Gifts
Garou Gifts
Homid
• Apecraft’s Blessings (Level One) — Though many of Gaia’s children use tools, none have mastered them so thoroughly as humanity. The homid focuses this mastery into the tools she uses, causing their spirits to awaken and lend her aid. An ancestor-spirit or spirit of a man-made object teaches this Gift. System: The werewolf spends a turn concentrating, and then the player rolls Wits + Crafts (difficulty 7). Each success reduces the difficulty by one on the next roll she makes for her character to employ a tool made by human hands. The purpose is irrelevant—this Gift is equally efficacious for attempts to repair an engine, drive a car or fire a gun.
Source: W20 Pg 152.
• City Running (Level One) — Humans are creatures of the city, raising their steel and glass nests high into the sky. This Gift allows a homid to easily scale the concrete canyons and navigate the tangled back alleys and rooftops of the urban landscape. Some lupus derisively refer to this Gift as “Climb Like an Ape.” It is taught by an ancestor-spirit or an urban city-spirit. System: The player spends a point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the character may climb urban features at her full movement speed, and the difficulty of all Athletics rolls to navigate through cities (running down cluttered alleys, climbing the side of buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop) is reduced by two.
Source: W20 Pg 152.
• Master of Fire (Level One) — Fire-spirits were among the very first to make pacts with humanity, allowing men to warm themselves, drive off wild beasts, and clear the land. The cornerstones of civilization were laid in these simple acts, granting the spirits of flame much prestige. Homid Garou remember and continue to call upon these ancients pacts to protect themselves as the final fires of the Apocalypse loom. An ancestor-spirit or fire elemental teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, fire inflicts bashing rather than aggravated damage to the Garou.
Source: W20 Pg 152-3.
• Persuasion (Level One) — This Gift imbues a homid’s words with intrinsic credibility and conviction, causing them to ring true to the ear and lay heavy on the heart. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). Success lowers the difficulty of all social rolls by one for the rest of the scene, and allows successful rolls to have uncommonly strong impact (such as changing long-held political views, or causing an addict to seriously reconsider the course of his life).
Source: W20 Pg 153.
• Smell of Man (Level One) — To creatures of the wild, man’s scent is death. To creatures of the city, it is authority, comfort, easy meals. This Gift, taught by an ancestor-spirit, enhances a werewolf’s human scent, infusing it with spiritual power. System: Non-supernatural wild animals lose two dice from their dice pools when interacting with the Garou, save when defending themselves or running away, and will be inclined to flee rather than attack if possible. Domesticated animals recognize the werewolf as a friend, and even trained attack dogs will do no more than wag their tails at the character unless attacked first. This Gift’s effects are permanently active.
Source: W20 Pg 153.
Homid
• Jam Technology (Level Two) — With a slight gesture, the werewolf unbalances the Wyld and Weaver energies within technological devices, either suffusing them with destructive chaos or amplifying their inherent stasis until they refuse to do anything at all. Computers crash, guns jam, cars stall, and even the simplest of shaped objects refuse to function. A gremlin — a type of Wyldspirit that enjoys breaking things — teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point, rolls (Manipulation + Crafts) and chooses the level of complexity she intends to jam. All technological devices (i.e. any devices shaped from fabricated materials like metal or plastic) of that complexity within 50 feet (15 m) cease to function for two turns per success. The devices remain unchanged, but inert — knives won’t cut, gunpowder won’t ignite, gears won’t turn, and so on. The difficulty of the roll is based on the following chart:
Device Difficulty
Computer 4
Phone 5
Automobile 7
Gun 8
Knife 9
Source: W20 Pg 153-4.
• Mark of the Wolf (Level Two) — The werewolf marks those she comes in contact with, leaving them to carry the same aura of the predator the Garou does. This subtle curse can wreak havoc in a target’s private or professional life, and is a favorite of many homids looking to provoke discord in the ranks of the enemy. A Lune teaches this Gift. System: The player selects a target that has had some interaction with the Garou during the scene (even something as simple as light conversation in an elevator counts), then rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The target inherits the Curse (see p. 262) as though she had a Rage rating equal to that of the Garou for one day per success.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Speech of the World (Level Two) — This Gift allows Gaia’s warriors to read and wield the spirit of speech, bypassing the need to learn different languages and dialects. The Garou may speak and understand any human language she encounters, though she speaks with an obvious accent, marking her as an outsider. Speech of the World doesn’t convey literacy, nor is it an encyclopedia of cultural information. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Intelligence + Academics (difficulty 7). The effect lasts for one scene.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Staredown (Level Two) — Rage burns in a werewolf’s eyes, striking fear into the hearts of mortals and animals, causing them to flee for their lives. Used against another werewolf, the target will freeze in place rather than run. A ram- or snake-spirit teaches this Gift. System: This Gift affects only one target at a time. The player rolls Charisma + Intimidation (difficulty 5 + the target’s Rank, if applicable). The victim flees for one turn per success, though he may spend a point of Willpower to resist the effects of the Gift for one turn. Should the player roll five or more successes, the victim flees for the rest of the scene. Garou and other shapeshifters with Rage do not flee, but may not attack while the Gift is in use.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
Homid
• Calm the Savage Beast (Level Three) — Even the most callous of homids can sympathize with the Rage that moves their fellow Garou in the final days. This Gift allows the werewolf to lend a frenzying Garou the will to escape her Rage’s hold over her. It is taught by an ancestor-spirit. System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). If successful, the Willpower point soothes a frenzying Garou within 30 feet (9 m), canceling the frenzy. By spending an extra point of Willpower, this Gift may affect non-Garou in a state of frenzy, such as other shapeshifters or vampires.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Cowing the Bullet (Level Three) — The spirits of tools recognize man as their master; as a result, they become reluctant to harm the homid. A Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, the Garou gains two additional soak dice against all crafted weapons not made of silver.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Disquiet (Level Three) — Pulling the mercurial tide of the target’s emotions to their lowest ebb, this Gift makes its target feel inexplicably depressed and withdrawn. The subject finds his emotions muted and concentration difficult. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy against a difficulty equal to the target’s Willpower. If successful, that opponent will be unable to recover Rage for the duration of the scene, and all difficulties for extended actions increase by one. Moreover, the target becomes listless and generally less inclined to stir himself to pursue any action of dubious necessity, such as investigating strange noises.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Reshape Object (Level Three) — The Garou can shape once-living (though not undead) material into something else instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers spears, animal hides armor, and flowers sweet perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was created (e.g., the aforementioned spear will be made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Crafts against a difficulty defined by the scope and complexity of the transformation (a broken tree limb into a spear would be difficulty 5, while a fallen tree into a canoe would be 8) and spends a Gnosis point. The transformation persists for one scene per success, or permanently with five or more successes. Expending an additional Gnosis point allows a created weapon to inflict aggravated damage for the remainder of the scene in which it is created.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
Homid
• Body Shift (Level Four) — Garou raised in the shifting maze of human society are well-prepared for the endless adaptations Gaia demands of her protectors. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou can use her shapeshifting to alter her physical Attributes: a dot of Dexterity can be shifted to Strength or Stamina, and so forth. The player rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 9). For each two successes, one physical Attribute dot can be shifted for the rest of the scene.
Source: W20 Pg 154.
• Bury the Wolf (Level Four) — The war against the Wyrm isn’t always a matter of slashing claws and righteous fury — sometimes duplicity is required. A werewolf can temporarily “restrain” her inner wolf and appear to be a normal human. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of her own Willpower). Success causes the character to appear human to all supernatural scrutiny. The Gift also nullifies the Curse and makes spending Rage impossible, and locks her in homid form so long as its effects persist. The number of successes determines the Gift’s duration; to “free the wolf” before that time elapses requires a full turn of concentration and another point of Gnosis.
