
The Northern Star
Role Play of the Seas
Gifts
Gurahl legends state that the Children of Bear learned their Gifts originally from Gaia before She relegated that task to spirits of the Umbra. As the oldest of the Changing Breeds (at least by their account), Gurahl have their own names for many Gifts they share with the Garou. Unlike Garou, however, Gurahl do not have tribe-specific Gifts, having a variety of “general Gifts”
instead. Gurahl learn Gifts in the same fashion as Garou, as described in the Garou gifts section of this website. Gifts may retest with Occult, if another Ability is not specified. Breed gifts can be found on this page, please see the buttons below to take you to the Breed and Gurahl gifts.
Auspice Gifts
Arcas
Basic Gifts
Cajole
-The Gurahl may use this Gift to coax some item or piece of information from an individual. Expressions of wide-eyed innocence or pitiful pleading usually accompany the Gift’s activation. The Gurahl can convince someone to give her food and clothing, a car or bicycle, hidden information or secure shelter through the use of this Gift. The Gurahl must win a Social Challenge against her intended target. The Storyteller may require more than one test for the Gurahl to acquire extremely valuable items (such as cars).
This Gift lasts for one scene.
Open Seal
- As the Ragabash Gift.
Sense of the Prey
- As the Ragabash Gift.
Walk Like a Man
-This Gift enables a Gurahl in Ursine, Bjornen or Crinos form to alter his footprints to form an exact duplicate of a human footstep, thus creating a false trail to confuse pursuit. The Gurahl wins a Physical Challenge to invoke this Gift. The effects last for one scene. The Gurahl may extend the duration of the Gift by attempting additional tests, although the Gift automatically ends if the Gurahl loses.
Intermediate Gifts
Favor of Ursa Minor
- As the Ragabash Gift: Luna’s Blessing.
Rejuvenate
- Use of this Gift provides the target with a temporary boost in spirits and arenewed zest for living, as if she had become young again. Sometimes (at the Storyteller’s discretion), this Gift manifests physically, making the target appear and feel younger than her actual years. Gurahl may perform this gift on themselves or another creature to bolster spirits, allow an elderly person the energy to complete some vital task or rescue an aging friend from depression. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Mental Challenge versus the target’s Willpower. The exact effects of this Gift are up to the Storyteller. This Gift has no effect on the young - only the aged in body and mind can benefit - and lasts for the rest of the session.
Safe Passage
- This Gift allows the Gurahl (and those with him) to pass through a place without leaving any traces of his travel. The Gurahl leaves no footprints and makes no other marks upon the land due to the effects of the Gift. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Physical Challenge against six Traits (retest with Primal-Urge) to invoke this Gift for one scene (or the time it takes to travel between starting point and destination). By spending a second Gnosis Trait, the Gurahl may take up to five additional people with him and extend the Gift’s effects to include them.
Trackless Waste
- As the Red Talon Gift.
Advanced Gifts
Humiliate
-The Gurahl uses this Gift to castigate (usually verbally)up to five individuals, generating such a loss of self-esteem and shame in themthat they back down from a fight or flee the area. This resembles an extremelypowerful form of Dolorous Countenance since it affects more than oneopponent. After verbally haranguing her targets, the Gurahl makes a SocialChallenge (mob scene rules apply) against up to five targets. Individuals wholose to the Gurahl either back down or flee. Those who win may ignore theeffect of the Gift. Even targets who manage to resist the Gift’s effect still suffera two-Trait penalty to their attack due to their belief that they will fail. Theeffects of this Gift persist for one week, sometimes leaving the victimswith apermanent aversion to the Gurahl who so shamed them. Only sentientcreatures qualify as targets for this Gift. Normal animals, Wyrm-creatures andspirits who lack a sense of shame are immune.
Natural State
-The Gurahl uses this Gift to return a patch of ground(roughly 100 square feet of terrain) to its natural state. For example, plowedor planted fields erupt in tall grasses and wildflowers; human-built objectssuch as cabins or houses fall into disrepair and collapse; clear-cut forest landssprout saplings in abundance. The Gurahl use this Gift to heal lands that havesuffered from over-development or corruption. Occasionally, vengefulwerebears return a poacher’s camp to its “natural state.”The Gurahl spends two Gnosis Traits. The Storyteller should determinethe precise changes to the intended area. The effects of the Gift are permanent,but the land can be re-altered.
