Werewolf/House Rules

House Rules

These houses rules either correct mistakes in the White Wolf texts, follow optional rule suggested by White Wolf, or translate storyteller-related issues from tabletop to an online medium that lacks an ever-present storyteller.

Aspects Second level: Requires Primal Urge 5 (down from Primal Urge 7). Third level: Requires Primal Urge 7 (down from Primal Urge 10). Claiming: To get your Auspice Aspect setup please submit an +xpreq/job Auspice Aspect=<info> Info: Provide which Auspice Aspect you are claiming, book and page number reference, any other bonuses, flaws, or derangements. Elodoth - Envoy Original Text The Elodoth walking the path of Envoy starts to make a name for himself. He gains the "Spirits" specialty in one of his auspice skills, and a dot in Allies (Local Spirits). If he already has that Merit, he increases its rating by one. House Ruled Text The Elodoth walking the path of Envoy starts to make a name for himself. He gains the "Spirits" specialty in one of his auspice skills, and the Envoy gains a dot in the merit Allies (Local Spirits). This dot applies to all broods, and, in effect, increases the rating of Allies: <Specific brood> by one dot, up to a maximum of five. This increased rating also applies to experience expenditures. Rahu - Defender Original Text At this level of power, though, the Defender’s life is tied to his packmates' in a very literal sense. If one of his packmates dies as the direct result of another's actions (that is, dies in battle, is murdered, or dies in an accident arising from human error rather than natural causes), the Defender's life is also forfeit. House Ruled Text At this level of power, though, the Defender's life is tied to his packmates' in a very literal sense. If one of his packmates dies as the direct result of another's actions in a scene in which the Defender is also a participant (that is, dies in battle, is murdered, or dies in an accident arising from human error rather than natural causes), the Defender's life is also forfeit. Cahalith - Warhowler Original Text Her howls at this point give her pack the strength to persevere. In addition to the previous benefit, when she howls, her pack also gains a point of armor (+1/+1) per point of the Cahalith's Expression score. (Lasts for the scene, as above, and can only be used once per story.) House Ruled Text Her howls at this point give her pack the strength to persevere. In addition to the previous benefit, when she howls, her pack also gains a point of armor (+1/+1) equal to half of the Cahalith's Expression score, rounded down. (Lasts for the scene.)

Auspice Abilities Rahu can use Warrior's Eye once per IC day. Cahalith can use Prophetic Dreams once per month or TP, which ever is more frequent.

Bite Attacks Werewolves in Urshul or Urhan form have +2L bite attacks per second printing errata.

Death Rage If you get hit with an exceptional success, roll for Death Rage. (standard rule) If you hit someone else with an exceptional success on a bite, roll for Death Rage. (standard rule) If you hit someone with an exceptional success on another kind of attack, there is no need to roll for Death Rage. This is the house rule. If not for this, many werewolves would Death Rage in every combat. Death Rage lasts at least one minute IC, at which point you may roll to end it with the normal -2 modifier for being in your War Form. Anytime before that is up to ST discretion.

Fetishes in Chargen There is a limit to the number of Fetishes that can be purchased while in character creation. New characters are limited to Primal-Urge / 2 (rounded up) number of Fetishes and the Total of the Fetish ranks cannot exceed 5 points. IE: Someone coming in at Primal-Urge 1 can have, 1 fetish of rank 5 or less. Someone of Primal-Urge 3 can start with 2 fetishes with total combined ranks must equal 5 or less. Fetishes purchased in CG can not be benefit from the XP lowering that PC Created Fetishes do.

Garou Gamble Normally, a werewolf can maintain their war form (gauru) for a number of turns equal to their Stamina + Primal Urge (+ their auspice's favored Renown during their auspice moon phase). After that time has expired, the werewolf begins to risk Death Rage. Every turn past the time limit, roll the werewolf's Resolve + Composure as a reflexive action, with a cumulative -1 penalty after the first. When the roll fails, the werewolf immediately enters Death Rage.