Successes Duration
One One scene
Two 12 hours
Three One day
Four One week
Five One lunar cycle
Source: W20 Pg 154-5.
• Cocoon (Level Four) — The werewolf wraps himself in a thick, opaque, chitinous sarcophagus, immobilizing himself but also becoming nearly impervious to harm. The cocoon provides immunity to fire, starvation, gas, high pressure, cold, and similar environmental hazards. An insect- or Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou spends one Gnosis point. While the werewolf remains in the cocoon, any attack that strikes him must do damage at least equal to his Stamina + Rituals; the cocoon keeps him safe from any lesser amount of damage, but is destroyed if it’s pierced. The cocoon lasts for one day, but its duration may be extended by spending more Gnosis to renew it. The Garou may emerge from it at any time he chooses.
Source: W20 Pg 155.
• Spirit Ward (Level Four) — This Gift allows a werewolf to protect herself from spirits by performing a quick warding rite. The werewolf traces an invisible pictogram in the air that frightens and unnerves any nearby spirits, and which travels with the Garou for as long as it persists. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Rituals (difficulty 7). Spirits within 100 feet (30 m) of the character must subtract one from their dice pools for each success. Any spirit that comes within 50 feet (15 m) of the character (except a caern spirit or the character’s pack totem) loses one point from its Essence per turn for each success the player rolled. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Source: W20 Pg 155.
Homid
• Assimilation (Level Five) — A werewolf with this Gift blends smoothly into any culture, no matter how strange or unfamiliar he might normally find it. He could slip among Bedouin nomads as if he were one of them, or he could shop in a Chinese market without anyone noticing that he doesn’t belong. The Gift doesn’t hide racial differences, but it does allow the werewolf to mimic the behaviors and mannerisms of a native. It also grants the ability to speak and understand the culture’s language, although this knowledge vanishes as the Gift ends. It is taught by Ancestor-spirits. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy. If successful, the character interacts with members of another culture as if he were one of them. The difficulty depends on how alien the culture is. Another Garou sept would be 5, while a Black Spiral hive or foreign country could be as high as 9. The character suffers no Social penalties when interacting with members of the culture, although he will enjoy no special benefits either. The Gift lasts for one scene, plus one day per Willpower point spent when activating it.
Source: W20 Pg 155.
• Beyond Human (Level Five) — The Garou is human plus — Human plus strength, agility and health. Human plus devoted, assured spirituality and meaning. Human plus animal instinct and lightning reflexes. Human plus righteous fury with which to meet the Apocalypse. He is as man, but greater. Every Garou radiates this to some extent, but this Gift warps that perception, changing the Garou from a figure to be avoided to one to be admired or adored. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift.
Source: W20 Pg 155.
• Part the Veil (Level Five) — This potent Gift immunizes a human from the Delirium for a scene. However, the human will forget much of what he knows if exposed to the Delirium at a later date. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Empathy. Only one success is needed.
Source: W20 Pg 155.
BSD Gifts
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bale Aura | Twisted from the grandeur of Lambent Flame, a Dancer can shroud herself in the green light of balefire. The light causes no physical damage, but shadows cast by the light seem to move of their own accord and the whispers of the Wyrm crackle within the green flames, stoking the Rage within the Garou. Furmlings and Harpies teach this Gift. | The player spends one Willpower point to activate the gift. The light illuminates a 50-foot area around the character for the rest of the scene. Garou and Fera require one fewer success to frenzy, and to enter Thrall of the Wyrm, as the whispers taunt them from the shadows. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Repress Taint | In order to infiltrate the Gaian Garou, a Black Spiral must be able to hide the touch of the Wyrm. This Gift allows him to repress his taint, hiding it from the prying eyes of the suspicious. The werewolf must still take care, however, as more talented Garou might sniff him out. Scryers teach this Gift. | The player rolls Perception + Subterfuge difficulty 7. Every success increases the difficulty to detect the character’s taint by one, to a maximum of 9. The effect lasts one scene. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Spiral-Shadow Dance | The Black Spiral Dancer learns to twine herself through the darkness, becoming swift as a scream. A variety of Banes teach this Gift. | Whenever the Black Spiral Dancer is concealed by poor lighting (no brighter than the light of the half-moon), she adds +3 to her Initiative. This Gift’s effects are permanent. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Bale Armor | The Black Spiral Dancer’s body is limned in a terrible green-black radiance that saps the strength from her enemies’ blows and inflicts toxic burns upon their flesh. A Furmling teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Willpower point to activate the Gift. The light illuminates a 100-foot area around the Dancer for the rest of the scene. All attacks against the werewolf suffer a -1 die penalty while this Gift persists, and anyone who lands a Brawl attack against the Dancer takes one level of bashing damage. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Acid Talons | The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws become a vibrant mixture of black, red, and yellow, and burn anything they cut. A Wakashaani teaches this Gift. | The player spends one point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the werewolf’s claw attacks inflict one extra die of damage, and the difficulty to soak her claw attacks rises by 1. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Philodox |
| Bestowing the Predator's Shadow | It would be fair to say that Black Spiral Dancers have even less tolerance for being tricked or mocked than other werewolves. This valuable Gift helps Dancer Ragabash survive the fallout of their Auspice’s duties by passing their identity onto someone else. Phantasmi teach this Gift. | The Black Spiral Dancer must secure a tiny bit of her body on someone else. A bit of spit or blood, or a lock of hair or fur will do the trick. The player then spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty 6). The target will look and sound (but not smell) like the Black Spiral Dancer to everyone but himself for one hour per success. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ragabash |
| Ways of the Urban Wolf | The Black Spiral Dancers are free to indulge in those natural urges that Gaia bids her defenders to restrain: to hunt man through the streets of the cities, to revel in his fear-stench, to drink his blood and eat his flesh. This Gift, taught by Wyrm elementals, makes the Dancer a master of such urban hunts. | Reduce the difficulty of all Perception, Stealth, and Survival rolls to track and hunt prey in urban environments by 2. The effects of this Gift are permanent. It doesn’t enhance any rolls once combat begins, and can only be used to track intelligent prey such as humans, Garou, and vampires. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Lupus |
| Bleed | The metis can leak phantasmal blood, manifesting false injuries if she is unwounded, or producing enormous quantities of blood from minor wounds. Many Spirals use this Gift to ‘play dead’ when a battle is going poorly, or to frame innocents for vicious attacks. A Crimson Pestilent teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, the character may issue fake blood in whatever quantities she likes, so long as it doesn’t exceed the volume actually contained in her body (assume 10 pints in Homid, 20 pints in Crinos, and 7 in Lupus). She can’t drown her enemies in a tsunami of blood. Since the ichor is fake, she takes no damage; it fades at the next sunset. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Metis |
| Aura of Poison | The Black Spiral Dancer surrounds herself in a toxic miasma strong enough to cause even a human’s dull sense of smell to pick up the reek of a lethal stew of mercury, sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and countless other chemicals. The message is clear: the Dancer is death, and should not be trifled with. A Halassh teaches this Gift. | After a turn spent concentrating and the expenditure of a point of Gnosis, the werewolf is surrounded by a lethal scent for the rest of the scene. No creature lacking a Rage rating will initiate violence unless attacked first. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Homid |