Uzmati
Basic Gifts
Mangi’s Strong Arms
-This Gift enables the Gurahl to execute the formidable (or infamous) “bear-hug,” squeezing his opponent to the point of incapacitation, unconsciousness or even death. Invoking the Gift requires one full action. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and makes a Physical
Challenge (retest with Brawl). Spending one Gnosis Trait adds one health level to the damage inflicted by the Gurahl by a successful grappling maneuver in combat. Spending additional Gnosis Traits increases the damage on a one-for-one basis. No more than three levels of additional damage may be added. The Gurahl must apply the additional damage all at once, though he may invoke the Gift before a battle and hold it in reserve until he makes a successful grapple. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Slash of the Death Bear
-As the Ahroun Gift: Razor Claws; The Gurahl calls out to Mangi as she sharpens her claws.
Threaten
- The Gurahl invokes this gift, stands erect and roars a challenge to his opponent, thus increasing his ability to intimidate his foe,
forcing the enemy to wilt in terror or back off entirely from battle. The Gurahl may use this Gift to intimidate his own or another individual’s opponent. The werebear engages the target in a Static Social Challenge against the target’s Willpower (retest with Intimidation). If the Gurahl is successful, the opponent cannot approach any closer than arm’s length and must cower in terror or turn
and run. Certain conditions - such as certain Negative Traits, derangementsor Flaws - may trigger fear frenzy in Garou, vampires or certain other Changing Breeds. Normal humans or animals may be so panic-stricken that they flee altogether or faint from terror. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Ultimatum
-Through this Gift, the Gurahl imposes her will on her opponent, delivering an ultimatum that reduces the target’s actions to a choice between two alternatives (“Fight me where you stand, or else flee this place never to return.”). In this fashion the werebear may dictate the form of attack (or lack of attack), thus providing an advantage over her opponent. The Gurahl must succeed in a Willpower Challenge against her opponent, who may not take another action until one of the terms of Ultimatum are met. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Intermediate Gifts
Crush
-This Gift enables the Gurahl to deliver a devastatingly massive bear hug attack at a distance, potentially crushing internal organs, breaking bones and rendering the opponent unfit to continue battle. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and initiates a Physical Challenge versus his opponent’s Willpower Traits, but does so without coming into hand-to-hand range (retest with Brawl). If successful, the Gurahl inflicts an additional health level of damage above the amount she would normally cause. As in Mangi’s Strong Arms, the Gurahl may spend a second (or third) Gnosis Trait to add to the damage ona one-for-one basis. The Gift ends after one successful attack.
Delay the Death Bear’s Coming
- This Gift enables the Gurahl or another individual so designated by the Gurahl to sustain massive damage without dying. Although the recipient of this Gift’s benefits may not engage in combat or other strenuous activities, the target remains alive long enough to allow for normal or magical healing to take place. This Gift also allows the target a very limited movement, with the assistance of another person, in order to leave the area of danger. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Mental Challenge (retest with Medicine). Success enables the target to gain an additional Incapacitatedhealth level, making it possible to absorb otherwise fatal damage without dying. The phantom health level does not have to be “healed,” but disappears after normal or magical healing restores a character to at least Wounded. The Gurahl must re-invoke the Gift for each individual she wishes to affect. The Gurahl may use this Gift on herself, provided she has not reached Incapacitated.
Silver Claws
- As the Ahroun Gift.
Strength of the Earth
- As the Get of Fenris Gift: Hero’s Stand
Advanced Gifts
Engulf the Prey
- This Gift allows the Gurahl to draw on his connection to the earth, causing the ground underneath his target (or targets)to open up, creating a pit large enough to swallow the intended victim(s) whole or trap them so they cannot avoid further attacks. Since this Gift affects an area, all individuals within the area are vulnerable to its effects. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and a Rage Trait and makes a successful Simple Test. If the Gurahl succeeds, achasm approximately 15 feet across and at least 50 feet deep opens beneath the targets. Victims must succeed in a Physical Challenge to avoid falling into the pit, those who tie become partially trapped, and those who lose are swallowed altogether. The pit closes almost immediately after opening, trapping (and crushing) anyone inside unless they have some extraordinary means of survival or can go incorporeal or escape through the Umbra. (Vampires and certain Wyrm-creatures might survive but must free themselves or be rescued.)
Victims partially caught in the pit receive two health levels of damage while anyone unlucky enough to remain fully engulfed sustains five health levels of damage and is buried alive. Victims remaining alive soon suffocate unless they possess some means of escape (such as the Gift: Burrow, see above). The Gurahl may not open up multiple pits without additional uses of this Gift.
