Totem (WtA)
Totem is a Background that applies directly to the character’s pack, rather than the individual. Unlike other pooled Backgrounds, the pack spends all of the points that members have invested in this Trait to determine their totem’s power.
Each totem has a Background cost rating; the pack must spend that amount to ally with that totem. Some totems are willing to lend great powers to their adherents; their point costs are correspondingly greater. In addition to their Totem bonuses, all beginning totems have a base of eight points to divide among Rage, Willpower, and Gnosis. The totem also begins with the Airt Sense and Re-form Charms. Apart from bestowing power, totems start out somewhat aloof from the pack, and they have little influence among spirits, unless the players buy a closer connection with Background points. With time, roleplaying, and experience points, pack totems can grow in power as their pack grows in Rank and influence. Some totems can even become the totems of whole septs or — in legendary circumstances — even tribes.
Most of the powers that totems bestow are available to only one pack member at a time. At the end of each turn, the Garou with the power declares who the power may be given to next turn (assuming that she doesn’t keep it). After spending the initial cost of the totem, the players can spend any remaining Background points to add to the totem’s strength and abilities.
| Cost | Power |
|---|---|
| 1 | Per three points to spend on Willpower, Rage, or Gnosis |
| 1 | Totem can speak to the pack without the benefit of the Gift: Spirit Speech. |
| 1 | Totem can always find the pack members. |
| 2 | Totem is nearly always with the pack members. |
| 2 | Totem is respected by other spirits. |
| 2 | Per charm possessed |
| 3 | Per extra pack member who can use the totem’s powers in the same turn |
| 4 | Totem is connected mystically to all pack members, allowing communication among them even at great distances. |
| 5 | Totem is feared by agents of the Wyrm. Either minions of the Wyrm flee from the pack, or they do their best to kill the pack. |
The listed cost is in Background points, which can be bought through experience at the rate of two experience points per Background point. (Therefore, three points of Rage would cost two experience points.) The Storyteller should allow increases in totem powers only when it fits in to the story, such as when pack members gain a higher rank, a new member joins the pack, or when pack members gain new insight into the nature of their totem. When the totem is affiliated with a more powerful spirit, the greater spirit might grant the strengthening of its servant (pack totem) in return for a great service done it by the pack.