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Werewolf: The Apocalypse Revised FAQ
I have a LARP question...
Hold it. Stop right there. I may know Werewolf okay, but
I don't LARP, nor am I awfully conversant with the rules for
doing so. I can answer questions involving Garou society or Werewolf
rules, but don't ask me to explain any tabletop/LARP rules conversions
or clarify LARP rules. Direct such inquiries either to qna@white-wolf.com
or chalice@white-wolf.com; I just forward such questions to them,
anyway. Thanks.
I have a webpage/character sheets question...
Again, hold it. Developing Werewolf is a full-time
job, and apart from compiling this FAQ and one or two more things,
I don't work on the webpage. Even the Werewolf parts.
You should direct such inquiries to chrism@white-wolf.com or
conrad@white-wolf.com. You can tell them I sent you if you like.
Do klaives and grand klaives really
do the same damage?
Whoops! No, they don't. The weapons chart (pg. 210) has the
correct rules for a grand klaive.
Will we be seeing Revised
Tribebooks?
We'll wait and see whether there's demand for them
or not, just like we did with the Revised Edition (and yes, Werewolf
Revised was demanded).
How about Revised Changing
Breed Books?
These are a much lower priority, though I'd really
like to revise Nuwisha to make it a stand-alone. For what
it's worth, Rokea and Nagah will be fully Revised.
Spirit combat seems pretty
rough. A Scrag with a Rage of 10 is difficulty 10 to injure and
rolls 10 dice to soak damage! How are you supposed to kill one
of these guys?
Yeah, that is harsh. We recommend you adopt the rule
that a spirit has a soak pool of Willpower -2 (no minimum; a
spirit with Willpower 2 had better have Armor if it wants to
soak damage), and that the difficulty to injure one is Rage -2
(minimum of 3). And go ahead and drop the Scrag's Rage to 6.
The footsoldiers of the Wyrm shouldn't be that tough.
Does the soak pool granted
by Armor replace the Willpower soak pool (if any) or add to it?
Adds to it. Earth elementals are still pretty hard
to take down if they use their Charm.
On the subject of spirit combat, do
werewolves still roll Gnosis to soak damage in the Umbra?
Nope. They roll Stamina. You're welcome to keep the
old rule if you like, though.
Where are the Merits &
Flaws?
Merits and Flaws are optional rules. There wasn't
room for anything but the not-so-optional, "you need these
to play" rules in the main rules (you know, like the Umbra),
so Merits and Flaws were left out. Until we do a revised version
of the list, feel free to keep using the ones listed in the Werewolf
Players Guide, 2nd edition.
What about Natures and
Demeanors?
Like Merits & Flaws, these are wholly optional
rules. Natures and Demeanors are particularly optional because
werewolves regain Willpower according to their auspice, not their
nature.
I have a supplement that
gives first-edition Renown awards. How do I convert these to
second or Revised edition Renown?
There's no hard and fast rule, much as some would
like. An old-form Glory Renown of 500 doesn't neatly convert
to one temporary dot of second-edition Glory. You have to compare
the relative scale of the Renown award and adjust accordingly.
The Werewolf Storytellers Companion has a set of guidelines
for this.
If a werewolf is born
under a lunar eclipse, what auspice is he?
Despite what you may think, the lunar eclipse isn't
the mysterious "sixth auspice." Lunar eclipses occur
only during the full moon; hence, werewolves born under an eclipse
are going to be Ahroun.
Can werewolves be Embraced?
Where do I find rules for vampire werewolves?
Yes, they can, but a werewolf has to botch a Gnosis
roll (difficulty 9) at the time of the Embrace. If the roll is
successful, the Garou dies painlessly, instead. If the roll fails,
the werewolf lingers on in agony and eventually dies. If the
roll botches, the werewolf becomes vampiric: an Abomination.
From this point on, his unlife is pure hell. Check out the Werewolf
Players Guide, 2nd edition; the rules there aren't likely
to be subject to change.
What about the other Changing Breeds?
Can they become vampires?
Depends on the shapeshifter in question. Some, yes,
although the rules vary. (Bastet Abominations, for instance,
lose one permanent Gnosis point per month, and can no longer
increase or replace their Gnosis with experience points. Once
the Gnosis is all gone, the Bastet Abomination can no longer
use any Gifts or Rites, although she may still step sideways
and shift forms.) Others, no. (Nuwisha, for instance, cannot
be Embraced at all; they consider this protection a blessing
from Trickster.) Basically, this should be resolved on a case-by-case
basis by your Storyteller.
Can werewolves be Awakened or use Sphere
magic?
Garou are already considered Awakened creatures. Their
communal "Avatars" are already set in Gaia's service,
and grant them the use of spiritual powers (considered static
magick). So no, shapeshifters can't use Sphere magic.
Can a dead shapeshifter become a wraith?
Not usually. Some with high Wyrm-taint can linger
on, but generally speaking, any shapeshifter who has served Gaia
well (or the Wyrm, for Black Spiral Dancers) passes on to the
Umbra upon death, usually to become an Ancestor-spirit. Since
werecreatures are largely spirit as well as flesh, their spirit
portions have to be dead or atrophied (via Wyrm-taint or the
like) before they can linger on in the Dark Umbra.
Those that do become wraiths (usually Ronin) retain none of their
Garou abilities, such as Gifts, rites or shapechanging. They're
limited to using Arcanoi, just like other wraiths (although some
might find a decent affinity for Moliate, given their once-shapeshifting
natures).
Can a werewolf be a changeling?
No. Changelings are fae souls born into human bodies.
Shapeshifters are shapeshifter souls born into shapeshifter bodies.
The two are incompatible.
Can a Kinfolk become Imbued?
