Gifts

The Uratha are creatures of change, with quicksilver flesh that flows and dances between forms. The spirit is no less malleable a medium, bearing Gifts torn in channels of blood and Essence. These symbol-scars gird the werewolf with power, bringing strange abilities to life as easily and naturally as breathing or hunting. Gifts reshape the rivers of Essence that run through the very being of the Uratha.

Despite their source, Gifts are not alien powers grafted onto the soul of a werewolf. They undeniably reflect the nature of the Uratha as predators. The power of these symbols shines through the lens of the werewolf’s spirit to cast a shadow suited to the hunt and the kill.

Moon Gifts tear into a werewolf’s spirit during the quicksilver communion of the First Change. These Gifts are Luna’s mark and reward, a scar left in the supplicant from that instant of harmony with a vast and powerful god.

Shadow Gifts are granted by spirits, or ripped from them at the culmination of a Sacred Hunt. Lacking the Moon’s ties to the Uratha, such entities must rend both Essence and flesh to make their mark, a painful and wounding experience — but one that grants power.

Wolf Gifts are fundamental to the Essence of the Uratha. As manifestations of the lineage of Wolf and Moon, these Gifts arm the Uratha with the tools they need to be lethal predators and consummate shape shifters.

USING GIFTS
The use of a Gift is utterly instinctive for an Uratha. She does not need to utter an incantation or focus her mind. She simply wills it, and her Essence pours through the Gift’s mark on her spirit. The simple presence of that Gift’s symbolic power is not enough to grant an Uratha complete mastery of it, however. Each Gift is split into five Facets, expressions of its meaning reflected through the Renown of the werewolf. The Facets are intertwined with the brands that the Uratha bear, and draw strength directly from them.

An Uratha who bears the mark of a Gift can only use those Facets within it that she has acquired. Some Facets affect the Essence flows of the recipient at such a fundamental level that they are permanently in effect, while others require the Uratha to expend Essence to activate them. For those Facets that require a dice pool to activate, it is made up of an Attribute, a Skill, and the Facet’s Renown. Some Facets have specific modifiers or take the form of an opposed roll against the prey.

A number of general modifiers can affect a Facet’s dice pool. Note that these only affect dice pools, not static modifiers based on Renown.

FACET MODIFIERS

GAINING GIFTS AND FACETS
Gifts are not lessons that can be taught. They are not magic tricks that can be learned. They are symbolism made real in the meat and spirit-stuff of the Uratha. They are vital and primal, and must be carved into the recipient, not handed out like a dainty little revelation. The gaining of a Gift is a moment of pounding heartbeat, racing adrenaline, and invigorating pain.

An Uratha’s first Moon Gift writes itself into her when she receives her auspice. This is Luna’s touch, the moment when the Moon lays claim to her. It resonates intensely with the Renown brands that mark the auspice’s greatest virtue.

A new werewolf gains a single Moon Gift associated with her auspice. Moon Gift Facets are all associated with the auspice’s Renown, and are ranked from one to five dots. Whenever the Uratha gains a dot in her auspice Renown (including during character creation) she gains the Facet of equal dot rating to her new Renown total. For example, an Ithaeur with Wisdom 3 would have the first three dots of the Crescent Moon Gift unlocked as her achievements cause the Gift within to bloom into vibrant power. Gaining Facets in this way costs no Experiences. A werewolf may discover other Moon Gifts that are associated with her auspice at a cost of 5 Experiences, which unlocks the first dot Facet of the Gift. Gaining further Facets costs 2 Experiences each, and they must be purchased in ascending order. An Uratha can never raise the dots in a Moon Gift above the rating of her current auspice Renown.

