Gifts are mystical tricks bestowed by spirits to an Uratha.
Overview[]
Gifts are unusual magical abilities that draw on a werewolf's half-spirit nature to accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible. They are not spells or innate abilities. They're more like a spirit's Numina. Individual Gifts are frequently limited in effect, but the sheer variety of Gifts that spirits are capable of teaching grants werewolves a versatile array of power.
Spirits don't hand out Gifts for free, though. Nothing comes for free in the spirit world, particularly to the Uratha. A werewolf must somehow appease one of these hostile entities, even one that is ordinarily a friend to their totem, before it agrees to bless them with a Gift. Even if a spirit were to be greatly fond of a werewolf (or in love with them, as legends sometimes speak of), it couldn't give them something without asking for something in return. It is one of the laws of the next world. The spirit may ask for little in return if it feels charitable (unlikely), or it might ask for the near impossible if it dislikes the werewolf (sadly likely). In any event, learning a Gift is more a matter of negotiation and making offerings than of study and practice.
Forsaken Chronicler's Guide[]
In the Emergent Beast by Stew Wilson contains a simplistic system of Gifts rated from one to five dots to enhance a character's natural capabilities.
- Gift •
- At this level, the dominance, that an Uratha exerts over the spirit world is minor, but still noticeable. Spirits of confusion might make her trail hard for her opponents to follow, or the barely-aware spirit in a piece of technology may decide that going against the werewolf's wishes is a fundamentally bad idea.
- Cost: 1 Essence
- The spirit's assistance gives the character the 8 again quality on her next action. This Gift can enhance the dice roll when defending in a contested action.
- Gift ••
- Bleeding off a little of the Essence stored within he calls nearby spirits to the werewolf's aid. Though they do not change the world to enhance the werewolf's chance of success, they do ensure that even an otherwise average victory becomes something noteworthy.
- Cost: 1 Essence
- A werewolf can only use this Gift to enhance an action that uses the Gift's signature Renown. A roll affected by this Gift only needs two successes to count as an Exceptional Success, not four.
- Gift •••
- The spirits surrounding the werewolf realize that the best way to avoid his wrath is to get his attention focused on other things. The spirits of knowledge and books in a library may bring the volumes a werewolf seeks to hand, while the spirits of a forest can shift the terrain, removing obstacles from her path and catching at the feet of the Uratha's prey.
- Cost: 2 Essence
- There werewolf can only use this Gift to enhance an extended action. The roll is instead resolved as an Instant action. If the number of successes needed isn't known to the player, such as when examining a crime scene (World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 59), a Success reveals as much as if the player had normally rolled all but two of the necessary successes. An Exceptional Success reveals information as though the character had rolled all of the required successes.
- If the extended action would normally be contested or resisted, the resulting Instant action is contested or resisted in the same way. The only change is the number of dice rolls required, and the time it takes for the action to resolve.
- Gift ••••
- An Uratha who unleashes this Gift turns the spirits' attention to his opponent. They know that the best way to win the werewolf's Essence is to fox those who would turn against him. Tree branches snatch at weapons, the windows of skyscrapers reflect the sun to blind his opponent, and armor slides away from vulnerable areas. In more cerebral contests, spirits of luck or strategy can confound an opponent, making it impossible to work out the right move to make, and anything a romantic rival says is twisted before others hear it.
- Cost: 2 Essence
- A werewolf can only use this Gift to enhance an action that uses the Gift's signature Renown. The Gift only works on contested or resisted actions taken by the character, not when she is acting as a defender. Any resistance roll counts as an automatic failure, and Resistance traits are ignored - she rolls her action as normal, only applying modifiers for circumstances and equipment. In combat, she ignores her opponent's Defense and Armor entirely, while remaining able to apply her own Defense to incoming attacks.
- Gift •••••
- Marshalling her rate from deep within her soul, the werewolf demands obedience from the spirits and they rush to obey. She strikes true, and a spirit of pain intensifies the damage to her foe. The spirits displaced by her prey's headlong rush into the wild so fear the werewolf that they guide her to her target. All beings, both man and beast, feel a pressure to kneel before her and do as she commands. Buoyed with self-confidence, she cows the spirit of a heavy object until it leaps into her hands.
- Cost: 2 Essence, 1 Willpower
- A werewolf can only use this Gift to enhance an action that uses the Gift's signature Renown. The character's next action is treated as a Rote Action (World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 134), even in combat.
Second Edition[]
As of Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition, the structure of Gifts has been reorganized:
- Moon Gifts replace Auspice Gifts, with each Auspice having one. Facets are tiered from one dot to five dots, and are gained for free every time the werewolf buys a dot of their Auspice Renown. They are the gifts of Luna, torn into the Uratha's very spirit upon the First Change.
- Shadow Gifts do not have dots, and instead each Gift is divided into five Facets that correspond with a Renown. Buying a dot of Renown gives a free Facet of a known Shadow Gift. A Shadow Gift Facet can still be bought with Experiences, but characters can’t have a Shadow Gift Facet that they don’t have any dots in the Renown for. Shadow Gifts themselves can still be bought in with Experiences. They are granted by spirits or taken from them by force or guile.
- Wolf Gifts work like Shadow Gifts, but characters don’t have to buy in to them. Characters can take Facets with Renown or with Experiences. They are fundamental to the nature of the Uratha.
References[]
- WTF: Werewolf: The Forsaken Rulebook, p. 102-103
- WTF: Lore of the Forsaken, p. 83-93, 96–105, 115-125
- WTF: Blood of the Wolf, p. 62-65, 84-85
- WTF: Lodges: The Faithful, p. 50-52, 115.116, 129-131
- WTF: Blasphemies, p. 136-140
- WTF: Territories, p. 48-50
- WTF: Lodges: The Splintered, p. 59-61, 129-130
- WTF: The Pure, p. 113-121
- WTF: The Rage: Forsaken Player's Guide, p. 106-129
- WTF: The War Against the Pure, p. 45-51, 144-146
- WTF: Tribes of the Moon, p. 46, 78, 112, 149-150, 183-184
- WTF: Night Horrors: Wolfsbane, p. 37
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 33-35, 67-69, 102-104, 140-144, 178-180, 195-196
- WTF: Forsaken Chronicler's Guide, p. 89-94, 101-102
- WTF: Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition, p. 114-115
- CofD: Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras, p. 165-166
- CofD: Dark Eras: The Wolf and the Raven, p. 27-28