| Resist Pain | Through force of will, the Philodox is able to ignore the pain of his wounds and continue acting normally. A bear-spirit teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Willpower point; his character may ignore all wound penalties for the rest of the scene. | 20th Anniversary Edition | General |
| Cloud of Night | As the Uktena gift Shroud: The Garou can create a field of inky blackness through which only she can see. A night-spirit teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty varies: 3 for twilight, 6 for indoors, 9 for bright sunlight). Each success blacks out a 10′ by 10′ by 10′ area. The Garou can choose any area within his line of sight. The metis Gift: Eyes of the Cat can see through the conjured darkness. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Resist Toxin | As the Bone Gnawer/Fianna Gift. Bone Gnawer/Fianna Gift: Many Bone Gnawers learn a preternatural resistance to poisons and toxins of all kinds, doubtless due to their diet of refuse and American beer. A trash-spirit teaches this Gift. | The player rolls Stamina + Survival. Success nullifies the effects of most conventional poisons, and adds three dice to the Garou’s Stamina for purposes of resisting Wyrm-enhanced poisons. The effects last for the scene. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Smell Fear | A Philodox employing this Gift can tell if anyone nearby is threatened by her, as well as the degree of her victim’s fear. In any area of the Shattered Labyrinth, an initiate can experience the many subtle flavors and variations of fear. Spirits serving Hakaken and Sykora also know this Gift intimately… and teach it that way. | This requires a Perception + Empathy roll; the difficulty is equal to the target’s Willpower. For every hour this sense is active, the Black Spiral loses one Gnosis, but as a side effect, she can also tell if anyone is using Sense Wyrm on her. | Book of the Wyrm | Philodox |
| Bane Protector | The Black Spiral can summon Banes to aid her. Before these servitors can act, the Black Spiral must convince them of her intent. Her actions must be in the best interest of the Wyrm. The servitors can fight for her, but will not allow themselves to be bound or destroyed. The spirits will also try to arrange a bargain, agreeing to help the summoner if she performs a service (or sacrifice) for them afterward. This Gift is taught in the first circle of the Spiral Labyrinth. The dancer may find a way to deceive the Banes that torment her, convincing them to aid her instead. Alternatively, a Black Spiral who performs an especially difficult task for a Bane-totem might receive this knowledge in return. | Use of this Gift burns a point of Gnosis and requires a Manipulation + Leadership roll. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Toxic Claws | The Dancer can cause toxic waste to ooze from her claws, coating them with an unhealthy greenish-gray slime. Wounds left by these claws tend to leave unhealthy-looking scars. | This Gift requires the expenditure of one Rage point and a turn of full concentration. For the remainder of the scene, the Dancer’s claws inflict an additional die of damage and leave residual Wyrm-taint on anything she slashes. | Core book revised. | General |
| Sense Wyrm | The werewolf can sense manifestations of the Wyrm in the nearby area. This Gift involves a mystical sense, not a visual or olfactory image, although werewolves using the Gift sometimes say things like, “This place stinks of the Wyrm” (with a few more colorful adjectives). Garou should remember that the Wyrm’s taint can cling to relatively blameless souls. Werewolves may sense an innocent person who happens to work in a Wyrm-controlled factory or who has eaten tainted food. This power requires active concentration. Any spirit of Gaia may teach this Gift. | The player rolls Perception + Occult. The difficulty depends on the concentration and strength of the Wyrm’s influence. Sensing a single fomor in the next room would be difficulty 6, while detecting the stench of a Bane that was in the room an hour ago would be difficulty 8. Vampires register as Wyrm-tainted, save those with Humanity Traits of 7 or higher. | Core book revised. | General |
| Rathead | The Dancer can squeeze her body through any opening no smaller than a quarter in diameter. This Gift looks very disturbing to the unsuspecting onlookers. Corrupted rat-spirits teach this Gift. | The Dancer’s player rolls Gnosis. If successful, she can squirm through any opening no smaller than a quarter. Doing so typically takes a single turn, depending on the opening’s length. The Gift remains active until the Garou has passed entirely out of the constricted space. | Core book revised | General |
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submit | Stolen from the Black Furies, with a snarl, a Black Spiral Dancer can force a target to kneel before him, agony coursing through her body until she submits. Spirals with this gift delight in forcing a proud Garou to the ground just to kill her while she’s on her knees. Raptors teach this Gift. | As the Black Fury Gift: Kneel. Any target who resists the Gift subtracts two from their dice pools for the Gift’s duration. This penalty can only be offset with the Gift: Resist Pain. [Kneel System]: The Fury rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty of the subject’s Willpower). Her target falls to his knees unless he spends a Gnosis point to resist the Gift’s effects (other supernatural beings may spend their own form of mystic energy, such as blood or quintessence, but mortals remain helpless). The target kneels for one turn per success. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Hidden Killer | As the Red Talon Gift, but the werewolf can also choose to alter the evidence to match another Garou so long as she has a piece of the target, such as hair or blood. Abliphets teach this Gift. | As the Red Talon Gift. To change the forensic evidence to match another Garou, the player must roll Intelligence + Larceny (difficulty 8). Success means the physical evidence remains unchanged, but forensic evidence changes to match the target. [Red Talon Gift System]: After a battle, the Garou must lick each wound she inflicted once. The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Stealth (difficulty 7). If the roll succeeds, the wounds alter themselves so that they resemble stabbing wounds rather than bite marks, and any hair, saliva, blood or other physical evidence from the werewolf’s body disappears. Any peripheral damage (smashed furniture, for example) remains as it was, however. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Grave Claws | The werewolf’s claws and fangs become obsidian daggers, capable of tearing the soul loose from Gaia’s cycle and pinning it to the Dark Umbra. Any creature slain by this Gift is guaranteed to leave behind a ghost, which is anchored by dark magic to its killer. Outside of risky Umbral quests, only killing the Black Spiral Dancer who used this Gift can return a victim’s soul to Gaia. A Nihilach teaches this Gift. | The player spends one point of Gnosis. Anyone killed by the character’s claw or bite attacks for the rest of the scene is guaranteed to linger as a wraith. A wraith created using this Gift cannot directly harm the Black Spiral Dancer, and is tormented by dark urges. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Tar Shadow | The Ahroun’s shadow becomes solid and sticky, trapping unwary foes and making them easy prey. A H’ruggling teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, any character making a close-combat attack against the Dancer must make a reflexive Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 8). If they fail this roll, the attacker is stuck in the Ahroun’s shadow until she can pull herself free with a Strength + Athletics roll (difficulty 6). While stuck in place, characters cannot move and all attempts to dodge attacks automatically fail. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ahroun |
| Shadows of the Impergium | The Red Talon becomes the embodiment of all of humanity’s primal fears of the wolf, carrying a heavy miasma of ancient terror about her. A fear-spirit teaches this Gift. | The werewolf inflicts the Delirium in Hispo form, though observers are considered to be at +2 Willpower when judging their reaction. Anyone who succumbs to the Delirium because of seeing the werewolf in Crinos form is considered to have a Willpower five points lower than their true rating (minimum 1) for the purposes of determining reaction. This Gift’s effects are permanent, though they can be suppressed for a scene if desired. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Galliard |
| Howl of the Hunter | Setting a particular quarry in her mind, the Black Spiral Dancer crafts a howl specifically designed to elicit terror in her prey. If her victim can hear the howl, it strikes terror into his heart, haunting him whenever he tries to find rest. A Nocturna teaches this Gift. | The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Primal Urge (difficulty 7). If the desired target hears the howl he will be jolted awake if asleep, and rendered unable to sleep for the next (successes x 3) hours; every time he attempts to rest, the howl will echo in his ears as though uttered from mere feet away. The terror increases the difficulty of most Mental and Social actions by +2 (maximum 9) until the character can sleep. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Galliard |
