Merits, Werewolf (2nd Edition)

From Codex of Darkness
Merit Rating Prerequisites Description Book
Anchored • to •• Add dots in this Merit to the dice bonus offered by one Touchstone, and subtract them from the bonus offered by the other. WTF 2e 105
Blood and Bone Affinity •• or ••••• Harmony 3-8 Choose your Blood or Bone. You must spend Willpower to resist an opportunity to pursue that Anchor. Once per session, take the rote quality on an action that would replenish all Willpower through it. With five dots, applies to both. WTF 2e 105
Blood of Pangaea •••• Predator King, Primal Urge •••• While on the Hunt, after the first time suffering lethal damage in a scene, gain the ability to reflexively use the Awe, Dement or Emotional Aura Numina, rolling Presence + Wits to activate. NH-SM 21
Code of Honor •• Harmony 8-10 Gain a Virtue representing a human code of conduct. +3 to Resistance rolls to uphold your code, but you must spend Willpower to betray it. WTF 2e 105
Controlled Burn •• Resolve •••, Composure ••• Shift into Hishu or Urhan during the Soft Rage. You can spend Willpower during a turn of lucidity to escape Death Rage. WTF 2e 105
Creative Tactician ••• Purity •• Reduce penalties on a teamwork action by your Purity, and once per session, offer a beat to the primary actor. WTF 2e 105-106
Distillation of Form •••• Ivory Claw, Primal Urge ••• Gain +1 to Size and Strength in Gauru and Urshul. NH-SM 21
Echoes of Pangaea •• Predator King, Primal Urge •• After a successful Sacred Hunt, gain +2 and 9-again on all rolls to hunt another character, or cause a character interacting with an animal to dramatically fail their action. NH-SM 21
Embodiment of the Firstborn ••••• Any Tribe You carry yourself like your tribal patron. Raise both the current and maximum rating for one Attribute by a dot. Spend Willpower to render attackers Shaken for a turn. WTF 2e 106
Fading ••• Cunning •• When characters roll to notice you, penalize them by the number of failed rolls to do so that scene, by anyone. Once per scene, add Cunning as a die bonus to go unnoticed. WTF 2e 106
Fortified Form ••• to ••••• Stamina •••, Survival •• Choose a non-Hishu form. That form receives 1/0 Armor at three dots, 1/1 at four, or 2/2 at five. May be purchased separately for multiple forms. WTF 2e 106
Hearing Whispers •• Bone Shadow Take a turn of scrutiny to ascertain a person's Persistent Conditions of weakness, or to roll Wits + Skill to look for a suspected weakness. WTF 2e 106
Hunter's Sacrifice •• Predator King, Primal Urge ••• After successfully killing prey in the Hunt, offer the prey as a sacrifice to the Shadow, preventing Essence Bleed for spirits in Flesh for Primal Urge in days. NH-SM 21
Impartial Mediator ••• Honor •• During mediation, roll Presence + Persuasion + Honor vs each side's highest Resolve + Honor. Each side your roll beats must accept your finding. WTF 2e 106-107
Legacy of the Hunt ••• Ivory Claw, Primal Urge ••••• Reflexively enter a Clash of Wills using the highest Renown against supernatural effects to slow, bind or prevent hunting. NH-SM 21
Living Weapon ••• to ••••• Stamina •••, Survival •• Choose teeth or claws for a non-Hishu form. That attack gains Armor-Piercing 2. With four dots, its weapon rating increases by one. With five dots, it ignores non-magical Armor. May be purchased separately for multiple attacks. WTF 2e 107
Moon-Kissed Auspice Skill •• Choose an Auspice Skill and a non-Auspice Skill you have dots in. The Auspice Skill gains 9-Again (or 8-Again if it already rerolls nines), and when spending Willpower under your birth moon, an extra bonus die. The other Skill loses 10-Again. May be purchased separately for multiple Skills. WTF 2e 107
Nowhere to Run •• Hunter in Darkness Take a turn of scrutiny to get a rough idea of a person's Safe Places, or to roll Wits + Investigation to look for further homes or hiding places. You can't help leaving a mark when you drop in there. WTF 2e 107
Pack Dynamics ••• to ••••• Add your dots in this Merit minus two as bonus dice to teamwork actions, and to Resistance rolls standing in defense of your pack. Penalize rolls by the same amount when a packmate goes missing. WTF 2e 107
Refinement of Flesh •• Ivory Claw, Primal Urge •• Regenerate lethal damage without spending essence, choosing either to regenerate bashing or lethal damage each turn. NH-SM 21
Refinement of Spirit ••• Ivory Claw, Primal Urge ••• Increase effective spirit Rank by 1. NH-SM 21
Resonance Shaper ••• Wisdom •• Through a personal ritual or charm, you can redefine the resonance of a wellspring of Essence. Roll Manipulation + Occult as an extended action, once a day for a locus or once an hour otherwise. WTF 2e 107
Self-Control •• Resolve •••• When stress impels you to change form at low Harmony, spend Willpower and break towards the flesh to ignore the stress impulse for a scene. WTF 2e 107
Silver-Scoured •• Ivory Claw, Primal Urge ••• Silver is no longer a general Death Rage trigger, and gain 1/1 armor against damage from silver. NH-SM 21
Song in Your Heart ••• Glory •• Roll Presence + Expression to confer the Inspired Persistent Condition by telling tales or singing sagas. WTF 2e 107
Sounds of the City •• Iron Master Take a turn of scrutiny and roll Wits + Politics to sense one of the Social Merits flowing through a person. With a scene of efforts, stem the flow of a number of mundane Social Merit dots up to your Cunning, indefinitely. Doing so stems one dot from each of your mundane Social Merits for the duration. WTF 2e 107-108
Strings of the Heart •• Storm Lord Take a turn of scrutiny to intuit a glimpse of what a person wants most. When you use the desire as leverage, the character must spend Willpower to resist your lures, you benefit from an improved social impression, and one Door opens both ways between you and the person. WTF 2e 108
Totem • to ••••• You're dedicated to a totem spirit. You receive its benefits, are subject to its ban, and add your dots in this Merit to Social rolls with the totem. Packmates can share a totem spirit, contributing dots to its total totem points. WTF 2e 108
Weakest Link •• Blood Talon Take a turn of scrutiny to pick out the weakest member of a group in the current situation's context. WTF 2e 108
Witch Stride ••••• Predator King, Primal Urge ••••• While on the Sacred Hunt, Spend a point of Willpower to Reach without a Locus, regardless of Harmony. NH-SM 21

