Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

• Gift (story): 3 Totem points per dot.
Example: Once per story, the pack chosen by Thunderbird
may invoke the four-dot Weather Gift: Thunderbolt. This
costs 12 Totem points.
Note that a totem cannot grant its pack Gifts they
could not ordinarily use. Thus, a totem could teach all its
children the five-dot Stealth Gift: Vanish, but only those
with Renown 5 in a category could actually learn the Gift.
• Essence: 1 Totem point per two points of Essence.
Essence purchased in this manner counts as a pool that
any pack member may draw from over the course of the
story.
Example: Even mighty Bull can charge only so long
before he’s spent. The pack has six points of Essence that they
can call upon at any time during the story; this costs the players
three Totem points.
• Skills (given): 5 Totem points per dot.
Example: Owl grants his children two dots in Occult.
This costs the pack 10 Totem points, but the characters each
add two dots in Occult to whatever ratings they might already
have had as Owl’s knowledge enhances their own.
• Skills (pack): 3 Totem points per dot.
Example: Griffin grants his children three dots in Brawl
(which costs nine Totem points), but these dots can be used by
only one packmate at a time. They add onto whatever rating
in Brawl the werewolf using them has, subject to his normal
maximum, but the ability fades as soon as the werewolf allows
another werewolf to use the bonus.
• Skills (story): 2 Totem points per dot; these dots
last for one scene.
Example: The pack takes a famous Cahalith bard,
the ancestor of their pack’s Cahalith, as their totem. The
ancestor-spirit isn’t powerful enough to grant them full use of
his oratory skills, but they can draw on his prowess as they
choose. In game terms, the players spend 10 Totem points on
Expression as a story trait, meaning the werewolves have five
dots of Expression that they can use as they see fit over the
course of a story.
• Specialties: 2 Totem points per Specialty.
Example: Bear is a healer, but she knows little about
contemporary medicine. She grants her pack the Skill Specialty:
Herbal Remedies. Any character who has a Medicine
rating can make use of it.
• Willpower (story): 2 Totem points per point. As
with Essence, buying Willpower as a story trait grants
a pool from which the characters can spend Willpower
points.
Example: Turtle grants his children patience and stoicism.
They may draw from a pool of five Willpower points
per story (which costs the players 10 Totem points).
BANS
It’s not entirely accurate to say that the more powerful
a totem is, the more restrictive its ban is. Some spirits
are extremely powerful and place surprisingly gentle
restrictions at all on their charges; others are relatively
minor spirits but demand great sacrifices of their packs. It’s
closer to the truth to say that the more power the totem
grants the pack, the more severe the ban. A minor spirit
who grants a pack great power is draining itself of much
of its energy to maintain the pack. A powerful spirit asks
for chiminage commensurate to the gifts it’s seen fit to
bestow.
While similar spirits might ask for similar bans, the
severity can vary widely. For instance, both Rat and Raccoon
might ask for the pack to leave them offerings of
food. Rat, however, asks that the pack steal food from a
human pantry or kitchen, as she’s nourished by the act of
theft as much as by the food itself. Raccoon, meanwhile,
isn’t so particular; as long as there’s plenty of food, he’s
content that his ban has been honored.
Choosing a restrictive ban can lower the point cost
of a totem, but only if the severity of the ban considerably
outstrips the power the totem grants its followers. The
following guidelines for totem bans are rated from one to
five, and are associated with a range of total Totem points
paid for bonuses.
• Severity One (1–5 Totem points): The pack must
perform an occasional service (once monthly) for the
totem. This service is easy to fulfill and doesn’t cost the
characters anything other than time. Alternatively, the
characters have an easy-to-avoid taboo that is active at all
times, or a standard of behavior that they must adhere to
(but an intuitive and natural one for werewolves).
Examples: Throw apple cores into the woods on every
new moon. Never kill elderly humans. Always nod respectfully
to wolves or werewolves in Urhan form.
• Severity Two (6–10 Totem points): The pack
must adhere to a standard of behavior that conflicts
slightly with the way it might otherwise behave. The
totem might require the werewolves to guard or protect a
certain segment of the population or require them always
(or never) to fight in a certain way. It might even ask them
to perform a weekly service for it, which requires time and
energy but little in the way of expense otherwise.
Examples: Always enter Urshul at least once in combat.
No member of the pack may have a Harmony score lower
than 6. The pack must protect young females of any species.
• Severity Three (11–15 Totem points): The totem
might require a weekly service that costs the werewolves
time, energy and resources (perhaps in the form of money
— perhaps they must simply hunt or procure the materials
necessary). Perhaps the totem asks that they constantly
work toward a given goal or abstain from a certain behavior
that it finds odious (but that the pack wouldn’t normally
have any objection to). The reverse can also be true.
The totem might ask the pack to perform actions that
would normally be repugnant (but it won’t ask it to take
actions that would require rolls to avoid degeneration).
Examples: The pack must hold a bonfire for the totem
each week, burning a piece of an enemy it defeated during
Totems
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