Changing Breeds (nowod)

Who we are

History

The tearing of the world

Father Wolf's children seek out and kill all Primogenitor to steal their power. Most of it is temporary, but some stay among the Forsaken and the Pure. In the end, the Forsaken stop hunting the Primogenitors and their children when they are forgiven by Luna, but the Pure are still hunting.

The return

In the modern day, the Changing Breeds are once more returning from the shadow and from their exile. Their kinfolk and feral-blooded are few and their position weak. But moder nature seems to be on her childrens side...

Rules

Below are the rules for how the Changing Breeds works.

tribes

Pick one from the list below or build your own beast by using the Building a Beast rules below.

The Uncaring

Badgers and wolverines

• Honey Badger

The tricksters

Coyotes, foxes and their ilk

• Mexican Coyote

the Bastet

Catfolk and their kin.

• Old World leopard
• The Balam
• Mathara lion

The scuttling ones

Scorpions, centipedes and other horrors.

• Emperor Scorpion

Building a Beast

Follow the rules for creating a regular Chronicles of Darkness character and then use the following rules as Supernatural Template.

Forms

Below are the starting bonuses for all forms. All Changing breeds start with the Human-Guise and two additional forms from this list. For ●● of their favors, one additional form can be purchased. Bonuses listed in the forms change any values that are derived from the. I.e. Strength increases speed etc.

Man-guise

As their regular human form + any favors.

• sheeps clothing - all attempts, even supernatural ones, to detect his condition is at -2 penalty)

Throwback Form

• Divide +2 points among Physical attributes,
• +2 to perception Rolls.
• +2 to speed.
• Strength inflicts +0L damage
• Mild Lunacy

War-Beast

• +1 strength, +1 dexterity, +1 stamina
• divide +3 points among Physical Traits
• +2 size
• +2 Perception
• +1L melee weapons
• Rage
• Full Lunacy

The Dire Beast

+2 to strength, +2 to dexterity, +2 stamina

• +0L melee weapom
• Primal Form Size+2
• +2 perception
• Mild Lunacy

The Primal Form

Divide +3 points among Physical attributes

• Size equal to creature
• +3 to Perception

Size Examples for Primal form

While all creatures differ in size and in power, Shifters forms are altered depending on the size of the creature..

Size Modifications
Size	Example
0	Small Spider, most insects
1	Mouse, Frog, Sparrow, Lizard, Emperor Scorpion
2	Cat, Crow, Snake, Iguana
3	Wolverine, Honey Badger, Coyote
4	Wolf, King Cobra, Vulture, Monkey, Eagle, gepard
5	leopard, jaguar

Disfavors

You can pick any number of dis

Ban (-●): The Shifter has a Bane, much like a spirit. This bane is something the entire Shifter tribe is unable to do. The Ban is roughly equal to that of a rank 2 or 3 spirit.

Bane (-●): You have a ban much like a spirit.

Fleshbound (-●): Despite being a creature that is half-spirit and half-flesh, the Shifter is bound to the physical world and has no special standing in the spirit realm. The Shifter is not treated as a bane and has no virtual rank. The Shifter is no more home in the Shadow than any other human. The Shifter doesn't know the first tounge and is unable to learn it.

Fury (-● or -●●): The Shifter hails from a breed that is known for its extreme fury, such as a wolverine, a honey badger or a hippo. Any attempts to resist Rage suffers a -2 penalty. The two dot version of this disfavor forces the creature to pay a willpower to even attempt to resist rage and they still take the -2 penalty.

Metallic Weakness (-●● to -●●●): You have a weakness to an additional metal. This metal acts to you as silver acts to werewolves. For the third dot version, this metal causes bashing damage to you if you accidentally touch it. It you touch it for more than a second, it causes lethal damage and weapons cause an additional +2 dice damage when made from this material. Such weapons are also treated as being armor piercing when attacking you.