| Poisoned Gauntlet | The Black Spiral Dancer can breathe spiritual toxins into the wall between worlds, turning the Gauntlet into a deadly trap. A Rust Spider teaches this Gift. | The werewolf spends a turn in concentration, and then her player spends on Gnosis point and rolls Intelligence + Occult against a difficulty of the local Gauntlet. Until the sun next crosses the horizon, anyone stepping sideways within (Gnosis x 100) yards of the point where this Gift was used takes one die of aggravated damage per success rolled. This Gift: Resist Toxin can protect against this Gift’s effects. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Theurge |
| Power Surge | By speaking with electricity spirits, the Garou causes a blackout over a widespread area. An electricity elemental teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Wits + Science (difficulty 7). The number of successes determines how large of an area is blacked out. One success would black out a single room, while five would cut the power to a whole neighborhood. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Homid |
| Howl of the Banshee | The werewolf emits a fearful howl that causes those who hear it to run in terror. A Banshee — a mournful spirit of the dead — teaches this Gift. | The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Intimidation. All who hear the howl must roll Willpower (difficulty 8; 6 for allies of the Fianna) or flee in terror for one turn per success on the Garou’s roll. | 20th Anniversary Edition | General |
| Burrow | Those who learn this Gift gain the ability to burrow through the earth. They make a real tunnel, and others can follow them through it. The digger creates a burrow just large enough for her to go through. Others may follow, but they are limited by the size of the hole. The werewolf must be in Crinos, Hispo or Lupus form to use this Gift as she needs her claws for digging (although even metis without claws can use this Gift). The tunnel is not structurally sound, and it will collapse over time. Mole kindly teaches this Gift to all metis who seek him. | The player rolls Strength + Athletics against a difficulty depending on the substance to be excavated (4 for loose mud, 9 for solid rock). Some alloyed metals (such as titanium steel) and other reinforced structures will not yield to the werewolf no matter how hard she digs. The character can burrow one yard per turn for each success. After the initial roll, the character does not need to roll again to continue at the same speed. | 20th Anniversary Edition | General |
| Horns of the Impaler | This talent endows the Black Spiral with a pair of spiraling, chitinous black-and-green horns. Usually, they’re worn as antlers, although some Dancers have learned to protrude them from other parts of their bodies. This Gift is usually taught by a Dratossi. A Bane inside a physiologically freakish fomor might also bless an ally with this talent. | This appendage inflicts the same damage as a Bite attack; it can be used a maximum of twice each round of combat. A horned Black Spiral may instead choose to charge his enemies; this increases the amount of damage to Strength +5 dice, but only one such charging attack can be made that round. | Book of the Wyrm | Ahroun |
| A Thousand Voices | The Black Spiral Philodox can distort the sound of his own footsteps, creating a series of illusory noises. Instead of one werewolf, enemies will hear an entire pack. Howls, shadowy apparitions, footfalls and even illusory scents are all possible. During the Dance of Rage, a dancer may learn this Gift as his anger multiplies many times over. Kirijama’s servants also offer mastery of this talent. | For each point of Willpower the user currently possesses, one illusory ally can be created. The Storyteller should secretly roll Perception + Alertness for each witness present; the difficulty depends on the immediate surroundings (difficulty 4 in a dense forest; difficulty 9 on a vast plan). The Black Spiral using this Gift should remain hidden; once he is spotted, the Gift fails. | Book of the Wyrm | Philodox |
| Wyrm Hide | The Black Spiral hardens his skin into a leathery hide, covering himself with pustulent, discolored flesh. If he’s actually wounded, the skin around the wound takes on a bluish tinge. The second circle of the labyrinth requires a Dance of Rage. Sometimes the initiate is wounded repeatedly until he is forced into an unrelenting fury. If he survives, he may then discover how to harden his spirit against such assaults, developing his Wyrm Hide in the process. This Gift may also be taught by a Dratossi. | The Dancer expends a point of Rage by stamping about and taunting his foes. His mystically thickened hide gives him an additional three dice for soaking damage; these bonuses last for the scene: | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Sprint in Shadow | The Black Spiral Dancers live beneath the surface of the Earth, down in the chthonic darkness and close to the inhuman gibbering monsters that they worship as incarnations of their god. A Garou’s long run is difficult through the tunnels, as it depends on having plenty of room to run in straight lines and periodic sustenance. The Black Spirals turned in their earliest days to the spirits that cavort in the wake of Thunderwyrms, hoping that such spirits could teach them magics to increase their speed when traveling under the earth. | The character spends a point of Rage and rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge. If one success is earned, the Black Spiral can undertake a Long Run (Werewolf, p. 197) despite being underground and in occasionally close tunnels. Each additional success on the Stamina + Primal Urge roll increases the Long Run speed by a factor of one (so two successes means that the character runs twice as fast as an ordinary Long Run; three successes means three times as fast, and so on). | Apocalypse | General |
| Plague Child | The favored children of the Plague Rats (Apocalypse, p. 90) may choose to learn this Gift to represent their fallen totem’s favor. The fallen werewolf who knows this Gift finds that ordinary diseases just can’t take hold in his system. He does act as a carrier, though, and can inadvertently (or deliberately) infect passersby with a cough or sneeze. Plague Child does not especially protect against supernatural plagues. | The character is immune to non-magical, non-biowarfare diseases. No roll or expenditure is needed. Magical plagues (like the Metamorphic Plague that troubles the Black Furies) can still infect the werewolf, and specially engineered germ warfare agents also remain dangerous. The werewolf remains a carrier of these diseases — they live on or in him, but do him no harm. A Plague Rat or Black Spiral Dancer with this Gift may find that those he encounters fall ill with one of the dozens of diseases from tuberculosis to malaria. Plague Child doesn’t make these diseases any more virulent, but a healthy and mobile carrier is always better able to spread a disease than one incapacitated by it. | Apocalypse | General |
| Wyrm Hide | A Dancer may use this Gift to transform her skin into a lumpy, leather, odious sickly hide that grants her additional protection from harm. Once the Wyrm Hide wears off, it slides oozing and bubbling off the Black Spiral Dancer, leaving a congealing, smelly mess where she stood. | The Dancer must spend one pint of Rage to activate Wyrm Hide, and the player must roll Stamina + Survival. Each success grants the Dancer one additional soak die. This Gift lasts until the end of the scene. Until then, other Garou pay pick up her scent at two lower difficulty, due to the stench the power generates. | Core book revised. | General |
| Terrify | The Dancer with this Gift is more intimidating and terrifying than normal. A sneer from her is as effective as a full-throated grown from another. | Roll Charisma + Intimidation (difficulty is the target’s Willpower). If successful, the difficulties for Social rolls made against that target decrease by one — but only if intimidation could conceivably alter the outcome in the Dancer’s favor. The target’s difficulty to strike the Dancer in combat is one higher as well. | Core book revised. | General |
| Patagia | The Dancer can extrude large flaps of skin under her arms, resembling a flying squirrel’s membranes. When not in use, the flaps usually shrink into the Dancer’s arms and sides, where they are not detectable. | The Dancer stretches her arms and leaps from a height. She may glide at 25 mpg, but the player must make Dexterity + Athletics rolls (at the Storyteller’s discretion) to avoid losing altitude. | Core book revised. | General |
