House Rules: Werewolf

Werewolf: The Apocalypse is in 20th Anniversary edition! Despite this, the game is still rife with several rules issues and things that need to be dialed back on a multi-sphere game.

Banned Gifts

The following two gifts are simply not allowed, ever. No excuses, and we think ill of you for even asking about them. :P

- Katanka-Sonnak's Spear (Rank 5 Croatan)
- Maddening Howl (Rank 4 White Howler)

Altered Gifts

These gifts are altered from RAW, or clarified. For many these are balance reasons. For others they are clarifications of confusing rules. There are 72 gifts in all that we modify. They are presented here in alphabetical order by gift name.

A Thousand Voices (Rank 2 Wyrm Theurge)

This gift now uses the user's Manipulation + Primal Urge vs the listed difficulties, rather than any pool on the part of the target. The Storyteller should still call for Perception + Alertness at whatever difficulty would be appropriate to detect the phantasms were they real. For every two successes beyond three obtained by the target, the user's successes are reduced by 1, and the report to the target is adjusted accordingly.

Aura of Confidence (Rank 1 Shadow Lord)

Blocks Scent of the True Form, Sense Balance, Sense Wyrm, Sense Magic and Fatal Flaw gifts. Mages require +10 successes on any effect to discern anything about this individuals pattern, the effect reads to a Mage like the user is protected by a very strong sort of Arcane. The Faerie Art of Soothsay will tend to fail against the user. Gifts, powers, or boons that rely on 'reading an opponent for flaws' all fail automatically.

Banish Totem (Rank 3 Uktena)

With the appropriate, requisite knowledge, this Gift may be used against anyone with the Totem background, including Mages and Mortal+. It may also be used against the Orisha Bond background. Mages may use Spirit 2 as a sphere-to-sphere counter.

Beastmind (Rank 2 Red Talon)

User rolls Manipulation + Empathy vs the higher of the target's Willpower Rating, or the target's Wits + Intelligence. Successes subtract from the Wits (first), and Intelligence (second) until each has been reduced to 1. The victim's initiative bonuses are not impacted. The victim's judgement and ability to process becomes increasingly impaired as this gift is applied. Once both stats have been reduced to 1, the victim has been entirely reduced to animal-like consciousness.

The user may spend 1 rage to lower the difficulty by 2.

The effects last for a number of minutes equal to the user's Gnosis + any successes beyond what was needed to reduce the victim to 1/1, after which point, the dots begin returning at a rate of 1 per minute.

Multiple uses of this gift stack. A victim who is aware of the assault or is prompted by someone who is may roll willpower vs 8 to try and shake it off. Successes on that roll subtract from the duration as if one minute per success had passed. This roll may be extended if the victim is receiving outside coaching, urging them to 'get it together.'

Bury The Wolf (Rank 4 Homid)

The roll is Gnosis vs. a difficulty equal to the user's maximum Rage. This gift blocks all cursory inspections of the user from being identified as Garou. Suspicious or paranoid individuals who subject the user to intense supernatural scrutiny may still discover the user's Garou nature, but will require five additional successes for each success the user scored on their original Gnosis roll. Those without appropriate lore/superknow may decide, even if they discover the Wolf, that it's a latent - rather than concealed - aspect of the character, and so on.

Call The Rust (Rank 3 Bone Gnawer)

This gift works according to the RAW for mundane items. For totems and talens, the item may roll it's Gnosis vs 6 to resist the Gift in a contested roll. For artifacts and charms, the item's rating is rolled vs 6 instead. Mage foci subject to this gift, while in the hands of the mage for whom they are a focus, may be defended by a reflexive Willpower roll vs 8, or Arete vs 5 if the mage possesses Matter 2 or Prime 2. This gift does not function on Primium or or other exotic metals, but it does function on metals that do not conventionally corrode such as stainless steel.

Control Complex Machine (Rank 3 Glass Walker)

'Control' in this case means that the user of this gift may make the electronic device perform certain functions it is designed to do (or capable of) with a thought, automatically succeeding without rolling. This does not mean, for example, that the user instantly knows every piece of information in a large database (unless they knew of the database prior to using the gift), but it does mean that if they want to search for the database, they do not need to roll to defeat security to do so. Intelligence + Computer or Wits + Computer rolls may be called for to properly interpret the information, but the computer itself offers no resistance.

Self-aware machines may roll Willpower vs 6 to resist this gift. If they score three more successes than the user of this gift, they may trick the user into believing that the gift was successful and feed the user junk output. After three rounds, the storyteller may call for contested Subterfuge rolls to determine if the gift user can realize they're being deceived.

The difficulty of this gift is always 7.