No Sheep's clothing (-●): You lack the "Sheep's clothing" ability and are not particularly resistant of being outed as a shifter.

No Speech (-● to -●●): You are incapable of speech, even the first-tounge, in all forms but the human or Primal form. At -●●, you are incapable of speech in all but a single form, your breed form.

Limbless (-●): The creature has no limbs in Primal or Dire form. This presents a challenge when finesse is required.

Lumbering (-● to -●●●): You move with the grace of a bull in a chinashop. Each dot in this disfavors lower your Defense by -1.

Rabid (-●●): Another of the Shifters form suffers from rage. When shifting into that form, or in that form, the risk of falling to rage is the same as for the War-beast. This disfavor can be taken more than once.

Slow (-● to -●●): You belong to a notoriously slow speed of Shifters, such as a turtle, or a sloth. At -●, your species base speed is 3-4 and you take a -2 penalty to initative. At -●● it's 1-2 and you take a -4 penalty to initiative. This also reduces your overland travel speed.

Small (-● to -●●): Your primal form is one of a smaller animal, such as a rat or a spider. One dot is an animal of size 2-3 and two dots are size 0-1. Smaller creatures can get in places were bigger creatures cant, but are far less durable. The dire form is modified in size as well. A size 3 animal has its dire form soxe reduced by 1 etc. The smaller value (0 and 3) gets +1 dexterity in dire and primal form.

ruled by instinct (-●): you are ruled by instinct and its difficult to surpress your nauhatl. Whenever you are presented with an oppertunity to indulge your Vice, you must roll Composure + Resolve - Primal Urge / Feral Heart. If you fail, you must indulge in your vice or spend a willpower point.

Tell (-●): You have a very obvious tell that sets you apart, regardless of your form. Even though you keep the penalty to discover your true nature via supernatural means, it's very obvious that you are special. Perhaps you are very slender and and hairless much like a snake? You also have a very obvious mark that is retained regarldess of your form. This could be a scar, a mark or something else.

Favors

favors are intrinsic abilities that comes from the Shifters Tribe. All members of that Tribe shares these traits.

• For +● cost, the ability is usable also in man-guise, or applies to all other forms as well (in the case of a trait being available to only man-guise).
• For -● cost, the favor is only usable during rage.

Additional form (●● or ●●●●): You have one more form from the list of forms. The four dot version of this merit allows you to access all the five forms.

Animal Attraction (● to ●●●): There's... just something with this breed that draws in those who find the shifter attractive. Against those who find her attractive, the Shifter gains a +1 bonus to all social rolls in her breed form.

Agile (● to ●●●●●): +1 defense in your primal form.

Aquatic (● or ●●): The shifter has a form that is native to water. For ●, it moves at the same speed in water as on land. For ●●, it moves at a speed that is double its normal speed. For +●, you can also dive up to 300 ft. per dot of Stamina.

Beast Magic (●●●●): The Shifter can use a strange form of magic. The Shifter can buy spells and Arcanas, but the Shifter can't improvise spells, only rituals. Spells has to be bought as Rotes.

Berserker (●●): Whenever the character enters rage, you get the berserker bonus rather than the normal bonus.

Biolumnescence (●): The Shifter emits light, roughly at the strength of a flashlight. This eliminates up to two points of dice penalties for acting in darkness. This ability can be activated for a point of essence.

Birth Blessing (●): As the book

Blend In (●): As the book.

Burrowing (●● or ●●●): As the book.

Carnivore's Puissance (●●): As the book.

Catwalk (● to ●●): +2 to Stealth checks and +1 to Athletics checks per dot.

Climber (● to ●●●): +2 to Climbing checks per dot, unless the character has 3 dots. Like a spider, the Shifter can then move unhindered along any surface unless treated with supernatural or extremely advanced means.

Darksight (●): The Shifter can see in the dark as easily as humans see on a bright, cloudless day. No penalties for operating in the darkness. +2 bonus to all stealth rolls in darkness.

