WalhallA
A World of Darkness Chronicle
Philodox Gifts
Basic Gifts
Call to Duty
Call a Specific Spirit
Required: You know the name of a local, non-hostile spirit
Challenge: static Social vs. the spirit
Retest: Leadership
Effect: By invoking the name of a local, non-hostile spirit (which you must have learned by some other means), you summon it to appear. You may give it a single command, which it obeys to the best of its ability; once this is done, the spirit is free to leave.
Call All Spirits Within a Mile
Cost: Two Gnosis
Effect: Without even knowing their names, you summon all non-hostile spirits within one mile to aid or protect you. This gift does not call Wyrm spirits to aid you.
King of the Beasts
Required: An animal within 100 feet
Frequency: You may affect only one animal at a time
Challenge: static Social vs. three Traits for a wolf you're related to, six Traits for an animal you care for, eight Traits for an unfamiliar animal, or ten Traits for an unfriendly animal
Retest: Animal Ken
Effect: You exert a mystic dominance over the target animal, winning its loyalty instantly. It will follow your orders unconditionally.
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Ma'at's Feather
Required: This gift can only be used upon a dead Garou
Challenge: Static Gnostic Challenge vs the deceased's former Gnosis Rating
Retest: Occult
Effect: By using this gift the Philodox is able to determine if a Garou died in service to Gaia, or if they had fallen to the Wyrm before they died. This gift does not determine how the dead Garou betrayed Gaia, only whether or not they did.
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Moon Lore
Challenge: static Mental vs. Storyteller difficult 6
Retest: Occult
Followup Cost: optionally, one Mental Trait
Effect: You learn the phase of the moon under which a nearby target person was born. If you spent the Mental Trait, you also learn weather the moon was waxing or waning at the time.
Omen of Truth
Cost: One Gnosis
Challenge: Mental vs. difficulty based on environmental cues: 15 Traits in an empty room, 11 Traits in a city, 8 Traits in the wilderness
Retest: Enigmas
Effect: By spending a Gnosis Trait and succeeding in a Static
Mental Challenge (difficulty determined by the presiding Storyteller for what the character is trying to discern, retest Enigmas) the Gift user gains an omen of understanding over the situation being reviewed. The longer the Gift user meditates the more clear the image may be (length of mediation and clarity of the vision as determined by the presiding Storyteller).
Realm Wisdom
Required: You are in an Umbral realm or zone.
Initial Cost: One Gnosis
Challenge: Mental vs. Storyteller difficulty (based on obscurity of Umbral Realm)
Retest: Law
Followup Cost: 0-5 Mental Traits
Effect: Your Philodox nature attunes to the fundamental rules governing the local umbral realm or zone. The Storyteller tells you one relevant fact about the laws here, plus an additional relevant fact for each Mental Trait you spent.
Resist Pain
Activation Time: At will (Reflexively)
Cost: One Willpower
Effect: You push on through the pain of injury with superhuman resilience. You stop suffering wound penalties for the duration of this Gift. This Gift allows you to ignore the wound penalties for the Bruised, Wounded, and Incapacitated wound levels. Death is still the same. Sorry.
Duration: One Scene or Hour
Scent of the True Form
Challenge: automatic success against Garou; otherwise, static Mental vs. 6 Traits for most creatures, 8 Traits for vampires, changelings and fera, or 10 Traits for fomori and mages
Retest: Primal Urge
Effect: Through a combination of scent and other mystical cues, you determine a target's true supernatural nature. You learn whether they are a werewolf, vampire, fomori or the like.
Strength of Purpose
Frequency: Once per scene
Challenge: extended Physical vs. 11 Traits
Retest: Rituals
Effect: You renew your determination by performing a ritualistic reminder of your role in your pack, your tribe and your world. For each success you achieve in the challenge, you regain one Trait of spent Willpower.
Truth of Gaia
Challenge: Mental vs. target
Retest: Empathy
Effect: You hear the ring of truth and deception in the words of others. If you win the challenge, you can tell if the target has deliberately lied to you. The gift cannot detect lies that the target actually believes -- misinformation and altered memories foil this gift.
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Intermediate Gifts
Dividing Heart
Cost: One Willpower
Followup Cost: 0-5 Mental Traits
Effect: You grant another Garou a “buffer” of Willpower Traits equal to the number of Mental Traits spent. These Willpower Traits are used exclusively in frenzy challenges. These bonus lasts for a scene, and can only be gifted to a Garou once per scene.
Duration: Once per Scene.
Power of the Ways
Frequency: May only be used to regain each temper once per game session
Challenge: extended Willpower vs. 5 Traits
Retest: Rituals
Effect: You draw upon the ephemera of the Umbra. For each success you achieve in the challenge, you regain one Trait of the chosen spent temper (Rage, Gnosis, or Willpower). This Gift cannot grant points over your maximum rating.
