sense. The mark is subtle; placing it isn’t. This Gift is taught by lost-dog-spirits.

System: Using this Gift requires one Gnosis and a stream of the Garou’s urine. The Garou must use his own fluids to mark his victim. Any Garou with at least one dot in Primal-Urge can sense the mark within line of sight. With three dots in Primal-Urge, the Garou can sense it up to a mile away. If the user of this Gift has five dots in Primal-Urge, he always knows where the mark is. The effects last for twelve hours, then persist until the following sunset or sunrise (whichever comes first).

### Trash is Treasure

The refuse of humanity provides all the canny Bone Gnawer needs. Through the use of this Gift, any broken object can be temporarily restored to full functionality and usefulness. A raccoon-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player takes hold of a broken object and rolls Wits + Crafts. The object functions perfectly for one turn per success, and also supplies its own power, fuel, or ammunition — a dull knife cuts, a busted microwave runs (without being plugged into anything), an old rusty Saturday night special fires even without bullets, a junked car starts up and runs. The lifespan of the object’s renewed usefulness can be extended to one full day by spending a point of Willpower, but the object requires proper power, fuel, and ammunition in such circumstances.

### Urban Ward

If your home has no walls, sleeping can be a nightmare. There’s no guarantee that someone won’t sneak up on you to steal your stuff… or even take your life. Some werewolves solve this problem by sleeping in packs, but it never hurts to take extra precautions. Rural Garou set twigs and branches that easily snap underfoot; Bone Gnawers rig the same warnings with tin cans, tripwires, or even broken glass. With a little mystical aid, a werewolf can enlist spirits in similar defenses. The werewolf can never be sure exactly where the boundary of the urban ward is set but he may be paranoid enough to spend more time setting multiple layers of trash around his encampment. This Gift is taught by a Rat-spirit, who usually warns its student to always collect trash and shy things for just this purpose.

System:  By spending one Gnosis, a Bone Gnawer can ward an area against intrusion. The “area” can be anywhere between the size of a room and the size of a building. Trash is set around the periphery, usually junk that makes noise when its disturbed. If anyone crosses this imaginary boundary, the Bone Gnawer hears the spirits scream a silent warning to him. This ward remains in effect for eight hours (or in some cases, from dusk ’til dawn).

The Storyteller secretly rolls the characters Wits + Enigmas (difficulty 6). Any supernatural creature attempting to use its powers to overcome the Urban Ward (for instance, with the vampire Discipline: Obfuscate) must score more successes on its roll to activate the proper supernatural power than the Garou did. For more mundane creatures, like humans, crossing the boundary automatically warns the Garou, who may consciously decide whether to wake up. If the trespasser is also using Stealth the sleeping Garou can make an opposed Perception + Alertness roll without penalty, as if he was awake. Creatures that “teleport” in by means of Gifts such as Shadow Step still count as having crossed the boundary; instantaneous passage through the Umbra is still Umbral passage across the boundary.

## Level Two Gifts

### Between the Cracks

Urban blight is the very underbelly of the Wyrm, and the Bone Gnawers know it better than any other tribe. The werewolf’s instincts guide him to the nearest barren spot within an urban area — a place where no human has set foot in at least a week, one which is not only isolated and currently unoccupied, but also likely to remain so for the rest of the night. This may be a boarded-up, abandoned building, a vacant apartment, or even a dead subway station. Bone Gnawers find this Gift useful for securing ritual spaces, setting up ambushes while preserving the Litany, and finding a place to sleep for the night. Any urban spirit can teach this Gift.

System: The player spends a point of Willpower and rolls Wits + Streetwise (difficulty 5). The more successes, the more secluded and difficult-to-locate the destination will be.

### Blissful Ignorance

The Garou can become completely invisible to all senses, spirits or monitoring devices by remaining still. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The Garou’s player rolls Dexterity + Stealth (difficulty 7). Each success subtracts one success from the Perception + Alertness rolls of those looking for the character actively. If no one is doing so, then just one success indicates complete concealment.

