Lupus Gifts
Lupus Gifts
Rank 1
Hare’s Leap / Leap of the Kangaroo/ Salmon Leap /
Rank 1 Lupus Gift / Rank 1 Bunyip Gift/Rank 1 Fianna Gift
Called Salmon Leap in the Fianna Tribebook & Hare’s Leap as Lupus Gift in 20th Anniversary Edition
The old legends relate of Fianna warriors leaping over enemies and crossing rivers without getting their feet wet; this Gift is one way they did it. Taught by a salmon-spirit or ancestor-spirit, this Gift is functionally identical to the Lupus Gift: Hare’s Leap.
Hare’s Leap: By invoking this Gift, the werewolf may leap incredible distances. Hare-, frog- and cat-spirits usually teach this Gift. The lost Bunyip knew this Gift as Leap of the Kangaroo, however marsupial-spirits seem loath to aid werewolves these days. Today, many werewolves call this Gift “Leap of the Kangaroo” in their fallen cousins’ honor.
System: The player rolls Stamina + Athletics (difficulty 7). If successful, she may double her normal jumping distance.
Source: Fianna Tribebook (revised) / 20th Anniversary Edition / Rage Across Australia
Heightened Senses
Rank 1 Lupus Gift / Rank 1 Black Furies Gift / Rank 1 Galliard Gift
The werewolf with this Gift tunes in to the world around him, increasing his senses vastly. When in Homid or Glabro form, her senses become as sharp as those of a wolf, allowing him to hear sounds beyond his normal range, granting him superior night vision and making his sense of smell stronger than that of any dog. In wolf forms, his senses become preternaturally potent, allowing him to perform feats that border on precognition. This Gift has drawbacks as well. If a fire alarm were to go off around a Garou using this Gift, it might render him helpless. Cities can barrage the werewolf with a sensory overload. Wolf-spirits teach this gift.
System: The player spends a Gnosis point. The effects last for one scene. In Homid or Glabro forms, the werewolf’s Perception difficulties decrease by two, and he may roll Perception + Primal-Urge to perform sensory feats impossible for humans (such as tracking by scent). In Crinos, Hispo and Lupus forms, Perception difficulties decrease by three (which is not cumulative with the ordinary Lupus-form Perception bonuses), and the werewolf gains an extra die to Primal-Urge dice pools.
Source: Core book revised; 20th Anniversary Edition
Ley Lines
Rank 3 Fianna Gift / Rank 3 White Howler Gift
By manipulating ley lines — part of an energy web that crisscrosses the planet — the Fianna can disorient would-be trackers or hunters. The victims of this Gift find themselves following false trails, making wrong turns or walking in circles. The user’s trail simply disappears! The secrets of this Gift can be learned from an earth-spirit.
System: After spending a Gnosis point, the player rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 7). Any attempt to track the Garou must follow a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 8). This roll must exceed the Gift user’s successes before any tracking can take place.
Source: Player’s Guide Second Edition / 20th Anniversary Edition
Predator’s Arsenal
Rank 1 Lupus Gift
One of the most unnerving aspects of the Homid shape is its lack of proper weapons. This Gift remedies that problem (while still retaining much of the Homid shape’s ability to blend in with the human world), granting the Garou battle-ready claws and teeth in Homid form. It is taught by a wolf-spirit.
System: The werewolf concentrates for a turn to gain access to bite and claw attacks in Homid form for the rest of the scene, or until she dismisses the transformation. These attacks inflict lethal rather than aggravated damage, and may be concealed by simple expediencies such as the werewolf keeping her mouth closed, wearing long sleeves, or keeping her hands in her pockets. She can even speak normally without giving herself away, as long as she’s careful not to open her mouth too wide or smile so that her teeth show, although her voice sounds rough and a bit distorted (attempting to discern that there’s something amiss with a Garou taking such precautions requires a Perception + Alertness roll, difficulty 9).
Source: 20th Anniversary Edition
Prey Mind
Rank 1 Lupus Gift
The wolf is not always the predator, as lupus sorely realize. Humans’ capability for destruction grows ever greater, and more wolves die at their hands every day. When the predator becomes prey, it is this Gift that comes to the fore and assists the Garou in evasion, showing them places to hide, ways to run, and even chances to attack back. A lamb or deer-spirit teaches the Gift.
