Editing Werewolf: The Apocalypse (section)

==Characters==
Each character can be described fairly quickly with their Breed, Auspice, and Tribe, with the latter two roughly equivalent to [[class]] and race. Each of these has their stereotypes, and even characters that deviate from the norms usually stay fairly similar to what you'd expect, though that's partly the fault of the players rather than the writers.

Werewolves have a Rank, a character level system alongside Whitewolf's entirely point buy experience system. Rank has a lot of mechanical benefits, and can be used as a way to measure the relative strength of a werewolf in the same manner as the generation statistic of a vampire. Rank is a socially earned, in-character statistic that comes with bunch of mechanical benefits. You gain reputation in werewolf society through your actions, measured as renown for Glory, Honor, and Wisdom. The requirements for advancement were different depending on your Auspice. So now you have [[what|four types of exp]] to keep track of, just like a ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' player.

Werewolves are, as you're probably aware, easy to hurt with silver weapons, which causes aggravated damage (a form of damage that takes longer to heal than normal sources of damage) but can still be hurt by regular weapons.  A werewolf won't survive the loss of their head, regardless from a silver sword or a RPG-7 to the noggin'. A starting Werewolf can usually kill just about any other starting character from the other Whitewolf systems.  This is why a lot of people who are not familiar with Werewolf tend to see them as over-powered in the beginning, but XP for XP that edge does not last long as every other race of supernatural being finds that Werewolves aren't much of a threat. Which explains why they hunt in packs and there's not many left.  An elder werewolf in general will not do well against a vampire or mage with the same amount of experience.  Archmages can simply make the Garou a normal human with a flick of the wrist. A Methuselah (elder vampire) can match or beat a werewolf shot-for-shot in terms of damage AND tank all of the werewolf's hits better. That being said despite been literally purpose-built to be fighters Werewolves are one of the few supernaturals that actually die when they are killed (vampires go into torpor before death but can still die after this point; demons, banes and kuei-jin just have to seek new vessels; mages can become ghosts and can possess magically-grown clone bodies, etc.), and much of the drama of the game is supposed to be drawn from losing friends and family in a never-ending fight where your enemies can come back after getting the beating, but you can only die once.

If a werewolf somehow gets Embraced by a [[Vampire: The Masquerade|vampire]], one of three things can happen. If they're lucky or have a strong connection to the spirit world, they get a clean, quick death. IF not, it means a long, painful, unavoidable death. A werewolf who is really unlucky (or is about as spiritually-connected as an atheist) is "punished" by turning into a being known as an '''abomination''': originally, an over-powered killing machine that's half vampire, half werewolf, and all edgelord. Perfect for your local powergamer!  Later revisions corrected this ridiculously hard, meaning a modern abomination loses almost all of their powers, is an in-game week away from constant RAGE, has all the drawbacks of ''both'' component parts, and is (under any reasonable storyteller) basically unplayable.