Rage of the Mother Bear
-Through this Gift, the Gurahl may arouse in herself a white-hot anger, endowing herself with uncharacteristic rapidity of movement and action. While under the effects of this Gift, the Gurahl may take extra actions either during combat or in the event of an emergency requiring swift responses and desperate measures. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and a Willpower Trait. If she wins a Physical Challenge, she receives an additional action for that turn. She may expend additional Gnosis or Willpower Traits on aone for one basis to gain more actions. The Gurahl must take all her additional actions in the same turn or lose them.
Kojubat
Basic Gifts
Beast Speech
- As the Galliard Gift.
Eyes of the Soul
- As the Lupus Gift: Scent of the True Form, except that the Gurahl uses his “inner vision” instead of inhaling the scent of the target to determine the true nature of the individual.
Song of Terra
-By making contact with the earth and invoking thisGift, the Gurahl may “hear” something about the recent history of the place
around her. Depending on the degree of concentration (how “hard” she listens), the Gurahl may discover events that have taken place in the vicinity within the past 24 hours. The Gurahl may learn about acts of violence, overhear conversations or discover which creatures have passed through the targeted spot. The contact with the earth must involve bare skin (such as placing one’s bare palms on the ground, putting a ear to the ground or standing on ground in bare feet), and the earth cannot be under anything such as concrete. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Mental Challenge (retest with Primal-Urge) against eight Traits. The Storyteller then informs the Gurahl of appropriate events concerning the targeted piece of ground. As a general rule, the Gurahl “hears” the most immediate or most intense piece of information first. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Stonesight
- The Gurahl, using this Gift, may examine a large rock or stone, seeing “through)) it to determine its use or potential. Useful primarily for sculptors or stone workers who need to assess a particular piece of rock, this Gift also determines mineral composition or the presence of fossils. The Gurahl need only concentrate on the stone to activate this Gift. A successful Gurahl learns some information about the stone’s composition, its potential use in art or construction or some other piece of useful knowledge. As an example, the Gurahl might learn that a particular stone contains crystals within a volcanic exterior and might serve as a healing focus if used in the construction of a fetish. The Gift lasts for one scene.
Intermediate Gifts
Mind to Mind
- As the Galliard Gift: Mindspeak.
Mind Sight
- The Gurahl uses this Gift to read the surface thoughts of an individual. The targeted creature must possess an intelligence greater than that of an animal in order for the Gift to function. The Gurahl may not unearth secrets that the target wishes to keep hidden or probe too deeply into the target’s mind. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Mental Challenge (retestwithEmpathy ) against the target, who must then reveal (out of character) the thoughts closest to the surface of her mind. The target has no knowledge that anyone has probed his thoughts. Supernatural creatures such as vampires, mages, changelings or other Changing Breeds may resist the effects of this Gift by spending a Willpower Trait. This Gift lastsfor one scene.
Probe Thoughts
- A more powerful version of the Gift: Mind Sight (see above), Gurahl may use this Gift to probe information hidden in the
mind of the target. This Gift undoubtedly serves as the basis for the belief by many tribal people that bears have the ability to read minds. The Gurahl expends two Gnosis Traits and wins a Mental Challenge (retest with Empathy) against the target, who must then reveal (out of character) one of the following pieces of information - Nature, one Flaw, any derangements, one Negative Trait (player’s choice). This Gift lasts for a single scene.
Shadows by the Fire Light
- As the Galliard Gift.
Advanced Gifts
Aversion Therapy
- Gurahl use this Gift to rehabilitate chronic offenders or to force wrongdoers to cease their harmful activity. By tapping into the individual’s deepest emotions and linking one or more of them with the thought of carrying out the forbidden deed, the Gurahl establishes a link between action and emotion. For example, an abusive spouse may be wracked with incapacitating guilt and feelings of violation if he ever thinks about hurting his wife. This link, when established, lasts for ayear and aday (in game
time). The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Mental Challenge (restest with Empathy) against the target’s Willpower. Gurahl using this Gift on a supernatural creature must expend a Willpower Trait as well.