System: The player rolls Wits + Primal-Urge, difficulty 7 in wilderness environments, 9 in urban environments. Success guides the wolf in how to best evade her pursuers; she gains three dice to any pool made to escape, outdistance, hide from or evade pursuit. the Gift’s effects last for one turn per success, so if the lupus hasn’t thrown pursuit by then, she’s on her own.
Sense Prey
Rank 1 Lupus Gift / Rank 1 Bunyip Gift
Werewolves used this ancient Gift during hard winters to feed their packs. The Gift lets Garou locate enough prey to feed a pack. In the urban environment, this Gift guides the lupus to prey within the city, usually in parks, sewers, animal shelters and even zoos. The Gift will tell the werewolf the location of large numbers of prey within 50 miles in the wilds, and within the limits of a city and its suburbs. Humans do not register as prey animals, although some say that the Red Talons know a variant of this Gift that can find them. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The hunter’s player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge. The difficulty is 7 in wilderness environments and 9 in urban environments. Success indicates the location of enough prey to feed a large pack. In the case of multiple sources, the Gift guides the werewolf to the nearest source (although not necessarily the easiest or safest).
Source: Core book revised.
Sense Wyld
Rank 1 Lupus Gift / Rank 1 Theurge Gift / Rank 1 Black Furies Gift
The Garou may sense Wyld energies or spirits in the nearby area. Any Gaian spirit can teach this Gift.
System: The Garou rolls Perception + Enigmas against a difficulty determined by the Storyteller, based on the strength of the presence.
Source: Umbra
Source: Players’ Guide to Garou (revised)
Find Water
Rank 1 Lupus Gift
This gift allows a Garou to locate any body of water within 20 miles. One or two successes will indicate the general direction of the water. Three or four success will indicate the distance, and five successes will allow the Garou to determine if the water is contaminated in any way. The Garou makes a Perception + Survival roll against a difficulty of 6 to use this Gift.
Source: Ways of the Wolf
Rank 2
Axis Mundi
Rank 2 Lupus Gift / Rank 2 Silent Strider Gift
By spending a Gnosis point, the lupus can center herself in relation to Gaia, and always know which direction she is traveling in or facing, no matter where she may be in the Gaia realms. In addition, the lupus carries her “territory” around with her, in a mystical sense. Wolves will detect this, and concede her right to travel through their territories and hunt there. Even other lupus must make a Willpower roll not to recognize this right. Other animals will also recognize this, and not attack the intruder.
Source: Ways of the Wolf / 20th Anniversary Edition
Eye of the Eagle
Rank 2 Lupus Gift
This Gift allows the user to see long distances, over “two looks away.” Roll Perception + Alertness against an 8 difficulty. The number of successes is the number of miles away one can see as normal. This Gift will not work well in the city, as buildings tend to get in the way.
Source: Ways of the Wolf
Go for the Jugular
Rank 2 Lupus Gift
Wolves have an uncanny ability to spot vulnerability. The lupus follows suit, sinking her teeth into the softest and most unprotected part of her foe that she can find. A wolf- or coyote-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Rage point when the werewolf makes a successful bite attack. Increase the difficulty to soak the damage by +3.
Source: Changing Ways W20
Scent of Sight
Rank 2 Lupus Gift
The werewolf can compensate for her vision completely by using her sense of smell. She can attack invisible creatures normally or navigate roughly in absolute darkness. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge against a Storyteller-determined difficulty that depends on how powerful local smells are. The Storyteller should require rolls only when something could cause the Garou to lose his opponent’s scent (such as if the opponent runs through water or into a reeking alley).
Source: Core book revised.
Scent the Unnatural
Rank 2 Lupus Gift / Rank 3 Fianna Gift
Fianna version is Camp: Tuatha de Fionn
The werewolf can sense any unnatural presence and determine its approximate strength and type. Supernatural presences can include magic, spirits, the Wyrm, wraiths and vampires, although it won’t pick them out specifically as such. The werewolf may sense a person plagued by hauntings as easily as a ghost. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this gift.