Enduring (●): you are bot exhausted after raging.

Echolocation (●● or ●●●): Ignore all penalties for fog, darkness, smoke or likewise. At the three dot version, the character can't be surprised unless asleep and grants a +1 defense bonus.

Extra limb (● to ●●●): A limb that can act as a "hand" without fingers. The limb can't perform fine manipulation, but it has a longer reach than a normal arm. Shifters with extra arms can use them to aid themselves in combat. The one dot merit gives the Shifter a single limb, while the two dot version gives the Shifter up to 4 extra limbs. The three dot version gives any number of limbs beyond that. When attacking a single foe, the Shifter can use its extra limbs to help with the attack. Add this favors dots to attacks against a single foe. The Shifter can also use it bo "burst" attack several foes. They can also use their extra limbs to "block" attacks for a +1 defense per dot in this favor.

Blessing of Fortune (●): Your mere presence seems to bring luck. Whenever someone is attempting an action within your line of sight, you may spend a willpower to add an additional +3 dice to that roll. If that person is spending a willpower as well, a successfull roll becomes a dramatic success. You can do this once per scene.

Blessing of Ill Fortune (●): Your mere presence seems to brin unfortunate happenings to people around you. Once per scene, you can spend a willpower point when someone is taking an action and reduce that dice pool by 3. If you spend another willpower, a failure is turned into a Dramatic Failure.

Extraordinary Movement (● to ●●●): You are either extremely flexible or have loose skin that makes it possible for you to move around despite being held. Each dot in this favor gives you a +2 bonus to grapple checks.

Full Defense vs. firearms (●●): The Shifter gets full defense vs. firearms.

Improved Speed (● to ●●●●●): The Shifter is unnaturally fast even for its kind. For each dot in this favor, add +1 to the creatures specie factor for speed.

Increased Size (● to ●●): The Shifter is larger than its kind usually is in all forms but human-Guise. It's size is increased by +1 with the one dot version of this merit. With the two dot version, the size is increased by +2.

Keen Senses (● or ●●): The Shifter has extremely keen senses. It has a +2 bonus to all Perception rolls using its normal senses. The two dot version provides +4 bonus to all Perception rolls.

Large Size (● to ●●●●●): The shifters primal form is that of a larger animal than a wolf.
●: size 6-7, ●●: size 8-9, ●●●: size 10-11, ●●●●: 12-13, ●●●●●: 14-15.

Each dot in this favor increases the natural size of the primal form by up to +2. Each dot gives the shifter +1 dice to add to his attributes in his war form as well as +1 size in war form. The great size of this beast however reduces the shifters defense by 1.

Leap (● to ●●●): The shifter can leap great distances. The distance the shifter can leap is doubled. At two dots, it's doubled again and once more for the third dot for a total of x8 jumping distance. This distance is traversed in a single move action.

Many Legged (●●●●): The creature has many legs. Add +4 speed to the characters Species factor. The creature also has a +3 bonus to all climbing actions and balance actions.

Musk (●●●): Sprays targets within a 20 ft. cone with musk. Roll Dexterity + Feral Heart to hit. Each success is a target hit. It might be possible to dodge with supernatural means. Characters within 300 ft. of someone sprayed suffers a -3 peanlty to dice pools, defense, speed and initative. The most serious effect lasts for a scene.

Natural Armor (● to ●●●●●): The Shifter has natural armor that covers him in Hybrid, Dire and Primal form.
●: The armor is bullet-proof.
●●: The armor is 1/0.
●●●: The armor is 2/1
●●●●: The armor is 3/2
●●●●●: The Armor is 4/2
If this favor is usable in Human-guise, the human-guise is covered in scales, thick fur or something else. This imposes a -1 penalty per dot in natural armor to social rolls against anyone who's seeing the character for the first time. This penalty is reduced over time until people are used to him. At that point, the penalty is just -1. It's possible to avoid the armor by aiming for soft parts, such as an orifice, the eyes or the ears. This imposes a -3 penalty to attacks and doesn't give any bonus damage.

