Hamish/Gifts
Level 1
Create Element - The metis has the power to create a small amount of one of the four basic elements — fire, air, earth or water. In this way, she can replenish the air supply in an airtight room, make a rock to throw at someone, create a fire without matches or wood, or even fill a bathtub without any faucet or pipes. The metis cannot create specialized forms of any element. Precious metals (especially silver), lethal gases and acid are beyond his reach. This Gift creates only natural air, earth, fire and water. Elementals teach this Gift.
System: The werewolf’s player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis. Each success allows the character to create approximately one cubic foot of the desired element, to a maximum weight of 100 lbs, anywhere he can see within 60 feet. 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 with this Gift are genuinely hot, but they are no substitute for a flame-thrower. They inflict one health level of damage per success, to a maximum of three health levels of damage.
Falling Touch - This Gift allows the Garou to send her foe sprawling with but a touch. Any aerial spirit can teach this Gift.
System: The Garou’s player rolls Dexterity + Medicine (difficulty of the opponent’s Stamina + Athletics). Even one success send the victim to the ground. Doing so counts as an action; activating this Gift and striking a foe with intent to harm are two separate things.
Hidden Killer - The Red Talons did not survive for so many years without learning ways to conceal themselves. This Gift allows a Garou to leave behind no physical evidence that would betray her hand (or claws and teeth) in a slaying. This Gift is taught my a snake-spirit.
System: After a battle, the Garou must lick each wound she inflicted once. The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Stealth (difficulty 7). If the roll succeeds, the wounds alter themselves so that they resemble stabbing wounds rather than bite marks, and any hair, saliva, blood or other physical evidence from the werewolf’s body disappears. Any peripheral damage (smashed furniture, for example) remains as it was, however.
Mindspeak - By invoking the power of waking dreams, the Garou can place any chosen characters into silent communion. A Chimerling teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Willpower point per sentient being chosen and makes a Manipulation + Expression roll (difficulty of the victim’s Willpower) if the being is unwilling. All those included in the dream may interact normally through the Mindspeak, although they can inflict no damage through it. Their real bodies can still act, although all dice pools decrease by two. The Mindspeak ends when all the participants want it to, or on the turn the Galliard fails the roll against an unwilling member. The beings affected must be within line of sight.
Mother's Touch - The Garou is able to heal the wounds of any living creature, aggravated or otherwise, simply by laying hands over the afflicted area. The Garou may not heal herself, spirits or the undead with this Gift. A bear- or unicorn-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends on Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty of the wounded individual’s Rage, or 6 for non-Garou). Each success heals one health level. The Theurge may heal even Battle Scars in this manner if the Theurge uses the Gift in the same scene in which the scar was obtained and she spends a second Gnosis point. There is no limit to how many times this Gift may be used on a person, but each use requires the expenditure of one Gnosis.
Primal Anger - The metis learns to focus the anger within her heart and use it to increase her Rage. The anger takes a physical toll on the werewolf, and it is up to her to unleash it on her enemies. The spirits of ancient metis teach this Gift. Few members of other breeds have suffered enough shame and suffering to learn this Gift.
System: A character with this Gift may sacrifice a single health level, once per scene, and gain two extra points of Rage in exchange (even if doing so takes her above her permanent Rage rating). The health level is treated as aggravated damage for purposes of recovery.
Resist Pain - Through force of will, the Philodox is able to ignore the pain of his wounds and continue acting normally. A bear-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Willpower point; his character may ignore all wound penalties for the rest of the scene.
Resist Toxin - Many Bone Gnawers learn a preternatural resistance to poisons and toxins of all kinds, doubtless due to their diet of refuse and American beer. A trash-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player rolls Stamina + Survival. Success nullifies the effects of most conventional poisons, and adds three dice to the Garou’s Stamina for purposes of resisting Wyrm-enhanced poisons. The effects last for the scene.