### Cornered Rat’s Ferocity

When backed into a corner with nowhere to run, there are only two options — beg for mercy or turn and fight. Rat-spirits teach Bone Gnawers to excel at the latter.

System: The player spends one Rage point and rolls Rage (difficulty 8). Each success grants the character an additional die to his Brawl pools for the rest of the combat. This Gift sends the Bone Gnawer into an automatic and unavoidable berserk frenzy; any magic that stops the frenzy also ends the Gift.

### Dead End

Through a bit of graffiti and casual sabotage, the Garou can discourage anyone who wants to track him, follow him, or even take interest in his affairs. The werewolf can alter a sign, spray-paint directional information, or perhaps just simply turn street signs the wrong way to misdirect people who find it. This Gift works far better on humans than supernatural creatures. Some urban werewolves attempt this Gift two or three times a week to keep their stomping grounds hidden.

System: Using this Gift requires one Gnosis and enough time to spray-paint graffiti, turn around a street sign, or commit some other act of urban mischief. (If you need an exact number of turns, roll Wits + Survival, difficulty 4, and subtract the number of successes from 10; that’s the number of turns you’ll need) On any roll to track the Garou past this obstacle, increase the difficulty by 3. The effects last for a full week.

### Guise of the Hound

The Bone Gnawer masks herself so that she blends into the urban landscape, disguising her Lupus form so that it appears as a large dog rather than a wolf. Despite its enormous utility, most other tribes spurn this Gift as degrading to the dignity of the Garou. A dog-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). The disguise lasts for one scene per success.

### Hootenanny

Bone Gnawer Hillfolk invented this Gift, and they’ve been teaching it to Galliards everywhere.  A good old-fashioned hootenanny involves music plaed really fast and incredibly well – “Dueling Banjos” is currently the most common song used with it.

While a Garou enacts this performance, every werewolf in his pack finds it easier to run, fight, jump, or perform any other rapid, strenuous physical activity. Unfortunately, everyone who hears the performance feels like dancing-they might stomp their feet, clap to the music, and even dance around if the music’s good enough. This gives the pack a decided edge in combat. With this Gift, a pack of Hillfolk and a Galliard with a banjo can tear up a whole room full of fomori and Black Spirals with one hell of a square dance.  This Gift is taught by an ancestor-spirit, usually one that looks and acts like a Galliard. Some Galliards claim this Gift is taught by the ghost of Elvis, but no one believes them.

**System:** When the hootenanny starts, the Garou using it spends a Gnosis, rolls Manipulation + Performance, and plays fast-paced, raucous music on a musical instrument. If the character scores three successes on the first turn, the Gift is activated; if he doesn’t he can continue to attempt the roll each turn until he does. For the duration of one scene, as long as he continues to perform, each Garou in his pack can add three extra dice to any Dexterity + Brawl or Athletics dice pool. A packmate can add these dice to only one action each round, or he may divide them among multiple actions, but he cannot use more than three bonus dice from this Gift in a turn.

Any enemies listening should make willpower rolls when this power is activated. If an opponent hearing the music can’t score at least three successes on this roll, raise the difficulty of all his Dexterity + Brawl or Athletics dice pools by 2. (Melee and Firearm dice pools are not affected by this Gift.)

### I Got a Rock

Instead of throwing a weapon to cause greater injury, the werewolf throws projectiles with greater accuracy. This Gift is taught by an air-spirit.

System: Large or unwieldy objects are usually more difficulty to throw than aerodynamic ones; this is reflected by a greater difficulty on the Dexterity + Athletics roll to chuck it. In the turn this Gift is used, the Garou burns one Gnosis. The difficulty to throw an object is then 4, no matter how awkward it is to throw. If the Garou can lift it, he can throw it. The Storyteller may still increase the difficulty because of range or other modifiers, but with this Gift, a motorcycle becomes as aerodynamic as a baseball. Note that a werewolf can’t use Stone-Throwing Devil and I’ve Got a Rock in the same turn (one requires Rage and the other requires Gnosis). Also note that throwing a motorcycle like you’d throw a curve ball or knuckleball shreds the Veil.