| Ears of the Bat | This Gift allows the Black Spiral Dancer to use sonar like a bat. He may act in complete darkness without impairment. Black Spiral Dancers with this Gift have large, bat-like ears. Even in Homid form, they have abnormally large ears. Corrupted bat-spirits teach this Gift. | This Gift can be counteracted with some means of generating confusing ultrasonic sounds. Garou who make a Perception + Alertness (or Primal-Urge in Lupus) roll can hear the sonar. With three or more successes, she can determine the Dancer’s exact location. | Core book revised. | General |
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gift of the Tainted Totem | A twisted version of an Uktena Gift, a Dancer can not only bar a pack totem from aiding its children, she can temporarily replace the totem with her own pack or personal totem. The horror of having a Wyrm spirit binding a Gaian pack, even temporarily, is disorienting, and the taint left behind might be difficult to explain. Nexus Crawlers teach this Gift. | As the Uktena Gift: Banish Totem. If the player succeeds on the Gnosis roll, the pack not only loses all traits associated with their totem, they gain all traits associated with the Dancer’s totem. The effect lasts for a number of turns equal to the number of successes. Upon departing, the tainted totem leaves behind enough Wyrm taint to show up to users of Sense Wyrm for the rest of the scene at difficulty 7. If a member of the pack used any of the totem’s powers, the lingering Wyrm taint remains for a day, and is difficulty 5 to detect. [Banish Totem System]: The Uktena must concentrate for a full turn, and he must know which totem his victims follow. The player spends one Gnosis point and one Willpower point, and he rolls Gnosis at a difficulty of the pack’s combined Totem scores (maximum of 10). If successful, the pack members lose all Traits associated with their totem, and they cannot use pack tactics or act in concert for the remainder of the scene. If the Uktena is rendered unconscious or killed, the Gift is cancelled. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Ichor Blade | The Spiral’s arm changes into a black blade dripping with dark green poison. The ichor poisons the blood of anyone injured by the blade, causing crippling agony. Harpies and Wakshaani teach this Gift. | The player spends a point of Rage to transform one hand into a blade. For the rest of the scene, she may use her arm like a sword, rolling Dexterity + Melee (difficulty 6). Such attacks inflict Strength + 1 aggravated damage. The poison causes excruciating pain, forcing the target to subtract two from his dice pools for a turn per success. Resist Toxin and Resist Pain both negate the effects of the poison. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Claws of Corrosion | One of the greatest Black Spiral Gifts, this wicked magic allows the werewolf to poison a spirit with mystical toxins that slowly corrupt it into a servant of the Wyrm. A variety of Banes teach this Gift. | When the Black Spiral Dancer makes a successful claw attack against a spirit, the player may spend one point each of Rage, Willpower, and Gnosis, and roll Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 6). This infects the spirit with a number of ‘corruption points’ equal to the successes rolled; multiple applications of this Gift are cumulative, and corruption points dissipate at a rate of one per day. Should a spirit ever have more corruption points than its current Essence, over the next lunar month it suffers a slow, painful transformation into a Bane. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Feast of Essence | The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws are covered with barbed hooks, which catch and absorb the tattered power of slain spirits, refreshing the werewolf. A Thinbones teaches this Gift. | The player spends one point of Willpower when the character deals a blow that destroys the last of a spirit’s Essence. The character gains Gnosis depending on the power of the destroyed spirit: one point for a Jaggling, two for a Gaffling, and three for any stronger spirit. This cannot raise the character’s Gnosis points above her maximum value, but is in addition to any Gnosis gained by harvesting the depleted spirit. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Theurge |
| Thousand Teeth | Sharp teeth are the hallmarks of the ultimate predator, and the ways of the Wyrm’s wolves celebrate nothing if not excess. The muzzle of a werewolf using this Gift erupts with dozens of extra teeth. Black Spiral Dancers learn this Gift from Scrags, while Gaian Garou occasionally learn it from shark-spirits. | The player spends one Rage point and rolls Stamina + Primal Urge (difficulty 5). She enjoys +3 damage dice on bite attacks. The Gift lasts for one bite attack per success; any remaining boosted bites are lost at the end of the scene. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Lupus |
| Visceral Agony | The werewolf’s claws change to barbed, wicked talons dripping with black venom. While wounds caused by these claws cause no extra damage, the pain alone they inflict is crippling. A pain-spirit teaches this Gift. | The player spends a Rage point before the character attacks. Any wound penalties the target suffers as a result of this attack are doubled (i.e., a foe at Wounded would lose four dice). If the target is in frenzy or otherwise resistant to pain, he still suffers normal wound penalties. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Metis |
| Nobody’s Bastard | Nobody wants to recognize a metis, and with this Gift, nobody will. A metis using this Gift is unrecognizable to all who see her. A Bane of abandonment teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Stealth (difficulty 7). If the roll succeeds, nobody who sees the metis will know who she is for the rest of the scene. Observers don’t mistake her for anyone else; they simply see her as an unknown stranger. Their memories remain even after the scene – they don’t suddenly remember that the Garou using this Gift is the stranger. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Metis |
| Call the Rust | By whistling softly through his teeth, the werewolf can summon sudden and destructive rust onto any metal within his immediate vicinity. Guns corrode and jam, knives crumble, and cars become flaking hunks of junk. This Gift is taught by a water elemental. | The player spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Wits + Crafts, with a difficulty depending on the amount of metal being corroded. A gun or knife would be difficulty 6, while a car might be difficulty 8. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Homid |
| Icy Chill of Despair | The Shadow Lord with this Gift can appear to grow larger and more imposing, becoming a terrible, shadowy version of herself. This change in aspect can severely intimidate any onlookers. A Stormcrow teaches this Gift. | The werewolf concentrates for a turn; the player spends one Gnosis and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation, difficulty 7. Anyone who means the Shadow Lord harm must make a Willpower check, difficulty 8, and score more successes than the Lord does in order to act normally. Failure means that the victims must spend Willpower to attack, take action against or even verbally oppose the Shadow Lord. This Gift doesn’t give the Lord actual control over her intimidated victims – they’re simply too spooked to actively oppose her. | 20th Anniversary Edition | General |
| Blue Breath | This Gift enables the Dancer to exhale asbestos fibers in a deadly cloud of dust. This Gift is taught by Shush’thull, the Bane spirit of asbestos. | The Dancer must spend one Gnosis point. Anyone inhaling the dust will begin to choke, suffering three Health Levels of aggravated damage, if she fails a roll of Stamina + Medicine (difficulty 8). Players must state that their characters are holding their breath; otherwise, they inhale the dust. A Garou who uses the Resist Toxin Gift in the same turn is immune to the effects. | Rage Across Australia | General |
| Allies Below | Howl, you crazy bastard! If you let forth a rousing yawp, the spirits of the Earth will answer you. Wyrm creatures far beneath the Earth’s crust will cause minor tremors in the ground above them. Although the terrible quakes caused by this Gift seem awful, they merely reflect the sort of test the Galliard must endure in the Shattered Labyrinth to learn it. The worst scenario is one in which the labyrinth collapses in on itself. | The extent of the damage inflicted depends on the amount of Gnosis channeled into the Galliard’s “rousing yawp.” One point of Gnosis causes a minor tremor, possibly throwing people to the ground. Three points can collapse underground tunnels, knock down trees, or open sinkholes. Five points can cause structural damage to a building, collapsing walls on anyone within several feet of it. In each case, victims should roll Dexterity + Dodge or Dexterity + Athletics to stay on their feet, escape from collapsing buildings, or dive for cover. | Book of the Wyrm | Galliard |
