WtA: Character Creation Steps

[Storyteller]

A random roll will help differentiate between the following character levels when creating a Garou:

Rank is assigned as listed:
Number Rolled: Generation
01 – 05: Adren
06 – 20: Seasoned Fostern
21 – 45: New Fostern
46 – 90: Seasoned Cliath
91 – 100: New Cliath

Cubs:
Making this easy - NO CUBS.  You can play a fresh from your rite of passage cliath, but cubs will not be accepted.

New Cliath:
These are characters created with by the book stats. Very few merits or flaws, and no talens or fetishes. A very bare-bones cliath character, but one with all the potential in the world.

Seasoned Cliath
These characters have a little more meat to them. They're experienced and are on their way to Fostern.

New Fostern
Characters that have only just went through a rise in Rank from Cliath to Fostern. Again, these are made by our house rules so please read through them carefully.

Seasoned Fostern
Far past Cliath or the early days of Fostern, these characters are on their way to the elevated and revered rank of Adren.

Adren: Most Garou aspire to reach this rank.

Please review our House Rules before making a character. Ignorance of the House Rules - and concepts that don't mesh with the Game Setting or House Rules - will be frowned upon, and will affect your ability to get your concept approved. There are rules within this listing that will impact the way you are allowed to create your character such as limits on Willpower and Combat pools.

Currently Encouraging:
All tribes except Red Talons (see below)
Metis concepts
Homid concepts

Currently Restricted:
Pure Breed for all but Silver Fang (Subject to approval, let's not get carried away)
Silver weapons (Subject to approval, and will be limited)
Fetishes (All are subject to approval)
Personal Totems (Lone Wolf concepts are not welcome)
Explosives not feasibly made at home. (molotovs yes. C4 no.)
Resources above 2 (Will need a history and concept that makes sense. Corporate wolf? We'll consider it. Silver Fang with a rich mummy and daddy? Possibly. It has to make sense.)
Influence - (No influence is ever allowed at character creation: Please see our House Rules on the Influence system). This is something we want our kinfolk to be knee deep in to help 'the cause'. Garou shouldn't be concerning themselves with the world of man - that should be left to the mostly human branch of their family tree. There will be some exceptions for Glass Walkers, Shadow Lords, and possible Silver Fangs, but by and large, this is an area best left to the Kinfolk.
Fera are currently restricted/off limits.  Check with the ST before you submit anything for a Fera.

Not Allowed [please do not ask]:
Klaives.  You are a new character, you don't have one.  Period.  Otherwise, not much.  Will update this list with any outrageous requests I get so we can all have a good chuckle.
Lupus.  Rhode Island has no native wolf population, making a lupus a particularly poor fit here.
Red Talons.  Same reasons as Lupus.  

Other Restrictions
If you have to take something out of a supplement please note the book and page number so I can reference it if need be.


A note on Tribe:
So as to reinforce the importance of tribe and the vast differences in tribal culture among garou, RIbN uses the expanded tribal weakness as detailed in the W:tA Storytellers Companion. Please bear these in mind when RPing your character, as you should follow and uphold the beliefs and ideals of your character's particular tribe. The Weaknesses are listed briefly below for reference sake:

Black Furies: -1 difficulty to enter Frenzy when provoked by men.

Bone Gnawers: +1 difficulty on all social rolls involving other Tribes

Child of Gaia: Witnesses at +4 on Delirium chart

Fianna: All Willpower rolls are at a +1 difficulty

Get of Fenris: Intolerance - You have an unreasoning dislike of a certain thing. This may be an animal, a class of person, a color, a situation, or just about anything at all. The difficulties of all dice roll involving the subject are increased by two. Note that some dislikes may be too trivial to be reflected here-a dislike of White Wolf Magazine or tissue paper, for instance, will have little effect on play in most chronicles. The Storyteller is the final arbiter on what you can pick to dislike. This should be treated as the 1 point flaw at no cost to player.

Glasswalkers: Cannot regain Gnosis in Wilderness areas

Shadow Lords: -1 temporary renown for failure of a task that would have earned the Garou +1 temporary point of renown.