Gifts Learning Gifts Out of Order Yes, you can learn them out of order! If you want to pick up Dominance 3 through XP, and don't want 1 or 2, you can do that. However, each rank you skip costs you 3 XP. So in this case, it would cost you +6 XP. This is only the case when learning gifts through XP, and not through Renown. This is a clarification from WtF p 103. Specialties You may purchase a specialty for a specific gift. For example: Survival.Gift: Thunderbolt is a valid specialty Dominance Gift Tree This gift tree only affects your own Template and Mortals. It does not cross templates. A Feral with this gift tree gains no benefit against Werewolves, and vice versa. Elemental Gift Tree: Alternate Elements We use the suggested optional rule of allowing alternate elemental gifts (WtF 111). Only the first alternate elemental gift line you choose is also an affinity list. All others' cost is equivalent to a non-affinity list. The gifts in the book are always an affinity list. See Elemental Gifts for the alternate gift lists. Bale Hound Gifts These gift trees are not approved for PC's to purchase. Full Moon Gift Tree Attunement (Full Moon 2) Success: The character exploits a weakness and may ignore an amount of his opponent's Defense equal to the Gift user's Primal Urge for the remainder of the scene. (corrects error in text, WtF 116) Death Grip (Full Moon 3) Cost: 1 essence Dice Roll: none (standard brawl attack) Effect: Can only be used once a grapple has been established. Note: This gift can only be used in Gauru, Urshul or Urhan form. Mother Luna Gift Tree Partial Change (Mother Luna 1) Partial Change can produce numerous variations with different stat bonuses. Here are the stat modifiers for the ones we've thought of. (If you have others not listed here, ask staff and then get them to post it here once approved.) Many of these invoke the Lunacy if noticed. (See WtF, pg 176.) Claws Lethal damage with no modifier +2 to climbing rolls (same as Protean 3 in Vampire) Invoke Lunacy at +5 in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, as standard in other forms Nose Standard perception bonus associated with form Invoke Lunacy at +5 in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, as standard in other forms Wolf Eyes -1 to most vision rolls +2 to night vision rolls on top of standard -1 modifier (for a total modifier of +1) Invoke Lunacy at +5 in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, standard in other forms Wolves see distinctly less well than humans and detect mobile objects better than stationary, but the tapetum lucidum, a natural mirror in the back of the eye, allows the wolves to catch more light. As long as there is a faint source of light, a wolf at night can see the world as if it were dusk. (BotW, pg 37) Wolf Ears Standard perception bonus associated with form (wolf ears get +4, etc.) Invoke Lunacy at +5 in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, as standard in other forms Wolf Teeth Lethal damage Invoke Lunacy at +5 in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, as standard in other forms Gauru Fur/Skin Standard Gauru armor Invoke Lunacy at +5 if in Hishu, +3 in Dalu, as standard in other forms Gauru Head Standard Gauru bite bonus +1 Strength -3 to all Manipulation rolls -3 on Death Rage rolls Invoke Lunacy Must make Resolve + Composure roll to take any non-violent action Begin taking on Gauru instincts and hunger pains (See: Blood of the Wolf, pg 39) Gauru Body with Hishu/Dalu Head Treat this exactly as Gauru form with the following exceptions: -5 to mental and social tasks instead of automatic failure Language ability and perception bonus consistent with the head's form No armor rating for blows to the head No Gauru bite bonus Note on Harmony Certain obvious uses of Partial Change will be considered a level 4 Harmony sin if done in the presence of and observed by humans, as determined by staff. Examples: Gauru head, Gauru body, wolf ears. Stealth Gift Tree Feet of Mist (Stealth 1) Spend 1 Essence to strengthen the effect, not Willpower. (This corrects error in text) Technology Gift Tree Create Technology (Technology 5) When using this Gift/Spirit Gift for crafting an item the total Resources cost of creation is reduced by 2. However, this will not reduce an items cost below Resources 1.

Herd Herd counts for anything without a Power Stat and non-Wolf Blooded half-templates. Not Herd: Wolf Blooded, Changelings, Changing Breeds & Beast-Kin, Mages, Sin-Eaters, and Purified. Herd: Ensorcelled Mortals, Fae-Touched, Hunters, Non-Purified Immortals, Possessed, Proximi, Psychics (Non-Wolf Blooded), Sleepwalkers, Thaumaturges (Non-Wolf Blooded), Mediums (Non-Wolf Blooded), and generic Mortals. Wardens (Immortal): While they are classified as Lesser Immortals, their immunity to Lunacy within their territory which they rarely LEAVE means revealing the existence of Werewolves to Wardens while within their territory does not qualify as a violation of the Oath.