### Odious Aroma

The Bone Gnawer can amplify his natural musk until it incapacitates his foes. A stinkbug-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one point of Gnosis. For the duration of the scene, all beings other than the werewolf and her packmates that can smell and are within 20 feet (6 m) of the Garou subtract two from all dice pools as they fight to breathe.

### On Patrol

This Gift extends the duration and range of Scent of the True Form or Sense the Unnatural; the Garou needn’t have either one of those Gifts before learning this one, but this Gift is useless without them. Bone Gnawers who hang out on strategically chosen street corners have a chance to sniff out supernatural creatures in the neighborhood. Using the Gift takes about an hour. During that time, if a Wyrm-tainted creature passes within about a city block, there’s a chance the werewolf will pick up his scent. Galliards use this Gift while performing on street corners; Ragabash do the same thing while begging for change. Lost-dog spirits teach this Gift.

System: Spend one Gnosis and roll Stamina + Occult (difficulty 6). The effects last for one hour and extend for a city block. (In the wilderness, the range depends on the Garou’s sense of smell.) Alternatively, a Garou with the Gift: Pulse of the Invisible can use it with On Patrol to watch activity in the Penumbra, even while hanging out in the physical world. As one would expect, a Bone Gnawer sitting on a street corner reacting to stuff that isn’t really there looks like he’s strung-out, drunk, stoned or insane. Even while “chemically enhanced,” he can still sense the taint of the Wyrm around him.

### Road Ward

You’ve been tossed out of just about everywhere. Now the spirits help you survive falls that would cripple just about anyone else. Leaping out of a car on the freeway is a minor inconvenience. Getting pushed off a building is a bitch. Either way, this Gift can still reduce the damage from the fall. As a side effect, for one scene after you activate the Road Ward, you’ll always land on your feet. Wanderlust-spirits teach this Gift.

System: Any use of this Gift requires one Willpower point and a Stamina + Survival roll (difficulty 6); you can immediately activate this Gift before you hit the ground. Falling out of a car moving up to 75 mph requires one success; every additional 25 mph requires an additional success. If you succeed, you take no damage and roll to a stop. Falling off a building reduces the damage by one story for each success. As a side effect, Road Ward cancels the Ahroun Gift: Falling Touch, as well as any trip attempt or leg seep; it can be activated in response to any of those attacks.

### Stone-Throwing Devil

Anything you can throw as a weapon becomes dedlier. If your Garou is the sort of bastard that throws rocks during city riots, dumps garbage on policemen from a fire escape or tosses around furniture in bar brawls, then this Gift is for you.

System: Burn one Rage and roll Dexterity + Athletics when the Garou throws a weapon. Add a number of dice equal to his temporary Rage to the Dexterity + Athletics roll. Of course, if the projectile hits, this means it may also do extra damage.

### Trash Magnet

Ordinary street garbage becomes the Bone Gnawer’s ally as it swirls about his opponent or engulfs his rival. All the trash nearby assails the target of this Gift, making life difficult. Older Bone Gnawers can completely immobilize smart-mouth, upstart Garou in heaps of trash and piles of garbage. Trash-spirits teach this Gift, although Rat-spirits teach a version that animates sewer flotsam.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Streetwise (difficulty 7) to determine the amount of trash involved. With one success, a minor distraction of newspapers and plastic bags causes a small increase in difficulties. With five successes, the target is buried in garbage and must dig his way to freedom. This Gift affects toxic waste as well. Note that this Gift does not create trash but instead draws upon the garbage in an area. An attempt to use this Gift in a sterile laboratory would fail.

## Level Three Gifts

### Beg

Playing upon the compassion of others, Bone Gnawers can generate an amazing amount of pity. By exaggerating her miserable state, a clever Bone Gnawer can gain favor with people who have too much anyway. By groveling or telling her particular sob story, she ;might get a handout, a favor or at least a good meal. A pigeon-spirit teaches this Gift, which is one reason only Bone Gnawers ever learn it.