| Blood Omen | By examining the entrails of a freshly-killed creature, a Black Spiral Theurge can gain insights into a possible future. As expected, the vision is almost always tragic or violent. A Theurge can receive this Gift during the Dance of Cunning. Sometimes this visionquest involves the dismemberment of the mystic, who watches the violation of her own body. This grants her insights into her true nature by an examination of her own internal organs. | This burns one point of Gnosis and requires an Intelligence + Enigmas roll; the difficulty depends on the type of creature used — 7 for a Garou, wolf or human, or 9 for any other warm-blooded creature. More successes will grant a clearer picture of the possible atrocity to come. | Book of the Wyrm | Theurge |
| Touch of the Eel | The Black Spiral Ragabash releases a current of electricity through conductive materials nearby. If he is touched in any way during the use of this talent, the assailant receives an even greater shock. Only a Ragabash has the patience and deviance to learn this Gift. With the assistance of a servitor of its Bane-totem, the Black Spiral must capture an electricity elemental. In most urban environments, this may take several hours. The dancer then torments, taunts and tortures the spirit until it offers him this Gift. Alternatively, the Ragabash might have to survive a Dance of Endurance involving electricity. | The Gift burns one point of Rage. The resultant charge can carry up to 30 yards if transmitted through the proper conductor. At a distance, it does three dice of damage (difficulty 7 to soak); by touch, it does four dice. | Book of the Wyrm | Ragabash |
| Unseelie Faerie Kin | The Black Spiral can call upon changelings, just as Fianna do, but his fae allies will be members of the Unseelie Court. This Gift cannot be learned in the Shattered Labyrinth. However, an Unseelie noble or Shadow Court instigator may offer to teach the proper rituals of this Gift in return for a quest or geas. In some instances, the changeling may also learn to summon the Black Spiral’s pack! | As with the Gift: Bane Protector, the petitioner must explain his dilemma, usually in rhyme or dance (in some cases, this performance is particularly violent or destructive). He must then burn a point of Gnosis and roll Manipulation + Leadership. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Dagger of the Mind | The Black Spiral can command a Bane to seed a particularly dark emotion in the mind of his prey. The emotion is chosen when the Gift is learned (e.g., paranoia, despair, remorse, lust; “rage” is not an option, for obvious reasons). The Black Spiral calls upon the proper Urge Wyrm; one of its servitors then evokes the proper emotion from the victim. Within the Shattered Labyrinth, the Dance of Endurance tests the limits of a dancer’s self-control. If the initiate survives, one of the Urge Wyrms will show him how to inflict similar tortures on his enemies. Curiously enough, Stormcrows have learned this Gift; they guard their knowledge carefully. Theurges often use this rite to weaken their enemies before battle; Philodox use it to give themselves an edge in negotiations. | The invocation burns a point of Gnosis and requires a Gnosis roll; the victim can resist this with a contested Willpower roll. Unless the victim can overcome his emotional struggle, he succumbs to the desired emotion for a full hour. For an additional Willpower point, the temporary dementia is accompanied by a brief, revelatory illusion. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Landwaster | This Wyrm Gift allows the fallen tribe to steal life in order to gain Gnosis. Relshab the Faceless Eater (see Book of the Wyrm) teaches this Gift. | The Garou kills a living thing of their own mass or greater, whether this is a mother and her children, a redwood tree, or a buffalo. The killing must involve physical contact between the Garou and his victim. For each living thing killed, the Dancer gains one Gnosis. One additional Gnosis is gained when an intelligent creature dies in pain. Any Gaian Garou using this Gift is considered to have fallen to the Wyrm. | Apocalypse | General |
| Foaming Fury | The Dancer’s mouth bubbles and foams with a noxious, greenish fluid. His eyes widen and roll in their sockets, showing the whites. The Dancer yips, barks and howls madly (and uncontrollably) as if in the grip of a rabid madness — a contagious one. | The player of anyone bitten by a Dancer using this Gift must succeed in a Stamina roll (difficulty 8, 6 if the Garou has Resist Toxin), lest the character fly into a rabid frenzy. (In effect, the character enters the Thrall of the Wyrm). | Core book revised. | General |
| Burning Scars | Black Spiral Dancers often carve stylized scars representing their devotion to the Wyrm into their bodies. With this Gift, a Dancer can draw upon that devotion to inflict horrible injuries on her foes. When invoked, this Gift causes the Dancer’s scars to glow with an unwholesome brilliance that almost seems to crawl into the victim’s body through his eyes, nose, mouth and ears, burning him from the inside out and leaving horrible burns that mimic the Dancer’s own scars. | The Dancer must grab the target, and the player must spend two Rage and roll Wits + Primal-Urge (difficulty is victim’s Stamina + 2). Each success inflicts one level of unsoakable aggravated damage that appears upon the victim’s body as a mirror of the Dancer’s glowing scars. These marks of the Wyrm may prove a powerful social handicap, and it may take some effort to remove them. | Core book revised. | General |
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howl of the Bane | The Dancers have their own fearsome spirits to call, and in a blatant mockery of the Wendigo, a Spiral dances in a Blight or Hellhole, hooting, laughing, and slashing profane glyphs into the air. A bane of the user’s choosing coils from the darkness, taking a description of the target before it leaves on its murderous quest. Any powerful Bane can teach this gift. | As the Wendigo Gift: Call the Cannibal Spirit. The user can choose which Bane to summon, so long as its Essence rating is no higher than 30. [Call the Cannibal Spirit System]: The Garou must dance for three full turns. The player spends one Rage point and one Gnosis point, then rolls Charisma + Occult (difficulty 8). If the roll botches, or if the Wendigo is somehow prevented from killing its target, it will return to kill the summoner. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Stolen Hide | The Black Spiral Dancer can don tormented spirits like a cloak, consigning them to oblivion to protect himself. A Nihilach teaches this Gift, but only to those who have already mastered Grave Claws. | The character can only use this Gift against a ghost that she has created with Grave Claws. She spends a turn in concentration and her player spends one point each of Gnosis and Willpower, then makes a contested Stamina + Primal Urge roll against the ghost’s Willpower. Success stretches the ghost’s tortured plasm across the Dancer’s body as a kind of grotesque ablative armor. The werewolf gains two additional Bruised health levels for each ghost worn in this manner. These health levels are the first lost to damage, and when they both disappear, the ghost used to create them is destroyed. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Hungry Rust | The werewolf summons a Bane and invests it into a mechanical device. The Bane awakens when someone next uses the device, spewing corruption throughout. The tool rusts and twists, both degrading and attempting to bond with its user. A gun might fuse to a person’s hand, coating her arm in plates of stamped metal and loops of corroded casings, while a vehicle might partially absorb its driver into the seat and seal his hands to the steering column. A Nexus Crawler teaches this Gift. | The player spends two Gnosis and rolls Intelligence + Craft against a difficulty based on the size and complexity of the device. A revolver would be difficulty 6, a vehicle 9. The next individual to use the cursed tool must gain more successes on a Wits + Occult roll than the werewolf, or fuse with the tool. This transformation is permanent for humans, but Garou may forcibly tear themselves loose from the intruding technology at a cost of (activation successes) levels of lethal damage. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Howl of Death | A Talon blessed with this Gift may infuse her howl with Rage and pain, causing grievous wounds to one target. The werewolf must be able to see her target clearly, and the target must be able to hear the howl. Only the intended target is affected by the Gift, though anyone else who hears it is disquieted and frightened. | The player rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 6). Each success inflicts one level of lethal damage, which the target may soak if he is able. The damage manifests, should anyone care to look, as massive internal damage, as if the target’s innards suddenly rupture. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Galliard |