Scent Of The True Form - This Gift allows the Garou to determine the true nature of a person. This information is conveyed as an olfactory sensation — it is actually a scent of the target’s natural form. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this Gift.
System: The Garou can tell automatically when someone is a werewolf; anything else requires a Perception + Primal-Urge roll. It takes two successes to detect vampires, faeries or other shapeshifters as such, and it takes four to detect fomori or mages.
Sense Wyrm - The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, “This place stinks of the Wyrm” (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm’s taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or who has eated tainted food. This power requires active concentration. Any spirit of Gaia may teach this Gift.
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 8. Vampires register as Wyrm-tainted, save those with Humanity Traits of 7 or higher.
Shroud - The Garou can create a field of inky blackness through which only she can see. A night-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends on Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty varies: 3 for twilight, 6 for indoors, 9 for bright sunlight). Each success blacks out a 10′ by 10′ by 10′ area. The Garou can choose any area within his line of sight. The metis Gift: Eyes of the Cat can see through the conjured darkness.
Spirit Speech - This Gift allows the Garou to communicate with encountered spirits. The Garou is thus able to address them whether they wish to be adddressed or not. Of course, nothing (usually) prevents the spirit from ignoring the Theurge or leaving. Any spirit can teach this Gift.
System: Once learned, this Gift allows the Garou to understand the communication of spirits intuitively. Particularly alien spirits may be difficult — or, in the case of many Banes, outright painful — to understand.
Spur Claws - Some Garou take the bee as a role model for their cause. The bee is so devoted to her queen that she attacks her enemies with no care to the inevitable fact that she will die in the attack. For those Garou who feel similarly, bee-spirits may teach them how to turn their claws into stingers that stick in their opponents. Such poison as they excrete won’t kill their opponents but neither will it kill the werewolf in question.
System: The player spends one Rage. The next successful claw attack the character makes will bury her claws into the victim, where they stay stuck after they rip from the Ahroun’s fingertips. Until the victim takes the time to pull them out (which takes a full turn) they will suffer +2 difficulty on all actions. However, the Garou’s claws take a full turn to regenerate and can’t be used in that time.
Toxic Claws - The Dancer can cause toxic waste to ooze from her claws, coating them with an unhealthy greenish-gray slime. Wounds left by these claws tend to leave unhealthy-looking scars.
System: This Gift requires the expenditure of one Rage point and a turn of full concentration. For the remainder of the scene, the Dancer’s claws inflict an additional die of damage and leave residual Wyrm-taint on anything she slashes.
Level 2
Call of the Wyrm - This dangerous Gift actually attracts creatures of the Wyrm. Galliards typically use the Call to bait an ambush or to flush prey from hiding. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this Gift.
System: The Garou’s player makes a resisted roll of Manipulation + Performance against the Wyrm creature’s Willpower (both rolls are difficulty 7). If the Wyrm creature loses the contest, it must come to the source of the Call.
Call to Duty - Any spirit the Philodox knows by name is a potential servitor. With this Gift, the werewolf can summon and command any spirit she knows by name. Only one command is possible at a time, and the spirit departs after fulfilling the one request. An Incarna avatar teaches this Gift.
System: Obviously, the Philodox must learn the spirit’s name, which usually requires personal acquaintance or use of the Gift: Name the Spirit. The Player rolls Charisma + Leadership (difficulty of the spirit’s Willpower). If the player spends two Gnosis points, the werewolf can summon all Gaian spirits within one mile to protect or assist her, even if she does not know their names.
Curse of Hatred - The metis may verbalize the hatred in her heart, disheartening opponents with the intensity of her emotion. A spirit of hate teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Expression (difficulty of the opponent’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.
Dreamspeak - The Galliard can enter another’s dream and thereby affect the course of that dream. The werewolf does not have to be anywhere near the target, but she must know or have seen the dreamer. A Chimerling teaches this Gift.