System: The player must spend one Gnosis point and roll Manipulation + Performance. If the roleplaying is particularly moving, the player can forgo the roll at the Storyteller’s discretion. The difficulty depends on the target: a charitable Child of Gaia might be a 4, whereas an overbearing Get of Fenris might be a 9. The number of successes determines the amount of pity generated and the generosity of the favor.

### Call the Rust

By whistling softly through his teeth, the werewolf can summon sudden and destructive rust onto any metal within his immediate vicinity. Guns corrode and jam, knives crumble, and cars become flaking hunks of junk. This Gift is taught by a water elemental.

System: The player spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Wits + Crafts, with a difficulty depending on the amount of metal being corroded. A gun or knife would be difficulty 6, while a car might be difficulty 8.

### Cooter’s Revenge

Any Bone Gnawer who watches too much television knows about Cooter. He’s got a tow truck parked down the street from the *Dukes of Hazzard,* and he always has the right tool for the right job. Followers of the tribe’s automotive totem (described under “Totems”) train extensively with automotive tools, and wouldn’t be caught dead without them. This Gift not only makes proper repairs much easier, but can also save your life if you’re caught unaware while changing a tire by the side of the freeway.

System: This Gift requires a heavy, automotive tool at least as big as a large crescent wrench (anything smaller than a half-inch crescent wrench won’t do). If you voluntarily lend out any of your tools, you can’t use this Gift until you get them back.

For one Gnosis this Gift reduces the difficulty of any automotive repair roll to 4, (but only if your using the right tool). For one Rage, the Gift can make the tool a deadlier weapon. Wheather you prefer a tire iron or power drill, you can use your chosen tools to inflict Strength + 3 lethal damage for one scene. As an added bonus, you can do the same damage with all four hubcaps, the four wheel wells, and the spare tire of a car as ranged weapons.

### Dumpster Diving

One of the less sanitary tribal totems, the Great Trash Heap, has dissipated its consciousness throughout the dumping grounds, landfills, and trash piles of the world. Bone Gnawers who follow this totem commune with the Incarna by defending, protecting and even obeying these festering heaps. When a Garou has reached this rank of renown, he may be called upon to travel between festering sacred sates to carry out the totem’s demands.

Just as entering a Moon Bridge helps Garou travel between caerns, dumpster diving allows Bone Gnawers and thier packs to venture from one shrine of the Great Trash Heap to another. The werewolf burrows down into the trash, tunnels around in it, and then resurfaces inside another Heap on another part of the planet. Obviously this Gift is taught by a totem-spirit of the Great Trash Heap. A Garou termporarily servin the totem through the Level One Gift: Tagalong can learn this gift, but the werewolf must still petition the totem each time he uses it.

System: The totem decides when to open and close these gateways and assigns their destinations. When the pack goes dumpster diving, the highest-ranking Bone Gnawer makes a Gnosis roll (difficulty 4) when entering the trash pile; the travel time is the same as for stepping sideways. This ability cannot be used more than once per day, and it only works at the totem’s behest. Keeping these pathways open is difficult so the traveler and his pack must return to their original site within three days, If they don’t make it back in time, they’ll have to travel back by more conventional means.

### Friend In Need

It takes a lot for a pack to accept a Bone Gnawer as an equal, but once they do, the Bone Gnawer’s loyalty is unshakable. This Gift allows a Bone Gnawer to risk all, even his own life, to aid a packmate or tribemate. A dog-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: When a packmate or fellow Bone Gnawer is in danger, the Bone Gnawer may “lend” him what he needs, be it a Gift the Bone Gnawer knows, his Rage, his Willpower, or even his own life (in the form of health levels). The Bone Gnawer cannot lend a Gift of a higher rank than the recipient could know, nor can he lend Abilities or Attributes. The player must spend one Willpower point and roll Willpower (difficulty 7) and must succeed for the transfer to take place. If the roll botches, the Bone Gnawer loses the Traits in question but the recipient does not gain them. This Gift lasts until the end of the scene unless the recipient decides to terminate it early. If the recipient dies before the Traits are returned, the Bone Gnawer loses them permanently.