Silent Striders: Haunted - The Silent Striders bear a twofold curse: they can no longer rest within the boundaries of their ancestral homeland, and they are haunted by the spirits of the dead. When a Strider botches the roll to step sideways, she sends ripples through the Dark Umbra, alerting any nearby wraiths or walking dead to her presence. It’s almost certain that something will show up to either demand the Strider’s aid or try to destroy her; in areas like old battlegrounds, cemeteries or similar places of the dead, the Strider may attract far too much attention for her own good. This should be treated as the Haunted flaw, taken at no cost.

Silver Fangs: Select one derangement

Stargazers: Obsessive Mind Games: Failing an Enigma roll makes the Stargazer become obsessed with the riddle, unable to concentrate on anything else until he solves the puzzle. They suffer a +1 on all perception rolls, +1 on all initiative rolls until the puzzle is solved

Uktena: Too Curious - Players of Uktena should make a Willpower roll whenever some question is left unresolved. This question could be anything from an overheard conversation to a lost artifact. If you fail the roll, you'll go out of your way - really out of your way - to uncover the answer. The diff for the roll depends on the amount of work it looks like you will have to do. The simpler the question appears, the higher the Willpower diff will be. This should be treated as the 2pt Curious flaw and the 3pt Too Curious Bastet flaw. Taken at no cost to the player.

Wendigo: The Wheel of Seasons The tribal advantage of the Wendigo is their Disadvantage too. So tied to the seasons the Wendigo are, that during a particular season some positive traits will assert themselves. But at the same time a negative one will as well.
     Winter The harsh feel of Winter make Windego tenacious and rugged against the elements. But they aren't very considerate of others, or their minds will be slow or on other matters.
     Spring Time of renewal and new life, Wendigo are excited and rearing for what the season has to bring. However they may be a bit predictable in what they do. If this is pointed out to them they may feel they neither have the time nor can waste their energy on those who are too slow to keep up.
     Summer As if to make up for last season, Wendigo during the summer take on a charismatic huge towards others. However the heat will get to them, making them tired, cranky, and short-sighted.
     Autumn This is a time for the Wendigo to reflect on what has happened over the year. A time to gather the harvest and prepare for Winter's return. The Wendigo are quiet, sombre, and know that they need to hasten least the ice and snow catch them off guard.

A note on Pure Breed
We require a special write up for characters that take Pure breed (you too, Silver Fangs). For every dot the player must provide a brief lineage for your character that includes at least 5 memorable heroes - they can be kinfolk or Garou. So for Pure Breed 1 = 5 heroes, Pure Breed 2 = 10 etc and so forth.

Pure breed is rare and more than that it's very, very important to Garou as it determines the 'nobility' of your characters blood. Garou will automatically recognise a character with Pure Breeding and will pay you slightly more attention. How Pure Breed manifests is left entirely to roleplay (can be a smell, can be a noble bearing, can be a resemblance to famous tribal elders - whatever) Kinfolk with pure breeding are considered a great prize when it comes to mating as your pure breed score figures rather substantially into the chances for conceiving a Garou child. For every level of pure breed your character has the chance of producing a true born offspring with a Werewolf partner increased by 5% - keep in mind that these are the end times and there are less and less Garou being born, so this increase in chances is important.

Kinfolk / Garou with this background are expected to act and behave according to their lineage, kin who fail to do this risk the scorn and reprimand of their Garou (and sometimes kin) cousins.

Merits and Flaws
Merits and Flaws will be considered on a case by case basis for the time being. Please be aware that you may be asked to change your Merits or Flaws if they do not mesh with your concept and backstory.  If you're stuck on a particular Merit/Flaw, check with me first.

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No 5s in Abilities or Attributes for a new Character, regardless of rank.

New Cliath:
These characters are made directly from the rules in the Werewolf the Apocalypse core rule book, revised. New Cliath characters may not take any of the following:

Resources above 2
No talens or Fetishes.