System: The player rolls Perception + Enigmas. The more successes he rolls, the more information he gains. The sensory input is somewhat vague and subject to interpretation though. For instance, a vampire might smell of old blood, of fear, of rotten flesh, of fresh meat or of whatever else the Storyteller finds appropriate. Interpreting the information properly might require an Intelligence + Occult roll (Storyteller’s option).
Source: Core book revised / Fianna Tribebook
Trapper’s Bane
Rank 2 Lupus Gift
Dingoes throughout Australia, but especially near the dingo fence, face a constant threat from human traps — snares, steel traps, and poison. The dingoes have become adept at detecting these dangers and even disarming them. This Gift allows the werewolf to identify lures, traps, and even ambushes. Dingo spirits teach this Gift.
System: The Storyteller rolls Perception + Primal Urge when the werewolf comes within (Gnosis x 5) yards of a trap’s trigger. The difficulty is 5 for the werewolf to detect simple snares, pits, and poisoned bait in the area. Identifying more technologically complex traps such as electrified objects and motion-activated traps is difficulty 6. Supernatural traps are difficulty 7. Additionally, whenever the werewolf approaches an ambush, the Storyteller rolls Perception + Primal Urge against difficulty 6 for the werewolf to recognize the ambush before it springs. The werewolf does not have to activate this Gift, it provides a “sixth sense” at all times.
Source: Rage Across the World W20
Rank 3
Catfeet / Possum’s Feet
Rank 3 Lupus Gift / Rank 3 Bunyip Gift
This Gift gives the werewolf the agility of a cat, making him immune to falls under 100 feet (he lands on his feet just right). He also has perfect balance even on the most slippery surfaces, and the difficulties of all combat actions involving body slams and grappling decrease by two. Cat-spirits teach this Gift. Possom-spirits teach the Bunyip version.
System: This ability becomes innate to those who learn the Gift.
Source: Core book revised / Rage Across Australia
Death Whispers
Rank 3 Lupus Gift
The ancient Greeks associated the wolf with death. Hecate wore three wolf heads, while Charon wore wolf ears. Lupus with this Gift echo that connection. By standing entirely still near a recently dead body, the lupus can hear the final worlds of the deceased. These words are often rambling and incoherent, but can provide clues and understanding of what happened at the moment of their death, or of their most prominent thoughts at the moment of their demise.
System: The lupus must stand next to the corpse and stay entirely still, trying to hear the very soft whispers. The player then rolls Perception + Occult (diff 7). To successfully hear the death whispers, the lupus must obtain more successes than the number of hours the body has been dead. More successes than required increase the clarity of the whisper. This Gift may be attempt only once per dead body.
Source: Players’ Guide to Garou (revised)
Devil's Child
Monkey Tail
Rank 3 Lupus Gift
Although the lupus’ tail retains the appearance of a regular wolf’s tail, it gains far more agility and flexibility. Although incapable of fine manipulation, the tail can grasp objects, wrap around branches or allow the Garou to hang upside down. The tail can also attack from an unexpected direction. A monkey-spirit must be persuaded to teach a Garou this Gift.
System: After learning the Gift, the Garou’s tail automatically becomes prehensile whenever she likes. In order to manipulate the tail successfully, the player must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 6). The difficulty can increase for very delicate operations.
If the Garou’s Strength exceeds her Stamina, she can use the tail to hang or swing. When attempting to life objects with her tail, the Garou’s Strength rating is halved. If used as an attack, the tail’s damage is Strength -1.
Source: Player’s Guide Second Edition.
Name the Spirit
Rank 3 Lupus Gift / Rank 2 Theurge Gift
A werewolf with this Gift becomes familiar with the ways of the Umbra. He can sense the type and approximate Trait levels (Rage, Gnosis, Willpower) of spirits. A spirit servant of the Uktena totem teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Willpower point and rolls Perception + Occult (difficulty 8).
Source: Core book revised.
Shattering Howl
Rank 3 Lupus Gift
Unleashing a deafening howl that resonates powerfully, the lupus smashes the paltry fruits of mankind’s labor. Storm- and wind-spirits teach this Gift.
System: The werewolf spends a turn howling, and then the player spends a Rage point and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The resultant ear-piercing sound shatters all glass and anything brittle or fragile within a radius of (20 x successes) yards. It also knocks over anything precariously stacked or top-heavy, and shoddily-made things fall apart.