Languages First Tongue The Language of the Spirits is exceedingly difficult to speak by a human form. Humans (including Wolfblooded): Requires Spirit Tongue •••, to speak it at all, and even then suffer all of the difficulties described in Book of Spirits. Werewolves: You need to take the 'Language (First Tongue)' merit, or you only have a rudimentary understanding of the language of Spirits. It's not free. Across Forms Regardless of your form, you can understand any language that you know. The difficulty of speaking lies in having mouths and throats (and sometimes tails) properly shaped for the language you're trying to communicate in. For ease of reference: Hishu: Can speak any human language one knows. Unable to speak wolf-speak. Manage an understandable but garbled First Tongue. This may translate into a -1 modifier on social rolls. Dalu: Able to speak First Tongue without trouble. Unable to speak wolf-speak. Manage human languages but will be garbled due to enlarged canines and other changes that promote First Tongue. This may translate into a -1 modifier on social rolls. Gauru: It's a Resolve + Composure roll to /try/ to speak for a round, and First Tongue is your go-to. Human or Wolf-Speak can be attempted, but your only social skill that works is Intimidate. (WtF pg. 172 for more details) Urshul: Can speak First Tongue and Wolf-Speak. Can't speak human languages. Urhan: Can speak Wolf-Speak. Unable to speak First Tongue or human languages. Being in Hishu doesn't make you forget how to understand Wolf-Speak, nor does being in Urhan make you not understand the word laundromat. Conveying the concept of laundromat in wolf-speak however would be rather difficult.

Merits Allies (• to •••••) Allies do not make your territories bigger or let you cover more area. Nor are they going to help you patrol your areas. Language (First Tongue) (•) This is a Werewolf only merit. Lunatic Glare (••) The bonus for this has been brought down to a +3. This makes the impact of Lunatic Glare stronger than an Uratha in Dalu form, but requires one to still make a roll. Pleasing Aura (•••) This is not available to Werewolves; Wolfblooded can purchase this if wished. Pack Bond (• to •••) Wolfblood may now purchase Pack Bond as listed on WtF 2nd Ed on pg 305. In summary: 1 dot may purchase 1 dot of Totem Merit and enjoy the benefits of the totem. 3 dots may purchase up to the full 5 dots of Totem and enjoy the benefits of the totem. Totem dots must still be purchased separately, this merit does not grant any free dots of totem. Acquisition of this merit requires a PRP or other proof of the character's importance to the pack and why the Totem would consider this Wolfblooded important enough to count. Wolfblooded (•• to •••••) Wolfblooded needs to be taken at Chargen to be a Wolfblooded. You also can't buy more dots in the merit post Chargen as it's a Chargen only merit.

NPC's Whether it's a Werewolf NPC or a Wolfblooded NPC, they need to be pre-approved by Werestaff. You can send in a +request to the team and we will look at it to see what the plot etc is. Pure NPC's will be heavily scrutinized. They are still a major threat around Fallcoast. If you wish to use them in a plot, please be aware that there is a chance that they will be denied, but we will happily review your plot! Tribal Elders PC Elders are not allowed in play at this time. All Tribal Elders are NPCs

Packs Any game mechanic which refers to a pack member may only effect an individual to whom an Uratha is bound via a the Totem. Therefore, gifts such as Pack Awareness, etc, do not function on Protected Wolfbloods, only Wolfbloods who have contributed to the Totem. Loci Growing Claiming and defending a Locus are the dangerous parts of controlling it. Growing it is not dangerous, but it takes time. The time and scenes required are equal to the new level. The time will be started from the first scene. Example: A pack has a level 2 locus and wishes to grow it to level 3. They do an initial tending scene on May 1st. The locus cannot become level 3 until August 1st, and requires two more scenes. These scenes have no time limit, so if they don't do the third scene until November 1st, that is when the Locus grows in power. Pack Bond & Leaving Packs Bonding with a Pack Totem is a big deal. It might not seem like it, but to be accepted by one and be made a genuine member of a pack takes a lot of effort. With that, when you leave a pack and try to join another one you will need to not only purchase the merit for the second pack but also have a plot run by someone not in the pack you are joining to show that you are committed to the pack that you are joining. Totems The Totem merit can be purchased to a maximum of 5. The Totem merit must be noted with the pack's name. You must have your Totem dots actually allocated to something; no floating/unassigned Totem dots. When forming or joining a pack you get 2 free dots of the Totem merit. Any beyond that need to be purchased. see Totem Creation