| Silver Reprisal | Luna’s servants only rarely extend her blessing to those who have danced the Black Spiral, but some Banes can add their own retributive curse to the Garou’s vulnerability to silver. Rather than protecting the Dancer, as Luna’s Blessing does to Gaian Garou, this Gift causes silver to burn its wielder in the same moment it harms the werewolf. A Furmling teaches this Gift. | The player spends one point of Gnosis. For the rest of the scene, anyone who uses silver to inflict damage on the character suffers debilitating pain and burns on the hand used to strike the blow, receiving one level of unsoakable aggravated damage — as if caused by silver, in the case of Garou — per damaging attack delivered. The attacker must make a Stamina roll against difficulty 8 or drop whatever they’re holding in that hand; even if she succeeds, increase the difficulty of all attacks using that hand by 2. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ragabash |
| Cassandra’s Blessing | The Wyrm’s tricksters use division and isolation as instructive tools, particularly against their many enemies. The victim of this Gift’s ‘blessing’ will find that nobody will believe anything she has to say, no matter how much evidence she has to back it up. A Nocturnae teaches this Gift. | The Black Spiral Dancer must touch her target. Then his player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty of the target’s Willpower). Nobody will believe anything the target says for a number of hours equal to the successes rolled. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ragabash |
| Feast of Man-Flesh | The Black Spiral Dancers know of the power locked away in the flesh of men. By eating the uncooked flesh of a human being, the werewolf may temporarily borrow that person’s knowledge and skills. A cannibal spirit teaches this Gift. | The Gift’s effects are permanent. By eating at least one pound of human flesh, the Spiral Dancer may absorb up to (Gnosis rating) of the following: dots of Abilities the victim possessed (up to the maximum of the victim’s rating in the Abilities in question) or facts that victim knew (chosen by the Dancer’s player). These stolen benefits continue for (Rage rating) days. The Dancer may retain Abilities and information from only one victim at a time. Non-human beings wearing human forms such as homid Garou, changelings, fomori, and vampires do not count as human for the purposes of this Gift, but Kinfolk, ghouls, Imbued hunters, and mages do. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Homid |
| Open Wounds | As the Shadow Lord Gift. Shadow Lord Gift: The Garou may cause the next wound he inflicts to bleed profusely, weakening the target further. A pain-sprit teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Strength + Medicine (difficulty 7). If the Shadow Lord’s next attack does any damage, the target will bleed continuously, losing one health level per turn for a number of turns equal to the number of successes rolled. This hemorrhaging is considered lethal damage. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Summon Wyrm Elemental | The Dancer performs a short dance around a piece of a pure element. The dance corrupts the element and summons forth a Wyrm Elemental (Hogling, Furmling, H’ruggling, or Wakshaani). A Wyrm elemental teaches this gift. | As the Uktena Gift: Call Elemental. Black Spiral Dancers only bother trying to make a Wyrm elemental amenable if they need a specific task completed. Many often summon Wyrm elementals simply to wreak havoc. [Call Elemental System]: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of the area’s Gauntlet). She must then roll Manipulation + Occult (difficulty 7) to make the elemental look favorably upon the Garou. The elemental vanishes at the end of the scene. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Beautiful Lie | When the Veil is endangered, Gaia protects the minds of the innocent with the Delirium, granting false memories and delusions. Since Black Spirals commit particularly grisly crimes, they can use this Gift to channel the Delirium, producing further misdirection or even summoning false evidence to cover up their activities. Spirits serving Kirijama and Hakaken are both proficient in this sort of activity. They typically employ subterfuge to deceive those they wish to suborn. If a werewolf recruits enough servants for their scheme, this Gift may be taught in exchange. A Black Spiral with a particularly ingenious Dance of Cunning may also learn this Gift in the Shattered Labyrinth, especially if he exposes (or perpetuates) a particularly brilliant lie. | A Black Spiral observing a particularly unsubtle crime may attempt to cover it up with a “beautiful lie.” He begins to chant a story of what humans nearby are actually seeing. The Dancer spends one point of Gnosis and rolls Wits + Subterfuge; the difficulty is 6 (as long as the story is vaguely plausible). Mass delusions follow, and ephemeral evidence (e.g. animal footprints, a bloody chainsaw, saliva from a rabid dog) remains for an entire hour to obfuscate the truth. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Doppelganger | The Garou may take the exact likeness of any other human, wolf or Garou. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift. | The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Performance (difficulty 8). Traits aren’t duplicated, but everything else, including voice, posture and scent, is identical. The effects last for one day per success. | Core book revised. | General |
| Crawling Poison | When the Dancer calls upon this Gift, his fangs turn black with venom, and his breath grows more foul than is normal. The venom kills humans and animals slowly, and, the victim suffers terrible agony as the venom spreads through his body. A Garou’s regeneration will protect her from the pain and eventual death, but only at the cost of her normal rapid healing. | After making a successful bite attack that inflicts damage after soak, roll the Dancer’s Gnosis (difficulty is the victim’s Stamina, or Stamina +2 if the victim has Resist Toxin). Each success inhibits the victim’s regeneration for one hour. When used on humans or animals, the poison subtracts one from all Physical Attributes each hour. If Strength or Dexterity reach zero, the victim may not move without assistance. If Stamina reaches zero, the victim dies a painful and messy death. The toxin may be stopped only by supernatural means. Mother’s Touch (difficulty as normal) can negate it on a one-for-one success ratio, but the Garou using it must spend one Gnosis point per success. | Core book revised. | General |
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloak of Anthelios | Sculpted from Halo of the Sun, the character speaks the sacred word of Helios while drawing on his own Wyrm-tainted powers. The character is wreathed in violent red flame that drapes about him as a cloak. A servant of Helios who breaks under torture can teach this Gift, as can fallen Children of Gaia who know the sacred word of Helios. The gift is exceedingly rare, if even acquired as of yet. | The player spends one Gnosis point, and the effect lasts one scene. The character adds two dice of aggravated damage to all Brawl-based attacks in all forms. Any attack that causes more than three health levels of any kind of damage burns the glyph of Anthelios into the flesh of the victim. The victim bears Wyrm taint (detectable by Sense Wyrm at difficulty 4) until he is cleansed. Anyone looking directly at the werewolf adds two to all attack difficulties due to the glare. Vampires are unaffected by the Cloak of Anthelios. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Mask Taint | As the Skin Dancer Gift. Scryers also teach this Gift. [Skin Dancer Gift]: A Skin Dancer possessing this Gift may completely camouflage Wyrm-taint from all senses, including Gifts that detect such taint. This Gift is taught by a servant of Minotaur. | The player spends one Gnosis point, rolling Perception + Subterfuge (difficulty 8). The effect lasts for one scene per success scored. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| The White Howl | Once the most sacred blessing of the White Howlers, this mighty Gift is still passed down among the ranks of the Black Spiral Dancers as a reminder of the past to their Garou enemies. The sound of the White Howl is sufficient to rend both the workings of the Wyrm, and the hearts of Garou who hear it and realize how much Gaia has lost. It was once taught by an avatar of Lion, but no spirit teaches this Gift in the modern age; it survives entirely through a history of Black Spiral Dancers handing it down from warlord to warlord. | The player spends two points each of Gnosis and Rage. The character spends a turn unleashing a mighty, full-throated howl, and the player rolls Charisma + Primal Urge (difficulty 6). Every Wyrm-tainted being within earshot suffers a number of levels of unsoakable lethal damage equal to the successes rolled — including the Black Spiral Dancer herself — and any of her nearby packmates. Each Gaian Garou who hears the howl, by contrast, loses one point of Willpower per success rolled, as they recognize the lost purity of the White Howlers, and must face the reality of all that Gaia has lost to the hunger of the Wyrm. Any Garou reduced to 0 Willpower by this Charm (sp) falls into Harano. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | General |