Natural Weapons: (● to ●●●●●) The shifter has natural weapons that are dangerous.
+●: The weapons deal lethal damage to creatures that would otherwise not be subject to that, such as vampires.
Damage (+●): The weapons damage is increased by +1L extra damage.
+●: The weapons can be sheathed and hidden
-●: The weapons can only be used during a grapple
+●: The weapon has the 9-again quality.
+●●: The weapon has the 8-again quality.
-●: The weapon deals Bashing damage.
-●: Can't be used in a grapple.
+●●: If the foe is surprised, the attack has the Rota-action quality.
+●●: A hit aquires grapple automatically.
A Shifter can have several natural weapons. Each weapon is a separate favor.
●:+2 accuracy.

Pack Bond (●●): You can transfer Willpower and Essence between pack members. See book for details.

Partial Change (●): You can take a single feature from another form into the current form. See book for details.

Powerful Beast (●): You gain 1 additional die to distribute on all forms except your man-guise.

Psychopomp (●●): You can interact with ghosts much the same way that werewolves can interact with spirits. You can peer into the underworld and pass over into the underworld.

Quills (●● to ●●●●●): As the book.

Raging Bull (●): Rather than taking penalties for being damaged, the Shifter gains the associated penalty as a bonus instead. Thus at -2 penalty from damage, this shifter gets +2 instead.

Rampage (●●): Be it either from strong teeth, massive claws or an enormous weight, the Shifter is phenomenal at breaking objects. In any form but man guise, the Shifter ignores up to 2 points of an Object's durability when trying to damage it.

Razorskin (●●● or ●●●●): As the book.

Resistance (●): The Shifter's immune system is almost legendary in efficiency and power. Whenever a disease or toxin is affecting the Shifter, remove the Shifter's Feral Heart from the toxicity of the toxin or disease.

Regeneration (●●): When in rage, this creature regenerates at a furious rate. At the start of its turn, the Shifter regenerates all Bashing and Lethal damage it has taken.

Resilient Form (●+): The Shifter has its health increased by +1 in all forms except the Human-Guise.

Ressurection (●●●●): The Shifter may return from the dead! Doing so costs one Feral Heart dot. See the book for more details.

Righting Reflex (● or ●●): You always land o nyour feet. Halve falling damage. The two dot version adds a +2 to defense whil in the Primal or Dire form.

Sense of Familarity (●●): As the book.

Shadow Bond (●●): You have the same relation to the shadow as Werewolves have. You can peer across the gauntlet and step sideways.

Skin Thief: Beast (●●): Just as Skin Thief: Man, but for animals instead. Assuming a larger beast gives the character the beasts size and a +1 to strength for every 3 size points above his own he takes on. Assuming a smaller beast gives the character +1 dex for every 2 sizes below his own.

Skin Thief: Man (●●): The Shifter can steal the skin of another dead human and assume its form. After killing a person, before any significant rot has set in, the Shifter can carve out the hide of the person and preparing it in a special ritual (This ritual costs 1 essence). For a number of nights afterwards equal to the characters Primal Urge, the character can take on the skin and pay 1 essence and essentially becoming the person the skin was taken from. The Character knows nothing that the character knew, but the costume is perfect, so as long as the character can pretend well enough, he or she appears to be the person. Removing the costume destroys it, as does shapeshifting into any other form.

Speed (● to ●●●●●): You belong to a notoriously fast tribe. The species factor for your speed is 9-12. At ●●, it's 13-15. At ●●● it's 16-18. After reaching your Tribe's normal species factor, each dot in this favor adds +3 to your speed.

Spirit Gift (●):You can gain gifts, just as werewolves can. You are also naturally fluent in the First-tounge.