System: The player rolls Wits + Empathy (difficulty 8). If the dreamer awakens while the Galliard is still within the dream, the werewolf is thrown out of the dream world, and he loses a Gnosis point.
Horns of the Impaler - This talent endows the Black Spiral with a pair of spiraling, chitinous black-and-green horns. Usually, they’re worn as antlers, although some Dancers have learned to protrude them from other parts of their bodies.
This Gift is usually taught by a Dratossi. A Bane inside a physiologically freakish fomor might also bless an ally with this talent.
System: This appendage inflicts the same damage as a Bite attack; it can be used a maximum of twice each round of combat. A horned Black Spiral may instead choose to charge his enemies; this increases the amount of damage to Strength +5 dice, but only one such charging attack can be made that round.
Mimic - The Garou can alter her voice such that she can imitate any sound or voice she has heard, including sirens, gunshots, musical instruments or even specific quotations. The Gift does not allow the creation of new sounds, but new combinations can have interesting effects. Magpie-spirits know this Gift, but learning it from them can be an embarrassing and frustrating process.
System: Once the Garou learns this Gift, she can reproduce anything she hears. When simulating another person’s voice (or animal speech) she can only iterate what she has heard and cannot improvise new speech. Clever Garou create new combinations to form new sentences, but they often sound choppy. The player must roll Charisma + Performance (difficulty 6) if the intended audience suspects a ruse or knows the original voice very well (a relative, long-time friend or packmate, for instance).
Realm Wisdom - A wise Garou knows to obey the laws of a realm for maximum results; however, sometimes those laws aren’t immediately obvious. Although experience is the best teacher, sometimes a Philodox needs to take a shortcut. By channeling the wisdom of a realm’s spirits, the Philodox can intuitively guess important facts about the realm. This Gift is taught by an ancestor-spirit.
System: This Gift works in any realm or zone. The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Perception + Law against a variable difficulty; the more obscure or less traveled the realm, the higher the difficulty. For example, trying to glean wisdom about the CyberRealm or Battleground might be difficulty 6, whereas learning the laws of the Null Zone might be a 9. Each success gains a relevant fact about the realm, to a maximum of five successes. The Storyteller determines which facts are most relevant; for example, if the player gains only one success in the Abyss, the Storyteller might feel that the most important fact is “don’t fall in; if you fall into the Abyss, you’re lost forever.” This Gift functions only once per visit to any given realm, and doesn’t prevent redundancy; a Philodox might “learn” the same fact twice in successive visits to a realm.
Sense of the Prey - If he knows anything about his prey, the character can track it down as rapidly as he can travel. This unerring sense of direction operates anywhere, and it is useful for tracking spirits through the Umbra as well as finding beings on Earth. A wolf- or dog-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: No roll is required unless the target is hiding actively (intent alone is not enough), in which case a Perception + Enigmas roll is made against a difficulty of the target’s Wits + Stealth. If the target is a spirit, the difficulty is the spirit’s Gnosis.
Spirit of the Fray - This Gift allows the Ahroun to attack with lightning speed, striking before any foe. A cat-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: Once the character learns this Gift, its effects are permanent. The Ahroun may add 10 to all his initiative rolls, which will nearly always ensure that he strikes first. If he chooses, the Ahroun may spend a Gnosis point to add another 10 to his initiative roll. Remember, though, that doing so prevents him from spending Rage to gain extra actions; werewolves can’t use Rage and Gnosis in the same turn.
Summon Talisman - The Strider can summon to herself any dedicated handheld object (see the Rite of Talisman Dedication). The item disappears from wherever it currently rests, even from somebody else’s grasp, and appears in the Garou’s grip. Striders use this Gift to bring special items to them once they have finished a journey or to recover items lost along the way. A packrat-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The Garou need only spend one Gnosis point and concentrate on the item. The Garou can call only half of his dedicated items — he must choose which ones upon learning this Gift.
