Gifts 101 for Kinfolk
Kinfolk can only learn Level One Gifts, never Level Two or higher.
Once a player purchases a Gift for her Kinfolk character, the character must learn the Gift during play before she can use it. Such a Kinfolk must first find someone to teach her the Gift. Since spirits teach most Gifts, the Kinfolk needs to find a Garou — usually a Theurge — to summon a spirit to act as teacher, although any Garou who can summon spirits will do. At the same time, the aspiring Kinfolk student must present evidence to the Theurge of her need to learn the Gift, her accomplishments that merit this privilege, and how she can help her Tribe by knowing this Gift. If she has any Renown, throwing in a recitation of the deeds that led to
receiving it couldn’t hurt.
Next, the Theurge, provided he is willing, must call forth the spirit that can teach the Gift. If the spirit decides to appear, the pupil needs to negotiate with it, usually through an interpreter using Spirit Speech. Except to act as a translator, the Theurge at this stage does not involve himself in the bargaining process unless a threat to the sept presents itself (or in case the spirit takes an intense dislike to the Kinfolk). During this process, the Storyteller should ask the player to make the appropriate Social rolls.
Sometimes spirits contact Kinfolk on their own, without a Theurge to mediate. If the Kinfolk performed some deed that pleased the spirit or did the spirit or one of its earthly children a significant service, the spirit might decide to teach the Kinfolk a Gift as a reward. If this happens, the Kinfolk has no choice in what Gift he has the opportunity of learning. One does not provoke a spirit by putting conditions on its generosity.
Kinfolk cannot learn Gifts as quickly as Garou can, but a patient spirit can teach its Gift to a Kinfolk in several hours.
Renown, Tribe, and Breed
Possessing Renown can help a Kinfolk who desires to learn a Gift. She may need to recite her deeds either as part of the price for teaching or in order to persuade the Theurge to undertake the process of calling up the spirit. A student who behaves in a respectful manner and otherwise impresses her Garou kin with her demeanor may have an easier time convincing the Garou to assist her in learning the Gift. Kinfolk do not have Rank; rather, they may have permanent Renown to a certain point.
Kinfolk generally cannot learn a Gift outside his breed or tribe. A Bone Gnawer Kin, for example, has little if any chance of convincing a lupus Glass Walker Philodox to summon a spirit to learn a Gift usually reserved for Glass Walkers. As always, exceptions may occur due to special circumstances, great need, or the welfare of an entire sept.
The continuous tensions between breeds and among the tribes lead to a certain possessiveness about their Gifts. Kinfolk have better luck keeping within their own tribe and breed for seeking out Gifts. If a Kinfolk is particularly close to his sept, working often and consistently to serve the Garou, he stands a much better chance of gaining approval for learning a Gift. Garou may see allowing a particularly trustworthy Kinfolk the chance to acquire a Gift as a way of arming another soldier against the Wyrm.
Note that as rare as it is for human Kinfolk to learn Gifts, it is even more rare for lupus Kinfolk to acquire them. The wolf cannot actually learn a Gift in such a case; instead, the spirit instills the Gift in him. Hence, lupus Kin can only know and use Gifts that work passively or can be activated instinctually.
GIFTS ARE NOT FREE
After long sessions spent bargaining with Garou and spirits, hours (or sometimes months) of practice, suitable presents, chiminage for spirits, and perhaps even the completion of tasks or quests, the player may spend experience points to purchase the hard-won Gift. The costs involved for a Kinfolk to learn a Gift are:
Teaching Cost
Gift is of Kin’s breed or tribe 15 points
Gift is outside Kin’s breed or tribe +5 points
Gift is taught by a Garou rather than a spirit +5 points
Unless a Kinfolk has the Merit: Gnosis, she can only learn Gifts that do not require the expenditure of Gnosis. This imposes a severe limitation on the Gifts available to a Kinfolk. Gifts such as Blur of the Milky Eye (W20 Corebook, p. 161), Falling Touch (p. 170), or Lambent Flame (p. 193) do not require Gnosis to invoke. These, therefore, are the most common Gifts for Kinfolk to learn.
Kinfolk who possess Gnosis have a much wider choice. In theory, they can learn any Level One Gift with the exception of those that require the user to spend Rage or require Rage rolls. Since Kinfolk do not possess Rage under any circumstances, these Gifts remain beyond their ken.