Nope. The powers that imbue hunters do not choose
mortals who are somehow attached to monsters; they want people
who are more objective.
Can members of two different
Changing Breeds have a shapeshifter cub with the abilities of
both races?
No. The cub must be born with the spirit of one or
the other; there are no Garou/Bastet hybrid spirits, for instance.
The cub of a Nuwisha/Garou pairing, for example, will either
be a Nuwisha who's technically Kinfolk to Garou, a Garou who's
Kinfolk to the Nuwisha, or Kin to both groups (most likely).
In any event, the child born will be the breed of the mother
(human, or homid to a homid mother, for instance).
Where can I find official stats for
the White Howlers?
There aren't any. This is the tribe that's been dead
for the longest time; there's really no chance of running into
one of these folks, even in the time frame of Werewolf: The
Dark Ages.
But when a Black Spiral Dancer is born
with enough Pure Breed, isn't he a White Howler?
Nope, not any more than a non-metis male Garou born
to a Black Fury is a Black Fury. Your tribe is more than simple
genetics; you have to be adopted into a tribe to become a full-fledged
member of said tribe. Even if a Red Talon had a homid cub, Griffin
and the Talons wouldn't take that cub into their ranks. The "pure
bred" BSD wouldn't be a White Howler, since there isn't
a tribe to adopt him. If he escaped, he would be Ronin, unless
another tribe (such as the Fianna or Children of Gaia) took him
in.
What about the Bunyip?
Some general Gifts and totems of the Bunyip are presented
in Rage Across Australia (reprinted in Rage Across
the World, Volume 2).
And the Croatan?
See Croatan Song for details on what the tribe
was like in the time they were still around. Modern-day stats
for them don't exist, for all the obvious reasons.
A lot of older supplements talk about
a Background called Past Life. What is that?
The Background: Ancestors, which was poorly named.
The name was changed to "Ancestors" to reflect what
the Background actually did; it wasn't about remembering past
lives, it was about contacting ancestor-spirits, hence the change
for clarity.
What are the "hengeyokai"?
Hengeyokai is a generic name for the native shapeshifters
of Asia, including the Kitsune, as well as certain Asiacentric
groups such as the Hakken Shadow Lords and certain Bastet. Generally
speaking, the hengeyokai have a slightly different outlook on
the war for Gaia, and their differing cosmology makes them strange
and alien to Western shapeshifters.
When will we see stats
for the Camazotz/Apis/Grondr?
When we get around to doing historical supplements
in which they're still alive. It's pointless to detail a historical
Changing Breed without detailing the culture they lived in. This
isn't a high priority, though, so if you want to make up your
own stats, feel free.
Nuwisha and Ananasi don't get any Rage.
Is that possible? How do they shapeshift?
Sure it's possible. Not all werecreatures are meant
to be warriors. Nuwisha are rumored to take their form-shifting
powers from the shapeshifting blood of the Trickster; they don't
"lose the coyote," because the coyote's response is
always to laugh rather than fight. Similarly, Ananasi are the
exception to many rules, the least of which is the devotion to
the Wyld, and their purpose is rather more arcane than the warrior's
path
Naturally, the absence of Rage is sort of a drawback, but the
lack of any allergies to silver makes up for it. However, Nuwisha
and Ananasi still don't do well in human society; although they
may not be berserkers, their priorities are quite different than
those of the people around them.
Nuwisha are considered Ragabash; shouldn't
they get a starting Rage of 1 like all other New Moons?
Nope. Nuwisha can't have any Rage short of using a
special Gift.
How much Rage and Willpower does an
Ajaba start with?
Oops. 4 Rage, 3 Willpower.
Are there any plans for
introducing were(insert favorite animal)s?
No. We're done. The only other "new" Changing
Breeds we might mention are those that died in the War of Rage.
There are plenty of net supplements and unofficial shapeshifter
writeups; if you find one you like, by all means use it. However,
if we were to publish all the wereeagles, weredogs, werebats,
wereapes, werescorpions, werecattle, wereboars, werestags, weredolphins,
weresloths, wererhinoceri, werewhales, weremoose and weresquirrels
that have been requested, there wouldn't be any standing room
in the World of Darkness for the normal people and animals, let
alone werewolves, mages and the like.
Can vampires or mages use Garou rites?
Absolutely not. They can learn the Rituals Knowledge,
which grants them an understanding of what to do, but the spirits
won't acknowledge their efforts as valid and won't charge their
rites with any power. Mages can mimic Garou rites (or even use
them as foci in some rare instances, such as a Kinfolk Dreamspeaker
can), but must use Sphere magick to get results. And yes, this
includes the Rite of Sacred Rebirth, so not even Kinfolk vampires
nor mages can become Skin Dancers.
What about fetishes?
To use a Garou fetish or talen, one must either (a)
possess Gnosis or (b) have the ability to convince the spirit
inside to cooperate some other way. Some mages can do this; most
can't. A few Kin-specific fetishes based on Willpower exist,
and Kin mages can use these as normal. Vampires can't use fetishes
no matter what; they're dead, and spirits don't listen to dead
people. Of course, a vampire can still stab a werewolf with a
fang dagger or the like; the fetish is just treated like an ordinary
weapon (in other words, it doesn't do aggravated damage) of whatever
material it's made of (a klaive is just a big, poorly balanced
silver knife in the hands of a non-Garou).
In the Players Guide, the Kailindo moves
chart and text don't match in all cases. The number of actions
for several moves is different. Which is correct?
The text; the chart has typos.
What's a "silver
sword"?
That's the old name for the Grand Klaive.
Will the Stargazers ever rejoin the
Garou Nation?
If they feel it's in their best interests, and if
the other tribes feel they're trustworthy enough to be let back
in, yes. But this isn't the sort of thing you do lightly.
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