Unified Force - The Galliard can bond the pack into a truly unified force, striking as one. As long as no one in the pack succumbs to frenzy, each member strikes at the same instant, and few foes can stand up to such an attack for long. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player must spend one Gnosis point for each turn in which this Gift is to be active. Every turn that she does so, each player rolls for initiative as usual, but the entire pack acts on the highest initiative rolled (so if the character’s initiative totals wind up being 10, 8, 14, and 17, the entire pack acts on 17, even if the pack’s alpha wound up with the 8). The entire pack must be present in the battle for this Gift to be effective, and if even one pack member frenzies, the effect is lost. Also, only pack members bonded by a totem may enjoy these benefits. All pack tactics are at -1 difficulty while this Gift is active.
Wyrm Hide - A Dancer may use this Gift to transform her skin into a lumpy, leather, odious sickly hide that grants her additional protection from harm. Once the Wyrm Hide wears off, it slides oozing and bubbling off the Black Spiral Dancer, leaving a congealing, smelly mess where she stood.
System: The Dancer must spend one pint of Rage to activate Wyrm Hide, and the player must roll Stamina + Survival. Each success grants the Dancer one additional soak die. This Gift lasts until the end of the scene. Until then, other Garou pay pick up her scent at two lower difficulty, due to the stench the power generates.
Level 3
Allies Below - Howl, you crazy bastard! If you let forth a rousing yawp, the spirits of the Earth will answer you. Wyrm creatures far beneath the Earth’s crust will cause minor tremors in the ground above them.
Although the terrible quakes caused by this Gift seem awful, they merely reflect the sort of test the Galliard must endure in the Shattered Labyrinth to learn it. The worst scenario is one in which the labyrinth collapses in on itself.
System: The extent of the damage inflicted depends on the amount of Gnosis channeled into the Galliard’s “rousing yawp.” One point of Gnosis causes a minor tremor, possibly throwing people to the ground. Three points can collapse underground tunnels, knock down trees, or open sinkholes. Five points can cause structural damage to a building, collapsing walls on anyone within several feet of it. In each case, victims should roll Dexterity + Dodge or Dexterity + Athletics to stay on their feet, escape from collapsing buildings, or dive for cover.
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.
The Cleaving Hoof - Unicorn’s powerful hoofblows often killed the humans that hunted him. This gift allows the Garou to focus inner strength into a single blow, ending a fight before further harm can take place. A Unicorn-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends a Gnosis point before rolling to hit. If he successfully strikes his opponent, the dice gained from Strength in his damage pool count as automatic successes rather than dice. Dice in the damage pool gained from weapons, claw damage or extra successes on the attack roll must be rolled as usual. For example, a werewolf with Strength 5 uses this Gift before successfully clawing an opponent; his damage pool works out to be 9 dice (5 for Strength, +1 for the claw maneuver, +3 for three additional successes on the attack roll). The player rolls tour damage dice, adding any successes (or subtracting in the case or rolling ones) to the five automatic successes on the damage roll. The defender may soak as usual.
Level 4
Crawling Poison - When the Dancer calls upon this Gift, his fangs turn black with venom, and his breath grows more foul than is normal. The venom kills humans and animals slowly, and, the victim suffers terrible agony as the venom spreads through his body. A Garou’s regeneration will protect her from the pain and eventual death, but only at the cost of her normal rapid healing.
System: After making a successful bite attack that inflicts damage after soak, roll the Dancer’s Gnosis (difficulty is the victim’s Stamina, or Stamina +2 if the victim has Resist Toxin). Each success inhibits the victim’s regeneration for one hour. When used on humans or animals, the poison subtracts one from all Physical Attributes each hour. If Strength or Dexterity reach zero, the victim may not move without assistance. If Stamina reaches zero, the victim dies a painful and messy death. The toxin may be stopped only by supernatural means. Mother’s Touch (difficulty as normal) can negate it on a one-for-one success ratio, but the Garou using it must spend one Gnosis point per success.