### Gift of the Skunk

With this Gift, the Garou can swell his musk glands, allowing him to spray musk like a skunk. It is, of course, taught by a skunk-spirit.

System: The spray is directed with a Dexterity + Primal-Urge roll (difficulty 7, maximum range of 10 feet). A target struck by this attack must spend a Willpower point to do anything but spend the first turn retching. Afterwards, he subtracts one from his dice pools for the rest of the scene for every two successes rolled. Immersion in water negates this Gift, and it is ineffective against targets with no sense of smell.

### Gift of the Termite

The Bone Gnawer can cause wood and paper to rot with astonishing speed. Furniture falls apart, documents disintegrate, and buildings may even collapse. A termite-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Crafts (difficulty 7). One success can rot a ream of paper, three can destroy a wall, and five can collapse the roof of a small building.

### Laugh of the Hyena

Hyena follows no one; instead, she laughs at those who would name themselves kings. The Bone Gnawer wields the power of this mocking laughter, allowing her to resist any attempt to command, cajole, force, or demand to do anything she doesn’t wish to. Such refusals are never subtle; the werewolf cackles like a hyena when calling upon this Gift. A hyena-spirit teaches it.

System: All attempts to mentally compel the werewolf suffer a +2 difficulty penalty, so long as she laughs out loud at them.

### Lucky Bastard

By performing an epic feat to please the spirits, you’ve found a way to overcome the curse of your jackal’s blood. This Gift is taught by a jackal-spirit, usually as an act of forgiveness after an appropriate Umbral quest lasting at least one game session.

System: This Gift can be used once per game session. The Garou spends one Gnosis; the person roleplaying him can then reroll any one dice pool for that character. The effects only apply if the roll is “better” (that is, scores more successes) than the original roll.

### Rant and Rave

Suffused with the pure energy of the Wyld, the user of this Gift rants and raves in a torrent of nonsensical language. Only others who are properly attuned to his magic silver-hammer disco ball dimension can penetrate his tinfoil hat. More precisely, any member of his pack or the Bone Gnawer tribe can decode whaterver nonsense he is saying. He can also project these thoughts at a distance to one listener; the ranting Garou chooses which individual receives his psychic transmission.

The listener does not have to actually hear the ranting Garou. As long as he’s within the same city, or even the same state or province, there’s a chance he’ll receive the message. (Unlike the Gift: Mindspeak, line of sight is not always required.) Ranting Bone Gnawers have been known to hold entire conversations from opposite sides of the same city, taking turns shouting violent imprecations to no one in particular. A Wyldling-spirit teaches this Gift.

System**:** The ranting Garou spends one Gnosis for each werewolf he wants to receive his secret message; the duration is one scene. Each one of these targets must either be a member of his pack or a Bone Gnawer. (This is allowable if he’s temporarily joined a pack with the Bone Gnawer Gift: Tagalong.) Roll the ranters Appearance + Expression (difficulty 6); the number of successes limits how far away his recipient can be.

Successes Distance

one     line of sight (as per Mindspeak)

two   same building

three same city block

four   same city

five   same state or province

For Wyld reasons no one can understand, the most powerful application of this Gift actually does have a longer range in Texas or Alaska than in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, or Vermont. Bone Gnawer Deserters have gone on epic Umbral quests to deduce the reason why, but have never returned with any sufficiently logical answer.

### 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.

### Streets Tell Stories

You’ve got an ear to the sidewalk… literally. By touching a road, sidewalk, or path of some kind, you recieve a flash of impressions about what has transpired there during the last twenty-four hours. Urban spirits whisper words, waft scents, and even give a taste of events in the neighborhood. This Gift is bestowed by a City Mother or City Father Totem, usually as a reward for acting in defense of the city.