Prophetic Vision
- Lorekeepers of the Gurahl claim that this Gift once gave them early warning of the War of Rage. This Gift allows a Gurahl
to enter a deep trancelike state to cross the barriers between present and future, thus receiving warnings or images of what lies ahead. These images, while often vivid and cinematic, need interpretation, since they frequently employ dream imagery. Many Gurahl who use this Gift do not always understand what they have seen or heard until the events have come to pass. Lately, this Gift has presented Gurahl with very disturbing images which lorekeepers believe portend the imminence of the Apocalypse. To activate this Gift, the player must spend 15 minutes out of game as her Gurahl character enters a meditative state. After the time has elapsed, the Gurahl must spend a Gnosis Trait and win a Static Mental Challenge (retest with Enigmas) against nine Traits. Spending additional Gnosis Traits adds depth and detail to the vision. A Storyteller or Spirit Keeper should describe the vision the Gurahl receives, making use of symbols, dreamscapes and other cryptic images. If a Gurahl wishes to interpret the vision, she must engage the Storyteller in a Static Mental Challenge against seven Traits (retest with Enigmas or Occult).
Kieh
Basic Gifts
Diagnose
-This Gift enables the Gurahl to determine the general state of health of an individual, often allowing him to identify diseases or other ailments present. After concentrating on his target for one minute, the Gurahl must win a Mental Challenge (retest with Medicine). Success allows him to ascertain specific diseases - including lung disorders, stomach ailments or infectious diseases. This Gift lasts for one scene.
Refresh
- The Gurahl may use this Gift in battle to give an ally a second wind, allowing the target to ignore wounds long enough to continue fighting - and, perhaps, surviving. This serves as the equivalent of “battlefield medicine,” providing a stopgap measure until further healing can take place, By touching her target, spending a Gnosis Trait and winning a Mental Challenge (retest with Medicine), the Gurahl temporarily restores up two health levels of damage, even aggravated, for the rest of the combat scene.
When the combat is over, the damage returns unless healed by Gifts or medical care.
Sense the Unnatural
- As the Lupus Gift.
Spirit Speech
- As the Theurge Gift.
Intermediate Gifts
Exorcism
- As the Theurge Gift.
Name the Spirit
- As the Lupus Gift.
Spirit Healing
- As Gaia’s healers, the Gurahl serve not only as healers of physical creatures but of spirits as well. This Gift allows a Gurahl
in the Umbra to replenish a wounded spirit’s Power. By entering the Umbra and winning a Social Challenge against the spirit, the Gurahl may convert one of his own Gnosis Traits into five points of Power and give it to a damaged spirit. The Gurahl may spend additional Gnosis Traits on a one to five point basis if he so desires without any further challenges. Any additions to a spirit’s
Power last until depleted by normal means.
Spirit Shape
- This Gift allows the Gurahl to assume the appearance of a creature native to the Umbra, thus appearing to spirits as one of their own kind. This Gift allows Gurahl to travel in parts of the Umbra that might otherwise prove hostile or inimical to them. The Gurahl must enter the Umbra, spend a Gnosis Trait and win a Static Social Challenge versus six Traits (retest with Enigmas). Success allows the Gurahl to take on the appearance of an Umbral creature. For example, a Gurahl may assume the form of a Pattern Spider when in a part of the Umbra ruled by the Tapestry Maker. If the Gurahl loses the test, she runs the risk of alerting hostile spirits to her presence unless she leaves the Umbra quickly. This Gift lasts until the Gurahl leaves the Umbra.
Advanced Gifts
Image of the Sky Bear
- The Gurahl calls down the power of Ursa Major, the Great She-Bear, to amplify his own mystical abilities. The Gurahl’s body glows with seven points of light that mirror the stars in the constellation Ursa Major. The Gurahl spends a point of Gnosis to invoke this Gift. Once the Gift has come into play, the Gurahl may use the seven “points” of borrowed light as if he had seven extra Traits or seven extra health levels or seven actions to heal wounds (choose one option when the Gift is invoked). Each time the Gurahl uses one of these extraTraits, one of the lights blinks out. The Gift ends when all the lights have darkened, indicating that the Gurahl has used the borrowed power of Ursa Major. A Gurahl may not use this Gift more than once in any given session. The extra Traits he receives remain until lost through being expended or from losing a challenge or until the end of the session; extra health levels are lost before regular ones and are not replenished. Healing is permanent until more damage is incurred.
Restore Sanity
-With this Gift, a Gurahl may completely restore the mind of an individual affected by an unexpected catastrophe, mental trauma or deliberately induced insanity. Unlike Ease the Fevered Mind (below), this Gift cannot remove derangements or pre-existing mental problems; it simply restores a traumatized mind to its pre-trauma state. The Gurahl must spend a Gnosis Trait and win a Mental Challenge (retest with Empathy) against the target. Success brings the target back from a state of induced insanity or traum This Gift may not heal a metis’s madness (if that is his deformity), a Malkavian vampire’s primary derangement or permanent forms of insanity. This Gift may be used to treat Harano (with a Static Mental Challenge against eight Traits and the
expenditure of three Gnosis). The Storyteller should act as the final judge as to whether ornot apatticular mental problemfalls withinthe parameters ofthisGift. The effects of this Gift are permanent until something occurs to change them. The Gurahl may not treat another individual without re-invoking the Gift.
