Rat

Rat is a totem of War. He is the totem and Patron Spirit of the Bone Gnawers.

Overview[]

Rat favors winning through stealth and guile or by swarming over his foes in overwhelming numbers. Children of Rat fight dirty. They strike from hiding and bite hard and deep.

Rat exists in several forms. As the Rat God, he chitters to his children to tear down everything in an orgy of death and destruction. He gnaws at the webs of the Weaver, trying to free Gaia from its clutches.

As Mamma Rat, she is a gentler totem, concerned with protecting the downtrodden in the cities. She is especially fond of children and cubs, and will urge her followers to protect them from harm.

The Ratkin get along better with the children of Rat than with most other Garou, but they still do not trust them very much. Nonetheless, Rat is the tribal totem of the Bone Gnawers.

Rat is the swift, silent master of hit-and-run warfare — the original totem of guerrilla fighters. While Rat fights to weaken, cripple, then overwhelm, he can be as vicious as any other totem when cornered.

Traits & Ban[]

Background Cost: 5

Traits[]

Individual - Rat’s children subtract one from the difficulty of all bite rolls, and from the difficulties of rolls involving stealth or quiet.

Pack - Rat’s packs can call on a pool of five Willpower points per story. Bone Gnawers will aid the pack, and even Ratkin will be somewhat tolerant of the pack’s existence.

Ban[]

Rat’s children must not kill vermin of any kind.

Favors and Bans[]

In Werewolf 5th Edition, Rat is the Patron Spirit of the Bone Gnawers, rather than their totem. Rat is often present but unseen, and sometimes unwelcome when his presence is known. Rat and the Bone Gnawers are associated with Honor, which some prideful Garou find incongruous… until a Bone Gnawer turns up with decisive proof that a rival had planned to betray them. Indeed, part of Rat’s ruse seems to be to seek out and cultivate those who would otherwise evade notice. Clever, Rat. Very clever.^[1]

Favor[]

Rat implores his followers to discover that which others fail to spot and, once discovered, use that which they learn in in creative ways. There’s no value in knowledge for its own sake — each finding has a purpose. A Bone Gnawer can add a die to a dice pool used to find something lost or overlooked.

Ban[]

Rat seems like an ignoble figure but, in truth, works for the wellbeing of his nest and brood. If a Bone Gnawer passes up a significant opportunity to give the disadvantaged a leg up, they regain only a single point of Willpower at the beginning of the next session, instead of their Composure or Resolve rating.