System**:** Spend one Gnosis and roll Perception + Streetwise (difficulty 6). You may specify what sort of information you require before you roll the dice. One success reveals a brief sensory impression with any one sense other than sight. Three successes gives a rush of images (described rapid-fire by the Storyteller); you may ask questions about any one of them and receive more specific details with all five senses. Five successes gives you access complete recall about everyone who’s passes within the last day, including impressions from all five senses. However, you’ll need to spend a scene sitting and thinking to recall this amount of detail.

## Level Four Gifts

### Attunement

The werewolf may commune with the spirits of a city or town and gain information about the area from them, including a rough population estimate, enclaves of Garou or other beings, and any secret tunnels. This Gift doesn’t function in the wilderness, since the Bone Gnawers have lost the knack for conversing with such spirits easily. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one point of Gnosis and rolls Perception + Streetwise (difficulty 6). The amount and accuracy of the information depend on the number of successes rolled.

### Blink

The Bone Gnawer can duck into a shaded area (an open dumpster, a dark alley, beneath a parked car) and pop out in another shaded area some distance away. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Stealth (difficulty 6). The character can reappear in any shaded area within (number of successes x 20) yards (18 m per success).

### Cliché Curse

From *Roger Ebert’s Little Bigger Movie Glossary, “Cliché*phobia.' **Condition affecting people raised on movies. Symptoms occur when real life situations echo movie clichés, and the sufferers must take action to avoid what would be the inevitable denouement in a movie.”**

What is a humorous anecdote in the hands of humans becomes a deadly weapon in the claws of a Bone Gnawer. Most often employed with an appropriately dramatic curse (although this isn’t necessary), the target of this Gift becomes certain to suffer an unfavorable fate in a cliché-related way. Anyone reaching for something high in a cupboard will inevitably have the entire contents fall on top of him. Riding a bicycle on a sunny day invites being hit by a truck. While it is possible to avoid the effects of this curse, doing so requires virtually shutting yourself from the world, and not in a dark room, either. It is taught by a dog spirit or by a spirit from a television realm.

System: The player spends one point of Gnosis and names the victim, who must be within hearing distance and line of sight. For twenty-four hours, the victim risks disaster. Once that disaster occurs, however, the curse is ended.

### Face in the Crowd

You thrive in the midst of riots, angry mobs, lynchings, civil disturbances or any other situation where a crowd of humans rebels, revolts, or resists authority. The Gift doesn’t actually enrage a crowd; it just adds direction to a riot already in progress. Wyldlings and Ratkin Twitchers teach this Gift

System**:** Using this Gift costs one Willpower each turn. That turn, you can use one noun and one verb to direct what an angry mob will do. The Garou doesn’t need to vocalize these commands; the player states them to the Storyteller.

Silly commands automatically fail. (you could, for instance, issue the command ” kill vampires,” but demanding that everyone “drink Pepsi” does nothing.) You must direct the crowd at something other than itself (so verbs like “sleep,” “vomit,” or “laugh” or the noun “suicide” are right out).

The Storyteller has the right to veto any noun/verb that’s too abusive (“kill yourselves”) or just plain stupid.

### Infest

The Bone Gnawer summons a horde of vermin to invade a structure no bigger than a large building. The Gift summons any kind of vermin common to the area — usually a lively variety of insects, slugs and rodents. The vermin behave according to their natural instincts, generally settling down for permanent infestation rather than attacking humans. Any verminspirit can teach this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). One success warrants an immediate call to an exterminator, five makes the building completely uninhabitable for quite some time.

### Shadow of the Rat

Rats are known for their resilience, persistence, and ruthlessness. Since Rat serves as the Bone Gnawer’s tribal totem, Garou of this tribe may learn a great deal about survival under the tutelage of rat-spirits.

System**:** The Garou can spend one Gnosis to lower the difficulty of all Stamina rolls (including soak rolls) by 1 for the duration of one scene.