| Strength Without Limit | Wyrmish power suffuses the flesh and bones of the warrior who uses this Gift, exaggerating his power beyond the limits of his body. His muscles bulk up until they tear through his skin, and his flesh peels back from wildly elongated teeth and claws; even his nerves thicken until they pulse like veins. | The player spends two points of Rage and the character suffers one level of unsoakable aggravated damage. For the rest of the scene, the werewolf adds one dot to each physical Attribute, and two dice to the damage of all Brawl attacks. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ahroun |
| Madness | The metis struggles his whole life to find a place, a purpose and a sense of stability in his horrifying existence. With this Gift, he can force others to face their inner demons, including insanity and madness. The nature of the derangement varies among individuals, but it will always be severe, making it impossible for the victim to function normally. Lunes, along with spirits of trickery and madness teach this Gift. | The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty of the victim’s Willpower). The insanity lasts a number of days equal to the successes rolled on the attempt. During this time, the metis can increase or decrease the effects of the madness, granting the victim lucidity and then driving him into psychosis. Even after the Gift has ended, the repercussions from the bout with madness often haunt the target for the rest of his life. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Galliard |
| Omen Claws | The Black Spiral Dancer’s claws become blades of anti-light, the area surrounding them suffused with a false glow as a contrast to their nullity. Anyone struck by these terrible claws suffers visions of the Apocalypse. An avatar of the Maeljin teaches this Gift. | The player spends one point of Gnosis and rolls her character’s Rage. This Gift’s effects last for one turn per success. Any character that takes damage from Omen Claws must roll Willpower against a difficulty of the Dancer’s (Gnosis + levels of damage inflicted, maximum 9) or be incapacitated by nightmare visions of everything they love tortured by the talons of the Wyrm. The victim cannot do anything when so afflicted, and loses one point of Willpower per turn. The victim’s player may attempt another Willpower roll to break free each turn. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Philodox |
| Patience of the Wyrm | This Gift allows incredibly elaborate acts of sabotage and revenge by allowing the Spiral Dancer to dictate the moment her curses strike her foes. A Black Spiral Dancer must petition a Nexus Crawler to teach this Gift. | This Gift can enhance any other Gift that affects another character, as long as it does not deal damage. Spend a point of Willpower in addition to the other gift’s cost. The Black Spiral Dancer then dictates when the enhanced Gift will take effect, either in simple measures of time, or a set of conditions that she can utter as a single sentence. For example, she might lay Cassandra’s Blessing on an enemy spy stating that the Gift will not take effect until the victim attempts to relate what she has learned. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Ragabash |
| Instincts Unbound | Gaia’s warriors must explain the behavior of their fallen cousins as madness – why else would a wolf seek to despoil the world? The greatest among Black Spiral lupus use this Gift to teach the Garou the folly of their thinking by showing them the joys of unbound freedom. Psychomachia teach this Gift. | The Black Spiral Dancer’s player spends one Gnosis point and one Rage point, and rolls Wits + Primal Urge against a difficulty of her victim’s Willpower. For one day per success, the target cannot resist her instincts. She takes what she wants, kills when the urge is upon her, and gives in to her least impulse. If the target possesses Rage, all Rage rolls are at difficulty 4; if the target is a vampire, all rolls to resist or control frenzy are against difficulty 9. The target may reduce the duration of this Gift by 12 hours per point of Willpower spent. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Lupus |
| Totem Form | This powerful Gift allows a Black Spiral to take on the appearance — and much of the power — of her pack’s Bane totem. For instance, a Dancer sword to the Dark Fungus might sprout slime molds and toadstools in place of fur, radiating a cloud of halluciongenic spores, while a bastard of the Green Dragon might swell into a draconian war form the equal of any Mokolé. This Gift is only taught by the pack’s totem spirit, and only to the Dancer who shows the most promise. Some packmates have been known to horribly maim one another in the process of proving who is worthy to learn this Gift. | The Dancer must spend a point of Willpower and roll Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7) to make the shift. It takes a full turn to transform, although the form lasts for the duration of the scene. The Storyteller must best adjudicate the appearance and abilities of the totem form; for instance, one of the Hakkan’s bastards might radiate fear so intense that opponents have to make Willpower rolls just to act against him, much less confront him. The result, of course, should always be impressive. | Book of the Wyrm | General |
| Balefire | The Dancer can hurl balls of sickly green flame at her enemies. Balefire, as the very lifeblood of the Wyrm, is very dangerous to werewolves. It often inflicts hideous and life-threatening mutations, as well as tainting the victim heavily. It’s impossible to dodge Balefire — it moves with a malicious intelligence. It can only be resisted. | Roll Dexterity + Athletics, taking the standard ranged-combat modifier into account. The victim resists with Stamina (difficulty 8), and his roll must equal or exceed the Dancer’s successes. If the victim fails to resist, the Balefire’s influence mutates her. Treat each success over resistance as one level of aggravated damage for the purposes of healing/rejecting the mutation. This damage is not soakable (the resistance roll is the soak roll). Afflicted werewolves may grow extra (useless) eyes, lose all of her fur and hair, go blind, deaf or anosmic (no sense of taste or smell) temporarily. Until she rejects the mutations and undergoes a Rite of Cleansing, she registers a strong taint to the Gift: Sense Wyrm. | Core book revised. | General |
| Avatar of the Wyrm | The Dancer assumes an awful and horrific visage, perhaps even a facet of the Wyrm itself (albeit a small one). The Dancer increases in size, its skin becomes scaly and greenish-gray, and his claws increase in length to jagged, vicious knives dripping with venom. His howl becomes a terrifying roar. Only a Maeljin Incarna, one of the Wyrm’s most powerful avatars, can teach this Gift. | Spend one Gnosis point and one Rage point. The Dancer must concentrate for a full turn, at the end of which the transformation occurs. The Dancer shifts to Crinos automatically (if he wasn’t already in that form) and adds an additional dot to all Physical Attributes, and one Bruised health level. Additionally, his claws inflict an additional die of damage and are unsoakable. Finally, treat Delirium as three levels worse to onlookers. | Core book revised. | General |
This will probably never be learned by a PC.
| Gift | Description | System | Source | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prelude to Apocalypse | As the Gaian Gift As In the Beginning, this version might be learned by a Black Spiral Theurge and summons Wyrm-spirits of all kinds. No Black Spiral Theurge has yet learned this Gift, but it might be taught by a Maeljin Incarna. The Theurge can tear away aeons of the Weaver’s works for a short while. This Gift rips down the Gauntlet entirely, merging the worlds of flesh and spirit as they were in the days of legend. Moreover, this mended region acts as a shining beacon to Gaian spirits, calling a flood of nature-spirits and other allies to assist the Theurge. An avatar of Gaia Herself teaches this Gift. | The player spends three points of Gnosis and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty of the local Gauntlet). The Gauntlet is torn open within the local area. The thinner the Gauntlet, the wider the rip: from a few rooms in the midst of a skyscraper to an entire mile of landscape in the depths of the Amazon. Friendly spirits of the Storyteller’s choosing come flooding out to aid the Theurge — the more successes, the greater the number or power. The Gauntlet is permanently lowered by 1 in an area where this Gift has been used; this benefit doesn’t stack with repeated use. | Book of the Wyrm W20 | Theurge |
Hakken Gifts
Kinfolk Gifts