Primal-Urge To reflect some sense of development, jumps in Primal Urge will not be allowed. They'll be permitted at a rate of one point per month.

Regeneration Regeneration has gotten a revamp for both Werewolves and Ferals. Mechanically, this consists of two changes, one to the essence per turn rates of Primal-Urge and Feral-Heart, along with Bashing regeneration rates, and Regeneration itself. Primal Urge Max Essence / Turn Bashing Regen 1 10 / 1 1B 2 11 / 2 1B 3 12 / 3 1B 4 13 / 4 2B 5 15 / 5 2B 6 20 / 6 3B 7 25 / 7 3B 8 30 / 8 4B 9 50 / 10 5B 10 75 / 15 6B Bashing Damage Uratha heal at least one point of bashing damage per turn, depending on their Primal Urge. See the chart above for the exact amount at each Primal Urge score. Lethal Damage Uratha heal one point of lethal damge every 15 minutes. Uratha with Quick Healer heal one point of lethal damage every 8 minutes. By spending one point of Essence as a reflexive action, they may regenerate lethal damage instead of bashing damage for the turn. This is NOT increased further by quick healer. Aggravated Damage Aggravated damage regenerates much slower, closer to the speed of human wounds. Uratha heal one point of aggravated damage every four days. Only Silver and supernatural powers or items can cause aggravated damage to Uratha directly. Any source of harm that would cause aggravated damage to a human, including massive bodily devastation, only causes lethal damage to Uratha. As such, most unwitting attackers must do enough lethal damage to cause it to "roll over" into aggravated damage before it poses a real problem for the shifters. Gauru When in Gauru, the character heals bashing and lethal damage equal to their Primal Urge score without essence expenditure at the start of each turn. This is a change from the 2e regeneration rules where the update is coming from. Toxins Toxins can still affect Uratha. Subtract her Primal Urge from the Toxicity rating of any poison or disease that would ail her. Regrowing Lost Limbs / Organs In healing a lost limb or organ (including fingers, legs, livers, lungs and eyes) requires special effort. First, the Uratha must be willing and able to spend a draining amount of effort to regrow the lost part. During this time, the werewolf must remain relatively inactive; he can eat (and may have to), but cannot fight or engage in strenuous activity. This limb regrowth is separate to the actual healing of the health wounds. We follow the guidelines found in Blood of the Wolf, pg 18. To begin the regrowing the lost limb, the Uratha must spend a permanent dot of Willpower. The Uratha then begins an extended healing action, with a dice pool of his Resolve, made at intervals of six hours. This interval can be reduced to one hour by spending a point of Essence. The number of successes required depends on the severity of the wound. A lost finger requires three successes, an arm severed at the elbow costs 15, a leg at the hip needs 40, an eye takes a great deal of complicated nerves with it and requires 10 successes to heal, most other organs only require eight successes to completely regrow. The brain is the exception. The regenerated part bears witness to its injury. A limb bears severe scars at the point where it was removed, and the skin looks just slightly too new for several weeks. An eye heals thickly and may sometimes ache or an internal organ does its job somewhat less efficiently. extra time may be spent to heal the injury perfectly by adding 5 successes to the number needed to heal. this healing moves more slowly and it is only complete when the new total number of successes has been met.