Pack Merits

Merit Rating Prerequisites Description Book
Den • to ••••• Pack An enclosed Physical location for Packs to relax and feel safe Pack 29
Directed Rage •••, •••• or ••••• Pack Packs have found a way to direct their Rage filled members anger at foes rather than friends. At ••• packmates suffering Wasu-Im act as if they were one step closer to harmony 5 for control time. At •••• Characters in Basu-Im may roll Resolve + Composure to prioritize attacking non-pack members. At ••••• Characters won't Target or pursue packmates so long as they aren't a threat and roll Resolve + Composure to ignore innocents Pack 30
Magnanimous Totem Wolf-Blooded ••, Humans ••• or •••• Pack Wolf Blooded may take up to 5 dots in the Totem merit. Humans at ••• may take 1 dot of Totem, at •••• they may take up to 5 Pack 30
Moon's Grace •••, •••• or ••••• Pack, Wolf-Blooded and Humans only At 3 Dots the pack may learn to use Pack Tactics (The Pack 58) as if they were Uratha. At 4 Dots any member of the Pack may learn and leas Wolf Rites as if they were a Werewolf. At 5 dots, pack members may gain Renown and recieve Shadow and Wolf Gifts from spirits, spending Willpower instead of Essence. This cannot be taken if an Uratha is part of the Pack Pack 31
Territorial Advantage • to ••••• Pack Packs know their Territory Intimately. Packs may inflict Conditions or Tilts on intruders in their Territory by rolling the relevant Attribute + Skill + Merit Dots vs Attribute + the same Skill Pack 31

Fighting Merits

Merit Rating Prerequisites Description Book
Call Out •• Honor ••, Composure •••, Intimidation •• Call a challenge as an instant action. So long as none attack your declared opponent but you, you penalize their attacks against others by your Honor. If either of you attack anyone outside the challenge, the opposite takes your Honor as a bonus to attack the violator. WTF 2e 108
Efficient Killer •• Purity ••, Strength •••, Brawl •••, Medicine •• In Gauru form, you may sacrifice Defense to strike a Killing Blow against a living opponent who has also sacrificed or lost access to Defense. Doing so is a common trigger for Death Rage. WTF 2e 108
Flanking •• Cunning ••, Wits •••, Brawl ••, Stealth •• You can sacrifice damage on an attack to instead penalize the victim's Initiative and Defense by your successes for the turn. WTF 2e 108
Instinctive Defense •• Primal Urge ••, Athletics •• Calculate Defense in Urshul and Urhan forms using the higher, not lower, of Wits and Dexterity. WTF 2e 109
Spiritual Blockage •• Wisdom ••, Wits •••, Occult •••, Brawl • Make a Brawl or Weaponry attack at -2. If you deal damage, the victim involuntarily spends a point of Essence, to no benefit. WTF 2e 109
Warcry •• Glory ••, Presence •••, Expression ••, Intimidation •• When in Gauru, Urshul, or Urhan form, you may roll Presence + Expression to howl across the Gauntlet. A number of listeners up to your successes suffer -2 to Initiative and -1 to Defense and attack rolls for the scene. The howl alerts spirits and seizes their attention. WTF 2e 110