Spirit Secrets (●●): You can steal numinas from spirits. See the book for details. If you also have Psychopomp, you can steal from ghosts as well. Stealing a numina gives the character the option to spend the knowledge, deny the knowledge or keep it. When activiating this favor, spend a Willpower point. The character must then make an extended roll, depending on the usage, and roll a number of successes equal to the Spirits rank. Each attempt cost one essence. To use the numina, the shifter pays the cost of the numina.
Spend the Knowledge: If she spends the knowledge, the character need not purchase the ability with experience points, but may only use it a number of times equal to an Manipulation + Occult roll (Maximum is equal to Primal Urge), made when she steals the numina.
Keep the Knowledge: If she keeps the knowledge, she must pay for it with experience, at which point she can use it as many times as she wishes (and can afford). Not all numinas can be stolen, as some numinas are built into the spirits very being (such as being a fire elemental).
Deny the Knowledge: The shifter can also steal a Spirits Numina and make it unavailable to the spirit for the scene (or until the shifter becomes unconcious). Doing this requires a Manipulation + Larceny - Resistance - Rank roll.

Summon Animal (●● to ●●●): You have the ability to summon your animal-kin. For ●●, you can only summon your tribe's creatures (A weretiger can only summon tigers). At ●●●, you can summon more general tribes that are related to yours (

Swarm Form (●●●●): See book for details.

Territorial (● to ●●●●●): Whenever the Shifter is defending its territory, it gets the dots as a bonus to hand-to-hand combat as soon as combat starts. This bonus lasts for a number of turns equal to the feral heart of the Shifter.

Totem Power (●●): You can have a Totem, much like Werewolves.

True Regeneration (●●●●): You can regenerate Aggravated damage rather than Lethal or Bashing. By spending 3 points of essence rather than 1, the Shifter can regenerate a single point of aggravated damage this turn rather than his regular regeneration. If the Shifter is able to heal more than 1 point of Bashing each turn (such at higher Primal Urge or Feral Heart dots), the Shifter can pay 1 additional essence to heal one more point of aggravated (thus healing 3 points of aggravated would cost 5 essence).

Venomous (●): One of your attacks are venomous. Whenever landing a blow with that attack, the Shifter may spend a point of essence reflexivly. If that attack deals at least 1 point of lethal or aggravated damage, the target is infected by the poison (Bashing damage may infect if the attack lands in an open wound or orifice of the target, see penalties for attacking smaller targets). The base Toxicity of the poison is 2 and deals Lethal damage directly after the attack.

The Base poison has Toxicity 3, Penalty 0, Damage 0L, duration 0 and period 1 hour (note that without duration, period is meaningless).
+● to +●●: The period becomes 30 minutes. ●● it becomes 15 minutes.
+● the duration becomes feral heart hours.
+● Increase toxicity by 2.
+● Increase penalty by 2.
+● Increase Damage by 2.
-● The damage is bashing rather than lethal.

Water Breathing (● or ●●): The Shifter can either hold its breath or stay in water indefinitivly. The first dot version of this favor lets the shifter hold its breath for 15 minutes per dot of Stamina. By spending a Willpower, this time doubles. The two dot version of this favor lets the creature breathe water in any form other than man-guise and it can stay underwater indefinitivly.

Webbing (●●●●): As the book.

Wings (●● or ●●●●): The two dot version of this favor allows the character to glide. The shifter can't ascend to a point higher than he spent the previous round and generally drops roughly 20% of the travel distance. I.e. if the shifter is 30 meters up and travels 20 meters, he has a height of 26 meters at the end of the trip. The four dot version of this favor is true flight, as the book.

Aspects

Aspects are unique tricks that a Shifter has learned during his life. While the Favors of each Shifter is the same for that specific Tribe, the Aspects may vary and two Shifters are seldom alike. Shifters may purchase any favor as an aspect with Experience points.

Rage

Rage works as for werewolves.