Level 5
Avatar of the Wyrm - The Dancer assumes an awful and horrific visage, perhaps even a facet of the Wyrm itself (albeit a small one). The Dancer increases in size, it skin becomes scaly and greenish-gray, and his claws increase in length to jagged, vicious knives dripping with venom. His howl becomes a terrifying roar. Only a Maeljin Incarna, one of the Wyrm’s most powerful avatars, can teach this Gift.
System: Spend one Gnosis point and one Rage point. The Dancer must concentrate for a full turn, at the end of which the transformation occurs. The Dancer shifts to Crinos automatically (if he wasn’t already in that form) and adds an additional dot to all Physical Attributes, and one Bruised health level. Additionally, his claws inflict an additional die of damage and are unsoakable. Finally, treat Delirium as three levels worse to onlookers.
Balefire - The Dancer can hurl balls of sickly green flame at her enemies. Balefire, as the very lifeblood of the Wyrm, is very dangerous to werewolves. It often inflicts hideous and life-threatening mutations, as well as tainting the victim heavily. It’s impossible to dodge Balefire — it moves with a malicious intelligence. It can only be resisted.
System: Roll Dexterity + Athletics, taking the standard ranged-combat modifier into account. The victim resists with Stamina (difficulty 8), and his roll must equal or exceed the Dancer’s successes. If the victim fails to resist, the Balefire’s influence mutates her. Treat each success over resistance as one level of aggravated damage for the purposes of healing/rejecting the mutation. This damage is not soakable (the resistance roll is the soak roll). Afflicted werewolves may grow extra (useless) eyes, lose all of her fur and hair, go blind, deaf or anosmic (no sense of taste or smell) temporarily. Until she rejects the mutations and undergoes a Rite of Cleansing, she registers a strong taint to the Gift: Sense Wyrm.
Chaos Mechanics - Werewolves pulse with the Wyld’s energy, of course, but all creatures with form and nature have something of the Weaver in them, or so the Glass Walkers argue. Upon learning this Gift, the Glass Walker reconciles these two sides of his being, and he can summon primal energy and mystical form at the same time.
System: A Garou with this Gift may use Rage and Gnosis in the same turn with no penalty. Doing so allows the Garou to use Rage actions to activate fetishes and use Gifts requiring Gnosis (provided that said Gift does not take a full turn to enact). What’s more important is that it allows the Garou to take Rage actions in the same turn that he steps sideways, provided that the player rolls enough successes to get to or from the Umbra instantly. This Gift’s effects are permanent.
Mask Taint - A Dancer with this Gift can hide his Wyrm-taint from all senses or Gifts that may detect it.
System: Spend two Gnosis points and roll the Dancer’s Appearance + Subterfuge (difficulty 8). The effect lasts for one scene. Shadow Lords may still detect Wyrm-taint — with Sense Wyrm (difficulty 8) — from a Dancer thus veiled.
Paws of the Newborn Cub - With a glare and snarl, the Silver Fang strips her foe of any supernatural power. Many servants of the Wrym have tried to employ their putrescent magic against the Fangs, only to realize that they face a mighty foe with only mundane methods of defense. A falcon-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of the target’s Willpower). Each success removes all special abilities (shapeshifting, Gifts, any sort of supernatural or magical powers) for one turn.
Ubersmench - 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. He is as man, but greater and more whole. Every Garou radiates this to some extent, causing humans to fear and avoid them instinctively. This Gift warps this perception, turning the Garou from a figure to be avoided into a figure to be admired or adored. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: Once learned, this Gift is always active. Humans dealing with the character will immediately pick her out as more desirable, attractive, smarter or more charismatic compared to throw around them, regardless of their actual capacity in such matters. The Curse still applies, but rather than being instinctively feared as a predator, the werewolf is dreaded as an intimidating figure of great presence. Also, the character may boost his Social Attributes by spending Rage or Gnosis, each dot of either spent raises one Social Attribute by one point for a single scene.