Lodge Merits

Merit Rating Prerequisites Description Book
Lodge Armory ••• or ••••• Lodge Your lodge has a store of weapons, including those made with silver and other rare materials. At five dots, you may, at any given time, borrow one of three fetish weapons rated up to three dots each. Pack 81
Lodge Connections • to ••••• Lodge Once per session, benefit from an equivalent dot rating of Allies, Mentor, Resources, or Retainer. Pack 81
Lodge Lorehouse • to ••••• Lodge Specify a topic of interest for each dot in this Merit. When researching one of these topics at the lorehouse, cut research time in half and receive the rote quality. Pack 81
Lodge Sorcery ••• or ••••• Lodge You may use one (or two, with five dots) of your Lodge totem's Influences at a two-dot rating, with a dice pool of Presence + Wits. With five dots, once per story you may use an Influence at a four-dot rating. Pack 81

Style Merits

Style Prerequisites Rating Maneuver Description Book
Favored Form Primal Urge > Favored Form You rely on one non-Hishu form more than others. Choose which form. For each dot in this Style, penalize one non-Social Attribute by one dot for an unchosen form. WTF 2e 106
Physical Skill Choose a Skill. The favored form achieves exceptional success on a threshold of three instead of five when rolling that Skill.
•• Attribute Choose an Attribute, except for Manipulation. The favored form enhances that Attribute by an additional dot.
••• Facet Choose a Facet. The favored form achieves exceptional success on a threshold of three instead of five when rolling that Facet.
•••• Attribute Choose a second Attribute for the favored form to enhance by an additional dot.
••••• Advanced Skill Choose a Skill. The favored form can roll actions with this Skill twice each, taking the best result.
Tactical Shifting Wits •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics •• These maneuvers require reflexive shapeshifting. WTF 2e 110
Springloading Shift to a smaller form at the top of the round for +2 Initiative and +5 Speed that turn.
•• Broaden When you shift to a larger form, non-Dodging characters in close range take the difference in Size as bashing damage, and must roll Dexterity + Athletics or be Knocked Down.
••• Fluid Movement When you shift to a smaller form, penalize attacks against you by the difference in Size that turn.
•••• Suck It Up Shift to a larger form when hit to ignore one point of non-aggravated damage from the attack.
••••• Crush When you shift to a larger form in a grapple, inflict the difference in Size as lethal damage.
Uma Suguthkuth Garmir, Strength •••, Brawl •••• A secret werewolf-killing art specific to the Lodge of Garm. These maneuvers require unarmed attacks or a three-dot Garmir fetish weapon. Pack 83
Essence Spasm Spend Essence when damaging a werewolf. For one scene, the victim suffers his own Primal Urge as an Initiative penalty, and loses 10-Again when rolling Primal Urge.
•• Primal Wound Spend Essence when damaging a werewolf. For one turn, the victim can only regenerate as per Primal Urge 1.
••• Flense Shape Spend Essence when damaging a werewolf who is not in Death Rage. The victim begins next turn rolling Stamina + Resolve, penalized by his own Primal Urge. Failure in Gauru form reduces the victim's turns before Death Rage by his Primal Urge. Failure in any other form forces the victim to change shape.
•••• Essence Bleed Add the Essence Bleed Tilt as an option to inflict with a called Brawl attack to the head, or with the Weaken the Prey ability in Urshul. Essence Bleed lasts for three turns, forcing the victim to end each turn by spending Essence, to no benefit, until his per-turn maximum is met.
••••• Jaws of Garm Spend Essence when damaging a grappled werewolf who already suffers aggravated damage. Deal the victim's Primal Urge in additional damage.
Notation Legend
Dot of a Trait Rating (Skills, Merits)
Power Trait Point (Vitae, Mana)
Willpower Point
Activation Damage B/L/A
Special/Other Activation Cost
Alternate Costs ●/●●●
Costs per Item ●/item
Optional Costs (●)
Cost Ranges ● to ●●●
●●+
Combined Notation Example ●(○)
●/item, 1L