House Rules/Totem

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This is a subset of House_Rules/Shifter, split out due to length.

The Totem background is used by the following PCs, either in packs or individually:

  • Shifters and kinfolk (but not possessed, per Possessed page 101)
  • Dreamspeakers, Shamanic Traditionalist merit (for Spirit Allies, see here)
  • Nunnehi
  • Wangateurs

The following are similar, and use all the same rules except as specified:

  • Jamak (Bastet)
  • Nushi (Kuei-jin)
  • Orisha Bond (Eshu)

Buying any of these with XP costs 2 per dot, regardless of current level. (WW3801/123)

Caps

Background dots are limited to 5 per PC during chargen, 10 (total) per PC afterward.

  • If you want to start with a level 6+ Totem, you need at least one packmate.

Allowing more than 5 PCs per pack is limited at staff discretion.

PCs may join a pack without buying the background.

Powers

Power Cost (shifter) Cost (shaman) Cost (Kuei-jin)
Baseline total of Willpower/Rage/Gnosis 8 5 7
Baseline Essence/Power/Chi 8 5 20
Baseline charms Airt Sense (WtA 237)
Re-form (WtA 238)		 Airt Sense
Re-form		 Dragon Sight (KotE 211)
Re-form
Per 3 points to spend on Willpower, Rage and/or Gnosis 1 1 1
Additional points of Power n/a 1 per 5 1 per 10
Totem can speak to pack without Spirit Speech gift 1 free 1
Totem can always find pack members 1 1 ("can typically") 1
Totem is nearly always with pack members 2 n/a 2
Totem is respected by other spirits 2 1 ("by other Umbrood") 2 ("in the spirit worlds")
Per additional charm 2 1 2
Per extra pack member who can use the totem's powers in the same turn 3 n/a 3
Totem is connected mystically to pack members, allows long-distance communication (+pack chat) 4 n/a 4
Totem is feared by agents of the Wyrm (may run away or try to kill the pack) 5 n/a n/a
Nushi can demand duties of the wu-mates n/a n/a -1 to -3

Totem powers come from any combination of the following:

  • Construction kit (WtA Revised page 123)
    • Dreamspeakers / Shamanic Traditionalist merit, use Dreamspeakers page 58 instead
    • Nushi, use KotE page 87 instead
  • Additional house-rule options (packs are limited to 10 points from this section)
    • 1 point for +1 dice or -1 difficulty to an ability
    • 3 points for +1 dice or -1 difficulty to an attribute (may be reduced if the bonus only applies in a limited context)
    • 1 point for +1 dice or -1 difficulty to Willpower (3 points if it applies to powers with Willpower pools)
    • 1 point for a miscellaneous improvement (e.g. faster running speed, includes Innate Abilities granted to shamans)
    • These only apply to one pack member at a time, unless points are also spent to allow multiple pack members to get bonuses in the same turn

All totems have:

  • Airt Sense and Re-form Charms for free, unless something explicitly states otherwise
  • Base total of 8 dots in Rage/Gnosis/Willpower (WtA 123)
  • 8 Essence (WtA 236-237), aka 'Power' or 'Chi' in some other books
    • Dreamspeaker / Shamanic Traditionalist totems instead have Airt Sense and Re-form, base total of 5 R/G/W, and 5 Essence (Dreamspeakers 58)
    • Nushi instead have Dragon Sight and Re-form, base total of 7 R/G/W, and 20 Chi (KotE 87)
    • The totem's Rage/Gnosis/Willpower are only usable by the totem itself, not the pack members, unless something explicitly says otherwise
    • If the canon benefits include extra Rage/Gnosis/Willpower, then those are usable by the pack members (e.g. Falcon, WtA 294: "Packs chosen by Falcon gain ... an extra four Willpower points per story.")

Individual

A PC may buy an individual Totem.

  • Packs are limited to shifters et al, Nushi, and Sabbat wangateurs.
  • A PC can't have a personal and pack totem simultaneously, but can switch their existing background dots from one to the other. If it's for OOC reasons (typically a pack becoming active/inactive), then they are not directly penalized by their old totem.
  • PCs get all benefits of a personal totem, even if canon mentions 'packs'. They're effectively funding a one-member pack by themselves. (Does not apply to totem powers that specifically require multiple pack members to act in concert.)
  • PCs may also have Numen and/or Familiar Spirit background.

Fera

Fera may contribute to a pack totem. (WW3807/163)

  • Ananasi/Corax/Gurahl may spend points on a personal or pack totem appropriate to their breed (staff discretion, including re-skinning)
    • Queen Ananasa will favor packs (overrides WW3807/45), but base is 10 points unless they're all Ananasi
    • For Gurahl, Bear (WtA 295) costs 6 dots but does not penalize Honor
  • Bastet: All-Bastet packs should use Jamak, mixed packs may use either
  • Ratkin: All-Ratkin packs following something other than an aspect of Rat must have a PC perform Dedication Rite (PGttCB 146).
    • This PC need not join the pack.
    • '+rules free lunch': If buying Totem at full price, success may be handwaved. For a discount, minimum successes are as follows:
      • If a minimum is listed in canon, then use that.
      • Otherwise, if it's at least partly based on a canon totem, then use the base level of that totem, e.g. 6 for Cockroach (WtA 296). If it's completely custom, the minimum is 5.
    • If later disbanded, each member may request an XP refund for any/all of their Totem dots. (If they got a free-lunch discount, the refund is reduced to match.)

Kinfolk

Kinfolk with Gnosis may contribute to a pack totem.

  • Limited to 5 dots per kinfolk.
  • Limited to half of the pack's permanent membership. (Does not include or limit powers that effectively make you a temporary packmate.)
  • Does not include possessed, even if they were kinfolk before possession.
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