Uratha glean Shadow Gifts from spirits whose symbolic nature matches the Gift that is desired. A werewolf can acquire a Gift from the denizens of the Shadow through various means. Some of the People coax, coerce, and bargain. Others force a spirit to comply with the rites of Siskur-Dah. A rare few manage to trick or dupe spirits into granting Gifts. The one constant is that a spirit cannot grant a Gift that does not reflect its own symbolic truth. A charred, drifting thing of ashen flesh and embers might know the butcher’s work needed to slice the Elemental’s Gift or Death’s Gift into a werewolf, but the secret of the Gift of Warding is beyond its ken.

Once the spirit agrees to bestow a Gift, it physically tears the symbol into the recipient. Luna’s ties with the Forsaken are close and pure, and the Moon can mark its children from afar. Other spirits possess no such connection and must work the canvas of the werewolf’s Essence with more primal tools. A spirit inflicts one point of lethal damage in an oft-agonizing process, as it claws, rips, or carves both flesh and spirit of the beneficiary. This grisly painting can sometimes leave scars that refuse to ever properly heal. It’s not unknown for Uratha to tattoo over the healing flesh of a Gift-mark, or to have the wounds freshly opened and ritually scarified. Such werewolves bear their Gift-marks with pride and as a warning of their power.

Unlocking a Shadow Gift costs 5 Experiences, or 3 if it is favored by auspice or tribe. Once it is acquired, the Uratha gains a single Facet within that Gift immediately. She may then freely purchase additional Facets for 2 Experiences each at any time she wishes. One limitation applies: she may never unlock a Facet associated with a Renown in which she possesses no dots. Every time the Uratha gains a new dot of any Renown, she may unlock the respective Renown Facet in a Gift that she possesses at no cost. This spiritual development causes the Gift’s marks to squirm and cut their way deeper into the Uratha’s being, opening up the fresh Essence flows of the new Facets. If the werewolf has already unlocked all the Facets associated with that Renown in the Gifts she possesses, the free unlock is stored until she gains a new Gift with a suitable Facet.

Wolf Gifts require no spiritual intervention from Moon or Shadow. They represent natural paths of spiritual development that Uratha commonly undergo, inflicting changes born of their hybrid inheritance. An Uratha can unlock a Facet from a Wolf Gift at any time, provided she possesses at least one dot in the relevant Renown. This always costs 1 Experience.

SUPERNATURAL CONFLICT
In the World of Darkness, Uratha sometimes call the Siskur-Dah against strange and unusual supernatural creatures that lie outside the usual prey of the tribes. Some Facets call for contested rolls and allow the prey to add its Primal Urge to its dice pool. In the case of other supernatural beings, the prey may add its closest equivalent, such as a vampire’s Blood Potency or a changeling’s Wyrd.

CLASH OF WILLS
When two Uratha bring the supernatural might of their Gifts to bear against one another, conflicts can arise where it is unclear which spiritual symbol will prove triumphant over the other. When the effects of Facets clash directly in this manner, a Clash of Wills takes place.

The players of all characters using conflicting powers enter a contested roll-off, each using a pool of her Primal Urge plus her dots in the Renown associated with the Facet she is using. Ties reroll until one player has accrued more successes than all others. The effect invoked by that player’s character wins out and resolves as usual, while all others fail. The victory of one power in a clash does not mean the immediate cancellation of the others, except in cases where only one power can possibly endure.

A player may spend Willpower to bolster the contested roll, but only if the character is physically present and aware that powers are clashing. Certain powers, such as those with exceptionally long durations, are more enduring in a clash. Daylong effects add +1 die to the clash roll, week-long effects +2, month-long +3; effects that would last a year or longer add +4.

Clash of Wills also applies to power conflicts with other supernatural creatures. The traits involved depend on the creature in question — vampires use Blood Potency in the contest, for example. Where a werewolf’s inherent abilities clash with another creature, such as the supernaturally swift reactions granted by both the Urhan form and a vampire’s Celerity Discipline, the werewolf uses her Primal Urge plus her dots in her auspice Renown.

A spirit in a Clash of Wills uses its Rank as its dice pool. If the Clash comes from the spirit using an Influence, it adds its dots in that Influence to the dice pool.