By the numbers:
Attributes: 7/5/3
Abilities: 13/9/5
Backgrounds: 5
Gifts: 3 level one gifts
Rage/Gnosis/Willpower: As per Auspice/Breed/Tribe.
Maximum Rage = Auspice +2  
Maximum Gnosis = 5
Maximum Willpower = 6
Renown: Starting level Cliath renown for Auspice
Lore: Cliaths start with 3 free points in Lore to be distributed as follows: 1 point in Tribal Lore, 1 point in Garou Lore, 1 point in something else.  No starting lores above 1.
Freebies: 15

Seasoned Cliaths
Attributes: 7/5/3
Abilities: 15/10/7
Backgrounds: 6
Gifts: 4 level one gifts
Rage/Gnosis/Willpower: As per Auspice/Breed/Tribe.
Maximum Rage = Auspice +2
Maximum Gnosis = 5
Maximum Willpower = 6
Renown: Starting level Cliath renown + 1 free permanent dot or 10 temporary to distribute as you like.
Lore: Cliaths start with 3 free points in Lore to be distributed as follows: 1 point in Tribal Lore, 1 point in Garou Lore and the other free point may go in any other Lore befitting your character concept.
Freebies: 30

New Fosterns
These characters are far more experienced and a lot more powerful than Cliaths and Cubs. Other characters will be looking up to these characters as leader’s. Management reserves the right to take control of any character in a position of power should the Player go absent (without notice that they will be gone).
Attributes: 7/5/4 + 1 dot to place wherever you like
Abilities: 15/10/7
Backgrounds: 7
Gifts: 4 level one gifts, 2 level two gifts.
Rage/Gnosis/Willpower: As per Auspice/Breed/Tribe.
Maximum Rage = Auspice +2
Maximum Gnosis = 6
Maximum Willpower = 7
Renown: Base Fostern renown
Lore: New Fosterns start with 4 free points in Lore that they can distribute as they like. Maximum of 2 in any single Lore, Garou and Tribal lore most be bought.
Freebies: 30

Seasoned Fosterns
These characters are far more experienced and a lot more powerful than Cliaths and Cubs. Other characters will be looking up to these characters as leader’s. Management reserves the right to take control of any character in a position of power should the Player go absent (without notice that they will be gone).
Attributes: 8/6/5, no more than three attributes at level 4 and none at level 5
Abilities: 18/12/8, no more than three abilities at level 4 and none at level 5
Backgrounds: 10
Gifts: 4 level one gifts, 3 level two gifts
Rage/Gnosis/Willpower: As per Auspice/Breed/Tribe with one additional free point to be allocated to any single category (Rage, Gnosis OR Willpower). Maximum Rage = Auspice +2, Maximum Gnosis = 6 or 7 for Theurges, Maximum Willpower = 7
Renown: As per Fostern rank of the particular Auspice with one additional permanent point (or ten temporary points) to be distributed as the player likes.
Lore: Seasoned Fosterns receive 5 free points of Lore to distribute as they like. No more than 2 in any single Garou Lore and no more than 2 in any other single Supernatural Lore. Must take Garou and Tribal lore.
Freebies: 30


Adrens
These characters have reached the third rank in the Garou nation and are considered leaders and teachers. Adren characters -- like Seasoned Fosterns -- can be taken by the Staff as NPCs should the player fall off the face of the planet (unnotified absence). Of course you can go away for longer than that, just let us know. Characters may or may not be given back to the players on their return should they be taken.
Attributes: 10/7/5
Abilities: 20/13/10
Backgrounds: 15
Gifts: 4 level one gifts, 3 level two gifts, 2 level three gifts.
Rage/Gnosis/Willpower: As per Auspice/Breed/Tribe with three additional free points to allocate. Max Rage = Auspice +2, Max Gnosis = 7, Max Willpower = 8
Renown: Starting level Adren Renown
Lore: Adren characters start with 7 points of lore. At least one Garou-specific Lore must be at level 3 (and no higher) and Lore of other supernaturals is restricted at 2 maximum.
Freebies: 40

Freebie Points
Trait Cost
Attributes 5 per dot
Abilities 2 per dot
Backgrounds 1 per dot
Gifts 7 per dot (Level 1 only)
Rage 1 per dot
Gnosis 2 per dot
Willpower 1 per dot

A note on Transfers: Transfers will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  We are currently allowing transfers from the following sites:
The Mean Streets (now defunct)