Reality's Path
Challenge: Mental Challenge vs. target
Retest: Investigation
Followup Cost: 1-4 Mental Traits
Effect: One Mental Trait reveals if what the subject is saying is true or untrue. Two Traits will reveal if what the subject is saying is an unintentional untruth. Three Mental Traits will show if the subject was deliberately misled in the information he has. Four Mental Traits will reveal the truth of the lie at its simplest level.
Roll Over
Frequency: This gift is specially subject to the five-minute rule (i.e., if it fails, you cannot attempt it against the same target until five in-game minutes have passed).
Challenge: Social vs. target, and possible Rage vs. target.
Retest: Intimidation, and possible Primal urge.
Effect: Bearing down on your target with an irresistible force of will, you compel them to submit. For the duration, your target may take no action other than submission to you unless they are directly endangered.
If the target is in frenzy, there may be a follow-up Rage-based challenge (using current Rage) to pull the target out of frenzy. The only retest that can be used is Primal urge, representing the primal dominance.
Duration: One scene or hour
Scent of Beyond
Required: You are familiar with the area you want to sense
Challenge: static Mental vs. six to fifteen Traits, depending on your familiarity with the place
Retest: Enigmas
Effect: You can extend your senses to any place you are familiar with. You perceive that area as if you're standing in the middle of it. While your senses are extended this way, you become totally unaware of what is happening in your actual physical vicinity.
Duration: Up to one scene; you may end it at will
Sense Balance
Required: The Garou must be focused and at peace (thus it cannot be used while in combat, or while the Philodox is exhausted)
Cost: One Gnosis
Challenge: Mental Challenge vs Storyteller Difficulty 8 traits
Retest: Awareness
Effect: By focusing on a target (which can be an area, person, or inanimate objects) and succeeding on the mental challenge, the Philodox becomes innately aware of an imbalance in the Triatic Forces. Wyrm manifestations feel dense and oily, Weaver presence feels cold and unyielding, and Wyld energies feel warm and trembling.
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Weak Arm
Activation Time: One turn
Frequency: Once per scene per target
Challenge: Mental vs. target
Retest: Brawl
Followup Cost: 0-5 Mental Traits
Effect: By studying your target's fighting style for a turn, you gain valuable insights regarding how best to attack them. Your attacks against the target gains bonus Traits equal to one plus the number of Mental Traits you spent.
Duration: One scene or combat, whichever ends first.
Wisdom of the Ancient Ways
Activation Time: One turn
Challenge: Gnosis vs. 9 Traits (minus one Trait per level of Ancestors you have)
Retest: Occult
Followup Cost: 1 or 2 Mental Traits
Effect: Through a moment of meditation, you reach out for answers to the Garou who have gone before, be they your own ancestors or other warriors of yore. You recall their memories or summon up ancient lore. Ask the Storyteller for the information you seek: if you spend one Mental Trait it is clear but broad information, while if you spend two Traits the information is detailed and specific.
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Advanced Gifts
Geas
Frequency: A target may labor beneath only one geas. Geases after the first one will fail until such a point as the first geas is fulfilled.
Challenge: Social vs. target
Retest: Leadership
Effect: You lay a mystically binding oath over a target or group or targets. The requirements of this oath may not override basic self-preservation, but it has significant leeway otherwise. The target or targets are compelled to obey the oath until an assigned task is completed -- or until another use of Geas cancels the compulsion. To target multiple individuals with Geas, spend a Gnosis Trait per target and engage in an opposed Social Challenge versus the individual with the highest Social Traits in the group. The defender against this power is at a +1 per person the user targeted for comparison of ties.
Duration: Until the task is completed, or until Geas is used to cancel the compulsion
Soul's Guilt
Activation Time: One turn
Challenge: Mental vs. target
Retest: Empathy
Effect: You can now see into the heart of your subjects, determining what guilt they hide. Success allows you to tell if the subject is feeling guilty about anything, and how intense that feeling is.
Take the True form
Cost: One Gnosis
Challenge: Social vs. target
Retest: Primal Urge
Follow up: 1-5 Social Traits
Effect: At your command, your target must forgo all shapeshifting. They instantly assume their natural form (breed form, for Garou and other Fera; human, for shapeshifting vampires) and they cannot use any further shapeshifting powers for the duration.
Duration: One turn per social spent.
Wall of Granite
Frequency: Once per scene
Required: You are in contact with earth or stone
Cost: One Gnosis
Effect: While Wall of Granite is active, the user of this Gift ignores all incoming Bashing damage, and negates the first two health levels of damage from any other attack. Any damage not automatically negated first damages the health levels of the Wall of Granite, not the user. A Wall of Granite has a number of health levels equal to the current Gnosis Rating of the Gift user. Once all of the health levels of Wall of Granite are destroyed, the Gift ends and cannot be used again during that scene.
Armor Type: Barrier
Duration: One scene, or until destroyed or dismissed