Source: Changing Ways W20
Strength of Gaia
Rank 3 Lupus Gift
The Goddess blesses the lupus with the fullness of his might when he wears the most natural of his skins. While wearing lupus form, the Garou enjoys the full might of Crinos. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Rage point. His Lupus form base strength increases by four, rather than the normal one, for the rest of the scene.
Source: 20th Anniversary Edition
Rank 4
Beast Life
Rank 4 Lupus Gift / Rank 4 Children of Gaia Gift
The werewolf with this Gift can communicate with other wild animals and attract (or even command) them. Domesticated animals will speak with the werewolf, but they have given themselves to the ways of humans and must be persuaded to obey the Garou. Any animal spirit may teach this Gift, although Lion and Bear are most often sought as teachers.
Children of Gaia: Children of Gaia who use this Gift never do so if the animals attracted would come to harm, unless the very heart of a caern is threatened.
System: The player spends on Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). The character gains the ability to communicate with all animals automatically. One success can attract specific types of animals within a 10-mile radius, and those that can reach the werewolf in a reasonable amount of time will do so. Each additional success adds 10 miles (two successes indicate a 20-mile radius). All wild animals become friendly to the character. They follow any reasonable request the character makes, and many unreasonable ones as well. A character who uses this Gift to force an animal to sacrifice itself had best pay homage to its spirit or risk angering Gaia. The effect lasts for one scene, but the time may be extended by spending one Gnosis point per extra scene desired.
Source: Core book revised.
Gnaw
Rank 4 Lupus Gift / Rank 4 Bunyip Gift
The werewolf’s jaws strengthen to the point that she can chew through just about anything, given enough time. In addition, her jaws do more damage in combat, and only death will break her grip if she clamps her teeth into an opponent. Wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Willpower point and rolls Stamina + 4 against a variable difficulty (3 for wood, 6 for steel handcuffs, 9 for a train car coupling). The length of time it takes to gnaw through something depends on the number of successes. In addition, this Gift gives a character’s bite two extra dice of damage for the duration of the scene.
Source: Core book revised / Rage Across Australia
Hibernation
Rank 4 Lupus Gift
As the time of the Apocalypse draws near, some Garou turn their thoughts to preserving their greatest heroes for the final battle. This Gift is rare, for only Bear himself or one of his avatars can teach it, and he’s reluctant to share his secret. The few werewolves who have impressed him enough to learn it can assume a dormancy that not only staves off the needs of the body, but stops the lupus from aging. Normally, the latter never comes into play, but in desperate times the Garou do what they must.
System: The werewolf must find a quiet, dark spot to sleep and remain undisturbed for at least eight hours while her body enters a state of metabolic suppression. The player rolls Stamina + Survival (difficulty 7) and spends at least one point of both Gnosis and Willpower, which don’t recover during hibernation. A botch on this roll sends the Garou into immediate frenzy, as her body rejects the process. After the first eight hours have passed, the lupus sinks into a state of deep sleep. She needs no food or water, all bodily functions cease, and she doesn’t age. This hibernation lasts one week per success on the roll, though each pair of Gnosis and Willpower points spend in excess of the first increases the internal from weeks into months, years or even decades. No more than three Gnosis and Willpower can be spent to increase the interval, although Galliard tales abound of ancient Garou sleeping under mountains or in the frozen north, waiting for the call to rouse and take up arms against the Wyrm again. The werewolf can be woken prematurely if she takes enough damage to become Wounded or worse, if her player succeeds at a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) or if the rite Call to Arms is performed (Changing Ways p. 157). She can attempt a Willpower roll to wake once per day. As soon as she wakes, whether prematurely or after the full hibernation period has passed, she must roll Rage at -1 difficulty to see if she frenzies, or -2 difficulty if her injuries woke her.
Source: Changing Ways W20
Scream of Gaia
Rank 4 Get of Fenris Gift / Rank 4 Lupus Gift / Rank 4 Wendigo Gift
The Garou emits a horrible, ragged scream imbued with Rage and pain of Gaia. The force of the scream batters foes and knocks them off their feet. Storm-spirits, which the Get call Sturms, teach this Gift.
System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Rage. Everyone within a 50-foot radius is blasted to the ground to suffer one health level of bashing damage per success as a shockwave rips through the area.