Renown In Chargen Limits: No Renown may be bought to level 5 in CharGen. However, you may buy up to level 4 to your heart's content and within the rules. Justification: All Renown in CharGen require justification in your character's background. They don't need to be extensive things (ranks 1 and 2 are easily acquired), but you did SOMETHING at SOME POINT to earn those brands! Tell us what you did! In Play and Outside of Chargen Justification: Renown from 1 to 3, may be purchased WITHOUT being in a Staff/Player Run Scene. Renown of 4+ must be justified through RPed events. Renown of 1-3 may be justified via short story or notes telling of what deed, or deeds, your Werewolf performed to earn their new brands. If it's too far off staff will assist in aligning it to current plot or your character's ongoing efforts. Notes are required of all Renown purchases regardless of level. Recording: If your renown is approved we have the page, Renown Stories, especially for detailing what your Werewolf has done and what the Lunes would tell others of her or him. Respec: Renown may never be increased or decreased in Respec. Renown must be purchased to the same levels prior to the Respec. Primary Renown Overlap When a character's Primary Renown of their Tribe and Auspice are the same and overlap they can purchase their only Primary Renown at a Renown Overlap discount of 5xp instead of the normal 6xp for Primary Renown purchases. Re-Buying Stripped Renown As per the Morality repurchasing rules, which modify the cost to 1/3 it's original value, rebuying lost Renown will cost New Dots x2 XP. There is a buffer time (for the Lunes to stop being mad) of one lunar month between when the renown was stripped and when it can be rebought.

Rites and Rituals Limits on Rolls for Rites Ritemasters are limited to a number of dice rolls equal to their Harmony + Rituals + Rite Modifiers. For instance, a Harmony 7 Werewolf with Rituals 4 casting in Dalu has a roll limit of 7 + 4 + 1 = 13. Staff may occasionally grant exceptions to this rule. The only modifiers that increase your number of allowed rolls are those modifiers outlined in the Werewolf: The Forsaken Pg 149. Rules on Ritual Notations Ritesmasters are fearsome werewolves who know ancient rituals that allow them to affect the world, themselves and their pack in various ways. In keeping with that, Some werewolves and ritualists will want to keep certain rituals prepared and performed at all times. The werewolf staff supports this decision but also knows that there needs to be some form of accountability. With that in mind, we have come up with the following. Any ritual you cast on a regular basis, whether that be daily or monthly, needs to be +noted. You will roll these at the beginning of the scene to determine effect if daily. Any ritual that creates an effect that lasts longer than the duration of one scene or one TP needs to be +noted. These will have to go through staff or you will have to submit a log with the rolls included. Any ritual not noted or rolled for at the beginning of the scene will not be recognized by were staff nor will it be required for other staff or players to recognize them Bind Spirit and Shackle Spirit (Lodge of Harmony) The book, Lodges: The Faithful, notes that members of the Lodge are taught even more powerful variations of both Shackle Spirit and Bind Spirit. To go with this Lodge members receive +4 to all rolls for both Rites, and the appearance of such should be more detailed the norm. Bloody-Handed Hunter (Shadows of the UK) The exceptional success clause for this rite was not proofed. As written, it causes 60L an hour of bloodloss, while werewolf regeneration is naturally 4L per hour. Since that makes the rite inevitable death for every ritualist who gets 20+ successes to activate it, we have the following Houserule: Exceptional Success: If the total number of successes equals 20 or more, the Uratha's hands continue to bleed until sunrise, causing one Health level of lethal damage every fifteen minutes, and dealing aggravated damage +3 until sunrise, when the rite ends. The rite's effects cannot be ended before dawn. Call Gaffling and Call Jaggling Summoning a Gaffling or a Jaggling now requires (Spirit Rank x 10 Successes), instead of a flat 40 successes for all. So for example, it will require 20 successes to summon a Greater Gaffling (rank 2) with Call Gaffling, but will still require 40 successes to summon a Greater Jaggling (rank 4) with Call Jaggling. Dedication Rite of Dedication permits dedicating one set of clothing plus one item/container/set of clothing per point of Primal-Urge. This change effectively grants the exceptional success result to your first set of clothing. You may, at the beginning of a scene, choose to end dedication of that suit of clothing to attempt an exceptional dedication on a different item. The result of that ritual cast will hold for that scene. Werewolves may carry their Primal Urge in items without a roll and a free set of clothes. So in total, that's PU Items + 1 Set of Clothes without a roll. If a werewolf wishes to attempt an Exceptional Success, they may roll for it once per scene. If the werewolf rolls an exceptional success, they may carry Primal Urge + 1 items in addition to the free set of clothes. Healing This rite has been changed in the following manner: Original: "The Rite of Healing cannot heal subjects other than werewolves, as it specifically accelerates the power of werewolf regeneration." New: "Werewolves, Changing Breeds, Wolf-Blooded •••••, and other templates with 'regenerative healing' can be healed with this Rite." Rite of Offal (Lodge of Harmony) The Rite of Offal is missing from Lodges: The Faithful, according to White Wolf's errata. We allow its use. See details here. Speak with the Guardian (Lodge of Cerberus) This rite is missing from Lodges: The Faithful. We allow its use. See details here. The Whelp's Rite In Signs of the Moon the Rite wasn't assigned a level. To account for this it has been set at Level 2 by WereStaff. To The Cannon's Mouth 3 and 4 (Tribes of the Moon) Only one of these rituals can be active on a target at a time. You can be immune to bashing damage, OR immune to lethal damage. Being immune to damage does not make you immune to upgraded damage as your health boxes fill. Lethal immunity does not prevent bashing from upgrading health levels once all your health boxes are full of bashing. This is an aspect of the health levels, not incoming damage. While a ritualist can perform the rite on themselves, they take a -2 for being damaged during the ritual casting, and -3 for wound penalties, since they are inflicted over 10 minute periods.

