Totems of Honor

The binding force that holds a pack of werewolves together is their association with a totem spirit. Although a pack of werewolves chooses the totem that they feel best represents them, a quest to find a totem also gives the spirit a chance to decide whether it really wants to adopt the Garou. It's for this reason that totems often refer to their packs as their "children."

Totem spirits are almost universally Incarnae. While many are animal spirits, a number of packs hold to mythological beings, elemental forces, and even stranger spirits as totems. When a spirit chooses the pack, it sends a totem avatar -- a Jaggling--to attend to the pack. The devotion of the Garou gives the totem and its representative power, and their actions further the totems' goals. In return, the totem empowers them to carry out its goals in a direct fashion.

Background Costs And Traits

Players use their pooled points in the Totem Background to "buy" the totem spirit that has chosen their pack. Each pack can only be affiliated with one totem. Each totem in this section lists the benefits that the pack gain when accepted by it; unless the totem's description says otherwise, all bonuses and penalties apply as soon as the totem accepts the pack.

Players can enhance their pack's totem by spending experience points to increase their characters' Totem rating, per the Background's description. Totem spirits can also teach Gifts relating to their affiliation and powers. Some totems allow their children to use a particular Gift without teaching it to them, channeling the spirit's power directly.

A totem does not just grant power to a pack; it also has restrictions that the werewolves must follow. These constraints on the pack's behavior form part of the totem's Ban. If the pack members don't follow the Ban, their totem will cut off assistance. In this case, the werewolves lose all of the benefits of their totem, including access to extra Willpower, Gifts, and Traits, until they undertake a Rite of Contrition to appease their totem. A pack who repeatedly offends their totem may find that the spirit abandons them entirely.

The totems that follow are among the most common patrons to Garou packs. Several of these totems act as tribal totems, but members of that tribe don't gain the benefits of that totem. Only individual packs who ally with an avatar of those totems gain the benefits. Most cubs learn their tribal Gifts through the spirits that they meet during their Rite of Passage.

Totem Traits

Totems can give members of a pack a wide range of Traits. These Traits come in two forms: Individual Traits and Pack Traits.

Individual Traits: Every member of the pack gains all of a totem's Individual Traits as soon as they gain the totem's favor, and retain these Traits while they remain allied with the totem. The most common Individual Traits include temporary Renown, but some totems offer Attribute dots and even Gifts as Individual Traits.

Pack Traits: Any member of a pack can draw upon a Pack Trait, but only one at a time. If a totem grants dots in a Skill, or a Gift, the first werewolf to draw upon the bonus in a given scene holds on to that specific Trait until the end of the scene, or until they relinquish it. In combat, relinquishing or claiming a Pack Trait is a reflexive action. A pack member can't "pass on" a Pack Trait to another member of the pack, it instead goes back to the totem spirit, who gives it to the next packmate who requests it. A pack can't divide a Trait between members -- one of Falcon's children who claims his totem's Leadership dots gets all three. He can't take one or two and leave the others for another packmate.

Pack Traits that include pools of points, such as the Willpower pool granted by Falcon, are available to any member of a pack to draw on. If the totem's pool has any points remaining, any member can choose to spend a point from the pool rather than his own pool. Such pools of points refresh at the end of each story.

The Totems Of Honor And Where To Find Them

Kishijoten ( Changing Breeds 20th Anniversary Edition -- 169 )

Background Cost: 4

A spirit of gentleness and healing, Kishijoten's Nuwisha use humor to bring comfort to their allies, while listening and offering quiet advice. Many Nuwisha consider this the most difficult face of Coyote to follow because doing so demands great patience and kindness.

Individual Traits: Followers gain one extra Bruised Health Level and add two dice to Medicine dice pools.

Pack Traits: None

Ban: Followers must always stop to help the injured, but need not aid followers of the Wyrm.

Reindeer ( Rage Across The World 20th Anniversary Edition -- 121 )

Background Cost: 7

Reindeer stands tall, stands proud, despite the terrible conditions of his living space. Reindeer is a totem of pride and survival; he teaches his followers to not let setbacks and circumstance weigh them down. Reindeer is all the stronger for his ability to stand against the odds. He's not Cockroach, who will hide from the environment.

Individual Traits: While standing their ground -- not moving more than a few steps on their turn -- a follower of Reindeer reduces the difficulty of soak rolls by 2. Additionally, Reindeer's followers gain a dot of Stamina.

Pack Traits: A pack to Reindeer has three points of Willpower available to spend, and can share three dots of Survival to share.