===Abilities===
* '''Shifting''' - the main feature of werewolves. All werewolves can shift into five different forms:
** ''Homid'' - basic human form, for mingling with humans. Indistinguishable from normal human from a glance.
** ''Glabro'' - "caveman" almost-human form, a head higher and twice heavier, all with muscles. Can still be mistaken for a burly human in a dark alley. Glabro can bite people with aggravated damage but as their faces are still mostly human-shaped it's still better to hit people with heavy objects in a fight.
** ''Crinos'' - 50% human, 50% wolf, and 100% murder. The giant wolfman killing machine armed with steel-cutting claws and a bite that can tear human in half. Very strong, very tough, and rightly feared. In this form Garou is filled with rage and can only Hulk-speak either human or wolf languages, although he can speak Garou language normally. Seeing it causes Delirium in humans, which mostly causes them to run for the hills and later forget it or rationalize as a big bear of something.
** ''Hispo'' - giant murderous direwolf form almost as large as Crinos with even bigger and stronger jaws. Not as strong as Crinos, but way faster, and don't cause Delirium.
** ''Lupus'' - the regular wolf form. Very fast, good for running long long distances and have the best senses of all the forms. While humans have better eyesight than wolves, except in low-light contidions, that does not apply to Lupus - they see as sharply as humans in full color palette and keep wolfish low-tier dark vision in this form, although having point of view only only two feet above ground does limit their field of view compared to taller forms. And no, it won't pass as a dog - it's very clearly a wolf and would scare the shit out of humans. Unless you're Bone Gnawer or Glass Walker, of course.
* '''Toughness''' - Garou can soak all damage. Even aggravated, unless it's from silver. Combine it with hefty Stamina bonuses in most forms, and they're stupidly tanky compared to other supernaturals. Moreso, "killing" a werewolf with bashing or lethal damage merely puts him in a healing coma for 24 hours (and drains him of energy, so he wakes up healed but murderously hungry), although he still could be finished off while helpless.
* '''Resistances''' - Garou are immune to symptoms of all conventional sicknesses, although they still can carry them. They are also very resistant to poisons and drugs. This includes alcohol and narcotics much to the chagrin of some tribes that have strong traditions of getting drunk, high, or both, so they either have to use a ''lot'' of stuff to get their kick, use very strong stuff (Glass Walkers use synthetic drugs that are lethal to humans, while Uktena mix some killer herbs) or using the spirits of intoxication to suppress this effect for a while (Fianna usually bind those spirits to their bars). That being said, supernatural poisons work on werewolves just as well as on humans - and their enemies know this and abuse it.
* '''Regeneration''' - Garou regenerate bashing and lethal damage for free every turn. Even aggravated damage they regenerate one point per day for free. Homids in Homid form and Lupuses in Lupus form don't regenerate (or rather regenerate at the same rate as normal humans and wolves), but they have something to compensate for it.
* '''Silver''' - Silver is Garou kryptonite. There's no "heirloom silver" or "consecrated silver" bullshit here - any sufficiently pure silver would do. Werewolves can't soak damage from silver weapons, it burns them just by touch and just carrying it lowers their affinity to the spirit world. Homids in Homid form and Lupuses in Lupus form are immune to silver to compensate for their lack of regeneration. And before you ask, silver-containing chemicals, amalgams or suspensions of silver dust in liquids don't work.
* '''Radiation and Pollution vulnerability''' - Werewolves are very in-tune with nature and things that are anathema to nature hurt them a lot. Radiation and toxic waste cause aggravated (although still soakable) damage to them. It sucks that most things Werewolves have to fight actually love toxic wastes and radiation or even get empowered by it. Pentex and Banes know this and don't hesitate to spray toxic goop everywhere, cover their blades and claws in Hollywood acid and use depleted uranium bullets if they could not get their hands/tentacles on silver ones.
* '''Rage''' - Luna's "blessing" to werewolves, which they spend in combat to get super-speed, ignore pain and shape-shift between forms quicker (by which I mean instantly). Unfortunately, it comes with a LOT of drawbacks. It can drive Garou into a murderous frenzy from taking damage, seeing people they love get hurt (which happens depressingly often in game if ST knows his trade) or just being insulted, and it "radiates" as an aura (called Curse) that makes normal humans and animals fear werewolves as apex predators they are, making normal relationships with humans and wolves that aren't Kinfolk almost impossible.
* '''Animal Attraction''' - What werewolves use to get laid. Basically they can focus their rage on particular human or wolf and make it so they want to have sex with them, even overpowering the sense of danger from the Curse. This have nothing to do with love, and is a source of drama in many W:tA chronicles as werewolves have real trouble finding genuine love, not just sex. Also don't work very well for gay werewolves, since the purpose of this ability is to make babies, so it doesn't work properly on the same sex.
* '''Stepping sideways''' - You thought werewolves are just burly muscleheads who solve all their problems with violence? Well, you'd be right on that, but they ''also'' are spiritual beings. Quite literally - they're half-flesh half-spirits. And they can rend through the gauntlet between material world and spirit world of Umbra and step from one to another. This is useful for bypassing defenses in reality, but most things Werewolves fight have defenses on the other side too. Also some of the bad guys werewolves fight ARE spirits and could only be defeated in Umbra. And as those of you who played Magic: the Ascension know, there's LOTS of other stuff in Umbra to do. Stepping sideways usually requires a mirror or other reflective surface, but it's possible (if dangerous) to do it without one.
* '''Gifts''' - Werewolf magic, taught and powered by deals with spirits. Way more flexible and open than vampiric disciplines but still nowhere near as flexible as awakened magick. Can do pretty much anything if you find the right spirit and convince it to teach you, and if you have the rank to get that spirit to listen to you, but most only teach to specific breeds, auspices or tribes, unless you're really good at convincing. Also the reason they only teach gifts to specific groups is partly because those groups made exclusivity deals in the past and spirit that breaks those deals would soon find an angry Theurge (or an ancestor-spirit of Theurge) on its doorstep about to break its spiritual knees.
* '''Rites''' - Another werewolf magic, this time requiring time and most time groups of werewolves instead of being performed quickly like Gifts. Gaining and losing rank, passing judgement or commemorating heroes, performing funerals and weddings - it's all generally done with rites, and have very tangible results - for example, well performed funeral rite can summon a spirit of the passed and grant some of his power to grieving relatives and packmates. Unlike vampiric, sorceous and infernal rituals, werewolf rites only work for werewolves as much like Gifts they stem from the deal with spirits. To the point that exiled werewolves lose ability to perform them, as spirits no longer recognize them as "proper Garou".
* '''Fetishes and Tallens''' - Werewolf "magic items", like all their magic powered by bound spirits. Fetishes are "permanent" items (although it's considered a good idea to release spirit from it after sufficient service time, unless it's a relic or used to bind some evil spirit), while Tallens are one-use items, like magic arrows, potions and grenades. Spirits are usually (but not always) bound into them willingly, normally requiring some service in return (usually something spirit wants done in material world, but cannot to itself) or putting a ban or a geass on a user that suits spirit's needs. Using Fetishes requires binding them to your spirit, which could only be done by a werewolf or select few lucky Kinfolk with enough spirit affinity (or a Mage with enough dots in Spirit and not enough common sense to piss of werewolves).