Control Simple Machine (Rank 1 Glass Walker)

Totems, talens, artifacts, charms, and other magical devices are not simple machines, even if their physical form is such. Simple machines that are part of larger machines may be influenced but three successes are needed (e.g. the ignition switch in a car).

Create Element (Rank 1 Metis)

The output of this gift is no longer capped to 3 damage. Otherwise it functions according to RAW.

Curse of Hatred (Rank 2 Metis)

Target rolls Willpower vs. the user's Rage to contest this gift. Mages lose 2 quint instead of 2 rage. Faeries gain 2 Nightmare dice instead of losing two rage.

This gift may only be used once per victim per scene.

Curse of Lycaon (Rank 5 Red Talon)

Victim rolls willpower vs. the user's Gnosis to resist this gift. The transformation is temporary unless the user scores 3 or more successes. The victim remembers their time as a wolf, upon reverting back.

• 1 Success = Scene duration
• 2 Successes = Week duration
• 3 Successes = Permanent, but victim recovers personality traits over the course of a month+
• 4 Successes = Permanent, mortal victims recover enough to be found by magical means, but otherwise are a wolf forever+
• 5 Successes = Permanent, non-mortal victims recover their personality over the course of a month+
• 6 Successes = Permanent, non-mortal victims recover enough to be found by magical means, but otherwise are a wolf forever+

+ - Mages with the Mind sphere, Pooka, and other Changelings with Metamorphosis or Primal, may roll weekly to recover themselves and escape their wolf-form. (Mages need Life 3 or need to find someone with Life 4 or other abilities, but otherwise regain their access to Arete.)

Future Work will Discuss:

Dazzle (Rank 3 Child of Gaia) Dam the Heartflood (Rank 4 Silent Strider) Direct The Storm (Rank 3 Shadow Lord) Dream of a Thousand Cranes (Rank 1 Hakken) Eye of the Cobra (Rank 3 Galliard) Fabric of the Mind (Rank 5 Galliard) Faerie Kin (Rank 3 Fianna) Fangs of Judgement (Rank 1 Philodox) Feral Lobotomy (Rank 5 Theurge) Fetish Doll (Rank 5 Uktena) Fog on the Moor (Rank 5 Fianna) Full Moon's Light (Rank 4 Ahroun) Gorgon's Gaze (Rank 5 Black Fury) Gremlins (Rank 3 Ragabash) Halt The Coward's Flight (Get of Fenris) Head Games (Rank 5 Galliard) Heart Claw (Rank 3 Black Fury) Heart of the Mountain (Rank 4 Get of Fenris) Inspiration (Rank 1 Ahroun) Intrusion (Rank 3 Glass Walker) Jam Tech (Rank 2 Homid or Glass Walker) Jam Weapon (Rank 1 Child of Gaia) Kneel (Rank 2 Black Fury) Laugh of the Hyena (Rank 3 Bone Gnawer) Liar's Craft (Rank 3 Ragabash) Liar's Face (Rank 1 Ragabash) Lightning Reflexes (Rank 1 Get of Fenris) Lover's Touch (Rank 3 Child of Gaia) Madness (Rank 5 Metis) Mindblock (Rank 4 Silver Fang) Open Moon Bridge (Rank 3 Ragabash) Open Seal (Rank 1 Ragabash) Paws of the Newborn Cub (Rank 5 Silver Fang) Plug and Play (Rank 1 Glass Walker) Power Surge (Rank 2 Glass Walker) Pulse of the Prey (Rank 2 Ragabash) Reach The Umbra (Rank 5 Silent Strider) Render Down (Rank 3 Red Talon) Scabwalker Curse (Rank 5 Red Talon) Scent of the Beyond (Rank 4 Philodox) Scent of the True Form (Rank 1 Philodox) Scream of Gaia (Rank 4 Lupus, Get of Fenris, or Wendigo) Scrying (Rank 3 Uktena) Signal Rider (Rank 4 Glass Walker) Sense Magic (Rank 1 Uktena) Sense The Unnatural(Rank 3 Lupus or Silent Strider) Sense Wyrm (Rank 1 Metis or Theurge) Shell (Rank 3 Metis) Silence The Weaver (Rank 3 Lupus) Smell Fear (Rank 1 Wyrm Philodox) Song of the Great Beast(Rank 5 Lupus) Staredown (Rank 2 Homid) Strike The Air (Rank 4 Child of Gaia or Stargazer) Take The True Form (Rank 4 Philodox) Taking The Forgotten (Rank 2 Ragabash) Terror of the Dire Wolf (Rank 4 Lupus) Trackless Waste (Rank 3 Red Talon) Umbral Tether (Rank 1 Theurge) Whelp Body (Rank 4 Ragabash) Wind Claws (Rank 3 Ahroun) Wolf At The Door (Rank 2 Red Talon)