Affinity is a new mechanic I am instituting into my garou game. It is a stat meant to represent the leanings and choices one makes in the course of the game as we move into a new age. In every other white wolf game there is some mechanic that helps to measure and balance choices made by the character and player. In werewolf you have no such device aside from the occasional scandal. Mind you, this mechanic, much like humanity or even angst is not simply a measurement of detrimental effects.
There are bonuses and drawbacks to your affinity ratings and with those there are (hopefully) more thought out actions and decisions. Affinity will be measured on a ten point scale with a permanent rating and a temporary rating. Much like rage, gnosis or willpower is handled. You will have an affinity rating with each of the Triatic aspects; Weaver, Wyrm, and Wyld based on the decisions you make.
Weaver
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Wyrm
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Wyld
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As mentioned there is a temporary rating as well, and each ten points of temporary adds up to create 1 permanent dot of Affinity. Each player begins with 0 permanent dots of Affinity (unless your tribal description says otherwise). Temporary dots in Affinity are used as a system of measurement and are otherwise irrelevant in all other aspects. Each permanent dot in Affinity will offer certain drawbacks and advantages which will be listed below. As previously mentioned the overall theme of Tainted Web and the age we are in is achieving balance. Thus, if your affinity is too far out of balance other things can occur as well, sometimes beneficial but more often than not, detrimental but in all cases each effect will be based on the story that is being developed and the choices being made.
From a mechanical stand point, you will gain points in Affinity based on your decisions and actions throughout the game, and each point in your affinity will make it that much easier for you to influence things of a spiritual nature within that affinity, in turn spiritual entities or even items will find you easier to manipulate within that specific affinity as well. The more in balanced you are the more you will maintain control, the less in balance you are, the less you will be in control.
As an example, let’s say that Hector has a Wyrm, Wyld and Weaver affinity of 1. Hector is at this point in balance and has no benefit or drawback when dealing with any of the aspects. However, since Hector is balanced within his Affinity each of the aspects will remain in tune and do not gain a bonus trait to influence Hector. If, however, Hector has an affinity rating of 1 Weaver, 1 Wyld and 2 Wyrm, then Hector is not as balanced as he could be. Because of this Hector will enjoy a 1 die bonus on challenges to influence wyrm based items/spirits but will not have that bonus when dealing with Wyld or Weaver things. In turn Wyrm based things will also enjoy a 1 die bonus when attempting to influence Hector in some way. Every 2 permanent dots in an aspects affinity will heighten this die bonus by 1 to a max of 5.
You might ask yourself, “Self, what happens when one aspect far outbalances the other two, or if two out balance one?” That’s a great question and where we get into the Affinity manifestations. Let’s say Hector has been going along and making his choices, he’s out for glory and sometimes, collateral damage just happens, well that’s true and so long as you’re willing to roll with the consequences then it should be ok. So now after several months Hector finds himself with an Affinity rating of 4 Wyrm, 1 Wyld and 1 Weaver. Hector is now heavily Wyrm aspected and because of this he will enjoy a 2 die bonus when dealing with wyrm things and Wyrm things will enjoy the same bonus against him. Wyld and Weaver are so out of balance that Hector suffers a -2 die penalty when dealing with Weaver or Wyld aspected things. These bonuses and penalties will always be determined by the highest aspect rating rounded up.
Affinity Manifestations, these occur when one aspect far outweighs the others. Mechanically speaking if one aspect is 3 or more permanent dots ahead of the others you will begin to gain manifestations. For weaver, perhaps you find that natural or organic foods just don’t agree with you anymore, processed and refined, mass produced foods are the way to go. For wyrm, maybe you find that things begin to break down around you, and for Wyld it could be that you start to develop a derangement.
Ultimately your affinity is influenced by the choices you make and should help to direct the story and if nothing else add a bit of flair to an already usable system in order to emphasize the chronicle’s direction. Certainly there will be things I may not have covered so I welcome questions on this mechanic and how it might influence you, however, it should be noted that no matter the direction, this mechanic is intended to enhance and add depth to the story before it adds any kind of mechanical advantages or drawbacks.
Ritual of Balance: Rite level 3
The Ritual of Balance allows a potent ritualist to help another garou or kinfolk cleanse themselves of imbalance. Like the Rite of cleansing this ritual removes taint, or in this case, affinity from the targeted individuals. Up to five targets may be cleansed at a time within a ritual circle. The component required for the ritual is a sacrifice of something of value to the target which represents the affinity that you wish to remove.
System: The Ritualist will roll their Perception + Rituals with a difficulty equal to the highest level of temporary affinity among those being cleansed. If successful the Ritualist will know what aspect is in control and may then make a Wits + Rituals roll difficulty of 5 + 1 for each additional person being cleansed in order to remove temporary affinity traits equal to the successes rolled. The ritualist may also opt to help remove permanent levels of Affinity from a target at the cost of 2 Willpower per permanent level removed. It should be noted that if your tribal drawback states you have a certain level of temp affinity then these levels may not be removed with this ritual as your ties are simply too strong.