Source: Core book revised / 20th Anniversary Edition
Terror of the Dire Wolf
Rank 4 Lupus Gift
Wolves haunt the ancestral nightmares of humanity, and of those monsters that were once human. The werewolf lets out a fierce snarl that triggers primordial terror in opponents and drowns them in the Delirium. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends a point of Rage and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty of the opponent’s Willpower or, if he is affecting a group, the highest Willpower represented). If successful, the werewolf invokes the full effect of the Delirium on any human, formerly-human, or partly-human creature who can see her — including those normally immune to the Delirium, such as mages and vampires. Only other werewolves and Fera are immune. It may be used in any form, although Homid and Glabro raise the difficulty of the Primal-Urge roll by one.
Source: 20th Anniversary Edition
Venom
Rank 4 Lupus Gift
A common trick of desert-dwelling Garou, this Gift allows the user to produce a noxious venom. The werewolf’s bile can incapacitate or even kill a victim. The Garou herself is immune to her own poison, but she can be incapacitated by another Garou’s Venom attack.
A rattlesnake-spirit teaches this Gift. Most Garou hesitate to make deals with snakes and serpents, but sometimes necessity outweighs prejudice.
System: After making a successful bite attack, the Garou must roll Stamina + Primal-Urge in a resisted roll against the target’s Stamina +4. For every additional success the attacker gets, the victim receives an additional nonsoakable, aggravated wound along with whatever damage the bite caused. Each success also reduces the target’s Stamina by one level until the victim loses consciousness. Additional poisonous bites can force the victim into a coma and eventually kill her.
Source: Player’s Guide Second Edition.
Rank 5
Boon of the Animal Fathers
Rank 5 Lupus Gift
By entreaty to a specific Animal Father, the Garou can gain that specific animal totem for one scene. If the Garou entreaties Father Moose, the Garou can gain Moose as his totem for that scene, gaining all the benefits as if she were allied to that totem. This does not give the special powers granted by the metis gift Totem Gift, only the regular benefits of a totem alliance. The Animal Fathers are believed to be different, more specific, aspects of the animal totems. This gift only works with totems that embody “real” animals; Unicorn or Pegasus cannot be entreated with this gift. The Garou must spend 2 Gnosis and make a successful Charisma + Primal-Urge roll. This gift may only be used once per scene.
Source: Ways of the Wolf
Elemental Gift
Rank 5 Lupus Gift
The werewolf calls upon the primal force of Gaia Herself, thereby commanding the spirits of the elements to rise up, undulate forward and even engulf foes. This Gift summons an elemental spirit, not merely the raw matter of the elements, but the primal spirits possessing power enough to challenge even something as powerful as a Nexus Crawler. The elementals grant this Gift.
System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Occult (difficulty 7). If successful, he calls an elemental who grants him the ability to control a large volume of air, earth, water or fire (in any of their forms) that is approximately 20′ by 20′ per success. The effect lasts for one scene or until the elemental leaves or is destroyed.
Source: Core book revised.
Song of the Great Beast
Rank 5 Lupus Gift
To use this Gift, the werewolf must travel to the deep wilderness. When she reaches her destination, she howls the Song of the Great Beast into the sky, summoning one of the Great Beasts to her aid. These beasts are terrible and ancient creatures that walked the Earth in ages past. Examples include the Willawau (giant owl), the Yeti, the Sabertooth Tiger, the great Megladon sharks that swam in the seas eons ago and the mighty Mammoth who arrives in herds. Who knows what else a Garou might call? Rumors say that dinosaurs survive in the deep Congo…. The surviving Great Beasts posses abilities in the physical world that rival those of mighty spirits in the Umbra. Even the wisest of Garou are not certain of their natures. Once the ancient one arrives, the werewolf may make a request, although she should do so with great caution. If the Great Beast agrees to aid the werewolf, it will do so in its own way, but enemies of the lupus should beware. Few spirits know this Gift. It’s said that those that do dwell in the Realm of Pangaea.
System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8) to sing the Song of the Great Beast. More successes improve the Great Beast’s disposition. Traits are left to the Storyteller’s discretion, but they should be appropriately impressive.
Source: Core book revised.