### Trust Me

Once each game session, a Bone Gnawer with this Gift can tell an outrageous lie so well that ordinary humans accept it as truth. The story must at least be vaguely possible and end with the words, “Trust me.” What the human does with this knowledge is entirely a matter of roleplaying. Munchmausen Ratkin teach this Gift.

System**:** No roll is necessary; ordinary humans automatically believe the Bone Gnawer’s tale. This Gift does not work on supernatural creatures or animals.

## Level Five Gifts

### Gluttony

The Bone Gnawer can open his jaws far wider than is normally physically possible, and can swallow things or beings whole. A werewolf with this Gift is even capable of gulping down an entire buffalo, or a whole pack of Black Spiral Dancers, only to regurgitate the creatures later This Gift is taught by a catfish-spirit.

System: The player rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). Beings can resist with Dexterity + Dodge. In the case of a very large being or object, one extra success is required for every Health Level the target possesses beyond the normal seven, or for every extra three feet in size over the Bone Gnawer (obviously, Crinos form is best for this Gift). Swallowed objects/beings wind up in the Umbra, in a subrealm that is a mystical “stomach” of the glutton. The Garou can belch these objects out later. The werewolf can store objects in this mystical stomach for a number of hours equal to his Stamina; after this time, the Garou automatically regurgitates them hack into the physical world. The objects appear next to the Garou, and are unharmed.

### Help Me

Once each game session, a Bone Gnawer with this Gift can tell a tale of suffering so pitiful that he can elicit the help of an average human. With enough successes, he may convince the human to go out of his way to help the poor suffering bastard get on his feet. Masters of this Gift have managed to walk with a mark to the ATM for a sizable donation, borrow the keys to a car for an evening, or sleep on someone’s floor. The tribe has spent millennia watching over the human race; after realizing on some subconscious level this great service, the human pays his protector back with a grand favor. Great Bone Gnawer heroes use this Gift when they need help protecting humans from the evils around them.

System**:** There’s a price to pay, however. Some rabble exploit these victims for all they can get, but this behavior is hardly considered honorable. Word gets around. Using this help for the common good is commendable, but if the werewolf uses this Gift from Gaia to rip people off, he’ll lose one temporary Honor each time if the local Garou find out. In any case, the Storyteller decides what help the human offers.

### Piping

In times of great need, an elder can issue a call to his tribe that echoes through the Umbra of an entire city. First, hordes of spirits appear before him in the spirit world. They then swarm out to find everyone of the same tribe. Bone Gnawers use this Gift more than any other tribe, usually relying on hordes of rat-spirits to find all their hidden brothers and sisters. The tribalists don’t need to answer the call, but the spirit can relay a brief message exhorting the Garou to aid her brothers and sisters. Using this Gift for a trivial purpose may cost the Garou temporary Honor.

System**:** Piping works like the Gift: Call of the Wyld, but it stretches across an entire city and only works on Bone Gnawers.

### Riot

The werewolf summons a horde of malevolent spirits to provoke the inhabitants of a city into violent rioting. The Gift plays on the hatred and fear of the down-and-outs of the city: the poor, the homeless, immigrants, and others the citizenry would rather not acknowledge. The Gnawer can direct the riot to a limited degree. A rat-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty 8). If successful, the spirits direct their hosts against a target of the Garou’s choice — though things tend to escalate and spin out of control easily. The riot engulfs an area with a radius of one mile per success rolled.

### Survivor

The werewolf becomes an ultimate survivor, with no need of food, water or sleep. She ignores temperature extremes, natural diseases, and poisons. Wyrm toxins have only half their normal effect on her. A tortoise-spirit teaches this Gift.

System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Stamina + Survival. The effects last for one day per success. By spending a second Gnosis point, the character can gain three extra points of Stamina, and suffers no wound penalties, but the Gift will prematurely expire 10 rounds later. The Garou must sleep for at least eight hours when the Gift wears off, and he awakens ravenously hungry.