Sensing Shifters Approximately 30 foot radius. Dice Pool: Wits + Primal Urge Action: Reflexive Dramatic Failure: The character doesn't catch the scent, and no other rolls may be made to do so for the remainder of the scene. Failure: The character doesn't catch the scent. The Storytell may ask for a successive attempt if the character remains near the other shifter for awhile. Success: The character notices that another shifter is in the area, as well as a few obvious details of the scent (the other shifter's sex and what form she's currently in). Exceptional Success: The character notices the scent of the other shifter and can tell exactly where the scent originates. All penalties/bonuses for forms that apply to Ferals also apply to Uratha. Please refer to p180 Werewolf: The Forsaken for details.

Tribal Initiation For Characters undergoing an on-grid Tribal Initiation, the following HR applies: The character initiating does not need to possess (or pay for) a dot in the tribal primary renown if: They possess less than three total renown. Their initiation includes a deed worthy of the dot in the renown they are gaining from it (as they all should). If the character has more than three renown, but no dot of renown in the tribal primary renown they are joining, then they must purchase the new dot for primary cost. If the character has more than three renown, but does have a dot in the tribal primary renown, then they may join the tribe without gaining a new dot, but must still accomplish a deed worthy of the renown they possess for the tribal initiation.

Unihar Sexual Intercourse that leads to conception will not create spirits. There is no roll for Harmony as the Spirits in Fallcoast seem to have moved away from this as the Unihar have disappeared. We do not want to police this sort of thing on this game.

Wolfblooded Blood & Birth Merits The Wolfblooded Merits from WtF 2e are available to take. You can only take one Auspice (Birth) and one Tribal (Blood) merit, these cannot change, so when you purchase them make sure it's what you want. Blooded Tells All Wolfblooded gain one Tell for free at character creation. This merit requires the Wolfblooded Merit. Evil Eye - As written Second Skin - Errata'd version. Allows for shift into Urhan. This does not grant healing or innate understanding of First Tongue (just the ability to speak it if you know it). Stamina + Survival to shift as an instant action. An exceptional success makes the shift reflexive as per the shapeshifting rules for werewolves. Keep in mind that the pelt is distinctly 'other' and may violate 'The Herd Must Not Know' if mortals see it twitching around. Size 1 or lower items carried on the Wolfblood's person that fit under the belt shift with them along with the clothes they are wearing. Changing Breeds Characters who possess three of more dots of the Wolf Blooded merit shall now be granted a +1 to their effective Willpower for resisting Delusion inflicted by Ferals. Hunters There will be no Wolfblooded Hunters. Loci Wolfblooded are NOT loci. Please do not use them as such. They cannot be used to step sideways or draw essence. Spirits (and ONLY spirits) can potentially use them to cross the Gauntlet. This is not a house rule, but a clarification.