Rishi
Basic Gifts
Befriend
-This Gift enables the Gurahl to alter the emotions of a potentially hostile individual so that the target exhibits a friendlier attitude
toward the Gurahl than she previously demonstrated. The Gurahl assumes a non-threatening physical posture and wins a Social Challenge against the target (retest with Empathy), who then responds more favorably to the Gurahl than the original response. For example, a hostile target might regard the Gurahl with a wary neutrality, while a noncommittal individual would warm
considerably. The effect of the Gift lasts for one scene, although the Gurahl may use the improved atmosphere as a means of using personal charisma and natural persuasion to cause a permanent change in attitude. This Gift does not affect creatures naturally inimical to the Gurahl, such as Wyrm-spirits, poachers, etc.
Compel Truth
- This Gift enables the Gurahl to force another individual to speak only the truth, at least as that person perceives it. The
Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and engages the target in a Mental Challenge. If the Gurahl wins, the target must speak only the truth as she knows it for the next 10 minutes.
Presence of the Great Bear
- As the Philodox Gift: King of the Beasts in Laws of the Wild, except that the Gurahl exercises his control over any bears in the vicinity..
Truth of Gaia
- As the Philodox Gift
Intermediate Gifts
Bestow Ursa’s Blessing
- The Gurahl use this Gift to bestow some favor from the Great Bear upon an individual of their choosing. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Mental Challenge while describing the exact nature of the blessing. The boon should be something tangible or some piece of good fortune, such as an additional Attribute Trait, a free retest, a temporary addition to an Influence or a Background Trait (the Storyteller has the final say on what form the blessing may take). If the Gurahl wishes to make the Blessing a permanent one, she must sacrifice a permanent Gnosis Trait to do so. The Gurahl may use this Gift only once per story.
Quell Mob Rage
- This Gift allows the Gurahl to dispel the anger of a crowd, break up lynch mobs or quell a riot before it begins by speaking quietly and calmly to the would-be participants. The Gurahl spends a Willpower Trait and engages in a Static Social Challenge against the highest Willpower in the group (retest with Leadership). If the Gurahl wins, the crowd must disperse and may not assemble again for the same purpose (though nothing prevents them from finding something else to anger them). This Gift lasts for one scene.
Waken
- Gurahl may use this Gift to waken another creature from an unnatural slumber or some form of supernatural sleep. With this Gift, a werebear may rouse a vampire from torpor, bring another Gurahl out of Bhernocht-induced sleep or even waken a creature affected by Rite of the Long Sleep. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Mental Challenge
against the target’s Willpower. Success allows the Gurahl to touch the target, causing that individual to awaken from whatever slumber has claimed him. To counter the effects of Rite of the Long Sleep, the Gurahl must spend a Willpower Trait. Those affected by this Gift may not appreciate being awakened and may react appropriately. The creature awakened by the Gift
remains awake, subject only to its natural sleep cycles.
Ways of theTapestry-
- Gurahl use this Gift togainsome insight into how something that puzzles them fits into the larger picture. This Gift may also indicate how an event fits into a Gurahl’s past, present or, possibly, future. The Gurahl spends a Gnosis Trait and wins a Static Mental Challenge versus eight Traits (retest with Enigmas). If the Gurahl succeeds, the Storyteller should give the Gurahl an important fact or two about a current dilemma or problem. Like all divinations, the results should be shrouded in mystery but not indecipherable.
Advanced Gifts
Oath of the Great Bear
- the Philodox Gift: Geas
Doom Words
-The Gurahl, through this Gift, places a curse upon an individual (or an allied group of up to five persons) as a punishment for some gross misdeed. Gurahl use this Gift sparingly, since doing so places the invoker in danger of becoming a tool of the Pattern Breaker, bringing additional darkness to the spirit of the person or persons cursed. The Gurahl states the terms of the curse, spends a Gnosis Trait and engages the target or targets in a Mental Challenge (mob scene rules apply). The words used must exactly describe the terms of the curse along with the means of lifting it. (“May you and your packmates never know a night’s rest until you restore the fetish you took from me.”) The Storyteller may require the Gurahl to expend more than one Gnosis Trait for a particularly baleful or detrimental curse. The Gift ends with the pronouncement of the curse, but the effects may endure for much longer.